Current Art Stuff (A Sort Of WIP Wednesday)

I debated not even having a WIP Wednesday, but then I decided even though I don’t have a ton of actual art to share, there are a few things I’d like to talk about! So really, a few of these things are even in pre-WIP stage, where I’m still just working on concepts for projects.

One of my biggest goals this year is to find a direction for my art. I feel like while I love creating, I don’t really have a sense of DOING anything with my art. I like to draw portraits. I like to make paintings. But I feel like I’ve just been bouncing around from individual project to individual project with no real goals for my art. And I’d like to change that! I will still absolutely be making portraits, paintings, and probably lots in between. But I want to give myself a bit more focus for the year, with an actual intention for my art as opposed to my “let’s just draw something” mentality I’ve been rolling with up until now.

FOCUS #1:

Sketch more!! Seriously, I am awful at sketching. I bought a new sketchbook in mid-2014, and there are maybe ten pages filled in. Three of which are from this year. Oy. I really need to work on just sitting down to sketch, without a massive project in mind.

Two sketches from this year – fellow blogger Margot Meanie, and a quick cartoon-ish sketch of Mary Doodles while catching up on her YouTube vids!

FOCUS #2:

Drawing without a reference! This heavily ties in to my above focus of sketching more. Every time I sit down to sketch, self doubt always kicks in and screams I can’t possibly draw anything without a reference photo! I NEED to work on getting over that hump. Especially as I know, YES, I CAN draw without a direct reference. I actually have a super top secret idea I’m working on right now for a personal comic, and I can’t wait to get it going. You guys here will definitely be privy to the process – it’s really only super top secret from my family. And since they don’t read my blog, I can share it all here, muahahahaha! Anywho, you’ll be hearing lots more about it.

Other projects? I need to finish my Neil Gaiman portrait, as well as the painting for my hubs and I’ve got some plans to do a Victorian steampunk piece, just for funsies. I think I’d like it to eventually be a painting, but I’ll probably start out with a graphite drawing to get it all down first.

Hoping to get this finished tomorrow!

I’ve been ignoring this piece, as the entire bottom half of her body needs to be redone when I paint….not looking forward to that. But I need to suck it up, and get some more work done on it!

That’s what I’ve got on my art plate for now – what are you working on lately?

WIP Wednesday

I’m still rolling steadily along with Christmas presents. Down to my final six! Which sounds kinda scary when I think about the fact that Christmas is in less than four weeks. I got this?! I mean, YEAH, I got this!

Most recently finished is this little puppy plush! Made for a very special little boy I know. I realized afterward that I totally forgot to include a tail when making the pattern! Whoops…thinking I’ll cut out a dark blue piece and give him a 2D tail hot glued on the back.

This pile of pieces is on it’s way to becoming a cute little kitty plush! I based my pattern off a Pusheen image I found online, and customized the colors to suit the little girl it’s going to.

Oh, the Zelda painting. I am still loving it, but hating what an incredibly SLOW painter I am. It’s not so much a complaint as a realization of reality. Luckily I’m almost done.

And now, a little art babble with this close up. First off, let me tell you that painting a face in oil paint when her whole head is legit the size of my thumb is HARD. Also, I’m very quickly discovering I have some seriously wacky proportions going on in the head/neck area. That will all be taken care of with the next session. I need to bulk up the left shoulder, move up the cape clasp section – basically just a lot of adjusting the whole area. Then it’s just adding in a some eye detail cleanup, finishing the dress and bow and DONE! Oh, and Gannondorf’s top hand if you look in the big view; apparently I completely forgot to detail the shadow there!

I sketched this portrait out on Monday, and now I just need to shade it. Followed up by one of her little brother.

Other than these projects I still have my little’s treasure chest to detail, and my hubs oil painting to finish. Go go go!!

What are you working on lately? Making any presents for the holidays?

 

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

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!

WIP Wednesday

Before I get into the art stuffs, I’m going to apologize upfront for the horrendous photos. I had a total brain fart last night, and realized not only had I not prepped this post yet, I hadn’t even photographed my WIPs. And I’m gone from the house all day today, meaning no time to do it this morning. Which therefore meant taking art photos in my horrible bedroom light (aka fluorescent, hospital room style lights. Blech) last night. Some editing helped, but not that much. Pardon!

My little asked me last week for some new art in her room. Yesterday, I finally remembered this conversation, and asked her what she wanted. Unsurprisingly, she asked for some My Little Pony stuff, specifically Princess Luna and Princess Celestia (her two faves). I whipped these up during nap time for her. Happy three year old.

Sharing some stuff from my small sketchbook (5×7″) today. A quick life sketch while my daughter was painting from a couple weeks ago. She’s such a serious painter, which is handy for me – she sits so still I can get a quick sketch in.

This was a five minute sketch I did yesterday while listening to Jane Lui. I love the music she makes – so unique. Anywho, since I had her on the brain, I decided to do a quick sketch. The likeness is only meh, but for five minutes I’ll take it.

