25 Days of Art Days 9-12

oh hello there. Just FYI, when I'm home with my family, my productivity goes from not very high to ZERO. Partially because in between eating and laughing and watching Sherlock, I just can't find the time, and partially because I left all of my art home in anticipation of said activities. And, of COURSE, I get a teeny tiny commission while I'm home and away from all of my artstuffs. ERGH. I mean srsly guys. I should have planned that better. Alas. Anyway. I realize I haven't updated for a few days again. I also realize I'm terribly behind with my 25 Days of Art. LET IT BE KNOWN. I am still drawing and working on stuff! It's just hard to keep working when I'm so busy doing other things like decorating cookies. And then eating them. :D

So. Things I'm currently working on: something with sailors/pirates, a rad whale/dragon hybrid, ghosts, Elven hair accessories, and a few other fun things for you. Unfortunately, most of these will be in black and white or variations of blue seeing as how I have very little in the way of art supplies right now. SOON. Anyway. Hopefully I'll have the sense to pick this blog up again on a daily basis. Cheers!

And for your entertainment, some more Disney hair illustrations!!

25 Days of Art- Days 1-8

Hello all! So Thanksgiving sort of happened and then I forgot to post for a while, but I am back! With a vengeance! Okay, not really. But I'm working on this project now. From December 1 until Christmas, I am making a new 3.5"x5" drawing/painting every day and putting it up for sale. Mot of these can be bought here: [link] Here are the ones I've done so far!

"Thorin's Beard "(sold) Watercolor and pencil!

"Quite Right Too" pencil drawing of David Tennant

"Snow," a watercolor illustration. Reference used: [link]

"Finches" watercolor illustration (new script liner brush!)

"Luna," because who doesn't love her lion hat. Watercolor and pen.

"A Respectable Hobbit"- Martin Freeman as Bilbo. I am SO excited.

"This Provincial Life" because I love Disney. And hair. And my purple Micron.

"Herringbone" hooray tights. And skirts. And my script liner brush.

So there you have it. I'll have more next week. Hey. Guess what. THE HOBBIT OPENS IN LESS THAN A WEEK. Also. I'm going home for Christmas. HOORAY!

Giving Thanks

It was quite strange not having Thanksgiving today (since we had it last week with my parents.) Despite the lack of a turkey, green bean casserole, and the plethora of pies that usually accompany this holiday, there is one thing that didn't change. Well, two. The first is we totes still watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I cried; I just love the holiday season, and that's like the official kickoff for me. Emotional?) Second, I still want to take time to give thanks.

Looking back on this year, it's easy to find things to be thankful for. In May, I graduated Kendall College of Art and Design. I am so grateful I was able to get my degree in four years, while I still had a generous scholarship. I'm so thankful for the people there who helped me grow as an artist and a person. It really was the best time of my life to date.

I'm also thankful for all the opportunities I had this past year to exhibit my work and grow my audience: whether it was my solo show at Bay College, my art booth at the Renaissance Faire, an offer to be featured in an online magazine, or even just crafting it up with kids at a summer camp, I have really been blessed this year when it comes to my art. I even landed a job in the art world, which is more than I could have asked for.

I want to take this time to thank all of you who endure my billions of art/blog/promotional posts. Every time you share them, I get closer to reaching my goal. So thanks. Art isn't possible without an audience, and I can't say how much I appreciate all the encouragement, kind words, shares, and likes. It's what motivates me to continue creating and to move on to bigger and better things. Here's to a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Pictures, Paint and Police Boxes

Wow. I missed a couple days and I feel so behind! This post is going to be pretty long because I've got a few things to cover. First of all: Finished pieces! I've gotten 2 pieces done since my last post so I'll get those out of the way first. Each one of these is approximately 5"x7" and are available in my Etsy shop for $45 a piece.

