Hello Sunshine

A quick hello from Palm Springs, have a great weekend!

Illustration Friday - Heights

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "heights." I had a ton of random ideas in my head but didn't feel like most of them really communicated what I think of when I think of heights. 


At the last minute this morning this idea popped into my head of that second before you drop on a roller coaster. I am not a big fan of heights or roller coasters, so I tried to make the drop look extra terrifying (that's a bird flying below haha) to convey how I feel about the subject. 


I started sketching on my Wacom, thinking that I would do a rough sketch and then paint over it but I liked the look of it and kept going with the sketch. I added the paper background (it has schematics on it!) in to give it some more interest/texture. 


I hope you like it :0)

Quick Sketch

I'm trying to get better at sketching (especially using the Wacom tablet to sketch instead of paper) so I did this quick little sketch on there. 

I'm going to Palm Springs tomorrow for a little getaway, and have a bunch of things on my to-do list still! Like packing and finishing my Illustration Friday painting. 

Better get after it! 

Experimenting

I have been playing around with different digital brushes and styles lately. I was trying to get a watercolor- like result, and I think this is pretty close! 


A cupcake like this would definitely make any day a lot more cheerful! I like to think it's a pink lemonade flavored cupcake :0) 


Have a great day! 

Merry Monday

"Never compare your start to someone else's finish." 

When I'm starting out something new (like a blog, or digital painting for instance) it's hard not to compare myself to others who have more people reading their blog, or who are extremely talented artists and feel a bit jealous. 

But then I snap out of it and realize that these people probably have put in a lot more time and practice to get to where they are today. I think that talent and luck also play a role, but I don't think great things can be accomplished without putting in the time. 

It's easier to stay motivated and excited about new projects when I keep this saying in mind. What works for you when you start to compare yourself to others? 

TGIF

It's a beautiful, sunny Friday here in SF, and everyone seems to be walking around with a big smile on their face. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend soaking in the sunshine, and hopefully doing something creative! 

Have a great weekend! 

Illustration Friday - Puzzled

It's my first digital Illustration Friday! I had a hard time thinking of a concept for "puzzled" until I tried to park my car the other day, and had to decipher three different parking signs before figuring out it was safe to park there overnight. 

This is still a work in progress. I ran out of time and had to throw a background in there, but I think it would look nice to put in something less abstract. What do you think? 

Lemon Head

I finished my first digital piece! It has lemons in it again, hence the title. 

So, I still have a lot of learning/practicing to do, but it came out better than I expected for my first attempt.

For people who aren't familiar with digital illustration, I have a Wacom tablet,  which has a pen and screen that you draw on. I used Photoshop as my program, which allows you to select different brushes, colors, etc and paint away.  

If you want to see an example of how someone does it, you can watch a video of Alice X. Zhang (who I posted about yesterday) speed painting on YouTube here. 

And here's the original sketch just for fun:

Oh and in case you're worried I've given up watercolor (hi mom!) that's not the case, I still love watercolor! However, while I'm super excited about this new medium there might be more digital work on the blog than watercolor, we'll see. 


I hope your week is going swell! 

Inspiration - Alice X. Zhang

I've become more and more interested in digital illustration lately, and have just purchased a Wacom tablet to start doing digital work myself.


There are a ton of really amazing digital artists out there, but right now I think my favorite is Alice X. Zhang.


Her work is very painterly and has a lot of great colors and lighting. 


Here are some of my favorite paintings of hers: 

Source

Source

Source

Source

You can check out more of Alice X. Zhang's work on her website or Deviant Art page. 

Merry Monday

"When life hands you lemons ... make some sorbet!"

Here's this week's illustrated quote for you, although I don't know if it's an actual quote, I made up the sorbet part. 


Another "when life hands you lemons" ending I like is "make a gin and tonic." 


What's your favorite ending to "when life hands you lemons"? 

Weekly Instagrams

Here are some of the photos I took this week. I hope you have a great weekend! 

Illustration Friday - Vocal

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is Vocal. All I could think about is how my cat Lucy is very vocal when she wants something :0) 


I painted the cat, bowl, and the shadows and realized I might lose some of the fur texture when I painted in the background, so instead I scanned the image in and added the background in Photoshop. I think it looks kind of neat. I might go back and paint the background on the original, we'll see. 

Paint Palette - Ombré Sky

  sources: photo is mine, canvas texture, photoshop paint brushes

The clouds outside my window were amazing this morning, so I took a picture and thought it would make a great color palette post. I especially like how the sky has an ombré effect to it, so I did that with the colors as well. 

The photo kind of reminds me of these ombré tights, which I think are pretty fantastic.

Ombré tights

What do you think? Are you a fan of the ombré trend?

Merry Tuesday

The day got away from me yesterday and I didn't get a chance to post my "Merry Monday" quote.  So here it is a day late. This quote is by Mother Teresa and I think it's a lovely one. 


I hope someone has kind words for you today :0)

Weekly Pics

I'm looking forward to golf and Easter this weekend. I hope your weekend is full of fun stuff also! Happy Friday!

Illustration Friday - Return

This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday topic "Return." I had a hard time with this topic, there's just too many options! I ended up thinking of the phrase "return to your roots," and this is what came to mind.

Now that I'm done with it I'm thinking I should have added some grass on the ground. I think there's too much brown. What do you think?

Next week my goal is to have my illustration done before Thursday!

Doodle Book

Laura from Diary Sketches posted how to make your own doodle notebook awhile back, and I thought I'd give it a shot. 

I hand stitched mine together instead of stapling it cause it was kind of thick. It was also pretty hard to sew, but it helped to wiggle the needle back and forth when trying to get through all of the layers. 

I used Canson Mixed Media paper in case I wanted to do some light watercoloring inside. It's supposed to handle wet media anyways, but you can see the paper wrinkled a bit on the cover where I painted it. 

The tape I used on the spine is hot pink duck-tape (so fun!) and some of my washi tape. 

I wrote "make more mistakes" to encourage me to use it, and not worry about "mistakes." 

Head on over to Laura's blog to check out the instructions (which are illustrated!)

April Calendar Background

Here is April's background for your computer! Better late than never :0) 

Download here:

1680 x 1050

1600 x 1200

1280 x 800

iPhone

iPad

I hope you enjoy it!

Merry Monday

Still working on getting looser with my watercolor paintings without it looking sloppy. Not sure if I'm making much progress yet. Also, it's harder to get the "looser" ones to scan properly. 


I'll just have to keep after it :0)


Happy April! 


*This is another quote that was hard to find the source of, I believe it's Richard Dumb.