On Painted Wings

Spring Semester Update

2010-05-11T04:18:00.000-10:00

Yar, mateys!

It has been even longer since my last update! A number of you keep pestering me to post new art, and with the semester coming to an end, I decided to compile the drawings I did over the last few months. I don't especially like at least 1/3rd of them, but even poopy art shows progress. This semester, I only took one drawing class, Intermediate Anatomy. The other classes I took were Composition for the Artist (aka English) and Natural Phenomena (aka Physics).

In my anatomy class, we learned about deeper muscles of the human body. I must admit, I don't remember most of the names or technical information (such as origin, insertion, and function of each muscle). But as I draw from reference, I do see the actual forms of the muscles much more easily. I wonder how long it will take to memorize all the anatomical information? It would probably help if I sat down and used flash cards, but that seems so...academic. Heh.

Anyways, here is the art I did. I'll post the last few assignments after I've done them (two weeks left!). The first one is just portraits. The second one is of the nicer looking anatomical studies, and the third one is the not-so-pretty drawings (which I am only posting for sake of comparison and because I know some of you out there will demand to see all of my drawings, no matter how much I dislike them :p).

FA 214: Intermediate Anatomy Portraits - Spring, 2010

FA 214: Intermediate Anatomy Studies - Spring, 2010

FA 214: Intermediate Anatomy Studies 2 - Spring, 2010

Anatomical studies aside, I got a small illustration job and recently learned I have a chance at being in the 2010 Spring Show at my university. How cool is that?

Poodles!

- M. Utaunna // Rae

Reinventing Digital

2009-11-15T11:12:00.003-10:00

     Ahoy, mateys!

     I know it has been a while (really only a week, I think, so that's not bad at all!). I've been doing a lot more art this week. Today I have several items to share, whee!

     In the school sector, I have the usual anatomy studies. This week was the upper leg muscles. In these drawings I included the shoulders and hips to help illustrate the weight distribution. Though I may have over-developed the shoulders and heads in these drawings. Oh well, lol. At least I'm realizing it. :)

Also experimenting with lost edges a little. You can see in the posterior view that the edge of the inner arm is indicated, but not the outer edge. I just thought that might be a nifty thing to do. Like taking the negative space between the body and arms and turning it almost into a positive shape. Haha, I'm tricksy!

FA 213: Intro to Anatomy, upper leg study - Fall, 2009

Then there is my perspective homework. We studied reflections this week. I am pretty happy with the drawing. I certainly enjoyed doing reflections and the effect of said reflections can be used in interesting ways. For example, in the drawing below the page ends before you can see the top of the tree, but for me rather than feeling like the tree is missing, I feel like it is towering above me. This is because even though I can't see the top of the tree itself, I can see its reflection in the water. Whoot, tricky! Seems a good way to draw the viewer into a work.

There are a few problems, of course. I think I could have inked this better, and I forgot to detail the tree trunk. My teacher also suggested adding a boat to help with the 1-point perspective, which I would like to do. So, hopefully I will. Perhaps today, after my other homework. The character depicted is Chimaera Gray, who belongs to my friend Dimruthien.

FND 116: Perspective, reflections - Fall, 2009

Ok, now that is all my school work for this week. Now onto what's really been keeping me busy! Some of you may be familiar with graphic chats that allow you to have your own custom avatars (aka "poses"). I entered a small contest held by a person who attends these sorts of chats, mostly for practice but also in the hopes of winning (who enters a contest to lose, after all?). The contest was to make a macaw pose, a wolf pose based on a macaw, and a gryphon-esque pose. I didn't make it real complicated. I just based the design off of real macaws and didn't deviate much from nature, so far as markings and colors go.

Mostly, this was an experiment in digital painting. My approach to art in traditional mediums has changed since school, and as such my digital approach is inclined to change with all that I've learned, as well. So that's what I've been doing this week: reinventing my digital style.

Below, you can see the three poses in order from my favorite to my least favorite. I did the hybrid (middle) pose first, which I liked pretty well. Then I did the wolf (right) form, which I didn't like at all. After several hours wasted trying to get what I want out of it, I got tired of looking at the drawing. So, instead of chasing my muse and my motivation away by continuing, I just threw on some final touches and called it done.

That's when I moved on to the next post, the normal bird form (left). Oh, I must have done right by stopping my work on the second pose because the bird pose only took me two hours and I am ridiculously happy with the results. I was nervous about coloring blue directly onto red (I've never done that before), but I think it turned out very well. Nice and vibrant and full of life! :) Coloring parrots has been a good chance to experiment with color, so I think I shall like to do it again sometime.

Macaw Contest Entry - Fall, 2009

Happy with the results of my macaw, I decided to do my own pose. Generally, I prefer to draw myself as an animal (usually a wolf). It is the artistic manifestation of me, one could say. So, continuing my experiments in the digital, I started off good, got frustrated, and after 30+ hours of work, finally ended with something I am most pleased with. A good drawing and a better sense of how I would like to evolve my style. Yay! I highly recommend viewing the large version, to see the detail. :)

Rae - Fall, 2009

That is all for today, but I do think that is more than enough! Lots of yummy arts for you all to look at! I hope to continue experimenting this week, to better establish my process in the digital so that it won't take me 30+ hours for every digital painting I do. Much of that time went to experimenting, though.

Thanks for reading!

- M. Utaunna // Rae

Homework and Mid-Grades

2009-11-03T00:23:00.001-10:00

     Hello, hello!

     Just quickly posting some homework from the last two weeks. Some anatomy studies and a 2-point perspective drawing. The perspective drawing didn't take a very good photo, so you'll have to forgive me if it doesn't look too pretty. To learn about the foxy characters and see the line-art version, go to my DA.

