Inktober 2016 - Day 2: NOISY

I'm already getting behind on my Inktober entries!  I finished my Day 2 drawing early in the morning on the 3rd (I did start it on the 2nd, it just took me longer than I thought to finish) and here I am just beginning to compose its blog post when it's almost October 4th (O_O!  My ArtSnacks October box arrived today, too, so in order to get back on track with Inktober while allowing time to write an unboxing post, I'm going to skip Day 3.  If I find myself with extra time later this month, I'll do it then.  For now, though, let's talk about Inktober 2016 Day 2!  The theme was "NOISY".

It was easy to come up with an idea for NOISY.  The first thing that popped into my head was our housecat, Kiba, who loves to make a racket when he's hungry, lonely, or just wild & crazy.  He's a black Manx so he's not only vocally appropriate to the theme, he's visually perfect for inking, and furthermore brings to mind this month's big holiday: Halloween.

I'm quite proud of how easily I drew Kiba himself.  I didn't even look at him; I was able to draw fairly true-to-life from memory :D  The meow-bubble came along without many hiccups but it took a really long time to fill in the amount of space I wanted to.  My intent was to get across just how NOISY Kiba can be!  All the cat-talk was based specifically on Kiba's vocalizations, not just generically chosen cat noises.

I started with the Copic Multiliner to trace all the thinner, smaller words (I used the Kuretake ZIG brush pen for the few Japanese mews).  Next I used the Kuretake ZIG nib pen and sumi ink to work over the medium-sized vocalizations and to ink Kiba's outline.  Then I switched to the Princeton Kolinsky brush to fill in the really big letters and Kiba's body.  After that, I picked up the brush pen one more time to fill in the medium-large mewling.

I didn't mention it in my first Inktober post but on top of the mechanical pencil, I've also been using an eraser to clean up the pencil lines after all the inking is done.  As with the pencil I'm using, even though it's not from the Inktober box, it still matches the ArtSnacks theme because I received it in a previous monthly box :3  So, after I cleaned up my Noisy Kiba drawing, I finished it off with a few small detail lines and my signature, the date, and a title using the Multiliner.

Before I forget, I want to voice my satisfaction with the paper in the Inktober Denik sketchbook.  I was worried that the wet sumi ink would bleed through since I always apply it rather thickly to ensure an even look but I've had no such issues!  It doesn't even show through on the back of the page, much less leave marks on the succeeding leaf.  I can't say whether other inks or wetter media would fare as well (watercolor may not bleed through, but I have a feeling it would wrinkle the page something awful) but for now it doesn't matter since the only things I'm using in this sketchbook have already been tried and shown themselves up to the Inktober task.

Inktober 2016 - NOISY by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt  

How are you doing at Inktober this year?  Right on schedule?  Or falling behind like yours truly?  Link to your own Day 2 entries in the comments!

New Art - Drawlloween Favorites

What I've been drawing a lot lately are responses to daily prompts from the 31-day Drawlloween challenge in the Artists guild on HabitRPG.  So, I'd like to share some of my favorite creations in this week's New Art post.  This challenge has been fun and freeing, allowing me to make some pretty cool stuff without the stress of worrying what it looks like!  I've also found it a great way to get more use out of my ArtSnacks art supplies; almost every single piece has been made with nothing but ArtSnacks, including any erasing!

"Werewolf"

I like all of the Drawlloween responses featured in this post for various reasons.  With the werewolf, it was simply fun to incorporate so many different ArtSnacks and it was great to see how interesting the final result looks.  I used a pencil, pen, acrylic paint, a brush, a marker, and two different types of colored pencil!  Limiting myself to only my ArtSnacks can be challenging so it feels super awesome ending up with something that looks like it was all done on purpose, as if I would have still chosen those exact tools even if I hadn't been limiting myself to them.

"Frankenstein"

For my Frankenstein response, I was giddy with pleasure since it allowed me to draw some fan art of my newest anime obsession, Soul Eater.  Dr. Franken Stein is one of my favorite characters and he simply fits the prompt to a T!  I think chibi Stein came out utterly adorable!  I want to make him into a pin-back button to match my existing Excalibur design~  Also, the photo I've posted here was taken before I realized I forgot to draw his face scar.  It's since been added.  This is one of the few Drawlloween pieces that I didn't use ArtSnacks to create; I wanted to use my standard method so I could get a solid, predictable result.

