Clownfish Mermaid - Original artwork

I absolutely love mermaids and sometimes I just feel the need to draw them. This time around I wanted to draw a different kind of mermaid, one that would stand out so I decided to give her a clownfish tail and some punky looking black hair with orange stripes.
This piece took forever to finish because I am still not used to working in Corel Painter 11, but I'm learning and getting better as I go.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

You can see more of my work at www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Regards,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk
Anita K. Olsen Illustration

Kikis Delivery service fanart

I love Studio Ghibli, and one of my favorite movies is Kikis Delivery Service. So I took the liberty to make a little piece of fan art, as an homage to Hayao Miyazaki and his wonderful movies. 

Illustration made by and belongs to: Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk.

Regards,

Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk
@ www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Anatomy sketches - contains nudity!

I've been doodling quite a bit this past weekend trying to use the new things I learned from my newly purchased anatomy book. The goal is to improve upon my figure drawing and to be able to draw the human figure without it looking stiff and unnatural which is sadly one of my problems at the moment. Below you can see some of the results from my recent efforts. I think I've done a good job and have taken some small steps towards achieving my goal.

I do have to  point out that staring at bottoms, fannies and penises for hours on end is not something I am accustomed to, but since I am not a shrinking violet in any sense of the word I don't really mind. I like looking at the human body, as long as it is not my own that is (Like most girls I'm not that comfortable in my own skin).

Boobs!

Penis!

Well that's all for now folks!

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Nightshade Character design revamp!

About 4 and a half years ago I had a school assignment where I had to design my own game concept with characters and environment, the works. Looking back at the original artwork I'm kind of horrified at the quality of it and I finally couldn't take it any more so I've started to rework the main characters from the game assignment so they match my current skills.

This is the original character design of  my main baddie from the game, Nightshade. I had originally named her Belladonna but I decided I preferred Nightshade (as in deadly) She is the personification of the evil force that is slowly killing my heroine while she is in a coma.

As you can all see the colors are quite screamingly green and purple, all the colors are competing and the eye doesn't find something to focus on properly. It's also not very detailed and sloppy looking, but at the time I was really pleased with myself, I had recently started to get the hang of digital art you see.

Anywhoot, I still liked the concept of the character and the hair design so I decided to keep the basic designs and just amp it up a couple of hundred notches. I changed the sharp green and purple tones and went for some darker deeper colors. The hair has been brightened and painted a pale pink and she looks more regal and serious even if her outfit is more playful and detailed than it was in the original version.

Below you can see a nice little WIP picture series.

WIP 1

WIP 2

WIP 3

WIP 4

WIP 5

Finished

I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the new design, and totally looking forward to working on the rest of my characters. Keep your eyes peeled for the next update ;)

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

contact: anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

online portfolio: www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!
Today I turn 25, and I'm celebrating with cupcake cheesecakes that I made myself, strawberries covered in chocolate, champagne and board games!

Yep you heard me, I'm having a game night with a few friends. That's how I want to celebrate my birthday, keeping it small and nerdy, because that's who I am!

I don't feel oler, and definitely not like I'm all grown up even though I'm only 5 years away from being 30. I've changed a lot over the years but I'm still the same girl at the core of my being. I'm still a little shy, but not quiet or timid. I'm still nerdy and geeky and proud to be different, so here's to being true to who you are no matter how old or young you are!

I also have to mention that I have the most fantastic husband and family anyone could ask for. They all chipped in for a present for me and I got my very own studio quality microphone with it's own tripod and some other accessories. How did I get to be this lucky!

Here are some pre - celebration photos!

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

PIE!

No surprises, no half truths, no false advertisement! Here there be PIE!

Even though this is not strictly in line with my usual subjects I just had to share this with you all. I made my first pie in December. It was a classic apple pie with caramel sauce and it was utterly delicious. Unfortunately my husband detests all manners of cake or pie that contains apple. He's not really a fan of pie in general really...

(I don't understand how such a thing is possible, how can one hate anything with caramel and apples in it?)

Anyway since then I've been determined to convert him into a pie lover! A task I imagine is slightly easier that converting people to the cult of the flying Spagetti monster, but he is a stubborn man so you never know.

These two certainly seem to think pie is the cat's pajamas!

This is my second attempt at making pie and after tons of research into different types of pie I decided to try baking Mini Peach Pies! They just seemed tart and sweet and perfect! Below are some pictures of my process. 

I had pre-made the crust and put it in my fridge for two hours. Yeah that's right! I don't fuck around when I bake, I make it all from scratch. (cred, right?!)  I rolled it out with my rolling pin...

