Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Drawing to a Close...

Happy Leap Day!


Hoppy

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

Well, I made it to the rare and exquisite Feb 29th and I am now also making the executive decision to halt with these "Dailies", at least as we've all come to know them. It has been a good, steady run of 9 weeks (10+ if you include the ones from December 2011) and I honestly feel that this lesson have served its purpose, which is of course to draw everyday!

I have returned to work only part-time since having my baby nearly 2 years ago, and that means that half the time I am home with my little guy, on Mommy duty. I have found that on some days it is all I can do to get a single daily done while he naps and/or after he's gone to bed, and I feel that that precious time is better spent working on other projects. It's been an adventure, one that took on a life of its own that I wasn't expecting (creative writing/character bios) and I'm proud that I continued with my commitment, until I said so!

I will still draw everyday and I will still post to my facebook fanpage everyday, but it may just not be the Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5" format. (Sometimes it will!) The exciting part is I am working on updating my portfolio, so there'll be lots of new and refreshing art to see!

And with that said, here's the cole's notes version of the previous week's worth of dailies, all animals!


Soooo I roughed out this sweet little panda and the only name that kept coming to me was "Po" (as in Kung Fu Panda), but I couldn't rightfully go with that...So I took it a step further and went with PoPo instead.

PoPo is a punctuation pol
iceman who eats, shoots, and leaves. He's a timid little law enforcer who needs to nibble when he's nervous, which is basically all the time. He packs heat, too, but his gun got lost in his fur folds. :/
Watch that you cross all your t's and dot all your i's, or he's a gonna comma getchu!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

Huge shout out to Lynne Truss of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves - The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation!" fame. xoxo
 
 

Elephant Shoes!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"
 
 

I like you an ocelot!
:)

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"
 
 

Smoked fish.

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"
 
 

Cheeeeek-munk!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"
 
 

F-owl

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

 


Baby Ariel and Flounder

 Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 11 X 14"

This Little Mermaid tribute 'bonus' artwork is a commission piece I managed to get done this past week as well. THIS is more of the stuff I'd be stoked to be uploading and blogging about on a daily & weekly basis, and I'm sure you fans and readers would agree, as that also means that the commission request lines open up again!

Can't wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store!

xoxo
~LB!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dailies -- Week 8


Here's the next weekly edition of my daily draw-rings!


Doug
Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

Jon

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Michel

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Kierra

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Angie

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Gerald

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

Wasabi the Lovebird

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"

xoxo
~LB!






Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine's Dailies

Here is another week of dailies, spanning the week leading up to and including Valentine's Day, hence the couple of bios inspired by the special occassion. Enjoy!
 

Constance

Copic markers on Bristol 3.5 X 5.5"


Auren is a supreme being. This cosmic species is most closely likened to the fictional character Leeloo from The Fifth Element, except that these entities are incapable of crying, due to lack of necessity. That, and there are a whole lot more than just one of them!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Carmen and Miranda

"Happy Birthday, Randa!"

Copic markers and colored pencil on bristol, 3.5 X 5.5" each.


Dalton

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Abbey didn't have a really great childhood. She and her little sister were raised by their mother in a single-parent household. They never seemed to have enough money and year after year the girls would enter another school year in second-hand clothes and recycled binders. No new white sneakers or back-to-school haircuts for them (unless done by their mother). But Abbey loved to draw and design dresses and pretty clothes, not so much as a wishful thing, but because it brought her such happiness when she did, and she was good at it!

Abbey and her sis were always full of laughter, and it wasn't until high school that their appearances really began to play a role in how their classmates treated them. Rail-thin, there's no way Abbey ever dated in high school -- no boy ever gave her a second glance. So Abbey was able to focus on her studies, and her fashion designs...and she eventually graduated with honors. After high school, smart, smart Abbey managed a women's clothing store, then a lingerie boutique, then 
opened her own boutique featuring her own creations. Less then 10 years after graduating, she's doing very well for herself indeed!

