Something For Adam

I loved working on this project so much. I had the honor of working on this symbolic piece for Adam. He's an incredible photographer and a super nice guy. If you'd like to check out his work--which I highly recommend--you can find it on his facebook page, here and on his website, here.
This was done in acrylics, paint pens, and pens on a wrapped canvas.
I will be working on making prints available for many pieces that have been sold, but are still wanted. I will post a link to the site that I will be using soon! If you would like your own custom piece of art from me, I would be more than happy to work on something for you so please e-mail me or message me. Commissions are some of my favorite things to do, especially when it's such a meaningful piece like this one!

Something for the Family

My mom asked me for something abstract for her house that she's been trying to make look nice. We found some resin at Hobby Lobby and I'd never used that media before. This was my first time using it and it was really fun. I've done abstract before, but never so much as in this piece. It was like a break within a break for me. Kind of mindless and nice. It was nice to not really have to think about what was doing and really let it all flow.

Bigger Than Me

I absolutely love drawing and coloring clouds. If I could just paint and draw clouds all day I would. Mountains are fun too. I feel like I need to work on drawing more dimensional landscapes though. This was a fun one. I used colored pencils, inks and markers. Markers and white pencil are definitely my favorite blending tools.

Animated Sketches

So, I have been working on giving actual motion to my drawings. It's really fun, even if I'm not very good at it. I'd like to, one day, this year, make a full animated scene. I really would like to work on this part of my art and it will probably take me ages to actually be decent at it, but I'm excited about the process! It's so cool to see a drawing or character you made come to life, so to speak, even for less than a second.

Cool Morning

I know, I know, I'm never posting things at all lately. Sorry about that. I have been kind of busy with work, but I really will be trying to put forth an extra effort to post more often.
This is pretty old honestly. I really love drawing smoke or steam just because it's so fun and free to color and sketch. A lot of people ask me why so many people I draw are smoking and honestly, it's the smoke. I love drawing it. I, myself, don't smoke nor do I plan to really. I just like drawing it. This is just something a lot of people ask me about and I never really answer, so now you have an answer. I also think it's a bit dumb to only draw a handful of different types of characters with only traits that you like. I like complex characters with both flaws and strengths that are realistic and are found in daily life in people that you may come in contact with. There you have it.
This was with colored pencils, markers and pens.

Clouds

Here are some progress photos and finished photos of a painting I did last year. The reference I used is below, but I haven't been able to find the photographer yet. Sorry that I've been really bad about posting things!

Boy

This started with a sort of minimalist sketch. Like I said before, I've been trying a lot of different styles and adding more detail and emotion to each full-length illustration. This was a fun picture because I really wanted to get the colors as close to what was in my head as was possible.

M.C. Escher Inspired

This was just a little project we did in Painting last year. The idea was to draw something with no negative space. I, at first tried to tie everything together, but then I just kind of threw stuff together. It was super fun. I drew this all with different markers and then went over it with pencil.
It's on a 9" x 12" paper.

Redhead

This one started as a sketch that I wasn't actually thinking of finishing, but I did. I wanted--and still do want--to get a lot better at creating different skin colors with depth and variation. No one is the same when I look at people in reality and I want to show that through my artwork. Honestly, I stick to my default face/expressions a lot when I draw. I really want to get away from that.
Anyway, this person is sleeping just because people look so calm to me when their eyes are closed or they're looking down and I love that, but it's really hard for me to capture. I also love red hair a lot.
I did this in markers and colored pencils.

Why?

I think about things and people that I know and combine those thoughts with fictitious more-interesting stories and it turns into some sort of character. I don't know what's going on here. I guess I was feeling reflective. I also tried using more vivid colors than usual.
I used markers and colored pencils.

Puppeteer

I am always experimenting with different styles and techniques and this was drawn when I tried shading with shapes and hard lines.  

I used markers, colored pencils, and sharpie pens.

Yellow

This is just a sketch I did while I was trying to teach my little sisters some ways to color a while ago.
I used markers and a couple of them were sort of dried out. I think I had some star-lyric-ed (I definitely just made that up) song in my head at the time or something.

Comprised of Stardust

I just was drawing an eye and partial face when it turned into this. I like the thought that we're made of star stuff. It's just a poetic thing to me I guess. Maybe that's why this is what it is. A family friend now has this in her possession.
I used colored pencils, pen and marker to color this.

Wishful Thinking

An older drawing. I was just doodling in classes and then it eventually turned into this. I have really been trying to push myself to draw more houses and more detailed everyday things for the past year or so. I am pretty proud of the color in this as far as the girl goes, but this took me a really long time to actually finish completely and I don't know if that really shows through the whole thing? It was fun, though.

I used colored pencils, markers, and pens, as per usual.

Some Original Characters

These are a bunch of different things I drew a while back when I had a story in my head.
I used to have these really awful nightmares that sort of followed a story line and were really bizarre. Every time I tell anyone about them, they find them really interesting--if not a bit terrifying--and many have told me to write about them. I started a lot of different things based on them and the last idea was to do a graphic novel, as I found that I am kind of bad at writing out such complex ideas. So these are sketches and things for that thing. Who knows, maybe I'll go back to it. It's kind of a dark story, though.

Midas

Personally, I love this painting. I think that I like it because of the idea that I had behind it, to be honest.
   As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've always kind of been really into myths and legends. Midas was the king who wished that all he touched would turn to gold and I always sort of had an interest in that story. The golden touch could seem, at first, kind of empowering because doesn't the world run on money and wealth? In the end it leads him to nothing, though. It owns him and he no longer owns it. I tried to portray that in this painting.
I used acrylic paints and Prismacolor markers for detailing and sharpening my lines.

Washed Out

This was the first time I decided to just do a big painting. It's on a random scrap of drywall that I found in my closet and it's done in acrylics, watercolor and pens and marker. The base colors are mostly acrylics and mixed watercolors. I then laid down the brighter, more vivid colors and those are watercolor paints. Most of the red and purple colors on the flower petals are done in watercolors, and the blue and yellow on the eye.  I  then outlined things in different types of pen and highlighted things in marker, which really just blends in with the watercolor and acrylic paints.
This painting was a lot of fun to do and it definitely opened my eyes to all of the other things I'm capable of as a painter. The bottom few photos are of the finished product.