Day 21

Day 21: Draw a character/object/scene, and shade them using only solid blacks and whites.

Work still in progress.

I... kind of let the people on the Jim Butcher forums pick out what scenes I am to draw for #21-24. They were all pretty intense choices so it's going to take me several days to fit completing each in on top of my normal commission work load. Please bear with me. I will eventually completely all 30 days, even if it takes me 40 to do it, ahaha.

Oh and so yes, this is a wizard and a medical examiner riding a zombie dinosaur. That bass drum is helping control the zombie dinosaur by simulating her heartbeat. This is a thing that happens in the Dresden Files. If you've never read those books, you probably should because they are pretty much like that all the time.

Day 20

Day 20: Design a character based off an object on your house.

Mr. Automatic Drip. Uh you only get one guess what object this is.

Anyway, I figure he has the one arm in order to pour his various fluids for you (coffee, sugar, milk) or push his own buttons... yes.

Day 19

Day 19: Something you hate drawing most.

Hate is a strong word? I don't really 'hate' drawing anything, but I figured the question meant a thing you are not good at drawing, and I have lots of those. I don't particularly like drawing feet, they are like awkward mutant hands. So I picked that.

Day 18

Day 18: Draw a car.

Scribbled out a car. 'Tis my boyfriend's Mini Cooper, Ivy. Decided to try and catch-up a bit day wise over the weekend, since some of the previous days took two days. :3

...the perspective of the back of that roof is totally having a derp. XD

Day 17

Day 17: Animal you've never drawn x10

I wanted to draw some sort of bird in order to practice wings, so I looked around online for an unusual one I'd never even seen let alone drawn before and settled on this critter, a "Masked Lapwing" or Spur-winged Plover.

References:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Vanellus_miles_miles.jpg/775px-Vanellus_miles_miles.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Spur-Winged-Plover444.jpg/400px-Spur-Winged-Plover444.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spur-Winged-Plover.jpg

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/quested/MaskedLapwing(TQ).jpg

http://www.sunnybank.info/graphics/20090901_masked_lapwing_eyes.JPG

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQlnbIcBAezpQfdoxn4_OH7E36h3-zfOAbxXVDRk72v9J-1Vrqd7g

http://pics.donhadden.com/images/M/Ma/Masked%20Lapwing%20in%20flight%20showing%20wing%20spur%20IMG_0150.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Qu4Uk3eP2LJN3Ek5FL4_lEMUXiNAZkavoHfUXMsQsBUbodiuu1B21-lri6RKjMKBwPSzGINjMrRKWvhM3KeMVaD16meBuR7ceh24LVUZOZRUTT2hnsEwehADOH425xBkhHYTMVYR-Qs/s1600/Masked+Lapwing+in+Flight.jpg

http://www.tripsource.com/stories/Andy/Andy/Trip9/Aust3/MaskedLapwing450.jpg

Day 16

Day 16: 5-7 panel comic on one page.

True story about something my cat did the other day. He really likes being brushed. X3

Sometimes my days take two days, durr. Been very busy with commission work.

Day 15

Day 15: Compose an action scene three different ways.

Compositions. For me, quick sketches are messy as hell, because I am one of the world's messier sketchers. Especially when dealing with a complicated scene. >_> I need to work on efficiently of line in undersketches, would save me some time. Anyway, I decided to work into one:

Cleaned up the sketch a bit, then began painting. I *definitely* want to paint into this one more, beeecaaause I was having entirely too much fun. Scene from near the end of "Cold Days" by Jim Butcher; Karrin Murphy and Harry Dresden join the Wild Hunt, and Murph's motorcycle takes on the appearance of a shadowy big cat.

Day 14

Day 14: Bird's eye or worm's eye view.

Selected to do a worm's eye view looking up at a tree. Tried to experiment with colored lighting more here, lots of yellows and teals.

Day 13

Day 13: Character from Day 6 in an interior setting.