OH! And did I mention she AND her sister are lingerie models as well now?! Yes, these days smart, smart, rail-thin Abbey has no problem finding a date for Valentine's Day, or any day for that matter!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Hi, my name is Noah. I'm almost 23 months old, I weigh 26 lbs, and stand 2'10" tall. I have brown hair and dark brown eyes. I enjoy running, climbing, and cars. My favorite foods are 'green' and juiceboxes. My short-term goals are potty training; my long-term goals include full sentances, permanent teeth, and voice acting. Seeking same.

If interested in a Valentine's date, please text my mom.

Copic markers and colored pencils on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


 Richard

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


xoxo
~LB!




Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Another Week of Dailies!

Just as the title suggests, here is the next batch of character designs. I've omitted a few bios this time around, though. I definitely have ideas of who these folks are, but I A) partly want to fine-tune their bios before posting publicly, and B) kinda want to purposely withhold their short stories! You all know it's my plan to publish and release these as a compliation series, so, you know, this is just me being evil...or business-savvy...whatever you want to call it, be my guest! ;)


This is Valerie, a 17 year old self-proclaimed 'Queen of the Fun Bun'! Her hipster glasses are fake, but you can bet that everything else about this fab gal is the real deal. She's heartful, soulful, honest, intelligent, and wise beyond her years. She can sing, she can dance, play guitar, play your heart, and play along. The only thing she can't do is play dead. She's about to graduate high school and she's already been offered full scholarship to 4 different schools. She'd make an excellent dorm roomie...if she decided to keep her feet planted in traditional education. Instead, she's going to take a year or two off to travel.
The world is her fun bun!

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5


9 out of 10 'Brian's I know resemble this guy.

This is former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulrooney, pictured back in his University days. Seriously, google image that.

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Carl

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Cassandra

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


So, I struck up conversation with this guy the other day. He was very quiet and soft-spoken, he came off as a little bit meek, and he had a very petite, albeit lean, frame. At first I thought he was just shy or socially awkward, that I couldn't hear him well enough. Then I realized he had a very thick accent. Turns out he's a many-times-over gold- and silver-medal winning Olympic athlete from Romania, named Roman, who'll be in Calgary for the next 3 months training at the world-famous Canada Olympic Park.

Awww...And I thought he was just some tiny nerd. Who knew!?!

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Carol

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Cliff

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


That's another week and another wrap! Thanks for following along, and as always, "Like" my fanpage for access to the daily uploads: www.facebook.com/ArtofLaurieB

xoxo
~LB!





Wednesday, February 1, 2012

1 Month Down, 11 More To Go!

Here we are into February already! I'm so happy with where these dailies have headed! I am having a lot of fun with these! Some days I feel that writing the bios is the hardest part, but I just take some time to reflect on it before uploading to my facebook page (www.facebook.com/ArtofLaurieB), and I always manage to work them out! Sometimes I look back on them -- sometimes immediately -- and I think "How did I come up with that?!" All I can say is I get lost in trance while I'm drawing, and I let the sketches speak for themselves.

Here is the past week's worth!


Ever meet someone and they look EXACTLY like their name, and EXACTLY the way you'd expect them to look?!...

Yah. This is Edwin. Edwin O'Phiester. AKA Ed O'Phiester Island, as he has aptly been nick-named since elementary school. He's cool with it, though! In fact, he thinks it's pretty clever, and he's proud of it. He's 'solid' like that.

Second of all, he's a personal trainer and his career path led him to become a stunt man and, eventually, a body double for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The irony is palpable.

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This is Rita. She's a soap opera star whose on-screen character is going through a sordid and tumultuous divorce. Off-screen, she has 4 step-children who hate her guts, and whose real husband just gave her the long overdue gift of divorce papers. All Rita cares about is how serendipitous this all is, and if it will finally help her deliver a performance worthy of a Daytime Emmy.

The answer is 'no'. She's a horrible human being, and an even worse actress.

