Disappointments, Inspiration and New Paintings

"Mistress of the Black Dog" Detail

It's been a while since my last post and in that time I have experienced a few ups and a lot of downs. Yesterday - the 12th of September - "R U OK?" Day was initiated in Australia addressing the rise in cases of depression and suicide attempts.

I am one of those Australians who have been diagnosed with depression and have had thoughts of suicide. This was first recognised when I was studying Fine Art at University over ten years ago. At the time my parents were splitting up and I was failing the only thing I thought I was good at it. I had no energy, no enthusiasm and I just felt constantly sad. My head was in a fog. My mum recognised the signs and got me to a doctor who was able to prescribe me suitable medication and recommended I get counselling. It wasn't a quick fix, my parents were still splitting up, I was still doing badly at uni but the medication helped me to focus, I started to think clearer and I managed to graduate with a Bachelor of Art.

Then came last month where I experience a massive bump on this journey called life... though I should say it was a series of bumps that just grew without any relief in sight (I'm still struggling with it to be honest). I won't go into it at this point (unless any of you would like to know please comment below) but lets just say it had a lot to do with traveling/visas, money, employment and illustration.

Anyway what I would like to say is, if you're doing it tough and you are struggling don't go it alone. Find someone you can trust, a friend, a family member, a boy/girlfriend, your wife/husband, priest, mentor - whatever - even your pet will do, (I know I have vented some of my frustrations to my pet dog Buddy and he gives the best feed back - a happy tail wag and a soulful look) tell them you are struggling and that you need a; hug/support/advice/help/coffee. Sometimes it's surprising just how supportive they can be. Don't give up, keep going and keep your integrity.

Below is two images I did during this difficult period. The first is my take on a nymph of a birch forest. She's preparing to leave the forest as it approaches winter and receives a message from Winter in the form of a raven. Her dress is caught in some of the undergrowth and tears as she glances towards the raven, she longs to bring life back to the forest but knows she must wait until spring.

The second is for the Artorder Inspiration Challenge  run by the fantastic Art Director of Wizards of the Coast Jon Schindehette. If you have never heard of these challenges and you like to create either digital, traditional 3D or 2D art you should definitely give this a go. The challenge is due November 18th 2013, so you have plenty of time to get something in.

When I first started working on this I really struggled. I was trying to come up with a cohesive way to combine my love of trees, Pre-Raphaelite art and my pet dog. At first the tree was the focus but I just kept coming up with ideas that have been done to death... then I came up with the final composition, I can't remember how (I think it might have been during an afternoon nap!) but there it is. I have been reading tonal painting and colour theory in "The Student's Guide to Painting" by Jack Faragasso which really helped me with this. The book is very good and is based on "The Reilly Method", I highly recommend it for anyone wants to grow as an artist.

The next painting "Mistress of the Black Dog" points of inspiration include; Pre-Raphaelitism, Romanticism, trees, flowers, sunsets and my pet dog Buddy - who is also representing "The Black Dog" . As I described above I have had some battles with The Black Dog and at the moment I'm keeping him on a tight leash, though it ain't easy! Luckily the black dog in the painting (Buddy) is not a depressing dog and is a fond member of the family.

Thanks for reading this and watching. I wish you all the best.

Belinda Morris.

UPDATE October 2nd 2013 
My painting "Mistress of the Black Dog" won the "Encouragement Award" at a local arts festival :) You can view photos from the event here. It's ironic... haha I needed an "Encouragement"

And for those who are curious here's my photo references, thanks goes especially to Deviantart stock photo artist *chirinstock who provided the inspiration for the girl and her expression.

NOTE THERE IS SOME NUDITY IN THE FOLLOWING IMAGES

Now here is the next painting "Mistress of the Black Dog";

and for the curious, here's the reference material (minus the blossoms as I used some blossoming branches from my mums garden - it's spring in Australia);

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS SOME NUDITY IN THE FOLLOWING IMAGES

 

 

Tanked! Another Artorder Challenge and Supanova Perth 2013

I am really enjoying these Artorder Challenges despite the fact that some of the themes are not necessarily what I'd personally choose, but nevertheless they are fun! Plus it's nice to see how other people approach the same subject under the same time restraint. I also want to get my hair dyed the same colour pink/purple rocks!

