Arrowroot Arts and Rants

NEW BLOG PLEASE UPDATE!!!

2010-08-23T14:04:00.001-07:00

Please update your links with my new blog.

http://quidfish.blogspot.com

I will no longer be posting here. However you can still watch me and see my works in progress at the new blog.

Welcome the Storm

2010-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

So it started piss peeing down with rain today. And then the storm clouds came... and the tornado...and general lightening and where there's lightening with thunder. Our trip to the beach was promptly put on hold...

But thats ok cause I love storms so much! They are so exciting and am I the only one who loves that smell when the rain comes? Canada is the best for storms.

So I tailored this image I was working on to suit the stormy weather outside. Still got some tweaks to go, but it's almost there. I'll be using it also as an example of a commission/auction that will be set up soon.

Piranah!

2010-08-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

...In a bubble. Testing out some new colouring techniques. I love the art of loish.net and I am so jealous of her colouring. Still a WiP but with time and patience I'm sure I'll get somewhere where I am happy with it.

Ps: doesn't she remind you of the red head from The Mask?

Finished and Journal

2010-08-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

So i finally found a decent reference to use for his eyes and fixed those up tremendously. He is now on his way to Quebec to be presented to the individual as a gift ;3 hopefully all goes well.

My other project is kinda self explanatory. Might throw something similar up for auction shortly. This is a notebook cover painted in acrylics. Still a long way to goes before it is finished.

Bulky Shoulders JudoHun

2010-08-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Made some more fixes to this guy. Only one day left before I say bye bye to him :(

Excuse the bulldog clips.

Also a little digital doodle that sprang to me in the middle of the night. If all goes well I would like to do a series that tells a short story of this.

Judo update 2!

2010-08-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

So I have my art officially up for sale now over on http://ihazart.artfire.com please head over there if you are interested and help me get back to the UK for xmas! wooo!

Other than that the attached image is my current progress in the Judo portrait. It looks scruffy round the edges atm as I have been trying to make the background neutral all over around the text and such. I have also started darkening the bottom part of the portrait to add a little bit of depth.

Still got some tweaks to go but over all I'm really liking how this is coming out. Hopefully I don't butcher it at the last moment D8

update on Judo

2010-08-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

So I've been working on this some more today. bringing more attention to the eyes and trying to bulk out the face a bit. I'm concerned my colours are too saturated, the photo isn't that great to show what they really look like but I definitely do need a white wash over this or something.

I also dug up something else I have had hidden away since the move. I'm working on something for a sketchbook auction to raise money for a trip home to the UK. One of the prizes includes a splash cover for the sketchbook. This is my current progress for an example of what that might look like.

My new office looks awesome with all this art everywhere. I'm so happy 8D and I can work on multiple projects at a time without overwhelming myself so much!

And more for today....

2010-08-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

And a few more of my even more recent and secretive things I've been working on! On the exciting new desk no less.

A commission Portrait project, Mounting old art work for sale, practicing some ink work along with more refined pencil/sketch drawings. And splatter froud faeries for fun :P

Oh crap...

2010-08-01T20:53:00.001-07:00

I have been pretty all over the place recently and therefore have just totally forgot to update this journal. Needless to say, I have been working! And I have even newer things to scan in for show.

we are in a new apartment now so everything is a bit all change, though I am so happy with my new office i really just can't wait to sit down and really get cracking, especially on those comics I have rolling around collecting dust inside my skull.

Anyhoos here's some things I've been working on:

More WiPs on Giantess

2010-04-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

I am having so much fun with this commission you don't even know!
I need to work on vehicles though :( they are definitely not my strong point.

More Pendant testing

2010-04-13T12:38:00.001-07:00

Just some experiments for future projects which I hope to eventually sell on etsy when they are finished.

Also a sneak peak at a commission ive been working on.

More Sketchins

2010-04-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just some doodles from today. Also including some secret-ish WiPs for epic comic story line that I am working on... in theory.
Also a sneak peak at some of the workings of a new Logo for FE :3

And also...

2010-04-02T21:28:00.001-07:00

Here's some other WIP's to prove I have actually been working....

Oh god sorry again !

