Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a merry merry Christmas!
Ahhh, the holidays. Lots of festivities, family, friends, and COOKIES! I did some pretty crazy amount of baking this year. The year of cookie experimenting with new recipes. Nothing better then watching the people you care for eating the cookies you bake.

Had to take a picture, they were so pretty. And yummy. You can find the recipes I used here:
Gingerbread Cookies
Russian Tea Cookies
Peppermint Chocolate Chip
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Best part was having to sample all the cookies. My cookie quota this year has been filled. Good thing the new year is right around the corner.

One of the best parts about being an artist is the ability to make really personal handmade gifts.


One fun idea to add to gifts are hand painted ornaments :)  Paint images that make you think of the person and then top them by hooking the ornament to the wrapping.



My favorite handmade gift was for my little brother. We grew up playing Zelda so I decided to hand paint a wooden box with Zelda illustrations. Many days, many hours, were spent after work on this gift and I loved how it turned out (so did he, Yay!). Painted using acrylic and colored pencils.

Can't believe Christmas is over already. So much energy and time preparing for one day... I say it should at least be a three day event. Can't wait for the new year, I predict lots more art and more fun changes coming this way.

~Cheers~

Sac Con Report

Happy Holidays! Sac con was Amazing. So much art love and creative people all rolled up in a one day event in Sacramento. I wasn't sure what to expect but there was a great turn out and I had the opportunity to talk with so many art enthusiast and anime lovers. Even met a guy who use to work for Pixar and he bought one of my art pieces!! And he can quote from the Hogfather (EXTRA exclamation points inserted here!)

A really big thank you to everyone who stopped by my table to say hello. It was great to see familiar faces and chat with friends.

I was even busting out some sketch commissions that day. My new trend is drawing a new fanart piece after each convention (all the fandom and cheer gets to me that I just need to revisit some nostalgic anime and show it some love).

This convention it was Utena, which means I will probably do an Utena marathon while working on the piece.

I am pretty messy sketcher, but it helps the creative flowing by not worrying about perfect lines. Here is a preview of the updated linework:

Working title for it is "Breaking Castles", because sometimes you have to let things break before you can let change in. My plan is to add in a crumbling castle and some merry-go-round horses.

-cheers!-

***EDIT:  December 20th

The final of this piece can be found here:

Breaking Castle by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

Gobble, gobble, gobble...

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I certainly ate WAY to much this year, so worth it. Wanted to do a quick update of a few art pieces in the works. Plus, testing out drawing a few of my Dresidian characters, Navar and Raza.

In case people wonder why Navar doesn't get with the hot cambion minion, turns out he doesn't wear the right tie....

Work in progress piece. Raza is a fun strong female character. Knows what she wants, doesn't try to hide it or excuse it. "I am what I am. Took awhile to accept it myself but once I did, no turning back." Has a thing for men of the cloth and playing up human perception of demons (for laughs).

I swear I'll finish my Swan piece....

Gwen Turner

Gwen Turner by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

Gwen Turner is obsessed with books. She lives in mountains of books, she works with books, and you can't convince her that there is anything more exciting then books.

Gwen is the main character in my Dresidian project. I wanted a prudish, non adventuring type character to get mixed into a world of danger and demons. And you can ask "how is it a librarian could get mixed in with demons?", WELL! Not by choice Gwen will tell you. Framed for theft, cornered, and snared into by a demon motivated by revenge.

Sometimes, knowing the wrong people can get you into a lot of trouble. Wait till she gets her hands on Uncle Dresidian...

Maeve

Maeve by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

Character from my Dresidian project.

Let me introduce lady Maeve, a villain of sorts but mostly just a driven woman on a mission. Her goal unknown but it is clear to everyone who meets her she will do whatever it takes accomplish it.

A charmer, a deceiver yet oddly enough holds her own sense of honor. It is rumored she is in the service of demons, or is it the other way around?

I.F. - "SCARY"

Click to see larger version

Illustration Friday's theme for SCARY...
First thing that came to mind are some of the ladies I see on Halloween.They can be scary! I tend to be in the overdressed crowd.

Have a Happy Haloween! 

-Cheers!-

FUEL

and in the LAND of TEA, there was an addict
Who drank TEA all day long
And even wore TEA

Because there shall be non other then the greatness of TEA
And so, there were TEA birds and TEA clouds
And it was a good day



Did I mention I love Tea? Have you drank this stuff? It's amazing!
Quick 2 hour illustration created for Illustration Friday.

Theme: FUEL,

The Horrid Queen

The Horrid Queen poster by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

One day, as I was suppose to be doing work I had this sudden need to start writing. So I opened a text document and let it flow.

It took me two days and many edits but I finished the tale. I am still working on my Dresidian project, but I felt it was important to start with a smaller goal to work myself up towards bigger dreams. And hopefully I can improve my illustration towards story telling.

Here is the first, a poster of sorts, to get the ball rolling after completing the text work.

