Getting in the Spirit

Greetings Boils and Ghouls!

Not much to report this week, but at least I've done two posts this month (so far)!  I've got two gouache paintings I need to finish pretty quickly and since the last painting was acrylic I did this little Boogerbat to ease into the medium again.  It's kinda tough finding a background color that looks good with my dear friend the Boogerbat.  I kinda got married to the idea of him being a darker shade of periwinkle about 10 years ago and as much as I try, it just doesn't seem like him if he's not that color.

This is available in limited quantities for the Holidays over in the Crypt of DOOM!

Enjoy!

Devious Dessert - Pink Donut

"Pink Donut Monster" 6"x6" Acrylic on Canvas; 2013

Hard to believe that it's been a month since my last post, or painting for that matter.

I went back to my day job the first week of November and it's taken a whole month to get readjusted to sleeping at night and trying to handle daily duties in the two hours before bed and on weekends.  I think this is the first time in a long time that I wish my break had been longer.  I'm overjoyed that I was able to pull off my goal of completing 6 paintings in my 3 months off but DANG I wish I had a week to chill before going back to the grind.

Enough whining!  Above is a commission.  I DON'T normally do commissions anymore because my free time is so scarce, but I have a patron in Canada that loves my Devious Dessert line as much as I do so I always jump at the chance to make a new one.  She requested a pink frosted donut after I'd made a mini painting of one for Pinkdonuts from Etsy and Instagram.  I figured it was a great way to use up an old canvas I had floating around, to practice some back lighting and to troubleshoot some color design flaws with the mini painting.  You can see what I mean for yourself.  The mini painting has the green background and is only about an inch and a half square.

"Pink Donut Study" 1.5"x1.5" Gouache; 2013

Anyway, I've gotten myself into another lovely bind.  I've promised three paintings (this donut was the first) all before December 20th and I've decided to take on some freelance storyboards.  Something tells me I'm going to be exceptionally tired for the next month.  Up next. . .  what else?  More monsters!  Hopefully I'll remember to post in progress stuff since they're not for shows.

Best Little Art Show In Burbank @ ELEU Salon

Greetings all!  First let me say, Happy Halloween and second, let me show off my new painting.  Although the show it's for isn't until the 9th of November, a severed head somehow felt fitting.

"Marie Antoinette's Severed Head"
4"x8" Gouache; 2013

That's right. . . "Marie Antoinette's Severed Head".  I wanted to have a whittier name for it, but everything I could think of was too long.  "Was the Cake REALLY Worth It?" somehow seems like a veiled political statement and "How Am I Supposed To Reach It Now" just doesn't seem right either.  So I'm just going to call it what it is.

The painting will be part of the ELEU Salon's Winter Art Show on November 9th, 2013.  The show is  called "The Best Little Art Show In Burbank".  Everything is smaller than 8"x10" and is less than $100.  Marie here will be $100.  When I receive a flyer for the show I'll edit this post and add it.  In the mean time check out the Facebook Event and the Salon's Facebook Page for details as they become available.

Once again, hope you all have a wonderful Halloween.  I know I will.  I'll be celebrating my First Wedding Anniversary by going to see Danny Elfman.  My inner Synchronized Swimming nerd is totally dorking out.  (Believe it or not, I was NOT introduced to Danny Elfman via Oingo Boingo.  When I was 12 my Synchronized Swimming coaches had purchased "Music from the Darkened Theater" and every routine we had that year was from the scores of Danny Elfman.  I then bought the CD and started collecting his scored works.  5 years later I learned about Oingo Boingo and became addicted to them.  I know, TMI, but I felt like sharing.)

Story Time Group Show at Monkeyhouse Toys

"Wee Emily Dover"
8"x7"; Gouache; 2013

"Wee Emily Dover
Laid amongst the clover.
With her trusty bear she'd play
and color the night away.
Until the Sandman made her yawn,
Which coincided with the dawn."

Greetings all!  Well it's been a few weeks since the last post. . . and painting.  I should have never taken that week off after finishing the "Tech or Treat" painting for the Macross World Convention.  It took a good two weeks AFTER the week off to get back into the groove of things, but thankfully I DID get back into the groove.

This past Saturday was the Opening Reception for the "Story Time Group Show" at Monkeyhouse Toys.  The show, as I said before, had a fun concept.  Take an original character and tell it's story.  At first I was going to just use some of my other monster characters, but at the last minute (about two weeks til deadline) I decided the time had come to cross a painting off of my "to do in the future" list.

