My project for this month is coming along, although I'm struggling a little to balance it with my school responsibilities. Summer classes are hard! Figuring out how to cope with multiple responsibilities is never bad practice, though. Not to mention having something creative to do outside of school is refreshing (I'm taking art history and Japanese culture classes, so not much art creation going on right now). Here are the drawings I completed since my last update!
In case you missed my last post, what I'm doing here is going through my pet photos, choosing ones that seem like my pets will look interesting or funny without the support of their context (i.e. their environment), and then drawing just my pet and seeing how it ends up looking! So, with the drawing above, removing Kenshi's context made him look like a round head with a couple of paws underneath 😆 Kenshi was my dog all the way from high school until just a few years ago, when he passed away. This sweet-faced pose reminds me of all the good times I had with him 🧡
My next drawing features my handsome prince, Bear, who recently passed 🤍 This is one of the most successful pieces from this experiment, because it ended up looking like he's breathing fire! I decided at the beginning to make the photos a Patreon-exclusive reveal, as a digital reward for Studio Mikarts members, so if you would like to see the secret behind this or any of the other images, just click through one of the links below the drawings, and you'll be able to sign up!
Next is another drawing of Sun! This one didn't turn out as engaging as I expected, even though something very specific and cute is happening in the original photo! The thing I'm learning the most while doing these drawings is that I'm not really able to predict, just from viewing the photo, how successful the final drawing will be. Maybe I'll get better by the time I finish all eighteen drawings for this month 🤔
The tenth drawing in this series features Kiki, our only female cat, who is very spunky. But this drawing doesn't show that side of her! With this one, I was hoping to capitalize on the perspective to get an interesting result, but in the end, what I found most compelling about it was the way her fur pattern came out. I must admit, I'm pretty proud of being able to capture it using nothing but black lines on a white background!
Here is the third appearance of our recently-departed prince, Bear. The photo behind this drawing was taken when he was in his prime, the pinnacle of big and fluffy! It's been so long that I completely forgot that he used to look like this 😮 So far, folks have had some guesses as to what's got Bear in this position, but no one's gotten it right, hee hee...
The final drawing in this post was completed just yesterday. It's Kiba, the black Manx's second appearance! This is based on another older photo but Kiba's looks haven't changed as drastically as Bear's did. He's a naturally small, short-haired cat, so the changes he's undergone as he's aged aren't as obvious 😅 I love how the final drawing makes his body look smaller than his head! Or maybe like he has the body of a perching bird XD
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I realized I'll have the perfect number of drawings at the end of this project to spread them out evenly across three blog posts, so that means there's just one more Pets Out of Context post on the horizon. I'll be moving onto another project next month, but there's always the possibility of more drawings in this style later on. Please look forward to the final six drawings in a couple weeks!
I thought up a new project! You see, we have a Google Nest Hub in our kitchen
that displays randomly selected photos we've taken, and one day a couple weeks
ago, it showed a very silly looking photo of our dog, Sun. In the photo, he
was sleeping on the couch with his snout tucked into the arm cushion. The
result was a very odd position that almost looked painful or physically
impossible, but which must have been comfy since he was sleeping like a log 😆
As we were walking Sun a while later, it came to me that it could be fun and
amusing to draw Sun as he appears in the photo, without drawing anything else,
so that the oddness of his position could be fully appreciated. I realized
this could be quickly done, which meant I could do it without compromising
schoolwork, and finally decided to make it my visual art project for July!
For my first entry into this series of drawings, I decided to choose a photo
of Sun, our Shiba Inu. He was the one who inspired me in the first place,
after all! I didn't use the photo that originally inspired me, though. I
didn't take that particular photo myself, so it was faster and easier to look
through my own library.
The next pet I chose to draw was our Ragdoll/Norwegian Forest Cat, Bear. He
was the oldest of all our pets, and very sadly, passed away only days after I
drew him. It was a long time coming, so it wasn't exactly unexpected, but I
was still happy to have drawn one more picture of him while he was still with
us 🤍
The next pet I drew was our Manx, Kiba! He's a funny kitty who has undergone
an extreme personality change over the past few years, all for the better. We
rescued him as a stray (he had been living under our house for about a year
ever since the neighbors moved away and abandoned him; we finally took him in
when we noticed he had lost a worrisome amount of weight) so he was
understandably skittish when he first joined us. These days though, he is more
silly than scared, so we have a lot of good photos to use for this project!
