Fan Art Friday

We've been super busy over the past few months, but the girls and I have managed a few art days. :) I thought it was about time I shared my first "Fan Art Friday" post here on the blog. :) I also thought it would be fun to share a little more about the materials I use for my art, so throughout the post, I've included links to my art supplies on Amazon.com. (These are not affiliated links.)

My first project was a sketch of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This episode (the two-parter at the end of Season 2) remains one of my favorites in the series. I thought it would be fun to try and capture them in ink and marker. :)

I started with a printed photo from the computer and sketched out the basic outline.

The picture...

...and the sketch. 

After I'd drawn it in pencil, I outlined everything with one of my "Pigma Sensei" art pens. (THIS is the set I use.)

Once I had the outline complete, I erased all of the pencil. (THIS is my favorite brand of eraser.) :)

Time for some color! As you can see from the picture, I switched to an image on my cell phone to get the colors as accurate as possible. My favorite markers (featured in the picture) are my Pentel Color Pens, a set of thirty-six. I've been using this brand of markers since I was about five years old, and they're still one of my favorite types of marker to use. :)

I also got a fantastic set of Sharpies from my mom and dad a couple of Christmases ago, which gave me a few more color options. :) (THIS was the closest I could find to the set I got.) ;)

I like arranging them in color families: 

Here are Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, all colored in.  

Because I didn't have a light enough pink for Princess Cadance, I used colored pencils for her body. The rest was done in marker, though.

(THESE are my favorite colored pencils, a gift from one of my Japanese exchanged students when I was a child. I also really like Prismacolor colored pencils. I have a set of forty-eight soft lead pencils that were a gift from a friend and art mentor.) :) 

So, overall, I'm pretty pleased with how these two turned out. I like Shining Armor better than Cadance. I ended up making her head a bit too wide, and her horn a bit too long, partially because I drew her a bit too far away from Shining Armor. I messed her mane up a bit, too. But for my first attempt, it's not too bad. ;)

I decided to play around with some colors and effects on Ribbet.com: 

Another project I tackled was a sketch of the Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I used to draw the Beast all the time when I was younger, and I wanted to see if I could pull off another sketch of him now that I'm older. :)

This is the print out I chose to use from the computer. I love how expressive his face is in this picture.

I started with a very basic outline... 

...then slowly started to fill it in. 

I have to say, drawing this guy again was like revisiting an old friend. My pencil knew exactly where to go. I still had the pattern of his fur, his eyebrows, and even the design of his goatee memorized. :)

I was pleased with him overall, but I decided I wanted to bring his right eyebrow (on the left of the page) down just a little more.

A comparison of my drawing and the original. As you can see, I messed up the angle of the head a bit.

Here he is with the adjusted eyebrow. The difference is slight, but the result is much better. And he doesn't look so bad when he's not next to the original picture. ;)

Time to fill in some details!

This time around, I decided to do a pencil sketch instead of a colored picture. It was fun figuring out the light and shadow needed to bring the Beast to life. 

All done!

And a couple from Ribbet (I cropped the photo and played with the lighting a bit):

I also had a few abandoned fan art sketches this past month.

I've been wanting to try to draw some of the characters from the live action version of Disney's Cinderella. 

This is a far as I got on this one. (Kit's face is all wrong!) 

And this is as far as I got on a portrait of Prince Kit before giving up. Maybe I'll attempt him again another time. ;)

In preparation for Mount Hermon, I worked on a sketch of concept art for some of the characters from my second book.

The initial sketch...

...and the beginnings of the ink outline.

I wasn't completely happy with how the outline turned out. But it wasn't a total loss. All I had to do was re-draw the parts I didn't like, outline and color them separately, and then attach them with acid free photo splits:

The final product...almost. The parts I redid? The redhead's head, the child's head, and both cloaked figures. :) Later, I went into Ribbet.com and blurred out some of the paper lines.

Back in high school, I developed my own set of cartoon characters, which I used to make cards and artwork for friends and family. I haven't shared them online until now, but thought it was time to play around with them again.

Here's a pen and ink sketch of a cartoon family. 

A closer look at the human characters.

And a slightly blurry rendition of them in marker. ;) I kind of wish I hadn't done the freckles, especially on the mom. It's really hard to do freckles in marker without them bleeding into the rest of the marker. :( 

Now, on to some fan art from the girls. :)

Zootopia was a big hit in our house, as you know from our movie review. Little Gal did pictures of Nick and Judy:

Nick was traced from a printed picture.

Judy was drawn freehand.

Here's Middle Gal's version of Judy, drawn freehand.

Oldest Gal didn't do as much artwork as the rest of us, but here's her sketch of Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Little Gal and Middle Gal were in major drawing mode these past few months. ;) Here are some of their favorite creations:

Lizzy and Mr. Darcy from the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, drawn by Middle Gal.

Jane and Mr. Bingley from the same movie, drawn by Little Gal.

A picture of a horse jumping across a stream, drawn for me by Little Gal. :)

A pretty lady, drawn by Little Gal.

A sad girl, drawn by Middle Gal. :)

I hope you enjoyed this look at our artistic endeavors from the past few months. :) Have a wonderful day, and happy drawing to you all.

Have some fan art or just regular artwork of your own to share? Leave a link in the comments below. We'd love to see it! :)

All links to products on Amazon.com are NOT affiliated links. Opinions expressed about art products are my own. :)