Day 173: Under the Sea

Right now I'm working on figuring out what exactly I'm going to do for my illustration portfolio. I have many old images, some the start of illustrations, others simply nice drawings or ideas of what I want to draw. I still have quite a ways to go to finish setting things up. I must have a thousand sketches to go through. It's not the looking that's the problem, it's the determining if they have potential. After that I have to figure out where they will fit in my illustrations (if at all). 

My other main goal, at this point, is to do as much research as I possibly can for my upcoming illustrations. I have to go through my old illustrations to see if there is anything I need, plus I will be going through hundreds of photos determining if I can use the information of said photos in my work. I know for a fact that I don't have everything I need which will require me to take more photos, and do research on the internet and in books to get photos I can work from. As many of you know it's illegal to copy copyrighted material exactly as seen. Instead I use several references to create one part of an illustration (which can be very tedious). I'm hoping I can take most of the photos, but for underwater scenes I'll be mostly using references and memory. 

I feel like I might be coming across as someone who's complaining, or someone who is overstating what's there. For me it's easier to plot out what I'm going to do in words, and then make it reality. For those of you who are bored by little rant: Look at the pretty fishy!

Day 172: For Marking Cellophane

China markers are fun. I found a green one on my desk and wanted to play with it. It is marked: FOR MARKING CELLOPHANE, but what fun is that? Plus, I don't have any cellophane, so I used the almighty paper instead.

Day 170: Patty and Willie

These two characters are staring in one of the books I'm writing. The one on the left is currently named Patty and the one on the right is named Willie. When I first started writing the book they were Patty Puppy and Will E. Wolf. This made the story seem a little too cutesy and a bit trite. Their surnames have been removed, and it's possible their names could be changed at this point. I've decided against them wearing shoes, but this too could change.  I think the final Willie will have a slightly smaller head, but still be fairly tall. I'm also thinking that I should add a little more weight to Patty.

I'm sorry about the quality of these scans. Normally for character creation of this nature I would use a light box and plain paper. My light box is in a box in storage and may not be opened until the end of time. As a substitute I used tracing paper.

I'm not so sure how long I'm going to be out of the house tomorrow. My husband and I are going out with a friend and her son to the park. We might be out the whole day or, because I'm pregnant and tire easily, we might only be out a few hours.

Day 168: Character Sketches

Sorry I haven't posted in the last few days. I'm even more sorry that I don't have a lot to post. I did have some drawings that I wanted to show here, but they have up and wondered off (or were imagined in my head). In any case I'll be doing some more drawings of these characters in the near future.

Day 165: A Sister Person

Since I did my parents the next obvious step was to draw my siblings. I'm starting with my sister. These drawings aren't really detailed right now, but I might try some new ones later that are more detailed.

Day 164: My Parents

I had a few photos of my parents and I thought they'd be good subjects for my drawings for today and yesterday. If you can't tell who is who then I will really rethink my whole life up until this point heh heh. The drawing of my father is from my wedding a few years ago. The one of my mother is from May of 1979, when I wasn't even a year old yet. I couldn't find a good photo of my mother from this decade. The way it was the photo I was working from was pretty fuzzy. 

Day 162: A Strawberry Without a Field

I had a little more time today then I usually do for drawing so I decided to put it to good use and make a pretty strawberry. One of my illustrations in the near future will have a strawberry bush, so I need all the practice I can get. Looking at this one makes me hungry. Note to self: stop drawing food late at night.