Merry Christmas from the Christmas Bat!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holidays! 

The Bull-Slug-Monster, a.k.a. The Marshmallow Hunter.

Introducing, the Bull-Slug-Monster. A little something to add to my Weird Creatures Museum project. He looks a little intimidating at first glance, but he's really happy. Especially this time of year as Halloween approaches. He likes to take long walks on the beach, and he loves marshmallows, and would especially like a good marshmallow roast on the beach. Whenever he is found lurking in closets ready to frighten children in their sleep, don't worry, he's only looking for their marshmallows. So children, be sure to hide your Halloween candy this year, because he's coming...... Bahahahaha! 

Queen of Diamonds

Queen of Diamonds is complete. Her ocean floor is dotted with diamonds, and she's a little smug, but happy and prosperous. 

New table for the studio.

After some slight embarrassment with the office depot salesmen of how to figure out how to get this home in a trunk of a Toyota Corolla, and having to drive this home with the trunk open going 30mph,this is totally worth it.

The Alpha Female.

This piece was a blast to do, I love building animals with dynamic shapes. I also got out my metallic paints and played around with them in the background. I like to integrate the metallic paints in my work, when possible.

Unicat: The Alpha Female

A little something to add to my Unicat series: The Alpha Female. I was sitting on my couch and looking at the framed painting I did of the first Unicat, and decided he should be the Alpha Male, so this time I decided to start working on the Alpha Female, and no, these two are not a couple. 

Drawing of the week

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you: Jensen Ackles in Dark Purple Prismacolor, Colored Pencil on Canson paper.

Gallery Stroll: The Blonde Grizzly, Salt Lake City

Here are some highlights from the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" gallery opening, featuring some local artists.

Illustration Friday: Lost

"Ugh! Why don't these treasure maps ever properly represent this ocean floor? Now I'm totally lost!"

Monsters!

I wanted to take a break from this dreaded painting I've been working on and try to do something I haven't drawn before. I never knew drawing monsters would be so fun. 

Turtle Drawing 1

My sister and I were wandering the streets of downtown Denver, during the Comic Convention and were brainstorming some random ideas. Somehow turtles came to mind, so I thought it would be time to brush up on my drawing skills and focus on turtles before the fun part develops. For now I'm doing some detailed renderings of a variety of turtles to get a feel for anatomy and structure. I must say it's difficult to find great poses of turtles on Google. Not sure why. Turtles have such personality, it doesn't make sense, but whatever. I finished this one tonight. The shell was kind of a pain to draw, so much detail for a hyper-active person like me. I could have done this faster with a paintbrush, I guess. 

Last Night's Drawing

Remember last night when I was struggling to find some creative inspiration? This is what I came up with. Have no idea where this came from. My advice to artists, is you should set aside some time each day to draw from life or imagination. Even if you are on a tight schedule, 5 minutes is better than nothing. You never know what will happen. Even if it looks terrible it's so worth it.

Deck of Cards

Currently I'm building a set of face cards. It's rather tedious and time consuming. You've already seen the final work of my King and Queen of hearts, along with the other drawings. I've completed the sets of hearts and diamonds so far, without the ace. Those will come last, because they'll be easy. As far as publishing these, I have no idea how I'll do it. I'm thinking about building some prototypes which will require printing them myself on my little Epson Photo R280 printer. And the price of ink is insane, or finding ways to outsource, which will be more complicated. Only time will tell....

-Amber. 

Queen of Diamonds & Jack of Hearts drawings

I've decided to continue with my Face Cards designs.  I've finished compositional drawings for the Queen of Diamonds, and Jack of Hearts before they move on to final painting. I've decided to hold off on painting them, until I complete drawings for the remaining suits.

Drawing of the day: King and Queen of Diamonds

Now I'm on to developing the suit of diamonds for my face card designs. These drawings are possible ideas for the king and queen of diamonds. 

Jack of Hearts - drawing

I'm getting back to work on my prototypes. This is my drawing of the Jack of Hearts. Right now I'm working on the layouts for each card for this suit. Haven't come up with a composition for the back side of the deck yet. 

Today's Drawing

Okay, to be honest I drew this last Wednesday, but I scanned it today, so technically it's Today's Drawing. And I really HATE it when the scanner can't fit all the fins, but oh well. 

Decorative Painting: Peacock Feather

So. I was looking at my bare walls in my living room and thinking they need something. I'm an artist, and heaven forbid that I should have a boring looking house. That's where I came up with an idea. You know anytime you check into a hotel room, or fancy resort and you see all those "paintings" hanging on the wall? For the most part, they're just junk paintings or prints with cheap framing. And a lot of times they are images that represent the city you visit.  However there are those rare moments when I see "Hotel Art" that is actually decent, and looks as though the person in charge of purchasing decor for the room went the extra mile and bought actual fine art, rather than some "kitschy" piece of junk.  I never thought I would ever go this direction as an artist, but when the direction of the illustration market looks a little dim, it's always a good idea to market yourself as an artist, rather than narrow your market down to illustration. So, I've decided to try this decorative painting route. No, I don't intend on selling to Hotel rooms, but rather create paintings that can decorate the home. This painting is my first attempt. Basically I want to start with painting simple objects and make them look interesting. I love peacock feathers, in case you haven't noticed. They are one of the most beautiful natural things ever.  I'd like to start an Etsy account soon, where I can sell these decorative paintings, a long with prints of my personal work. 

Rocket Sauce in its Purest Form

No, no. Don't get excited. It's just another personal piece, but the exciting part is that is was inspired by one of the greatest power rock 'n roll trio's of all time. If you can guess which band it is, then you know me too well. Mostly it was inspired by a comment Actor Jack Black made about them on a documentary film. It was one of my favorite commentaries ever.  This kitty belongs to my Weird Creatures Museum project. He is part of the Unicat's in Space family. 

