Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Faeries and Fays and Phookas, oh my.




I don't have a fondness for living in Ireland, not much of one anyway. However, I can appreciate the benefits of being Irish. Most of all the tripped out mythology we get.
I liked all manner of fairy tales when i was a kid, but the Irish ones interested me the most. And out of all those ones, I liked the ones about the wee folk and faeries most of all. As I child I had an unshakable belief the faeries exist (and while it's waned, I'm certainly not saying they don't), and I'd go exploring to see if I could find any, in locations typically listed in the many books I had, although in a pinch, I'd check peculiar trees in the park too. I even got letters from faeries, which would be left under my pillow as I slept. Obviously, it was my parents, and while I was crushed, I still wrote those letters, imploring the faeries to show themselves, and confirm my faith was anything but misguided.
And so, I went and designed my own little faerie. I never believed in the butterfly-winged, dainty dress wearing faerie, even as a kid (blame Brian Froud), so my little chick is a bit less imaginary, probably closer to what evolution would dictate....maaaaaybe. She has no need for any legs, really, just one long appendage with a joint in the middle, seeing as she'd merely fly everywhere, or hover or something. I also like the thought of faeries being primitive little things, more sad, slow little remnants of the ancient race of mythical beings which existed on Earth before the humans (according to the Celts. I would like to think of them as placid though, more like a deer or a squirrel in personality, probably scared of humans, but offer them something nice, and their instincts might be clouded out of curiosity. I guess I'm thinking of them in more terms of animals then little people.
I'd like to use this design someday, in a movie or something, if I ever got that opportunity.
The sketch at the side is one coming out of an egg, rather like a reptile, for as you can see, my little faerie has no crotch. Poor love.

Now I'm off to paint.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Brain Spittle.




Exactly. Stuff churning around my brain, being spat out onto unfortunate pages. This first fella is what I call "Contemporary Death". Please, I beg of you, full view the damn thing. I don't like archetypes of characters in design, so I took my own spin on the ever feared physical manifestation of death. Why people would create such a thing to purely frighten themselves, is beyond me, but how and ever.
Walking through the design, he has the stereotypical skull head. He lacks a mouth however, because obviously, death cannot talk, and will not negotiate or reply to anything you have to say. Also, beyond the base of his neck is skin, but that of a dead person, as indicated by his pathologists tattoo (I believe that's the right term), the scar from what would have been his autopsy. And the suit has no significance, I just really think suits are the shit. His hourglass would be replaced by a digital readout too, only I haven't drawn it here. Maybe it could be sitting in the skin at his stomach, or something. At any rate, I'll need to paint him. he might even manifest in Corpus if I can make it happen. He's Rowan's employer, after all.




The second piece is just me messing with a logo. A lot of young artists I know have optimistically decided to jump the gun and assume they'll all have their own studios someday. Not that I genuinely believe I'll have a publishing firm/animation studio/awesome factory, but it's still nice to imagine. Versa? Maybe not. The title was obviously originally "Vice Versa" but I think this has a better chance of not being done before. Maybe. I dunno.

That was way too long. Back to your stations, men.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Important Corpus planning information, y'all.

I've been planning out Corpus issues and came to the deciding of who's cameo stories get told in which order. I went by the fairest method I could, and chose the names randomly out of a bag.
The list in order of release is;

1- Justin, Decay.
2- Julian, Death.
3- Circe, Insanity.
4- Erica & Kevin, Love.
5- Lars, Life.
6- Anna, Fear.

Everyone has been given a theme central to their story, which reflects the message they are trying to portray to Rowan, and it also has some bearing on the actual person in some way, in something I noticed in some aspect of their personalities or attitudes. I may need to talk to people to pin down their stories better (I have nothing against writing being collaborative), and if anyone has objections or queries, ya know where to contact me.
Some people who wanted cameos aren't included in this list because I need help settling things and getting information. So comply plz.

Sorta exciting, innit?

SERGE




A watercolour present for my boyfriend's birthday. I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT.

Friday, August 8, 2008

EVERYBODY GET DANGEROUS.


When I was younger, I used to go and tip cows for fun, yeah.....
This frankly epic piece features a character of mine, and those of my two best friends, Lars and Julian riding a motorcycle and...being plain badasses. Seeing as these two guys are the two most badass people I know, I thought WHY THE HELL NOT. Also, both their respective birthdays are this month, and while I need to arrange packages and such (that'll be LATE, sorry lads) I thoghut I may as well get something else done. Uhyup. Can't wait to finish painting it.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

"I don't want the World, I just want your half"

Listening to They Might Be Giants, hence the title. "Ana Ng" always reminds me of long-distance relationships, which brings me to some stuff I did for the anniversary of two very dear friends of mine, Erica and Kevin. Kevin is travelling down from New York to Florida as I type, so they're bound to have a ton o' fun. HAVE A LOVELY TIME, GAIZ.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

"Here Come The Bastards" WIP


Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Nonsense about Saint Patrick's Cathedral.




Visited Saint Patrick's Cathedral for the first time with the family yesterday. It's a little ridiculous, of course, never visiting these places in your own city, but whatever.

I'm not going to explain much about the church, looking it up here is easier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick




No, this post is reserved for some photos I got. I like photography a bit, and the church could be used for some great inspiration, so.







This was a cool inscription. It started with "Underneath this earth is interred the last mortal remains of...". That's the way to die, I'm telling ya. I liked the skull at the top most, seeing as no other inscriptions had any signs of death on them. There was lots of Latin floating around, which was helpful for "Corpus".








HOW PATRIOTIC. This has nothing to do with anything, I just liked the shadows on it.






I've always wanted to depict angels. I thought that despite not being a Catholic cathedral (It was Church of Ireland) it was still pretty decorated. That may of course have just been to show off all the historical stuff, but it was still curious to me.



The altar was well-kept. Again, this could easily be inspiration for something.




This was over the Virgin altar.



And this was a war memorial, for the Crimean War, and the two World Wars. There were fresh wreaths laid out by someone.

Also went to see "The Dark Knight" this week. I'd do it no justice by trying to praise it, but wow. I normally hate Batman's guts, not after that delicious romp. That's right, I said romp.

~Louise

The Big Start Up.


Let's get something started, yeah?

First off, I'm new to blogging, so don't be hating on my ignorance, yo.

So now, most important thing to know is I'm an artist. Know that and you know pretty much everything about me. That's what I was planning this blog for, a space to collect the bull-wacky thoughts about what I do and what other people do, as well as being able to post different, new work, to chart whatever progress I may be making, if any. I also have a theory that having people await work like this would keep me more motivated, but I'm not sure about that yet. Fingers crossed.

Things posted would include some sketches,


















Works in progress,





















Or character designs and unfinished work.














Finished work as well, naturally.





Uploading pictures is getting a little cumbersome rights now, so I think I'll stop. You get the idea anyway.
This is a lot of fun though, and I can't wait to get properly started.

Thanks for dropping by.


~Louise