Final Project (Wednesday)

*Drumroll*

Ok, not the best picture, but it really isn't my best work either.

I really wanted to use characters for this. And my own style.

I had to ask the teacher for permission to do a lot of things before I went full-tilt into this project.

He gave me the go-ahead, and I got an A for it!

So, process time!

---

This was originally going to be much more complex, but once I got into it the task became more daunting. 

First off, I've never actually drawn elementists... elementing.

I've designed them before, but never took on the elements themselves. I ended up referencing Avatar (the cartoons, not either of the movies) a lot. The water was fairly simple, but fire was a whole other animal.

See, water has mass, whereas fire (at least what we visualize as fire) is actually combusting ash.

How do you even draw that?

Here's one of my practice sheets.

I ended up treating fire as, rather than a stream of flame, smaller comets with an implied center of mass.

(I almost snuck a little eye on the main one because they reminded me of fish.)

The big problem I had with the water elementist was her positioning.

I initially wanted her to be facing the viewer more than her opponent. I chose that so I could show that I could draw a face from more than one angle and still have it look good, but she ended up looking detached from the situation, so I turned her to profile.

Also notice, she has both hands visible, and the fire elementist doesn't.

I admit to not being very good at drawing hands, so I attempted to avoid them as much as possible, but that didn't really work.

When I first sketched the idea (during a Physics lecture), both were wearing gowns, but I also sketched some "battle gear" in the event that the dresses didn't work.

I tried. I really did.

They added an extra level of motion and complexity that I felt a final project needed, but they were also bulky, and didn't show the posing very well. Not to mention they felt really out of place in a battle scenario. (I mean, did it start as a heated debate over cocktails or something?)

If any of you remember when I drew those dragon ladies a while ago, you may be thinking that these two look really familiar.

Don't judge me for recycling ideas.

The dragons exist is a different story-verse than the elementists, and they're still deep in development.

Fun Fact: I actually drew this twice.

Yup.

I was particularly brilliant and went into coloring mode and forgot to bring shading mode with me.

So I got to draw this again.

It was kind of a mix of tracing and just plain redrawing.

I've sketched these poses enough (I've got about 5-7 pages of practice sketches), so I knew how to do it, but I had already done most of the work, so I loosely traced it.

Also, really proud of the fire elementist's right foot.

Look at it; it's marvelous.

---

Ok, I'll stop rambling for a bit now.

For all its faults, I am proud of the amount of work I put into this piece.

I've shown myself that I can sketch an idea and then draw it later.

It also proved that I can redo a piece I've messed up and not be so far behind that I can't make a deadline or something.

So I guess I did learn something from my art class, even if I did have to teach it to myself.

Go with God,

~Allie

Moving Out (Thursday)

Sorry, no art here.

Ungrateful people, move along, I'm just typing up thoughts here.

So move-out day is.... hectic.

Triple checking to make sure all the drawers are empty, deciding which electronics stay out of boxes to keep me entertained, and folding mattress pads is busy work.

I might miss the ... coziness of the dorm, but I look forward to having more space (and a spinning chair).

My sketchbooks are either at home or buried in a box, along with my scanner, so it might be a little bit before I care enough to get some things done.

I will, however, be doing some painting (this might be the first thing I do this summer). So that may be posted here.

Got an A on my final project (yay!), and my teacher acknowledged my having already developed a style before joining his class. Even though I made a good grade in the class, I'm not looking to take another one. I've found that I manage to learn just fine on my own with the internet and other artists' work available to look at.

I've also been practicing with my copics again. I would like to do more shading, but I'm going to need more markers. It might be time for me to just buy a set or something. (First I need money.) I don't really want to because I'd have repeats of markers, and with them being stupidly expensive I don't like that. Maybe I could find a used set somewhere... (Woah, there's 5 different sets of 72.)

So that's what I'm up to today.

I'll get back to you once the dust settles.

Go with God,

~Allie

Finals and Whatnot (Tuesday)

Taking a short break from studying/busywork and thought I'd give you this.

Silly thing I drew in physics.

Rather happy about the hands.

So, yeah.

Finals coming up.

Working on my final art project (tell you more about that when I finish).

Also preparing for move-out day, that'll be... interesting.

Well, I need to go get toner so my printer can, you know, print things.

