"Dead" poetry book spread

Here is the first "finished" spread for my illustrated poetry book project. I am illustrating Some of the poems my fiancée has written over the years. Copyright for written materials (poems) belong to him and all illustration copyrights belong to me so this is a joined project. It's sort of like having areal client because in the end it is his poems I am illustrating and if he is not happy then the project is a failure.

So far I've done a lot of preliminary sketch work, created a dummy and started doing some finished odds and ends. I am currently doing a collage sort of thing. Which means that pretty much everything you see in the illustration has been made as separate illustrations and has been Photoshopped together. The background is really a black and  blue painted texture (acrylic on watercoulour) blended with a black background color. The skull is a pencil drawing, so are the roses, but they have been colored in Photoshop. The hair on the skull was painted on digitally too. The faint roses in the background was made with ink, and was then set to vivid light blending mode and opacity was turned down to 6%.

A lot of prep work went into this but I have to say that I am very pleased with my first spread. Only 7 more and a cover spread to go :P

It feels good to be doing something different than pure Photoshop work, and I love working with the Gothic vibes right now. 

The poem featured on this page is called "Dead" and is written by Ole M. Stoebakk. 

Enjoy

Merry Christmas everyone

I made this Christmas card for the artorder challenge, a last minute thing, but I've been meaning to make a card for some time so I'm posting it here, and I'm "giving" it to all my friends and family.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and if you wish, you can print this picture from my blog. I have uploaded it in a fairly good size so that you can hang it on your fridge or your wall or maybe give it away to someone else you wish to say Merry Christmas to.

Love

Anita Night

Advanced Individual D&D Project- Final post!!!

Yes indeed. The time has come for me to put an end to this project. I have for the past three months tried top post most of my progress during this very taxing but fun and informing project.

For those who are not already familiar with it, here is a little recap;
I wanted to do a fantasy illustration project, simply because I love fantasy art and roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, vampire the masquerade and Pathfinder. (not to kiss ass or anything but D&D is my favorite game hands down). The teachers at the University were not as enthusiastic as I were because they did not have such a good experience with previous students doing something like this (they don't really like fantasy illustration either). They demanded I have some sort of text to work from, if I didn't I would have to choose something else. So I thought ok, I'll just have to get some text to work from and Lo and behold the savior of my project came into the picture. Mr. Jon Schindehette. 
I sent him an e-mail asking for help. I wondered if he could provide me with some art briefs previously given to other artists on behalf of WotC. I din't really expect any help because he is so busy, but as the wonderful person he is he agreed to help me out, and I'm forever grateful.
So over the course of this semester I have been doing research, sketching, Photoshoping and gods know what else in order to improve on my skills as a fantasy illustrator. 

The result is six individual illustrations. Each of them inspired by an art brief from the D&D universe. I was originally going to make 8 illustrations, but time is a fickle friend and I had to downsize the project somewhat. At last I have finished and today I handed in my project. I have no idea how it will be received by my teachers but my fingers are crossed for a good result. 

So without further ado, her are my final pieces:

Fig 1: Hobgoblin, Goblin and Bugbear cover art.
I'm not entirely sure this would work as cover art, but as a free standing illustration I like it. This is by far the most detailed and crowded illustration I have ever made, and I'm so proud that I stuck to it even though I wanted to give up several times and in the end revamped the entire background. The dead goblins on the floor could be rendered better, but this was a last minute finish and I am well aware of a few mistakes here and there.

Fig 2: White Tower
This is a environmental/architecture illustration. It is supposed to depict a crumbling white tower standing on a small bluff with rubble around on the ground. It had to look like it was glowing slightly. No wines or moss were supposed to be clinging to it. It also had to show the tower at night. Over all I think the illustration looks good. I have some troubles when it comes to working with perspectives, so I'm not very confident in my own abilities in this area. However I do think the illustration works and I'm very proud of the grass I painted to be honest. Small things like that are often hard to do.

