Lizzy D's Art Blog

Firefall Sketch

Lizzy D. — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:49:16 +0000

After drawing so many fairies and cute stuff I actually find it relaxing drawing fantasy action stuff. But this time I decided to do something different. There is a MMO game that is in the beta testing right now called Firefall. Its a Sci-fi first person shooter. My husband was lucky enough to get into the beta testing and after watching him play and seeing the concept art for it, I decided to draw out a sketch.

I don’t draw Sc-fi very much because I struggle at drawing machinery. But to become a better artist you must leave your comfort zone. I had a lot of fun drawing her! She is supposed to be looking at one of the alien bugs thats about to attack her but the bug was too much of a after thought, and I didn’t have enough paper to fit it in right.

A funny story about the gun. I was trying to make it look as accurate as possible but since the game hasn’t officially came out yet I didn’t have much to go by. Except when my husband would die in the game, the gun would be lying next to him in all is detailed glory. My problem was my husband wasn’t willing to die for my artistic cause so I still had to make a couple of guesses.

Critiques

Lizzy D. — Mon, 09 May 2011 05:32:55 +0000

Back while I was in college, I took a Basic drawing class. This class had a teacher by the name of Leon Parson and he showed no mercy when it came to critiquing our drawings. There were days I actually went home in tears after hearing one of his critiques – he was not easy to please and I wasn’t the only one that felt his wrath. For our final, he gave us a hand written test of what we learned. I don’t remember how well I did over all but I do remember one question on that test. Did you change your Major? I later found out that why he was so harsh was because he wanted to filter out the students that couldn’t handle the cruel reality of an occupation in art. I remember looking at that question with my pencil in hand and thinking “Jerk” and with a smirk on my face I written the answer “No”.

Twelve years later to this weekend I had my art on display at LepreCon in Tempe AZ. And to my luck I got a personal critique from one of the Guests of Honor artist Darrell K. Sweet. And he showed me no mercy! He gave me a critique that would make my old professor proud and then some! I was told to draw more, to use references, to see with my mind and not my eyes, and pointed out all the flaws in my art. I drove home in shock and stupor as I felt what he told me tattooed itself to my brain. It was not at all what I expected but I knew I needed to hear it. It was one of those moments where I had to make a decision. Whether to keep going in art, and improve myself by pushing myself harder, or to throw in the towel and give up.

Later that evening I went back to the convention to have my art critiqued by the other guest of honor John Picacio. His critique was different from Darrell Sweet’s. He spoke of similar things but he asked me what I wanted to do with my art, and to tell the truth I did not have a straight answer for him. The next day I took my sketchbooks in for a critique (since the art I had on display was my portfolio and was already torn apart by critiques) and showed them my sketchbooks. They spent almost an hour talking to me and amongst each other about what I can do to help my art. I was told I from both artists I had to choose a direction with my art. So once again I had to decide. That stupid question I had to answer 12 years ago reemerged in my mind. I know my art isn’t the greatest, but I also know it’s not the worst and it can become something more if I work at it. So once again I will answer that question. Did I change my major, my choice of occupation; did I give up my dream? And with a smirk on my face I type the answer, ‘NO! ‘

Those two artists gave me the strength to get up and make my art better than ever. Though my path is not yet clear, it does not mean I don’t have a path to follow. For those budding artists that find themselves getting merciless critiques from their professors and feel like it’s too hard to handle know this – yes the world of art is hard to handle – but every critique you get is a gift, nothing more, whether to accept that gift or not is up to you. The more critiques you get the stronger you will be in your persistence. Never think that the artist or professor is critiquing harshly to bring you down – they want you to succeed.

And so without further ado I now have my finished Dandelion Fairy for you. Out of all my pieces, this is the only one that got a direct compliment from Darrell Sweet. He liked the dandelions because he could tell I had done plenty of research on them.

Danelion Fairy

I also have this piece to show, A Simple Act of Kindness.

It got one of the harshest of the critiques from both artists but John Picacio said he really liked the concept of the piece and the emotion that it gives.

Well well its been a while!

Lizzy D. — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:04:12 +0000

Like the title says its obvious I have some catching up to do! So lets start with TusCon. This was my first time having a dealers table. And it was a blast! I met so many neat people. And a lot of them were so nice to let me take a picture of them!

