Wednesday Nights, Lisa, Richard

more sketches from class. Lisa brings her great combo of outfits. Richard plays guitar and always inspires great drawings.

Summer Sketching

went to Mexico and did a little sketching. mostly just laid around, ate and drank, swam in pool. this doesn't really look quite like Luis, but still like the drawing. that seagull, a young one, sat on the rail of the balcony the whole time I was painting the pool, hoping food was going to become available. he was eyeing the paints, thinking it was possible they were food.

Robert Fawcett!

I have been in awe of Robert Fawcett's drawing ability every since my friend (and teacher) David Hadlock showed his work to me in college. I was completely floored to find a tiny, almost hidden booth at Comic Con that was selling amazing original drawings and paintings by classic illustrators from Windsor Mckay to artists from the 1980's, maybe even more current, not sure. The gallery is called Illustration House, and is in NYC. Against practicality, I purchased this original illustration by the incredible Robert Fawcett! I will try to find out from Roger Reed (one of the owners, along with his father the famous drawer Walt Reed!) when this was made, and for what publication. It is gouache, and is about 15 x 20.

Comic Con aftermath

Whew. That was a LOT of people! If I go again to the con, I think I will just take photos. I didn't get much this time, on overload, and couldn't deal with the crowd to stop and get out my camera, etc. I hope the panel I was on seemed interesting to the audience. I enjoyed taking the train there, and came back on Saturday with Luis and Nicolas to really drink it all in. We really couldn't get into any of the presentations that we were after, had fun just shopping around. But taking photos and sketching would have been a great pastime there! Saw current and former students, and friends, too. Here are a few measlely sketches (one of Nicolas, 13, not wanting his face sketched). I really loved the two people dressed as paper bag hand puppets, life-size! the drawing doesn't do them justice.

Belly Dance+Comic Con!

Going to Comic Con this year (next week!) to be on a panel of Illustrators for Film. And so I decided to do an illustration in Corel Painter to take along to hand out (it was suggested that we bring something). I used bellydancing as inspiration because I have been taking a class for a year or more from the fabulous Fahtiem, and it is really FUN. My friend Paula and I went to a bellydance fair on the Queen Mary this summer and saw LOTS of outfits! Seemed like a good match, goth bellydancer and comic con. I made the pencil sketch, and tried several stabs at painting it digitally, but it was kind of a struggle. I wanted to do something that really looked 'digital' and sort of moody. So I ended up scrapping the original sketch, and did the dancer in black from scratch in Painter. I am taking a class in Painter at the moment at Studio Arts, a local tech school, from Alex Ruiz, a concept illustrator. His style and tastes are really different than mine, but I am learning some fun techniques to mess with.

If you want to see some nice tribal inspired bellydancing, check out you tube videos of Rachel Brice or for cabaret style, Fahtiem.

(Just added one more version, that I had worked on in class, using the lighting effects in Painter)

Romeo

Romeo never met a person he didn't like (well, there was this one upholsterer that he took an instant dislike to, but no one else). He liked to bite my toes, and to try to steal cheese and yogurt, and to riffle through all my drawings and papers. He liked to try to bite the cursor on my Cintiq monitor. He liked to hang out and watch TV. He liked to eat flowers out of the vase, and chew certain kinds of foam rubber, and eat scotch tape. He liked his cat carrier, for some reason. He liked fishy foods, but not beef. He loved to be scratched, rubbed, petted, but NEVER to be held. He let me cut his toenails, and he liked to be brushed. He even liked to have his toes massaged, which is weird for a cat. He was very strong, and could jump very high. He liked to run his paws over the miniblinds to get my attention, and wake me up. If that didn't work, he would jump onto the dresser and knock over every photo and doodad one by one until I got up and chased him out of the bedroom. He liked to stand on my stomach and knead my biceps, first the right, then the left in the morning. He liked to lay on his back in the hall, with all his feet up in the air. He let my other cat, Moth, have the couch.

He liked being with me.

I miss you Romeo. Thanks for 16 years of true love.

1993-2009

Pro Bono for the CDG

These are some illustrations for postcards that I did for the Costume Designers Guild. We made some for the last union convention, and so we are doing it again. Members submit illustrations, and they are voted on at the membership meeting. This year, illustrators and designers in the CDG were encouraged to collaborate. The theme is Florida (the convention is in Orlando this year) and we were asked to include the union logo in the design somehow. I did the bathing beauties with Joanna Johnston, and the Seminole woman with Hope Hanafin. It was fun! I used the bathing beauties piece to practice working in Corel Painter, and the other is traditional watercolor. The Bathing Beauties were voted in, and the Seminole came close, and may be included if they decide to print more than four selections. You can see all the entries soon at the CDG web site, www.costumedesignersguild.com

Wednesday Nights

some drawing that I snuck in during my Wednesday night figure drawing class, great models Lisa and Oksana.