Talking about process (I am a total art nerd)

So, while this isn't finished completely (needs a background), I am rather happy with what I have so far.

Semi-completed work: "Egg" (Obviously influenced by Escher).

 I also wanted to talk about process a little, since I've never actually taken a class on photoshop, I have no idea if I am doing this the most convenient way or not for the technology. Instead, I have a tendency to think go about the artwork as though I am creating an oil painting and not a digital work of art.

Step one:  Sketch, done in ms paint because my computer was having issues. For an oil painting I would have used brightly colored paint that was mixed with a great deal of medium (so it would dry faster).

Step 2: Under painting. I used the basic brushes in photoshop, with the tablet pen point set to "soft" (not completely, but mostly). Usually when I draw I have the pen tip set the the hardest possible setting, because that allows me to have the finest lines with the most obvious variation possible. If this was an oil painting (and thus in color) I would have not used black, but instead a color which would shine through the other layers. Blue, green, or red, for portraits, generally depending on the mood I'm trying to set.

In this step I used my hand as a reference, but I tried to use my knowledge of light and reflection, to paint the egg and background from my imagination.

 Step 3: Shading. I used a dry media brush at a lower opacity (and varying shades and opacities) to mimic a charcoal on paper feel, and a wet media brush to create the highlights with white at various opacities.

And then added more highlights with the wet media brush To get the final highlights, and added a final layer between the sketch and the rest of the drawing (painting? image?) to get rid of the red lines.

"Ugh, skeletons are SO creepy" (Rated PG for innuendo)

Umm... this one deserves an explanation.
First of all, my sense of humor is really weird. I have no idea if other people will find this even a tiny bit amusing, but it really amused me. Possibly because I personally don't find skeletons creepy, despite the fact that I am terrified of dead things. I instead find them fascinating and kind of pretty (which worked out well while I was taking anatomy). Finally, I did NOT make that pick up line up -- I just did a thirty second google search for "creepy pick up line" and that's what came up. It was also not the creepiest one I found, which disturbs me greatly.

Here's another version of it, which is less inappropriate, and without the background (I'm not certain I like the background):

Have a good Thanksgiving tomorrow!

MS Paint!

Sometimes I get nostalgic/frustrated with my computer and decide to use ms paint. This is possibly the best so far. It's a self portrait from memory/me running to look in the bathroom mirror a couple times.

This is totally not nerdy at all. Totally.

EDIT: Here the same picture inked in photoshop. I was going for a Sin City type of feel, but I always get a little too caught up in shading to do that. I should start going the under-drawing in ms paint. It like the feel of it.

Sketch

I've been swamped with grad school applications and prereqs, so here's a sketch I did to relax. This didn't start out being me but it kind morphed into one of those introspective journal drawings I used to do all the time in high school -- although my hair never looked that swishy, even when it was long.

And off to the future I go.

July sketches

Some sketches:

Superhero guy with muscles:

Sketch of characters from a story I will eventually write (Gatekeepers: Emily and Astha):

And poster for Communopoly (the MN Fringe Festival play that I am acting in):

I've been creating webcomics!

It may be a kind of odd goal, but one of the major things I would like to do is become successful webcomic artist. So here's two steps in the right direction:

http://www.drunkduck.com/Wish_Upon_The_Stars/
This is simply my Wish Upon the Stars comic that I published for my honors thesis. Eventually I will update it with the second book, but right now I am still posting pages from the first book (at the moment I am about a quarter of the way through). Updates MWF

http://www.drunkduck.com/Hushabye__A_Nightmare_in_Four_Parts/
A redrawing of my Hushabye 24 hour comic, as I can only write creatively if I have insane time limits. The art is much, much better than the original as I have grown as an artist, but mostly because I can take more than a sleep-deprived hour to draw each page. Update TTh (and maybe Sundays -- I haven't decided that yet).

Silliness

So... yeah.

Communopoly got into Fringe!

This is an unfinished draft of the front of the advertising postcard.

Playing with a tablet

I recently obtained a tablet and I have been working on some drawings with it. So of course I was frivolous and made fanart. This is fanart from Dianna Wayne-Jones's Deep Secret. An awesome book which does not get nearly enough love.

I'm happy with his face, but there's something off with both his legs and the background.

In an effort to be a productive human being I will try to post a new drawing at least three times a week for the rest of this summer. *fingers crossed*

Senior Show

Here are pictures from my Senior show. The basic set up looked like this:

The couch is for reading my comics on.

ComicComicComic!

Looky here! I'm self published online!


http://stores.lulu.com/ljlvaughn


Check it out!

Title for 24 hour comic collection

The color will most likely change.

Postcard!

Front

Back

My honors thesis is the two previous posts in Feb.

But, here is the first third of the 24 hour comic I created last spring: Hushabye: A Nightmare in Four Parts.

This portion includes the intro and "Rock a Bye Baby" portions.

Sleep well!

Second part of part 1

Here's the second part of the first chapter of my comic (plus the temporary cover):

 

New Updates!

So I have actually been doing work, I just haven't been documenting it.

Here's some pages from my comic that I am working on for my honors thesis:

 

 

So, it's been a month, which I greatly apologize for. So I'll post both some art and a comic script that I am working on.

Here's what I consider my best painting from last semester:

This painting was done in oils and is 5' by 3'.

And as a bonus here's the first part of the comic that I am working called Wish Upon The Stars. It draws heavily from Grimms fairytales.