A decorated soapbox

A Massive Update.

2008-04-10T07:51:00.001-07:00

Hokey - It has been a while and to be honest I have forgotten about this place until recently. It seems occasionally I DO need a place to send people to check out some of my work. I tend to dump on Facebook and my LJ. I am WAY too lazy to get a website going. Maybe someday. Maybe this summer.

I am going to do a very link heavy update of some of the work I have done in the past while:

First off, Merry Christmas

Second, I did a painting. My first in probably...oh...8 years? For a friend's birthday I made a reproduction of the painting by "Isaac Mendez" of Peter flying (from Heroes). Here is my reproduction:
Finished painting
Close up of Peter
A picture of the painting in progress

Jeff as a Jedi/Samurai (he requested it)

Pierrot

A GIANT needle and a bat on a fishing pole?

A Baby Octi

My Analytical Chemistry Prof

And finally, another doodle.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

SO...Quick Flicks was awesome! Our team won "People's Choice" and "Best Film." Woot!

And since the film has been officially premiered...I can freely post the film:
In case you don't know, Quick Flicks was a competition where teams were given a camera and 48 hours to make a movie. This was our entry. (Note: Both movies are relatively small to reduce d/l time. If you really want a higher quality version, let me know.)

Guatemala? (Un Film Zombie)

And...hot off the press, just finished today, the footage from "Ottawa, Zombie Walk, 2007."
A Zombie's Plight

Also...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

AND...the zombie drawing from my video...

Been a while...

2007-09-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

I get lazy about updating art. I also go and enjoy the summer break from school too much to spend time drawing. Well, I am back at school now and have lots of time to sit and doodle.

I am also being lazy about resizing the pictures. Sorry. :) Just left click and view image if you are using a good browser. If not, I am sorry and here are the links:
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-robotgirl1.jpg
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-robotgirl2.jpg
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-shinnyfairy.jpg
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-braids.jpg
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-feathergirl.jpg
http://andy.kristallee.net/Art/2007/z-scarygirlclowne.jpg

Nothing more to say...except...here ya go:

Yay...

A larger update

2007-06-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

HOOOKEY...I will do a bit of a massive update...I just have been ignoring this one for no particular reason. Lets see what I haven't put up here... (For you Facebookers, some of these will be repeats)

First, a present for a Spider-man fan (Col-erase pencil) - It was rough because I haven't done colour in YEARS, let alone try to blend colour pencil. I think the last time I did this was probably High school, so, 6 years ago?

Next, a very stylized chika - the pen work on this is pretty poor because my pen was running out of ink and I inked it while on a bus. >_<

A warm-up sketch. I really want to get some sort of Urban style going...slowly it is getting there.

In anticipation of Pirates 3 I drew a wench:

Most recently I have to offer:

2007-04-11T16:24:00.000-07:00

I do actually have another doodle I did, but instead of posting it now, I am going to repost a comment I made in response to someone who said that the second picture in the last post was one of their favorites (some of this is edited):

The great thing about animation is that it teaches you to adapt to any style. When I am not looking at some sort of reference for a style, I draw from my mind and tend to default to my style. If I want to draw in a style I sit down and look at a bunch of drawings done in that style. Like if I want to do North American comic art, I look at North American comics. If I want to draw in a Manga style, I look at Manga. I find if I look at other art (not copying an image...I DO NOT EVER COPY AN IMAGE. All of my drawings are my own. Every artist borrows styles.) I can adapt to it.

I am constantly saving images and pieces of art that inspire me. If I ever need inspiration, I have a folder to go to. There is stuff from all over. Sometimes it's a photo, sometime its a pattern on a T-shirt.

As my Layout and Design teacher always said: "Play with it. Reference, reference, reference." (I use to joke that I could teach myself by tape recording him saying this and playing it over and over. :P He also was fond of: "Weeelllll, if *I* were you, I would start over." X| He did help my drawing a lot though.)

Two girls

2007-04-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

I just finished drawing and scanning these two in. I seem to be jumping between using a mechanical pencil and my beloved col-erase. I don't know why I have been. Really, I should learn to draw with a tablet (although I think this would entail getting something better than my small, old Graphire Wacom). There wouldn't be too much smudging.

