Some recent projects

Ah, relief! The semester is over, so I've been relaxing a bit. And, weirdly for me, that's included cleaning, helping my mom garden (normally I hate it), and making some artwork! I thought I'd be burned out after the end-of-the-semester rush, but I've actually done some stuff that is refreshingly unrelated to any classwork. I've put off posting pictures of my projects from class until now so that you could see everything completed, so here goes!





First is the project I've been hinting at for awhile now, with the fabric I've been working on for at least half of the semester. I'm really proud of this fabric. I've actually got to rebind this book because I rushed to finish it and ended up tangling some of the threads towards the end, but other than that, I'm really happy with how this turned out. The fabric was first discharged to make the diamonds, then overdyed from an ugly brownish to a prettier red color. Then, the chain-link pattern was stenciled over the top. It took a lot of work, but the finished product is worth it to me.






This is another book with fabric that I dyed myself. It was first dyed a minty green color, then I did a clamp shibori type pattern overdye with a teal color. I like the binding on this one a lot, however, I need to fix or replace the ribbons on the cover, because they are coming loose and they are a little short for tying the book shut.



This is a project I finished earlier today. It's india ink, acrylic, and pen on cotton paper. It's the first involved project I've worked on since school ended, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Also, my messy desk.

More to come soon. I've got some other stuff from class, but I think this is enough for today.

Time flies...

Whoa. The days have just slipped away from me! I've gotten caught up with school and some random junk, so I've put off making new entries... I shall remedy this either today or in the next few days!

I have been following through with my resolution, by the way, mostly with projects for school but a couple random little things otherwise. If I think of anything worthwhile I'll post it soon, too.

Yeesh... 27 days... I swear it feels like a week...

^^;;;

Gesture Drawings

Next up for old stuff: Gesture Drawings! One of the favorite pieces I've ever done is a gesture drawing, so let's start with that and go from there.



I don't know why, but I love this. This isn't the best picture, but I forgot to take a new one when I took all of the other pictures. This is James from Against Me!, drawn my junior year of high school (ancient times... I know).

heart: The FACE! I don't know how or why, but it looks so cute.
/heart: I didn't spend enough time on the hands (big surprise)...

(Special note: "Against Me!" is the correct spelling, not just another of my overexcited uses of punctuation. Hee hee hee.)



If for nothing else than a reference of what the first picture would look like if I retook the picture, here is another very similar piece. This is Andrew of Against Me! this time, on the same newsprint paper, with the same chalk, and from the same time as the James picture. I don't know how the first picture ended up so yellow, but I kinda like it that way.

heart: I guess the face.
/heart: I noticed that, as one of my first gesture drawings, it's pretty boxy and the proportions are off. I mean, look at his head!



This and the rest of the images are from my first college drawing class. It was really fun, because for Halloween everyone dressed up and modeled.

heart: White on black paper. It makes it look ominous.
/heart: The calf is a little... clubby?



Same deal. She dressed up as a cowgirl.

heart: I like the lyrical quality of the lines, in the pants especially.
/heart: Once again, proportion. But I realize that, when doing timed gesture drawings, it's difficult to get proportion. I'll talk more about this later, though...



I think these girls dressed up like they were from the 80's or early 90's.

heart: I think the proportions in this one are pretty accurate, and the highlighting as well.
/heart: Though the proportions seem on, the features of the faces don't seem quite right.




Last one. This is also from my first college drawing class, and it's my favorite of the bunch.

heart: Proportions and linework.
/heart: I kinda overworked the face on the girl, and I'm sad that I didn't get the other figure in very well (yes, that's what the big black part is on the left).


We're pretty close to done with my old stuff, with just fabric pencil drawings and ink drawings left. I've found a few more of my books, too, but I'm going to wait until I've made a few more so that there are *good* books in there too. Same thing for fabric--I've found my old ones and I was going to make a post already, but I'd rather wait because I've got some awesome stuff in the works right now. Prepare for it! Until next time, ladies and gents.

Art Marathon: Failed

In my last post I mentioned that I've been trying to rush a project to submit to an art show at my school. Sadly, I failed.

I could have made a blank book to submit, but as my Fibers and Textiles professor pointed out, fibers projects are overwhelmingly overlooked when they choose pieces for the student art show. So, I've been rushing to make a book with content, and the problem turned out to be the content.

I could have finished it, even though I slept through spring break and left all the work for this week. But something really weird happened with the first drawing, and because of it, I'm almost turned off of the whole project. I'll explain more in depth once I've finished the drawing, but here's the short version:

I've been going through a really tough time the last few years, going from a bad relationship to the aftermath of ending it. So, I decided to make a series of illustrations and sequential art pieces to express some of the feelings I've had.

But the first drawing ruined it all. Although I chose references specifically to look nothing like anyone involved (hoping it would help people relate themselves), the one subject in first drawing ended up looking way too much like my current boyfriend, who happens to be AMAZING. So associating that piece with this project isn't sitting well with me. And by the time I was done, I decided I didn't need to rush to try to get into an art show and instead focus on just making art everyday. Period.

So, this is my (super duper late) New Year's resolution and my challenge to you:



I could try to make up for the lost time but I don't think overwhelming myself will help keep my resolution ^^;

Sketches

Okay, I lied. I'm not going to get the fabric up here just yet. I haven't had the chance to dig around to find my samples, but more importantly, I'm doing a piece this week that will BLOW MINDS, so I'm going to wait until I finish that to do the fabric post. Instead, today I bring you...