 

Fig 3: Shadar-Kai Warlock.
This was by far one of the most challenging illustrations to do. Because of the perspective and all the architecture. I am not used to doing detailed background and this was good practice for me. I'm not where I want to be yet when it comes to technical skill but I definitely see great improvement in my work. And I absolutely love how the buildings turned out.

Fig 4: Elf Sorcerer
An elven sorcerer surrounded by flames holding a brass orb. He was supposed to look confident and the flames were to appear as if the were coming from him. Now I haven't really focused on the last part as it was more important to me that the elf looked confident and strong. I had some trouble with the face and had to redo it several times. I like the characters clothes, but I think some more texture on his robe might elevate it further, so I might work some more on it later when I'm not so busy.

Fig 5: Drider and Mul slave
In this illustration the Mul slave is trying to choke the Drider slave master with the chains on his manacles. This illustration went throug a lengthy process before I got it right. I'm very happy with the background. It's simple but still interesting and it looks like a dark and dingy room of cells or pens. The Drider turned out pretty great too. The Mul I am not completely satisfied with. The face is a bit weird and it could need some more rendering, but I didn't have the time to improve upon it further before handing in the assignment. 

Fig 6: Human Warden
This is a class description illustration of a female and hopefully slightly asian-looking warden. She is manipulating the earth and stone around her during combat. I wanted there to be a lot of movement in this picture so I drew her in a dynamic pose, gave her hair flying every which way and a long billowing cloak to accentuate the movement. This illustration took a lot of time too, because I had trouble with the face once again. What I am very pleased with is the texture of her hide armour and the details in the fur around her shoulders and on her boots.

All in all this project went well. I have improved a lot on my skills in Photoshop which is remarkable since I am what I call technically retarded. My anatomy skills and use of perspective has become a lot better too. What I can improve upon is better rendering, and to study faces and poses more, because I tend to draw the same face over and over. I need to pay more attention to details and remember to draw things from more extreme points of view rather than keeping my compositions flat and safe.

I hope the people who have been following my progress can see my positive development and I hope that I have not dissappointed Mr. Schindehette, who has been so kind in giving me the art briefs needed and given me critique on some of my works.

From the bottom of my heart thank you to all the friends who have been encouraging me to do better, and reminding me to take a break now and again.

Anita Night 

Simple acrylic practice

Here are some simple artefacts I painted for my fantasy project. Just some simple technique tests really. And even though I'm used to working with acrylics it's a long time since I did. I found that my skills with the brush needed some refreshing. It took a while to get used to it again, but it was such a welcome relief after working with Photoshop constantly for the past two months.

Hope you guys enjoy them, I sure did ^^

Until next time,

Anita Night

Advanced Individual D&D project, part 6 - The first finished illustrations

So two of my illustrations are finished, as finished as they can get right now at least. I might see some more flaws in them after a while or fix whatever might be wrong with them after getting some feedback from people. i have to say though that i am very pleased with certain elements, which I intend to describe further on.

Warden:
This one turned out a little different from the original sketch. I changed her hair because I felt that short and loose hair would be more fitting for this character than an ornate bun. I have changed the look of the shield quite a bit and the way the hand is holding the weapon. The belt is also a little different. Instead of a regular leather belt I opted for a braided multi colored looking belt.

The things I am particularly pleased with is the texture of her leather armor and the fur. I worked hard to make it look like thick leather or hide. The cloak also looks good I think, the added detail at the bottom really lifted the image. The shield turned out better than expected to be honest. What I did have some trouble with however was the skin. It ended up looking a bit too airbrushed, so if I get the time I'll read up on some tutorials and fix it.

I had some trouble with the "whooshing" sand in the background. I've never tried to paint sand like that ever, and I had no idea of how to do it. I basically just sat down and played around with some brushes, the eraser and the burn(dodge tool until it looked "whooshy" enough.