Ted from Day 6, in what I imagine to be his bedroom. Poor, misunderstood demon. He really dislikes cute things, because they get hugs and he does not. Particularly teddy bears, what with their names so close to his as added insult. Everybody needs hugs.

I cleaned this up with the intention of then painting it, but today's various activities ate up entirely too much time. I'll have to paint it later. For now, just some flats and a luminosity layer.

Also whoops accidental day one day shift. Worked on too many commissions Friday. It is hard to find time away from my art to make additional art. XD Hence the word "challenge" of course.

Day 12

Day 12: View outside your window.

Uh. I should probably try to wake up when there's daylight tomorrow and re-do this one. This is the view outside my window, except even darker in real life. I can't see shit, Cap'n. /nocturnal artist problems

Day 11

Day 11: Two point perspective.

Alleyway dumpster whoadang.

Not in color today because I spent today working on another item in perspective anyway:

3.5 hours into a commission... curved lines are hard in perspective. :o Critique very much welcome, I would love feedback on this before I continue.

Day 10

Day 10: One point perspective.

Okay so it's that river in Chicago instead of a railroad or an empty street. Kind of the same thing, structurally but uh... hey look it's Chicago! Totally legit. Yep.

Day 9

Day 9: Landscape you've neither been to or drawn previously.

After a long day of getting up early, streaming commissions, getting dragged around with people who were in pursuit of White Castle (yes that really is a thing that happened) and generally being out and about while multitasking the social thing with more commission work (I love the portability of my tablet pc forever), I was about ready to throw my hands up, go to bed, and do this in the morning. But I decided to stay up another hour and spew this forth.

I have a much harder time quickly hashing out a sense of architectural landscapes than I do natural ones, so I wanted to tackle that, as well as speedpainting with no pre-sketching (something I am also not good at). This is the second floor landing of the abandoned Southern State Lunatic Asylum, found on the Abandoned Places community: http://abandonedplaces.livejournal.com/2545910.html

Now, sleeeep.

Day 8

Day 8: 3 objects.

B-b-b-baaad to the bone.

I really have nothing to say in my defense. The skull is a dog skull this time.

Day 7

Day 7: Weird object in my apartment.

Raccoon skull which was vandalized/decorated by myself in my youth.

Day 6

Day 6: Character Generator

Fate presented me with this:

So I made this:

He is truly majestic. I decided to name him Ted.

Day 5

Day 5: Gestures x20

It was pretty tricky to find references of some body types. :o But, bam. There we be.

Day 4

Day 4: Human body part x 20

I picked hands because for an ever-present portion of anatomy in my illustrations, I still find them awkward. The first three drawings were done pre- bone and muscle studies, and it amazes me how much more sense it made to draw them after. Keeping the bone joints as they relate to one another in mind rather than just forming amorphous hand blobs makes a ridiculous amount of difference. Also that large muscle crossing the palm to the thumb.

I should do feet sometime too, but the time to sleep is nigh.

Day 3

It'sa me, Sasha, jumping in for day 3. Looks like Anya and I picked the same reference set to use (it's a pretty neato set). So here's to ridiculously impractical leaping archery.

I had no idea how much I wanted to be able to flip my figure drawings before. Viva digital art.

Source: http://senshistock.deviantart.com/gallery/40726967#/d5lwcrt

Day 3

Day 3: Figure from reference in action.

Spent a more time on this today. Also saw Anna's beautiful figure from yesterday and was like "working on toned paper, durr, I should do that". Well, toned... digital... paper. Toned canvas. But yes. Was fun. :D

Reference: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/330/1/c/final_shot___pose_reference_by_senshistock-d5m9tjn.jpg

Day 2

Day 2: Draw a figure using reference, link to reference.

