Art Machine.

Alright so it looks as though weekly updates may become my blogging pattern!

5 hour artistic freedom commission! I was given a description of the character and given free reign from there. I even had a few liberties with her fur patterning. Lots of fun. :)

For three years I had My whole life I've had roses and apologized to no one. Because it's my middle name. Personal doodle.

Studies of sitting figures, because I noticed I sometimes have trouble with legs in seated poses.

Also butts. Behold. I am a mature, sophisticated artist.

First 2.5 hours arranging what will be a long commission. Shall be worked on this upcoming week.

Close up concept for that crystal the dragon is holding.

Worked a bit more on this (crop from a bigger piece).

Quick color commission with background. Worgen made of stone.

Let's interject some personal doodles the sketchbet I'm participating in has enabled me to justify! This is a concept for a dye-job I'm planning on perpetrating with my hair. Chinny de Vil, if you will.

Doodle of me and my boyfriend as stripey animalthings enjoying some facehugs.

Ted the demon holding a kitten because reasons.

Let's bookend this with another 5 hour painting commission. This one of very specified imagery, a snake-monkey-morph species the commissioner invented. Inaugural illustration of this creature.

Next I wish to share a landslide of speed work. All of the following was created between 2 PM Friday the 24th to 2 AM Sunday the 26th (so in the course of 48 hours - and not a marathon or anything, just normal streaming/etc with plenty of sleep, food, socialization, and whatnot in-between.) Not all of this is showcase worthy, but I thought it might be fun to share.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 2 hours.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Sketchbet doodle for Fanart Friday; Howl, 15 minutes.

Some quick pondering of back muscles, since that purple speedpaint up there made me realize I don't remember them as well as I should.

Layout sketch I did for a commissioner for their upcoming long painting. 30 minutes.

Speedpaint commission, 2 hours.

Speedpaint commission, 2 hours.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour.

Speedpaint commission, 1 hour 20 minutes.

Sketchbet contribution, 30 minutes. (Paint doodle of a slow loris.)

So yes. My life is pretty much like that all the time, though some days I just work on one or two big pieces rather than pooping out quick scribbles. I have a compulsive need to be working on art always.

Commissions and comic work, oh my.

It's been a week since I last poked ye old digital art journalblogthing, so let's have at it.

Finished this commission. 13 hours total. Paint Tool SAI, per my usual weapon of choice.

And now some speedypaints! 1 hour.

1 hour.

1 hour.

1 hour, 15 minutes.

Got commissioned to add a 2nd hour to this one. Amazing the difference in detail an hour can make.

Had some WIPs laying around of a quick painting, thought they might be interesting to show. 40 minutes.

 1 hour, 20 minutes.

3 hours, 30 minutes.

Been working on a personal comic project as well all week, about a demon named Ted. You made recall him from when I accidentally invented him during that 30 day improvement challenge.

In the course of hammering out a clearer story structure, I have wound up determining a lot more about Ted as a character. Ted's species is a non-gendered people called the Tantis, who originated on an alternate version of Earth where some differing conditions caused evolution to take a different course. They hop dimensions to the human version of Earth on a regular basis as part of a religious rite in which humans are consumed, and their skins are brought back and worn as status symbols. From an early age, Ted is uninterested in participating, instead sneaking off to spend what time they can watching human sitcoms. Through them Ted becomes fascinated with the female gender. Ted purposefully botches their Coming of Age ceremony, bringing home a rubber costume mask rather than a real human pelt, is expelled from their dimension, and settles down to live on the human-Earth.

His first story arc will center around a murder mystery of sorts, though I won't spoil what I am planning since I want people to... well, read it, theoretically. Look at it. Whatever you properly term experiencing a comic.

I will note though that I decided to pass my awkward fear of toilets on to Ted. They remind him of a monstrous deity from his home dimension known as Cloacina the All-Consuming. Yep.

So speaking of toilets... here Ted's friend Galen left the toilet seats up, causing Ted some severe toilet angst. How could you do that, Galen. Ted entrusted you with the proper use of their bathroom. You monster. :(

It's okay, Galen is one of Ted's best friends eventually and he makes it up to Ted. The error was simply made out of ignorance. You know... in case you were concerned.

This is Galen, incidentally. But yes, so that's been a lot of fun. Have been writing up an outline, a script, and little mini-bios to keep track of all the characters and hammer out their personality quirks and motivations. Haven't slept a lot this week in the process of doing so on top of normal commissions, but the satisfaction involved in embarking on my own project is very worth the exhaustion.

Unrelatedly, here is a doodle of Waldo Butters I drew for the sketchbet. Because it seems imperative I inject Dresden Files fanart into my art blog as often as possible.

And let it be known the proper way to relax after a long week is with some beerception: drinking a beer while drawing yourself drinking a beer. I suppose you could also draw yourself drawing yourself drinking a beer and so on, depending on how many levels deep you wish to recurse.

Let's wrap this up with a couple more commissions. This commission is a sequel to a previous commission. You see, the thing with zerglings is you can never just have one. They hatch in pairs.

And a 5 hour painting of a commissioner's beefy blue arcanine character. Or rather arcticanine, haha.

P. B. Schmodey Bones

This is my Mom. She knit that mustache herself, along with an assortment of disembodied eyeballs, a teapot covered in bees, a plant that can see, and a dissected frog (complete with accurate knitted internal organs). She also knitted the fingerless gloves I often wear while drawing, and even designs some of her own patterns.

She raised my two older brothers and myself on Star Trek, Bill Nye, David Attenborough documentaries, the entirety of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and a respect for science. She read me the Borrowers and Anne of Green Gables when I was small, and lent me Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Imzadi when I was old enough.

As a child you don't understand the scope of how overwhelming raising kids must be. Now as an adult, having gone through more of life's snags, I am massively impressed with the upbringing I was fortunate to have. We were and are well loved and educated.

While sketching this portrait I was struck by how strongly my mother's facial structure reminded me of my own, but when I was in the middle of painting her she reminded me more of my grandmother. Does anyone know for sure that actual meiosis and genetic recombination took place here or do the women in my family perform mitosis and just kind of bud off? It was an interesting experience.

In any case that bodes well, because at 57 my mom seriously looks more like a woman in her early 40s. Though I am sure a lot of that can be attributed to her passion for riding bicycles and her ability to cook delicious healthy food. She's an active and intelligent lady.

For some mysterious reason my eldest brother, Adam, decided to call her "P. B. Schmodey Bones". No-one knows what this means but to this day all three of us often still refer to her as Schmodey. She tolerates this gamely. She also currently lives with eight cats yet manages to keep the house impossibly clean. This is inherently important information because cats. Basically she's a pretty awesome mom.

This is the photo I referenced when painting this portrait. Real life Schmodey is way more excellent than my faux studio recreation, you can't actually imitate that degree of mom-awesome. But I thought it might be a nice way to wish you a Happy Mother's Day regardless. Love you, Mom!