The elven sorcerer:
The sorcerer was a challenge I'll say that from the get go. He was difficult from the beginning of the sketching stage. It was fun to play around with the design of his robe and the accessories, but his pose and the flames raging around him were a nightmare to figure out for some reason. There are some extra details in this version too. There are embellishments on the gloves and belt that were not present in the sketch. The hair is also a bit different.

I am not a friend og light from several angles. I hate to consider light sources when working, but alas it is necessary isn't it. In this one it is a little tricky, since it is lighted from the back and from the front. I remembered reading in Imagine FX a little while ago that warm light will produce cold shadows and vice versa. That one trick really saved me, so thanks a bunch to Imagine FX for that one. The face was a bit tricky to get, but it turned up much better than the wardens did. It's more painterly looking instead of airbrushed. What I am proud of is the orb however. I think it looks awesome. I think I got the colors right, the texture looks about right, it just looks cool (at least I think so :p). 

The flames is a chapter all to it self. It's hard to paint flames, that all I can say. I think I managed to do some convincing flames. They don't really look realistic, but neither does my personal style either. I think my style is sort of "cartoonie" with a touch of realism, if that makes sense at all.

I haven't shown these to my teachers yet, so I don't know what they think about them. I at leat feel like I'm doing a good job. For every piece I do I see personal progress in at least one area, and at the end of the day I think that's the most important thing, to evolve and develop ones style and technique.  

Until next time

Anita Night

Advanced Individual D&D project, part 5 - Ever onwards

Sooo a bit of radio silence for a couple of weeks. We had visitors here in England from some good friends from Norway. They brought their 3 month old baby along with them. He was very cute but also very distracting at times :p

I did however get some work done. I have finished doing rough sketches, and made some nice clean ones that are easier to decipher. Because of time constraints I have also had to start coloring and finishing up my illustrations because they have to be handed in by the 17th of December. Am I stressed out or what...I don't even want to think about it.

I invested in a small light box at Argos,not the best quality, but it beats sticking my drawings on a window just to be able to trace them. What I intend to show you guys this time are the simple clean sketches that I've made and scanned, this does not include the goblin/hobgoblin/bugbear illustration I have showed you earlier.

Shadar - kai Warlock:

Mul slave attacking Drider:

Elven sorcerer:

Warden Class description

Elf assassin and dragonborn noble:

Shifter Class description:

note: The shifters look like crap in this sketch, but I intend to vamp them up quite a bit in the coloring stage.

Crumbled Tower:

Yeah, so those were my sketches following very soon will be some of the finished illustrations. I don't really have time to change a lot when it comes to composition, but I'll take any critique you have and fix or rework things if time allows it near the end.

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen (Anita Night)

Underdark shaman - finished version

So I finally got around to finishing my personal project. I haven't had any time to enjoy myself just doing personal stuff, but I couldn't leave this unfinished any longer, because I would simply forget that it existed. I tend to do that. I'm a workaholic and I rarely take btreaks from jobs with a deadline...I have problems switching of. (not a surprise to those who know me). 

My inability to take breaks is probably the reason why I smoke. It gives me an excuse to go outside, take ten minutes to breathe a little and clear my head. If I didn't smoke I'd probably work 24-7, but I digress.

It is finally finished, at 01.35 in the morning. There are some issues I could work out, but I simply do not have the time, and I'm actually pretty pleased with it. I've subtracted a lot of details and changed the pose of the Drow a bit. It has made the image less cluttered and puts the Shaman more into focus. I like the colors, and for once I've actually been able to paint rocks. Yay for me!! Personal progress is always fun.

Fig.1 is the original sketch and image and of course Fig. 2 is the finished image.

Fig.1

Fig.2

Happy to have finished it. 

That's all for now,
Anita Night

Advanced Individual D&D Project, part 4- cover sketching

Ok, so it's taken a while to get to a point where there is actually possible to show relevant progress, but I'm getting there now. I have been sketching on one of the cover design briefs that Jon gave me Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears oh my).

