Anna Rettberg

Some Drawings

2012-03-14T15:27:00.002-04:00

Here are some figure drawings from last semester that I didn't get to scan until now. And some critters. Wooooo.

-Anna

Spring Break Sketches

2012-03-11T17:33:00.003-04:00

So this cool guy named Matt contacted me about commissioning some illustrations for a Young Adult novel he's writing. The story is pretty damn cool-- steampunk Victorian Ireland. I mean seriously, how cool is that? These are some quick sketches I did of the two main characters. I'm going to be doing whole character sheets for them, which I'll post as soon as I'm done!

I also have to apply for some things, work on my website, draw mouths to put on a some shoes for a stop motion animation, color the Momotaro comic, finish an essay, and negotiate a children's book job. This Spring Break isn't going to be much of a break, but that's okay! It's a good kind of busy :)

-Anna

Tower Bridge

2012-03-03T18:58:00.005-05:00

Meh. I'm throwing in the towel on this one. I'm not thrilled with it, but I have to move on if I want to finish anything else.

-Anna

New Yorker Covers

2012-03-02T22:23:00.003-05:00

We had to design two New Yorker-style covers for class. I decided to go with a more graphic approach. Here's what I came up with:

-Anna

Sherlocked

2012-02-27T23:42:00.019-05:00

I'd been doing homework all day and really just needed to do something fun so I didn't go inssaaannneee. I decided to color the Sherlock piece I drew a while back. I went with black and white because it was quicker and it just seemed to fit the tone of the show.

-Anna

Busy Busy

2012-02-25T22:44:00.008-05:00

It was really tough to get the dragon to fit in there just right, and I'm still not %100 happy with it, but this is the best I've got. I think color will help too- the bridge will seem much less busy once it's toned down, especially when compared to the bright green dragon.

And come on, you had to know that this was coming. Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond :)

-Anna

Tower Bridge- Line

2012-02-24T00:31:00.001-05:00

The drawing of Tower Bridge for my next in the London series. The girl and her dragon will be flying over it. I'm really happy with how this came out... I was nervous going into it because there aren't really any good reference photos from this angle, and I've never really done buildings before (which is a big part of why I'm doing this series... because I need to try drawing a city!) So yeah... this was about 8 hours of drawing, I think.

-Anna

Allons-y!

2012-02-22T22:46:00.003-05:00

Yeeeahhh, definitely should've been doing homework instead of this. Anyway. Here's the colored Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler. My roommate wanted the lineart to color, so she printed out a gigantic version of it. It's currently hanging on our fridge.

Also, here's the promotional card that will be in our little Senior Illustration booklet thingy:

-Anna

Anglophilia

2012-02-21T15:14:00.009-05:00

Here's the next in my London series:

And last night I REALLY didn't want to do my homework, so I decided to procrastinate by drawing some of the characters from Sherlock. (At least my procrastination is productive... right?) Colored version will be up soon, I'm sure.

AAAAAND this is an update to this post, but it just fit here. I did another procrastination drawing, but this time it was a reward for being so productive today! This is something I've been wanting to draw for a while, but every time I would start it I would get discouraged because it just wasn't working. But some days are magic drawing days-- where everything comes out just right-- and today was one of them. I'm really happy with this... the Tenth Doctor and Rose! <3

-Anna

Midnight

2012-02-18T22:43:00.005-05:00

-Anna

Trafalgar-line

2012-02-18T01:07:00.000-05:00

Here's my final line in my next piece of the London series. (Also, apparently this is my 100th post. Woo!)

And for comparison, this is a comp that I did before I drew it. I used a photo that I took of Nelson's column and doodled on top of it.

-Anna

Carriage- Line

2012-02-16T20:08:00.001-05:00

-Anna

Sherlock

2012-02-16T01:46:00.001-05:00

K I drew Sherlock. I'm like 46% happy with this. Bedtime now.

-Anna

Stuff From Today

2012-02-13T22:49:00.004-05:00

Here's some stuff from today.

A tighter sketch for the bus piece.

And a tone-ish study? I guess?

Colored Momotaroooo:

And colored dog, pheasant, and monkey:

I wanted to do something fun to end the day, and my plan was to draw Sherlock and Watson. But I just couldn't draw, so I gave up and let this stream-of-consciousness Reichenbach Fall inspired thing come out. I don't even know.

I'll actually draw Sherlock and Watson some time. I promise.

-Anna

Momotaro Sketches

2012-02-09T21:35:00.003-05:00

For my narrative illustration class we're illustrating the Japanese tale Momotaro. It's about a boy who goes off to defeat some evil ogres who have been terrorizing his village. Along the way he is joined by a spotted dog, a monkey, and a pheasant. These are some character designs that I did for Momotaro, his companions, and the ogres.

Also, here's a really quick color comp I did of an illustration I have in mind for another assignment, 'Imagined Worlds'. It's an odd size --11x28-- but it's also fun because it's pretty cinematic. When these illustrations are finished, they'll be going inside the Centro buses that drive around Syracuse.

-Anna

Piccadilly- Color

2012-02-07T15:54:00.017-05:00

Here's the finished piece. I plan on doing a whole series of this little girl and her dragon all over different locations in London. Here they are catching a ride on the Tube.

Prints available here!

And it's supposed to be a promotional card, so here's a version with stuff:

Also, two of the Tube passengers look sort of like Ten and Rose... wonder what that's about... ;)

-Anna

Piccadilly Line

2012-02-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

Line art for my next illustration. I'm a wee bit excited about this one.

-Anna

Green Shoes

2012-01-29T19:48:00.003-05:00

Wow! This past week has been something of a whirlwind. My TV piece just kind of took off across the internet, and it just keeps going. I've been hearing from a lot of people, and it's a lot of fun, because people are generally awesome.
Really though, not a whole lot has changed for me. It's just back to the same old grind; back to schoolwork and watching Doctor Who with my roommate and blogging. I thought the first post after my unexpected blogsplosion should be something important. Something special. Unfortunately, I don't have anything like that, so here's a pair of anthropomorphic shoes instead.

These are for an assignment for school. It's not that exciting.

-Anna

TV

2012-01-22T18:44:00.041-05:00

Prints available here!

Thanks to everybody who's sourced this and linked back to my blog when reposting/tumblring/etc. I just ask that if you do share this image, please make sure to credit me! Thanks!! :)

Follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at aerettberg@gmail.com!

This took more hours than I can count... certainly qualifies for the 'one million things' assignment, I'd say!

I've been getting requests to list all the characters, so here they are! (I'll try to keep it sort of organized... and in the process probably make it more confusing...)
Back row, left to right: Dwight (The Office), Caprica 6 (Battlestar Galactica), Dr. House (House), JD (Scrubs), Tobias (Arrested Development), Liz Lemon (30 Rock), River (Firefly), Jack and Vincent (LOST), The 11th Doctor (Doctor Who), Walter (Breaking Bad), Rick Grimes (Walking Dead)
Middle row: Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Bill (True Blood), Jeff (Community), Quinn or really any other cheerleader from (Glee) and honestly could be Claire from (Heroes) if you'd prefer, Barney (How I Met Your Mother), Don Draper (Mad Men), Dexter (Dexter), Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)
Bottom row: Sheldon (Big Bang Theory), Spock (Star Trek:TOS), Chuck (Chuck), Sydney Bristow (Alias)
Window: TARDIS (Doctor Who), USS Enterprise (Star Trek), Galactica (Battlestar Galactica), Serenity (Firefly)
Also, the dog is sorta supposed to look like the dog from Frasier, and the cat is sorta like the one from Sabrina (I've never watched either show, so I wasn't super particular about getting them right. Just wanted a few animals in it!)

