On My Workdesk Wednesday #5

This is WOYWW #287 (and the fifth time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

Well, my friends, this semester has been a doozy. When I wasn't in class for 27 hours (per week), I was working on hours upon hours of homework, working on custom orders for my Shoppe, going to bible study or other meetings, and somewhere in there trying to fit in as much of a social life as I could. Oh, yes, and eating, sleeping, and exercising. Priorities.

Needless to say, I don't plan on taking an overload semester again anytime soon. Next semester will only be 15 credit hours. Right now it is finals week, I am delaying on studying for calculus, and I really just want to be home enjoying Christmas break and getting the time and freedom to make some fun art.

For today's "What's On Your Workbench," I am going to share some pictures from the past several weeks!

So, this is a slightly random sampling of what my workspaces have looked like this semester.

Probably one of the most interesting things I had on my desk was the pinecone collection that I scavenged from the trees around campus...

This was when I was watching Anastasia while cutting up the pinecones and gluing them onto copper.

And THIS is why my roommate and suitemates are fantastic people. Well-- one of many reasons. They don't kill me when I take over our table with my wire and beads (and pinecones)!

All three of these pictures are from one project for my Shoppe-- a custom bridal "Entwife Woodland Circlet" inspired by the circlet I made a couple of years ago. I will be blogging about this piece sometime soon. Here's a couple of pictures of the finished circlet:

Another incongruous sight for a dorm desk:

(Well, I would imagine that the face of John Green isn't too incongruous. Same with the calculator and tea. However I think that the metalwork tools are.)

This was, again, for my Shoppe. I was stamping quotes on sheet metal, which I then sawed out (yes I was careful with the dorm furniture, mom, I am not five years old! lol!). Our priest at our campus ministry let me work with my chemicals in the church's backyard. I was using Liver of Sulfur to darken the letters and then a resin spray to seal it.

Here's some of what came from this batch of metal:

This is a picture from the classroom of my favorite class of the semester: Color Theory. A very sweet, classy, excited Polish lady taught the class. I found good friends among my classmates and am very sad that it is officially over (I had my final on Monday).

It's so much fun to be an art student, lugging up a summer's worth of money in paints and supplies up flights of stairs every day. Oh so much fun. But (very nonsarcastically) completely worth it for this class.

I'm not sure what project I was working on in this picture below, but I think I was braiding wire for circlets.

This is the only in-progress shot I can find of the bridal party jewelry I made for an autumn wedding.

These are more workdesk shots from my color theory class:

And THIS lovely shot is not of my dorm desk, or a workspace in one of my classrooms. It is the kitchen table at home, from the one day during Fall Break when I worked on homework for eleven hours and drank an entire kettle of peppermint tea:

(Picture from my Instagram)

The following three pictures are from my dorm desk when I was working on more projects for Color Theory. I didn't take many pictures of my design classes-- mostly because I did not enjoy them very much. Don't get me wrong, I love the subject matter and still plan on majoring in Graphic Design-- but it is amazing how much mediocre teachers and projects can try your patience.

This project pictured below is, weirdly enough, from a design class! We had to create a piece of art based on a list of mashups our GA gave us. My piece is a mashup of M.C. Escher ("Print Gallery") and Frank Lloyd Wright ("Fallingwater").

We were given the assignment on the Monday before finals week and it was due by our Saturday final. I got so into it that I actually finished three days early. What is this.

And what is on my workdesk THIS week?

A mess.

To be fair, I am both packing and studying.

Anyway, there you go, my friends! Please believe me when I say that this whirlwind is just a very small snapshot of all the craziness that has been going on in my life this last semester. :)

I'm off to study for my last three finals, but as soon as I am ready for a study break, I'm going to check out the workspaces of everyone else involved in "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday"! So should you, if you can. There are some creative people participating in WOYWW.

On My Workdesk Wednesday #3

This is WOYWW #270 (and the third time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

My workdesk this week is once again the dining room table. Last week, I was making new graphics for my blog and editing photos. I've still been doing that, but a couple days ago I had some beautiful free-time to spend painting.

The picture above shows the very start of a drawing that I inked and watercolored. I'm still working on getting a blog post up about it, but for the meantime, here's a progress picture from my Instagram:

Whoah, Instagram pictures look weird when they aren't two inches big on your phone!

The painting is an illuminated-style illustration of some quotes in The Silmarillion (the history and mythology of the world that The Lord of the Rings takes place in). The whole theme of the piece is about how much the Elves love starlight. 

I've haven't only painted this week, but I haven't been as productive as I want. I'm actually writing this post on Tuesday night because all of tomorrow (Wednesday) is going to be spent in the studio.

Tomorrow is my last full day to spend in the studio before I leave for school.

