Happy Christmas and a merry new year.

Hey, everyone.

Before we go anywhere, I just want to say--yes, I failed my own drawing challenge. No, I don't actually feel a lot of shame about that.

I'm weird like that. I'll get all anxious about doing the thing in the midst of it, and then when it's done I'm just so relieved that I don't even need to think about doing it that I feel no shame for failing.

My character Pitch and my friend's character Amelia. We totally ship them.

 I could say this was my day 27 challenge (draw a couple), except I drew it on Christmas day. Eh heh heh oops.

BUT SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS. I got a laptop.

A LAPTOP.

You probably are all going, "Er, Dee, you have a laptop. Remember? Because it wasn't working, and then it was..."

Actually, that was my mum's. But I used it so much that I considered it mine. XD BUT NOW I HAVE MY OWN AND IT'S MINE MY PRECIOUS BABY.

And SketchBook works on it. IT WORKS. I haven't ever been able to use SketchBook with my pen tablet, and NOW I CAN.

I'm just so excited guys.

Remember her? Decided to color it.

 Don't really like how it turned out, but eh. She's still cute.

Okay. Okay okay okay guys isn't he adorable?

So this is the result of the first picture I posted. We planned out Pitch and Amelia's life, like, completely. They have two kids, a daughter named Artemis, and their son is named Sage. I do have a picture of Artie, but it's not saved on my laptop. I'll get it up eventually.

But Sage is so cute guys. Even though he looks like he goes to Hogwarts and I messed up his scarf in that picture. (It should be striped.)

Don't like how she turned out at all, except for her hair.

I really, really like how her hair turned out. The rest is ehh. So just zoom up on her head and check out her hair. Okay.

I'm just now realizing how much I use the word "eh." *adds that to my list of overused words*

I JUST WANT TO DRAW SOMETHING.

So lately I've been kind of depressed about my art skills.

Which is weird, because recently I've been realizing how far I've come, drawing-wise. I think I'm also realizing how far I have to go, as well.

I have several friends who are artists as well, and I have a tendency to hoard their artwork. Literally. I have folders on my iPod and save far too many of their drawings in them. (If you draw and are reading this, chances are, I have a folder for you as well.)

AND IT'S DEPRESSING CAUSE YOU GUYS ARE JUST SO STINKING GOOD.

*flops*

But seriously. My digital art programs are driving me insane today. I just want to draw something, but they keep acting up. Manga Studio 5--which I just recently started using--keeps crashing and deleting my drawings. SketchBook will not load, no matter how much I coax it. And I am so fed up with ArtRage's brushes it's not even funny.

(I'll spare you the PhotoShop rant.)

I mean, I could just go grab my sketchbook and my new case of pencils Mum got me as an early Christmas gift. BUT I WANT TO DRAW SOMETHING DIGITAL. Why can't the programs just work the way they're supposed to???

Okay, this is becoming a major rant, so I'll just stop and show you some of my (traditional) artwork of late.

(Guess what? They're all Lissie.)

Day... whatever it was challenge. It's an animal, okay?

So I decided against drawing one of my siblings* and drew feline Lissie instead. Because she's totally kitten-like.

And also still obsessed with coffee.

Lissie, on her way home from the library.

 This... isn't actually a drawing challenge result. I just doodled it one day, kind of randomly. I like how it turned out, though.

(I was going to color it digitally this morning, but obviously, that didn't happen.)

Chibi Lissie.

She's just too adorable, guys.

I actually did color this one with my one drawing program. Except that drawing program happened to be Manga Studio, which decided that colored chibi pictures make great drawing program food.

Seriously, what is it with my various electronic devices and programs and eating my stuff? My iPod ate several of my contacts the other day. (As in, people contacts. Not contact lenses. I don't think it could pull off eating contact lenses, even if it tried really hard.) It's been randomly doing that all year, and it's starting to annoy me.

