Immigration Foliage

Spending a few hours at the Immigration Office in Tokyo gave me more than a few hours to get out the sketchbook and pen.

 

 

Nothing mind blowing, but prepping for the foliage on the Sekaido canvas seemed a good idea.

 

Didn't have time to apply the deterioration concept to each piece, but did get a visa renewal.

 

Sekaido - Bugs Eye

Missed a trick last year relying on my limited perspective drawing for the final piece. Always been into the concept of small looking up.

Make it Pop

Various angles still cause me no end of trouble, and this pose was no exception.

2014 is my "dig deeper" year, meaning accelerated output, quality and creativity. Thick black boarders are something I've rallied against, but they actually make pictures pop.

Grape

Again using artist Gretchen Hancock's work as a strong influence, still life fruit will allow me to focus on broader, more blocky, strokes.

Lacking detail, fruits can be manipulated significantly with the brush.

ヒキガエル - final

A4 Wood - Acrylics / Pencils

ヒキガエル - drafting

Whilst walking through Nakano, I bumped into this little guy. 

Hikigaeru (ヒキガエル - common toad) are pretty aggressive, and I'm pretty sure could take down a small child.

Currently I'm looking for realism in tones and textures, so toads seem like a good starting point.

Sekaido work - week deadline

The previous canvas debacle left me with just 7 days to create a new piece in time for the exhibit. Recreating the same visual on a smaller canvas would've been much simpler but where's the fun in that.

Time restraints led to a limited pallet, meaning black would be taken out of the equation. Initially I wanted a more vibrant bubbly piece anyway since the last had been pretty morbid.

The yellow sky was a base layer to motivate a lighter mood whilst working, but eventually needed to be darkened to balance the shading on the plants.

Pixels!

I've had pixels on the brain the past few weeks.

Not too bad for a first try, squares themselves don't lend themselves to interesting textures, but I've got a few ideas in mind for the next piece.   

Sweeeet

Thinking of crossing the CandyLand concept in with the PlanetPeel... Or simply - I love Candy and this is a great opportunity to buy bundles for "reference".

CherryPop comes straight from "Adventure Time".

LolliPops are a simple way in. The shape is quite simple, but the folds in the wrapping will blend nicely with PlanetPeel ideas.

I really should press down harder, but the paper is almost transparent.

Shiva

The Shiva painting a few weeks back pulled me out of a slump I'd been in for a while. It only seemed right to take another shot at her, but on a larger canvas.

The composition is a little off, but hey, the eyes came out pretty well.

Shiva

2 hour portrait sketch.

Really love the cheek bone definition on this painting. Using a light acrylic and layering from light to dark seems to be working for me.

The underlaying texture and natural pattern of the wood underneath the painting are perfect for skin tones.

Peel

Messing around with the clay earlier this week lead back to some Planet Peel visuals.

After a few months of working on portraits, animals and plants it was about time to go back and see what could be done with the Planet Peel visuals. 

Overwhelmingly these visuals give me a sense of satisfaction unlike the portraits. The ribbon effect is just a bunch of fun, so I'll be spending the next week working on new ides, colours and expanding the world a little.

Acrylics 101

I love simplicity, but it became apparent the past few weeks that in order to really understand colors and  shape, more exploration is needed.  It's something I'd been aware of for a while but had been struggling to actually get it down on paper.

Dandelions

Mushrooms

LadyBirds

A long way to go, but at this point, everything is a learning curve.