Convention Preparation - Health

This too could be you if you don't take care of your health!!! Photo credit David Mills https://instagram.com/dmills1979/

 Stay hydrated and don't eat junk food. (Unless, of course, you normally subsist on it.)
Wendy Martin www.wendymartinillustration.com

This is what you'll end up looking like if you eat too much junk food!!

Something which is not often thought about until after the convention is health. As artists we are always in such a rush to have the work prepared in time that we often forget this very important aspect. Conventions can be hotbed for germs and getting "concrud" will be inevitable unless you take some precautions. Here's some advice from some professional artists;

Health tips!! WATER. Hydrate like it's going out of style. Vitamins vitamins vitamins. Eat well (have snacks in case you can't get away for meals), try to eat as little junk as you can, try to eat healthful, SLEEP WELL. Pass up on 4 am partying if you're tired.

Tawny Fritz www.tawnyfritz.com

Make sure you have everything you need on hand. 

 The best tip I've ever received was to bring a "MacGyver kit" filled with tape, packing tape, duct tape, pencils, pens, scissors, safety pins, paper clips, Aspirin, band-aids, etc.

Kelley McMorris www.kmcmorris.blogspot.com

Get yourself "kitted out"....

And now this is one for the ladies, so if you're a guy reading this be prepared for some girl talk...

If you’re a lady and it’s close to that time of month make sure you have what you need - tampons, pads, pain killers... I found out the hard way getting caught out with an unexpected period and no tampons or pain killers, I had to ask if someone had a tampon in the public toilets (there were no sanitary dispensers in the convention toilets and the nearest pharamacy was too far away to get to in a hurry) thankfully someone was able to help me out :) 

Belinda Morris www.belindaillustrates.com

Not the kind of protection that will help at that time of month... though at least the cloak is red...

 

Scarlet Witch Re-design - What Women Want In Women's Characters

Hi folks it's been awhile! Sorry for the silence, just been re-settling to life back in the suburbs of Western Australia after getting back from my 3 month trip overseas at the end of last year. I've been setting up a new studio space, working on some illustration ideas, looking for a "regular job" and just trying to cope with a really hot summer!

The original Scarlet Witch as seen in Marvel comics (pretty awesome image by Frank Cho) next to my take on the character as displayed in the Muddy Colors post

Something happened to my art work recently... it got caught in an online conversation maelstrom due to this article "What Women Want...In Women Characters" written by the creative director of Orbit Books Lauren Panepinto. It featured a whole range of comic and game characters re-designed by female artists like myself working in fantasy art. The concept arose from numerous conversations had in the Facebook group Women In Fantastical Illustration (WIFI for short, if you're a woman and an artist and would like to join send Lauren a message on Facebook). It was a fun challenge to work on and many of us discussed the different ways to tackle the re-design of a character who is usually presented as a sexual object rather than as an interesting subject like her male counterparts. Because the group is so diverse (we come from a wide range of backgrounds, art styles, techniques and from all over the world), the way we interpreted the challenge was going to be equally diverse and varied.

http://muddycolors.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/what-women-wantin-women-characters.html

Since Thursday (5th March 2015) when it was first posted, the article has been talked about all over the internet. It got re-posted on Mary Sue, i09, reddit, NeoGAF and even Cosmopolitan! I have never been a part of a topic that has been re-talked about by so many people... it was a bit of a shock...

A sample of the comments for the re-designs

So I thought I'd have a look at what people were saying... some of the comments were really great and some of them... not so great... I really shouldn't have looked. It got a bit nasty, though it could have been a lot worse and some re-designs got a lot more flack than others, especially the re-design by artist Anna Fehr of the character Samus's (Metroid) Zero suit. 

Anna even had to edit the original post to respond to some of the nasty comments she got about her re-design. Here's the link to the high-heeled version she was talking about.

I really shouldn't have read some of the feedback... but I did and now I feel the need to respond or at least to show my design process behind the image - and yes I did do my research :P

 

I started with some sketches and 2 different ideas on how to portray SW.

The first idea was to tackle the time in the Scarlet Witch's life when she pretty much had a mental breakdown and almost destroyed the Marvel Universe.

"The Scarlet Witch seemingly gained powerful reality-altering abilities from "Chaos Magic"; however, this proved to be an uncontrolled aspect of her mutant power and created a great mental strain on her. An unintentional remark by teammate Wasp about Wanda's lost children apparently drove her over the edge. She suffered a nervous breakdown and lashed out with her new power, subjecting the Avengers to a savage assault and apparently killing Agatha Harkness and some of her teammates. Others were injured or affected by various odd outbursts and incidents. The remaining Avengers gathered including a number of reservists." Marvel Wiki

I wanted to portray a slightly crazed witch holding the two children she wasn't supposed to have.

