Christmas Paintings

Here are a few new paintings I recently completed. They are the same size as the Santa painting I did. Those little 3"x3" canvases are fun and quick to knock out a few paintings in the same day. In the future I could see making a business out of these little guys.



 

Believe

 

One of my favorite Christmas movies is The Polar Express so I wanted to do something based on that. I imagine I should do something with the train next. I wonder how that will work out on that really small canvas?



 

Christmas Candles

 

Candles always say Christmas to me. Especially the colorful ones with gold designs on them. They're like little glowing ornaments.

 



Hung With Care

 

What little child (or grown-up child) hasn't pinned a stocking to the mantle in hopes that Santa would leave it filled with goodies? I wanted to focus on just the stocking for this one but I might go back and do another that includes the whole fireplace.

Link to my Portfolio

For those that don't have the link to my portfolio, here it is. You can come and visit me on Cargo Collective. I plan on posting more of my finer pieces on that site for professional purposes. Use the sidebar on the right to navigate to the different projects. I've included a fullscreen button for better viewing as well. Enjoy!

Christmas Painting

Checking the List

 

 Last year for charity I painted several small 3"x3" canvases with various Christmas themes. I had such a great time doing them last year that I decided to do some more this year. I've even attached string to the back of each so they can eventually be hung from Christmas trees. I have a feeling this will become a Christmas tradition for me. Next year I should probably start in August so I can have them all done by Christmas time. Of course, I'll have to get in the mood by listening to Christmas music, eating peppermint candy canes, and drinking hot chocolate a little earlier than usual. I think I'll be okay with that!

First Watercolor Painting

I did this piece as a commission for a friend. I have been wanting to use watercolor for some time and finally had an excuse to use it. Unfortunately, he needed it rather quickly so there is a lot that didn't get done that I wanted to do. That just gives me an excuse to do another one!

Figure Drawing

Our school has a figure drawing group for students that meets Monday through Thursday every week. Thursday is our extremely long pose day so I took advantage of the extra time and composed this piece. This is the one I'm most proud of so far.


The following represent some of the better pieces done in my freshman year.

Figure Collage

Annika

 

Last pose of the semester

Gestures!

Generating Gestures

I have known for awhile that my characters lacked a certain energy when I used to draw them prior to school. Every superhero seemed somewhat stuck to the page, without any dynamic flow to them. I tried watching videos to see how to make them better but nothing compares to studio time and a live model. You just can't get the same sense of space when you're watching a video. Below are some of the figure drawings I did over the course of the first semester as well as some cafe style drawings of people out in public.

 These gestures were done in the first couple of months of the first semester. Even early on, I could tell that having time in front of the model was helpful. My earliest gesture work was very blocky and made my characters seem robotic. I'm glad that I broke out of that and found a decent method for capturing the essence of the pose. I still have a long way to go before I feel like I've perfected it, but I have a better foundation that I did before.

First Semester Down!

I can't believe how quickly my first semester flew by! Looking back at all the work I produced is amazing. I can definitely see the progression from piece to piece. I am waiting at the lab now to see if I can photograph some of my older pieces, but I'm not sure if they're coming in today. Either way, I will get the pictures uploaded somehow. For now, I want to share a few more of what I do have.

 The Last Days of the Dinosaur

This is a last minute submission for my final 2D project. I was running on about three hours of sleep at the time. Apparently, exhaustion breeds creativity. Who knew?





Unity Project - Abstract to Representational

Our final project in 2D Design was broken down into two parts. The first part was to create an abstract version of one of our earlier works. The second part was to create a "realistic" depiction of that abstract image. This was the project that had me running on four hours of sleep. As you can see, I put a lot of time into rendering this image.

Beach Scene - WIP

This is a landscape that I started to paint digitally. Maybe I can finish it at some point over the break.

Ninjas Attack!