The more defined sketch for the painting.  Tombstone designs were figured out later because I wanted to make sure they were different than previous one's I've done.

The color comps.  So many of them.

About three years ago I told my husband about this idea of having a cute little skeleton girl coloring in her coloring book with her stuffed animals. . . in a graveyard.  Every now and then I'd doodle what I thought the little skeleton girl should look like, but I could never get her right.  I'd put the painting idea on this list I keep in the back of my planner of ideas that I'd like to eventually do when I feel my skill level has improved enough to do them justice.  And it was here that the little skeleton girl idea sat, until a three weeks ago, when everything fell into place.

Below are pictures from the opening reception.  I went early to check out the artwork and because I got sick on the last day of finishing my painting. :(

The Wall o' Art at the Story Time Show opening.

A giant standee of one of the Bleenkies for people to take photos with.

I found Emily on the wall!

"Tech or Treat" a Robotech Tribute Piece Work in Progress Post

"Tech or Treat"; 7"x6" Gouache; 2013

Ahh, I can finally show this little guy!  So this is "Tech or Treat" from the Macross World Convention 2013's Deculture: Tribute to Macross Art Show.  I kept it simple and kept it me. . . and found a way to use my neon gouache.  I love having reasons to bust it out.  NEON YELLOW PUMPKIN BUCKET!!!!

Below is a series of work in progress photos I took while doing a whirl wind 48 hour turn around.  Honestly, when I first started doing gouache paintings I did little trick or treater kids just like these and I'd get them done in, like, 4 hours max.  I guess, for me, the more knowledge I acquire the more nit picky and snail like I become as well.  What I thought would take MAYBE  6 hours took a good 18?  Hope you enjoy the WIP photos!

Digital composite of the sketch. 

Haven't done a watercolor wash background on one of my paintings since 2009.  Felt a little strange.

. . . and the snail's pace begins.  Got lost in making it look like cardboard.

Slowly working my way down .  So many angles!

FINALLY!  Tee-hee... neon orange.

AND, cut to the end.  Neon is my friend.  Too bad it's so trendy right now. >_<

Thankfully Carlos suggested the purple inner mat and stopped me from doing blue. 

Up next on the 19th is the Story Time Group Show over at Monkeyhouse Toys.  Wish me luck and 'stay tuned' for the work in progress images for that one.  (No contractual obligations stating I can't show that work before the show. :P)  And if you feel like coming out for the event, swing by on October 19th, 2013 between 5pm and 8pm.  As usual, I'm antisocial (a.k.a. a shy, introvert) so I'll be there briefly between 5pm and 6pm, so if you wanna see me you better be quick cause I'm more elusive than Big Foot.

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld Props and Backgrounds

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Well, since the shorts have aired twice now on DC Nation, and I've gotten permission from the director, I decided to post some of the stuff I enjoyed drawing the most from the Amethyst Princess of Gemworld shorts.  I did most of the props and a couple bg's when the BG person needed a hand.   

You'll no doubt notice the original models posted next to all the props.  They were designed and drawn by the director Brianne Drouhard (potatofarmgirl).  Once the prop had been approved and cleaned up I would duplicate the item and place a scaled down version next to one of the characters that way when the prop was sent to the studio the animators would know approximately how large the prop was in relation to the character.

Which were the most fun?  Props or backgrounds?  Both were fun.  Fortunately my training on South Park made me more of a jack of all trades, but if I had to pick three. . . Topaz's battle axe, the potion bottle that looks like a baby bottle and the Game Coding for Noob's book.  It may be outdated, but any time I can put noob on something it makes me laugh.  Which was the least fun?  Believe it or not I had to repurpose an old prop of a notepad and pencil but the notepad needed to have game coding notes on it.  At first it was real coding but legal was concerned that the code might be copy written.  So I went back and threw some basic HTML coding in with the game coding and legal was STILL concerned!  It went back and forth between the Director and myself and the Legal department over 5 times.  In the end, the coding looks like nothing but gibberish, which is kinda sad, because we were trying to do a little easter egg for game designers by hiding stuff.  Oh, and did I mention that also, in the end, it was only on the page for 0.5 seconds and so tiny that you couldn't see ANY of the writing?  But I sincerely don't mind because it's not every day you get to work on a magical, butt-kicking princess show, with weapons, a talking skeleton and a flying unicorn.  I totally did it for the Skeleton. ;)

Enjoy!

