Holy Cow!

     Those of you who have been watching for a while may be aware that this is the time of year I usually post a rant/emo weep-fest about being rejected again from the art programs at BYU. For years I have deflected that age old college question, "What's your major?" by telling people, "I'm studying art." Notice, no claim of being an art major. I haven't been. For years I have been applying and being rejected from one department and the next.
     You may have noticed that there is no rant yet. And there shall not be one. I don't need to whine about rejection. I'm bigger than that.
     And I was accepted into BYU's Illustration department.
     See above.

Left Handed Fun

     This is the first thing that I have been able to draw for the past four weeks with my right hand. I have spent many fruitless hours trying to draw with my left hand, and while I can see some real possibilities, the hideous scribbles I have thus far accomplished have been relegated to the flames, so no one may ever know the pain of my failures.
     But why? I hear you asking. Why would I try to draw with my left hand? I was not inspired by the great southpaws of history and I was not trying to "branch out" in my creative process. I just broke my right collar bone and couldn't draw without crying because it hurt so much.
     It happened while I was in Chicago with the BYU Singers at the American Choral Directors Association conference.
     Living in safe little Provo, I tend to forget how dangerous it can be out there in the real world. Rogue gangs of ninjas roaming the streets looking for hapless victims. Fortunately for me, I have a great deal of hap when it comes to ninjas. But they were not looking to pick a fair fight. Instead of ambushing me directly, they directed their heartless attacks against my innocent, and very expensive new camera. In order to save the expensive, shiny toy, I had to sacrifice my own well being and it now owes me its life and has sworn to serve me faithfully forever.
     In layman's terms, I tripped and fell and landed on my shoulder trying to protect my new camera that was hanging around my neck. Boo.
     And that is why this is the first thing out of my right hand in weeks. Don't ask for the left handed stuff. You can't see it. Ever.

Go Figure!

Most of the time, when someone says that they are "crunching figures" they mean that they are doing math homework or balancing their checkbook or something. When I say it, I mean I'mma draw nekkid people.

For the Birds

This post and those berries are. For birds. Like this one. These little yellow birds bring me no end of joy each spring as they careen through Provo on their way to where ever it is they go. I love the way they hop around and squabble with each other like five year olds and almost choke trying to drop those berries the size of their own skulls down their gullets. Gagging aside, it's sort of endearing. This piece is my celebration of graduating from Blegh to meh on my ability with acrylics.

Edit: So I updated this image. I printed it and added another layer of acrylics, colored pencil and ink. To good effect I think.

My Latest Travesty

So, you might think that after years of practice and training I might be able to actually produce art. This is as close as I've managed to get over the past month. Meet Jenny Greenteeth. She's scary. I actually thought of this one while I was reading The Dresden Files. Rereading actually. I'm kind of stoked for the next book to come out in April. And if you think that you're going to find this in any of these books, you won't. Jim Butcher uses Jenny Greenteeth, but she's just a beautiful fairy woman with green teeth and a penchant for drowning things that like to breathe air. Which sticks to the folklore version of her pretty well, aside from the beautiful part. I originally had the woman shaped lure coming out of the top of the monster's head like an angler fish, but I think I like this better.

The Process.

Alright, so someone asked me to post up a sequence of images outlining my process. I can't imagine why, but here you go:

 First I block out the local colors on my drawing (sorry, can't find my line art, it wasn't great. :P) Then I block in basic areas of light and shadow.

 I didn't really like the composition on the original, the princess was just too small

 Still working on composition, I just wasn't getting the feel I wanted out of the image, so I closed the dragon's eyes and changed the ambient light from blue to red. Also, darkening up the shadows and making the form read.

 Moving into the details. Added texture to the dragon and strings to the lute. At this point I was pretty happy with where the dragon was at, but I was still afraid to touch the girl. People are hard.

 Changed my mind about the red. Did not make me happy and didn't bring out the story the way I would have liked. Purple works better. I also changed the composition a little and gave princess Brat some more space. Also, fire.

You may notice that I don't touch the dragon except for a few touch ups after this. I was pretty pleased with him. I've started adding in the rest of the background of the scene (which I should have done from the beginning) and I tried to start on the girl. Ew.

Bookshelf, Fire, and little to no progress on the girl. I also removed the remaining line art and changed the background from a corner to cavern.

Did I load the same image twice?

Turned the girl into a blue troll. Suck.

Sought professional advice. Added some texture and finally got the girl to look human. Yay!

And the final image. Added some last minute details and texture to make awesome. This is the turning point in the story of Princess Brat and the Dragon where the princess first tries to be civil without the threat of being munched. Is a good job.

Once Again Upon a Time

As promised, the original storyteller, Scheherazade. The Arabic, kindly supplied by the BYU Arabic department, reads: Scheherazade, King, and Once Upon a Time. My little foray into acrylics and crazy ink was fun, instructional, and humbling. I may wait a bit before doing anything like that again.