The Artorder Tank Girl Challenge can be found here and other submissions to the competition can be found here 

*Lileinaya

I was going to have her winking but I think it just didn't quite look right

I was going to have ash clouds behind her (as if she has just bombed something) but I found that the clouds became too distracting so after a bit of web surfing to see how other artists solve this problem I changed the background to the matte turquoise colour it is now.

Since Tank Girl is supposed to be based in a post-apocalyptic Australia I have included some Australian motif's. They are the ANZAC badge on her beret, the Aboriginal flag on her shoulders (one of our greatest athletes Cathy Freeman famously displayed it on her shoulders after winning an event at the Commonwealth Games http://www.aboriginalflag.com.au/history.html), she is wearing the Australian flag in 2 parts - the blue part on the top (which shows the large white seven-pointed star known as the Federation Star and the Southern Cross constellation which can only be seen in the southern hemisphere) and the second part which is of course the British Union Jack. There is also the words "Sorry" with a smiley face on her missile this is to relate to the apology the Australian government offered to the Aboriginal people for the way they were treated (http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/australia/national-sorry-day). The fact that it is painted on a missile is my comment on the handling of this "apology" by the Australian government. You can interpret that however you like... So... this picture has a bit more happening than I suppose you'd notice at first glance. 

I hope you guys like it.

I almost forgot! On the weekend I went to this great little convention that happens annually here in Western Australia it's called Supanova, it's like a mini ComicCon but it's getting bigger every year. I had the opportunity to talk to Mark Raats and pick his brains for about a half an hour when I missed his panel talk, he was kind enough to look at my portfolio and offer me some advice (this happened in the Green Room where I got to see David Hasselhoff, the twins from Harry Potter, some of the actors from the tv show Merlin. I was practically peeing in my pants!). Thankfully Mark is really down to earth and not fazed by either :) I also got to meet some of the guys from Weta and saw some of the concept art for the dwarfs from the Hobbit film. I was able to show them my work and received encouragement to keep up the good work, which was very nice. I'm a big fan of their Dr Grordbort ray guns and was encouraged to contact the artist for permission to use the guns as reference for an illustration idea I have in mind... And finally I met up with a local comic book publishing group called Gestalt Comics I showed them my portfolio and on the spot they asked if I'd be interested in possibly doing a pin up on one of their characters and/or doing a sequential piece for a story idea they have... AWESOME!! Of course I said... YES!! Waiting to hear back from them the exact details but it's pretty exciting...

Oh yeah I also won the Wacom Fan Art Competition with my Tank Girl painting :) Don't know what the prize is yet but I imagine it's something from Wacom - duh ;) Admittedly I was up against mostly 8 year olds and teenagers... but oh well a competition is a competition.

The winner is...

My friend Nat surprised me with going as Tank Girl - she was awesome fun to hang out with

My other friend Cara made her awesome Wonder Woman costume - and straight after this photo we lost her for the rest of the day (I feared she had been kidnapped by the nerds geeking out over her cosplay)

The crowds - oh and by the way this is the middle of winter... and it's sunny without a cloud in the sky... Global Warming is real kids

Zombies are all about brain health :)

Valkyrie of the Rock

Just finished this painting for Artorders Rocklove Viking Challenge you can see its progress here

Watercolour and gouache
260 x 350mm

Detail

Graphite on watercolour paper

Asteria - Nymph Painting Process 3 of 3

Process 1 - The Thumbnails
Process 2 - Experiment 
Process 3 - Refinement of Ideas
Process 4 - Rough

These steps I skipped as I was painting this after having already painted 2 other nymph related paintings. You can see them here The Little Mermaid and The Water Thief.

Process 6 - Detailed Pencil Drawing

As you can see this image was not so tightly drawn as The Little Mermaid. I left the image simply drawn so that I could be a bit more free with the watercolour painting. Again I was deprived of a scanner so I had to use my digital camera to capture the various stages, please forgive me for the poor quality.

Process 7 - Painting Progress

Process 8 - The Finished Painting

Here's the finished painting as I submitted to the Artorder Nymph Challenge

I also did a more modest version of the above painting using my Wacom tablet and Photoshop (upon request from a viewer on facebook). It was pretty tricky trying to match the digital to the traditional, I think I did ok...

A few weeks later I decided to add some highlights in iridescent blue acrylic gouache, I was pretty happy with the result, but the only way to see the result is by angling the painting in the light. This brought back fond memories of my childhood when I used gold and glitter to paint unicorns, fairies and princesses.

