Doodles

Just something rough, quick, and dirty this time.

I can turn out finished paintings every time and...I don't want to. Last night, I drew a baby for some friends in my IRC channel. It was rough and sketchy and I only did the barest linework to define her and clean her up. And that's okay.

If every drawing I had to upload was a masterpiece, I'd be so bored.

And now I share her with you.

That said, I might finish this at some point later on.

So yeah, just some brain droppings this time.

All right, so I turned in my first "finished" piece for a class yesterday. Obsessions and Phobias.

Using the "fear of dance" or Chorophobia, I made this:


And that one....is pretty typical of how I work. Figure, minimal background, digital painting. This the kind of work and process I'd probably use if someone called and said "Hey we need a finish by noon tomorrow." I feel like I did manage to evoke a mood, and that I painted it fairly well, but it's a testament to drawing figures when you're rapidly falling out of love with a project and not motivating yourself to get enthusiastic again. Concept-wise, I certainly could have pushed it, but on a technical level, I'm pretty pleased with how the "painting" turned out. I made some minor adjustments to my usual process and I think it produced some really rich textures.

So I started working on making my ID today. I figured, why snatch a picture of myself? I'm an artist and, by gum, certainly I can draw a self-portrait! Why, I learned this kind of thing as a freshman!

Not so easy, for me, as it turned out. And it all came down to "What do I want to say with my art?"

The first one I tried drawing was this:
Okay, great. So...what's so special about it, first of all. I guess that's not the biggest conundrum. My plan with my ID was "DRAW MY FACE" Which...I did. Mostly. But the thing is, I don't think this is an accurate representation of the kind of art I make. Lately, my work has been very loose and scribbly and done in sketch pens. Not because I'm incapable of drawing. Obviously I have some measure of skill...whether that is a "good" drawing or not is up to the individual viewer.

It also doesn't look like me. I mean, it has the keymarks of me, round (pudgy) face, small nose, wide lips, longish dark hair, glasses. But that's not an expression I typically make. I don't have composed little school photograph smiles like that. I smile, I laugh, or smile like this when trying to freak out friends and strangers.

So I tried drawing myself how I usually doodle myself. That didn't work either:

Yup...that's how, when bored (and therefore usually thinking about food), I doodle myself. Blank faced and big-toothed and with toast in my mouth. So why not use this one?

Well first of all, it's sketch black and white linework. It won't shrink to icon size well. Second, it looks better when I doodle this kind of thing in pen. Third of all, this isn't a good representation of how I draw either because, while I draw like the drawing above and the drawing here...I don't really know which suits me more.

Style is a tricky thing. Do I WANT to draw nice pencilly things or do I WANT to be goofy and stylized? What do I want to be known for? What would I be happiest drawing? What would I get the most pay drawing?

I'm an illustrator, I have to think about these things.

Real artwork to come later.

Who is this girl and why is she so unusual?

Well hello everyone. I've made this blog so I might as well use it.

A little bit about me:

I'm an art student. Junior year to be exact. I'm an illustration major and, as of two days ago, I just took on an art history minor. I'm 20 years old and I've been drawing ever since I realized that crayons weren't for eating. My influences span over pretty much everything. I'm passionate about history and folklore and literature but I'm also into steampunk, anime, and more music than I can sum up.

I've been writing in various blogs for years, mostly in Livejournal for personal use but now it's time to be a grownup and get my Big Girl Journal...that is, my professional one. I'll be using this journal, hopefully, to share my artwork and talk about what I do.

Hopefully I won't bore anyone.