Day 30.5: The Bear

I was hoping to finish this much earlier. It's not really finished finished, but maybe as close as it's going to get:

Hope he's cute enough for you!

Day 29: I'm Still Alive!

So I'm still alive. I don't know where the days go anymore. I'm still in the process of changing jobs, so it's difficult to get things done during the week. I'm going to play catch-up again this weekend, and also make up a game plan for the future. Hang in there, I know I still am!

Day 25: A First Look - Tobias

I had decided to do a sketch of my cat Tobias back when she was just a kitten. I'm at work and I never know how much time I'll have to work on these things. I started working on it and thought, "Hey, this will make a cute painting when I'm done". So I'll work on this whenever I can at work. Without further Ado the beginning sketches:

And a detail of the face:

I wish I had time to work on all my drawings at work. The Photoshop there is much more recent than mine at home. Ah well, if I stay I'd end up doing more work and less art.

I didn't get the chance to finish my bug illustration, because my computer is threatening to die on me again. I swear it starts out perfect, but after a while it gets gummed up. Even purging the histories doesn't seem to help. Ah well, I'll keep trying. If worse comes to worse I'll have all the initial drawing done, and have to go back later and finish the inking/colouring later. I really hope I can talk my husband into getting another computer. (Maxed out credit card go go go.)

Day 23: A Shoe is a Shoe

My great achievement for today is creating a shoe! More stuff to come later.

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.