The Testing of Paul Atreides

A piece I made thanks to the prompt, "Sci-Fi",  from the Biweeklychallenge blog.

I had been wanting to do a "Dune"-related piece for quite a long time, and this was just the thing I apparently needed to break my creative 'dry spell'. 

Detail Shot

I would like to thank my boyfriend for posing for the part of Paul Atreides.

And for making me sit at the computer for 10 hours and forcing me to finish the thing in time for the blog's deadline. 

The Pixie and the Queen WIPs

Here are some WIP shots for two new projects I have going,
"Pixie Night" and "Queen Under the Hill" respectively :3

Pixie Night is in a much better place than Queen, but I am still in love with her character's design so I will go back to the planning process and find a way to make it work!!!

(Also it was made known to me that pixies apparently don't have wings?? I found this out a bit too late, I suppose, but now I know for the future ;) ) 

Jellyfish Lake

Done for Biweekly Challenge, “Locations, Locations!”

The location I chose was Jellyfish Lake in Palau. It seems like such a beautiful, serene place. 

I was a little late on this challenge, beginning it several days into the assignment and two weeks isn't that long, period, but I think for the amount of time I had this was a success. Again something a lot different from what I usually do but I think I've been needing to switch it up some. Hope you like it! 

New WIP, "Jellyfish Lake"

Initial sketch phase done at a bonfire

Color mockup in Photoshop CS6

Thought it might be good to also post here what I have been up to in the past few days... With any luck, will have this done by Sunday in order to be in time for the Biweekly Challenge Blog on Tumblr.

Mermaids in the Deep

I made a piece for Julie Dillon’s Catalogue of Merfolk challenge on Tumblr.

This was an interesting thing to make, because it didn't go anything like how I wanted it to go. But I think despite these difficulties it came out decent. 

I made an anglerfish mermaid! Anglerfish are my favorites and they don’t get nearly enough love in my opinion. Plus it was another reason to make glowy things!

I hope you like it!

The Wind Rises

My entry for the “The Wind Rises”, a promotional contest for Hayao Miyazaki's latest/last movie over on DeviantArt. 

I misread the time frame and thought that the piece had to be done by last night rather than tonight so turns out I needn’t have gone as fast as I did….

But for an impromptu piece done in like 8 hours it’s not too shabby. I’ll shit a brick if I somehow manage to score one of the winning spots though.

This was a fun piece to make, though, because it was a lot different in terms of subject matter and also it’s different stylistically than what I usually do too... I'm not used to working nearly so loose as this, and had to keep resisting the urge to zoom really far in and noodle away at everything!!! :'D 

Anyway I hope everyone likes it~

NEW WEBSITE AND PRINT SELLING

I revamped my website from the ground up today. The new domain is www.ashleydoesartstuff.com, but ashleyhankins.com also links there now as well in case anyone has old information.

Also, just a reminder, I have a Society6 account that I sell prints off of. If anyone is interested in that, click HERE!

Here, have an art dump!

Hey there everyone... proving again that I am the actual worst at remembering this blog, I thought I would just lay it all on ya and show what I have been up to since my last post forever ago.
Once again I am really sorry... I promise I will try and get things up on here more often!!!!

First and foremost.... Perhaps my favorite piece that I have done recently would be one I did for an ArtOrder challenge in November.
"Morgaine's Departure" is based off of the book The Mists of Avalon when Morgaine leaves Avalon after a falling-out with Viviane.

After that, I made another fandoodle for Brienne of Tarth, one of my favorite characters in ASOIAF. 

And last but not least of notable Things I Have Made, we have a piece I call "Cloudcaller". It was a silly doodle I had that became something actually pretty cool. :)  It made for a change from the usual work I do in its color scheme and its not-quite-human character.

Aaaand that's about it for right now. I shot reference for a new piece last night and in keeping with my new year's resolution to bust out at least one new piece a month, I hope to get it finished up and rockin' awesome for you guys soon. 

I also have a sketch-of-the-day project going on for days where I haven't a lot of time because work or something but still do SOMETHING to keep my skills up. If you are interested in seeing that, I encourage you to head on over to my art tumblr, ashleydoesartstuff.  Maybe give me a follow or something too, eh? <3 

Starbringer

I nearly forgot I even HAD a blog on this site!!! I mean, not that anybody really seems to read it, but it's still one more place for me to stick my work up on, and hope people happen across it.

ANYWAY.

It's been a while since I even FINISHED an art-type project. Almost THREE MONTHS actually, which is horrifying to me, and so I am pleased about finishing something.

I am hoping that I will have more things to show off soon, rather than the endless collection of half-finished pieces that I've accumulated instead!

The Wench and the Kingslayer

Today I finished my Jaime x Brienne piece I posted about a little while ago! It was...an experience getting it to this point considering when I began I only meant to make a cutesy little cell-shaded doodle.

I hope that you guys like it! :D

Short Break!

Hey there! I realized I forgot to put a post up on this site so.... just so everyone knows, I'm gonna be moving out to Cali in 6 days and so things are a little crazy for me. Needless to say I haven't got any good projects in the works right now because it's been kinda impossible for me to focus on anything art-related when all this other stuff is going on, but I DO have a little for-fun doodle in the works that I think some of you might enjoy. Especially if you are a Game of Thrones fan! :D
Here's a little sneak peek....

Kerrigor

I promised new stuff would come, and here it is! This piece is meant to accompany my earlier rendition of Sabriel.

Kerrigor is the villain of Garth Nix's novel "Sabriel". He is a powerful Free Magic sorcerer and it has fallen upon our heroine to put him through the final gate of Death where he belongs....

