yet another Blergh post....

 Art this week... I cannot believe it is already Wednesday!! I'm going to get my act together I swear.

Right now I'm doing a lot of brainstorming and list making.  Because of so many unexpected expenses this summer (more on that in a second) I don't know that I'll be able to do Comic Con this fall... unless something amazing happens in the next several weeks.  With my current luck I'm not holding my breath. 

So far this week I've done 2 drawings.  Both of them on Sunday- the little girl to the left and also the bee just below.  I feel like the little girl is largely unfinished- needs a right arm reaching up for... something.  It is forgivable because it was a largely unplanned doodle that I did at church. 

The bee was slightly more planned- slightly in that i actually looked up reference before drawing.  I found this amazing resource morgueFile a few months back and when I remember it exists I try to get photos from it to draw.  It is a pretty amazing site- the photos are taken by both professional and armature photographers and are free for use by other artists.  Which is AMAZING it gives artists a great resource where they don't have to worried about being accused of stealing someones work.  (copyright gets really sticky when it comes to artists drawing photographs-- go figure-- both of us want to make money off of our art) 

So my 'blergh' part of this... I actually filmed myself drawing the bee- well more precisely I filmed the bee as it was being drawn.  I decided to start doing *something* on YouTube; though honestly I haven't really decided exactly how to use it yet.  So for now I'm filming 'speed' paintings and drawings.  The first I did was of Arya Stark (digital in photoshop).  So far it is the only video I've created successfully.  Oh I've filmed others.  Or at least parts of- I have a digital piece that I've had to put on hold for a little while that I was drawing- and then there were thing here and there that I've been trying to film.  I figured out a way to film with my nice Cannon DSLR camera.... that is a story in and of itself.  For the bee I went a 'simpler' route and filmed it on my iPad mini and then moved the footage over to my desktop. 

This is when disaster struck.  I'm really sick of that sentence coming up in my summer.  The short version of my frustration is that my graphics card likely needs to be replaced.  My computer shuts down *every* time I tried to export the video from Premier Pro.  This is also related to the reason that my other digital painting is on hold.  Graphic card keeps over heating while I'm painting the system shuts down.  At least that is what I *think* is happening.  I've tested everything else in the computer so I'm like 90% sure that I am right; but there is always room for error in my life. 

So I've literally spent the last 2 days fighting with my computer.  I'm clever- I'll come up with a way to get videos up on YouTube one way or another. 

So now my list of expenses are as follows:  Repair/Replace iPad mini, get husband a new laptop (his is SO shot, he's got it 'working' but honestly... it doesn't have much time left), get myself a new graphics card- or maybe just replace the whole darn computer, and then see if the wiiU is still covered by warranty or if I'm going to have to pay to get that fixed as well (easily can blame my kids for THAT one).  There are other odds and ends that I need to repair or replace; but those are all of the big ones. 

There is my update.  Now I need to go draw or something. 

~Alicia

Edrine and her bat

I've named the girl but not the bat....

Anyway- this is largely a repeat for anyone who has seen my facebook page.  But I'm going to repeat.

I've been focusing on digital painting lately.  That is going to change this week 'cause I totally lost my stylus.  I'm sure it'll show up... but I don't know where it is at the moment.

This is what I've been working on (in progression from rough sketch to current place)

her skirt has changed a bit since this drawing

changed the position of the bat to give the drawing more depth

quickly added highlights and shadows- cleaned it up a little after this

this is as far as I got with the color (well the walls are painted as well; but I didn't have that layer turned on when I grabbed this) before I lost my stylus.  I set it down and it rolled... somewhere.  I don't know I was off helping my son with a kindergarten work book. 

 I'm filming my painting- well most of it sometimes I forget to turn on the camera... and some of it just got lost when my computer crashed... while recording :P  But i'll put together a video of it.  I've noticed that I do a TON of redundant things when painting- that has been the positive of the videos.  I need to make a lot more decisions ahead of time- it would WAY cut down on my painting time.

Go figure- my professors were right when they told me that. :P

Night world
~alicia