Sketch Fest #34

My goodness, the past three entries are nothing but my talking about Sketch Fest stuff, as if that's all I ever do any more.  That's hardly the case. ^^;  I was working on a couple of commissions at the end of the month and missed the deadline for "Forbidden" for EV, and I think I'm pretty much going to have to scratch it until we go into probably yet another hiatus for the summer (We can start calling it EV summer break/holiday.).  I'm going to go on ahead and tackle the current month theme, due April 9th, after I get some commissions (hopefully) out of the way during the second half of March...

This was a busy weekend with a couple of events going on for me, but I managed to scribble out 7 sketches, of which, 4 are now finished, with 2 already sold. ^^  A BIG part of what makes Sketch Fest addictive for so many artists out there is this quick sale opportunity.  Especially the more affordable ACEOs seem to sell very well.  Also, many of the people who give the prompts are buyers.

I was invited to a local library's Graphic Novel Club on Friday afternoon.  This is a group of teens who like graphic novels (both American comics and Japanese manga) and anime.  The guy who is in charge of the group thought my art might be interesting to the teens in the group, so I was invited to go and talk to them about my art and process.  It was a fun hour that flew by very quickly.  ( I frankly had no idea what I was going to do, but was glad I had brought my folder of original inked drawings.)

So I got to the prompts after I got back from the library.  The first one I decided to do was "Oriental Mermaid".  This one will have to be worked fully (preferably in digital) with lots of texture for me.  So I decided to stop working on it after 20 minutes of scribbling.


The first sketch of the day/event is like a warm-up, so I just scribbled this one on a printer paper.  Just wanted to map things out before eventually transferring it to a better support for the line art and possibly watercolor, if I want to make an 'original' for a collector.

Second one was for a hilarious prompt, "Handsome Male Elf".  I just found it funny and did a quick 5 minute scribble on an ACEO paper.

Still makes me laugh! XD

On Saturday, I had some volunteer duty to do for a fundraising event for a local charity.  I began my day at 8:30 and was gone till 3 in the afternoon.  No time to draw.  After I got back, I looked at the new prompts that had since been offered and tagged some for easy reference at Sketch Fest.  Then proceeded with  "Black Calla Lily".  I like florals in general.  I find them easy to draw, and I've done many.  I can draw a lot of flowers without reference.  With calla though, with their bold simplicity of form, composition is sometimes tricky.  I sat at my desk with a blank sheet of vellum cut to ACEO size and things took off pretty quickly.  I was able to finish this one in less than an hour -- 47 minutes to be precise.


I love it when things move quickly without too much trouble.  When I was working on this piece, there was a storm rolling overhead without actually producing rain.  The air was noticeably humid for change (for my area anyway), and it slowed down the drying time for the watercolor and I had an easy time manipulating it. ^^

Next, I decided to do a larger piece on one of the vellum sheets I cut from a 9"x 12" pad.  The prompt I picked was "Dance of the Jellyfish".


She's a mermaid with a "jellyfish" hair-do. XD  Couldn't quite decide what to do with her pose.  This was a third one I tried on the same head.  I liked her face and head angle for some reason.  This should be fun to ink over and color. 7" x 9". That was all for Saturday.


I ended up waking up (rudely awakened by a noise made by Jr....) at 5:30 am...  Couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to get to Sketch Fest and be productive. XD  This was the first one I did.  An ACEO for a prompt, "The Star Tree".  Sold to a collector.

Next up was a prompt, "Stars Entwined in Her Hair".  Sounded pretty and I love drawing big hair, so this one was a go.   Didn't want to do anything serious or big, so I did a small piece for an ACEO.


From pencil rough to inked lines took the whole hour.  Things like hair with other elements involved tend to take a while to figure out (to see what's in front of what, etc. XD ).

Next, I decided to work on another flower-inspired prompt, "Cherry Blossom Fantasy".  As a Japanese, I can't resist anything involving cherry blossoms.  Would have loved to have done this on a larger scale, but I don't like the feeling of having a lot of unfinished pieces laying around my work area, so, another ACEO.  I've finally lost that feeling of confinement I initially felt when I first started working on ACEOs.  Still, 2.5" x 3.5" is TINY no matter how you look at it...


I really like the way this one turned out.  I think it looks a lot like my old "Kaguya Hime" image that I did in digital.  Very similar concept with the flow and sentiment.  I do love the sight of cherry petal storm, but at the same time, I feel a bit of sadness taking over me, and every time I make a scene like this in a piece, I feel a little blue...  Sketch Fest #34 ended shortly after I finished this piece in an hour.


I finished "Stars Entwined in Her Hair" (called it just "Stars") after the SF.  Sunday afternoon was unpleasantly windy, so I figured I might as well stay indoors and be productive, finishing up my sketches. ^^  Sold to the prompter.

I will post any completed pieces later.  I really hope I get to finish the EV piece and other stuff, too.  :D

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