"Serenity," a painting I made using this reference: [link]

"Nautilus": a painting I made in homage to the Golden Ratio, my favorite mathematical phenomenon

Alright. So what else is new. Ah! Doctor Who for the Holidays! I've got a bunch of products in the works right now, just trying to figure out which ones i want to make multiples of and whatnot. So here's a roundup of some Doctor Who-related items.

Made this little guy today, great for little kids as it's soft and there are no small parts :D

A set of bookmarks, great for Doctor Who bookworms

Doctor Who TARDIS damask bow, for those who like to show their femininity as well as their geekiness. :D

So between that and decorating my house for Christmas (about 20 snowflakes and counting, not to mention Christmas trees, garland, and wreaths) I've been pretty busy the past 2 days. I've also gotten a commission for a piece that's VERY unlike my usual art, but will surely be a challenge and a great asset to my skill portfolio.

One last thing. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought myself some paint. HOLY CRAP WATERCOLOR PAINTS ARE EXPENSIVE. I mean, I know a tiny tube lasts like 2 years, but I still have a hard time shelling out $7-$15 for 5 ml of anything. *sigh* I chose such an expensive hobby to make into a career.

Progress, Thanksgiving, Holidays

My parents came down this weekend and spent a few days with my sister and me. It was great having them here (and not just because they bought us groceries!) and we all had a lovely time. I got to show my parents where I worked, we all had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner (we celebrated early so we could be together; my mom and I did most of the cooking. I'm pretty much a housewife without a husband.) We had chicken and a small ham instead of a turkey (CHICKSGIVING!) We also attended a football game (NEVER AGAIN. ugh.) and today went to a lovely concert in which my sister was playing. We even skyped with our dear Irish friend from this summer (miss her so much!!)

Needless to say. I did NOT get that much painting done. BLEARGH. Tomorrow. I will get SO much done tomorrow. But. Here is an update on my current painting.

WOO! It's going to be a tad bit creepy but I think it sort of works. Whatevs. Also I'll post some of my bookmarks tomorrow, and try to add them to my Etsy site. (Spoiler: some of them are Doctor Who-related.)

Also, I've been scouring the CRAP out of Pinterest trying to find cute ideas so I can decorate my house for Christmas. And let me tell you something: DIY might be less expensive, but it it SO time-consuming. Seriously, I saw this thing online where someone used tulle and tied it around Christmas lights to get a cute lit garland effect, and I started doing that today and it took me like 15 minutes to cover about 4 inches of wire. REALLY? So that may or may not happen, we'll see. I've got a backup plan (namely, leftover greenery from last year!) Pinterest, man. So many good ideas, and so very little time. Anyway, super pumped about the holidays, I'll probably do a lot of my decorating tomorrow because we already had Thanksgiving and I can.

Also I only have about 18 Christmas songs on my computer so I'm going to have to fix that at some point. Okay, I think that's all for now.

Have a HAPPY and BLESSED Thanksgiving!

January White and Some More Works in Progress!

Good news! I finished my "January White" piece :D I'm quite excited about how she turned out. I had an awesome reference photo I used from deviantArt (I'll let you know her name as soon as I find it again!) so hooray, another small painting for sale ($45 for the original!)

So my mom and I went to a quilt shop today and I just about GEEKED OUT over the amount of Batiks they had there. Not sure what Batiks are?? LET ME TELL YOU. It's a process where you dye a piece of cloth, then use wax to blot out shapes where you want the cloth to stay that first color. Then, you dye the cloth a second, darker color. Once you're done with all your dyeing, you remove the wax and it will leave a really cool multi-layer, multi-texture print. If that's confusing, just google it. Trust me it's awesome. So I got a few swatches and was inspired to go back and try some of those methods on paper (actually basically just what I've been doing but in brighter colors haha.)

So here I have a few works in progress I'll show you with some different techniques I've used. 

This is a work in progress portrait I'm doing. I did the background by laying plastic wrap onto a wet, colored piece of watercolor paper. I let it dry overnight, then removed the plastic wrap and got a really cool effect that works great for fabric texture. I'm doing this piece in a completely different color scheme which I'm really excited about. I think it will pose some interesting challenges.

