merry christmas & happy new year!

some sketches done around christmas time...


sketched this while waiting for some friends at a coffee shop.

pencil


quick sketch of my guinea pig Oreo, while lounging about at my parent's place.

graphite

update

felt marker

hello, I know I haven't updated for a looong time - thanks for the nudge, little sister.
here is a little of what I have been up to lately. An assortment of things.


pencil, and then lines added in photoshop because i am lazy.

This is a stained glass design I did for Holyrood Mennonite Church. A bit of collaboration on the bird design with my mom. She is the stained glass master who will be doing the actual stained glass part. I am looking forward to seeing the final piece!


coloring done in photoshop, artwork/drawings are images from shutterstock and go media
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this is a collage i put together with stock images, and then painted it in photoshop. Worked on it off and on at work (hee hee) when we had some downtime.


and some sketching....



graphite/felt marker


felt marker
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I recently upgraded my design software (hello CS4!) and in the process had to put in more memory for my old friend G4. I found out what RAM looks like, and how to install it, and that it has little notches that need to line up with the slots in your computer, otherwise it doesn't fit. A little learning experience for me, and involved two trips to Westworld, which greatly improved my opinion of their customer service. The first trip I was asked about 5 times if I needed help, and when I went back to exchange the RAM, it was no problem. (I've avoided Westworld for many years because I was completely ignored by the customer service staff the first time I went there) Anyways, there's the little semi-interesting story that goes with that sketch.

new sketchbook

started a new travel sketchbook (one that I carry around with me for quick sketches). Here are some entries so far:


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sketched while sipping coffee at a downtown Starbucks, after a trip to the art gallery.


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sketched during a break from shopping at Pacific Centre in Vancouver.


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autumn

some pics from my walk today... they are cell phone pics, so the quality is crappy. But I enjoyed the fall colors very much!

fish

these are some lame attempts at pencil crayon/colored pencil drawings. *reminds self to look up tutorials online*


colored pencils
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colored pencils
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ink blobs + compressed air = fun!

Did some more "ink splat" drawings tonight. Oh how I love air in a can! -grin-

These are made by putting a good-sized blob of ink on a piece of paper, and then spraying it with a compressed air can (supposed to be used for cleaning keyboards, etc. this is much more fun) Sometimes I even got a coating of frost on the paper, cuz the can gets cold and shoots out white icy frosty stuff. Weird. After the ink is sprayed around, and I like the shape, I add to it with felt marker and make a pretty picture. Well, I hope they're pretty. To me they are. *shrugs shoulders*


ink and felt marker
bigger bird

not sure what this is, or where it came from. I started off drawing a bird, then a bat, then back to a bird with it's head being blown off. Like I said, not sure where that came from.



ink and felt marker
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This is random lines/circles, stemming off from a hand-like shape in the centre. I like this one, will probably color it.




ink and felt marker, composition in Photoshop
bigger jellys

This one looked like a jellyfish to me. So here are some jellyfish. I knew those Vancouver Aquarium pics would come in handy someday. :) This one will definitely be colored and prettyed up.

what i did at work today

i am always being told by my co-workers that i need a sign. I am not a morning person, most people that know me, know that very well. so... today we actually had a bit of a break from the craziness that has been work lately, and ta da! a sign is born.




turn it around and....



make your own sign! hooray for free stuff!

transport logo

built in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop


built in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop

haven't posted for a while. sorry. here is a logo I did for a friend recently. Their church was having a big huge event and she was in charge of the Transport team for the event. And they had logos for each of the volunteer teams. "Gold is the main color, and somebody else on the team really wants a heart in the logo" Okey dokey. FYI: Jamat = community.

too much windex?

digital collage / mixed media
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the layers beneath the picture

This is a response to an event that happened one quiet Sunday afternoon.... I was lazing around reading a magazine, when all of a sudden there was a loud *BANG* at the back doors that open to the backyard. A poor bird had flown into the glass doors and knocked itself out. At first I kind of panicked and was wondering what one is supposed to do with a dead bird. I was looking at it, then it blinked and I realized it was still alive. I started to pick it up, and it sort of flipped itself over onto its feet, but just stood there. So I picked it up again, and carried it over to the fence where the trees are, and it flew up into the trees. I'm assuming there's lots of bird nests back there.


