paige halsey warren

commissions are open

2012-01-23T14:13:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on building a computer, a solid desktop workhorse, for digital painting and animation. In order to do that though I need to save up a lot. That's why I'm opening up commissions for the time being.

This chart is just for digital sketches/drawings. If you're interested in commissioned pieces for web design or physical printing (such as paintings/tshirt/etc.), this is a different process which I would be happy to discuss via email.

If you're interested, feel free to send me an email at paigehwarren@gmail.com.

Prothese Redone

2012-01-18T01:40:00.000-05:00

I've officially finished my digital redo of "Prothese"! This will be the first of a series of digital paintings exploring Body Modifications (real and potential) in an Art Nouveau aesthetic. Many of these paintings will be recreations of previous acrylic paintings (which you can see by clicking the body modification tag below).

This painting took about two weeks to paint digitally on Paint Tool Sai and all of the textures used are my own. The sweet briar used in the frame has traditionally meant "a wound to heal". The mill city skyline is inspired in part by Lowell, MA. If you're interested in buying a print, please go to my RedBubble store.

The idea behind this series is to use the widely loved aesthetics of the Art Nouveau movement, specifically the work of Alphonse Mucha, to express the intriguing yet controversial theme of Body Modification. As some of the later pictures will explore, some modifications are to give a person the same physical capabilities as those around them whereas others are intended to heighten inherent physical abilities. And of course, some modifications are purely aesthetic.

Body Mod Redo 2

2012-01-10T10:21:00.000-05:00

So this is the latest WIP for a little while. I'll be tweaking the contrast and saturation levels once it's done but it's about half done at this point.

Body Mod Redo

2012-01-06T17:22:00.000-05:00

I'm planning on redoing a lot of the body modification series, starting with Prothese. Here's what I've got so far:

I'm not completely pleased with the mechanics of the leg yet but I am liking the rest a bit more.

Ms. Graves

2012-01-03T22:30:00.001-05:00

Before Christmas, I was commissioned to do a pin-up. I wanted to give her something a bit more elegant but still sexy.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas! I've been working on my proposal for a Costume History Graphic novel for McFarland & Company, Inc. and another project for EZ Comics. Since I can't post from either of those, I might as well post some old stuff.

These are two pages I worked on last year for the Little Mermaid adaptation I was working on. That project has been shelved for now but I'll eventually go back to it. (The first one is inspired by Hokusai's "Great Wave")

Deadlines

2011-12-17T01:54:00.001-05:00

So the animation isn't completely finished but I'm still working on it so give me a few weeks. In the meantime, have another pencil test gif (click it to view).

I have a number of impending deadlines, and of course Christmas and New Year's are right around the corner, so updating will continue to be sporadic. Please bear with me a bit ^.^;;

it's my birthday!

2011-12-10T17:24:00.001-05:00

Yay! I'm 23 ^.^ I don't have much prepped to post but I did finish this the other day.

I based it off of the masquerade costumes of the 1910s-1920s. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out.

Sneak Preview

2011-12-07T02:55:00.001-05:00

Here's a tiny part of the latest animation I've been working on. I'll be posting the rest of the animation very soon.

Gallery Reception

2011-11-18T23:23:00.001-05:00

The gallery reception for "Pages" is this coming Sunday at The Daily Planet! I'm really excited since this is my first solo gallery. So far it's been published by the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, Burlington Free Press, and Seven Days. If you're in the area, please check it out!

Pin-ups

2011-11-17T16:25:00.001-05:00

Since the first one was so popular, I sort of accidentally started doing pin-up commissions. I've done three more so far as a promotional thing.

Each of the ladies who won a pin-up loved the end result! Because of that, I've been advertising pin-ups for commission and I'm having a giveaway to get the word out. If you're at all interested in commissioning one or know someone who would love it, please email me at paigehwarren@gmail.com. Remember: each pin-up order must be PG-13.

"Pistol" iPhone Cases by paigehwarren | RedBubble

2011-11-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

"Pistol" iPhone Cases by paigehwarren | RedBubble:

I met the lovely folks from RedBubble at New York Comic Con and signed up almost immediately. I finally got around to setting up the account properly so now my artwork is available as swag, such as iPhone cases and stickers. Please go check it out! :D

Daily Planet show

2011-11-02T13:11:00.000-04:00

The "Pages" show is officially up at the Daily Planet. It'll be up until January 2nd so if you happen to be in the Burlington, VT area, stop in there for a bite to eat and check out my art please.^.^

Pinup

2011-10-28T02:03:00.000-04:00

I wanted to do a plus-size pinup in a confident pose but an outfit no more revealing than a bathing suit and somewhere in the coloring process, it became a self-portrait.
It's challenging for me to post this, especially since I know that members of my family may find this post uncomfortable, but I'm very proud of how this piece came out and I want to explain a bit about it.

At the risk of getting a little personal here, I want to explain this transition: I've always struggled with my size and my perception of myself, as many girls and women do. It wasn't until summer last year that I realized how much of my personal identity comes from my size and how I am proud of who I am, even if I would like to get to a healthier weight. It has been a struggle for me, coming to terms with that part of myself, but being able to let go of hating part of who I am has made me so much happier overall and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Awol

2011-10-25T12:04:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile and I swear I will soon but my plate has been so full lately that I'm kinda going crazy. I set up the gallery in Vermont a week from today if that clarifies things.

