Jessica Rohr's Fantasy Art Blog

New Art- Moonglow Equilibrium

2012-02-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

First painting of 2012! The original title I had for this piece suddenly didn't seem to fit very well once it was finished, so I gave it a new one: Moonglow Equilibrium. It is 12x14 inches, watercolor on cold-press watercolor paper.

This piece was fun to work on and experiment with, and it actually turned out better than I had anticipated. I made a few changes from the original idea, such as extending the crest of fur on the dragon's back, adding the longer fur on the end of her tail, and adding the tendrils growing out of her head. I threw in a touch of green for contrast so the piece wouldn't be too monochromatic.

When I paint stars in acrylic, I randomly spatter slightly watered down white paint on the sky. Since I only use transparent watercolors and don't use white, for this piece I instead spattered masking fluid all over the paper before applying any paint, which worked just as good. All-in-all, hopefully my lesser experience with watercolor doesn't show too much!

An Untarnished Soul + Epiphany WIP

2012-01-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here's an image from my sketchbook of an idea I have for a Neyoid painting called An Untarnished Soul. The title is a bit ironic because the tailed copper Neyoid is in fact very tarnished, at least on the outside.

Plus, here's a WIP of the current piece I'm working on. I finally decided on a (somewhat psychedelic?) title for it: Epiphany in the Ether. The background is done, but I'm going to lift more paint away from around the moon to give it a soft glow. I spattered masking fluid all over the piece before painting to create the stars, and I made a few modifications to the dragon: the fur on her back and tail, and the whiskers; kind of makes her look more like an Eastern dragon now.

New Art- The Bones of a Bird

2012-01-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

Three posts in one weekend, it's crazy! I finished the scan of The Bones of a Bird, so here it is, acrylic on watercolor paper, 12x9 inches. The concept revolves around the onset of winter, when everything becomes bleak and grey, tree branches look a lot like bones, and there's an abundance of crows (we have thousands upon thousands of them at Coshocton, nicknamed Crow Town).

Yet-to-Be-Titled Idea

2012-01-14T15:40:00.000-05:00

Here's what will be my as-of-now untitled next painting, which will be done in watercolor, 12x14 inches. This image is a small (4x4.5 inch) preliminary painting I did.

The Bones of a Bird is finished, although I'm still working on the scanned image, and I wanted my next piece to be something with warmer hues, specifically reds, plus I thought it would be nice to take a break from acrylics. The idea for this piece is really old; I originally came up with it back in 2007.

I might change some of the colors, specifically the dragon's eyes; I don't know if I want to make them green or grey. I'm pretty happy with it overall, but I can't seem to come up with a title. I've tossed around a ton of ideas, and none of them really click. The concept is an illusion of the amphitere balancing the moon on her nose. Hopefully something will come to me sooner or later.

New Art- Last Journey of the Unicorn Child

2012-01-12T12:32:00.001-05:00

After a painstakingly long time, Last Journey of the Unicorn Child is finished! It is acrylic on illustration board, 14x20 inches. My favorite thing about this piece is the setting. I love forests in general, but especially pine forests. They have sort of a mysterious quality to them - the pine needles are dense, muffling sounds and blocking a great deal of sunlight, which makes the forest very quiet and shadowy; in other words, the perfect place for delicate cervine unicorns.

I made some improvisations since starting the piece. One day a few months ago I looked out the window into the backyard and saw a deer and a crow under one of the apple trees. The deer was obviously there for the apples, but the crow just seemed to be hanging around for no apparent reason, pacing back and forth, and didn't leave until the deer did. That gave me the idea to add the crow on the branch. Then I recently decided to add the stone structure to the background... just because I like ancient ruins, and I thought it would add to the mysterious quality of the setting.

Below are some detail shots. I especially like the way the stag unicorn turned out; the other three are a bit hard to see. My original idea was for the Unicorn Child to be a sprite, but I chose to make her a regular elf instead. Look close to see all the little details: there's some little magical sparkly things around the tip of the stag's horn. Most of the pine needles were painted individually with a trusty #3 round nylon brush, which took an insane amount of time but has a pretty neat result in my opinion. All in all, I think this is one of the best pieces I've ever done.

Digital Art

2011-12-07T09:15:00.001-05:00

Since I'd like to start a webcomic someday and doing one in traditional media seems impractical, I decided I should learn how to paint digitally. It was actually pretty easy, mostly since I already know how to paint. I have to do the linework traditionally since I don't have a tablet and I can't draw with a mouse. I colored this sketch of Glaedr in Photoshop for practice... It's a little choppy because I didn't really put a whole ton of effort into it, but I don't think it turned out too bad considering it was my first try. :}

I used to wonder sometimes if I'd be happier working in digital media, but now that I've tried it I can say that I doubt I'd ever want to start doing regular paintings digitally. It just doesn't feel "real" to me; I'm just hooked on physical paints and brushes I suppose. I'll probably just use it for doing preliminary paintings, graphics, webcomic pages, things like that. I'm currently working on a reference sheet for Nikazeme.

Since I'm currently reading Inheritance, looking at Glaedr kind of makes me sad. :(

Resuming Work on the Unicorn Child

2011-11-15T10:19:00.001-05:00

Long time no posts, I know. I've been swamped with an onslaught of vehicle problems that cost me over a month's pay to fix and mysterious health problems that hit all at once. My leg's been bothering me a lot, but no one can seem to figure out what's wrong with it, and since I don't qualify for health insurance and I only work part-time, I'm basically screwed. That's how it works in the good ol' USA.

Anyway, since I'm obviously not in the best of moods, I set aside the morbid Bones of a Bird and went back to work on Last Journey of the Unicorn Child. The background is all done (and I love it!), and I painted in the three unicorns on the bottom right and the crow in the tree above them. I'm going to try to finish this and The Bones of a Bird before the year is over.

Sketches! Funny People, Ideas, and More

2011-11-04T10:27:00.000-04:00

I feel like I don't post enough sketches anymore, so here's a big heap of them. First, the exposure of a little secret of mine: I draw people when I'm at shows. That's right, if I'm at an art event and things start to slow down, I'll get out my sketch book, find a target, and draw them. All the people (and the dog) below - save for the guy on the bottom left who turned out looking sort of like Richard Nixon - were drawn from life. Obviously I exaggerate their features a little, but that just makes it more funny. The guy on the top right, who was an author... his shirt really did say that.

Below are some random concept sketches. The bottom two are a swan anthro and an aquarium guppy merman/mermaid pair. The dragon is my rendition of Glaedr from the Inheritance series, not freakin' copied from the book cover like every other piece of fanart of those books is.

Also, here's some thumbnail sketches of paintings I've already started. Basically, every painting I've ever done starts out this way, as a tiny, crude sketch jotted down in my sketch book (like a little painting embryo).

Finally, here's a WIP for The Bones of a Bird. The background is done and I'm currently working on the branches in the foreground.

Concept of The Bones of a Bird

2011-10-30T19:28:00.000-04:00

This is my 100th blog post so I guess that makes it kind of special. :)

I know I said in my last post that I was going to take a couple weeks off from painting, but my creative Muse just won't let me. So here we have the latest piece I've started, The Bones of a Bird. It will be 12x9 inches, acrylic on watercolor paper.

The concept behind this piece pertains to the onset of late autumn/winter, when all the spectacular colors are gone and the world becomes bleak, grey, and lifeless. The idea was partially inspired by a piece of poetry I read once that described a metaphorical figure who had the bones of a bird. In a way, the pale grey, bare tree branches in the forest outside sort of resemble a bird's thin bones, so I drew the branches in the painting as actually resembling bones. As for the crows... well, we just have a lot of crows where I live.

New Art- Modified

2011-10-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

*contains nudity*

Here's Modified, all finished now. I had to redo the sprite's linework to make her fill the card better (I have a bad habit of drawing my subjects too small sometimes), so it looks much better now. Plus I altered the design a bit since the last WIP.

This is an ACEO, 3.5x2.5 inches, acrylic and ink on illustration board. I used a wet-on-wet watercolor technique for the background, used mostly dry brushing to get the smooth shading on the sprite's skin, and then inked her in black and colored inks. Limited edition prints will be available soon on my Etsy shop, but I'm keeping the original for my collection. I've already got a totally awesome idea for a potential sequel, but I'm going to take a mini-break (a couple weeks or so) from painting to work on some other projects. Last Journey of the Unicorn Child is on hold right now but almost finished.

On a side note, I revamped my blog layout. ^^ I'm still not totally finished with it, but I got all the html work done at least. Plus I moved my studio area into a much better location where I've got perfect natural lighting, although now my cat has decided that my desk makes a perfect bed - especially when there's a painting sitting on it.

Modified ACEO

2011-09-23T16:06:00.001-04:00

*contains nudity*

I just recently decided to start an ACEO collection (I've already ordered a few prints from some artists and totally can't wait until they arrive!), so that made me want to start making more. Here's one I'm developing now, titled Modified (contains a bit of nudity, just to let you know). It's on illustration board, but I haven't decided on the medium yet. The linework is just about done, and the primary colors of the piece will be lavender and silver.

The piece shows a female sprite who is undergoing certain modifications - sort of "customizing" her own body. Her other wings will be installed later. Also, just an FYI, sprites don't have eyebrows, so that's why she's lacking any...

Etsy Shop Up and Running

2011-09-16T18:01:00.000-04:00

At long last, my Etsy shop is up and running! [link] There's all sorts of goodies there, including my ACEO prints and originals, prints of my art, and jewelry. I'm also going to put some of my original paintings on there, but right now I don't have the materials I need to ship them. New stuff is being added just about every day, so stop by and check it out!

Also, here's another Last Journey of the Unicorn Child WIP. All the background trees are done. The two trees on the far right took forever because I insisted on painting each and every single individual pine needle. I also started on the ground, which looks like a big mud pile right now.

On a final note, I made a few small modifications to my blog to make it load a little faster for anyone who has a slow connection, so hopefully that will help.

Sci-Fi Hybridization in My Art: Neyoids

2011-09-11T18:32:00.000-04:00

Don't worry, this isn't one of those "I'm going with a totally new style/genre/look for my art" kind of things.

Even though they're closely related (both genres grow from the imagination), fantasy and sci-fi are almost complete opposites. Fantasy is usually set in ancient, Middle Earth type settings with mythological creatures and has a strong tie to nature. Sci-fi is usually set in a futuristic setting and deals more strongly with technology.

