Lanterns in the Sky

Day 38: Last few day's project finally done. :) I found out recently that those floating lanterns featured in Tangled are actually real. Well, maybe without that purple sun on the side...and there's no missing princess....or magic hair....but still! They exist!

It turns out that there's this big festival celebration in Thailand where they release tons of these things into the night. I found some photos of the festivities on shutterstock that are really stunning. I'll put one up below, but I didn't strictly copy any one cloud of lanterns. Just used them for inspiration really. :)

I think it turned out pretty well. I was uncertain about adding more colors into the sky because I was so taken with just the plain blue, but I think I made the right choice.

...I also may have been thinking about what Van Gogh said in Doctor Who about the sky being all different colors.....

n_n; Oh well. I like it. It turned out well. I want to make a bigger version (this is just a sketchbook sized one). I'll have to look at the remains of my Bristol pad, but I know it's bigger than a normal sheet of paper...I think that'll have enough room though for a good balance between up close, detailed lanterns, and background speck-lanterns.

I'm thinking about turning this into a pendent too. You know, like one you wear. It think it'd look cute smaller. And with any luck I might be able to sell a few and raise money for the ongoing Botcon quest.

That and if it's smaller maybe I won't see all those early mistakes glaring so sharply at me... ^,,^

It would also give me the excuse to add glitter! xP

 A reference/source-like/inspiration thing...

The Hummingbird Sketch

Day 37 - A sketch I did today. I was putting some photos I got from shutterstock to good use and having some fun with my art pens at the same time. The source photo is down below if you care to compare. Personally I think the bird came out rather well for a freehand try, but the stick?

^-.-^ Mrs. Mittens and I say Blech! to the stick.

.....although I kind of like how you can still see the greens, yellows, and reds I put in there to try and make it not look so flat (I only have the one brown and yellow and it needed something more)....

I've been stocking up on lovely photos from shutterstock when Dad doesn't use up all the downloads on his subscription, looking for ones that I could practice my sketching skills. But most of them, I notice now, require more colors than I have, so maybe I should start thinking about expanding my collection. :)

Of course....that requires money, which is a bit of a problem. I've been looking around for a job, but it's so much more difficult than I had first thought. D<

I have applied for some blogger jobs I found....and I'm so nervous I won't get it! The two I really want stop accepting applications today, so hopefully tomorrow or early next week I'll get a phone call. I want it so bad! If only because I have no idea what else to do if I don't get it.... u.u; I'm trying to save up so my sister and I can go to Botcon this summer and I still need a couple hundred dollars.

So, yeah...I'm crossing my fingers and praying real hard, but right now the only thing to do is wait and see. I have a possible plan B with maybe trying to sell some resin necklaces with little collages or Transformers or Disney things inside....My sis and I are going to hobby lobby today because she wants some fabric to make a Prowl pack for the convention (She wants it to look like she has doorwings. It sounds so cute and nerdy!) so I thought I'd look around to see how much the settings cost. I dunno. Maybe it'll work. Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to find some kind of paycheck before the end of the month....I don't know.

*Sigh* Well. At least my little hummingbird looks decent. I'm rather fond of him. Although I wonder if maybe I didn't over correct with the colors when I was cleaning up the scanned version...oops. n_n;

The Birch Forest

Day 36 - Ooo! 26 hits in the last hour or so. Very impressive! Thanks guys! I guess you like the new background...

Stick-Formers Unite!

Stick-Jackie Waves Hello

Days 27 - 30: I present to you a whole bunch of Stick-formers! You've already met Wheeljack up there. And of course down below is Mirage. Stick-Grimmy's having a bit of a pout because he's kinda miffed about his cute little curly-que arms. But I think they're adorable! Say hello guys!

*Fancy tea slurp*

Stick-Grimmy Unamused

I'm a big fan of the Starhorse's work (another Transformers fan) and she posted some stick-formers over at her blog Spoiled Robots on tumblr. I thought they were adorable and in a moment of "Well what else do I honestly have to do right now?" decided to try my hand at some of my own. Some of the eyes (and all of the hands) came out slightly derpy...but I think Grimlock there is my favorite. :) And now that I have some decent pictures of them in black and white, I'm going to have to find some time to give them some color. Hooray for color! :3

Oh, and Jazz and Bumblebee here are having a dance party. I should snap some photos of them to use as blackmail at an undisclosed later date before they realize that they can't really dance. ;3

Dance party! Dance party!