Anyways, the drawings:

My line quality isn't spectacular. I have gotten sloppy over the years.

These will probably be the last drawings you see for a while. Exams are coming up soon and I will be immersing myself in all the sciences (chem, physics, bio and calc) instead of tickling my right brain's fancy.

More sketches...same ol same ol. :)

2007-04-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

A few new drawings. School has taken a little lull before the exams. I am being lazy with my studying (though really...I have enough time. :) ) so I was able to churn out a piece:

All Ravers Go to Heaven: Another nod to my old raver ways.

An art of sorts...rat testies

2007-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some drawings I did for my first year cellular biology lab (of yes, rat balls):
The pictures from the microscope; 10X and 40X

My drawings

Gizmo's...Love them.

2007-03-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

I love the look of gadgets...I just don't always successfully draw them. I just haven't had much time or energy to put pen to paper so the quality of drawing has gone down. I hope to spend my free time this summer (the time I am not out enjoying the sun and freedom of the working world) drawing up a storm. :)

Doooooodle.

2007-03-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah. There are some problems with the line work. Happens.

Just for fun.

2007-03-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

Some recent sketches. Random things. Fun things.

I call it 'fashion advice'. ;)

This came about because someone in my calc class requested I drew him doing a test. Being stubborn I didnt respond to his request right away (I hate drawing on demand unless I get paid da green)...BUT I will use it as inspiration. :)

I am not too happy with the hair...Usually drawing hair comes easy but not this day...I was struggling with this one.

An art contest.

2007-02-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

This is an appeal to anyone out there with an University of Ottawa email. I NEED YOUR HELP! I need votes people! Remembered I mentioned that there was a MS paint DNA molecule drawing contest? Well, the voting is open and I am entry number 1.

How to vote:
Write an email to contests@bio-x.ca from your UOttawa email account. Make sure to include “Creativity Challenge” in the subject line and which picture you wish to vote for in the message (i.e. entry 1 or entry 2).

They didnt inform me that they were going to be using a caption so I didnt put anything witty. When I realised that they were going to be putting something, I wrote and sent them this:

"Gentlemen, this DNA is not interested. Read her stop codon. Regardless, this RNA think he has a chance with a winner like "Baby...I feeeeel your polarity." C'mon. I heard a protein say that to a curvy lipid just the other day. Think it got him through the hydrophobic core? No way. To really get with a DNA, you have to understand her and read her. Remember that. Just because she only has a few proteins to sequence with doesnt mean she is a simple lady."

So ignore the lame informative sentance.

I doubt I will win because I don't have very many friends at U of O to help me and just a hunch...I could tare apart his work but where would that get me?

Regardless, vote for me and help me win (if you can)!

Thank you.

Raver...all three versions...

2007-02-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

The original line work you all remember.

My first coloured version.

And my other coloured version.

I have no clue now which one I like better. :P

I just had a serious draw-on.

2007-02-17T20:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes its nice to remember I don't just draw like a tard-cake. Sometimes it's nice to remember that sometimes, you hit that zone and that col erase flies across the page like the Artemia swims through water...try taking a fricking picture of one under a microscope...not always easy. Sadly, it took a furry to remind me that I can draw something. Its not perfect (it never is), but its better than a lot of the stuff I feel I have been putting out lately.

I was trying to work on a lab when I ended up going through a ton of art blogs. This one drawing hit me and BAM, I got the courage to pick up a new col-erase and start drawing. In less than an hour I had three sketches that weren't hideous. These are all the drawings I drew so don't think I am hiding some "crappy" ones.

I will post them in order so you can see me get in the groove, then slowly die.

This was my warm-up and IMHO the weakest of the group. Still, there are some things about her that I like.

This one you notice me starting to slow down as I struggle with the left eye. I had to erase it a few times but it's there.

