Ha- it’s finally done! Honestly I didn’t think this one would take so long but shading and highlighting the berries and leaves was suprisingly time-consuming; not because they were particularly difficult to color- just so BORING. Every time I’d sit down to finish those awful twigs, I’d find something more interesting to do elsewhere… Like watching funny cat videos on Youtube…
Anyway, I’m pleased with how it turned out and even happier to be finished with it. On to new projects!
~Dalliann
I started this illustration as part of a four-piece series (featuring stylized Eastern ladies) almost two years ago. I got pretty far with it before I realized that I hadn’t resized it properly before coloring and that it wouldn’t be suitable for print. Frustrated, I took a break and forgot about it… until earlier this week when I was cleaning out crowded desktop folders.
I love finding sketches and wips that I’ve forgotten about or misplaced; it makes them new and exciting again!
I loaded this one into PaintTool SAI, vectored over my original lineart, resized it, and colored it in Photoshop. Since I already had so much of the original piece finished, I was able to use it as a color reference and it made the whole process fly by! Now I’m feeling motivated to go digging through more of my old stuff and see if there are any other half-complete projects I can salvage…
~Dalliann
I decided to ink and color both of the sketches I drew for this month’s theme of ‘crown’; of the two, I thought the rustic one would be easier but, no, the hundreds of sticks and berries that need shading and highlights are driving me insane.
So this one zoomed to the finish, instead:
When I began, I had an entirely different palette in mind– lots of pinks– but I ran across some Russian fairytales I hadn’t read in years and “The Firebird” sort of took over the idea. Usually, my final illustrations differ greatly from the original sketches but this one remained pretty consistent. Aside from adding the Firebird in the background and getting rid of her veil, there’s not much difference between the sketch and the finished lineart.
Now to finish up that other one… *sigh*
~Dalliann
Did 2011 seem ridiculously long and trudging to anyone else? Like a muddy walk uphill? Both ways? It’s silly, I know, but I feel such a huge sense of relief that it’s finally 2012. I am awash in the newness of the year. Giddy, even!
I spent the whole of December trying to better myself, preparing for all the things I want to accomplish this year, and reviewing other artists’ accounts of how they finally broke into a full-time art career. Heeding their advice, I’ve been working out a gameplan of all the things I need to do this year to make my goals a reality. So what are my goals? I’ve tried to keep it simpler than past lists and am focusing on these five:
- Create and submit a new portfolio to at least fifty publishing companies.
- Add at least thirty new illustrations to my gallery.
- Get my work featured in at least three magazines.
- Get at least five good publishing and/or licensing contracts.
- Quit my dayjob and go full-time as an illustrator and crafter.
There is, of course, much work to do in order to achieve these things but I’m excited and feeling more motivated than I have in… well, ever!
As mentioned in a previous post, I love EMG Magazine‘s monthly themes and I’ve decided to create my own monthly word-prompts for an extra bit of inspiration; I figured it might give me some ideas for content and illustrations when I’m staring blankly at my screen, wondering what to write or draw next…
So, the theme for January (as picked by The Random Word Generator) is “Crown”- and here are a couple of sketches it’s already inspired. I still haven’t chosen which one to clean up and ink but I’ll post the finished illustration later this month.
Oh, and if anyone decides to follow along with these monthly themes/prompts, please let me know! I’d love to see how you interpret them!
~Dalliann