Whoa

So, I'm not feeling the format of blogger anymore. I'm finding tumblr way more effective and easier to post. SO I'm not going to delete this blog, but everything new will be on my tumblr.

imaginarycolleen.tumblr.com

It's just easier. Thanks for following me/finding me here and I hope to see you on tumblr.

WoooHooo

I got into the Dragon*Con art show. Now I have so much work to do in a month. Brain = exploding!

This pretty much guarantees I will be posting more frequently with updates of all the work I finish,  since nothing gets me going than a fast approaching deadline. I actually might post a finished piece tonight.

Over and out for now.

I'm So Bad At Updating This Year

So ok, I totally suck at updating.

I have two new finished boards scanned and cleaned up. I have one waiting in the wings to be photographed because it is too big for my puny scanner baby and I have two in progress boards. I have some models lined up so hopefully I will have a good amount of new pieces. I want to start working bigger but until I find a reliable way to scan/photo them with the right about of detail it'll be sticking to smaller sizes.

First up we have Athena, goddess of wisdom. This is going to be the cover of a book of poems that will come out later (actually no idea when if the book is still going through. this seems to happen to me a lot.) Oh well. I love it.

Next we have The Pale Man. If you remember the books Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, you will clearly see where my inspiration for this came from. I mean those books in general really. 

And that's it for today. I've really got to try to update more regularly. Stupid work being all workie and paying me to do stuff and stuff. 

Over and Out.

Back From The Oblivion of Real Life (WHOA way to be dramatic much)

Alright kids, it's been BUSY! My IRL job hours are erratic at best though the inconsistency is quite consistent. My art life has been busy as well.

For the past few months, I was gearing up for Lunacon (a SciFi convention in Upstate NY). Those Lunarians put on a good show, so if you are itchy for a con to go to in early spring, that's a good one. Anyway, I like to show my work in their art show. This year was different. I had a fair amount of new work from the previous year. So first three days of the show, there are no bids on my work for the auction. Day three and wham bam thank you ma'am, I sold pretty much all of my original work. Not only that but I wont Judges Choice for Body of Work. SO AWESOME! Here is one of the newer pieces I showed.



This week, I applied to Dragon*Con. I mean if conventions are the venue that work with me than great. I love nerds because I am one. I'm also trying to figure out the possibility of getting a table at Comic Con NY.

I'm also working on a book cover for Greece.org, no idea when/if it will be published but yay! I have lots more work to post and scheduled time to post it.

I'm also working on starting a mood board blog, I really dont want to waste paper so if I put all the images that inspire me in one place I can find it any time.

Well, the shoestring licorice, Buffy (of the slayage kind) and my latest scratchboard are calling. Over and out.

Winterfell aka Jaybird Forrest aka Happy Trees

I finally finished this guy. Took me months and months. This piece was too painful to look at for a while and then it became a way of coming to terms with some bad things that went down. I'm so glad I finished it.

I just started a new piece today, it's about a 1/4 done. Will hopefully get a chance to post progress after work tomorrow but most likely as not. It's the first in a series of weird moody dramatic portraits of mutants who have just come into their powers. I'm starting out with a Pyro but not Pyro since my mutant can start the fire on his own, plus my mutant seems to have more um feelings as it were. Anyway hope to get it done asap so I can start on the next one. A telepathic girl.

I'll close out today with the coloring I've been playing around with. Enjoy.
Over and out.

Sketches, Covers, Portraits and Making Up For Lost Time

Hey there kids, I guess it's been awhile. I finally got my hands on a new sketchbook. Life has been a little crazy this summer, maybe when it gets cold and I don't want to be outside all the time I'll post more often. Anyway. I did some work for a friend and I got paid with a new intuos4 wacom tablet. It is so cool. I've been trying to get back the skills I had in school on this thing, so I've been doing portraits of myself since I'm a convenient model. This is my latest one, it might be turned into one of three labels for jams my friends and I are making to enter into the County Fair. Precious, right? Anyway, I really like how it turned out. I think these are my new favorite colors right now.