It's sad...while I know if I just had the chance to draw more I could actually become a decent artist, I don't miss the industry right now. I have friends who are at work on a Sat night and have to work 7 days a week. I don't mind doing that but I need to be doing it for a hell of a lot more money. :P

P.S. - I doubt anyone ever reads this blog because no one ever leaves me any comments (those of you who communicate with me on LJ...you are excused ;) ) but if there are any of you who go to Ottawa U, I will be enlisting you and your email addy to help me win 50$ from a Bio-X MS Paint drawing competition (I think you have to be in sciences to enter - maybe even some Bio related program). I will give you more details when the voting actually takes place (21st-28th of Feb I think) but I WANT MONEY and I wanna win something for once in my life. :P

V-day

2007-02-12T19:49:00.001-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EARLY!

Click on it for larger image.

A quick note about things to come...

2007-02-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note that I am currently working on two "doodles," "pieces," "works," whatevers. One is a coloured version of the raver and the other is my Valentine's Day drawing (I try and do holiday drawings...).

I did one coloured version of the raver that I HATED (you can check it out if you really want. Its on my LJ. I will post the line work, first coloured version and the second coloured version here when I am done the colouring) so I am redoing it. We shall see if it turns out better.

Stupid midterms are getting in the way of my drawing. ;)

Unn Tss Unn Tss...

2007-02-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

I will try to upload my recent sketches here because I am running out of "backlogged" art. :) Unlike my LJ, I will TRY to talk a little bit more about what I am doing. I hope ya'll enjoy.

Ah...ravers. I love them. They are so colourful and cute and I use to be one. :D
I have always been in love with this sort of messy, funky, urban style but never have really been able to pull it off. Probably because I tend to try and pull it out of my head instead of getting reference for the style. :) I hope to get into it a little more. I do like cracked out hands. :P

I like the little boat. I am actually really pleased with the shading with the pen. I haven't ever really done this before. Usually because I am too scared to do it. :)

New art? I make...new...art?

2007-01-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

(click on image for full size sketch)
This is a brand new piece. The ink is still drying on the outline. :P

Just a fun little doodle. In retrospect, I think her head is too big.

Woops...I left you behind baby...dont worry. I still love you.

2007-01-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

Iz been a while since I updated...school happend. YAY!

Two caricatures...

This was a random chick in Dima's calculus class. I was doodling. :P

This was of Guy, a guy in my animation class.

A double treat.

2007-01-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

In second year animation we went on a field trip to the Experimental Farm to draw animals. I don't tend to draw animals often (this is my first and only lifedrawing experience with animals), nor have I ever studied animal anatomy. I really don't know how to gauge how good these are. *shrug* Regardless, here they are:

Click on images for larger images.

All drawings done with brush pen and are 1-5 min sketches.

More Lifedrawing? YOU KNOW IT! - entry 3

2007-01-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

And one more from the Gouache Silhouette series:

Why I left the bottom left silhouette on a tilt I will never know. I was tired a lot in those days. :P A lot of stranger things happened.

The two silhouettes on the right were actually students posing fully clothed and not in the nude. There was never a requirement for the students to pose nude...Although, there was this one time that my classmate Aaron decided it would be a good idea to jump up on the platform, lift his shirt, yell "THIS ONE IS FOR YOU ANNE!" (Anne was our lifedrawing teacher, a very proper 50-something lady) and proceeded to tweak his tinny man nipples. Thankfully Anne thought this was very funny and proceeded to giggle like a school girl.

Now back to the silhouettes on the right. These two figures were the first attempts at seeing shadow. We didn't use a direct light source and were stuck with the diffused lighting already present in the room.

This was also one of the few times we actually dealt with drapery (referring to anything made out of fabric that folds). There just wasn't enough time in the two year animation program to go into depth with drapery.

I found that the animation course pretty much prepared us to draw anything rather than focus on drawing specifics of certain things. Obviously, this is a much more valuable skill than being able to focus on one or two things. The phrase "this is how you draw ________" was never used. Instead, a "use as much reference as you can" teaching technique was implemented. Google image search became your friend. There were some assignments where we had to submit our reference with the completed works. I still look up everything and use TONS of reference. If you are a starting out artist, or even an experienced artist that doesn't already do this, USE REFERENCE. Sit down and look at 30 or 40 images of what you are trying to draw. It will improve your mental catalog as well.

