08.20.13 More Dancing, More Drawing!!

Hi there!
Thanks for stopping by!  This week I'm posting more dancing drawings--I got to draw a dancing workshop that was put on by Company BLU, a totally amazing dance company from Italy.  Here's a link to some youtube videos of them:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRsckd-yAjI

They were so nice and fun to work with! I love drawing dancers because even when they are just standing around talking to each other they can't help but move.  They either stretch an arm or kick a leg or something--they don't even realize they are doing it--I love it! Here are some pages from my sketchbook:

Stretching Sketching!

I really like how the figures all work together in these to spreads.  I have a lot more, of course, but for the sake of time and space I will move on to the movement sequences I made:

Company BLU, 2013

Dancing Arms, 2013

Twirling, 2013

I really love what I've been able to do with movement within this project.  I am going to be able to draw classes at the U next month and I'm so excited!!!  Here are some solo figures....I suck at titles so I'm just calling them "Solo..." and then a number....I know, boring.  But I'm not relying on the title to say what I want, so I guess it's not super important.  Anyway, here's some solo pics for you:

 I love the very different feeling these two images have. They perfectly illustrate how important body language is in conveying how we feel, which is one of my favorite things about drawing people and characters.....and one of the goals of this project.

  So here is the poster for the Company BLU show that was here.  I love how it turned out and I can't wait to do more:

  Well! It was really fun to share with you but I have to get right back to work.  I'm getting so near the end of this coloring book, I can see the finish line!!!  And once that's done, I have a whole other project in line to take its place. Sigh, my life is so full of......work. And that's a GOOD thing!  (:  Every time I make one of these coloring books I feel like I'm 9 again, when I would color in coloring books and think:  "I could do this.....and I would do it much better!"   I was so right on, dude.  Life is so funny.  (:
  Oh wait, before you go here is a fun, fun pic of me and my two friends who just got legally married in MN (we are SO the best state in the union!!!!)

So blurry but so fabulous! 

We had so much fun!  I love those guys!  And then there was this awesome indie music/art/comic convention here in Minneapolis, called Autoptic, which reunited me with all my college buddies from every spectrum of my MCAD life.  OMG, art school memories.....hee hee hee....
SIGH.....I had such a great weekend.  :-D
Come back next week for more art from me for you!!
Love, Beckarooooo!!!!

08.12.13 Line Drawings!

Hi there!
SO....as stated many times previously I'm working on stuff I can't post right now.... because of that I've decided to re-post some of my line drawings--I always just scan them and tuck them away immediately upon finishing them so when I was moving a couple of weeks ago I was surprised to see how many I've so far accumulated--WAY too many to post all of them, which is a shame, so I just went through and picked out a few to share.  I think I could tile an entire wall with them now....
  The reason I don't usually post these is because they are just the first step in my process and so I tend to view them as unfinished and therefore not worthy of posting on their own.  However, I've recently changed my point of view:  these simple, black and white line drawings are a perfect way to highlight my drawing skills b/c there is nowhere to hide laziness or bad drawing.  For example:

"Trio, Journeying"  2012   from "Hero's Journey" 

 So, as you may notice in the above image, there is very little depth and all the lines are blending together.  But if you take the time to look closely you will see that everything is working together technically and compositionally and it did end up looking fabulous when it was done...which you can see on my tumblr. (link at the end of this post!)

"The Chandelier, lines"  concept art for "The Phantom of the Opera" 2013

"The Masquerade, lines"  2013  concept art for "The Phantom of the Opera"

The above two images for "The Phantom of the Opera" are really good examples of how you can't cheat with simple black and white lines.  I say "simple" but really, there was nothing simple about these two images.  It was months of drawing to be able to draw this space (which I've never seen in real life, BTW)  at this level of detail--tons of research, tons of sketching.  Okay it was more like two years of that before I could draw it this well....sometimes it takes that long--and have you looked at how ornate this space is?  There is something on everything.  And I can draw this space off the top of my head now so THERE!!

  So, as simple as black and white lines may seem, they are very difficult, very specific and unforgiving BUT ultimately very rewarding. When I found these again after months of not looking at them, I was pretty happy with how my skills have developed. (:

"L'Ennui, lines" 2012

This image has been re-blogged so many times!  People really like seeing images of pretty people being sad, apparently.  But she's actually more bored than anything, hence the title. 