A memorable one

This was a piece I did a few years ago. All my work is available for making 8x10 prints. I run prints on Arches Watercolor paper and I'm also available for commission. Comment on my blog, send me a Facebook message, or sent me a tweet, if you are interested.

New Studio Setup

Now my studio is more ergonomically friendly. More room, better light, and more sunshine for the bird. :). Happy painting everyone! 

**Spoiler Alert!**

Most rock bands out there might take shots or videos of them working in the studio on their next album, but would rarely post audio clips of what they are working on, because they want the fans to be in suspense. It wouldn't make the anticipated album as fun. It makes for a clever marketing tool. I hope posting these drawings for my next illustration, won't ruin anything for you.  You will be in suspense because I'm not going to reveal what this is all about yet. As we know, The power-trio, Muse is already working in the studio on their next album. I was on Facebook today and saw a photo that apparently was posted on the band's Twitter page, but was deleted when they discovered the whiteboard behind the drummer that displayed a progress chart with the song titles, clear and legible. Oops.  Of course, it was too late because fans have already gotten a hold of it and have posted it to Facebook. Nice.  Anyway, I thought that was a great story and I couldn't resist sharing it here. I'm very excited about doing this next illustration. I can't wait 'till it's finished, and hopefully neither can you. 

-Amber. 

What I did this Weekend

This Saturday I went up to the Davis Arts Center in Bountiful for the Utah Southern Idaho Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Conference. I learned a lot, and it was great to meet new people and connect with old friends.  The best part was that we got to draw children of various ages in action. Since it's been a while since I've drawn from life, in motion, that is, these drawings are more like gesture warm-ups. Very loose. But we all know that as artists you must do this as much as you can, even if you may not be entirely satisfied with the drawings at first, it must be done, and the more we draw from life, especially when subjects are in motion, the better we get. The more we know. It was a friendly reminder to me that I need more practice.  I like to work with a fine point pen when I do gesture drawings. It's more fluid and gives better line quality, that you don't get with a pencil. 

**Attention All Artists and Writers!**

**If you haven't signed up, please participate!!!!! Sorry, should have posted this sooner, but you've got one more day to sign up**

Here is a letter from my friend Shawna. We really need more artists at the conference this Saturday:

Hi Friends,

Here's just another reminder that the SCBWI Illustrator's Conference is coming up on Saturday February 25th. So far, not a lot of people have signed up. We need people to sign up and attend so this conference can grow. Next year we are hoping to get a national art director to come, but this can't happen unless we get good support for the conference this year. So if you are sitting on the fence and haven't decided yet, come and attend this great conference. It's a great deal for the price! The more support we get, the more this conference will be able to grow in the future! Pass the word on to any friends that might be interested!

Here is the link with all the information about the conference:

http://drawingsunshine.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/scbwi-utah-southern-idaho-illustrators-conference-2012/

*$45 for SCBWI Members – $50 for others*

Checks can be mailed to Sydney Hussman, SCBWI, P.O. Box 1481, Layton, Utah 84041 or if you would prefer to pay with a credit card you can email Sydney at u.i.scbwi@gmail.com and she will send you a PayPal invoice. If you have any questions about the conference contact Regional Advisor, Sydney Hussman, u.i.scbwi@gmail.com or Illustrator Coordinator, Sherry Meidell, sherry@sherrymeidell.com

-- Shawna Tenney

www.shawnajctenney.com

New and Improved

Now this is more like it. They actually look like the come from the planet they belong to. Not sure what planet it is, but it's a place where goats and dogs can cross breed. 

More Fish!

I love to draw fish, in case no one has noticed. 

Title: To-Be-Announced.

This drawing is a composition for an upcoming illustration. Personal work, of course. Someday I'll have that commission. One more piece to add to the Weird Creatures Museum. 

Vampire Fish

I'm thinking about a series of Vampire Fish to add to my Weird Creatures Museum. 

Drawing of the day

This is another Uni-cat sketch for an upcoming 'Weird Creatures Museum' painting. 'Weird Creatures Museum' is a theme I came up with a few years ago. It started out as a portfolio theme, and I hope to turn it into an actual product line of prints, jigzaw puzzles, trading cards, face cards, stickers, etc....

Yesterday's Sketch

So. I was sitting in Church yesterday, and every time I look down at the carpet, I always see weird faces or weird characters in the patterns of the carpet. It's so weird how artists get inspired. Anyway, I was looking down at the carpet and saw this whole new world. This world consisted of all these weird animals with sort of angry expressions. Not sure how these popped in there during church, but whatever. The bad news about it is that I forgot most of those images halfway through the meeting, so by the time I could sketch in my book, this is what was left of it. If you are an artist, and have those moments of creators block, take a look at the floor in front of you. You might be surprised what images pop in your head. In some ways it's a better place to get ideas than staring up at the sky and finding shapes in the clouds.  And always, no matter what, have your sketchbook ready. 

All You Need Is Love

Hi There. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I have to say 2011 was one of the best Christmases I've had in a long time. Anyway I don't believe in making new years resolutions because I never stick to them. Instead I believe in making goals anytime during the year, and hopefully stick to them. I do hope that 2012 will be the year that great things will start to happen. I will try to be a frequent blogger and continue to put my art out there, somehow. Here is my latest work of art. I don't really know what it means. It was just a fun concept and design that I came up with, and I was listening to my iPod the other day, and 'All You Need Is Love' by The Beatles was playing, so I figured it would be a fitting title for the piece. Anyway I hope all you artists out there are hoping for the best this year and not giving up hope. I'm sure life begins for all of us artists sometime.