In honour of my first Burlesque class, I coloured up my Burly Girl.  I have named her Cherry Rose after Emyrs provided it as a suggestion when I was harassing the internets for Burly Alter-ego names (more on that later…)

While I love Cherry Rose a lot, I am kinda pissed off with her.  I am still having scanner issues. No matter what I do, every single time I scan my colour work, it looks like balls.   The original is much, much nicer.  But you wouldn’t know it from these images.  The colours are even and much richer. This one looks like a washed out, patchy version. And it makes me cranky because ideally, I’d like to start getting prints made of some of these illustrations.  But I can’t do that if it looks like ass. Grrrr.

I’m starting to think I am completely ineffective when it comes to my scanner. Boo.

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Just a quick sketch from my lunch break.  The star-shaped pasties are cracking me up.  A lot.

It’s interesting the more I do these little illustrative non-drawings of girls, the more I am kinda figuring out what I like from an aestethic perspective.  It has been an interesting journey.  I like Burlesque. I like pin-up. I like circus freaks.  I like curvy, busty girls.  I love Steampunk. I love Geisha. I love ukiyo-e.  The latter three I figured out a loooong time ago. I like propaganda art (especially by those good old Commies), but I suspect I figured that one out from a web-design that I was working on a couple weeks ago. I have no Commie girls – yet!

I also discovered tonight that I might also have a penchant for fetish. The visuals (outfits and what not), not the acts themselves.  Though, I have a few friends who would probably debate that last statement. Ahem.

Any-way, after some discussion at tonight’s Art Meetup coffee event, I realized that there are certain aspects of the fetish “look” that are really appealing.  For example, I would love to do a fetish mask portrait. Now, the masks themselves creep me the fuck out. Especially the ones with the zipper mouths. Gah! But visually? Brilliant!  Love them! Then again, I have always had an affinity for masks – like Noh masks for example. Perhaps this is an extension of that.

I guess it’s just really interesting to figure out the things that are inspiring.  I just need to remember those things. Didn’t I mention something about a freaking inspiration board. I should get on that. Or at least write some of this shit down.  Jeez.

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Hah! I coloured her last night! Wait. It would appear that I forgot to colour the flagpole. Oops. How embarassing!

Anyway, she cracks my shit up.  I am so in love with her.   To be truthful, I am in love with all of these pin-up-ie type sketches that I have been creating lately.  They are just so amusing to draw.  I don’t even care if no one else likes them or if someone prefers my “very serious” portrait work to these wacky drawings. The fact is that they bring me happiness and that’s all that matters!

Though, admittedly, I am not loving the scan of the original. It really looks like ass on my work computer. :(  Too dark. Too muddy.  The colours and blending look waaaaaaay better on the original. They aren’t this dark. You must take my word for it!    I really wish I didn’t struggle with scanning as much as I do.  It’s ok for black/white/grey, but the second I add colour, it goes to shit. Boo.

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I guess I was feeling a bit patriotic yesterday. Hah. I drew this little sketch while watching the Olympic Closing Ceremonies.  There are a few problems with her (her boots and legs for example), but I think I wanna try colouring her. Could be fun!

Beyond that, I’m trying to figure out what I want to do next for my really-real art. I really enjoyed doing the self-portrait in markers and I had thought to work on a series of self-portraits, but I’m not entirely sure I want to look at my face that much.   It might be interested to do it to other people’s faces though.  I’d just need someone to send me photos of their heads.

Any victims volunteers?

I sent my self-portrait to Brooklyn yesterday! Very excited.  I hope the show goes well and I can’t wait to get my digits on the book. Hee.  Now I just need to figure out what I want to do with myself.  I should probably start on the next self-portrait in the series I have been kicking around, but I am just not feeling it.  I also haven’t touched DAZ in about a week. And i haven’t been sketching during my lunch break at work.  It’s a bit of a void right now.  And I’m pretty grumpy about it.

On a completely unrelated note, make sure you watch the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics tomorrow night. My girl, SMc, is participating! She says that she isn’t a featured performer, but she’s the star of the show to me (and the only reason I will probably watch)! So watch! Enjoy! Cheer her on!

Title: Self-Portrait 2010
Size: 8½ x 11″
Medium: Prismacolor Marker on Aquabee Manga Artist Paper
Time: 6.25 hours
Status: Completed

I think I am done!  There are a couple things that I will need to tweak before I slap it into a frame and ship it to New York, but mostly, I am done!

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Title: Untitled
Size: 8½ x 11″
Medium: Prismacolor Marker on Aquabee Manga Artist Paper
Time: 5.0 hours
Status: Work In Progress

I finally snuck in some time to work on my self-portrait.  I am pretty pleased with how the mouth is shaping up.  Especially the teeth.  Though, I might look at softening some of the lip creases.  They feel a bit… harsh right now.  Too line-y!?  That said, with any luck, I should have this baby done by the weekend. Then it’s off to New York!

I also finally used some of my DAZ reference images.  I was just messing around on my lunch break. Overall, I think its going to be very, very helpful.

I might go back and do some more inking of this particular drawing during my lunch. Her hands and feet (as usual) need a lot of work.

In other news, I signed up for the intro class at Burlesquercise. It runs from March 10th to April 12th (I think!?) and I might have an opportunity to perform. In public.  Scary! It should be fun though!

I need to buy a boa.