MIX it up!

At the Minneapolis Indie Xpo! What a stupendous weekend I had, buying and selling indie comics! This year, I shared a table with my fellow cohorts of the Black Hat Collective. Good times were had all around, and I couldn't possibly ask for more. :)

We were even interviewed in a podcast! Check it out! It's by Fancy Pants Gangsters, and the Black Hat Collective is covered in Part 3 "Strength in Numbers". I'm at 10:44!

Safe with Tuxedo

"Oh, Tuxeeedo!" *sigh!*

Whenever I make a Sailor Moon fan art, my inner 12-year-old SCREAMS with joy. <3 "You can draw!!!" she says! Talk about a pick-me-up.

Up to Something

My friend Katie and I have been up to something for a while now.... and it will soon be revealed by means of a new blog! Watch for it soon! :)

These are a couple of our original characters:: Julie and Autumn. Sneaky deviants, be they...

Meet me in my dreams

My characters Ruby and William, from my comic "Ruby". Inked exclusively with a crow quill on a lovely night/morning-- because it had been far too long since anything of the sort had been done. <3

Watch Out, Little Girl

Spontaneous page!! It can feel really good jumping into a page without a thumbnail. Also, drawing large and using a brush (which is different for me). I've been reading Craig Thompson's work lately, and just had to get some heavy black lines in there!

Inspired by the comic I did the other day- How I See the World- and Ms Katie's response to it. :) I am thinking now that if I want to do continuing short stories... it may be time to look into getting a second blog! That is, one that's set up to view and go through pages more easily than this one!

How I See the World

Yes, I have noticed a few recurring themes in my work. <3 

24 Hour Comic 2011

It's that time of the year again! 12 pages completed in 15 hours.

During this year's annual 24-hour comic challenge, an episode of the Lutefisk Sushi podcast was recorded, in which local cartoonists were interviewed about their progress and techniques! Ah, the perils and pleasures of the 24! If ya check it out, I'm at 21:54! Friends Victor Courtright and Peter Wartman are featured as well!

Swept Off Her Feet

Something original and fun. Simple colors for a sweet moment. 

Prelude to a Kiss

...because I love love. ♥ 

Giggling Girl and a Love Note

I love doing fanart of well-loved characters. It's fun, and it's a great way to practice my coloring while reaching out to fellow fans! I've been coloring so much lately though, I've neglected my figure drawing. Like going a long time without exercising, I can feel it. Time to do some figure drawing "push ups"!

You Make Me Smile

Tifa and Vincent. This was a fun little illustration for Katie. She loves this couple, but it's not a canon pairing, so there needs to be more artwork celebrating them! <3

Tea for Two

These are characters belonging to my friend, Ms Katie. I made them look totally childish (not at all how they're portrayed in her stories).Oops! But they say that love makes you look... younger? Right? This is my second digital background. I learned some valuable things on this one!

Midnight Escape

I'm so happy that I made this piece turn out! It's my first digital background ever. Suddenly, I see a door opening... to a whole new world, where I can strive to establish mood and atmosphere with color. *sigh!*

Community!

This week I did a couple quick pieces to submit into contests on deviantart. They turned out to be quite fun and refreshing! The first is some final fantasy 7 fanart. The theme of the contest was "sports". My sport is clearly the amiable game of flirting. ;)

The second is a comic collaboration. I responded to the first panel, which said only "yo." I decided to whip out the Deleter screen tone on this one. It really screams "I am manga!" doesn't it? I have mixed feelings about patterned screen tones... but I'm happy with how it looks in this instance. :)

Livin' Among Roses

It felt really nice putting my new set of watercolors to use! I recently bought a lot of Cotman colors.The colors are a lot less vibrant than the paints I'm used to working with (mainly, Dr Martins liquid watercolor), but I like the pastel look for what it is. Also... I like the expression in the original drawing better. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Happy Girl!

Yay! I just realized how super easy it is to add color to a grey-toned drawing! I feel like a slow caterpillar for not seeing it sooner, but... rejoicing has commenced! This only took about two hours. It's not often I post something with such little labor to it, but I'm too happy to hide my doodling today! I drew and inked this by hand and then added my photoshop magic sparkle powers. It sure was fun!

Cutie Yunie

Phew! This piece has been in the works for too long! I spent a whole lot of time drawing a neat background for it, but I decided not to use it because I wasn't comfortable coloring it... but that's ok! I like her as a cut-out. I think I'll do some more characters like this while studying up on my color theory and how to integrate characters with backgrounds! *Determined nod* And it will be quicker, that's for sure! There are too many other things I want to do to let myself get stuck! =D And hooray for cuteness! It makes me feel good. <3

Skittles

This is my contribution to Altered Esthetics' Comic Cookbook! You may notice that it's not a recipe... This is true. Good thing there are sections of the book devoted to non-recipe, food-related comics!

