Shortest Haircut of My Life!

Guess what?! Today I got my hair cut, which doesn't sound too exciting in and of itself, but there's something different about this haircut...

Shortest one yet! I was so excited to try something this daring, and I'm really glad I went through with it.

I took a total of 14 inches off! I was able to donate my hair - something I've never done before.
Here's some before and after pics!

 

 What do you think?

My Drawing Process

I just wanted to show anyone interested my drawing process. I chose to start off by drawing me...

Here is the initial sketch. I start out with a circle to give the head it's round shape and another circle on a horizontal plane to indicate where the eyes will be. The middle line (or mid-line) divides the face in half and will help center the nose and mouth. The mid-line is curved because the face will be in 3/4 view instead of straight on.

Next I place space holders for the eyes, draw in the nose, mouth, hair, and overall face shape. It looks a little creepy at this point but it will get there :)

I then add in the eyes, define the eyebrows, and make any necessary adjustments to the face shape and facial features. This step is where I make sure I like the placement of everything in respect to the other elements of the face. It's important to make sure they are spaced properly and are proportionally accurate. When I'm satisfied I erase the initial guidelines...

I have a lot of smudges and dark lines from my sketch, so I prefer to ink the final drawing onto a new, clean piece of paper. I do this by putting the new paper over my sketch paper and illuminating them from the back with a light box. It's like tracing, only I'm now using permanent inking pens. (I also add in my eyelashes in this step - haha)

This is the final and most fun step! Color! Yay! To color this I used Copic markers. Copic is a special type of blendable artist marker from Japan. For the skin alone I have used at least 10 layers of color, especially in the cheekbone area. The white highlights on the eyes, nose, lips, etc. were created using a opaque white marker and a white gel pen. I wish you could see the original, because it looks a lot better than this. Scanners kill color...

Extra step:

After scanning the picture into my computer, I digitally added a background in Photoshop.

I sometimes like to leave a white border line to make the traditional art pop.

And that's it! I do create with other mediums too - like acrylic paints, watercolors, pens, pastels, and prisma colored pencils. As of right now, Copic markers are my favorite though! :) As you can see I still have a lot to learn, but that's the fun of art! I'm not nearly as good as some other Copic artists I've seen, but I'm getting better and better with time and practice.

Pipit

Yep, so I've found a Legend of Zelda character that I'm almost more obsessed with than Link. Shocking, I know. It's not really about this guy's looks, he's just awesome. I did this entirely in Copic Marker, except for the background, which was done in photoshop. But yeah...

Daily Sketchies!

Yep! That's right. I'm going to take the daily sketch challenge. I'll sketch myself in caricature style (or various styles) everyday to see if I improve over time. They only take about 5 mins each anyway. I might not upload them everyday though. I'll probably just upload them in mass like at the end of the week or so.

Here's my very first one to start with:

Now I know what you're thinking. Doesn't look like me right? Yeah but that's why I'm taking up this challenge! Hopefully my sketches will look more like me as I go along... I think in this sketch my eyes are too far up my face, but that's a pretty accurate portrayal of what my hair looked like today: wild and untamed! haha

Free Scrapbooking Software

Clarktrekkie is hosting a giveaway for scrapbooking software! You can read all about it here:
http://bomabutt.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-memories-digital-scrapbooking.html

Comment on her post and follow her blog for a chance to win this software! You have to do this by November 12th 11:59 p.m.

If I have a chance to win a giveaway, I figure why not? I'm participating!

The software company is called My Memories

You can follow My Memories at these sites
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook-http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite 

Amazing Pumpkin Carvings

I mean look at these things! I am quite impressed. I really want to hire this guy :)
If I were him I'd be scared to put them on my porch though, because you know some stupid kid would come along and smash them...

This last one is my favorite. The zipper is just amazing!

Click here to see the rest of these amazing pumpkins!


Here's some more simplistic ones that you might recognize ;)

(I thought you might like the shark one clarktrekkie :)

You can see the rest of these pumpkins here

Are you going to do any pumpkin carving this year? I feel inspired to now after seeing these pics. :) Happy Halloween!

Orchestra Sonnet

Orchestral Greatness

By Erika Walters- May 12^th, 2006

Dedicated to Mrs. Dempsey and my past Orchestra friends

As we start to get ready to perform,

I feel tingling sensations down my spine.

Black and white concert dress: my uniform.

If Orchestra pulls this off we’ll be fine.

It seems the spotlight is only on me,

And when we play I am much too worried.

Always too hard on myself; I will see,

Together we’re calm, not rushed, not hurried.

But we are nervous awaiting our score.

We scream for joy at news of a one plus!

Glee of victory will last evermore,

And no sorrows of the day can move us.

          Oh, see what great joys achieved goals can bring.

          Music is a very powerful thing.