Wednesday, November 9, 2011

red, white, black

Hi! Just a quick post in the midst of senior year shenanigans. Things have been kind of crazy because of applications and whatnot. The end is in sight though! Especially with all these lovely breaks from school coming up (:

This is just something I've been working on in art class at school. Quality of the photo isn't the best since it's from my friend's phone, but the main idea is there! She isn't that pale in actuality. Though I kind of wish she were, since it looks super awesome with her glowing all stark-white and everything. Three color acrylic palette! Red, White, Black. Had some brown in the background, but it doesn't show much. This is the first time I've really tried to paint something from imagination, kind of. I've been using references, but I have to piece together the whole thing myself, which is something I haven't had much experience with. It's fun though! Might try more stuff like this in the future.

More updates to come! Hope everyone's year is going swell.

S.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

wave

Water is so ridiculous to paint ahaha
I don't even know.

A gift for my calculus teacher! (He surfs, but I was too scared to paint a person surfing. Thus it's just a wave.) but shhhh... it's a surprise. I'll probably give it to him around Christmas time. Just wanted to get it done before the school year started and things got hectic!

Yay for first legitimate painting since freshman year? whoohoooo so psyched for another year of art!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Jensen

Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

yeahhh... I don't watch this show. but he has a nice face. and that's the only reason I need ahaha. It's for drawjensen.tumblr.com, so just a bit a fun. I left it rough because I kind of like the look of the cross-hatching.

So close with being done with my summerwork. One and a half weeks left until school starts ahhhhh when did that happen.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

lines

So far, every drawing in my moleskine is fairly quick, freehand sketch of a fashion photography reference. Different from what I usually draw (close-up facial portraits of male celebrities ahahah), but they're good practice.

This was practice with strong, clean lines, so I didn't go into much detail with shading and whatnot. A little minimalist, but it suits its purpose.

School is starting so soon. Aughhh summer where did you go.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Misha

Misha Collins from Supernatural

This is for a fun thing that euclase has put together called Draw Misha Day. You can submit drawings of Misha, and she'll post them all on August 21, I believe. Should be fun to see all the submissions! To be honest, I've never watched Supernatural or seen Misha Collins in anything else ahahah but he has a nice face. And that's all the reason I need to draw someone (:

So, this is my first graphite portrait in a while, and man does it feel good to draw again. Tried a new technique for his skin, which is drawing in tiny little circular patterns before blending with a tissue. I like the result, so I'll most likely be keeping to that in the future as well. Yeah. His proportions are slightly off, but this was mainly an excuse to get back into practice anyway.

Planning on doing some acrylic painting next, but I probably won't have much to show for it, since college apps are now upon me. annnd I need to finish my summerwork. I can't believe it's August already. Summer's going by so fast.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Third drawing in my moleskine! Reference was a fashion post on tumblr that showed up on my dashboard. I liked her hair and pose, so tried a quick sketch. Played around with lines a bit, since I really do love strong linework. I should sketch more.

Went to SDCC on Saturday. It was awesome. So tiring though. I slept until past 1 the next day ahaha

Monday, July 18, 2011

Emma

This is supposed to be Emma Watson.
I haven't seen the new HP. or the last three HPs either ahah...
I am really behind the times.

blahhh digital painting is so surreal to me...
This took 2 hours ahahahaha. I really don't know how to paint with my tablet. maybe it's time I learned how to.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Damon

Belated birthday present for my friend, Allison, who loves Damon Albarn and Gorillaz. Her birthday is in May, right smack in the middle of the AP testing hell weeks, so that's why it's late ahahaha

Second time using Prismacolors. I still feel rather like a grade-schooler while using them, since coloring is so foreign to me. Turned out all right though, although I'm not entirely happy with his eye or his clothing or the color scheme. ahahhaa oh well.

I need to paint sometime soon. I have 8 canvases sitting in my house. And I haven't even touched them.

Otherwise, summer is going swell. Keeping pretty busy but still have a good amount of free time. It's nice.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

COLORS

Matt Doyle
from Broadway's War Horse, Spring Awakening
also Gossip Girl and Private Romeo

His EP, Daylight, is available on iTunes! Go give it a listen and buy it! It's fabulous. He's super talented.

I think this is my first official Prismacolor drawing. Colors are tricky. I definitely haven't gotten the hang of them yet, but they're rather fun. I need to get some better paper though. The kind I used for this drawing really didn't work well with Prismas.

His face is all colorful because the reference I used is a concert picture (I think I got it from broadwayworld), and concert lighting always makes skin tone go all funky. I like it though. His proportions are off, but I think you can tell it's him, which is good enough for me since this drawing was mostly a learning process anyway.

SCHOOL IS OUT IN THREE DAYS
SUMMER HERE I COME

P.S. Plaid is kind of evil, but it turned out okay, I think? So I'm happy.

Monday, May 9, 2011

what I did in calculus

Ellen.
She's on her phone haha.
didn't do anything in class because we took our AP test last week.
one more exam! and then I paint.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

withDRAWals

I've sworn not to go on tumblr, watch TV, or draw until AP testing season is over. I want to draw so badly it's ridiculous.

just one and a half more weeks. and then I'm going to watch the new Doctor Who episodes and go on tumblr and DRAW AND PAINT SO SO MUCH. SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

mrawww

lol I haven't done one of these since 2009.
I think I've gotten worse. I should do more.

also:
Karen Gillan (from Doctor Who)
some quick and small sketches. good practice.

