Watercolor Play

(Hey! Two blog posts in one month??  The world must be ending!)   .... (See what I did there?? ;-o )


Hello again, art friends!!

So, I think I've mentioned before that watercolors are really not my forte. But I've also mentioned that I would really like to improve with watercolors. For many reasons, but the two main reasons for me are: 1, I find it relaxing to lay paint down on paper, even if the turn out isn't the best... xD   And 2, because most watercolor blends well with Copic Marker, and if I could get a feel for watercoloring, I might be able to save some on marker expense.

Sooo...

My biggest problem in watercolor has always been not being able to mix a nice skin tone. And that was frustrating, because most of my drawings need a smooth skin coloring!!! I watched this awesome tutorial by Megan Carrigan, a famous Disney art watercolorist, on how to properly mix skin color. And I had been making the mistake of trying to mix white and pink or yellow to get a peachy color for skin. So after watching her tutorial (which wasn't even very long or complicated!),  I decided to sit right down and try what she was doing, AND IT WORKED!!!!   I was very excited. The tutorial I watched was here...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1LOsq-uh9M


Anyway, I had sketched this piece of Sailor Mercury from one of the manga volumes. It was sketched on watercolor paper, and so it seemed like a good subject to try watercoloring again.

And this picture above is right after I mixed skin tones and tested them.... Once I got the light consistency I wanted, I was shocked how good it looked after I applied it!!!!  I was so excited!!! I love learning new art abilities.. It feels like leveling up in a Mario game or something!!!   <3

The picture below was the finished watercolors. While I thought it looked nice, I knew that adding more depth to the colors would make it even nicer, and I also wanted to give the bubbles more of an edge. But I was afraid to try adding more with watercolor, because it looked nice enough that I didn't want to risk messing up if I didn't really know what I was doing  (and I probably don't xD).

But, I have used Copic and watercolor before, and so I added extra shading and detail with marker!

The finished version really seems to pop now with the added color from the Copics. I didn't touch up her skin much, just added a touch of shade here and there because I didn't want to lose the original color.  I'm very proud of this one, because I really worked to make the watercolors nice and even, and it turned out way better than I imagined!!!

So after I finished this, I decided to try a second one, again with a sketch taken from one of the manga books, this time using Mini Moon as the subject.

My process for this picture was pretty similar to the Mercury one, and so below is the final version after applying Copic!

These have been my projects over the last few days... and learning the new watercolor tips has helped already, because I've been able to apply it to some secret Christmas surprises for people. ;-)  I'm also enjoying using my new watercolor pens that hold water in them... very nice and very portable. We're getting ready to take a family vacation this week, so I'm excited to take these brushes with me and try some painting on the trip!!  ^^

It's always fun to learn something new!!!  I'm excited to start another drawing soon... maybe Sailor Saturn or Sailor V next... I've been on a Sailor Moon kick recently, it seems!!!  ;-)

-Stasia-Chan '15

The Screenshot Challenge

Things have been really busy most of the summer, so there wasn't a lot of time for serious art. But I finally got a break last week, where I got to spend almost the whole week drawing and catching up, and so I decided to finally do something I've been wanting to do for a long time:   A screenshot challenge!!!

To be honest, I'm not sure if this is really a thing or not. But I had this cute screenshot of Rei Hino from "Sailor Moon" saved on my tablet, and I thought it would be fun to try drawing it to see how close I could get to the original. And then I just finished watching the first season of "Sailor Moon", and so that kind of inspired me to go ahead and do this challenge.

                                                          This is the screenshot I used!!




   

The pencils and inking on this piece were fun to do.  I decided to use watercolor paper, since I wanted to color it with markers and know that watercolor paper doesn't make the colors bleed over as much.

My version ended up being more of a close up than the original screenshot, so I had to change a few things in the layout of the background. Some of the coloring was tricky, like the tree behind her, and also the building and sky we see in the distance has a purplish wash over the whole area... which is something I don't normally try to do, but looked really cool!!!

Once I got close to being finished, some of gray tone Copics started to get really streaky... because this paper is more durable and sucks in the ink, and also because there was so much gray area to be colored. So I was really upset... I had come this far and it was looking so nice, and I didn't want to leave it streaky looking!! So I pulled out my Prismacolor pencils and started trying to blend over top of the streaked gray areas. It took A LOT of blending, but I got it to look just like the marker, and so that is what I used to finish the sidewalk and street behind Rei!

 This is what the finished version looked like before I added a little bit of shading to her jumpers and skin...

... and then here is the final version with just a tad of shading. I decided to not go too heavy on the shading, since there was none in the screenshot!!!

