Art WIP -- The Angler

I have high hopes that this is going to be a good year at Gothic Panda Studios. I am changing up how I do things, at least a little. One big change is going to be that I am not going to be doing 100% digital art, or at least not 100% digitally inked and colored. I have always preferred good old pencil and paper for designing and sketching my art. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned that way. I also prefer writing with pencil and paper, as opposed to typing, and I prefer books... real books... you know the print books with paper and stuff because I love the way paper smells. I also think there is something about a blank sheet of paper that gives me goosebumps. It's exciting. Sometimes it's terrifying or overwhelming. There's so much potential in it.

But I'm rambling there. =P What was the point I was trying to get at? Some of my art is going to be 100% traditional. I am experimenting some with different mediums and different styles. Now, my style isn't going to change enormously; I see this process as honing my style and making it better and more me. Personally, I'm really excited.

Design Sketch

So, anyways. This is supposed to be a WIP post, so here are a couple of sketches for a new set and a new original design.

This is my Angler Mermaid. She is based off of the Angler fish, and is going to be one of the first in a series of mermaids inspired by different marine creatures (mostly fish). My goal with this is to stretch my creativity and see what I can come up with. I would love for this one to be one of my 100% traditional designs, but I'm still deciding whether I can get the effect I want with the resources I have. I guess we'll just see how things work out. =D

I really want to have dead Marlin/Dory on her claws/nails. Would that be too dark?

WIP Volume 46

Do you see anything yet? Nope I don't either. XD My goal is to finish it by Oct. 5. Wish me luck.

Finished. =)

WIP Volume 45

There hasn't been a lot of visible progress this week (there has been a little though). A lot of that is because of the training workshop I spent a chunk of last week and the weekend at. This next week is likely to be slim as well--today's a zoo day, tomorrow my grandmother is coming in town for a visit, and Friday-Sunday we're camping with the scouts (yep, even the 1 year old--that might be an adventure worth posting about Monday =P). So yeah... XD Here's this week's progress:

So close to being finished. Stupid Photoshop, stupid tablet drivers, stupid Windows 7. >_<

WIP Volume 44

Progress the last week or so on the mermaid commission and 2 baby blankets.

Getting there slowly. This week, I'll be working on the tail.

Blanket started a little while back. You can see progress... The pattern's been a little more complicated to work on than I expected. Not a bad thing though; I like challenges.

Usually I won't start a new blanket when I still have one unfinished, but I'm trying to get this one done before the mama's baby shower October 5, so... The pattern's a basic granny square design--I wanted to keep it simple because this blanket is going to have 256 squares in it. @_@ It should be pretty awesome though once finished.

WIP Volume 42

 This week's progress report: More progress on the Mermaid commission. This one is a little more detailed than what I normally allow for commissions. Usually I only take commissions for my chibi or 3/4 chibi styles, but this one is modeled after the Western Zodiac print set I did.

Remember that WIP post with all that fabric? That black and gray fabric at the bottom turned into this over the last week (yeah fuzzy photo sucks...):

 

I've been working on some new archetypes (Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Princess, and Necromancer). They're inked and ready to color.

 And finally what I succeeded in finishing yesterday on the Tinkerbell costume I said I was going to make. I got Charleigh's measurements, put together the pattern, cut out all the fabric, and made some progress getting everything sewn together. She was really excited seeing all the pieces starting to come together, and I'm a little sad I couldn't actually finish it yesterday. She'll have it though in time for her birthday. =)

WIP Volume 41

 I spent a lot of this week traveling. I also spent a lot of time dealing with motivational issues because of air conditioning not working properly and it being too hot to function properly in our house. XD The mermaid is making progress--maybe another week or so on it. The 2nd image should be finished in the next day or two. =)

WIP Volume 40

Last week, my mom was visiting, so I didn't put up a WIP post. I've been a little distracted with house projects (take advantage of opportunity presents itself) the last week or two, so there hasn't been much art progress anyways. =P Anyways. There has been some progress on the bags I posted about last time, but not much; I'm going to take pics again when there's some more noticeable progress. (see pics here) There has also been progress on a baby blanket, but it doesn't look much different from the last pic I posted. XD It looks about the same, just bigger (okay maybe twice as big).

There has also been progress on a couple of commission projects:

More on the mermaid (sketch here):

 Plus a couple commission.