After drawing three of our pets, I couldn't not finish off my first four
drawings with our last pet, Kiki! She's an American Shorthair (or
thereabouts), and a super playful, mischievous, athletic girl. She's the only
fellow girl I have here at home and I like to think we have a lot in common 😊
For my fifth drawing, I came back around to Sun again. This was the piece
where I had to make some decisions about things like collars. If the pet was
actually wearing it, should I draw it? In the end, I naturally ended up not
drawing them. I think it makes the final image even more interesting 😁
The last drawing I'm including in this post was finished just yesterday. For this one, I reached way back into the past and chose a photo of our family cat, Gaki, who has long since passed on 🤍 Kiki has been reminding me of Gaki a lot recently, so I think that combined with the inherent qualities of the photo itself is what lead me to choose the photo reference for this drawing.
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That's all for this post! I intend to keep drawing these throughout the month, so be on the lookout for future digest posts like this one! Stay safe and healthy everyone ❤
Hey everyone, happy new year! I'm recovering from the flu right now, but I wanted to start the year off right by making a little blog entry on the very first day of 2019. I have big plans for this year, most of which revolve around my return to college! Spring semester starts on the 14th and it's going to be the first time I've ever taken a full-time course load. I'm excited! I've always loved school, so being a full-time student is going to be really fun and satisfying. Outside of that, I'll continue making illustrations and creating rewards from them for my Patreon supporters throughout the year. I also figure that I'll have plenty of new artwork to choose from, so I'll participate in the Western Idaho Fair fine art exhibition again, and perhaps other art shows that are a good fit for my work. These things are what I'll definitely be doing, but a year is a long time, always ripe with new opportunity, so what I'm looking forward to most in 2019 are all the unpredictable things that will come my way!
May 2019 bring us all the strength, ferocity, tranquility, and protection of the Boar!
This year I did something I'm actually surprised I never have before: drew all my pets in chibi form! Pet caricatures are something I've done here and there in the past, but this year I've been taking it to the next level, promoting this artistic service as an inexpensive way to obtain custom artwork in my unique style. So, who better to model for this product than my own precious fur babies?
Click images to see them larger :D
Another reason I drew this set of chibis was because I needed subjects for the weekly themed drawing I started doing for my Twitch livestreams, Chibi Friday. I wanted to avoid too much fan art and everyone loves animals, so I figured my pets were a great subject that anyone could enjoy (^^) Each of these drawings took about two hours to draw, give or take, so they were also the perfect fit for my standard streaming window!
"Chibi Kiba"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed February 2018
The first pet I drew was my black Manx, Kiba. I don't know why I decided on this, but I started with him because I wanted to draw everyone from smallest to biggest. The reference photo I used showed him laying on the floor on his side, looking up at the camera. I'm not sure if that comes across here without a background, lol.
Here's the video of Chibi Kiba's creation!
"Chibi Kiki"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed February 2018
Next, as the second smallest pet in the house, I drew my cat Kiki. Her full name is actually supposed to be Tanuki because of her adorable striped tail, but that name was very quickly shortened XD For her chibification, I chose another unusual pose as reference. I wanted to challenge myself to draw chibis in positions that I never have before. So she's sitting on the floor, looking straight up at the camera, in her reference image.
Here's part one of chibi Kiki's creation...
...and this is part two!
"Chibi Bear"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed March 2018
Next on my list was Bear, my second largest pet and the biggest cat. He's also the oldest pet! If I remember correctly, Bear's reference image was unique among this series because I took it right before I started drawing. We had only just got his weight back to normal after years of trial and error so I wanted to draw him looking his healthiest (^^) He wasn't very amused by my picture-taking so that's why he looks kind of annoyed in the drawing, lol.
This is chibi Bear's video~
"Chibi Sun"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed March 2018
Finally, the last pet in this series, and the only dog, is my Shiba Inu, Sun! His name is pronounced "soon" like the Chinese surname (I named him after the Sun clan in Dynasty Warriors and Sun Wukong, the monkey king X3). His might be the most difficult pose I took on but I'm extremely pleased with the result! In the reference image, he was laying upside down in a recliner, lol.
