BRAINSICK: Jessie's Pic!

This drawing has been four years in the making. It didn't take four years to create, but it's been an ongoing joke between me and my friend Jessie.

When we met summer 2007 at AIPD, we were so taken with each other's art that we decided to do an art trade with our characters; she requested Paranoid, Lily, and Decay from Brainsick.

If we passed by each other in the halls, Jessie would ask (always in good humor), "Where's my picture, Jill?" This continued throughout the years until her recent graduation, when she announced, "I have your picture, Jill!" But in my rush to meet up with some other friends and get out of the crowded Governor's Hotel, I didn't see her again that night.

We're meeting up tomorrow, and she described what she drew for her half of the trade. I was going to continue working on the Oaxacan Hummingbird tonight, but Jessie has waited a long time for my half of the trade, and I felt a spark of inspiration for it.

Stay tuned for another update with the final inks!

Oaxacan Hummingbird: finished lineart!

^ Finished lineart, using Col-Erase and Prismacolor Verithins (Crimson Red and Peacock Green) for the flowers, and Rapidograph technical pen sizes 3x0 (.25) and 00 (.30) for the Hummingbird.

At estimate, the lineart took about two hours to complete. Good practice, because it's been a while since I've done any cleanup work.

Oaxacan Hummingbird: sketch!

^ Refined Col-Erase sketch drawn on final sheet of vellum bristol.

The next step is to lightly ink the drawing with a ballpoint pen - but I'm considering using a fine technical pen size instead.

Oaxacan Hummingbird: template and color study!

^ Refined sketch in my sketchbook (the one Laryssa and Britt got me for my birthday earlier this year!). I worked from photo references from Tony Tilford's The Complete Book of Hummingbirds. This hummer is a mashup of the Sparkling Violet-Ear and Tufted Coquette hummingbirds.

^ Color palette for the Oaxacan Hummingbird, minus black. I chose bolder hues complemented by more vibrant counterparts.

^ Template for the Hummingbird, photocopied from my sketchbook.

^ It's not too obvious, but one photocopy is a 120%; the other 115%.

^ Color palette and color study.

^ Finished color study!

^ Scanned color study.

This Hummingbird is going to be a joy to work on, especially because I've concepted it before starting the final piece.

Oaxacan Hummingbird: sketches and color palette!

^ Thumbnails and a bit of fun (some will be familiar with my Angry Hummingbird).

^ More thumbnails and a closeup; I wanted to work out some of my patterns and textures before committing them to the final piece.

^ A full-body study.

^ Color palette for the hummingbird. I'm using bold hues complemented by lighter hues for accents; I will include black, too.

^ Another full-body study. I like the thumbnail in which the hummer's wings are pointed down better; hummingbirds are flexible, but the wings-down pose looks more natural.

Expect to see some more studies and progress soon!

Why Paranoid Fears Hummingbirds

^ 2005

^ 2007

^ 2011

I wanted to share a bit of humor featuring my dear Paranoid. This cartoon began in 2005; at some point, I would like to make a short comic about it.

Guidance Dogs: Great Dane final!

^ The rest of the background has been primed.

^ Tinting with a complementary blue.

^ Impressed dots on the nose for texture.

^ Finished nose!

^ With so many layers of color built up, the illustration - after being buffed with a cotton ball - becomes very shiny and semi-reflective.

^ The final Great Dane.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this piece. The background gave me the most trouble; I kept overthinking the use of complements for the underpainting, and thus the middle part is disruptive. BUT, it was a good lesson for myself.

On to the Rhodesian Ridgeback!

Guidance Dogs: Great Dane progress!

I began working on this Dane before the Oaxacan Big Cat, but its progress has been painfully slow.

It's my first contract job, one I was (and am) truly thrilled to be a part of, but my habit of falling prey to discouragement has been strong recently. The project's owner, Kirsten L., did encourage me to share my progress on each dog, so I felt that sharing it - as I did with the Big Cat - will help me get it done.

The colors are a mix of Prismacolor and Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils. The Dane's coat color / pattern is harlequin.

^ Earliest scanned stage of the Great Dane: the dog is lightly inked with a ballpoint pen, and the foreground is colored.

^ More of the ground plane has been primed, and the mountain in the background is primed as well; I used complements to make my hues bolder. (Pardon the vibrancy differences between scans; I should have color-corrected them all at once rather than separately.)

^ Local tones applied to the mountain. I hadn't meant for it to look so green, but my aunt and Camille assured me that it looks fine. Guess I'll stick with it!

^ As with the background, I used complements on the Dane itself to help its markings pop. A bit overboard in hindsight, but the end result will look nice.

^ Spots that were orange become Navy Blue, then black.

^ More Navy Blue spots...

^ ...are now completely black.

I will finish this dog as soon as possible so I can continue working on my next dog, the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Oaxacan Big Cat: studies and sketches!

Something I never did with past illustrations was make color studies in a sketchbook to plan certain areas before committing them to paper. This proved very helpful with the Big Cat, even if I didn't have a predetermined color palette. I plan on choosing specific color schemes for the upcoming animals in the series.

Oaxacan Big Cat, Stage 7 COMPLETE!

^ Color study made in my faux-Moleskine sketchbook, buffed with a cotton ball.

^ Preparation for the final portion of the Big Cat - and fun with a lamp.

^ Regular lighting. Most of the colored areas / background are safe from smudges and particles.

^ Numbers penciled in following color study to help place colors correctly.

^ Priming at the base of the tail.

^ Most of the tail at this point has been primed.

^ Closeup of the tip of the tail.

^ Repeated impressed spot pattern from the legs.

^ Tail finished!

Final stage of the Big Cat - but it needs something...

^ More contrast is the answer, and a repeated spiral motif mimicking that on the shoulder. Spiral gently scraped into bristol with an X-Acto knife to remove top layer.

^ The Oaxacan Big Cat is COMPLETE!

Thank you for following its progress. It means a lot to me!

A scan of the illustration will be up soon.

Next up in the series: Oaxacan Hummingbird.