Monday, December 23, 2013

JESS N' ELLEN : A Christmas GIF


My best friend Jessica and I are fucking weird. Therefore in lieu of "drawing/writing what you know," we are going to be making a Jess N' Ellen web comic for our own amusement (and hopefully yours too!) Here is a sneak peek of the Christmas one I am finishing up.

Friday, December 6, 2013

#Selfie


When studying portraiture, the most reliable model you have is yourself. This year I've painted more selfies than I've ever done before (more to come!) and have discovered all of the hidden colors in the human skin. Who knew desaturated reds and greens were in there? I wouldn't put that shit on my face! ahha.


Here are progress pics of the painting. I took them with my phone which is why it looks a bit wonky but nonetheless is interesting to see!


Holy improvement, Batman! These were all done this year, look how muddy my colors were in the beginning, and how weird my proportions are haha. I still have a lot to learn but I am glad I'm seeing progress. :)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Weekend Sketching

Overcast days are the best to paint because the lighting doesn't really change. 
Hanging out at The Lab in Costa Mesa. What I like about painting on location is the interactions I get with passer-by's because I guess they don't see someone with a paint set everyday painting. I have realized that it was mostly older people who actually stopped by to talk to me, the younger ones were too cool for school and just tried to sneak glances haha. 


My favorite- creep sketching at coffee shops. I need to get better at speed and memory because people tend to move, if you didn't know that. 



Friday, November 15, 2013

Instagram Fridays: Sleeping Through The Noise


When I am stuck on what to draw I usually default to drawing my dog, hands, or figures. You know you are a crazy dog lady when your dog has her own instagram and facebook page. And when your dog's instagram has more followers than your own. Don't judge me!

Ink and watercolor in a Moleskine sketchbook. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Color and Composition Studies

Color and composition studies of Thomas Moran, N.C. Wyeth, Mead Schaeffer, Albert Bierstadt

Since being part of Noah Bradley's Art Camp this previous summer, I found out how important master studies are. I have learned how to see compositions as shapes, focus points and contrast, and not to be bottled up in the specifics. The new session has begun and here I am again still in my 9-5 chair wishing there were more hours in a day counting down the days until February 20th. 

Currently listening to: Boogie Belgique


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Instagram Fridays: LAX to ORD

Sketched this during a 3 hour plane ride from Los Angeles to Chicago. I have always loved urban sketching, its when I am most in my element. All I used to sketch were people, so now I am trying my hand at complete scenes and to be mindful of the composition.

I bought The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around The World (which is an amazing book that shows you how other urban sketchers see the world as well as their tips and techniques) and took a really good tip from one of the artists: to sketch close to far, it worked very well for me. I really wanted to sit out in downtown Chicago and sketch the beautiful skyline and the quaint houses but I was with a group of four girls and were constantly running around.

I will now go and dream of this deep dish Chicago style pizza that ruined all pizzas for me. Damn you Pequods!!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Creep Sketching Saturday

My love for sketching strangers, aka creep sketching, has been my favorite past time for years now. It allows me to be super observant about everything, to notice the tiny details that makes a person an individual. However when the person notices you drawing them, the drawing is over, so I have to make it quick since I'm not the most inconspicuous person. 

The first three were done in one of my favorite coffee shops, its weird being here mid-aftertoon since I'm always just here in the mornings before work. When the shop was winding down, or when I have ran out of victims, I drove myself to Barnes and Nobles to look for fresh ones and was there for an hour or so. Markers are still a learning process for me but I need to start adding value to my sketches. Next will be watercolors! Eep. 






Gesture Drawings

I'm lucky to have started my figure drawing studies at the age of 16 and throughout college, its my favorite thing ever. Gesture drawings are quick 5-10 second sketches of the movement and dynamic of a pose. I used this sports photographer's awesome photos as reference. 

I have done all of these in pen (fountain and gel ball point) in about 5-10 seconds each. 





Tuesday, July 2, 2013

So Metal

Just did a study of a metal tea kettle. I found out that I really like painting metal.


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Crack the Sky


New painting! I had this idea floating around in my head for a while. Originally it was in landscape but felt like it was more dynamic this orientation.  A lot of things changed from the sketch, to the first few drafts and the final. The entire color scheme and mood was changed and I would not have thought to do so unless I took this to final.

Photoshop CS4

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Selfies

Today marks the end of week 4 of Noah Bradley's Art Camp. This week we concentrated on self portraits painted via mirror and/or having someone sit for you as you draw their portrait. I managed to get about three selfies in this week and made sure to improve as I did each one. To show the progression, I will swallow my pride and post them.



                               


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Bubbles and Lemons

Some recents. One sketch from imagination and a still life study. The lighting changed like 1934032 times ahhaah. Had it set up left of me on my desk. I will do more of these because I started hating glass but now I just want to paint more glass. 





Thursday, May 23, 2013

Liberation of Speed Painting.

I've signed up for Noah Bradley's Art Camp. Its the second week in and I've already been learning a lot and developing a habit of working everyday despite having a 9-5 desk job.

The focus of this week is on painting from imagination. I've always been the type to obsess over small details and render the shit out of elements where I should have been concentrating on the entire composition as a whole.

Here is my first piece from imagination. Not that original but I am happy with it considering I spent about 1 hour on it. It seems like all the mental blocks I had before are now gone. I need to make a lot of work to make great work. Creating a lot of shit work is better than no work.


Thursday, February 28, 2013

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known"


"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known" -Carl Sagan

Sketched this with two Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gell ink pens. I love these pens. I don't know why but I always feel my sketches look better whenever I draw in these. It might be because whenever I sketch in pen, I am forced to be a lot more confidant in my lines so I am a lot more mindful of things.

Anyway, I've always been inspired by the vastness of our universe and how insignificant our problems are in contrast to the big scope of things. Life goes on, and the most you can do is keep on bettering yourself while still retaining childlike wonder about the world. No use in stress and anger because in the end we are just one tiny speck on this "pale blue dot."

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Trying New Things



Been working on this sketch the past few days for a weekly(or so we try) writer/artist collaboration that has been going on the last couple of months. 

I wanted to try a different approach and try doing a greyscale underpainting before adding colors so I can really concentrate on values and depth. I am still not sure what to put in the foreground, water? Tall grass? Gravel? In my friends story there is no distinguishable path to the cabin there so I'm going to have to think about it. I know I know, right now it looks like cold blooded murder has occured in this cabin to innocent people aside a huge fucking rock so I will make sure to provide a context story via my talented friend when it is finished. 


On a side note, I just saw Life of Pi with my mother and was blown away speechless. My mother was definitely glowing with pride because of Ang Lee and our Taiwanese blood. Now I am going to go off to watch one of my favorite movies, Brokeback Mountain again and cry. Thats right Heathy-and-Jakey-can't-quit-you in all its glory.