 Of course I had to go with a somber story for a fun cookbook, right? The more I thought about it, the more fun ideas came to me, but... this idea just popped out as more significant to me. I hope it finds a cozy place among the pages of other delicious oddities.

Victory Dance!

Dance, Vincent, Dance! I made this a couple weeks ago when I was feeling a little low. Making this serious Final Fantasy character do something totally unlike himself helped to raise my spirit. :)

And yes, I was lazy on his gun. Wait-- you didn't notice? Yeah, I mean-- it's actually a boomerang. He, uh-- he left his gun at home. Because who needs a gun at a dance party? Let's be reasonable!

The Power of Suggestion

Does this ever happen to you?

 It's like -flash-! Infatuation. But it only lasts a few minutes.... then I regain my senses. I never thought he was cute. That was your thought!

 Maybe it was a psychic suggestion! Stay out of my psyche, friend!!  Aura of steel! -flex!-

A Moment With You - FF7

Yay! More Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core Fan Art! I just love this couple-- they make me happy 'cause they're so sweet! Aaaah! Perfect targets for my sugary touch, if I do say so! And I do say so. So... that's that. <3 

I'm learning how to sketch directly into the computer better. Also, I'm becoming more comfortable with achieving the gentle shifts in color that I want!

La Traviata

Another night of drawing at the Ordway Theater! La Traviata was a real treat, with visually stunning sets and a beautiful, tragic love story. Ah!

I quickly re-discovered that actors move much too swiftly to give them a traditional life drawing treatment. That's fine with me anyway, because I enjoy going back into my rough "energy sketches" later! I took the opportunity to practice my digital coloring. Working on this piece was the first time I took a rough sketch directly to a cintiq. I loved it. <3 

Final Fantasy Crisis Core Fan Art

Hooray! It's been years since I've used colored pencils. Here, I married them with digital! I am pleased with the result. ^^ Also, here's a little Zack x Aerith music meme I made for DA. Working with a time limit to music is AWESOME. 

 I love Final Fantasy 7! Playing Crisis Core on my PSP is super fun. The game has a great message-- protect your dreams and honor!

Betty and Veronica

High school girls with fashion and attitude! Here's some quick(ish) fanart for Archie week on the Fanart Friday blog! I'm starting to see a pattern in the way I work... I seem to be able to make one quick piece following one labored. Sounds good to me! Scatter and Color dynamic brush qualities became my best friend on this piece. I'm loving color-picking like never before!

Comic Artists at the Opera

Last week, I was invited to the final dress rehearsal of Mary Stuart as performed by the Minnesota Opera at the Ordway theater! I was invited there... to draw! Hosted by Tempo and a group of local comic artists called the Black Hat Collective, it was the first event of it's kind, and undoubtedly not the last. Here are Tempo's blog posts about the event- post #1, post #2, post #3.  I love to see what my fellow Minnesotan comic-ers have done!

The singers were powerful and moving. The whole experience was magnificent and I felt honored to be a special little part of it, hidden away in the audience with my booklight and sketchbook. It was kind of difficult to draw because of the complex costumes (which I love!!), and the fact that they were a bit of a distance away and kept moving. Then again, they couldn't move too much in those heavy gowns, so... excuses, excuses. Here are two ink drawings that I made from a couple of the sketches I did that evening. My heart goes out to those that made it all possible! Thank you!

Sailor Moon Fan Art

For FanartFriday!

Sailor Moon is the whole reason I started reading comics, let alone making them. To show my love for Sailor Moon, I went all out and learned a bunch of new photoshop-fu!

I'm not sure if the background makes complete sense. I went for a sort of moody shojo sky... I hope it looks pretty to you, as it does to me! ♥

Thanks to my love, Justin Weber, for showing me how to use layer properties to find shadows and highlights! So exciting!

The Spirit Fan Art

For this week's fanartfriday, themed to The Spirit! 

Here he is! In all his glory! His red tie afloat, the Spirit senses a mystery in the air…

The inking and drawing were super fun. I worked a bit larger than I normally do, allowing me full use of my brush-- whereas I'm normally glued to my nib pens! I don't color digitally very often, but I think it looks slick and appropriate in this case. :) Long live the Spirit!

Akira Fan Art

For last week's "AKIRA" themed fanartfriday.

 It’s Tetsuoooo! I had to watch the movie again, and I’m glad that I did. Last time I saw it, I was pretty little! I didn’t remember how dark and gritty it is. Really, the only image that stuck with me over the years was Tetsuo growing large and out of control. But… I thought I’d draw him keeping his cool. ;)

I did two versions. The inked one came first. Then, I decided to try out some watercolor. I don't work in color as often as black and white, so I'm still learning how to scan and adjust it properly! I hope it looks ok! :)

Night School Fan Art

Here's a piece of fan art for Svetlana Chmakova's series Night School! This piece is my first contribution to Fanart Friday-- a blog for the artists of the ACA comic book residency to celebrate their favorite artists!