Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Happy New Year

Everybody have a good Christmas? I know I did! I got so many supplies for Christmas it was awesome. I got stuff for art I wouldn't even buy for myself because they were too extravagant. But I'm glad I've got the chance to try it out. I got a brand new sketchbook and I can't wait to get drawing/painting/doodling. I go crazy for art supplies. I think most artists are like that, I swear it's not only me. Well so ends another year! Well almost any way. I wanted to end the year on a good note, and show a couple of my sketchbook doodles from last year, that I did around this time. And I'm also adding a Resolution List down at the bottom of this post. 

First one is of an Octopus floating in the air with a bunch of balloons. It doesn't get out of the water very much and it is very happy. Air travel is much cheaper this way. Both of these are 9in x 12in, from my sketchbook. The second one is a doodle as well, just me wanting to test out inks and how they work. 

The last picture is of my doodles and future product designs. I was wanting to make some little key-chains as well as some earrings but I'm not entirely sure I will do them. 

Resolution List
1. Work in different mediums when doing stuff in my sketchbook. 
I really want some variety in what I do in my sketchbook. I want to experiment with inks and pastels, so many possibilities.
2. Get some bookmarks done. 
I'm going to start selling them at Conventions, and then possibly sell them on the website if they do well enough.
3. Get some key-chains done.
4. Put more stuff on sale on the web-site
5. Attend more Conventions.
I think I did four Conventions this year, I really like them and I want to do more, but I have to sacrifice more time and find a way to balance everything including my homework. 
6. Go to Sweden!
Not really a resolution but I'm hoping!  
7. Make the blog posts more regular. 
I really want to do a post every second Wednesday or something to get me on a better schedule. 
8. Start an online comic. 
I've already written a story, (not completed yet) I would like to start drawing it!

I was wanting a rounder number, but I'll add more if I can think of anything else.

I hope everyone has a great time at New Years, where ever you might be! :D
Well, till next year! 

Friday, December 16, 2011

Finals

I was able to attend an awesomely small convention this past Sunday called DTAC (December Toronto Anime Convention (I think)). I went with my friend Kayla, and we had fun despite the small sellers area that they had us all in. I think at times we needed traffic signals to usher people in and out of the dealer's room. Many of Kayla's things got pushed down, and dropped just because people wanted to get by. I think it would have be better if they had given us a better space. However other than that the atmosphere was great, the people were friendly except this one person which I'll talk about at the end of this post. For now here are some paintings that I did for one of my painting classes. And the season of Finals are upon us!! T___T Oh yes this post contains some nudity. 

So this one's a self portrait, and it's supposed to be more about just the play of... well I chalked it up to the play on society's need for perfection, and how there are many sides to a person. The outward is always checking if it's in good graces, the inner is confident, and the innermost is slightly afraid. I actually took this picture inside a dressing room to get this effect with the mirrors. The painting stands at 2 feet by 3 feet, and taking this on public transportation was a cinch compared to the next painting. 

This thing is simply massive, it's 5 feet by I think 3 1/2 feet and it's just irritating to transport more than 10 feet, and even then I'm pretty reluctant to. This painting is just for the study of the model and getting her in different poses. I like the fact that her body parts morph into other body parts and are intertwined. My favorite section has to be the leg in the middle of the picture, I've never really focused on feet before and I really enjoyed it. The model bothered me the whole time I was painting her. The reason? She kept moving, she wouldn't sit still at all. So in that respect it was a bit hard to do.  I think I might paint over this, I don't know just yet, but I'll decide its fate later.

This is the next little project that I'm working on. It's probably going to be sold at Anime North in their Gallery Momiji. I think it's at about 5 inches by 10 inches. And once I finish my exams I'm going to be really lazy and I need some motivation, and this could pushing me to do something awesome. I'll post some before and after pics when it's done.  

Last but not least is this little fellow. As I said before the only thing that got me down at DTAC was this guy. He asked for himself to be turned into a Tangle, but never came by to pick it up. :( oh well his loss. I don't know what to do with him just yet, I might paint over it or sell him just like that, or even use him as an example of what I could do with Tangles. 