Look for "The Horrid Queen," because it is coming soon!

The Swan Dance

Thought my next piece fit nicely for Illustration Friday "Scattered".

As her wings touched the reflection upon the water, 
it was as though a hundred swans scattered upon the surface.
 until they fluttered away below the lake's surface

And the wizard looked upon his prize. And plotted.

Flipped

PLAN B - Flipped by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

Recently completed a commission for the comic Plan B. This was a great piece to work on as I had fun with two of their characters and their facial expression. One of great worry and the other of ..well, the character always looks like he is amused by his own private joke. In the comic, they are actually one in the same person, or that is...one is in the other mind, hence the title "Flipped".  I added layers of textures to give it an old vibe.

Next project to color is my Outer Sailor Senshi piece:

PLAN B - Sketch

Working on a commission for the comic Plan B, check out the work! You'll go mad with science.
Sketch, sketch, sketch, in your face. With or without speech bubble?

-AND-

 

Madusa's lady

Turned to stone, Madusa's lady stands in stone. The birds her only witness.

Outer Sailor Senshi sketch

Thought it would be fun to do a follow up fanart of the outer Sailor Senshi.

-cheers!-

Fun with illustrator

Been awhile since I last updated and I wanted to share some of my work done in Illustrator. Starting to really enjoy the process of creating shapes and understanding the process of using this software.

Art update

 

Starting on a new piece for Record of Lodoss -dance-

The live stream can be viewed here. You can see how slow I work at times

...and make mistakes. Haha!

 Mean while, my Ursula piece is complete! 

Ursula by *DarkSunRose on deviantART

The Grand St. Express Album

Gordon was kind to give me a few copies of the album! I'm holding it as we speak and I have to say their music is A-Maz-ing. And it's pretty neat that my artwork is on iTunes (whooo!). Here are a few shots of the album "The Grand St. Express" by The Grand St. Stompers:

Inside Panel artwork (only)

Sketch Dump

"Now I got her boys!"

Ursula sketch I might take further.

Happened upon the Camelot series on Netflix. Merlin is pretty hot.

DA Featured Daily Deviantion

Celebration! My Vampire Hunter D piece was featured as a Daily Deviation on Deviantart. I feel all inspired to make MORE ART. For those who find it fun to see what the piece looked like before it was completed, I created another W.I.P. that shows the process of my Vampire Hunter D piece. Art work created using Photoshop CS4 and Painter X.

 

Illustration Friday - "Launch"

I'm excited to participate with I.F. this week! The theme is "Launch" and I realized my Father's Day gift to my Dad was perfect for this topic.

Dad & I launching Zelda II

It depicts my most fondest memory of watching my father play Zelda. For hours, we would sit together as we battled to save the princess, it was how we bonded.

That bonding moment launched my path into loving video games, which in turn launched the direction for wanting to become an artist.

Love you Dad!

Lots of Updates

June has been a crazy month of lots of art (woohoo!).  The album art I created for The Grand St. Stompers is now available here. Take a moment and listen to the crazy talented Orleans-style swinging hot jazz band. My friend Brandon (who is also a talented musician AND multi-media artist) and I have been working on creating limited edition prints to be sent out very soon.


Working on my second fanart piece: The Dampiel and the Three Sisters while also figuring out livestreaming. Not much to see yet, but my livestreaming channel can be found at livestream.com/darksunrose. The first go around, I had a random movie playing and ridiculous Pandora music (with ads - gaah!) in the background (sorry about that!).

The first completed Fanart: Dark Side of the Moon (tribute piece to the Sailor Moon series), is up on my Deviantart account (along with a WIP that shows the progress of how it was created). THAT was pure pleasure in creating - rare time in which everything went smoothly.

And lastly (and what I am exited about) is a sketch showing my next art doll sculpture! Many years back I did a commission of a priestess. Her design stayed with me and now I'd like to revisit her and update the idea through sculpture:

~cheers~

Sac Etsy Craft Party 2011

I didn't see the <3 when I filled in
the blank. How? No idea.

Today was the perfect warm summer day to attended my first Sac Etsy craft party (which I hear there have been two so far). Etsy puts on a global craft party where people from all over the globe organize a craft part in their local area on this day. You can read more about the global Etsy Craft party on their page here.

It was great to see so many creative people in one spot interested in many different areas. There were people who loved working with books, photographers starting up their own business, and crafters of all sorts.

For the local meetup I attended, it was organized as a fun gathering with food (most of which was delicious sugar) pot luck style, a photobooth accompanied with handmade props, mixed in with a time to trade supplies crafters didn't need or wanted to exchange.

Everyone was very friendly, and for this shy butterfly I found myself easily talking with everyone around. If your a crafter, etsy shop owner, or etsy supporter, this is a great time to socialize and meet new creative people in your area.

