Of oaks...

Still waiting the right light for the final photograph of Yggdrasil...Meanwhile, I started thinking about another cosmic tree, the oak, sacred to Zeus and symbol of strength and endurance. In a sense its role overlaps with that of the ash, as there are many common aspects in the mythology surrounding these two powerful trees. I wanted this new drawing to tap into one peculiar legend distinctive of the oak, that has to do with dryads...I'll explain later...

So here are the preliminary sketches...^^

February in review

I am working on my Yggdrasil picture and there is still so much to do. Maybe by Sunday the inking will be done and then I'll be able to show you some significant progress. For the time being, I made a combination figure with all the 29 Faces of February's challenge. This gave me a chance to learn to work with the brand new version of Photoshop I have...there is lots to relearn for me, I fear. 

Have a joyful weeked!

29 Faces: 28 and 29

Last two, plus a bonus...actually 3. After a month of black and white, here is some color, a drawing I made for Bella. Enjoy and happy March!

29 Faces

Many many thanks to Ayala for bringing back the challenge. As always, it has been extremely enjoyable to see the beautiful art, meeting new art loving folks, and practice freely, for the sake of exercise. I don't know about you, but I definitely need more of that in my life.

Thank you to those who visited and especially to those who left comments: you guys made my day every time!

See you soon!

29 Faces: 26 and 27

Almost there! Here come faces # 26 (done with an old pencil) and #27 (done again with the mechanical one, with a slightly harder lead and a sharper point).

29 Faces

29 Faces: 24 and 25

Here is another week and here are my sketches. Both are Vogue ladies and again both do not resemble the models at all. ^^ I am rather happy with 24, while 25 seemed cuter while I was drawing her...now I realize that her chin is rather masculine and too round (that seems a problem I have with profiles...must work on that!).

29 Faces

I could correct it, but the deal was to work on these exercises quickly and as naturally as possible. Once a piece is declared done, there is no going back.
On to the next faces!

Have a happy and productive week!

29 Faces: 19

A fresh faced girl for your Wednesday. Enjoy!

 29 faces

29 faces: 16 and 17

Two more Vogue girls...

29 Faces

29 Faces: 13,14,and 15

So, after inventing faces, I decided to work on learning how to shade faces more realistically. I took one of the usual old Vogue issue that I have still to read and started going through from page to page doing quick sketches...
Here are the first three.. (do you recognize anybody, by chance?):)

29 Faces

29 faces:7...Snow White or Aurora?

A sweet sleeping girl...what fairy tail is she from?

This is for 29 Faces. I am also linking to Paper Saturday.
Have a happy and restful weekend, everybody!

29 Faces: 5 and 6

Hello again, here are yesterday's and today's faces...who are they?
5 could be a detective of the future (somehow she looks a bit like Rihanna...it was completely unintentional...in fact I bet that had I wanted to actually make a portrait of her I would never had done better ;)).
6... maybe a cherub or an ancient statue?

 

29 Faces

29 Faces: 3 and 4....

Here are more faces for the challenge. :)

29 Faces!

By the way, I wanted to thank Ayala art for hosting this fun challenge again and for making me realize I had the captcha thingy on...I had no idea! I have disabled it now. :) My apologies to the friends that had to endure it and please...leave your comments: I love reading them.

Also, these days are very very busy and I find I have little time to peruse your sites...but never fear...things are looking up and in a couple of days I'll be able to visit and enjoy with calm you beautiful works...and of course to leave you messages and also answer your comments! :)

29 Faces February....keeping it simple.

Hi! I was unsure I would have time to work on the 29 Faces challenge by Ayala, but, following her suggestions, I thought I could do it, if I could keep my faces, uncomplicated, spontaneous. So here are my small sketches for yesterday and today...see you in the next days. :)

Happy February and Happy 29 Faces!

PS: sorry for the paper...it's Bella's drawing paper! :D

Sketches

My preparatory sketches are usually bits of scrap paper or even post-its on which I jot down the bare bone idea of what I want to do. Not the best practice, as I end up doing most of the work directly on the paper and sometime I have to re-elaborate and correct details over and over, at the risk of ruining precious materials.Unfortunately, I find it hard to draw a full fledged piece and then transfer it on fancy paper. I mean, I am much more driven and focused when I know that I am working on the actual piece. I tend to be too generic otherwise...Yet sometimes I wish I would elaborate more in a preliminary drawings to translate the images I have in my mind more clearly: typically my final results don't look at all as I thought they would/should...
Anyways, here are some sketches for current projects...;)

 

And to say good night, here are a couple more pictures of my beloved magnolia.

BTW, in case you were wondering, the flowers don't really have a perfume that I can clearly perceive...

A theater for Pit

My sister in law is preparing a little theater for her son, my nephew and the sweetest child in the world...(love you Pit!). She has proposed a collaboration where I'll be in charge of designing panels for the gates of the theater, curtains, and other decorations.

On the left, you can see  the preliminary design (she chose the second possible arrangement):

I've started working on the the drawing for the first panel. It's a classical forest scene with three little siblings encountering a dryad in a clearing. There is still a lot of work to do I don't know how much you'll be able to see in these pictures, but I thought I'd show you. I tried to bring the picture alive with lots of detail that might attract a child attention and excite his/her imagination. As for the story behind the characters, it's still very undetermined...maybe I'll think about it, or maybe Pit will come up with it one day...;)

Hopefully, soon I'll finish inking this...