I'm not a big fan of sci-fi art, but I recently developed a liking for fantasy art with a sci-fi twist. I've had this mechanical creature design bouncing around in the back of my mind for a while, and I finally decided to give it life. They're called Neyoids (sketch of one is pictured). I haven't decided if they're fully mechanical or maybe partly biological, but they're an extremely ancient race built by an unknown person or civilization for an unknown purpose. Only a few individuals remain, and even they have no memory of their origin. Each Neyoid has a different design and personality. I'm still tweaking the basic design, but this sketch shows roughly what they'll look like. So, expect to see a bit of sci-fi-esque creatures in some of my future art. :3

More Unicorn Child WIPs

2011-09-02T16:32:00.000-04:00

I've been using every little bit of free time to paint, so for once I'm making good progress on a painting. The background is finished and I'm now working on the middle ground area. All the middle ground trees are almost finished; the only ones that aren't totally done are the two big trees on the far right. Once those are finished I'll start on that big white space at the bottom that's going to be a pine needle-covered ground. I'm trying to give the piece a nice layered look with all the different trees, and the foreground is supposed to be a little dark and shadowy. So far I'm really, really liking this one. :)

I'm going through kind of a sprite/elf and unicorn phase right now, so I probably won't be doing any dragon art for a while (never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually tired of doing dragons). My next piece will probably be a remake of The Red Cape, a sprite painting originally done in 2006. I also have a neat bit of news to announce, but I'll save that for next week's post.

Also, since it's somewhere between 90-95 degrees and super humid today, I won't be going to the last First Friday after all.

Art Show, Jewelry, and WIP

2011-08-26T16:03:00.001-04:00

Lots to write about this week. I'll start off with another Unicorn Child work in progress. The second layer of trees is done. Since they're in the more distant background, I didn't put much detail or contrast into them, so hopefully this piece will have a nice layered affect.

The art show last weekend went great. The weather was just about perfect aside from being a tad hot, and there was a pretty good turnout of people. Every time I go to a show I usually get ideas on how to improve things. When it comes to selling jewelry, these are some of the things I've picked up over the years:

Have a mirror handy so people can view themselves when they try pieces on.
This isn't an absolute must, but I'd recommend making some sort of card or tag to attach to each piece that lists the materials - a potential customer might be more willing to buy if that piece they assumed was made with plastic is actually made with crystal.
If you title your pieces, include the title on the card too - that will make each piece feel more like a unique work of art instead of something mass produced.
If you're selling individual pendants (such as my wire-wrapped pendants), include simple chains to go with them.
Have little baggies handy to put sold pieces in (I always ask my customers if they want a bag first) - they don't have to be anything fancy; simple brown paper bags will do.
Be prepared to modify pieces. I was surprised by how many requests I got for simple modifications (typically altering the length of a piece). Some pieces can't be modified, but for those that can, always take along your pliers, wire cutters, jump rings, etc.

Speaking of jewelry, here's a couple new photos. The first piece is Monarch of the Forest, which is made with a stone pendant, unakite, shell, seaweed quartz, pearls, tigereye, and copper chain, with a toggle clasp.

The set is Vintage Elegance. The bracelet and earrings are made with pearls, copper findings, and copper chain. The bracelet has a lobster claw clasp. I almost kept the bracelet for myself because I liked it so much, but since I almost never wear jewelry (go figure, huh?) I decided to put it up for sale... and both pieces sold almost immediately. It would be possible for me to make another, but I don't have anymore of those golden freshwater pearls.

Winesburg Classic Art Show

2011-08-19T10:00:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow (August 20) I'll be set up at the Winesburg Classic Art Show, which is probably my last *official* show of the season. The show runs from 10am to 4pm, and I'll have my jewelry for sale. I don't have as many finished pieces to take as I would like, but I've got enough. The worst thing that might happen is that I'll sell out, but then I'd make a lot of money :P

New Jewelry Photos

2011-08-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

Last week's Art Walk didn't go amazingly well thanks to the weather. We didn't even stay the whole time because it clouded up and started raining. The rain itself isn't too much of a problem, but it looked like it might start storming and I was afraid my canopy would get ruined. Hopefully my show next week will go better.

In preparation for my next show, I've been working on jewelry/jewelry photography, and here's some of my latest pieces:

1: Fushion

Made with shell components, pearls, coral, and gunmetal chain, with a lobster claw clasp.

2: Tarnish

Made with porcelain, crystals, copper, glass, and copper and bronze chain, with a lobster claw clasp.

3: Sushi

Made with shell and mother-of-pearl, with a toggle clasp.

4: Heart of the Wood

Made with wood components and brass findings, with a lobster claw clasp.

5: Sea Foam

Made with turquoise jasper components, mother-of-pearl, seed beads, shell, and a freshwater pearl, with an S-hook clasp.

6: Cream Soda

Made with seed beads and copper findings, with a toggle clasp.

7: Char

Made with crystals, glass, and lava rock, with a lobster claw clasp.

Unicorn Child WIPs and Art Walk

2011-08-05T16:50:00.000-04:00

The full title of my next piece is Last Journey of the Unicorn Child. It was originally going to be called Journey of the Unicorn Child and was to feature a sprite with unicorns, but I changed the sprite to a regular elf and gave the whole piece a more melancholy theme - you can't really see the linework for the creatures in the WIP photos, but it shows an elf woman riding a deer-unicorn stag with several other unicorns trailing them. The setting will be a pine forest, and the painting is being done in acrylic on illustration board, 14x20 inches.

Upcoming shows include the Art Walk Down on the Farm on August 6 (tomorrow), from 10-6, near Berlin, Ohio, and then the Winesburg Classic Art Show on August 20, from 10-4, in Winesburg, Ohio. The latter I'm only taking jewelry to. I was able to add Where the Water Turns to Crystal and Featherdust to my print selection for the Art Walk, and I'll be working on my current piece as a demo there. Hopefully the weather will be okay - during the last show it was so windy we had to leave early!

New Art- Allerio the Albino

2011-07-16T12:58:00.001-04:00

Here's a nice little drawing I made, Allerio the Albino. It's 11.5x8.5 inches, ink and colored pencil on illustration board. I got the idea for this fellow while I was working on scanning my last painting - I was messing with the colors in the digital image and changed it so the dragons had red eyes, which I thought made them look like albinos, and then, inspiration.

I wanted to make Allerio look somewhat frail and thin - it's not easy being an albino dragon. But he's a very peace-loving nomad, and that probably also contributes to his thinness because he doesn't like to kill, even for food. It was a little tricky shading him, and the finished result has a pretty monochromatic look that I'm not crazy about. I added the marking on his leg (which is more like a tattoo, not a naturally-occurring mark) to make him less drab.

New Art- Where the Water Turns to Crystal

2011-07-11T18:34:00.001-04:00

Here we are, after six months and 100+ hours of work, Where the Water Turns to Crystal is done. I've never worked so long on a painting before. Then it took a week of get a decent scanned image of it. Detail shots are below. Note the various ancient structures in the background, testament of some long-forgotten civilization.

The painting is 16x20 inches, acrylic on canvas. It shows Nikazeme (left) with his mate Princess Chesapeake. These two have a long story behind them. Here's part of it:

Nikazeme the White was a powerful Great Northern dragon lord and, along with his brother, Palazeme the Black, the last descendent of the beloved Imperial Golden Dragon, Cinara. The dragons actually considered Nikazeme to be the reincarnation of Cinara, whom they considered a god, but almost completely ignored his brother. Even though Nikazeme and Palazeme did not get along very well, they did have one thing that bound them together: a friendship with the young princess Chesapeake the Crystal.

When the three dragons had grown to adulthood, both brothers courted her. Even though she loved them both, Chesapeake chose Nikazeme. It was then that Palazeme left the dragon kingdom, starting a story of his own. Even though Chesapeake tried to get him to return, he never did.

Later on, Nikazeme and Chesapeake had a brood of young, and Nikazeme had made quite a name for himself - he was even in line to become the future leader of the dragon kingdoms. But there was an ongoing war in the south between the dragons and the Klogan Empire of humans, which wished to slaughter them. The southern dragons were calling for assistance, and Nikazeme decided to join the other fighters as they flew to their aid, leaving his family alone. Having become overconfident in himself and a bit cocky, Nikazeme was certain no one would dare attack his family. However, shortly after he left, a group of hunters from the empire climbed up to their cave and slaughtered Chesapeake and all their young except one, the runt of the brood, which was left severely injured.

Palazeme was the first to discover the horrible sight, and he immediately flew to the south to find his brother. Once he told Nikazeme, they both quickly flew back. When Nikazeme saw his family killed, he went into a rage, too distraught to notice that one of his offspring was still clinging to life. He flew off and hunted down and slaughtered the humans who had killed his family, then fled deep into the mountains. He flew for many days and nights without stopping until finally collapsing from exhaustion, and was content to stay there and starve to death, blaming himself for what had happened. However, Palazeme, who had followed him, convinced him to eat and to live.

After that, Nikazeme never returned to the dragon kingdom, instead opting to fight the empire on his own in a more subtle fashion, using magic and intellect instead of brute strength. It was then that the dragons realized that Nikazeme was just Nikazeme, not the reincarnation of Cinara, and they called him The Silent One after that, for he never again spoke a word.

There's a lot more to the story and characters, but that sums up the tale behind this painting.

Summer in the Village Art Show Tomorrow

2011-06-24T13:10:00.000-04:00

My next show will be the Summer in the Village Art Show on June 25 in Walnut Creek, Ohio. I'll be once again splitting a space with my equine artist mom. The show runs from 1-7pm, and I'll be selling my jewelry in addition to my usual paintings and prints. After that will be the July First Friday (if weather allows).

Other random news: Okay, I'm still working on Where the Water Turns to Crystal. That's just one of those paintings that take forever and a day to finish. I'm going to do some smaller, simpler pieces after it's done. In the meantime, I'll be working on it as a demo at the show tomorrow.

New Wire-Wrapped Pendant

2011-06-11T21:52:00.000-04:00

Here's a brand new wire-wrapped pendant, Something Mystical. It's 4 inches high, made with a geode slice, amethyst, and 20/24 gauge wire. I love geodes, and I bought this geode slice a long time ago and wanted to turn it into a piece of jewelry without drilling a hole in it. I also took a new photo of the Murky Waters pendant (below).

I did end up going to the First Friday last weekend, but for some reason there weren't a lot of other vendors there even though the weather was perfect. There were a lot of animals though: dogs, horses, a little donkey, and a guy dressed in a chicken suit. Problem is, I'm seriously starting to think Coshocton is the go-around-with-your-ass-hanging-out-of-your-pants capital of the world. Bare ass. Not saying anymore than that. >_>

WtWTtC Update

2011-05-28T17:58:00.000-04:00

It's true, I've finally gotten back to work on Where the Water Turns to Crystal. I never actually got She Calls the Forest started - I only got as far as getting the linework drawn - but I'm totally ready to get WtWTtC finished. Currently I'm working on both dragons' shadowing, but it's going to take a while because they're both white and white creatures are hard to shadow.