E. Aster Bunnymund's Warren

Day 26 - So the day that was supposed to be the day after Christmas isn't too soon to post something Easter related is it? ;3

As you may or may not have been able to tell from the title, this is the home of one E. Aster Bunnymund. But you probably know him better as the Easter Bunny. :3 He just made his newest debut in Rise of the Guardians, but it turns out that a series of books came out first (I don't know why I'm surprised since pretty much everything is based off of books nowadays. I'm not complaining exactly, just wondering why I'm surprised.)

Highland Castle

Day 23 - Wow, so I really dropped the ball this time. It's been so long since I posted a photo that I forgot what day I was on and had to look at my blog to get it right. n_n;

Anyway, so Christmas was fantastic, New Year's involved diet root beer (yay! I don't drink full-sugared sodas because I'm a type I diabetic and they're just not worth the amount of carbs) so all in all things have been wonderful these past few weeks. I'm sad Christmas is over though, but I'm so backed up on my Christmas fictions that I think I'll recover once I get 'em all sorted out.

So my brother is amazing! He got me these awesome art pens for Christmas and they. are. Awesome! I mean I love them sooooo much! (Thanks again bro! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!! :D) I just wanted some black pens in different nib sizes. And not only did he get me those, he got me some colored pens too! <3 And I love them!

This makes me feel super bad because I forgot to get him something. o.O I swear I didn't know what to get! He and Dad are ridiculously difficult to shop for. I thought he wanted some new headphones, but then Mom told me that he asked for a headset instead for his computer (and they told me those are expensive...) but then Christmas afternoon when I told him I was sorry because I didn't have anything for him that he did need some new headphones.

^-.-^ "Of course..." thinks I.

Anyway, so I've been playing with my new pens and this is one of my little sketches. I like how it came out (except that tree-monster! I hate that tree-monster! Dx). That bottom stretch of grass with the small rocks is my very favorite. It just looks perfect! :3

So...yeah. My brain has just crashed. I'm going to try and catch up on my photo-a-day quest, and there will probably be a handful more Christmas photos to make up for those days before Christmas that I didn't post. Just to let you know.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Mini-Grimmy Ascared! Dx

Day 14 - So this is actually yesterday's post, but my computer crashed on me and I had to get up obscenely earlier, so I didn't reboot it til now. Last night was the eve before Graduation. My graduation to be exact. And yes, this is how I felt. I was terrified.

Of course, now that I've actually graduated (o.O) I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself, so this picture doesn't fit as well as it did last night. I'll have to post an exciting graduation photo to even it out. n_n

This is Mini-Grimmy, providing me an immense help by hiding under a table that's too small for her and staring in horror at a diploma, a graduation cap, and some textbooks in abject horror...

No, I am not kidding. Graduation to me pretty much equals the thought that the world is ending. It was just one of those things that I've been working towards for so long that a part of me didn't think the day would actually come. And when it did I didn't know what to do. So yeah.

Rose

P.S. - It was great though! I got to wear a pretty dress and walk across stage after hearing my name to get my diploma and my hood. I even graduated Magna Cum Laude! o.O Did not expect that. Although no one else in my family seems surprised....

Mini-Grimmy Asleep on Christmas Eve

Day 13 - My dear Mini-Grimmy sleeping near the tree on Christmas Eve. Just a little watercolor sketch I did with some watercolor pencils and field brushes. I know you can't really tell with her curled up under a blanket, but she's a child-sized mechanical dinosaur. And by child-sized, I mean she's about half a foot (maybe more) bigger then your average six year old.

:)

Original image itself is only about 3x2 inches. Very small. But I'm rather attached to her. She's my sweet. And despite appearances she shares a lot in common with my little sister, who may or may not have earned the nickname 'Mini-Grimmy' first.... ^,,^

The blue thing she has tucked against her nose is a puggle named Topspin. My sister has one she bought at Botcon, hence his appearance here. Yes, he's fast asleep too. He's also a raucous snorer. I wouldn't be surprised if Santa's scared away just by that! ;3

Halloween Dawn Over Iacon

I was painting in the studio today (because there aren't any classes in there on Fridays and the place is practically deserted :D Yay for me!) and I was struck with the urge to actually do something with the little things that I've painted in my sketchbook.

So here for some fun is a little painting I did to try and get me writing a Halloween story for, well, Halloween. And I still need to get a move on if I want it finished in time....

Anyway, this is a little sketch of a violet-orange dawn over Iacon. Done with watercolor pencils and watercolors in a, you guessed it, watercolor sketchbook. I don't know what kind of paper they used to make it.