Oh well. Till next time! 

(I might post something next week but if not... 
Merry Christmas!)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Naru2U

Naru2U was eventful to say the least. Nothing was wrong with the convention, the convention was great, just the hotel wasn't. But I don't want to dwell too much on that. So I bring you some convention pics! 

The first couple of pictures are of our tables, and I say our because I was there with my friend Kayla who runs her own shop RococoNeko which she sells mainly hand made clothes and various accessories. And the picture on the right is my table. I was unable to put up my backdrop because I lost a little piece that was supposed to make it stand. Oh well I made do with what I had. The left part of my table was used by some of my other friends to sell their wears :) I think it was their first convention selling so they were a bit excited. :) They helped me sell a few of my things as well, while I went looking around and sneaking a peak at other people's stuff.


This is a closer look at the set up of my booth. I got my self a magnet board which had a cork frame and I was able to write on it too! I was so happy with that purchase. One of my other friends was able to spare her grid so I could have a proper display, which I think I should have done something more with it to at least make it bigger. However at that moment I was feeling discouraged and winded. I was happy to have help from my friend J.R. I'm so thankful I got so many people helping me! 



And not having a wifi enabled phone would have been disastrous for me. I don't have one but my friends did! Again THANK YOU! :D I was able to look up what characters look like, and get the colours done right. The first one is from Yugioh, a dark magician man, I think that's what it's called. And the other is one of Chibi-Moon :D I will be doing more Tangles of her in the future (Anime North!) And they were so happy with the paintings they gave me double the amount I was asking for!


Till next time! 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Brothers Reunited

I really think they should be shown together. I present Luigi! And he's got awesomely big ears too! Right now he's just magnet sized, 2 by 2.75 I don't know if I have any plans right now to make him any bigger. But if I find a mushroom... then the possibilities are endless :P


 


I might do some small changes to Mario's eyes, maybe put a little light shine on them, possibly make them look less flat.

I'm mainly doing prep work for Naru2u. It's this weekend by the way. I'm not sure I have enough of stock, but one of my friends assures me that it is a relatively small convention. I will be offering commissions so I won't be too limited in that respect. Next week I'll be posting some pics of the convention as well as a recent homework assignment. I've got some before and after pics too :) 

Well see you guys after the Con! :D 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Human Figure

This post contains nudity. This painting is from my recent painting class and I will be posting more for that class in the coming months .
If you can see it (nude). Well it's just more showing a woman's body you can't really see anything per-say, but that's what its supposed to be. I used blues for dark areas and only used red, white, and yellow for the light areas. There is a proven theory that blues and greens tend to recess and reds and yellows tend to come forward. I wanted to be able to create a rounded shape, something light and airy in comparison to the subject matter. My Prof. said that it feels like the frame of the painting can't even contain her. 


I really don't want to be doing any more essays, I just feel like curling up in a ball and falling asleep for the next 2 days, however that would put me severely behind. Blargh, oh the life of a student.

Till next time! 

Friday, October 21, 2011

I Wanna Be the Very Best!

Like no one ever was! 

Sorry about that, but a wave of nostalgia took over. And because I've painted something awesome! The title of the post should give you a hint. 

BAM!! 


Just like many of my other Tangles this one is 2 by 2.75 inches. I've got a tiny bottle on my table now labelled as "pokeball red". And yes I do mix my own colours! I should put up a picture later of the various paint bottles.   

I had a willing volunteer to help me model the pokeballs. We were able to attach the Pokeballs via tape. But I will be able to turn them into key chains! So there's always that option instead of just a regular magnet. 


Another thing one of my friend suggested is that I sell prints of all the paintings that I do I probably will be doing that for Anime North 2012 but not for the next con however. I have way too much work to finish. While I go cry in the corner with my piles of essays that I have to do please enjoy the silliness of my sister as a Poke-Master! 