He did tell me that I should change the pov's in my compositions and I am currently doing just that, but not on this specific illustration. I decided to keep the point of view simple here, because there is so much that is going to happen all at once and I'd rather focus on getting the interaction between the heroes and the goblins looking convincing than fiddling around with perspective. I'm doing some more exciting stuff on the Shadar - Kai Warlock brief and some of the other pieces instead.

So I've done some environment sketches and some character sketches, separately to begin with, and then I have composited them together in photoshop. This way it is easier to change up the sketch in case I'm not happy with placement or scale. So far this is what I have:

fig 1: initial background sketch.

Fig.2: Reworked it a little bit, simplified it. 

Fig.3: Resized it a bit and started placing out characters. Right now this is the best composition I've come up with, but I think I'll change it up a bit when I add more Bugbears and Hobgoblins.

Fig.4: I started coloring the background, it's getting somewhere. it's still not finished by any means, but as an overall image I think I might be pleased with it in the end. 

As soon as I have more to show I will post it. I have been working on some sketches for some of the other illustrations and I am looking forward to working some more. It's hard work, and it takes a whole lot of time, but I'm honestly loving it. ^^

Until next time

Anita Night

Happy Halloween in advance :p

Since it is October, and Halloween is approaching I made a Halloween themed picture. I try to make one every year, even if I don't really have the time for it, like this year. I made the sjetch for this picture weeks ago in my sketch book, but didn't get around to doing it in Photoshop until today. Yes, I've been that busy. At least I finished it before Halloween. It took me 5-6 hours or so to finish it I think. I wasn't really keeping track of the time though so it's a rough guess. 

I'm posting it now since I'll probably  be busy working on all hallows eve. (Relax) I will have time to attend a Halloween party, but it will be on the 26th of October instead.

So Happy Halloween in advance to everyone.

from Anita Night

Tattoo sketches

I'm just posting some sketches. Good to keep the activity up on my blog, and let the world see what I'm up to besides university work.

These are tattoo sketches I'm doing for this guy I know. He wanted rogues looking kind of sneaky or hunched , so that's what I made

There are some flaws in the anatomy and poses, but I intend to fix it as soon as the design is ok

Advanced Individual D&D project, part 3 - composition

Over the past week I have been battling the flu, watching a whole lot of "The Big Bang Theory" episodes to prevent my head from exploding due to stress caused by the fact that I am sick and my head is slow like syrup. My throat was swollen to the extent where talking was painful and made me want to gag, so I've survived on throat relief tablets and tea. In spite of this I have gotten some work done (yay for me).

I've started making some compositional sketches for some of the art orders/briefs from WotC. Nothing too fancy, just quick, small thumbnails depicting what I want the illustrations to look like. Usually when working by myself I'll skip this step, because I usually end up using the first idea I came up with anyway (somehow the first idea is always the best one, go figure). This time around I decided to be as thorough as possible. No point in rushing such a big project as this and risk the possibility of ending up with mediocre work.

Here are some pictures of the composition sketches I made, as you'll see they aren't exactly what one would call beautiful or very detailed, but at least I have a basic idea of where I'm going next.

This one is for the crumbling tower brief. The top half is supposed to be missing, and the towers is supposed to be situated on a small bluff.

This one is for one of the cover design briefs. A male human fighter and a female halfling rogue are supposed to be battling goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears in a dungeon chamber.

This one is done for the Shadar-Kai warlock brief. She's supposed to be sitting or standing on a balcony overlooking the Shade Enclave, performing some sort of spell.

I've also done some character and artefact sketches, but I'm saving those for the next post.

Anita Night

Doodle do time

So this is a simple little sketch I did during the summer when playing D&D with our friends home in Tromsoe. I was supposed to be a sort of oriental martial artist if I remember correctly. It was not a standard class as the Game master had made his own classes and given us all special techniques. I don't remember what my class was named but it was interesting to play something new. My character wielded a big fan with blades on the tips, it was collapsable and doubled as a club. So I called it a "fan club" (get it). My sense of humour is very dry at times so please excuse me.

