Artwork (5/29/08 to 5/19/09)
If you have any questions, comments, etc about my artwork feel free to email me here. The pictures are from newest to oldest, respectively.
Paint Unicorn Portrait
Just playing with different colors and brushes in the watercolor...I tried to make the horn swirled cream and black but I don't know that it came across very well.
Paint Unicorn
First attempt with watercolor--I drew the unicorn during art, and then made a copy of the inked picture in order to paint. I have found that I absolutely LOVE watercolors...
Charging Andalusian
This is taken from the cover of a magazine called 'Back in the Saddle'; they sell horse-themed gifts and whatnot. I rather liked it, hence this drawing. The mane up top looks a little funny because his neck is arched and the hair is flying all over the place.
Victor Joseph Mignogna
Right. So this picture gave me fits more than once--mostly because I lost the reference picture after drawing the hair, eyes, and face shape so the nose and lips were ad-libbed. Although losing the picture probably helped because I was on the verge of pulling my hair out because he didn't look very much like the picture. *rolls eyes*
Anthropomorphic Feuilly
Ah, Feuilly the fanmaker. I had the hardest time figuring out where the stupid fan should go (initially it was going to be in his mouth, but that looked stupid so I moved it to on a string around his neck, but then it didn't look like a fan), but I FINALLY gave it a place that didn't look silly. I mean, any sillier than a horse having a fan in the first place, but I digress.
Anthropomorphic Grantaire
Another fun one to draw--since Grantaire is a drunken sot 95% of the time I couldn't resist having him seated again. The bottles...have no shadow. I just noticed that now. *headdesk* Ignore that, please. What I was GOING to say is that the bottles are supposed to have absinthe in them, hence the greenish tint of the liquor from the broken bottle.
Anthropomorphic Gavroche
Gavroche was SO much fun to draw. I don't draw paint horses very often, but I thought that it would reflect his personality quite well without my being too upfront about it. The gun is Javert's after the Amis captured him at the barricade, poor old fellow. In the book Gavroche grabs the gun and doesn't realize that it's not loaded. He doesn't get killed (Marius saves him with some pistols that he got from Javert earlier in the book), but he comes quite close to being killed.
Anthropomorphic Combeferre
Pretty self-explanatory, I think. Since Combeferre is Enjolras' 'lieutenant' of sorts I wanted there to be a huge contrast between the red and gold flashiness of Enjy and 'Ferre's more laid-back, muted colors. He's also the first horse I've drawn with glasses.
Anthropomorphic Adult Cosette
Do you realize how difficult it is to make a horse look sophisticated and elegant when they have a dress on?? *shakes head* Ugh. But I digress. By the way, I have NO idea why I grabbed that color for the dress. I think it was the first pencil I picked up.
Anthropomorphic Book!Eponine
So basically, I've always envisioned Eponine as being thin and waif-like, with spunk but without all the 'girl-power' commonly seen in the musical. She's MISERABLE!!! *pauses for laughter* Er, anyway...considering how bony she is I'm happy with how she came out (I used a picture of an emaciated horse for skeletal reference).
Anthropomorphic Little!Cosette
Ah, she was fun to draw. Considering I don't draw foals very often Ithink she came out quite well. Her coat is based off of a picture of Shiska when she was a day old, hence the lightening down the legs and around the muzzle. Do you realize how hard a chestnut coat is to draw?? It has brown, gold, orange, red, and cream in it all at once! It was a bit of a challenge, but I enjoyed it. :D
Anthropomorphic Enjolras
Wow. Another Anthro-Mizzie that I really loved how he came out! *spazzes* Initially I was afraid that he would look terribly silly with that vest on, but the contrast of the red vest and gold coat is absolutely stunning to my eyes. His hind legs gave me fits, but overall I really like how this worked out.
Anthropomorphic Javert
Or Anthro-Javvie, for short. But I'll bet you knew that. :D I am really, really loving getting the colored pencils out again--I've forgotten what a dimension of depth and color they add to drawings.
