7/23/12: Badges...and a LOT of Darkmoon!

 

 Left: My half of an art part of an art-and-items trade for angryprncess <3 Right: One of two badges for Punkrock-shefox, fancy badge!

Badge for Antique of Yum*Pop, for part of a commission payment.  This badge is done, except for puffy stickers.  I want to scan it when the stickers are on it, but those will only be added after I laminate it since to do so before hand would be certain death for the badge.  It's really cute...y'all will see it soon. :)
It's not scanned yet because I need to wait until I have enough to laminate so I'm not wasting the sheet with only two things on it and a ton of empty space.

 Darkmoon, supplementary for her ref to show her body hair (armpits, crotch, inner thighs, navel) which is very thick and very dark.  Also a vent piece about societal pressures to shave that due to my texture issues (mostly mild except when concerning this) are just impossible for me to give into.  The texture of my own shaved skin is repulsive and appalling to me and shaving is emotionally draining and takes forever due to exactly how thick the hair is.  Most of the time it doesn't deter me from wearing shorts without tights or leggings and mostly others don't critique me anymore, but I've been told I couldn't go on school trips, been teased, singled out etc. by both teachers and peers in school so it's hard for me to shake off paranoia about it.  Also I'm the only one of my friends who doesn't shave and it's galling for me to have to listen to others talk about shaving during the summer.  So, yeah, there's my rant.  Felt good to draw Darkmoon again.
I temporarily had a desk position at work that was really tedious and repetitive so I did some sketching...this, the badges above, and the work below...the whole post....basically was done at a desk during my lunch breaks and other times when I needed to get away from the task without actually doing anything too engrossing.

So you may remember my Feature Friday about theeverydaygoth, talking about her inspiring me to do a wardrobe cleansing.  I also got back into wearing gothy stuff-I had given up since I felt it didn't look good on me--but then I realized I was being ridiculous and had the right to feel pretty, so I went through my wardrobe and cleaned out a lot of things and resolved to wear my other clothes again.  When I went to see Rasputina in April I got all dressed up for the first time in ages and felt really good and looked really good--that reassured me that I look pretty good in elegant black stuff too.
Supplemental to Dark's ref, these are all outfits I own.
First sketch was the bottom left, by far my favorite.  Put this together for AC.  Hand-dyed pettipants!  Little cute goaty horns are from DMB.
The top left one shows a shirt that my mom and I are pretty sure she made years ago, gave to a thrift store, and I bought it. No joke. XD  Hair clips from the awesome Miss Monster.
Top right shows me in the only short-sleeve blouse I still own, haha.  Put that together for work in the office since I realized I didn't have to wear jeans and tees every day and looked grungy compared to others around me. :I
Bottom right one was the last and I ran out of room and it's my least favorite.  But the caplet is cute.  The bustle skirt is poorly made and the material is cheap and I'm trying to replace it with something better-made.
So a few notes: I layer a lot, wear mostly black, grey, and white, also ivory, also burgundy/wine sometimes, and some purple.  My use of blue is usually muted and rather limited but I have a few blue tops.  I layer a lot, hence the camis and transparent tops.
The crow skull necklace is from Skullery, it's another optional necklace for Darkmoon, but I also have an ankh and a circular chain mail necklace, so in addition to the two on her reference sheet, these are also all daily optionals.  I/she typically wear(s) two at once but one can be worn too.
I'll be making other cute goth sketches in the future as I update my wardrobe and will hopefully be doing fairy kei, lolita, and punk ones.

Warning: Nudity under the cut

This is ALSO supplemental to a ref, but Felix's ref only.  He can have Baphomet features--horns, bat wings, halo, visible chakras, etc.  The wings and horns are transparent/ghostly.  The sigil of Baphomet and inverted crosses aren't part of the form exclusively, rather, some of his many optional tattoos.  Also wax fetish.
Also super inspired by tons of Black Tape For A Blue Girl.

Two badge commissions

First is Moongara's art nouveau standard badge, won via auction on Furbuy :)

Bottled silver ink moon and lettering, shaded with markers to add a flatter look akin to poster work.  I can't find the piece online but I have a large book of art nouveau and arts and crafts work and there's a Mucha poster with this color scheme and stars of David which I used as inspiration for this badge.  Really happy with the results!   

Fancy badge for Magnus!  