Also! I've started making some bookmarks. They're all individually painted and will have some sort of doodle on them. I'll be selling them for $5 (so don't expect, like, a masterpiece or anything) in my Etsy shop. I'm hoping to get a whole slew of them done in time for Black Friday (which is a week from today already??!?!!?!) So if you're interested in getting a bookmark, let me know and I shall reserve one for you!

and last but not least: here's a picture of what my desk looks like ALL THE TIME. so many things going on. hahaha.

A Chance to Redefine

I am sort of obsessed with this sing "January White" by Sleeping At Last. It's just beautiful. There's one line that says "the past will be the past, but the future is brighter than any flashback." I think that's just so profound. January is a new time, a time for resolutions, wiping the slate clean, starting over.

But you don't have to wait till January to make the resolution to change.

I started doing a series of small paintings based on some of my favorite songs. Some of them illustrate the songs, some of them just use themes or ideas or a particular line from a song. My first one was "The Most Human Color," which was based on the song "Blue Lips" by Regina Spektor. I really want to illustrate some Fine Frenzy and Florence and the Machine eventually. Wooo, inspiration! :D Anyway, so here's an update on my current one, "January White," based on the song I mentioned above. NOTE: It is NOT finished yet! I still have quite a lot to do on it actually! I'll put up a full post when I'm done with it, and maybe even give you a preview of my next painting! Let's keep 'em coming, I say :D

I seriously can't wait to finish this piece. I haven't been this excited about art in a long time.

Blue. Lips. Eyes.

Well. As I have mentioned before, I'm dealing with a little artist's block here. I'm just feeling sort of uninspired, not really feeling my old artwork/style anymore and not really sure how to move forward. I like doing illustrating, but I feel like my stuff just never ends up how I want it to look. And I know the only way to get it to look how I want is to experiment, explore, and just. keep. working.

But sometimes that's SO hard.

So I find the best way for me to get past a block is to find an artist I do like, and take some pointers from their artwork and just run with that. Here's my latest piece, based on this artist I found who is doing some really cool stuff with textured watercolor: https://www.facebook.com/kellymckernanart

My piece: The Most Human Color

This piece can be purchased on my Etsy page here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/115067251/5x7-original-watercolor-painting-the

I'm planning on doing a few more of these little watercolors. They're small (5"x7") and they go pretty quickly. We'll see what else I can come up with. haha.

Some other things I've been doing: working on a custom cake topper for my friend's wedding (she's getting married this summer). She wanted a pair of lips and a mustache holding hands. Here it is in pieces:

Oh and I'll show you this one even though it's not that good. Portrait of Zooey Deschanel I did as a small practice piece. Just pencil on paper, nothing impressive haha. Adorkable? My parents are coming down to visit tomorrow so I've got to get my house put back together before then. Hm...do I paint now and clean tomorrow or wait to paint later? That indeed is the question.

Cleaning.

Let me just say. I hate cleaning my house. It's not that I don't enjoy living in a nice house. It's not even that I don't marginally enjoy some of the tasks around my house. It's just that for some reason I hate cleaning if there's only a little bit to clean, so I put it off and put it off until it's such a huge task that it's too overwhelming for me to handle. Yikes.

Also whenever I clean, I lose things. Like when I'm messy, it's all "oh right I remember setting this here for some weird reason" and yep there it is. When I clean, it's like "oh dangit I just put everything in my room and haven't really organized that bit yet and SHOOT where did I put my card reader?" sooooo this is what happened to me today. Hence, no photos. I have to find my card reader.

I really want my scanner working again.

Also I'm feeling pretty severely art-blocked and I can't quite figure out why.

Manic Monday

Well today was just all sorts of weird. I started my day out waking up reaaaaally early to go to an open interview for a cleaning position at a restaurant. So not glamorous, but this girl needs some cash. So I get there, and the guy who "interviewed" me wasn't actually the guy who was supposed to be interviewing and who would be doing the actual hiring. So I'm talking myself up to this guy and he was like "well I'll give your resume to my brother and he'll get back to you." grr what.