Watercolour, ink and gouache on Bristol Smooth

The second idea I had was of a teenage version of the Scarlet Witch just learning and trying out her new abilities.

Since time was of an issue and the whole concept was to actually re-design the costume I chose the second idea (and I shall re-visit the first idea another time).

I was going to push the typical "gypsy" look (ie frilly shirt, embroidery, coin scarf, hoop earrings etc) then while doing some research I realised that the term "gypsy" was actually an offensive term and the portrayal of their style can be more theatrical than factual especially with the contemporaries.

So instead I thought to change direction and instead focus on a look reflecting a modern nomadic type who is of Romanov descent living in America. This article in particular helped with my concept. I liked the idea of picturing her as a young late teen/early 20's girl not long before she gets involved with the Avengers. I placed her in the country against a fence on a country path (I love old paintings in particular those done by the Pre-Raphaelites), trying out her new found powers. The bracelets, head scarf and red flowing skirt is a nod to her Romanov background as well as a precursor to her eventual costume in the Avengers. The Chucks were chosen because Chucks are cool and fun.

Some of the images I pinned on my Pinterest page

With the look worked out I started working on the final painting, starting with the original drawing, which was lightly sprayed with fixative. The layers were built up slowly with masking fluid covering some areas to ensure small items didn't get lost.

Watercolour and gouache on 300lb hot press Saunders watercolour paper

The final word on this is a collector contacted me the other day to ask if the art work was still available for purchase :) So no matter who likes it or doesn't like it the important thing for me who wants to make a living and a career out of this, is this - someone liked it enough that they were willing to pay to own it. I win.

 

Goldberry from Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring)

Here's a character I had originally meant to submit to a Lord of the Rings Exhibition last year but couldn't complete it in time (if you would like to see the exhibition you can view it online here). Since then I redesigned her and here you see her finished in her silver green dress and forget-me-nots in her hair.

"...they saw Goldberry now small and slender like a sunlit flower against the sky; she was standing still watching them, and her hands were stretched out towards them. As they looked she gave a clear call, and lifting up her hand she turned and vanished behind the hill."

JRR Tolkein, The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring

Goldberry
Ink, watercolour and gouache on Arches 640gsm smooth watercolour paper.
2014.

And here's the development of the painting, enjoy :) Send me a message on facebook and let me know what you think or if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Original concept sketch

Originally I was going to have her facing the other direction wearing a cloak

Colour rough

Final drawing, with a few lines from the book describing the scene

Here is one of the rare shots I got of the inked drawing (really need to remember to scan first before proceeding!)

After reading about Arthur Rackham's technique of lifting colour to create highlights I thought I'd give it a try

I applied a layer of Daniel Smith's Watercolour ground to the hair before applying the was as I found that I had made the hair too dark with the ink linework

I was quite happy with this end result as a tonal base, however next time I will use a lighter glaze.

Due the ink staining the background a lot more than I intended a lot of white gouache was required to lighten the sky

 

Apologies for the shaky photo but this is the only shot I have with my palette in front

There were a couple of moments where in the middle of painting I felt it was a shame to continue, like the tonal base and this stage with the irises, I 'm still learning the art of guiding the eye using detail and it's lack thereof.

Now this is the type of frame I'd like to frame my artworks in, unfortunately this one was too narrow. However if any of you decide you'd like to buy this painting may I suggest this frame :)

and here you can see some of the reference I used

Thanks for watching!

Bel.

The Transformation of Daphne Painting Process

The first painting for 2014 is for an upcoming exhibition opening next week, it is available for purchase through my Etsy shop or during the week of the exhibition. The theme for the painting is based on the Greek myth of the transformation of Daphne. Daphne is a naiad who in order to escape the amorous attentions of the god Apollo cries out to the gods for help, the gods respond by changing her into a laurel tree. Here is a nice quote I found while researching for the painting;

...a heavy numbness seized her limbs, thin bark closed over her breasts, her hair turned into leaves, her arms into branches, her feet so swift a moment ago stuck fast in slow-growing roots, her face was lost in the canopy. Only her shining beauty was left.

And here's the process behind the painting - enjoy :)

Inks I used to make the darker sepia colour

Some of the paints I used

and while I was working I was visited by a little friend at the studio...

Minnie (a dingo cross) eats a rice cracker