Yaaaay for ugly trolls. You're welcome, Cait.

The guy in the lower right hand corner kind of resembles Jack Sparrow, just like one of the Pirate Girl Sidekicks I drew. I have no clue why.

So. These are a little out of the ordinary, no? Just a sneak peak of the ugly trolls I've been drawing. I've also kinda sorta been thinking of a story to go with them. The most that I can tell you about the story, really, is that it involves characters...and a plot. Details forthcoming.

I started drawing ugly trolls 1) because Cait requested that I draw something hideous and 2) because I was kind of in a rut. I'd been drawing girls, princess girls, pirate girls, Jane Austen girls, girls named Door from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere--did I say girls already? Really, the only things I'd been drawing other than girls were Sherlock Holmes and Roger-from-101-Dalmatians-esque guys with trench coats, big noses, and a toothpick physique. Not much variety. So whenever I get around to scanning my drawings, you'll get to see plenty of non-girls. Yay.

Design projects!

So, I just finished a design class that was sort of fun...I don't feel like I learned anything from it, but now I have some cool(ish) new artworks to put on my blog! Yay!

This was done in pen (Micron). I had to unite two opposite concepts (blooming and wilting)  in one composition. This one was chosen to be included on the campus Art Fusion flyer, so that's exciting. 

This...is me. No, really. The assignment was to create an abstract self portrait using paper collage. I wasn't allowed to use color, and was restricted to using bristol board (thick paper) that I had to paint and then cut into the shapes I needed. 

This was probably the most frustrating piece of all. I had to create a collage landscape that expressed an emotion or feeling. I had to incorporate a linoleum print into the composition, meaning that I had to first carve those swirly lines into a 5x7 block of linoleum using a linoleum gouge, roll ink over it, and then put a piece of paper over it and send it through a printmaking machine. I made about 10 prints, and then cut them up and made a collage out of them. It was displayed at the Art Fusion, though, so that sort of made up for the disgruntling experience of linoleum carving.

For this one, my teacher gave each person a photocopy of a page from the dictionary. We each had to choose an adjective from the page to illustrate, and then use one of five color schemes (monochromatic, complementary, analogous, split-complementary, or triadic). My adjective was "two-way," so I painted two people having a two-way phone conversation.

So there you go. Like I said, I didn't really learn anything. I just confirmed that I like making tedious artwork (with the exception of printmaking).

Reminiscing...

So, I found these drawings from my sophomore year of high school and, surprisingly, I love them! I didn't realize how much fun I had in high school until I found these. I drew myself in different outfits that I had worn at significant events during my sophomore year, such as cross country/track meets, church, my brother's welcome-home party, etc. I wish I had done this every year. These pictures are more effective for me than pages and pages of  journal entries--they bring back more memories than any words I could have thought to write, and I think that's why I love drawing so much. It's funny how much I managed to record about myself during that year just by copying down my outfits and hairstyles...and I can't believe I thought getting new pajama pants was worthy of an illustration...and that I wore them with a broad-striped shirt.

More Scribbles: Tomboy

Please Note the Following...

First, I got a moleskine sketchbook for Christmas.

Second, the turquoise area marks the lesser scribbles. 

These are some pirate girl sketches. I'm working with the A-Train to improve my drawing/character design skills.  As a project, he's helping me develop pirate girl. These, however, are not part of the homework he most recently assigned, but you have to do something worthwhile during math class. 

Third, there is at least one character from Community on this page. Heh. I started this page about a month ago as a way to practice drawing guy faces/profiles, since I was really only good at drawing girl faces prior to this decision. I still go back to it every now and then and add a face. 

It has gotten a little crowded...hence the all-devouring afro, top center. In all fairness, that guy's  lame hairstyle had it coming.

Aaaand this is where my motivation to scan things runs out.

The Princess and the Pea

So, The Princess and the Pea is one of my favorite fairy tales, and I was wondering why it hadn't been made into a movie. Then I read the original by Hans Christian Andersen, and I realized that not only is it super short, it has no villain. However, as I thought about how much I would love it if it somehow became a movie, I realized that the princess must have a back story, which would draw the story out and make it more exciting. So I started drawing the peasant girl from my last post with the Princess and the Pea in mind, but I didn't have a logical way to make the peasant girl become a princess--at least, not with fairy tale logic. So I began to draw a more princess-y character, using early concept art by Mary Blair. Here's a sketch of the princess: 

Yet another post of random math class drawings...

Laurey, from Oklahoma!. I liked seeing Laurey in overalls in one production of the musical, and I originally planned on drawing her in overalls, but they became too complicated without a reference. Not many people wearing overalls in my math class.

I originally imagined this girl as the princess from the Princess and the Pea, but I thought more about the story and came up with another girl, who will probably be in my next post.

Just a cowboy. He looks like a bad guy to me.

And this is Curly, also from Oklahoma!. 

A girl.

I read and loved the Hindu story Savitri and Satyavan, and I thought it would make a great Disney movie. So here's one of my sketches of Savitri.