Day 21: I Have Been -- Now I'm Going

Here are a few illustrations I've done in the past. All but the last two were done in traditional media. My work now is most often done on the computer.

This first one isn't really an illustration per say, but I really like how it turned out. It's also the oldest image here. I can't repeat the process without a pressure washer, so it will be a little while before I do another one like it.

This second one I like mostly just because of the work I put into the actual figure and her "clothing"

This one and the next are a bit lighter than they appear here. I think I may re-colour them in Photoshop.

This one I did for a contest at DaniDraws.com. It was used to show my process. I didn't get a prize but I got a nice mention on her web page: http://danidraws.com/2008/07/31/art-and-learning-contest-winners/  I may re-colour this in Photoshop.

This one is just kinda pretty. I had a lot of fun creating it, and it really didn't take that long.

This is the most recent off all the illustrations posted here. The .jpg makes it look splotchy (if you have any ideas for converting .tifs to .jpgs I'd be happy to hear them). This took me a really long time to do. I learned a lot from it, and if I were to do it again it would take me less time, though it would still take me quite a bit of time.

That's all I have to show for now. I just realized that I had something else, but I left it on the computer at work. If I can get the .jpg to look right I'll post it here later. Feel free to leave comments about any of these.

Day 20.5: A Little Bit of Colour

So Photoshop has decided not to be completely useless for me (my computer's fault not Photoshop's). Anyways, I've done a base colour on it:

The plan for this illustration: Her dress and skin needs to be a little lighter. Maybe change the colour of the window and door. The flowers will be a different colour, but I'm not sure which colour yet. If I finish tomorrow I'll post the final.

Tomorrow: I'll be posting some of my older work. Some of them I may re-do in Photoshop.

Day 19: And Now For A Short Break

Today I'm taking a bit of a break. I have just sent off a few resumes for creative jobs, and I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. Hrm, come to think of it I may have sent a teaching resume to a furniture sales job... I probably wont be getting that job. *insert smilie beating itself senseless here*

Anyways, I need to gather my thoughts and my artwork for my portfolio. I'm not feeling really strong about my current portfolio, so I'm hoping that I have enough to get the job I want.

Since I don't have any pretty drawings to share with you I will link you to a few web sites that I love:

http://www.conceptart.org/ - Excellent resource for the Digital Artist. A strong community to help people succeed in their chosen professional field. Strong focus on Character/Environment design.
http://danidraws.com/blog/ - Another Excellent resource, but for the Illustrator. Focuses on Digital Illustration.

I just found these two:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/16/40-cartoon-character-illustration-tutorials/ Tutorials, tutorials and more tutorials!
http://www.cartoonsolutions.com/ Lots of fun!

My previous illustration teacher:
http://www.author-illustr-source.com/dominiccatalano.htm - My Illustration teacher's web sight. He has been quite an inspiration to me so I had to include him on this list.

Day 18.5 Catching up

Here is the Lady Bug Illustration that I just finished inking. I want to post the Spider & Fly illustration, but I'm having trouble opening it.

Annnd really late are my sketches. It wasn't so much that I didn't have them done as it was that I didn't have them all in the computer.

On the upper right you'll see a bird. I am now running out of my drawing paper so he got stuck being drawn over an old drawing. And in the bottom right... I'm not sure what the penguin is going to do with my futon, but I guess some things are better left unexplored. I still have a ways to go to be caught up completely, but I'm getting there!

Day 17: Photoshop Fails

I'm only on day 17 and Photoshop is completely failing me. I'm having issues even opening my artwork, let alone working on anything I've started. It took about five minutes just to open a black and white drawing, trying to open a colour image is just taking to long.

New plan for now: Ink all of my drawings in photoshop for now, and save the colouring for later. I'm really hoping we get a new computer now!

Anyways, here is what I've worked on so far today:

I plan on inking it later today, and then moving on to other projects. For now the all important laundry shall be cleaned!

Day 15: The Confession

For the last few days I've been falling behind with my artwork. I think I'm at the point where I need to find another job. It's not that I don't enjoy working at the family business, but it's not enough to pay the bills. Along with my artwork I'm going to be hitting Craigslist and working on a few cover letters. It doesn't help that I'm behind schedule with my art plans.


I was really distraught when I didn't finish my illustration last night. I had most of the line art done, but I was having trouble with the colouring. I've also had a really hard time finishing things since I left college (honestly had trouble in college a bit too). I don't want to get into the habit of not drawing again, and I refuse to get any farther behind. So here's my plan: I can only do so much job hunting this weekend, so I'm going to work hard to get caught up. I will keep you up to date. 


I hereby apologize to the blog an the blog readers for any appointment I may have caused. 


I promise to try my damnedest to finish my illustration so that it looks at least one kind of awesome.
I promise to work on sketching to show in hopes that one person will say "that's neat"
I promise to not beat myself up about this to the point that I give up on my blog and the subsequential purpose of said blog
I promise to be more interesting in my blog posts, so people don't fall asleep while reading said blog.


Sincerely and With the Hope of Good Times, 


Dani Duck

Day 13ish: The Egyptian Stork

It just seems like it's been a crazy week this week. Honestly, every week is crazy for me, but I want to see this through despite the crazy. I didn't get a lot of time to work today so I'll show a drawing that I did get to a reasonable stage:

I'm getting a little worried right now because my computer is an ancient being. I bought it back in 2003. It's still chugging along. I'm glad I went for some extra features then, because now I can just barely get by. My computer is really important for what I'm doing, so it really stinks when I have to spend a whole day just getting it to run right. We may get another computer soon depending how my husband's bonus looks. I'm going to go cross my fingers and look for 4-leaf clovers.