Un-Valentines

The boy and I SAY we don't celebrate Valentines day, but we do in our own, lazy fashion.

We try to make it a point to leave notes and tell each other how much we care as often as possible. While I like the sentiment behind the "holiday", I don't think anyone should spoil their loved one on a single day. It should happen as often as possible.

I also don't like how commercialized that it's become (or may have always been). Making people feel bad if they don't drop a pretty penny on some material object, cheap candy or flowers that will die.

But I used it as an excuse to make something for my love. Well, because that's just the way it works.

I was just going to pop in to the thrift store to see what kind of books they had. I had an idea to hollow out a book and turn it into a frame. But after looking through what they had, I wasn't impressed.
Until I looked at their murder-mystery section. I happened upon a book called "Heartsick" and while the title was timely, I didn't think it was appropriate. Next to it was "Sweetheart" and the lightbulb went off over my head. This was PERFECT.

I made the mistake of checking out frames while I was there (as I'm wont to do) and found some cute little shadowboxes. They weren't the size I wanted for the heart project, but something told me to buy them. I paced back and forth trying to decide. The shadowboxes are only about 3x3 and that's a bit small for what I had in mind.

I said "screw it" and bought the two boxes, the book and a cheap plastic Baroque-looking frame.

I haven't had a lot of time to do personal projects, so I had to start on this on Friday while the boy was at work. But I was carving the pages out while he was downstairs cooking on Saturday. Needless to say, the pages didn't cut straight because the book was so thick. Perfect for my project, not so good for cutting straight (I can't even draw a straight line).

I finally finished while he was playing Call of Duty across the room from him. It was anticlimactic, but I really liked making it.

Just a book

Unassuming

SHAZAM!

I really like how the heart came out.
I'd use this paper for my thesis, if it
weren't so hard to cut.

For my sweetheart.

Keep an eye out, I'm totally into making some of these to share with the world.

IF - Reverse

I haven't done an Illustration Friday project in over a year *gulp* has it been that long?!
Thankfully it's part of a class assignment, which I need.
This is the one time that a concept has come to me quickly, and the execution was just as fast. I think it was meant to be.

It's face paint, not a mask, just in case you were wondering.

-Jenn

Progression with a shadowbox

Mental note to myself: I want to re-do the Juniper Tree's full-page illustration into a large poster. (I'll get right on that, right after I make 6 huge paper dolls.)


Alice is coming along slowly. I have another project ahead of her that's a commission for a friend (which is coming along) and then I'm going to putz around with her in between thesis work. Can I do it? Will I find time?! WHERE WILL I FIND TIME?!
I think I should purposely make time, because I have a feeling that my brain is not in working order and that I'm also not working as hard as I should be on important projects.

So here's Alice, and the shadowbox that I found while I was buying frames for my robots. It's about roughly two inches (maybe three) deep and tall enough to hold her. She's one of my larger personal dolls and I just grabbed this box "just in case" I wanted to make something bigger. Well, there you go, my subconscious was working for me this one time,

She's pinned to the board above my work table so that
she's out of the way while I work on thesis stuff.

Hard to see, but she's taped to the glass
area on her shadow box. Can't wait to finish!

The Juniper Tree

Images from my recent project: The Juniper Tree as a comic. I'll probably be revamping these soon.

"Synchronicity"

I did Robot Love: 2010 at the Good Gallery in Portland last year and it was fantastic. Out of the 4 pieces I dropped off, two were sold. For wedding presents, to boot!
This year, I wasn't able to be as prolific with my work as I was last year, but am glad that I was able to submit some work at least. I decided to continue with my doll theme. The more practice for my thesis project, the better, right?

So here are several photos of the project in various angles. The dolls are about 1/4 inch above some decorative paper that I had. This gives them a bit of dimension inside the shadowbox. This thing that makes them interesting, also makes them hard to photograph!

Yes, conjoined robots.

It's hard to photograph something that is not quite three-dimensional so that someone who's not standing in front of it can see it's dimensionality. But you get the idea.

The final, framed in a shadowbox.

The title came to me in the shower and I think it's completely appropriate.

My morbid sense of humor

Morton Salt, just in case you live under a rock.

Part of my Sketchbook project (which is going to be very thin, because I was busy living life and school that I didn't get to do as many sketches in it as I'd like to have) is going to have some 3D elements in it. Like things you pull out or unfold. I'm going to use it to "bulk" up my book. I may not have it in time to make the tour, but at least it may get into the library, and I can say it's "done".

Original sketch

Anyway. If you know me, you know I'm a sick individual (at least if you talk to my mom). I can find humor in most situations.
The topic of my sketchbook is rain, basically. So why not a zombie Morton Salt girl?!

Process, and some of my hair.

I really like the 3D aspect, makes it interactive. You pull the poster out of the book, sort of like the Griffin and Sabine books, if you've ever read those.
So here's the process on the Morton Zombie girl.

Closed in all its bulky glory.

Opening...

The little rain girl doll is part of the book too,

I just have to figure out how to attach her.

Opening...

The lower right corner of the "poster"  is 

glued to the right page in the sketchbook.

While I'm not as pleased with the outcome, I have the original sketch. Why not make it bigger as a poster for myself?! YES! So that's what I'm going to do. Take what I don't like out of the final and fix it for me.

Progression

I'm a bad blog operator. I really should have a set schedule to post. I think that would also keep me motivated to continue drawing. This will be my faux-resolution.

I have a handful of projects started. I like it.
I also do not like it. But thus is my scatterbrained dilemma.

I just am starting to feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I'm doing, and it really isn't even that much. It's just that I haven't set aside time to complete it all.

This is where shopping will come in tomorrow. I'm going to pick up a dry-erase calendar that I'm going to keep above my desk with all of my pending projects on it. I'm going to give myself a set amount of time to work on each project and note what days/times I'm going to dedicate to working on each. I have to see them written in front of my face.  I struggle with depression and BPD. It effects how I work. I know I'm not the only person on the planet that struggles. But I feel like it is holding me back more than most.

I lack motivation and consistency to get my stuff done, and it's pissing me off. I let my mind wander off onto other projects and stupid time wasting stuff. Then the next thing I know, it's a month and I still haven't gotten anything finished.
Some of it is a fear of failure. My non-digital work doesn't have an "undo" button (as much as my brain tells me it should). I'm afraid of making mistakes, although, I'm often ok with admitting to them.

I started working on a tattoo commission for a friend. I'm excited about it because it 1.) is a pin up and I love creating new pin ups, 2.) Is for an awesome person and 3.) is starting to look better than most of my pin up work.
Although I'm not even 1/2 through it, I'm so excited about the project I've started taking some progression shots and I'm going to share them here.

I am also struggling with my Sketchbook Project book. We paid to participate and I lost my motivation as soon as I started school back up. I figured I'd have enough time to work on it in between class assignments. I didn't realize that my thesis proposal would take so much out of me. So now I'm scurrying to get stuff in my book. Luckily, I have some ideas, but now it's all about tactics. How am I going to assemble this book?

Anyhow, here's the progress porn. Er, photos.

Here's a quick shot of my progress on Alice. I'm not as far along as I want to be, but she's what I work on when I take breaks from other projects.

And a shot of my sketchbook project page. I'm so far behind on this I've lost interest. I'm not sure how I'm going to attach it to the page yet though.

I hope to be a little more motivated and caught up tomorrow, with my post-float glow. Pfft.