Week in Review #3

I am so tired. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or not but I'm a freelance graphic artist that is slowly but surely building up her base. Which I love more than anything because it allows me to do what I love as a job. But whew, does it catch up to you some days. I'll be chugging along, drinking my iced tea, doing something for a client and then bam where oh where is my bed? *laughs* I hit the wall Wednesday.

My boyfriend thinks it's cute (he's very odd what can I say?) because I get completely zombie like. We're talking that if someone looked at my brain waves they'd put me down faster than Darrell could put an arrow in his bow!

You know you're tired when...I own an iced tea maker. Don't laugh it's awesome! And I thought ok time to make some tea, gotta perk yourself up. So I do all the prep, hit start and go back to my computer. About 20 minutes later I wander into the kitchen and think, huh...why is my iced tea clear? I actually stood there and pondered this for a minute before I realized sitting right next to the tea maker was the basket where the actual tea bags were. Yep, I had just brewed a whole pitcher of hot water. Lovely clear, hot water.

Needless to say, I went to bed early that night and we had pizza delivered for dinner!

Anyhow, I'm feeling a bit more perky so YAY for that and I thought I'd show some of the stuff that's been amusing me this week.

Phone covers.

I have a horrid phone. I very rarely call or text because I'm always on my computer and everyone knows that they can just email me or catch me on chat and this is why I haven't changed my phone. I know that if I had a phone I could change the cover on, I'd have about a billion of them. So here are some of the phone covers I found that I LOVED.

Are you kidding me? I've seen the original of this movie so many times I can practically recite it word for word! How cute is this? 

It's a phone for your phone! I would so set the ringer to old timey brrrrrng bbrrrrrrng.

Anyone for Belle showing her love for Beast ala tattoos?

Or how bout some of my own art? I do photomanipulations as well as the little fiends I show on here. I might post that artwork on here as well because I don't really have a spot that I actually talk about it but we'll see. 

And last but not least my favorite for this week because I am a massive Supernatural geek and if you haven't seen the show YOU MUST!!!

A reminder, if you liked any of these just click on the pictures and it will take you to where you can buy them if you'd like. :)

So that's me, done for the evening. I promise when I get a few minutes to update more often. Anyhow have a great week!

Week in Review #2: A finished project for a friend.

So this week I finished up a project for a friend. She saw my dragon that I had done and requested that I did something similar with a picture of another friend. Now realize that I actually just started drawing actual people like this recently. I've always been able to draw people but usually without faces and not cartoony at all. So I'm pretty darned pleased with how she came out. 

First I had to draw her just using basic Strathmore Bristol paper that I bought at Michael's with a 4H Kimberly pencil. I really need to invest in some better drawings pencils at some point but for most of what I do they work well enough.  You'll notice that it's pretty much just the outline of her, no shading or anything. I wanted a clear line version of her because for me it's just easier to color in Illustrator.  

 

So then I took her into Illustrator and did all her color. I started with the base colors on all the parts and built up from there. The hardest parts are getting the different color tones in the correct place so that you don't see any one specific spot but it still makes up the shape of her body and dress naturally. 

I just recently retaught myself Illustrator so I'm really at pretty much the bottom rung of what can be done but I'm gonna keep plugging at it so hopefully I'll get better. I think she came out pretty well considering what a newb I am. The heart was also done in Illustrator.

 And finally brought her into Photoshop and finished her up. A little texture and gradient to make her a bit more snazzy. Divine is actually a burlesque performer so it really needed to have a little zing. It takes awhile to get patterns to look good together without them clashing or overpowering each other but I think I did a pretty good job with her. What do you think?

Mind Wanderings: Teapots

You ever have those days when you start looking for something and get totally distracted by something else and completely forget the original search? Yep, that was me today. I was actually on a blog I really like http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/  and there was a link up for the cutest teapot.

The Cupcake teapot

It certainly doesn't help my case that I've been thinking about getting a teapot instead of using the microwave. So of course I followed the link and then I proceeded to spend an  hour just looking at teapots on Amazon.com. I had no idea there were so many out there. I thought I'd share a few of them. The best thing was that most of them aren't that expensive. Most of them...not all of them. I've linked them all up so just click the links if you want to check any of them out. 

 The totally 80's teapot 

Well at least it reminds me of the 80's.

 It's called Chester which makes me think of the word that usually follows that so I'm just going with

 cute kitty teapot

Red clay teapot 

that totally reminds me of the teapots in the Sherlock episode The Blind Banker. 

 Reminds me of my grandmother's china teapot. 

Ok it's called the Gracie but it does remind me of my grandmother's china. 

  Cherry Blossoms. 

This one is so pretty, very modern and clean but the so simple too!

Get Your Geek on Dr. Who teapot

self explanatory I believe

Peach Flowers Polish Pottery teapot

See what I mean? Anyone else have this problem? 

Week in Review #1

I'm gonna try this new week in review thing. I'm not sure how exciting I am so I'll probably do favorite stuff for the week and what I ran across in my meanderings around the internet that I liked. That and post any new sketches. I tend to doodle quite a bit so yep.

Anyhow this week I tried very valiantly to not bust out my baseball bat and hit a home run with my PC. I'm not exactly rolling in even coinage so my PC is old. OLD. Unfortunately this results in my computer not wanting to save large files in Photoshop. Which, since I do book covers and graphic art for my day job, is not really a good thing. So the hard drive is being wiped this weekend and reformatted. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

That said I thought I'd post up some doodles I've been doing. I haven't had a lot of time to work on anything lately because of the computer issues but I can still scan! I can do other things still, it just takes longer which drives me batty.