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Amethyst Princess of Gemworld ©DC Comics and Warner Bros Television Animation

Macross World Convention 2013 and Deculture: A Tribute to Macross

**UPDATE**

Just got the Flyer in for the show at the Convention.   You may continue. ;)

Over the last week I've been working on completing painting number 4 out of the 6 paintings I have to have completed by November 1st.  Sadly, the painting affiliated with the above poster for Macross World Convention 2013's art show "Deculture: A Tribute to Macross" is another "contractually obligated to not show before a certain date" painting.  Which I BARELY caught in the fine print at the last minute cause I was so tired.

Just before my birthday I was contacted by the organizers of the Macross World Convention.  They are having their first ever gallery/art exhibit entitled "Deculture: A Tribute to Macross" and they asked me if I'd participate.  I was hesitant at first because I don't know very much about Macross and it felt strange doing tribute/fan art for something I've never really seen.  I was honest with them and told the truth, but when they wrote back and said that they just loved my style and would be curious to see what I came up with in.  Then they were nice enough to give me a crash course in the world of Macross.  How could I say no when they were so nice about things?

You'll have to wait until October 6th to see the new painting, but, I can tell you I titled it "Tech or Treat" and it'll probably give someone a cavity.  Gouache, as usual, for the medium and pretty small.  As I get more information I'll try to do a follow up post with more specific info.

NOW I finally get a much needed week off (just in-time to watch season premiers on CBS) between painting number 4 and painting number 5. . . and then I'll get a whole 2 and a half weeks to complete painting number 5!  Believe me, I could use it.  What's the next show?  Why thank you for asking.  Up next in mid-october is "Story Time" a group show organized by Oscar Rosales of Bleenkies fame at Monkeyhouse Toys in Silverlake, CA.  Just check out the flyer for more info.

Autumn Serenade

Well, the ELEU Autumn Harvest/Dia de Los Muertos piece is thankfully finished.  I'm now officially half way thru the 6 paintings I have to have done before my hiatus ends in November.  As much as I love that I'm getting to spend my break painting, I have to admit I'm getting a bit tired physically.  I have to paint at night like I would if I was still working.  The house goes into such a state of disarray when I'm working that I have to spend my entire hiatus getting things back in order. . . which as I'm sure everyone knows, is a full time job it's self.

Anyway.  This piece was a lot of fun.  As I stated in the last post where I introduced it, color comps were a pain in the butt, but in the end that extra three days it took to finish them was worth it.  Details of the show's official opening reception are still vague but I'll post details here and on Facebook once I know more.  What I can tell you is this:  the painting, which I've entitled "Autumn Serenade" will be on display at ELEU Salon in Burbank, CA from Friday, September 13th, 2013 thru November 2013 and will be $275.  If interested, contact ELEU Salon for more information.

As I'm sure my followers have noticed, I like to make my paintings a bit personal.  This one is no different.  Fun personal things hidden/represented in this painting are not that hidden really.  The little boy and girl are representing my husband and I.  We will be celebrating our first anniversary on Halloween so Autumn is very special to us.  Specific references are:  The mariachi is left handed.  That is probably only something musicians would catch and think I made a mistake on.  It's not a mistake.  I redrew the entire composition when I realized I made him a right handed player.  Not only does it help the flow of the piece, it wouldn't be my husband if he was a right handed player (yes there is a difference and left handed guitars are very hard to find).  Second, I totally made the scarecrow girl a grunge girl on purpose and she's totally wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt.  I always wanted one of those "Alive" t-shirts.  The little Jeremy stick figure is totally awesome.  There aren't too many hidden things in this one actually.

Everything else is there for story purposes or just because it felt right.  There is a church yard in the Background as that's where the little mariachi boy came from.  If you get out a magnifying glass you can actually see decorative bunting strung just behind the cemetery entrance.  The crows were fun and although they look more like robins or sparrows than crows I really like the design and will probably do a few mini paintings of them cause they're just cute.

Up next?  I have one week to complete a Macross/Robotech themed piece.  I've got the concept and after taking today off to try to catch up on sleep, I'll be sketching and hopefully color comping that one before the end of the day on Friday the 13th!

Can't believe it's halfway thru September already!!