Oh! And I wanted to share one shop I learned about while I was there (thought it was really neat): Spoonflower

VHD and SM fanart

Two fanarts in the works. I'm more into doing original work but after Fanime I was inspired to revisit two old anime series I was into. The first is from Vampire Hunter D, the scene with the three sisters. Oh yeah! And the last is from Sailor Moon, only I wanted her to look like she had more attitude. And yes, Venus has a whip. You know all those hearts they keep showing her with in the series? A cover up for her whip like tendencies.

Fanime 2011 ~end~

At my table ready to go.

Big thank you to everyone who stopped by and said hello. It was a whirlwind weekend of little sleep, no breakfast, and having a crazy amount of fun talking with people who love art and anime.

There were a lot of great costumes that passed by my table. Took as many Avatar cosplay pics as I could!

I meet and talked with the great Gorgonist while I was there. A super sweet person who was kind to talk to me about her latest children's book and give great advice. Check out her beautiful illustrations on her blog.




Talked with a friend from the past, Megamoth, an artist AND an instructor in the ways of comics, manga, and anime!

Even got to chat with awesome con goers that remembered me from past cons. One was sporting the King from my Queen and King button set!

My favorite moment came from a girl who spotted a warning sign placed within my portfolio. It indicated that the next pictures contained nudity. She liked it so much she purchased it!

Drew on a few people. Woohoo! 

 Such as trollface on a Vampire Hunter D cosplayer's hand.

Bob and Tsukasa

Want to do a shout out to Bob and Tsukasa who are a part of Cafe Verfuhren. These two were the kindest people I talked with during my time at Fanime. I wanted to take the time to SPAM their kindness and their Japanese “Butler” and “Dansou” cafe that pampers their guest to treats and cuteness.

A big hug to my table neighbors, who were kind to give me food and provided laughter when we had to sit for hours on end. Thank you Emily and Danny! Learned a lot this year and I look forward to attending more conventions in the future.

Vampire Hunter D fanart

~End~

Getting ready for Fanime

As I am frantically getting everything ready for Fanime (picture scissors thrown about, excess paper trimmings, plastic, pretzels...) I thought I'd take the time to share my newbie experience.

Having an artist table and prepping for one is definitely something you never feel completely ready for (unless your pretty awesome in delegating your time). You reach a point where you go "I've done all I can so it's now or never!" And I hope you all opt for now. I was lucky and had pretty awesome friends that took the leap with me when I first tried (keep in mind, I have only had 2 artist tables so far. n.e.w.b.i.e...). Or better to say I had an awesome brave friend who is always the first to go out and conquer (Allie, I'm looking at you!). 

We both ventured into the unknown of elite crowd of professional artist savvy table holders. Oh yeaaaah! Or at least back then, in my mind it was that mysterious and cool. When you hop in you realize that it's a bunch of creative artist who are just trying to figure out everything too. Which is great because it means it's your chance to learn what they know, chat, and make new friends.

Now I'm slapping myself in the face for not attending more often, but I am correcting that by taking a positive direction now. Around the end of 2010, I had a goal: "I'm going to attend Fanime 2011!" At the time,  covered in a mountain of work to get done, I had no idea how I was going to accomplish it only the resolve of "it's going to happen. I'll make it happen."

I'm realizing it's the key ingredient to everything you want to happen. Will power and positive thinking.

Now, there were times I thought I was way over my head (part of me still does) and I keep having those pesky fears: Not enough new work, wont have enough items in general, how am I going to balance getting my work work done (with deadlines looming), not good enough, etc., etc...

BUT, I had to smack those fears aside. Counter it with blazing awesome rationale. Why am I going? To meet new artist, to have fun, to learn, and to talk to people who love art.

None of my fears meshed with the objective. Not enough new work? BAh-hum-bug, this event is to propel me to start making new artwork, not just for the event. Not enough stuff? Who cares! Have fun talking with everyone and learn. Work Work? I want it, so I'll have to make time.

I read an article that gave really good advice about resistance, they said to stop feeding the monster. Look, there will be a hundred reasons why you can't make it happen and there will be the one reason why you can. Passion/love/call it what you want but it's the one reason you should be feeding instead of all the No's.

 So, fast forward to three days before the big event. I am still no where near ready, but the journey has been fun. Doing a lot of last minute packaging and printing but I've already decided it will all work out. Even the stuff that hasn't been figured out, it will all come together.

Woke up at 7 this morning to hit up a downtown print shop and made some new friends (puppy above). He was just sprawled out in the front ready to give affection to all the customers. Also, a shout out to TC Graphics, the woman who helped me was so kind with helping me make all the illustrations look wonderful printed.


When you sign up to be an artist at artist alley, you'll find that getting ready for it will be as fun as attending the event.

There were times I said "Your not ready!? Why did you sign up?" only to realize that by doing so it pushed me to get more things done creatively.

The artist behind TeacupBee Creations. I have a face!
And yes there is a naked doll behind me.

I'll be seeing you at Fanime 2011 Artist Alley!

-cheers-