I'm excited for another year at college but so sad that my summer is nearly over. I've been busy, and also took two summer courses, and time really flies.

Anyway, my point was that as of Tuesday I don't have a picture of my real workdesk. I'll try to update this post with a snapshot at the end of the day on Wednesday. But I do have a picture of a piece of jewelry that I made for someone who wanted a black-and-white medieval-style necklace featuring the Evenstar pendant. She is doing a cosplay of Lyanna Stark from Game of Thrones.

Here's what I came up with (pic from Instagram):

I really enjoyed making this necklace-- I just kicked back and listened to Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (fantastic YA fantasy novel to listen to, it was interesting and didn't require much concentration) and played with beads and wire for a couple hours.

So... This has been a peek into what I've been working on since last Workdesk Wednesday. I'm looking forward to glancing at everyone else's blog and seeing their workspaces later this week!

A Tour of my Sketchbooks, Part One

During our unpacking process, I found a veritable treasure trove: a cardboard box full of my old sketchbooks!

I know that many of my readers have requested to see more of my artwork, so I got this brilliant idea to share my sketchbooks with you. Yes, you read that correctly.


You get to see every last embarrassing sketch that I have hidden away in the depths of my spiral-bound, bent-paged books.

Now, the sketchbooks are obviously just small samples of the artwork that I did. At first, all of my art went into my sketchbooks-- but I tore out almost everything that turned out decent and gave them to friends and family as gifts. That means that you will only be seeing the not-so-decent drawings!

As I got older and more experienced, I started to do all of my planned works-of-art on separate paper. I also developed a bad habit of drawing on everything from napkins to schoolwork, so many of my sketches never found their way into these books.

And so, my sketchbooks truly are sketchbooks. They aren't glamorous. They are sometimes embarrassing, because I tend to use sketchbooks (rather than journals) to let loose when I am upset. Some of them cover over a year or even longer, reflecting periods when I wasn't focused on art... and others represent mere months. Most are somewhat lame, others positively exciting. :)

But they are my art. They are a part of me. You can see me grow as an artist. You can watch my tastes evolve (although I think that every one of my sketchbooks has at least one drawing of a fairy or princess... some things never change!).

I've been able to locate 9 sketchbooks, and plan on giving you tours on all of them. :) I might even pull out one of my folders full of random artwork.

I found that it would be much, much easier for me to take videos of my sketchbooks, rather than scan each page. As I said in the video, just leave a comment if you would like to see any particular drawing in greater detail. :D

(And excuse the accent at the very beginning. I was being silly!)

Enjoy the peek into my sketchbook!

P.S. Want to see more? As I post each new sketchbook, you will be able to find them on my YouTube channel, or right here on my blog under the label Sketchbook Tour!

P.P.S. I actually finished that sketchbook back in March or April. That's how long it took for the computer to get fixed so I could edit the video!!!

My First Commissioned Artwork

A few weeks ago, I finished my first-ever commissioned work of art!

It is done in watercolor and a gray marker/pen.

The preliminary sketch

The painting is concept art for a friend who is writing a fantasy novel. I have to thank him for his patience while I tried to figure out how to draw something that is neither from my imagination nor from a photo. Doing artwork for others is hard work, lol!

In-progress painting

And in the process, I discovered that watercolors don't necessarily have to be my worst enemy. :)



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Just to let you know, if you are interested in commissioning a work of art, please email me at ShealynnsFaerieShoppe {at} gmail {dot} com!

As of right now, I am still trying to figure out if I would like to do much commissioning, and pinpointing pricing and required amounts of time, but I am more than happy to work with you and figure something out!

The Evolution of a Knot

a.k.a. I Took Pictures While Working on a Knotwork Drawing

I did not use a tutorial for this-- I was modifying what I knew about circular knotwork from the Trinity Knot. My compass got alot of use. I think I drew 26 little circles. 

Here it is, all traced in pen.

Colouring it in! 

(buahaha, had to use the British spelling. My brother Nick was just talking to me... we've never been out of the country, but somehow he's had a British accent from the day he started to talk.)

....and the finished artwork!

I made this on a small piece of Bristol board the size of a trading card. I turned it into a prayer card by calligraphy-ing a prayer on the back. No pictures of that because it really didn't turn out. :P

Frodo and Sam

Frodo:

I can't do this, Sam.

Sam:
I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are.
It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.
But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.


Frodo:
What are we holding onto, Sam?


Sam:
That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

 The above quote is one of the best in all of Lord of the Rings. And the above picture is the best I have ever drawn, LotR or not.

My dad's favorite LotR character is Sam. He went with Frodo every step of the way, and yet he didn't need to. He is loyal, corageous, and loving. It is Sam, as much as Frodo, who saved Middle-Earth.