Enjoy!! Thanks for all the love! You are all made of wonderful, nerdy awesome :)

-Anna

Last First Week

2012-01-20T16:03:00.002-05:00

So, this was my last first week of school ever! Scary stuff, that. Here's some stuff that I've done this week, including the line art for the TV piece:

And here's a robot eating some paper:

Something I feel like I've always struggled with is keeping a character design consistent and on model, especially once they start making expressions. I wanted to practice with a character who was also a real person, so if I couldn't figure out an angle I could look at a photo and figure out the structure. So yeah, more Doctors:

-Anna

Spoilers!

2012-01-16T21:30:00.002-05:00

Here are a few of the characters I've drawn for my 'million things' TV character piece. Exciting!

Dr. House (from House) and JD (from Scrubs). They will be sitting on a couch (dur).

Buffy (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Bill (from True Blood)

Chuck (from Chuck) and Sydney (from Alias)

Sheldon (from Big Bang Theory) and Spock (from Star Trek)

Dwight (from The Office) and Number 6 (from Battlestar Galactica)

The Doctor (from Doctor Who) and Walter (from Breaking Bad)

Don Draper (from Mad Men)

Dexter (from Dexter) and Sherlock Holmes (from Sherlock)

There are more, but you will have to wait to see them!
-Anna

Wandering...

2012-01-11T23:58:00.014-05:00

I'm old enough to know that my expectations of the future are unrealistic, but young enough not to care.

Also, why do I constantly think I'm seeing spiders out of the corner of my eye?? I just jumped! At nothing!!

ONE YEAR BLOG ANNIVERSARY WOO

(actually, it was a year ago on the 9th, but... whatever)

Anyway, just wanted to let the 5 people (approximately) who read this blog regularly to know that I haven't forgotten it! Just don't have a proper scanner here at home, but I'll be back to school in a few days and arting like a crazy person.

Oh, the photo? I just like it. My best bud Alle and I were in this little English village. Someone was selling finger puppets for 25p. They were hanging from their front door in a box; you just picked the one you wanted and put the coins through the letterbox in the door.

I've been getting really nostalgic about England lately. It could be an effect of all the British television I've been watching lately, but I feel like that's more of a result of my wistfulness than the other way around. I think part of it is that in March it will have been a year since I was there, and I actually feel something that borders on homesickness, which is weird (I'm prone to homesickness, but usually... you know... for home). There's another class with the same professor that's going back this Spring, and I wish I was going with them. (The class is called 'Mysteries of London', and it undoubtedly involves lots of Victorian texts... Dickens and Doyle, to be sure! GAH!! One of the things I will miss most about college is being able to study literature academically... I mean, I guess I could study it on my own, but it's just not the same. But I digress...*literature nerd*)

Anyway. It's all good... I know that I will be back across the pond soon enough :)

Ah! Thought I saw a spider again! Must be time for bed. More drawings soon!

-Anna

Ten and Eleven

2011-12-28T16:13:00.020-05:00

There are some people who I just have to draw because I'm pretty sure they're already cartoon characters. David Tennant and Matt Smith are two of those people, and they both happen to play The Doctor! Tennant is tall and thin and angular, with crazy, dramatic eyebrows and expressions; Smith is lanky and clumsy, with a youthful appearance but the air of someone much older... and don't even get me started on the hair! I did a drawing of Matt Smith's Doctor before --it's in the previous post-- but I wasn't happy with it. For someone so cartoonish, it didn't do him justice. So here are my new and improved versions of the tenth and eleventh incarnation of the Doctor from Doctor Who. (Also, I just realized that these two are like... the ultimate hipsters...)
This little project has also gotten me REALLY excited to start my next illustration... it's called the 'Million Things' assignment. I'm going to draw a ton of different characters from TV shows... hehehe. It should be good!

And here are some close ups of the faces:

-Anna

A Brain, a Superhero, and The Doctor

2011-12-23T21:49:00.006-05:00

I got another job from Carolina Crown, this time to design a floor tarp for an indoor drumline. (Basically, it's a 55x75(ish)ft. tarp that covers the floor of a gymnasium that a drumline or winterguard marches/performs on). They wanted a cyborgish brain with wires coming out it's spine. Where the wires end, they will physically attach some wire props and plug them into prop outlets.

The other night I was watching some online tutorials on brushes in Photoshop by an illustrator who I really like, and I was inspired and eager to do some digital work. And then I happened to watch this really adorable music video called Forever Yours by two of my favorite Youtubers. The guy who wrote the song, Alex Day, is trying to get the song to #1 on iTunes (UK) for Christmas (it's around #4 now... which is pretty epic). I was really, really eager to draw something, so rather impulsively I decided to draw Alex's superhero alter ego from the video. It's all done digitally and took just a few hours to finish. Normally I draw traditionally and scan the linework in, but it was fun to draw straight onto the computer.

Also, I've recently fallen a little bit in love with the BBC series Doctor Who. I know everyone thinks that David Tennant is the best Doctor, but Matt Smith is my Doctor. Why? Because bow ties are cool. (Nothing against David Tennant, I love him too. His Doctor wears Converse, which puts him on my favorite person list.) I drew this straight into Photoshop with my Wacom tablet. Like the drawing to the right, it was rather impulsive and not very thought out, so I'm a little meh about things like composition and some of the foreshortening. But that's what happens when you don't do sketches! I'm sure I'll get around to finishing this sometime, but I might redraw parts of it first.

Also, I drew a robot:

Happy Holidays!

Anna

Survey and SUMBanquet

2011-12-12T23:21:00.005-05:00

Today I had Survey, which is basically when we all hang up our work from the semester and the illustration professors give us feedback/talk over each other. It went pretty well, though I took a little flak for working digitally all the time (which kind of blows my mind... because I'd say a good many illustrators work digitally these days...) but whatevs! I work how I work. Here's a photo of my wall:

Also, last night I attended my final SUMB Banquet (or as we like to call it, SUMBanquet. We're big fans of acronyms in the SUMB). It was incredibly bittersweet. My experience with the marching band has been by far my best experience at Syracuse. It's been such a massive part of my life for the past 4 years that I know I'm going to be lost without it... for a little while, anyway. But it's okay, because if it never ended then it wouldn't be so meaningful.
This past football season was anticlimactic to say the least, and it just didn't feel like my time with the SUMB was over. I didn't have any sense of closure (I realize closure doesn't always happen in real life, but for someone as crazy about stories at me it's something that I've kind of come to expect in my own little narrative), and was feeling pretty sad about the whole thing. But last night was the perfect way to end any season; I got to spend one last evening with some of the most fun people I've ever met. It was the last time that we would all be together.

There are a few awards given out each year, and one of them is called the Floyd F. Decker Award. It's given to a 4-year band member who exhibits dedication, leadership, and pride, and for some reason they decided to give it to me. I was shocked; I felt like I didn't do anything to deserve it, but I think that's kind of the point... It's not about who's the loudest, or the most boisterous; it's about being steadfast and loyal and committed, and sometimes that's not the most obvious person. To say I'm honored would be an understatement. I'm pretty sure I felt an entirely new emotion last night, after the shock wore off. I felt truly appreciated. It's incredibly validating to be recognized for just being who you are.

"Loyal be thy sons and daughters to they memory."
I love the SUMB and I always will. Forever Orange.

-Anna

YouTube Procrastination

2011-12-09T01:12:00.004-05:00

Most people watch YouTube to procrastinate. I draw it instead. First, Jenna Marbles, with her dogs Marbles and Kermit.

And Epic Meal Time. Muscles Glasses and the Sauce Boss. Bacon strips.

I also drew charlieissocoollike (Charlie McDonnell) and his pal nerimon (Alex Day), two British Youtubers (I'm pretty sure both are my soulmates), but the likenesses aren't good enough so I might redraw them and put them up later. Or maybe not.

Anyway. I find YouTube really inspiring. It's so awesome that people can start from scratch with a webcam and a great idea, and become super successful off of nothing but their own creativity. They weren't out for money, they were just hoping to make something that they enjoyed and that other people would enjoy too. It also reminds me of the power of the internet, and why I love it so much. The internet has given me so many cool opportunities and so much great exposure for my art, and watching successful YouTubers inspires me to really put my stuff out there- you never know who will see it!