In other business, my next upcoming event might be the June First Friday next weekend (June 3). I can't make any promises because I go to these mostly just for the fun of it, and I'm certainly not going if the weather is going to be bad. After that, I'm going to be at the Summer in the Village Art Show in Walnut Creek, OH, on June 25.

To finish, here's more jewelry. The flood will die down once I get caught up on photographing all my current pieces.

1: Bird of Paradise

Made with metal components (bronze), seaweed quartz, tigereye, and Russian jade, with a lobster claw clasp.

2: This is just a new photo of the Gems of the Water pendant.

3: Paint Brush

Made with metal materials (copper) and paint brush jasper.

4: Stand Apart

Made with metal materials (copper), freshwater pearls, and Czech glass, with a toggle clasp.

5: The Metallic Scroll

Made with metal components (silver and gunmetal), glass, and Swarovski crystals, with a lobster claw clasp.

6: Calico

Made with metal materials (bronze), carnelian, obsidian, picture jasper, red jasper, yellow jasper, tigereye, and rhodonite, with an S-hook clasp.

Next Painting- She Calls the Forest

2011-05-14T11:25:00.001-04:00

First order of business, Oddmall went rather well last weekend in spite of us yet again almost getting lost due to a closed exit on the freeway and a useless GPS. I love Oddmall, but I'm not planning on going to the November event this year. Upcoming events include the June 3 First Friday (unless the weather is bad) and the Summer in the Village Art Show in Walnut Creek on June 25.

I haven't finished Where the Water Turns to Crystal yet, but I've been working on it for four months and I need a break, so I'm going to start a new piece, She Calls the Forest. It will be 10x14 inches, done in watercolor, and it's basically a fantasy-anthro painting.

To conclude, here's some more jewelry:

1: Exotic Gold

Made with a gemstone/shell/acrylic fan, carnelian, picture jasper, and tigereye, with a lobster claw clasp.

2: Fleur en Verre

Made with metal materials and Czech glass, with a toggle clasp.

3: Night of the Full Moon

Collar, made with sodalite fans, obsidian, and metal, with a lobster claw clasp.

4: Bubbly

Made with metal materials and Swarovski crystals.

New Etsy Shop + More Jewelry

2011-04-29T16:40:00.000-04:00

It took me long enough, but I'm finally in the process of setting up a shop on Etsy: [link]. There's nothing posted for sale yet (I'm still setting up store policies, shipping costs, etc.), but I have plenty to add: original art, prints, and jewelry.

I also caught an opportunity to photograph a couple more pieces of jewelry. The first piece is Rouge, made with glass/Czech glass and metal (brass and copper) materials. The flower's "stamens" were made by wrapping 28 gauge wire around shaped pieces of 20 gauge wire, with seed beads dangling from the ends.

The second piece is Conflicted Psyche, which I actually made for myself. This one is made of wire links connected to a brass filigree flower, which has an amethyst round (my birthstone) at its center. The spiral clasp is also brass. The rest of the materials are riverstone (the two rounds hanging from the flower) and mother-of-pearl (the flat rounds). Every single spiral link was handmade with 20 and 28 gauge wire and it took nearly an hour to make each one - needless to say, my fingertips are a little calloused now.

The theme behind this piece is based on the two primary sides of my personality: red and blue. Blue is extremely quiet, meek, secretive, passive, sad, and compassionate. Red is noisy, rebellious, very aggressive, happy, angry, and selfish. Obviously both sides are almost total opposites and do not blend, which results in a lot of personal conflict and indecisiveness. As for the spirals... I just really like spirals. Apparently that's a sign of mental illness, artists who use a lot of spirals/swirls in their art (think Edvard Munch, Van Gogh, or Salvador Dali).

Jewelry

2011-04-22T18:45:00.000-04:00

As promised, here's a few pieces of my jewelry. I have more lined up for photographing, including some of my more elaborate/artistic pieces.

Since I've never really posted much about my jewelry online before and typically only focus on my paintings, here's some info: I actually started making jewelry years ago as a hobby, stopped for a couple years, and then recently decided to get back into it. The pieces I make now are much higher quality than what I used to make. My favorite materials to work with are natural materials, especially "organic" materials like shell, coral, wood, etc., and I also love copper and brass.

The pieces below are:

1: Water Blossom

Made with shell components/beads and seed beads, with a toggle clasp.

2: Urban Life

Necklace/bracelet set made with mother-of-pearl components, obsidian, and metal materials (gunmetal), with lobster claw clasps.

3: Hydromorph I

Lariat-style necklace made with metal materials (copper), limpet shells, freshwater pearls, and Swarovski crystals. This is one of my favorite pieces.

4: Hydromorph II

Choker, made with the same materials as the Hydromorph I. It's snug, but surprisingly comfortable to wear.

5: Mystical Journey

Made with metal materials (copper again, including the pendant's bezel), a freshwater pearl, Swarovski crystals, porcelain, and turquoise jasper, with a toggle clasp.

6: Celestial Stardom

Made with metal components (mostly copper, a little silver), mother-of-pearl (the pink stars), freshwater pearls, Czech glass, and porcelain, with a lobster claw clasp.

Art Guild Show and Demo in New Philadelphia

2011-04-08T20:21:00.001-04:00

With things settled a bit, I've finally been able to really go to work on WtWTtC. I finished painting the bases of both mountains and finished the area of rock on the far left. I'm going to add a spire/castle in the background on the right, and then comes the dreaded reflections.

Next weekend, starting April 15, the Tuscarawas County Art Guild will be having a display at New Towne Mall in New Philadelphia, OH, and my mom and I will have some of our artwork displayed there along with other guild members'. The display continues on through April 17, and we'll both be there that day running a "shift." I'm planning on working on this painting as a demo throughout the day.

In other news, I unfortunately wasn't able to get everything ready in time for this year's Bead Star competition because of the need to go vehicle shopping. But I did get myself a nice Jeep. :D

Art Guild, Competition, and Other News

2011-03-18T18:08:00.000-04:00

First off, here's another WIP for Where the Water Turns to Crystal, which I once again find myself not having time to work on. Hopefully I can take next weekend to get caught up on it. The main reason I haven't been able to paint is because I'm trying to get five necklaces ready for the Bead Star jewelry competition, and I have to go vehicle shopping because I currently don't have anything to drive, and I'm struggling to get my jewelry photographed and can't because either I'm horrible at photography or my camera just isn't very good for that sort of thing (I'm starting to think the latter), plus I've got my day job and six million other projects to work on. So to those of you who follow my art, bear with me, I'll get back on track sooner or later. I do have a ton of awesome new ideas that I can't wait to get started on. :D

In other news, I recently joined the Tuscarawas County Art Guild, along with my mom, although I missed the last meeting because of my lack of transportation/not feeling well. I might join some other artist organizations too, but that will be for later.

WtWTtC WIP 4

2011-02-26T19:08:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lack of progress on anything. I was going to try to get in a good amount of work on this last week, but I very suddenly got a cold/ear infection and was too dizzy/feverish to paint. Hopefully it's all cleared up. Now if I can just do something about this severe depression. That certainly wouldn't hurt my productivity.

Anyway, for this WIP I just took a closeup shot of the mountain on the left since that's all I've done any work on. The general areas of exposed rock are finished and I just started to paint in the snow. I think I'm starting to get the hang of what I call my "circuit board technique" for painting rock, which I also used in Flight to the North.

Another WtWTtC WIP

2011-02-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

I know, I've only done a pathetically small amount of work on this in the past couple of weeks, but, hey, c'est la vie. Anyway, here's yet another Where the Water Turns to Crystal WIP. The mountain on the right is finished save for its base, and I've finished the details on the mountain on the left. Next I'm going to shadow and highlight it and add some snow.

On another note, I finally have some photos of my jewelry. I'm pretty much a complete amateur when it comes to photography, so it takes me forever to get a decent photo of a single piece. I'd go ahead and post them now, but I'm too tired, so maybe tomorrow instead. :)

WtWTtC WIP 2

2011-01-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

Here's another Where the Water Turns to Crystal WIP. Haven't gotten much done in the past week, but I'm almost finished with that mountain. Believe it or not, it was actually pretty easy to paint. Drawing it was the hard part.

WtWTtC WIP

2011-01-21T16:25:00.001-05:00

Here's a work in progress for Where the Water Turns to Crystal. The sky is finished for the most part, and I started the first mountain. The snow is painted in, so next I'm going to add the areas of exposed rock. The bottom sections of the mountains will be covered in trees. I used a rough grid to sketch the linework on the canvas, but I have to fix Princess Chesapeake's right wing - the angle looks a little weird.

I'm also going to make a few small changes to Nikazeme's design. He now has three loop rings pierced into his right wing, and three metal rings on his tail.

Changes in My Art

2011-01-15T18:20:00.002-05:00

As part of my never-ending quest to improve my art, I'm going to be making more changes. When I first got into painting in 2004, I did a little bit of every subject and medium. My personal style (which is generally somewhere in the middle of manga and realistic) started to develop in 2007, which was when I decided to only do fantasy art. In 2008 I started to take a different path, doing smaller, simpler paintings that were more cartoonish, but in 2009 I reverted back to my old style.

The main changes you can expect to see from my art in the future are:

1- Somewhat more realistic paintings (meaning less cartoonish, but still with a touch of manga). Primarily that means improved anatomy, more detail, and better lighting effects.

2- More full fantasy landscape settings.

3- More action and motion (where, say, the subject is actually doing something besides just standing there).

4- Less "empty space." I noticed a while back that a lot of my paintings have large areas of, well, empty space. An occasional painting like that is okay, but when most of them are like that it tends to make your gallery look boring.

5- More interesting creature designs. I think a lot of my characters (especially my dragons) are a little plain looking, so I'm going to spruce up their designs. I've already made a few small changes to my main character, Nikazeme.

6- More limited media. For a while I was working in a large selection of different media, but I've narrowed it down. I'll be mainly working in acrylic and sometimes watercolor for all my regular paintings. Every once in a while I'll use ink and colored pencil to do drawings. There will be a little more variety for ACEOs: acrylic, acrylic and ink, watercolor, and watercolor and ink.

I think that sums it up. I'm not changing my basic style, so my art won't really look that different from how it does now.

I also got Where the Water Turns to Crystal started, so there should be some WIPs next week.