I loved the design since lynxes are <3 for me.....and this is so glittery and sparkly IRL!  There's a glitter pen border around the letters and Magnus himself as well as a glow of bluish and regular iridescent media over an ink wash over the original paper since I felt the tag was a little too light.  So happy with the results!

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Also, sorry I skipped the new blog segments--I've had a lot going on and was out of town over the weekend.  I'm going to try to sit down and do some entries ahead of time to prevent this from happening too often. :P as it is, Feature Friday and Inspirational Sunday may not be weekly.  

 Prepping for AC and being generally busy.  Finally done being sick too.  So, a few outstanding badges and a few sketches.  I'm going to scan some of my pony girls tomorrow and hopefully two headshots I finished, they keep getting pushed back to other scanning sessions.....been SUPER busy!

Badge for myself for AC.  Another example of my Ink Spill badges, this one without white paint.

Fancy badge for Fox for AC.  Trying out a new paper pack, I like it quite a bit. 

Name Sticker badges for Boe for AC!

Anatomically incorrect Merri and kinky Merri.  And Parenthetical Girls lyrics.  (from 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDrgaE5UKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ4BHCZ1ZJ8

Lyrics from above songs. 

And finally....I really like Legend of Korra, even more than the original series now...<3 and Bolin is Liam's SPIRIT ANIMAL.  He would totally crush on Bolin so hard too so naturally I had to draw it.

Also I hate Mako x Korra.  A lot.  You can guess I prefer Borra.

5/23/12: Badges, Zines, Etc.

 Have been talking to my friend likelaurels about zine stuff, since I've had little luck finding places suitable to take my art, but moreso having difficulty finding places willing to accept my writing.  Usually it's a question of length.  However if I did my own project length wouldn't matter as much.  We  haven't decided if anything will come of this yet but I hope so and will keep you all posted, writing is as important to me as my illustrative work if not more important.  Also her art is fabulous.  Really, really fabulous.
And now badges. :)

Brightfire's badge!  I'm rooming with her, so excited!  We're doing a trade.  My half got a little scanner-bleached where the neon was (the lettering) and I kind of forgot to make her look like a girl since I was looking at a feral ref...

Anyway, I still like it.  I think it's cute.

This is a standard badge, they're $15 each.  If you go to the commissions page and look down, you can see the themes I offer along with general/unspecific, like this.  Paypal is adkstudioss@gmail.com, if you'd like one email me there :)

Badges for Burgerbaby and her boyfriend!  ALSO roomies!  They're guinea pigs for my Halloween Party themed derp badges (which can also be cosplay, etc. theme).  They're $12 each or two for $20.  This is a couple badge set so they'd be $20.  they hold hands <3 

And some other zine-related news below, as well as an additional piece.

Warning: Adult content involving S/M under the cut!

4/21/12: ACEOs and art nouveau badges!

Kinda overdue raffle prize for Burgerbaby, first I was waiting on refs and then just, waiting for an idea :P Did this last night, VERY happy with it!  I rarely get the opportunity to draw chubby characters (which makes me so sad) and I love drawing height difference couples, so this was fun!  And I loved just embellishing the linework and leaving it be to speak for itself.  The ACEO I had actually colored a few months ago, I felt it would be perfect.  

FenrirsChild was awesome enough to be a guinea pig for my art nouveau themed standard badges!  She suggested the moon crescent and I added the phases with paint.  The way I work with my pencils on parchment varies depending on what effect I want.  I was playing with opacity since I think of art nouveau as having a very vivid/thick coloring style with a lot of softer details, relying on shading instead of excessive linework (very different from my style).  I normally have trouble getting opaque pencils to look okay on parchment but I think this looks pretty good.  :) I hope these catch on, I'd love to make more of them in the future.

As a side note, my MLP doll project is all caught up, only the gala gowns (may come at a later date, depends) and the elements of harmony are left.  I'm fixing a few outfits that had fit poorly but that's done too, now!  So close and I can finally scan and share them with everypony everyone!

Warning: adult art under the cut

Badge, sketch, and adult ACEO

<3 My BFF and co-owner of nearly all the characters has a birthday coming up and got to be a guinea pig for my 20s photography badges.  This was so fun to make, all my favorite things at once pretty much!  I hope others commission me for them JUST so I can draw more of them, they're so fun.  $15 each, they're standard badges.