2010-04-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

I am starting to forget to upload in this place.
In any case several things have happened:
1 - I'm slowly catching up with my commissions
2 - I have slightly updated the look of the website even though the coding is still lacking
3 - I failed in March's comics so I am aiming to make up for it with 1 - 24 hour comic challenges over the coming month to make up for the last two missed comics along with aprils two comics... 4 comics in 1 month OMG!!! Can I do it? Lets see!
4 - I am starting to conjure up ideas for art work for FE 2011
5 - I am starting to script yes SCRIPT! one of my major comic ideas so that it is ready to start drawing and developing on for 2011
6 - I'm prepping myself banking wise to start throwing up my little trinkets up on etsy
7 - I'm on a path of self healing to get myself back into the swing of creating for myself and not treating it like a chore. Bad hannah... i Love art but sometimes I feel so pressured by everything I am making myself do... but I equally don't want to give anything up at the risk of being called a slacker or a quitter... hence why I created todays piece.

"I am at home in my body." Louise L. Hay was a quote given by this months 'Artful Healing' topic over at http://willowing.ning.com/ a new site I have started to lurk and share my art work in. :3 it has a great atmosphere and really brings out something totally different in my art... the pressure is off so to speak... so I'd thought I'd share :3

Oh god where have I been? D8

2010-03-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Now now, just because I have been inactive on this blog does not mean in the slightest I have not been busy out in the real world. If you could call it that.

Attached will be all numerous thinks I've dug my claws into, including that of finally released art work I did for the recent Furnal Equinox convention for furries. I have done t-shirt logo design for them as well as some general art tweaks and preparation for print. So theres something exciting to slap on the resume.

I also uploaded my most recent comic which was done to raise awareness (and hopefully a bit of cash) for the www.savethetigerfund.org. More of that can be read about on my Da page.

Other than that I have been dabbling a little bit in the jewelry section of the art world and I found it very fun and rewarding so hopefully more of that to come soon.

Now I'm just taking a well earned break from the recent rush rush rush of the past few weeks.

Busy busy count down

2010-02-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

So heres another pendant design I'll be selling. Now I have 4 variations of the circle pendants to sell. Now its onto the rectangles. I have created one digital piece for the rectangles but they are proving time consuming to create. See how it goes at least.

Got the majority of my con work done and out the way now its onto finalizing stuff for sale at my table.

Greyscales

2010-02-15T21:29:00.001-08:00

Some grey scales I shall be selling at Furnal Equinox. I will be selling the originals and these will not be available for print afterwards.

Hopefully be doing a few more of these :P sorry for the blurry pic we have bad lighting in our apartment at the moment.

ITS VALENTINES DAY!!!

2010-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

...So I started to make a monster.

The Pendants and a Tiger

2010-02-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

More pendants, unfortunately I buggered up the mix so they are staying sticky, but I know what I did wrong so I know I won't let that happen again >< I didn't mix exactly 1:1 ratio of the mix ><

Also here's another pendant design I'll be adding to the collection. I want to do at least 1 maybe 2 more ready for sale for Furnal Equinox in 2 weeks.

Pendant Doodles

2010-02-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

So after some thought I decided it's probably best to do these designs digitally to get the best results. So heres a couple of designs I through into a test run.

I'm still waiting for the resin to dry and have been building some sculpey charms whilst I wait for fun. Maybe I should try and do at least one of these pendant doodles a night... although I can't think of any fun designs to do... or can I... I should doodle more ><

Meanwhile I have been scripting out some videos for the youtube channel I am planning to start. Will it be a success? I don't know, I am more concerned that I hope it helps me be more creative and want to draw more for myself and will put a little more pressure on me to study. I know I will probably run into people who will condemn me for not having the skill basis to share my knowledge, or think I am teaching things wrong. I would like to emphasis in the first video I make that I am not intending to teach, but to help guide.

With the release of these videos, a new youtube channel, a new website I may also revamp this blog and change the title entirely so that it links in with Ihazart. I am unsure yet.

Bear WIP part 2

2010-02-10T10:31:00.001-08:00

So I've been slapping on some paint onto the sketch shown in the last post. I still have a long way to go but building up the layers slowly. Painting fur and stone has always been an issue with me so I'm going to see what I can do with this piece.

I'm also planning on work on some pendant designs, I have a very limited supply of these and hope to make the most of it.

Bear WIP

2010-02-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

So I really enjoyed working on the last piece 'Rise with the Eagle' or 'Eagle Chief' so I thought I would do some more. I hope to make this a 3 part series at least.

This is a WIP pencil sketch of how I want it to look like. Next I'll be working in washes over this baby. I hope to make some small alterations during painting as well. This is very much a learning experience :3

I'm also thinking more and more about these Vlogs I'd like to make.

Ivy WIP

2010-02-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

So this last week was my Birthday week as well as the 4 week count down to the Con in Toronto. So as you can imagine it's been very busy and hectic.
In between con stuff I have been trying to finish off this painting for myself. Another experimentation with the same technique as the Eagle Chief painting. I'm working on building layers with acrylic again but I feel I may go in early with the oils not sure yet. I know I am going to have some issues bringing out the vegetation background. But I shall prevail.