Where the Water Turns to Crystal Sketch

2010-12-31T12:20:00.001-05:00

Here's the completed preliminary sketch of my next painting, Where the Water Turns to Crystal. It needs a little tweaking here and there, but it basically shows what it'll look like. It's going to be acrylic on 16x20 inch canvas, and I know those mountains are going to take awhile. The dragons are Nikazeme on the left and his mate Chesapeake on the right. I originally wanted to do a painting of Nikazeme and his black brother Palazeme, but I couldn't come up with anything. I might make the dragons bigger in comparison to the background, and I know I need to make Nikazeme bigger, plus fix some anatomy and perspective problems. I'll post WIPs in the coming weeks.

Next Painting and New Jewelry

2010-12-24T14:40:00.000-05:00

Need to update this blog, hello! Anyway, obviously I haven't been doing much in the art scene lately except popping out new pieces of jewelry that I really need to photograph and post. I've made quite a few new pieces of my "Jewelry for the Adventurous," including a pair of earrings I'm currently working on that involved using my Dremel tool to engrave a design into two pieces of bone from a deer skull. I'm also thinking about making a new version of the Snake's Vertabracelet, which is a piece I made several years ago using some snake vertebrae I found and some small metal spacers (it won me my first juried show). I sold the original, but I still have quite a bit of the vertebrae left, so I'll probably go ahead and make a new and improved version.

I sort of took an unplanned, extended break from painting, but I'm getting that itch to paint again. There is a change of plans though. I was planning on doing The Nocturnal Ritual next, but for some reason I find it difficult to get inspired to do a summer-themed painting in the winter, so I'm going to put it off for now and do a more wintery painting instead. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do yet, but it's going to have dragons in it (one of them will be Nikazeme) and possibly a mountain setting. More on that as the idea develops, but I have an entire week off from my day job at the newspaper for the holidays, so I should get something done. :)

Shows, Jewelry, and Feline Project Results

2010-11-12T17:18:00.000-05:00

Lots of updates ready to go since I've been too busy to post for a while. First off, I was at the November Oddmall in Hudson, Ohio, last weekend (I'll post a couple pics on my Facebook account). I love this event, so I'm already registered for the show in May of next year. I worked on an ink and colored pencil drawing at the show, a picture of Zazel, one of my dragons (the title is Beautiful Girl). I only got the basic linework done, so I'll have to finish it later.

I also got my newest pendants photographed. The first one is the Wind Dancer pendant, which uses a faux bluejay feather and glass bead; the second is the Murky Waters pendant, which uses a glass marble, seed beads, and a shell chip (that one's a little weirder); and the third is the Gems of the Water pendant, which uses a spiral shell and freshwater pearls.

Finally, I've chosen the cats that will be featured in The Nocturnal Ritual:

My cats: Tiny (who passed away a while back) and Kittles

My mom and her husband's cats: Moochie and Sylvester

Petey, owned by Cynthia Pelletier

Tipper, owned by Tara Fly

Smokey, owned by Julia Finucane

Willow, owned by Shelley Hobbs

Pumpkin (who also passed away recently), owned by Charlotte Annabel

I'm not sure when I'll have the painting finished, but it will probably be a while. More details on that in the future.

Update to Feline Project

2010-10-22T16:15:00.002-04:00

One quick update for the project I'm doing for my next painting: I messed up on the deadline on my last post, which says the deadline is Nov. 22. I meant it to be Oct. 22 and I didn't notice it until today, so I'm going to extend the deadline until Nov. 7. That will allow about another two weeks. I was going to extend it anyway since I've only had a very small number of submissions, so any new feline submissions would be greatly appreciated.

The Nocturnal Ritual Feline Project

2010-10-09T18:20:00.004-04:00

I've decided to do a little project as part of my next painting, The Nocturnal Ritual. The painting will feature nine cats in it and I would like to use portraits of real felines, so anyone who would like to see their feline companion featured is welcome to participate. This is not a contest and there is no money involved. I'm going to feature my cats Tiny and Kittles, so there are seven spaces remaining.

I posted an unfinished preliminary sketch below so you can get a general idea of what the painting is going to look like. It's going to be 14x22 inches, acrylic on illustration board, and yes, it does have some semi-naked sprites in it. Also, some cats will be winged and some won't.

The rules:

-The cat must be a real cat, not a made-up character.

-You can submit more than one cat for consideration.

-I'm looking for a variety of different breeds/colors, so not everyone might get their cat featured.

-The deadline for submissions is Nov. 22. "Winners" will be announced.

How to submit:

-First off, I need a reference photo of your cat(s), and, unless your cat is one solid color, the photo must clearly show their left side, since all the cats in the painting are facing the left.

-I also need your cat's name and a brief description of their personality.

-Send photos and info to jessicarohrart@gmail.com.

-You can also email me at that address or send me a message if you have any questions.

Next Painting

2010-10-01T11:50:00.000-04:00

I believe I've got my next painting lined up (unless I change my mind, I know I do that a lot), and it shall be a new idea titled The Nocturnal Ritual. The painting will have sprites and cats - winged cats - and will take place in a nighttime forest setting. I posted a small sketch-in-progress I'm working on below. It isn't totally finished yet, but it shows the basic setting. I posted a negative version of the sketch to give a better feel for how the actual painting will look, since it will be dark.

Another note, my computer's sort of working okay again. It acts up on occasion, but usually I don't have any problems with it. Seems like the more I go on the internet, the better it works, so go figure.

New Art- The Right Hemisphere

2010-09-17T13:45:00.001-04:00

Just finished The Right Hemisphere, and here it is. The original is 16x12 inches, watercolor on cold-press watercolor paper. This is a remake of an old abstract painting I did years ago but with the addition of the unicorns and faeries. The title and theme refer to the right hemisphere of the brain, the dominant center of imagination and emotion.

The original painting had black plant thingies growing from the bottom, but I took those out because I didn't want the setting to be limited with an actual bottom.

Other good news: art block is gone! Just in time too since I'm ready to start a new painting.

Computer Problems and News

2010-09-05T15:33:00.000-04:00

Whoa, okay, I seriously need to update this blog. I've been having a lot of computer troubles lately so I haven't been on the internet much - I pretty much have to use my computer at my day job to do anything online. I have no idea what's wrong with it and even reinstalling my operating system didn't help. But it does give me an excuse to get a new computer. :3

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff going on right now. I'm close to being finished with The Right Hemisphere (no WIPs this time), and I've made some new jewelry that I still need to photograph. I also revamped my print shop on deviantART and I'm in the process of setting up Zazzle and Etsy shops. Plus fair time is coming up before too long. I don't have a lot to enter this year, but it's a fun little tradition.

Unicorns

2010-08-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, I think I've fallen in love with unicorns. I never really considered them that much before because I thought they were sort of boring as far as fantasy creatures go. But a couple weeks ago I bought a book on unicorns, Unicorns in Watercolor by Rebecca Balchin (awesome book, btw) and I discovered there can actually be many variations of unicorns.

That said, obviously my next piece is going to have unicorns in it. I had a bad case of art block for a while, but when I was cleaning my storage room out last week I found an old abstract painting I did a few years ago and decided to go ahead and make a new version of it, with unicorns. The title is The Right Hemisphere (meaning the right hemisphere of the brain), and it will be done in watercolor.

Featherdust Updated

2010-07-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

I think I'm *officially* done with the digital image of Featherdust. There was a lot of problems with this painting because for some reason my scanner absolutely could not get the colors right. Basically, the blues looked lavender, the pinks looked grey, and the greens looked blue. I spent a week working on it the first time and thought I had it fixed up good enough, but I later decided I still wasn't satisfied with it, so I went back and re-worked it a little. It looks a lot better now, more like the original painting.

One other little bit of news: I've decided to switch to using Liquitex acrylic paints. They're a little more expensive than the bottled acrylics I was using before, but I love them. I wanted to switch to a different brand of acrylic paints, and I decided to try Liquitex because that's what my brother uses.

Stay Close Finished

2010-07-20T21:55:00.005-04:00

Here's my newest painting, Stay Close. The mother wyvern on the right is taking her young daughter to the next level of flight training. This type of dragon doesn't get very large - the adults are only about the size of a horse - and they have a more developed hand structure on their wings.

The painting is acrylic on 12x14 inch watercolor paper. There's some things about the general layout I don't really like, but I'm pretty happy with the way the dragons turned out. I had a ton of fun painting the trees in too.

When I first started developing this, I basically wanted to do a painting of a serpent dragon in a tree overlooking a valley. Then I decided to add a second dragon, and the theme of flight training was born. But I thought the serpent dragons looked a little awkward, so I decided on hind-legged wyverns instead, and then the valley just wound up becoming a forest. There's some detail shots below.

Third Stay Close WIP

2010-07-03T14:00:00.003-04:00

Here's the current progress on Stay Close. The tree in the foreground and its leaves are mostly done. I haven't used this technique for painting leaves since 2007, but I think they're turning out pretty nice. I might add another limb or two to the tree before I'm finished.

Another Stay Close WIP

2010-06-25T12:45:00.001-04:00

Here's the current progress on Stay Close. The background is all done, and I've just gotten started on the foreground. I've been having so much fun painting the trees, too, even though they take a while. I'm going to add more elements to the foreground, but not until I've finished painting in the main tree.

Stay Close WIP + Last ACEO Finished

2010-06-18T13:45:00.002-04:00

Had a great time at the opening reception for my gallery show last week and I sold *at least* four paintings in those two hours. That was a pleasant surprise!

Onto business, I was finally able to get back to work on Stay Close, the painting I sketched out back in February. Pretty much all I've been doing for the past two days is painting (and I love it!), so I've already gotten a lot of work done on it. Below is a WIP. I'm going to add one more tree to the background and put in more details in the foreground (like some vines and whatnot).

Also, I finished the last ACEO for my deviantART kiriban for Winged-warrior, who wanted something cute. This is Fruit Twist, acrylic and colored inks on illustration board.

Gallery Show Announcement

2010-06-04T11:00:00.000-04:00

It's almost here, my first solo gallery exhibit! The show will be at The Art Asylum in Coshocton, OH, with the opening reception on Sat., June 12, from 4-6pm. I will have 20 paintings on display there, including both newer and older works, dragons, sprites, anthro art, and more. The show will continue throughout the month of June. The gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (although they take appointments); go here for more information. All paintings are for sale, with prices ranging from $20-$175; paintings not done on canvas are custom matted by me, and all paintings are framed.

In other news, I now have my "retired" art archives on deviantART: [link]. These paintings are from 2007 or older, and I don't offer prints of them. Most of them are from my old Dragonoid Collection. I had them posted on Flickr before, but I decided to move them to deviantART instead so that I have one less account to manage.

