Official Show flyer -- the show's getting closer!

Pin It Now!

I'm proud to post my official announcement for my art show featuring all this Norse mythology artwork I've been working on!
The show's going to be at my alma mater, California State University, Fullerton, where I got my MFA in Illustration way back in '02. So excited!

I'm in the home stretch now and am finishing up the final in this series, #12, which is Baldr. I spent last week finishing up Nidhoggr and am excited about how it turned out. Here's a snippet:

I plan to have a few items for sale featuring this series of artwork also -- prints, calendar, & perhaps a couple of other small things. Some of that is going to be down-to-the-wire so we'll see.

Feeling excited though. :)

Monday Post: Baldr drawing + Loki in progress

Pin It Now!

"Loki" in progress...

Happy Monday and here's some of what I've got going. Currently I'm working on Loki's painting. I'm feeling a little behind on this one, but I'm excited about getting that tree to look really good :) I mentioned the story behind this image when I posted the drawing, but the quick version is that Loki is getting some mistletoe to use to kill the beloved god, Baldr.

Speaking of Baldr...

Here's my thumbnail and finished drawing for the Baldr painting:

Baldr is a son of Odin & Frigg, the brother of Thor, and is the god of light and purity. He also has the greatest ship ever built (!) called Hringhorni AND the most beautiful of all halls, Breidablik.

Odin and Frigg

Pin It Now!

Finished (I think) Frigg today.  Here she is putting clouds in the sky using her magical distaff.  See previous post of the unfinished version.  Same with Odin -- here's the completed version.

I think I'll be working on one of the creatures next.  I need to go back and re-work Sleipnir, since I hadn't quite settled on my style for this series back when I first painted that one.  Though I also haven't finished Freyja so that one is also on the back burner.

Anyway, I'm very happy with how these are coming out.  I feel like I'm getting better with my painting and just hope to get a-goin' on having more of them done.

:D

Still drawing too

Pin It Now!

Here's some of the latest I've been up to.  The bottom image is Frigg, Queen of Asgard, which I had posted a previous version of before.  I did a little more work on her to make her look a bit more "queenly", as well as adding the background pattern in.  She is spinning the clouds using her magical distaff.

At top is a new one, Skadi, who is the Norse goddess of hunting and skiing.  Having quite got the background worked out for that one yet...

I do hope to switch back to more painting soon, but I feel like these pesky remaining drawings are hanging over my head! :)  I still sure am having a lot of fun on them.

Frigg, Queen of Asgard

Pin It Now!

Today I was working on this drawing of Frigg, the queen of Asgard.  She's married to Odin and both of them sit at times on the high seat and look out over the universe.

Here I've drawn her spinning the clouds (one of her pastimes, using her special distaff -- a thing used for spinning wool normally).

I struggled a bit with this one, and drew a different version first that I scrapped.  No, you may not see it.  I am 100% happier with this version.

Today's drawing: an 8-Legged Challenge

Pin It Now!

Here's the drawing I was working on mainly today.  This is Sleipnir, Odin's 8-legged horse.  Fun fact, Loki is actually his mother.  From this time that he shape-shifted into the form of a mare.

I was looking forward to this drawing because I really like drawing horses.  But very challenging to try to make eight legs on a horse "look right."

Just gotta figure out the background pattern on this one...

Wizard

Pin It Now!

So here's a sketch I did the other day when doodling in my sketchbook.  I don't think I've tried to draw a "wizard" before.  This is sort of the archetypical one that I picture.  He looks a little dark and dangerous, which I hear wizards are.

I have to confess, drawing the beard was probably the most fun.

My actual sketchbook often actually gives me inspiration for the classic fantasy stuff that I like to draw.  I don't think I've shown it before so here's a photo:

  I made it out of an old presentation portfolio that I had been using to show my illustrations.  It was a little cumbersome as a portfolio (it was the kind with the leather strings that tie around it) so I ended up shelving it for a simpler to use portfolio.

  But I loved the thick leather it was made of and wished I could use it somehow.  It occurred to me that I could use it to make a cool sketchbook.  I modified the shape a little, sewed drawing paper into it, glued magnets inside the front flap for the closing device, and voila!

  I always feel inspired just by pulling it out and looking at it:)  When I fill the pages completely, I plan to remove the pages and save them, and sew new pages in.