      Oh! Oh! I just remembered I also found-out my mid-term grades for this semester! In FA 213: Intro to Anatomy I have a B+ and the teacher says I'm really close to an A-. In FND 116: Perspective I have an A- yay!

That's all, thanks for reading!
- M. Utaunna // Rae

FA 213: Intro to Anatomy, Pelvic Study, Torso Study - Fall, 2009

FND 116: Perspective, 2-Point Perspective - Fall 2009

Questions + Comments

2009-11-02T02:30:00.012-10:00

Greetings, all!

This is my general questions and comments section (couldn't tell by the post title, could ya?) for anything that doesn't directly relate to my other posts. You don't have to be a Blogger member to leave comments on my blog, so post away! (No spam, please!)

Thanks for reading,
M. Utaunna // Rae

PS: All comments are screened before I allow them to be seen by other people, so don't think you can pretend to be me! :p

Dabbling

2009-11-01T20:07:00.010-10:00

     Why, hello, again!

     Isn't this nice?! Three posts in one week! Anyone who knows me knows that is a feat in itself, so far as keeping websites updated is concerned.

     I've been doing school work and a few drawings for other people when I can, but I haven't really drawn anything for myself in a while. I used to role-play a lot, and I used to design a lot of characters. Usually wolves or big cats. I decided I wanted to draw a wolf using some of what I've learned in school. Not sure how much my skill in drawing wolves has changed.

Personal Doodle: Jecht - Fall 2009
(Click for full view; it looks better!)

The feet could use more definition, and the facial features are not very distinct. That's one thing I want to improve in my personal art. Develop variation in the physical features of character designs without ruining the proportions and such.

     However, I am very happy with the shape and placement of the legs, as well as the main body and such. I tried to be mindful of the negative shapes, which helped me out a lot. And I got to play around with the markings. I think it is hard to come-up with different wolf markings. For me, anyways. Their coats really are beautifully complicated. Mixes of different colors and some markings graduated and others sharply defined.

     I also tried a different way of building-up the color. Well, on the dark parts, anyways. Generally, I would just use the air brush, but this time I used a combination of hatching and lift-out. I really enjoy the effect. Maybe I'll try it more in future drawings. I'd love to see how a more refined drawing would turn-out done in a similar way as this one.

     On a final note, I noticed I tried not to use the undo button as much. Instead, if I made a mistake, I usually drew over it or just used an eraser on rare occasion. Much more like traditional drawing. It is a nice change of pace, not depending on the undo to correct mistakes. :)

     Well, enough of this! I've blathered on long enough.

Thanks for reading!
- M. Utaunna // Rae

Figure Drawings and Anatomy Studies

2009-10-29T23:40:00.001-10:00

     Ahoy!

     So! I thought a sketch-blog is a pretty sad one without any art in it, so here are a couple of compilations of work I've done. One features art from the figure drawing class I took last semester, and the other is art I've done in my introduction to anatomy class, which I am currently taking. I don't have any art on this computer from my first semester of drawing the human figure, but believe me I've come far in the last year and a half.

     My proportions used to be very off and what the teacher called a five-minute sketch usually took me an hour and still had a lot of errors. I am much faster, now. In my anatomy class, a 30-40 minute drawing usually takes me 40-50 minutes, which is a huge improvement! I am a lot more accurate in eye-balling the general location of landmarks of the form, which is what took me so much time, before. My proportions are also improving. The first semester at my school, I always drew people too tall. Then the next semester, I drew them too wide. This semester, I haven't had much problem with either, but I still shift the alignment of the pose off sometimes.

FND 112: Figure Drawing - Spring Semester, 2009

My shading is also improving, though my anatomy class doesn't require full-value drawings. The teacher says I do a good job of indicating just enough to show the form. I have a much easier time distinguishing between highlight, mid-tone, shadow, core shadow, and reflected light than I did when I first started learning to properly render the form.

FA 213: Intro to Anatomy - Fall Semester, 2009

This semester, my sensitivity to line quality has been getting better, too. My teacher points that out to me almost every assignment I turn in, but there are still areas where my lines are a little heavy when they could be lighter, or lighter when they could use more definition. Ah, well. This is only my second year, and since I'm only a half-time student I have several years ahead of me. The fact that I'm making such fast progress in my technical skills makes me eager to see where I'll be in another year or two.

Thanks for reading,
M. Utaunna // Rae

PS: Art posted is copyright M. Utaunna.

Sketch-blog: A Beginning

2009-10-28T20:09:00.002-10:00

     Greetings and Salutations to all of you web-folk out there!

     First of all, being that this is my first blog post, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am M. Utaunna, though more often than not in the online world, I am more easily remembered as Rae (and generally sign my art as such).

     I am an online illustration student at the Academy of Art University, and currently I am in my second year of school. This is my first real blog, where I hope to post current art (anything from sketches to finished work) and my own musings (preferably of a more thought-provoking nature). This is my first serious attempt to document my progress as an artist, and thereby my progress as an individual. I think an artist's sketchbook serves well in that capacity, on its own, yet a sketchbook in my lap does not offer the same potential for interaction with the outside world. No one can go to my sketchbook and share their thoughts with me (even if they could, there would be limited space to write!). So I am starting this sketch-blog, in the hopes of learning about myself, learning about others, and if I'm really lucky, to help others learn about themselves.

      Honestly, I only have an impression of where I hope to go as an artist and a person. I do not think I've experienced enough of life to truly grasp an understanding of my own potential, but I feel this is only a matter of time. I have hope in this. Every passing year sheds a little more light for me to see by.

      With that said, I would like to invite any and all like-minded persons to talk with me. And I will make the effort to keep this sketch-blog updated with my scribblings and advancements.

Thank you for reading,
M. Utaunna // Rae