Helena Bonham Carter

I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow so i wanted to get in one more post before my flight!  Awhile ago, i did a caricature for Caricaturama 3000 Showdown.  I didn't win (of course), but i thought the piece was very well done even for me!  i did it all with colored pencil and micron pen.  The likeness is a bit off, but i still like it.

(special guest appearance by Tim Burton)

Randomness 2

Here are just a few random sketches from my sketchbook.  The flamingos were a wonderful experiment into a range of styles i could play with from very graphic to realistic-ish.  It's hard to know what kind of style i should pursue in my illustration work, but i feel that the flamingo in the top right was very successful and i think it might be a style worth looking into.

Wanna guess who this guy is?  Ignoring the fact he has a totally cliche puppet politician body (i hate me too for that decision), can you tell me the name of this famous person?  If not, i will probably cry and call into question my abilities as a caricature artist.  i do plan on reworking him at some point, but for now this is where he stands (or hangs! cuz he's on strings and all!  hehehe)

Last but certainly not least, i drew a pic of my room and then filled it with random creatures.  Simple and fun!

Valentine's day

I was with Jordan over the weekend at his parent's house where we celebrated Valentine's day with super amounts of enthusiasm and gusto.  Gusto meaning his awesome mom April gave us homemade chocolate pretzels and other sweets, while his dad Jeff got us Pasties from a local business (Delicious and a must try).  Jordan and i on the other hand did practically nothing, which is frankly okay with me.  He's amazing every day so one day makes no difference to me.  Any way, i at least wanted to do something for his mom and dad even though i don't have much to offer other than my deep appreciation for them in every way.  The artist that i am, drew a picture.  My love bursting out towards them.  Its not my fault that my love is made of rabbits. 

New Friends!

 
Living out here in Mechanicsburg gets frustrating for me at times because all of my art friend are over two hours away.  I miss the times that we went to life drawing sessions together or the ever amusing drink and draws at the coffee shop in Bethlehem.  Moving to a new place usually means meeting new people, but because my job takes me out of state, it makes it harder to meet like minded people.

For reasons beyond excuse, i finally looked up possible places online to life draw for free.  I thought life drawing would be a good place to start in my quest to connect to people.  I stumbled upon a Central PA Meet group that was meeting that night in a church and decided to just go for it.  It turned out to be just like those nights i spent with my friends at the classes and the drink and draws.  The conversation was great and i drew a lot of doodles that i'm proud of.  And i talked way too much about caricatures, but am realizing more and more just how much that one job decision two years ago changed me forever.

Here are my sketches from last night.  Page one is from the small chapel (where an old man was snoring behind us and i felt thoroughly uncomfortable where people are praying and crying) and the second is from the bar we went to afterwards.

Experiment!

Today, i wanted to try something new with my artwork since i get bored fairly easily with whatever process i am doing at the time. So i experimented by drawing a picture of my rat Lou and coloring him differently than i would normally.  I still havent figured out how to finish my pieces properly or in a way that works for me so i put it in illustrator just to see what would happen.  I also find it funny that i experimented with a rat. The first and last one done were not done with illustrator.

south florida

about a week ago, i returned to Pennsylvania after a two week long fair in West Palm Beach.  I was finally able to work with Nick Mitchell and Sean Gardner which i have been dying to do since i met them.  Knowing my desire to learn coupled with my super human sponging ability :) i busted out some of my best work yet! my coloring is getting better but still is pretty awful and i have a long way to go yet.  But i will say that this trip was a dream come true!

I swear that is how he looked when he came up to the stand, and apparently all the time according to her.  I love when i can capture a personality :)

This one is probably my favorite one from the fair.  both faces came out just the way i wanted them to, the line work was solid, and they were amazing customers.  Definitely 2 thumbs way up!

New Year

I have an iPad, and i already know what you're thinking.  Big iPod right?  Oh so wrong my friend.  I can do just about anything on this bad boy, including digital painting.  I got this program called sketchbook Pro that allows me to do most of the basic digital painting and drawing with the touch of a fingertip.  It helps when you are on the road and need to do that sketch everyday but find you have no paper or pens.  So here are a few rough paintings i started.  The first i did during the superbowl. i swear I was rooting for the steelers.

Suprise! the last one was created by my cousin melissa after some coaxing.  I actually really like its simplicity and coloring.  And she claims she is no artist.  P-Shaw is what i say to that.  Go Mo!