In the interest of posting something, I did this sketch last week playing with some potential character designs. They're far from being finished designs, really just something to get a feel for their shapes, but this is all for now.

Aww, you guys made me ink...

2011-10-19T13:56:00.001-04:00

As a warm-up exercise, I've started doing ink drawings. Aside from being perpetually inspired by Jess Fink's artwork (nsfw), I found out that the bottle of black ink I bought recently (which is a different kind apparently) is water-soluble. Both of these are costume history inspired, naturally. The top of is a reference to the shepardess look from the Georgian (Rococo) period and the bottom is loosely based off the Crinoline period. I love how crinoline gowns POOF when the wearer sits or moves quickly. Both of these are for sale on my Etsy.

Speaking of my Etsy store, I was recently inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement (we're way past just protests since this is now an international affair) to thank anyone who chooses to buy from a small independent seller as opposed to a corporation. With that in mind, I'm giving a 10% discount on all purchases on my Etsy store when the coupon code "OCCUPY" is used. I'm also including a thank you sketch for every purchase.

Interior

2011-10-17T23:05:00.001-04:00

I need to work on interiors so I was playing around and came up with this. Not lovin' it but it took longer than I would have liked and I reached my "done with it" point.

Apron

2011-10-09T12:49:00.002-04:00

Just a quickie pencil test from last night. I still need to do more frames, clean up the lines, and color it but I wanted to see it strung together so far. (click for animation)
That might have to wait until I get some work done for job/class. ^.^;;

Derby

2011-10-08T10:26:00.002-04:00

I really want to join Roller Derby XD
This is just a quick (1 hr) sketch. I kinda like what happened here so I may not go back in and clean it up.

Early Look at Dragons

2011-10-05T15:50:00.000-04:00

Alright, I haven't posted in far too long. Between going to Virginia for the Neptune Festival (which my dad was sandsculpting in) and working on this animatic, I haven't had too much time for other artwork.

I know this isn't much to look at yet but it's the first scene from my latest animation-in-progress. I haven't inked or colored it yet but it's slowly getting there. Hopefully, I'll have a finished animatic by the end of this week and a finished animation by the end of this year. :D

Pistol

2011-09-26T15:55:00.001-04:00

I started this picture yesterday and I'm really pleased with how it came out. I really pushed myself on this one.
Paint Tool Sai. ~10 hours. She's based off of Annie Oakley but isn't meant to be her.

Expressions

2011-09-22T14:05:00.001-04:00

I got some col-erase pencils the other week so I decided to make some expression sheets. They aren't perfect but I'm pretty pleased with these attempts. I'll probably animate them at some point but my plate is a little full at the moment.

(click this to see the rough animation ^)

Apples

2011-09-19T23:04:00.000-04:00

These are the result of my first speedpainting class. Both PS CS5. This is what happens when Paige goes crazy with the palette and then gets reined in by the professor and calms herself. -.-;; lesson learned.

WIP Help Please

2011-09-13T17:04:00.002-04:00

I need some help on this. Should I stop on this painting or keep working it and make it more realistic? Any feedback would be awesome.

Open Road Fest!

2011-09-10T10:14:00.001-04:00

Institute Park, Worcester.

Haircut

2011-09-09T17:00:00.000-04:00

Another digital painting. I miss my pink hair ^.^;;

Alex Portrait

2011-09-08T14:07:00.001-04:00

Since I want to get better at drawing guys, wanted a picture of him, and since I'm kinda keen on him, I drew a picture of the boyfriend.

We went to Six Flags a few weekends back and he almost got a lightsaber until it suddenly turned pink. I made a quickie animation because of that but I'm not thrilled with it, since this was the first animation I made in gimp and it's nothing more than key frames.

It's something though. (click above for animation)

Rebecca Rolfe

2011-08-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

I had a random desire to paint someone historical. I don't even like the Commonwealth period but Rebecca Rolfe was pretty awesome so it was worth it ^.^ Paint Tool Sai. I went texture hunting around the house yesterday for a commission I've been working on so I used some of those.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-28T13:22:00.002-04:00

I'm alive! But seriously, I haven't posted in WAY too long. All my current jobs/commissions have to wait until the storm passes but it gave me a chance to work on some digital painting. I finally installed the Bamboo driver so I actually have pressure sensitivity now which is such a game-changer!

I'm not super thrilled with the background but I'm still pretty freakin' happy with this. I used this tutorial for some pointers. Original sketch was in pencil, then I used Paint Tool Sai to do everything else. (Click the picture on the right for the process gif)

Astrid is (c) Dreamworks

Shrewsbury Art Fair

2011-08-20T10:11:00.002-04:00

I'm a vendor at the Shrewsbury MA artists guild fair today! It's at Dean Park until 3pm.
Please visit ^.^;;;

Chibi Moon ACEO

2011-08-19T00:36:00.000-04:00

I finally finished a piece of fanart (Sailor Chibi Moon (c) Naoko Takeuchi) on Paint Tool Sai. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and I made a step-by-step gif.

