Month of Love: Hester Prynne

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Hester Prynne from the novel "The Scarlet Letter". Created with chalk pastel on paper.

My piece created for Month of Love a yearly challenge held in the month of Feb. I'm thrilled to be a roster artist again this year. Each week artist are given a word to interpret.

The first week's word was "secrets." I originally thought I could do some spot illustrations to add to my portfolio. But eventually, after some doodling, I noticed offhandedly one of my sketches made me think of a pilgrim. And that train of thought made me think of the novel "The Scarlet Letter." Perfect for secrets and romance! Here is a plot summary for this novel.

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Thoughts:
I feel good about the composition and the negative space which is intended to have text. I wanted to do more narrative work and play around with new lighting. I'm satisfied with the outcome. I wasn't sure about the solid A, but I think it balances well with overall drawing and shapes of the piece. 

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My reference/ inspiration gallery of photos and other artist work. Includes the amazing Audrey Benjaminsen, Sam Weber, Ed Kinsella, and others.

Month of Love Surprise! Seasons: "Peony"

The roster artists did a secret one last Month of Love day for the leap year! The theme was seasons and I highly suggest you check out some of the amazing work displayed today. I personally been wanting to do a series of flower faces. For this piece it needed to be bright and colorful! It is spring, which is full of life and energy. I do a lot of horror themed work and this is a good change in pace.

12x12 chalk pastel on BFK RIves paper.

I notice people really like these time-lapse video, so I'm going to try and post longer ones. After seeing the color quality of this video, I'll be researching cameras. The color is SO far off, but at least you can still see the values clearly. In all my videos I do lot of trial and error till I'm happy with the color and drawing. I think this history of color is what gives my illustrations more life. I also want to say that it is truly useful to not be precious with your work. Sometimes you need to be willing to destroy your illustration, so you can build something better. It may help to think "If I did it once, I can do it again." An excellent artist to follow for this is Vanessa Lemen. She did 2 post on Muddy Color: Painting Process and A Spontaneous and Responsive Process.

In my last post I spoke about implied lines in my composition. As you can see below (middle image) I use a lot of implied lines to help your eye travel around the flower petals in a spiral. I then had to use the background to keep your eye within the center. Because I used such a blunt and centered composition, I wanted to continue this theme of symmetry by making the subject looking directly forward. Everywhere outside the face has a lot of energetic, organic lines and the smooth face makes a great contrast and gives the eye a place to rest. And with all these swirling organic shapes everywhere, I knew I needed to anchor the piece was horizontal implied lines (far right image.) My line work is naturally organic and an instructor pointed this out to me one day. Since then I try to incorporate geometric (strong horizontal and vertical) line work to help contrast and strengthen my organic way of working.

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I turned to a lot of my favorite artists for this project. James Jean and Loish were big influences I think. I also really wanted the character's face to have very open bright eyes. I thought instantly to the Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke. I always loved how "knowing" those bright eyes seemed.

Month of Love: Weapon. Crimson Peak

This piece was intended for Week 3 of Month of Love with the theme word weapon. I felt Crimson Peak was an excellent fit considering that love being used as a weapon is a repeated theme throughout the film. Crimson Peak is a gothic romantic and simply beautiful. Here is the trailer. Even though I missed the deadline for Week 3, I'm happy I got this illustration where I wanted it. This piece took me a lot longer to complete and I even started over 3 times. Perseverance and stubbornness prevailed. The color pallet was a lot of fun to play with. I used a lot of blues and purples and warm greys for the hair. I love my Sennelier Burnt Madder red pastel for the blood/red clay and how it popped with this subdued pallet.

I've been a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak since I first saw it at the movies. I illustrated another tribute piece Thomas. To see Thomas and a 4 min time lapse video of its making, click here.

This background was a great tool to put in some implied lines and keep your eye moving around the composition. MuddyColors did a good post about this. I highly suggest it if you are looking for ways to strengthen your illustrations.

Below is my reference/inspiration. Including my self-reference. Self-sticks are very useful for this. Especially if you're out of town, in a hotel, and don't have your usual models! Luckily, the hotel had an excellent knife to work with.

I know they used Pre-Raphaelite reference for her character sheet, so I tried to keep that in mind when designing this illustration. I wanted soft tones and that flowing hair.

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Lastly, I encourage you to Follow my Instagram if you like seeing process work. IG is the first place I go to to share whatever I'm working on in the studio.

Month of Love: Lost in Translation. "Leeloo"

Each week of the month of February, I'll be doing an illustration based of the given word or phrase. Learn more about Month of Love here. You can also check out my pieces from the last challenge Month of Fear.
This weeks phrase: Lost in translation. The Language of Love has many dialects. Sometimes we’re fluent and other times… it’s all Greek.

