Little Gladiator

   

Wow, it's been a while!

One for the Facebook group Character Design Challenge: Little gladiator and his long-suffering lion.

                                               

Blondie

Sketch of Rapunzel from Tangled.

My Friend the Bookworm

A 2016 calendar I painted for a friend.

She loves books and wants to be a librarian, so the calendar follows a little girl reading through the seasons. 

Into the Sketchbook

The kind of things kicking around in my head when I'm trying to come up with a concept:

Mostly simplistic watercolor doodles...

...a couple lists...

... a few word bubbles...

...and the very occasional full-color concept page.

Learning

My return to a more realistic style.  Painting the first wash in this style is a lot of fun because I can be creative and loose with the coloring.  It's exciting to see how they turn out.

The second wash is more structured as I start defining the features.  I also restrict my palette, using mostly browns and pinks from here onward.

I debated between finishing with a brown watercolor outline or a dark ink outline.  I went with the ink.

In retrospect, I should have used the brown watercolor; the ink is too harsh.  

Oh well, the artist's path is paved with failed experiments. So I'm going to try this one again soon, and see if I can improve it. :)

Dwellings

Making a house-warming card for a friend who recently moved into town.

Rough sketches from my sketchbook while I play around with what to paint.

Getting the idea...

The finished product.

  Now on to the Christmas cards!

What Do You Want To Know?

Another character design piece.  This month's challenge was to create a character in a circus troupe, so I went with a fortune teller in the sideshow.  

Here's my first attempt.  I liked the background and the crystal ball but the Seer himself was too stiff, so I re-did it.

The pose in this piece is relaxed and natural compared to the other one, and I think the Seer's expression is more engaging, so this is the one I submitted to the contest.