Sailor Scouts - wip

Sailor moon is so much fun to draw- the designs are just amazing.

Studies- figures and horses

Still Life- Lemons and Limes

I wanted to see how well I could do a still life in color- something I haven't done in many years. It turned out okay. Next time I will use stronger paper and better color pencil techniques. This was done with prismacolor pencils.

Car Study

Done in charcoal.

Male studies and Gesture studies

These gesture studies are 1 to 5 minutes each

Figure study

It's been awhile since I have devoted serious time to studying the figure, doing still life, or depicting landscapes and backgrounds. This is probably one of the longest times I've gone without going back to the basics of drawing and I feel that this has caused me to lose my edge. My drawings are not flowing from me- the process feels forced and tedious. So I'm going step back from style and practice realism for now. Some time will be devoted to gesture drawing in particular to gain my confidence back in making marks on the paper. Right now I've gone back to the bad habit of doubting what I put on paper and end up erasing it several times, in effect killing the life of the drawing and turning it into something dull and boring.

I really want to go back over my figure drawing abilities and brush up on my knowledge of anatomy. One problem that I am having is figuring out how to apply what I know about human anatomy and translating that into a manga/comic book style. It's easier for me to draw the human body realistically, with plenty of shading and detail, than to strip it down and try to express the same idea in a much simpler style. How do you depict the figure convincingly without the aid of all those details? I'm still trying to figure that out.

I think it's important to go back over the basics of drawing and redo some of those exercises we either learned in school or on our own from the local library/bookstore. When you are able to successfully draw according the rules again and realize that you still have that ability to fall back on, it can be a real boost to your self-confidence as an artist. It seems that way to me, anyway.

Artist in France

I would probably never get a tattoo myself, and I'm not a fan of the usual tattoo art that involves skulls and blood, etc. But I do appreciate tattoo designs that are original and creative, that stand out from the crowd- like this artist-

http://ipomee.canalblog.com/

If I *did* ever get a tattoo, it would probably be similar to one of those designs. I especially like the one with the nails down the side of the body. Check it out! :)

Drawing in progress

I felt like drawing one of my characters from my story, Potential. This is Ristretto and she is riding one of the giant rabbits that are known to exist in the demon's world. They're stubborn and hate to follow commands, but that didn't deter her. ^-^

New drawing- Father

This is an image I made to compliment my "Mother" drawing that I did back in May/June. I meant to do this one in June, but some things happened and I got sidetracked. Created with Copic markers.

Some new sketches

Some self sketches I made in my sketchbook. I decided to practice shading and color them in Adobe Photoshop. :)

Miracle Frooties

I mentioned Miracle fruit in another blog post and how it's supposed to coat your taste buds and make sour things taste sweet... well this nice company offered to send me samples of their Miracle fruit product, called Miracle Frooties. Their website is at: http://theworldsbestfruit.com/

I just got them today in the mail and got to try them with Kiwi, Lemons, and Tomatoes.

I tried a lemon first. Wow, what a difference! I have never liked lemons in any form- not lemonade, not lemon sorbet, not anything. But with Miracle fruit, the lemon became a treat and for the first time I could actually eat them without needing a big glass of water. The level of sweetness I experienced was similar to that of an orange (a fruit I like, btw). The kiwi was a similar experience, though I preferred the lemon.

I also tasted cherry tomatoes- the taste was strange when it first hit my tongue but once I got to chewing it, it was pretty good. It seemed to have a sweetness to it like candy, yet not- the taste is sort of hard to describe. I already liked tomatoes so this was just an experiment to see how they would taste after consuming the Miracle fruit.

Miracle fruit is also supposed to enhance the taste of strawberries and oranges, so that is definitely on my list of fruits to try. I will post again and let everyone know how those taste.

Again, check out their website: http://theworldsbestfruit.com/
There's information on there about how Miracle fruit works and gives ideas on what fruits and foods to try. Check it out! ^-^

Cheap art buyers

I am sick and tired of people bitching about how I price my original artwork. I don't even price them that high- the most expensive one is $150. Even at those prices, I am being pretty cheap and running the risk of being considered an amateur or "student". Artists who are considered professionals usually price similar artwork anywhere from $300 to $2000 for an original piece. That's one of the reasons why I am selling prints- they're cheap and affordable for people who don't want to spend a hundred bucks for artwork. Seems like a nice compromise to me.

If you are too cheap or too poor to buy a drawing or painting for that price, fine. You can either settle for a print or just appreciate it from afar. But please don't complain to me, please don't come to me about "wow, those are so expensive, good luck selling them, hah!" or mock me for trying to make a decent living. And no, I don't sell them very well but that doesn't mean my price is too high (it's actually too low). It just means that I have either not met the right buyer yet or that the demand for my artwork hasn't gotten to the point where I can sell my artwork one right after the other. I'm not that well known yet and probably won't be for a few years.

But you know what that means... when I do get demand and my artwork does start selling regularly, the price isn't going to stay the same. It's actually going to go up. So instead of selling my pieces for $50-$150 I will be selling them for $250-$500 or maybe even higher. So either settle for a $5 or $10 print or shut up- cheap asses like you are the reason why so many artists have a hard time being able to do what they love for a living.

And why does nobody really bitch and moan about the plumber who charges you a steep fee for fixing your pipes? Or about the repair bill for your car? Or when you get the bill from a doctor for your checkup? These are all skilled trades that take years to learn, so people usually respect that and pay what's due. Why are artists considered different and are the only ones expected to just give their skills away or give them away for such a low price that they can't possible make a living and have to work at some crappy retail job to make ends meet?

Being a great artist is not easy. It takes years, decades, to fine tune our skills and get to the point where we can even consider selling our artwork. Instead of hanging out at parties with friends or going to see that concert in town, we sat at home and spent hours drawing and sketching. Most artists spend more time learning to draw, more hours, than most students spend to earn a college degree. Yet no one has any gripes about paying someone a higher wage for having that piece of paper... but they want to gripe about giving an artist a fair wage. And that drawing that an artist made that you really like, it probably took him anywhere from 10 to 30 hours to complete it. So when you see a painting or drawing that is priced for a $100, $300, or even $500... you're not just being asked to pay for the skills that come from years of practice and study. You are also paying for the time it took to create that particular artwork.

So a $100 dollars is actually pretty cheap when you think about it. So if even after considering all that, you still want to make a fuss over the price, then at least keep your comments to yourself and don't let the artist know how you think. Anytime an artist has to deal with cheapskates, it just makes them think that maybe being an artist isn't worth the crap and makes them consider giving up. Just don't do it.