This was just something really fun to do. I think that I could have gotten a bit closer in a few spots, but overall, I think I did a nice job, because this was something I was really into doing. When you're really into a project, you're going to do your best on it!!   =-)


Oh, and since we're talking about screenshots, here's another screenshot picture I did earlier this year, and just got around to coloring!!  This one is on regular sketch paper, so I colored it with Prismacolor pencil. I'm really satisfied with the blending on this, and that it looks so nice and smooth!!! 

I'm going to be working on another screenshot picture soon!!!  In the meantime, I'm working on a few other things that I've been wanting to catch up on, like my Alice in Wonderland picture, and some of my "Little Women" sketches. I'm also trying to sell some of the art that I have sitting on my desk taking up space, like sketch cards and a few cups that I did. I'm at a point right now where there isn't much going on and so I can focus a bit more on some of my forgotten art and not feel like I'm neglecting other stuff!!! 

Have you ever done something like the screenshot challenge?   If so, I'd love to hear about it or see it!!! 


-Stasia -Chan  '15

Keeping a Sketch Journal

Most people who know me know that I am an extremely busy person. 

Being such, I just have days where there is either no time to draw, no motivation to draw, or, I am just plain too wore out to draw. 

Last year when this happened, I bought a cute little sketchbook at Wal-Mart for about $5, and decided I was going to keep some sort of a sketch journal. At the time, I decided to theme that particular journal around Black Widow and Hawkeye Chibis...

I did pretty good at keeping up with this sketchbook. If I fell behind, I just caught up the next day. And, I actually managed to get most of the entries in that journal colored, too (which always seems to be a time thing for me)! 

And so after I pretty much filled up that sketchbook, I didn't keep another one for awhile. I had time to do some sort of art every day at the time, and so it wasn't as necessary as it had been before.  But this summer has been so crazy, jam packed full, that squeezing in any time for art has just not happened. I know I sound like a broken record when I keep talking about it, but when you're someone that wants to be drawing and improving all the time, it can be very discouraging!!!  So I went back to Wal-Mart and purchased another blank sketchbook to keep as a journal. 

Most people that keep art journals or sketch journals nowadays really do so much with them, that it makes mine look really shabby in comparison!  But for me, my sketch journal is just about taking a few minutes each day to sketch something. Some days, it's all I have time for!! 

Some days I have time to do some really nice sketches, and time to get them all colored in, too!!  (I recently purchased some new glittery gel pens from Sakura, and I love them!) 

 

                           Some days I only have time for something really basic and quick.

                        I have so many reference/concept ideas saved to my tablet that I've
           been wanting to try drawing, and some of my sketches have come from those!

It's really all about just trying to keep some sort of goal each day. And I have days where I fall behind and don't get the sketch done; so I just pick it back up the next day and draw two entries. I have managed to ink most of them, and color a few, but I'm pretty behind on coloring. They don't all have to be colored in, though I'd prefer that they get colored at some point!!  =-)    I decided to try drawing Alice (an original character) every day for now, because I wanted to practice keeping a consistency with one character.

  If you are like me and have days where you don't have much time to draw, I'd encourage you to pick up a nice blank sketchbook and start keeping a sketch journal yourself!!  I think it's one of the best things you can do as an artist, to make time for it every day. It's also a great way to relax at the end of a busy day, and, in a year, it's fun to go back and look through your entries to see how much you've improved!!!   =-)

-Stasia-Chan '15

Anastasia Romanov Progress Pictures

This isn't really much of a blog post..  I just thought it would be really neat to see all the progress pictures stacked together like this!!!    

I know I keep saying it, but life is just absolutely CRAZY this summer, and so I have a kind of drag right now when it's coming to rolling out new art. Right now, I'm working to sketch something  every day in my sketch journal, and trying to work to get a few things colored. This piece that I finished is a possible entry for the fair, but I also have two others I am trying to get colored that I am considering as entries. And trying to work out a crocheted blanket pattern... I wanted to enter that in the fair too, but it's a mess right now so that may not happen this year!!   xD   

Hope you like the finished product!!  <3

-Stasia - Chan  '15 

Off to Library Con!!!!

Hey guys!!!  Our local paper actually did a front page article today about the mini comic con at the library... I got a shout out as a local manga artist... DREAM COME TRUE!!!  <3   You can read the article here if you'd like!!!  http://www.timesreporter.com/article/20150715/NEWS/st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=





Hey guys!!!  So, if you've been keeping up with me on social media... facebook, instagram... you'll know that my art life has been pretty crazy lately as I prepared for the biggest artistic endeavor of my summer:   A mini Comic -Con at our local library!!!  

