Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Have Finished The Big One

I sometimes bite off more than I can chew. In the case of my supposed "Thanksgiving" artwork... well, y'all can maybe tell it took longer than I wanted.

I'm pretty damn proud of it, though.

This has to be the largest amount of characters I've drawn in a scene in my life. I showed the sketches a couple weeks ago, and I've actually been working on this since then. My first two attempts failed because I was trying to sketch straight with colored pencil instead of regular pencil. Also, you'd think sketchbook paper would hold up better to erasing than it does...

So it's instead on my big watercolor paper.

The 11"x15" (27,9 x 38,1 cm) 140lb/300g stuff.

So yeah. It's pretty freakin huge lol!

"Anyone For Dessert?"; Colored Pencil on watercolor paper; 2021

Oh my god the detail I put into this made my hands and eyes ache but I'm very proud of myself! Each critter has their own personality, and there are some... references within (plus one very silly in-joke between my boyfriend and I, since I made this for him!).

Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat (detail); 2021

Here we see a Very Done wombat who deeply regrets asking an owl to bring dessert to a Friendsgiving with primarily herbivores. He's not surprised, not at all, but he is quite disappointed. In himself.

Groundhog (detail); 2021

Did I base this groundhog off of Chunk the Groundhog? Yes, of course I did. I love that little guy! I drew him with his trademark open-mouthed horror and butterfingers. The tomato will, of course, get scooped up momentarily. Five second rule and all that...

Beaver (detail); 2021

Nothing like nibbling on a twig and then finding out your friend has brought a horror show for dessert, eh, Mr. Beaver? He's knocked over his log chair in surprise!

Sea Otter (detail); 2021

If you know me, you know I've spent the bulk of the panini watching the livestreams of Joey the orphaned otter pup growing up. I've rendered him in watercolor pencil, cautiously stashing a clam in his shirt pocket as he wonders what this dessert thing is all about.

Lop-Eared Rabbit (detail); 2021

A few years ago, I started following Insta-famous bunny "Tato" (short for "Worried Potato") and fell in love with his floopiness. How could I resist putting an homage to the first bunny-blogger I ever followed?! Obviously, a bunny will be nervous around an owl, but now they're 100% convinced they'll be the main course next time! Don't worry, lil buddy, Dedbert's got two bunnies as adoptive brothers. You're safe!

Dedbert (detail); 2021

Here's my boy, proudly showing off the Chocolate Mouse he made. He has no idea what the fuss is about. Wait, what do you mean there's a second S? Why are you guys freaking out? This is good stuff! He hunted all night for those mice!!!

All in all, I am insanely proud of this piece, and I cannot believe how well it came out. Are there things I'd change? Yeah, of course, but being an artist always means stopping before it's "done" or you'll never finish anything.

This won't be the last time you see any of these critters, by the way. I have... plans for this month. Starting in 10 days, in fact.

Do with this information what you will.

But for now, I am exhausted and my hands smell like watercolor and wood. Good night folks!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which There Was a Delivery And I Drew!

Today was very very busy! The other day, I got a delivery of art supplies - my Buff Titanium watercolor stick from Daniel Smith and a paint box by Emooqi - and since then, I've been looking forward to testing them.

Unfortunately for me, I don't paint well while stressed, and with Evie the Wondercat going to the vet's tomorrow for her annual tooth cleaning and polyp check, I'm pretty stressed. I knew painting was going to have to wait.

Here's what I got, though:

This box is cardboard and has a magnetic flap as a closure!

I'll be honest, I just bought this set of 48 paints to put myself over the free shipping limit, but I was so pleasantly surprised at the quality! It really is worth every penny on Amazon (I'm not affiliated in any way, I'm just impressed!). I've never heard of "Emooqi" but if this is the kind of stuff they put out, I'll have to keep an eye out.

A swatching card for the paints!

Watercolor paper! Two Water Brushes! Three Fineliner Brushes! A Drawing Pencil...
A Fantastic palette! (Plus the Daniel Smith watercolor stick I also ordered)

I expected, when I picked this up, that the palette would be cheap plastic, but as soon as I picked up the package I was surprised by its weight.

Guys, that tri-fold palette is METAL!

You read that right, the palette is made of metal, has a hanging loop on the back, and holds at least one water brush (or multiple traditional brushes). There are wells for holding wet colors and trays for mixing colors, and it's just... it's fantastic. I'm in love with this big, heavy palette.

Now let's talk about the Buff Titanium watercolor stick

I have, ever since beginning to follow Nianiani on YouTube, wanted to have Buff Titanium. It's a soft, warm beige color, and she uses it for *everything*. We have a lovely art shop on our main street in my hometown, and they have a gorgeous collection of various tubes of watercolor in every single shade... except Buff Titanium.

So I looked on the interwebs and Amazon had me covered. I could either get a half pan for 7 dollars plus 7 dollars shipping or I could get the stick from Daniel Smith themselves for 10 dollars or so and free shipping if I got up to 25 bucks.

Believe it or not, I didn't fail economics. I passed. For me, getting two useful items for 29 dollars has greater worth than getting one useful item for 14 bucks. 

I've never used a paint stick, though, so I looked up some videos and it turns out it's a lot like a watercolor pencil but since there's no wood coating, you can just use the stick like a pan and brushy-brushy, you're off to buff-town!