Nautical Lady

2011-08-16T19:09:00.000-04:00

I have an art fair coming up this Saturday and I wanted to make something fresh to sell there. I have been sketching for days trying to come up with something I liked enough to paint and when I had finally given up and started sketching for funsies, I got this. Go figure. My scanner, computer, and printer strongly disagreed with me on my color choices but I found a compromise. Limited run of 100, signed and numbered and for sale on etsy.
Watercolor and ink on hot press watercolor paper.

steamy pin-up

2011-08-15T21:43:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I have no idea. I've been battling artist's block all day so this is the only final piece I've manage to create. The sketch started as a pin-up but I can't really muster "cute and pretty" today so I made a frustrated air-ship mechanic fighting with an old pipe. Sexy, huh?

University

2011-08-11T10:28:00.000-04:00

I finally finished another comic page with Eleanor and Kent. I tried some different techniques on this one and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. The words actually ended up pretty small so I might play around with that. Once my CS4 finally gets here, I'll have a legit copy of photoshop to work with.

Speaking of things getting here, the latest shipment of the Ukulele posters arrived yesterday!! They look wonderful! I'll definitely go back to ShortRunPosters.com. They actually answered their phones and were extremely helpful when the uploading process was being finicky.

ink wash

2011-08-10T11:57:00.000-04:00

Playing around with ink washes and light and shadow after checking out some Jess Fink* artwork.

*her tumblr. SFW

sailor gouache

2011-08-08T23:28:00.000-04:00

I kinda love doing this style now XD I'll do more eventually. Gouache 5x7 Sailor Moon (c) Naoko Takeuchi

Daily Planet

2011-08-06T21:15:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I was up in Burlington VT because The Daily Planet is going to display my work! The show will open in November and go until the New Year. I'll post the paintings as I make them ^.^ This'll be my first official gallery show!! The opening will be in late November or early December.

Fun fact: it's right next to a place called "Rapunzel". Yup, this is a good fit XD

eleanor aceo

2011-08-02T19:53:00.000-04:00

Big things have been going on. First of all, I have a new baby cousin (^.^<3) so I've been working on some sewing projects for him. I've been working on getting into art fairs and placing orders, etc. I even got some beach time (finally). This, unfortunately, means very few things have gotten past the sketch stage.

I cranked this out the other day. It's an ACEO that'll be for sale at my upcoming fairs. It's all I've been able to work on for a little while. The gold here is actually metallic on the actual piece, since the original is for sale.

Oh, other news, I've been redesigning my Tumblr like crazy and I finally got it pretty. (Go check it out?) And I have an interview with the Daily Planet in Burlington VT this week to display art. :D

new id

2011-07-29T14:04:00.001-04:00

I finally got around to making a new ID/self portrait. I've been getting ready for some art fairs while I'm waiting to sign up for them (backwards, I know) so this will be displayed on my table.

I love the texture that gouache and achieve and how Mary Blair it is so I've been meaning to work on that. I think I managed on this one but I'm worried it looks a little to (dare I say it) trendy. Thoughts?

edit:
ignore this please ^.^;;

Darfur Crisis

2011-07-28T10:30:00.001-04:00

I can finally post this! Click the image for the published comic; if the title page isn't working there, click "Next"

This was really a great project to be a part of. Hopefully educational comics like this will make a difference.
Ruchir Shah was great to work with throughout this entire project and EZ Comics, the non-profit comic company he founded, is a wonderful idea.

On a technical note, this entire project was a 10 page comic (title page included) that took me a week to sketch, ink, paint, and add text to. Meeting that intense of a deadline was a challenge but was so worth it. The majority of the comic was done with Burnt Sienna ink, nib pen, and watercolor on Bristol board and edited in Photoshop CS5.

been awhile

2011-07-27T11:02:00.000-04:00

I got back from an intense weekend of visiting people, which was lovely, but I don't have too much work to show. I saw Timon of Athens which is not one of Shakespeare's finest but this was a dark vaudeville steampunk interpretation which was GORGEOUS. I also got some beautiful books on illustration, which is where the inspiration for this came from.

I'm still not thrilled with it and I'm going to keep reworking it but I didn't have much else to show. The Darfur comic is getting published soon so I can finally show that! But in the meantime, I'll only have sketches for awhile I think.

Eleanor and Kent

2011-07-20T00:12:00.000-04:00

I needed something fun after my previous project. I know the lines aren't straight and it kind of tilts but I wanted it to have the same loose sketchiness that the rough draft had. Expect more, I love these characters.

eep

2011-07-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

The deadline is coming up fast on me so this is all you get. Sketch storyboard for a steampunk comic that'll be done at the beginning of next week.

They need names. And so does this story. Ideas?

blush

2011-07-14T23:07:00.000-04:00

As a pick-me-up from the Darfur project, I've been jotting down ideas for my Character Design final due next Wednesday.

This sort of came from how silly my boyfriend thought it was that the big giant of a mechanic blushed so much in the storyboard. I gotta agree but that's why I did it X3. Okay, now back to real work.

Burnt Sienna

2011-07-13T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure all my dreams will be in Burnt Sienna ink for the next few weeks. As I said, I can't post the comic that I'm working on but I can post my homework for this week.

I also did a background but I didn't want to bother/don't have time to scan it. This has the same character from an older post (although she's a bit stubbier in this version) and some new ones in the same universe. I'm starting to like working in this style. Comic to follow?

