Another Ritratto di Bambino

Little Giac is now almost 10 month old. Time to make a new portrait to add to Bella's room. Drawing in ready...I am leasurely working on the inks.

     

It's strange to think that after this I will make just one more portrait, for little baby L., and then the series will be completed.
There will be other kids-themed drawings though...Bella now has her own requests (she wants a drawing of baby Pluto) and I have to start thinking about decorating the new nursery!

Inks for the Pan and friends

Last year, my sister in law suggested I made a painting for the kids based on Peter Pan. I promised I would do it before going to Italy in September, but well...that didn't really happen. One year later I am finally keeping my word and having a lot of fun with this little project.

The kids are floating somewhat above both Savona (Italy, where my family lives) and Chicago. Even if they are separated most of the time, they can imagine to be and play together. Although they have met for only very short periods of time, they love and miss each other. So it's nice to have them united at least on paper.

The oak and its dryads inks

Dedicated to mother Nature, with thanks and apologies....
 
Oak are the only trees that have not one but two spirits inhabiting them, according to Greek mythology. One moves around in the woods, like most dryads do. The other, the amadryad is permanently bound to the tree and never leaves, even if the oak is cut. This drawing tells represents the last moments shared by two sisters dryads, before their oak is taken down by a group of men. They are accompanied by priests that perform a ritual to warn and repel the one dryad that can actually survive away from the tree. She can't help but flee and yet her heart is torn to pieces because she know she will forever be separated from her beloved twin.

Now that I have inked the scene, I wonder, what color should the hair of the dryad be? My husband says green, but I am not certain..the only other time I painted a dryad, she had green hair, I think, and I 'd like to change...

Hope you are enjoying the nice weather and have a lovely Mother's Day.
Ciao, Mamma!

Yggdrasil Inked

At last...I am ready to color this. I don't know why it took me so long to finish inking this time. Maybe it's the fact that I added details and modified a bit the original design. Maybe it's that in the evening I am exhausted and I just want to curl up and sleep instead of straining my eyes on small details. No matter, I am done and happy with the lines. Now, as usual the hard and interesting part begins.

You know I draw mostly while watching TV. I wonder if my choice of shows influences my drawings and possibly vice versa, or if it just by chance that I was watching Once Upon a Time, while drawing Sweet Home (my version of Hansel and Gretel), Fringe, while drawing Lotus of Creation, and the first season of Vikings while working on this latest picture. :)

PS: DO you guys think I should add a couple more branches in the top corners? Thanks for your suggestions! :)

Almost done with the inking...

I am looking forward to color this...

Hansel, Gretel, etc.

My sister in law is coming to visit with her family (Pit will spend some quality time with Bella!). I am making a drawing to celebrate her birthday and the fact that we are going to have a new addition to the family soon. She asked for a Hansel and Gretel inspired picture, with the ginger bread house and the children, but without the scary witch.
Here is the initial sketch with some inking done...

Challenge: 29 faces (Day 5: #14, 15, 16, 17)

The other day, I found an old copy of Vogue  that has been laying around, waiting to be read. Not sure that's going to happen, given how busy with other stuff I am. However, I decided to use the magazine differently for a quick exercise. I know I could do better when it comes to drawing hair and faces in unusual positions. Especially I find it extremely hard to draw a face viewed from the bottom. I remember spending several hours as a kid, trying to copy a famous Star Wars poster in which Luke Skywalker looks upward holding his light saber above his head (remember it?). I had to give up. My brain could not wrap around the prospective illusion of nostrils almost aligned with eyes: all I got was a sort of flattened snout that looked like a pig...poor Mark Hamill! I tried so hard that I made a hole in the paper with my eraser. After which I desisted...and never really overcame that obstacle.

So I took advantage of this opportunity to practice on difficult head poses and on hair as well.
I started from the cover, went on to draw the face of the models/actresses in the following pages, not paying too much attention to resemblace (too time consuming) and focusing on shiny locks and jaws/neck proportions....I know I still have to work quite e bit on this! :D

#14 Scarlett attempt: Anpther case in which inks did not help with resemblance. I guess I tend to make eyes too big these days. Her head is just slightly tilted backwards, hence the funny shape of the nose...maybe the problem is that her eyes do not follow the perspective of the rest of the face?

# 15 and 16 Kate attempt front and side: She does look nothing like Ms Winslet but I am pretty happy with her hair and hands.

# 17 Oooops...I don't remember the name of this actress, but it does not matter because again any resemblance is lost. This was of course the most difficult subject and makes me think there is still a lot of practice in store for me, if I want to master this pose. I wonder if coloring and giving it dimension with shadows, would improve it....

29 Faces

Happy Friday everyone!

Mini projects WIP

These days, I am often tired when I come back from work. My only desire is to eat and go to sleep or watch a movie or read a book. I still want to draw, but I seem to lack time and energy to start a big project. So I decided to start a few smaller works.

I am preparing a new doll, which should have slightly bigger limbs than my previous ones (I always have the impression their head is a bit too big compare to the rest of their bodies). I am not showing her here because she is in very preliminary stages and I still have to make a few decisions on her....

Another mini-project is "Little Lady with dog". The idea for this came from watching the miniseries "Aristocrats", a BBC drama bout the lives of five sister great-granddaughters of Charles II in 18th century Britain.It's a very nice production with great costumes. The one for the characters as children were particularly cute...

It was also time for another mermaid....this one is in a bit of trouble...will anybody help her?

Finally, I have the floating heads project. Some time ago a bought Prismacolor markers, but I have not had a lot of practice with them. I mostly use the neutral tones and greys for large surfaces to spare my precious Copics. These days a practically ran out of the colors I rely most upon for skin tones and shading . I ordered them online, but while waiting I got bored and thought I should study which Prismacolors would work best as substitutes. This is why I drew these 3 "uncompleted" girls, The Diva, The Martyr, and the Gypsy.

Next post I'll show you my Prismacolor choices. Meanwhile, I hope the inks for my exhausted Copics will arrive soon. ;)

In Arwen's shoes completed.

I finished my Lord of the Rings-inspired piece, "In Arwen's shoes". This is the progression from inking to the final piece (if you want you can also see the initial drawing in pencil from a previous post):

Inking: the easy part

Defining a palette

Sticking to the palette: the hard part for me...

The finished piece: copic markers with touch ups in pencils and white gel pen. Enjoy!

Arwen in Turin

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Margherita came to visit us in Chicago from Turin (Italy). Together we visited the comic expo at the McCormick's Center (C2E2). After seeing all the phenomenal artists at work there, Margherita asked me to draw a portrait of herself  and a few other friends as superheroes. Since they all love horses and like The Lord of the Rings, I thought it would be fun to draw them as characters of the books. Of course, I thought Marghe should be Arwen as she is tall and sinuous as an elf. This is the work in progress...there are a few more details to hone, but I hope to have it ready soon!