Also, merry Christmas guys. I know I've been ranting and grumping around all post, but I'm actually kind of happy today. It's this weird sort of complainingly happy Christmas joy. (If that made sense, you've officially graduated the class on Understanding Dee. With honors.) You guys should know by now that if I complain about something, it's probably because I'm a) happy b) giving someone a hard time or c) actually kind of annoyed so would SketchBook please just start working again.

Today is pretty much a combination of all three options.

And my feet hurt.

*To any random sibling of mine who decided to read my blog: I hope you don't think I was talking about you. There are other nasty Brannigans, you know.

Liesel Meminger is also a time thief.

*comes up gasping for air*

And you all thought I was going to post every day during December.

Okay, so I have actually been (mostly) keeping up with the drawing challenge. I've just gotten extremely lazy in scanning the resulting drawings. So I actually don't have any pictures to post right now. I will get to it.
Eventually.

I also read The Book Thief.

*gratefully accepts gifts of tissue boxes and hugs from fellow sufferers*

Seriously, though. If you haven't read it yet, GO DO IT NOW. It's really, really good.

BUT IT'S SO SAD I CANNOT EVEN.

The worst part about is that you know the whole way through how it's going to end. The narrator tells you time and time again. So you spend the book preparing yourself for the ending.

There is just no preparation, though.

I don't cry during books. Movies, oh yeah. I don't really know why, but movies will make me sob where books will have me completely dry-eyed. It's not that I don't feel emotion during books. It's just... a different sort of emotion. If that makes sense. It probably doesn't. But I tried.

All that to say, I bawled my heart out during that book.

My mom was talking to me about something while I was in the midst of the ending, which was simultaneously really nice and really awful. Like, "Mom, I'm in the middle of a ridiculously emotional book ending at the moment. Can we have this conversation in a few minutes?" and "Yes, keep distracting me. I don't want to cry."

I cried anyway, of course.



In other news, our family is pretty much in charge of the entire Christmas pageant at our church this year. We haven't had one in years, so this year my mom, myself, and my next-in-line sister decided that it wouldn't be too hard at all to put one together. I mean, it's just a bunch of kids in costumes singing a few Christmas carols. How hard can it be?

Ha.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Two weeks later, and I've barely sat down at all since then. MY FEET HURT SO BAD. I mean, I have bad feet to begin with. At the end of the day, they usually hurt like I've walked the great wall of China. So these last few weeks--and especially last few days--have been pure misery.

In between the last paragraph and this one, I stopped to try on the innkeeper's costume for my mom. I'm the closest in our family to the size of said innkeeper.

(Okay, random funny story. This actor is so obsessed with making money, it's absolutely hilarious. Over the summer, he kept digging up the hosta plants we have all over our property--literally, all over. I counted them last summer, and I gave up at 200--so that he could sell them at his "roadside stand." I don't think he even made anything, but it was so funny seeing him sweat digging them up all summer. Except for when he dragged me into helping him. Then it was less funny.

The real funny story I wanted to tell you, though, is that at our last rehearsal, he asked my mom, "So if Jesus was born at my inn, do you think I could charge more for the rooms? And how much do you think I could get for them sleeping out in the stable?"

We were all dying of laughter. It was the funniest thing ever.)

So yeah. I should probably sign off and go practice my piano. I get to play for the entire service on Sunday, yip-dee-dee. Plus a whole bunch on Christmas Eve.

(I know it sounds like I'm complaining, and I sort of am. But I'm not happy unless I'm complaining. I love playing piano.)

December Drawing Challenge, day 5: Ghost Town

Day Five Challenge: Draw a few backgrounds in one, two, and three point perspective.

Ghost town. Plus random person.

 Confession time: I didn't exactly do this challenge the way it was supposed to be done. Why? Because I absolutely loathe drawing in two and three point perspective.

IT JUST TAKES FOREVER.

Okay, okay. I know. The point of the challenge is to stretch me as an artist yada-yada-ya. Sometimes past me can be very annoying.

I will try to draw a few more backgrounds before the day's over. But I doubt that I'll post them, because the only two point perspective I've ever done failed miserably, and I'm not holding my breath for the three point.

