In Progress

Just a couple of shots of a journal spread I did the other day.
In my research i usually have a ton of reference photos and i just jam them into the back pocket of my book. But this time I incorporated them into a spread so i could have them without rifling through all the little scraps of paper.

Gesso on the pages, then orange watercolor ink. I threw some blue in there too to dull it down a little.

I added some more gesso to bring back some of the white of the paper, then placed my images.

I moved the composition around a little. I didn't have any medium around so I had to tape the images down on the back and gesso the edges to seal them and make an interesting border. I put some more gesso on the page to create big areas for writing (it'll be here that i use a rubber stamp I made with lines so I could put writing lines in my book and use them.) Later I put some matte medium over the pages to seal them fully.

Some beautiful journals

Just browsing through youtube some more and coming across some beautiful visual journals. My favorite part of these is that they don't have to be filled with beautiful sketches and paintings from a seasoned artist vacationing in Europe, but they are ordinary people who choose to write and draw about their lives in an extraordinary way.

One
Two (I absolutely love how thick and lovely her journal is, and her pages are amazing. She sells them on Etsy.)
Three (Mini Mole!!)
Four
Five (Beautiful notetaking!)
Six; an in-progress journal spread (there are tons of these on youtube if you keep looking.)

I love looking through people's books not because I seek better art than my own to be inspired (I find enough of that without looking), but I see people who record their lives, parts I don't see, parts nobody else sees, recorded in their own way. I love seeing other people's drawings, even if they've never drawn before in their lives, because it's the most honest representation of their lives. The more techniques and skills you learn, the more you learn to fake things and falsify things and not be true to yourself and just continue creating what other people ooh and ahh over (or as some people say "make ballerinas look realistic")

Mmmmm, Sierra Mist quenches my thirst in ways that cannot be described. ♥

Kokeshi

Moleskine page. Acrylic and some graphite buried under there.

It's crunch time!!
Remember the Milk is currently saving my life.

Things I must do-
Finish my brand new website
Get things ready for my show
Make postcards, business cards, etc.
Finish my zine (I already have an idea for the next one!)
Finish my honors project

I went to visit my grandparents today and it went so amazingly well. I can't wait to work on this project more. I've done a lot of research and I'm ready to do some good illustrations for it!

All in all, things are looking really good right now.

Good Luck Owl

031209goodbye
Originally uploaded by axeltorte

My last page of my little blue apple book! I did a lot of sumi-e my last few pages so I could skip ahead to my umbrella book.

Here is the link to my Flickr pool with a lot of pages from the sketchbook.

I'm watching American Idol right now and my god, they are terrible.
Not even so much terrible, just....weird.

I'm having shrimp for dinner and I'm very excited.

Bad Hair Day

I love stormy weather but I hate what it does to my hair!!

Sketchbook page

just playing around a bit!
triangle noses!!

Journal Manifesto

I'm making a zine!

More at 11!
(or later this week...)

Creekbed

A fun watercolor and pastel project of a pretty creek. :)
Part of my book illustration project.

Secret Pandas

Red and blue pandas hiding in the paper...
And some strange trees.
:)

Kitty

Drawn while watching Emergency Vets.
:'(
I miss my kitty.

More Blockley Studies

Busy busy busy....

Ultramarine blue + any kind of sienna = probably one of my favorite color combinations.