And here is the creation video for chibi Sun!
So that's everyone, three cats, one dog, Kiba, Kiki, Bear, and Sun~ If you'd like me to chibify your pet, or even your favorite animal, I am always open for these quick projects! Just email me at Denise.Mikarts@gmail.com to get set up!
In this blog post, I'm going to share a group of chibis that I recently created in January as a way to show supporters, and especially potential supporters, of my Patreon what a "chibi" actually is, since chibis are a big part of the rewards system there. I decided to draw two human chibis, one in physical media and one in digital, and two animal chibis the same way. I hope that the four chibis together will be enough to show the variety of subjects and finished looks that my supporters can choose from when they receive a chibi drawing as a reward.
Ink, marker, and colored pencil on index paper, 4x6", Completed January 2018
So this chibi is the first human, done in physical media. I used a photo of myself from a 5K race that I had run just the weekend before as reference. This drawing is pretty much all in line with the reference photo except that I changed the color of the mug I was holding (it was an awful neon green originally) and added a generous red tint to my hair and eyes. And well, of course I went really strong with the blush on the cheeks, just as I always do with chibi humans X3
Ink, marker, and colored pencil on index paper, 4x6", Completed January 2018
Next is the first animal, done in physical media. I decided to draw the Studio Mikarts mascot, Ranger, a black and red (as opposed to tan) Shiba Inu. I had only ever drawn her once before and I realized that not only was she a perfect subject for this series of chibis, featuring the artist and the mascot serving as examples of Studio Mikarts, it was a great opportunity to draw her with my current level of skill. I still like the original drawing of Ranger, but this one is definitely much more well done.
Manga Studio and Lazy Nezumi Pro, 4x6", Completed January 2018
This chibi is the second human, done in digital media. I used a reference photo of myself again but this time chose a completely different look. Instead of a sporty, post-race runner, now chibi Mika is a glamorous newlywed! Indeed, I used a photo from my wedding reception as reference for this chibi :3 My chibi dress turned out super cute, lol. I was able to use a lot of techniques here that really show what's different about what I produce in digital media.
Manga Studio and Lazy Nezumi Pro, 4x6", Completed January 2018
And finally, this chibi is the second animal, done in digital media. It's the Studio Mikarts mascot again, Ranger the black and red Shiba Inu! The two previous drawings I've done of her were both stationary positions so this time I searched for a really active, dynamic reference image. I think Ranger looks even better leaping! Shows off her pretty markings. In fact, I had to decide on her fur pattern in some areas while drawing this because the other positions never showed those areas of her body. The biggest thing I gave her in that respect was the cute skunk stripe on her tail :3
As I said at the top of this post, I created these chibis as reward examples for my Patreon supporters. That could easily include you! Every backer at the $5 level and above gets entered into a monthly contest for a free chibi character. Some higher support levels include discounts on art commissions (which obviously could be used toward chibis) and the top level includes a free chibi each and every month, on top of the chance to win the monthly contest! You can check it all out and become a member of Studio Mikarts here: https://www.patreon.com/studiomikarts
A lot of, "Wow, finally!" with this drawing! For one, this was the first piece I completed this year, in the very first week of January, and yet I'm only posting it now, in the last week of February XD For two, and much more impressive, this is the second in a series of chibis that I started way the heck back in 2008! It's been practically a decade between my first entry and my second entry (⊙_⊙) Hopefully, I'll be able to complete more before another ten years goes by!
I sketched the rough lines on paper, drawing the bear, staff, and Sean separately.
I then combined the sketches in Photoshop.
I'm actually quite sure I will have more to add to this series before the end of 2018. I've decided to follow up the "birthday person's favorite animal ACEO" theme that I did in December 2017 with a new theme for the entire year: fantasy chibi birthday person! The most basic idea for this series of chibis was thought up by my friend Trent ("draw your friends as chibis") and I decided back then to draw everyone as a sort of fantasy RPG-type character riding on the chibi animal that I felt fit them. So the first chibi I did, way back in 2008, featured Trent riding a black horse. I truly intended to make more, even thought of a couple more friends' outfits and animal mounts, but at the time, the first chibi had been one of the hardest projects I'd ever done (and I think that's why the drawing still holds up quite well today). I think I burned myself out and that's why it took me so long to come back to this project.