Go with God,

~Allie

My Art Teacher... (Friday)

Is completely pointless.

Well, maybe not completely, but he has frequent moments.

So we were supposed to do some random lines and make a sort of drawing out of it.

I have actually done a similar exercise on my own, but most of the time my method does not create a good opportunity to create a full piece out of it. So after staring at my random lines for a good bit, I ditched that in favor of something more fun.

(Mind you, the teacher passed my work multiple times while I was working on this and said nothing.)

---

Most of the demon itself was done in-class, but I had to run out and get the red, black, and brown pencils to add some depth and color to him after.

He is all graphite and colored pencil, and the background is hard vine charcoal for the lighter parts and soft charcoal for the dark in-between bits.

The background if really finicky. You so much as look at it wrong and it smudges.

Ugh.

---

I really like drawing snarly faces and pointy teeth.

My classmates must think I have some emotional issues.

Anyways, he looks a lot like Roger(who's changed a bit recently, might alter him some more), but he isn't. Must be some spectral relative of his.

I really haven't had the opportunity to sit down and really draw some fun things. Well, there is one, I'll try and scan that tomorrow and post it. For the most part, outside of class I haven't been particularly inspired.

I guess I'm most productive when I should be doing something else.

Go with God,

~Allie

Grid Drawing (Friday)

So yeah, we did these grid drawings.

I still much prefer free-handing it. More flexibility that way.

But here's a shot of the progress and then the finished piece.
Matt Smith, everybody.... I tried....

His shirt was a pain in the butt.

So was his hair.

---

I started with graphite pencils, doing the outlining of his face and shoulders.

Then I went and fixed everything.

I used a sort of smudgery to shade his face.

By that I mean a colored this really dark spot elsewhere on the page, rubbed my finger in it, and used that to shade his face. Some of the darker spots I had to use a pencil then blend it, and then some work with the eraser to sharpen some shadows.

I used graphite on his hair, laying down a general shade then darkening it where needed and using my eraser to do highlights.

The pattern on his shirt was pencil too, shaded by charcoal (and my finger).

I only used vine charcoal on this; I started with hard on the jacket, but then I went and got the soft stuff to really shade it.

(Soft charcoal gets darker than hard charcoal.)

The bowtie was all soft charcoal.

I worked off a picture, but I can't be bothered to put it up.

The grid was drawn on the picture too, the drawing is about twice the size of the original.

---

I might post again soon.

Teacher let me draw a dragon in class and I've continued to work on it.

Growing fond of it.

When I get an adequate amount done on it, I'll post a photo.

Go with God,

~Allie

Tired (Saturday)

I tried to sleep in today; woke up at 8.

Sorry I haven't posted anything, I've been incredibly lazy.

Anyway, we drew faces in art class! (Like, a week ago! At least.)

So here's proof that I actually knew something going into this class.

Apparently these are fairly accurate.

Just a note, this girl doesn't like her profile. I think it's lovely.

Yes, we did draw from models (each other), so I am somewhat competent.

Wish I had my sketchbook back.

The professor keeps taking them over the weekend.

My teacher likes to take an hour to say anything, so I get to drawing fun stuff during that time.

I'm not kidding, he went on for at least half an hour about how he wasn't going to talk much during class.

However, we have finally covered perspective and shading (or "value" as he calls it), and I might have learned something.

Go with God,

Allie

Updates (Thursday)

Almost done week one of semester two.

Thought it would be a good time to give the two people who actually read this a quick update on what's going on.

I'm going to be fairly busy.

And by fairly, I mean I expect to be working hard to stay on top of my schoolwork.

So, it's very likely that posts will be few and far between.

Sorry.

I am taking an art class, but, um, remember that post I did a while ago concerning art classes?

Yeah.

My teacher had us drawing pinecones...

I was really hoping that drawing foundations would be about shading, perspective, and similar things, but I seriously doubt that anything similar to that will be happening in the next few weeks.

In regards to my other classes, things are going ok.

Until I got to my Physics homework.

At first I was like, "Yeah, conversions, I can totally do that," but then they threw foot-acres at me.

FOOT-ACRES.

Is anything related to rainfall supposed to be covered in this class?

Really now.

Calculus B is looking to be daunting as well, but I'm signing up for the study sessions they have planned, so between that and my Dad's help, I should be ok.

