I was drawing the dandelions coming up through the grass in my backyard and got this idea for a future silkscreen print…
Preliminary Concept Sketches for a Future Painting.
You can follow the evolution of my thinking, with the reference sketch on the far left followed by my smaller thumbnail sketches that are lined up chronologically. I started much more literally, thinking I could use an ocotopus as a decorative hairpiece, like the one the Principessa wears, (You can see how I originally was going to have tentacles flowing down her back to mimic the rope of hair in the original painting) but then my sketches evolved into her head actually growing its own tentacles.
Read and see more about my inspirations and how I reinterpret them into my paintings here.
After framing a small photo I was left with the 6″ x 8″ IKEA picture-filler which, conveniently enough, is completely blank on the back side. So I doodled up this Eelmaid (Waternsake-maid?) without bothering to actually reference what an eel/watersnake looks like and then inked it with my brushpen.
Blogged: Some Sad Girls. Had a pretty disappointing evening a couple weeks ago so I doodled in my sketchbook until I could go home again.
Blogged: Saints Row 2
This is the character my husband and Brendan Adkins made during a session of playing Saints Row 2. She was kind of awesome.
Blogged: No Musée d’Orsay
Matt and me, completely soaked-through and realizing there’s no way in hell we’re gunna get into the Musée d’Orsay (drawn last November while we were in Paris for a couple days)
Blogged: No Musée d’Orsay
Matt reading his book at a cafe across the street from the Musée d’Orsay last November.
Blogged: Some Octos
Some warm-up octopuses to get me in the right mind for a commission involving one.
Top and bottom are drawn from photos, the middle guy is straight from my imagination.
(Blogged)
While playing with my leaky brush pen, I used this outfit photo from Julie Mack as a reference to draw this sketch. Note where my pen blorched out a glob of ink on the left shoulder! Dang it.
Using strong blacks in my inking is something that really intimidates me and is something for which I don’t feel I have a particularly strong eye, so lately I’ve been forcing myself to focus on using large swatches of black and building texture with them. The results are generally pretty mixed, but I feel like I’m learning.
Julie’s collection of outfit photos have been one of my go-to resources for clothing ideas, both to draw and to emulate in real life– just in case you need some inspiration, yourself!
