Snowglobe!

Alyssa prompted this piece. She insisted that making snowglobes was the thing to do. After seeing the really cute one she made, I really wanted to make one, too.
EDIT: Ten Paces has a whole menagerie of snowglobes over there! Check'm out!

Art Show!

My friend Tiffany and I are having an art show!

We've been working hard on these pieces and we're happy to finally share them officially. So come by and say hi for a few minutes, grab some snacks (provided by us!) and a bubble tea (you'll have to get that yourself) and live in the festive Twin Cities love.

ill

I think I'm sick. It makes me want to paint more than ever. My apartment gets really warm, and that combined with being ill kind of helps me focus. You know what I mean? It's that weird state of mind where it's way too hard to think about more than one thing, so I only think about the painting. It even helps focus on a specific part of the painting, so I don't rush as much as I usually do and the decisions I make are more careful (albeit slower).
This sounds like a weird argument for being sick. I don't like all of the side effects–the soreness, the throat thing, the leaking head–but it does force me to stay inside, and I like that.

This is the last piece for the Urban Winter series I've made for a show I'm having with Tiff. We hung it this weekend, so I'll take pictures and post them as soon as I'm able.

Cold Winter Night

I had a hard time with this one. Ultimately, I think it's one of my favorites, but boy oh boy did it put up a fight. I struggled with getting it as deep and vibrant as I had planned, and then when it was deep enough I was frustrated with the lack of subtlety that watercolor usually provides.
This also served to remind me that sometimes sticking with something is the best course of action, even when you want to start all over.

One Tiny Dragon

The two drink umbrellas are the extent of drawing-from-life squeezed into this sketchpage. Otherwise, there's all kinds of characters and two fanart-y characters right in the middle: Jon Snow and Arya Stark.

I like it when reading a certain book or being in a certain place results in the creation of a specific image.

It's Coming

There is nothing prophetic about predicting snow at this point. I've been feeling more motivated to work on these urban winter pieces–possibly because of the upcoming deadline, but also because of the subject matter.
I'm really fond of this one. The thing about these pieces is that some I favor for aesthetic reasons and some I favor because of the moment they are meant to represent. This one I like for aesthetic reasons.


watercolor and ink on 300 lb rough press paper

Halloween Patterns

Another benefit of making so many patterns is that there's always some art for the holidays. Here's a collection of Halloween patterns. I've posted the last one before, but I'll post it again.
There's a Halloween pattern for today in the works; if it's finished by the end of today I'll add it.










EDIT: And one more:

Full Page of sketches

There's a little bit of life drawing in this one (pets, person and coffee shop), some characters I made up, Aziraphale (Good Omens) in the upper left, Sansa Stark somewhere in the middle, Finch further down (Person of Interest, but let's not talk about that show ever), Zuko in the lower right and the Target dog, just for fun.

Mice Activities

A gift piece for some very very kind people.
I'd also like to direct your attention to that border. As usual, I masked the border off with tape. Unlike usual, when I took the tape off, it turned out perfectly clean, straight, and without weird bleeding. I used regular old artist's tape and didn't really do anything different that I know of, otherwise I'd be talking about it because do I ever want the official secret of clean watercolor borders.
Excited things, guys.


watercolor, gouache and ink on 190 lb cold press paper

Cozy Inside

I finished another piece in the urban winter series! There are a couple posts with process here and here. This one was kind of a challenge. I think I changed color palettes a few times while working on it in attempt to find the right...mood? Atmosphere, maybe.


watercolor, ink and gouache on 300 lb rough press


After working on a painting, nothing helps wind down like sketching whatever. My cat likes sketchbooks almost as much as I do.



This time she was just covering up this drawing I made of her. She's pretty modest.

Autumn Festive

This sketchpage is nearly all characters of mine, though I did do some drawing at the Basilica (lower right) and there's a cat near the top that was a life study. I don't remember whose cat that is. Kind of worrisome.

Small Animal Friends

I made some small paintings for a pattern. Every once and awhile, I decide it would be really fun to paint icons with paint for a pattern instead of working digitally. I enjoy it so much more, but it also takes twice as long.








gouache and watercolor on 180 lb rough press paper

Minneapolis progress

I did some more work on those pieces while Hercule Poirot solved some rich peoples' murders last night.

Minneapolis deadlines

I'm working on a few city-related projects whose deadlines are fast approaching. Last night I pulled out the paints and ink and a few pieces and sat down to work. Computers are wonderful things, and they are excellent tools for making art. Still, after a few minutes into actually painting, with actual paint, I can't help but feel one medium is superior to another.