Hmmm... what's positive?

...

AHA!

Bowling.

I like bowling.

In one class time I've already found where my problem areas are.

And if I show up to every class, there's apparently no reason I shouldn't get an A.

Yay!

I will try to update every once in a while.

Maybe I'll just copy some of my in-class doodles and post them for you to enjoy.

Until next time!

Go with God,

Allie

The Artist Writes a Review: The Hobbit (Tuesday)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

For the record, I'm really excited to be doing this review.

So yes, I'm gonna set up how this is going to work.

Things to Know:

1. I have not read the book, but I will before the next movie comes out. I have seen the movie twice, in 3D and 2D (I favor the 2D).

2. This is my opinion. I will acknowledge that you have one as well, but don't think that I will change mine to suit yours.

3. There will be my Recommendation, and then my actual Review. Only the Review will contain spoilers.

Got it?

Ok, now for the disclaimer:

I am not responsible for any plot spoilers that exist beyond the spoiler alert.

With all that squared away, let's get to the fun stuff!

Recommendation

See this movie. It's awesome!

However, I must warn you.

Some of the videography threw me off in the 3D version, which I saw first. They shot this movie in a much higher resolution than I've come to expect from this genre. I recommend that you go in to see this movie with an open mind as what to expect visually, or you're going to run into the same issues I did. It looked much better in 2D, but from adjusting my expectations I was able to see just how great the quality was. So don't let that deter you.

I would also advise you to not forget about the music, which was so spectacular, I bought the soundtrack as soon as I got home.

Now, go forth and see The Hobbit!

!Spoiler Alert!

The Review

You have no idea how thrilled I am with this movie!

I'm not going to waste time telling you everything that happened in the movie, I'm just going to highlight my favorite parts.

I will try to keep to one subject at a time, but I find I tend to ramble on and on when it comes to this story.

Yes, I did critique the videography a bit. However, that is only because the feel of the imagery was unexpected. As I said, soon as I opened my mind to a new look for the genre, it was a visual treat.

Now I'm going to rave about the songs for a moment here.

The fact that the dwarves actually sing is great. Tolkien wrote quite a few poems to describe the history of Middle Earth and to tell stories to assist the plot, so it was neat to have a little of that included.

'Blunt the Knives' was such a fun bit to watch, and it's a lively song that I love to hear.

'Misty Mountains' does a wonderful job of introducing the main theme of the movie. The singing is beautiful and whenever I hear the melody during the movie I'm thrilled to hear it. Every. Single. Time.

Now, the Unexpected Party is one of the outstanding scenes for me. It really introduces the dwarves as a group, rather than as individuals. This was nice as there are thirteen dwarves. THIRTEEN.

By the way:

I've seen a lot of complaining around the sites I browse about how The Hobbit has been split into three movies rather than the originally promised two, but I can see why they did. With thirteen main characters (more like fifteen, but we've met Biblo and Gandalf before) to make individual from the rest; it would be exhausting to cram all that into just two movies.

So on those grounds, I support their decision.

Back to the scene.

From that scene alone, I saw a fun-loving bunch of dwarves who, despite their poor table manners, are decent house guests. They clearly respect their leaders, Thorin and Gandalf, but aren't above causing a bit of trouble. And again, I really love the songs.

Then there's Radagast the Brown. A notable character, not just for his personality, but his sled pulled by rabbits.

Another thing I appreciated was Rivendell. Not only were the sets familiar, but the music also brought on some Lord of the Rings nostalgia.

After this was the Thunder Battle.

Wow. This scene was amazing for two reasons. One; the thunder, great stone giants fighting one another with hand-to-hand combat as well as throwing huge chunks of mountain. Really visually impressive. Two; the moment when they realized they were standing on the knees of such a giant. Kili and Fili made this scene for me. As the giant goes to stand, the ledge the party is standing on splits in two. The brothers were in the middle, and as they see each other on the other side of the gap, you can tell they are scared. Since they arrived at Bag-End, Kili and Fili have been by each other's side, and I believe that this is the moment they realize that they could lose one another.

I may have looked too deep into this, but I felt it was important.

The final battle of the movie and the confrontation that follows was wonderful.