-Anna

One Week to Go...

2011-12-05T11:53:00.006-05:00

And here's my finished-ish panorama assignment. I'm happy with parts of it...

-Anna

December, what!?

2011-12-03T01:11:00.011-05:00

Oh hey, it's December now. Just a week of classes left! Here are the final drawings for my last 2 pieces of the semester:

The first is a 'panorama' assignment for James. Our pieces all have the same horizon line so that they will (sort of) line up next to one another. We'll see how well that ends up working... Also, we only have 1 week to do the entire illustration, which is pretty intense. Like camping... (HA)

And here are 2 color comps I did. I'm going more in the direction of the first one:

Here's a sneak peek of the finish (work in progress):

And then for Concepts, more animals! So many animals this semester!! This time, GEESE. In a thunderstorm. Oh no!

And here are 2 crappy color comps for that:

Color versions will be up soon!

-Anna

Thanksgiving break, yo!

2011-11-28T18:08:00.001-05:00

Long time no update! Jeez. I really need to post something. I just had Thanksgiving break, which was greatly needed. Now I'm feeling re-energized creatively and am ready for these last couple of weeks! I've got some sketches that I haven't scanned in yet... I'll put them up once they're a little farther along. For now, here's an adorable puppy that I did for a commission:

And here are some spot illustrations that I did for Roger.

-Anna

Lots o' Stuff

2011-11-12T16:04:00.003-05:00

So I've done a bunch of random stuff for a bunch of random things the past week or so... so here we go! First is an assignment we did for Roger. We had to design a product. I basically just created a design that could be put on a variety of different products:

Ponies! Then I turned it into something that could be put around the wall of a child's room (or something):

And then more Crown stuff! I did the guard. I'm pretty happy with them.

Annnd then there's the alto stuff. I'm play alto sax the Syracuse University Marching Band, and every year I've drawn the section for the back of the t-shirts we have made up every year. This year the front of the shirt is based on Party Rock Anthem, which has been our section song this year. And we be shufflin'.

(It's based on this:)

And here's the drawing:

Huzzah! I'm going to miss band so much.... So many great memories with some really great, hilarious people. I laugh so much with the altos.

Next are some figure 30 minute/15 minute figure drawings we did in Jerome's class:

Anyway, that's a taste of what I did this week. I'm starting to get so burnt out! Thankfully we have break next week-- I really need it.

-Anna

Artemis and Slugbunny

2011-11-06T15:25:00.005-05:00

Here's my finished Artemis piece. I'm still not 100% on the composition, and I would've loved to have another week to work on it, but alas...

Also, check out slugbunny. My friend Erin was making a maquette in class and gave me a piece of Sculpey to play with... and slugbunny happened. I'd love to do a whole bunch of these guys; little weird animal hybrid monsters.

-Anna

Promotional Video

2011-11-01T16:16:00.001-04:00

For James's class we had to make a video portfolio... So yeah. Here's what I did for that. Yay!

-Anna

Starbuck and 6

2011-11-01T00:55:00.005-04:00

I just finished watching Battlestar Galactica. I REALLY want to draw the characters, like I did with Firefly... in fact, I'd love to do a series of them from all sorts of shows. I love doing cartoony caricatures... it's pretty much my happy place. I've been so swamped with work lately that I haven't had any time to draw anything for fun, but after I watched the BSG finale I was so eager to draw the characters that I just had to do it. So I drew two of them: Starbuck and Number 6.

Hopefully there will be more to come soon. Drawing these things... it's seriously like crack to me.

-Anna

Illustrator Horses

2011-10-31T18:07:00.003-04:00

Here are some horses I made in Illustrator for Roger's class. I'm really happy with them!! Not long ago, I had no idea how to use Illustrator (if you need proof, click here), and now I've actually made something pretty cool using it! Yay!

-Anna

Moooore Artemis

2011-10-30T13:30:00.006-04:00

Here's my final line for the Artemis illustration:

I'm not liking the composition as much now that I've blown it up. 16x9 might just be a little too wide for this particular image, but that's what I have to do for the assignment, so I shall. I moved/resized the deer, hoping to make it a little more balanced. And here are 3 color comps:

I think I'm leaning towards the second one, with fallish colors.

-Anna

Crown Designs

2011-10-28T14:47:00.005-04:00

Here's more of my work for Carolina Crown! First, some drumline guys. Rach on.

Next are two different ideas for t-shirt designs. I made them in Illustrator, which is great because I've been trying to learn the program and this project is really helping me do it!

With the one above I was going for a kind of iPodish feel. And the one below is more colorful, for a different audience. I could probably push this one and make it even more colorful and decorative if they like this direction. If they don't, then that's cool too.

Anyway. Back to work! So much to do.
-Anna

More Artemis and Email Blast

2011-10-23T18:15:00.004-04:00

Here's my final version of Artemis:

And here are two black and white comps of the background she'll be in... haven't picked which one I will do yet:

And here's an email blast we had to make for James's class, in which I write in the third person and feel like a jerk for talking about how awesome I am:

-Anna

Horns and Knitting

2011-10-18T16:37:00.006-04:00

Here are 4 of the figures I'm doing for Carolina Crown.

And I've started knitting again! Oh jeez! I go through phases where I knit a lot and others where I don't knit at all. I made a fingerless glove in one night. I haven't started to make the second one, and I hope I get around to it, otherwise this guy will be an orphan. But I've been wearing him on my hand when I draw to keep it all cozy and warm, so maybe it's okay he's alone.

-Anna

Haiku

2011-10-16T15:41:00.011-04:00

Here's my mostly finished haiku project. I need to fix the sky somehow... make it brighter I think. Also, my mom pointed out that the first line of the haiku only has 4 syllables... but I don't think I'm allowed to fix it, because I didn't write it... but yeah... fail.

And here's a sneak peek of the section illustrations Carolina Crown asked me to do. Tuba!!!

-Anna

Workshop and Artemis

2011-10-15T18:48:00.006-04:00

The past few days I've been in a scriptwriting workshop with Rob Edwards, who wrote Treasure Planet and The Princess and the Frog. It was a really cool experience. I was already pretty familiar with the 3 Act story arc formula, but he went into it in great detail. The whole workshop was really one-on-one too, with only a handful of people there, so we got to ask lots of questions and get lots of specific feedback. I will definitely use what I learned to tighten up my own stories. Plus, it was cool to hear him talk about working with the guys from Disney and Pixar. And his imitation of Randy Newman... pretty funny.

For Concepts, we have to do 5 character designs for a Greek God/Goddess. I picked Artemis! She's the "Lady of Wild Things, Hunsman-in-chief to the Gods", and if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you know I like strong female characters. She also had a lot to do with the moon, and really liked deer and cyprus trees. And, she's SUPER fun to design!! Here are the character designs I did for her:

Loved this assignment! Next we're going to put her in a background, which should be fun. She's so gonna be riding a deer :)

And here's the finished poster for Carolina Crown! It's their Facebook photo!! Super exciting! (I didn't do the text, they did. Just felt like I should make that clear, hahaha)

-Anna

Dragon Update and Whee!

2011-10-11T12:13:00.003-04:00

So I got some feedback from critique about the fire/smoke, which I was having trouble with, so I've changed it up a little. Here's the final illustration, though knowing me, it'll change again... heh.

And here's my lineart for the downtown Syracuse poster project. We have to illustrate a haiku someone wrote about Syracuse. I picked is something about snow... which is fitting, because Syracuse... and snow.... yeah...

Also, last week I got an email from Carolina Crown! They stumbled across an illustration that was posted on my blog a while back of three drum corps guys, and they asked me to do a whole series of those illustrations for them! Super exciting! They also asked if I would design an audition poster for them, and I was too stupid to say no. I was asked to base it on a specific Michael Buble poster, so that's what I did. Here's what I sent, and they were happy with it! Whee!