An Autumn Harvest Painting WIP and the Wedding Thank You Card

Well, as promised, I saved my blog followers from the obnoxious "Wedding Thank You Card" in progress work (If you're curious, you can check them out on Instagram or the Fan Page).  And I'm still going to save you because I'm going to start this post with the Autumn fun!

This weekend is the due date for paintings for a new art show at ELEU Salon here in Burbank, CA.  The theme is the Autumn Harvest or Day of the Dead.  I'm cutting it close but I thought I'm keeping my fingers crossed I finish this painting in time.  I got a little ambitious.  This painting is going to measure about 7 inches wide and 13 inches tall.  With only 3 days to finish, I'm on crack, but I'm going to try.  Above is the Color Comp and it's been quite a pain in my rear.  It's taken  a good 4 days get thru the struggle of the color comp.  I really wanted to use "autumn colors", the deep Jewel tones commonly associated with the season:  burgundies, rusts, golds, browns and plums.  Unfortunately it didn't go so well.  So although this comp is closer to what I had in mind, it's still not quite there. . . but it's got potential.  More importantly. . . it'd due Saturday and I don't have time to dink around anymore.

Just because I thought it might be fun to see, I've also thrown in the initial thumbnail and sketch for the piece.  I have some strange addiction to drawing vertically. . .

And finally, the damn Wedding Thank You card.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I've sent it to the printer and hope to have it back in a few days.  My goal is to have them out before the end of the month. . . that way it will have only taken 11 months to get them out and not 12.  :P

As I'm sure you've probably noticed, I like to stick my cats in just about everything, but for once it makes sense.  My whole "family" is grateful for the gifts we've received from our loved one's and friends, so of course I'm going to include our "kids" in the card.  There are two Disney references in the Card.  Can you find them?

Monster Girl Challenge 2: Days 21 thru 24

"Rainbow Layer Cake (Yellow)"; 5"x7" Acrylic on Canvas; 2013

. . . And a piece of cake to Celebrate!!

We'll start with the Cake and work our way towards monster girls.  I have aquired a very sweet Patron up in Vancouver, BC who (I'm very excited to say) loves my Devious Desserts line as much as I do!!  You'll recall back in May I did a Rainbow Layer Cake mini painting for Bats Day.  I made a deal with her that if it sold I would do a larger scale acrylic painting to match the rest of the series she's collected. Prints of "Rainbow Layer Cake (Yellow)" will be available when I reopen the Crypt of DOOM for the holidays on October 1st.

That's right, OCTOBER 1st.  I'd previous said a couple of months ago that I wouldn't be reopening my shop til November, but I think I'll be rested enough to open a month earlier than I anticipated.

Now on to Monster Girls!!  Sadly, this is taking a lot longer than 30 days, but for the most part I'm very happy with the monsters I've created this round and I look forward to doing a more developed piece with Medusa for a show in November.  I think I'm developing an unhealthy obsession with Gorgons. These 4 are in order, just to state that.

Day 21: Boogeyman type Girl

Day 22: Lagoon Creature

Day 23: Kami

Day 24: Lunatic Girl (She's suffering from a case of Princess Burnout.)

I'll be working on two paintings simutaniously for the next couple of weeks, so prepare for a few work-in-progress shots here on the blog.  For a more comprehensive "behind the scenes" on these two paintings, be sure to follow me on Instagram.

Monster Girl Challenge 2 - Days 12 thru 20

Day 13: Sphinx

Well, this challenge's days are not matching up anymore, but I'm still truckin' along.  I WILL finish all 30 of the challenges even if it takes me 45 days instead of 30.

Day 15: Will-o-Wisp

In this batch, we have some fun ones:  a sphinx, a creepy gargoyle and a cameo by by the Boogervampire (in no particular order).  Enjoy!

Day 16: Gargoyle Girl

Day 12: Maenad

Day 14: Djinn

 

Day 17: Tengu

Day 18: Troll Girl

Day 19: Oger Girl

Day 20: Vampire Girl

So happy to say that in two days I wrap up on season 8 of American Dad, which means, it's HIATUS TIME!!!  This year's hiatus is not nearly as long as last year's, but looks like it will be a month longer than I had expected so I'm going to announce here first that I'll be reopening my Etsy shop, the Crypt of DOOM, a month earlier than originally anticipated.  So, I'll be reopening the Crypt of DOOM for the Holiday season on October 1st, 2013.