I moved!

In the digital world...

I no longer post here. I now post here: http://www.projectfancy.net

The site is still a work in progress, but so is everything I post about. All good!

Sewing Adventures!

Roommate and I got to work creating Victorian/Steampunk/Fabulous outfits.

I don't really know how to sew, so I'm relying heavily on the expertise/past mistakes and lessons of Roommate. This past weekend was largely spent standing around in the local Jo-Ann's. They're having a sale which made it the perfect time to buy some patterns and fabric.

The pattern above is my goal. Pink is not. As it turns out, you don't simply walk into a store and get handed the appropriate fabric in the colors you want. Much of the fabric I picked up was either too expensive, too narrow, too short of a supply, too hard to work with... too something.

Eventually, after much consulting with Roommate, I left with some lovely grey with soft stripes (there's a name for that type of fabric.. I don't know what it is) for the overskirt and a pretty deep blue with a leafy pattern for the jacket. I still need something for the underskirt.


I was probably overly cautious when cutting out the fabric pieces because it took ages. About three hours of work resulted in a a couple nice stacks of pieces.

Better photos to be added later. Phone camera doesn't do too well with indoor light, it seems.

Here's a song!

Yelle - Ce Jeu

WIP

Cogs/Berries some more:

Two things: photo is a little dark, and it's not a supposed to be a severed head. I'll fix it.

Starting Somewhere

First, something silly my mom would probably like :)

Tonight I tried straight up copying a nice fluid style (no, not the doodle above). I snatched the colors right off the original and drew a copy side by side to try to get a feel for the artist. It was a useful exercise despite it being unfinished and having some obvious errors (I never noticed how much I stretch things out. Look how wide it all is!).

I may do more of these to get a feel for things.

The original, by Goran Josic:

Terra Stomper

My copy:
Song!



Another U.S.E because I can't stop listening to them :)

It's so happy!

I don't have anything to say or show, but I didn't add a song yesterday. Bonus!



If only all songs had such a nice little "share this song" script :)

..on second thought.. I can probably edit this player for other songs too, given the right info. So much nicer!

Octopocolypse

The sea creatures.. I'm not over it yet.

I'm currently trying to figure out what to paint for a dear friend. We were talking about a number of different mediums and subjects and colors and things, and I got a bit stuck on the black and white part.



Black and white made me think of Rorschach Tests (above, courtesy of Wikipedia), and although he didn't express much love for this sort of symmetry, I don't really know where else to start at the moment.

So I started with a catastrophe at sea. Giant sea monsters are bad for boats.

And moved on to here:

Which looked a bit silly as an ink blot test:

Which got muddled into this:

Which got some color here:

Which all in all didn't amount to much, but I had to post this somewhere so this friend of mine can see what I'm talking about when I try to explain it tomorrow :)

Time to move on to new ideas! I think I'll revisit this in the future, but it's probably a good idea to move in a different direction for now.

Fish-splosion

We're on a roll! Gogo sketch party.

My boyfriend got swine flu. I don't think I have H1Nerd1 (thanks, PAX...), but I have something that feels bad and has left me with a cough goopy and loud enough to make public outings awkward. As a result, I've had some time on my hands.

I want this to be a painting in the future. Trying to figure out colors that will play nicely together *before* I pick up a brush:


This will not become a painting. Mmm angst-muffins. No, this is not how I feel:


I feel like this!


(Didn't draw it. It's my wallpaper. Find it here: Spirit Monster Cake Party)

Finally, gardening projects remain on a small scale. My little sister gave me some pretty, little pots and herb seeds for my birthday. They're coming along pretty well.


No music today. Check out Wristcutters: A Love Story
I know it's not helping my angst-case, but it's a quirky, enjoyable movie. Recommended by Chris. Has to be good, right?

Slow Pace

Ah, the vast resources on the internet. Today: DeviantArt.


I tried out a number of the brushes found here:
http://fox-orian.deviantart.com/art/Essential-Illustration-Brushes-117211736

I checked out a bunch of the stock poses found here:
http://senshistock.deviantart.com/

Even though it's just a sketch, it makes me see that artist-made Photoshop brushes are a wonderful thing. Part of me feels like it's cheating to use a brush that another artist developed, but another part of me is filled with glee when I scribble around with a brush that feels like a pencil. Nay, a SUPER pencil.

Resources! Practice! Good things!

Also, this:
La Roux - Bulletproof

From the brief glance I gave the video, I could have done without it.

Monday

Nothing much to say... but here's a giraffe swan thing!

And here's a song!
Go Periscope! - Crush Me
It's upbeat techno. Also catchy. Click play on that site :)

Rainbow Feather Surprise!

Or: Adventures in Photoshop

Lovely Boyfriend has reminded me, rightly so, that the best way to improve is through lots of practice. And so, thus begins an attempt to improve: through paint, pencil, Photoshop, or otherwise.

Today I started with something simple for me to wrap my head around- young woman in profile, goofy headgear. It's my Artist Happy Place :D

Practice with color, texture, tablet wonkiness (nothing wrong with the tablet.. it's just an adjustment.) Click for bigger.


Here's a good song: Elbow - Grounds for Divorce

That's all I've got today.

There Are Wombats In There

My boyfriend and I just bought our first house and are moving in the next week or two. This means a lot of things are going on hold until life emerges from the boxes, but it also means I'll have a number of new house-oriented projects to keep myself occupied. These include:

1. Art Space. I've been given half of the new garage to make myself some sweet, sweet art space.
   
2. Patio. I'm not very good with plants, but we're soon to be the proud new owners of a patch of concrete. It needs some plant lovin. It's going to be the prettiest patch of concrete anyone ever did see.

Moving also means I've stopped working on that painting. It's still very orange, but it's best to let the paint dry for now.

I'm learning a lot about programming right now. I've only ever dealt with academic exercises and my new job has me dealing with a lot of new territory. I have a 1500 page book on my desk. It's the "definitive guide to the Win32 API." My code has wombats everywhere.

So while others work on the MtG simulator, I'm not feeling any love for code outside of work. I have, however, been enjoying the card game more. I suddenly have enough cards to warrant a card box and spent the afternoon drawing on it. The original art is an awesome, digital painting that proved to be a bit difficult to color on a box. New goal: become a markers god.

She's a little awkward, but not too bad for a card box.


I continue to enjoy this song: TV on the Radio - Golden Age
The video really adds something. I don't know what's going on, but I love it.

Orange

First post! Huzzah :)

This is a detail shot of my most recent work in progress. There's not a whole lot else going on in the painting right now (or ever?), but I'm enjoying working on it. Oil on canvas.

I'm not working on a whole lot at the moment. I have a few scraps of paintings in progress and the skeleton of a MtG simulator a few friends and I talk about now and then. Neither of those are moving quickly, and there's not much else happening in my painting/programming world right now. I hope this will change!