Sketchbook Update: Drawings on Wood

Actually, this is less of a "sketchbook update" and more of a "hey look at some of the art that has been consuming my life for the better part of the last year."

I know I've always had spotty attendance on this here blog, but I'm never really all that idle when it comes to creating things. And though I haven't been posting tons of refashions lately (though to be fair, I do have a few sewing related things to share once I photograph them) I have been busting my buns when it comes to my art related stuff.

As I may have shared (who knows-- I don't always divulge a lot of personal stuff on here for reasons), I received my Bachelor's Degree in Art Education back in 2014. Since then, I have been teaching high school art, but I've decided to take a new path and leave my teaching position and go back to graduate school to pursue my Master's. So the past year has been a pretty crazy time-- creating a whole new portfolio, exhibiting my artwork in across state lines, applying and subsequently being rejected by different schools; ya know, all sorts of fun stuff.

But I can happily say that I've been accepted into an amazing MFA program and will be going back to school (and teaching for the university!) this fall. What's the point of this whole story? It's just my roundabout way of explaining why I'm showing you a bunch of weird drawings on wood. So without further ado, here's just a handful of some of the things that I've been creating:

I've basically been drawing a lot of things about birds. Because let's be real-- birds are so amazing and important and wow.

I've also been working hard on trying to develop my own techniques, which have been this whole colored pencil/graphite on wood deal.

These certainly aren't all the arts that I have been working on, but I felt like sharing a few things to show that I'm not dead. Soooooo... yeh. I'll just leave these drawings here.

Now, I need to get off my lazy butt and photograph all the other crafty things that I've been working on.


Linking up:
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Drawing with Toned Paper

Prior to going to college, I had never worked with toned paper before (please don't shun me).
Fear not though for I have seen the light. And oooh child. Yeah.

I've really been loving getting back into working with this type of paper. All toned paper is, in case anyone else out there is like poor little former-me, is colored drawing paper. Usually a mid tone, like grey or tan or something. And if you consider yourself an artist, or even a dabbler, trust me. It's great and you should try it, even if just for funzies.

I recently (as in like... a few months ago) decided to partake in a good ol' treat yo' self moment and purchased a tan toned sketchbook. And I dabbled around with creating a few things:

Such as some P-Cap eyes. Which, if you watched the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, hopefully you can recognize those intense attack eyebrows. I actually gave this one away to my good friend Ginger, so he's happily hanging on her wall.

But I kept this one for myself because get it? Toned paper? With a toned dude? Shut up, I'm witty okay.

The thing that I love about working with toned paper is that it gives you a good starting point for laying out all of your values. If you find drawing or shading to be daunting or scary because the white of your paper is taunting your very existence, then I highly recommend giving toned paper a go. It takes away the fear of the dreaded white canvas, which allows you to focus all of your attention on just plugging in your key highlights and shadows. Also, you don't have to do quite as much shading because your mid tone is already there. You don't have to blend it out and establish it for yourself.

Also, when working with color, you're able yo use more of your lighter hues because they appear much more rich and vivid on the toned surface, rather than being washed out like they tend to be on white paper.

One of my most favorite recent pieces I've done on tones paper is this moon and antlers, which actually got a good scan of because I decided to remove it from the actual sketchbook for once. I decided to frame the original and I have it hanging in my apartment which is kind of neat because I've never displayed my art in like... my actual living space before. This is a new thing for me.

But I have a confession. After I bought this tan sketchbook, I realized you can't just have one toned sketchbook in one color. That's like... art law right? Shhh, just go with my logic. So I decided to buy a hard bound grey sketchbook as well because treat yo' self.

And I christened it with this dudely dude. Because I unabashedly love drawing good-looking dudes. I'm not ashamed to admit that.


So really, I just wanted to take a moment to make a fangirl post about how much I love toned paper. But here is the take-away hopefully--

Pros of working with toned paper:
- Your mid value is established already, which allows you to spend more time on your highlights and shadows.
- You can use a wider range of colors due to the fact that light hues don't disappear.
- This is a really good type of paper if you find shading on white paper to be scary.

Cons of working with toned paper:
- None. There are no cons. Shhhhhh.


Also, side note, but I'm getting back in touch with my Esty account, so if anyone is interested in prints of these artworks, or of any of my works, please let me know!

Linkin' up:
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Zentangles Vol. 1

(Why volume one? Because shhhhh. There will probably most likely be more.)


So I realized that I haven't posted any of my artwork in a while, and I don't really know why that is. It's not like I stopped drawing once I graduated, though I do admit that now that I have a full time job, it does kind of put a strain on my free-time/ability to function.

