Taking on Inktober 2016

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Sarah

There’s this thing online called “Inktober,” where artists are challenged to do one ink drawing each day of the month of October. I’ve watched various friends (mostly from comics circles) take it on in the past. I decided I would give it a try myself this year. After all, I still have a supply of cards that I can use to draw on, which means I’m not trying to do large pieces.

Although most are doing black ink, I figured I would go with color, since I have several sets of marker pens with colored inks.

My first offering was done late last night. Working from an image taken from online of a brilliantly colored autumn maple, I focused on the placing of the color, rather than detail.

scribblerworks-2016-inktober-1

Related Images:

Council of Elrond Ring of Adonel sketch Russ Heath scribblerworks-2016-inktober-1 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-10 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-11 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-12
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Progress on a Cover Design

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Sarah

One of the things about having multiple projects in process is that you have to plan ahead. So, at present, while I work on the editing and writing of a couple of projects, I am also preparing a cover design for yet another one.

Letters from Home is a manuscript that I wrote while I was an undergraduate. It was, in part, inspired by something that C.S. Lewis says in the introduction to The Screwtape Letters. Lewis observed that “someone” should write the counterpoint to his devilish letters. Letters isn’t quite that – they are letters from someone who is at Home (Heaven) to someone (called “Beloved”) who is on the Road Home.

The cover design is just an illustration of part of the Road, going through the woods.

I’m doing it digitally, but it is in a pen-and-ink style.

Here’s the first stage:

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I had initially started out doing a sort of watercolor effect for the coloring aspect. I intended to then layer over that a “black ink” to define the images even more.

However, part the way into this, I realized that I liked the idea of the background trees to be lighter, since I wanted to indicate a “source of light” ahead on the road. So I started adding in “color inking” for additional detailing.

Which brings me to this stage of the work:

Letters-cover-test-2-copy

Little bit by little bit this is working toward what I want it to be. I have plenty of time, fortunately. Once the other writing projects are completed, I’ll turn my attention to Letters. Even then, the manuscript needs some rewriting and editing. This will take a while.

Related Images:

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An Early Cartoon Done in Photoshop

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Sarah

I don’t call myself an expert in Photoshop by any means. After all, just a few years ago, about all I could do was resize and save photos. So my early attempts at artwork of any sort in Photoshop were a bit on the feeble side. Or at least, the unpolished side.

The following cartoon was created for a client/friend that I was doing some web content writing for. He owns a computer repair business, and really knows his stuff. I know a little bit about computers, and very aware of what I don’t know. I may be the daughter of an electrical engineer, who taught me a few things about electrical appliances, but some aspects are still a mystery to me. This cartoon expresses a little bit of that feeling.

scribblerworks-cable-problems

Now, I’m one of those people who actually does sit down and look through the manual and/or instructions that come with my purchases of devices. And usually, I can figure out what goes where. But I do remember the sense of confusing mystery that came with the terminology of technology.

After listening to some of my friend’s stories about the problems some people brought to the shop, I realized there can be quite a tremendous gap between the End-User-With-No-Technical-Chops and the Computer-Tech-Expert. What seems quite simple to the latter can be a deadly mystery to the former (not that anyone in this day and age wants to admit to being in the category of the former).

Now, the cartoon was done in 2011 (as you can see in fine print there). In the five years since then, wireless connections have become even more prevalent. Many people these days have their printer plugged into the household computer network, and it is accessible by wifi, able to print from anything on the network that syncs with the printer. But… it was not always so. We still have to deal with some cables – even if they are mostly power and charger cords.

Related Images:

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Art for an Arveniem Story

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Sarah

In the last six years of learning SEO work, one thing that has come up over and over is that search engines, Google in particular, look for images on webpages, unique images. So, as I lay plans to post a short story from my fantasy materials on the Arveniem blog, I need to prepare images to go with the parts. 

First I ran into the glitch, that for whatever reason, the new laptop doesn’t like doing artwork in Photoshop. Oh, it will handle photos okay, but artwork? It’s an idiot child. So, I guess I’ll be keeping the old laptop for digital artwork, for now at least. Anyway – I learned this about the new laptop by starting to do a picture for the story.  

I finished off the image last night. I’m not claiming it’s a great work of art. It’s only intended to convey a bit of a moment in the opening sequence of the story. But for its purposes, I actually am pleased with it. (I still have to finish typing the story onto the laptop, doing some editing and rewriting before I post it, but I expect to get Part 1 up in a couple of days, with the other parts to follow at weekly intervals – which will give me time to get the images for each of those posts done quickly.)

