Hi guys!  It's going to be a small update this time, since I've been working mainly traditionally the last few weeks, and haven't had time to scan stuff in.  I'm also in the planning stages for some prints and a sketchbook for CTN.   Next week I should have more to post, as I've been working on the Doctor Who portrait series and am almost finished with it.

Here's the latest illustration I've done.  I had a lot of fun trying to figure out the design for Apollo's lyre.

Art from January and February

It's been another busy couple of months!  I've been to McCall, Idaho and Portland, Oregon with a birthday in between.  Last weekend was the annual Doctor Who convention, Gallifrey One, where I got to hug Captain Jack Harkness himself, John Barrowman.  I also managed to get quite a bit of art done as well.  I'm working on some sketchbook ideas to sell at CTN next year.

I've worked my way through Doctor number 5 and all of his companions since my last post and will be moving on to the 4th Doctor soon!

I've finished my design for Psyche's father.  I've realized that I've missed a few of the gods and goddesses, so they'll be coming up soon.

This last image is one that I am extremely proud of.  It's probably one of the most challenging illustrations I've worked on.

See you next time!

Wow! It's been a while...

Hey, guys!  The last few months have been kinda busy.  London was fun.  I got to see new fun stuff and old favorites.  I always want to go back the minute I get back home.  Since then I had a wedding to go to, CTN, and the holidays.  Each time I was going to post something came up.  But anyways here is some of the stuff I've been working on.

First up is the design I've worked up for Psyche's mother.  I'm working on her father at the moment.  I've found I enjoy drawing older characters.  I haven't done much of it in the past, but it's fun.

I've also been working on some new prints.  Here's one that I've finished of Aphrodite.  I've got the rest thumbnailed out, but I've got to work on them some more.

I did up a portrait of the 12th Doctor during the last season of Doctor Who.  I'm going to be buying a button maker so I can make some buttons of it and others for conventions.  I'm going to try and give the River Song and Jack Harkness ones to their actors at Gallifrey One in February.

I'm going to finish off this with some mermaids I was doing with the Color Palette Challenge that was going around a while ago.  I still haven't done all of them, but here's what I have.

I'll try and get another post up soon!

Gods and mortals

As always life's been a bit too busy to post over here.  If you're following me on Tumblr you've already seen all of these, but I like to spread out my stuff. 

Aphrodite, Cupid's mother and the villain of our story.  She's not entirely bad, as she does love her son and most of her actions towards Psyche (or some of them at any rate) are done in the belief that she is not good enough for him.  She's sort of the mother-in-law from hell.

Ares, god of war and possibly Cupid's biological father.  I haven 't fully decided on that.  He's an act first think second kind of guy, with a quick, pretty explosive temper.  However when he's in a good mood, he's a pretty good guy.

Persephone's mom.  We probably won't see her except in passing.  I had to crop her role out as it slowed down the story and I just wanted to get to the confrontation between Psyche and Aphrodite at Aphrodite's temple.

Psyche's oldest sister.  Psyche's sister's are described as being unattractive.  I liked the idea that they were alright looking girls who overcompensated with clothes, jewelry, and make up where Psyche was simple.  Charis is a Greek name meaning "grace, kindness" which aren't necessarily traits I'd ascribe to her.  She's the more hot headed of the three sisters.

Psyche's next oldest sister.  Costume wise I decided to have the main colors of Charis and Melitta's clothes fall to either side of Psyche's on the color spectrum.  Melitta generally has a cooler head than Charis.  Melitta is an ancient Greek version of the name, Melissa, which means "bee" and Melitta likes to think of herself as and tries to be the queen bee of the group.

I'm off to London later this week, so I'll try to post again when I get back.  I'm participating in Inktober over on my Instagram, so I'll try and cross-post some of my stuff over here then as well.

More greek gods and goddesses

Over the last month, I've been busy working on getting more of the cast of Cupid and Psyche fleshed out.  I'm probably half-way through the Greek pantheon right now.  Most of the gods and goddesses are more of back ground characters, but its fun coming up with designs for them.

I loved the idea of having Athena be a woman of color.  The Athena that lives in my head is basically voiced by Gina Torres and is pretty much Zoe from "Firefly" so it wasn't that much of a stretch.   I decided to make her ponytail reminiscent of the plume that is on her helmet.  As much as I love the design for Roman helmets (I prefer it actually), I had to give her a Greek one as she was loved by the Greeks where Ares was more popular with the Roman crowd (he'll be getting a Roman helmet).

Persephone's story is probably my second favorite myth, so I'm pretty fond of this young goddess.  As a young springtime goddess, I had to put her in pinks and/or greens.  Overall, she's very pink.  When we see her in Cupid and Psyche she's in the underworld.  I want her to almost glow against the background.  A spot of light in one of Psyche's lowest moments.  In my head, they become close friends after everything is resolved.

Hades was a bit of a tricky design.  He has to look very much older than Persephone, but I also didn't want to make him look like an old man.  So I pulled the "they're gods they can look however old or young they want" card.  I imagine Persephone being about 18-19 to his early to mid 30s appearance.  While its still a large age gap, it doesn't feel as creepy in my opinion as a grandfatherly looking man with this almost underage girl. 

Our male lead, Cupid.  Cupid was fun to work on, though the wings are a bit of a challenge.  I wanted him to be carefree man-boy.  He qualifies as an adult, but still has the energy and cheek of  a child.  He's impatient and has to get his own way. His major character development arc is going to be him maturing and becoming more responsible and understanding.

As I've said before I want Psyche to have very little fuss about her. Her sisters are going to be more elaborate in costume and hair.  They're going overboard trying to look good.  Aphrodite is going to be all sex appeal.  I want it so that she doesn't look like she's trying to be pretty.  She's naturally pretty and doesn't focus on it.  She tries to hide it and fade into the background.

Until next time!

Hera, Artemis, and Apollo Designs

I've been busy the past couple of weeks with my sister's wedding, but here is some of what I've been working on.

I didn't really have a concrete design in place for Hera when I started working on her design, but I knew i wanted her to be regal.  I really like her final design, but it looks like I might have drawn her about a head height too short.

I've always seen Apollo as being a bit of a jock.  He's kind of the perfect guy, smart and athletic.  I also picture him being ridiculously tall.  I tried to make him as "square" as possible design-wise since he is the stable one compared to Cupid.

Artemis is athletic and confident.  I finished Apollo's design before hers, so referenced his design when tightening hers up.  I might still be changing her hairstyle a bit, as I've realized that she looks a lot like the Artemis from Young Justice.

More Doctor Who portraits

Here are some more of the Doctor Who portraits I've been working on.  I'm finished with the new series and am onto the Classics.  We've got the 9th Doctor, Capt. Jack Harkness, 8th Doctor, Dr. Grace Halloway (from the Doctor Who 90s film), 7th Doctor, Dorothy "Ace" McShane, Melanie Bush, the War Doctor, 6th Doctor, and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown.

I'm putting finishing the rest of them off to the side for a bit, since I'm starting work on a project which will hopefully be announced next month.  Next week I'll put up some more of the Greek mythology character designs I've been working on.