More Lifedrawing? YOU KNOW IT! - entry 2

2007-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the hiatus. Was off in the land of Toronto partying it up a bit. I am back and ready for more old art posts. :)

Gouache Silhouettes! These were done in less than 2 min.

Ummm...I am tired right now and dont have anything brilliant or insightful to say right now. I will post another page of silhouettes next time...hopefully with something more to say on the matter of gouache silhouettes. :D

More Lifedrawing? YOU KNOW IT! - entry 1

2006-12-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I took a break from drinking to bring you the next installment of ART BLOG...dum dum dum.

Okay. Lifedrawing, lifedrawing, lifedrawing. NEVER underestimate the power of lifedrawing. I should take my own advice and do some lifedrawing BUT with my Biochemistry (which is insanely time consuming especially if you havent done any science related work in at least 6 years), I do not have time.

Onto the art:

Again we have the one line drawings done with pen. I have posted two of these before but I was too lazy to take them off the page. :)

The "eyes" are all 15 min drawings done with mechanical pencil, the WORST medium to use for anything but line work. This was the first time we were allowed to use shadow and this was an exercise in understanding the anatomy of the eye. We were suppose to go through all the body parts but then suddenly switched focus to gouache silhouettes (which I will introduce in my next post).

Enjoy.

Holiday Card

2006-12-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well, obviously Christmas (my holiday celebration of choice) is fast approaching and I had to make a Holiday card. Because of exams, I had to squeeze this one out pretty quickly. For the "artistic blog spin" on it, I am going to show the sketch and the final product so you can see how things changed during the colouring process.

The sketch:

And the final product (click on image to access the larger image):

Happy Holidays all!

My first lifedrawing term.

2006-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

As promised, more lifedrawing. Dont hold your excitment in. Let it out. It's okay.

If anyone has EVER done lifedrawing at Algonquin College (in Ottawa) you will recognize these casts. Millions of us have drawn these casts. I am one of them.

Anyways, these are from first year, first semester animation. Its only outlines. Why? The philosophy behind doing only the outlines is that it shows where your weaknesses are. Shadows can be used to cover up errors in volumes. Our lifedrawing teacher was of the school of thought that shadows come later when you can bring out the object with just the outlines. I tend to agree with her school of thought, she brought some amazing work out of me.

And without further ado, The Boys:

I believe this was the first thing I drew in animation for lifedrawing. Yes, he is missing an arm. :P

Here is a GREAT way to measure your own success, draw the same cast from two different angles. He wont move. :P Here are my results from such an exercise:

This guy is missing an ear. The other one was kind of wonky and my head is weak but I am showing it because you can compare the rest of the body to my other cast drawing. The rest of the body is definitely better than the head.

And his "finer" side:

After we had finished this cast we had to recopy our drawing in pen (with a light table) and then draw the skeleton inside. The hard part? The skeleton was not posed in the same position. Not even close. We had a skeleton that we could walk around and look at but we needed to figure out how the skeleton fit inside of the body.

Here lies my bones:

Click on him to see the bigger drawing and see all the little vertebrae I shoved in there. There should be the correct number. Talk about a crash course in anatomy.

A selfish endevour.

2006-12-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

I lied. The art I am going to post today is not something technically brilliant. Its a bit of a personal thing.

A former friend of mine told me that this embodied a lot of who I am. It was his favorite of the drawings I did. As a bit of a tribute I am posting it today. Sort of a bit of farewell. So emo. Artists are moody bunches. Maybe our art wouldn't be so good if we weren't.

I always am enthralled by simple characters. How an artist chooses to curve a line, how thick they make it, what emotions it evokes. It takes a lot of talent to even draw a simple character. A perfect circle takes a lot of talent.

This initially was drawn as a joke I had with another friend of mine. I would say "hug?" meaning I wanted a hug and he would replay with a "/hug." Silly, isn't it? Wherever you draw inspiration.