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It’s not perfect — the sky’s a bit too light for early dusk, as are the foreground rocks. But mostly, it does what I want it to do.

Related Images:

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Dyikerah’s Wreath

Posted on May 8, 2016 by Sarah

After I created my Spring Floral Wreath, I started thinking about other possibilities for floral wreaths. The first thing that occurred to me was making one for my friend, Victoria Morris. She’s been a good friend through trying times for me, and I wanted to makes something to thank her for that. As I thought about it, I inevitably thought of her character, Dyikérah. Victoria has given me the privilege of reading some of her as-yet unpublished fantasy work. Dyikérah is associated with the colors of blue and purple and a touch of gold.

So, I thought to create a wreath that celebrates Victoria’s character – in floral wreath form, as it were. The first step was to select the supplies for the wreath.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-supplies

From left to right, the items are (according to their labels): a fern “bush”, then apple blossoms (blue), black amaranthus, blue hops, purple mini-daisy, two shades of dogwood blooms, and a black rose. At this stage, although I liked the selection, I admit that I was just a bit anxious about how it would shape up.

First, I create the hanging loop, and then place the base greens, in this case, the fern.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-stage-1

Next, because they are actually the key features for this wreath, I placed the amaranthus and the black rose.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-stage-2

Next, I added the dogwood blossoms. Because they are not very heavily laden with blooms, I started feeling a little anxious about whether the wreath would get filled out.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-stage-3

Next, I placed the purple flowers, with an eye toward filling in spaces and mixing with the blues. After that, the blue apple blossoms, and a few remaining stray dogwood flowers were placed on the wreath. Lastly, the hops blooms were added. The results relieved my anxieties about the composition.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-stage-4

The last touch was the black and gold ribbon, a collection of loops and streamers. The construction had been done on the flat surface, so to get the final evaluation, I had to hang the wreath on the wall. Once it was up, I was greatly relieved to find that it worked quite well.

scribblerworks-dyikerah-finished

I was very, very satisfied with the results. It’s everything I wanted it to be for Victoria. I have sent it on its way to her, where I hope it will inspire her for a long time to come.

Related Images:

Council of Elrond Gold Dragon Sam Jr. scribblerworks-card-firebird Zoe travel affected Zoe in clay 1 Zoe in clay 2
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Spring Floral Wreath

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Sarah

I’ve never been one to abide well with blank walls, so these last ten months in the rented room have been atypical. But the lack of much to look at (other than the Creature from the Black Lagoon and his companions Marshmallow the plushy llama and Gold Dragon) have been a bit dull. So I decided to create a floral wreath that I could hang with those no-damage hooks.

I went out to the local Michael’s art supply store to get the styrofoam ring and a mix of silk flowers. I also wanted some greens as a base.

scribblerworks-floral-wreath-supplies-1

I had gone in thinking I would be creating an asymmetrical design, and that I wanted to feature the color yellow. The small white daisies were chosen as filler, and the white & yellow narcissus blossoms to give a little variance to the strong yellow of the narcissus flowers on the far left. I wanted a rose as a feature, with a counter-color, and the pinky-peach of this one appealed to me. (If I’d been able to find individual stems of purple pansies, I’d have chose those, but the only ones in the store were “planted” in a hanging basket, which put them outside the budget.) Continue reading →

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Crosses from Coloring Book Designs

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Sarah

Back in the 1970s, Roger Burrows developed a whole batch of geometric patterns that he published as coloring books. I think I encountered them in the early ’80s. I know it was while I was in graduate school, in any case. Back when I had been in Fourth Grade, my teacher had introduced us to graph paper and the making of designs with crayons. I had gotten fascinated by symmetry and the designs for crosses using that.  That fascination transferred from graph paper templates to Burrows’ Altair designs.

These are some of the results of my playing around with his templates.

scribblerworks-Cross-1-copy

Of course, these templates also let me indulge in playing with color as well. Having a large set of colored felt-tip pens made for hours of coloring.

scribblerworks-Cross-2-copy

The variations are as many as you want to make them. But I keep coming back to crosses.

scribblerworks-Cross-4-copy

I’ll upload some of the non-cross designs in the near future. But here’s one more cross for now.

scribblerworks-Cross-5-copy

 

Related Images:

Council of Elrond Ring of Adonel sketch Russ Heath scribblerworks-2016-inktober-1 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-10 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-11 scribblerworks-2016-inktober-12
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More from James A. Owen’s Coloring Book

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Sarah

scribblerworks-james-owen-black-dragon-returnsEach of the pages in James Owen’s book All the Colors of Magic has fun challenges to them. He achieves many amazing effects with his pen and ink work. Putting color to those pieces that is worthy of them really pulls out my desire to do my best.