A sketch I've had kicking around for a while.  Trying to make more dynamic images, draw more humans, and human/anthro interaction.  Also I wanted to show their relationships through movement and positioning. I think I did a good job.  Transferred and began inking, it'll get purple sketch lines added since I really love how they look.

Kept forgetting to scan/post, it's in my portfolio pile.  A few animals I sketched at the museum.  I love taxidermy specimens...they stay still for you.  the fawn is my favorite.  His/her spots were SO vivid, but the shading I did made it hard to add them.  I originally was going to paint them on later.

Made two months ago (close to when the above was made).  A lot I'm not thrilled with but overallI like it.  I may finish it.  And yes, I do see Baphomet as my preferred way to visualize the universe/nature in a single form of chaos and balance.  Philosophically I'm similar to a LaVeyan Satanist but not exact.  And while I haven't done much yet I have a lot of interest in sigil work and other kinds of magick.  I never thought I'd find faith but hey, look.

This is not meant to be "satanic" or "offensive" imagery. 

Warning: adult content under the cut!

4/1/12: Badges!

Fancy badge commission for Clockworkgh0st of Octavian.  HEAVILY Velvet Goldmine inspired, note the green earring ;)
His horns were quite long and I wound up trimming them to make them fit, but made them go off the border to suggest they're longer than shown.  It came out pretty well.

Trade for the ATC-Badge-Trade group on FA, for Wildelion.  She requested a candy/chocolate theme!  I haven't drawn an anthro with fur thick enough to keep it from having to wear clothes in years...I mean, since middle school, years.  It was really odd but kind of fun.  I hope I got her fun and silly personality across!
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Also I did a poll on my facebook page (adkstudios) and decided to make the exposed photo paper badges a full option, as well as sigil ink and paint badges.  Those were the two themes/medias I used while testing ink badges out.
While working on Wilde's badge I realized that this derp badge included a character's interest instead of the usual "character in a silly/fun pose".  I thought maybe I could also split derp badges into "interest" and "cute pose" with interest showing the character surrounded by things they love, and cute pose being the standard shapey colorful backdrop and jumping/jogging/sitting character.

I also want to start a 20s theme for fancy and/or standard badges, and maybe a few halloween themes for each badge type (elegant for fancy, super scary for ink and paint, spooky cute/halloween party for derp, etc).  I know some artists do themes along with medias/sizes, and I'd like to do so, in order to get a clearer idea of where to do while drawing for someone else.  Hopefully I can open for some super cheap guinea pig commissions or do a few trades to test out some of my ideas.
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I also just uploaded a new character, Gage, to the character section.  He's pretty adorable, you all should check him out!

Two more trades!

I finished these a few days ago and never got around to posting them here.
Both for my IRL friend.  I'm really pleased with them.

Fancy badge of Jamilla, her dragon girl, who is rather vain.  She's supposed to be showing off here.  I had fun with the scales...Although I don't want a dragon character myself, I love drawing them for people!

Finished version of her Ayami roller skating.  I tried something with the fish--they were meant to be perfect but then I realized doing them all the same would be a pain and made the print a mistake/print over itself on purpose.  Why not?  It's big in scrap book paper now.  I'm overall happy with how it came out, but next time I decide to try sizing scrap book paper and poster board for something I'll need to play with the end result a little more.  Her foot is centered but the rest of the image isn't (the scan got cropped too) but she was happy and someone said people sometimes mess with things being off on purpose to help it be more visually interesting. In any case, it's at least partially centered.  I'm still very happy with the pose (thanks Posemaniacs) and the outfit and coloring.  :)

Now off to finish my remaining owed items and brainstorm for the MLP project.  I'm currently opening for commissions for badges like Jamilla's for only $10 (9 slots available currently), and for digital sketches of any size/kind for $3 since I need practice (only three slots of those).  Email me at adkstudioss@gmail.com if you're interested. Thanks!

3/17/12: Applejack and Two Trades// TABLET art

I finally cleaned my scanner bed and of course missed a spot :(  Ignore the spot there, it's in two of these scans.

First: Applejack!

First in a series of MLP ACEOs.  They're accompanying the paper dolls (which are close to finished) and so far only will include the Mane Six. In time there'll be Luna, Vinyl Scratch, and possibly some other mares (AND stallions!) added to the series, which means they'll have ACEOs too.  Very pleased with this, I love shading eyes like this too <3

Trade with Plasticrabbits!  