Final lines completed in Photoshop. It was my first use of Lazy Nezumi Pro.
I left the areas under the visors intentionally light or blank.
So here we have my husband, Sean, whose birthday is the first one of the year on my list. He really likes tabletop gaming and one of his favorites is Shadowrun, a sort of cyberpunk magical world based in Seattle, WA (or at least, that's how his explanations make it seem to me). Using that as the basis for what kind of fantasy character he should be, I designed all the armor and the background to match. I decided on a black bear as his mount because Sean is like a big, cuddly bear in real life. I considered other bears--brown bear, polar bear--but the black bear's general reputation (or really, its lack thereof--grizzlies are known as ferocious, polar bears make people think of the environment) fit Sean the best.
I really surprised myself with how quickly I was able to complete this piece. I didn't time myself when I created the first chibi in the series but I'm sure I didn't get it done as quickly as this one. I finished with enough time to print, dry, trim, and frame it before Sean's birthday! It's probably for the best that it took me so long to try making more fantasy chibis; there's no way I'll burn out now with my current level of skill and experience (^^) Here's hoping the rest of the chibis I intend to draw for birthday people this year are just as quick and easy so that busy birthday months aren't tough to manage!
Happy Valentine's Day! It's a bit late, but I'm finally here with my unboxing and review of the February 2018 monthly ArtSnacks box! For anyone who doesn't know, ArtSnacks offers monthly blind boxes on several different subscription plans. These boxes always contain at least four (and often five or six or more) full-size, premium art supplies. This is the last box of my third year being subscribed to the service and I'm still not bored of it! Let's see what came in my box this month.
I love when ArtSnacks themes the boxes for the holidays!
I was really happy with my January box and the February box didn't disappoint either. Everything, again, was totally up my alley! Drawing and watercolor supplies--my favorites! Here's what was on the menu:
Sennelier French Artists' Watercolor [lemon yellow, titanium white]
Raphaël Mini Precision Brush, Flat Size 2
Faber-Castell Goldfaber Sketching Pencil 2H
Sakura Pigma Micron PN
BONUS: Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Paper Sample
Outside of the actual art supplies, my box also came with a little serving-size bag of Sweethearts and a Valentine's Day-themed ArtSnacks logo sticker. I still love that every box comes with these fun bonus items!
Test of both watercolor tubes and the brush.
Sennelier French Artists' Watercolor
Watercolor is one of my favorite media so I'm always happy to receive more in my ArtSnacks boxes. I was a bit disappointed to receive white this time, though. I so rarely use white since I work on white paper (and the sample paper that came in this box was white, as well!). White is good for mixing pastel shades and greys, so it's not a useless color, but I always unbox thinking first about how I can use all the supplies together for my ArtSnacks Challenge (a piece made using all of that month's supplies and nothing else). It was not easy to imagine using every item from this box effectively in the same piece. You can see, in the testing image above, how the white paint is virtually invisible on the white paper of my sketchbook. It shows up well on the yellow paint, though, which was what made it possible to complete my ArtSnacks Challenge successfully this month. As for the yellow paint, there's nothing much for me to say about it. It seems like a quality watercolor paint, plenty of pigment and no weird smell like some other brands.
Raphaël Mini Precision Brush
This brush is one of the shortest-handled brushes I have ever seen! I was skeptical at first glance, thinking it might be uncomfortable to use, but once I tried it out, it didn't really feel any different than other short-handled brushes. I could see someone with really large hands having trouble, but then again, such a person might have trouble with any short, thin handle. When I used this brush for my ArtSnacks Challenge, I found it worked really well, holding a lot of color, spreading it evenly, and it didn't lose its shape or any bristles. Based on the menu, it seems like all boxes contained the flat size 2 brush.