At first he was supposed to be black, but when working with something so monochromatic it's often difficult to keep interested. So I decided to make him an iron-grey with slight dapples on the flanks instead, and I'm really, REALLY happy with how this came out. So happy that I think I'll keep him this color whenever drawing anthro-style. He was going to have a long greatcoat, but it would have covered up his grey coat of awesomesauce, so he just has a nightstick baton thing in a holster around his neck.
You know, I am really liking this anthro-series. Maybe I'll continue with more 'muses' in horse style...*ponders*
Anthropomorphic Erik
Or Anthro-Erik, for short. This was drawn while I was sick (I was very bored). Basically it's just pen and ink with colored pencil; no reference.
Charcoal Horse
I drew this on 1/28/09 for my weekly art class--it took me about 45 minutes tops. I had no reference as far as the pose and such, and it's been a year since I've used charcoal. Regardless, I am very proud of this particular drawing...now I just need to draw a background. *sweatdrop*
God in Heaven...
...I RESIGN.
So this is inspired by a shot in Les Miserables: The Game of the Book. You have to tell Javert to jump--it's so sad!!! *sobs*
Someone said the "S" word...
The 'S' word being 'short', of course. Edward Elric (in the red coat) hates being called short, and Dark Mousy (with the wings) loves to tease people. So...this happened. I drew this on 1/19/09 as a gift for the voice actor Vic Mignogna, who 'played' these two characters. It was a nice opportunity to use my Prismacolor pencils as well (my black pencil is nearly nonexistent at this point...) These characters are from anime, but I prefered to draw them in my own style because I can't draw anime very well.
La Javette
I know, I know, shoot me now...*cringes* If it makes Javert fans feel better my mom coined the term, not me.
So anyway. This is, obviously, a picture of me 'cosplaying' as Javert. This is the second picture I've ever finished that I used circles for starting the basic shape and working off of it from there. I really, really like this technique...when I was much younger and learning to draw the 'circle' technique was used the most in all my art books, and I never really knew why at that point (keep in mind I was maybe 8 when I came across the technique). But now, nine years later, I finally get it. Call me slow, but I find it to be one of the greatest 'discoveries' of my art career. XD
A note on the expression: I was feeling slightly depressed/nostalgic when I drew it last night, and I think that emotion bled over into the drawing. Looking back it's very interesting how that works...
Icyeyes and Goldencream
These are two of my main characters from my NaNoWriMo--they're kind of implied to have a romantic interest, but I stink at writing romance so I left it at that. Icyeyes' hair is actually a little taller than I first intended--I sketched out his portrait and in it his hair lay down a bit more than depicted here. But oh well...
Shrimp Boat Graveyard
My uncle, who is working on the ocean south of Louisiana, took a picture of some old shrimp boats just before a hurricane hit. Anyway, this is my rendition of the photograph, painted in oils. I had to take a photograph because the picture is still a little tacky and it's too big to scan...but it looks better from a distance than close up. :p
Paul Newman
My own little tribute to a fantastic actor. In hindsight, this would look excellent in Prismacolor...the eyes just don't look quite the same in greyscale...ah well. Anyway, click on the picture to see it full size.
The Snuff Comic
Inspired by a random idea involving Inspector Javert and allergies. Click on the picture to make it bigger, and I apologize for my tiny/sloppy handwriting. I actually drew this a long time ago, but didn't get around to inking it until yesterday. *grins sheepishly*
Knighty and Bramble, dandies
Kind of a dandified jester thing going on...XD The second picture for Knighty, inspired slightly by some of http://ysa.deviantart.com/ dandy-artwork. So...yeah.
Happy birthday, Knighty and Bramble
The first drawing for HistoryKnight--basically a silly party atmosphere thrown by moi and the Amis. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KNIGHTY!!! *throws confetti*
Dragonflower
Watercolor of something out of my head. There was going to be an elf in there too but it threw off the composition. I rather like how this came out...I think I like watercolors after all.