Aaaand trade with vore!

Currently open for any kind of commission including ACEOs, headshots, and badges :O 

Um.  yeah....and I'll be posting lame digital doodles while I adjust to a tablet soon too!  Excited!!

May scan some more WIPs later today, too.  

3/6/12: Badge Trades // Sketchbook Page // Gift

For Kaili!  Used photo paper, totally killed a pen, will have to experiment with tip types to find what works best....

Inked half of a badge trade with Vore.  Mm, zombies. 

Warning: Nudity under the cut!

Fluffpie Badge

Wow, I feel like this has been more empty of late, in terms of WIPs and stuff....

So here, have a cute bunny!

For Conjurecakes, who I just found out is part of my roomiegroup for AC 2012~~ Very excited!  

I'm open for pre-orders and can even mail them if people would prefer, to have before the con. In a way I'd prefer that since I don't have a table.....:/

ANYWAY, it was fun and her badge for me was super cute too!

Fluffpie is the cutest/sexiest rabbit ever I swear.  And utilizes my favorite cutecolors too!

Hoping to do some actual *work* today that I can post besides MLP dolls and sketchbook doodles....hmm, I should probably start scanning my sketchbook pages, but it's mostly anatomical practice that, more often than not, becomes Merriweather masochism.

I still owe two trades that I need to get on, though :) so that should keep me busy.....
Gonna be watching a bunch of Studio Ghibli movies with a friend so hopefully that'll inspire me to do a lot of work.

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

10/19/11: MLP FiM Dolls!

RARITY!  She's slim and curvy, medium-chested, but not muscled.  Many people may envy this build, but not everyone has it, and that's more than okay.  There is more than one kind of beauty in the world!  Plus, if we all looked like this, shopping would be entirely impossible.  All the good stuff would be gone immediately.

FLUTTERSHY!  She's the longest-limbed doll.  A delicate model build, slightly androgynous, and small-chested, but she is NOT anorexic.  If you're born this way, don't let people tell you to fatten up unless your doctor says so!  This is how you are.  There's a lot of stigma against skinny AND chubby girls--don't let it get to you.

PINKIE PIE!  (inks) She's a little heavy, but no less beautiful than the other dolls...besides, with the biggest bust, I'd bet the others are a little jealous.  If you're heavier than some of your friends, don't let that make you feel like you're worth less than they are.  Stay positive!

RAINBOW DASH!  (inks coming soon) She's fit, slim, and muscled--meant to have a runner's build.  She keeps herself fit for the sports, though, not the other way around--if your motivation to do an activity is not (at least partially) to find joy in the movement itself, what's the point?  She doesn't let her body image or fitness level control her.

OH also, more stickers.  They're so fun to make.

Also, exciting news.  Starting the -actual comic- soon.  :) as in...well...the first three or four pages, but still.

10/14/11: Badges n Stickers // MLP FiM Dolls // Andy Ref WIP // Altered Book preview

Hi, y'all.  I have a lot to post, but it's really cool stuff and I'm pretty excited to share it.

The one to the left is for my IRL friend Liz.  I made the character for her for Christmas.  The one on the right is a bonus for a trade with Trey. 

Rest of the trade--Trey's ratpossum fursona.  Fairly pleased with the outcome--the coloring, shading especially, I'm very pleased with--I use a lot of tones when I color to make things more rich and lifelike, and I feel I did that well, but her eyes seems off to me, slightly :P.  I added a little star between Retro and Rodent, but that was after I scanned it. XP 

Okay, so since I'm going to Anthrocon and ToraCon next year, I figured I should make some fanart to sell....and I love MLP FiM, and so does everyone else, and I wanted to make fanart of Rarity for some time...and had been considering doing an ATC for each of the mane six, and I wanted to draw them in their Gala gowns, but then my friend suggested how about making paper dolls?  Here's the inks for Rarity.  

Each one's gonna have at least a slightly different body type.  I feel the show's message of "girls are all unique" would, if they were human characters, hopefully reflect this in body types.  I'm thinking of making Fluttershy a little slimmer than this, and more flat and less curvy--a typical model (the model episode's one of my favorites).  I want Pinkie Pie to be a little heavy.  Rainbow Dash would obv. be more muscular without being un-feminine, and I dunno where Twilight Sparkle would be--I feel maybe curvy, borderline plump...and then Applejack would be on the athletic side as well.  Each one's going to have their gala gown as well as underwear and a regular "casual" outfit. I may make their pets to go with, and maaaybe a little Spike with a little bowtie, haha.  Not sure yet.