LeeLoo from the awesome film The Fifth Element. Original chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. This piece illustrates the first moment she sees the futuristic city of New York.  See my time-lapse video below, which shows my initial process when putting down a free form drawing.

Challenges for this illustration:
* Trying to depict Milla Jovovich's character, while still retaining my style. This was very tricky. I ended up re-watching the movie and taking a lot of screenshots. I couldn't get a straight up great reference photo. This was a good personal challenge for me. I also researched all of Milla's photo-shoots during 1995. She is so purdy. I felt the key would be to nail her mouth since it is her most distinct feature. Also, Leeloo often had an opened mouth expression.

Few of my quick thumbnails. The project went fast since it took me a few days to decided on a concept for this week's challenge.

• This scene illustrates her first moment seeing futuristic New York and the cops have her in a spotlight. The face is practically fully lit, which can flatten everything. I really had to control my values, control my line work, and use what shadows I had to balance everything. Usually, my pastel strokes are smooth and organic and I'll love to render out areas like the hair. But considering the chaos and anxiety of the scene and the high key values, I wanted more energy to compensate that. So, I used hard strokes within the face and kept the hair mostly gestural.

• I originally wanted to have her hands up covered in soot, like in the movie. However, I nixed it because I felt the piece was too busy with more information. I also tilted the composition to make it more dynamic.

Project Description: It took me a few days thinking on this week's phrase. It was very hard not to just think of the literal movie, Lost in Translation. Luckily one morning Leeloo popped into my head! I find my best inspiration when I'm initially waking up in the morning and cruising through artwork on IG. Leeloo is a supreme being that is awoken 5,000 years later to a future with flying cars and space travel. She was created as a weapon to save the human race from a “great evil” that is literally a dark planet hurtling towards Earth to destroy everything. I felt Leeloo’s journey was a good fit for this week’s challenge. From the beginning of her waking, she dealt with controversy. And when she looked up the word “war,” she became even warier of humans and their overwhelming will to destroy each other. It took good ol’ Bruce Willis (playing Corbin Dallas) to explain that there are many things worth saving, like love. He then kisses her and she’s a happy weapon again and destroys the “great evil” seconds away from its impact with Earth. Fin.

Side Notes: At the end of the film, Leeloo really gives Corbin quite an ultimatum. Say you love me or Earth dies, lol. All kidding aside, this is a beautifully entertaining movie. One of my favs.

Month of Love: Hero. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

It is now Month of Love! This is very similar to Month of Fear. Each week of the month of February, I'll be doing an illustration based of the given word or phrase. This weeks word is "hero." Learn more about Month of Love here. See my entry here!

Lisbeth Salander from the novel Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. 11x16 chalk pastel on BFK Rives Paper. Digital manipulation with Photoshop. I chose black and white because I felt it wasn't what you'd typically see when glorifying someone. Just like Lisbeth's character wouldn't typically be the hero of any story.

(Spoiler alert for book readers) I wanted to do a hero that isn't the typical "hero" image. Set during winter in Stockholm, Switzerland, Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 24-year-old 4' 11" petite woman weighing hardly 100Ibs who dresses like a goth with piercings and tattoos. She is often mistaken for a 14-year-old. At the time I read this novel, I related instantly to this character because I too was in my early 20s, 4' 11" (no joke), petite, and often (SO OFTEN) mistaken for a teen. Throughout the novel, there is this constant motif of inaccurate judgements due to one's appearance. Lisbeth Salander is laconic and withdrawn to the point that she is judged by others to be incompetent. But in reality, however, she is an extraordinarily intelligent hacker and very capable of taking care of herself. She dishes out justice to those who wrong her and even saves Mike Blomkvist life at the end of the novel. Lisbeth Salander is one of my favorite female protagonists. She is misjudged due to her personality, her past, and appearance. Ultimately, she uses the misjudgments of others to her benefit.

Throughout the text, Salander occupies the role of both victim and survivor. Assaulted repeatedly and brutally by her guardian, Salander seems aware that others perceive her as a victim, but she doesn’t view herself as one because she sees the oppression and brutalization of women as endemic to society. In other words, she is not being singled out for abuse, and so views the abuse as a general problem rather than one directed at her personally. Ultimately, her notable outbursts of violence against her guardian in the novel exemplify both Salander’s desire to secure her own survival in the face of overwhelming odds and to punish those who victimize the powerless. Additionally, almost all of Salander’s actions serve to secure her independence and give her the means to protect herself.

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