So I basically sat at home and started about 15,000 art projects (okay like 4) because I really want to get back into doing stuff just for the sake of keeping up with my observation skills. If you don't use it, you lose it! And let me tell you. I've lots quite a bit of it. So I've started just doing a bunch of sketches of actors, characters, etc. that I can just have fun with and not get too serious about.

I got a phone call from my bestie today which was bittersweet. We both had rough weekends, but it was so nice to sit and chat with her even if it was just for a bit. I don't see enough of that girl. She's coming up to see the Hobbit with me, which I'm totally psyched about because it was the original Lord of the Rings movies that brought us together in the first place, back when we were itty bitty middle schoolers.

The maintenance guy came and started fixing my garbage disposal; he had to drain the pipes or whatever so my whole apartment was super stinky. That was a weird situation too but I've come to expect nothing less from our maintenance guy.

Here's a terrible Photobooth picture of a drawing I did of Zooey Deschanel. I'll show you guys a better picture tomorrow when I can get my camera out. The drawing isn't actually that good. Like I said, it's been quite a while since I've had to do any sort of drawing from observation, so now I have to really push myself to get back in a good spot.

Galadriel Digital Speed Painting

Oh, I meant to do about fifteen drawings today and I didn't do even five. I didn't even do three (yet. there's two more hours.....) I ended up spending most of the day trying to figure out how to get my printer working (I still haven't succeeded) but I did indeed manage to re-install my Wacom program (again) so I got some digital painting in! hooray :)

I'm still soooo not sure what I'm doing on a tablet. I'm definitely trying to find a style still. It's hard, because there's just so much you can do with the medium. So here was my first attempt at doing a grisaille (gray under painting) and then color on top of that. It erm....it needs some work. But here's what I got done. I did this in about an hour.

I'm excited to return to Middle Earth. Can you tell?? We bought our midnight premiere tickets a few days ago. HOORAY. I have been waiting for this movie FOREVER and it is FINALLY here!!! I'm totally dressing up, I don't care what my friends say. I have waited far too long.

Also, I'm watching Ever After right now and that makes me want to do some historical costume drawing. So. That may or may not happen.

Till You Faint

Okay. No pictures tonight. Just this: I worked for about 10 and a half hours today (it was our Paint Till You Faint event), and I just about did faint. Because after I worked those 10+ hours, I walked home which took about another hour (luckily my sister was with me.) Needless to say, I'm turning off my alarm tonight and I am not moving tomorrow unless absolutely necessary. I think my feet have been replaced with blisters. Ouch. My body is not used to this much exercise (biking/walking an hour or more every day this past week) and I'm pretty sure it's slowly rejecting me and starting to fall apart.

I was having a bad day. Because a lot of weird things happened today. And I suddenly realized how much it sucks to live in a city with no one you know, no friends, no significant others, no...nothing (except my sister, does that count?) I haven't had a night out in MONTHS (though I did have a Halloween party last weekend, so that's something), I don't have any friends who can just come over and drink some wine and talk about people. So yeah this is one of those entries where I just vent a bit because honestly I'm not feeling very inspiring, or inspired. I think for me, the hardest thing about being a graduate is this: I feel completely disconnected. From friends, from people in general. From art itself. In school it was like, we had this pod that everyone lived in and we all fed off each other's creativity and it helped everyone grow. And now, being cut off from that, it's like I'm...wilting. (woo, plant reference.) Just sort of stagnant with no stimulation or motivation. I don't know if there's anyone out there who even reads this blog, this tiny, infinitesimal attempt at connection, but if you are reading this, and you've felt this before, leave a comment. How did you get out of your "rut?"

Oh also. my friend sent me this website and it actually helped a great deal and made me feel much calmer. haha. http://new.weavesilk.com/?a5xh Mindless. Blissful. The background music reminds me of Sigur Ros. :D Love me some Sigur Ros.