 Boredom can be torturous, trust me on that.

"The Frog Prince, lines" 2012

  This is an image that has yet to be finished...I should get on it!  It's already half-way done, actually, but then another project came up and I sorta forgot about it...it happens!!  It's on the list of things to do when I have some extra time...whenever that may be.

"The Princess and the Dragon, lines" 2013

  And my original fairy tale:  The Princess and the Dragon.   I love how this one looks--you should print it, color it like a coloring page, scan it and email it to me!  That's my favorite thing about making coloring books--each year I send one around to all my friends to color in.  You're never too old to enjoy coloring books.  At least I'm not.

  Well, I'm off to work on more coloring books, line drawings, fairy tales and what-not.  I love it.  Really.  This is exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up....I hope when I finally do grow up I'm still doing this.
 :-P  before I go I will post these two images:

After!  

4.5 inches!!

I highly recommend cutting all your hair off.  It's SO liberating and refreshing and a new haircut is the perfect complement to a new apartment.  Everyone go and cut all your hair off!!!  :-)
  You can see all these images in their finished state (except for the ones I told you I never finished!) on my tumblr:
http://beckylaff.tumblr.com
Be well friends, and thanks for the visit....back to work now.  (:
Love, Beckarooo!

07.31.13 Comics, process and posters!

Hi there!
Well, I've finally found some time to post and it was really hard because I am SOOOOO busy right now and I'm also moving tomorrow on top of all of it.  Exciting!!

This year I decided to submit a comic to the City Pages annual Comix issue.  I only heard about 3 days before the deadline so I had to come up with and execute this very quickly and I'm happy with what I did!  In fact, one of my former professors from MCAD--who was famous for being extra harsh and stingy with the A grades--he liked it!  What a compliment! SIGH.....So ..... I'm happy.  :-)))   Anyway, I approached this with the idea that this one-page comic would be exemplary of my storytelling style, a piece that just says what I'm about as an artist. And, yes, I met the deadline.  Because MCAD-ers ALWAYS meet or beat their deadlines.
  AND .... I kept track of the process for you:

Here is the sketch that I used for the layout for the final lines.

Here are the inked lines.  I will say this, even though a line drawing like this is very flat, there is no-where to hide bad drawing.  So feast your eyes on my totally naked and exposed skills!!

"The Swing" 2013

    Immediately, upon finishing this piece I realized how many pieces I've done lately that involve light, either looking up at, reaching toward it, flying toward it, etc.....I guess I will call this my period of "light" when I look back as an old, old artist, retired in the desert somewhere.  The landscape there is so gorgeous.

  As I was going through all my art stuff, packing for the move, I found my ever-growing stack of inked line drawings which is fun to rediscover.   Once I'm done with a drawing and I scan it, I just put it away immediately and forget it and I have now amassed quite a collection of really nice black and white line drawings....I think next week's post will be a line-drawing retrospective!  Which will be good b/c I have been working on the annual coloring book and set of posters for Columbia Children's Theatre in Columbia, SC.  Since I'm still in the ideate-ing part of the process I am only posting these three (of 15), all of them are going to be posters, eventually....

"Puss in Boots!"  One of my favorite fairy-tale characters!  I based him on my cat, Christopher-Robbin, who is my own puss-in-boots!

"Snow White!"  Character design challenge of the year:  The Seven Dwarves.  Success: achieved,

I love this image of Snow....I'm torn about which one should be the poster image....thoughts?

  Well, I'm overwhelmed and stressed out but most of all SUPER excited to move to my new apt tomorrow!  I have been saving a bottle of mead just for this occasion....Have you tried mead?  OMG, it's good and I don't even like wine, particularly.  Try it!  And come back next week b/c I promise, promise, promise I will post something!

