Badge Experiment no. 2 // help out!// ETSY!

Second one.  Not as pleased as with the first, but I did learn stuff.

I learned never to touch canvas paper again unless I won't be mixing medias.  I also think the linework got a little funky from the texture....but I saved the blending problem and that's what matters, and Sequinox was happy with it.  <3

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Also forgot to mention when I posted this, I have a few people I'm trying to help out.  You may be able to help (w/o cash, omg) too.  Read this journal and this journal, and be sure to spread them around your own blogspot, tumblr, FA, facebook, dA, whatever.
Also I'm going to be actively using my Furbuy account now and I already have one custom adult art auction up. I didn't mention in the description but I'm looking to put at least half of the winnings towards helping out the two people mentioned in the journals above, Cally and Beanz.

I'd really appreciate if you could keep your eyes peeled and tell your friends about all the different things myself and Rae are doing to try to help our friends.

Also I now have an *active* Etsy storefront, check it out!  There's buttons, prints, and--soon--originals.

2/25/11: Badge Experiment no. 1 // Fog Machine

Silence was brave enough to be a guinea pig for a new badge idea I had. I thought that it may be a way to have more fun with my ink and acrylic and pen stuff I've been doing lately.

Avi has mutliple ears...I like drawing characters like that a lot. I've also been way into symbols and sigils a lot lately since that's been my reading in my spare time, so...naturally my brain went, PENTAGRAM AVI :O plus the ears....positioning them was fun!

This started with purple--a small amount. Then I drew the face in with white gel pen and added all the features, the lettering, and the circle outside the figure. Then I added acrylic paint--halo blue gold, dries greenish-blue, looks gold if you tilt it. Then I added india ink, more gel pen over all the areas that got smudged from the paint, and then a different gel pen that adds gloss, over certain areas. Over all the empty areas left in the circle, I added some iridescent medium and then dusted it over the eyes. It's got a really gorgeous blue tinge that looks very nice over the purple.

It didn't take very long--a little over an hour--but I'm thinking with these there may be more of a material cost than time cost for the badge itself. Plus if I screwed up I'd have to start over since there's LITERALLY no sketch in this process. It doesn't show up at all and erasing makes the ink or whatever look funny.

All the materials I use on these come in small quantities and cost quite a bit. The ink is expensive, the iridescent medium is expensive, and the paint--at least, the metallics and other fancy paints--cost a bit too.

I run through india ink very quickly and once I start using others more frequently, I'll run through those too.

This leaves me with no idea of how to price these for a commission.

But at least now I know they WORK!  They curl a little and will need time to flatten so they laminate properly.  I didn't add a lot of paint of course...I know I can't add too much ink or else the paper buckles and gets wavy...but I don't know about a layer of acrylic. This was applied with a small brush. If I did something like this: 

I don't yet know how it would react.

I'm going to try two other badges on a different textured ACEO than what I usually do which may be more resilient for paint. I have one guinea pig/trade spot left if anyone would like it!

I want to try doing four different ones so I can try out different amounts of the medias.

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Part of a trade with an IRL friend of her character Kim, who is a horror film set designer.  :) I had a lot of fun with this...I ADORE cervines and really loved coming up with an outfit for her that would be fashionable and casual but still horror-themed.  Sweater says "VAMP."

I really like how the fog came out <3

2/23/12: Badge Idea//ACEO

First, the ACEO.

A WIP for part of a mail trade with an IRL friend of her character Kim.  I made her mostly deerlike since her ears and tail were, I hope that's ok. XP  She works as a set designer for horror films and she's supposed to be having a design epiphany while at work, hence the creepy tree in the background.

Second.
My works like this:

 Ink, paint, and pen combinations.
I'm thinking of trying them as badges.  Unsure how to price them, how to start them...should they be on ACEOs?  I'm hoping to find a way they could work on parchment but honestly that wouldn't add a lot unless the layers were thin.
I don't even know if they'd scan right.
But I'd like to try them.  Try to see how much color I could add too.  Would probably mean either marker and pen experiments ore more paint added in different colors...but I'd like to keep the color to a minimum, only a few per badge like with the cards.
What do you think?
I'm offering trades and guinea pigs in this journal.