Till next time!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Some thing Awesome this way comes!

Awesome news!!!!

I will be selling key chains now! And they're even smaller than before! Keeping with tradition I did a tiny Ron for my first key chain just like the first Tangle was a Ron. The main problem was the fact that I didn't have the supplies that I needed. The little hooks that needed to be put into the painting and the key-chain part of it too. I always knew that I was going to make key-chains, it was just a matter of when. Right now I'm working more on transferring all the designs into a smaller template and then worrying about my eyesight. I'll try not to completely ruin it. :P 

But here are the pictures!! I'm just way too excited about this! I will be putting a matte finish on these just so they can withstand a good beating and the horrendous Canadian weather.



I just put this ring on about an hour ago! @______@ I am just way too excited about this. 

EXCITED!!! 
Till next time!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pre-Drawing for Tangles

I just wanted to do a quick update today, I know I haven't been too vigilant about posting onto this blog and I'm sorry. My only excuse is school. And so that means more essays, more stuff to read and yes this includes more paintings! Nothing to show quite yet, but lots eventually (in regards to paintings I mean). But for now I've got a bunch of preliminary sketches that I did in regards to future Tangles that I'm planning to do, or I might not, it all depends on how I feel. 

This ducky one I know I'm probably not going to do, I was just doodling while I was on the subway one day and I was bored of staring at people (they get weird-ed out)


Luigi is already in the works and right now I'm sitting at 9 copies for him and he will be done by the time I'm at my next convention, which is in November in Ottawa! (I just have to draw on his face!!)


Next is Sailor Moon, this one I'm definatly going to do. She one of my favourtie characters and I'm probably going to do one of Tuxedo Mask and Mini Moon too. Those ones will be ready for Anime North 2012, but possibly done sooner. 


Here's another doodle one, I'm probably not going to paint this one. Just a cute kitty eating a fishie.


And you've already seen him and you can see how many hearts I've drawn around him that I <3 DeadPool and I couldn't believe it took me this long to convert him into a Tangle.


And last is Mr. SquarePants himself :D I`m probably going to stick to the second one just because it`s just a bit more put together. And he will be ready for Anime North 2012 or sooner!



Till next time! And I promise that next time wont be too long, I have some awesome news that I want to share with people!!! 

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Sketch time with Leeanne


For today post I present my sketches, all the preliminary work for how I work up to painting Tangles. 

My starting point is usually how I want the paintings set up, and does it stay true to the character.


This was a bunch of preliminary sketches for the Harry Potter trio, I wanted to figure out how they would look with different types of canvas and figure out if it would look good enough to sell to people. I wanted it to look cute as well as a bit whimsical.


With the choice of the dimensions of the painting set, I went to work on more specific things like the features of the face, the hair and the accessories. I wanted to stay as close as I could to the original character as possible to have the link between character and painting. 

I've decided the next big con that I'm planing to go to is the convention in Ottawa at the end of November called Naru2U! My friend and I will be attending as dealers. I have no idea yet on where the table is going to be but we're both very excited! It will be my first time going to Ottawa, I haven't had a chance to go visit it before however I don't think I'll be doing much sightseeing this time around. 

Next time more sketches for future Tangles! 

Saturday, August 6, 2011

ConBravo Hoopla

The last weekend of July had me heading off  to ConBravo in Burlington with my selling partner Kayla and my Boyfriend Paul. We were actually expecting a longer ride to the convention area, but were pleasantly surprised when we only had half the drive time. Here is a picture of our booth set up and yes that is Kayla behind all that stuff. 


So on to some awesome art news! I've got two new paintings to show, well three, but I'll post up the other one soon enough. DeadPool and Mario!


I heart DeadPool. He looks like he's just so happy and care free to do whatever he wants. He so cute I can't stand it. :P He's one of the tiny ones sitting at 2 inches by 2.75 inches and I sold them to quite a few people who wanted  him as magnets. I hope he brings joy to their refrigerators.