Squam

2011-07-12T10:04:00.000-04:00

I can't show what I've really been working on but I did some sketches yesterday. I went to a nature center while visiting my aunt and I did some studies. Clearly, some of the animals were more accommodating than others.

Zac

2011-07-09T08:05:00.000-04:00

Just a quick Stoneholders sketch. This is also my first attempt with a blending pencil. Apparently it hates regular pencil. Good to know.

I'll be pretty AWOL this weekend since I'm going out of state and have a solid chunk of work I have to get done. I have a bunch of goofy little sketches like this that I might add but I'm not sure I'd be able to post anything more impressive than that for awhile.

Steampunk Versus

2011-07-08T00:57:00.000-04:00

For my latest assignment, I had to take a character and draw a cartoon version and a live action version.

I think I preferred the Live Action version more before I colored it but it'd be worth trying out this style again. I also LOVED making the comic version and i might so something more with this character. She's certainly practical enough to draw frequently (by design). Comic is ink lineart with a brush and Live Action is ink by nib, colored pencil and blender pen. (the green is so her leg can be replaced with a CGI steampunk leg)

bummer

2011-07-06T13:26:00.001-04:00

I haven't really had too much time to do a real, full painting lately, which is a bummer, but it's not for lack of being productive. I've been sewing and cleaning like crazy (and celebrating and swimming and firecrackering but shhh).

I finally colored Ruffnut (sorta). I don't really love it and I might go back and paint it another way but more likely, I'll just do some completely different HTTYD fanart (which is what this is, please don't sue me Dreamworks) next time I'm on a Dragon kick.

Edit: its time for a summer sale!

more sketchies

2011-07-05T18:13:00.000-04:00

nothing too much to say today. another rapunzel sketch of course ((c) Disney, obvs). the "EEEE" one is based off a true story, the thunderstorm was too perfect to not run through giddily. also, alex (boyfriend) with his epic soulpatch. yup.

kitties!

2011-07-02T12:12:00.000-04:00

yep

2011-07-02T00:22:00.000-04:00

So, I have no idea where this came fun but I had fun making it. It was nice not taking a drawing too seriously.

I'll probably be able to finally work on some big acrylic paintings soon! :D yay!
Can't promise I'll be posting too frequently soon since I have a few sewing projects I have to work through but I'll do what I can ^.^;; Also, happy 4th americans!

Flapper

2011-06-28T10:02:00.000-04:00

I've been on a 1920s kick lately. Colored pencil and watercolor. The original is on etsy.

In other news, I'll be switching out the framed paintings at Spiritual Haze for unframed prints in plastic sheaths.

bikini

2011-06-23T00:14:00.001-04:00

So Character Design at RISD just started last week and today we had a model come in. I've been in a rut for awhile but I was really on my game tonight. I really missed working with colored pencils, especially in this style.

In other news, page views for this month surpassed last month's total the other day. Also, I've finally imported all my blogger posts to my tumblr. Tumblr is clearly better for sharing work but I still love blogger for formatting. I also got a smart phone :D Just sayin'.

Coney Island

2011-06-20T19:24:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I went to Coney Island to see the annual Mermaid Parade! :D I officially love that place and can't wait to go back when it's not so completely packed.

I saved the lineart for this before I painted it so I might paint it again digitally with different colors some day but I kinda love how this came out. I'm gonna sell these at a limited run of 100, signed and numbered individually. Either email me or check out my etsy if you are interested ^.^

Kicking my own butt

2011-06-16T09:49:00.000-04:00

Instead of coloring the character sheets I did last year, I just started over completely and redid the design for Kara from Alex Boyle's "Lurid".

I kept the old version up but I'm so much happier with how this one came out. I'm going to create the rest of the characters in this style so I have a solid series.

New York sketches

2011-06-14T16:02:00.002-04:00

Not this past weekend but the weekend before I went to NYC to see Laura High's standup at Caroline's. She was awesome ^.^

Anyway, I had time to kill earlier that day so I attempted to go to the Met. Sadly it was closed but I got some sketching done and then went for a lovely walk through Central Park (I never knew how amazing it is there!) with the boyfriend. I drew a cartoony version of him too, since I need more practice drawing guys ^.^;;

Tower

2011-06-04T09:01:00.001-04:00

I'm shamelessly obsessed with this movie. I got a new watercolor block last time I was up in Burlington VT at Black Horse and this was a fun way to get to know the texture of it. I'm not 100% thrilled with this piece but I like it for now.

Rapunzel (c) Disney.

edit: 100 posts!! FTW!!

Tower WIP

2011-06-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

Lineart for a painting. My interpretation of Rapunzel in Art Nouveau (like, if Rapunzel was the stolen princess of Andalasia XD). I was inspired by Claire Keane's concept art for Tangled. Final painting to follow soon.

ink pen on watercolor paper, edited contrast

Tangled/Rapunzel/Andalasia (c) Disney

If you'd like to use this lineart to color, please ask first and link back to me. Thanks.

Hunt Animation

2011-06-02T15:58:00.001-04:00

My final project animation is finally done! This is the final (for now) version of "Hunt". Everything in this animation was hand painted with gouache, scanned and edited, then strung together.

In other news, new youtube account.

In other other news, The Rabbit Hole is having its poster show tonight which my Ukelele painting will be exhibited at.

procrastin-ah lookit that!

2011-05-25T15:19:00.000-04:00

Apparently I get really inspired to do other arts when I have homework that needs completing. Go figure.