Anyway, here is the sketch of my character. I think she turned out alright, the only thing I'm unhappy about is the fact that her face is not oriental enough. 

Anita Night

Ouroboros - personal logo

My friend Orius asked me to design a personal logo for him a while back, and now I've finally made some proper designs for him. He wanted an Ouroboros (serpent) together with a triangle. It had to be slightly minimalistic and sleek. Not too much ornaments and fluff. I figured that making it look kind of like shiny metal would give the symbol a modern and minimalistic touch, so that's what I went for.

The images below are sketches, made with a mechanical pencil, a black drawing pen and a little bit of auto contrast in photoshop. This is as far as we have gotten. Orius seemed to be pleased with them, the only thing that needs to be changed is the head of the serpent. It looks too dragon-like. Other than that the only thing remaining is a little bit of photoshop and illustrator and it'll be done.

Fig 1: This is the one we decided to move forward with

Fig 2: This one I made as a second choice in case the first one didn't work out.

I have to say that I like both logos, but I agree with Orius that the first one was the best one.
I am looking forward to finishing it, but since I'm so busy with Uni it could take a while.

-Anita Night

Advanced Individual D&D Project, part 2 - Moodboards

I have recieved a lot of wonderful art briefs to work with thanks to Jon Schindehette, the art director over at WotC. He has been really helpful and I still can't believe how lucky I've been. So a big thank you is in order.

Putting that aside, I wanted to talk about my progress. I have not done a lot as of yet, but the little I have done I believe to be important. Before one can start a creative process one has to figure out where one is going. So A nifty thing that I usually do (this is what they tell you to do in Norway on the illustration course) is that I create a moodboard.

What is a Moodboard?
A moodboard is a simple but effective tool. It is almost like a mind map, but with images instead of words. In a moodboard you paste in pictures of colours you want to use, environments, people, costumes, notes or whatever will inspire you and help you to figure out what it really is you're going for. You should of course never copy what you use in your moodboard into your art. It is strictly for inspirational and personal use only. I'm posting one of mine beneath this text to give you an idea of what I mean.

I've written some quick notes on what the artwork should contain, added pictures from the 4th edition Monster manual for reference purposes, and then I've added some race description illustrations from the 4th edition Players Handbook, mixed in with some ethnic or traditional clothing and  and faces. I still need to add some pictures to describe the environment so it's not quite finished, but I believe you get the gist of it.

Until next time, have a good one(whatever a good one might be)

Anita Night

Advanced individual D&D project part 1

All right, So I'm going to be doing an advanced individual project for uni, and since I could choose my subject I chose D&D. I wanted to work with character/class designs, environments, equipment designs and spell descriptions.

My teachers are very skeptical, they are afraid I won't have any text to work from and that it will all be my imagination and nothing else. It will not, not if I have anything to say about it.

My hope is to be able to work from old D&D art orders, and do my own interpretations. As of right now I have no idea how it will all work out. I only have until December to finish and might have taken on too much, but hopefully I'll work it all out. I thought that I would post my progress on the forum.

That way I can keep track of my own process and those who are interested could comment on my work or ignore it. Whatever pleases, right?

So hopefully this will be the first in a series of posts about my ongoing project.

The progress wil be posted here and on my page over at the artorder forum:
http://artorder.ning.com/profiles/blogs/advanced-individual-dampd

Shaman of the underdark

Drow in the underdark, final sketch.  I'll be doing this in color in Photoshop, it'll take some time though so don't hold your breadth :p

I'm not completely happy with the face but I am pleased with the fact that there actually is an environment around her. I am slowly but surely winning the fight against the dreaded background :p

Doodle-do

Just a little doodle/sketch I did during the summer. 

I think she looks mean, or maybe she's just very tricky/clever.

A little practice image on painting skin. I find that selecting the right hues and geting the right textures is very hard. So as they say practice practice practice.  I did enjoy working on it, and decided that I should just keep working on it.
There are some flaws in the anatomy. Her neck is a little long, the irisesare not the same size. One ear is slightly bigger than the other although it doesn't show. I am however very pleased with the nose, the way the skin looks, the hair and the jewellery. It was all good practice and good fun. Next time I'll try to make something more dynamic. Someone in combat or something.