Last minute thought: My upstairs neighbors are very rude and I'm fairly certain by the end of the year everyone's going to assume I've picked up a smoking habit.

Fantasia

Let me just say a few things. Music and art. They go together. One inspires the other, and vice versa. Both are wordless languages, understood throughout the world. What first brought my attention to this undeniable link between image and sound was Walt Disney's Fantasia. See, my dad is a band teacher. Music runs in my family. So it's really no surprise that as kids, for my two sisters and me, Fantasia wasn't just a movie. It was an experience.

 As a child I had no idea they were slightly racist mushrooms.

Scared. The. Crap out of me.

As a child, I loved it for all the imagery, all the colors. "Ooh fishies!" "Look, pegasus!" "What are those half-horse half-people?" And thus I was introduced to art (and mythology, incidentally.) For the record, the Dinosaurs scared the crap out of me, as did the demons in "Night on Bald Mountain." But overall, I loved it. I didn't care that there weren't words, because the picture didn't need any (in fact I usually fast-forwarded through the parts that did have words.)

My first introduction since Greek mythology. Now I suddenly want to draw some.

Faeries :) Still one of my favorite portions of Fantasia

As I grew older, I came to appreciate, rather than just enjoy, the imagery and the animation. I even grew to appreciate those terrifying demon things and the scary bat guy. But seriously. This movie was made in 1940. Guys, that was before basic synthetic rubber and the microwave were invented. This was all done by hand, cell by cell, background painted and animation done one frame at a time. WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND THAT. Seriously, artists back then were impressive. Not that artists today aren't. But it's really crazy to think what people did before computers.

Not only did I appreciate the animation, I was inspired by it. I cannot tell you how many pegasus, centaurs, and fauns I doodled after I'd seen this movie. I literally scribbled them on everything. So, from an early beginning, and probably because of this movie, I was connected with mythology. I was connected with the idea of music and art inspiring, shaping, and forming one another. Even today, I find most of my best art inspired by music, or done while listening to music (Sigur Ros is my personal favorite because of their ethereal quality and its lack of comprehensible lyrics.)

So if ever you're in need of some inspiration, look to art, look to music, or look to Fantasia which has got both areas covered.

Etsy Roundup

Hey friends! Christmas is coming up quicker than you might think! Here's some unique gift ideas I've found on Etsy recently:

Do you love your plants as much as me? Then why not get them a sweater?? Check out this cute little shop:  link to LexaLex's listing so cute right?

Or how about some good old Hobbit jewelry? Who WOULDN'T want this hobbit door pendant hanging from their neck? Perfect for Hobbit fans (like myself, but less poor) She makes all of her pendants by hand. Check out her other jewelry which includes Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Captain America! link to PeaceofShine's listing

Okay. These ladies are awesome. They make cincher skirts and other clothing accessories that are inspired by Loki/Avengers, My Little Pony, Doctor Who, and lots of other geeky goodness. Their shop is well worth looking at. Seriously, what's not to love about this cincher skirt emblazoned with the Seal of Rassilon?! link to Corsair's Boutique's listing

And, finally, since I'm on Etsy too, and this IS my blog, some shameless self-promotion. I've got a shop that features handmade hair accessories, original illustrations, and fine art prints. I'm hoping to get it going a bit more here soon, I'm just starting out. So if you think about it, pin it, tweet it, share the news! link to MichelleLynneArt's Shop Page

So if you're looking for something unique, handmade, and fabulous, check out Etsy. You'll be sure to dazzle anyone on your Christmas list, and you'll supporting some great artists in the process. Support small businesses and individuals this holiday season!

