Have been insanely busy, and have to go to school (nine hours earlier than required!) to set up a crapload of work for a scholarship show. While waiting for necessary things to print out, I am going to babble a bit about my latest artcrush, James Jean.

It's been a while since I've had an artcrush, and even then, the last one wasn't on a person but rather a stylistic period (although Art Nouveau and I had a passionate affair, we've passed the honeymoon stage and are settling into quiet domesticity. The beauty of artcrushes is that they are delightfully polygamous).

For the uninitiated, an artcrush is very similar to your average, garden-variety crush: constantly thinking about and a swooping feeling in the pit of one's stomach at the sight of your object of obsession affection, unreasonable attempts to incorporate said object into unrelated aspects of your life, and doodling all over everything (which can become a blessing and a curse with an artcrush). The only real difference is that the artcrush is intellect-driven, while general crushes are usually hormone-driven. An artcrush stimulates the mind and creative faculties, and a general crush stimulates...Well. You get the idea.

I have never had an artcrush on an American-style comic illustrator before, so at first I felt rather like I was betraying my vast collection of Asian artcrushes by crossing over to the, er, home side of the tracks. But as you'll soon see from James Jean's work, he's got just enough of the Asian mixed with the American, particularly in his covers from the Fables series, that I feel quite at home (and abroad!) looking at his art. Comic illustrations aside, he's a damn fine painter, too. I haven't got time to post a comprehensive set of pictures, but for starters:

His blog and online store

and

His online portfolio

and

Mostly his comic-related stuff.


I burn, I pine, I perish. I just spent over $150 on artbooks and art supplies as a sacrifice to the gods of illustration.

Tags: artcrush, flailing beats failing, james jean, just a little bit insane thanks, my finger hurts, ohmygod, the search for inspiration
Current Mood: dun wanna go back to school...
Current Music: "Uchuu" ~ Angela Aki

A school project, done with the pen tool in illustrator, and a girly doodle that got out of control, done in photoshop. Enjoy!

( Too lazy to do preview images. Clickyclicky! )

Tags: art, my finger hurts, original art
Current Music: xxxHolic movie

Kids, I desperately want to convey to you all what a BIG. FRIGGIN. DEAL today is, and yet I hardly know how, BUT.


I HAVE FINISHED ALL 160 PAGES OF ROUGH DRAFTS FOR THE GRAPHIC NOVEL.



THE THING HAS BEEN PLANNED OUT, TO THE LAST PAGE, FINALLY.

I...I don't know quite what to do with myself. I demand cake. SOMEONE MAKE ME A CAKE. OR A FLAILY ICON THIS IS MORE CELEBRATION-WORTHY THAN MY BIRTHDAY.

Tags: flailing beats failing, gwnn, ohmygod, the graphic novel, tokyopop, yaaaaaay!!!
Current Location: "Miracle" ~ Paramore
Current Mood: jubilant

OKAY SO.

First, the art, which I am too lazy to upload to imageshack, so y'all get the deviantart link:

Don't get excited, it's just a figure study from class.

Now, more importantly.

HAS ANYONE OUT THERE READ NEIL GAIMAN'S THE GRAVEYARD BOOK \(*A* )/ \( *A*)/ ????

It's just come out in the states, and is supposed to be released in the UK on Halloween (though I hear that you can probably find it if you know where to look), and so of course the ONLY fanworshipfulthings I've found thus far are a sparse handful of submissions on deviantart and I DON'T HAVE ANYONE TO TALK TO ABOUT THE BOOK. EDEN IS A SAD CHALUPA.

Really, even if you can't afford to buy the book right now, you can just hop on over to Neil Gaiman's blog and watch/listen to him read the entire book for free.

Needless to say, there will be fanart forthcoming. Ohohoooo yes.

Tags: art, the graveyard book
Current Music: Neil Gaiman reading "The Graveyard Book"

Damn, my last post was ACTUALLY in July??! D:

Well, I AM alive, and I'm in school and busy as hell, but here's a self portrait I had to do for a class assignment, in which we were asked to express 'attitude.' I don't really like self-portraits, but I thought this one came out all right.

30"x40" in acrylic on canvas.

( Under here. )

Tags: art
Current Music: Neil Gaiman reading "The Graveyard Book"

LOLOLOL. OK, so this is proof that, left to my own devices, I will expend about FIVE TIMES more effort than is really necessary getting a piece of work 'just so.' My class ended on June 19th, by which time this and three other paintings were to be finished. My prof deemed it 'finished enough' for our final review, and encouraged me to continue working on it at home after the course was over.

I finally decided it was truly done about an hour ago.

I think I'm probably sort of sick in the head.

Preview:


( I haven't really given this a title, but in my head I refer to it as 'machine mama.' )

Ugh. Okay. Time to go pass out @_@

Tags: just a little bit insane thanks, original art, watercolor
Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: "I'm Yours" ~ Jason Mraz

OKAY, FOLKS. Here's the deal. Between school, personal projects, and my general inability to stay organized over lengthy periods of time, I don't always have tons of wiggle room to accept/complete commissions. HOWEVER, since I am a poor art student and need both the money and the practice, I have decided to start accepting commissions, at least for the summer.

( Basic Guidelines )

( Pricing )


Other Stuff

-I'll be accepting commissions throughout the summer, but only 10 at a time
-please email pencilsmudged-at-hotmail-dot-com with all commission requests
-maximum of two requests per person
-you don't have to pay in full until your commission is ready, but please only make a request if you're serious
-commissions are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis

Commission Openings

01. bistrot
02. epyonavenger
03. krhainos
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.

Tags: commissions
Current Music: "Lollipop" ~ Mika

OK, guys, I've got about a BILLION things to update on, including the Tokyopop situation and responding to comments, but before I get to ANY of that I need to go finish a commission because AHAHAHAI'MSOPOOR. AM STILL POOR, BUT THIS IS DONE, ANYWAY.

List of things to be dealt with in the next (couple of) update(s):

-respond to backlogged comments (thanks SO MUCH to everyone who gave me book and artist suggestions!)
-watercolor artpost
-post giving details on commissions PLZ GIVE ME MONEY T_T
-inquiry about Paypal WOO! I WIN.
-Amazon bullying publishers
-updates over on lifeblog
-Comic-Con
-Ares fanart




よし！Now I have to go draw some doggies X3 And maybe watercolor some more.

Current Music: "Lollipop" ~ Mika

( Tokyopop update )


( Flist: If your favorite story could be illustrated by your favorite artist, who would that dream team be? )

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: "Love Today" ~ Mika

So I'm currently taking an intro to watercolor class to get some elective credits out of the way. It'll be another two weeks before I'm finished, and some of the paintings are fairly large, so it'll be some time before I can get them scanned in. I've never used watercolors before, but I'm finding that I REALLY enjoy the medium. Here's a crappy snapshot I took with my cellphone of the two large ones I'm working on right now:



After I finish this class, I'm also thinking about opening up for art commissions for the summer, both digital and 'real' media. If anyone out there would be interested in commissions or even just purchasing prints of my work from my deviantART account, please do drop me a comment and let me know. Once my class ends, expect to see a more detailed post RE: commissions/prints.

/unabashed self-pimping

Also, expect to see a fanart post veeeeeery soon...

Tags: commissions, wip
Current Mood: full
Current Music: "Lifelight" ~ Andy Hunter