Alright so here's what I've been working on for my animation portfolio!

I feel like I could do WAY better but bleeeeehhh I just want to send my application in before I start obsessing about everything too much, hopefully it'll be good enough to get at least accepted OTL Looking at these just makes me see how far I have to go as a character designer/artist, so kicking myself in the butt for focusing on painting all these years instead of drawing!

I have to draw a four shelf bookcase with 12 items in 2 point perspective and this is what I have so far I AM SO BAD AT PERSPECTIVE its kind of pathetic. Siiigh its not done yet though, would love some feedback, I don't have an eye for this stuff at all!

Finished Fluttershy yaaaay <3 now onto Twilight Sparkle!

drew my bro Caro as a pony : D BEAUTYBUZZ YEP.

A very quick foot study

And more foot studies.

Went to life drawing last night and I think it went GREAT! I bought a huge super cheap sketchpad and a stick of charcoal and drew horizontally, it was super fun! I would post them here but they're way too huge for my scanner looool, I was thinking about getting a camera soon anyways though. 

TLD;R

Lately I've been feeling really anxious to just start my studies and move out. Which is REALLY unlike the old me, just the thought of moving away almost brought me to tears just a year ago! I'm finally growing up it seems. We're five people in my house right now and I don't know, the idea of being out on my own is just so appealing! I'll be able to buy a car soon (and hopefully drive it if I can ever get my license lololol) so I guess that'll be good to get some more independence. Bottom line it just feels weird to be thinking this way. Its just so, unlike what I've been all my life.... its so incredibly refreshing. I'm very happy.

As for the art, well, I just wish I could see it through the eyes of another. I know I'm really hard on myself but gaaahh I just cant seem to look at my art (especially my newer attempts at cartooning) and like much of it! I guess comparing my art to gods like Glen Keane isn't helping too much either.... But I dunno, I often compare my old art to my new art and think "was I way better at that style??" But I'm determined to nail this cartooning thing. I guess I'm just not used to adding much movement and emotion to my artwork, it was always "OMG PRETTY HAIR" and "PRETTY SHADING AND OVERLY COMPLEX DESIGN". I feel like when I was trying to stop drawing anime aaaaalll over again, nothing fits just right or looks right. Baaah but anyways. Enough with the tld;r! I've got some recent sketches and some rough paintings! Yeah!

Here we have an old sketch I decided to paint quickly, trying new brushes. I may or may not polish this!

Another work in progress of a character in the works! This one I plan to fully render, though I'm not used to painting this kind of character so its a little weeiirrdd!

Trying to get some movement and emotion in my sketches, I don't hate them I suppose.

Again, more sketches for movement mostly emotions GAAAAH Y SO HARD

More sketches and coming up with new characters!

And some character developing sketches! 

More to come soon!

Gymnasts and a WIP! + life update

I cant remember exactly when I started caring about learning proper anatomy, but I do know that it couldn't have been soon enough. I've always been the type to buy a new sketch book and only ever fill it half way before buying a new one, so I always had some drawing space in an abandoned sketch book somewhere. But lately I've been drawing so may anatomy sketches that I'm running out of room! all my sketch books are being filled with naked people and meaningless exploratory doodles, needless to say I need to go shopping for some new ones. Years ago I started drawing gymnasts because of their exaggerated poses and muscle structures, and now years later I've gotten back into it.

Here's a quick nude for fun

And now the gymnast sketches!

Skethcing anything other than nudes and such has been difficult lately, I'm having another style block I think! Oh well, as long as I dont stop drawing that's all that matters I suppose. On the left in Chi-Chi from Dragon Ball Z, on the right is a character in the works!

And here's a WIP of a commission I'm working on, I'm quite happy with how its looking actually! 

So, I am REALLY bad when it comes to choosing a school. I've had a number of different plans in the last year alone, from bachelor's degrees to online courses to everything in between! But, finally I've made some real progress I think. There's an animation program not far from where I live, but I always figured it wasn't very good seeing as, well, its here in the maritimes. But, after some extensive research and creeping I found that it not only seems legit, but really fun! So, I've decided if nothing else comes up this year I'll be going there next year. Yep!

