I painted this back in December but couldn’t share it until later because it was part of an Epiphany present for my brother. He’s very connected to celtic imagery so I thought this would be a neat idea. When I was drawing this I was trying to get the two circles to look like they were orbiting each other. It’s a bit abstract, but to me this is my brother and his wife, they are perfect for each other, they share their celtic activities and I wanted to express that in a symbolic way. I highly doubt anyone would see that in this image, not even him. This is a watercolor mixed with a bit of ink outlining.
Penquinaut! This Penguin steampunk astronaut who knits is not a Daily Creativity
This is a commission and so it wasn’t a Daily Creativity, meaning I spent less than a day on the piece, this piece I spent a lot more time on. I made this for someone who was part of a knitting team on ravelry. There were certain themes to follow, like their team name, and then adding knitting to it, and finally a touch of steampunk to reflect the personality of the person. I had a few sketches and ideas and ended up picking this design. I mixed media here, using masking, water color, ink, and pencil, to create the depth that I was looking for. My goal was rich colors to really flesh out this design. Also, if the planet the penguin is standing on looks familiar and you’re a fan of the Little Prince books, there is a reason for that. I placed the penguin on the Little Prince’s planet on purpose. It wasn’t part of the commission, that was just something that worked for me. By the time this posts the physical art will be in her hands, she’s had the digital for months.
I made this for a new segment on Nutty Bites, Intro to Ghibli, where Jen, Jason, Tek, and myself explore the studio Ghibli movies. I drew the four of us with a Totoro surrounded by soot sprites. Because why not? The Totoro has become iconic of the studio and the soot sprites are everywhere. While I’m still unspoiled for most of the movies, I haven’t been living under a rock, so I know this, plus Totoro was the first movie we covered.
I drew this with blending markers on some really nice marker paper that doesn’t absorb and spread the ink. It really makes things pop. I love it. Wish I had it in more sizes. I’m pretty happy with how this came out. I used photos of us from various Balticons for reference. I think I did the worst on myself, I have a hard time capturing myself, but think I did amazingly well on Jen. Yet Tek says he thinks I did the best on myself, so what do I know. Tek was easy, if you remember the short lived web comic I did eons ago, Picnic Kids, he looks a lot like that. What do you think?
Nutty Bites 85: Intro to Ghibli – My Neighbor Totoro
Intro to Ghibli, a new regular segment of Nutty Bites and the Talk Nerdy 2 Me Podcasts. Jen & Jason guide newbies Nuchtchas & Tek through the movies of Studio Ghibli. Starting with My Neighbor Totoro, we bumble our way through figuring out how this form of IntroCast works.
I’m also really pleased with the show art, I drew this of the four of us with Totoro. I will be using this art for all of the Intro to Ghibli episodes because the imagry from this movie has become so iconic of studio Ghibli. You can look forward to a future post about this Daily Creativity piece on it’s own.
We are starting with the Hayao Miyazaki films in order(ish), just bumping My Neighbor Totoro to the first. Once we finish those we will hit up the Isao Takahata films, then the Ghibli films without either director, then two non Ghibli Miyazaki films, and we also have some bonus shorts to sprinkle throughout.
I also thanks all the patrons who made this episode possible. If you’d like to contribute go to my Patreon Page and donate to the show and next month I’ll be thanking you. I read the names at the beginning of this episode, I am still getting a feel for how this patreon thing is working. Let me know if you like it at the beginning of the show, or the end? Thanks!
Yesterday I got a crayola marker kit with 100 different colored markers. Now these are cheap markers but they have so many colors!!! So what do I test them out on? Not my adult coloring book that I bought them for, nope, by drawing a picture of Rory as if he were at a con wearing an I Grock Spock shirt. Because there are so many colors I could use a lot to create depth where I just don’t have enough marker colors to do with my really expensive markers.
Of course I also used the wrong paper, but it was fun. I have this note book with unbleached paper that is super textured and I end up using it a lot even though it’s not right for a lot of projects. I just like the book. I’m pretty happy with how this came out though, he’s so cute.
Daily Creativity: Celtic Circles