Here is the in-progress of another book cover I am doing for a friend. It's for a poetry book about Athena, so naturally the subject is on the cover. I like where it is going, let's hope I knock this one out of the park because I want my friend's book to sell really well.



So back to the new sketchbook. For some reason I've been on a portrait/landscape kick as of late. I'll post the landscapes when I finally get around to photographing them, but for now here are two of the portraits. The first one is a whacky skewed perspective of myself (my mirror was at a weirdo angle). I really love how it turned out. The second is my friend Mary from memory. It looks like her and doesn't look like her, but that's how memory goes.





These last two sketches are of Spiro during one of our Junk Yard Dates. They are the best kind of dates. I get to take tons of photos and make sketches of interesting things and he gets to pull random parts out of cars. Then a lovely shared romantic lunch in the back of a pick-up. Go sketching from life!





That's all for now. I have some finished work I need to photograph, so I'll post that soon. Over and out.

First New Post In For-Ev-ER

So life kind of caught up with me there for a little bit, so no real time to update this guy. Anyway, a lot is going on. I got hired to do a few book covers. Mostly just work for hire collage work, but one of the covers is my original work. It's my first real legit, getting paid for job. Sorry to all those folks I barter with, those are real jobbie jobs too. On that note, I have two new flyers to post. Both shows are well past, but that's ok too.





Also recently, I designed a tattoo for a friend of mine. I can only post the artwork now, because I can't seem to remember my camera when I see him. Hopefully I will have awesome shots of the finished product and I will post them as soon as I can. Ok kids, back to work. I'll post the finished book covers when they tell me I can. Hopefully soon.



Over and out, space cadets!

Flyer

Finished up another flyer for my friend Bob. I really like how this one came out. I think it actually might be my favorite. It just all came together in this one. I'm really happy with it and I hope the show has a large turn out.

I started a new scratchboard, yeah I know a week before Lunacon, but it's a present for a friend.

Over and out.

Totally Slacking On Posts, A Travesty

I really need to get back on the horse of posting often. This time round, I've got two new flyers and a quickie scratchboard (i did it in 3 hours, which is a fraction of the time I usually spend on a project).

This first flyer I did for my friend Bob, his band the Chariots were playing. I think it's pretty effective. I got my point across cleanly and the turn out was good. I really need to start signing my flyers or putting my website at the bottom.



This flyer I did for my friend Michelle. She and a partner put on a dance/music night in DC. I got mixed reviews on this flyer. I like it, but some people didn't. Can't please everyone.



Lastly, a quickie scratchboard I did for a forum thread about H.P. Lovecraft and Cthulhu in art. I like it. I think if I had spent more time on it then it would have been much tighter.



Ok space cadets, that's enough for today. I have two large scratchboards at the point of completion but there needs to be a kinkos trip to scan them. I am not at all equipped to take on projects of that magnitude with my scanner. Over and out.

Trickster Series Is Complete

Last but not least in the series, the Hare/Rabbit. Found frequently in folk tales of south eastern America. Think Br'er Rabbit. I think the colors worked out well on this one. They print really well at least.



I suppose this means I need to color the first one in the series. I'll get on that tomorrow. Over and Out.

Two More Scratchboards, Now In Color!

So this long snowed in weekend has led me to be quite productive.

First we have the second in the Trickster series. This time it is the Crow, found in many of the North Western tribes' folklore. I really like the color work I did here. It's the first time I have worked with color in my personal work in a long time.



Next we have a steam punk jet pack girl. I mostly did this to try and sell at Lunacon. Nerds like steampunk, right? Duh. Anyway, another trip into color. I'm not sure I like the color work here as much as I like it for the above piece. Might need a little more playing around.



Coming soon, I have to finish coloring the last in the Trickster series and finish up a half way done scratch board. I'm on pace to definitely reach my goal amount of work for Lunacon. Over and out.