Rapunzel and Pascal (c) Disney

Sailor Snarl

2011-05-24T17:05:00.000-04:00

What started as a warmup sketch turned into a full detail painting. Go figure.

I never understood how Sailor Moon would fly through the air, slam into a boulder, then counter attack while her hair remained perfectly untangled and, well, perfect.

Sailor Moon (c) Naoko Takeuchi

Side note, I have officially graduated. Yay me ^.^ UVM has finally given me my fancy piece of paper! :D

Ukelele

2011-05-20T11:09:00.001-04:00

DONE! DONE DONE DONE! :D This is my submission for The Rabbit Hole June Poster Exhibit and it's fiiinaaally done ^.^ Clearly Mucha inspired ^.^;; The background is watercolor and the foreground is gouache. I used masking fluid to make the frame and the white splotchies. Phew. I'm so glad this is off of my to-do. Now I can go up to Burlington, VT and graduate in peace (yeah right XD).

Update: my pageviews are already higher than they were last month and there's still a week and a half left! ^.^

Rococo dance

2011-05-19T16:07:00.001-04:00

Finally! I finished this thing! It's not as long as I had intended and the music version is pretty cropped but now I have working puppets in Rococo fashion.

Hunt character

2011-05-17T00:00:00.000-04:00

I swear I've been working on stuff, I just don't have a lot to show for it yet. I lost a lot of my progress on my "Hunt" animation but when I redid it, I was able to streamline it a bit and add more to it.

So after trying to piece together characters using textures I made, I felt like the feel of the art was way off from what I pictured it being. Instead, I'm putting together an animatic using my storyboard then dropping handpainted elements in the animatic placeholders. Did that make sense? ^.^;; Anyway, I'm hoping it'll like I visualized once it's done.

Mixing it up

2011-05-13T16:08:00.000-04:00

I've been debating for awhile whether or not I should post other artwork and artists that inspire me, as opposed to just my work. I really like the idea but it always seemed confusing since this blog was acting as my portfolio for awhile. Now that I've remedied that portfolio situation, I am really stoked to reference an artist I've been inspired by ever since she sketched Sailor Moon for me at Bible Camp when I was little.

Veronica Fish is an amazing illustrator who has a beautiful painterly, ethereal style. Her work is always beautiful and badass rolled up in one. She just recently finished a comic book called "Pirates of Mars" that looks absolutely epic! Please go check out her work, especially since she posts progressives on her blog (which is always helpful ^.^) and buy her comic X3!

[artwork in this post is (c) Veronica Fish]

Mermaid

2011-05-10T17:45:00.001-04:00

I found a great site that I'm now hosting my portfolio on! Click the link under the banner to check it out ^.^

After looking at Chris Sanders work on deviantart, I really wanted to try out the pencil sketching and watercolor combo. I'll try again soon.

I sold a print yesterday, or rather I sold the right to print one personalized digital version of the Enjoy Hookah poster to a photographer in the UK. It was a pretty unorthodox way to sell a print but why would anyone want to pay $20 shipping on a $15 print?

On that note, please let me know if you are interested in buying a print or original of any piece, we'll figure it out.

Lemonhead

2011-05-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

I was on such a roll yesterday, I got a second painting done between cleaning the house and making muffins. (yes, I'm a 50s housewife at heart, this is known.) I've been wanting to play with masked out hair and splatters for awhile and this turned out better than I expected.

The drawing, inking, and painting all just sort of clicked as I was working. Even the masking, which is normally wicked nerve wracking for me, went exactly as I wanted it to. It helps that I practically poured on the masking fluid to make sure it came up cleanly once I was done painting. I'm also going to sell prints of this at Spiritual Haze, framed, signed, and numbered.

hookah poster

2011-05-08T17:49:00.000-04:00

Because I recently sold a painting at Spiritual Haze, I wanted to make another! ^.^ I was working on a Hookah-themed art nouveau style poster.

While I really enjoy the idea of selling the originals, prints would be much more affordable to the mostly-student clientele. Therefore, I'm selling limited-edition hand-signed and numbered prints of this piece. The ones at Haze will all be framed as well. I had a lot of fun playing with monochrome with the Rococo puppets so I did the same with this piece.

I'm sorry in advance if any of my viewers disapprove of the smoking theme in this piece but art wouldn't be very diverse if everyone only drew bunnies and flowers. I can assure you that hookah, when used with shisha (flavored tobacco), is perfectly legal for the 18+ folks out there.

production shot

2011-05-06T12:14:00.000-04:00

Here's a working image from the Rococo animation I'm working on. I didn't want to rush the animation but the characters in parts were well received on deviantArt so I wanted to show what progress I could.

Rococo paper dolls

2011-05-04T12:03:00.000-04:00

I made these to put together as a puppet animation and they are, pretty much, paper dolls. I'm going to edit them further in Photoshop before bringing them into After Effects. I really wanted to combine costume design and animation for this assignment.

I sketched, inked, and painted these entirely by hand. As much as I love digital painting and it's capabilities, I have been neglecting traditional artwork way too much for my tastes lately. My art has been kinda stale for the past few years and I'm going to make more of a point of challenging myself.

