Eatin' on the Cuff - first of many studies

Look! Look at how delighted this spider spinster is. This was my face when I found out that Eatin' on the Cuff was public domain, so I could watch it very easily! Watch it, if you don't mind the low quality-- it's still funny!

Anyway, so I did a study of it. Some things are quite off, but at least the proportions are pretty in tact. I noticed that the teeth aren't perfectly obeying hierarchy. You can tell better on the overlay:

I goofed in particular by making the neck too long and to one side, and had some issues with the lip on the right side. The eyelashes and antennae are off on the left side-- it seems like I rounded out the place of the antenna to make the set closer to identical to the other pair. I think I could have taken the right cheek further than I did-- stretching it a bit. Small details aside, I think this is one of my better ones.

Trying to redeem myself

I was drawn to do this study because it is so ridiculously constructed. And it's big and relatively easy to read.

It looks like his cranium is stretched, pulled forward. Fattened, I guess.
I am trying to hammer it into my skull not to tone down contrasts. I think I'm getting better, but not quickly. It's like my brain knows, but my hand and eyes forget. Maybe I'm just being too impatient... Oh, woops, I forgot to give him his other pair of whiskers. Haha.

BONUS CRAP:
I want to slowly bring in more non-study stuff to this blog, as I am slowly integrating new, learned stuff into my outside work. This is a really painful process because, frankly, I'm embarrassed. I need to stop being so shy about it and face the music when my art sucks.

So here's some nonsense I did for job #2, the library gig. First thing is just a silly little banner-comic and a follow-up comic; the idea of the 'research fairy' bringing bad results vs. the individual research appointment was given, but I did my own thing with it. It's sorta fun, I like the buck-toothed girl.

I also kinda wanted to show these to maybe get some feedback on the colors? Colors are really the focus of the rest of the stuff posted here (aside from the sketches, obviously). Not so much construction because that really isn't the look I was hired for with this stuff.




This is other stuff for the same gig. This is just stuff for a little sequence for the curriculum resource center (place with lesson plans, kid's books, and other teachery stuff).

I like the drawing of the fox guy. Believe it or not, I was sketching a lot messier a year ago. Hopefully this continues to clean up with time.

Trying to figure out colors. I work really disastrously and then spend time refining. Is that a decent process? How do professionals work?


More refined version of the color/compositon test for one of the drawings... Some things I could do without. I don't know. But I'm mostly asking for color feedback. How can I make my colors more warm, appealing, candy-like? It's mostly the bunny I'm taking issue with. I kinda want to make her not gray, but there's already too much brown, too.

Tonight is a night of self-doubt, apparently!

ANOTHER BONUS:

I forgot to upload this one ages ago!

Hep Cat dog study

When I did the overlay, most of it actually turned out pretty good, with some exceptions (the negative space between the arm and chest, the foot on the right, some aspects of the bird's positioning). I am trying to figure out the trick behind nailing the contrasts. I feel like the dog's face looks good (though his chin a bit large), but the hands and feet have been stretched, evened out, watered down.

I also appear to have thinned out the left leg.

My tablet is still not at home, so I apologize for no on-the-image notes.

Working two jobs is, uh, more time consuming than I figured. Luckily the second job is very nice so I am not completely drained of energy after my shifts there!

However, I have to get up in 6 hours to go to the dreaded job! Have a good night, friends. I am gonna try to have a new Clampett study done this weekend.

P.S. Hello, new followers! You folks sure are nice.

Tweety and Piggies

I am trying to be mindful of not toning down contrasts. I think I just gotta, well, produce.


I don't have my tablet right now, so the lines are ridiculous. Anyway, I think my inaccuracies are becoming less, but heck if I can shake subtle mistakes in thrust. Notice that the fingers are not to the right enough (not enough pushing), but where I tried to exaggerate the contrast, the forefinger is way too far back. I just really messed up Tweety's little hand-- like I was just making up what it looked like instead of actually observing. Maybe I'm going brain-dead.