This guy was my dealer neighbor. He makes props and various models. He was selling some of his bust (Luke and Terminator) and collector items for really good prices.

Before I took this picture this guy told me he had to get into his “Teddy Roosevelt pose”. He had such a light hearted personality.

This guy was awesome! Not only was he an awesome look alike but he had a strong Scottish accent. He was hilarious to talk to to boot!

This gentleman played some beautiful celtic music while in the dealers room.

This was an interesting bellydancing performance. Their costumes were really neat but the dance started out slow. I was starting to lose interest until they…

starting balancing swords on their heads! For some reason that got them dancing and moving their hips!

I wish I had more pics of people I met and even us! My husband and I dressed up steampunk and then totally forgot to take pics of ourselves! I even met some great artist like : Jessica Feinberg, Artlair , and Emily Smith, nightengale . You should definitely check out their stuff.

Hopefully my next post will be sooner than later but now I have some projects that need to get done before Christmas. I’ll chat with ya later!

Fairies of Fashion Calendar

Lizzy D. — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:43:15 +0000

So last year I was lying in bed after a day at looking at art and photos being sold in downtown Mesa AZ. For some reason I distinctly remember a photo of Marigolds and that image stayed in my head for the rest of the day and into the night. An idea popped into my head as I was lying there…and it was a good idea! Fairies wearing flowers! Very original I know but it wasn’t fantasy type clothing I was thinking of-no it was modern clothing! And so I set myself to work and now a year and a half later I finished my project. 14 fairies were painted but only 12 will be seen grouped together in a calendar for 2011! I am so excited about this just because it was the biggest project I put myself into! I have it on sale for preorder here in my Etsy shop. Here is a sample of one of the months.

In other news I finished my painting of my Dandelion Fairy only to be struggling with making it look right on the computer. I will post it once I get things fixed.

For future notice the TusCon is coming up in November 12-14. I’ll be having a dealers table there and I’ll have a panel in the art show. I’m going to be selling the calendar, prints, cards and even originals there so stop on by if you are in the area.

Back with Pictures and Cons

Lizzy D. — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:04:29 +0000

Sorry for the absence; as the summer progressed it became harder and harder to find the time to do anything with my art or anything online. So I decided to just wait until school started again for my son. Now that it has, I can get back to work.

This has been the project I have been working on recently. I’ve had this fairy in my sketchbook for a while and wanted to do something with it. I am starting out with watercolors then using acrylics for brighter colors. So far so good I think. J

These Fashion fairies were one of the summer projects I started and had to stop until school started once again. I actually redid the Lily; here is the first one;

It wasn’t what I had in mind in the first place though it does look good it wasn’t what I wanted, I’m happier with the second one. Now the Hibiscus, if you haven’t recognized it yet, was originally done for a fundraiser for Haiti at Jerry’s Art-o-Rama. At the request of one of several people I made another one, though slightly different.

Coming up this weekend is CopperCon , it’s here in Mesa so if you are in the area come check it out. They are not having an art show or art auction, but they did offer several panel spacing in the dealer’s room for artists to show their work. I’ll be displaying some of my original art there. CopperCon runs Saturday thru Monday, Sept. 4-6.

This time around I’m going to try to post more blogs and try to keep you updated on my art. I must warn you though, I may forget; sometimes I get so into my art that nothing else happens – including keeping the house clean.

Update

Lizzy D. — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:40:17 +0000

It is now summer in Arizona and I’m already looking forward to winter. It’s just freakin’ hot down here! And let’s add a story to this hot weather complaint. It was the first week of June when I was taking a right turn at a light just a minute away from my home. All of a sudden WHAM; my car got hit! Lucky for me they had insurance, but unfortunately for us it was the car with AC. It’s been in for repairs it’s taking a while for that to get done. We have been driving our second car that is an old 1990 Toyota Corolla that has no AC. So we have the windows rolled down and hope that all the stop lights stay green- yeah it’s that hot.

What all have I been up too lately? I must apologize for the absence. Since my son got out of school for the summer it’s been hard focusing on my work, but once school starts again everything should settle back into place again. But it doesn’t mean I haven’t done any art, I actually been working on small projects.