However, I think she evokes an endearing response. You want to hug her. You want to care for her and make her world better. I like her.

The "UP?" has polka dots because I thought of the Mario Mushrooms though there are probably a ton of other speckled mushrooms I could have drawn inspiration from. It's so deep. :)

An incredibly nerdy endevour

2006-12-19T06:08:00.000-08:00

I am trying to vary what I put here. I want to slowly tease you with various aspects of my artistic past, not just shove a bunch of Lifedrawing down your throat.

I promise, after this post, I will make a more "advanced art" post.

Who has heard of Shin Seiki Evangelion? (Translation: Neon Genesis Evangelion) Any good little geek who watches anime should know the title. If you havent heard of it you have had some serious anime miss-education. Gravitation and Chobits are not foundational anime series despite what any avid fan girl will insist.

I was not in the habit of writing in to comic books. In fact, in all seriousness, this was the only time I ever did it. I think I wrote and drew this in grade 10. I believe it was then because around the same time I made a Ghost in the Shell envelope for a friend of mine who had just moved to Vancouver and I remembering arguing with my English teacher that this letter and drawings in a comic did in fact deem me "published." :D

Anyways, Andrea's first publishing:

The cover of the comic book. Not my drawing, but a nice lead in.

(Click on the image to read the letter and see the drawings - I drew the drawing of "Tira Misu" and the second "Ritsuko")

How deliciously nerdy of me! I wasn't expecting them to print the drawings. They were on the envelope and weren't very good. Thats why they look messy and have writing and postage markings all over the scans. Still makes me laugh though.

For clarification, I did not translate "Baka-chan" as "cute idiot." This was in fact the pet name my boyfriend at the time had for me and I was dared to sign it that way. Really didnt think it would get printed.

All characters owned by Ginax Studios except for Tira Misu who belongs to Xebec, Tokyo Pop and ADV.

Flashy Aye Aye.

2006-12-18T08:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, today I am going to break away from my old school projects and show you a little pet project of mine I never quite finished. I am kinda fond of him even if he isn't the BEST thing out there.

The Aye Aye:

What amuses me about this little short, short is that a-I don't know where Aye Aye's are from and b-I wanted to make the aye aye say in a HEAVY Australian accent "What? You neva' seen an aye aye before?" Kind of random but still makes me giggle. :P I love his little leg twitch.

Obviously this is done in flash. I never did many things with flash. This was suppose to go on my demo reel when it looked like flash was going to be the next tool in animation. Instead I have a cute little animated flash vid that does nothing but sit on my compy.

There are a few volume problems with it and obviously and the background is pretty minimal. There is a pop in the tail as well. As I mentioned, the piece isn't done but I lost the project files so this is as good as it will ever get. :)

A Flying machine.

2006-12-17T20:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't done many vehicle designs in my day. Never has been a keen interest of mine. I have never been too interested in drawing cars or spaceships. However, here is a flying machine I drew for an assignment:

I am kinda fond of it. I do like the flying machines Leonardo Da Vinci drew and as "mainstream" as that is, I used that to inspire me to draw this.

Layouts II - Outdoor scene.

2006-12-17T19:27:00.000-08:00

Okay...this is the only other layout I ever did. Why did I stop doing layouts? Well in design we were given the option of doing either layout or character design. I ended up going with character design because my teacher told me (in front of the whole class) that not everyone was cut out for doing layouts and it might be best if I stuck to other things. So, I figured to avoid further embarrassment, the smart thing to do was characters. I didn't look back or think on it much till the end of the year when this layout made it onto the year's demo reel. I thought, "huh...made the demo reel for layouts...that's weird." It got even more confusing when my design teacher, the same one who told me that I should give up layouts, wrote in my "flip this" yearbook: "Look at your layouts - on the demo reel + for some reason you never liked your own stuff. Sorry kiddo - there are some nice drawings on there and it was all you." :| I was confused. >_<

But here is the layout that made the demo reel:

Line work:

Coloured:

Layouts I - Warehouse.