So I've decided that I want to start posting my artwork again because why not. This is a creative space, no? :]


One thing that I've been doing a lot of lately is doodling random zentangles/ patterned pieces. Though I have a confession to make-- I didn't know they were called zentangles until like... two years ago. I always just referred to this type of art as just non-representational works (thanks, good ol' art history class) so now I feel so pretentious calling them zentangles. Don't judge meeeee. Eh.

The thing that I really like about zentangles is that I find them so mindless and stress relieving to do. There's no pressure to draw them "right." You don't have to worry about proportions or shading or have making them look like something specific. They're just so.... monotonous but in a really good way? Does that even make sense?

 The way that I usually start mine is that I typically choose a motif or a couple of motifs. Then I just repeat those shapes over and over until I have a general flow that I like. It also helps me to think about positive and negative space, and whether I'm leaving any room for the eye to "breathe" (such as how I left large spaces of plain black and white in the above ones).

And not all my designs are successful either. Like the one above? Not much of a fan. But I like to keep my mistakes and finish them because I sometimes the process of just creating something is what is important, not necessarily the finished product.

I also bought a 24 pack of sharpies not that long ago and am having fun just messing around with them. By no means is my coloring neat, but hey, at least this was fun.

(Fun fact-- this one was actually made from cutting up and collaging some weird demon money that this eccentric magic shop owner gave me....long story, not shady at all....)

And sometimes the zentangles find their way into my regular, more representational drawings. I actually thought about cutting my hair like that (that's why I drew this) but then I realized that I am a giant baby nerd and would miss my hair too much.

But like I said-- I hope to get better at posting my artwork some more. When I started this blog, I really thought I would be doing more of the artsy posting, but that got a little bit away from me. So my question is-- would y'all like to see more? Or would you like me to explain my process/any art processes? Because I'd love to do more of that if you all are interested :]


Linkin up:
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March/April Sketchbook

Heeeey friends :]

I thought I would share a peek at my sketchbook from the last two months. There isn't anything too special going on, but I'm going to try and sketch more over summer to keep myself fresh. So here we are!

Here we have some pencil sketches of one of my OC's [with one of my fave quotes from Christopher Palu. I love that man so much. Y'all don't even KNOW.]

And cats because yeah.

At one point I took my students on a field trip to the Art Institute and ended up doing some studies of the Greek sculptures they have there.

Because come on-- marble sculpted fabric? Art-gasmic. I have mad respect for anyone who can carve marble.

I also recently got into the show Attack on Titan, which is pretty cool. Armin is def my fave character because I have a weak spot for my fellow nerds.

And Eren of course because why not.

I haven't been doing a lot of full-color drawings lately, but I did manage to finish one of my OC Esther.

And last, but hella not least, I think it's pretty well established how much I love Party King Thrandy. Ugh. I can't.


Linkin' Up:
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January/February Sketchbook

Remember that one time that I said I was going to do monthly sketchbook updates? Yeah, I forgot last month's haha. But I didn't mean to! Promise! Things and stuff have just been crazy and yeah.

I haven't had the MOST time for art these past two months, but I've been trying to sneak in a sketch here and there. I was able to do a few things at the beginning of January before school started, but ever since then I've been a bit more sporadic.

But I do have a few things to share:

I don't know if y'all know this... But I FREAKING LOVE THRANDUIL. You know-- Party King? Legolas's dad from the Hobbit? No? Just me? Okay, well I love him because he is just so fab. So so fab.

Then just sketching some crystals [and I love how you can see the ghost of King Thrandy in the background haha].

I also drew a picture of my friend's original character for her, Delaney, but I still don't really like how he turned out...

And then Jaqen H'Ghar because yeah.

At the beginning of January I also went on a big blue Sharpie kick. This would be exhibit A.

Aaaaand exhibit B. Have I ever mentioned how much I love drawing hipster hair? Because I def do.

\

Finally, the last one is completely my roommate's fault. She lent me her markers and told me to draw something uncreative. Which then turned into a reference from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. [If you value your sanity, don't youtube that. Trust me.]

Anyway, I just thought I'd show y'all a little bit of what I have been up to!

Linkin' up:

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December Sketchbook and Goodbye 2013

Is it really time to say goodbye to 2013?
Really? I just got used to writing 2013 as part of the date...

Ah well, such is life. On to bigger and better things, right?

For my last post of this year, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of what has amassed in my sketchbook since the last time that I shared my artwork. Nothing too fancy, but I wanted to put it out there anyway [and maybe turn this into a regular monthly update thing].

I love sketching wings.

And cat facial expressions. THEY'RE SO PRECIOUS. Especially since the one on top is basically a self-portrait...

And who doesn't love red pandas? But for real though-- does anyone know what kind of sound they make? Because I imagine it being like a muffled hrrfrrfrrrr or something.

I also managed to ACTUALLY do some colored sketches too. This one was inspired my compass roses.

And sexy magicians. Nuff said.

