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Got a cold. Recovering soon.

Hello all.

I haven’t updated for a while. That’s because I got sick. I’m getting better, but it’s slow.

In the meantime, listen to this awesome song. I’ve had it on repeat for the past day and a half.

P.S. I know the annotations are annoying. There’s a little button that looks like a speech balloon on the box. Just click it to turn them off.

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Make Practice Sketching MORE Fun!

Ok, so since I’m a dork for reading, I was roaming the internet and found a user on conceptart.org, by the name of Seedling (this person has since stopped contributing to the site, BUT) who gives totally-not-lame practices for wannabe concept artists. (Like, oh I don’t know, myself).

One of Seedling’s practices is her first: From Life to Imagination. The goal? First draw something from sight. THEN, draw the same object with a twist. Did you draw a car? Then draw it again in a steampunk design, or underwater, or turn it into a jet airplane, or anything else you want! This applies to objects, people, and landscapes. Draw a pond? Add a sea monster! and so on.

The second practice is called Art Direction: artists are notorious for not being able to work on a team, or to work with someone who wants them to draw the same project ALL OVER AGAIN and they don’t want to do it because it ruins the original artistic idea. This game is a little wordy to explain, but I shall do my best…

First, look at the blurb she wrote. Note that there are 20 directions (like “make it creepy”, “draw it again from a different perspective”, “replace a part of it with an African element”, or other variations).

First, draw something. Anything. Then, either roll a 20 sided dice (known to us illustrious nerds as a D-20) or make slips of paper with the numbers on them and drop them into a hat. Roll the dice/draw a number without looking, and then redraw what you drew following those directions.

I hope you enjoyed this! Now go out and draw! :D

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Finished Sketches, with COLOR!

So, because @callouscomics asked me to on Twitter, and because I was working on this anyway, here’s a sample of my color skills with an Artist Trading Card I just finished:

Prismacolor colored pencils, baby!

I also have another Artist Trading Card, this time in plain old ink:

I love my dragons. :3

OH! And I have one more: I’m thinking of making more cards like this for Animarathon (a one-day anime convention in March) as merchandise. There would be other characters, of course, but what do you think? Let me know in the comments!

I actually really like that shading technique. :D

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Current Work in Progress

Currently I’m adding inks to my pencil sketch, shown here in my screenshot. The actual image I’m inking is much bigger than this, but I was working on some finer details.

I really like this new piece. Once I’m done inking it, I’m going to color it in MyPaint. Unlike a lot of artists, I don’t really have a message to get across in this piece: I just thought it looked cool.

I’m hoping to have it finished and ready for sale at Animarathon. It’s a one-day anime convention held once a year in March here at my college campus. I have an artist alley table there! WOO!

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Navajo Reservation Community Service I Shall Serve in May, and the Lack of Money to Pay for It.

Hey everyone!

I am writing this letter to ask you to help me in participating in a trip to the Navajo Reservation in May. The Reservation is located in New Mexico and Arizona. Our trip is being sponsored by BGSU Arts Village and UCF community service program.
While on the Navajo Reservation we will visit schools, tutor children, work on projects to combat erosion, and help repair fences and roofs. Unlike many service-learning trips, the service work we do on the Navajo Reservation is not as important as the relationships we will make while we are on the reservation. The trip is designed around giving us opportunities to interact with people who are very different from the people we usually spend time with. More important than the service we do – we have the ability to ask important questions about how people experience life differently from the way we do. Before we can truly serve a community we have to learn how people experience the joys and sorrows of their everyday life.
As you may know that there is much poverty on the Navajo reservation and other reservations in the U.S. but there are also people who have dedicated their lives to improving the conditions of others. We will meet people on the reservation who are working on solutions to the problems such as poor schools, alcohol abuse, housing, and ecology. Most interestingly we will spend time with healers who will show us traditional ways the Navajo people solved their problems.
The cost of the trip is $400.00 per student, which covers transportation food and camping, but we need to raise one thousand dollars more for honorariums and supplies that we purchase on the reservation. 
I realize the economy is bad and you may not have extra money but you should consider a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help us with the cost of the trip. This experience will be beneficial to me because I know I will gain by doing something that will help another person, and it will be beneficial for the people we will meet on the reservation, because it will show them that we care enough to come all the way from Ohio to learn about their culture.
If you are able to contribute to this trip I will send you a collection of comics and a piece of art based on my experiences there. Please send your donations by PayPal by the PayPal button on the side.  You could also send a check to UCF, P.O. box 1463, Bowling Green, Ohio 43402. If you have any questions about the trip you can email Bill Thompson, director of UCF wthomp@bgsu.edu or Gordon Rickets, director of Arts Village gordonr@bgsu.edu.
You guys are awesome! Thank you so much in advance!