So far I have been working with another artists art work to tweak and make it usable for our Badges for the convention. I can't show these yet as they will also act as ID's for surrounding restaurants for discounts. But it's requiring a lot of work and new techniques and tricks similar to that of what a Graphic Designer might use. In fact thats practically what I'm doing. eep!

Not to mention doing final tweaks on the shirt for the con. It's a little frustrating but the bulk of the work is done. For a first time for me doing something like that and with the restrictions I was given it does it's job.

This next week I am going to have to think ahead with my comic strips. They will not be as long as the last one however I will have to do at least 3 in advanced in preparation so I don't feel more fragmented and cause a break down during the last rush before the con. I'm hopefully doing a bulk of them this week. Stayed tuned.
I'm also going to try and squeeze in at least 2 more paintings in prep for my table at the con to sell when I'm not there.

In all honesty I'm looking forward to this con being over. Although its good practice and all for industry work, I do feel a little bummed out that it is all unpaid work and I do not have enough time to do all the other things I wanted to do, such as further study, as it feels like I am always on call. It has required a lot more of my time than I ever imagined, and yes I am aware that it's partly my fault of volunteering my artist skills. However some other area's were momentarily given to me that I probably should not have had control over.
I do loose my art drive very quickly due to stress that's related to this con, and I have been regularly bummed out and depressed by the fact I really just wanted to study in my own time more than anything and focus on nothing by where I want to go in life.

When it's all over I am planning to work on some videos or Vlogs for youtube. Which I hope to share my limited knowledge and grow and learn myself with others who wish to chose art as a path and how to get good at it. But more on that later.

Eagle painting WIP

2010-01-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

Despite having such amazing natural light during the day, as soon as it gets dark my study is the worst place to work as I only have one small lamp as a light source. So all my colours get thrown out and they look very yellow.

I thought it would be best to stop hear tonight. I'm kind of proud of this so far, I'm only about half way if that. I'll probably go in with some more detail and figure out the best way to tackle the water and then have a go with some oil glazes :3

Sorry, this is also a terrible photograph, flash + poor lighting = hurt.

Inspirations #2 ink work and WIP's

2010-01-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

So here I am uploading the ink work for the last installment of Inspirations. :3 I was kinda chuffed with how the ink came out - despite my obvious flaws of anatomy, and general cock ups D8

I'm learning damnit!

It's sunday you know what that means? I get to paint for me!! So heres a little WIP of something else I'm working on, I hope to be testing out a new painting technique on this guy which requires a reasonably sound graphite drawing beneath it. Lets see if I botch this one up _<

Inspirations #2 TCCP

2010-01-30T08:01:00.000-08:00

The Concrete Consequence Pales - Issue 2 of Inspirations is now live :3

You can view the first page and comment about the comic over on my deviantart page: arrowroot.deviantart.com or you can cut to the chase and just go straight to the full 4 page comic on www.ihazart.com

Everything was very much a big rush yesterday. Not only was I finishing the colour on the inspirations comic but we were both working late into the night working on a primitive half decent website to show the art work on. At the moment it is all html based as I created it all in photoshop, however I would eventually like to have a properly coded website where pages stretch naturally to all browser sizes. I would also prefer an integrated simple viewer for the galleries so it doesn't take you off to a completely different looking page.

Eventually I would also like a proper web-comic page where you can read each page individually with the news below as well as the comments from guests below that, since I feel it's important to have that on a web-comic that needs public interest for the polls to work :3

Anyways - basically last night we were up late and I scraped my original web design entirely and based it around a new speed sketch posted in this blog :3

I will be posting more WiPs of the comic plus a shirt design I have been working on for Furnal Equinox a little bit later.

Sneak Peak at Inspirations Homepage

2010-01-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

Sneak peak at the home site for Inspirations that I've been working on this evening. So far have an about/info page as well as this gallery mock up. Still tweaking :3 It's hard since the pages will link to a story each, but the stories can cover anything from 1- 4 pages its so random, so we thought up a system for it. Although primitive there will be a little x out of 4 logo at the bottom of each sample image.

Next step is thinking of a good way to integrate a working poll everyone can use and how to handle the comic pages :3

The Crow

2010-01-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

Busy Busy Busy still with all this convention Milarky - As the weeks creep in more and more work seems to be popping up. I've been running myself almost dry because of it and not finding a good balance between con work and my own stuff - meaning my drawing has been lacking :(

To make up for I've been trying to continue at least doodling in the evening, been also testing out the new grey scale markers some more :3 .