-Anna

Dragons and Doodles

2011-10-02T16:13:00.009-04:00

Here's my finished promotional card! I'm pretty happy with it, but it's not quite there yet. Knowing me, I'll be playing around with it for a few more days. I just have to step away from it for a while. So yeah... here it is:

And here are two card variations of it:

Also, here are a few sketches we did in Jerome's class. Our next in-class piece is a car accident scene. We had four models posing, and were just doing some quick studies. Here are the ones I did:

And here's the cover for the comic project. It's kinda obvious I didn't spend a ton of time on it, but my main priority this weekend was the dragon piece up above, and I felt that the cover of the comic was much less important than the inside.

-Anna

Self Portrait

2011-09-28T14:28:00.003-04:00

Here's a self portrait that I did for Jerome's class. It's okay... the eyes and jaw are too big and it's a bit lopsided (you can see how screwed up it is when you look at it in a mirror.) I've gone back in since I scanned it and tried to make the eyes a bit smaller and evened out the jawline, but... meh.

And here are some doodles from my Moleskine:

-Anna

Evil Bunny Finish

2011-09-27T15:00:00.002-04:00

Here's my finished mad scientist bunny. There's more I could do to it, and I'm sure I'll tweak it a little more, but I have so much other work to do that I'm gonna have to be satisfied with this! Muahahaha!!

-Anna

Comic

2011-09-25T21:16:00.004-04:00

Here's the comic assignment we're doing for Dave DeVries, our current instructor for Concepts. The assignment was to do 2 comic pages, the premise being this-- in the first panel, the character dies, and the rest of the panels tell the story of this character passing to heaven/hell/afterlife/whatever. I had all these fun ideas but it was too hard to fit them into 2 pages, so I had to keep simplifying my concept. Eventually, I decided I would focus less on the premise and more on trying to make the story coherent in such a small amount of space, and deal with the character and his emotions more than some complicated storyline. So here it is:

He flails a lot. Which I rather enjoy.

-Anna

Dragon Chase Color Comps

2011-09-25T18:28:00.010-04:00

Some color comps for the promotional business card piece. It's a tough one... I'm not completely satisfied with these, but I've been staring at them all afternoon, so I figured it'd be best to take a break for a little while. Here are three slightly different color studies. I think I'm closest with the third one, but it's not there yet.

And then I have other issues to deal with, like cropping. This piece isn't feeling as exciting/dynamic as it was to me as a sketch, and I think part of that is the framing. I tried cropping it down a little so the horse felt like it was more in the corner, and it seemed to help a little. Maybe? I need to stop staring at it for a while....

More to come on this one soon.
-Anna

Dragon

2011-09-22T00:56:00.000-04:00

So I've been experimenting with how I want to color my girl/horse/dragon piece, and I'm really happy with what I'm discovering. Here's a sneak peek!!

-Anna

Mooore Sketches

2011-09-20T21:23:00.004-04:00

So here's a more finished sketch of the illustration I was working on the other day. I've made the girl younger and she no longer has her bow and arrows. I was thinking that this is more like that girl's origin story; like, this is how the girl with the bow begins her journey... Maybe her village is attacked and burned down by a dragon, and her parents stick her on a horse and send her away... Actually, that just made me think, maybe I'll add a glimpse of a burning village in the background.. I'll have to try adding it and see if it works.

And here's a color comp/work in progress. I want to try to give this a watercolory look in Photoshop, so I'm gonna be experimenting with textures/brushes 'n stuff. Wish me luck. More color comps to come, fo sho:

And here are some sketches I did for the 'animal doing something human' assignment that I didn't post before:

And here's a girl in a dress that I drew in my Moleskine:

-Anna

Sketchy Comps

2011-09-19T00:17:00.003-04:00

Here are some really sketchy, scribbly color comps of our promotional business card assignment. This is just me getting a feel for the piece and the color scheme I need.

Here's the lineart for the horse and girl. (Still quite sketchy/unfinished.)

Sunsetish time. I used a filter on Photoshop to simplify it even more.

Then I changed it to night, and liked that better.

Then I added fire! Because the blues needed some orange, and dragons = fire!

Toned it down a bit... the blues were a little too blue.

Then I upped the saturation and contrast a teeny bit.

So that's just me playing around. They need A LOT more work, but I'm tired and done for tonight. I leave you with a drawing I did in my Moleskine of a sci fi girl... with anger!!

-Anna

Mad Scientist Bunny

2011-09-14T23:40:00.002-04:00

Work in progress/color comp of 'animal doing something human' assignment. I have the best major ever. Now, join the adorable bunny in a round of raucous, maniacal laughter.

"Everyone ignores the laugh, and that's about standards."
-Dr. Horrible

Senior Year!

2011-09-04T17:37:00.005-04:00

It's senior year! Woo!

I had my first week of classes, and so far I'm really excited about everything. I'm ready to be drawing and promoting myself and being a real person. Huzzah! So here is some of the stuff that I've done this first week...

For James, we are making promotional cards. He wanted us to draw anything that we wanted; something that captures the essence of our art, and catches the eye. To capture the essence of me in one drawing, I knew it had to have a few things in it: a girl, a horse, a crazy/dynamic angle, and an element of fantasy. So that's what I drew. Here are two thumbnails. I think I'm going to go with the one on the top:

For Roger, we have to do an illustration of an animal doing something human. I decided to do a mad scientist bunny. Because I can. (He is inspired by a bunny I used to have, Bun Bun, who was awesome, but evil. But awesome.)

For Jerome Witkin's figure drawing class, we had to copy a drawing of a nude guy. Here's my drawing:

And for Concepts, our instructor for 5 weeks is a comic artist, Dave DeVries. He's awesome. We have to do a two-page comic and a cover... the premise is that in the first panel the main character has to die. I have the thumbnails done, and I'm excited about it, but they're so sketchy that putting them up wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, so I will upload something when I have slightly more refined sketches. So anyway. Yay! Senior year! Off to a good start :)

Oh, and this is what I've been doing in the in-between time:

-Anna

Band Camp

2011-08-22T22:51:00.000-04:00

I'm at band camp this week, so there will be no art going on... it started on Saturday, and it's been going 9am-9pm ever since... only 2.5 more days... that's what I keep telling myself. Everything hurts... especially my feet and knees. And my hip. And one of my shins. And the muscles behind my knees. And my lower back. And my arms. And the inside of my lip from playing sax.

To keep this post relevant, here's a drawing I did many many moons ago (2007) called 'The Band Camp Tan.' It's four years old and you can definitely tell, but it still remains one of my most popular pieces on deviantART; people really seem to relate to it! I get a lot of comments along the lines of 'OH MY GOD THIS IS SO TRUE'. Anyway. We were outside for rehearsal on Saturday in the hot sun (normally we practice in the Dome, but we couldn't be in there because of the football team. What they were doing on our field, I don't know) and I've got some of this going on:

So yeah. I've especially got the shorts and socks tan, with a little bit of the watch tan, although mine is more of a bracelet tan.

Back to the grind tomorrow... another 12 hour day of marching, setting drill, learning music, and running at a high step from endzone to endzone over and over again (aka the 'fun run'. It is not fun.)

Wish me luck.

-Anna

War Horse and NYC Characters

2011-08-14T21:21:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I was in New York City, where I saw the play War Horse at Lincoln Center. From the moment I saw the amazing puppet for the horse Joey (above) on TV at the Tony's, I knew I had to see this play. It takes three people to operate the puppet. One person for the head, another for the 'heart', and a third for the 'hind'. I did a doodle which shows how it works. Sorta.

While I felt that the play wasn't as emotionally satisfying as I was expecting (all the hype about people crying and such might have made me put too many expectations in it but... alas), I still really enjoyed the spectacle. The horses stole the show anyway. I also loved the music, which was made up of a lot of beautiful English folk music, which I'm a massive sucker for. When I listen to the music from the play, particularly "Only Remembered", I feel a little nostalgic, so maybe the play had more of an impact on me than I thought at the time...

