WIP Wednesday

GAH, I am so behind on blog stuffs! I can never manage to keep up with life when I am sick! But luckily, I feel pretty much tip top again, so it’s time to get back on track with posts, starting with WIP Wednesdays again. Nothing new this week, just more progress on things I’ve already shared. Now that I am in epic Christmas present scramble mode, I won’t have a ton of new stuff to share in the next two months, but I’ll post all I can!

I’ve had this portrait of Mr. Cumberbatch finished for a couple weeks, and I’m quite happy with it! However I absolutely need to work on rendering certain clothing texture.

A penguin daddy and baby! This is a Christmas present for a friend of mine, who adores/collects penguins.

I’ve made a rather abysmal amount of progress on my Neil Gaiman portrait. I haven’t even finished laying the darks in the hair yet! But, this project does wind up at the bottom of the priority list since it’s just for fun, not a Christmas present. I work on it when I can, or when I just HAVE to use my pencils after spending days leaving them untouched while I work on my two big sewing projects (see below).

Princess Luna is coming along nicely. All her pieces have been cut out and I’m in the process of stitching each side together.

But this is where the majority of my effort has been going. Princess Celestia. This plush has taken SO MUCH work. I entirely hand stitch these plushes, and since I’m kinda slow at it, these are a huge time sync. But I’m loving how she’s turning out!! This is the front side, obviously, and it’s 100% finished.

The back side has MUCH less detail than the front and will therefore take much less time to put together. Then, I can sew the whole thing together and stuff it. I’m a little worried about the stuffing part, as I’m hoping nothing will look warped or misshapen, but I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

That’s all I’ve got for you this week! I feel like I’ve been working a TON, but it’s only because sewing takes me ages haha. I’ve got a couple more plush patterns to draw, then cut out and stitch, and TWO oil paintings to do, one of which I haven’t even started. It’s gonna be a busy two months of art. Just the way I like it!

WIP Wednesday

Lately art has been a balance between finishing the just-for-fun projects I’ve started, working on Christmas presents, and still wanting to start more just-for-fun projects! I’ve made the decision to focus on Christmas though. I know it’s still two months away, but I also know me and if I don’t bust out at least half my list, I’ll never get them done in time. I’m making so much this year! Which is awesome, but also stressful. I’ve actually closed commissions for the season just so I can focus on it, and it’s been a great choice. One less things to stress about!

Last week, I was lamenting about my little raccoon and his poor nose. I made the decision to seam rip the nose off, then cut and hot glue a new one one and I am SO HAPPY I did! I just love him now! So I will definitely have to remember that when making a new one…I’ve got some raccoon plans up my sleeve.

Finished my Bravely Default piece! Tiz’s (far left) eyes are a bit dark, and Ringabel (pirate) looks a bit evil haha, but overally I like it a lot! I also learned I’m not a huge fan of using watercolors in this manner. I like them for more tightly controlled things, and this was very loose. I think a piece in this style is one I’d like to try once I get a set of Copics and see what I think!

I got the Neil Gaiman piece all sketched out and have just barely started laying in the darks in the hair. However, after staring at it while working I think I’m going to erase the left eye (our left, that is) and redraw it in. It’s too low, and it’s driving me banana sandwich.

This piece however, I am 100% happy with! It was just one of those times where everything is working out exactly the way I want it to! I’d say I have about an hour left to finish up that side of his coat, and then it’s all done! At this point, I feel like I’m subconsciously putting off finishing it up because it’s been so much fun to draw.

The last thing I wanted to share today is a bit of my pattern/plush making process. I started a new plush for my daughter for Christmas, and figured I’d give you a taste of how I do it!

I start with a sketch. I find a reference pic that I like, then sketch it out to the size I want the plush to be. In this case, it’s about 8″ x 8″ including the hair and wingtips. I know how messy it looks, but I have to sketch in all the sides of everything (hair, wings, etc) for the next step: tracing.

Using a light box, I take my sketch and trace out each individual piece I will need. Then I cut them out, pin them to felt, and cut the felt out.

And voila! Princess Celestia is coming right along. I need to snag a couple other felt colors to cut out the rest of the hair, and then I’ll be ready to start sewing it together (which is a whole other ball game). This is definitely the most complicated plush I’ve tried. I want it to be ‘viewable’ from both sides, not just the front, which added the extra step of making sure it all works from the back too. So far so good though! We’ll see how it all comes together once I start layering everything to sew.

I have some plans for upcoming Christmas posts and I was thinking about making a full step by step tutorial for (how I do) pattern & plush making. What do you guys think? Something you’d like to see?

WIP Wednesday

Art lately has had it’s ups and down. I’ve started some portraits that I love, and had some other projects not go so well. Also, I felt way less productive than normal art-wise lately. I’ll have to kick it up a notch for October!

I started a watercolor piece of my party in Bravely Default (which has since changed but that’s besides the point). It was all going swimmingly until my three year old ran in to my room after a nap and grabbed my arm causing my to drop my paintbrush full of BLACK PAINT on top of Agnes’ face (far right – that awkward looking area). After some deep breaths and a saying through gritted teeth, “PLEASE DON’T GRAB MUMMY’S ARM IF SHE’S PAINTING….” I started damage control. Luckily these are watercolors, so I dabbed as much off as I could and waited for it to dry. I’ve been lightly layering up white gesso on top and now it’s at a usable point. This is Mixed Media paper, but if you overwork the area, it really starts to disintegrate which makes blending watercolors pretty much impossible. Hopefully I can finish it up in the next two days or so.

I finished my hedgehog!!! And I think he’s just the cutest thing. I’m really excited about him, as he is my own pattern with no reference for it other than an actual hedgehog. He isn’t that dynamic of a stuffie, but he sure is adorable. Plus, I love the subtle geek tribute of Sonic and Tails when he’s with my little fox!

Unfortunately I’m not too happy with my second plush pattern. Sigh. I really want to like this guy, but his face drives me nuts. When I designed the pattern I forgot to allow for a ‘neck’ area when I stitched it together, so now the nose looks way too far down on the face and it’s all I can focus on. I may just rip the stitching on the nose out, cut a new one, and hot glue it on farther up. He is supposed to be part of the other woodland plushies above for a friends baby shower, but I may just give him to my little depending on how the fix goes.

I started this portrait of the excellent Benedict Cumberbatch. I love how it’s turning out! This piece has more to it now, but being honest I was totally too lazy to take another picture. Photographing graphite portraits drives me bonkers since I have A: No lighting equipment and B: no tripod but I do what I can! A lot of the subtler midtone shading can get lost, but it’s usually fixable with editing.

And then last night I started a portrait of Neil Gaiman just because I felt like it! I’m reading one of his books, and was flipping through Sandman again looking at the art so I guess he was just on my brain. I felt like starting a new portrait, and that’s who I picked!

Made anything lately? Let me know below!