I just purchased the ImagineFX fantasy females special edition and have found myself being enormously inspired. Even though I had to pay something close to 34$ for it since it is only found in select kiosks here in Norway and is special import.

Anyway, back to the picture. I've titled it "Concubine". That's what she looks like to me. I was going for something else but she changed during the process and I realized she was meant to be a concubine. The maharaja's favorite or something like that.

ARTundressed

Ok, si it's been a while since I did some self-advertising and I thought that it might be time to do so again. Luckily I didn't have to search for long for something to do, I didn't have to search at all. 

I recieved an e-mail a couple of days ago from a lady who thought that some of my erotic/porno art might be suited for an art competition named ARTUndressed hosted by Erotic Signature. I was really skeptical to begin with. You never know when someone is trying to hoax you, and get away with your money. So I got my fiancé to check it out, because he's good with that kind of stuff. And what do y'know they checked out. So I decided to sign up for the competition. The entry fee was  20 $ per image, and a handling fee of 4,95 $. Since we're in the middle of moving to England money is a little tight so I only entered two illustrations. Hopefully they will be accepted, and hopefully (fingers crossed) One or both of them makes it into the coffee table art book.

The winner has the opportunity to win 2500$ or something like that. I don't expect to win at all but it would be nice to get some more illustrations published. If you want to check out the competition then just go to: www.eroticsignature.com
Here you can read the guidelines for the competition, check out the prizes, or peak at some of the entries. Deadline is 15. August.

I'm surprised to find that my erotic art is as popular as it is, I've sold some originals already and apparently prints might be desired by some. I guess it's true what they say, sex sells :p

Portrait

I recently finished a commission for a portrait. The customer was the lucky winner of my lottery contest on www.anitao.blogg.no

I held a contest where the prize was a free illustration in either A4 or A3. The winner was randomly selected and she requested a portrait of her mother. I've had a very busy schedule lately so I've been a little bit behind on work, but I finally finished it. 

I usually don't do portraits. I don't feel like I'm that good at it, and I think it's quite boring to copy reality. Not a very great trait for an illustrator, I know. Since copying reality is often a part of what we do. We create illusions, smoke in mirrors, and I really should work with still life and study textures and structure, but it does get boring. Nevertheless I should do it, and this portrait was a good chance to brush up on my skills. 

I think it turned out pretty well to be honest. I tweaked it a bit, but kept the essence of the reference I was given :)

Just letting you know I'm alive

I haven't been active on this blog lately, and it is a shame. It's supposed to help me promote myself and my work. There just hasn't been any time for it so far.  I've been so busy packing my apartment into tons of cardboard boxes that I haven't really been able to do any creative stuff at all.
This weekend I'll be attending Desucon in Oslo, and hopefully I'll have some nice photos to show from it, and also hopefully a little profit. I could really use some extra cash by now.

I'll just leave you with a photo of me from a gothic circus themed photoshoot Sunniva and I took part in last weekend. Photo was taken by my good friend Adriane Vinter. 

Porn!

I just finished my semester project. It was about porn..Gods only know why I chose to work with this but it was actually quite fun.

I wanted to see if people would react differently to pornographic material if it was taken out of it's usual context and made to look like something else? Would people even consider it to be porn or just erotic illustrations?

The answer is yes. People have reacted very differently. When I have shown them my illustrations some think it's childrens books illustrations before they get a closer look. Some people just laugh and think the whole concept is hilarious. Others again blush a little and giggle. But no one, not even a single person has been offended in any way, or thought that the pictures were disgusting or pornographic. So I would say that the project has been highly successful. 

Now I am aware that making sexual illustrations isn't exactly new. Naked women have been painted before as muses, it is when they cease to be a muse and are just naked women on divans that people have reacted. I wanted to experiment with the whole concept. Have people moved on? Does the taboo of naked bodies performing sexual acts still make people feel dirty? Does religion still come into play? Does feminist views affect the reciever?