Jack
Acrylic painting of my now-deceased dog Jack. He was a great dog. Anyway, I hope to give this to my dad for his birthday this month (9/19/08).
Javert: Off-Duty
Inspired by an incredibly fanfic writer. Go and check her out here--I command you! The background is awful, but I despise doing backgrounds anyway. They're so boring. Give me people and animals to draw any day. Anyway, the pose is drawn without a reference--I'm getting better at that sort of thing, methinks.
Oh! New feature! Click on the picture to make it larger--this way you don't have to squint at the teensy weensy little pictures I put up here.
Fagin the Jew
I watched 'Oliver!' a couple of weeks ago and had the urge to draw Fagin. He's a very fun character in the musical, much more so than Oliver. The clothes were drawn from memory--I watched him very closely during the course of the movie, but even so it's pretty fortunate that I got them even half-way right. Drawn with a mechanical pencil.
Friesian Horse
This was drawn a couple of weeks ago when Mom and I were driving Isaac down to the St. Louis Airport. Since I had three hours one way with very little to do, I turned to drawing. The road was relatively smooth, to my relief. No reference was used for this, but I'll bet you could already tell, huh? XD All I used was a mechanical pencil and my finger for blending.
Colletta Show Day
This is my second acrylic painting, woo woo. This is Colletta from a couple of years ago in the 2006 4-H horse show. Her mane was in this diamond lattice-work thing that a friend of mine did...anyway, she looked very nice and performed excellently that day. I don't know if this is quite finished, but I'm very tired of working on it and am going to let it sit for a while. If this looks familiar, I have a picture farther down that is the same one but using colored pencils instead.
Winged Mice
Talk about a fun idea...okay, so this afternoon (7/7/08) I took a nap for a couple of hours because it was really hot, and for some odd reason I tend to have very vivid dreams when I'm really hot or feverish. This time, it starred winged mice. Everyone thinks I mean bats, but what I envisioned was a deer mouse with sparrow-like wings, a long fringed fur/feathered tail, and a rudder thing on the end of the tail. See, I like to draw fantasy, but when you say 'fantasy' people envision dragons or faries. I prefer to draw and write about relatively obscure fantasy, like centaurs (they are way under-appreciated and stereotyped as uncouthe), or make up my own. These are under the made-up category, I guess. I'm still trying to figure out where the idea came from...
Shetland Knitter
This is drawn from a picture in Mom's book about knitting socks. See, it actually tells how to knit socks, but it also has a section in the beginning with the history of socks and there's all sorts of old pictures of people knitting. This is a lady from Shetland Island with a load of peat on her back and a pair of knitting needles in her hands. It's a very neat book; if anyone's interested it's called 'Folk Socks' and the author is Nancy Bush.
Javert au large de la Voie
Yeah, another Javert-as-a-centaur pic. So what?? He's fun to draw as a centaur! The title means (I think) 'Javert off the Track' in French. But I used a cheap translator online so who knows? His tail is braided because I think it looks spiffy.
I've noticed something interesting over the months of me drawing Javert. When I first started, he had a little queue about 6 inches long in the back, but in the last month or so it's grown another 6 inches. I think the long hair is just more aesthetically pleasing.
Javert and Fantine
Yay, more Mizzie pics! Okay, so basically this is a scene from Les Mis where Javert arrests Fantine for attacking a man (he shoved snow down her back) and Fantine is begging to be set free. The reason why his hand is on her throat is because her throat is fevered from being sick and she's trying to get his pity. I'd write down the quote but I'm feeling rather lazy...
Reepicheep
Yay, it's Reep! Well, after we went to see Prince Caspian in theaters I had an urge to draw Reep as I imagined him, which is really kind of a golden deer-mouse. I used a picture from our 'Wild Animals of North America' for color reference, but the pose and everything is mine. This is just a colored pencil job, nothing special.