I have known about this event for several months now. The library has a teen anime club that meets once a week, and I have presented and given demonstrations there three times prior to the comic con. =-)  I was really excited to have this opportunity, because, obviously... don't ALL artists dream about participating in a comic con?!   BTW... I know that we have small cons here in Ohio, but I don't drive, and so it would really be a hassle to go!!!   -_-;

The theme of the library's summer reading program is "Superheros", so I decided that would be a good running theme for any display art I would draw up, and also for the demonstration I would be giving in the afternoon.

This is the super hero I drew up, based on a chibi pose from Chris Hart's "How to Draw Manga Chibis" book. I modified the pose a bit from the original and obviously changed up the character's look, since it wasn't initially a super hero dude. When I give demos to groups, I prefer using a reference from a book that I can pass on to the kids to go check out themselves!!! 

This is a very poor attempt to recreate the Super Dude on a small dry erase board... You'd think I would be better at using the board by now... Nope.   xD   Oh well!!!  The kids did a great job following along, I saw some really nice chibis when it was done, so that's what it's all about!!   (Also this dude looks a bit squished there... xD ) 

I have been working really hard on my display items. I made two small display boards, one for a super hero, the other for a villain character. I also framed a few pieces of mine and set up a few that were not framed.  Quite a few people came up afterwards and looked and asked questions about media I use to color my work. I love answering those kinds of questions!!!  <3

I set up pencils they could take, and also I drew up a bookmark of Scarlet Witch, since I cosplayed as her, and my husband helped layout and print those. I included all my social media info and email on the back. A lot of the kids really liked those!!  

It was a busy afternoon!!  There was another local cartoonist that gave a drawing demo, crafts and video games, snacks, and prizes were given out at the end of the afternoon for best costumes. I got to be one of the judges for that, which was totally fun!!!  So many people came out in really nice cosplay, so it was a really tough choice!!!  It was also my first time cosplaying... so I was really nervous about that. But it was a fun experience, and I would definitely do it again next year.. since we are planning on another mini comic con!!!  =-)

This is my little group that went... Myself as Scarlet Witch, my sister Bethany as "Belle" from Once Upon a Time, and my sister Felicity as "Asuna" from Sword Art Online. My daughter Lucy also dressed up as "Princess Elsa" and came with us for a little bit, so she got to have fun and feel pretty too!!   =-) 

Since this kind of stuff never happens in our little town, my sisters wanted to go walk around our mall in cosplay after the con was over. The mall was dead though... but we had one lady come up to us and ask if Felicity was a nurse or a doctor...   ? This kind of stuff is REALLY rare happenins' here!! 

 

 Mind control....??    

My husband surprised me by taking off work early so he could come to my demonstration at the library. That was really special!!!   <3   And then we came back home and did some goofy pictures too... 

It was a really great day!!!  So glad that we took lots of pictures to remember it by.  The teens and kids that came out for it all seemed to have a really fantastic time as well, and are super excited about doing it again next year!!!!  Sounds like I am already planned to be there again, so yay!!!!  Looking forward to it!!!!!  =-)


Now.... some surprise art.  I was asked about a month ago to work on a poster for one of our local theater's upcoming shows.  They have asked a bunch of local artists to take a poster and create, and then that poster will be unveiled at the board meeting in September. I have been very excited about this, but just super busy, and decided I wanted to keep it a secret for a while... =-)   I got first pick of the shows, and since I'm already going to be the lighting designer/board operator for "Charlotte's Web" opening in April, I decided it would be super fun to do something for that show!!!  =-)  Now that life is slowing down a little, I broke out the book and started reading it again and looking over Garth William's lovely illustrations for some inspiration. I have a few rough sketches right now, so bear with me on those... Talking with the director about her thoughts and which direction she'd like to go with it, and should have something finished soon, since the deadline for submission is coming up in August!!!  

And so!!! That is what has been ongoing lately.. Things have been super busy, especially the last few days as I was kicking it into high gear for library con... I don't know how artists that go to the really big cons do it!!!  So much time and thought went into everything I put together for it, and I'm really excited at the outcome and the possibility of doing it again next year. It was really nice to have a slow paced day around the house today, catching up on housework and errands and enjoying some nice weather!!!  These things have been a bit overlooked this week.   =-)  

If you came to the library con and are reading this, thanks so much for coming out... What a fun time!!!   And MANY thanks to Ms. Darlene, who puts so much effort and time into these anime events!!!!!    =-)  

Until next post... Assemble!!!

-Stasia-Chan '15