Today I set some time aside to practice my inking on this crow piece, which I hope will end up being a place holder back ground on my new webpage for the comic which should be due this friday.

I'm trying to think of other ways to keep myself working and motivated. Considering maybe starting a youtube channel for arts, speed art, speed up camera art etc - Might be a nice way to get myself out there a bit more. Who knows. I cannot do livestream unfortunately because I suck up the house mates internet doing that :P

greyscales!

2010-01-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

So today we went out on an art supply run! yay! and I picked up a whole bunch of greyscale markers to play with. I forgot to take my sketchbook with me so I just used the paper bag they came in instead to just test them out whilst we were waiting for the movie to start in the cinema :P
I really love working on that kind of paper is that weird? I would love to get my hands on some more of it.

Also found out I'm able to get a table at the con I'm helping to organize yay! So now I am open for commissions.

All images will be one roughly 5x7 and available for pick up at the con. Or a $5 extra charge to send it to you via mail.

$10 - Clean Pencil Sketch
$15 - Ink
$20 - Grey scale colour.

Sneak peak at Inspirations 2

2010-01-21T10:34:00.001-08:00

Not that much to report today. I have been slacking the past few days, what with a lot of convention work to be managing as well as being sick (again, laaaame). Here's a handful of doodles over the past few days. I was trying to figure out angles and character looks early on in the game for this next comic, I also had a couple of scenes for something completely unrelated in my head that had to be put down.

Also been making an effort to draw an odd foot or hand here or there in the evenings when we sit down to watch a movie or play a game now.

Also the first image is the first 3 out of 4 pages roughed out with a rough idea where text boxes are going to go... maybe I'm giving too much away here :P Should be ready for release by 30th-31st of January.

Inspirations #1 'Winter' IS LIVE!!

2010-01-15T10:04:00.001-08:00

Yup the first addition the the 'Inspiration' webcomic is now up: http://arrowroot.deviantart.com/art/Inspirations-1-Winter-150499148

Although there is a lot I am unhappy with it was very much a learning experience and based on what i said in the description I will not tear it to pieces.

Was sketching some hands last night very briefly also i am sharing with you some of the sketch work I did for this first comic.

A new year brings new art.

2010-01-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

So with the beginning of a new year I made a new years resolution to myself to work harder on my art work and get closer to becoming that professional illustrator :P

As the past few weeks/days have been passing I have been producing more art work, however I realize that some people may not see it as a lot of it never meets the cut for finished product.

Because of this I am re-vamping this sketch blog. I will try and update as regularly as I can (hopefully eventually daily) with at least 1 pic of what I've been doing.

I am also trying to bring to life a new website at the location: www.ihazart.com which will eventually be the home place for my new webcomic which comes to life Jan 15th called 'Inspirations'

The first image I wish to share is something I worked on last night whilst listening to Blue Skies by Strays Don't Sleep.

In theory I would love to get this thing finished as it's kind of a key moment in my super secret comic that I am always working on in the background and hope to one day be my little gem.

The others are just some of the other stuff I was doodling over the transition of 2009 to 2010 and a preview of the new website layout.

Working on a new website.

2009-11-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

This place seems to get very little attention.

I'm working on a new personal website for myself which I hope will be fully running in the next couple of weeks. I am just making sure I have decent art work ready for it.

I may also be linking directly to this blog and hope to use this as a more personal/detailed up date system than twitter. We shall see.

Keep an eye out

Bookmarks

2009-07-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally all set up desk wise, and slowly uncovering all my art materials.
I loves me new desk 8D

But anyways I have been working on some book marks which I shall seel prints of for a bargain $5 and maybe make them all fancy and shiney with dangly bits too... one shall see 8D

Moore corel painter practice

2009-07-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

So I've been arsing around in this programme... its a little complex to me still but I'm slowly getting there, I'm not using heaps of layers like I normally would which is nice but also means I cock up a lot. For more complex effects I tend to throw it back over into Photoshop.

here the latest.

I've also attemted a sketchblog at concepart.org: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2334250#post2334250

Not much there at the moment but hopefully I'll update it weekly if possible.

Nightdress Colour Practice

2009-07-03T10:41:00.003-07:00

Yeah just another little look into some colour practice on painter. As well as traditional inking exercise... I'm getting there *le sigh*

Summer Luvin...

2009-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

So I haven't really posted here in a while.

School payment is all done and now its just a waiting game until can go back and learn the REALLY INTERESTING STUFF!!!