Bookworm prince.

Isn't he cute?

So. That thing I was going to post about yesterday and then completely forgot.

I still haven't remembered it.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/34199278395539671/

The cat looks so grumpy. XD

Now, before you think, "Wow, Dee, you really do like that laptop of yours... Next day after it's working again and you're back to using paper..." FIRST OF ALL that second picture I posted is actually digital art. I just used the pencil setting on a white background and it looks like paper. SECONDLY I really just like using pencil and paper for rough sketches.

See, I think I can draw better with pencil and paper. But I like the finished look of digital art. Compromise: Sketch it on paper, scan it into art program, and color it on there.

Yay.

*end extremely random post by Dee*

MY LAPTOP HATH BEEN RETURNED TO ME.

Day Four Challenge: Draw a self-portrait in any style you like.

This is probably the roughest drawing I've ever called a completed picture. I didn't even erase the guidelines.

'Nuff said.

Okay, but seriously. It feels more like I've gone for an eternity without it, rather than just three days. I might be just a little too dependent on this thing...

I really like the color of her skirt. Isn't it pretty?

Colored Liesl. As my darling sister pointed out so lovingly, her hair looks blue. It was supposed to be black.

I had something I wanted to blog about, but I can't think of it now. I guess I'll try to remember and post it tomorrow.

December Drawing Challenge, day 3: Random girl and Bree

Day Three challenge: Use a reference picture. Post both your copy and the original!

Sadie-and-Nico friend actually sent me that second picture along with a few others to see which one I thought she should use for the challenge today. I, uh, kinda fell in love with that one and had to draw it myself.

This one I did in literally five minutes. It's extremely rough, but I still like how it turned out. Every time I see the reference picture, it makes me think of my one character Bree, so I decided to just draw her today.

December Drawing Challenge, day 2: Chibi Liesl

Day Two Challenge: Learn to draw chibi! If you already know how, try drawing them in a different style.

Rather different than my usual chibi style, don't you think? But I still like it, anyway.

And my laptop's still not working. *sigh* I've never realized how much I use the thing until now...

December Drawing Challenge, Day 1: Liesl

Day One challenge: Design a new original character!

Meet Liesl, everyone.

I don't know much about her, besides that she's seventeen, an orphan, and if she wasn't in a government-run boarding school, she'd be on the streets.

The setting is some sort of medieval-ish fantasy.

Also, my laptop's not working, so you guys will just have to put up with pencil sketches until it works again.

A few random character sketches.

Hey, y'all.

Lissie!

 So I decided to change Lissie's hair color a little. If you remember from previous colored Lissie drawings, it used to be an orange-ish color. Now it's a dark golden-brown.

(And see how skillfully I avoided drawing any hands in that picture? Takes talent, you know.)

Steampunk pirate.

 My mum and I were talking the other day about steampunk. I'm kind of obsessed with it, and my grandma got these AWESOME steampunk boots over Halloween, and she said that I can have them. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO GLAD THAT MY GRANDMOTHER AND I WEAR THE SAME SHOE SIZE.

Anyway. I don't remember how, but one of my little sisters brought pirates into the steampunk equation. So I was like, Steampunk pirates. In a steampunk airship. YES THIS MUST TOTALLY HAPPEN.

So I drew a steampunk pirate girl. XD Her name's Captain Collyn Wraith, if you're interested.

(and yes once I get those boots I'm so doing a Collyn cosplay. It'll be epic.)

I told you I'm obsessed with steampunk.

Meet Hawke.

He actually has a really random, kind of funny story. My one friend--Nico and Sadie cosplay friend--was texting me the other day. She's an artist too, and we'd been talking about how we both wanted to draw a character with a really random hair color. Like bright green.

We've also been developing a story of sorts to write together, just for fun. Her character is named Remai, and she's super pretty. I've been planning a drawing of her for a while, but still haven't gotten around to it. I have Brook (remember her? The very first picture two posts ago is her). It's got a futuristic/steampunk setting, so we decided to just draw a steampunk character with bright green hair and include him in our story.

