Hey, Now!

Look here! A post done at a decent hour of the day!
Since my mom came home, we've actually gotten things done on time, which means, wonderfully enough, that I actually have time to do what I want during daylight hours! TEARS. TEARS OF JOY.

I think I'm going to take the wee-man for a walk in the snow. Yes. That is a very good idea :3


Also, I encourage you to check out this lovely person's site: http://alysenicholson.blogspot.com/
It's always nice to check out other people's art when you need some inspiration!

Okay, pictures:

This was done in oil pastel. I don't use oils pastels very often, but I find them to be fairly versatile when trying different coloring styles!

If you ignore the doodles underneath the paint, this is an interesting composition. Maybe I'll do a version 2 someday...

A sketch of the minis I used to take to nursing homes.  I was originally going to color this, but once my sketchbook is closed, I don't touch anything in it.

I like this character. I don't think I ever named her, but the design is clean and simple. Job description? "Master Badass."

This is the last picture of the sketchbook. I really really love this one. There is very little that I could pick on, and the style is so... stylish? Crap, I ran out of words! Ha-

Speaking of job descriptions, I've had a number of unofficial jobs, but my two favorites were being a pet therapist, which involved taking miniature horses to nursing homes and rehab centers, and being a freight elevator operator for Western Ave. Studios in Lowell. They were fun and interesting jobs, and even though the elevator got stuck between floors* every freakin' time so often, I had a good time and learned a lot about who I was as a person.

This was the end of my 2008 sketchbook (15 year old self, btw). The next sketchbook I've been considering skipping altogether, but I want to share how my "art cycle" goes. There is very little in it that I think merits scanning, but I think struggling artists need to see what they have pulled themselves out of in order to keep moving forward. (RNN, I'm looking at you!)
So here we go.
Big hint: it's really bad.
>. >


*Seriously, people. Do not open the doors without the operator's permission. That's why there are signs everywhere. GAH.

In progress

Aeolus. I'll scan in the finished product, but for now, enjoy a webcam picture in poor lighting!

I'M BAAAAACK!

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*Ahem* 

Anyway, I come bearing gifts!

A Shire horse, one of my favorite heavy-horses. I have no beef with this picture, so it gets the STAMP of approval :D

You know that STAMP I mentioned above? Yeah, this one does not deserve it. (This was practice using a brush-pen, btw)

This horse is cute, but has terrible conformation. Still up there in my favorites, though.

Axl! Drew this in class and taped the looseleaf into my sketchbook. Very unrefined, but hey.

Julius Caesar. The proportions are off*, but seeing as this was for a Latin project, I don't really care. So there p:

I should draw cats more. They are probably the most difficult animal for me to draw, and I spend all of my free time with them :/

I really like the background (done with a sponge, no less). Ignore the horse, and the picture is quite pleasant.

See those cool yellow circles? I did that by using the stopper from my yellow India ink bottle to place a whack of ink dots on the page. When they dried around the edges, I took a sponge and swept the color across the page. Pretty cool, huh?

 

Blue horse, because being realistic all the time was getting boring...

*I am going to share some pro-tips for drawing faces with y'all.

1st: A face is 3 foreheads long. If you want to trip someone up, mess with those proportions a bit.

2nd: Human ears generally go from the eyebrow line down to the lip line.

3rd: There is one "eye space" between your eyes.

4th: When drawing teeth in a smile, do not outline each individual tooth (unless you are going for the gap-toothed look).

Simply draw the bottom of the teeth and the top along the gums, and your eyes will do the rest.

New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! I've been studying all vacation for my biology exam, but I figured I'd make some time to update my blog for this special occasion. It's actually been pleasant visiting the relatives this year. Just now, I finished watching the 3 Stooges marathon with my 94 year-old grandfather. For some reason, and completely contrary to what I was expecting, the Stooges are even funnier now than they were when I was younger.
Now, for a word from my wise grandfather on this New Year's day:
"Happy birthday! Ho ho ho!"
... He's a pretty awesome dude.

I had a very enjoyable Christmas with my family. I didn't ask for much, but I had the forethought to make my mom a "picture list" so she would know what exactly it was that I wanted. Her memory isn't very good, so she really appreciated being able to see the items that I wanted. As a result, I got clothes that actually fit and books that I will read, and I am a happy monkey. Yay!

I also finally bought myself a new helmet. You see, I had no idea that you were supposed to replace your helmet every five years and every time you fall. Well, 8 years, 10+ falls, one "toss through (yes "through") a wooden fence," one "emergency eject off of a speeding pony cart " and one "getting crushed by a 1600 lbs horse*" later, I realized that a new helmet would be a very good idea. A good idea, indeed.

I visited my aunts and uncles and cousins and had a very good time, which, coming from the person who used to try to hide from people at family gatherings, is a good improvement. Hooray for learning not to be a stick in the mud!

I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's day!