And that's all for now, hopefully I'll have some art with more substance coming up sooon!

20 YEARS OLD BABY! And lots of tld;r

Wow, can't believe summer is nearing its end already! But I suppose its about time for things to fall back into that autumn routine, although its going to be weird for me seeing as I'm not going to school this year! Man I really need to sit down and think about what school I want to go to.... HHMMM. NEXT YEAR FOR SURE.

Hey it was my birthday last week! Turned the big 20, officially a non teen. I had an awesome b-day with my girls and the boy friend, got some awesome gifts and some good times! It was actually my bf's birthday four days after mine so lots and lots of cake and partying was had last week, a little too much partying actually... oh well, it was about time I got some alcohol induced vomiting anyways!

Sooo on to art stuff, I was having a lot of trouble thinking of gifts to get the bf, but I knew I wanted to draw something custom for him and get it printed on a tshirt. So I asked his buddies and his older bro, finally his bro came up with the idea of Link playing the guitar (he loves Zelda and playing the guitar!) I thought it was an awesome idea so I rolled with it! And here's the end result :

The pose is based on a pic of John Mayer because he's pretty much gay for him lololol. He really loved it so I'm happy! Unfortunately the artwork was flipped when it was printed on the tee, so Link is right handed instead of left handed, but oohh weeell!


I finished one of my commissions finally! The other two are coming along well, but they still need quite a bit more time. I can't really say I'm happy with this, nor was this really fun to paint, I'm not a big fan of anime anymore and such. But anyways, it is what it is.

So, I've made some decisions regarding my artwork. I've mentioned this many times before, but coloring and shading has always been my strength, and other useless thing like drawing hair. I'm just so tired of it. None of that really matters when you get down to it, nice shading wont make the composition of a piece that much better, and pretty hair wont bring out a characters emotions and tell you what they're thinking. I guess I just really need to learn how to draw properly. so, I've decided that I will NOT draw on photoshop anymore, all my drawings will start on paper as they should. Not to say I don't want to paint on photoshop anymore, I just need to stop depending on tools to resize and stretch instead of plain ol' erasing and starting over. AND NO MORE COPY PASTING THAT SECOND EYE. Hmmm~

Anyways, I'm getting really tired of trying to draw realism, plus I don't even like it all that much anymore. Before I used to love conceptual artwork from things like video games and movies, really bad ass looking characters with cool backgrounds and stuff like that. But meh, not really anymore. Now I search for more stylized artwork, nice character designs, which is also what I'm trying to achieve with my own artwork. I've been studying two "how to draw" books by Ben Caldwell, love his style, not exactly what I'm looking for but I'd love to pick up some cartoony flairs for myself.

Been experimenting with inks lately, sometimes its win and other times complete and utter failure, but I'm having fun regardless!

Here's a full body lineart of Ray, I was trying for something a little different looking, but meh just kinda looks weird! Oh well, I tried!

(also lol hands I don't even try anymore)

And some headshot inks, man front views are sooo tricky. 99% of time they end up lop sided.
So we got some Ray and Bluves! Gotta draw him more!

And here we have some sketches of Ray, first one is just your typical cheesy "my life is about to get way more interesting" and second "lolololol always hated my hair"

And some emo angst with Noena just because!

And just some sketch experiments for fun!

 Awful scan on the last one, that sketch book is giant lololol

Jeeezz this entry is giant, I should start updating more frequently with smaller entries instead of these massive dumps, oh well I'll try in the futuuurree!


Also I miss my drawing buddieeess gaaiizz we need to get together and draaawww

Updates and things!

Things are moving forward in life!.... I think? Well I have an appointment at a local TD bank this week for possible funding options for animation mentor, getting a line of credit is kind of meh, but if that's what it takes to follow my dreams then I GOTTA DO IT! Hopefully something can be worked out.

Been working on commissions lately, I got all the descriptions from everyone sooo I can start really working on them! Will do so soon. Not much to show yet though!

In the meantime I've been doodling some stuff up, I've realized that my drawings really do lack form and movement. Coloring has ALWAYS been my strong point which is just sad. Its probably the least important thing. SO! I'll be doing lots more life drawing and studies to try and improve my drawing abilities, I'd also love to be able to pick up my speed and be able to doodle expressive characters. Here are some random doodles of my characters, very rough and just kind of fail buuutt wwttvv its a start!

