Friday, April 15, 2016

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. :)

10 comments:

MyLittleMegara said...

These are wonderful! You're such a talented artist and I love seeing your girls' work, too!

with Mel said...

Love your drawings! You are very good. Your eldest gal takes after you. Her rendition of Beauty with Beast's hand against her face is really lovely. I enjoyed the other two girls art as well. Thanks for sharing. I used to love drawing and then somehow it got crowded out. I still do computer art but haven't done any drawing in quite a while. It used to relax me, so I should get back to it ;)

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thanks, Mel! :) Glad you enjoyed our artwork. It's been so fun to see the girls' skill grow as they've gotten older and continued practicing. They may just pass me up one of these days. ;)

I understand about art getting crowded out. One of the reasons I wanted to start these blog posts was to keep myself drawing at least a couple of times a month. :)

Mark Patraw said...

That's a nice assortment of artwork from yourself, and your daughters! I like the MLP:FiM Shining Armor and Princess Cadance one the best out of the lot. I don't have any children, but I used to do various arts and crafts projects with two of my nieces, when they were younger, including drawing sessions, which they always seemed to enjoy.

Like you, I often use photographs as still-life reference models (although I usually employ books/magazines, or just my computer screen, rather than printing them out). In my opinion, photos are better than actual models because (1) they don't ever move and (2) the lighting/shadows never change.

I seldom draw anymore (other than reference sketches to work from when I model/sculpt), as I prefer to create in three-dimensions these days, but I did illustrate/paint two ATCs this month (Artist Trading Cards--small pieces of art that you exchange, via snail mail, with other artists around the country/world). In a previous blog post, you mentioned that you, and your husband, like Calvin & Hobbes, and that just happens to be the theme of the card that I made for a woman in Vermont:

kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/Calvin-and-Hobbes-ATC-603993859

And this frogs one was for another woman who is a fellow Michigander:

kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/Frogs-ATC-603994813

Since you also enjoy Disney stuff, I'll also share two models/sculptures that I've made this year. The first is a figurine of the Rocking-Horse-Fly from Alice in Wonderland (as it's a horse creature, of course, I had to add several MLP joke scenes).

www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=442485.0

And the second is an action figure of the Magic Broom from Fantasia (Sorcerer's Apprentice segment):

www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=445346.0

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Wow, Mark, your artwork is incredible! Thanks so much for sharing it here. :) I love your sculptures, too. Having only worked with paper and pens, I always find 3-D work fascinating.

And I love Rainbow Dash and your Rocking-Horse-Fly's interactions. ;) Especially when she's giving him the "different" options for his cutie mark. :D

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

I'm suddenly finding myself wanting to work with paper mache. ;)

Mark Patraw said...

I think you, and your daughters, would probably enjoy it! Papier mache is a very accessible, and inexpensive, art medium for people of all skill levels. I use white glue as the adhesive, but the old flour-and-water mixture works fine too if you don’t have any glue handy.

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Maybe that will be one of our summer projects. :)

maplelea said...

Love the post! You are an amazing artist, and it was fun to see your daughter's work too. I love the freehand ones of Judy!

Hannah Prewett (beastsbelle) said...

Thank you, maplelea! :)