12 Drummers Drumming

 Okay so my boss has been having me draw patterns for her studio, and she's working on a series right now on the Twelve Days of Christmas. The first one she had me draw was Eleven Pipers Piping (I drew a bunch of sand pipers smoking pipes in a smoking lounge. Awesome.) So today at work she comes up to me and she was like "I want you to draw something for 12 Drummers Drumming. I was thinking something like..an animal on stage rocking out at a drum set." And my immediate thought was Animal from the Muppets (because the Muppets are freaking awesome, don't deny it.) So then we started brainstorming on animals that had funky hair and I was like PORCUPINE. So I ended up drawing a porcupine playing a set of drums. Here's the line drawing:

Also, here's a picture of me wearing my Bad Wolf tee. This is how I went to work today hahaha. Nobody got it :( Anyway the tee is designed by Megan Lara. You can find her on Facebook, deviantArt, Redbubble, if they sell T-shirts, she's probably on it. Or you can just go to her website at www.meganlara.com. She's got fan art from just about every nerdy TV show/video game you can think of. I'm also wearing my 4th Doctor scarf made by my lovely friend Catherine, and some TARDIS hand warmers made by my sister. woo, Doctor Who!

I promise I'm not obsessed.....okaaaaaaay I might be.

Lord of the Rings

SO. THE HOBBIT IS COMING OUT SO VERY SOON. My sister TOTES ordered tickets today, SCORE! We're going to see it in IMAX 3D, it's my Christmas present from her :D she's so cool. It's gonna be her first time seeing a movie in IMAX 3D (my first and only other IMAX experience was Avatar 3D, and I'm psyched to get back in an IMAX theater!) In light of this momentous occasion (I've been waiting TEN YEARS for this movie) I thought I'd make my first post Lord of the Rings related. As it happens, I just recently finished a commission for a lovely lady that has to do with just such a subject!

Here's a step-by-step process of this piece (I used these step-by-step photos to make a tutorial for my deviantArt page: lamorien.deviantart.com) Hooray LOTR! I adored painting this piece. It's very unlike me to paint anything romantic, seeing as I'm pretty bitter about romance in general, but this one was quite fun. I was working very roughly from a photograph I found online (used with photographer's permission) and I just really enjoyed it. It's unusual for me to paint men, so I was happy with the challenge. I kept the whole painting quite light and ethereal, and I'm pretty happy about that (my professors would be shooting me right now. IT NEEDS MORE DARKS!) So there you have it. And everyone: GO SEE THE HOBBIT!!!

step 1: basic wash over the whole piece

step 2: blocking in basic colors

step 3: finished blocking colors. Time for value!

Step 4: Value added in her face, some in her hair, and some in his coat. LOOKS WEIRD.

Finished: Added in some more detail and value, filled in background a bit more, removed the tape, and signed my name!

About Me

WHO AM I?!?? Well isn't that the question. My name is Michelle. I recently graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a BFA in Illustration. I'm currently working at a paint-your-own pottery studio, which I absolutely love. I could definitely be considered a geek: I love Lord of the Rings (the Hobbit comes out soon!), Doctor Who, BBC Sherlock, Big Bang Theory, Firefly......the list goes on. I've been overweight my whole life, and although it's always bothered me, I've never really done anything about it. But, I'm fresh out of college, hitting up a new town, and I'm trying to get in shape. But that's not really what this blog is about. It's about LOVE! no. Sorry, that was Moulin Rouge. It's about ART! I paint fantasy/fairy tales specifically, but really anything that tickles my fancy.Vintage photography, portraits, hair, fabric...whatever. yeah.


So there I am in the below picture on October 31, 2012. All dressed up in my Hermione costume (oh right, I'm a Harry Potter fan too), which I put together myself. I totes made a wand out of a chopstick and hot glue. "Ah yes, I remember you, 11 inches, bamboo, core made from a strand of hot glue, rather brittle, yes?" Thanks Ollivander.

Besides art, cooking and gardening are proooooobably my two favorite things. I know, I have the hobbies a middle-aged woman! So I hope this blog will be filled with art tutorials, some of my favorite recipes (more or less, I usually just throw stuff together but for you I will try!) and sort of a documentation of my life in between. So whether it's art, recipes, geek-related things, or just something to laugh at, I hope you'll enjoy my blog. :)