I am so glad we decided to do that.

JUST LOOK AT HIM ISN'T HE SO CUTE???

Brook.

Still trying to decide if I like how this one turned out or not... It was fun playing with the inking pen setting on ArtRage, though. And Brook's just so much fun to draw.


And I really should just start calling this blog my online portfolio. Because all I ever do is post my drawings.

December Drawing Challenge

It really needs a snazzier name. But I'm having trouble coming up with one. My brain is fried.

As you all know, I’m a bit of a dreamer. I come up with grand ideas and fantastic daydreams, create a plan of action to put those ideas and dreams into reality, and, on the rare occasion, actually make it happen.

(You didn’t know that? Oh. Well, you do now.)

My idea this time around is a drawing challenge. Beginning December first, I’ll use a “drawing prompt” from the list below. There’s a prompt for each day in December, with each number corresponding with the day to do it on (ie, challenge 1 on December 1, etc). I’ll be posting all of the drawings on here after I draw them. (Note the wiggle room I get in saying “after I draw them.” I’ll try to post each one the day I finish it, but there are no promises.)

Where do you come in?

1. Join me! I’d love to have you drawing along beside me. The fantastic french fry Josie of Paperclips and Pencils has hopped on board as well, and we’d love some company. Whether you have a blog, Instagram, or just a Google+ profile, I’d love to check out your drawings.
2. Cheer me along. If this is anything like the challenges I’ve done before, I’m going to want to quit about a week into it. Don’t let me do that.
3. Spread the word! Know an artist who might be interested in this? Do me a favor and let them know. Post a link to this post on your blog, or better yet, grab the button below and stick it on your sidebar.
   
   

   

   Behold my amazing Photoshop skills.

   
   

Here are your prompts! I know they look exciting, but for now, just save them somewhere and hang on until December.

1. Design a new original character. Use a generator, or create one off the top of your head. Draw close-ups, full-body sketches, and anything else you want to cement your character.
2. Learn to draw a chibi! Or if you already know how, try a different style of drawing them.
3. Use a reference picture. Post your copy and a link to the original!
4. Selfie time! Draw yourself in any style you like.
5. Draw a few backgrounds using one, two, and three point perspective.
6. Draw an animal. The subject may be anything from a mythical creature to your pet cat.
7. Find an old drawing of yours and re-draw it. Post both pictures!
8. Use a drawing medium you haven’t used for a while/have never tried. Eg, digital art, markers, charcoal... Have fun with it! Also, find another artist who’s doing this challenge, and talk about doing an art swap for Day 12’s challenge.
9. Draw a friend. For an added bonus, have them guess who it is when you’re done.
10. Draw a background! Add some life if you’re feeling really gutsy.
11. What’s your favorite thing about Christmas? Draw it!
12. Art swap time! Find someone else who’s doing this drawing challenge, and exchange requests.
13. Draw your Day 1 character any way you like.
14. Chibi-fy yourself, a friend, and your Day 1 character. Go chibi crazy!
15. Draw an entire picture--scenery, characters, and all--entirely from your head. No references!
16. Draw a self-portrait in a style you don’t normally use. If you’re a manga artist, try your hand at realistic. Or vice versa.
17. You’ve been using your Day 1 character a lot this month. (And here’s a hint: You’re going to use them a lot more.) Design them a friend!
18. Design a character for each of the sixteen MBTI types. You only have to do eight today.
19. Find one of your really old drawings--it has to be at least a year old--and draw it again. Post ‘em both!
20. Draw your Day 1 character displaying several different emotions. Bonus points for “tricky” emotions, such as guilt, daydreaming, or loneliness. Find TWO artists to do a swap with for day 24’s challenge.
21. Draw your favorite fictional character. Use any style you want!
22. Design a character for the remaining eight MBTI types. (You started this challenge on day 18.)
23. Draw your favorite part of Christmas as a scene.
24. Find two other artists who are doing this challenge, and do an art swap with each of them!
25. Pick your favorite challenge so far, and do it again with an art medium you haven’t used in a while. And then do your least favorite challenge in the same way. You must do both!
26. Using your Day 1 character again, draw several different “body language” poses.
27. Draw a couple.
28. Color a drawing using only THREE colors. You may use darker and lighter variations of these colors for shading.
29. Design an antagonist for your Day 1 character--someone who will oppose them at each turn.
30. What’s your least favorite thing to draw? Doodle it a few times. Then look up some reference pictures and do an actual drawing of it.
31. Using your Day 1, Day 17, and/or Day 29 characters, draw a one-page comic (5-7 panels). Can’t fit it all in one page? Go ahead and make it longer!

