Eye Candy

Was in Orange County this weekend and went to a pet store. Saw these hybrid mixes, 2 kittens (adorable!) that were descendants of the Highland Desert Lynx and one kitten who was a Bengal, with Jungle Fishing Cat Dna. The shop proprietor said it took about 10 generations to achieve these animals and the first 2 went for (get this!) $899 a piece! Not shown are the spots, one looked like a Snow Leopard with a half tail (pictured), her sibling, a spotted lion cub. The ear curls were a genetic result of another species of house cat. I was transfixed. I would never be able to get this close to a wild species so these had to do...The Bengals love water and will go after anything in a fishtank and both breeds of cats are very friendly, can be trained like a dog, and must be supervised because they will gleefully shred apart your house. They grow slightly larger than a cat, and have slightly longer back legs than your average house cat. All were highly active, galloping around the enclosure sounding like miniature ponies.

I did this one in 2010. I made this picture up in my head. Comments are welcome.
-Sienna

Clean line, fixed forward foot, shortened glove, redrew eyes. May redraw eyes again...

First "clean ruff". Need to tie down some slight proportion issues, but this she is well on her way. Will get back to LePardine sometime this weekend, I hope.

HOME ALONE FOR THE HOLIDAYS and lovin' it

I've always wanted to do a anime based illustration. Here is a rough done by ball point pen. Solitude...I am so much more productive when I be alone..I wait all year for this time...

Check it out! New Blogger!

I met Michael LaRue thru my husband at Starbucks Coffee. I told him about the importance of blogging~and I must have been pretty persuasive because he listened to me! Not only that, but he brings a sketchbook with him everywhere he goes! Which leads me to my next rant: ALWAYS CARRY A SKETCHBOOK WITH YOU! I usually have 2 sometimes 3. I will carry one for just sketching with a pen and sometimes a small sketch tablet which can handle both pencil and watercolor. And yes, I do carry a small watercolor kit with me. DRAW EVERYDAY; anything that interests you. Michael is taking this to heart, which means he will improve tremendously for as long as he carries and uses that sketchbook. You go, Michael!

Feed the Blog:
Been ultra busy with paid projects..trying to squeeze in some personal drawing time. For all you artists and budding artists out there, start a blog! I can't tell you how important this is to be out there on the internet! Most people don't want the obligation, and yes, you do have to feed your blog monthly! BUT you will improve and that will generate more jobs! Okay, enough with the lecture!

Onto notes for LePardine: the big cats, Sulee and Luna are so proportionately overwhelming, that I faced them away from the viewer, eyes closed or half closed so that you can focus on the main character, LePardine. We see only her direct look. When I sketched the layout, the cats were so overwhelming, it was important that the story was not about them...and I can see this becoming a challenge as I get more into the art. I've done enough character art to know which character will be the "star" and how to emphasize that on the pose, or gesture. My natural style of drawing is realistic and when I started in the animation industry, it was like learning to draw all over again. I learned the anatomy and the technical stuff first before the emoting thru the drawing so it threw me. But LePardine will be a mix of an animation style, traces of animae, esp. in the eyes and part realistic rendering. She was designed for painting and a quick brush style, traditional or digital. And she is fun, fun, fun to draw!

Rough drawing of composition. Next will be the clean line drawing, then onto the paint! Been trying to post this but my internet access was down the last 24 hours. Arghh! Technology!

Working On the color...will get the drawing squared away before the final paint...

...Which was inspired by this ruff sketch with pen

Working on this right now. It's for a contest called "Flight" and its due today at 5! I've decided to work a little bit different this time; with pen and ink for the concept sketch, and drawing/painting right on the wacom. Usually I just do the paint on the wacom but I will use the pen tool for most of the shapes, this time it's more freehand. Not a great piece of artwork; just more practice on technique.

Some character exploration for Sulee and Luna. Playing with expressions and face shapes. Trying to get as much done as I can before the Holidays get here.

In the Ruff:

One of the first definitive drawings of LePardine. I still need to put the second Snow Cat on the left. She will be reminiscent of an Anime style. Then I need to zero in on the type of light I want. I may go for a semi shadow with a strong back rim light...maybe. People are so impressed that I am so self motivated as busy as I am. But I ask them, how can you not? It's so much freakin' fun to draw, to create, to dream. Friends have been suggesting changing "LeoPardine" to "LePardine." What do you think? Remember this will eventually become a graphic novel for girls. Right now I am working on a Halloween costume for my daughter and I for a party this weekend...

Pet

Finished. On to the next projects!

Pet

I'm doing this for a friend who says that her friend's dog died. She was poisoned by someone. Her friend was going to go to an animal portrait artist who charged a lot of money, but I said let me do it. Pro Bono. It has been such a wet day that the paints (acrlylic) took their time in drying so I ended up painting wet on wet, which is something I don't normally do. I suppose that's how it feels to paint with oils and the underpainting looked like a wet oil.

I used to paint a lot of animals in miniature back in the day and then, it was the most striking work I did. (This is not a miniature.) Since then, I got married, had a child, and the ol eyesight is not what it used to be. Back then I really had no real responsibilities and was not interrupted every five minutes and I think I had had more sleep and a steadier hand. But at this age, I must admit, I make better decisions when creating and am more calm and relaxed and deliberate. Age does has its advantages. I will post this again when I am finished.

Painting in Process:

Much better on this one. More to go, loving those purples and oranges again...

Roccoco object from the Getty.

More images from the Getty; same picture.