These were done for a contest on deviantArt. I was supposed to come up with my own character designs for Fantasy Earth Zero. They were fun to do and were a small enough project I could take them with me when my son was at swim team practice.

Other artsy things I’ve been doing are teaching art classes from home. I’ve been teaching a couple of girl’s watercolors and a younger one arts and crafts. It’s been fun and educational for both me and the girls. I actually find it hard to teach others my techniques because I am so use to doing them myself and they just come naturally with no need for an explanation. Trying to tell someone else how to do it really makes me have to think about each step I go through when I paint!

Another project is something my husband and I are working on. We are making steampunk costumes! He is farther along on his than I am…it’s actually been pretty hard trying to come up with just the right outfit. But once things start picking in the costume making I’ll post the progress if I can.

Phoenix Comicon 2010

Lizzy D. — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:34:54 +0000

What a wonderful weekend! Hiya and welcome to my blog! I had so much fun working the Tiny Army Booth during the Phoenix Comicon. There were so many people to talk to and so many different costumes! To tell the truth, I never been to a convention before (at Leprecon I just put art in the art show and didn’t participate in anything else – that was a mistake) so everything was new to me. I did sell some of prints I brought, but it was the experience that I was there for. I learned so much from my fellow artists and had tons of fun! Here are some pictures that I took:

I was blown away at how awesome these costumes were. I wonder how much time it took to put on the makeup?

This is the booth of the founder of Tiny Army, Daniel Davis. He’s a pretty awesome guy and has a fashionable mustache.

I was actually a little late in taking this picture. What I wanted was what happened before that. The Power ranger guy was walking by a group of kids when one of them stopped him and asked if he was a power ranger. He was immediately surrounded with children that were looking up at him in awe. That was the shot I wanted, but I was a little slow in getting my camera.

There were tons of bounty hunters in fact there was a whole booth for Star Wars, no surprise really.

Speaking of Star wars, my son and husband came in near the end of my shift and we walked around together. Marius (our son wearing the white w/ black lines shorts) thought R2 was so awesome. This R2 moved and beeped like the real thing, it was pretty impressive!

A quick shot of the Penguin.

This guy was pretty awesome. As he was looking at my art I pulled out my camera. He then pointed out that I had one of those “soul stealing machines”. I should have asked him if I could have a piece of his soul but I just asked to take his picture. After that he gave me a flier for the TusCon, a sci-fi/fantasy convention that be in Tucson, AZ in November. After looking it up I’m planning on getting my own booth there this year!

On Saturday my son got to meet Mario!

I wasn’t there when this picture was taken but from what my husband told me Marius mustered up the guts to tug on the Storm Troopers arm to ask him for a picture, then afterwards the Trooper gave him a high five!

This was a must have picture. This guy did an awesome job with this costume!

I asked the blue lady for a picture and got Lando in the background!

Like I said there were some amazing costumes here!

I’m not sure what these costumes are from but I thought they were pretty cool!

Again not sure what they’re from but great costumes.:D

And this one was just plain cute!

Though I spent most of my time in the dealers area there was one place I wanted to go for a couple minutes. Three actors; Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Wil Wheaton, from Star Trek The Next Generation were there and I just had to take pictures of them. Yes I’m a Trekkie and proud of it!

Sadly I pulled a stupid and didn’t take pictures of the booth I was at, or any of artists that were at the booth with me, but the least I can do is link you up to their websites.

Fabein: http://fabienbadilla.com/

Fabein was a lot of fun to hang out with and he was selling some awesome stickers about having a emegency Zombie plan. Do you have a plan in case there are Zombies?

Wesley: http://www.nearbeyond.com/

Wesley is a 6’7″ nice guy whom even though he gets a lot of tall jokes just smiles and laughs with everyone. And I always love looking at his art.

Ken Jacobson: http://www.penart.com/

A quiet guy with amazing art (make sure you look in his latest stuff for his picutre of King Kong and Godzilla shaking hands)! Ken is so nice, I forgot to bring something to eat with me and about when I resalize that he came in a chicken wrap and offered half of it to me without knowing my shortage of food.