Rules, questions, and a few random comments:

My rules tend to be more like guidelines, especially when it comes to challenges like this. By deciding to do this, you are challenging yourself. No one is going to force you to draw. But all the same, here are a few things you should at least try to do in order to get the most out of this challenge:

• Stick to the challenge! If you’re working on Day 28, don’t cheat and add purple to your palette of blue, green, and grey. The point of this challenge is to stretch you as an artist. Some days will be harder than others, but sticking through it and doing what they say anyway is what will help you grow.
• Don’t throw away your work! I’ve met several people who have tossed their artwork because it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, and I almost want to cry every time. Even if it’s no “masterpiece,” hang on to it. You’ll be able to look at it someday and see how much you’ve grown. (Or laugh. Looking at old drawings can be rather amusing for some of us.)
• Complete your challenge the day it’s assigned. That means no using drawings you finished last June. You must create a new piece of art for each challenge.
• Missed a day? Don’t sweat! On some days the challenges will be pretty easy. You can always work on any challenges you missed during those days.
• Already December, but you want to join the fun? Come on in! Better late than never. Just start on whatever challenge today is.
• No inspiration? Check out a few other Artist’s work, and see what they’ve done for the day you’re stuck on. Don’t copy their art, mind you, but see if you can get any ideas! (Pinterest is also fantastic for inspiration.)
• This challenge is a community thing. Congratulate others for doing the challenge, thank your art swap partners, and be encouraging to anyone who needs it. Even if someone’s drawing is a little lacking in the quality area, you can find something good about it. Offer a few kind, helpful suggestions if you feel up to it.

We all set? Great! Sharpen those pencils, stock up on sketchbooks, and organize the Copic markers one last time. It’s drawing time!
Dee signing off. I'll post artwork tomorrow if I get to it.

Les Mis soundtrack is good for drawing...

...until you're spending more time getting tissues than using your pencil.

I really like how she turned out.

I have no idea who that girl is. I feel like she has a story, though... *sigh* So many stories, so little time. I don't know what to name her... Any ideas?

More Lissie.

 I've been drawing Lissie kind of obsessively. This one I did in the car, so it's really a miracle it turned out as well as it did. I'm terrible at drawing in the car.

Old, random drawing.

 Yet another random girl. I think Gemma fits her.

Lissie, with her hair pulled back.

Yay more Lissie. I drew that one at my grandma's last week. It's pretty rough, but I like the concept.


So great big surprise, we never got to the ID place last week. And I don't think we're going to be able to go tomorrow, since it's trick-or-treat night around here and I think we're doing something.

Aaaaannnd I can't think of anything else to talk about. I'm a terrible blogger. I just throw pictures at you and pretend that makes up for my lack of communication.

Oh, right. I now have Pinterest. Yay, confetti, throw me a party and all that. Here you go. http://www.pinterest.com/faerytalesandfa/
(And yes the only pins on there are ones I've already posted here. So sorry. Maybe someday I'll put other stuff on there as well.)

I feel like I'm being overly sarcastic today.
I apologize for that.
Why does it still sound like sarcasm.
I meant it sincerely.
Please accept my humble apologies.
I'm trying so hard here.