Two Horses
This is my first painting using acrylics; the picture is actually not original, I found it on Fotosearch.com, which is a fantastic site for finding pictures of any kind. So, to make sure I won't get sued...there ya go. I was rather proud of how this turned out, but I think I still prefer my favored medium of graphite pencils.
Colletta on Show Day
This picture actually is mine, thank you very much. This is my mare, Colletta, on show day in 2006. Her mane was done up in a 'diamond braid'...that mane grated on my nerves quite a bit before I finally finished it. This is done with Prismacolor pencils and a few hours' hard work--oh, and the paper stump dubbed 'Smudgie'. That little guy has saved my pencil drawings so much it's not even funny.
Welsh Cob Pony
Another that is not mine, I have an encyclopedia on horse breeds that I referenced it from. This was actually one of my first 'serious' Prismacolor drawings, and was quite fun. I know the background is kind of shoddy, but I rather rushed it and didn't focus on it as much as I did the actual horse.
Holsteiner
This is from the cover of an issue of Horse Illustrated, and is done in regular mechanical pencil. I didn't use Smudgie too much for this, I actually used my finger a lot more on the large sections to prevent the imminent streaking that would have occured if I used smudgie.
Han Solo
Guess what, I do portraits too! What a surprise...eh heh. This is my personal favorite thus far, and (obviously) is a drawing of Han Solo. I got the picture from the cover of my brothers' copy of Star Wars Weapons and Technology. I don't do too many 'original' portraits, mostly because I still have some trouble with drawing people without stretching them WAY out of proportion. Some of my later pictures will allude to that.
This is, again, just a mechanical pencil and smudgie.
Philip Quast
This was the first time I drew Philip Quast, and the difference between this and the following picture is really quite astounding in my opinion. It used to be my favorite picture of PQ until I drew the second one...big surprise, eh? I used a mechanical pencil and smudgie for this.
Philip Quast 2
If you all are wondering who in the world is Philip Quast, you have led a deprived life. Philip Quast is an Australian actor who played Javert in the musical Les Miserables, which is how I found out about the man. His voice may not be as 'trained' as some other actors/singers (another Australian stage actor would be Anthony Warlow, whose voice is super-trained) but it is a gorgeous voice by itself. Anyway, this is probably my favorite drawing thus far of this guy.
The medium is (surprise!) mechanical pencil, smudgie, and my finger.
Erik
He's there, the Phantom of the Opera'! Okeydokey, so this was one of my first full-body-drawings. He's a mite tall, but at the time I was being very deliberate at making him long and lean. Still using my beloved mechanical pencil...
Javert
This was one of the first pictures I ever drew of Javert. It's not exactly one of my favorites (mostly because of that silly hat--top hats are my bane) but I do like how the sideburns turned out. This was drawing with a mechanical pencil, my finger, and smudgie.
Javert's Suicide
Waah, this scene is soo sad! *blows nose* *sniff* Anyway. If you think the title is iffy, think about the context. This is based off of a picture of Philip Quast in the role of Javert, right before Javert takes a flying leap into the Seine. Basically all his principles had come crashing down around his head--listen, just listen to the musical or, better yet, read the book to get a full understanding of the circumstances involved.
The Test of Sister Simplice
A scene from the book Les Miserables. I really should have done this in pencil for sharper detail...*bangs head against desk* Maybe I'll redo it someday. But for now it's just here...
Javert Centaur
Okay, now it's time for the more silly ones. Basically I was on a centaur kick for a while, and started drawing Les Mis characters as centaurs. For Javert I had a cool idea for the black, stocky, Friesian-like horse body. I still think it's a cool idea...
This picture is totally mine, nothing was used for reference. The materials used were a pen, Prismacolor pencils, and smudgie.
Silvermane
This is an original character from a story I started years ago and never finished. She's a bay centaur with a bit of a fighting spirit, but mostly prefers peace and quiet. The horse half is based off of a picture from Horse Illustrated, the human half is based off of a top from a Gypsy-clothing-website.
