Once upon a time, there lived a princess. Not a vicious, bloodthirsty princess. No, Nettle was a quiet, bookish girl, and that was a problem. As anyone could tell you, a princess was not gentle. A princess was not forgiving. Above all, a princess was never..kind.
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Nettle is a character from a story called Wing I've been working on quietly for a long time. You can check out this post on my new artist blog about the process of creating this comic character: https://christinewelmanblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/24/my-process-for-designing-a-comic-character/
Progression 2 of 6. Spent some time here in the hair, beard, and eye. The transition in the hair from light to dark was done mainly by not adding in graphite in heavy amounts and using the pencil eraser to define the hair.
Some shoulder studies using a statue by Borromini. The muscles on this guy were bizarre and somehow still anatomically correct. Medium: Charcoal on Newsprint Time: 30 min x 3
Been bingeing The Legend of Korra with my 3-year old. He *loves* the intro. In fact, I've caught him "bending" in the kitchen a few times. Cutest. Thing. Ever. Anyway, thought I'd give him his own intro. Meet your new Avatar.
A dark image that reflects in witness that does not need to be said, understood beneath the horrid reflections for which various creatures through time, present, in future sorrows, harmed to nightmares or death, fractured eyes that seep lands familiar, but rarely be spoken. An image of harsh reality.
A few years ago, I noticed a new habit of doodling faerie folks who seemed to exude off of the page. They look very doodle-y but they have ‘presence’, at the same time. I don’t know if that comes across to anyone else, but it does for me so I find them interesting. They each have part of a story that they want me to tell ... Here are five of many.
The inspiration for this collection came from a conversation I had with the Founder and Executive Director of the Underprivileged And Underserved Foundation (UAUF), George Goodwine. While discussing race and whether or not every opportunity was fair based upon someone’s familial structure or “starting line,” I was asked the following questions. How does someone overcome these hurdles? How can the playing field be leveled to make things fairer, when others may only have 50 hurdles to overcome in the same competition?
My response was simple. “The person in front of 150 hurdles has two choices. They can either get discouraged before they begin, or start jumping. In the midst of the race they might get tired, unsure, or discouraged, but if they press on to the finish line they may become more physically fit than the person who jumps over 50.”
I used to dance ballet and at the time, there were a lot of hurdles I had to overcome solely based upon inconveniences that came with being raised in low-income, single parent home. Above are pencil sketches and sharpie drawings that I have drawn from actual photos. I plan on making these images my own by adding more abstraction and vibrant color to them.
Over the course of the project, stay tuned to see how these pictures will transform into a work of ART!!! Check out my artwork at theservingartist.com
Progression image 4 of 6. 11x14 Marker paper, Medium Graphite Pencils (asst. B-5B). This is where I felt the piece coming together. I spent a lot of time working on her left eye.
In some of the Rural areas in Africa, the Rooster is our clock as well as the alarm. It is a combination of the rooster and the four numbers on a clock.
Sometimes I like to draw things in the reverse (filling in the light areas, leaving the dark areas bare) and then flip them to see how I did. Today's warmups turned out pretty well. My favorite is the kid on the top, whose head & hair echo the strawberry shape. I wish I'd distinguished the girl's legs from the dog's body on the left more, but overall, not bad.
Sometimes in life you've gotta draw a genie that's based on Lady GaGa. Don't blame me. Blame the inevitability of existence. This was ink and watercolor with a bit of assistance from Photoshop.
Doodling my faces, this time on a piece of wood from a pallet. Re-cycling! Used watercolors and colored pencils, Carved out some spots to add dimension.
We wrapped up our trip with South of the Border, the schlockiest, most-borderline-offensive Mexican-themed South Carolina rest stop of all time. Then we hit Raleigh's art museum, and went home. The last few sketches of my sketchbook were me flipping through my photos and drawing a few favorite things I hadn't gotten to drawing yet. Thanks for traveling with me!