The next piece up is “The Black Dragon Returns”. I didn’t have a wide range of greys to make for the “blackness” of the ship, so I went with dark blue and purple along with the black.

I wasn’t entirely happy with that endeavor, and so I opted to try another page that I felt I would be very pleased with.

scribblerworks-james-owen-out-of-darkness“Out of the Darkness” has long-lost dragons falling out of the cloud-filled sky. I decided to color all the dragons the same fiery color mix, and make the sky clouds dark and purpley. That’s me and those strong colors again.

It is very restful to be going at these design challenges. I like playing with color.

Related Images:

Council of Elrond Gold Dragon James At Work Ring of Adonel sketch Sam Jr. Russ Heath scribblerworks-2016-inktober-1
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Joining the Adult Coloring Book Fun

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Sarah

I’ve actually enjoyed “coloring book” fun since … oh, the 1980s, when (as they were called then) Altair designs became available. I have done many of those (and will upload some of them shortly). Recently, the relaxation for adults of coloring lovely artwork by others has become a “thing”.

My friend, James A. Owen, has created some coloring books from the illustrations he did for his Young Adult fantasy series, The Imaginarium Geographica. Although I do enjoy the coloring and palate he uses himself when having his pen-and-ink works colored, for myself, I tend to go for a stronger, more intense palate. I have a propensity for saturated colors, not subdued ones.

scribblerworks-james-owen-london-sky-dragonsThe first of his drawings that I tackled was this one:

“Dragons in the London Sky” — James has taken many photographs of clouds at sunset, especially those which hint at dragon forms. I went with how the leading edges of cloud formations catch the colors of sunset, and then quickly melt into the darker shades of dusk. I also wanted to try for the intensely luminous lavender-blue that the sky holds for a brief time at dusk. Using marker pens, and a lot of stippling, I achieved an effect that I liked. It definitely helped to have original artwork that inspired me to attempt these effects.

After that piece I wanted to try something else. James had included one drawing chock full of detail, and so I decided to try my hand at it. I wasn’t quite as happy with it, because I don’t think I was up to the challenge of this one. Too many unexpected details caught me.

scribblerworks-james-owen-goblin-marketThe Goblin Market is, as I said, full of little details that surprise you when you look closely: Oh, the wizard and unicorn from The Last Unicorn, Gandalf sitting having a beverage, the fact that there’s more than steak and chicken on the grill in the foreground, Bone wandering along the pathway, and hey! the TARDIS in the background! And those are just for starters. It wasn’t easy to track all these things. But it was fun to try.

I figure two of these per post is a good way to start. No reason to over-whelm my post with several coloring book images at once.

It is relaxing to spend time coloring an appealing drawing, that’s for sure.

Related Images:

Council of Elrond Gold Dragon James At Work Ring of Adonel sketch Sam Jr. Russ Heath scribblerworks-2016-inktober-1
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Christmas 2015 Art

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Sarah

Things didn’t quite work out as I wanted this year, in that I couldn’t afford to do the Christmas cards I wanted. So instead, I satisfied my impulse by creating Advent cover images for my Facebook page. I didn’t quite do them on the clock, but I’ve enjoyed doing them.

They are digital pieces, and were inspired by a photograph I ran across of a nativity display that looked like flat pieces lit by ground lights and reflected on some water. I thought it would be fun to work with that look, and do something each week of Advent, telling the story of Christmas in images.

The first image was Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. (I’m putting the thumbnails in the post, because I forgot the images are wider than the blog width.)

2015-December-Advent-week-1-copy

The second image was the Angel speaking to the shepherds.

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The third image was the three Wisemen on their quest. For this one, I finally added a bit of light to the Christ Star.

2015-December-Advent-week-3-copy

I’ll add the fourth and final image on Christmas Eve (hopefully, I’ll get it done by then), and update this post, so that the whole set is all together for those interested in seeing them together.

UPDATE

Well, I didn’t exactly get the fourth image uploaded and posted by Christmas Eve, but better late (August 2016) than never.

The fourth image is everyone around the Holy Family, with angel and the full-blooming star in the sky above them.

2015-December-Advent-week-4-copy

Maybe this year (2016) I’ll be able to get back to doing my Christmas cards. But in the meantime, I can still appreciate my artistic celebration from last year. I hope you do too.

Related Images:

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