One more day of Spring Break left. Ridiculous.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

drapes

Don't think I managed to capture that seductive look in her eyes quite right, but to be honest, it was the draping of her dress that attracted me to the photo in the first place.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Danielle and the Doctor

drew my friend Danielle with the tenth Doctor (played by David Tennant, from Doctor Who) for her birthday. I think she's seen this by now. If not, why the crap haven't you opened your presents yet, Danielle.

first time kind of compiling photo references to produce one drawing. I should probably thank all of her orchestra friends for taking tons and tons of random photos of her because I pulled like at least five different ones to reference for this one drawing. Sorry if your arms/elbows look funky, Danielle. I didn't have a ref for them ahaha

PS: This is what I imagine your main outfit as traveling companion to a time lord would be.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

inception:

n. The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement.

First drawing in my moleskine, which Danielle gave me for my birthday back in October. hahah took me a while to draw in it. I was a bit intimidated by all the blank pages and the nice paper they were made of, but I think I've conquered that fear now. But still, the paper is possibly the nicest I have ever drawn on.

Drawn without gridding or tracing or anything but looking at a reference, so I'm pretty happy with this sketch. It probably took an hour or two. I found the reference image somewhere on tumblr months ago and saved it because I liked her haircut ahahha. I really wonder what she's looking at in the photograph though...
but yeah, hair is way easier to do with graphite pencils. I smudged this drawing a bit... meh. hopefully it isn't that noticeable. I haven't drawn with my pencils in a long time, so I wasn't as careful.

As for what I'll decide to draw on the blank page, who knows?

title comes from the fact that I've started drawing in my moleskine. Also, I definitely had a two-level dream last night upon which I woke up with an idea...

Also, visit Danielle! -->her blog | her dA
Without her, this drawing would not have been possible because she gave me the moleskine and the pencils ahahah (:

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

scribbles

mehh just a sketch I did of a friend during class.
I guess this is me easing myself into drawing from life?
you can see the drawings regarding the immune system I did on the back ahaha

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Jean-Baptiste

Jean-Baptiste Maunier.
singer & actor.
Love love love his voice.

Doing this portrait helped me realize some things:
1) I'm far too dependent on lines, meaning that I'm not comfortable actually painting. I absolutely need a lineart. I think this is because I'm still used to drawing with pencils, where lines are everything... which is kind of weird because I honestly haven't drawn anything with graphite for ages. But I can't just lay down colors and create a face from there, and I really want to be able to. Maybe I'll start painting traditionally again... the art teacher at school sells cheap canvases apparently and I have a ton of paint in my garage that I haven't touched since freshman year ahaha
2) I'm really not comfortable sketching faces without cheating and using a bit of layered help... this, I think I can change by drawing more with pencils (without gridding... haha). I'm really too reliant on whatever's going to make my life easier and make the subject look more like who it's supposed to be... that's the problem with realism for me, I guess. So yeah. More drawing with graphite, charcoal, pen... whatever it takes. I should probably start drawing from life, but that's harder because of lack of people who will sit still for hours...
3) which brings me to my next weakness: speed. This was supposed to be a speedpaint (that's why it's rough). I was basically thinking of limiting myself to two hours for this portrait.... definitely took at least five or six... maybe even up to seven or eight... which is wayyyy too long... yeahhh I need more practice with that...
4) I have absolutely no idea how to draw/paint hair. None. Whatsoever. At all. One of the reasons why I mainly draw guys is because they have less hair. Seriously. Girls=long hair=no thank you. at least not until I figure out how to draw it correctly. which probably won't be anytime soon.
5) Painting in black and white/greyscale is just as hard as painting in color.
6) I'm far too reliant on the just-add-water blur tool. I need to start experimenting with opacities and wean off the blurring a bit...

Hope everyone's doing well! Thanks for following!
-S.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

What I Wouldn't Do For You

Matt Doyle
Broadway: War Horse, Spring Awakening, Bye Bye Birdie. TV: Gossip Girl
I would recommend looking him up on youtube. He has a gorgeous voice.

The lighting in the reference is absolutely gorgeous, so I tried my best to get the same glowy effect. Colors are a lot of fun. On the other hand, painting metal is really hard and I kind of got lazy about those details. I'm happy with the result though! Not quite sure about the cropping though. I might change it later. But, ta-daa! First full portrait of 2011 completed!

CREDIT: Post title comes from the song of the same name by Ryan Scott Oliver, which Matt was singing when the reference photo was taken. Reference photo by Matthew Murphy.

Also, I've gotten an art tumblr! --> shaynuh.tumblr.com

Friday, February 4, 2011

Starring

Done with finals and first semester!
And look how much I painted today! :D
I feel accomplished.
Just need to finish the hair and fix up some of the lighting on his face and I'm done with his head!

post title comes from the song "Starring" by Freelance Whales

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

perseverance

new WIP.
I swear I'm not giving up on this one like I did with my last one. The reference for this one is one of my favorites. The lighting hits his face in all these purple and blue hues. It's gorgeous. I'm looking forward to playing with colors and tones and blending.

Also, I've found my new favorite brush: fine camel. so inky and smooth. makes the colors seem really bold. I love it.

Finals are coming up. ugh.
Time to study.