Oh yeah, and welcome my newest OC-- Micah. He's another precious babe :] Because I have an obsession of making a disproportionate amount of male OCs... I regret NOTHING.

I mean come on, look at that little faaaaace! [and the amount of washing out that my scanner did!]


But anyway, I hope to be able to draw more in 2013. The last semester really limited my amount of free time, but hopefully I'll be able to accomplish more in 2014--


[maybe] Linkin' up:
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Trail Club Commissions

Hoo boy
Who would have thought life could get so busy, so quickly?

So while I haven't been able to do a lot of sewing or art for fun, I can still share my commissions :]

A little while back I finished a rendering of a bridge for the trail club near me. While it was definitely time consuming, I think that the outcome was well received:

Then this past week, the club commissioned me again to do some line drawings for a poster/ handout thing he's making. Just some simple hands:

Unfortunately I could only make this dinky collage of the hands because although I got a new scanner, I can't get it to work for the life of me haha. I ordered some new ink for it hoping that that would be the fix, so we'll just have to wait and see I guess!


Have a happy Tuesday--

Linkin' up Here and Here!

It's good to be back :'D

Hi friends.
Have I ever mentioned that I greatly enjoy oil painting?:

I swear, that is the FASTEST oil painting I have ever done.... 2 and a half days.... 16 x 20 inches... I don't even. NOT SLEEPING IS FUN, YEAH?
Oldest brother has been bothering me for the longest time that I should paint him a picture of a cow for his house. EEEEVERY time I see him, he asks "Where is my cow painting?" And I, like the loving sister I am, blatantly ignore his requests [I'm terrible].

So, in my free time I finally painted him a Christmas cow.


Look out for more nonsensical artwork in the month to come, I guess :]




PS: Linkin' up to these great PARTIES.

Art Post

So I took some pictures of some of the art I finished a little while ago. I'm allowed to share my art, right? Right. Otherwise it just sits in my sketchbook, which then proceeds to get thrown on the floor, which then proceeds to get sat on by Kitty.

This one was for my friend Ginger because she had a biiiiiirthday last week. So I drew her her pirate character, Senka. Pirates are always good, yeah? Seriously, it would be great to be a pirate for a week. Boats, swords, and SO MUCH FACIAL HAIR. Sign me up, man.

And then some time ago I drew my Betta fish Apollo as if he were a human. Cause he is always a Grumps McGee.

And I think I'm going to start sharing my art more regularly haha.

The Infamous Driftwood

I have always wanted to try painting on found objects.
Artists have been doing it for  fo-eva, and the other day I thought, "Hey, Becca. Why not just go ahead and do it already?"

And then the opportunity presented itself. I had the perfect object, and this was the perfect time. I painted... the Infamous Driftwood Bark.

Now, this piece of bark and me go way back. Well, not that far back really, but it still has a bit of history haha.
But one day this spring, actually it was one of the first nice days in spring, my friend Carolyn and her fiance Caleb invited some friends and I to a park that was just outside of campus. We grilled out, partook in some shenannigous behaviour [nothing illegal! We're some of the few good college kids out there, honestly!] and sang songs accompanied by my friend Andrew and his lovely guitar skills. But anyway, while trying to find stuff for our fire, Carolyn and I came across this little beauty. It was the coolest piece of bark because it actually kind of looked like driftwood.
So I brought the thing home, despite some odd looks from strangers and security guards, and put it outside of my dorm room door. My roommate wouldn't allow it inside...
But I told Carolyn that I was going to turn it into the tackiest thing I could think of and then give it to her for her wedding [which is this Saturday!!]. And if she ever got rid of it I would cry forever.
So the wood sat outside my door. Aaaand it sat there. And I put a note on it saying "Please don't steal me! I'm destined to have wolves and peace pipes painted on me!" And, despite the fact that I left it outside my door for THREE MONTHS, no one took it! hahaha

Tellin' you. Destiny. That's why it remained here.
And now I finally painted it and made it as tacky and cliche as I could. And am giving it to Carolyn tonight.
SO EXCITE.

 Behold it's Native American-inspired  glory...

I wish I would have taken a little more time to plan this one out though, because it's clearly not the best painting heh heh. Instead of sketching or doing any sort of practice, I just started painting freehand on the wood with acrylic. Oh acrylic, how we have such a complicated past...

POP

I stepped outside this morning to the most beautiful thing:
It wasn't eight million degrees out. YAAAAAS.

In my spare time this week, I've been makin' some crafty things, writing letters, and doing a little AFF [art for fun!]
Here is the latest drawing that I've been able to finish this week:

I really wish I had a method to my drawing... or that I could do a series or have a consistent style... [or that I could take better pictures haha]
But that's not going to happen any time soon... I have too much art ADD.


But yeeaaahhh, happy Sunday :]