Sketches, sketches, sketches... and if you scroll all the way down, an Etsy store update.

And you thought I was going to get regular with my posting again.

 

Her name is Lissie (no duh). She's British, and has nine lives. (Okay, eight left.)

My sister and I have been coming up with a story together recently. It's about a British girl (Lissie) and a motorcyclist guy (Nate) who find out that they have nine lives. Well, Lissie's down to eight now, and Nate's been at six for a few years.

It's a very long and rather complicated story, so I shall not say too much. But I'm considering doing a comic.

Oh, and I figured out a way to ink on my drawing program in a way that I like.

Line art courtesy of Livvie Lisa

 This is one of my older characters, Conni. I've only drawn her myself a few times. Then the amazing Livvie Lisa suggested an art swap, and I asked if she'd draw her. She did the lineart, and I colored it in.

This is what she requested I draw.

I love drawing Rapunzel.

I spent far too much time on her. Like, three days. And her eyes are still crooked. *growls*

Chibis of me and a friend in our Halloween get-up. (I'm on the left.)

 One of my friends came over the other week, along with her two cousins (who happen to be my pastor's sons). The cousins and the rest of my family went for a walk, so it was just me and her sitting in my bedroom chatting. She has an obsession with Nico di Angelo from the Heroes of Olympus series (okay, okay, so I share the obsession), and we were talking about how we should do a Rick Riordan cosplay for Halloween.

We settled on Nico and Sadie Kane (Kane Chronicles). I just need to find some good red hair dye, and make a staff. I've got everything else. She just needed black boots, so I let her borrow my sister's combat boots. (Cause I'm a nice sister like that.) But hey, they wear the same size, and my sister's only worn them once since she got them, so I am justified in this.

Behold the Ninja.

My little sister (not the combat boots one) is going as a Princess Ninja Kitty. And if you mess up the order of those words, she will not hesitate to correct you. She is not a Ninja Kitty Princess, nor a Kitty Princess Ninja, but a Princess Ninja Kitty.

But anyway, she looked so adorable in her costume that I had to draw her.


Etsy update:
Nothing. Check back later.

KIDDING I'M JUST KIDDING CALM DOWN. I started to set the shop up, but it turns out that I need some sort of payment method. (Shocking, right?) So my mom took me over to the bank to set up a junior account, but I need and ID for that. Which I don't have. So we have to go to the place like thirty minutes+ from our house, and it's only open on Thursdays. Which is our busy day, when we run all of our errands. Errands which take place 30+ minutes in the opposite direction.

So in other words, still nothing.

I did discover that you can sell custom artwork on Etsy, so I might have a custom portrait option when I finally open shop. Nothing too expensive, as I'm not very good at the current time, but at least I can make a few dollars off of my normal every-day activity.

There was something else I was going to say, but I forget it at the moment. I'll probably remember the instant I hit post.

A bunch of sketches, because I have nothing else to talk about.

I think I'm going to call her Ayden (Eye-din)

 This girl is the first "real" drawing I've done using my computer art program. I've always found it annoying in the past, because the brushes are programmed to act like they would in real life (meaning paint streaks and blurring when I forget to add layers), and I just want something simple that will lay down color. Is that too much to ask for?
I mean, there's probably a way to reset the brush options, but there's my computer inefficiency for you.

Ayden actually has an interesting story, though. I was researching Gaelic/Irish mythology, and stumbled upon changelings. According to legend, fairies would often switch their children with a human child, resulting in both children being considered changelings. In the myths, the fairy infants were typically ugly and obnoxious, but because I'm Dee and I do things like this, I made my fairy changeling character human-like.
(Ayden is Gaelic for "small fire." I like the meaning, and now I really want to write a story about her.)

I'd redo her face if I had the chance.

Elsa. I drew her for one of my friends, and if it had been for anyone else, I'd have completely redone it just because I didn't like how her face turned out. But since this friend is only four and happens to think I'm Elsa in disguise, I figured it would be okay.

First picture I've ever drawn from start to finish with my pen tablet.

