First sketch in weeks! At least it's a detailed one, haha. I got inspired suddenly and had to get this out of my system. I know I've done a lot of headshots lately but hey, better than nothing. My bf doesn't like the neck angle and says the eye is a bit large but oh well. If I go back to ink it later, maybe I'll adjust it a bit. 
Just a quickie sketch of Mary, Queen of Scots, from the show Reign. She had this powerful look in this one shot, like she could see something in the distance that no one else could see. I'm interested in what else that actress will end up doing in the future - I think there's some serious potential there. And the costume designer for the show - love the stuff. I don't think any of it's very period true but I appreciate the ingenuity. I'm hoping to play with making some of the cool hair pieces, the beaded ones that Mary wears that lay flat like a headband/crown. Very pretty.
Things have been super busy so I guess it's time for another TBT! This little beauty is from 2010 though I might not have colored it until 2011, I can't remember. I sketched it out during Faeriecon 2010 and even though the proportions are off and the eyes are set too high, I still really like this piece. Comparing this to more recent marker pieces, it's cool to see how my technique has changed. Going back to review these pieces really helps inspire to keep drawing. When I get really busy, I need that pretty hardcore.
This one is a way-back throwback! Anyone recognize it? It's from the Fall of 2004 and ended up being a gift to my Mom. This was probably the second time I had messed with scratch art boards. If I remember correctly, I used a picture out of some random fashion magazine as a reference for this woman. 
Isn't she ADORABLE?! I think so. I'm pretty pleased with myself. It only took... forever to finish this sketch. Such is the curse of having full-time design work. Doesn't leave much time for random sketching. But I was inspired for this little illustration project I'm working on with some folks, The Compendium. It's a nice way to motivate each other to draw more regularly and with purpose without any real deadline to stress us out. 
Time for a throwback all the way from 2010! I still remember sketching this like it was yesterday. This was one of those pieces, one of those moments where everything came together and I could really see the subject - not with my eyeballs but with my true mind's eye. Clear as clear can be. And if felt like liquid fire running down from my head to my hand. Whenever I look at this sketch now, I feel that same sensation and say to myself "Hey Meredith, you should really sketch more from live subjects - at least use some photos". I was using more photos at one time but have since fallen off the horse. I wanted to post this as a reminder to myself to embrace drawing from photos/ real life more. Pulling from my head is fun and all but I'm not a mentat. It's time to face facts and break out the photos.
Time for some throwback! October of 2009 and I can't for the life of me remember what I was thinking when I did this drawing. Is she the kind sister aiding her ill brother? Is she like the witch in Snow White, having weakened or killed the king, she happily takes over the kingdom? Anyway, I still enjoy looking at it and wondering about a story.
Quicky sketch from my camping trip to Assateague Island. Wild ponies are super cute... but also rats with hooves haha. Ask anyone who's had their campsite raided by ponies.
This was an interesting sketch to do. I was watching 12 Years a Slave when I got inspired by Patsey. I honestly don't like how the sketch turned out. I don't feel it captures anything true about her (except that lovely long neck). But it was still a good challenge. I don't usually draw with any particular race/ethnicity in mind. I think it's about time I started paying better attention to all those unique details when I draw. Or not. Who knows.
COLOR! Here's your surprise color piece! Mmmm I love Copic markers. The hairpiece was inspired by real hairpieces made by a talented lady in Calabash, NC, that I saw in a little art gallery a few days before I sketched this out. I was trying to go for a watery feeling when I colored this but mainly, I was just playing around. I like how it turned out, for now. I was worried I over did the white paint splatters.
Nothing special here. Just a girl with lots of belt...buckles. I don't know. I just work here.
Cute, random, story behind this drawing. when I did the initial sketch, I was in North Carolina visiting my family. They were going to church one Sunday while I was there and I decided to tag along for the drive since the church happened to be near a cute town I had visited once before called Southport. So I dropped of the 'rents and headed into town to find the little sitting area by the waterway. I found an open picnic table and sat down to sketch a little in the beauty and peace of the waterside gazebo-type area. My peace and quite did not last long...