:)

Some Comic Progress...

Pin It Now!

  Happy Independence Day everybody:)  Right now it will be July 4th in exactly 10 minutes.

  Well, here is some progress on my comic.  This is from the same story I posted a page for a few weeks ago.  I'm happy with them but hoping I can gain some speed and really start to roll these out faster!

  Are you wondering what is happening in the story??  Well... there are dwarves... and that looming shape in the last panel is a wolf!  That's enough to tantalize you for now:)

  Oh, also I thought I would show you more of a peek into my process.  I posted thumbnails of all the pages for this opening portion of the story last week.  Well, as I take these to the finish, I just blow up the thumbnails, put them on my home-made light table, and draw the tight drawings on top.  Saves time and helps me keep the compositions as strong as they were in the thumbnails.

  Here's the blown-up thumbnail for the tighter page above that I just drew on top of:

  That's all for now... enjoy the fireworks tomorrow:)

The might of Thor!

Pin It Now! Okay, so in honor of the new Thor movie, here are some concepts of what Thor might look like. Of course, I'm not really doing the comic book Thor. This is Norse mythology Thor.

With facial hair... without... hard to say what looks better. He's quite the brawny man-in-repose though :)

Anyone see the new movie yet? I haven't yet but plan on it.

Later.

Cyclops

Pin It Now!

Well, I've been working on some other stuff that I'm pretty excited about... but not sure I'm ready to post any of that artwork right now. In the meantime, here's a couple of cyclops sketches I did today.

I started out planning on drawing either trolls or ogres. As soon as I can figure out the difference. But then I felt the need to make my troll/ogre like creature have only one eye. Hence, a cyclops. I guess I also felt the need to have him grinding bones--though it's supposed to be giants that do that, right? Ah... I'm always muddling my mythologies.

By the by, I'm moving this weekend (different place, same city) so I'll be pretty busy. Hopefully I can still get a new post up but if I don't, that's why.

:)

Fairies.

Pin It Now! Okay, so this week I've got some fairies to post (just for you, Sean!). For some reason I felt possessed to add some snarky gender commentary--if you can see to read it. Feel free to ignore it. Or add additions in the comment section :)

I found I could only picture fairies with butterfly-type wings. And mine all seem very benevolent in nature. I think the historical view of fairies has been that they have more of an impish, even malevolent nature. Or maybe it just depends on what kind. Anyone have an idea about that?

In other BIG news, I received notification this past week that I was accepted for "professional" status for Comic Con in San Diego this summer! You have to go through these steps of proving that you are a professional in the realm of games, comics, fantasy art, etc. I've never applied before and wasn't sure my credentials would be enough. Yay, I've been officially recognized! Now I need to really push myself to brush up and prepare my portfolio of work to show, as well as mentally prepare myself for the absolute craziness that is Comic Con.

Anyone with any helpful advice for me, please share.

:)

Elves, but not the Keebler kind.

Pin It Now!

Well, I got a little off-track in my scheduled posts, but here's some stuff. I thought I would tackle some drawings of elves. I spent some time trying to get a handle on what my concept of elves was like. It's pretty much in the Lord of the Rings vein, I guess. Tall, stately, somewhat androgynous...

The couple was drawn around Valentine's Day. It's sort of "Hey, you're pretty, I'm pretty, let's do this," right? The lady above them isn't so happy about it ("But... I'm pretty too!")

The second page is just some of the earlier sketches I did while trying to figure out my concept for elves.

Unicorn. You betcha!

Pin It Now! I guess it's about time that I posted some sketches of unicorns on my "fantasy" art blog. I mean, they are right up there with dragons as the ultimate fantasy art subject matter, right? I will confess, I had a couple of cheesy unicorn posters in my room as a kid. Oh, and this blog is turning into a movie blog as well as art. Last week I mentioned Adventures in Babysitting.

Well, I can't mention unicorns without mentioning my all-time favorite animated movie from my childhood, The Last Unicorn. Such an awesome movie. It has a sweet soundtrack performed by the group "America" that I enjoy to this day. Wow, confessions!

Does anyone else out there remember Last Unicorn? There's also a really cool unicorn in the fun-tastic '80's movie Legend, starring a youngish Tom Cruise. Anybody out there seen it?