2/22/12: Dog's Blood

Raffle prize for Beanzel of her hellhound character Rage!

I got into the snarly mood by playing some Alexisonfire and Blood Brothers, then whipped this out.  It didn't take long and I think it looks pretty good.  I also tried something new this time.  This is an acrylic base with iridescent medium over it.  After that, I added the ink of the character herself, then decided to add some red gel pen for blood.  That wasn't strong enough so I added several kinds of markers and pens to see what showed up best.  I even tried adding a skintone marker over the character's body to see if it would lend a tan hue (it didn't--added a light layer of colored pencil instead).

Off to do more owed work!

2/21/12: Tear Your Little World Apart // ACEOs

ACEOs first since they aren't partial nude pin-ups.....

Going along with my other ACEO pin-ups, all risque but not adult.  I love Tess, she's so squishy and curvy and cute.  Although her lip may be a little big, but who cares, it's cute.

Only problem I have with this is the darkness of her ears and hands.  Otherwise I think it came out well.

Done to Supervixen by Garbage. :)

A portrait of my cat Harley as a goddess kitty.  I drew this because she likes to sit on my lap while I play Okami--it's her favorite time to cuddle with me, that is, when she's not under the blanket while I'm reading comics.  Anyway, she looks a lot like the cat god and the statues of her(?) throughout the game.  Also, she has very striking markings--opposite half moons.  Some people have told us they look like curling demon horns, but one of my friends pointed out the similarity to the triple goddess symbol.  So thanks to all of that, I drew this.  I don't often attempt backgrounds that actually look like anything and I think the water is way too green-blue for that sunset...but I still like it for what it is.  I added iridescent medium (on the card above too) to make a slightly bluish matte effect on the background, separating Harley from it.  It also made the colors mix a little better.  Also the eyes are kind of too dark.  Blech.  May fix that.

And finally, the piece I'm most proud of right now:

WARNING: Nudity and (slightly) adult content under the cut!

2/17/11-2/19/11: Tear Your Little World Apart

I'm trying to draw 100 things influenced by songs.  I've had the project's specifications going for a little while and have maybe 5 drawings done or close to completion.  I've mostly been doing refs the past year, so...yeah.  Slowed things down.  Basically, I'm trying to draw properly again by doing this and a lot of practice sketching in a proper sketchbook.....

This started because I drew Carlos looking hot while listening to Garbage.  I now have two Garbage images in the works, I guess--that Tess ACEO from the last post, and this.


WARNING: Nudity and mild adult content under the cut!

2/15/11: Three ACEOs; One's for V-Day! // Ref & Pin-up WIPs

DON'T FORGET THE RAFFLES: furaffinity.net/journal/3167400/

First, a trade with Brett!

I had a lot of fun drawing this character for him.  Except for the Not-Dog and a few miscellaneous sketches I don't get to draw monstery critters!  I REALLY love how it came out, I had been saving that ACEO for something special since I had colored it a while ago.

It's iridescent IRL so it's super shiny.

TESS!

Meant to go along with the ACEOs I've been doing of my girl characters being sexy.  This one is a little more clean than the others, I guess, since she's the most covered and the material's opaque :P  Gonna do an orange-yellow background.  Make her look all fiery and hot (punny).

WARNING: Nudity and adult content under the cut!

FREE CUSTOM ACEO RAFFLES!

I'm giving away custom ACEO commissions, free shipping included, to two lucky peeps.

All you have to do is go here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/3167400/
or here: http://mylovelyastronaut.tumblr.com/post/17297912900/herseparatehalves-custom-aceo-raffle-i-had
follow, and re-post accordingly to get a chance to win.
They're both open until February 20th. :)
G-XXX, content rules on my Commissions page still apply.  Have fun and good luck!

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Also.
Soon:
*Lindsay ref--inking
*Felix ref--I plan to scan tonight

Been doing a lot of sketches like my ones from last summer to get back into sketching from life and references.  So I may scan some that come out well.  I need to keep doing this a few times a week, at least.

2/4/12: Mr. Hummingbird

ACEO of my dead hummingbird, aptly named Mr. Hummingbird.
I did this with colored pencils, gold and white gel pen for details and additional shading, and water (background).  I REALLY am very proud of how he came out.