War Horse - Only Remembered

Anyway, I definitely recommend seeing it if you get the chance. Or if you can't see the play, check out the movie version coming out around Christmas... it's directed by Steven Spielberg and John Williams is doing the music. Can't get much better than that, am I right?? Here's the trailer:

I also love people watching in New York. There are so many different characters. I love thinking about how each person I see has their own life that's just as important to them as mine is to me, and even though I will never see them again, they will go on doing what they do. Here are a few of the people that I saw:

There was a guy playing a steel drum in the subway, and this homeless-looking man rolled up to him and pulled out his trumpet. He was trying to figure out what key the steel drum was in. Then he got on the subway car that we were in, and when a mariachi band came onboard at the next stop and started playing (which was really random, and really amusing), he once again pulled out his trumpet and played a few notes (not very well). When the train stopped, he followed them out of the car, and as we pulled away I saw that he was talking to the mariachi band... so yeah. That's that guy.

This guy was on the same subway car as the mariachi band/homeless trumpet guy. At first I noticed him because I thought he was looking at me, but then again when you're wearing sunglasses you could really be looking at anybody. He was amusing because he looked like a mix between a hipster and a brah, and it confused me.

I saw this woman while walking in Manhattan. She was wearing a shirt that I'm pretty sure was intended to be worn with some sort of pants. Just sayin'.

This woman was in the theatre at Lincoln Center. Her weird, fancy onesie needed more of a back. And when she sat down, her spine stuck out like a dinosaur's. Creepy.

When I saw these two, I wondered who they were, and how they met, if they had planned on wearing similar outfits or it just sort of happened, and where they were going in such a hurry.

Anyway, those are just a few of many fun people I saw. Good times! I miss the city... can't wait to go back! My brother lives in Astoria, Queens, and it was fun to visit him too.

Less than a week til 'Cuse, kids!! Senior year!!!! Ah!!

-Anna

DCI and Old Sketchbook Doodles

2011-08-08T19:42:00.006-04:00

So Saturday night my friends and I drove down to Allentown to see the DCI show. For the uninitiated, DCI is Drum Corps International, and it's basically marching band on steroids. It's awesome. Anyway, I was looking through my sketchbook from last summer, and I found these doodles of three different corps uniforms. Carolina Crown, The Cavaliers, and The Cadets:

Some of the uniforms (particularly Crown's) have changed this year, but I figured I'd post the old ones anyway. Whee! I've always thought marching band uniforms are really cool, and I like the direction that they're going in these days. Much more sleek and streamlined, and lets be honest, totally badass.

For a taste of drum corps, here's a video of The Cadets playing Don't Stop Believing:

Anyway. Here are some other doodles I found while looking through my old sketchbook. Last summer wasn't very good. I wasn't in a good mental place-- I was still recovering from a panic attack I had in the Spring, and I had a horrible semester because the two sophomore illustration professors decided it would be a good idea to go on sabbatical at the same time, and screw all their students over. So because of all this, I was very uninspired, but looking back I felt like I did make some good art! Here is a little of it:

A pirateish girl:

A girl from a story I wrote when I was 12. Story was crap, but I still love the character:

A girl lying in some grass:

A girl you don't want to mess with:

I think this is supposed to be Katniss from The Hunger Games:

Soldiery guy and angry girl:

Scarlett O'Hara. This one's actually a more recent drawing:

Fin.

-Anna

Ink

2011-07-31T21:18:00.000-04:00

A girl with tattoos. And goggles.

Shameless Advertising

2011-07-28T21:37:00.002-04:00

So my brother Joe is down in NYC trying to break into the film industry, and he's gotten some pretty interesting opportunities so far! I just thought I'd show off a little of his handiwork here, with something he filmed/edited the other day:

NYC (2011) from Joe Rettberg on Vimeo.

I think his work is great. He's a talented editor, and has a really intelligent, artistic eye. If you need an editor/director for anything, hit him up at f4ucorsair98@gmail.com

Oh and while you're at Vimeo, check out my short animation Chameleon (2010) :)

-Anna

Poofy Dresses

2011-07-24T16:56:00.004-04:00

I've been drawing ALL DAY. Here's a girl in a poofy dress with an umbrella.

And here's a girl in a poofy dress with a sword?? I don't know. Don't ask.

I have no idea why I felt like drawing girls in poofy dresses. Anyway, I need to stop staring at the computer screen now... My head is starting to hurt. One of the down sides of working digitally!

-Anna

'Korra' Rant

2011-07-23T22:00:00.012-04:00

So, I realize that this blog is for my art and whatnot, but I just have to share this. It's a trailer that was released minutes ago at Comic Con for Nickelodeon's new series 'Legend of Korra' (to be released some time in 2012). The series it's based on, 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' was one of the greatest pieces of television animation ever made (Yeah. I said it). I think the show set a new standard for what can be achieved with an animated series, and it's sequel looks just as amazing. In fact, it looks better than amazing. The world seems more interesting than 'Airbender', apparently the music is "1920s New Orleans Jazz, if it was invented in Shanghai" (WHAT?!) and the overall tone seems a bit darker. It's seriously like a show that my brother Joe and I would've made if we'd worked on an animated tv series together... In the words of my bro: "So I'm watching the Korra panel, and Bryan just said "jazz age", "Manhattan", and "Dickens" in the same sentence. I was like wait a minute, when did I start doing art direction for Korra?"
Also, Korra (the character) looks amazing!! 'Airbender' had some groundbreaking female characters, and this character looks like she's going to empower some young women with her badassery. Gah, I wish I could've gotten an internship with Nick Animation and then magically been able to work on Korra. That would've been amazing...hehe. Maybe someday! Anyway-- Here's the trailer:

The original series had a huge impact on me. If I could choose to work on any animation project with any studio, it would be Avatar. It's served as a huge inspiration for me: the two creators, Mike and Bryan, are in charge of not only the art, but the story, and even write many of the episodes themselves (and Bryan is an illustration major!!). That is like... my ultimate dream. I would love to be able to pitch an animated series that I could not only be a part of artistically, but with the storytelling too. These guys have proven to me that if you have an idea good enough, you can make it happen, and that inspires me so much!
Okay. Now that I'm done fangirling, here are some drawings I did last summer of some of the 'Airbender' characters, so this post isn't completely without some of my art.

It's A Magical Internet

2011-07-22T20:42:00.027-04:00

Just a quick blogitty update. My art has been featured in a couple different places in the past few days! First, on the official Buffy Facebook page, two of my pieces have been featured in a fan art contest. In an attempt to get more votes for the Trio piece (right)-- link -- I enlisted the help of actor Tom Lenk (who played my favorite character on Buffy, Andrew Wells. He's the guy in the center) on Twitter and asked him to vote for it by 'Liking' it on Facebook! (If you remember, I sent the sketch of it to him a month or so ago via Twitter and he thought he looked cute. Which he should think. Because he is.)

And because he's my bff (obvs), he did exactly what I told him to do! Here's the proof:

(Minor update: The contest is now over. My drawing didn't win, but it has over 1000 Likes and lots of very positive comments. I'll take it!)

I think if I had a superpower, it would be 'power over obscure character actors'. Also, here's a photo of Tom holding a sign that says he hearts me. I think it's funnier if I don't explain why this happened and let you imagine. But it's totally real! haha

(It's because I supported his Kickstarter campaign for a documentary he's making. See, not as exciting as what you came up with in your brain!) Anyway, I think it's all pretty fun; being able to show some of my cartoon caricatures to the actors and actually get a response. Fun and satisfying!