Started another MTG bookmark! Though this one isn’t for my hubs; it’s actually a Christmas present for a friend. I’m feeling 50% super accomplished for starting Christmas presents in August, and 50% yucky with myself. However, if I don’t start now, I’ll never have time to get everything done! Doing so much art as gifts this year.

And lastly, still making bits of progress on this piece. I feel like this is my backup piece, so when I can’t figure out what I want to work on, I’ll add more to this. It still has so much work that it needs, but it’s slowly coming along.

What projects are you working on lately?

WIP Wednesday

Welcome to my first ever WIP Wednesday! This is another step for me in breaking out of my super shy shell (yay alliteration!) that I am stuck in when it comes to my artwork. I have no problem sharing my finished portraits, but sketches, doodles, personal artwork – the idea of showing that to the masses freak me out. But, it’s time to do it! I’ve been sharing WIPs and things on Instagram to break me in, but now every other Wednesday I’ll be sharing my current art projects here!

First up isn’t actually a WIP (boy, I’m off to a great start). It is, however, the piece I drew for the winner of my blog giveaway at the end of June! So much fun to draw – made me happy just looking at those happy faces!

This piece I’ve had started for at least a month, but haven’t finished it yet…for no apparent reason! I tend to hop from project to project when I don’t have a commission, and sometimes things just end up sitting around for awhile. This is one of the first pieces I doodled without a reference for it, and I’m liking it a lot! Still figuring out watercolors, but I’m having fun with it.

Next up is a bookmark for my hubs (who rarely reads my blog, so I’m hoping he won’t otherwise I’ve ruined the surprise). The character, Kiora, is from Magic the Gathering and I just love her color scheme. Having lots of fun layering in her colors.

This is a sketch I whipped up on Sunday after seeing Guardians of the Galaxy. Wheee fanart! Hoping to turn this into a watercolor. As you can see, I definitely struggle with sketching in too many details when I’m planning on doing a painting. This sketch took about 15 minutes and I had to constantly stop myself from sketching in a whole lot more. But, it’s all a process.

And lastly, another non-WIP! I made these Sailor Moon bookmarks a couple weeks ago, and want to have a giveaway for them! Right now I’m stuck on two things: how to laminate them, and then whether or not to have the giveaway on my blog or on Instagram. Normally when I laminate I just use packing tape, but these are wider than the tape, and I’m not wild about having a tape seam on them. However, I really don’t want to spend any money on another method. Thoughts?

The only other big project right now is that I’m completely revamping my art area in our master bedroom. I’ve taken everything off my desk (and disassembled part of the desk!), I’m moving shelves around – it’s quite the task. Most of my art supplies are currently in piles around the room, but it’s coming along!

Do you draw/sketch/doodle/make any form of art? What’s your favorite medium?

Blogger Portrait Update

It was bound to happen eventually. I’ve finally hit the point where my posts have outpaced my portraits. I’ve been working on a lot of new art lately (which I can’t wait to share!), trying to break out of my comfort zone of bust portraits. Don’t get me wrong, I love drawing portraits, but you gotta change it up and grow right? 🙂

Along with that, I’ve also hit a busy spot with commissions (which is awesome). Balancing time for commissions, time for my own art, and blogger portraits has been tough! So blogger portraits will absolutely still be happening, just not every single week. I have four lined up, and I have a few more bloggers to email and ask about. Plus incorporating indie shops, which I also need to email the makers and ask about. Lots to do!

I hope you’re liking the series, and there will be more soon to come. Thanks for sticking with me!

-Kayly

 

Blogger Portrait #5: Meet Sarah of Chase Photography!

This weeks blogger portrait is a unique one. It’s the first blog that has a dedicated focus – photography!

Meet Sarah, of Chase Photography.

My 8B pencils were not happy with me after this one! But I really like how it turned out. The photo ref had a lot shadows that were a little intimidating to render, but it all worked out!

Sarah’s blog is focused on photography, and many different aspects of it. She specializes in child/family photography, and besides showcasing her own (beautiful) work, she shares lots of different photo tips! Everything from ways to photograph little ones, to outfit tips, and even makeup tips (which I am always happy to learn more about!)

She also has posts about her daily life with her son and even the occasional yummy healthy recipe. Why do I love it? Really, my favorite part is seeing her photos. They are so gorgeous. It is rare that I don’t see one of her photos and immediately want to draw it. In fact, on a couple occasions, I have! She posts photos from her sessions all the time, and I love browsing through them!

Sarah and I actually knew each other back in gradeschool, and have since reconnected through the magic of Facebook. She too has a little one, and we’ve had a couple playdates with our kiddos! Sarah ended up snapping some photos when they came up for a visit, and the results are just gorgeous!

I love black and white photography!

