Patreon!

In case you didn’t know, I have a Patreon! I post twice a week (WIP Wednesday and Finished Fridays) so you can keep up with all the different stuff I bounce around with. Right now I’m working on creating some digital downloads, a comic starring Rose Doyle (You can see her in my comic here), and random other art pieces - fan art from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Beetlejuice, and The Queen’s Thief, some doodles, some polls, and I don’t even know what else.

Here’s a little sneak peek from last week’s WIP!

Come join us!

January 2022 (drawing every day)

So, I was inspired by gbsketch on tumblr. They’ve been posting every day for over TEN YEARS. Not quite my goal, but shoot for the stars amirite. Anyways, here’s the art I did for January! Notice how it gets more complex and time consuming as time goes on. You would think it would be the other way, but nooo I can’t do anything simple.

(I’m working ahead because I know myself. She she’s a huge procrastinator and sucker for instant gratification and not to be trusted.)

Gravity Falls

I so rarely draw fan art. It really has to be something good, something that grabs my emotions and makes me come back again and again to re-experience the greatness! Last time, I went on about the Adventure Zone, but this week, I’m going to scream about Gravity Falls.

Look. If you like good sibling relationships and found family. If you like weird cryptids. If you like kids solving mysteries and HUNTING CRYPTIDS FOR SCIENCE. If you like a show with continuity, amazing animation, a solid story. If you like a narrative that builds and build to a thoroughly rewarding and satisfying and perfect end to a series, I beg you. Go watch Gravity Falls. It’s hands-down my favorite animated show ever.

Anyways, here is art for it:)

Here’s Mabel PInes, in all her glittery glory. Yes, she has a Pig names Waddles. Yes, it is the best show on earth. You can watch the speedpaint here.

Oh Dipper. Twin of Mabel. He hunts for the secrets of Gravity Falls, and perhaps he helps unleash the apocalypse. As a treat:) here is the speedpaint.

My ex wife still misses me….BUT HER AIM IS GETTIN’ BETTER.

This guy. Stan Pines is probably one of my favorite character EVER. He is a classic jerk with a heart of gold (and knuckles of brass). Speedpaint.

Look, the coolest kid in town! We ALL want to be Wendy Corduroy, Don’t lie. Speedpaint here!

What started it all. I would give ANYTHING to find a cool secret journal in a secret compartment in the woods! But, I probably would die within the first week, so. Maybe leave it to the PInes:) Speedpaint!

August 31 is Dipper and Mabel’s birthday, and the end of the show.

Go watch Gravity Falls! If you have Disneyplus, thats where I watch it:) Let me know what you think!

Mermaids and how to become one

I haven’t struggled this much with a composition in forever. Usually it’s the thing that comes easiest! But it was still my favorite part of the process:)

This piece with through several iterations. Dark water or light? Blood or no blood? I have included all for your perusal.

Right now, the one on the right is my favorite. I imagined the story behind it being that a woman was dressed as a sailor and got found out. They tied her up and threw her overboard to swim with the fishes. She will :)

Mermaids save her, of course. Then she has her revenge as a siren. If anyone has recommendations for books with mermaids or women dressing up as men to sail or do something considered a man’s job, PLEASE let me know!

How I Do Pen and Ink

First, i start with the sketch, be it on my ipad or in a real, live sketchbook.

A church doodle. I really wanted to frame the town and the setting sun, as though the viewer was with the boy and the cat.

Then, I printed out the clean lineart from my ipad and transferred it using tracing paper.

I set up camp at my desk with all my tools and stuff.

Black Magic India Ink, a cup of water, a cleaning kleenex, two crow quill pen nibs (102), and a pen holder. I switches nibs whenever one started to act up (probably every 30 mins or so)

This is my “scratch board.” after dipping the nib in the ink, a draw a couple of lines to make sure it’s all flowing okay. Make sure to clean off your nib every couple of dips! ink clogs up the channel and cakes on, making the nice lines not as clean, and can cause splatters and such.

A quick, important note: when you are inking, have the channel of ink FACING the direction you’re drawing. if you were to look straight down the barrel of the nib, it would make a C. Drag the C in a line, with the concave part facing the direction of the line, if that makes sense.

The beginning is always the worst o_O

I realized after I removed the blue tape that the lines were JAGGED. The tape prevented a smooth line down the edge, unlike paint. I’m still working on figuring this part out.

working on the columns and clouds. Shadows are where I struggle the most in rendering. Also, do not draw clouds without a reference, they’ll look like trees…

Taking a break from dumb clouds to work on a wall! much more fun:) I liked making each brink textured and interesting.

Here I forgot to take pictures, because I had to wait on new nibs and got REALLY excited when they came it.

The city and tower are done. I am trying to figure out the sky and sea.

The boy is now done. Tyying to get really fine strokes for the sky.

Done! I peel up the tape and grab my eraser.

