N is for Nicoletta Ceccoli

Warning- this artist does some weird things.  Could be interpreted as offensive in some instances.

I discovered Nicoletta Ceccoli when my son picked out a book from the library.  Here is the Amazon link to that book.  I'm sharing that link mostly because it allows you to see some of the incredible art within the book.  The art is so incredibly imaginative I fell in love with it at once.

Her website if full of a lot of her personal work- and like I said- some of it is really strange- but strange in a beautiful way.  She tends to paint these highly rendered portraits of little girls with abnormally huge heads and petite bodies.   Even though much of it is rather strange it is just so beautiful.

I hope you enjoy her work! Go check out her website www.nicolettaceccoli.com/ to see more of it- also she has all of the books she's illustrated listed on the site.

No personal sketch today because I really don't want to fight with my scanner right now.

~Alicia

M is for Mel Milton

This is an artist one of my professors introduced me to.  His work that is- not him personally (I wish!) I thought he'd be a good one for M since he has the letter twice! :D

So the basic question: why am I sharing him?

I friend-ed (evidently that is not a real word) Mel Milton on facebook after my professor told our class to.  I've not regretted it- he posts a sketch a day plus the reference he used- it has been absolutely inspiring!!

I love the variety of style he uses- while each sketch he puts up is most definitely done by the same person they each have a unique look and feel to them depending on the style that he is using.  So if you just want to see some good art- go check him out at his blog  Mel Made.
Like I did for the letter 'L' I'm again posting his professional work across from my attempts at mimicking it and then finally my original sketch with my reference.

I have such a long way to go- but it was still fun to try to copy his style.

This one was hard as a pencil sketch as I couldn't get the darks dark enough

This one doesn't look quite right because I opened up the reference he used and was working from both his original source and his sketch

My attempt with what I learned drawing his work

It is frustrating to me how much more my mistakes stick out in the scanned version of my sketch than they did when I was putting it into the scanner.  Part of the problem is I have a bad scanner- but the other part is that I'm not quite where I want to be yet artistically. 

Well that is that for tonight

~Alicia

L is for Larry MacDougall

Another fairy tale/children's book illustrator.  I don't appologize though- because we can all relate to this type of art and it tends to be pretty amazing.

Ok- so his blog is here Mythwood- as usual; go check it out! He has links to all the rest of his sites on the right hand side of his blog.

What attracted me to his work is the way he uses light.  Most of his paintings use pretty light nearly pastel colors which is a risky thing to do. Why? simple- our eyes see black and white first (cones and rods and things- remember science way back in the day? Holy cow- art uses that information :D) (I'm always excited when I can use science or math in art- makes me feel smart)  Ok so back on point- why does a pallet that uses mostly light or mostly dark hues run into a problem?  They blend and bleed together in our minds.  Our eyes just translate what is in front of us into an image- and the first thing they look for are points of contrast.  It is the way we are built.  Understanding this (in one way or another) helps an artist create interesting paintings.  

Someday I'll write a post that goes into this in a lot more detail- but for now remember light and dark are the most important thing in narrative and figurative art.  

So back to Larry- the way he uses light is pretty astounding- for instance in the fairy below you are attracted to her face because it is bordered by darker values of yellow.  None of the colors are really all that dark- BUT he paints in light in such a way that we can see what he wants us to see and we aren't lost in a bunch of pretty colors.

Today I tried something different- instead of just doing one sketch inspired by my artist I repeated what I did with Justin Gerard and actually sketched out copies of Larry's paintings (with a time limit- since I do have finals in 2 weeks and many sketches and drawings to do between now and then) So I have posted my armature sketch next to the professional work.  The last bit of art is my reference and then my own drawing based on his style. 

Enjoy!

It takes me a lot more time when I'm constructing the character completely on my own (even with reference) So my character isn't as done as his are

~Alicia

PS- I am trying to visit back everyone who has been kind enough to leave a comment- *hopefully* I'll have some time to come look at your blogs this weekend- thank you so much for coming and thank you for leaving your blog addresses so I can visit you back!

K is for Kevin Keele

I didn't know any artists on the top of my head so I had to do some research- glad I did! This guy is amazing (I say that to much....)