"Vampire"

It's a little difficult to put my reason for liking this Vampire drawing into words.  I think some of it is due to my acting on the freedom to choose how I would interpret the prompt.  I could have drawn a whole vampire, arms, legs, cape, mist, etc. but my mind instead fixated on the part that everyone thinks of first: fangs.  I also put more feeling into the lines themselves, making the inside of the mouth look almost like a vortex, like it's sucking the viewer in.  And everything was drawn with a furious stroke, emitting the type of mad, dangerous energy that I think of when it comes to vampires.

"Devil" and "Skull"

"Witch" and "Demon"

These next drawings were done after I filled up my small sketchbook. Drawlloween finally ended that faithful friend! So I turned back to my standard-size sketchbook and started doing two prompts per page. I had actually gotten even farther behind in the challenge by this point, so I spent several hours catching up to the actual day that I was on. Of all the drawings I did during that session, these were some of my top favorite.

I actually had a bit of trouble while drawing these.  Devil and Demon were right next to each other in prompt order!  I had to do a lot of thinking (and asking my beau's opinion) to decide how I could draw a demon that looked different enough from what I had already done for devil.  You can see that the end results did come out quite differently so I'm satisfied there!  What I decided to do was make the demon more fleeting, raw, wild, and wraith-like.  The devil is more controlled and calculating, a being with ideas and intent.

I don't have much to say about the Skull, to be honest.  I think it turned out nicely for not using a reference and I had fun making it elongated and alien.  I'm much more proud of the Witch!  I think she came out looking adorable!  I would love to draw her again, perhaps make a proper character of her.  On top of the nice character design, I'm pleased with the two-tone hatching I experimented with.  Not all of my experimental drawing techniques pan out, but I think this time I hit gold!

Check out all the art supplies I had been using!

"Pumpkin"

The last Drawlloween prompt response I want to feature is actually my most recent. It was done at the end of my last marathon session and was completed on the correct day! It's another ArtSnacks piece and I ended up using a lot items.  I started with mechanical pencil for the underdrawing, colored in with marker, then went to town shading with carbon, white charcoal, watercolor pencil, and regular colored pencil!  As with all of these drawings, I didn't put pressure on myself to make it look 'perfect' so, as you can see, most of the strokes are messy and blunt.  I think the end result still looks rather lovely, even so!

Today is only the 26th, so I still have half a dozen drawings to create.  If you would like to see them, or if you'd like to see all the other Drawlloween pieces I've done, you can check them out in this Google+ photo album.  Everything that's been completed so far is there and I'll definitely be updating to include the final six drawings of Drawlloween!

Has anyone else been participating in an October or Halloween creativity challenge this month?  I'd love to see your work!  And to everyone reading, while I have the chance, let me wish you a happy Halloween!  Have fun, dress up, eat candy, and be safe!

ArtSnacks - October 2014

It feels like I only just received the September items but I'm already reviewing my October ArtSnacks supplies!  It was a hefty box this time and included some unusual selections.  I suppose it's a testament to its interest that instead of basic lines, dots, and gradation, I was inspired to complete my ArtSnacks Challenge drawing as a means of testing these art tools.

First peek!

Although I already saw in a video earlier this year (when I was deciding whether to subscribe to ArtSnacks in the first place) that the October box is Halloween themed, I had long forgotten by this time.  I was therefore very pleasantly surprised to see all the black and orange!

That candy smelled so good I could hardly wait to eat it!

Decent item count here!

Here's the full list of items from my October ArtSnacks box:

• Lyra Colorstripe Colored Pencil
• Cretacolor Black Chalk Pencil
• Pentalic Woodless Charcoal Graphite Pencil
• Pro Art India Ink
• Protégé Short Handle White Nylon Brush

I really enjoyed using the colored pencil.

Like I said above, my ArtSnacks were so inspiring that I felt like creating a complete drawing right away.  I decided to use these items in the order listed on the menu so I started with the colored pencil.  I must say, after using it, I think it's a shame these are no longer in production.  The color laydown was so smooth and rich--making excellent gradients and covering the paper quite thoroughly and quickly when desired--it's the first time I've really considered buying a different brand of colored pencils.  The yellow color I received inspired me to draw the moon, stars, and eyes you see above.