Trickster Archetype 1: the Coyote

It's been a long time since my last post, it is a disgrace I know. To make up for this egregious mistake, I bring you a finished board and a new flyer and my life in sketches tomorrow. So much to get done before March, but I can do it. This board is the first in a tryptic about the trickster archetype in native american culture. The Coyote is an archetype found in the Hopi indian and other SW tribes. Next on the list is the Raven, native to the Inuit and other northern tribes. Last will be the hare, found in the Cherokee and SE tribes.



More tomorrow, good night. Over and out.

Poe Done

I actually really like how this one turned out. I'm starting on the Tim burton in the next few days... when I get the time to sit down and actually do it. I hope they all go as well as this.

Over and Out.

Two New WIPs

First, we Jenny Greenteeth. I started this a week ago, but I haven't found time to just finish the last bits off. I need to decide whether I want to make the water/grass to look more realistic or more geometric/patterned/stylized. It's a blurry photo, but the board was just slightly too big for my scanner.




Next is the start of a series of portraits of people who have influenced me in some way. So far on the list is: Poe, Tim Burton, Elvis Costello, Jim Henson, Twiggy, Henry Rollins and maybe more. These people obviously have to look interesting in some way. So to kick it off, I started with Poe. I'm still deciding on what path to take the background. I'll probably go with a fade from med grey to white. I hope to finish this tomorrow.



That's it for now.

Scratchboard - DONE

So after totally procrastinating on this one, it's finally done. I really like how it came out. I'm working on finishing up another one tomorrow.

Flyer Fun

I did a flyer for some friends. I really like how it came out. I like the black and white best, but it's kind of my thing.






Go to the show too. It'll be good.
Over and out.

My Life in sketches: Lake Anna + Scratchboard

So, I've been super busy. It's good because I have a new job and bad because I have less time to work on my art.

First things first. Labor Day weekend at Lake Anna. Roasted pig, so interesting I had to draw it. It's skin was all leathery and blood was dripping into the fire pit. Creepy and cool all at the same time.



I got some more work done with my new board. It's been put on the back burner while I get situated into this new job. I'm hoping to finish it soon, I'd like to enter it in some things. Let's hope it comes out well and that it's willing to cooperate with me.



That's all for now. More soon. A new board is in the works, it's an update of an older piece. This time with better reference! Over and out, space cadets!

Holy Crap New Scratchboard - WIP

Started a new board. Bride of Frankenstein. You know how we roll. Anyway, got as much done as I could tonight (started at 8:30pm), hoping to finish tomorrow. Slight adjustment to the background, and I need to figure out how to make metal. Totally not the best photos, but my scanner is slightly too small and all the scans come out blurry.







It's a little blurry but here is a pretty good detail shot of what I have so far.



More My Life in Sketches tomorrow plus a hopefully finished board. w00t.
Over and out, space cadets

My Life in sketches: Florida

Went down to Florida for a week and a half with Nick and Kish, we stayed with Nick's uncle Otto in Clearwater, Fl. Pretty neat. Swam in the gulf for the first time and snorkeled for the first time. Saw some dolphins and some manatees, one of which effectively translated popped out of the water with an "oh, hai!" Anyway, good times mostly had by all except for a few strange incidents involving burglars, bugs, rogue sprinklers, Clue: Harry Potter edition, one sassy, foul mouthed 11 year old and much needed jack n' cokes.

Drawn while sitting and watching the sun set on Clearwater Beach.



Night fishing off a pier in Clearwater Beach. Nick caught 1 salt water cat and I caught a puny pinfish.




An amalgamation/time lapse of things I saw on the water after I came in from fishing on Honeymoon Island.




Chilling out after catching 5 salt water catfish with my rod leaned against one of the beach chairs. Otto leaned his there too which he cut more bait.



Gestural sketches of Nick and Otto trying to get a snagged line to release.



Over all a very productive at relaxing trip. Back to the real world. Over and out, space cadets!

Art Behind The Banner...

So I totally need a better scanner. Anyway, got bored, made this and turned it into the blog banner. Sounds fun right. It was!