Jane

I've managed to lose both my art pencil and my blending stump...so I resorted to sketching with a plain mechanical pencil and experimenting with cross-hatching. I rather like how it turned out, actually :) 

(Jane Bennett, from Pride and Prejudice)

Experimental Sketches!

Okay, so I've been branching out with my sketching...since my Bristol paper warps here and nothing shades right in this humidity, I can't do my full-blown realistic pencil drawings.

Thus, I've been doing more sketches, and my most recent inspiration has been Studio Ghibli...

Needless to say, HOWL

Like I said, not my normal!! I DID have a reference - I am not capable of watching something and then drawing the characters in a style so completely different from my own. ;) But still, I think it's a good start, and I really love the result.

Also, by Theo's request - Aang, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. :3

Various Paintings

I've gotten several paintings done recently but I've only just now gotten around to posting them. :P

This is a more traditional Liberian painting - less blended. My favorite part is probably the sky...but I also loved doing the grass. My least favorite part would be drawing the boy and trying to get his fishing pole right. :P I have found that details are easy for me...it's straight, simple lines that give me such a hard time. 

Anyway, I took this to a Christmas gift exchange and I'm happy to say it ended up with someone who loves it. ^.^

This one was a commission (!!!) from a good family friend. It's based off of a photo my sister took at the beach here in Liberia. At first I wasn't sure I would like it - after all, the first coat was that ugly pink color that you only find in old lady's bathrooms - but now that I've finished with it I like how...crisp it feels. :3

I sent it back with my brother and sister (who were visiting for Christmas) and it has since been recieved by said friend!

Never judge a painting by it's first coat...for example, this one just below was supposed to be the beginning of a seascape. 

And here, it begins to shape up...the whole first coat done, and second coat and details on the sky.

And this one is an awful photo. For comparision, in reality the finished sky is just as bright as the last picture...I took this photo at night in fluorescent lighting. Bad mistake. I sent it to America with the siblings, so I have no way of taking a better picture.

But still! As you can see, it DID end up being a seascape after all.