Ah Arrow. I wish I could keep watching this show. I can't put my finger on it but something about the live action TV show has become tedious, boring. It certainly isn't the man himself (I could just watch him walk around picking daisies all day and I would be entertained). Maybe I'll come back and try to finish it in another month or so. 
Old sketch, new ink. I loved reading (what little I could read, anyway haha) KERA Magazine while I was in Japan. So much fun stuff in there - shiny things, unique outfits, wild ideas for accessories, and great photo shoots. If you see a good one, pick it up for me ^.- ! This particular page was of fairy tales - Snow White specifically. I fell in love and sketched it while I was in Japan. But just the other day, I finally sat down and inked it. Maybe there's some color on it's way and it can be finished finally! It was suprisingly relaxing and rejuevenating to ink this piece so hopefully coloring it will be the same.
So this was for my Mom. Why I didn't just say that, I don't know. Being so close to Mother's Day, I felt it appropriate to revisit this piece. The whole project was as simple as - she asked me if I could make her some business cards and I did. However, this was when I was establishing how I wanted to ask questions to clients so I experimented with a questionnaire on her for establishing a brand. Questions like "who are your competitors?" and "what animal best represents your company?" and so on. She was a great test subject and gave me a bit of a challenge with the typefaces, if I remember correctly. I had a whole list and she kept wanting to pair up typefaces that I specifically separated. The flower design was the easiest part because it was a vector version of a photo I took of a hair piece I had made out of satin. And the name - RõSõz - is kind of ridiculously perfect. Her last name is Rowe and she sews... done. |
| The Nerve of Some People |
I do love me some serpentine women. No seriously, I've always been attracted to drawing mermaids, snake ladies, whatever. Something about the half and half thing is cool but I'm pretty sure there's something else going on, too. Snake-ity-snake. Snakes are really amazing creatures. I think I just want to switch out my lower half. That's probably what it is. I don't need legs. I wanna hang around in trees and swim all snake-y in the water and wrap my tail around my boyfriend so he can never leave... cough.
And here is a test set of panels for the webcomic-yet-to-be. Five panels is a bit much, right? Nom nom nom.
These are more sketches from that webcomic that has yet to be.
Sometimes when I get stuck on something, I just move on. So doing a series of facial expressions can be a good way of moving the brain around those road blocks. This page was for a character based on a friend that I was chatting with at the time about making our own web comic. Hasn't gotten traction yet but I think it's good to get those ideas out there. See what flies. Or falls. Regardless, these were fun to do. I feel like some expressions aren't so different between characters but it all ends up being "well maybe I'll put that eyebrow here- look at that! and maybe the mouth a little bit lower - yuck, definitely not". Makes me feel like a scientist... of faces.
This started as a sketch of a pin-up style lady but things didn't work out. The hair came from a wig I have (in purple and blue, of course). Not sure what she's wearing though. I enjoyed sketching it out nonetheless. What does she look like? A Jane maybe? I'm feelin' Beatrice or Anna.
Creature feature! So a little known fact about me: I like drawing creepy things. Monsters, creatures, aliens, abominations, whatever. There's a lot to be learned from drawing natural human forms and I love classical portraits but there's something freeing about losing all constraints on the imagination. Want to add an eye on it's elbow? Sure. Maybe switch the mouth and the eyes? Go for it. There are no limits. I've gotten weird looks from people sometimes and I know it can be scary for parents and caregivers out there to encourage a child's imagination when they are drawn to possibly horrifying ideas, but please encourage them anyway. I tell family and friends all the time about how glad I am that my parents let me watch imaginative, though sometimes frightening, movies and video games. I'm getting older now, so these were movies like Alien and Aliens, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, The Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal. And I was 5-7 when I saw most of these for the first time. Now, I didn't fully comprehend them until more recently, of course, but the imagery was so impactful that I continue to use these films as inspiration today. I'm not saying run out and show your child Prometheus. I just want people to think about how limiting the imagination to only soft, safe, or classical exposure doesn't have to be the only way to go. We don't have to be scared... of being scared.
This is a sketch from January but I'm behind a day or two on my sketch diary. I can cheat. It's my diary, after all. So this was a quicky done on the train one day that I was going into Philly for freelance work. I'm trying to get back to sketching just what I see in my head at that moment instead of thinking about it too much. 
