Progress is Being Made!

Now I feel like I'm getting somewhere with this piece! I was dreading the dress, but I started painting and this is what came out. I was a bit stumped at the hair. I paint so much long straight hair-- gee, I wonder why? Ha ha! I'm not very creative with my own hair... But I thought figured since she's probably a princess, I'd give her long, wavy locks. We'll see how long those stay.

I think her face makes her look too old. I guess it's too angular. There's a fine line between youthful roundness and marshmallow face. I obviously was trying to avoid the latter.

I'm alive!

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been working a lot lately-- 12 hour shifts to be exact. They pretty much suck up all my free time. Oh, and I must confess that I've neglected my poor blog to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. They were awesome by the way-- read them! If I would rather read something than paint, then it must be awesome.

BUT I will paint tonight! I vow this thing to be true! Until then, may this tide you over:

I call this "When Good Sketches Go Bad." It was supposed to be fan art for the book Wings by Aprilynne Pike. I guess I'll finish it eventually...

Photoshop CS5 and Wacom Bamboo Tablet

Goodnight!

Here's my progress. Not sure where I'm going with this. I've just been experimenting with composition and color. Goodnight!

Short Attention Span...

I was going to finish yesterday's painting, but... I got another idea, and since it's new and shiny (wink wink), I decided to pursue it instead.

Why, yes, I am attempting to paint an actual background! I know it appears to be my usual blurry nothingness, but upon closer inspection, I believe you will notice actual sky and foliage! Oh yeah! The only way I can keep myself from jumping ahead to painting my person is to remind myself that a real background will make my character look extra special. ;)

Sleeping-- Work in Progress

Thought I'd start a new painting. Will post the reference picture when painting is complete. I'm supposed to be in bed right now, so I'm hurrying.

Death of an Idea...

I had what I thought was a great idea for a romantic painting:

It was when I realized I don't know how to paint fire that this painting died a horrible death. Maybe I will try again some day. and the weird colors in the upper left corner are my skin tones.

I totally got inspired by this piece: http://owhl.deviantart.com/art/Night-Light-216223850 I loved it so much, I wanted to make one like it. Unfortunately, this was the result: 

Uh... wow. So bad. So very, very bad.

This next piece was requested. I'm not totally in love with it, but for as much as I struggled with it, it came out okay. And I didn't "rock" the background, but it's an improvement over what I usually do-- which is blurry nothingness.

What is this??? Oh... this was me trying to be funky. I think I will cry myself to sleep now.

And just to prove that I CAN paint something decent once in a while, here is a portrait of my friend, Jamie. This is the original: 

This is the altered version after receiving some critiques on the old one:

Welcome!

I'm not the bravest person in the world, BUT I've decided to share my art through this blog. ALL of it. And when I say "art", I am using that term very loosely. ;) 

Through Facebook, I share my best works with my friends and family while the... uh... lesser works hide in shame. Occasionally I pull them out and try to better them, but most of the time I look at them and shudder... "What was I thinking????"

Here's the brave part: Those works are coming out of hiding. That's right. Everything I sketch, you get to see. From now on I'm posting all of my artistic musings. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

Why? Why would I want to share my most hideous, unfinished pieces of nasty-McNastiness? My most craptastic works? Because I want to better myself, and I want to inspire other artists. Kind of sounds wonky, right? 

But when I see a great artist's older, amateur pieces, it gives me hope for myself. And maybe this blog will give hope to others...

Or maybe it will just make someone realize that even on their worst day their art is far better than mine. lol Either way, let's do this!

(By the way, this isn't mine. Just had to say that. Shew!)