Goddess Night August 2015

Shhh it's art-related shhhhhhhhh.



with love - M

Sketch Diary: Queen of Scots color

I hope you like red. Here's the color version of my 'Reign' inspired sketch of the Queen of Scots.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Hannibal fanart - Seduction via empathy overload

Oh my goodness, I love this show so much. But I butchered this fan art so hard hahahaha... ha. Better luck next time I guess. So many good scenes and expressions to pull from in this show. I'm watching the second season for the second time and it's just as glorious as the first. Actually, I think I like the repeat viewings better because I can't really pay attention to everyone's faces more. All the emotions, real or projected or whatever. It's a smorgasbord. 

If you haven't seen this show, I highly recommend it. But before sitting down with that bowl of popcorn and binging the first season, please oh please be prepared. There is gore, there is horror (both physical and psychological), there is cannabalism, there is darkness. But for me, the most awesome part of this show is the real empathy that I felt between Will and Hannibal, our hero/villians. I have a hard time with my empathy, as I'm sure other folks in the world do, because I tend to feel too much under very specific circumstances. Blood, guts, gore, all that is fascinating, not as horrifying for me. But real, perceivable, connections and bonds between people (or people and animals, etc), that stuff kicks my empathy into overdrive. I've watched certain movies where I almost couldn't handle it, the feeling was so overwhelming. This show, for me, has given me a chance to have great insight in my own emotions and some wonderful conversations with friends on the nature of empathy. 

I also really like connections that are beyond sexualization. Not that sex isn't or shouldn't be involved but I just like it when it doesn't even factor in. When race, gender, sex, background, all of that is fluff and all that remains is the connection we're watching occur in front of us, on screen or otherwise. For example, this 'seduction' of Hannibal by Will, for me it's nothing to do with a sexual attraction and everything to do with empathy. Will has used his ability to truly empathize with another person to his advantage and Hannibal appreciates this empathy, the fact that someone else could truly understand him has probably never happened before, right? And though Will does this seduction with the intention of trapping Hannibal, he also appears to be, himself, seduced by Hannibal in turn. I'm sure others have discussed this better than me but I wanted to put this idea out there anyway. It means a lot to me. People do good, people do evil. As no person is 100% good, no person is 100% evil. I just think that a little more empathy in the world would go a long way.

with love - M

P.S.
I want to clarify that I don't condone any of the fictitious actions that Hannibal or any other pyscho or sociopathic person makes. 

Sketch Diary: Serpentine lounging

These cuties were fun to color. What in the world was I thinking with the background color? Madness.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Hug against the chill

Quick character study sketch. Not enough room around those ribs for those arms...

with love - M

Sketch Diary: TBT - Japanese fashion girls

While I was in Japan I collected a few different kinds of fashion magazines. This drawing is based on some girls I saw in Ageha magazine. I loved how many of them had these gloriously over dressed nails. Jewels and gems and all kinds of little bits and bobbles glued to their nails. I don't think I could personally ever have my nails like that for more than a day at a time, I'm too often outside and in the dirt or working with paint and fabrics and glues. They'd get destroyed way too quickly on me. But the attention to detail and coordination of each outfit is really spectacular. I highly recommend exploring other countries' fashion and art magazines. Wonderful tools for inspiration.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: TBT - Orange hair is THE BEST

Ya know, as much as I get frustrated at certain things in this drawing  (that ear is wonky >.< and that neck belongs on a giraffe) I still can't help but enjoy it. There are a bunch of things about it that remind me of certain things I like to draw. Like genuinely enjoying drawing eyes, hair, and frilly clothes in particular way. The necklace seems really jarring, yeah? But at least I took my time with the purple top.

So I hope you've enjoyed this little throwback to 2011 (colored with Copics it in 2012).

with love - M

Sketch Diary: TBT - Pink haired centaur girl

Throwback to 2011 - lots of random marker practice pieces that year. I still love this drawing, not exactly sure why... there are a lot of things I would fix (if I was into that sort of thing hah) like the skinny arm in front, the odd shoulders, the 'thighs' are too small for my taste, and that hand. Obviously, I had such a hard time with the one hand, I had to hide the other! But with all that, I still like her look. Looking inside of herself, seeing without sight. And pink hair?! I mean who doesn't love pink hair?

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Snake wedding

Badger badger badger badger... I don't know where this idea came from exactly but I  ran with it. We all know I love serpent-like, mermaid-y folk. I showed it to a couple people and the consensus was that it was some kind of wedding and the woman turned into a snake thing and the dude fainted or maybe she accidentally killed him or something to that effect. Whatever the background, I wanted her to look concerned but confused/curious. I hope that came across. It was a lot of fun to sketch this out. Snake-y forms are always very satisfying for me.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: TBT - Marker madness with pink hair

A lovely little throwback marker piece from 2011. I loved doing this piece. I remember it vividly. Sketching it out during my free time at the Jr. high school in Japan. Inking it and coloring it in my tiny but cozy apartment many months later. I remember the teachers that would stop by to watch while I sketched seemed to really like this one. One teacher even drew her own quick version of it as a gift for me. I was so flattered (and her drawing was adorable, to boot!).  There are just a lot of fond memories that come back to me when I see this drawing... I need to stop looking at job boards in Japan. This is not okay haha. Per usual, I used Copic markers for color and white acrylic paint for the little highlights.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Almost kiss, nose nuzzle

D'awww. Aren't they just the cutest? AREN'T THEY?! No, they're not. The figure on the right has weird facial dimensions that I couldn't reconcile... or was to lazy to reconcile. Bagh.

with love - M

Sketch Diary: Peek-a-bird

Oodles of doodles! I enjoy how the little goldfinch turned out. My grasp of birds is weak but I want to  get stronger.

With love - M

Sketch Diary: TBT - parkour angel

A throwback to 2011 here. Though there are many things off in this little piece, I like this piece more now than I did before. Something about the pose and the color of the figure, just looks like a fun character.

With love - M

Sketch Diary: Doodles and dinos

Just a quick sketch to shake some dust off. Everyone seems to be talking about dinosaurs again with the excitement of the new Jurassic Park movie preview that came out. But I'm just not comfortable with drawing animals. Well practice makes perfect :sigh:.

With love - M

Sketch Diary: Dragon needs a shave

Dagron! And what a snazzy beard... feels like a half finished idea though.

With love - M

Sketch Diary: Pouty lips... but why?

Been a while! And this sketch has some obvious rust on it. But I only want to leave out the absolute worst ones. I feel like if I try to pretend the mediocre sketches don't exist, it makes the really good ones less special. And every not-so-awesome idea tends to be stepping stone on the way to something bigger and better, right?

Things have been busy lately with plenty of work, lots of fun after hours stuff, and a dash of drama. Here's to hoping for the work to continue but maybe a bit more time for sketching.

With love - M