Artist Statement + Kiriban Prize

2010-05-21T19:45:00.000-04:00

Since I think I'm finally done with it, I thought I'd go ahead and post the artist statement I wrote (I was challenged to write one a couple years ago by a journalist/photographer who interviewed me). It took a long time to write, but I think it describes me and my goal as an artist pretty well.

My life revolves around fantasy first and art second, and both have always come naturally to me. Western-style dragons are my primary subject, although I do other traditional fantasy and anthropomorphic art as well, not wanting to limit myself to any one subject. My style, which mostly developed on its own, is a blend of manga and realism.

I create fantasy art because it gives me a sense of freedom, a means to escape the entrapment of everyday life. I can take myself and the viewer into a whole other world, a place where things are not always what they seem and nothing is ordinary, or I can simply pull back the grey curtain of this one and reveal what lies beneath. Through my art I can show a beauty and reveal a mystery and wonder hidden to our eyes, and give one a sense that, if they just look close enough, maybe they will see more than what they expect.

Next, here's one of the deviantART kiriban prizes, titled I Do NOT Fly With Rain. The serpent, Vey'veda, is copyright mithgariel. It's an ACEO, acrylic on illustration board. The ancient castle setting took a while to design, but it's so neat that I'll probably do my own painting using that type of setting. ^^ I still have one more ACEO to do (and it will definitely be the last one for a while), and then I can get back into doing regular paintings.

Photos From Oddmall!

2010-05-09T11:00:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I attended Oddmall- Emporium of the Weird for the first time. It was an awesome event, definitely worth the long drive and getting up super early in the morning, lol. My mom went with me to hang out, and I managed to get some photos. That's me in the first one. I took the second one when the event was almost over, so it's not nearly as busy as it was earlier.

The Sanctuary of the Sea Finished

2010-04-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

Here's yet another ACEO, the last one I'm going to do for a while (besides the two kiriban prizes I owe winged-warrior and mithgariel on deviantART). This one is titled The Sanctuary of the Sea. I wanted a dramatic title for this image that just popped into my head. This one was done in watercolor and colored inks on cold-press watercolor paper, and it was so much fun. The sprite's coloration was inspired by a variety of Siamese fighting fish. The three fish around him are pretty much a made up species, although their shape was based on gobies. I sort of went out on a limb by not adding bubbles. In this case, I was willing to just add bubbles without fuss (I almost always try not to add bubbles to underwater paintings but always end up adding them anyway), but when I drew them in the preliminary sketch, they made the painting look crowded.

I have about six years of experience painting with acrylics and only a little experience with watercolors, but I don't think it shows too much. Aside from a few little mistakes, I really like the way this turned out. ^_^

Improvement Time: Filling Empty Space + Evil Dog Hair

2010-04-09T10:15:00.001-04:00

I'm always working to improve my art, and I've always gone for things like anatomy, details, lighting and shadowing - obvious stuff. But lately when I was looking through my gallery, I kept getting the feeling that there was something wrong with my works and I couldn't figure out what it was. So, I thought I'd try comparing my art to a large batch of art by other artists I admire. That was when I noticed that the problem: a lot of my paintings have too much empty space in them.

Basically, empty space is just large open areas in the painting that pretty much have nothing in them. There's nothing wrong with having an occasional painting like that, but I think the majority of mine are that way. The empty areas make the painting seem more boring, less interesting to look at. Now that's something I never would have thought about, but when I was looking back and forth between my art and their art, I realized how "full" their paintings looked and how "empty" mine seemed. But now that I know that, I can work on fixing it.

As for the dog hair, this is what happened: I always spray a coat of varnish over my completed paintings after they're scanned. I was doing this with several paintings, including my recent ACEO, Don't Even Whisper. I let the varnish dry overnight, and then went to check them this morning. What do you know, a dog hair had somehow gotten in the room where I varnish them (the animals never go in there, and the door is always shut), and it had not only landed right in the center of the painting, but it had dried into the varnish. When I tried to pick it out, I only caused damage to the painting. Fortunately, I was able to repair it and make it good as new for the most part, but I'm definitely taking more precautions in the future. Ugh.

Crested Finished

2010-04-03T18:50:00.001-04:00

I'm really on a roll, aren't I? Here's yet another ACEO, and this time I used Nikazeme as the subject. The title is Crested, for obvious reasons, and it's acrylic on 3.5x2.5 inch illustration board. This was mainly done for my new business card design. My scanner didn't like this one - *stupid scanner* - so I had to do a lot of repair work on the computer. Since it warmed up, I did all the work on this outside. I still need to make two more ACEOs (in preparation for Oddmall), and then I can get back to work on regular paintings.

Don't Even Whisper Finished

2010-03-27T15:35:00.001-04:00

Here's another ACEO, Don't Even Whisper, and, what can I say, I love it! This turned out 10 million times better than I thought it would. I'd been really wanting to do some anthro art, and this idea popped into my head. At first, I just sort of threw it aside because I didn't think it would make a good painting, but it made an awesome ACEO. :'D

I was planning to ink all ACEOs, so I was originally going to ink this, but it turned out so good in acrylic only that I couldn't bear to throw in inked lines. This is acrylic on acrylic paper, 3.5x2.5 inches of course. Since this took almost a week of work, this one will be $15 instead of $10.

The subjects are white-tail deer does, and the taller deer is cautioning the younger, shorter one of impending danger, thus the title. On my first preliminary sketch, I drew a buck and doe, but a male/female pair seemed somehow unoriginal, and the first image that appeared in my mind showed two does, so that's what I went with. I see a lot of white-tail deer where I live, so there was no lack of references. The deer head mounted on the wall in my dad's house helped too.

Igechero II Finished

2010-03-18T19:20:00.000-04:00

Here's Igechero II, the second morph of Igechero. Like Igechero I, this was acrylic and ink on 3.5x2.5 inch illustration board (ACEO). The background was inspired by sumi-e mountain landscapes.

Igechero's second form was originally a hind-legged wyvern, but then I decided to make it a fore-legged wyvern, and eventually I thought it would be best as a land-dwelling serpent dragon. That makes more sense, since the other form is a sea serpent. I had to redo it once because of problems with the background. That brought up an issue I face when painting: the loss of linework. To keep the dragon's linework from being totally covered, I painted the background in with semi-transparent washes, gradually building up layer after layer (sort of like watercolor).

First ACEO- Igechero I

2010-03-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

I finished my very first ACEO, Igechero I. I came up with the idea for this years ago, but I just sort of lost interest in it as it got older. It was actually going to be a 16x20 inch painting (sort of related to Sazonia), but I recently decided it would make a nice ACEO, and so it did! It is acrylic and ink on 3.5x2.5 inch illustration board. The background was sponged. I'm going to do another one soon called Igechero II, since Igechero (ig-ee-CHEER-oh) has two forms.

I'll probably make a couple more ACEOs before I continue work on Stay Close. Prints of them will be made on 4x6 inch paper, and the originals will be available for $10 each.

Events, ACEOs, and Other News

2010-03-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

The next few months are going to be busy, busy, busy, and more busy (which is good!). First off, it's time to start getting ready for events. There's an especially large amount of work that needs done. I need to make a new business card design, buy some gridwall panels for displaying paintings, make lots and lots of prints to take, make a new table-top sign, and more. My first event will probably be Oddmall in May.

Next up, I'm going to start making ACEOs. I'd thought about starting some before and I bought some little illustration board panels a while back. I already started one of a dragon. I also started Stay Close, but progress on it might be a little slow.

Another project I'm going to work on at some point is getting some online shops set up. I have an Etsy account that I've yet to do anything with - I'm going to put my original paintings and jewelry up for sale there. As for prints, larger sizes (11x14 inch, 16x20 inch, ect.) can be bought through my deviantART account. For 8.5x11 inch prints, I'm going to set up a little shop on my dA account so they can be bought directly from me. More on that in the future...

One last bit of news (this is turning into a long post!), I'm no longer going to make 5x7 inch prints like I have in the past. It's just becoming too difficult to get that size of photo paper, and I want to focus more on the larger prints. I'm going to continue to offer them until all the photo paper I have is used up and they're all sold.

New Idea- Stay Close

2010-02-26T13:15:00.002-05:00

Okay, here it is, the next painting I'm going to start. This image is a little thumbnail sketch, so you really can't get a full grasp of what it's going to look like, but I can say that if you like Dragonling, you'll probably like this. At first, I was going to do a serpent dragon, but as the idea developed, I decided on wyverns instead (hind-legged variety). The background will be filled in with an abstracted forest scene. The title is Stay Close, chosen because the adult dragon is teaching her offspring how to fly. The painting will be done in acrylic (as usual) on 12x14 inch watercolor paper.

FttN Scanned + Upcoming Projects

2010-02-14T20:20:00.000-05:00

I finally got Flight to the North scanned, so here's the updated image. Since Vardemeer and Sorinson are a little hard to see, I'm also posting a detail shot of them. Also, I made a new ID for deviantART: [link].

My next project is to do more repair work on the image of Featherdust. I'm still not happy with it, but the only thing I need to work on is the area where the trees and water meet. The area blends more smoothly in the painting than it does in the image, so I'm going to see if I can fix it up. After that, I have some paintings that need framed, and then I should be able to start my next piece. Who knows what it will be...

Flight to the North Finished

2010-02-07T19:00:00.002-05:00

Here it is: Flight to the North. After 60 hours of work, it's finally finished *gasp!* This image is a photo because I haven't scanned the painting yet - I'll post the scanned image once it's ready.

For work on this, I painted the sky in first, then the mountain in the background (love the way it turned out). Next came the rocks with the ancient bridge - look close to see the tiny path leading to and from it - then the rocks in the midground, then the rocks in the foreground. To do the rocks, I painted them in a solid base color first, then used a sponge to give them a nice texture. Next, I used washes to establish general shadowing and lighting. After that, I painted in all the cracks and crevices, then finished the shadows and highlights. To create the effect of depth, I gave the closer rocks stronger contrast and made each layer a different color (brown, grey, blue).

Vardemeer and Sorinson came last. Sorinson was painted first, then the harness, then Vardemeer. I'll post a detail of them after I scan the painting. In the end, all I can say is that good reference materials are your friend.

New Studio

2010-01-29T15:05:00.001-05:00

Behold, my new and improved studio area. Here's my old one for reference: [link]. I moved the desk away from the corner, removed the shelf from the back, and attached my easel board. Next, I dug out a piece of Masonite and fixed it in the drawer on the left to give me more space to put stuff on. I also bought the white shelf of drawers on the right to store my many materials in. Reference materials can be tacked onto the bulletin board on the right. Oh, and that's Flight to the North on the easel board, and that's as close to a WIP as I'm posting. Of course, by the time I'm writing this, those large white areas toward the bottom left and right are already filled in. Hopefully the painting will be done within the next week.