Going into it, I didn’t think she was going to get any good ones (shows what I know!). My miss isn’t too into picture taking at the moment, and was so not into sitting still or doing anything. But Sarah still managed to capture some great ones, including my new favorite picture of my daughter.

Stunning! Although I’m probably a little biased. So go stop by Chase Photography, browse some beautiful photographs, and leave some love!

Another blogger portrait next Monday!

-Kayly

Never Stop Making Art

That’s pretty much been my mentality this week, and thusly the housecleaning and blog posting have suffered a bit. I had no posts ready this week, except for a subscription box reveal, but I’ve had a great week nonetheless! So I figured I’d share what I’ve been up to.

The main thing I’ve been working on this week is this:

My new Pentatonix piece! I am so excited about this one! I took screen grabs from their Daft Punk video (which was a process in itself to get good ones) and then drew it like a normal graphite piece, and added some watercolor overlay for those pops of color. The eyes were such a focus in the vid, I definitely wanted them to be in color. This is a sister piece to the one below, which I drew last year.

Why two? One for me, one for my BFF – we have VIP tickets for their show in Boston in April and in theory we can get the drawings signed! I may freak out a little as I am slightly MAJORLY terrified to show them my drawings. I’m pretty shy in general, so this is a massive step. I figure if I can show my drawings to famous people I admire, bringing random works around town to hopefully get them displayed will be cake!

Also, although I’m quite late to this party, we finally saw Frozen. And it’s fabulous. I still like Tangled better, but this is definitely taking spot #2. And I like the music in Frozen better. My three year old is so in love with it, so when she gets her TV time, this is ALL we’ve watched for the past three days. Which I am entirely okay with. Last time it was on, I sketched this image from the movie box of Elsa for my daughter’s wall.

Later on we did watercolors together and I did an overlay (which is kind of my new favorite thing to do). Also, hard to tell, but I added glitter in some spots so it shimmers in the sunlight on her wall. Her response once it was finished: “Draw Anna, Mommy, draw Anna!”. So I obliged.

Haven’t painted it yet; perhaps later today if we do watercolors again! Once I’d finished painting Elsa while doing watercolors, my daughter asked me to paint something else. So I started doodling some swirls, and she said, “Make it an animal!” So meet shy octopus. She adores it, and it has joined Elsa on her wall.

Apologies for the poor image quality – my miss was distraught when I tried to take it down for a photo, so I took it right on the wall. 🙂

It was really nice to just doodle aimlessly with the paint. Just a further reminder that I need to sketch more, but I always end up working on projects and full pieces instead! Le sigh. One day, I will attempt daily sketching.

In other projects, I am SO far behind in #30Lists. My brother came up last weekend for his birthday, and I haven’t caught up since! I have each list written down on paper, just not all scrapbooked and prettied yet. Again, in time. One of the things I like about that project is it entirely up to the maker on how/when to do your lists!

I’ve also started this sign for my kitchen. Should be done by the end of the weekend. The fork, knife, and spoon were in my scrapbook stash and I’ve had this black canvas kicking around for ages with no intended project so I decided to combine them for a fun new sign!

So despite back-burnering (sure, that’s a word) my blog this week, I have loved completely submerging myself in art. I’ve got new blogger portraits on the way, and I’m cooking up a new idea to expand the series. Stay tuned!

-Kayly

Blogger Portrait #4: Meet Polly of This Enchanted Pixie

This week’s blogger portrait is one of the first blogs I ever started following.

Meet Polly, of This Enchanted Pixie!

I loved doing this portrait, but was nervous about it too. I knew I wanted to do the overlay of color, but since it was something new, it was a little nerve wracking! Luckily, it turned out looking just the way I wanted it to – on the first try no less! I’m definitely incorporating it other portraits too.

Polly blogs across the pond in the UK, and I love that it is full of personal posts. She blogs about her life with her husband and three daughters and all they do! She also shares recipes, style posts, product reviews, and more.

The personal aspect of This Enchanted Pixie is really what drew me in when I first went there. Polly is always so genuine, and I love seeing the adventures she has with her kiddos! She also makes and sells beautiful jewelry. You know how I love handmade, and I can personally vouch for the quality and beauty of her jewelry – I bought earrings for both myself and my mum this past Christmas and they are so lovely! Check out her shop and see all the lovelies for yourself.

Polly has quite a few series, my favorite being Things I Love – a collection of items (often handmade) that she’s been eyeing on the internet. There’s always something I end up wanting too! Plus she often shares awesome DIY natural bath and body recipes – she even published an ebook about it called Herbs and Essential Oils. It’s packed with amazing recipes for beauty products, and cleaners for the house too!

A couple of my favorite posts:
DIY Lotion Bars
Mamaheart This is actually on ongoing series (one I took part in!).
Make sure you stop by This Enchanted Pixie, look around, and leave some love!

-Kayly

Blogger Portraits is a series I created as a way to combine my love of portrait art and feature other blogs. I am in no way being compensated for these features; I just like to spread the blog love!