I also have plans to do some comic promo art in the style of Adventure Time as well as some Pokemon and maybe if I have time some Powerpuff Girls and Flapjack art too.  These are gonna be my main focus for now, though.  Very excited.

I'm gonna fix the width of Rarity's right eyelid to match the left when I add her eyeshadow and then I feel her linework will be fine.  Been playing with line weight and this was another good opportunity to do so.

ANDY

Liam's partner, a ticked tabby cat.  I did two headshots and at first liked neither but I kinda like the one on the left more.  I think he may have a white belly but I'm not sure.  

Andy's a genetic rarity--he has a more animal face, more body fur, extra nipples, and slightly more animal behavior.  Not that he's uncivilized--he usually shows more restraint than Liam could dream of, but he purrs, hisses, etc. unconsciously, which most anthro cats don't do.  Most of them look more humanoid as well.  He also has a bad habit of pouncing, and has retractable claws--his nails are supposed to be slitted, my bad XP maybe they're really blunt and the tips are visible?  Idk.

Ticked tabbies are really cute. 

So that's what I've been up to over the past few weeks.  I finished Carlos' ref last week (or was it the week before?) and posted it on her ref page on here, and also worked on a really neat altered book project themed after the comic (shadowed lives) but it got collected before I could scan the pages.  

Here's two unfinished pages....it's all I've got scanned.

warning, this file is massive.  I kind of forgot to resize it.  I probably should but it's also the unfinished version and I just don't care right now.

First page illustration.  It was cut out and pasted onto a tinted page--every page of the book was inkwashed. 

9/6/11: A Book of Beautiful Things//New Badge Style

A book of beautiful things, which can be printed and assembled following these instructions: http://urban-anthology.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/instant-book-directions-759x1024.jpg

Two new styles of badges.  I've had the idea for a long time but finally made the first one when assembling a college care pack for a friend.  The other was the second one, and the coyote skull and crossbones isn't awesome but otherwise I'm pretty pleased with it. I have another one done as part of a badge trade with someone, but I don't want to ruin the surprise...as you could imagine these are pretty simple.  There's no initial sketch, and a limited color palette, which is irrelevant to character designs.  I've been playing around with my new gel pens: I bought a bunch of souffle puffy ones and two glaze ones, and they're pretty awesome.  They both make an appearance in the booklet too, especially the purple glaze pen!

So far I haven't decided to laminate these.  After all, they're stickers.

A gift for Skwid, whose character Ghostie McSpookums is super fun to draw!  I've been meaning to finish art of him for her for several years, and tried three times (they all came out well but I just kept forgetting to finish them)....this is the third try.  I'm not happy with the incorrect circle background or the over-obvious marker texture there either but I think he came out pretty cute.

I'm at college now so personal art's gonna be a little slower.  The graphic novel--working title "Shadowed Lives"--is my priority however I'm mostly just working on the writing instead of the art, as I'm waiting to find others to help me with the illustrating.  I hope to find such people at the comic-making club on campus--they seem pretty into it. 

July 20, 2011: Design//Linework//Buttons//Hiatus

I've neglected scanning.  I have a huge pile of daily sketches but it's now so big that I think I'm only going to scan a few of them, and at that, I'll only be able to do so after I come back from vacation.
Vacation's around 8 days, I'll have internet access but no scanner with me.  Hoping to get a lot done, though.

I may be redoing my layout on here.  I'm not sure.  I have to decide what purpose this blog is going to serve....
Meanwhile, here's art I've been meaning to post. :)

Collaboration sketch for Hizzie.

Final of a tattoo design for myself.  

Sketches for above design. 

Badge for Sophie, part of a gift pack I sent her.  I like these; I may do more quick scrap badges (this is pencil and colored pen only) for gifts or commissions in the future.  Or for myself.  Hell, I never draw for myself. 

FROM HERE DOWN, BUTTONS.  Nothing inappropriate, but it's VERY IMAGE-HEAVY!  

I've put these up for input...I'll be linking the individual images to a survey or facebook or something to get a feel for which I should make.  I want to make buttons.  I have two more designs that aren't done yet, that are being drawn specifically for this purpose.