Kevin Keele's blog: Be Awesome

Ok so I don't know much about him- but he has an amazing style to his work. Kind of like Justin Gerard (J from Thursday) he has a cute kind of whimsical style that has an epic feel to it.

One of the things that I find I love about this guy after going through his blog is how many different subjects he illustrates- he has everything from religious paintings to fantasy.   I love a lot of his sketches as well because they are so goofy- they just make me smile.

No sketch of my own today- as you can see it is Sunday not Saturday- it is also really really late and I need to get up early for class tomorrow (like 5 am ish) So I hope you enjoy the artwork.  Tomorrow I've picked out another amazing artist- and I will have some of my own work to accompany his.  Until then!

~Alicia

J is for Justin Gerard

So I had a hard time deciding on who to use today there are SEVERAL amazing artists whose first or last names begin with J.  After looking through a lot of art work I decided to focus on Justin Gerard.

Once again another artist that makes my draw drop when I look through his work.  Out of all the artists I follow he is the one I would really like to draw like the most.  He does a lot of epic fantasy (again; much of it is Tolkien centered) but it all has an element of 'adorable' to it.

If you want to see more of his work:
Quick Hide Here <old blog that he is no longer using- however has a lot of great stuff on it
Gallery Gerard <new blog/website that he shares with Anne Stegg (his wife I believe... not sure though- it's a new site that was founded back in November)

SO without much more comment; here are some of my favorite pieces he's done:

All of it is just amazing.  Today instead of drawing original characters with his style or doing an 'inspired by' sketch- I actually went to his website and tried to duplicate 2 of his sketches that he has on there:

I'm just showing mine- a side by side comparison shows how many mistakes I made... that and I forgot to save the pictures I was working from and do not want to look them up again.

~Alicia

I is for Shaun Ivie

Ok- before I jump in...

I have had a CRAZY week thus far and so I got a bit behind... I've spent this evening catching up and want to link the posts so that you don't miss them.

G is for Scott Gustafson
H is for Heath Heil and Heather Michelle Owens

a little silly to link them as you can just scroll down- but hey- I'm linking them anyway.

(also again- no sketch from me today- but I will be back on top of things tomorrow)

So with I I'm continuing to plug some of the artists I go to school with.  So today- Shaun Ivie.  He is another very talented individual I know- I couldn't find a blog or website for him- so you'll have to settle for his facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/ivieillustration.

Shaun has one of the most varied portfolios of anyone I know- he draws just about anything.  Since I like cute/pretty things the illustrations I'm linking from him tend to be in that category- HOWEVER go check out his page- he does all sorts of fun stuff.

 That is it for tonight- go check out all of the awesome art.  Tomorrow I'm back to professional artists and my personal sketches.  (though I might link friends blogs/websites as well 'cause there is just so much amazing talent at my school)

NIGHT!
~Alicia

H is for Heath Heil and Heather Michelle Owens

No sketch of mine today (again; sorry I've been super busy...) however I decided to go ahead and talk about 2 of my friends today.

Heather Michelle Owens and Heith Heil, both of their names start with H and they are both amazing artists.  They also both go to school with me although they are MUCH farther along in the program than I am (as in I believe they are both graduating this semester, if not right now definitely next semester).

I didn't ask them if I could do this before hand- but I doubt they'd mind the plug for their blogs.

Ok so first Heather.

I met her when I first came back to school a few years back and I was completely intimidated by her; she was just so stinking good.  Then I had an class with her where we actually said more than 3 words to each other and I stopped being as shy and got to know her.  I am still blown away by her artistic ability but we became friends and I'm so happy for it.

She has the cutest style- here are a few that I pulled from her blog that I really like:

Go check out her blog (I've linked it 3 times now- so you should be able to find it) and follow her! You will not regret it :D

Now for Heath.

Heath is another person that is absolutely great to get along with- but also kind of intimidates me with his ability.  GO figure- he draws ALL THE TIME.  (this is the key to getting really really really good if you didn't know)

He does mostly comic book type work- and I'm constantly looking at his portfolio on his blog for good examples of AMAZING line work.  

Here are a few he has on his blog that I really like:

These aren't even his best pieces- I just like these a lot for whatever reason.  So go visit his blog as well- check out the rest of his work- you will not be sorry for doing so.

~Alicia