Also, my Firefly piece was featured on io9-- link -- and was linked to by the Joss Whedon fansite Whedonesque. Cool! And a few weeks ago I was offered a Firefly-related commission from a UK fansite. I'm not sure if it's actually going to happen anymore, but if it does I'm sure you'll hear more about it on here. If it doesn't... oh wells, I guess. It's just exciting that people can stumble across your art online so easily. I've been feeling really good about my art lately, and I think it has a lot to do with some of the recognition I've been getting online. It is indeed a magical internet.

-Anna

Winning

2011-07-20T17:07:00.002-04:00

Are you ready to go play Ultimate Frisbee in a large field with an 105°F heat index? I AM.

Window Shopping

2011-07-16T20:20:00.009-04:00

I was looking through some old files, and I found a quick sketch I did of two characters looking out a window down on a planet (Earth?), and I was like... cool! Why didn't I color it?? So I colored it:

Here's the sketch:

I likes me some sci fi.

-Anna

The Girl With No Name (and HP 7.2)

2011-07-15T18:39:00.014-04:00

This girl actually does have a name, but I'm not telling.

It's kinda weird. I used to be really secretive about my drawings, but I've gotten much better about that over the past few years. But I'm still SUPER self-conscious about the stories and characters I come up with (for me, not for like... other people. If that makes any sense).

ANYWAY, I saw Harry Potter 7.2 last night at midnight. My biggest expectation for the movie was a piece of music I hoped they would use for the epilogue... Leaving Hogwarts by John Williams. Listen to it, and I dare you not to tear up-- link

For months I've been saying (my brother can attest to this) that I would be disappointed if they didn't use that at the end of the final movie (it played at the end of the first movie). And they did use it!! I was so thrilled. I'm so glad the filmmakers and I were on the same page :)

While I enjoy the books and movies, I've never been obsessed with it like a lot of people. I mean, I'm really not one to criticize, because I'm certainly the type to get overly invested in stories, but people were losing their shit at the movie... a lot of people cried through pretty much the whole thing. I guess it's kind of the end of an era. My generation has grown up with Harry Potter... the first book came out when I was in 3rd grade, and now I'm 21 and a senior in college. So I guess I get the crying, even if I don't get it.

I think Dumbledore summed it up best:
Harry: "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"
Dumbledore: "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"

-Anna

Tipping

2011-07-12T17:14:00.005-04:00

A girl with no name. She looks like she might fall over. Also, those pants do NOT flatter her. Oh wells!

Once again, mindlessly listening to music and drawing. This time I was listening to a cool band called Common Rotation. Indie folk ftw.

-Anna

Bored Now.

2011-07-11T00:28:00.002-04:00

Dark Willow, and a random boy with a strange expression... a few nighttime digital doodles. I was just kind of mindlessly listening to music and this is what happened.

It seems like I'm always in the mood to draw around 11pm for some reason... who knows. Oh, and here's a me (with new haircut that I don't like as much as my long hair...). She doesn't really look like me. I've never been able to do a decent cartoon of me (though I've never really tried that hard):

-Anna

Oww

2011-07-07T22:05:00.002-04:00

So I'm working at a barn this summer mucking stalls and whatnot for a little spending money. And yesterday I whacked my drawing hand super hard, and the knuckle is all purpley and swollen. Lame. Luckily, it seems to be getting better. To make sure I can still draw (hehe) I made this crappy doodle of me with my newish haircut:

(I can't tell if the drawing is cute and endearing, or if it just sucks.)

Color

2011-07-02T22:29:00.003-04:00

Check out this cool color acuity test... you can use it to figure out how well you see color. Fun!-- link

I scored 8, which on a scale of 0 to 99 (zero being perfect, 99 being... not perfect), isn't too bad! Apparently women are better than men at seeing colors, which isn't surprising at all :P

And because I feel like I can't post something on here without including at least a little bit of art, here's a character study of a girl I did earlier in the summer:

And here's a girl that I drew randomly on my Wacom tablet while listening to Maroon 5 (because I've been listening to them obsessively since the concert). I was barely even paying attention to what I was doing, and she's what happened!

-Anna

Storyteller

2011-06-30T22:16:00.033-04:00

I was really in the mood to color something, but I was sad, because I didn't have anything to color. And then I remembered I hadn't colored this! So I did. YAY. So here's the trio, IN TECHNICOLOR.

I'm still not happy with Andrew's likeness, so I will probably update this with a slightly improved/changed version soonish. Andrew's face on the left kind of perfectly describes how I'm feeling about Andrew's face up above.

-Anna

Ginger

2011-06-25T17:09:00.000-04:00

The owner of the barn where I ride wanted me to do a drawing of her horse Ginger, who recently passed away. I had done one a few years ago of her horse Shadow (who also passed away), and she wanted one of Gingy to match. The drawing was a challenge, mostly because of the lack of any good reference. I wanted to try and capture her personality and face, and it was so hard without a good reference photo. I'm pretty pleased with the result, all things considered... I think she looks like Ginger! This photo isn't the greatest quality... I might have to take another one some time...

Maroon 5

2011-06-25T00:50:00.004-04:00

I just got back from seeing Maroon 5 perform at the Dick's Open in Endicott (10 minutes from my house). I can hear the concert on the golf course every year from my backyard, but figured I should actually go to this one, and I'm so glad I did. They were incredible! Great live band, all the musicians are super talented. And Adam Levine can SING.

So, for fun, I thought I'd post a scratchboard assignment from Fall semester my sophomore year. We had to choose a singer, and I picked Adam Levine! This was my first attempt at scratchboard and I actually really liked it... maybe I should try using it again.

My ears are still ringing. But so good.

Oh, and while I was at the concert, NY passed gay marriage, which is just awesome!!! Proud to be a NYer.

-Anna

Badass Sci Fi Chick

2011-06-19T16:16:00.001-04:00

This is something I drew in my sketchbook and decided to color. I don't know who she is, but she looks angry. I kind of love how I draw characters I don't know sometimes... It's like they have a life of their own, and I just happened to catch them for one moment in time.
I'm still trying to settle into a comfortable way of working. I keep experimenting with slightly different styles and digital techniques. I've started working right over my drawings and keeping the line/shading, and I like that. Now I'm just trying to figure out how much value I want to put in- if I want them to be really rounded and lit, or if I want to keep it more simple, and how much of the original line I should keep/how prominent it should be.

First Attempt at Illustrator

2011-06-11T21:54:00.001-04:00

Here it is, in all it's glory. Prepare yourself.

Majestic, right? I know it's important that I learn Illustrator, but DEAR GOD... I'll keep practicing, but I don't have to like it!!

-Anna

In my plan, we are beltless.

2011-06-10T21:05:00.022-04:00

Oh! Hello there, gentle viewers.

So the Firefly drawing got me in the mood to do more caricature-type things. Meet the trio- Jonathan, Andrew, and Warren; three geeky super-villains from Buffy Season 6. I think Andrew might be my favorite Buffy character- he's hilarious, awkward, and completely sexually unaware. This is the trio in Andrew's imagination during the Season 7 episode "Storyteller". I might color this later, and if I do I will post it, but for now this is what I've got.

EXCITING UPDATE! I sent this to Tom Lenk (the actor who plays Andrew) on Twitter. I wasn't planning on sending it to him, because it's not colored and I'm not 100% happy with the likenesses, but he made a tweet about how much he wished he was a cartoon character, and I couldn't resist... and two minutes later, a response! Wah! Unleash the fangirl!!

Yes, Tom. Yes you are.

As proof, here is a photo of him wearing a hat and playing trumpet:

Apparently he was drum major of his high school marching band. Um, I think I'm in love... am I allowed to have a crush on a gay actor who I've never met??

(Yes.)

Anyway, I'd better go now. The TNG episode The Best of Both Worlds is on BBC America. The Borg!!

...Wow, I am a massive nerd.

