Finished!  Actually, I'll probably tweak it more--you know, 'cause I always do...

24 hrs later - Yup, I tweaked it just a tad.

So..."It's Not a Phase" is finally finished.  I put up the photo in the gallery last weekend, but I'm going to take some more photos once I put the galkyd on.  There are about half a million things I can think of to fix or improve upon, but I needed to move on.

Check out the upcoming "Leviathan Queen":

Pencil drawing traced over with brown ink--the arm was totally too short.

 Burnt sienna wash, then blocking in the shadows.

First few layers of colors--some parts are more advanced than others, and I've lengthened the arm.  (I apologize for the grainy photo--will be sure to post a better one soon!)

Then just tonight, I made myself do some digital painting, and something finally clicked:

F***ing finally--I'm starting to get it!

I can't wait to work more on this--not sure exactly where I'm going to take this piece, so it's pretty exciting.  This happened earlier on when I wanted to see what a red background would look like--thought it was sort of cool:

Reminds me a little of the video game WET.

Anyway, more to come soon!

I am sponsoring a contest over on Sketcholic.com--have fun and submit your best!

Just wanted to gripe a bit...the three phases I hate the most in a painting:

1) The beginning: getting the drawing down on the canvas...painstaking, and you know you're going to have to fix something soon or later when you're painting
2) The middle: when you're past the fun "everything's coming together" phase, and you feel like you have a million years to go
3) The end: when there seem to be a thousand tiny details you could fine-tune, but you have to finish it already

 Over and out.

Couldn't get motivated to work on my oils, so instead I fooled around with the Wacom tonight...this is the result of one evening's work, yo!  :P

"Sea Meadow Dragon"

FINALLY got around to finishing my first digital painting (I started it way back in March)!

"The Perilous Journey"

It's pretty much a hodge-podge of experimentation with no training whatsoever, so I'm looking forward to doing a more serious/focused piece and learning some tricks from the pros.  The width is 1280 px, so it should make a good wallpaper--feel free to download it, and email me or post a comment if you want a different size!

Sorry for the lack of updates!  I have, however, been busy painting!  Currently, I'm working on "It's Not a Phase" and am really looking forward to finishing it.  It has been quite a challenge because of the size (32" x 66")!  


This painting itself is what I have been calling a "double subversion" of my least favorite fairy tale (guess which one), but the title is a tip of the hat to my (incredibly) awkward adolescence: I ran around in over-sized T-shirts with glow-in-the-dark wolves emblazoned on the front and fashioned "spears" out of dowel rods my dad brought home from the hardware store (my career goal at the time was to become a hermitess).

 Pencil sketch...took FOREVER (a special thanks to my instructor for helping me)!

 Outline in ink, then burnt sienna wash

 First few layers of color

 ...and more layers

 Finally got to the legs...

 Worked on the wolf face, plus background detailing

 The body and face are nearly done (with the exception of the right arm/hand and feet)...next up: the sheepskin, spear and shred of red cloak!

The digital painting is ongoing--right now, my oil paintings are still the priority for me.  I have one on hold (because I got distracted with "It's Not a Phase") and just started a small self-portrait for an upcoming contest.  I'm very excited out my next big work--its working title is "Leviathan Queen".  Think lots of tentacles.  :)