And stuffed the dough into my mini tart molds, I brushed the bottoms with whisked egg and poked holes into them with a fork to keep them from buckling and being soggy:

In a bowl I put some chopped peach, sugar, cinnamon, flour, nutmeg and salt and tossed it around a bit. I filled my little pies with the filling and added a small lump of butter on top before putting on the lids.

At this point my kitchen looked like a small hurricane had blown through it, looked at the havoc I had wreaked and decided it's work was already done and went on it's own merry way.  below is a picture from new years eve when I was cooking...this doesn't even come close to how it looked today! I'm the messiest chef you'll ever meet.

 Here my lovely pies are cooking in the oven, becoming all delicious and golden!

Aaaand here is the finished result, six yummy mini peach pies. They smelled heavenly and tasted just as lovely.

I made two types of pie, one with a full lid and one with a snowflake shaped lid. Both ended up looking good.

Ooh just look at that little piece of tart! golden, crispy and juicy.

So the question that remains to be answered is, did my dear hubby like the pie? Yes in fact he did. He loved it, so all my hard work payed of. I can finally bake pies that we both will enjoy and I've converted the bastard to the great world of pie.

I wonder if he ever gets tired of me bugging him into trying out new things, because if you think this is the only hobby I have that he gets dragged into you are sorely mistaken, yes sir...or ma'am. You have no idea what that poor man goes through because of me :p

Until next time,
Anita Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Challenge your literary self in 2013!

)Oh books, I just love them!
I don't know what it is about them...or well, yeah I do. Books are generally made of pure awesome. The feel and smell of paper and ink is just magical, not to mention the magic that one can find within the books, all the stories they tell, the unknown worlds they transport you to.

I can remember sitting in my mothers kitchen when I was about sixteen, reading one of the Harry Potter books. It was winter and completely dark outside. I had turned of all the electric lights and was reading "Harry Potter and the goblet of fire" by the light of a lonely candle (tottally recommended btw, there is no experience like reading about magic by candle light). At that point in time I was a very insecure teenager, with a history of being bullied and feeling lonely behind me. It was all fresh in memory however. My saviors were books and art. Ever since I was a kid I used my beloved books to escape the real world. When I read my Fantasy books I forgot about my troubles and for a couple of hours I felt like a hero in an epic saga. I didn't feel lonely as long as I had a book propped open in front of me.

Part of my beloved bookshelf  ^^

Now I'm an "adult"...I don't really feel much like a proper adult- Except for when I get bills in the mail and my heart slams on the breaks and momentarily stops. I would much rather stay a whimsy kid with a chunky book in one hand and a sketching pad in the other, but no such luck (damn you Peter Pan for tempting me with impossible dreams). Instead I've settled for the next best thing, I am now a whimsy adult with a chunky book in my messenger bag and a drawing tablet hooked up to my computer! I could be worse off ;)

This year I am dedicated to celebrating my love of books, and therefore I have set myself the goal of reading at least 15 books this year. I'm already at a good start so I might have to adjust that number up but for now 15 is the magic number. To keep track I've opened an account on Goodreads.com which allows me to make reading lists, track my progress and discover new wonderful books to read in the future. I urge you all to figuratively "run" and do the same!

So far my reading list looks like this:

1. The Hobbit by Tolkien - a re-read, still good, but not as good as I remembered.
2. A Clash of kings(Song of Ice and Fire book 2) by George R.R. Martin - Loving it!
3. The confidante by Hélène Grémillon - Absolutely hated it! Piece of sh#@ garbage...
4. The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams - So much fun!
5. In bed with a highlander by Maya Banks - Not really for me, so won't be reading more in this series, but some ok smutty bits in there though ;)
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - Just started it and liking it so far.
7. A storm of swords by George R.R. Martin - yet to start
8. A feast of crows by  George R.R. Martin - yet to start
9. A dance with dragons by  George R.R. Martin - yet to start
10. undecided
11 undecided
12. undecided
13. undecided
14. undecided
15. undecided

I have yet to decide what the books 10 - 15 on my list should be, but I have a bundle of titles in mind, and two book clubs that I'm following have a book every month that I can opt to read as well. I'm so looking forward to delving into the rest of this little project!

I hope you guys may feel inspired to do a reading challenge as well! If you want to you can friend me on goodreads and we can track each others process, I'm also a member of the Sword and Laser book club and the Vaginal Fantasy Book club which is free for everyone to join.

This is my Goodreads.com profile:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14191207-anita

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk.