Monday, February 27, 2012

Grace's Birthday Card!







Today is Grace's birthday, so I made this card for her yesterday. She LOVES raccoons, and I had a blast illustrating an animal I hadn't drawn before. Super quick piece; I don't think I spent more than two hours on it.

I filled a Rapidograph technical pen with Liquitex Professional Acrylic ink! (Dioxazine Purple) and set to work. I achieved the watercolor look with the same ink, using a bit of gouache and acrylic paint to fill out the white areas.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Fun with "studio" lighting: Oaxacan sculptures and more!
































After switching up my lighting arrangement for my art desk, I realized I had an ideal setup to photograph my own still life photos for future colored pencil illustrations.

The giraffe, cat, and turtle are all genuine Oaxacan wood carvings my grandmother had purchased for me several years ago during her trips to Mexico with my grandfather. My parents and brother brought them up when they visited during Christmas. They're wonderful inspiration and will help shape more of my Oaxacan Animal pieces.

I brought the vertebra back from my San Carlos trip last summer. I searched for images of similar bones, but I still have no clue what animal it comes from.

I would like to add some still life pieces to my portfolio, so I grabbed some purchased / found / gifted rocks and items for this purpose.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Oaxacan Tree Frog, Stage 3 DONE!

^ I prepare to color the left hind leg. 

^ I start off by outlining parts of the calf and foot with Verithins. 

^ I use the Peacock Blue Verithin to add some complementary
shading to the far toes. The blue pinky toe was primed with the
Tuscan Red Verithin. 

^ Foot finished! 

^ Calf completed with Dioxazine Purple Hue, Violet,
and Parma Violet. Metatarsals are Peacock Blue. 

^ Outlined with Peacock Blue, Peacock Green,
and Orange Verithins. A bit of priming done with Peacock Blue. 

^ Chartreuse and Apple Green added. 

^ The Frog itself is complete! Now for the vines and leaves. 

^ I cover as much of the Frog as possible prior
to starting the vines. 

^ Vines primed with Tuscan Red Verithin. 

^ Closeup of the crossed vine ends. 

^ More priming layers added with Peacock Green and
Apple Green Verithins. 

^ The right-hand vine is well on its way to done! 

^ Impromptu first aid: masking tape and Band-Aids for
a tender thumb and callus. I later ditched the masking tape
and kept a Band-Aid only on the callus. 

^ More priming on the left-hand vine. 

^ Spiral pattern impressed onto each leaf. 

^ Leaf stems quickly colored. 

^ Leaves primed with Peacock Green. 

^ Spiral patterns colored with Pomegranate. 

^ Closeup showing colored spiral pattern. 

^ I color the middle part of each leaf with Dioxazine Purple Hue.
I used up about one third of this pencil for the project. A new favorite! 

^ Showing the difference between painted (above toes)
and primed (below toes).

^ The Oaxacan Tree Frog is DONE!
Colors corrected in Photoshop.

This final haul was slightly longer than last night's. Total time spent on the Oaxacan Tree Frog was about 10.6 hours.

Thank you for following its progress!