Done in Adobe Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos5

The Moth Queen

I know it took longer than a few days for me to get this online, and I apologize for that. However, I think that it came out all the better for the time. 

Inspired by the Cerura Vinula moth, I imagined a queen who was lovely and yet stern and powerful. People would be in awe of her beauty and also hold her with utmost respect.

This was also a fun test with a super-limited color palette and I am really pleased with the result.

Also if anyone is interested, please remember I have a society6 account which can be found here!

Sabriel

My latest piece is a reinterpretation of the cover of  Garth Nix's "Sabriel", one of my favorite books. I know it was a long time coming, but I hope that the wait was worth it!

Done in Photoshop CS5 with Intuos5 wacom. 

***** I also just got an account here to sell some prints!!! http://society6.com/AshleyHankins*****

Pages from my Sketchbook

So lately I've been feeling that my drawing skills are going down a little bit, and I am seeking to remedy this. Here are three pages that I did in my sketchbook last night. I'm proud of the last one, I won't lie, but I still think I have a long way to go. The figure on the 2nd page above the large head took longer for me to do than I thought it should, and I think it's because my anatomical knowledge is really not as great as it should be... But the whole point of a sketchbook and of studies is to plan and to learn. :)

I hope to put up more posts like this at least once a week... but we will see how work treats me! I've got a lot to do in the next few weeks~ <3

Environment Redesign: The Old Man and the Sea

So, this is an Environmental Redesign for Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". It's related to the character redesign project I posted about a month ago.

As the name entails, we had to come up with a new place for these characters to live in. For my part, I chose a world inspired by the Russian/Mongolian Steppes. The characters are nomadic sky fishermen, hence the docks in the middle of the fields. The dock that the Manolin character is currently sitting on is further away and more decrepit than the one that's hinted at closer to camp. It is assumed that this is the dock that Santiago will depart from when he goes on his journey for the biggest catch.

I think that our deadlines for the class got pushed back, so now we might not have the time to do the monster design, or the boat design, but these are things that I would like to do in my free time when I get the time :D I think the boat design, while being something that I'm the most unfamiliar with, would also be the best opportunity for me to show what this world IS in terms of its technological level: One that combines the sci-fi and the fantasy, one of magic and science.

I still have some issues with it, but I think that this is my best digital work thus far.

WIP Wildling Woman

This is a project that I am working on in my free time. It means that it probably won't be finished as quickly as other things because my schoolwork is my priority.

Friends have already commented that it could use a warm reflected light from the bottom left (nothing too strong) and that the owl arm needs to be lowered a bit, so when I get the time to shoot my reference (Hopefully this weekend!) I will take these into consideration :)

I am super excited to start this project because honestly it has been way too long since I made artwork in my free time rather than sleep or something, haha!

This is just the line art though; when it's all finalized it will be transferred to tracing paper and put on a canvas where I will start painting traditionally. The big challenge, I think, will be the limited palette associated with the night, and also the starfield background. I've never tried to do such a thing before. I'm nervous and anticipating it at the same time. :D

Jenny Greenteeth

So, here is the finish of the long-awaited Jenny Greenteeth piece.

For many reasons, this is my most ambitious piece to date, and even though I am positive there are flaws (which I am not sure how to fix at this time), I am rather proud of it. It took a lot of time and complaining but I am left with something that I didn't think I would even be capable of a few months ago. There are a few touch-ups I want to make but for all intents and purposes, it is done. Of course once the touch-ups are made I will repost with the update, but yes.

I hope that you all enjoy this!

Done in Photoshop CS5 with Intuos5 Tablet

Character Redesign: The Old Man and the Sea

These were done for a class assignment in which we had to read and redesign the main characters, Manolin and Santiago, from tHemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" to a fantasy or science-fiction setting.

I chose to genderbend the characters, and though the other elements aren't yet apparent (the assignment hasn't been done yet) also made them into sky fishermen, hence why the Santiago character is holding a bird rather than a fish. The "fish" Santiago will eventually catch is a sky dragon and the boat flies through the sky.

This is also why I gave heavy coats; Even though the skirts and headdresses denote that they aren't necessarily from an arctic environment themselves, the coats are needed for high-altitude sailing.

The next step for these is to color them and put patterns on Manolin's skirt and headdress and refine the birds/birdcage but for the time being I am calling them done and am excited to show what I have :)

These were done entirely digital in Photoshop with a tablet. While they're still not perfect in many ways, I consider this to be by "Bedb" of digital work; an opening of doors, so to speak, of what I am actually capable of.

In the works....Jenny Greenteeth

I know that the figures at least are really bare-bones roughed in, but I thought maybe people might like a look at how I start doing a project.

I generally start my sketches in PS, because it's easier to move things around and shrink/enlarge things as needed. It's also a good place to start doing color studies as well. For the figures, I usually shoot my own reference with friends for models, that way I can control the lighting and outfits and all that.

After this point I tighten up my linework and make the transfer onto a canvas or board, and then start to block in my painting.

This one, though... This one I am debating about keeping in PS and making a wholly digital piece. It's something I need to learn how to do anyway, and in order to make this a painting it would have to be on the larger side of things if I want to get the level of detail I want to achieve. (I usually work smaller than 18''x24'' to put into perspective the sizes I generally work at.)

I'm really excited to start this for real nevertheless, regardless of which way I choose. I picked the story of Jenny Greenteeth to work with, and after weeks of feeling miserable and uninspired I finally feel energized and happy. It's a nice feeling :)

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd be pleased to hear them.