Of course people are still affected, of course all of these things play a part in how we percieve something, but so does presentetation. If I had shown anyone a printed screenshot from a porn flick, people would think it gross, and ask me why the hell I was showing it to them. But when presenting the same material in a different medium, a different expression people loose a lot the associations they usually have towards porn.

Well, enjoy :P

Title: Pussyjuice

 
Title: Sit on it baby

Title: Lick it!

Title: I love cock


Title: Deeper Harder


Title: Are you sure this is right?


Title: Oh God, don't stop

Out of Breath

I take a swig of my flask,
a taste of drunken scenery.
Sweet toxins running into me.
I bring a cigarette to my lips,
a kiss of death, I needed this.

I've been decieved for far too long,
I wear this mask,
and they think me strong.
I wish that I could love you still,
but now I know I never will

And so I return to my flask and cigarette
with a heavy heart and out of breath...

This is an old poem, written when I was 16-17 or something like that. I had almost forgotten about it in the mists of time, but found it again today, and thought I would repost it. I was heartsick when I wrote it. I had been in a relationship with someone I saw some good in, and that I saw potential in, but who constantly disappointed me. At this time I saw sense and realized it was time to cut my losses and just get over it. So I wrote this poem and went outside on my porch and lit a cigarette. I really am a silent drama queen when I think about it, a melancholy goth girl who thrives artistically during hardship.

Little me

There is much to say about little me,
but so hard to find the words
There are many hidden things inside of me
that no one ever learns

Little secret spaces
spaces that want to be liberated
that want to reveal their hidden worth

There is a lot of dream inside of little me,
so hard to set it free
There are flaming wishes raging inside of me
so wildly it burns

Little sparkling bonfires
bonfires that shine a guiding light
illuminating the pathways I must tread

I'm in a funny mood these days. I've been living on painkillers and antibiotics this week after I got one of my wisdom teeth pulled out. I am under a lot of stress. I'm making a magazine cover, finishing a large school project and trying to do some self promotion work, and prepare an Artstand for Desucon 2010. It's all a lot to handle all at once and I always work so hard to make everything work out in the end. I try to do my very best, I try so hard it wears me out. I've become a workoholic. Something I never thought I would be. It's not healthy.

Things usually work out in the end. I just have to keep up the work and cross my fingers and not let the stress get to me.

Wolverhampton here I come

As of September 2010 Wolverhampton will be my home. I've just been accpeted to their BA Hons illustration course. This is very exciting for me. After waitng for my papers since the middle of January it was about time they finally arrived. I was afraid they wouldn't arrive at all. I signed the paper scanned them, e-mailed them to Go study, and the in turn are sending the papers to the university.

This is where I will be studying, at the university of Wolverhampton City Campus ^^

Letter designs

We've been designing letters recently. This was a small assignment we did as a part of the pamphlet design assignement. We still had to be inspired by water in some form, and then find a clever way to make a stylish and readable letter.
I came up with a koi fish design that I decided to put inside a simple bold "V" shape, and a second design which was inspired by running watercolors.

This is how they turned out:

I think they both turned out great. They are very different from each other. The A is a little softer and subtle. The V is more graphic I guess you could say. I can't really say which one I like the most, as I think they are both good representations of the work that I do. I prefer them in black and white, becuase I usually work with black and white. Although when printed the V was printed in a lovely gold. I'll try to get a picture of it up on the net sometime soon.

The 13th issue

Yaaay, the thirteenth issue of Crow Toes Quarterly finally arrived.
Kind of cool to finally hold a real life copy of the magazine in my hands.

This is the cover of the magazine, my illustrations can be found on my blog in a previous post called illustrations for crow toes quarterly.

 

Although the print version doesn't really do my illustrations justice (they look very different on the screen) It's still really cool.

I'll be sending a copy to my mom, she's my biggest fan after all :P