Jump in your time machine, it's time for a 2015 art recap!

So since I'm doing the book publishing thing, it seems I should do the blogging thing too. I didn't think anyone read blogs anymore, which is why I let this one get so very dusty--but no! It seems that in the publishing world, blogs are still a big deal, so I'm reviving mine. And to be honest, I kind of love the excuse to come back here and putter around. As much as I enjoy the social side of Instagram and Twitter, I miss the self-curated nature of a blog and the chance to ramble a bit. I also miss posting my art in a place that feels less dependent on algorithms and "likes" and what not. And now that I'm being more open about my book writing, rather than being so secretive about it, maybe I'll have more to say too.

...Or maybe not. I just wrote an honest account of everything that happened in my life in 2015 (some of it was stressful) and then deleted it all. :)

But never mind my inability to be candid, here's some 2015 art!

I still love this painting of a fantasy dwarf girl... I love the technique too, and I actually just went out and bought some cheap gouache paint so I can try it again. It's the same process I used on the cat image at the top of this post--verithin pencil with watery gouache paint. I don't think I'd trust myself to do something for a client this way... it's too unpredictable and unforgivable, but I like this style for exploratory, just-for-me art.

And another gouache and verithin pencil piece. I wish I could get this natural sort of feeling with digital paint. Although I've come up with several digital techniques I really like, there's something about this style that's warm and cozy that I just can't manage to replicate digitally. Ugh! Do what I want, pixels!

So I guess there was (and maybe still is) an internet art meme called witchsona. You basically draw yourself as a witch. I saw a few other artists participating, and it seemed fun to me. I figured I'd be some sort of pirate-type witch, at least fashion-sense wise. I also included both my cats, and because they are not the brightest cats, they have little "what is going on?" question marks over their heads. As a drawing, this gets a solid meh from me; there are weird things going on in my pose and the cats are a bit weak, but the intention still makes me smile, so it gets posted.

Hey, this is from 2013! But since it wandered into my 2015 folder, I'm posting it. Most of the characters are I draw are not from specific stories, but this girl is from a novella I wrote in... maybe 2009? Her story is different from all my other books because it's a very ridiculous comedy. I'll send it out into the world one of these days, although it definitely needs an edit first.

This one was me experimenting with new brushes. I'd just discovered the Kyle Webster brushes and hadn't figured out how I wanted to use them just yet. Not sure about this background (grey and pink?) but I like the simplicity/ease of her hair.

2015 was a tight year for us financially, and for a while I considered redoing my portfolio to be more realistic, fantasy-based so I could look for that type of illustration work. This pencil sketch was an experiment along those lines. I still kind of like this elf. I might go back and paint her at some point.

And finally an Arrietty drawing. I don't like inking by hand (I'm a nervous inker) but this was done with pen & paper. It was also part of an inktober. I'm still really fond of it... probably mostly because I love that movie. :)

Anyway, that's it for now. Stay tuned for a 2016 time-travel art flashback!