I also used that swatch sheet:

The Swatch matches the order in the palette
plus that lil Buff Titanium swatch by itself

I managed to do all that and then I realized I didn't have time to make a good painting.

So I decided I'd combine three things I love - Australian Animals, Autumn, and Drawing.

"Down Under Harvest (unlined)"; colored pencil & graphite; 2021

"Down Under Harvest (Lined)"; colored pencil, graphite, and Pigma Micron PN; 2021

I wasn't sure which look I liked better at first, but I have a definite favorite. The animals are, from left to right, a Quokka holding kale, a Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat perched on a pumpkin, and a Bilby with an apple.

I freaking love drawing wombats. They're such expressive, chubby, adorable creatures. I just want to cuddle them all but I know they'd nibble my face off.

They're biters.

I love them.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!!!

FC

Thursday Art Walk - Witchtober Week 1+Today

 

In Which I Drew Witches Aplenty

Last week I announced that I was going to do Witchtober 2020 this year, and I have not given up yet!

I'm up to 8 drawings of witches (and so, so many ugly sketches...) So here are my witches so far (with a refresher from Witch #1, the Gothic Witch ;) )

"Mistress"; Witch #1 - Gothic

"Aster"; Witch #2 - Autumn

"Kara"; Witch #3 - Garden Witch

"Naomi"; Witch #4 - Kitchen Witch

"Vix"; Witch #5 - Kitsune/Fox Witch

"Aella"; Witch #6 - Skater Witch

"Sophie"; Witch #7 - Alchemist Witch

"Imina"; Witch #8 - Seer Witch

I am really enjoying this set of prompts, and I'm looking forward to the next seven, who consist of a Wonderland Witch, A Zodiac Witch, A Tea/Coffee Witch (Tim?!), a Demon Witch, an Academic Witch, a Pinup Witch (hmmmm that could be tricky!), and a Candy Witch! This is gonna be so much fun!

I'm still working on the dragons, but I'm taking less time on them than I am on the witches. I plan to have an inked, colored, and completely finished picture of the Watermelon Dragon by 2021 lol.

I think that'll about do it for me, today. I've been up since 8, didn't go to sleep until about 4, and I could really use a nap lol.

If you're doing this (or any other!) challenge, feel free to send me a link on Twitter or in the comments - I love seeing people's art!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Saturday Casual Gaming 248: Nonogram Wish Stone

In Which I Play A Story-Heavy Puzzle Game!

The mobile game Wish Stone Nonogram from GameFox is a free-to-play puzzle game where you fill in images based on a set of numbers along a grid. I've covered a Nonogram style game before in Nonograms Katana, but this game is quite different in that it has two modes: Story and Free Play. I have only played the Story Mode, so far, but I understand that the Free Play mode gets quite massive...

Yes, that's a city on the back of a flying whale.
Yes, that's important.

Throughout the Story Mode, there are four major parts, each represented by a different character: A King, A Princess, An Adventurer, and what looks to be An Archaeologist. Each character advances the story along via several 5x5 boards of puzzles (25 puzzles per chapter). I believe there are nine or ten chapters per size of each game (10x10, 15x15, 20x20), and each is incredibly detailed. You're literally building the chapter's image with each puzzle solved!

It would seem that this version of the game had not yet introduced the Archaeologist character I have on mine!
You make the image on the right out of different puzzles you solve. This is the King's first chapter rendered in 10x10 tiles!

The story so far has been a tragedy. I'm nearly at the end of the Princess's part of the story and things have gone horribly wrong. It's a standard Monkey's Paw-style plot, but with a great deal of pathos and madness and love and loss and it's really quite engrossing! Who knew the reader would love a game where you get to read a short story after playing a bunch of fun levels?

Speaking of the levels...

So you start the game with 10 hints. I've only used one and that was absolutely by mistake. You have 10 errors you can make per level, after which you start the level over. Errors are marked with a red X, and you can fill in empty spaces with gray X marks. Interestingly enough, you can place X's in error with impunity. Gray X's also appear, filling in gaps, when you place all of the tiles correctly in a row or column. As you can see from the example above (somewhat), the game is pretty simple. Where you see a black number, that's how many filled-in tiles there are in a row or column. Multiple numbers mean that there are spaces between runs of filled-in tiles. In a 10x10 puzzle, you'll usually be thrilled to see 10s or 9s because they're usually pretty easy to fill in. Especially 10s, which you literally just fill all the way in.

You solve your puzzles and eventually get your next chapter or character, learning more of the story as you go, and it's lovely.

The art is beautiful, the fantasy music that plays in the background is pleasant, and there is something addictive about playing these games! I have enjoyed every GameFox game I've downloaded, and while sometimes the ads, which appear between puzzles, can be annoying, I'm just glad that they get paid for their free game. So much effort goes into these interesting games that it would be awful if they didn't get paid.

Wish Stone is definitely a game I strongly recommend you download and play, if you have some time to sink into a story-driven puzzle game, like fantasy, and your fingers aren't too large. If you have sausage fingers, however, you're going to want to invest in a fine-tipped stylus or something, because 25x25 and 30x30 puzzles are brutal on the ol' fingertips...

Go Enjoy Something!
FC