DesignSprite Drawings

New Blog

2010-10-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

All my new drawings can now be found on my new Designsprite blog. All of these Illustration Friday drawings are there under "creative journal" or click on the category "illustration friday" in the side nav bar. Thanks!

Star Gazing - Illustration Friday

2010-08-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

Camping + lake + stars = aaaaaaaaah! Watercolor, pen and colored pencil.

Caged - Sketch

2010-08-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is a preliminary sketch for this week's Illustration Friday topic "caged." I have a painting based on this sketch roughed out, I'll post when it's done!

Undone

2009-12-23T21:54:00.001-08:00

Not all the way undone yet, but well on it's way!

Hatch

2009-12-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't played around with this style for awhile (since IF topic "Leap"), but I just love the look of the photograph/illustration combo so I wanted to give it another go. I'm much happier with this result. This style is inspired in part by grafitti like this:

and mind blowingly cool (and infinitely more graceful) illustrations like this, by illustrator Noumeda Carbone:

Crunchy

2009-12-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

When I saw this week's topic, I knew I had to do a self-portrait. I'm a tofu-lovin', Co-op shoppin', tree huggin', Birkenstock wearin', granola eatin' CRUNCHY girl. Did a quick ball point pen sketch on my bus ride into work today, scanned and roughly colored in Photoshop.

Pattern

2009-10-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

Intricate

2009-03-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

This "Ornate Room" is just a pencil doodle, but I thought it fitting for this week's topic!

Canned Flowers?

2008-07-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

I made this illustration for a poster for a can recycling contest a couple years ago. It's a recycled art piece, with real can tabs on a pastel sketch. I haven't participated on the IF site for many months, so in the spirit of getting back into it I perused the site today and was inspired to post this existing image last minute. I've decided to at least visit IF every week even if I don't post anything myself. Just seeing what everyone else comes up with is greatly inspiring!

Here is the poster. It shows up pretty bright here but was printed on a flecked gray recycled sheet so the colors were still bright but richer:

Jell's Garden

2008-03-10T17:50:00.000-07:00

Acrylic and found items on canvas board

My first recycled art piece! To all who visit, despite the lack of a thumbnail on Illustration Friday, THANK YOU!!

Leap

2008-03-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

It must be so nerve-wracking, that first time out of the nest!

This is a sketch for a very simple animation I plan to create. Thanks to Claudine Hellmuth, who posted an animation to IF for this topic, for the inspiration to give it a go! Unfortunately it won't be ready in time to post, so the initial sketch will have to do for now.

Multiple

2008-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

I had big plans to paint a pineapple for this week's IF topic, but the weekend didn't go as planned. So I sketched a couple things this evening, one of a photo of hummingbird nest with multiple eggs which I took last month, the other of a photo of fresh figs I took last summer.

Both pineapple and figs are what are known as "multiple fruit," meaning they form from a cluster of flowers. The fruit from each flower grows together into one giant fruit, giving us the pineapple and the fig. Cool, eh? I'd never have known that if I hadn't looked up "multiple" on Dictionary.com. Not only does IF give us a good excuse to illustrate, we learn from it too!

Both sketches I attempted to keep very loose because I tend to get too caught up in detail, so I feel pretty good about these sketches. Happy drawing everyone! And sorry about the crummy photo quality.

Theory -- Birds Are Good Omens

2008-02-17T09:42:00.000-08:00

I have a theory which developed fifteen years ago when I lay ill in a little stone room in Nepal, alone and fretting about my situation. A little bird alighted on the windowsill outside. It looked at me and stayed there for a long time and for some reason I suddenly felt as if everything would be ok. Since then I've had similar experiences, deep worry met with a little winged visitor who lands a little too closely to me, looks at me just so, and lingers nearby just a little too long. Sometimes it even chirps. And each time, the thing I was worried about has worked out ok. So I have this theory that birds are messengers, sent to us as a good omen, or to let us know we're not alone.

Acrylic on canvas board, 7"x5"

Choose

2008-02-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

There are many fish in the sea. Some choose, some wait to be chosen.

Blanket

2008-02-06T17:19:00.000-08:00

Ah, the promise of Spring under a blanket of snow!

Tales and Legends

2008-01-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

Plain

2008-01-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

Stitch

2008-01-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

Wedding

2007-09-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

Gouache on watercolor paper, 11" x 7.5"

I sense that I am trying too hard in conceptualizing illustrations. Particularly "wedding" which I submitted to Illustration Friday this week. What I'm looking for is that fresh way of interpreting something which when you see it rings true. But instead I have this trying too hard thing going on. I started out well, with a flash of an image that I didn't understand at first but which developed into something that I thought at first was pretty cool, but now seems trite or clumbsy. I also didn't render it well, the proportions are off which makes the composition weak. The colors are off too.

So I'd like to try again. I'd like it to have a little more depth. I'd like the trees to be rendered a little better. I'll practice with more sketches. This time around I will tape off the area to be painted. I'd like to layer the paint a little more too. I hope I can get a feel for the gouache, it dries more quickly than I'd like. Regardless, I am THRILLED that I'm painting. I'm JAZZED that I'm drawing more than I used to. I am really having fun and I am deeply satisfied.

Momentum

2007-09-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

First rough sketch in preparation for painting.

Moon

2007-07-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

"Pink Cat," pastel on vintage Strathmore Grandee,

Biscay Green, 8" x 8"

A sketch from 2003 which I donated to the Valentine's for AIDS art auction at Flying M Coffee House in Boise. The photo was taken at the show so reflections of lights appear on the glass. I posted this weeks late -- how sad that I missed the very topic I submitted!

Signs

2007-05-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Style inspired by Charley Harper whose work I only recently discovered.

Thanks for the comments everyone, you're awesome!

Change

2006-09-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

I had so much more planned for this little coin purse but I couldn't find the time. However, I liked the concept enough to go ahead and just submit it as-is. Rough indeed, I have so much to learn about collage, but I'm having fun along the way! In case it's hard to tell, those are Chinese coins in the American Flag coin purse.

Change, a different approach

2006-09-21T06:47:00.000-07:00

The concept of a horse-drawn Hummer amused me so I gave a quick attempt at a collage, but dropped it as it wasn't working. But I still like the idea. :)

Farm

2006-09-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

A quick little drawing from my sketchbook for "Farm." I have something less bucolic and more political in mind, but don't know if I'll find the time to do it. But this will work for now.

Safe

2006-09-04T15:30:00.000-07:00

Safe in her armchair real life passes her by.

Run

2006-08-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Salmon Run

I usually work digitally, but here is an attempt at pastels. It's just a quick drawing on bond paper. There were several attempts before this one. I have much to learn, but I'm happy enough with this result to go ahead and post it. I love the motivation Illustration Friday provides.

Match

2006-08-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

My challenge is loosening up so I completed this colored pencil illustration in ten minutes. Of course, that doesn't count the time spent on the concept or the time spent lighting matches until I got a burned one I was satisfied with. :)

Rain

2006-04-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

I finally found these old sketches for "Rain," Illustration Friday topic from April 2006.