Happy Birthday Lily!

My little cousin Lily just turned 10 last week and I made her this card!  I know I am a little behind on sending this to her, but I wanted to draw her something instead of just buying a generic card, like I normally do for my other cousins.  She is really the only cousin I draw stuff for, and this is only because she is really into art so this is something I know she will appreciate!  Happy belated birthday Lily!

Hey Lady!

This is a quick doodle I drew tonight while watching re-runs of Honey Boo boo.  

Century 21!

I haven't been posting lately because I have been busy.  I was just hired as a full time photo retoucher for Century 21 Department Stores!  It's weird having a full time job after freelancing for so long, but I am definitely happy there and hope to never go back to freelancing!  More posts to come soon!

Wood Illustration!

Lately I've been seeing a lot of different artists making drawings on actual pieces of wood.  I thought the idea was so great and was excited to give it a shot!  I bought this piece of wood at Michaels about two months ago, but I've been procrastinating ever since because I was positive I would somehow screw it up.  Since I downloaded Paper 53 for my ipad, I really haven't been doing any traditional drawings, and last night I figured I'd just go for it.  It was the first time I just started drawing without an actual sketch in from of me, and to be honest I was surprised with the results!  It's the first drawing I've done in a while that I actually like!  The only thing I didn't like was how messy the bark of this piece of wood was.  Since the moment I took off the plastic wrap, pieces of bark have been peeling off everywhere!  At one point I even caught my dog licking it! (Must have tasted good!)  Anyways, I'm sure I could somehow glue a hook to the back of it so it can be displayed on a wall.  I am definitely going to be experimenting with wood art again very soon!

Internet withdrawal!

I never realized how addicted to the internet I was until last weekend, when we went on a mini vacation to Chicago.  If you think about it, I'm around the internet a lot, for 8 hours a day at work, then a couple more hours at night when I'm at home.  The only thing preventing me from being on the internet all the time is the fact that I am probably the only person left on earth that still does not own a smart phone.  As much as I would love to have one, I guess I just feel like it's a waste of money, considering I already pay for internet in my house.  However, it definitely would have come in handy while I was in Chicago!  While we kept busy during the days exploring the city, nights were our down time.  Since I'm not much of a tv person, not having internet in our hotel was killing me!  So to pass the time I made drawings on my ipad with Paper 53!  As much as I felt disconnected from the world because of lack of internet, it felt good to be able to spend some of my nights drawing!

Ipad drawings!

I got my ipad a little over a year ago.  The reason why I got it was because I still don't have a smart phone and I wanted something that I could easily bring on vacation with me so I can still feel connected to the world.  It wasn't until recently that I discovered Paper 53.  After debating for several weeks on whether or not I should spend the 7 dollars to get the full app, and another 29 dollars for the Bamboo Stylus, I gave in and I sure am glad I did!  Of course there are some things I don't like about the app, for example, the color selection isn't that great,  and it would be nice to be able to change brush size, but the thing I really had to get used to is not being able to rest your hand on the ipad while you are drawing because it is skin sensitive.  Other than these three things, it's pretty neat, and I'm definitely addicted to it!  The first picture of the giraffe I drew for this week's Illustration Friday topic, which was "tall".  The other two I just drew for no reason!  I'm pretty sure I'm going to be posting a lot of ipad drawings on here in the future!  

Marker

I've attempted marker on several different occasions in the past, but for some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I could never quite master the technique.  I decided tonight to give them another try.  While I'll admit they were a little frustrating, I think I'm on my way to getting better!  Here are a few marker sketches I did tonight while watching the Olympics.  I also tried mixing these marker sketches with color pencil.  I mainly used the color pencil for the shadows and highlights, which I find easier to do than trying to shade with the markers.  I can't wait to continue experimenting with these two mediums together!