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!

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. 

Bedb

This is the first painting that I did in the semester of Fall 2012 that I was proud of.

It is a piece based off of the goddess Bedb, an Irish war deity.

For many reasons this was a great success; it was probably the most realistic piece that I had done at the time, and was complex because I was doing things that I hadn't ever done before in it. For a few reasons, it was not as good as it could have been due to inconsistencies on my part.

That said, even though I can look at it objectively and see its flaws, it remains one of my favorite pieces, because it was like an artistic "opening of doors" for me.