-Anna

Firefly Edit

2011-06-08T12:39:00.003-04:00

Playing around with my Firefly drawings... I sent this on twitter to Nathan Fillion. There's no way he'll ever see it with all the tweets he gets, but I figured why the heck not? :P

Firefly and Panda

2011-05-30T16:17:00.009-04:00

Here is the finished Firefly cast drawing! Woo! Click on the image to make it bigger, or for an even bigger version, click here.

Mal, Zoe, Wash, River, Kaylee, Simon, Book, Jayne, Inara

On a side note, I just saw Kung Fu Panda 2. It was good! What stood out to me most were the visuals... A lot of time with 3D animation (and even 2D), I feel like the rawness and beauty of the concept art is lost, but in Panda I really felt like the look and feel of much of the concept art (particularly some environments/lighting and Nico Marlet's awesome character designs) were intact. (After the film I went to Barnes and Noble and drooled on the 'Art of' book for a while). There were also some wonderful hand-drawn animation scenes, which made me super happy; I actually enjoyed those scenes more than the 3D stuff. I would love for Dreamworks to do an entire feature in that style! Anyway. Good stuff.

-Anna

Joe's Graduation Card

2011-05-30T16:05:00.000-04:00

My brother Joe graduated from Cornell yesterday with an Econ degree. My dad asked me to make a card for him. I tried to capture his current situation/state of mind. He's moving to NYC and hopes to get into the film industry if he can, and needless to say he's kind of intimidated. He's super smart and awesome and I'm sure he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do :)

Front of the card:

Inside of the card:

Firefly Sketches

2011-05-26T00:29:00.002-04:00

Sooo it's summer break! I haven't posted in a while, but I have been drawing... I've been working on a few things, one of them being an epic Firefly cast illustration. I've been wanting to do it for years, and my brother has been bothering me about it too (that and Star Trek TNG). So I'm doing it! It's so fun to do these caricatures, and I find it really helpful... it forces me to look at a person's face, and draw features that I wouldn't normally draw.

Anyway, these are the drawings. I'm almost done coloring, and I will post that when I'm finished!
PS. If you haven't seen Firefly, drop everything you're doing and watch it NOW.

Finished Stardust Illustrations

2011-05-04T16:06:00.000-04:00

Here are the 3 final illustrations for Stardust... I'm kinda meh about them overall. I just don't like traditional painting as much as digital... it's too constraining, there's not enough freedom for mistakes or experimentation. And no Command-Z! Oh noes! Anyway, here they are, in all their mediocre-ness.
PS. Summer in 2 days!! (Well, for me... I realize summer doesn't actually start for a little while.)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2011-04-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

For Concepts this week we had to pick a crappy illustration and make our own (better) version. It just happened that for my Jane Austen class we had to read a little bit of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies', which is a silly novel full of crappy illustrations! I was disappointed to see how such a ridiculous concept could prompt such lame illustrations, so I decided to do my own! Darcy and Lizzy, kicking some undead ass.

Here's one of the original illustrations:

Jump Rope!

2011-04-26T18:48:00.002-04:00

Watch the weird bird monster jump!

The Princess Problem

2011-04-22T22:33:00.003-04:00

So for Concepts we had to pick an article and illustrate it. I had a really hard time finding an article I liked (partly because I'm not really good at the whole article illustrating thing, and partly because everything in the news is SO FREAKING DEPRESSING). I managed to find an article in the Guardian (UK newspaper) about the royal wedding, and how all little girls want to be princesses. I'm not sure how well this illustration carries out that whole idea, but I think it works with the article.
I'm a little meh about the Union Jack collage in the shadow/silhouette of Kate Middleton, I might play around with it a little more, but this is what I've got for now.

UPDATE: Just had a critique. Our instructor for this assigment is the Art Director for the Business section of the NYTimes, and he said that it illustrated the point perfectly and if he had gotten it for a NYTimes article he would have run it... sweet!

Facebook vs. Google

2011-04-15T15:54:00.000-04:00

Our new instructor for Concepts is the Art Director for the Business section of the NYTimes, and he gave each of us a different article to illustrate. Mine was about how Facebook is basically taking over the world, and Google no likey.

A Midnight Ramble

2011-04-12T00:00:00.010-04:00

The other week I received one of the best compliments I've ever been given. I had written a paper for my Jane Austen class, and was nervous about getting it back. I'm a good writer, but my professor is intimidatingly intelligent and I had no idea how he was going to grade. When I got the paper back I was relieved to see I had gotten an A, but that wasn't what stood out to me. On the back he had attached an entire page of thoughtful comments on my essay, and it was one of those comments that I couldn't believe. He compared me to Jane Austen. It was just a little note, saying that I, like Austen, am observant to nuance and detail. I know it was just a little observation, but that I could be compared to a woman as clever and witty as Austen by one of the most intelligent people I have ever met is something I will never forget.

So where am I going with this...? (I don't really know.)

I tend to draw a lot of strong women characters. I know I keep talking about Buffy (and I promise I will stop soon!), but the show just got me thinking about strong female characters, and why there are so few of them in film and TV. Even Pixar, my favorite animation studio, has NEVER had a female main character, which is ridiculous! (Although, they are changing that with Brave, which will be their first fairy tale and female lead).

There are very few fictional women who I can say I admire, and Buffy is the one that stands out to me the most. The only other show I can think of with female characters that compare is actually a cartoon! Avatar: The Last Airbender has some pretty incredibly women... Katara, anyone? And Azula. And Toph. And Suki. And many more! And I know there are other shows are out there that depict strong women, but it's nowhere close to where it should be in today's society.

There are so many things about Buffy that I love. One of the most beautiful relationships on the show is between two women, Willow and Tara. I can't think of another show that presents it's characters with such respect, and effortlessly encourages open-mindedness in it's viewers. And I think it's the end of the show that really got my thinking. I don't want to spoil anything, but it really made me, as a woman, feel powerful. I didn't know that a show could reach out and make me feel a certain way about myself. I feel for the characters, sure, but for myself? I don't think that's ever happened to me before- I don't think a piece of fiction has ever left me, personally, feeling empowered.

I mean, take Twilight, for example. I don't think Twilight would bother me so much if it weren't read by so many girls. I won't deny that I read the series, and even enjoyed it (at least the first book), but to think that an entire generation of young women is viewing Bella Swan as some sort of role model is truly discouraging. Bella is weak; a damsel in distress, who won't allow herself to function without Edward. Buffy, who has a very similar (and frankly, more compelling) relationship with the vampire Angel, deals with the same circumstances in a much different way.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish when young girls found themselves in difficult situations, they wouldn't ask themselves "What would Bella do?", but "What would Buffy do?"

All of this has just been on my mind lately, kind of floating around. Art and writing are both a huge part of who I am, and I figured that it might have a place here on my blog too. I'm an analytical person. I would love to write an essay comparing Buffy and Bella, I think the whole thing is really interesting. And it's also interesting that Twilight was written by a (Mormon) woman, and Buffy created by a (feminist) man, Joss Whedon... but I wont even start on that one.

Anyway, that's just a little ramble from me. Goodnight, world!

-Anna

Dorm Monsters

2011-04-11T20:59:00.001-04:00

For Yvonne's class, we are making an animation based on an overheard conversation (even though I was actually part of the conversation I ended up using... whoops). My roommates and I were talking about all the weird sounds we always hear in the dorm, and what is making them. Our conclusion: Monsters!

I don't see how we're going to have time to make an animation with only a few weeks left in the semester, but we'll see. In the meantime, here are some of my concept sketches for the three of us and the monsters.

Also, earlier for the same class we had to make an 'snowy' environment and put a creature in it, so this is what I did for that:

Stardust Drawings

2011-04-04T17:02:00.000-04:00

Here are the final drawings for my Stardust pieces... I might tweak the drawings a bit, and then I'm going to try to paint them! We'll see what happens...

The Gift

2011-04-01T14:22:00.006-04:00

I wanted to do something Buffy-related, because I only have three episodes left to watch in the series. This is from the episode "The Gift", and it's one of the most powerful moments in the entire series. I still get kind of emotional when I watch this scene/listen to the music from it. I thought it would be a good experiment with lighting and color too, which are two things I'm trying to get better with.

