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!

read more »

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.

I wish I had better news to report. But I was a slack-ass this weekend. Och. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was art and art-related good ness.  I did muck around in DAZ, but all of the head way that I planned to make on my self-portrait went out the window. I plan on rectifying that this evening.

Speaking of which – well, kinda – I made a trip to Mona Lisa’s on Thursday.  I finally picked up the Cool Gray set, some additional flesh tones, and some more paper. I also discovered that Strathmore is now offering ATC related goods!  I’ve always wanted to give art cards a go. I’ve even talked about it here. So I scooped up several packages (they were very cheap!) and have put ATCs on my ever-growing To-Do list. Trading some ATCs might be a hoot.

Yes, I said hoot.

read more »

I am in love with The Girl.  Totally and completely smitten.  She is so much fun to play with. While I will likely use Victoria for all of my portrait references (she is much more “realistic”), G4 is definitely my Go-to-Girl for pin-up work.  Her curves are awesome and her morphs allow me to play around and make her even curvier (or not).  She’s just so soft and squishy! I love it. She is going to be a fantastic reference.

Plus, a lot of her available poses are very pin-up-ie already. All of the images I have included in today’s update are preset poses (there are many more after the jump).  It’s kinda fun.  And there are even a few that are suspiciously familiar.

And lighting! I didn’t realize until last night how much this will help with lighting. It’s weird, but I always struggle with light source when I am drawing figures.  Mostly because when I am working in portraits, the light source is pretty much always the same – straight on (boring, I know). So when it comes to figures, my light source is never dynamic or interesting.  I think DAZ will help me with that.

In other news, I am off to Mona Lisa’s at lunch today. I going to finally score some more Prisma grays and maybe a new pad of paper. It’ll be fun to be back in the old neighbourhood for a little while .

read more »

Downloaded a new model base last night, The Girl 4. She cracks me up. I love her big head, big boobs, big bum and teeny, tiny waist.  Gorgeous!  I suspect I will have a lot of fun with her when it comes to creating pin-up references. Hee!

Admittedly, I am still in the middle of a learning curve though.  And mostly I have been experimenting with the interface, materials, and that type of thing. I have been researching materials and how to apply them and increasing my database of usable morphs/materials. So, I don’t think I am 100% ready to start using DAZ for my original purpose (reference images for portraits).   I’d to get a better handle on basics.

But tonight, my plan is to work solely on creating a few pin-up references that I can use when I am messing around in my sketchbook.  Kinda like what I use from PoseManiacs, but more attuned to my sensibilities.  Figure. Textures. Lights. Props. You name it.  And I figure once I finish the self-portrait for the show, I’ll seriously look at creating portrait reference images.  That might be my March project.