Also another popular painting at the con was Mario himself. A Mini painting, Mario stands at 2 inches by 2.75 inches. And by popular demand was a magnet and a button! I was able to fashion a makeshift button for my boyfriend with superglue and one of Kayla's button backs. I don't think I would do this in the future as an option to customers due to the amount of time it takes for the glue to dry. However I'm looking into a way to make it work. 

ConBravo is a relatively small convention, and it was only on its second year, I probably will be going to the convention next year, I found it to be a really good place to meet new artists and get some advice from the artists that have a lot more experience. 

My next big Convention is in Ottawa at Naru2u in November. Hope to see some of you there!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Le Shock

So an update on the news of my camera! It is no longer lost! :D yay! And with the finding of my camera comes new pictures! I've been completely swamped with creating variety for my customers at ConBravo, and I feel like I've run out of time. It feels like I haven't done as much as I was supposed to. However I was able to do a few commissions. One was for a friend in Montreal, well not for her but for her boyfriend. (I hope he likes it!) I mailed it out a couple of weeks ago, and I hope it reaches them safely.
  

I'm not too familiar with the character, I had to look her up when she was requested. She's from Final Fantasy IV and her name is Rydia. She's 6in by 12in and I was worried about the cost of shipping her to Montreal, however I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was only $2! I don't know if you can see it but she has star earrings and they were the cutest thing to do.


I didn't realize that I never put up a picture of Hermione, so here she is! This is a new design, but the only thing different are her curls on the side of her head. They were a lot thinner in the old design, and some people thought she looked a bit like Neville. Hopefully this will change that! She's tiny only 2in x 2.75in and will be turned into an awesome magnet for someone.

Some people have been mentioning to me that I should include more of the Harry Potter characters into my collection, and I've decided the next three are going to be Luna, Neville and Snape (possibly Draco too. Side note, I'll make one of Voldemort too and then have them hug awkwardly :P [and for those who haven't seen the movie, I'm sorry for the spoiler])

Some other bit of news I had some business cards made and I'm very excited about them. I turned myself into a Tangle on one side and on the other it has all my info.


I really like it!

Till next time!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

This just in!

So bad news everyone! I've lost my camera. :sad face: Good news, I've been painting! I've got a new design for Hermione, and I think I like it a lot better than the last one. When I had it out the last time, a lot of people were confusing her for Neville. I was wondering "How?". But anyway new design, which I will post next time. I've been rather lax about the amount I paint for ConBravo, I shouldn't be, but the notion that it is a smaller convention is deceiving me. And I think I need to paint a lot more. 

So a couple of new things, one being that my paintings are hanging in a great Yogurt shop in Pacific Mall called Youtopia! So far its Harry and Ron, Hermione will soon follow once the owner figure where to put her. But I'm glad he likes them so much! I'm going to be doing a couple more for him as his list of commissions grows. So go see the paintings hanging and have some awesome yogurt! (Taro and Mango are my favorites, separately of course) 

Second new thing, I'm getting some business cards done! :D I know I have horrible timing, I should have had these ready for Anime North. However I was a bit naive in thinking that my home printer would do the job. Murphy's Law folks. :sad face again: But they look cool, awesomely double-sided and are in full color. yay!

Third thing, I'm going to be painting Mario, Luigi, Batman, Superman, and DeadPool as Tangles I'm aiming to have them ready for ConBravo, possibly as tiny paintings at first. 

And last is that I will be taking commissions! They are going to be a little bit more expensive than what I do usually, just gimme a shout on my email @ annmor16@gmail.com and lemme know what you want, we can work out a price! 

Till next time!  

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Snape VS Link

Oh the Harry Potter love continues with Snape, one of my two favorite characters in the HP series, (Moody is my other one!) And this little guy was actually a commission at Anime North. I wasn't really feeling well the night that I had to do this commission, so my friend Kayla (who has her own website RococoNeko) did the drawing of Snape for me. I really wasn't able to think straight that night and I'm thankful she helped me out! I'm still unsure if I should do more, but I'd probably do more by demand. And yes this Snape has a hooked nose, but I added it only when the customer came by and bought it, and unfortunately this picture was take way before that. 