Thorin sees his mortal enemy once again, not as dead as originally thought, and there's flaming pinecones. The pinecones was a neat element. The fire added an extra layer to the combat, particularly when the eagle uses its wings to cause the flames to flare up at the wargs. Also when Bilbo protects Thorin, it really cements why he is there. He's not just there to pick up the Ring and give his companions a headache, he actually shows what a benefit he is to the party.

Also, when Thorin confronts Bilbo about his actions after the fight there's a moment when you believe he really means it, but he turns it around and accepts Bilbo as one of them.

Then there's the brohug, which makes me happy.
Seriously, I've been devastated by movies that have shown perfect opportunities for bros to hug and not taken advantage of them. It's sad, really.

So yeah, really excited for the next movie to come out and I'll be getting this one on DVD as soon as possible.

Hope you enjoyed this review.
Go with God,
~Allie

Wrapping (Thursday)

Every. Single. Year.
Hope to have something a bit more festive for you later.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas!
~Allie

Public Service Announcement(Tuesday)

Door Decorating (Wednesday)

Just to prove that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, and that what skill I have has not abandoned me.

Since this was for a Halloween decorating contest, I thought it was appropriate.

My awesome roommates and I worked way too hard on this.

Good thing we won the contest!

We're planning to leave it up through Christmas.

---

More detailed info!

We started with a bedsheet and spray painted it grey (it took like 3 cans of paint).

Michelle cut it and taped it to the actual door so that it would still open/close/lock; you know, important door stuff. She also provided to cobwebs.

The two demons are Steve (the one crawling out of the door) and a void rabbit (yet to be named).

I sketched them out and painted the lines in a glittery black (which is darker than the regular black), and Michelle and Kaitlyn helped fill them in (with the flat black and red).

Some of the details are missed here because paper rolls. There are spines on the rabbit's back, and the one hand on Steve has these really long nails.

Tiffany helped with hanging things, which was great because it was really a two-person job.

We used a lot of tape for this.

The sign was made of scrap paper left from cutting out the demons and the cell window and rust were painted on last.

---

Admit it.

My roommates rock.

Mostly because they put up with the disaster area that was the common area that happened while we were working on this.

(It got cleaned up, don't worry.)

So, yeah.

Aside from school, that's what I've been doing.

Not much going on otherwise.

I'm going to open up suggestions, so feel free to comment with an idea for a drawing, keeping in mind not every idea will be used, and please comment here if you do.

Go with God,

~Allie

P.S. From now on I'll do the process information like I did this time, with the '---'s, so that those not interested can just skip through it.

Avengers, Agreement! (Sunday)

Odd day to post.

Oh well.

Meant to post these a while ago, but I got distracted.

So yeah.

Apparently some of our neighbors have been having arguments, so all the rooms were assigned roommate agreements.

Our room hasn't had any problems, and we communicate pretty well, so we all thought it pointless. However, we got a sample with it that had Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, and Steve Rodgers as the roommates and I got inspired. The original was fairly straightforward and simply brought up things that people could use in theirs, but I thought it very out of character for some of the "roommates" and decided to fix it.

First I replaced Steve with Loki (who is much more entertaining) and just went from there.

I know there's some inaccuracies, particularly with the armor (the person who designed Loki's costume was an evil mastermind), but I did my best and I'm not going back to fix it.

This one won't be colored.

I am leaving this alone.

It took me 6 hours to finish the drawing alone, I don't even know how much time I spent on the written agreement.

Don't know what I'll start working on next, so stay there on the edge of your seat and hope for the best.

Enjoy!

Go with God,

~Allie

More Nymph (Friday)

You know, Friday used to be the busiest day of the week for me.

Now I only have 1 class in the morning.

Yay!

I'm also trying to get a good rendition of an idea related to a different class, so ... maybe I'll get around to it.

Anyways, NYMPH.

I'm liking the colors, but not so much her outfit.

I like her legs though, they turned out nice.

And I've seen that glow done somewhere before (if you find it let me know), but it looks kinda cool. And it gets the point across... I think.

If you noticed the whiteout... I hate that stuff.

It made my lineart look better, but it did a pretty fine job of messing up my colors.

Grr.

I'll also have to change her staff. At the very least it should be taller, but at the moment it's a bit quirky looking.

So yes, things to work out (still working on a style to get those princesses to look right) and an idea still in the works.

...