Gilead

He is just great to hang out with. He has wise things to say and funny things also. You just can’t help but like him!:D

Comicon and More!

Lizzy D. — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:23:11 +0000

As you have noticed blogging hasn’t become a set habit yet but I’ll get there, don’t worry. So how did Leprecon go… not so good actually. I didn’t sell any of my paintings or prints, but I can count on one hand how many pieces in the whole art show were sold so it wasn’t just me. It was a slow convention this year, and both the artists and vendors experienced low sales. I walked around the vendor area Saturday afternoon and it was empty save one or two people. I was a little down about it for a few days, but you can’t give up on something just because it didn’t work out the first time. When you get lemons you make lemonade! And lemonade is really good!

This weekend is the Phoenix Comicon, and I’ll be helping with the Tiny Army Art Group booth on Friday from 2:00 – 5:00 and on Saturday from 1:00 – 4:00. I’m planning on selling prints of some of my fairies and other works and telling people about the Tiny Army Art Group. Not only that, I thought I would have some fun and give a discount on one print to whoever comes up to the Tiny Army Booth and says to me “pink marshmallows”! Note: there will be other artist at that booth throughout the con, and possibly at the same time as me. This discount is only for my art – I don’t want any embarrassing mix ups. So come on down to the comicon and check out all the neat stuff there and say hi to me! The booth is just inside the entrance its number is T7 in the Phoenix Convention Center South Building. See you there!

Leprecon 36

Lizzy D. — Sun, 16 May 2010 09:04:58 +0000

Leprecon 36 started started Friday and my art is now in the art show there! It was almost scary getting to it however. I had neatly packed all the pictures in the car, some in the trunk and the rest in the back seat. A lesson in packing pictures in the back seat, DO NOT lean them upright in the back seat, you lay them flat instead. Which is the smart way to do it but I wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box that morning.

So we are heading to the con when the first light we come up to suddenly turns yellow. I was trying to stop quick enough but slow enough so I didn’t knock the pictures over, but at the end, they all went toppling over to the foot of the back seat. All I could do was keep driving (since the con is only 10 minutes from my house) and pray that everything was alright. When I got there I found that out of the four pictures in the seat only the glass on one was broken. And it was a standard size so we were able to replace it quickly. But still its a little scary seeing something you work so hard on having a near death experience!

The art show has some really awesome stuff and it was great talking to some of the artists there also I was able to met some new people and found a Tiny Army friend had works on display too. There’s one I met who had some fun creative art on display, and his website is pretty awesome too-check it out – http://alexanderscotthughes.com/

Last night the guest artist Charles Vess walked through the art show and first spoke of his art and then gave his opinion of the our art. He is a pretty amazing artist and had some great advice to give. Its was a honor being there and hearing what he had to say about my art.

I’ll let you know how it all turned out when it’s over…

Leprecon Preperations Completed

Lizzy D. — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:57:24 +0000

Tomorrow is the first day of Leprecon! So if you are in town come check it out, it’s at the Phoenix Mesa Marriott here in Mesa, AZ. I have spent this last week trying to get everything ready, with the one thing that took up most of my time was trying to finding mats for the pictures. I knew what colors of mats that I wanted to match with the paintings and the frames I had for them, but after searching through four different stores I had to settle with some second best mat choices. After cutting them I found that they didn’t quite go well with two of the paintings and I wasn’t happy. My husband remembered a smaller art store that we hadn’t been to in years because they were a bit pricey and the store was cramped and unorganized, but I figured we might as well check it out. When we got there, the first mat I saw was EXACTLY what I wanted in the first place!! In fact they had a lot more in store selection then the other places, and their prices were similar to the other places I had checked out.

So now everything is matted and framed and ready for the art show. I must admit this is my first art show so I’m feeling a little nervous. Mostly because I won’t be there the whole time so I can’t protect my art from any bad scrutiny. I know that sounds silly but my art means a lot to me.

I just finished another piece for the art show, one I had as an option should I find some extra time for it. It was done on black paper with prisma pencils, which causes issues getting a good scan out of my scanner for some reason, but here is the original sketch:

She is the second of a light fairy series, this is the first one:

Well, I still have some last minute things to do so I’ll type again soon!

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