For my perspective class, we were assigned a project involving three-point perspective. We had to invent a city and choose either a high or low angle view. For an added twist (because those crafty professors love a good twist), we had to include an object hurtling out of the sky towards the city. I decided to go with ninjas, naturally. I'm actually really happy with the way it turned out. The only thing I would do different would be the mountains in the extreme background. It isn't really taking anything away from it now but it would be nice to change it up a little. There's always PhotoShop I guess. Anyway, here is my latest and greatest.

Progression!

I was going to go a little slower in showing some of my new stuff but I think the image I have to show today represents how far I've come already. At the beginning of the semester in figure drawing, we were told to do a 20 minute drawing of our model without any instruction. These were to be held until the last day of class, at which time we would do another 20 minute pose and compare the two. Well, we got those back today and I had the chance to view them side-by-side. I can't believe the first drawing is mine! It's amazing to think that there has already been so much change in such a short time. I can't wait to see what next semester brings!

Older images

I wanted to jump right in and start showing off the work I'm doing now, but I thought it best to show where I started. Some of these images are much older, 20 years or older in some cases, so it will give a good sense of how far I've come.

 Life on Display

This is one of those older ones I was talking about. I did this while staying the summer at my grandparent's house somewhere between '90 and '91. Could have been '89 too but I don't think it was. I was still in high school and was crazy for detail. I remember spending so many hours doing this that I didn't want to finish the area behind the spectator. Seems a shame now because it looks unfinished.

Marvel Team-up

For awhile there I got into prismacolor markers. I remember waiting anxiously to get paid from my little podunk job so I could run out and buy comics and markers. I still have a few of those markers, even if a couple of them have long since gone dry. This was also done while I was in high school. If you can't tell, I took a lot of influence from Todd McFarlane during that time. As you can see from these two images, backgrounds weren't my thing.

 Retired Starfleet  Officers Convention

Another one of my much older pieces. I think you can still see the McFarlane influence in my work here. The characters have once again taken precedence with the background being completely ignored. The bad thing is that I still have to remind myself to include a setting. One day I'll get it.

 The Dark Knight

One of the few I did back in those days that filled the entire page. I don't know that the perspective is entirely correct, but it isn't too bad for an amateur. I think I drew this while waiting at McDonald's.

Vengeful Superhero

Have you noticed a trend? Most of my work back in those days (actually for the last couple of decades) has revolved around superheroes. Spiderman was my favorite though and I filled tons of sketchbooks trying to reproduce his adventures. I wish someone had told me back then to draw more from life.










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 Well, that's it for now. Check back in later and I'll throw in a few more pieces. I hope you enjoyed a blast into my past as much as I did. And in case you're wondering, these were the better of my earlier works. I don't think I'm quite ready to show the bad yet.

Entering the 21st Century

I suppose at some point it was inevitable. I've put off blogging for about as long as possible. Now it's time to boldly step forth from the shadows. Forgive me if I stumble on the way out.

I want to have a place to talk about my artwork and show it off. I know I have some stuff posted on my Facebook page, but this seems like a better place for it. At least this way you won't have to wade through a bunch of garbage to get to the good stuff. I get to actually point out the things I'm proudest of and guide you through it. Think of it like watching the director's cut with commentary.

I also plan to put works in progress (WIP) to show the process. I'm actually discovering that I do have a process. How interesting, considering where I started. Being able to attend at Ringling has been the greatest thing to happen to my art since I learned how to hold a pencil.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the name of my blog let me enlighten you. I've always enjoyed drawing and creating art, but I never took it seriously. That is, I never saw it as a possible future. Sure, there was a time when I was younger that I thought I would draw comic books or even work at Disney, but I always figured that was wishful thinking. After all, who gets to enjoy what they do for work? Well, now that I'm older and perhaps a little wiser, I get to find out. This first semester was busy and it required a lot of focus, but it was like playing... just a little more seriously.

So feel free to follow along and enjoy the journey with me.The next few years is sure to be wild, crazy, and exciting. I can't wait to see where my art goes from here!