Note how quickly the pencil tip was worn down.

 
The next item I tried was the black chalk pencil.  It was certainly interesting.  Rather like charcoal but more...crumbly?  It's difficult for me to describe the difference but I can say the tip wore down very quickly and it produced lots of dust.  To create a larger drawing with this pencil would require much sharpening and might even use up the whole thing.  On the flip side, I got satisfyingly dark marks from the pencil in relatively little time.  I smudged the chalk with a paper towel to take care of the stray dust and chalk flakes which also gave the drawing a more refined look (compare the smudged body to the unsmudged head in the photo above).

Various shades accomplished with the woodless pencil.

 
Here I get a bit confused because the ArtSnacks menu describes this item as a woodless charcoal pencil available in "3 different grades: soft, medium and hard", but what I received is clearly a 4B graphite pencil.  I'm not sure if it's just a typo on the menu or if I actually received the wrong item.  It's not a big enough deal to complain or inquire about, just a curiosity.  The item I did receive is something I've already used before and which I still have in my repertoire.  I haven't looked into whether I already have this exact hardness (I probably do since I tend to have even numbers, i.e. 2B, 4B, 6B, etc.) but it's still a good one to have since you can get both fairly light and fairly dark marks from it.  I recommend this pencil for drawings that will be all or mostly graphite since being woodless makes covering large areas much faster.

Some of the ink is still wet and reflective in this photo.

The last two items were clearly meant to go together: brush and ink.  Perhaps I've never used real india ink before or maybe this type is just different, but I was surprised at the thick, plastic texture once dry.  I felt it was more like using acrylic paint than ink.  I don't recommend using the ink to fill in large areas, especially when diluted.  The ink dried so quickly that everything I filled looked splotchy and unflatteringly showed brush strokes.  These traits seemed to be even worse when I dipped the brush in water after ink (diluting on the brush, essentially) before laying it on the paper.  I also was a bit disappointed in the dropper that comes with the ink because it didn't create a very wide range of droplets on the page.  No matter how I coaxed, they all came out around the same size and not nearly as small as I hoped or expected.  Next time I'll be using this ink for linework.  The disappointments I experienced while creating this piece showed me that I'll probably be much happier if I use it to create lines with a nib instead of filling large areas with a brush.

After all that with the ink, I only have a little to say about the brush.  It behaved very well.  I'm really happy that I received a round (my favorite brush shape) and I'm fairly sure I didn't yet have a short handle round brush in this size (9, I think; the size mark is not clearly differentiated from the number 6 but this is much larger than other 6's I have).  I'll definitely go to this brush again in future.

 

October 2014 ArtSnacks Challenge by AnimeGirlMika on deviantART

So what do you think of the Halloween ArtSnacks?  Did you get a box, too?  If so, did you get different colors or sizes than I did?  What did you create for your ArtSnacks Challenge?

New Art - Ghostie Halloween

First off, welcome to my inaugural Studio Mikarts blog post!  This is my first non-scholastic art blog and I'm stoked to fill it up with awesome content!  Gotta pace myself, though.

The piece I'm featuring today was actually completed several weeks ago.  I know it's still summer but I'm just so excited for the holidays already!  Last year, I decided to start annually illustrating a Halloween card (like the Christmas cards I've done almost every year since 2007) so this is my 2014 entry!

Ghostie Halloween by AnimeGirlMika on deviantART

As with last year's illustration, this one features our Manx, Kiba.  He's just the perfect Halloween kitty: black witch's-cat fur with vampire fangs!  This year, I decided to assign our remaining household cats to the other major US end-of-year holidays (Kiki for Thanksgiving and Bear for Christmas) so those two will be featured in their own card illustrations later.

Another similarity to last year's Halloween card is the lack of text on the online version.  I added "Happy Halloween" to the illustration for my home-printed greeting cards.  These cards are available at the fan convention artist alleys I attend and also by special request online. 

The following are some in-progress photos I took while creating the piece: the inked lines, the base colors done in marker, and the final result with marker, colored pencil, and white gel pen.  The process was really satisfying and fun!

Base colors.

Line work.

Traditional media all done!

What do you think?  Do you like cute black cats and ghosties?  What are your Halloween plans for 2014?