Dream Crit-Visual Development

Spiral Cove; Photoshop and Corel Painter, 2012

Kitchen of the Future; Photoshop and Corel Painter, 2012

Mrs. Who's House; Photoshop and Corel Painter, 2012

Meg's Room; Photoshop and Corel Painter, 2012

Meg and Calvin; Photoshop and Corel Painter, 2012

Working and Playing

Here's a couple of drawings of my fiance, Chris. He holds pretty still while he's playing video games and working so I thought I'd take advantage of that. 

Chris Working; Colored Pencil 2013

Chris Playing; Colored Pencil 2013

That's all for now. Have a good weekend.

Nataly vs. The Imaginary Lion

Hey friends!

I have been wanting to do some plein air painting for a while now, and I finally found some time. Last Friday I set out to hike back in the canyon at Skyline, but it turns out hiking by yourself is super scary. There was just all kinds of shit rustling in the bushes which was probably just birds and squirrels, but I just couldn't not picture a mountain lion hunting me. I picked up a good sized rock for a while but then I started thinking that no rock is going to help me win a fight with a mountain lion, seeing as I can't even hold my own against my human sister. But I kept hiking farther back in the canyon and imagining how it would feel to have a mountain lion dig it's fangs or whatever their teeth are called into the flesh of my calves and eventually I decided to turn back.

I settled for a less interesting spot in a sort of open valley where there was a family playing airsoft close enough to hear my screams if the mountain lion happened to follow me out of the canyon. A friend has since recommended I buy some mace for my next solo hike.

These are my first attempts at plein air painting. So far it has been great practice and I've really enjoyed myself. The weather has been pretty wonderful and I packed some snacks and made a sweet playlist of soundtracks from all the Quentin Tarantino movies. It was nice to get out of the house to work, I don't have the most Feng Shui studio situation in our one bedroom apartment so it's been a good change of pace.

Skyline Jan 4; Watercolor 2013

My Little Painting Spot

Clay Canyon Park Jan 8; Watercolor, 2013

And here's a random lady doodle from my sketchbook:

Pink Lady; Colored Pencil, 2013

Thanks for stopping by!

Leaf by Leaf

On Christmas I found out that one of my drawings was accepted into Society of Illustrators West! Since I haven't posted it before, I want to share the piece with you now.

Surveillance; Graphite, 2012

 It's a graphite drawing I did in Lawrence Yun's descriptive drawing class last spring, and I've got to say it was a complete pain in the ass! The whole time I was working on it, I regretted choosing such an elaborate subject. That tree is outside the window of my apartment and I kind of hated looking at it because it reminds me of all the hours I spent drawing it leaf by leaf. But now I like it again. I forgive you, tree. I am so surprised and excited to be included in this competition. I really didn't think I stood a chance with all the talented people that enter this thing, despite how many times Lawrence told me this piece was great. So a big thanks to Lawrence, to Chris for modeling for me, to my biffles, Ryan Paull, for lending me those binoculars, to that stupid tree for having so many damn leaves, and to everyone else who has supported me...and to you for reading this! See you soon!

Instead of Doing My Homework

HoHoHo; Graphite Drawing with Digital Color, 2012

Hello Friends!

This is a little holiday illustration I did this weekend for our Christmas cards this year. I had a lot of fun with it and I'm really happy with how it came out. Hope you guys like it!

Here are some process pics, if your into that sort of thing:

Drawing, Graphite on Bristol Board

 

Color Layer in Photoshop

Coloring in Corel Painter

Back to Photoshop for a little paper texture

Add some highlights and all done :)

  Thanks for stopping by!

It's a Little Seashell House, You Guys.

Spiral Cove; Digital Painting, 2012

This is a little digital painting I did for Cliff Cramp's Digital Narrative Illustration class. The assignment was an exterior environment, and he gave us a list of prompts to choose from. I chose treehouse.  It was my first piece using Corel Painter, and it was pretty fun for the most part, although I am still getting used to the software. Cliff showed us some really cool tricks using photos to lay in texture and color key. I got a little tripped up on this piece because Cliff paints so incredibly fast in his demos, I really underestimated how long it would take me. I mean, I didn't think I would be as fast as him, he will pretty much finish a painting in one class meeting, but I thought it would take me twice as long, not ten times as long.

 Anyway here are some process images you may find interesting:

Brainstorming and Sketching Ideas

Value Study, Adding Textures and Color

These are the Cliff Tricks I was telling you about. For the color one I used a sunset photo and a few close up shots of opals.

Painting and Color Adjusting

Thanks for stopping by, friends! See you soon.

Some Head Sketches

 I had a lot of fun with my homework last night for my Head and Hands class so I thought I'd share my sketches.

This "Bitchface" one was inspired by Tavi Gevinson, this sixteen year old fashion blogger who was recently interviewed by Jimmy Fallon.