This Link is no longer in my possession! It's was given to a good friend's Fiance who loves Link! And Link comes with a bit of good news. 


Good news: I'm going to be selling my paintings at ConBravo! The con's at the end of July more specifically the 30th and 31, and it's in Burlington. And yes there will be more Link :D 

But I will be posting more! I've got a few more templates to do but I should be done all the paintings by the 27th of July, hopefully..... 

Wish me luck! 

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Hokusai's George

Sorry for the long hiatus again folks, I've been working non-stop at my retail job for the past couple of weeks, and I haven't been able to post anything. :( but good news! I did some more cleaning and found a couple of paintings that I did in high school. They're bring back a lot of memories, and it reminds me of the stuff I'm trying to do now with the Tangles artwork. 

Both are really tiny, The first is a copy of Hokusai's Wave (http://andreas.com/pixs/hok-1b.jpg for those of you who want to go see it!) and it's 2cm x 2cm. I remember constructing this, the when is the hard part. My memory is going with the coming of my old age :P . It's just a small piece of thick card paper covered in canvas and sewn together to pull the canvas taut.



This one is from the cover from one of my favorite books and coincidentally one of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons. Well kinda. Its from "Of Mice and Men", and its 5cm by 7cm, also backed with strong card paper, held together by string (you can see a little bit of it poking out) 

And the fave Bugs Bunny cartoon is the one with the Abominable Snowman that keeps wanting to name Bugs "George" -- see, it does tie in!!! 

More later! I promise! 

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Anime North Aftermath

Well Anime North was awesome to say the least. A couple of my friends and I were set up at the Dealer's room to sell our goods. There's the excitement of the setting up for the first day, and the thrill of all the people pouring into the Dealer's room. At some points it does get crazy and you don't know where to turn, and there are points where your feet hurt from all the standing, but someone telling you that they love your art is all worth it :D I know it's all covered in cheese, however I have no fear of cheese. 


I had a couple of commissions over the weekend for Snape from the Harry Potte franchise and Panty and Brief from an anime called Panty and Stocking.  

    

And so I came up with a new design for the mini paintings. The girls that got these paintings (I did 2) were completely thrilled with them. The Snape, I don't have a picture of, however one of my friends did take a picture of him and is going to send me that eventually, and that includes the Anime North setup as well, I have one of the rough drafts so to speak


 We ended up putting a black cloth behind my painting to showcase them a little more and we got a table for under that set up. The domo painting there was the first one to be bought! The Harry Potter paintings seemed to do really well, and I'm so happy that they found good homes. 



These two are the last ones I have with me and they look really cute together. Finally, the collection that I brought with me to Anime North 

80% of those are gone now. One of my table mates (K) suggest that I could turn these paintings into fridge magnets. I think that would be a great idea and I will start offering that to my customers and keep a note on it on my artfire account. 


Well that's all for now! 

p.s. I'm already preparing for Anime North 2012 :D

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tangles 2

Hey folks, I am tired and covered in paint, but happy! I have a couple more paintings to show you guys. But first this first, I decided these paintings should be given a name and they are called Tangles. It come from rec(Tangles) because of their shape if anyone wants to know. And I am going to set up a store for them, on Artfire.com so I can eventually sell them. I'm going to be launching that site in about two weeks right before the Anime North convention. That date flies around in my head so much now, and it seem like a very daunting task to finish 48 paintings in that time, but I hope I will be able to finish in that time. Putting in the numbers seems to bring it into reality, and I'm not going to lie, it scares the heck out of me, but if the paintings don't get done now, I won't have anything to show. :P That being said, here are the painting. Both are food related! 

First one's a cookie that's been bitten

The second is a close up of a strawberry, I don't know if I should put a smiley face on this one or not, any suggestions? I do like the realistic feel. 


Till next time!