  As you go along with the rest of your day, I will leave you with this pic of me sitting in a tree.  A tree-house, like The Swiss Family Robinson is where I'd REALLY love to move....but where I'm moving has a lot of leaves in the windows and I have an excellent imagination so.....it'll do....for now....(:

Thanks friends of mine on the internet!  It's always nice to have a visit.
Be well!
Love, Beckarooooo

07.16.13 Summer Days...

Hi there!
Although I am deep in the middle of a big project right now for the Columbia Children's Theatre Company in SC, I've managed to make a few illustrations that I can show you right now!
  Since I've started working more with dancers and drawing movement I decided to try something different with portraiture.  Okay, so, yes, inspired a little by Harry Potter, I thought if I used 3 images to show a few moments in time, the portrait would feel more real, more meaningful to the viewer.  A series of sequential moments in time as opposed to just one still image of a face or body is a much more effective way of conveying the subject's energy and personality, their presence, you know what I mean?
Here is the first one I did:

Caroline and the Dandelion, June 2013

 This is a series of images of the little girl I nanny for in my day job as a nanny.  (it's the best job in the world!)  She is such a treat.  Everyone says I'm biased but I swear she is the cutest and sweetest baby I've ever met!  She's going to day-care soon and our time together is coming to an end.  :-(  So I've been dealing with my sadness by making art about it!  Here's an image of one our favorite activities and our favorite songs!

Becky and Caroline by the Mississippi River, June 2013

Sigh, such a great job!  I can't believe I get paid for that!  So on to the next portrait.  This one is of my mom's dead dog, Patty.  I think with animals, this "motion-portrait" (I'm tentatively calling these) is most effective b/c they use body language primarily for communication.  My mom agreed.  She cried when she saw this, which is the best complement an artist can receive.  :-)
These three images effectively capture Patty's sweet charm as she wakes up from a nap:

Happy Birthday, Mom! Love you!!! :-)

So, even though I'm working on a big project, I'm still developing other stories and characters all the time.  For a comic artist/writer/creator, whatever you want to call what I do, it is crucial to keep developing other stories all the time--stagnation is your enemy!!  This is a character that has been on the back-burner for a long time but she's popped back into my head recently--she must want to come out!  I love her so much! She's always been called "Penguin Girl" and she has a winged duck-billed platypus as her side-kick.  But that isn't the best part about her--well, first off here's what they look like:

She has the coolest power of all super-heroes, ever, which is that she understands and can therefore manipulate the very fabric of reality.  This gives her a power that is limited only by her imagination.  Her powers are all based in math and she's SO good at math that she's taken it to a whole other level--a level that allows her manipulate the very world around her.  She likes to travel via wormhole and so do I, so we have that in common.  I really love this character, so I decided to resurrect her and begin working more on her story.

The last image I will share with you this week is a little assignment I gave myself.  Here it is:

Paris Opera House, Grand Escalier

The goal here is just to become comfortable with the lighting and color in this space.  I'm pretty happy with it--if it weren't just practice I would take it a little further but I'm saving that effort for the real art, which will come later.  This is in the evening so the light is very yellow but my next assignment is to color the same space but lit by daylight though the skylight, instead of gaslight.  This will make the space seem a lot more blue, overall, FYI.

Well!  I will end this post with a fun summer-time pic!  Too much work does not keep me stuck inside!  Summer fun time!

Dancing in a cemetery!  

Ahhh....being an artist and a nanny makes life seem like kindergarten all the time and I love it!  I hope you enjoy the work I'm making as much as I love making it. I'm excited to share the stuff I'm working on right now but I can't--I just can't until September!!  it's such a struggle. :-P
 Thanks for the visit, friends!
Love, Beckaroooo!!!

06.17.13 Dancing Drawings!

Hi there!
  I had such a great week!  I got an amazing opportunity to sit in on a group of incredibly talented dancers as they rehearsed.  I've mentioned before that I really love to draw movement so this was like a delicious treat!  The dancers were really happy to have me there and they were, I was told, some of the best dancers in the Cities.  I believe it because wow, they could move and twirl and get right up on the tippity-points of their toes without toe-shoes or anything.....I suck at dancing, FYI.  BUT!  I love to draw it! I'm hoping to it again in the near future because I got so many excellent drawings out of it, I don't know what to do with them all!  I filled 12 pages in my sketchbook!!  I was really inspired by the whole process and have been super-productive ever since!
 I think that I find dancing so fun to draw because everyone has their own unique way of moving and dancing is the most keen example of this.  If you do some people-watching and pay attention you will see this is true. (The only exception I can think of is twins--I'm a twin and the last time I was with my sister I noticed that we mirror-image each other with our movements, which I thought was cool.  Being twins is fun!)  Consequently, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they move--this is a tool that animators, comic artists, dancers and actors all use.
  I have so many drawings to share that I'm only going to post this one spread from my sketchbook.   I haven't figured out what to do with these figures, yet, but I still really like them:

 The first thing I really wanted to do was create a spread of figures that would draw your eye all around the page and create a nice sense of movement for your eye, as if your eye is also dancing!   Here's what I did:

As I was working on these, I realized that I had drawn enough of their choreography to create some movement sequences.  I love these so much.