Fall Watercolor Studies

I did a watercolor demo for my friend Adam's class and here are the primary remainders. As I was biking to the class I noticed how crazy amazing my neighborhood is looking these days. The fall foliage always seems very short-lived, but it's worth appreciating.





watercolor on 180 lb rough press

Mocha

I haven't made a thing in Corel Painter in awhile! I drew this on there really quick just to make sure I still like that program.

September

I really liked the drawing of that girl in the last page of sketches, so I made a drawing of her in my sketchbook with a pocket brush pen.

September sketches

Got some of these to post. Mostly assorted character drawings with some life drawing thrown in. The middle guy and the thing shooting fire out of his head is inspired from the Thor movie. I really like the design of that fire-head thing, so I had to draw him. Then I still liked him enough to want to color him.

Urban Winter

I've been working on and off on a series of watercolor paintings inspired from winter settings in the Twin Cities. One of the things I marvel at the most is how easily the idea for the next image comes. I do have plans for the future ones, but until I start the next painting, there's no telling. The one I'm currently working on I hadn't decided on until the moment this one was finished. You can see the other two I've already done here and here.


watercolor, ink and gouache on 300 lb rough press

a few favorites

I've been working on catching up with the Daily Pattern Project lately; the few I dropped started adding up. We can't have that, now, can we? Here are some semi-recent patterns I really like.


jungle


haunted


Internet Café

a page of sketches

Some sketches from throughout the summer. A little bit of life drawing (the houses and interior), some of my characters on the left, River Song on the right, and some animal miscellany.

Ten Paces and Draw: Musician Portrait

I participated in this week's Ten Paces and Draw project! Here's my finished illustration (based on the sketch by Kyle Fewell.) of Nobou Uematsu. It was pretty awesome working on this–I actually got to see Uematsu once! He came to Minneapolis for an orchestra concert of music.



I sketched Vivaldi, which Janna Morton finished.

Unlikely Hero

I had to give another shot at drawing Bilbo Baggins, so this evening I put on the audiobook and found some reference and drew this. Then I colored it in Painter.



Bilbo is one of my favorite (kinds of?) protagonists. He's pretty sure he doesn't want to have an adventure. When he does go on one, he's kind of the worst and everybody is telling him to shut up and stop sucking all of the time. Despite all of that, he maintains the role of hero of the story and he still has a really great, really believable character arc.

Some mountains and some oatmeal

I've got a large collection of mountain sketches, so here are a few to start with. Drawing organic land masses help loosen up the drawing arm! There's also a hobbit drawing in there and a bunch of characters.



The Daily Pattern Project is still going strong. I missed a chunk of days, but Lindsay and Chris have flawless records and I am amazed.
It feels really good to finally have a body of work that is both recent and of the size and caliber that I want it to be. It feels even better to know that once you've finished a pattern, you know that you've always got tomorrow to make a better one.


Teapot



Song Title


Instant Breakfast

lack luster

Some more sketches from a long time ago that I still kind of like. The boats and city are observational from Lake Calhoun. The un-syndicated characters are mine, the Totoro stuff is from Totoro, and there are a few things from that second time of watching the Lost finale, which I do enjoy, thank you very much.

I still take time to draw nothing

I haven't posted a sketch page in aeons, and my sketchbook is teeming with random bits, so I'm going to take a little breather from making stuff that looks finished to post some stuff that doesn't.
This one has a lot of drawings from coffee shops. Coffee shops are my favorite thing of the moment. There are a few character things in there, all of them mine, and the usual portion of animals. The frog was a daily pattern dud sketch.



Speaking of daily pattern, here are a few I like:


hairy


tires


summertime

I also drew this in Photoshop the other day, and I'm pretty fond of it as digital drawings go.

Harry Potter and things

I have a confession to make. I make this confession nearly every year. Well, I make it every time another Harry Potter film comes out. I sort of don't care about the movies. But it's okay! It's okay. I really like the Lost finale, and nobody likes that. Plus, I love the books. PLUS some friends and I are going to the midnight showing tonight.

Anyway, I've been super fortunate and took part in Ten Paces and Draw again. And it was Harry Potter themed! I love Harry Potter!
Here's my sketch, that was finished by Katie Turner.



And here's my finished illustration, that was sketched by Trevor Basset. I used the watercolors again, and that almost always makes me happy.


watercolor and ink on 190 lb cold press paper

I've been working a lot in Photoshop still and I like a lot of the stuff that's been happening. The possibilities are endless.


Here are some of my favorite latest patterns from the illustrious Daily Pattern Project.


mouse


wedding