>>The initial sketch

She wanted something by one of her students to accompany the interview, and had me do a quick painting for her. After brainstorming for a minute, we knew just what the image should be!

>>Cleaned up drawing.

Late last holiday season my Intermediate class was learning her version of the Sugarplum Fairy dance. The Fairy was supposed to be worn out, run down, and giving the last bit of her energy/wisdom/love to the young Clara.

>>Flat values.

She had a particular image in her head of what this version of the Sugarplum Fairy should look like, and finally this painting was the opportunity for it to be seen by everyone!

>>Shading added and background more developed.

I started with a quick sketch to make sure she and I were on the same page. After a handful of revisions, we had arrived at a drawing that we both liked, and I was able to start laying down the flat values. I then added the shading, and then eventually the color and finishing touches.

>>Color added

I am very pleased with how it turned out, and it was another great chance to practice my digital painting. I think I’ll likely keep tweaking it and improving it as time goes on.

>>Spotlight added, and additional tweaks. Finished piece.

If you’d like to check out my ballet instructor’s interview and see my finished piece in action, please check it out at Dance Advantage!

I’m the treasurer of my grad school’s Children’s Book Group, and today we held an event at the main branch of the SF Public Library. It was an Arts n’ Crafts Day for the local kids, and they really seemed to love it! Kids had access to papers, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, glitter, and confetti. They drew all sorts of fun pieces of art, made snowflakes, constructed collages, and in general made a big, happy confetti and glitter mess. We students helped prompt them with things to draw, drew with them, and helped with glue and scissors.

Here’s me helping one of the kids glue lots of stars on his interstellar turtle picture.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday!

Photos by club member Logan Pearsall

My ponysona, Stardust Rush.

Shawty Sprinkles

Pixel Stitch

Knickers

Balefire

A rather genteel fella I met on the Rainbow Dash Network named Scribus.

Hurky Colt

A sketch I did for Erin Palette for her Unknown Ponies RPG.

The official Unknown Ponies RPG logo! Huzzah!

Unknown Ponies is a fun new RPG based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, written by the talented Erin Palette. She is Pony-Famous for having written the D&D stats for all the mane characters, and inspiring a great comic called Friendship is Dragons! She just finished writing the rules for and playtesting this great Pony RPG, and I did the logo and a piece of art for it. You should check it out if you like ponies! It’s pretty much an amazing game that I can’t wait to play, too!

I have several more ponysonas I’m working on, and more sketches as well. I’ll share them when I get some more. Oh no, you don’t like ponies? Deal.

Pantheon is a card game for 2-5 players created by veteran game designer Timothy Brown (co-creator of the Dark Sun campaign setting), developed by Jamie Chambers with graphic design by Digger Hayes, featuring art by Lindsay Archer, Michael Bielaczyc, and Joie Brown.

In Pantheon you start with a fledgling ancient culture. Grow your population, build temples, advance your civilization, and wage war on your enemies! There are many paths to victory, but when the game ends only the strongest pantheon will triumph. It features gods from ancient Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian mythology.

How exciting, right? My art is up there with the fabulous, famous, and talented Lindsay Archer! All of the artists that worked on this game are amazingly talented, and it was an honor getting to work alongside them, even though my part was trivial in comparison.

The best part is that you can buy your own copy for only $5! Right now the game has been released as a Print & Play Edition, meaning you buy the digital files and print the deck in your home, or at your local Staples. It’s a really fun way to try out a great new game (that features my art) without having to break the bank! For those of you who would prefer to buy a physically printed deck, stay tuned… they will be available soon!

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to visit things in the Children’s Book side of my art. This last semester kept me absolutely 500% insanely busy with everything Concept Art– not that I’m complaining! I managed to create an entirely new portfolio in just 15 weeks, and that’s awesome. Unfortunately it didn’t give me time to work on fixing up my Kid’s Book stuff, so I’m just now getting to it.

This piece is the last two pages of “The Korgi and the Kibble” that I mentioned earlier. Enjoy!

Update: Fan Tony Harris wrote an adorably cute poem to go along with this painting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!