I didn’t do much in the way of art making this weekend.   Well, that’s not entirely true. I worked on a couple sketches revamping the pinup girls I did for SMc last Xmas.  I have improved a lot since I did them for her – so much so that I actually cringe when I look at them. Eeef.

Not entirely sure how I feel about the revamped versions. They have an obvious Katie Cook style influence to them – especially the new She-Ra.  Mostly because they are more voluptuous than their previous incarnations.  Soft and squishy.  But I won’t lie, I’m a bit worried that there is too much influence in them – if that makes any sense?  Not a flat-out copy, but enough that it makes me take a pause. Do. Not. Like.  While the influence of other artists is a given, I want to discover my own style, not rip someone else’s off (which isn’t to say that I feel I am in Katie Cook’s league – I am nowhere close – she is awesome).  I guess it’s a work in progress – this style finding thing.

Beyond some sketching, this weekend was actually for a project – creating my own lightbox!  I found several sources on the internets that I used for inspiration, but overall, the entire build was of my own creation.

I’m pretty proud of it. Is it perfect? No. Is it fancy? No. But it will work for me. The lights give off approximately 50w each and I think that it should be sufficient. It allowed me to trace through some pretty thick bristol and that is the basic paper I use. So I think it will be sufficient.

Initially, I was going to chronicle the build, but I got lazy.  But here’s a quick step by step (it’s so easy!) of what I did:

Materials:

• 1 pc   16″ x 20″ plywood
• 2 pc  4.5″ x 15″ plywood
• 2 pc  4.5″ x 20″ plywood (all of the wood was cut at Home Depot)
• 1 pc  16″ x 20″ glass
• 2 Illume Xenon Task Lights
• Wood Glue
• Nails

Steps:

1.  Glue one piece of 4.5″ x  20″ to the base piece (16″ x 20″) and wait for it to dry.

2. While waiting, affix the Illume Xenon Tasklights to the base using the screws provided in the tasklight packages.  The package will also come with all the cords you need (including the ones needs to connect the two lights together).

3. Affix the the cords to the base (so they are flopping around) with the plastic connectors provided in the tasklight packages.

4. Glue one piece of 4.5″ x  15″ to the base piece (16″ x 20″) and wait for it to dry.

5. Take the other piece of 4.5″ x 15″ and make a notch where the cable will exit the light box. I made it on the left hand side because my electrical plug is on the left hand side.

6. Thread the cable through the notch, glue it to the base piece (16″ x 20″) and wait for it to dry.

7. Once all three sides are dry, glue the final 4.5″ x 20″ piece onto the base, which will create the “box”, and wait for it to dry.

8. Once all sides have dried (I waited overnight), then hammer nails in to ensure that the pieces will not come apart.

9. You box is now created!  Next up, add the glass. This step is actually a work in progress. Right now, I am using the glass out of a picture frame.  But, ultimately and permanently, I would like to add a piece of plexiglass. But for right now, the glass will be sufficient.  As I use my box on a sloped desk, I added some nails to the bottom of the box to ensure that the glass won’t slip off.

Here are some additional photos:

The only couple of things I would change is that I would have made it angled and perhaps a bit less than 4.5″ deep. It’s pretty tall.  I might also go back to add some reflectors (tin foil) to the sides to boost the light (if needed).  I also think when I am ready to add the plexiglass that I will see about some sort of diffuser.

But all in all, very pleased. I think I will get some good use out of it, I hope!