Latest Sula

Here is my latest redesign for my main character. This is my favorite, so far. Now I just need to re-design all the other characters to match her.

Waitress

Here is something I did from a sketch in my character design class. I have a serious problem with backgrounds and just can't figure out what to do here. I want something very simple, but fitting as well.

The Model

This is an illustration that originated as a doodle that I did during class last week. Playing around with a more muted color palettes. Coping other artists has really helped me improve my own abilities.

Keep on Truckin!

Here is my latest self portrait. With some helpful advice from my Character Design teacher I feel like I am getting closer!

Here's some of my figure drawing from my class last week. I loved our models attitude! She was so fun to draw!

Kyburz the Quizzical!

Here's a painting of one of my sweet little kitties! I'm hoping to eventually follow this with a painting of my other sweet kitty.

Starting my first day of my last semester tomorrow. Here we gooooooo!!!!

Self Portrait...?

I think I mentioned this in previous posts, but doing a self portrait has been one of my biggest challenges. I just can't seem to get it right. I even try to simplify like I have seen so many of my fellow artists do, but then it just looks like I drew a brunette woman instead of myself. When I try to be realistic it never looks right either. I'm going to keep trying till I get it right though. Here is my latest attempt.

Counting down the hours till I start school again for my final semester. I can't help but feel like this semester could really make or break me... My primary concern is that I will do my best and it won't be good enough. I wonder how often other artists feel this way.

C'est La Vie!

Paul Bunyon

Some more photoshop practice. I've been getting a lot of inspiration from the website drawergeeks.com. This is Paul Bunyon as a youngster.

Coming off a very nice weekend celebrating my hubby and I's first year anniversary at my Grandmother's beach house in Morro Bay. Wish we had been there more than a day and a half, it would have been nice to have some time to paint or draw something. My step-grandfather is an artist and his paintings are all over the house. Lot's of inspiration that makes me want to grab a brush and get to work!

Everyone tells us the first year of marriage is the hardest. I told my husband that if the past year was the hardest then we should be pretty good for the future!

The Chic Chef

Here's some more digital painting practice. This is after I discovered Sarah Mensinga. She's my new favorite artist!

The face is very similar to Sarah's stuff, but I put her in a Chef's outfit because I've been watching a lot of cooking shows lately. I'm a sucker for Master Chef. It's just so neat to see what they come up with!

Starting school next week. Hopefully this will be my last semester. I'm trying to think happy thoughts and not scared out of my mind thoughts!

Chow for now!

Star Wars Study

Practicing my digital painting. I have a really hard time doing studies like this because it just seems wrong to not at least try and create something that's only mine, that's original. However, my painting isn't improving and I think doing copies like this would probably help. The one on the left is by Greg Peltz. He did a whole Victorian Star Wars series that is on his blog and it is fantastic! So considering Star Wars is one of my favorite topics, I thought I would kick off my studies with this. Mine definitely isn't a mirror image, but I'm fairly satisfied with it!

Finger Lickin' Good!

Summer is going by quickly and I still have so much to get done! In the mean time, here is a label I made for some homemade BBQ sauce that I cooked up for my friend's housewarming party. It's kind of weird having a pig on it, like some sort of cannibalism, but I just didn't have the time to come up with something else.

Dale- Chip Soon to Follow...maybe

Here's a character I decided to render. Created him awhile ago based on the shape of a bowling pin and somehow he turned into a goofy Chip and Dale character. Ever seen that sketch with Chris Farley and Patrick Swazye? No? Well google it! There's my inspiration!

On summer break, though I wouldn't exactly call it a break. Working on some different projects for some different people. Also trying to get some more stuff done for my portfolio. So far it's just been random characters, like the Butcher's Kids. Starting tomorrow I am going to force myself to do environments. Most specifically environments for my thesis.

The Butcher's Triplets!

After this morning's post I decided I wanted to get this done. Got rid of the rhyme and added a third kid. I just really liked the idea of having three. Sort of an homage to my maiden name- Triplitt for those of you that don't know.

I'm awaiting a facebook critique, so we shall see what happens with these kids!

The Butcher's Kids

Here's some characters I have been working on. They are definitely still in progress as the rhyme doesn't really work with the Son. As a fellow artist pointed out, while he pulls of the dumb look rather well, he certainly doesn't look "quick". So now I must either change him, or change the rhyme. Currently I am leaning toward changing him. Or maybe both, and having triplets (pun intended ;P) instead of twins.

Working towards building up my portfolio and Thesis this summer so I can get a jobby job once I'm finished with school. Also have some side projects going on that are great practice and keep me on my toes!

Mildred the Magnificent!

You might recognize this from a previous post. Here it is, new, improved and in COLOR!!! Try not to let it blow your mind too much.

Now off to find a part time job that won't eat up every weekend of my summer or suck my artsy soul out!

Chow!

Finals Week!

Semester is winding down and I am WAY less stressed since deciding to finish school in the Fall instead of this summer. Hopefully this will lead to a final thesis project that I can really be proud of. I am also planning on spending a lot more time practicing my digital painting instead of rushing to the final paintings I need done for my thesis.