In other news, I've started hearing back from internships but no real progress yet. I also sold a painting at Spiritual Haze! :D

Smoulder

2011-04-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

Here's the finished piece. I played around a lot with the different brushes and tried out some techniques and styles I learned about on dA and at Anime Boston today (which was a blast. I definitely want to be a part of Artist's Alley next year). This piece really isn't wicked complex and wouldn't've taken half as long if I understood Paint Tool Sai better but that's the point of practice, right? Anyway, Happy Easter, good night.

flower gleam and glow

2011-04-22T01:01:00.002-04:00

Some more Tangled ((c)Disney) fanart. I'm currently painting it in Paint Tool Sai. I'll try to post more frequently, I promise.

edit: i finished the lineart so I added that as well.

Lipsinc

2011-04-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

In honor of the 99th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, it seems appropriate that I post this animation I made. I used Harry Tally's 1911 hit song "Come Josephine in my Flying Machine" (which was used in the movie Titanic, hence the connection) for my first lipsinc attempt. I absolutely love this song (even after finishing this project) and really want to sing a Swing/Punk version of this song, should it ever be adapted (if I don't adapt it first).

This version has epic artifacting on it, I know. I'm not really sure what happened but I'm working on a solution. Infuriatingly enough, the .swf works perfectly but that format isn't accepted on most sites. Hopefully it won't distract too much from the actual lipsinc.

Super Kawaii Mama

2011-04-02T22:45:00.000-04:00

At the risk of seeming like a massive creeper, I did some fanart of my favorite blog. Super Kawaii Mama is an Australia-based style blog run by the ever fabulous Candice DeVille.

After the PS CS5 tips I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to try something new so I used her blog as inspiration. I based the background off her blog's background, using a free damask pattern I found online (I'd give the source but image google "free damask pattern" and you'll get a million different posts of the exact same pattern). I based the outfit off of one she posted last year (pictures of it can be found in her gallery). I played around with a couple styles for highlights and shadows but nothing really worked and I kinda liked how fresh and crisp it looked this way. I think I might try this technique for more artwork in the future, especially once I understand Illustrator.

when will my life begin?

2011-03-30T00:27:00.001-04:00

As anyone who has spoken to me over the past month or so will know, Tangled (50th feature length animated movie from Disney) came out on DVD today. Needless to say I ran right out and bought it then proceeded to watch it. Twice.

This started as a sketch while I was watching the movie but after finding a great lineart technique and reading Loish's Q&A about what brushes she uses to get her amazing textures, I wanted to play around a bit. This took half an hour, tops. I totally plan on doing more of these XD. As always with fanart, the artwork may be mine but the character is (c) Disney. I adore this movie, especially this scene. I started to add the lanterns but they looked a little too firefly-y.

In other news:

I love it when I'm productive XD I not only got around to some stuff I've had looming for awhile around the house (cleaning, picking up, etc.), I also spent 7+ hours at the lab today and made epic progress on some animations and those character sheets. They aren't done yet but they're getting there so expect to see some of them in the future. ^.^

Hunt Storyboard

2011-03-25T12:20:00.000-04:00

This was my final project for my storyboarding course last semester. I eventually want to complete this animation for my reel but in the meantime, this is what's done.

Hopefully the story is pretty obvious. I'll finish the character sheets and concept art for this soon so the overall feel will be a bit more obvious before I finish the actual animation.

Character sheets WIP

2011-03-24T10:39:00.001-04:00

Last summer I started a project with a friend of mine. He was writing a post-apocalyptic story and will eventually need artwork for it. I started by doing character sheets for two of the characters.

I started by sketching the designs on tracing paper then taping the paper to the back of bristol board to transfer it through. This was before I had my epic light box so I had to hold the paper up to a glass door with a lamp behind it (>.< good times). These pics are just what I got from the scan-n-stitch. I'm going to bring it into Photoshop and clean it up, color it a bit, and add some texture to the background.

Good News, Everyone! (did you hear that in Professor Farnsworth's voice?) My goal for this month was to get more pageviews this month than last month and as of last night and some blog trading on Etsy, I finally reached my goal with calendar days to spare!

storyboard sketch

2011-03-22T14:35:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick sketch I did for my storyboarding class this past winter. I've been pretty sick and wicked busy lately so I haven't been able to get even a portion of what I've been meaning to do lately done, which is frustrating but whatdyagonnado?

I'm not wicked proud of the first two frames but I wasn't sure how to get the idea across in the maximum 4 frames that was part of the assignment. I was definitely inspired by Amy Mebberson and Disney's Princess and the Frog (young Tiana).

In other news, I've added AdSense to my blog out of curiosity. I may get rid of it someday but I wanted to see if it was worth it at all.

Masquerade

2011-03-14T11:24:00.001-04:00

This took me a lot longer than I expected and I keep changing my mind on how I feel about it but overall, I'm please enough with it to show it here.

This one isn't signed because I'm selling 25 prints, each individually signed and numbered, on Etsy. Once I find the right frame, I'll sell the currently signed original too. As stated in the previous post, this is a costume design based on Georgian fashion (think Moliere to Marie Antoinette, also referred to as Rococo. It's what Europe was doing when the U.S. was in it's Colonial period). I took some artistic license and simplified the style some. This is 5" x 7" on watercolor paper.

Masque WIP

2011-03-10T12:31:00.000-05:00

I'm running late for class so I'll actually describe this piece when it's done. I was having a "wow, my hands and my artsy brain are totally in sync" moment while working on this.