I actually did this one a while back. I'm a huge Star Trek fan and was watching it and thinking to myself about how they tout peace in it all the time and in reality all they do is go around getting into other people's business. Granted they help solve it in the end but I'd say they cause more mayhem than anything! (yes I know it's a t.v. show) So I wanted to draw something that was more indicative of what I think Star Fleet really is...Anarchy in a nice shiny badge! I actually made a transfer of this and made a tshirt for my boyfriend also which of course I don't have a picture of at the moment. As soon as I take one I'll post it. 


I've also finished completely my dragon Smaug's Brother, (you can see the previous versions here )have I mentioned I have a hellish time doing backgrounds? I know it looks simple but it's like pulling teeth for me. Anyhow, I think he looks pretty cute! I'm thinking he might need a t-shirt, anyone else think so?

I also made a bunny, he's really at the very base level right now so that's why there are no frills or textures yet. I've already got a drawing with him in a Sherlock hat and scarf, and one of him in a Star Trek shirt. He'll probably end up in a bunch of fandom outfits.

Other than that, it's been school (I'm working on getting my B.A.), book covers, and everyday life. Yep, I'm pretty darn exciting aren't I?

Boosting the Lagging Art Heart

I doubt I'm the only person out there that gets this way, but do you ever get depressed while looking at inspiration? It's like seeing someone else's art and know that you'd never in a million years be able to do that. And it makes you just a little sad? That's how I feel sometimes looking for inspiration. Just fed up and want to throw things with frustration because of all the pretty I'll never be able to create. Especially doing my fiends. I actually can do other art, just my little fiends are the guys that are taking up the most room in my brain lately which kinda drives me nuts as I am not a comic artist. Well, at least I've never tried to be.  But then I think on the one thing that actually gives me hope, actually two things, and I plod on a little bit further.

What are those two things you ask? Hello Kitty and Skelanimals. You know what's funny? I own exactly 3 of their toys put together in my collection and yet they are what give my little monster loving heart the most hope. BECAUSE THEY'RE SIMPLE!!!! *grins*

I mean look at them:

 

They're such simple clean designs and they're loved by millions. Plus they're only based on 3 or 4 colors. We're talking the original versions cause we know they've changed since then, but even with changes in clothing and design they still maintain the same simplicity that they've always had. Do I want to be as big at Hello Kitty? Why the hell not? When I look at these two iconic cartoons I have to think, why not me? However I am very realistic in realizing that it's a 1 in a million chance but sometimes, when I'm getting bummed out about my own art and where it's going, I just have to remember that busy with a lot of bells and whistles doesn't necessarily mean it's better. So the project for today? Go out and find that thing that while it doesn't look anything like your art, is similar in how it's made and use that to boost your moral. And don't forget to remember that not everyone likes the same art. Picasso still has plenty of people that hate his work and he's considered a master!

The Making of Smaug ( 's little brother )

So, I had a friend ask me to draw her something for a Dungeons and Dragon group she's part of over the Christmas holiday. She wanted to give presents to her group in the form of shirts. I haven't ever designed or drawn requests that much before so this was a little daunting just because it's that whole, it's my friend it has be awesome. So needless to say I busted out my drawing paper and pencils and drew a rough sketch:

 Yep that's him, in all  his pencily glory.You'll notice I don't have any shadows or highlight on him but he came out cuter than I'd actually thought he would. 

So then I took it into Illustrator and started doing the basic outline and base colors: 

 

He's pretty damn flat looking, but hey I managed to get a 12 sided die in there! Yeah...I totally Photoshopped one into his hands and then drew over him but if you don't tell I won't.

 And here he is in his final render. The colors are definitely more vibrant than they were. I added highlights and shadows, changed the shape of his glasses so he looked a bit more 1970's groovy, fixed his wings up, and threw some gems into his pile o' gold. The hardest part about doing him was remembering all the areas shadows and highlights should go and making them blend in. It's really funny how something that most people think is a small detail can make or break a picture. 

Anyhow I'm pretty happy with him. I think he's kinda cute.

Little Fiends...yes there is a reason this blog is called Fiendish Glee.

So I called this blog Fiendish Glee and you're probably wondering why at this point? Or maybe not but I'm gonna tell you anyhow.  Oh and for anyone wondering I had to use littlefiends.com for the url because it was bought out by one of those places that you end up having to buy it from? I hate that. But no big. *shrugs* what can you do?

Anyhow Fiendish Glee is something that's been in the works for over a year now. Honestly I'm not really sure how they came to be except that one night I had a dream, seriously not pulling your leg, about Molly who was my very first fiend and I had to draw her. After her came Manny and Mr. Romance, and it seemed to open a flood gate for all these little monsters living in my head.

I wasn't actually planning on doing anything with them. I just kept drawing them. My boyfriend finally looked me in the eye and said um...hello.......what the hell woman? Do something with them they're cool!!! *laughs* I guess I kinda needed that poke to get me going.

So now I'm working on taking them into Illustrator and taking them from rough drawings into something more. The Illustrator part takes a while cause I'm wicked rusty in it but it's getting faster. The only thing I'm having a hellish time with is making backgrounds. I have the worst time thinking of stuff to go with them.

It's not only going to be monsters though. I have a bunny that I've created recently also that's gonna be wearing outfits from various fandoms so be on the lookout for those as well.

So here's a couple of my faves in various forms of completion. At last count I had around 25 of these so I'll post them as I'm going along I think.

Molly the monster, my very first little fiend that kicked it all off.

Mattie the Mummy before and after.

 I've got a couple coming that are based on horror movies, but she's the first.

Slick is a work in progress. I keep changing his colors. And he needs texture, highlights, shadows, etc. He's very loosely based on The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Leave me a comment and let me know which you like.

Have a good one!