frankenstein-ing Reference

     So I usually don't talk about my process, but people have been asking me how much I make up in my pieces and how much comes from reference.  I make up a lot, or exaggerate things, but I also take a lot from reference.  I usually mix several references together, I call this "frankensteining reference".  Some people will literally photoshop things together, but I usually just look at the various references and then I combine them as I draw. 

First, I start with an idea.  I usually do some thumbnails, but my thumbnails are not really legible to anyone else so I am not going to put any up on here.

After I have a better idea of what I want to do, I start collecting reference.  Usually I like taking my own reference, but for this tutorial I will be using some awesome reference from mjranum.  Here is the photo I decided would be awesome for the body of the mermaid.

I wasn't super excited about the hands in this photo, so I found some hand reference that I liked better.  Let the frankenstiening begin! The hand that I found were still from the fabulous stock of mjranum.  

Feel free to rotate the hands and flip them anyway that suits your needs.  Also, remember that you need to stay consistent with your light source when you paint, even if your light sources are different in the reference.  

Then I start finalizing my sketches.  Here is what my sketch for this project looked like:

I did most of this sketch with regular pencil and paper, but then I imported it into photoshop to straighten some things up and try a few more things with the tail.  I made the tail up completely out of my brain, and I changed a lot of things from the original reference.  Take what you like, but be creative with your work.  Be an artist not a copy machine.  

After the sketch is done and you feel good about it, start painting! I always keep my references around while I paint.  Here is how the final painting turned out (watercolor on arches cold press).

Rolls Royce WIP

Another Maya Project, almost done! WOOo!

It has been a long week of art school...

It may be that I am suffering from a bad case of Senioritis, but this week of school seemed especially long.  Not only did it seem long, but I also found myself sitting by the most obnoxious people throughout the week.  Ugh. I am usually a fairly patient person, but let me tell you some of the art majors at this school drive me bonkers.  I have decided that out of all of the different majors in the world, art majors have the most awesome people and the most obnoxious people.  There are several different kinds of art majors:

1. The silent, brilliant type. This type of art major is extremely talented, but also very shy.  They usually sit in the back and work on things quietly.  Usually no one pays much attention to them until the first critique day.  
2. The pompous freshman. This type of art major still has an enormous ego left over from high school.  They most likely will have this ego beaten out of them within a year, but unfortunately everyone around them has to hear about how awesome they are continually.  Most annoyingly of all they have a new art vocabulary.  They love to show this off: "tangent this, line quality that... blah blah blah".  They are usually very vocal in critiques, even though their work is sub par.  
3. The anime kids... we all know them.  Even if you aren't an art major.  They are all friends with each other and can often be spotted wearing Naruto head bands and often have pointy hair styles.
4. The martians.  No one knows where these kids come from.  They live in their own little worlds. 
5. The old ladies. These are the older ladies usually in the 60's or 70's who have come back to school.  They are very set in their ways and don't often take the advice that the teachers give. 
6. The "Fine Artists".  These are the "artsy" ones.  They always dress extremely stylishly, talk endlessly about their BFA projects, and say things like "Illustrators Shm-illistrators".  They look down on anyone who is planing to do anything commercial with their artwork, because they are "sell outs".
7. Delusions of Grandeur. The mediocre ones that are sure that they are destined for greatness.   This group is similar to the pompous freshman.  Unfortunately, the brutal first year of school  hasn't beaten the ego out of them.  When they have a critique they are extremely defensive and aggressive. They are always sure that their piece is the best, when in reality it is mediocre.  These types are horribly annoying to sit by.  They often offer advice and critiques when they are not needed or wanted, and they often talk down to everyone they meet.
8. Finally, there are the regular Joes. These are the ordinary regular old art majors with no delusions of grandeur.  They are just trying to get through school, and trying to improve their work to the best of their abilities. 

These groups can cross over.  In fact many of the annoying people you meet suffer from more than one of these ailments.  Today I had the pleasure of meeting not only a pompous freshman anime kid, but also an old lady martian.... aren't I lucky?

stuff I have been working on this week :)

This is the water color that I have been working on this week :)





















Here is a revised version of the angel I posted a couple weeks ago.  I still hope to add more to it.

Adventures with Maya part two

I give you lego Jasmine :