This is going to be absolutely adorable when it's done and I'm going to sell prints of it online.
To my fellow costume buffs out there, yes that is a French gown. It needed to happen.

Victorian Reader ACEO

2011-03-08T14:54:00.001-05:00

Here's another ACEO. I haven't done anything costume history-y in awhile so I figured I'd draw a Jubilee-era woman reading in a garden.

As with the previous ACEO, the original sketch is on the back. I have both the original for sale on Etsy, as well as a limited number (25) of prints for a lower cost.

Steampunk Portrait ACEO

2011-03-07T16:38:00.000-05:00

I've finally posted on my Etsy again. I finished another ACEO today and I'll try to post some consistently everyday for awhile. I can't dwell too long on this post since I have to go to class soon but here they are:

The finished version is the front and the back is the original sketch, which is the reverse of the final. I drew the sketch first in reverse so I could ink the final over my lightbox. The gold ink is metallic.

rock vs. feather

2011-03-04T16:54:00.001-05:00

This is Monday's assignment. Yay me for being done with it early! Wednesday's assignment will take some doing though since my new computer can handle AfterEffects, unfortunately.

This assignment was to have a rock and a feather falling to show the difference in weights and how it creates believability in animation. Please crit mercilessly, since I have time to work on it before I have to turn it in.

flash, finally

2011-02-28T22:44:00.000-05:00

The Computer Animation Studio course for my certificate started tonight. Our assignment was the classic "animate a ball bouncing" and this is the first worthwhile animation I've made in Flash (I seriously hope it plays since all my computers always, always hate .mov files). Yeah, its really boring and really generic but its a big step in the right direction for me so shush up. Posting this is really just a ploy to show past animations in the brand new "Links you might like:" app I've added to the end of every post. Enjoy that.

Scan-n-Stitch

2011-02-24T01:23:00.001-05:00

So apparently my scanner is made of magic. It can look at a picture and stitch it all together. Kinda epic.
I tested it on Timeline, since its a large piece that I'm proud of. It also received my highest number of favorites on deviantART so I've been wanting to get a higher quality picture digitized.
Clearly not perfect but I just started using it and it still works a lot better than what I've been doing so far. The corners got cut off a bit but the line quality is completely intact and the color quality is dead-on. Thank you Epson :D

I'm working on a storyboard for my final class tomorrow night so hopefully I can do something about posting that soon. Also, I'm attempting to go back and scan my costume designs by year and semester so I can post them without breaking the bank.

copyright connundrum

2011-02-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

I don't have a picture to post today but I did want to throw around the idea of Artistic Copyright versus Creative Commons. I, personally, can't decide where to stand on this issue and I would love to hear what others feels about these ideas.

Financially, it of course makes sense to find a client for a piece of artwork or specifically make artwork for a client, sell part or all of the distribution rights, and either sell the remaining rights to other clients or move on to the next job. That's what makes money but is that the most conducive way of producing a high-quality product that stays true to the artist's style?

I currently sell prints and originals of my artwork and I also post my artwork online. There is nothing to stop someone from printing one of my pieces at home, framing it, and bypass paying for my work altogether. While I am aware that this could be happening, I still post my images sans watermark for the sake of showing the world my art. I have no idea if I would be making more money selling prints but I want to spread my artwork and share my talent with others. At any rate, I have a part-time job that provides income at the cost of time I could be creating more artwork. Is the cost of showing my artwork to the world for free infringing on my ability to create?

I have no allusions about money making the world go around and the fact that it takes money to create art. I would, however, like to know what happy mediums are out there for professional artists and how to be a professional without losing who I am as an artist.

Dancey Pants

2011-02-19T10:22:00.001-05:00

This is the last of the three pictures I did for Spiritual Haze. I wanted to do something fun and peppy to balance out the other two. This is a 5x7" ink and watercolor painting in a 1" white matte frame. The framed original is $40.

Ocean Goddess

2011-02-18T11:21:00.000-05:00

Of the three, this is the piece I'm most proud of. It took forever to get a design I was happy with and I begrudgingly erased elements that I really liked but didn't work overall. Hopefully it's fairly obvious that she's sort of turning into water. Anyway, this is ink and watercolor. I used masking fluid to get the water right and to create the sky, which has masked out hibiscus flowers in it. This is 5x7" on textured watercolor paper and it's framed in a 1" matte frame the same color as the leaves. The framed piece is for sale at Spiritual Haze for $50.
In other news, I am currently posting from my brand spankin' new computer! It's a refurbished Dell Latitude E6510 and so far I love it! There are some elements that I might have changed had I thought of them but given my living setup at the moment, it's pretty much perfect.

Oh! I have a blanket question out there. If you are skilled at website design and code and can help me execute my ideas, would you be willing to barter artwork for your skills? Please email me if you are interested.

Seer

2011-02-17T14:43:00.000-05:00

This is one of the three pieces I'm bringing over to Spiritual Haze today. This 4x6" original watercolor painting will be available there, framed, for $30. I'll post the others tomorrow.

happy heart-shaped candy day!

