Future goals and current experiments

So, I mentioned a few posts back that I've had some newish thoughts about where I'd like to take my art next. I've actually been considering my "art career" as a whole over the past few months and have come to the conclusion that I would like to pursue story illustration as my next artistic goal.

In a way, it's kind of surprising that it's taken me this long to realize this. I already have aspirations for becoming an author and I love books with pictures. Some of my favorite artists are book illustrators. My mom even told me when I was younger that she could see me becoming an illustrator some day. I just hadn't really considered it as an option to till now. I've never been confident that my skill set was suited for creating characters that looked consistent from any pose or angle.

However, after setting those fears aside, I've decided this is something I want to try for. I have a feeling it's going to take me a dreadfully long time to produce anything like a "finished piece", but I've already started playing around with different media. Here are some interesting things I've come up with so far.

Brown paper and ink

Clear gesso and chalk pastels. Together, they create a really interesting, paint like look.

Again, I was messing with the clear gesso/chalk pastel combo, except for the creepy mummy cat, which was colored pencil.

Pen on cloth

This on is colored pencil over clear gesso, which gave it a nice, chalky texture.

White paint and pen. 

Colored pencil and pen; a bit basic, but still useful.

Cloth, paint and pen.

Pen, clear gesso, chalk pastel and colored pencil.

Pen, clear gesso, colored pencil. I wish I hadn't colored in her skin so much.

Chalk pastel, clear gesso, tissue paper and pen.

I plan of posting a few more projects soon. I want to keep playing around with different materials as well as do some basic drawing practice and a few illustration studies. It shall be fun times for sure!

sincerely,

me