Sketches! These are some of my favorites, and some of the ones I don't hate too much. I'm going to do something new with drawings and such: in addition to a general caption, I'm going to list the thing I like best and the thing I dislike most about each one. Enjoy.


This is a sketch I did while working out a character design for a graphic novel project that is, in the form I was working on it, more or less abandoned. I hope to continue with the characters and the most boiled down basis of that idea, but not for a little while. The whole storyline was forced on me and warped into something I didn't really want to do by a partner that I'm no longer working with. I still really love my characters, so they'll appear in one form or another eventually.

What I like most: I really like the expression on the more rendered version.
What I hate most: How weird the face on the right looks without any shading.


This was a boredom sketch that would otherwise be forgotten by me if not for the fact that the creepy guy ended up looking WAY too much like a friend of mine. My friend is anything but creepy or scary or insane (well, maybe a little insane... but he wouldn't be a friend of mine otherwise). This is one of the many sketches where I attempt to form my own style to use for the eventual sequential art I'll make.

What I like most: Ballpoint pen. And it's not even smudgy.
What I hate most: As in many of my sketches, I don't bother drawing hands properly... Which makes no sense, because I should be practicing them the most.


A few years ago I worked at a bookstore that was all but dead, and so I had a lot of free time on my hands. I'd usually end up either reading or grabbing a book with lots of pictures and practicing anatomy drawings. For females especially, I'd also usually end up transforming the person into a character of mine that I was a bit obsessed with drawing at the time, and this is one of those drawings. The reference for this was from a book called Tao of Photograpy by Tom Ang.

What I like most: Aside from the point below, the anatomy turned out okay.
What I hate most: The neck seems too thick. Or maybe it's that the jawline seems too masculine? It just bugs me.


There isn't too much to say about this one, other than that it's another random sketch of another character of mine.

What I like most: I like it overall, but I guess I like the ways the eyes came through most, especially since they are the only part of her you can really see.
What I hate most: I have this horrible habit of doing most of my sketches in profile, because I'm comfortable with it and generally like the results when I'm done. However, it's really limiting me. Urgh.

So that's it. I'm going to be pretty busy this week trying to rush a project for an art show, but I'll try to get the next post or two up when I take much needed breaks. Next up is going to be gesture drawings.

And, I know that since this blog is a itty bitty newborn, there aren't going to be many if any people seeing it. But if you do happen to be stumble across little ol' me, gimme a comment or two. I'd love to hear what you think, and I'd love-love-love any critiques of my work!

More paper!

So, I've been a bit distracted because I'm trying to flip my sleep schedule before class resumes on Monday. I've forgotten to make posts, but no more! Today, I've got some handmade paper to show off, so without further ado....

PAPER! This is one of my favorite things to do. Basically, to make homemade paper, you put cotton paper (or special kinds of cotton fluff called "rag" or "linter") in a blender with some water, put that mush in a tub with more water, and use a screen to pull up a sheet of paper. That gets flipped out onto mesh fabric, the water is soaked up with a sponge, and then the sheet is left to dry. If you're interested, google papermaking for some guides. This is a great set of instructions that's pretty similar to what I've learned in class:
http://www.pioneerthinking.com/makingpaper.html
(Note: the types of paper that are suggested here are not archival, meaning that they contain acid and will deteriorate with time. If this is a concern, make sure to use paper scraps that are you know are classified as archival or acid free, or check out some online stores for other raw materials like linter and rag.)

The finished product is pretty fragile stuff, though, and because of this I only use it for covering hardcover books (once glued down, it won't rip). There are ways to make stronger sheets, and I think the above website covers that a bit. Even so, I really like this method because it looks handmade, it's really soft, and it's very easy to do at home. You can even add stuff like flower petals to the mush and they will become part of the paper.

All of these pieces were made either at school or at home a year or two ago. The top three are actually a very nice sage green, and the bottom four are a soft purple, but my camera didn't really pick that up very well.








Next time: FABRIC! I'll have to dig up some more examples and take pictures, but I want to keep the fabric and paper together because they're basically what I use to cover books with. In the meantime, go make some paper!

Old stuff - Issue 1

For the first installment of me putting up old stuff I made, I figured I would start off with book related stuffs. So, let's start with some paper! This post I'm going to show you some marbling and other surface design. I'm not really in love with these, which is why I haven't used them yet. But, they are very basic examples of some techniques I've used.

Note: I have NO idea how to marble properly, because in class, we basically just messed around to get cool effects while getting an idea of the general technique. Eventually I'll get my own set and learn how to do it right, because I LOVE marbled paper.

Let's go!



I made this marbled paper in my Fibers and Textiles class two or three years ago. I was just playing around, really.



Same for this one. It's pretty mushy, which I don't like. Really, the only thing I like about it are the little itty bitty swirls, so maybe I'll use it for itty bitty books.



This is a pretty sweet purple and blue marble I made during my very first time marbling in a bookbinding course four years ago. It got mushed in my portfolio. ;.;



This is also from my first bookbinding class. I was a guinea pig for a technique using white glue instead of wax for batik. It worked okay, but not worth the effort.



Potato stamps! I AM actually in love this paper, it's super bright. The back says "Color-aid R0-EX". I just used black and white acrylic craft paint and potatoes for stamps. I used this for the book I'm currently using to keep track of information for all scratchbound stuff.....



Here! One of my first stab bound books. I just realized that at the topmost set of holes, there is a loop around the edge; but not at the bottom set. Don't know how I missed that in the four years I've had this thing.


Well, that's it for now. Next time I'll show you my handmade papers. See ya next time.