I like how it turned out, though it wasn’t quite what I had pictured. In some ways, I like the sketch a lot more, but I believe that this is compositionally better.

back and forth with the sun and the boy. Compositionally it’s chef’s kiss :)

The Aesthetique :)

I will be doing more of these in the future! If I remember to take pictures… If you have any comments or questions, let me know! More pen and ink artists are what this world needs >:)

Watercolor

I often combine ink and watercolor. You know how much I love ink, but watercolor is really growing on me…

Look! He’s hanging all his armor on the line! Yes, I know they wouldn’t hang on twine. It’s magic, hush.

Look at the texture of that paper! Sure, this watercolor paper isn’t that good… but I love it when paper has a tooth that just grabs the paint. It makes me happy:)

The way you can use watercolor to show light and shine is fascinating. I think I could practice a hundred years and still not figure out everything that I can do with it! Here are twins. And a snake. And green fire.

This was inspired my a picture on pinterest. The wavy background, I believe, isn’t messed up even once! Perfectionism DOES pay off!!!

An early Poison Ivy redesign, except way more mystical and like a fantasy druid or something! I like the energy and floaty-ness of this piece.

Some of these are for sale in my etsy store!

Girl on Fire

If I had a nickel for every time I animated a powerful woman with fire powers, I’d have two nickels… which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice, right?*

The first was Aubrey Little, everyone’s favorite pyromaniac/deity.

You can find the process video here :) I had so much fun drawing her boots!

The next time was a random little doodle that proved I do experiment with different brushes in photoshop.

Isn’t her hair awesome?? The full video is here :)

*if you can tell me what that quote is from, you get a million wishes:)

A Knight's Vigil

What do you call a cross between a knight, hair made of water, neon light, medieval illumination and crosshatching? This piece:)

I LOVE this piece. Definitely my favorite that I’ve made in a while:)

Basically, I started out drawing the border, then a knight within. He’s standing watch over something. Are the water spirits dangerous? I don’t know. Maybe they’re supposed to tempt him away from duty. Maybe I’ll delve back into this world later.

Look at the borders!!!! I love them! Medieval Illumination is awesome, and I fully intend to do more of it. You can’t stop me>:)

Nature Hijabis

A triptych of Hijabis inspired by nature.

I love the soft colors of snow here. I had a lot of fun learning about shadows on snow, and way too much fun showering snow on all those pine trees. This is the doodle that inspired this series and I still really, really love it:)

I also varied my style in this series, which is unusual. I was kinda in an art style crisis (still am), and so I just carried out the concept with the art style that I felt like at the moment. The colors and the moss contrast were fun!

Thar she glows! Mushrooms are cool to draw, especially glowing ones. Are these an accessory? A growth? A snack? We may never know.

Pen and Ink planning Sketches

Do you ever get images stuck in your head? That’s how quite a few of my drawings start out:)

Here are a few of my pen and ink planning sketches! Who knows how long it will take me to go them…

Augh, I can’t WAIT to get my gold in the mail…. Can you imagine….me, armed with gilt…I’d be unstoppable

She’s in bed. It’s raining. At this stage, the idea is now on paper so that I don’t forget it!

I did a little version of this one in church. I’m excited to see it BIG

When I finish this, I’ll post all my photo references! When it comes to portraying indigenous peoples, I really, really want to use accurate refs and such. I’m looking forward to the sweeping scenery!

Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. You should listen to Six! the musical and also read Alison Weir’s book about the Six Wives of King Henry the Eighth!

This one is all ready to be inked! I just need to set up my phone, because I want to film this one >:)

The concept was HILARIOUS to me, and I was right, it’s just as funny on paper!

If you know me, you know Gravity Falls holds a special place in my heart. I don’t really do fan art? I don’t know why. This will be a practice watercolor piece because I…need the practice.

Do you enjoy pen and ink? It’s definitely one of my favorite mediums to work in!

Snowglobe Princess

To free her, you must travel through three other snowglobes and bust ‘em.

You can see the process video below

DC Women Redesign

People keep telling me that character design is important. And, since I’ve left Marvel and frankly, never looked back, here are some actually interesting heroes and villains, redesigned by yours truly*

Process: Wow, Gal is pretty:) Sports outfit, well-read, match the color scheme, make her 75% more muscular. I wanted Diana to look like she could actually throw a man across a football field. (Her face is based on Gal Gadot’s)

One thing Batman villains get right is the aesthetic. Poison Ivy has an excellent one, but leotards aren’t really practical or comfortable and was so obviously designed by a man. Give her some good overalls and a sharp garden implement, and then come talk to me :) (Face based on Sandra Oh)

TBH Catwoman my least favorite one… I wanted her to be lean and look toned, but not muscular, like a pilates instructor. I LOVE her little cat handbag though:) (Face based on Halle Berry)

Supergirl! I love this one:) She has almost the exact color scheme of Diana, but upside down. Still, I wanted her to be strong as well, but super flexible and chill to the bone. Her hair is AMAZING. (Face based on Lupita Nyong’o)

And Harley Quinn. Wearing Crocs. They should have about 50 more charms on them. Yes, she IS playing Animal Crossing. I tried to combine her old outfit with her new one, with a little bit of scene kid thrown in. Thus, the Scrunchies on her wrists like her old cuffs, her hair like her Birds of Prey hair, and her belt like a checkerboard. (Face based on MAagot Robbie)

* I haven’t ever consumed DC media besides Wonder Woman, to my delight, and The Dark Knight, against my will.

