The Dream Keeper - an ImagineFX art challenge!

Yes, this is yet another step by step picture show of how I create my art. This time it's a piece made for an ImagineFX forum challenge. The brief was simply "Dream Keeper" and this is what I came up with:

Keeping it short and sweet this time around.

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Flat Battery - Not what it sounds like!

Sooooo I had some time to kill this weekend so I decided to participate in one of the forum challenges over at ImagineFX.com. The challenge that really caught my imagination was challenge #329 "21st Century Warlock.  I immediately had an idea of what I wanted to do.

The brief was as follows:

Magic is not only alive and kicking, but has also embraced the use of modern and near future technology. Show a warlock for the 21st century using both magic and technology to perform a magical ritual.

Now before we proceed I will clarify what a Warlock is precisely. A Warlock can be defined and is defined in some dictionaries as an oath breaker, a male witch practicing the dark arts or simply a magician and a conjurer. Because the challenge was to create a 21st century warlock I thought why not make the Warlock a woman, equality and women's rights and so on are very modern and 21st century. Now all I needed was to add some gadget or technology to the image. I already had the idea that I wanted a cell phone in the image. Everyone has a mobile phone and it's almost like a life line to the rest of the world. Most people feel naked without their phones. So what if the warlocks phone had died when she really needed it and she didn't have the ability to contact the rest of the world magically? Would she perhaps try to recharge her phone by pouring magical energy into it? How would she do it?

A ritual often demands some kind of symbol scrawled on the ground, a spell or some kind of arcane ingredients. I considered what a modern woman might have in her bag, and thought that in a tight spot perhaps a female warlock could use lipstick to scrawl symbols and pentagrams on the ground for a ritual. 

I really liked the idea of it and went to work on the image.

Below you can see the process from sketch to finished image:

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Alien queen illustration

Yay, another illustration finished. I don't have any projects at the moment, and usually it drives me insane thinking about it. To be honest I'm obsessive..manic maybe even. I am fully capable of stressing myself to the brink of  a panic attack This time however I'm trying something different. I'm focusing on having fun, doing challenges and personal pieces. Which todays illustration is a clear indicator of. I did this one for the ImagineFX weekly forum challenge(number 292). 

This weeks challenge was actually based of my very own theme suggestion. I'm kind of taking that as a small personal victory. I like celebrating the small things ^^
The brief was to make a portrait of an alien queen. She had to be wearing some sort of crown and it had to be a full on portrait. So this is what I made:

P.S. Full view is recommended! 

(c) Anita K. Olsen

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

Contact:

anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:

www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Hulder - My first ImagineFX challenge entry!

So I just finished my entry for the ImagineFX weekly challenge number 290 yesterday. The deadline is today and I'm very excited to see the line-up. There are some pretty spectacular entries this week. This was my first time entering one of their challenges so I was a little nervous about my skill level. I wasn't sure whether I could hold my own, but I think I did pretty well.

The brief was to make a mock cover for the magazine featuring a creature design where the head and the shoulders of the creature had to be visible on the page.

I chose to draw a mythical creature from Norwegian folklore. It's called a Hulder. It's a creature from the underworld who takes the shape of a beautiful young woman and lures men into the underworld or deep into the forests where they can lie with them and then kill them if they are not satisfied. A Hulder usually has a tail similar to that of a cow or a fox depending on where in Scandinavia you live, or she can have a hollow back, much like an old hollow log.

Now that you have been duly briefed on Norwegian folklore, here is my entry for this weeks challenge.

The top one is the mock cover featuring the ImaginFX logo (which I claim no ownership of, it's there strictly for challenge purposes) And the bottom image is the original illustration without all the noise.

Image (c) Anita K. Olsen 

Image (c) Anita K. Olsen

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com