The Draw/Write Journal pt. 1

As you may know, my eventual career/life goal is to write and draw stories. In order to do that though, you have to actually know how to write and draw. So, to make some headway in both areas at the same time, I started keeping a Draw/Write Journal. I sketch something (usually whatever pops into my head) on the one page, then write on the other page. With a few exceptions, I've been able to draw/write in this journal every day and I thought it would be fun to share some of the less terrible entries. The writing bits tend to be random rambles, but I'll throw them in here too if anyone wants to take a stab at deciphering my handwriting.  

I actually have a bunch more draw/write journal entries, so I might do another post about them in the future. 

onward and upward,

Bethany

March Skill Building: Reptiles and Cats (also, a frog)

My skill building drawings have been pretty random lately, as evidenced by this post. One of these days I need to do another concentrated study on anatomy or hands or something like that, but for now, it's just whatever I feel like drawing at the time. Also, the cat drawings are done from life. Jon and I were house sitting for his parents, who have 3 cats, and I got 100+ pages of drawings done! I was also reacquainted with the fact that drawing from life is hard. :-/

onward and upward,

Bethany

More Fae portraits

Sorry this post is a little late; there was much shoveling of snow today. O.o Anyway, I took the fox fae girl sketch from a few weeks ago and painted it in Photoshop. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. In fact, it might be the best thing I've painted in Photoshop up to this point! 

After fox girl turned out so well, I decided to try a deer fae portrait. That turned out to be more complicated than I anticipated. I drew the first version, tried painting it in Photoshop, hated it and scrapped the picture. I drew the second version, tried to paint it in Photoshop, hated how the painting looked, and scrapped that picture too. I was going to repaint it a third time, but the week got too busy, so I'm just going to post the sketch with and an "I.O.U a proper paint job" note along with it. Also, my deer fae person is a little more gender neutral than I'd intended. I was trying to make it a guy, but the features didn't come out masculine enough. I still think it's a good portrait, though; much better than my first one.

onward and upward,

Bethany

February '15 Sketchbook

Sketchbook time!! Yay! Tried out a few things with my oil pastels and watercolors this month. And went through a phase last Sunday where I drew several pages of tiny shape creatures. So yeah, a good variety of stuff to show off, which is how I like it. ^_^

onward and upward,

Bethany

Clyde the deer janitor

Guys, I am so super happy with how this piece turned out!!! It was one of those rare, glorious moments when everything came together to create exactly the kind of mood I was aiming for! ^_^ 

Back story time: The idea for this image started with a Facebook post my cousin Meredith wrote about "the enigmatic janitor Clyde" at her place of employment. It got me wondering about janitors and their sometimes mysterious natures. Which, in turn, sparked the thought, "Well, what if he's a deer and he doesn't want anyone to find out, so he works as a night shift janitor, where very few people will ever see him." The concept just sounded so cool that I had to draw it. 

As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite things about this piece is the mood. It's like a scene that you've happened upon late at night when the florescent lights are stark, and everything feel surreal and otherworldly. The next morning, in the rational light of day, the idea of a graveyard shift deer janitor seems impossible and you doubt what you thought you saw, but at the time, it seemed plausible because you were tired and just accepted what was there without question. 

onward and upward,

Bethany

February Skill Building: Faces and Expressions

Spent some time working on faces and expressions this month. Some of them I really like; others feel a bit off. I definitely need to figure out how to push the expressions more in my drawings; they don't fully "feel" like the emotions I'm trying to capture. When drawing an expression, you often have to exaggerate and simplify your reference, not just copy it line for line. It's weird how that works; overemphasizing and leaving stuff out usually gives you something that feels more like the emotion you're aiming for. But enough ramble; on to drawings!

onward and upward,

Bethany

Fae Characters

I've been trying to draw more lately. I set a goal for myself to draw 150 pages this month! Crazy? Yes, but I'm up for the challenge. The by product of all this extra drawing is that more of the random stuff I draw is actually good. (Big shocker there, I know.)

Anyway, these are two drawings I did the other night of fae-type characters. (Fae being another name for fairy-like or fantastical creatures.) I thought about trying to ink them in, but since they turned out so nice in pencil, I opted to just leave them as is. 

onward and upward,

Bethany