[I will start regularly updating again once I return to PEI.]


*I was wearing a skull cap-style helmet, as opposed to my normal helmet, for that one. I blacked out for a few seconds, and it's no wonder I did, as the back of the helmet was completely crushed in. I would be SO dead. There's a lesson here, folks.

Last stretch

I've been very busy these past few days, as I have been preparing to leave for the States while still trying to balance out some pre-Christmas visits with my friends and pseudo-family*. As of right now, I still have stuff all over my bed to be packed up or put away. I took my blind neighbor shopping for her Christmas presents** which was a nice day out. I collapsed my mini studio to store while I'm away ( sad!), and things are slowly but surely getting done. Tomorrow is going to be especially busy, as I have to clean the house, bring the chickens to my neighbor's barn, study, visit Willie, deliver some presents, go to a friend's Christmas party, pack, and some smaller chores as well.
Le sigh...
Obviously, I won't be updating regularly until I return from the motherland, but I will come back. I need to. I am addicted to this Island.

Pictures!

You can never challenge this cat to a race. Why? Cos he's a cheetah. HAH HAH HAH. :(

This chunky horse remains one of my favorites. He also won me an iPod, so brownie points for him, I guess.

Completely out of proportion, but I'm liking the shading style here.

Yellow face. I need to get back to drawing faces like this again.

Joey the camel. Having never drawn a camel until this point, I'd say he turned out quite nicely.

 Night y'all.



*I tend to get adopted by people. This is not a bad thing, but I've yet to figure out why this happens everywhere I go. I swear I have my own room in at least 5 different houses.
** She bought me about 10 pounds of candy for being a good farmhand. Awwww! :3

It's not last night anymore...

...Oops. Heh.
Anyway, I'm posting in the wee hours today because I was thinking about going to bed early for once when I was suddenly struck with a massive art attack. I simply could not ignore it, so I quickly got to work. Indeed, it has been the most productive art day ever, and by that I mean "two paintings, a large scale oil pastel picture, bunch of sketches, two comics pages, and some writing all done in a period of 3 hours" productive.
Oh, yeah, and I finished my current sketchbook. YEAH! I still have quite a ways to go before I'll be posting that one here, but it will surely make an appearance sooner or later.

Okay, pictures!

Experimenting with pastel. Even now, I have quite a ways to go before I can say that I'm comfortable using them.

Guys are actually really difficult for me to draw. I think it's because their jaws are squarier... Yeah.

FANART. :3  Axl's such a doof. There are numerous things I would change now, but I think this was a fair attempt at a "group photo" for the time.

Charcoal horse. I'm quite fond of this one. I don't use charcoal very often, but it is quite fun when I get around to it. :)

My morning face. watchulookinat?!

Depending on whether I'm still super sore/tired/cold tomorrow, I might go riding. There's supposed to be a high temp of -1 C tomorrow, which really isn't that bad, but the weather this week has been changing rapidly, so it may be too soon to tell what tomorrow holds. If I do end up being stuck inside all day, I will likely crack open my new-to-me encyclopedia from the 1920s to get a peek at what was common knowledge back then. I love stuff like that. If I could have one extra room in my house, I would have a library/study. Dreams, dreams...

MOAR

Nice walk with Willie in the freakin' cold today. My only complaint about him is that he was kind of nippy today. We'll set that straight.

Also, no update last night because I went bowling in the afternoon (2 hours for free!) and then I went to my friend's house for gingerbread house decorating.
Now, you have to understand that "bowling for two hours" = "fun" = "OH GOD THE PAIN" the next day. Man, I'm out of shape. I did discover that I, a righty, actually bowl better with my left arm than my right. Weird, huh?
Anyway, after this bowling adventure I went to my friend's house, where I decorated with lots of candy. Sorry, did I say "decorated with lots of candy?" I meant to say "consumed a lot of candy."
Actually: "Ate so much candy/cookies/holiday cheer that when I woke up this morning I was suffering hangover-like symptoms."
I also have a sore throat from spending 4 hours telling/reenacting ridiculous stories to a unwilling audience. Heh heh. 












... Looking at this now, I realize that moving to Canada has turned me into a wimp. GAH.

Okay, pictures:

Trying for realism. You can see here a common flaw seen in many teenagers' art: the eyes. There is a tendency of teenagers to put extra emphasis on the eyes. This has been the case even before the introduction of manga/anime to the West. Pretty interesting, eh?

Unusual, but neat. This was based off of a picture of a Saddle Seat rider.

Horse on steroids, based off of one of my favorite horse models.

Accel. This picture is simple in composition, but the colors play off of each other well.  APPROVAL!

Dear god, Please never allow a horse that looks like this to walk this earth. Love, Artiste!

That is all for now. Please excuse me while I crawl up the stairs to my room in a most pitiful manner.


... Who the HELL gets this messed up from bowling and gingerbread?