Above is an example of this that I did from a photograph I took. It's still in progress, but then what paintings aren't these days...

Introducing Ms. Snotty

Finally got around to rendering this gal- you might remember her from a sketch in a previous blog post. This is a before and after shot of when I posted her on facebook and then when I reworked her based on the feedback I got.

Really appreciate the critiques I am able to get by simply posting something on FB. It is a tool that I plan to use more often!

Mildred goes to Prom

Here's a character I did the other day during class. I hope to render her in the near future, but who knows when that will happen. The list of stuff I need to do only gets longer, never smaller. Still plugging away at my thesis!

Are you there blog? It's me, Megan...

There's nothing I like more than making a "To Do" list and then crossing off things on it. I started making daily to do lists when I began planning my wedding over a year ago. But the habit stuck. My to do lists always seem to have some sort of focus like house work or errands to run. Lately their primary focus is my thesis or simply schoolwork-which is always my homework now. So here are some things for my thesis that I was able to cross off over spring break.

Latest and greatest

Sooooooo, here's lots of lovely tid bits. Colored line-up, some expression sheets, AND my attempt at 3D rendering. Still have a ways to go, but at least I'm making headway!!

The Usual Suspects

Here is a more recent line up. I tried a new sort of shading technique with outlined cross hatching. Currently working on color roughs, five point turns and expression sheets. Thank goodness for my Inspirational art class and for my instructor Jeremy Saliba. The critiques in that class and his workshop are invaluable to me right now and are basically the reason that I am finally making some headway on my thesis!

In other news,

-I just lost an hour to daylight savings time

-My newest life lesson: I will always be playing catch up! Get used to it and get better at it.

-Joined a new club we are calling "Ideation" that is promising some great networking contacts and a great resource for my work.

Onwards and Upwards

First off, I LOVE my classes this semester. Definitely going to help with my thesis work, but I have a loooooooong way to go and not a lot of time. Here are some designs for my characters. As my instructor pointed out in class last Thursday, they still need some work. But Husband is gone this weekend, so work is all I plan on doing!

Had a very successful trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday with some fellow AAU students. Got LOTS of reference pictures, and some good drawings from life- it is amazing how many different types of fins there are and all the different ways they can be on a fish. I wish it wasn't so far away, or I would go there more. Ok, time for a quick walk with Puppy and then its work work work.

Blogging Like a Boss

I spent all weekend + Monday in Tahoe with Husband. We sat around and played on our new iphones (Valentines day presents to ourselves) and took our dog on long walks by the Lake. These long walks brought to our attention how out of shape we are- though the spare tires we've been dragging around in our middles should have been our first clue.

So upon getting home we decided we are going to be super amazing exercising healthy people. I counted calories and took dog on an extra long walk! THEN I got an app on my phone to keep track of calories. I had to input my height, weight, how much I exercise and my goal weight. The result was that if I eat 1200 calories a day for six weeks then I will loose...

wait for it

building anticipation

4 POUNDS!!!!!!!

As I'm sure you can imagine the motivation that gives me to practically starve myself on a daily basis is about as much as Charlie Sheen's desire to start practicing celibacy.

So I suppose I will have to get a gym membership or start activities that involve less sitting on the couch and more sweating till I feel gross. In the mean time, I will leave you with a self portrait that didn't make the cut last week.

The Person in the Mirror

The way we see ourselves is different than the way others see us. My first assignment for one of my classes this semester was a self portrait. I was excited when I heard this and my head filled with possibilities...however it proved more difficult than I thought.

I don't think I could ever be objective when drawing myself, there are just too many projected emotions, and I found myself creating drawing after drawing with all of them looking different and too few of them looking anything like me.

My first semester at AAU I was assigned to do a self portrait and my teacher was increasingly frustrated with my efforts, as was I. I remember after I brought in my first revision and he said the drawing made it look as thought someone had punched me in the jaw. Exasperated he looked at me and said "you're prettier than this Megan". A nice thing to say- and I can say that since you haven't seen my drawing- but to this day I have been unable to properly take his advice regarding my own self image. I would hope that after two years I had over come this, but it would seem that I still have a ways to go!

Jet Lagged

Zack and I are back from our Thailand honeymoon and the jet lag has been killing me! It's been a week and a half and I still can't get back to a normal sleeping pattern.

Just started school this week and was pleasantly surprised to find that my classes seem to be just what I need right now. Two of them should help me with my thesis quite a bit and the third is in matte painting, a skill which I would like to aquire.

So this is just a bit of character design I am working on for no reason at all. I know, I know, I should really be working on character design for my thesis, but sometimes when you hit a road block it's better to just draw something even if it's not the subject matter you were aiming for. I'm hoping to colorize this fine lady soon too!

Not Enough Time in the day

On break now, and I had all these plans to keep busy and working on my thesis and the layout for my friends thesis. Unfortunately my house and life are still getting in the way. I still have a week before we leave for our Thailand honeymoon, so hopefully after continuing to organize and clean my house and pack/prepare for Thailand I will get some actual work done. In the mean time, here are some paintings I did in my urban landscape class!