OMG We're BACK

In Canada, that is! I'm so happy! xD


I've been drawing on and off since my last post, so here are the highlights:





This is a collection of sketches I did while we were still in the UK. We were at a get-together at a pub after a funeral, and I wasn't feeling particularly melancholy. So instead of showing this and probably offending people, I buried my head in my sketchbook.







This is the very first page of sketches I did in Canada since moving to England. I sat down and drew a whole page's worth of stuff to make sure I hadn't lost my drawing ability - I'd not picked up a pencil for at least a fortnight at that point, since it was really hectic with packing just before the flight. I had barely any free time for drawing.








This is one I coloured with watercolour after the first day back at school. I'm really proud of the colour job, since I had my doubts about how nice it would look. But I think it's a great substitute to digital colouring. Our copy of PS Elements got lost in the shuffle when we moved, so it's pretty much my only option now, unfortunately.


My style's solidified more, I think. It's got common elements now, as opposed to bits of whatever manga I've been reading recently. xD

Sketch + Quotes

I've added another daily quote widget at the bottom of the screen, I hope it actually works this time. I got it from Widgetbox. So many cool things there! >.<



And a sketch!




This is not my usual style, I went for a really anime-ish feel instead. He's cute! I'll put the coloured version I did on dA and link to it later.

D'oh!

Yeah, I forgot to mention: we are moving back to Canada! I am so happy! >3<


We're going this summer, after my school work is over, end of June. I won't be able to update this blog for awhile till we get a computer, unfortunately. D: I really do hope to get that watercolour done by then.


I also pre-ordered this fantastical thing the other day. It's my favourite shounen-ai webcomic. I totally did the pre-order just to get the free postcard. I am a hopeless loser when it comes to HoneySyn. T^T Go buy one and spread the lurv! (Although I highly doubt the thing needs advertising, it's crazy popular already. :P)

Look, Mom! Colour!

EDIT: In future, most of my colour stuff will go on my new deviantART page. I'll put a link up here when I've edited it to my liking. This is my sketchblog/personal blog where I can ramble about odd things and post half-finished stuff.



I was fiddling in PS Elements when I was supposed to be doing schoolwork, and I realized something - something very obvious. If you make a layer over top of the sketch/lineart, and adjust the layer's opacity to about sixty-odd percent, you can achieve a very free-flowing relatively easy colour job when you paint. I think it's about as good as I'm going to get without tracing all the lines in black. I'm pleased. ^_^



So I tried it out on this sketch:

It reminds me very much of this piece, and I love that style. It'll tide me over until I get PS CS, or a tablet. :D Excuse the crappiness, it's only a tester.

Minor Irritation

I did have this cool daily-quote contraption set up at the bottom of the page, but it's the same quote every day. So that's gone. Off to find a decent one...


Art will come soon. Seriously.

Back to Normal

Mom came back on Wednesday, so things are returning to normal. I can now buckle down and do my work without worrying about what the little things. Moms must have a built-in reminder system, because I can't remember to do certain things like take food out of the freezer to defrost but mom remembers millions of things like that. I'm going to be a social hazard when I go to university. DX


I had the opportunity to do a quick sketchy a couple of days ago:

I think it's probably the most 'realistic' I can draw. Again, I'm a complete sucker for profiles. It's actually a guy I'm quite pleased with, for a change. I do hate his ear; I can't draw ears to save my life. I'm hoping to work on that watercolour sketch soon. Most work on the art front has ground to a halt, loathe as I am to admit it. Any free time I have is wasted watching House M.D. reruns, or sleeping.

Speaking of House M.D.: the 'new' episodes are coming out at a slower rate here than in North America, so we just watched the first episode with the Kutner-Thirteen-Taub-Foreman group. Amber got cut last week. Thanks to the copious amount of spoilers, and because I'm weak when it comes to them, I now know what happened in the finale. I can't believe Amber died. I'm on tenterhooks about Wilson and House's relationship, I hope it doesn't get too rocky. Their friendship is the main reason I watch the show. They're so wonderful to watch interact! I hope the next season comes out soon. ;_; Although I read somewhere that they're already filming it, so that's a good sign.

Sun, Jazz and WORK

Seriously. I have so much work.


But I'm not going to go there.