I'm really enjoying working on them again which is awesome, I've really missed it! The story itself is taking shape as well I suppose, although its very Harry Potter like at the moment lolololol



So yeah, doodles!

Aaand some concept art of sorts for what the inside of a student's tent would look like. Didn;t turn out like I wanted it to, but meh I'll work at it.

I doodled this guy ages ago and thought he was super cute so I thought I would add some quick colors!

Anyways, more soon!

The end is near, lol nvm

Man, I'm feeling really good lately. Not just good health either, I'm just happy! Its funny how that works... one day can be the end of all things good, and the next is butterflies riding unicorns on rainbows!


Anyways, I've been very active with my paintings lately! For a while I just didn't enjoy it all that much, but now I can't even understand why I would ever feel that way. I think it may be because I started drawing my characters more often again, which I always loved before and now find that I still love! I guess I'm just drawing them more often while I wait for some commission information so I can get started on those, buuuut I do have one big commission in the works, its proving to be quite a challenge though!

Awesomely enough I was commissioned to paint Hiccup and Toothless, two characters that I love, but I'll admit my knowledge on dragon anatomy is well... inexistent. But Toothless is coming out surprisingly well I think! Hiccup on the other hand still needs some work, not sure I like the direction I have going for him. Anyways any kind of crit at all would be awesome! I really want to do these characters justice : )

I finished two simple paintings of some characters of mine, I'm happy enough with how they came out : )

 The top one is Noena and the bottom is Rayna, they have a sort of love hate relationship, mostly hate though. Hmmm how I have missed them c:


Did some more hand studies today, gosh I'm still so terrible! I'm not so bad when I have refs I suppose though!

Aaand a few anatomy sketches.

I've got more stuff on the way soon!

Anatomy, sketches and a new dawn?

Hey! Been a while since I updated, I don't want to let this blog die like all my other ones!

So anyways, lots of stuff has happened since my last entry, conventions and maybe some self discovery to name a few things! Animaritime was two weekends ago and it was awesome. I wasn't really sure how well it was going to go seeing as I don't exactly draw anime, but I ended up making a good profit! Met some really great people and fellow artists, new friends, awesome time! I've still got some commissions to finish up which I am working on, but in the mean time I've been working on some anatomy as always!

Here's a sketch I drew when the con started and I didn't have any commissions to work on (didn't have any time to draw for myself the rest of the con haha)


So she's an OLD character of mine, my oldest actually! Rayna Swigston. I'm thinking about modifying her first name though.... but anyways I mentioned some self discovery earlier, and well I guess I just realized how I miss the old me a bit. To clarify, I use to be EXTREMELY shy and had a VERY low self esteem. I'm still not completely over those things, but I have really changed and grown over the past year thanks to having the right people in my life. So I always really avoided my old self, but... I somehow also avoided things I loved back then. Like story telling and story building! I really want to get back into it, like really into it like the old days! so you guys are going to be seeing a lot more of my characters soon!

I also realized just how much I need to work on my anatomy at the con. I mean sure my shading is pretty, but a shitty car with an awesome paint job is still just a shitty car. Gotta work on the internal functions! Unfortunately I've been busy on almost every tuesday which is the only day life drawing classes are held, but I'm going to work on anatomy on my own in the meantime! A lot of these sketches were referenced from www.senshistock.deviantart.com, awesome stock resource!

Yet another thing I realized at the con is that I really, really, reallyreallyreally need to work on drawings hands. Its just sad how bad I am at it! Sooo I'm taking steps to change that. It'll be a while till I'll be any good at drawing them, but I feel like I've made a bit of progress already!

And here's a random face doodle I felt like painting for the lolz!

Aaaand a little face doodle for my bud Caro!

A commission for a con buddy!

Drew a map for my storyline just for fun ahah, I'm thinking about making it look really nice like a legit map! Although I dunno how good I'll ba at doing that haha!

AND THAT'S IT! Got some paintings in the works, they may or may not be finished very soon!