2006-12-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

I would NEVER call myself an accomplished artist and honestly, I feel mildly foolish talking about principles of art. I am not someone I feel should teach people how to draw. But I have been through the trenches and have a few helpful hints. Here is a bit of advice for ANY artist out there. This is something that BUGS THE HECK out of me. Line quality. LEARN TO DRAW CLEAN LINES! Lines that accentuate the drawing, make it look three dimensional. Learn about line weight and STOP FEATHERING YOUR LINES! Seriously. If you don't have good lines I get turned off. It makes me go "bleh." Its a very easy thing to make your work look a million times better.

What is "feathering"? This is. This is my work before animation and I chose to use it as an example so it doesn't seem like I am picking on anyone in particular. I will just pick on myself. It doesn't mean that roughs can't be messy but there is a way to sketch without feathering. In a sketch, the lines should be confident and strong even if there are 10000 of them. :P

How important are lines? Very. How hard are they to do correctly? VERY. People shrug off cleanup artists as faux artists and just people copying others works. Not so. There is a talent to it. We had an inbetweening assignment in animation that proved to be a lot more difficult than it looked. I was the only person in my year to get over a 90 on the assignment. In fact, the head of the program sought me out and congratulated on how good the project was.

I didn't do many layouts in school (more on why later) but here is one of the two I actually finished that were half decent:

Line work:

AND

Coloured:

Back to basics III.

2006-12-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

ANNNDDDD...the last lifedrawing post, for now.

Okay, here we are getting into some longer poses. The coloured pose at the top was done using pencil (for the outline) and water colour markers. Here is the only time we ever used colour in lifedrawing class and this was the only class we ever did it in. I REALLY liked using the water colour markers.

The three poses under the coloured pose are all done in pencil and gouache. This was an exercise in shadow. Here I did get lazy with the hands. I think I ran out of time but I am not going to make excuses. :P

Under that we have some poses in brush pen and pencil. Nothing crazy, again focusing on lines of action.

Back to basics II.

2006-12-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, onto old lifedrawing number two. This is still from my second year animation program:

Moving onto gouache (a type of paint), brush pen (a pen with a brush like nib) and pencil (col-erase).

Hands are the hardest thing on the human body to draw. If the artist is hiding a characters hands its a good indication that they are a poor artist. A true measure of an artist is their ability to draw hands. When the artist draws the hands behind the back or in the pockets, or in a fist it is heavily frowned upon. It's considered weak. Sounds very elitist but really its about a good drawing vs. a bad drawing. I still struggle with drawing hands but force myself to try and include them as much as possible. The hands I have here are done in brush pen and col-erase.

Below that we have two different types of gestures.

The 15 second exercises were an attempt to get a "strong line of action," that is, a line that goes right through the body and denotes a movement. Line of action is important. Without it, character's look stiff and static. Lines of actions, usually "C-curves" and "S-curves", are a big part of laying down a drawing. Strong lines of action can make or break a pose.

The longer poses were done in brush pen. Just a general lifedrawing exercise. Didn't help that the model wasn't very good.

Back to basics.

2006-12-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

Where should I begin? Only makes sense to start with the basics. ANY decent artist needs to have a good chunk of lifedrawing under their belt. Animators are no different. Thus, it only feels appropriate to show some of my older lifedrawing.

Before you start wondering, yes, the times are correct. We were timed on all our lifedrawing. The times and styles were geared towards teaching us to understand movement of the human form. Lifedrawing became a rush of adrenaline and when you were on, you were on. Days you weren't, it was best to leave and start drinking in the campus bar which was less than 25m from the lifedrawing room.

Anyways, page one:

Okay, the top half of this page is dedicated to a technique called "one line drawings" and they are just that. ONE LINE. You are not allowed to lift the pen off the page and no whiteout! What you put on paper is what you get. Most of these ranged from 3-5 min each.

The bottom half of the page is done in conte. For those of you who don't know what conte is, it's like a harder charcoal (yes...people draw with charcoal). Still frightfully messy though. The actual times are indicated beside the drawings. The purpose of the faster ones was to convey as much of the form as possible. In the longer poses we started looking at how light and shadow play. Conte is personally one of my favorite mediums to use.