So i'm trying to sketch as much as I can at the very least. I even reduced my sketch prices down to $5 instead of $10 ... and actually got commissioners ! lol yay! Before I went back to england to see the family I was doing a painting most mornings to start off my day, but I've lapsed since I got back :(

I'm trying to get in some practice for painter x as well.. i'm getting there slowly but whatevs... I'm never happy with anything I draw... but i can't spend 10+ hours on one image like some people do... not unless its an actual painting sitting in my room rather than a computer screen...

Hopefully I can get my art desk set up properly in our new apartment so i can really get a wiggle on on my art work and commissions. see how it goes....

Art Show...

2009-04-28T08:48:00.001-07:00

So our school had the 1st year art show. I am happy to announce that at least 9 pieces of my work made it into the display including one of the facial gestures in my last post.

I am not sharing everything just yet but heres a better glimpse at some of my Principles of Drawing (POD) work and my paintings.

Both Painting and POD are basically focusing on creating 3d objects on a 2d surfice... the illusion of depth and form :3 did i does it?

With painting we are also 'Colour matching' and being aware of warm and cool tonal shifts. Once you master these you master 3d and depth in your images :3 ...in theory anyways lol.

I hate the mushroom one... i have no idea how it made it to open house...

there were some other final projects of mine that made it, a watercolour piece focusing on blue/red orange or warm and cool tones, and a design and comp piece of Hulk and hulk Hogan 8D

Life drawing Dump

2009-02-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

So i am preparing for a life drawing portfolio tomorrow and I thought I would share with the world some of the stuff thats in there.

Of course there are gestures, but more recently we have been doing facial gestures.

There is also some blind contours, Model drawings in watercolour and ink and Box drawings.

Here I shall only show you the faces, model drawings and blind contours... as they are the only things i kind of like doing and like to think Im not too shabby at them either 8D

All our exercises come from a bloke named Nicolaides who wrote a book called 'The natural way to Draw' Its reccomended for any art student...

Painting

2009-02-08T14:48:00.001-08:00

Art dump again! Here is a couple of examples of tone and warm and cool exercises.

The medium is Oil paint 8D

The top painting is of an egg at a wierd angle - this is not the best example of warm and cool exercise ... and the yellow smudge... i have no idea how that got there..

The shapes are a little off on the jug painting mainly because there was a dilema that the teaches kept telling me my white was not white enough. Despite putting white straight from the tub on the painting it was still not white enough. Everyone later on discovered that the white paint we had was not 'Titanium white' after all - but an offwhite close to grey,... once again the students of MTM were ripped off....

long since updated

2009-02-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

random personal doodles - yes that is all one page

Ruben Horse study for college.

Anthro doodles and $10 sketches

2008-10-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

So I am trying in vain to promote $10 sketches like these to help with the grocery bills. I dont have the time to really do full blown images at the moment because of school so I am hoping I might get a small audience who may be interested in these... who knows.

Blue prisma colour pencil - whilst having a break in my painting LAB.

We all got threatened by Maxine the head of MTM today because a few of us were talking - 15min into the LAb - so really half of us were still setting up. - she threatened us with pink slips - but I am assuming she did not give them to us (yet) because of the new 'anti-mutt' blog floating around on Blogger that has her quite in a tizzy fit.

I understand the whole keeping quite in LABs - i would probably feel less bitter and annoyed by it if we were still talking 30min - 1hr into the lesson and she caught us. but 15min - followed by a long speachy rant and talking to us like we were 10.

That is what has bugged me since I been here - but with only 3 teachers - one of them being the head. I have not been spoken down to since i was 16 by a teacher - but hey - Canada!

oh well - its not like we see her much anyways.

News to come if we really do recieve pink slips or not soon...

more sketches

2008-10-12T11:45:00.001-07:00

these are a couple more images from my design and comp class.

basically trying to incorporate the stuff we have learned, like composition shape, image flow, overlapping objects etc etc The bottom one was an attempt at conflicting lines (not sure if that is the right phrase) I dont think I did that great of a job on it....

Omg I have a blog ...2

2008-10-08T20:04:00.001-07:00

(I coloured in and edited in photoshop the wolverine sketch from below just for a quicky)

Because I clicked ok too soon and figuring out how to add more images to the other post... oh wells...

heres some more images!

images are small to discourage art thieves!! nyuk nyuk nyuk!

I was too lazy to crop these two :P

Sgt. Fluffykins !

I think thats enough for one day... enjoy!

Omg i have a blog?

2008-10-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

yes I actually forgot I had a blog here... whoops!

Better post some sketches.

Most of these sketches are from my design and composition class - and were created primarily for a bit of a shits and giggles thing 8D

Enjoy none the less 8D