And once I start, I can't stop! I did this one a little while ago (before England), because I thought the moment was really funny... it's from the episode Tabula Rasa, where where all the characters forget who they are. (If you can't tell, I love doing caricaturessss).

Totem Pole

2011-04-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

An assignment for Brian Ajhar's section of Concepts. The assignment was to make a totem pole... I decided to stack a bunch of animals reaching for an apple. This turned out to be kind of an experiment. It's a mix between traditional (colored pencil) and digital... I don't know why I chose colored pencil, because I've never worked in it before, but why not, right?

Stardust Color Comps

2011-03-27T18:23:00.000-04:00

Our last assignment for John is 3 illustrations from a book of our choosing. I chose 'Stardust' by Neil Gaiman. It's a fairy tale about a young man who goes into the faerie world to bring find a fallen star. These are my quick digital color comps for what I want the finished pieces to look like... I'm pretty sure I want to do them in some sort of traditional medium, but I'm not sure which yet. Maybe acrylic.

Late Night Doodles

2011-03-02T02:01:00.000-05:00

Some characters I drew while helping my roommate with a presentation and watching videos of Glen Keane being amazing on Youtube.

I want to get better at this.

Figures 'n stuff

2011-02-28T19:03:00.001-05:00

Here are a bunch of figure studies from this semester. The oil paintings are from John's class, the drawings are short sketches from Yvonne's class. I love doing short poses... You just kind of get the gesture. Plus the model gets to do fun poses because he/she doesn't have to hold them very long. Also, we finally got some male models! Already I've gotten so much better at drawing the male figure... which is good, because I sucked at it...

The Tell-Tale Heart

2011-02-25T16:46:00.005-05:00

This was an assignment for John's class. We had to read and mark up a manuscript of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and choose a scene to illustrate. I picked the part when the crazy guy invites the policemen into the room where the old man is buried beneath the floorboards. They are sitting and chatting obliviously as the murderer begins to go crazy as he hears the old man's heart beating... I added blood coming out of the floorboards just to add to the fact that he's insane! I had some fun with textures in this... I wanted to give it a kind of dark, scratched look. The composition isn't perfect, but John was being pretty anal about the size, so it's not exactly what I wanted... I used to do lots of crazy angles, and I've kind of drifted away from that. I feel like I've lost some of my creative ambition in college, so I thought I'd try a crazy angle.
I may tweak it still, and I will update this with the most recent version.

More Yearbook

2011-02-18T16:30:00.002-05:00

The last two illustrations for the yearbook. The first one is some of the characters from Glee. I've only watched the show a few times, so it was kind of hard to capture their personalities (and therefore their likenesses).

And they also wanted an illustration of President Obama.

Sketch Dump

2011-02-18T02:12:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is look at sketchbooks. A lot of people are really hesitant about showing their sketchbooks, and I definitely understand why (mostly because I am one of those people- but I'm getting much better about it!). Sketchbooks are the place where you go to be yourself. You don't have to worry about what anyone will think of the art you make in it. You can just let your brain explode all over the page. It's so much more personal than any finished illustration. So in an attempt to show a little bit of myself, here are a few pages from my most recent sketchbook (I started it at the very end of the summer... this one has lasted me a while).

I thought I would begin with a disgruntled unicorn.

Followed by a disgruntled llama.

This is the first page in my current sketchbook. It's from the summer. I had just watched an old Errol Flynn movie ("The Seahawk"... great soundtrack, by the way), and was in a very pirate mood. Arrrr.

Some girls. I drew this in symposium.

Critters.

These are some character studies I did for the Urashima assignment (Japanese fairy tale).

Ever have one of those days where you just can't draw?

A girl.

Character studies for the Tell Tale Heart assignment... which will probably be up in a few weeks when it's done.

More people... a girl with paint brushes and overalls, and some guy.

Some girls. The younger looking one is a re-imagining of a character from a story that I wrote in 7th grade... I still love the character. She holds a special place in my heart :) Oh, and the anatomy of the ninja-ish one has no basis in reality... at all...

My roommates and I have been watching a ridiculous amount of Buffy lately... I couldn't call myself a true Joss Whedon fan without seeing it. So I drew Angel and Spike from memory.

Closeup of Angel and Spike. I think Angel turned out better than Spike, but still... not bad for no reference.

More Collaged Cards

2011-02-11T15:02:00.001-05:00

Here are all of my collage playing cards! (Also, today is my birthday! woo.)

Avatar (the one with the blue people)

2011-02-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

This is another illustration I was asked to do for the yearbook. They wanted a few pop culture illustrations, and one was of James Cameron's Avatar. (This is part of the same series as the Lady Gaga illustration I did a little while ago.)

Ambitious But Rubbish

2011-02-09T01:01:00.004-05:00

I decided to go back and revisit an illustration I did at the beginning of last summer. My Spring semester had been pretty horrible (for a number of reasons), and one of the only things that kept me going was Top Gear. It is by far the funniest TV show I've ever seen, and will ALWAYS cheer me up.
I decided to do a montage of some of Top Gear's most classic moments (like Geoff the Electric car and the infamous pickup that nearly got the boys killed in Alabama). I added to the background and just made a few tweaks, but just looking at it again made me laugh and I thought that it deserved it's own post.

-Anna

Collage Playing Cards

2011-02-04T14:39:00.003-05:00

Our first instructor for Concepts is Marty Blake, a collage artist. Obviously, she wants us to work in collage for our first project. Our assignment is to make a set of 6 playing (or Tarot) cards. I decided to make my 'theme' nature, and the different suits are different environments.

Below are three versions of the same face card. I liked the trees in the first one, but I felt that the design was too busy, so I simplified it and ultimately I think I'm going to go with the third design (or something more similar to it).

I know I'm going to make a few changes, but I want to stick with this style for the next 5 cards. I will post the rest once I finish them.

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Stars

2011-02-02T02:09:00.000-05:00

Yvonne's class was canceled (for the second week in a row), so my roommate Erin (she's in Yvonne's class too) and I decided to put our iPods on shuffle and DRAW! I did a random little sketch of a girl and robot, and then I decided to color it, and it got all EPIC. I have no idea what it's about, but I guess it doesn't really matter. And now I need to go to bed.

I also did a version with my name on it, because I have a MASSIVE ego.

Surely you can't be serious.

2011-01-29T00:12:00.001-05:00

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

Our first assignment for John's class was to do a 'portrait' of a person who died in 2010. I picked Leslie Nielsen, and decided to illustrate a classic scene from Airplane!. What a ridiculous movie.

This illustration was colored in Photoshop. Not the best digital coloring I've done, but we only had a week for the finish, so I didn't have a ton of time to work on it.

"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."

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The Pacific

2011-01-20T00:31:00.000-05:00

Over winter break I watched the HBO miniseries The Pacific. It was amazing, and I really recommend watching it. The characters are incredible (and were real people)... Here are my two favorites, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie.

I was struck by the intensity of Sledgehammer's eyes... you could really tell how haunted he was by the war. Joe Mazzello did an incredible job. (And he played the little kid in Jurassic Park! haha)

Leckie was probably my favorite from the beginning. He's a great character. He was the first one I really wanted to draw because James Badge Dale (the actor) has such a unique face.

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Gaga for Yearbook

2011-01-20T00:24:00.000-05:00

One of my roommates works on the yearbook here at Syracuse, and she asked if I would do an illustration of Lady Gaga for the 2011 yearbook.

I'm not a huge fan of Lady Gaga... She talks like she's going to revolutionize the industry, when she is pretty much as mainstream as you can possibly get. I thought I'd subtly try to put my views of her into the drawing... as if the mic is the industry/selling out, and she tries to hold it away from her but really she's all wrapped up in it.

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