A little side story about paint brushes: Recently, I finished painting the interior of my house but we were in a rush to move out (I was painting it because I sold it) and the painting supplies all got packed before I was done. We went out and bought a couple of those cheap painting kits--the kind with a roller brush, paint pan, foam brushes, etc.--and most of the supplies were fine except the 2.5" brush that was included. It was SO cheap, so awful, I was barely able to paint anything. I threw it away as soon as I was done painting because it was already falling apart after only a couple hours of on-and-off use. I've never worked with such a cheap, useless brush, not for interior or fine art applications. I'm bringing this all up because it really made me appreciate how good even the worst of my large collection of artist brushes are. It especially made me think about the fact that I've never gotten a bad brush from an ArtSnacks box. I almost feel spoiled. It's so great to paint with quality supplies!
Pencil Test. The hard graphite doesn't show well in the photo.
Faber-Castell Goldfaber Sketching Pencil
Thanks to ArtSnacks, I will probably never need to buy another artist pencil again. I have so many now! But I'm never unhappy to receive another one :3 I've been particularly keen on harder pencils recently, since they are great for doing underdrawings which will eventually be erased (the harder the pencil, the easier to erase cleanly) so this 2H was quite welcome. I don't have anything in particular to say about it, it's a hard graphite core encased in wood, easy to hold and does its job. Can't really ask for more.
Micron PN test. Like most Microns, the ink is black.
Sakura Pigma Micron PN
Now this item REALLY intrigued me. I'm a longtime user of the Sakura Pigma line and until I received this pen, I thought I had already seen (and owned) every pen under the Pigma banner. I can't describe how excited I was to see something new from a familiar brand! The blue-green color for the "PIGMA" and "PN" printed on the body was so visually striking since I am very used to my other pens that have purple or red text, instead. I had no idea what "PN" could possibly stand for. This was the most excited I'd felt by an ArtSnacks item in quite a while! Instead of the thrill of an utterly new tool, it felt like the shock of a plot twist!
I finally turned to the menu to learn just what was up with this marvel. It turns out, "PN" stands for "plastic nib". I totally would not have guessed that, lol. The nib allows for a bit more range in line weight than the Microns I'm used to but it's otherwise the same as the rest of the line. The ink is water/alcohol proof when dry, which is the nicest thing about these pens and the reason I've used them for so long.
My ArtSnacks challenge!
I actually completed my ArtSnacks challenge for this month before writing this post, which is somewhat unusual, but not bad since I can include it here instead of making an additional post. The reason I got it done so soon was my Twitch livestreaming schedule. Every second Monday is ArtSnacks challenge day, so regardless of whether my unboxing post has been completed, I have to get my challenge piece done. Not only that, but it's done live on the Internet for anyone to watch! I started livestreaming in January but this was the first live ArtSnacks challenge I did. If you'd like to watch it, it's been uploaded to YouTube!
I drew a grey heron. I really like birds recently!
ArtSnacks is on a roll so far this year. They've had a great first two boxes (at least according to my tastes) and they've been teasing their birthday box for next month, so I'm hoping I'll be just as happy with that one. ArtSnacks' birthday is my subscription anniversary, so the March box will be the first box of my fourth year as an ArtSnacker!
Pencil shavings canister gets another sticker.
So, fellow subscribers, what did you think of the February box? Did you like what you got? Did you participate in the challenge? Non-subscribers, are there any questions about the items I got this time? Is there anything you'd like me to cover in my unboxing posts that I missed this time?
Ink and marker on smooth Bristol, 2.5x3.5", Completed December 2017
The last piece of art I finished in 2017 was also the third and final birthday present ACEO I created in December, this time for Aryssa Hutchins! I followed the same theme as with the previous two and drew what I thought to be the recipient's favorite animal. Even though this drawing was for my first little sister, I had a really hard time deciding what her favorite animal must be 😲 I finally settled on a goat and was happy and relieved when she confirmed that I made the right choice XD
Although I only created three birthday present arts in December 2017, when you combine it with all the Christmas presents that I also made that month, this piece was the 17th ACEO I completed! Then adding on the Tomodachi Fest commission and Christmas card illustration, I finished 19 pieces altogether. I don't know if I've ever created so many pieces in such a short time--they were all done within a three-week span. If I keep making lots of art presents around the end of the year, I imagine this won't be the last time XD Hopefully I can plan ahead and make it a bit less hectic in future!