I love smooth jazz to an unhealthy degree. I don't care what song or artist as long as it's smooth jazz. I listen to it while I work, especially English, it's really mellowing and helps me focus. There's this great live feed for download at Sky.fm that can be opened up in Windows Media Player. It's just non-stop bliss. There's also a link right to the forums where people far more jazz-savvy than myself discuss the merits of each song. I'm never in philosophical enough of a mood for that, but it's amusing to read people's thoughts.


It's also sunny outside today. There seems to be an overcast front rolling in but that's England for you. We've had nothing but clouds for days, which doesn't seem likely to change much but it's nice to see some blue sky every once in a while.


Mom returns from her Canada house-hunting on Wednesday, and I think we'll all be glad to have her back. It's been pretty furtive when it comes to meals; there's been a lot of microwave action. We might try for an actual cooked dinner tonight, that should be interesting. Plus we all miss her of course. I'm glad she's coming home soon, but I'm apprehensive about house verdict. Most of the places she had viewed are duplexes or triplexes, since we could do with an ulterior source of income. However a lot of the tenants don't seem to be taking good care of their quarters, and the landlords don't care. She said that the conditions in some houses were horrible.


No offence to anybody who rents, but some of the tenants that were mentioned sound like parasites. Once they've got their teeth into a spot you just can't evict them, because they've got more rights than you do. I imagine it's going to be an eye-opening experience. I hope we get some nice, quiet little old lady tenant who pays promptly and doesn't die until we've paid off the mortgage. Like Duplex, except without all the annoying aspects and ergo attempts to kill her.


I hope to get that painting done soon so I can post it here. I would post the collages I did for Art over the weekend, but I had forgotten that Mom took the digital camera with her and I have no other means of photographing them.

Oh, yeah...

I forgot to mention that I've added two link lists, on the right hand side there. The first is a whole bunch of websites I shamelessly stalk, on a daily basis. The second is a list of all my favourite webcomics. I'll most likely add to both lists all the time. If you're bored, check them all out, I highly recommend 'em. (Although I warn you, enjoyment varies with your taste. There's a fair amount of slash content in both lists.)

OMG - and news

I have a brand new piece of art in the works! It should be done end of this week or beginning of next week, depending. I had an epiphany whilst experimenting with watercolours on backing board. I dropped all of my art to start it, actually. I've just got to paint it so it should be easy enough to complete. I'm really happy with it. It's using the same manga-inspired style end up with when I sketch. It's easier than me trying to make people look realistic, I can never get it right.


I may end up taking a picture with the digital camera, it's a bit too long for the ol' flatbed I think.


Me, my sister and Grandad are all doing fine without mom. She's left for a week to go size up properties in Canada. We're going to try and move back, we've all had enough of it here. I'm a little apprehensive. We have a lot of boxes of crap to sort through and we'll only be able to take the bare minimum back with us. What with all my schoolwork and sorting stuff out I'll be pushed to find any spare time. Plus I've got the deadline of June 28, as that is when I fly to Canada for a visit. As it is, I may well end up not using the return flight and just stay at a friend's house until the rest of my family comes over, but we'll see I suppose. I think I'll miss the Land Rover more than anything, although I suppose our extended family count as well. XD


Off to do the art that I ignored yesterday, now!

Trompe L'Oeil Painting

Yeah, so this isn't a sketch by OH WELL. I've been super busy with schoolwork recently... essays and other overdue stuff is piling up now, and I have a lot of art to finish every week in order to complete the course in time. Let me tell you - online school is hard. I'll admit that it does have perks, like being able to give yourself time off and all that jazz but in the end, you live your life in one room pulling ridiculously long shifts six days a week to keep it under control, with no human interaction and severe lack of Vitamin D. I've never felt so unhealthy. [/whining]

But it's almost done! I only have a few more weeks left and then I am free. (Till next year, but at least that's in a 'bricks and mortar' school.)

This is a Trompe L'Oeil oil painting I did last month. The whole point was to try and make the objects look as realistic as possible, so the observer thinks they're looking at a photograph. The key was to use a shallow depth of field by placing the background very close to the foreground, to make it easier for shadows etc. I stacked the entire Harry Potter series behind a little cat ornament. I'm actually quite proud of it, but it took ages to do.

I'll probably be back with more old art stuff soon, since I fail at new sketches.

