2012 thus far.

Alright, just going to post a medley of stuff that I've been working on so far.  Will do a more in depth post on a single something or other this weekend!

The End of a Semester

(queue dramatic music)

On a whole it was pretty good. Between Illuxcon and several great classes with great teachers it was a great ride the past few months. So it's with a cheery mood I present to you some random things accomplished so far.









Clearly oil paints are the choice of the semester.

And then random sketchbook doodles of late- with winter break here I've decided to indulge myself and do a lot of fan art (*cough*doctorwho*cough*sherlock) but I also really want to get going on that huge personal project involving angels and whatnot. I have no idea if it will go anywhere but I'm working on character development which will soon head toward more involved story development. But the sketchbook finds a lot of these things floating around in it so I'll throw them out here for now.






But being at the end of the semester is especially frustrating for me (particularly how graduation is approaching faster). But looking at my work this past semester, I'm surprisingly pleased with what I have come up with but then again my style feels like it is struggling more than ever. It feels detached somehow and I can only hope I will accomplish a more connected feel next semester.

100th Post!

(and there was much rejoicing)

Today I want to post a bunch of my work from landscape painting thus far- it's been a really nice class so far and I've been picking up on a lot of stuff I'd been missing in my painting. And hey- playing with oils twice a week? It's keeping me sane.

We did some palette knife paintings which I conveniently forgot to take pictures of....but I'm cozy and comfy watching The Mummy while wrapped up in my Wall-E blanket so I'm not moving for a while. Luckily I have everything else we've done so far. First up- in class painting and the first time we were allowed to use both colors and paint brushes (huzzah!)


Amazingly enough it looks better in the picture I took.....but moving on! We went out to a park on Wednesday because for once it wasn't raining (apparently this has been one of the wettest Ohio autumns on record). But of course we get there and get going for about an hour before it starts to rain. Moral of story? Paint as fast as possible and revise later.


And it was unfortunately slightly damaged from the rain (you can see all the little missing flakes) but we (my roommies and I might go back to the park to hang out and paint this Sunday). If that doesn't happen we're supposed to go back there in class on Wednesday if it's nice out.
Then today was also a b-e-a-utiful drizzly disgusting windy cold miserable misting day of grossness. But we went outside anyway. Take that weather. We went to a different park and hid under shelters while painting. Got a bit more accomplished and took pictures at the end to work from to try and finish it up.


I particularly like what was going on in that section in the back on the right:


Granted I can't get any decent pics of it now since it's still wet but later this next week when it's done and dry expect an update.

Illustrative Drawing With Mr. Tardino.

This class. Finally a workload that is threatening to cave my entire life in on itself in an enjoyable way!
Illustrative drawing is one of my classes for the fall 2011 semester. Essentially we (the students) are each creating our own story for which we are designing characters, creatures, environments, etc. The fall semester centers a bit more around animals since we are able to go to the Columbus zoo!
My story is still a work in progress (as is every other story in the class)- but a quick summary of what I have typed up is here: (scroll past if you'd like to avoid reading)

So if you scrolled past basically all you need to get out of it for now is it takes place in Russia in the early 1900s (around 1905-8) and the animals involved are a Silver Langur, a Siberian Tiger, a Grizzly Bear, and two Timber Wolves (brothers). So far our class work has been mostly sketches and studies. I'll shut up now and let the pictures do some talking.



These three painting sketches were (as Tardino called them) "dream-scapes"- essentially quick environmental studies to get a mood and atmosphere across to the viewer. But from what I hear (from my roomie who is in the Monday class) he didn't want figures in them yet? Then again the example he showed us had characters in it so I just don't know anymore. But this is what he's getting.



Then some skeletons for all the beasties....and some walk cycles HERE and HERE.







Then some studies from the zoo itself....

All in all lots of work and I'm curious to see what my finished works wind up looking like for this class.

SCHOOL.

It hath begun. Three weeks in and I'm managing to stay on top of homework for once in my life. Granted it's only three weeks in. Anywho not much time for a detailed post tonight- if you want to see my ventures (once a day every day) head over to le tumblr:
http://klang-art.tumblr.com/
Since I can't go into detail about current projects (my head is spinning just thinking about them all) have a painting I did at the zoo last week- there's a bear in there (the sleeping blob in between the trees). Not that good but hey, it was an hour and a half in oils. It was fun practice.

Now I'm going to go back home and do more homework (seriously). A much more complete in detail update should make an appearance sometime this weekend.

Paint!

As I said before- lack of internet does not equal a lack of art! (quite the opposite in fact). Here's some random ones I've been playing with for an upcoming art show:




And an older painting and demon doodle I never uploaded for some reason:


On a whole I'm feeling much more confident technique-wise- something sophomore year had me concerned about. I also think my general mentality concerning color is improving vastly but I'm going to have to do up some new pieces to prove it. For the most part this summer I'm trying to concentrate on basic weak points (hands, faces, and a refresher in animal anatomy.) If I get far enough on those I'll be trying to actually illustrate some stuff before school comes rushing back so in my free time I've been reading a good bit- just re-read some Harry Potter and I'm going to finally read Dune. The plan is once August rolls around I'll be illustrating some things I've been reading.

Some minor progress

And look! I'm trying landscapes for once in my life!

Landscapes

On that whole 'I suck at landscapes and environments' bit from a week or two ago, decided to play some in painter. Restrictions- most of composition should be an environment and use the color pink for the most part. (My roomie imposed that last one)
I'm not thrilled with it but it still has such a long way to go I shouldn't pass judgment yet.