Gone for a While

Been having a rough time with work lately, but I know I'm not alone in the struggle. Plenty of well-educated people are losing their jobs on a daily basis. Between being partially laid-off to being brought in for extra time since someone took a leave at work, I've felt the ups and downs of the economy dramatically over the past few weeks.

Here are some stress-relieving doodles I've done, both self portraits of sorts. 

I rarely ever draw from this angle; need to study it more.

I need to start drawing every day!!

Beauty and the Beast - Illustration One

Finished my first illustration for the book. Three more to go!

Beauty and the Beast - Roughs

Something I'm working on for Book Illustration. I re-interpreted the classic Beauty and the Beast fairytale. At this point, the Beast is explaining to Belle about how happy he and his former wife, the queen, had been. I think their faces are just awesome.

Merry Wintertime!

Thought I'd share some art...

Playing with the image uploader...

Trying to figure out how others allow you to open a larger version of an image just by clicking it. It probably has something to do with adding images from the web...

Anyway, I have school work that I SHOULD be doing but I just keep finding myself going back to Katie Rice's blog to check out all of her artwork and the great links she has posted. Since I need to get some actual drawing done, I thought I'd satisfy my Skadi craving and draw Katie some fanarts!

That is some downright fun character design right there. I love how Katie's drawings are so expressive and emotive but still very free-flowing without being sloppy. I've been learning a lot from watching her, and you might too!

Artist Rant

John Mayer

Dave Matthews

And Bono

I had the joy of being able to work on some paintings today. Some honest-to-God real media paintings. What I've posted above are crappy pictures taken with my phone but I was so thrilled to be able to work with real paint for the first time since the Spring semester that I just had to share.

While I was working on these paintings, I of course had ample time just to think, and something occurred to me. A lot of artists and art forms are changing. They're going from traditional to digital media at a steady marching pace with digital artists in higher demand by a greater number of clients. I've done digital work all summer, especially while working at my summer job as a graphic artist, and I have to say that the traditional experience was shockingly different.

I find that working on the computer can be a huge distraction and I'm always wanting to check my Email or the weather or CNN.com or any number of dumb websites I frequent. But in the studio, I had all the time in the world and nothing to distract me from my work. Working on a bare canvas in a quiet environment was so much more intimate, peaceful, and liberating. It was just myself and the painting, and I found myself lovingly stroking the surface with my brush, rapt by the texture of the canvas and the blossoming colors it took.

I am not demeaning digital media by any means and I believe that neither medium is superior, but I have to encourage all artists out there to take up a brush every once in a while. If you're having a stressful day or you can't seem to settle down, break away from the screen and settle down with a canvas. Take some time out for yourself and your art to be intimate and bond. Playing around in traditional media is like making love to art itself, using your own hands to bring pleasure and satisfaction to yourself and your 'partner'. Digital media makes things somewhat impersonal, like using a toy for sex instead of your natural, beautiful body.

Agree or disagree, like what I have to say or not, I think we can all benefit from some traditional media play every now and then.

First Post Evar

Hey all,

Well I guess it would only be proper to introduce myself. My name is Kristen and I'm a super-senior at Marywood University. It's a nice little school in my hometown where I've taken up Illustration with a minor in Biology. It's an interesting combination that stemmed from my interest in being a medical illustrator. In my Junior year, I decided that medical illustration wasn't exactly my cup of tea, though, and I now look forward to (hopefully) working as a character or concept artist once I graduate. Maybe. I hope.

I was recently laid off from my job at a newspaper ad agency in a nearby town and I now find myself unemployed and dumbstruck. I can't decide whether the layoff was a good thing or a bad thing. Having money is, of course, not a good thing, but I'm kind of happy to have been let go. I have one semester left to go at Marywood and then I'll have to fend for myself in the wild, hunting jobs like our animal-skinned ancestors hunted caribou or buffalo so long ago. It's an awesome, frightening thought, and I can't wait for the challenge. These next few months will give me a chance to hone my skills before applying for real, interesting jobs, so I want to take this opportunity to do as much work as I can and prepare!

Part of the reason why I'm starting this blog is for the curious young artists out there. I was in your position once. I was a confused high school student, labeled "odd" for my moody artistic tendencies. I was a frustrated college student, changing my major four times before settling into illustration and changing entire schools once. And here I am now, an enthusiastic young professional with not a hardened edge on my work ethic, the world my oyster and me starving for seafood. 

I am frightened. I am unprepared. I have a very vague idea of what to expect, but I don't think that's good enough.

So I want those of you who are in the position I once was to learn from what I leave here. This blog will probably evolve over time, as these things tend to do, but starting off I would like to offer my own experience as an example for you to learn from.

What's above is the first assignment that was recently given to my classmates and I in our Summer Internship course at Marywood. I'm a big fan of the Legend of Zelda video game series and I have based other projects on similar themes. I did two comic pages showing an encounter the hero, Link, and a supporting character, Medli, might have in a fictional game I dreamt up.

Comics are fun to read but a pain to draw.