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!

The Video Game Blog Challenge: Questions 14 – 16

Through the halfway point!

14. Current (or most recent) Gaming Wallpaper

I’ve never really been one to use video game wallpapers on my devices. I usually tend to favor pictures I’ve taken. But I do have the 25th Anniversary Zelda poster hanging in our living room (last Friday’s Links to the Past I posted has an awesome behind the scenes video of the digital painting!) My hubs bought me a linen print of it for Christmas last year, and it’s glorious. Click here to see the full poster (and definitely click to zoom in to full!) – I don’t want to post it here as it’s gigantic and you’d have to scroll for ages to get to the end.

15. A Screenshot From The Game I’m Currently Playing

Bravely Default. Still. I am getting my ass handed to me in a sidequest at the moment. There are multiple dragon bosses to fight. They are wiping the floor with me. Partially my own fault, as I’m using my alternate jobs, but I really want the experience for these jobs, as my main jobs are maxed out so it seems like a waste if I beat the boss that way! However, last night I FINALLY beat my first dragon boss! Only five more to go. . .

Current party: Tiz -Salvemaker, Agnes – Spiritmaster, Ringabel – Pirate, Edea – Templar

16. Game With The Best Cutscenes

This was a hard one for me. Do I pick a game with good graphics? One that I just thought was cool? One that had the most emotional impact?? I couldn’t decide, so here’s a few I think are sweet.

I loved this game, and I really liked the opening. It has a quick moment of gore though, just as a warning.

This dragon vs. airship fight scene from Final Fantasy IX was just awesome the first time I played it.

This one isn’t at all exciting if you’ve never played it. The ending of Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for me was just so personal, and I loved seeing everyone you’ve saved after the fact. Especially everyone who ties into all the masks you collect along the way (Anju and Kafei’s wedding – ahhh!!). It just gave such a sense of satisfaction and closure. I’m also realizing I absolutely should have included Majora’s Mask for the ‘Games I Think Are Underrated’ post. This game is fantastic. Extremely difficult, but fantastic.

I could post so many more, but those were the first three that popped into my head!

I’m using the questions from the Video Game Blog Challenge found here. All screenshots/photos you see are found via a basic Google image search. Copyrighted to their respective owners.

Can’t Get Enough. . .

Bravely Default.

I am SO in love with this game. It’s been quite awhile since I got sucked into a good JRPG, and it feels great to love one again!

The game play is great. It has classic turn-based RPG combat with a few new things to change it up, which I love, along with the jobs/abilities you can customize for each character (think FF Tactics. This is a Square Enix game, so there are lots of similarities to Final Fantasy games).

One of my favorite parts is the little side-game of rebuilding a town that gets destroyed. You assign ‘workers’ (which are CPs if, like me, you have no 3DS friends to connect to in the area) and then rebuild the town in real time. For example, it could take 2 real life hours to rebuild a shop, less if you assign more workers to it. The time increases as you level up each building, and also explore new area to expand. What’s the point? The shops allow you to buy special equipment and items, along with learning new special moves and upgrades.

The only downside is that it is pretty linear. Exploration is often cutoff despite having an open world map, but that’s often a standard in RPGs. I just prefer being able to explore everything as I wish, even if it means getting into combat with a massively high level enemy and getting wiped out.

Currently I have this party: Thief (Tiz), Valkyrie (Edea), Ranger (Ringabel), and Red Mage (Agnes). Do you play? What classes do you usually use?