The sketches incorporated into the collage:

ballpoint pen
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ballpoint pen / felt marker
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photos used in the collage:





Photos from stock.xchng and Shutterstock.

good advice

"A word of encouragement about drawing: I think most illustrators are far too hard on themselves. They expect to sit down with one piece of paper and draw exactly what they have in their mind the very first time around. In my opinion this is nearly impossible. Drawing is a process that takes a long time. I like to make an analogy between a good batter in baseball and a good illustrator. A great batting average for the major leagues is “.300.” This batting average means that they get 3 hits out of ten, or get a hit 30 percent of the time. I think that this is a reasonable expectation for an artist to have as well. If I can get 3 decent drawings out of ten attempts – I feel fairly good about myself.

So, relax while you’re in your pencil drawing phase of this process. Get yourself a big stack of paper and get loose, draw lots and don’t be concerned about “bad” sketches – just toss them aside and start over."

- Bill - GoMediaZine

I was really encouraged when I came across this quote. I do exactly that: expect myself to draw exactly what is in my brain in the first few attempts. When really, that is impossible. I should aim for a huge stack of drawings, and see what I get.


also check out Bill's drawing and digital coloring tutorial:
comic book style tutorial

birds, beer and a live auction

pencil
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this is a warm-up sketch for another bird drawing I did. I'm working on a digital collage-type thing with it, so I'll post it later. It was fun to draw the parrot. Loosen up a bit.



felt marker

some random people at the MCC Relief Sale a few weeks ago. Drawn during the live auction.



pencil

I sketched this inbetween brainstorming for a logo and working on the final logo artwork. A little break, shall we say. and um.... beer.

Nelson sketches

more sketches from BC trip. These are all done at the beach in Nelson, BC. Sleepy little town with lots of artsy shops. And a nice beach to relax at, with freezing cold water to wade in on hot days.


conte
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conte
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conte


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whoops i lied, these next ones are from downtown Nelson, people watching.

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people don't stay still long enough, you know?

Vancouver sketches

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graphite
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these were all sketched along the seawall by downtown Vancouver. We (my sisters and I) were sitting around people watching and drawing, enjoying the warm weather. good times.

a couple BC sketches

a couple sketches from my trip to BC. Got all the scanning done *whew* so just a few to start off.


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the very exciting bush outside the Burnaby motel we were staying in. Actually it was a nice, clean place we stayed in, Lake City Motor Inn in Burnaby. I would recommend it if anyone is travelling to Vancouver area. Had a two-storey room with kitchenette, and outdoor pool which they cleaned everyday - no pool gunk! Skytrain station is right across the street, so my sisters and I took the train to downtown Vancouver to sight see. Price was not bad too. No I am not being paid for this plug.



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sketched while sitting in the shade along the seawall on a very hot day.

dark knight posters

more "The Dark Knight" posters

two more weeks!!! not that I'm counting down or anything.

holiday sketches from the west coast coming soon.


i'm enjoying the artsyness of these posters. I also enjoy this one:

how are you?

this is why i don't robotically answer "good" or "fine" to the daily asked "how are you?" or "how's it going?"
nailed it on the head. I make an effort to say how I really am doing, which most of the time, is not that great. "I'm doing OK" is a pretty standard answer. And, lots of the time, people don't like to hear anything other than "good" because "good" is easy to deal with. "how are you?" "good." "how about yourself?" "good." conversation done. continue with your day. Responding to anything other than "good" requires listening. Or not necessarily, maybe just an understanding nod, that yeah, life is not always a bowl of cherries. (no offense deb, just popped into my head, i liked the cherries) :D

anyway, enough ranting, here is mr. George Carlin, whom I just discovered today because he was mentioned on the radio, reporting his death.

WARNING: George is VERY un-PC, much swearing and sometimes touchy topics. Although not so much in this video. Just ignore the bad joke at the very end.

have a nice day



and, on that cheery note, I'm off on holidays to BC for a couple weeks! I should have new sketches from the trip up when I get back.

colored inksplat bird

ink, digital color

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ink, digital color

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Colored versions of an earlier drawing I did. I have a bit of a cold, so short on the comments this week. Brain not workin' so well.