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This young man is Jason. He's a big ol' bear at 6'3", 235 lbs, but a teddybear at that. Jason is kind and funny, intelligent, and surprisingly philosophical. Surprising because he came from a terribly abusive home. He got mixed up in drugs for a while, just to help himself cope through the worst times, and this sweet young man spent more than his fair share of time in jail cells and emergency shelters.

I wish I could say that he's living clean and sober now, is getting professional help, has found a stable home and a purpose in life -- as I have no doubt he's capable of all these things and more -- but the truth is I have no idea where Jason is these days. He just fell off the radar...in true Jason style.
He knows he's loved, though. Despite all hardships, misfortunes, and just plain old shit-ends of the stick, he knows his worth and that he is cherished in this world. He's gifted like that! ♥ Besides, who couldn't love a teddybear?! xoxo

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This is Shirley, but everyone calls her Squirrelly because, c'mon...let's face it.

Copic markers and colored pencil on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This spry guy is Kevin! His personality is totally animated, so it makes sense that he's a professional animator (3D), and a really good one at that! He can do it all, from broad action to tear-jerking subtlety. Not only is Kevin a skilled 3D artist, he's an incredibly talented 2D artist as well. His only downfall is that he downplays his abilites -- not *toooo* much, but *juuust enough* -- and it has caused him to miss opportunity after opportunity for real success: raises, promotions, travel, title roles, credit, recognition, personal satisfaction, a sense of real accomplishment, peace. Etc.

The good news is that soon...really soon...like, in a couple of days from RIGHT NOW, my friend Kevin is going to have a breakthrough. And it is going to be a game-changer. ;) His career, his personal life, his mental health...his whole entire perspective will never be the same!

And he deserves it! He will have earned it! And he will finally *finally* KNOW it!

Yup! In a few days from NOW, the flood gates will open...and there'll be no stopping him!

"Congrats, my friend! ALWAYS remember this feeling!" ♥

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This is Cynthia, lead singer of "Original Cyn".

I really wish she wasn't a walking stereotype, but *yawn* she is. She knew about all the cool things before you did, but now she hates them because they're popular. Anxt, daily drug use, political dissatisfaction with countries she's never even fucking been to. All of her 'songs' are hate-filled screaming rants, she uses loud, graffic language in public places like she's the first person in history bold enough to do it, and she's always on hand at public protests, especially ones to "legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes". "Think about it, 'Cyn'. Your mere presence is only hurting the cause."

...One more thing to get mad about. As she storms off to 'expose' me in her next 'song'...

Yah, no, don't look too deep into Cynthia to find the good in her. Sometimes yes you CAN judge a book by its cover.

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


This is an old picture of Annabelle, taken in the '40's post-WWII. Annabelle was a dancer before being conscripted into the war as a post-op nurse. She was with many a soldier the moment they crossed over. In fact, many of them requested "Nurse Anna" come to their bedside when they felt their time was near. With her loving smile and graceful demeanor, she was exquisitely gifted at putting them at ease and helping them find peace before they passed on, and many if not all of them, with dying breath, called her their angel.

Annabelle herself passed away today at the age of 92. And you had best believe that every single one of those soldiers were there on the other side, waiting to share a dance with her.

Copic markers on Bristol, 3.5 X 5.5"


Some people have been asking if these are true stories or made up, based on real people or not. The truth is, it's both. At least it can be both. The idea is that I don't censor myself. I usually get a feel for each one as I'm drawing them...something about a nose- or eye-shape or expression or hairstyle that triggers something I already know or imagine about someone I already know, and I just let it roll!

Soon I'll be trying my hand at caricaturing in public, at comic-cons and art markets, to see how good I actually am at capturing someone's essence...when they came first, not the drawing! Should be interesting! (Maybe I'll be posting some of those by next week!...)

Before I part for today, I just wanted to note how this February, of a leap year, I'll be making FIVE (5!) weekly posts because there will be 5 Wednesdays this month! That so rarely happens! And I'm excited for the extra 366th drawing that means I'll be doing this year!

xoxo
~LB!