Webcomic?

2010-01-23T17:45:00.001-05:00

First, an update on Flight to the North. The sky and mountain are finished, and the rocks in the background (the ones with the bridge) are almost done. The whole thing is coming along very nice, but it'll still probably take me another two weeks to finish it. I also revamped my little studio area... maybe I'll post a photo sometime.

Anyway, I've been tossing around an idea about starting a webcomic. I'm not 100 percent sure about it, but I'm really considering it. I've always liked the concept of webcomics, but I never really considered doing my own even though I can't think of any major reasons why I shouldn't. I don't have a storyline or characters or anything yet, so it might take me a long time before I start it (a year?). Right now I'm trying to come up with some sort of general plot (it will be fantasy setting) and design some characters. I'll post more updates on that in the future.

FttN Progress + Finding an Edge

2010-01-15T15:40:00.001-05:00

First off, I just want to say that I've started Flight to the North and it is turning out absolutely awesome! I was having a lot of lighting issues that I just resolved today (and by lighting I mean I wasn't getting enough light to work with in my little studio area). I finished the sky, and I've started on the mountain in the background. If this painting turns out well, it'll probably be one of my best. I'm not posting any WIPs just because I want to keep its debut sort of a surprise.

This painting is also a good example of an idea that occurred to me recently regarding getting my art to stand out, something I call an edge. I think that to get your art to stand out, you need 1- Skill, 2- Style, and 3- an Edge. There might be other things; I'll mention them if I find them.

Skill is how proficient (or "good") you are. There aren't any ways I'm aware of to measure artistic proficiency - it all depends on the look you're trying to achieve.
Style is what makes your art different from everyone else's, the look you give your art that makes it unique.
An Edge is sort of related to style, but maybe a little different (depending on how you look at it). It's basically something you do in your art that isn't typically found in the art of your "competition". Here's my example: landscapes. There are many, many dragon artists out there - good ones, too. But I've discovered that a lot of dragon artists don't usually do backgrounds, save for an abstract blend of colors or maybe just a very simple setting. I can use that to my advantage. If I do lots of paintings with full landscape backgrounds, that will make my art stand out even better. Therefore, giving me an edge. ^^

New Idea- Flight to the North

2010-01-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, time to get back to work. It's been a busy past few months, so I'm just going to start over fresh on posting. First, pictured is my latest idea, Flight to the North. This is the preliminary sketch; it's unfinished, but it shows the general linework. The painting will be done in acrylic on 20x16 inch canvas (already started).

The characters are Vardemeer (the elf, pronounced VAR-deh-meer) and Sorinson (the dragon, pronounced SOR-in-son). Both are brand new OCs. I don't have their full background stories created yet, but I do know that they spend a lot of time traveling. Their overall designs are finished except for Vardemeer's weapon, which is a scimitar that needs a hilt.

For the painting, I first wanted to do something with a forest landscape, but then I decided on mountains - and then the concept of Vardmeer and Sorinson occurred to me. The mountains in the picture were all sketched from multiple photo references, but the landscape as a whole was designed by myself. The broken arch in the background is an ancient bridge (because I love ancient structures ^^).

Jewelry Making

2009-12-11T10:00:00.001-05:00

I was going to start painting again, but I sort of fell into a slum after my kitty died (more information here: [link]), so I decided to go ahead and work on some jewelry. Pictured is my first attempt at wire wrapping: the Bubble Pendant. The glass sphere is transparent but slightly opalescent and the wire is 20 gauge, while the whole pendant is 1.75 inches from the top loops to the spiral on the bottom. I wrapped it with my hands and a couple little pairs of pliers, and it took me a couple tries to get it right.

Things have been kind of slow lately, so I probably won't post every week for a while. In the meantime, I'm going to try and write an artist's statement for myself.

Back to Work

2009-12-05T12:46:00.000-05:00

NOTE: I wrote this a few weeks ago but somehow never posted it...

--------------------

Okay, time for updates. I haven't been doing much artistically because I was working on a major house-cleaning for the holidays, but it's finally done (except my bedroom, but I'll take care of that later ^^). I'm still decorating for Christmas, but I can finally start Windsong Ritual now.

I have a new idea also, which is basically a combination of two other ideas. I don't have a title yet, but the painting will feature a water horse and a water unicorn. The water horse will be a blue male and the uni will be a red female. I might do it in watercolor, but it's hard to say yet. I need names for the characters, too.

Other things I've been working on lately: the dragon journal skins for deviantART are completely finished now, and I'm not messing with them anymore. @_@ I did make another CSS for myself, a wider and simpler version of my Nika CSS that I can use for features and whatnot, but it was pretty easy. I made an icon for Merimask on deviantART for her contest, and I'm working on collecting works for a large feature of feathered dragon and griffin art.

Another bit of news: I've decided I'm going to start making jewelry again. I used to make jewelry, but I stopped about a year ago. All my old pieces are sold, so everything will be new. I'm not sure when I'll start; it might not be for a while.

New Idea- She Can Fly

2009-11-07T19:40:00.001-05:00

Here's another new idea, conceived earlier today. I did this rough sketch pretty fast (so lots of mistakes, especially on those wings), but it shows my idea pretty well. The actual painting will be a little wider, with more of the forested area on the right and more of the open area on the left showing. Obviously she's a feathered dragon. Her coloration will be green, probably with blue markings. The background will show a very hilly, forested landscape, and I threw in some flying debris behind the dragon to enhance the feeling of speed. I might make her a little closer to the edge of the drop in the actual painting, which will be done on in acrylic on illustration board (no size chosen yet, but it will be a bigger painting).

Also, I finished the journal CSS designs for deviantART: [link]. The red one is my favorite, by the way, aside from the Nikazeme design. ^^ Next mini-project: a new deviantID. I have an idea I'm already working on, but it will be useful for other things as well.

HTML Geek

2009-10-25T21:00:00.001-04:00

Not much happening this past week, but I did finally finish one project I've been working on for months: my journal CSS for deviantART. I went ahead and uploaded it as a submission here. The header, footer, and divider images were done in watercolor and ink, and the dragon, of course, is Nikazeme. I'm currently working on a second similar CSS that will use a different non-OC dragon for others to use. I'm currently building six color variations (pink, red, gold, green, blue, and violet), but I'll probably take requests for different colors/markings.

Not much else going on though; I'm currently engaged in a major pre-holiday season house cleaning, so it's hard to say when I'll get Windsong Ritual started. I'm still working on gathering references, but I've finished designing the vixen.

Featherdust Finished + New Idea- Windsong Ritual

2009-10-17T13:10:00.000-04:00

At long last, the image of Featherdust is complete. I say that because although I finished this painting a couple weeks ago, my scanner absolutely ruined the image, which meant having to fix it up on the computer. While the image itself was okay, the colors were completely wrong. It's fixed now, however, so here it is!

In other news, apparently I'm not going to be starting The Steampunk next. The idea just isn't ready yet, and now I can't decide what medium I'm going to do it in. However, I do have a new idea that I might start instead: Windsong Ritual. It will be an anthro (I've been wanting to do an anthro for a while), but I haven't decided on the medium or size yet (it will be roughly around 11x14 inches and either acrylic or acrylic and ink). I was hoping to use a more exotic or unusual animal, but my creative Muse demanded I use a fox for this (I know foxes aren't exactly original subjects when it comes to anthro art). Regarding the exact species, I'm thinking it will be some sort of combination of a red fox and an arctic fox. I'm working on some drafts right now and gathering references, so hopefully I'll have some sketches to post in the near future.

2009 Coshocton County Fair Results

2009-10-02T18:20:00.000-04:00

I got my stuff in for the county fair this week and went to the judging on Wednesday morning. I entered five paintings and three photos (I entered the photos just for the fun of it, since I'm really not into photography that much). The photos didn't stand out from the 700-something other entries, but my paintings did amazingly well. Here are the results:
Above the Sky placed third in the Acrylic, Animal Subject category.
Blown Away placed second in the Acrylic, Figure Subject category.
Featherdust placed first in the Watercolor, Animal Subject category.
A Touch of Magic placed first in the Ink Drawing, Animal or Figure Subject category. This one really surprised me. I was originally going to try and finish The Steampunk in time to enter it in the fair, but that didn't happen, so I needed something to enter in this category. I already entered this before in 2007 in the Ink Drawing, Anything category, where it placed second.
I also entered The Magic of Autumn in the Mixed Media, Any Subject category - it was the only one that didn't place.

In other news, I did obviously finish Featherdust, but for some reason my scanner doesn't like it. The digital image looks horrible, so it's going to take me a while to fix it up. :(

Also, regarding The Steampunk, it's going to be a little while before I actually get it started. I'm still trying to decide on the size of the picture and the pose to put the sprite in, not to mention design the background elements. More on that in the future.

New Idea- The Steampunk + Fall Into Art

2009-09-25T15:05:00.000-04:00

I've had an idea swirling around in my head for a while now that I came up with while I was working on Blown Away, but it was unfinished until now. The idea generally involved another sprite in a tree, and it's going to be done in black and colored inks. My original idea was to give it an Oriental look, but that just didn't want to work. Then I thought about giving it a steampunk theme (love steampunk), and that idea clicked right away. No sketches yet, but I'm going to start it as soon as I'm finished with Featherdust, which isn't quite done yet.

The Coshocton County Fair is coming up very soon; I'm going to enter several paintings and a couple photographs, and I'll have the results from that next Wednesday (Sept. 30). I also attended the Fall Into Art event last Saturday. The weather was very nice, and I spent most of the time painting. Below are some photos from the event, including some of the other artists there.

-Here's my set-up. I shared half my canopy with my mom (her art is on the right, mine is on the left). My advice to anyone setting up outside is: wind-proof! I get a little crazy with that; I even screwed some metal rings into my easels' legs so I can stake them down, and my signage is being held down by little sandbags I made.

-Some unusual art by the peoples set up next to us (you don't see very many paintings done on window sashes).

-A sort of candid-looking shot of local artist Barbara Hill-Rickman with her husband.

-I wasn't the only artist working on-site: this is animal artist Christy Mosier, who is working in pastels.

-The very fabulous set-up of Esther Marie Versch (whose art is on the right) and Christy Mosier (her art is on the left).

Featherdust WIP

2009-09-18T19:00:00.001-04:00

Work on Featherdust is now underway, which meant having to dust off my skills in watercolor, breaking out the masking fluid, and buying a new pallette with depressions. This is actually the first watercolor-only fantasy painting I've ever done, and it's a nice change from working in acrylic.