2011-02-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

I'm a pretty happy camper at the moment. I'm in the process of displaying artwork at a hookah bar in Worcester MA called Spiritual Haze, which is pretty epic. I'll post the pieces that'll be displayed once they are done. As for today, I'm feeling festive:This is the valentine I made for the beau. Pikachu is my go-to character on Brawl so I figured I would whip up some cutesy fanart for the guy who taught me how not to button mash. Of course, Pikachu and Brawl are (c) Nintendo. This was an experiment with gouache and, other than the background, it's pretty dead-on to what I was trying to accomplish. The lineart is with colored pencils.

new style

2011-02-07T22:21:00.000-05:00

This was the piece I was referencing a couple posts back when I mentioned trying out a new style. This is a 25"x19" watercolor piece.

I had a sketch a few years back that I had been meaning to finish with watercolors but by the time I got back to it, there was a lot I saw wrong with it. I used masking fluid for the white spaces so I could go to town on the background without holding back where the white would eventually go. Expect more of this style, it's fun ^.^

wrench wench

2011-02-04T20:22:00.000-05:00

DONE! Told ya so. Watercolor and ink on bristol and the use of masking fluid. Ftw.

The Mechanic sketch

2011-02-04T13:53:00.001-05:00

I don't know who she is yet, but I like her XD Here's a character design I've been playing with for awhile and a rough concept that she and a couple other designs fit into. Maybe it'll be a comic someday, who knows. Still in pencil, of course, but I hope to finish it today. She's clearly got a sort of Rosie the Riveter thing going on and yes, she is the same character as in the Dumbass painting, just a bit more refined given the different medium. This is pretty small and the finished thing will be watercolor, etc.

something a bit different

2011-01-31T22:45:00.000-05:00

So I've been trying out something new and the larger piece I made worked out pretty well but this is still missing something. I'll keep working at it since I'm trying to get my stuff into local galleries but this one I'm going to send to a friend of mine who's work is absolutely amazing (I'm trying to get some artist penpal situations set up since snailmail is always awesome when it's not a bill and it's wicked awesome when it's a perdy pic). I think I'll get my butt to a Kinko's soon so I can scan some of my larger pieces. I know I always say that but this time I mean it, honest. They might be hiring ^.^;;

be wery wery quiet, i'm hunting jobs

2011-01-19T17:20:00.000-05:00

Ever wish you could just jump over the "newness" in something and just be settled in a new life experience? I've kinda got a lot of that going on right now ^.^;; while the newness is fun, it's also pretty daunting. That said, I'm job hunting at the moment so if anyone knows of any entry level jobs or illustration gigs they'd think I'd be good for, please let me know!

Above is the revised version of last week's storyboard and below is the follow-up assignment. "Man sets rabbit aside on table, reaches into hat again, pulls out a bizarre alien creature, and reacts to it." Not too much to say other than that.

On another note, I probably won't be able to update wicked often since it looks like this time laptop really did die. Any suggestions on affordable PC laptops? I'm considering the lenovo but some suggestions from other artists would be greatly appreciated.

first storyboard assignment

2011-01-12T12:27:00.000-05:00

So the class was pretty fun. Not too much to say about it yet so I'll just show what I've done so far.
The assignment was "Man shows an empty hat, then pulls a rabbit out of it (4 panels)"
For the next class, I have to refine these four and add four more about the magician and an alien.

happy week and a half after new year!

2011-01-11T16:04:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this year, new and exciting things have been happening in Halseyland as well as some less than awesome health setbacks (but nothing serious so I'm not complaining). Anyway, after my computer playing possum this morning, I was finally able to get to posting. I don't have too much to show given the bedridden-ness and the other projects that are happening around the house (my room is just about usable as an office and we're finishing the basement for a painting studio!! :D) but I whipped up this pic this morning. More fanart.This is just a sketch of Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender. (c) Nickelodeon. Nuffin' special. I would write more but I have to get ready for my class tonight. I'm taking Storyboarding at RISD (!!!) which will go towards a certificate in Animation. Next step, getting a job. ^.^;;

auld lang syne

2010-12-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post for the year 2010. Overall, this was a pretty amazing year but I won't bore you with the details ^.^
I wanted to test out the gorgeous new scanner and honor the spirit of "auld lang syne" by posting the portraits I did of my sister and myself.
Each piece on the left is done with color pencil and sharpie on computer paper back in 2005.

Each piece on the right is an india ink and watercolor painting I did this year for my parents as a Christmas present.

The skinny brunette is my sister Caileigh and I'm the other one XD. I tried to incorporate a couple of our interests and our school colors now that we've both graduated.
I'm pretty proud of how these came out and of how much I've grown as an artist in the past 5 years but I still have a long way to go.

Happy New Year's! Next time I post it'll be 2011! :D

so much to say, so little energy to say it with

2010-12-27T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well, as is fairly obvious, I haven't updated in awhile. With exams, the move, and the holidays all in a row, I haven't exactly had time to work on this little pet project of mine. That being said, I'll try to get better about that. I don't really have workspace at the moment but I now have a massive new light box and a stunning scanner, as well as some animation software on the way, so once I get set up again, I can get back to work with gusto. In the meantime, here is a WIP of the Ruffnut picture using Sumo (what a pain! >.<) This has been a huge pain so far since the program is giving me issues, I'm still getting used to the tablet, and my computer is wicked slow.At this rate, I dunno if this is ever going to get finished.
Ruffnut (c) Dreamworks