Plus school.

Lots and lots of school.

Go with God,

~Allie

Make this quick (Thursday)

So I've recently gotten back into DragonFable.

(I don't play all the time, schoolwork comes first.)

It's pretty fun, and this is based off one of my characters, Nymph.

Can you see where I was holding the sketchbook?

So her armor looks nothing like this, I may even change her design again so that she looks... better?

I dunno.

Favoring the mages right now, so I may draw the other one as well.

Go with God,

~Allie

Headache (Tuesday)

Scanner apps.

Yup.

Not the best, but hey, pictures.

I should tell you guys that I won't be doing anything more often, turns out that's when I get things done.

I very much had a day where all I could draw was dragons.

They're alright.

The top one is chasing his tail.

He also has a little beard.

Next time I do this I'll try to have better lighting.

It took way too long to figure out how to get this on the computer...

I'm gonna go... you know.... chill and stuff....

Classes start tomorrow.

So.

Yeah.

ugh, headache....

Go with God,

~Allie

Hiatus? (Thursday)

Well, I'm moving into my dorm tomorrow.

So, no posts for a bit.

At least no pictures.

The only scanner I know I'll have access to is here at home, and I don't know how often I'll be here.

Classes start next week, so until I settle into my schedule, I'll likely not do a lot of drawing.

So, yes, hiatus until I get going in the right direction.

Go with God,

~Allie

So I Lied (Thursday)

So things didn't turn out as well as I'd like with my prototype, so I'm having to make another.

However, I'm secure enough in my process to tell you about what I'm going to be doing.

Mostly, mold making.

I'm going to try to make a blank from some miscellaneous items and use that to make a mold. I'll be making said mold from Plaster of Paris, and casting the final piece in resin (hopefully, a lot clearer than the first thing came out).

It's a lot of sit and wait for things to dry/harden, so please have patience with me.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to go to college. Just over a week from now I'll be moving onto campus, and then about a week after that classes start.

I feel kind of bad for just leaving my readers (the glorious few) hanging, so I will leave you with a drawing of Princess Luna.

Humanized, obviously. Her look is influenced by a drawing I saw on deviantart, a bit military. I like to think of her as the more regimented type, while Celestia is more relaxed. Princess Cadance is just the people's princess; doesn't do much in governing, but is loved by the people.

...

I really put too much thought into that...

But the look is... rough to say the least. I've already got ideas for improving on it. This is one of a few little doodles I did last night, so please excuse the quality.

If this My Little Pony kick keeps up I may do all three of the princesses.

We'll see.

Go with God,

~Allie

So Close! (Monday)

Only time stands between me and knowing if my project will work.

....

We're thinking about a day...

Just a day.....

. . . 

A whole day....

.  .  .  .

Well... In the meantime....

EPIC MUSIC

...

That is all.

Go with God,

~Allie

New Logo (Monday)

It was never meant to be this complicated, but I like how it turned out.

So, represented here;

Legend of Zelda

Super Mario

Pokemon

3DS

Wii

Legend of Korra

Doctor Who

Gravity Falls

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

and some random dragons and music.

This looks a lot better in person... oh well.

It's a bit more current than my current logo.

Ok, a lot more current.

This piece took ~3 hours to complete.

Started with the full silhouette, and sketched the characters, inked them, freehanded the thought clouds and colored everything else.

Really fun to work on.

Oh, and I really didn't look up references until I started coloring, so if things look off, that's why.

In other news, I recently started playing Pokemon Black and I named my starter Pippin. (About 5 more levels and he'll evolve into Serperior! So excited.)

Go with God,

~Allie

Guessing This Is Something (Sunday)

This one is based off something my pastor said during the sermon today.

So don't say I don't pay attention just because I'm doodling.

(Please excuse my lack of knowing how to draw skulls and don't correct me on it.)

And this was bigger, but I didn't like how I drew the angle, so this is all you get.

I liked the face.

I may work at this more cartoony style a bit, see how it turns out.

Read somewhere that you should draw something five times (seriously) before you give up on it.

Oh, by the way, that's me. I got my hair cut.

So, to review, if you see this character (the girl, not the skeleton) in any of my future drawings, it's me.

And I'm getting full-swing into a project, if the prototype works, I'll let you know what I'm doing.

Go with God,

~Allie