Pictured top is the final version of the linework - I started with a rough sketch, traced it onto the tracing paper (pictured), and then transferred the linework onto the painting surface. On the bottom is a WIP. Modifications to the overall design involved removing some of the tree's branches, playing with the dragon's right wing, and adding clusters of little blossoms to the tree - the tree is dead, and the dragon is actually causing the flowers to grow.

Blown Away Completed

2009-09-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

Blown Away (the remake) is finished! I really like the way this turned out (except for that third leaf, it's a little hard to see). The process of trying to finish this was really drawn out, mostly because I kept playing with the sprite's face. A little trick I did with this was making the final highlights on the edges pale yellow to match the color of the light source.

I'm also getting Featherdust started. The painting is going to be 12x14 inches, and I've made some minor changes to the design. Hopefully my skills with watercolors haven't become too rusty...

Also, I just finished updating the design for the Dragonling Calendar, but deviantART pulled a fast one - the calendar year used to switch over in September, but apparently now they don't switch until October, so the 2010 Dragonling Calendar won't be available until then.

New Idea- Featherdust

2009-09-04T12:00:00.003-04:00

Introducing the idea for my next painting, Featherdust. The idea is still a work in progress, so changes will probably occur, but the sketch below shows generally what it will look like (the foreground anyway). To the left is a crude little pixel drawing showing the dragon's coloration and markings. I think I'm developing an attachment to feathered dragons... they somehow seem more elegant and graceful than regular dragons.

This painting is going to be done in watercolor, but I don't know what size it's going to be yet. The colors are going to be pastel, with lots of pinks, purples, and blues, and the background is going to be a greenish abstracted forest scene. The dead tree is extending out from placid water - I still have to gather references for the wood texture.

Update and Blown Away WIP

2009-08-28T15:30:00.006-04:00

I haven't posted for a little while (life's been kind of hectic), so here's an update of what's been going on.

First, here's a WIP of Blown Away. The background and tree are finished, but again, this is a photo, not a scan, so a lot of the detail is lost. The strange thing about this was that the background was unusually difficult to paint and the tree was fairly easy (I love the way the tree turned out). I've had to work on this almost exclusively outdoors (in natural light) to get the colors to blend well.

Upcoming events include Fall Into Art on Sept. 19, not to mention the Coshocton County Fair, always fun to enter in. I also just came up with a new idea for a painting that I LOVE - I'll discuss that more next week (hopefully I'll have some sketches drawn up by then).

Beginning Blown Away

2009-07-31T12:20:00.003-04:00

Here's a preliminary of my next painting, Blown Away. This is a remake of an older picture I did in 2005 - it will be acrylic on 11x14-inch canvas. It took me a while to gather all my references; the tree is a white oak, sketched from life in my backyard. I played around a little with the sprite's pose for a while, and I might change the position of his tail.

Also, I've created an account on Artician. It's sort of like deviantART, but with a really neat color palette feature.

Something More Completed

2009-07-17T17:05:00.002-04:00

Here's my latest piece, Something More, my first water unicorn (acrylic on illustration board, 12x12.5 inches). I gave the water uni's markings an overhaul, so she's more based on a spotted dolphin - and that was really tricky, painting the two sections of color on the uni's body while keeping the shadowing even. The background was achieved with sea sponges. My next painting will be a sprite.

In latest news, I attended the July First Friday and I have plans to attend another event in September, Fall Into Art. It will be held Sept. 19 at The Frame Shop in Coshocton. I might do a painting demo while I'm there, but I have no idea what I'll be working on (I like to get a painting started ahead of time if I'm going to work on it at a public demo).

Updates and New Ideas

2009-07-04T20:30:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted for a while since things have been so busy, especially with the website construction, but I managed to snag a little spare time to write. First: two new ideas. Neither of them are titled yet; the one on the left will be a very long and narrow painting, but I haven't decided on the medium. I got the idea for the one on the right when I was driving through the Killbuck Swamp region and saw hundreds of wild daylillies growing. I drew this sketch on a Post-It note, and I don't know if I'm actually going to use a wyvern or not.

Work has been sporadic on Something More, but I'm almost finished. I completely changed the design of the water uni's markings to resemble a spotted dolphin, and that combined with the unfamiliar lighting has made for a pretty big challenge - which is probably a good thing in the end.

Finished Scanning!

2009-06-12T14:40:00.002-04:00

At long last, I've finally finished scanning all my old paintings. :) Pictured are the last two, both from 2004, acrylic on canvas. At the top is Dragon Spawn, which is 20x16 inches, and on the bottom is JuneBug, which is 12x16 inches. They are both from my retired Dragonoid Collection, and I saved them for last because they were so difficult to scan.

Since I'm finished with the scanning, I'm now free to get to work on building my website (really looking forward to getting it up). I'm also going to continue work on Something More - I have the background almost completely finished but I'm going to make a few more changes to the dragon, this time regarding its markings.

First Friday- June 2009

2009-06-06T13:25:00.002-04:00

I had a pretty good time at the June First Friday yesterday (June 5), and the weather was perfect, which was good since the Coshocton Hot Air Balloon Festival was taking place at the same time. The turnout was good and I was finally able to use my canopy for the first time at an event. That's me in the top picture and my mom in the bottom (most of the paintings were hers). We set up on the courthouse lawn, and that's where I'm usually at. We already have plans to attend the July First Friday (again, weather permitting).

Water Unicorns

2009-05-29T12:00:00.005-04:00

Here's a detail WIP of Something More. I made some design changes to the creature, taking off the node on its back and adding a horn. I've decided to call this dragon type a water unicorn, and I did come up with a couple other ideas featuring this creature type. For the painting itself, I'm afraid I won't be able to work much on it for a little while, since I want to finish scanning all my old paintings first (only one left!) and then I'm going to start work on the website building. More updates on that in the future.

New Idea- Something More

2009-05-14T12:50:00.003-04:00

This is a sketch of a dragon for a new painting idea I had, titled Something More. The painting will be simple in design, an underwater scene, with the dragon looking up toward the surface. This dragon isn't really a sea serpent; it's more of a Lock Ness monster type, and its overall design has a cetacean influence (hopefully no one will think it's a poorly drawn dolphin!).

After my last completed painting, which was all warm colors, I want to do something with cool colors, and this painting is pretty much going to be entirely blues and greys, although I might add a hint of contrasting color (red maybe) to break up the monochromatic look.

The painting will be done on 12x12.5 inch illustration board, in acrylic, and I've already started on it, as opposed to just adding it to my ever-growing list of ideas.

Next event I'm planning to attend is the inescapable First Friday in Coshocton, Ohio, unless bad weather interferes. I skipped on the May event, but I'll probably go to the next one on June 5th. More news on that in the future.

Fairy Festival and Above the Sky Finished

2009-05-01T14:00:00.004-04:00

I took another hiatus from posting since things have been very hectic lately, but I did finally finish Above the Sky (pictured). It took me nearly a month to finish this painting, mostly from time constraints and because it has a lot of unfamiliar elements in it that I'm not used to painting (clouds, fur, feathers).

I also attended the Fairy Festival in Wooster, Ohio, but I wound up forgetting my camera, so no pictures. It was a lot of fun though, and I got better results than I thought I would from my art. The day was hot and windy, and because of the wind I had to set up inside, but that just meant I got to see the entertainment (my favorite being the Scottish Highland Dancers) and have air-conditioning. :)

In other news, the photo contest was a no-go, but I might attend some of the First Friday events in Coshocton, Oh, especially now that I have a new canopy to set up.

Sketches, Ideas, and WIP

2009-04-03T11:30:00.004-04:00

Here are a couple ideas that occurred to me just recently. I don't really know if I'm actually going to use these ideas, but I probably will. The dragon flying through the canyon was inspired by a photo of a canyon, but I want the whole thing to have a dramatic feel to it, something more than a dragon flying through a canyon, perhaps with a dramatic title. As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of wyverns, but it's still nice to do different types of dragons, and the idea for the setting on the second image was just perfect for a little wyvern. The setting might be modified, so we'll see.

In other news, I've been invited back to the Wooster Celtic Fairy Festival in Wooster, Ohio, which I'm really looking forward to attending. It takes place April 25, and I intend to have lots of photos this time ;)

Also, here's another WIP of Above the Sky. The background is finished and I've finally started work on the dragon. Again, this is a photo, not a scan, so the image doesn't look that great. When he's finished, the dragon won't really look anything like what he does now. I've just started on his fur, although the texture is lost in this image because it's so dark.

Latest News and Facebook

2009-03-27T16:50:00.003-04:00

First, here's another old painting I just finished scanning, Chitterbug, which was done in 2004. I only have two more paintings left to scan before I start working on the website, something I'm really excited about. Work on Above the Sky continues, but I've barely been able to find the time to paint because of an extremely busy schedule.

In other news, I finally got around to creating a Facebook account, [link]. I'm still working on it, and I probably won't be extremely active there. Also, I'm planning on entering in a nature photography contest at The Wilderness Center in Wilmot, Oh, with my mom, which we're pretty much doing just for the fun of it. The judging takes place about the middle of April.

More Scanned Paintings and WIP

2009-03-20T11:10:00.003-04:00

Pictured top are two more 2007 paintings I just recently finished scanning. Top is White Paws, below is Palazeme, the Dark Lord. The idea for White Paws had a very interesting source, and more information on it can be seen here: [link]. These two paintings are good examples of the kind of art I want to do more of in the future. Both are on 16x20 inch canvases, done in acrylic.

Pictured below is a WIP of Above the Sky. The image is a photo, not a scan, so it's not very good overall (the painting was angled slightly, so the dragon's head appears disproportionately large compared to his feet). I'm not finished with the background yet, especially the clouds (they are not actually as dark as they appear in this image). I've been working on the background for well over a week now, and I just recently sketched the dragon in. Things have been a bit hectic lately, mostly because I injured my ankle a week ago to this day (yeah, that Friday), so it's going to take me longer to finish this than I had hoped.

Painting At Last

2009-03-13T18:30:00.004-04:00

I know I said I wasn't going to start any new paintings until I had the last of my old ones scanned, but I just couldn't help myself. The painting I started is one of the new ideas mentioned in my last post, which I have given a title, Above the Sky. It is acrylic on 16x20 inch canvas, which I haven't painted on in over a year (and I've missed it!). Pictured above are reference sketches I made. Top is the dragon (feathered/furred variety) in the pose that he will be in in the painting. Middle is a little pixel image I drew up to show the coloration. Bottom is a sketch I made of a hawk wing.

I've currently been working on the painting about a week (not a solid week, however), and I hope to have it finished by the end of next week. I'm also working on scanning another older painting, which will hopefully be finished and posted tomorrow.

