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

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.

Personal development (draw this again)

Yes today we are talking about personal development, but not of the emotional kind.

Today I am focusing on the development of technical skill. Personally I am never truly 100% pleased with my artwork. I won't allow myself to be, because the moment you do you become complacent. My goal is to  keep learning, keep improving and keep working hard for as long as I live. I love to learn and I have always strived to become a better artist, or a better person or a better, well everything. So naturally every once in a while it is nice to see how far you've come.

Below you can see two images. The first one is an older illustration of mine. I made it a couple of years ago, and it was one of my first completely digital illustrations.

This week I decided to remake it in the spirit of Deviantarts current "draw this again" contest. The whole point of the contest was to choose and old image from your own Deviantart gallery and draw it again. I thought this sounded like a great challenge for me, and it would also allow me to see how much my skills had improved since I made the original Illustration.

As you can see the two illustrations have the same original design, but the details and the colors differ vastly.
I decided to create a greater contrast between the background and the pendant. In the first version the pendant had a golden color very similar to that of the background and seemed to blend in with it a bit. In the new one however I feel that the pendant pops more. Also the new version is more polished, and neat. The details are more refined and there is actually a proper background. In the original version I got the feeling that the necklace was just floating in thin air, but in the new version it is placed on a background of silk. This gives the image more visual interest and puts the necklace into context, it actually belongs somewhere now.


I could probably bore you with more details, but lucky for you I won't do that.

What I am going to do is encourage you to try this experiment for yourselves. How far have you come in the past two or three years? Have you pushed yourself? Have you been slacking? If you have improved vastly was it because you had a goal to do so or is it more happenstance? To find out do the challenge ;)

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com
 
contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Cooking with magic - colored version!

Ooh dear, this dish just went wrong in all kinds of ways :P Hopefully she will be able to save it.

If you want to see the original sketch please check out my previous post, you will find it there along with a little anecdote that goes with the picture.

Hope you guys like it.

(c) Anita K. Olsen

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com
Contact: anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Cooking with magic!

Today I bring you a cute little sketch of an elven witch trying to learn how to cook with magic. Obviously it's not working out too well as she is having a nuclear melt down in her kitchen ;)

She is kind of inspired by my mother, who despite her best efforts often have accidents and bad luck in the kitchen. My fondest memory of my mother in the kitchen is the meat ball incident, where my mother being very sick of canned meatball/vegetable soup placed one of the meatballs on her spoon and sent it flying between the kitchen walls. My brother and I of course thought it was hilarious and I think we were allowed to shoot one meatball each as well. The incident never repeated itself though. We were too well mannered for such things I suppose 

(C) Anita K. Olsen

Anyway mom, this one's for you :p

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

website: http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com
e-mail: anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com