Reference is here: http://senshistock.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5r8w5k

Senshistock is awesome and royalty free for art reference, if anyone viewing this is unaware of his work you should go look. :o

Day 1

Day 1: FACIAL INTRODUCTION

My face looks something like that right now I guess. Well, looking at it, I totally didn't make my jaw wide enough. I have kind of a lot of jaw. Speedpaint hindsight go.

The List

Sup lack-of-viewers. I'm Anna and I need to art better. This is day one.

For easy reference, here's the list of tasks:

1. Self-Portrait - Introduce yourself
2. Draw a figure using a reference - link to reference
3. Draw a figure that’s in action, using a reference - link to reference
4. Draw a part of the human anatomy you have trouble with. x20, with atleast 5 being skeletal/musculature studies.
5. Draw more figures. Quick gestures and silhouettes. x20, with atleast 10 different body shapes
6. Let’s have some fun. Design a character from this character generator. (created by PreservedCucumbers)
7. Pick the weirdest object in your house/room. Draw it. Shadows and Highlights.
8. Find 2-3 objects, make a scene with them. Draw it. Bonus points for creativity. Double points for dramatic lighting.
9. Draw a landscape of a place you’ve never been or drawn.
10. Draw a BG with 1pt Perspective. Negative points if it’s a railroad or an empty street.
11. Draw a BG with 2pt Perspective.
12. Look out a window. Draw what you see. Bonus points for adding something interesting.
13. Draw an interior setting with the character you designed on Day #6 in it.
14. BG with either bird’s eye or worm’s eye view.
15. Halfway there! Draw three ‘action’ scenes with different compositions in each. Quick sketches are fine, just make them interesting and understandable! Bonus points if it’s the same scene, but different composition.
16. Draw a single page comic with 5-7 panels (the story begins and ends on one page). 
17. Draw an animal you’ve never drawn before. x10  Link references.
18. Draw a car. Negative points for whining. Hint: Use a perspective grid.
19. Think of the thing you hate drawing the most. Guess what? Draw it! Negative points for lying to yourself.
20. Pick an object in your house/room. Now design a character from it, color scheme included. (often known as a gijinka). Also link/post the object you used. Negative points for using a humanoid action figure.
21. Draw a character/object/scene, and shade them using ONLY solid blacks and whites. Bonus points for good use of lights/shadows
22. Draw a different object/scene/character. Shade using hatching, crosshatcing, and/or pointillism. Bonus points for lights/shadows and textures.
23. Colors! Pick a color palette, and paint a scene/character/object using only those colors (some blending allowed). Bonus points for good use of lights/shadows.
24. Draw and color a scene/object/character - no lines allowed! (aka - lineless art). Don’t forget light and shadows!
25. Draw a scene/character in a style you’ve never drawn before. If emulating an artist, credit+link. Bonus for color style.
26. Draw a character. Draw 10 emotions/expressions. Bonus points for ‘uncommon’ emotions. (i.e. anxiety, guilt, despair, loneliness etc.)
27. Draw three random shapes using your opposite hand (or your foot). Now design characters from those shapes.
28. Turn on the tv (or load your illegally download movies). Pick an actor and draw them.
29. Almost done! Let’s have some fun. Draw some fanart. Bonus points if it’s super obscure and unknown. Make people guess what it’s from.
30. Last day! Find a drawing you did within the last year. Now draw it again using what you’ve learned! Link it for comparison!

Source: http://pencilcat.tumblr.com/post/27420093968/30-days-of-art-improvement-challenge

Blog introduction.

This blog exists to document a few friends following PencilCat's 30 Days of Art Improvement Challenge.

I am the Anya/Chinny thing. I draw and paint everyday for a living as is, and the improvement that results over time is gratifying, but know I have a lot of weaknesses that will benefit from time specifically set aside to focus on them. Should be a quality experience. Following the challenge was Anna's idea. Our friend K will jump in now and then too, though she also arts everyday for a living and has an understandably busy schedule that will result in only periodic participation.

Tomorrow: self portraits. Whoo.