Dragon Ideas

2009-03-06T16:30:00.005-05:00

I'm back! :D

Okay, now that the past two hectic weeks are over, I can get back to making regular posts.

I came up with two new ideas, both dragons. The first is of the featured/furred variety, which I've never done before. I want to start doing more action scenes in my art, as I feel that some of my older paintings are a bit boring in that department (the main subjects always seem to be sitting, standing, or lying). This dragon will be flying, with a background of thick cumulus clouds.

The second idea occurred to me while I was sitting on the couch, listening to the radio, and staring at an old sketch I did a few years ago. It was pretty interesting; in about half a second, not only did the idea for this dragon come to me, but a name (actually names), painting title, pose, personality, and full physical attributes (markings, colors, etc.). That idea is pictured above, although the actual painting will not be from that angle; I just did a profile sketch to take down the general idea. Her name is Sabarasi, and the painting will be Sabarasi the Wingless. A variation of her name is Sabarsi. Her coloration will be a sort of plum with darker markings and fins, and possibly green eyes. I might make modifications to her hindquarters to counterbalance the rays on her head.

Old Ideas Become New Ideas

2009-02-21T11:35:00.004-05:00

I'm a little late with this post because work has pretty much been consuming everything for the past week (and next week), and I've been pretty sick with a cold, and I have to get a new car. I don't have any new scanned paintings yet, and I probably won't until February is over.

I have made another decision: I'm going to redo one of my 2006 paintings, The Red Cape. I love the concept of the painting, but I'm afraid it didn't turn out as good as it could have and I've been fussing over this for a while. It's going to generally be the same, 11x14 inches, acrylic on canvas, and the only thing I'm really going to modify is the creature's pose (it's a sprite painting). I was also planning a sequel to this painting, but I'm going to give it a different title, Jasper (which is the name of the sprite in the painting). When Jasper will be done I can't say, but The Red Cape will be done this year.

Along with that, I've also decided I want to make a new version of another much older 2004 painting, Dragon and Moon. Unlike The Red Cape, this will not be a replacement, just a newer version (the original has already been sold). I don't know if it will have the same title or not, but it will be the same concept.

Two More Down, and Other News

2009-02-13T11:35:00.003-05:00

I skipped on posting last week since nothing of particular interest has gone on lately, but for this week I have two serpent dragon paintings scanned: Sazonia (top) and Amber Wings, both 2007 paintings done in acrylic on 16x20-inch canvases. I finally got my paintings back, so I'll be finishing up with the all the scanning. There are currently five more paintings to go.

The year 2007 was a good year for me regarding art since I came out with some of my best paintings that year. Pretty much all of my 2008 paintings were small and simple, particularly the chibi dragons I did for my calendar, but for this year I want to get back into doing larger, more realistic paintings, like those pictured above.

I've also decided that my gallery is too mixed regarding subject matter, so I'm going to tighten the hold on what subjects I paint (I'm not really going to eliminate anything, just cut down). Basically, I've looked at a LOT of artists' online galleries, and most of them generally seem to have one or two main subject matters that they work on (i.e. faeries, dragons, anthros, etc.). Of course, my main subject matter will be dragons, but only regular dragons, not the chibi variety. After dragons, there will be my sprites, and also an occasional anthro. Any other subjects (unicorns, griffins, mermaids, etc.) will be done only on rare occasion. All together, this makes sense for me anyway, as I have more ideas for dragons and sprites than anything else.

Nikazeme WIP II

2009-01-30T11:42:00.005-05:00

Part II of the WIPs.

-highlighting added

-details painted in (claws, mouth, nostril, eye, fire)

-wings and fins painted in (layered transparent washes)

-inking completed (and minor repairs made)

-finishing touches added with colored pencil (mainly to shadowing)

Nikazeme WIP I

2009-01-30T11:40:00.003-05:00

There was a change in plan regarding which painting I was going to do next... I wound up going with this simple picture of my character Nikazeme, who, I've decided, is my signature character, not Nathandriel. The picture was done in acrylic, ink, and colored pencil on illustration board.

The completed painting can be viewed at my dA account: [link].

In other news, I've decided to make a tutorial on painting transparent wings in acrylic paint. I've been contemplating doing this for a while, and I get so much feedback that I decided to go ahead and do it, although it will be done mostly for the fun of it. I can't say when it will be done, but it will be posted on dA sometime in the near future.

There are so many WIP images of Nikazeme that I'm dividing them into two separate posts. These don't actually include every image; I have them narrowed down to the basics.

*********

-linework drawn out

-background painted in with varying washes

-base coat of paint applied to dragon (light grey)

-basic shadowing started (dry brushing)

-shadowing completed

The Pose

2009-01-23T14:15:00.005-05:00

I know I wasn't going to do any new paintings until I got all my old ones scanned, but the urge to paint must be heeded, and I've decided to go ahead and do one for my upcoming birthday. It's a brand new idea, an anthro dragon. I was pretty disappointed because I had designed a pose for her, and one I really liked, then I saw a painting by another artist of an anthro in the exact same pose, just in reverse. Not only that, but this was also a female anthro dragon, so if I use this pose, my picture will look almost identical to hers. I'm probably just going to modify the pose and still use it.

Anyway, the painting will be done in acrylic and ink (possibly with colored pencil) on illustration board. No title yet, and I don't have a viable sketch to post yet.

I spent a great deal of yesterday (Thursday) moving my workspace into a different room, so now I have a very nice atmosphere to work in. If I were actually painting, the desk wouldn't be half this neat, and I'm probably going to remove that shelf from the back of it (covered in my collection of glass dragons).

Faeries and Dragons

2009-01-18T10:10:00.014-05:00

I'm a little late with this post... it's been a very long week.

Here's my latest old scanned painting, Birth of the Blue Faerie, done near the beginning of 2006. It's acrylic on canvas, 20x16 inches. Considering this was my second attempt at painting humanoid figures, I'm not too disappointed with the anatomy.

I also just wanted to post these 'cause they're so cute! Little avatar images for dA: left is Nikazeme, right is Palazeme.

New Ideas

2009-01-09T14:50:00.006-05:00

Pictured left is an idea that I "saw" on a catalog cover. It's a sprite, but I don't have any sort of title yet (the background will probably be a simple night sky scene with a full moon). Personally, I sometimes get a little bored of seeing only female figures in fantasy paintings (yes, that is a male figure, I know it's probably hard to tell). There is a possibility I might alter the wings; they were originally much larger than this, and I'm considering adding feathers.

I had another new anthro idea as well that I'm really enthusiastic about, but no sketches yet because I have to find a figure reference. I haven't chosen a species yet; maybe something along the lines of an ermine or feline, or maybe a marsupial.

I'm just about finished scanning one of my older 2006 paintings, Birth of the Blue Faerie, which I'll probably post a picture of next week. I've still got seven older paintings to scan yet, and I'm not planning on coming out with any new pieces until I'm finished with that (some of them aren't really that old). It shouldn't take too long to finish, but they are larger paintings, about 16x20 inches, and the process is tedious.

Inspiration and Etsy

2009-01-02T12:40:00.005-05:00

One place I sometimes look to for artistic inspiration is my aquarium, a work of art in itself. It's a 30-gallon tank, and those are ten male red-wag platies (Xiphophorus maculatus), all born from one fish. It's not actually done yet, since I want to add more plants and fish (all livebearers).

Also, I recently opened a shop on Etsy, although I've yet to add anything. I'm going to use it primarily for selling the various crafts that I do as hobbies, such as jewelry and paper crafts, plus my original non-fantasy paintings. I'll make an update on that once I get it started.

2009 Ideas and Whatnot

2008-12-26T12:35:00.004-05:00

First off, here's a belated happy holidays to all my readers! Last post of the year, and here I am sitting at the computer in my PJ's and feasting on a gigantic chocolate bar I got for Christmas... life is good.

Just for the fun of it, I decided to post a list of possible paintings I'll come out with for 2009, which is going to be a very busy year. The number of paintings I'll come out with is going to drop, but not by too much; there should be something new each month.

Dragon characters I might paint include: Zazel, Cinara, Igechero, Miamar, Chesapeake, or Vladwig. Or maybe I'll do a painting with Nikazeme and Palazeme. I've also been wanting to do an elemental series, and plus there's loads of chibi dragon ideas. Then there's sprite painting ideas: Sexy Rexy (don't ask...), Dragonaire Koi-Koi II (not a sequel; it is her name), Distant Drums, plus a sequel to The Red Cape. Other fantasy stuff includes Red Unicorn (related to Dark Unicorn), The Moon is on Fire (a fantasy landscape), Ki Utsuri (a koi merman related to Taisho Sanshoku), and of course, Freespirit. I made a few modifications to the idea of Freespirit to make it more of a fantasy style instead of just anthro. So... lots of ideas, and there might be a more in-depth discussion into these ideas as we go. Maybe a double-post?

Dragonling Calendar Completed

2008-12-19T10:30:00.005-05:00

I recently completed the December painting, Winter Mystic, so now my Dragonling Calendar is finally finished! It is a bit late for 2009, but the calendar is going to run each year from now on until I retire it. I currently only have it for sale on deviantART: [link], but in the future it will be available at other locations as well.

Since the calendar is finished, I probably won't make any more paintings this year. I still have eight larger paintings (some old) that I never scanned, so I'm going to work on finishing those and getting them posted.

Also... new blog layout! :D

One More for the Calendar...

2008-12-12T10:40:00.009-05:00

Finally I've started the last painting for my calendar, December. I changed the theme of it a little, so I've changed the title to Winter Mystic. Pictured is a WIP... the image is really not very good, but it was just a quick scan. Also, if you look very closely in the full view, you can see part of the linework for the dragon, located on the right. The finished painting will be a bit more colorful, and lighter.

On a side note, I have some paintings on display in a local shop window... It's just something we former members of the former Coshocton Art Guild do. This is the last time I'll be displaying stuff there because it is a very poor way to display art and the risk of theft is too high. These paintings will be there through December; my mom had work displayed there in November.

UtM Finished

2008-12-05T16:30:00.011-05:00

Under the Moon is finished! I just finished it a few hours before writing this, and I'm extremely pleased with the outcome. Pictured is a detail shot of the dragons... the original image will be uploaded on deviantART within the next few days. It turns out that I did decide to leave a space between the dragons' snouts (I was originally going to have them touching... see Nov. 21 post). I love the way this painting turned out, and, in my opinion, it's the best one from my calendar thus far. The dragons are a little hard to see on a smaller scale, so full view is highly recommended. Winter Song will be started immediately, and it shouldn't take as long as this one did.