The Lionfish Fancies Sketchblog

Progress...

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:04:10 GMT

More Antuk, in progress!

Atlas

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:59:53 GMT

Sometimes I think moths are prettier than butterflies. So...moth fairy! I based her wings off the Atlas Moth.

I really should have scanned her before I varnished her. She looks much smoother, and the colors are richer/deeper in real life. Whoops, lesson learned. The scanner is shining off the varnish in a few places.

I had a lot of fun with the details on this one. Tattoos, cloth pattern, coin headdress!

I listened to Golden Compass while painting it.

She's up for sale on ebay, starting bid $10, HERE

Character Sketch

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:35:46 GMT

Just a quick character sketch I've been working on in spare minutes. This is Antuk, a moonchild wanderer from my novel. I think in some ways, of all my characters, she is most like me. Except I'm a little more nice - so she's like me without the internal censor. =)

I've got a little acrylic painting of a fierce moth fairy I'm working on too. I'll try to post a pic of it tomorrow. She's standard ebay fare - I love her, and she's got some really eye-catching colors, but she won't do much to further my career.

I'm going to bang out a few more paintings, maybe some more guys, and submit my portfolio to Baen. I need to pick up some cover work before my book gets picked up.

A Dragonfly Faerie

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:35:34 GMT

Doot dee doo. A pencil drawing. Posted to EBAY.

A little surprise...

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 02:52:28 GMT

A little surprise for my favorite kid.

One bit at a time...

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:26:19 GMT

Don't feel much like painting (or writing, for that matter) since Amazu passed away. I'm used to him sitting in my lap while I work. Here's what the cover looks like so far. Hopefully I can get back to it soon. I know it'll be easier once I put pen to tablet, but I haven't been able to get to that point yet.

I finished a little oil painting, "Illuminate", as well and posted it to ebay. It sold for the buy it now within five minutes of my posting it. Maybe I should charge more.

Brushing off the dust...

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:01:21 GMT

Oh lionfishfancies! How neglected thou hast been!

Since I've finished my novel, I've been seriously thinking about painting some kickass covers. Helen is potential cover #1. This is a sketch for potential cover #2...which also has Helen in it. I can't help that her red hair is such an eye-catcher! I think I may do one with Nehara and Anestan next, taking some "creative liberties" with the story. Or maybe Farahd and Anestan. He could be all noble and she could be all sneaky-looking.

Here's the rough sketch. I'm going to try and do some refining later. I'm very busy this September, and while I'll have time to write, I don't know how much time I'll have to sit my butt in front of this computer (laptop's screen isn't very good with colors + doesn't have the RAM for a big painting like this).

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 04:58:41 GMT

A robindoodle! I really like what I've read of Stephanie Brown. Except, y'know, the part where they KILLED HER. Also the part where they brought Jason back to life instead of her. Stupid Superboy.

A plump creature! He likes daisies.

Hair Practice!

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 01:09:43 GMT

So...this started out as hair practice, and then I started working on her face...

Here's a piece of it.

Meh. I feel ok about it.

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:51:45 GMT

oh, lionfishfancies. so neglected are you! :(

I've been posting some stuff under the art tag of my lj, and here're a couple of tiny sketches to remind andreags to post here and to remind myself to finally finish this fairy tale comic/story that I haven't seen in ages. a few days ago I found my only copy of the script stashed in between the pages of an old sketchbook. oops. time to type that up.

Sun, 07 May 2006 20:29:07 GMT

batman > superman

sculpey crap

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 03:16:27 GMT

Anatomical sketches

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 03:25:04 GMT

A couple anatomical sketches...

**EDIT**

Gave her my haircut =P

sketchies

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:43:26 GMT

More Practice

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:47:43 GMT

Some more practice. Warm light from the upper right, cool from behind left.

Underlighting makes people CREEPY!

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:01:58 GMT

Another lighting sketch; really pushed 45 min on this one. I should try to keep it to 30, but two light sources make things more complicated. I want to paint something with lighting like this just to get the lovely shadows cast by the eyelashes, which, unfortunately, didn't quite make it into the sketchy.

Two warm light sources, one on either side, from below.

Whoops!

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 00:20:39 GMT

Uhh...I meant to post this to lionfishfancies:

http://andreags.livejournal.com/78485.html

Riiiight.

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 04:06:48 GMT

to-to-ro!

if you haven't already seen it

do you read the :( part first, or the :) part? (since it's situated sort of like a caption)

and there're a couple of finished pieces (giraffe monkeys and onionheads) on my personal LJ.

Scar-free plastic surgery! ...only available to fictional characters

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:52:23 GMT

WIP! Please excuse her manly chin and jaw. She will be undergoing intensive plastic surgery tonight, a delicate operation that will remove some of the bone beneath and...

Well, her face will be fixed, to say the least.

She's getting a hair makeover too. Lucky, lucky woman! All free! She still has to live in a desert though. Bummer.

Thanks to the ever-amazing Linda Bergkvist, I've started to use some textured brushes on her skin. I mean, you can't really see them from so far away, but I think they really make a difference. Compare to my last computer-painted portrait, here. No textured brushes used on the figure.

Ho hum...

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:45:41 GMT

I worked some more on Helen last night, but didn't get as much finished as I would have liked. Got distracted into an interesting conversation, and before you know it, it's 2.5 hrs past my bedtime, and I'm trying to get some work done! Here's the whole thing, composition-wise and all.

Blocked in some colors on her overdress. I was originally going to put a tiled alcove behind her, but with the shapes drawn in, the background seems to imply more depth. I'll put a window behind her with a pale blue sky - kind of echo the blue in her dress and to give her red hair a little more punch. It'll jive with her character a bit better too. The alcove would make her feel too closed off, too trapped.

The bottom part of the wall will be green and blue tiles, maybe a bit of gold, and the rest carved sandy brown with an eensy bit of orange thrown in the highlights and some blue into the shadows to draw it all together.

The dress will have a lot more detailing when it's finished. Lots of embroidery, maybe a little beading.

I really like a blue/orange color combination in a painting. Blue/gold is a little more popular, a bit more safe, but blue/orange just bam! Wow. Very intense. I think it has to be handled a little more cautiously, because throw too much of it into the bg to unify the painting, put it too close together too often, and it muddies things up. Or push the colors in the wrong direction and you get a box of tide: eye-catching but annoying.

I once read a survey where blue/orange was proclaimed the most annoying color combination. I think the people who answered this were all thinking about a box of tide - all navy blue with fluorescent orange swirls so bright they might as well be screaming at you.

I like pushing the blue a little towards green. Min Rho did this lovely painting once of an angel or fairy or something - all in this shade of blue with red hair and it just popped! Really, really nice.

I like red/green too, but you always risk the painting looking a little x'masy, especially if you've put any snow in it.

It's aliiiiiiive!

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 05:46:23 GMT

Yea, it's art time. Working on a submission for Aphrodisia and possibly Expose. Is that too much double-dipping?

This is a piece of the painting - a character from my novel-in-progress. Lady Helen, Third Seat of Hajinn.

Ignore that bit of collar, I was experimenting to see whether or not I wanted to bead it or embroider it. The beading looks way too Las Vegas.

And then there's my entry into the bioluminescent portfolio. Here, again, is a piece of it.

THE KRISTER??

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 09:43:37 GMT

Andrea's new kitten came yesterday and I don't think the obsession will have worn off by the time I visit.

Also, a monster sketch.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 21:45:50 GMT

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 05:20:57 GMT

based on a true story! zomg lolz!

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 02:04:36 GMT