I don't have a lot to say about these except that I love them and am going to make more.  Lots more!

There are a few figures I drew that I felt were strong enough to stand on their own...no pun intended--hee hee--I have a lot more than these to work out but so far, this is what I've got for you:

I can't wait to do another set of dancing drawings!  I still have more to work with but I also have other projects I'm working on, too--this was a lovely little diversion because the opportunity arose suddenly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my dance-y drawings as much I did making them!  My work is never done!!  which is a good thing b/c I don't think  I would know what to do with myself otherwise...stare into space?  What do people who don't make art DO with their time?  For reals, I have no idea.  Tell me!!

Thanks for the visit!
Be well and come back again--no pressure, though, come back only if you really want to!
:-)

Love, Beckaroooo!!!

5.27.13 Comics, Cats and Squirrels

Hello There!
I have not posted very much this month and that sucks, I know.  I'm not between project anymore and now I'm really busy and haven't had a lot of time to post or do much of anything but work on stuff--that's how my summers usually go, so I was prepared for this!  Plus, I am working on some really fun stuff.  I love drawing. (-:
  A couple of weeks ago I was at the ComiCon here in Minneapolis and it was really fun.  I was reminded of my love of mainstream comics and all things Batman.  A couple of years ago I had a really annoying sexist experience, nothing new but it was the limit for me and I vowed that day that I would never draw a mainstream book or character again--except for Disney because it's Disney!!--and I have kept this vow because I'm a girl of my word.  However, I decided it had been enough time and it's just for fun so why not?  So, I made this image for a friend of mine, who's been wanting me to make him a Supergirl for a LONG time!

Supergirl!! 

That turned out nicely, so I decided to make an image of MY favorite character, Catwoman!  I prefer Catwoman in her 90's incarnation, in the purple suit.  She was such a badass then.  She lived in a penthouse and when she went out at night to steal jewels and such, she would just leap from her balcony and fly through the city with her whip, Spider-Man style!!  With that idea in mind I made a few sketches.  I used to draw Catwoman all the time but, since I refused to draw mainstream characters for so long, I had to get back in the groove.  But it didn't take long to loosen up:

I normally wouldn't post a page from my sketchbook like this but a friend of mine insisted that this is the sort of thing people like to see...But, anyway, note that I chose my favorite pose and inked only that one....I may mess around with the others later...probably not, though.

I love how this turned out!  I used the Chicago skyline because Gotham City is originally based on Chi-town.   But, really, how amaze-balls is Catwoman?  She's got night-vision goggles in her mask.  I like this one way better than Supergirl.

Then, I met up with another friend and asked him who his favorite badass DC heroine? Because I'm a DC kinda girl. He said Wonder Woman!  Like he'd been waiting for me to ask him this whole time.  So, I let him art direct me a little, which was a lot of fun.  He even acted out the pose--he was very specific about this image!! And here is the end result:

Diana, Queen of the Amazons!!

I think she turned out nicely, I don't think I've ever drawn Wonder Woman before and  I want to do another, more action-oriented pose...when I have time...maybe next fall?

Anyway, a strange thing that happened this last week is that Marvel's totally obscure X-Man character, Squirrel Girl, came up in conversation, randomly three different times with three different people and they all started this way:  "Hey, Becky, have you ever heard of that X-Man character, Squirrel Girl?"  How strange is that?  At first I thought they were in cahoots but it turned out that that was not so.  But, I was, three times, reminded of MY "Squirrel Girl,"  Rabbit St Cloud, who I haven't thought about in a while...She's still up to no good, FYI.  So I decided to make a nice cameo portrait of her and her little friends, who are WAY cooler than Marvel's squirrels. I might add. Here's the first sketch:

First I drew the profile and then, months later I drew in the squirrels and now, months later, I'm about to finish it....that's how it goes sometimes!

