Album Cover - sketches

LOVE this time of the year in California. The air is crisp,  the leaves are changing colors, AND you get to wear scarves! It's a feeling of change.

Been working on an album cover, creating many many sketches. These were the initial ideas for the font and back cover (not sure they will be used):

SketchBomb - First meet up

Sketchbomb held it's first meeting in Sacramento this October
at Tupelo Coffee House and it was pretty awesome. While drinking some delicious coffee, I was able to talk and sketch along with some amazing artist (here are just a few):

Mike Henry    
DJ Welch
Hainanu Saulque
Juniorbruce

Look! It's me sketching.

I think what made this event even more special are the moms that brought their kids, makes me teary to think how supportive they are. One kid blew me away with his talent, can't wait to see what amazing stuff he will create in the future. Anyhoo, here are the sketches I made that night:


October meetup sketches by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

Found out about another group called Drink and Draw that I plan on attending this Thursday.

Elf Sculpture - part 4

I like to get excited over really little things, such as how cute pattern pieces are when they fit in the palm of your hand (big smile)... Look! The collar can fit around my finger.

Sometimes I do more work then necessary, such as line the inside of the pieces but little details like that seem important. At one point, I believed I remade a pattern piece 5 TIMES just because it didn't look right, or there was a slight blemish, or because I am clearly nuts like that.

Feeling slightly sad that in the end, no one will see the inside of the collar. Except for here in this photograph. The lining pleasure will come from her sleeves, a nice playful detail of strips peeping through if anyone was curious to lift one.

 The creation of the jacket felt important because with the light color pallet used in her costume so far, a dark contrast is needed to balance the outfit to the eye.

I am still toying with adding flower or pearl details to her jacket but my next area of focus will be her wings. Depending on how the wings come out, simplicity may be better so as to not overwhelm (or clutter) the overall feel of the sculpture.

Or maybe no wings? Hmmm...

I've been contemplating the use of the term Doll Sculpture. After reading an interview with Marina Bychkova (who I adore artistically!), she made a valid point about if it doesn't move it isn't a doll. Sort of makes me feel silly. Even misplaced a bit about labeling this art piece. However, when I was a little girl I played with dolls to do the following: Dress them up or make outfits, style their hair, and the most fun part of all - give them stories and names.

Then it hit me: Yes, my doll sculpture cannot move. But in every other sense, she is my doll frozen in time forever in exactly the way I played with her. Dressing her, playing with her hair, and finding her story to share with you.

And so, this is where she is at now. On hold for now as I am working on an album cover for the talented RedSkunk Jipzee Swing Band. Totally in love with their song Premonitions.

Doll To Do List:

• Fairy Wings

• Detail on jacket (?)

• Bloomers

• feet details

• Make ze base beautiful

G-Ma's Birthday card

Last month was my Grandma's birthday. Usually it is Grandma who is busy making delicious cakes, cooking up yummy recipes, or cleaning up. However her perfect day involved her doing absolutely nothing while her kids take charge. Love you Grandma!

Just wanted to share the simple little card I made for her:

  

Elf Sculpture - Part 3

Now that I have gotten sufficient sleep and my roommates are no longer able to distract me, it's time to continue!

Still learning a lot about placing hair on a sculpture. I've looked through many tutorials and I've seen a few different ways artist go about it. The process I've enjoyed so far has been by Natasha Red October. Another artist who shares her process is Patricia Rose.

Material for "MISSION: HAIR!"

Mohair - Has a nice soft texture and my experience with it so far has been positive. (found good deals on ebay!). 

FabricTac - An adhesive found in any local craft store.

Here is the sculpture with the hair placed on. I've made a few choice parts in how it will lay on her forehead and in this picture, I am playing with how I would like her hair to be styled. Eee! This is my favorite part!

All that I have visualized so far is having it as an up hairdo. In the second picture it is shown in a bun, but when I started on actually forming the style my first step was to place her hair in a secure ponytail (in a position slightly above center of where I'd like the bun to be)

From the ponytail I made several braids that would wrap around a small bun created. The two front bang pieces were braided and then wrapped in gold wire.

-This is where I do a
victory dance-

Alas! More to do. After dancing in victory I realized that she needed a head piece of some sort.

Picture to the left is a table set up to get more stuff done!

I find it helpful to have an assortment of items laid out that could have the possibility of being used. Helps in pairing items together or seeing if things work well together.

Wish I had taken better pictures of her hair at the time, but later progress pictures will show more of her hair piece. Also, I added curls to her style afterward to help give it a more full feeling.

Curls were created by wrapping mohair around brass tubing (just like a curling iron!). It is then placed under water to dampen the hair before being placed into an oven of about 150-200 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

This is where I must end for now. Next blog will contain the progress pics of her over jacket.

Elf Sculpture - Part 2

Working on my sculpture slowly and I've finally kicked myself in the petunia to update my blog. She has come a long way since the last update and I am excited to share her progress. If you follow me on twitter, I post my pictures instantly as I am creating (It's just so quick and convenient!).

For some reason I keep seeing her as a Flora, one of the three fairy sisters that looked after the sleeping princess. She carries a worried look, like a decision needs to be made.

Starting with a few sketches, I try to get an over all idea of the direction I want to go in with her outfit (It helps me understand how I want to piece it all together). Sometimes this process can take a whole day. For one part of the outfit (AHHHhhh!). Since the outfit isn't going to be slipped into like traditional clothes (her limbs are not going to move!), I have to work around this limitation.

(1) Her skirt was the first piece to be created. Did a fun bunching technique to give it a nice poof. (2) Using a strong wielding glue, I attach her sleeve to her form. Working with tiny pattern pieces can be frustrating. My fingers are SO BIG in comparison, or the material is so sensitive you have to check to see if the material easily frays and if it's the right amount of frustration you want to work with. This soft pink material was not friendly, but it didn't stop me (mwuahaha!).

At this point I wasn't sure about the direction of where I wanted to go. I added ribbon to act as the straps and moved on to what I WAS sure about: (3) An underskirt. Keeping with the pink pallet, I found a nice sheer, darker pink.

Helpfulness: As I work I like to make sure to look at the doll from all angles (Simple "duh!" concept, I know). But it really helps me keep in perspective how the cloth will lay on her and how she will be viewed by people not looking at her from straight on. I always keep reminding myself that this is important.

I must end here for now. A bit late and my sleepiness is winning. 

Next post will be on her NOT being bald! Whooohoo!