OK, that's all for now. I'll try to be more on time for next week's blog post:)

Valkyrie.

Pin It Now! Well, I had fun with these sketches. I happen to love Norse mythology. I'm a quarter Norwegian so I enjoy connecting to it. This page of sketches concerns the Valkyrie. These are the female warriors who gather the bodies of the brave who die in battle and take them to Valhalla. Not the most fun job, I guess...

Any other Norse mythology fans out there? Not that it's really related, but anybody excited about the Thor movie that's being made? Thor actually just always makes me think of the awesome 80's Elizabeth Shue movie, Adventures in Babysitting. There's this young girl in it that's obsessed with the comic book character of Thor and dresses up like him. Total classic movie.

Lady Faun

Pin It Now!
Well, the other week I posted a faun drawing, specifically a male faun. Which is what you usually see. So this week I thought, how about a lady faun, which you usually don't see? The only instance that's coming to mind is the first of the new Narnia movies that came out: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I think there might have been some lady fauns in that... or maybe it was just lady centaurs. Definitely one of the two.

I've noticed that putting "Lady" in front of the creature name immediately makes it sound like a women's basketball team. Hey, maybe they do play some b-ball from time to time:)

Anyway, back to my drawing, I was thinking of her in Greek mythology terms. So that is what inspired the style of her clothing and look -- a Greek kind of look.

and yes, a dragon.

Pin It Now!

Well, mixin' it up on my fantasy art blog and posting a dragon sketch. Crazy! I actually do love drawing dragons, though I always feel sheepish if I tell that to someone. Except my high school art students. You don't have to explain why you make drawings of dragons to 9th graders. Which is awesome.

I will note that the ears on this dragon came about because a friend commented on the fact that I never seem to draw ears on my dragons. Well. This one's got some ears.

Any suggestions for a background for this piece? Also, what would you guess he/she's looking at??

Finally, a faun!

Pin It Now!

Alright, here's this week's sketch. I figured, this fantasy blog needs to have a faun drawing finally! It's not quite finished, as you can see. I plan to have him holding a pan flute or something of that nature.

By the way, I've always been a little confused about what the difference is between a faun and a satyr. I know, this stuff keeps you up at night, right?? I've heard that they are the same-- as in one is just the Greek version, and the other the Roman version. Anyone out there that can give me the facts??

Okay, that's about it. Busy week since the school where I teach, OCHSA, is have a big art show of student work at a gallery (OCCCA) in Santa Ana. It's gonna look great though. The opening is tomorrow night:) Wish us luck!

a blizzard, and another dryad sketch

Pin It Now!

Hello all,

Well, I'm safely back in SoCal after surviving the "Blizzard of 2010" on the east coast! My family is all over there in beautiful Upstate New York and I wanted to spend some time with them during the school break. I flew out of LA on Dec. 26. I had a connection in Philly and flew right into a blizzard! I ended up having to spend two nights there before I was able to finally get up to NY. I had planned a little side trip into NYC, but that ended up being a bust due to the lost time.

But I had a great time with my family:) Got to do a little skiing, enjoy the winter beauty of the Adirondacks, and, of course, spend wonderful time with my loved ones.

As you can see by the drawing I've attached, I'm still on my Dryad kick. I'm not regimenting myself too much regarding the subject matter of this blog. If I feel like sticking with one thing for several weeks, obviously, I will:) Wow, I sound so defiant! Well, I was a "strong-willed child" :)

Have a great week everybody (especially teachers facing returning to the classroom this week!) I know... there's no sympathy:)

more dryads

Pin It Now!

So here are some more dryad sketches. I kind of felt like the earlier one looked too much like a woman was just standing in front of a tree. For the next one, I made the woman more transparent to try to make it seem like she was more of a spirit. Then I tried combining the tree with the woman more -- kind of half-tree, half-woman. I think I like the last look best.

What do you think? How would you picture a dryad?

quick Dryad sketch

Pin It Now! Kinda late on this week's post. We all understand how busy things are, right? Anyway, here's just a quick sketch I did the other day. I was trying to visualize a Dryad, that is, a tree spirit or nymph. More opportunities for flow-ey, cool hair:) And you know how I love to draw trees...

How is everyone doing on their Christmas preparations and general holiday doings?? Busy, busy, busy!

Gotta make time for art though, right?

:)