Sleeping Beauty's Sisters

I think Sleeping Beauty would have fared better if she had sister. She might not have been so lonely. I know I would go feral if someone tried to kiss my sister while she was unconscious. Here is Rose, already asleep, and Marigold and Iris, her sisters:)

Left is Marigold, middle is Rose, right is Iris.

The speedpaint link can be found here. This is dedicated to my twin sisters, who I love very much!

Color Palettes and Pinterest Prompts

Isn’t PInterest a wonderful, time-consuming, soul sucking place? Where you can scroll for hours and come out the end of it full of inspiration and a longing for baked goods?

Anyways. That’s how MY relationship with Pinterest works.

I have a whole board dedicated to color palettes and, like all my other boards, is just used for hoarding. Here are a couple of pieces that I actually used a palette for.

Love story:) I usually imagine little stories for the characters I draw… this man is a blacksmith and this is his bride, the baker

here is a priestess. My high school’s colors were purple and gold, so I’m slowly forgiving those colors and using them more.

This is a runaway from an orphanage, who’s about to start a magical adventure and bring the fellow children along with her.

This is a still from “Becoming Jane” with Anne Hathaway. LOOK at those blocky shapes!! I need to do this some more.

She has goo dnews for her son! This was based on an image I saw on pinterest, but can’t find any more, as well as traditional Russian clothing.

Oh, to be a Victorian lady on a wraparound porch looking at her roses.

The Spirit of Spring. I really, really like this piece! The textures are lovely and the colors I could eat with a spoon:)

Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott

Yet another grad school project. I chose to illustrate Ivanhoe, which was not as good as I wanted it to be. But, Pen and ink suits medieval novels very well.

Cedric makes his dog leave the table :( and Wamba makes a witty, probably insulting observation.

Bois Gilbert and Prior Aymer travel, hoping to find some shelter before the storm. Being struck by lightning is too good for them.

A convenient monk fresh from the HOly Land! Who could it be? Not the sworn enemy of Bois Gilbert:)

No really, it’s definitely the only Saxon knight who can defeat the Norman champions and it’s CERTAINLY not the estranged son of the lord whose mansion he’s pointing to.

Rowena, a beautiful and spirited heroine in love with Ivanhoe. Not to be confused with Rebecca, the beautiful and spirited woman in love with Ivanhoe.

Prayer line

You make a prayer, you stick it on the clothesline, the wind carries it off

Pen and Ink... my original love

I LOVE pen and ink. It’s been too long since I broke them out. Procreate and my ipad have spoilt me haha. These were from an illustration project my sophomore year, to illustrate a classic book. Dracula was the obvious choice:)

Mina looks for a sleepwalking Lucy and spies a dark figure crouched over the slumped form of her friend.

The Captain of the Demeter meets a horrible end…Easily one of the creepiest passages on the book is his memoir, clutched in his hand that describes the descending paranoia and madness of the crew, as one by one they are picked off by…something….

Oh, Lucy. What a terrible fate to meet, and what a horrifying visage to face. Your beloved is a creature with no morals or mercy, an unfeeling thing of the night. One of the saddest passages of the novel.

Dracula’s revenge. Turning the team mascot into the thing that they fight would be pretty sweet revenge.

“You will join us soon, sister! Come, come!” Also a very creepy part of the book. The brides (who earlier ATE A BABY) cokme down from the castle and taunt Mina with her impending, eternal doom.

The end. Quincy is sacrificed and Dracula is vanquished.

I posed for these very gladly and enthusiastically. I made my roommates pose for many of these as well. They were less glad and enthusiastic, to varying degrees.

Huevember 2018

Huevember was the most fun month-long challenge I’ve ever done (of like, three whole challenges…). It was a chance to experiment in chroma and value! Inktober is fun too, but it always feels like a chore by the end of the month.

I don’t know why this was such a successful period of art, but I think I sort of rediscovered my very stylized style. Not paying attention to colors allowed me to ignore rendering and stuff and embrace flat colors and shapes.

I LOVE this one, because a.) puppy, b.) indigo, and c.) the complicated dress pattern vs very very simple everything else.

you can track a lot more on my instagram if you scroll way down. I would love to do it again this year, but maybe pick color palettes or something:)