Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things...

Well, currently I'm giggling quite a lot as 'They're Taking The Hobbits To Isenguard' just came up on my iTunes lol it's very odd XD

Anyway, entirely not the point of this entry. After my last post, I've been thinking a lot, and I know that perhaps I'm just suffering from summer blues, so I thought I might as well try do a few things to get myself back into the swing of things, so to speak.

I've had a one or two personal issues recently, so haven't sat down and written any stories or designed any characters lately, but I really wanted to colour something, so I decided to look on DA and see if anything sparked my interest.

Naturally, it did, and I found the wonderful, detailed work of Michelle84

http://Michelle84.deviantart.com/

Her work is phenomenal, and I just can't get over how she draws and colours. I really liked her work, so took one of the 'colour-me' line arts she'd posted and have been just enjoying slowly filling it in and not stressing about things :)

So this is the piece I decided to colour - it's called Return To Innocence:

Wow, has blogger changed recently or something? All this is different XD Anyway, so, in this post, and probably a couple after as it's taking me a while to colour this lol, I'll show you each stage of my colouring ^_^ 

First I laid out my initial base colours (only working with character level at the moment):

I wanted a sort of gentle, girly sort of look, as she's so pretty and covered in decoration XD So next I redid all these colours as separate layers and all nice and tidy:

Some of the colours are a little different, but still, mostly all the same just on the separate layers, which means that now I can go in and shade each one individually. I like to do two or three layers of shadow on each section and then go back in on new layers and work in the lights. So, here in progression are the three hair layers (base, shadow 1, shadow 2):

Please full view, I'm rather happy with the hair ^_^ I know this is a simple process for most people, but I'm fairly new to this sort of thing >.< Anyway, I then did the same process on the skin:

Right now,  I'm just about to start the clothes, so I'll pause this entry here, and go back to colouring ^_^

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So, after a little more shading, the clothes are getting there too - by clothes, I'm referring to only the pink bits, by the way ^_^ This needed three shadow layers, but it's all very simple, so it didn't take long at all. As you can see, I'm only doing very simple, rough work, nothing fancy, so I apologise for the simplicity -_- but I'm just doing it for a little relaxation ^_^ So yes, here are the clothes:

Well, Mum and Emma have just gone to watch the new Twilight movie in the cinema *shudder* which means I have the house to myself again. I'm thinking a DVD is much needed, maybe two. But what to watch...? My current feelings are wandering between: Labyrinth, Coraline, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and Casshern.... I do have more DVDs than that lol those are just the ones I'm looking at now.

Anyway, yes, DVDs are going to happen, as is some form of diet-friendly chocolate, and perhaps a continuation of this colouring as I watch ^_^

And So Summer Begins...

Ok, technically it began a while ago, but with bits and bobs happening on the personal life front, I haven't really thought much about art for a while...

Actually, it's probably more like I've avoided art...on purpose lol

You know, I'm actually a bit afraid of summer. I've never enjoyed the summer holidays - in school, I was that kid who wanted nothing more than for September to roll around and for the homework to start up again =_= painful, I know, but summer makes me feel lost, like I don't know what to do with myself.

I've got so many projects lined up, so many doodles to sketch out, so many amazing story lines to show to the world...and I never get any of it done. I always say, 'I'll get my pencils out later', or, 'I'll just finish doing (insert mundane pointless task here) first' etc etc. But really, I don't want to have to put pencil to paper and realise that I just can't pull it off.

Because that's what usually happens. When all is said and done, the 'epic idea' always turns out to be not-so-much with the epic. And I know why.

In my class, there are people who love what they're doing so much that I can't even describe it. They work so hard and put so much of themselves into every drawing and frame and idea that when I see them, I wonder what on earth I'm doing. If I woke up tomorrow and could never hold a pencil again, I'm not sure how I'd feel. I honestly don't know if it would bother me. Isn't that awful? How can I do this course without the fierce passion that is so obvious in the people around me?

I mean, look at this blog - when was the last time I updated anything? Even with my Uni blogs - when was the last time I drew something that wasn't required of me?! It's pathetic.

There are so many things that inspire me - anyone who knows me knows how much I love reading, and if someone offered me a job tomorrow to just read for the rest of my life, I know I'd take it. But that doesn't mean I don't love animation - I've felt the awe and been moved to laughter and tears, sometimes all at once, by pieces that I was seeing for the first time, or some that I've seen more than I can count. I've been amazed, surprised, excited, felt my heart race or stop in its tracks, often at work done by the people I spend every day with. But I can't be a part of that group, can't say that I stand in line with those people, because I just can't do what they do.

I thought I'd found a place for myself in the possibilities as an 'animation producer', and it certainly seemed a good plan to go forward with. Even now I expect I'll continue along that road, because for me, it's probably the easiest option. Don't get me wrong, there'll be nothing at all easy about it, but it scares me a lot less than the idea of having to stand side by side with my friends and colleagues, with a heart only half full.

And so summer begins - I'm not sure where I'm going or what I'm going to do when I get there. I don't know if I can continue with a career that doesn't set my whole being on fire. But the people there are certainly worth the effort, so I'm hoping that, with a little help, I might find something I want to burn for.

E4 Monkey

I know it's terrible, but I'm pretty pleased for my first go on Flash. I've no interest in these style of flat, vector characters, but we had to do them for the brief, and I feel it turned out ok. It's just a bit boring lol but I'm glad I have that bit of experience and knowledge of Illustrator and Flash to put into my list of capabilities, though clearly there's still a long way to go XD

Still No Updates -_-

Really sorry for lack of work on here, though I'm sure you can guess it's because of the Major Project and Advanced Tech stuff. Please go and check out my Major Project blog, there's a lot more on it ^_^

http://www.artofalexandra-majorproject.blogspot.com

I'll try and pop up the Advanced Tech stuff on here asap :)