Illustration Friday - Slither?

Well, it's not slithering exactly, more swimming, but it vaguely fits the theme.

This is a study for a potential new portfolio piece. I was inspired when reading Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which is one of the Newberry Honor books this year.

Recently completed project - wedding invitation

I just finished up this project - these are images for a wedding invitation. Any project where I get to draw unicorns, merpeople, and period costumes is okay by me.

Watercolor flowers

Another assignment from my watercolor class:

Watercolor fruit

I am taking a watercolor class in order to improve my skills. Our week 2 assignment was a fruit still life. I'm fairly happy with the results. Normally painting a still life bores me to death, but I can see why it's a good exercise. And I must say, I have always read that using good paper makes a big difference, and I always sort of scoffed at that idea, but now I must admit I am a convert to Arches watercolor paper.

Happy Easter!

Here are some bunnies for you.

Some useful portfolio tips

I ran across these rather useful posts about what art directors like to see in your portfolio and thought I'd share:

http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2008/04/squids-101-what-i-like-to-see-in.html

http://scottefranson.com/3-books/publishing/analyzeportfolio.html

Watercolor experiment, 2

Here's the second of my watercolor experiments. I find that I actually have ended up painting several different parts on different pieces of paper, and then combine them digitally, so it ends up being a mix of traditional and digital.

Watercolor experiments

I've been experimenting with watercolor, and have decided to redo some of my older digital pieces in watercolor. Here's the old piece and the new watercolor version. My inking skills have improved quite a bit since I created this, too. I think it looks so much better, don't you?

Indie Fixx Logo Design Competition

Normally I am not a fan of design competitions, since it requires work on my part and no guarantee of pay, but this one is for Jen of Indie Fixx. I did her illustrations for Indie Fixx, the Indie Fixx Shop, the Indie Fixx Galleria, submitted a image for another project of hers called Feed Your Soul, and did a logo for Tickle Fancy. So, you can see she is a pretty faithful client with a lot of projects!

Here's an image I did for the (sadly, now closed) Indie Fixx Shop:

Anyhow, she has decided that it's time for a new look at Indie Fixx, and she is holding a logo design competition.

Here's the details:

http://indiefixx.com/2010/02/25/logo-design-competition/

New Drawings for Sale

New drawings have been posted on ArtGhost for sale:

New illustrations for Aeolidia

Aeolidia recently redid their site (they are awesome web designers), and they had their artists create new illustrations for them.

It's an underwater theme. By the way, the white things are sea slugs, Aeolidia papillosa a.ka. the shaggy mouse. It's a nudibranch, which is French for "naked lung," and also one of my favorite words, along with "atlatl" and "mukluks."

Anyhow, if you go to their site, you can see all the new illustrations. There's a nifty theme switcher doodad that will allow you to see all the artists' work.

Old sketchbook pages

I must be feeling nostalgic, because I dug out some old sketchbooks and was looking through them. Here's some collaged pages from several years ago:This is an altered Target ad:
Some elements from a toy catalog:

Dragon Tattoo

Watercolor and brush pen on vellum, some additional color in photoshop.

Happy Valentine's Day (Almost)

Babies!

Recent projects: Some baby-themed images for Just Blossoms Soap Company's labels.

Illustration Friday - Pioneer

In honor of the impending arrival of the year 2010, I am looking to the future. I am trying a new technique out in Photoshop and I'm pretty happy with it. This was done with my Kuretake brush pen and colored digitally.

Illustration Friday - Undone

Sometimes things just don't turn out the way you want them to.

Next thing you know, all your work is undone.

Brush Pen Review

I just received some pens from Jet Pens, so here's my review:
Left to right:
Pentel Color Brush, Pentel Fountain Brush Pen, Kuretake Fountain Brush Pen, Sailor DE Brush Style Fountain Pen (55 degree angle), Sakura Pigma Brush Pen, and for comparison to an actual brush, Winsor and Newton Series 7 No 2.



I drew a bunch of similar looking heads for comparison, and then a few lines underneath showing the width of the line when the brush is pushed down to its maximum spread, and a few increasingly finer lines. This test was performed on Bienfang bristol board. The Pentel Color Brush (which I didn't get from Jet Pens, but have owned for several years) is a big plastic pen with a barrel that you squeeze in order to dispense more ink. I have owned it for a few years now and am still on my first ink refill. In order to refill the pen, you have to detach the entire bottom of the pen and discard, but as I noted, it will last for a long time. Surprising, I found it to perform quite well in my test, maybe just because I am so familiar with it.

Pros: dark ink, large brush, relatively responsive, ink cartridge lasts a long time
Cons: not waterproof, no converter, ink flow is not as good as some others (can be dry, especially on rougher paper)



Pentel Fountain Pen Brush ($12)
This pen comes with cartridges, and though a plastic pen, is a little nicer than the Pentel Color Brush. This one actually looks like a pen instead of a giant plastic thing. The ink was not as opaque as the Pentel Color Brush, but it performed pretty well. The ink flow is a little better than the Pentel Color Brush, but it seems to get a little dry on rougher paper or with faster strokes. It seems to be a popular pen.

Pros: ink is waterproof, cartridges are convenient, decent ink flow, but not as good as Kuretake
Cons: no converter available


The Kuretake Fountain Pen Brush ($30) was my favorite of the bunch (next to the actual brush, of course). It was very responsive and had good ink flow. The ink is darker than the Pentel fountain pen, and it also works with the Platinum converter, so you can use whatever ink you desire. The pen snaps back to a nice sharp point. It is a little softer than the Pentel fountain pen. The pen has an aluminum barrel that comes in black or a snazzy red.

Pros: Good ink flow, works with Platinum converter, most like a real brush
Cons: not waterproof


The Sailor DE Brush Style Fountain pen ($15) is not a brush pen, but I was intrigued enough to order one. It has a nib that is bent up at the end, and will give variable line quality depending on the angle at which you hold it relative to the page. The ink flow was not as good as I hoped, but it might be promising with practice. It comes with cartridges or can also use a Sailor converter.

The Sakura Pigma Brush Pen doesn't have actual bristles like the other pens tested. I've had this pen for a while, and I find that the tip gets worn easily. It is not very flexible and functions more like a marker. I find it most useful for filling in areas rather than outlining details.

Pros: waterproof, inexpensive

Cons: doesn't last long, less line variability and control (doesn't mimic the feel of a brush very well)

Lastly, here's the sketch with the actual brush for comparison. I found the Pentel Color Brush was similar for bristle spread, but the Kuretake was closer for feel, ink flow and line quality. I saw that Jet Pens also sells a sable brush pen, which I bet would be awesome, but it's also pretty pricey.

In the end, once you scan these in, they all look pretty similar.

My sister as a vampire

Sometimes I am the worst procrastinator. I was going to do something productive tonight, but instead I spent way too much time making this little portrait of my sister as a vampire, as a gift tag to put on her birthday present.

It was fun, though.

Some northwest inspired images

A couple of new portfolio pieces, inspired by the Northwest - one showing the sea life of Puget Sound, and one showing a spotted owl spotting.