The Deal

'Kay, so I've decided that I'll aim for at least one sketch a week, and try and increase that when summer rolls around. I have a lot of homework piling up now that we're getting into May and I need to focus on that, not posting on this blog. I'm also into writing stuff right now, not drawing, so the updates will probably increase when I hit another drawing phase. I get those fairly frequently so that should be okay.


I also am going to convert this blog into an art blog instead of just a sketch blog. So with that in mind:

Photographs from a 'Rule of Thirds' assignment for Art. I feel like I've posted something more substantial, now. :3

Get Well Soon

Aww, bless. It's a kid hugging a tree. (And no, he's not a dendrophile, for you pervy people out there. XD)

So the story behind this is quite simple: I like trees. I can't stand it when I see a tree that someone has obviously attacked for no good reason - ripping branches or bark off, for example. This happened to the pictured tree, and the kid gave it a Band-Aid (it's the thought that counts... >>) and a hug. Try to ignore the sucky anatomy and soak up the warm fuzzy feeling that you (hopefully) get from it.

I only have a few more decent(?) sketches from the archives, so I need to get my butt in gear and draw something new. I'm aiming for next week. YOSH!

Colour?

Argh, I suck at updating this blog. Yet more crappiness from the vault in place of a new sketch! This was done way last year, as my first attempt at digital colouring. Suffice it to say, I haven't attempting it again. This took me the better part of seven hours, while I was supposed to be doing schoolwork. She looks petrified. Probably of the horrific background - hey, I'd just discovered the PS stamps. Note the honking big signature stamp that I put in the corner.

Tomorrow I shall have a newer sketch. I have a nice one all picked out, and I might actually draw something brand new for next week...

Circus Girl

Yeah - unoriginal as heck. I'm sure the anatomy sucks, but I overworked it so I can't spot it now. D: I know the hands and feet are horrible. I realized halfway through that the original concept (flying through the air laughing) wasn't really coming across, so then I covered most of the girl's face up with her hair and stuck her in a dress to try and distract from the rest of the picture. Not some of my better decisions. >>;

Also, I couldn't get any colour to stick on PS Elements for some reason. It's supposed to be reddish but it doesn't really show. I drew this last week. Meh, it was fun.

Emo... Um... Thing

Yeah, this picture makes little to no sense. Would anyone slit their wrists just to put the red part on an unfinished piece of spraypaint graffiti? I would hazard a guess at no, but whatever... I drew this last year and figured I'd post it since it's... um, different. Anatomy is really off, colours are messy but it's a post. I might draw something new to put up later today or tomorrow.

I just can't stop!

... posting, that is! It's addictive!

So, I just felt the need to explain the blog title and description... my family owns a Land Rover (short wheel base bright red Defender, if anyone was interested) which is the only vehicle I would ever want to drive. They're not famed for being particularly fast, or particularly warm, as me and my family discovered when we went on a road trip to France last Christmas. Of course it didn't matter - we were in a Land Rover, we could endure some discomfort :P - but we always remember that when we think of the trip.

We're also in a 'limbo' of sorts, as we are all unsure if we want to continue living in the UK. We miss Canada a lot, and want to go back, but this would mean leaving all our family behind (they're all here in the UK; my mom and dad moved to Canada after they got married) etc. etc. So the 'No, We're Not There Yet' is also attributed to our being unable to decide where we should call 'home'.

Yeah, the double-meanings and cheesiness is keeling meeee. Last post for today, I promise. :P I leave you with this picture of our Defender, in Wales. The licence plate and passenger have been removed because I'm paranoid.

First Sketch

Right! Just like I said, here is my first sketch entry!

I like drawing profiles, and I like drawing hair, but what to do with the hair always gets me. So these two lovely people are standing in front of a fan. I prefer the girl to the guy - I can't draw guys very well at all, and he looks sort of wimpy. Oh well, I wanted to do more than one person. I slapped some green on it in PS Elements just because.

First Post

To anyone who happens to be reading this: welcome to my sketchblog thing! I plan on posting random scribbles and such on here as frequently as I can - unfortunately this might lead to me sacrificing quality for quantity, but it will keep me drawing every day. This is primarily for practice, not for a serious critique or anything. And drawing is therapeutic, so that's an added bonus. :)

I'm going to post my first sketch later today - my computer is mucking up right now, I need to restart it.