Behind-the-scenes on "stars from my heart"

As a sort of celebration to finally getting my Photoshop CS2 installed on my beautiful desktop (<3), I decided to work on a painting I thought of last night while listening to "Cosmic Love" by Florence + the Machine.  When I finally made myself stop, it was about two hours; a pretty solid speedpaint.  (I saw "finally stop" because this was one of those pictures I feel like I could have kept tweaking for hours if I'd have let myself).
Here is a first "final" version I completed, then a second finished version I completed after tweaking:

Now, I want to address some of the thought process that went into this painting.  I had an initial idea in my  head, and normally I probably would have just plowed into it.  However, I thought better of it.  Recently, I've been reading the newsletters from Disney Visual Development Artist/Character Designer Chris Oatley.  One of his recent newsletters talked about the "The Starting Buzz"--something I'm sure every artist has felt.  "The Starting Buzz" is when you get an idea for a picture and are so excited you just leap right into it, only to find shortly that you just lose interest.

I am definitely a guilty of practicing this.  After reading Chris's newsletter, I really took a look at my art process and decided to make some changes.  What I'm going to talk about here is my decision to take more time in "pre-production," the beginning of the drawing process when you figure out things like composition, maybe some basic colors, etc.

It took me several tries to figure out exactly how I wanted to frame "stars from my heart."  When I was finally pleased with the composition and started laying down some base colors and values, I'll admit I almost lost faith.  I was having trouble seeing the finished product and felt like I wasn't making progress.   Once that happened, I actually decided to slap some drastic colors and textures onto the picture, just to sort of make a big leap and see something new.  And you know what?  It really helped!  It kind of refreshed the picture for me, and I carried on.

Two hours later, and I had what you see on the screen.  I'm not saying it's perfect--far from, of course--but it was a joy to draw and I really felt like I learned a lot during the process.

So remember, guys: Pre-production is one of the most important--if not the most important--part of the drawing process!  Don't plow through it--embrace it!  :)  I really think it makes the end product much more satisfying!

All the Right Notes: Angel Beats! Review

I make it no secret that I love all forms of visual storytelling, whether it be graphic novels, animation, games, etc.  But perhaps more than I like watching these things, I love talking about them.  In an effort to improve my critical eye and learn from what I already enjoy, I've decided do occasional, unprofessional reviews of things I'm watching/reading/playing.

This is copied from my Journal on deviantART; it's the only review I've done so far.  Next on my "list" is a retrospective on the first season of Pokemon (the Kanto league), as I'm currently rewatching the Pokemon series, and it has been very interesting.

Check out the review after the break!

A Year with Frog and Toad: Make-up sketches

I'm make-up chief for my college's production of the musical "A Year with Frog and Toad," based on the books of the same characters.  The musical looks really cute and fun, so I'm really excited to work on it.  :)  I really enjoy doing stage make-up, so I jumped on the opportunity to be make-up chief.

Obviously, all the characters in the show are animals.  The show is more interpretive, however; I don't think characters will be dancing around with tails and stuff like that.  Because the show is so colorful, though, I really wanted to see if I could have a bit of fun with the make-up.  (I also don't want to freak the kids out, though, so I don't want to have the make-up be too drastic.)

Here are some highlights from my prelim sketches.  Keep in mind that these are a first pass and definitely not final.  I'm going to be buying the make-up next week while I'm on Easter break and experimenting on myself, so I'll have a better feel for what looks good and such.  I'm going to kidnap some guys as well, because I'm not sure how colored make-up looks on a guy versus a girl, since people are more used to seeing make-up on girls (and again, I don't want this to look weird; I want it to be fun).

The first unlabeled one is Turtle; the second unlabeled is Mother Frog.

Pen Sketch!

Was listening to Owl City tonight and just felt like whipping something up real quick with my pen.  No references used--probably obviously.  |D  It was still fun, though!  Texture used from Ransie3 on deviantART.

Mad About: New Textures and Brushes!

As any of my art friends will tell you, I ADORE wasting time by browsing deviantART looking for awesome brushes and textures (especially textures) to download and use (or abuse!).  There is really nothing more exciting than trying out a new brush you just downloaded, seeing what you can do with it, what new look you can give your drawings that you had not been able to achieve before.

For my most recent picture, "words," I used not ONLY new brushes I had downloaded, but a new texture as well!

The new brush that I tried out for the lineart was created by Kecky on deviantART.  I have been following Kecky for awhile, and her art is truly some of my favorite.  So when she created some brushes to download, I got really excited!  And a first run with them did not disappoint.

One of the best things about using new tools is that it takes a few tries before you really figure out how to use them properly.  While I used one of Kecky's brushes for the lineart in "words," I am sure that I will be using all of the brushes in many pictures from now on, and I have no doubt that I will discover new and better ways to utilize them!

The new texture that I used came from Ransie3 on deviantART.  The paper/word texture was absolutely perfect for the background, and really pulled the picture together, in my opinion.

Here's to discovering new brushes and textures to further feed our creative juices!

Sources:
words by myself on deviantART
kecky's magical brushes by Kecky on deviantART
Big Textures 11 by Ransie3 on deviantART

more doodles

Some sketches I had lying around!  Most of these are from March, but there are some from February as well.  :)  I'm particularly fond of the fruit in the glass bowl, myself.  Click to view fullsize.  Enjoy!

Notebook Sketches

I recently compiled the sketches I've done in my AmLit and CivLit notebooks for fun.  Normally I don't show these to anyone--I won't even say I doodle them for myself, because honestly I doodle in class just to give my hands something to do when I'm not taking notes.  It keeps my hands preoccupied and helps me pay attention.  But why not?  Enjoy!  :)

Words WIP

I'm working on an entry for my school's art/writing magazine, The Echo, for its cover.  (Before you ask, no,  none of my art was accepted for publication.)  Here's what I have so far.  :)

Colored Sketches

Here are some more pictures from my tumblr blog--this time, colored sketches!  This will be the last "from tumblr" post.  After this, new stuff!  Yaay!  =D  Also, if you're wondering about all the Pokemon doodles--I was doing a "favorite Pokemon from each type" meme, which I plan on continuing when I get the time.  :)

Old Sketches

Hey, all!  Welcome to my new sketch blog, Flock of Flamingos!  :)  I hope you enjoy your time here.  First things first--I'm going to post sketches that I have already posted on my tumblr.  I have since left tumblr to opt for here, but for the sake of recording I'd like to repost here some of what I had previously posted there.  New stuff will come soon!