I almost never sketch on the computer. Usually I just sketch the drawing on paper and then scan it into the art program, but yesterday I felt like using the pencil option. I don't think she turned out too badly, though. Stenciling the tie-dye design on her shirt was fun.

 

Macy!

My friend Elly, over at The Spilled Inkwell, had her sixteenth birthday on Wednesday, and I drew her main character Macy as her present. (Yeah, this is what artists do for their friends' birthdays. And plays. I went to see a friend of mine in a musical last year, and I drew a bouquet of flowers on the front of a card and wrote "Flowers on an artist's budget" inside it.)

I don't really have anything else to say... I'm going to my grandma's today, and will hopefully talk to her about setting up a bank account for me. So maybe by next week, the Faerytales and Fantasy Etsy store will be running. (Fingers crossed.)

Oh, and Josie nominated me for the Sunshine Award ages ago, but I'm still trying to round up enough bloggers willing for me to nominate them so I can post my answers. If you have a blog and would like to be nominated, do let me know!

In which Dee spends an hour making a 90 second video.

I'm a terrible blogger.

I'm trying to do better, really, I am. To try to make up for it, I'm posting a little tutorial-ish thing I put together. I drew it on SketchBook Mobile on my iPod, so if you're going to be following the tutorial yourself, go ahead and download that. You can use the Lite version, but if you really are interested in digital art, do yourself a favor and buy the full version. It's the best drawing app I've found.

Okay. So the first thing you're going to need is the outline of your picture. You can try to sketch on your iPod and get it that way, but I've never found it easy to do that. What I usually do instead is sketch on paper, ink, then scan the image and mess with the brightness until it's pure black and white.

 

This drawing is the one I used.

  

Import the image, into SketchBook, and then turn the opacity level down to about 25%.

 

The airbrush tool is what I used for shading.

The paintbrush is for laying down the initial layer of color.

 

This is the brush I used for the detail on her boots.

 

The layer order. Make sure they're all on top of each other in the right way, otherwise you'll have parts of the drawing covering up each other.

Layer order #2. If you're using SketchBook Lite, you'll only have three layers to work with. Use the merge layers option (that arrow over in the lower right hand corner) to smash layers together.

A few quick notes on my video:

1. I was indecisive over hat color. You can use whatever color you like best.

2. I forgot shading on the hat and scarf. Oops.

3. When parts of the drawing are randomly appearing and disappearing, I'm just hiding the layers. Not actually deleting the drawing.

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing. If you have any questions just ask in the comments! I'll be glad to answer them. :D

Faeries, chibis, and Copic markers.

I just like faeries, guys.

I know, it's been ages since I wrote that first post, and I haven't posted anything since. I'm terribly sorry. I've just been really busy lately. You know. Drawing. And stuff.

I got my first set of Copic markers a few weeks ago, and my second set just last week. They are lots of fun, and very addicting. I'm already trying to come with the money to buy more.

Which means crocheting stuff for the Etsy.

I've got a few orders to finish making, and then I'll put together a little stockpile of merchandise (that sounds funny...) and then voila an Etsy story. Hooray.

(It sounds pretty straightforward when I say it like that. In actuality, it will probably be another month before the thing is up and running.)

Crocheted chibi dolls.

I really need to crochet more. I've mostly been making chibi dolls, and nothing else. I NEED VARIETY, PEOPLE. Like, crocheted Toothless amis.

Which brings me to the subject of How to Train Your Dragon 2. I went to see it with some friends, and walked in to the theater thinking something like, "Yay Toothless and Hiccup and nah it can't be that sad really."

I sobbed. In the movie theater.

I don't cry in movies. Ever. But I was literally bawling in the middle of the theater. You have killed my emotions, Dreamworks.

(Although it has inspired my dreams, as now I really want to do nothing other than be a concept or storyboard artist for either Dreamworks or Pixar.)

Her name's Maddie.

In other news, I saw the last half of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and am now obsessed with Jack Sparrow.