After Gandalf, Aragorn, and Arwen, I decided to make a drawing of Sam for Father's Day. I searched all around, but had great difficulties finding any picture that personified Samwise Gamgee. I finally printed out one of the promotional portriats, with Sam smiling. That very day, I found a peice of art by professional artist Esteljif on Deviantart. I was astounded that the picture was not a photo! Esteljif generously sent me the screencap that I based my drawing off of-- this scene is shown for a short second at the end of The Two Towers, right after the above quote is spoken.

My fingers refused to rest! I worked on this drawing for 4 days, and usually after everyone went to bed and it was quiet. I have no idea how long I worked each day-- well over two hours! I got as caught up drawing as I do when reading a page-turner.




I am rather pleased with the drawing. It is certainly the best I have ever drawn. I think I managed to get emotion in it, despite the extreme technical difficulties (such as the angle of Frodo's face).

 Of course, now that I have put the picture in a frame, I realize that the shadow on Sam's left eye needs to be darker, and his right cheek narrower. Oh, well! :)
This was my first chance to use my drawing board. :) It is also the first time in years that I have used the dreaded graphing method. I prefer to anaylze my drawings into various underlying shapes and go total freehand. I was daunted by this picture, though, and drew a light 4 by 6 grid over both the screencap and my paper. I used it to help me with basic placement, though I soon erased the lines and did the rest by eye.

I took pictures along the way (seeing the drawing on an inch-big screen helps me as much or more than turning it upside down).

Here are those WIP (Work In Progress) pictures. I put them in a slideshow. Click the bottom right button to go to the photo album, where you can see the pictures much larger.



Here are some more pictures:

My hands. Notice all the graphite on them-- quite a mess!

And that is why I use peices of paper to protect my art from my hands. I usually had two peices-- one for my drawing hand, and one for the hand holding the picture steady.

Me, doing what I love best! (Although not looking the best! lol)

Arwen

This is my first full colored-pencil portrait. I am not tottally happy with it, but it is certianly the best so far! And a good experience! I now know what colors to use for faces.

A work in progress shot

My drawing next to my reference.

Gandalf

The Lord of the Rings has, yet again, been dragged around wherever I go. This time around, I am reading it sloooowly, taking time to absorb all the depth and detail. Of course, I can never read such an awesome book without a strong itch to draw...

This drawing is based off of a black-and-white photograph. I drew it entirely freehand. Total time ran around 3 hours.

I have to say that this is the first drawing I have ever done that ACTUALLY looks like the person I am drawing.

I loved drawing the eyes. I love drawing eyes in general. This is the first time I've ever drawn baggy, wrinkly, squinting, strong, and kindly eyes. I'm not convinced I nailed it, but everyone says it looks like Gandalf.

THE BEARD. Ohhhh, the beard. Because of the scanner, you can't see all the light detail on the right hand side, but if you look at the left side you can see how I drew the beard. Line. After. Line. Scribble. After. Scribble.

The eyebrows were interesting but lots of fun. :)

My brother has claimed this picture for his bedroom. :) Its not usual for this particular brother to admit liking anything I make, so I take it as a good sign.

Let me take a moment to say that I don't like scanners!!!! The scanner lost half the detail. :(

EDIT: WORK IN PROGRESS PICTURES

(the picture I used for reference is actually a photo, not a drawing!)

(you can see more detail if you click this bottom picture. 'Cause it was taken with a camera, not a scanner.)

Aragorn

Aragorn! Aragorn and Sam are tied for my all time favorite Lord of the Rings character. The day after I finished my Gandalf drawing, my brother immediantly printed out a poster of Aragorn and told me that I must draw it.

So I did! The picture had strange lighting... It made Aragorn look angry rather than kingly. I tried fixing that in my drawing, but I messed up the eyes a bit. It looks like he's got a black eye... I've fixed that but haven't taken a photo of the fixed drawing. :P

I spent a good four hours on this drawing. I'm not sure, though; I lose track of time! Honestly, I get as caught up in artwork as I do when reading a book. And let me tell you-- I can never put books down. If I am interrupted, I go about doing everything distractedly, wondering what will happen... running off to read the first availble moment... Art is like that, too!!!

Here is the Work In Progress:

The chainmail. Oh, I have no words for the chain mail... I have no idea how to do it, and my usual technique of "just do it and see what happens" didn't yeild the results I wanted,

My facebook status at this point said: "Some people are able to patiently spend hours drawing realistic chainmail. After five minutes, I realized that I shall never count myself among their number. Hello, sqiggles."

L. reminded me that squiggles will never protect said drawing in the event of a spear thrust...

But squiggle-mail must Aragorn don, because this artist ain't got that kind of patience.