MerMay '17 pt. 2

Three more mermaids for MerMay! These might be my last ones. I kind of wish I'd done more of them, but my heart wasn't in the challenge this year like it was last year. Fortunately for me, mermaids can be drawn at any time of the year, not just in May! ^_^

Also, I will be taking a two week break from blogging starting next week. I've decided to schedule more art breaks throughout the year in the hopes of avoiding burn out and other unpleasant things. See you then!

onward and upward,

Bethany

Rat Dragon (a break from Mermay)

Sometimes, in the midst of the general overwhelm of tasks and responsibilities that seem to define what it means to be alive, you get a bizarre little distraction. This week, I was supposed to be drawing mermaids, working on a painting commission, developing a web comic project I dearly hope comes to fruition, and surviving the onslaught of life. Clearly, there is no room for anything else. And yet, when this dragon idea plopped his smug  little self on top of one of my other projects, I shoved everything else aside and sketched him for pages, trying to figure him out. 

After lots of terrible drawings (more terrible than the ones pictured here), I decide he was a Rat dragon, that he was greedy, mischievous, bratty, and probably considered by most to be a nuisance, and that I totally loved him. 

Sometimes, a bizarre little distraction is just what you need.

onward and upward,

Bethany

MerMay pt. 1

MerMay (an art challenge to draw a mermaid every day this month) has come again. While I haven't been as consistent this year as I have in the past, I've been sneaking in a mermaid here and there. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few more done before the month is over!

onward and upward,

Bethany

Sketches from Hiatus: Random stuff

Last batch of hiatus sketches, most of which are pretty random. I think it's funny that I ended with cats, since that's where my hiatus sketches started. =^._.^=

onward and upward,

Bethany

Sketches from Hiatus: Human and Animal reference

Next batch of hiatus sketches are up! I did some reference sketching while on break of human and animal poses. I'm particularly pleased with how the animals turned out. 

onward and upward,

Bethany

Sketches from Hiatus: Creatures

Since I sketched a lot of different things over hiatus, I figured I'd split them up over a few weeks. Part of my goal for this break was to actually enjoy drawing again, which involved doodling lots of cute creatures! ^_^ I still haven't got the unicorgi or cat dragon designs quite where I want them, but they're headed in a good direction.

onward and upward,

Bethany

Back from Hiatus (plus a guitar!)

Hello everyone! I'm back from hiatus and (hopefully) ready to start up a regular posting schedule! Taking the time off was really nice and I think I need to do it more often, (although probably not for a full five weeks.)

One of the things I worked on while on break was "fancifying" a guitar! My friend Brandon had this old guitar he wanted to use as decoration, so he asked if I'd be interested in sprucing it up a bit. I agreed and after some experimentation, found that I could sketch in some really cool, abstract shapes that fit together in an organic way. (It actually took a lot of trial and error (and erasing) to come up with the right shapes and composition.) 

Here's the finished designs done in pencil. (Sorry I don't have a picture of the guitar before I started drawing on it; I never seem to remember to take "before" pictures...=_=)

Once the design was finished, I traced over my pencil lines with a gold paint pen, which took to the wood really nicely. Here are a few detail shots.

Here's the finished gold outlining. I knew I wanted to work in some white as well, so I outlined all the shapes again in white paint pen.

Here's what the guitar looks like with the gold and white outlines.

At this point, I faced a dilemma; should I leave the design as it was, or fill in the shapes with white paint pen? I asked a few different people for their opinions, then decided to try a combination of both ideas; fill in some of the shapes, and leave others as outlines.

Here, the guitar is partway through the fill in process. I really had to take my time and think about which shapes to fill and which to leave as they were.

And here's the finished product! ^_^ I'm really happy with how it turned out and Brandon really liked it, too! Having a project that focused on abstract shape fit in well with taking a break from my usual way of making art.

I also did a lot of sketching in my sketchbook on break and I'll be showing some of that next week. Till then!

onward and upward,

Bethany