Rabbit St. Cloud.
I am really happy with how her character is evolving.  (:
 

 WELL, I just finished a big chunk of work and now I'm ready for a nap.  I love sleep.  So much.  And lately, I've been noticing that the solutions to my creative problems are solved in my dreams about 85% of the time. The more sleep, the better...and it also is really good for your skin.  Bonus!
Thanks for the visit!  Enjoy your time on the inter-webs!
Next Week:  More Joseph Art!!
--Beckaroo!

05.07.13 May Day in Minneapolis!!

Hi there!
  This last week I've been trying to get back in touch with what I love the most about drawing and being an artist.  Once you start making work professionally, it can be easy to forget those things.  Whenever I have a break between projects, or I am waiting hear about a few projects (like I am, right now!) I try to take that time to just have fun with my gift because it makes up for the rest of the time when being an artist just means you don't quite fit in--except for with other artists, of course!! :-)
  My favorite thing to draw has always been movement--which is why I was initially interested in animation, as opposed to comics, but then I changed my mind b/c I like the challenge of story-telling much, much more.  At MCAD I took a really awesome class about drawing the figure in motion--there's a whole technique to it, did you know??-- It was one of my favorite classes and so, this week, I decided to do just this--draw the figure in motion--and lucky me!--in Minneapolis we had the May Day Festival which is this weird Pagan/Native American mish-mash ceremony to welcome the Sun every Spring. It is so fun--a HUGE pageant with puppetry and costumes and a parade and lots of street performers, arts-and-crafters and, of course $5 cups of lemonade!!  So I decided to head out there and focus on drawing people, specifically, because I'm often distracted by cute, aquatic birds--I'm sure you know what I mean! :-P
  Here are some drawings from The May Day:

The first thing I came across were these two girls swinging on swings--their scarves and skirts were so pretty , fluttering in the wind.  So I drew them.  Because that's what you do when you see something beautiful and you can draw.

Then I really lucked out!  This lovely lady was dancing with a hula hoop and check this out--even though she was dancing right there, a photographer wanted to take a picture of me drawing her, instead of her actually dancing--how flattering is that?  I think drawing in public is probably the best thing for my ego! :-P

  These next drawings are of the actual pageant--mostly I watched it so I didn't draw a TON of it but I like what I got.  I loved the design of animal costumes!  I could get into a whole thing about the Art-Historical influences on the designs but I won't here--if you really want to know how obsessive I can be about Art History you can always just ask me but I won't force it on you..... But, really--you must learn your history or you are doomed to repeat it!!!  And there are some really ugly "works of art" out there.

I love, not only the design of the masks, but the way the fabric of the feathers, wings, and fur moved with the performers. 

This sketch needed a little color!  This was the last part of the ceremony when the final gigantic puppet was raised out of Powderhorn Lake and  the crowd screams "Welcome, Sun!!"  So fun and colorful and since then--nothing but sunshine--it SO worked!!

So....I promised you ducks last week and here you are:

Also two Penguins!

I love aquatic birds.   Ducks and Albatrosses are my favorites!  We don't get any Albatrosses around here but I've seen at least three different kinds of ducks so far this year.  Mallards are a sentimental favorite--I love their emerald heads.  Also, ducklings?  The Cutest of the Cute!!  I would LOVE to be a duck.  SIGH....maybe someday... :-P

I will close today's post with some sketches I made inspired by art from the book  "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Expury.  This was one of my favorite books growing up and also one of my favorite cartoons!  I love the simple, sweet message.  Everyone should read this book.  Also the art is charming, which is why I decided to have some fun with it:

I love the colors and the simplistic design.  Sometimes the very simple things carry the most meaning--which is something I learned from reading this book!

Here is what happens when I get too focused on details.  you may not see the subtle  differences in these poses but it's all I can see...sometimes I have to just stop myself before I fill several pages of the same drawings with only slight differences.  It can and has driven me crazy!!!

  Well, I've been really enjoying my vacation from structured, time-sensitive projects!  I am going to make more motion drawings in the future because they are so fun and the outcome is always pleasing.  And with that in mind, I will close this post so that I can get back outside to enjoy the sunshine and draw more strangers moving all about....they love it! and so do you. (:
  Thanks for the visit to my studio--I hope you've enjoyed the fruits of my boredom this week! (I do!!)   :-D
Be well and stop by whenever...but let me know first--I hate pop-ins!!
:-)
Love, Beckarooo!!