Mediums are pen, Prismacolor, smudgie.
Whitelegs
Another original centaur character from that unfinished story. I always had a thing for bay paints...anyway. The horse half is based off of a picture in Horse Illustrated (I love that magazine!), the horse half is based off of a body-building website. So I didn't know how to draw muscles, sue me!!
Les Amis: Enjolras
Gah...I'm almost embarrassed of this now. Ahem, okay. So I decided that, to improve my people-drawing-abilities, I was going to draw the Les Amis de l'ABC (pronounced like 'abased') the way I envisioned them. Well, let's just say that I envisioned them as very lean, long, lanky college boys.
Enjolras, in the book Les Mis, is described as 'angelically beautiful'. Yes, he is a guy. He's just a very pretty guy. And he doesn't care for that title. He's very uptight (described by the other members of the ABC as a 'chaste golden statue' and 'Apollo') and revolutionary-minded. That wording to his right is actually Enjolras' description in the book, but abridged. The Hugomaster goes on for about four pages in my copy about this guy...talk about favoritism. Anyway, this was just a mechanical pencil again.
Les Amis: Combeferre
Combeferre is the unofficial second-in-command of the ABC; his personal quote is 'Revolution, but civilization', meaning that in the midst of a revolution people must not forget the necessity of peace and harmony, respectively. Combeferre is really very well-known amongst Mizzies for the crackdown on Marius. In the book Marius is a Bonapartist, and at one of the meetings he expounds for nearly two pages about the virtues of Bonaparte. After his rant he says, in regards to the virtues of Bonaparte "What could be greater?" Combeferre instantly says, "To be free." *shrug* It's just a great part.
Again, this was drawn using a mechanical pencil...I'm so predictible.
Les Amis: Joly
Ah, Joly. This was perhaps one of my favorite of the Amis boys to draw. Joly is a finicky hypochondriac, and although the book doesn't expound on him a whole lot he remains one of my favorite characters.
Medium is--wait for it--pencil! Yay!
Les Amis: Jehan
Yeah, I know it says 'Jean Prouvaire', but his nickname's Jehan. He's a hopeless romantic, and a poet.
This is probably getting redundant...I used a mechanical pencil for this.
Les Amis: Feuilly
Okay...this was probably one of my least favorite, personally, mostly because I liked how everything looks by itself but put together he looks kinda weird. Feuilly is a fan-maker, and his most noteworthy trait according to l'Hugomaster is that he earns three francs a day (20 sous, or cents, equals a franc). Not much is said about this fellow, unfortunately, because he's one of my favorite characters, after Joly, Jean Prouvaire, and Courfeyrac.
Les Amis: Bahorel
Ah, Bahorel. A fun character--he's the sort of person that LOVES a good knock-down drag-out fight. In addition to his temper, he is a loafer, hence the quote. I tested out facial hair on him because none of the guys I've drawn before him have had more than small sideburns. I rather like the look, it just suits him.
Les Amis: Grantaire
Oh, you silly sot. Grantaire is the one member of the Amis who doesn't passionately believe in something. He's basically a drunkard that tags along because he finds the other members amusing; he's also the cynic in the group. He actually has an ideal of sorts: he hero-worships Enjolras, who despises him. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation for the fellow.
This was one of my favorites to draw; I got my younger brother to pose for me. Let's just say there were some strange looks from my parents that evening...
Les Amis: Courfeyrac
Courfeyrac (or Courfey, as I affectionately refer to him) is probably the most flamboyent member of the ABC. He's rather a lady's man, and the font I used for this describes his personality very well.
Les Amis: Laigle
Laigle is unlucky. To get an idea of HOW unlucky, he's bald in his mid-twenties and loses lots of monetary investments over faulty speculation. But he's cheerfully unlucky. In other words, I guess he's a pretty cool character. He's Joly's roommate whenever he's thrown out of his normal lodgings.