My new job is very good. I hope that I can keep at it there and quit my awful job, where I'm dead for the night after my shifts. It'd be very good for my productivity (and wallet).

I won't have a scanner over the weekend, though (visiting home), but I will start several studies. I already have two (aside from this Tweety one I just finished). I think I'm going to start having a lot of studies going at once from now on.

Here are some hilarious Tweety images for those who love to have their eyes bleed:

I call this one "the Mom e-mail forward" model.



When did Tweety become a girl, anyway?



My personal favorite. Words fail.

Lost in the Andes!

The strawberry stain is the focal point. Woops.

There are a dozen little problems with this, I felt them as I was making them, but I think I'd rather go exercise than belabor over it. Most of the problems are proportional, and I toned down the contrasts. I'm gonna learn how to avoid doing that if it kills me.

A million excuses, minimal results. But a big entry!

I have been a busy gal, lately. It seems like hitch after hitch is coming my way. So, uh, here is a big ol' post for the month of May.

I vowed to myself to keep on a regimen of six hours of practice every day I don't work, and, well, so far this summer it hasn't been successful. I am changing it to two hours of practice every day, whether or not I work. I read in a book about practice and talent that it's more effective to keep practice deep, meaningful, and focused for a short amount of time than to stretch it out. Apparently people get burned out after more than an hour and a half or so. I can make it the full 2 every day, I know I can.

Anyway, so here is a laundry list of all the junk that has prevented me from doing a lot:
Food poisoning
Finals
Vacation
Losing my pencil box
My entire Adobe suite being spontaneously dysfunctional
Really bad malware/virus on my computer
My birthday weekend (last Sunday, the 31st)! I am now 22!

Here are some fun photos of me pestering some funny animals at the zoo. I got to pet the kangaroo and the trained kitty because my friend trains animals for the show!

The Columbus zoo also has a really great Lorikeet exhibit, wherein you can feed them juice in cups so that zoo patrons are deceived into thinking the birds actually like them!



Kangaroos feel like microfleece. And they poop pellets, too.

Apparently I kiss at every other animal I'm allowed to get close to! (Thanks to Jory for such a wonderful day!)

Also I just want to show off my new dress.



Okay, so, now what I'm sure most people are here for: studies!

I'm gonna start with the bigger, slower ones. First, here's a study of Bugs.



This is my most recent, done mostly two days ago, but finished today. Boy, can you tell I am rusty!! Shame on me, big time. However, I finally got some new blue pencils. You can't see the construction as easily, but it sure did make it less of a greasy affair than the stuff later in this post.


I forgot to say: TOO MUCH NEGATIVE SPACE ON BUGS' HEAD!

Tons of nitpicks. I really messed up that head's angle and evened out some features. Also, notice that I lost my custom font based on my handwriting because of the malware issues... oh dear. Hopefully I can find it in the files I managed to save.

Here is a comic cover study. I liked this drawing of Fox and Crow on John's blog:


What a charming drawing. I notice, however, that I made some proportional errors. I think, however, what's more pressing are the errors I made with the directional thrust of the characters. The fact that Fox's head is too big is not helped by the fact that his line of action is off. See, here's what it should be:


Compared with what it is....


Woops! See! Again, toned down. Grr.

Well, anyway, here's a hodgepodge of selected Preston Blair studies. They have almost no regard for finish. I was trying to get quicker. I also didn't have a good choice of pencils because some of them were done on vacation (during the horrible era of the Lost Pencil Box) so you can see me dealing with lots of greasy lead and erasers. Yuck...










These are from pretty much all throughout May. I have more, but believe it or not, they are even messier and quicker. So this is just a chunk of them. This month I will be much more diligent.

Oh, speaking of this month, I have a second, temporary, job, which is gonna suck away 20 more hours of my week. Yikes. I am going to stick to my guns as much as I can on the 2 hours a day thing, but it might be hard on days I have to work both jobs. We'll see!