Kate - LOST final

So, now I am done, I think.  I have uploaded it to deviantart and I try to make sure I don't have to reupload there, so let's call this done.  Not nearly as satisfying as the one of Hurley (<3) but still enjoyable.  The source material had great shadows on her face that I really enjoyed painting.

I did make a gif of the process photos but it wouldn't work for some reason when I tried to upload it here. So... I shall post them seperately and you can make your own little flip book. Enjoy!

       

Kate- LOST

I bring you the progress of the painting I mentioned wanting to work on last night that I wouldn't allow myself to work on because I knew my pain would ruin it.  I shall post the final final when I have a little distance to create the final revision. :)

Stalled

I have a hankering to paint, but I hurt my shoulder (while sleeping, der) so I am kinda afraid of how much more it might hurt me. And there is also the amount of pain meds I have taken.  I may just break down and do so, if  the urge doesn't lessen.

I tried working on a special project earlier this week, but it involves tracing (aka inking) and I am woefully bad at tracing my own work; terribly, woefully bad. If I come into any kind of money any time soon, I may just hire someone to do the inking for me so I can finish the project, which I think will be fantastic.

If this muse continues to be so loudly insistant, I shall be sure to share whatever it forces me to do. ;)

Pastry Pinup - Final

Pastry Pinup -Raffle Prize by *Jodee on deviantART

Yup, now it is done. =D

Pastry Pinup -Almost Done

This is not quite the final, but it is getting close.  You can tell because I signed it. ;)

What I do now is look at it for a day or so, then tweak little things I think "look wrong" and THEN I am done. What do you think?

Pastry Pinup - progress 1

Keep in mind -- unfinished progress paintings.  I reserve the right to change this as much as I like. ;)

I foresee that hand changing a whole lot more..  Hands are always hard for me. But I have had enough for the time being.  Good night!

On Saving.

I remember a sign that was prominent in my university computer lab back in 1994:

SAVE EARLY AND OFTEN!

And most of my life, I have. I really took it to heart.  And lately, for some reason (possibly illness and exhaustion) I have failed to save a few things, and it is REALLY making me mad at myself.

So, I just worked a bit over an hour on the commission I mentioned in the last post.  I was creating a script of it which records the piece as I paint it. That is, it records every brush stroke so I can replay it for others, and so, I got much of the detail into the painting, little fidgety things and then I stopped the script recorder and thought, hmm... how will this look!?
Now, I tested the script program before I started and with my original canvas open, it opened a new canvas and drew the painting I asked it to. So, I asked it to replay the script I had just made of the painting I had been working on, and it began painting OVER what was there.  In fact, it deleted 2/3s of what I had there and then painted the work I had done... in just 3 colors... unlike the 20-30 colors I had used before. It was pretty terrible and now, the work I had done is GONE. Gone, gone, gone.  And it is super mega my fault.

Now, it can be saved.  I shall play that terrible script again, so I get the basic outline of all the work I had done, and then I will go on back and repaint it all again.  But for now, I need to watch reality cooking shows until my blood pressure goes down a little. ;)

Perhaps I should tattoo "SAVE" onto my left knuckles so as to remind myself in the future.

Pastry Pinup

I've a new commission to work on.  I had a "raffle" on my website, as I occassionally do to reward my regular patrons and to bring in new ones. Anywho, one of my best patrons, J., won a holiday pinup.  After a while of deliberating, she decided upon the following:


December 9th is National Pastry Day...what I'd like [is] something chocolate as the prop with blonde hair.

Now I get to pour through google image pages full of chocolate pastries to look for inspiration.  Yummy!

I shall post images of this project as they come available.  Stay tuned!

Hurley

I began work on this painting today at about 4pm. 

Backstory:
A few weeks of 2009 was spent watching every episode of LOST.  I just didn't catch it when it first came on, I was teaching at the time, and I just didn't get to it, though many of my friends at the time loved it. So, at some point I added the first season onto my Netflix and I watched the first two episodes and thought it was ho-hum. And then I watched two more and I was hooked.  Through a bout of illness I spent all day in bed for several days watching ALL of the seasons online on Netflix in rapid succession.

And now, I am waiting for the final season... and I read about it and think about it, and generally, I am obsessed. Not like, scary obsessed, but man, I enjoy a good mystery.

So, of all the characters, I am most drawn to Hugo "Hurley" Reyes. Firstly, I like fat boys. I really do! And his freckles are so darned cute. But, also, his personality seems much like mine and I enjoy his interactions with the rest of the LOST kids.  I really think if I were a fictional character as well, stuck on a crazy island, we would really hit it off.

So I captured an image from the second episode (where he is talking to Sayid) opened Painter 11, decked out with Painter Classic brushes, and did a cheaty trace to get his features in the right place. After that, I painted his face first, which is how I usually work, then did his hair and clothes, and then the background.  After things get where I want them in the entire composition, I zoom in and get details on the face done. Mostly it is adding corrected highlights and shadows.  In the background are little nods to Hurley's storyline. Cookie if you get them all.

Of course, a few hours into it, while working on the background, my paint program FREAKED out and closed (AUGH-- save early and often! I didn't). And then I lost my brushes... but I overcame it all.  I actually think losing the background work I had done turned out better for it.  The leaves were much better the second time, if I do say so myself (I do!). And so, after 4+ hours of work, revising and showing my friends to gain a bit of perspective, I finished. And I am very happy with it. 

And I contacted Jorge Garcia (the actor who plays my imaginary bf) and gave him a link to it, 'cause that's just how I roll. =P

Welcome!

I've been journaling online privately for almost 10 years now but thought I should have a public blog where I talk about my art, share process pictures, plan out projects, etc. I will do my best to update each time I am working on, or planning something new. 

I create sporadically, so at the moment, there is no set time when I shall be updating, but hopefully I will be entertaining enough to keep people around. =)

So welcome, thanks for reading, and cheers!

Jodee