The Water Thief - Nymph Painting Process 2 of 3

The Water Thief

Process 1 - The Thumbnails
Process 2 - Experiment
Process 3 - Refinement of Ideas

To be honest I skipped these steps as I was inspired while working on the Little Mermaid

Process 4 - Rough

Process 5 - Cover Rough

Skip...

Process 6 - Detailed Pencil Drawing

Unfortunately I didn't have access to a scanner at this point so I had to make do with my cheap digital camera and bad lighting... plus I forgot to take a photo of the detailed sketch so this image is the earliest capture I could get. As you can see, I originally painted the nymph as only clad in a leather thong.

Here are some progress shots. 

Process 7 - The Finished Painting

Process 8 - With Text Treatment

This is what I ended up submitting to the Artorder Challenge. The text submission divided the juror's opinions;

hmm i guess i am the voice of dissension on this topic, but i disagree, i don't think you should put type on pieces unless you want to be judged on the type as well as the art. in this case it would be fine to have done the blue framing because it is important to the layout of the bubbles, and have left it at that. 
Lauren Panepinto

I think it really helps sell the image as a book cover when you take the time to mock it up.

Jeremy Cranford

I particularly like the effort made for the cover layout. It makes for a very interesting graphic design.

Daren Bader

Next week - Asteria Nymph of the Stars.

The Little Mermaid - Nymph Painting Process 1 of 3

So here it is as promised the first of 3 posts covering the painting process for my 3 submissions for the Artorder's Nymph Challenge.

Process 1 - The Thumbnails

This is where I work out my ideas (plus an anatomy study) . There are a few elements of the story that I considered addressing including the number of oysters attached to her tail (there were 8). I mainly focused on her admiring the statue of the prince in her garden and considered various poses.

Process 2 - Experiment

Here I experimented a little with colour, wash and masking.

Process 3 - Refinement of Ideas 

this is where I started coming closer to my final design - this time including a friend. And here's my reference for the whale.

Process 4 - Rough

Again here I had 2 final book cover concepts to choose from. I was going to go with the left thumbnail and started creating a sculpture I could work from for light and shadow reference, however the clay I ordered was delayed and I was about to start house-sitting so I chose the one on the right and used this image for referencing the face of the Little Mermaid. I was also influenced by this artists' underwater photography - the next best thing to seeing a real mermaid!


Process 5 - Cover Rough

This is where I worked out the basic layout of the cover with title placement (again I deviated slightly from this as I felt the whale was too obscured by the text).

Process 6 - Detailed Pencil Drawing

Here is where I was finally able to let loose on the picture, putting all the necessary elements into it - bubbles, coral, fish, whale, beautiful girl. And in case you were wondering about the flowery garland on her head it is in reference to Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid;

At last she reached her fifteenth year. "Well, now, you are grown up," said the old dowager, her grandmother; "so you must let me adorn you like your other sisters; "and she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a pearl. Then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank. "But they hurt me so," said the little mermaid. "Pride must suffer pain," replied the old lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur, and laid aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better, but she could not help herself: so she said, "Farewell," and rose as lightly as a bubble to the surface of the water.

Process 7 - The Finished Painting
 

When I got to this point I was so glad to have it finished I forgot that I didn't have a scanner on hand as I was house-sitting at the time and with not having a car I caught a bus and a train to get to the most convenient office supply store to get it scanned.

This is how the painting looked after some colour correction and levels adjustment.

And this is how the picture looked once I had placed in the appropriate setting for the "Book Cover" theme as part of the Artorder's Nymph Challenge. (On reflection I wish I had submitted the simple white border version without the title treatment as most people only submitted their pictures that way. However the competition was so talented I don't think it would have made much of a difference if any).

Since this competition I opened an Etsy store and received my first contact from a customer wishing to buy the original. At this point I realised I had best make my painting more presentable and set about cleaning up the border and adding the gold frame as I intended. I also added some iridescent paint to add another dimension to the painting.

I am currently in the process of getting the painting properly scanned so that after it's sold I will have a decent copy of the original. I will be offering prints of this painting once I receive the file and confirmation of print costs, so keep an eye out for that. If you have any questions feel free to contact me on facebook.

NEXT TIME.... THE WATER THIEF!