Lookit!

Made a Favicon!! I'm going to bookmark my own site so I can admire it!!!

...even though it'd be really small...


...but whatever! :D

Thin lines ftw!!! I didn't really know what to do w/ the background but I think it's fine enough. I'm impressed that I got so much detail on such a small scale. Whoa, listen to me being proud of myself...this is kind of weird...

T-shirt Contest And More

http://atrium.threadless.com/826/

Another Threadless contest; I've tried entering my shirts in the general running they have but this one was posted by a friend on Facebook. I think I'll give this one a shot. I'm worried this'll put a damper in my original work schedule but...I dunno. Too hard to pass up. I have until the 12th of September to do this thing!

About my workload...I need to be able to do several things at once. Working on one drawing at a time won't cut it, especially with my ambitions. My work load's gotta match my mind load! >:D

So I've been thinking about doing the unthinkable...

...

...

...getting...a planner!!! My only problem with this is that a) it's impossible to follow it meticulously and b) I always forgot to put stuff in it and/or actually read it. Also c) sounds lame.

Here are the pieces I tried to submit to Threadless years ago (and phailed):

I should have submitted this in the winter--this would have been perfect. Some of the suggestions were to add more branches on the tree--also, I probably should have scratched the oval frame and make this only for a grey T-shirt.

The ideal behind this one is that it's a forest at night composed of owls--the giant owl's eye is the moon and the little airborne owls around the big one--their eyes are the stars. The tufts of the sleeping owls on the bottom are hills and trees. I think what I should have done was zoom in and put more details in the feathers..other than that, I liked the idea and was kind of sad it didn't get selected.

Project: The Weird Family Breakfast PART TWO

No work today so I tried to be as productive as possible (ran into some snags, like finding out that you can watch Darkwing Duck episodes on Youtube. Oh, nostalgia--it's nice to remember how great that show was/is). Anyways, I feel that I finished the lines--learned how to use the elliptical marquee tool to draw a better table. Did some finishing touches and voila:

If there's anything I need to change, I can always do it later but for now, I've been dying to do color--here's what I got for now:

I'm using this piece to determine the official colors for these characters; I'd like to get around to creating (if possible) a palette for these guys so I won't have to swatch from previous drawings anymore. Also, I want to find a style that suits these characters--for little details. For example, the kid's pajamas were solid seafoam green before--I think I'll add thin lines of a slightly darker hue. Debating on whether or not to add a pattern to the table (I can always make a pattern swatch but that may be tacky. I also want to avoid using flat colors for things--the monster dad's shirt is actually a really light tan color as opposed to white. Maybe I'll switch to a blue-white. 

I realized I forgot the fish mom's hair band but...well, I may add it in but I may not. I hate how I'd overlook little things like this and I seriously spent a lot of time honing in on the line portion, something I don't usually do. Gragh, I think I need a break. 

Sketch Dump!

Project: The Weird Family Breakfast PART ONE

This was the first sketch I made that started the Weird Family Breakfast series; a combination of characters I created for my Animation classes--even though they were born because of class assignments, I kind of took a shine to them. Anyways, here's the first drawing:

I took the sketch, darkened it a bit in Photoshop, added colors and then copied the sketch and overlayed it to get the bright colors. It made me think of a Saturday morning cartoon series and I decided that I'd always draw these guys eating breakfast. 

Even though it was a rough, hurried sketch I made out of boredom (or something), I liked the sketchy look. Still, I had to urge to redo this. At first, I started tracing this with my wacom but then I realized that 1) I've been changing the appearance of the fish mom with each WFB piece and I've felt I've decided upon a final look for her and wanted to incorporate it in my remakes. She'll now be sporting a shorter, blonde do with a hair band and a fabulous pea coat w/ cuffs. She'll wear her apron only when she's cooking and when she does, she'll usually wear a green version of the yellow raincoat she's wearing in the picture above. Anyways, here's the rough sketch:

Fun on a bun...now for the line art:

I'm desperate to start coloring and shading (because I'm closer to making the drawing look like what I can see in my mind) but I know I want to make sure the lines are just right. I'm learning to control the pressure I put on the pen--a lot of lines vary. Drawing hands is always a pain and drawing Fish Mom w/o oven mitts was challenging; I've decided to give her the fin-hands of her male counterpart. I gave Monster Dad a shirt and a bigger newspaper. I found myself wondering how he manages to sit in a chair but decided that he's probably using two chairs..or something. Actually, he's pretty tall--he could just be sitting on the floor. Scale is another thing I had to consider--I may make Monster Dad smaller but maybe slightly taller than Fish Mom. Well see over time. Anyways, I wanted to post this to show others (all three of you) and myself that I am being productive and...well, this helps and encourages me. Also, something I got from a good friend:

-Deciding between two sites to make my website---will scan and post list later.
-Drew a quick cartoon for fun (found my radiograph pen and my newer ink pens which delighted me)--drawing comics gave me a lot of joy.
-Also planning to redo a lot of my older work. I tend to not like to improve on what I already have and always draw something completely new. No more of that!

Said comic:

Playin' Around With My Wacom

Drawing on my wacom w/o a sketch to trace...hilarity (or weirdness) ensued: