Sketches By Jenny

Scibble-tastic

2011-10-18T12:41:00.000-04:00

Scribble-tastic Jack-o-latern

And another background to download! :-) Just a quick, unrefined one. It is a little uneven because I came across the half finished file (started a month or so ago) while I was backing up my recent art. The PC is acting up again. Hopefully it was just a fluke and not another piece of hardware is failing on me. One thing for sure, this will at least get me in the habit of backing up regularly.

Scare Tactics

2011-10-13T16:11:00.000-04:00

"Scare Tactics" Halloween 2011 Desktop Background

Wow, 4 days in a row! I think this blog is officially active again. And I already have some projects lined up that I will be kicking off in November, giving me stuff to post daily*. But there is no need to talk about those just yet.

For now, here is another Halloween/Fall background. You can download the full sized version here. This one was done just for fun (and to procrastinate on all the stuff I should be doing) as opposed to trying to learn some new features in the new programs. The story in my head, originally, was that the squirrel is trying to scare off the bat that kept scaring him whenever he tried to collect acorns. However, when looking at just this picture, I feel sort of sorry for the bat. I almost changed it to the squirrel having a trick-or-treat bag and the bat dropping the acorn into it. Maybe another time. Or maybe I will draw one with the bat scaring the squirrel...sort of the prequel to this one. Too much work and too much time involved to do that now. Even I know when it is time to stop procrastinating.

*If not daily, then at least on a regular schedule.

Battle Scars

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-04:00

Monarch Butterfly

While enjoying the awesome weather and cleaning up the flower bed some, I found this little guy. I didn't realize how marked up he was until I got around to looking at the photos. He even has a hole through his right upper wing that is a lot more obvious in other photos. I can't picture many situations where a butterfly would get marked up in such a way, and still be alive. Perhaps it was an unfortunate tangle with a thorn bush. Despite the unknown of how it happened, I find it inspiring that something considered so fragile and delicate can continue to thrive despite some serious scars.

Monarch Butterfly

Lesson 1

2011-10-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

Halloween 2011 Desktop Background

Today I learned about the width tool in Illustrator. A very basic and simple, yet priceless, thing. I love the look of weighted line art, and this tool gives you a lot of control over achieving this style easily and quickly. I did the outlines of the jack-o-lanterns in Illustrator and then moved over to Photoshop for the coloring. In the process of doing this piece, I discovered what the next few how-to's will be, as there were a couple things that came up that I'm sure I made a lot harder than needed to be. I'm trying to learn one thing at a time and actually draw a picture concentrating on just that lesson to help commit it to memory, so that when I get to the more complicated art, these "secrets" will just be second nature.

This is a full 1920 x 1080 background that you are welcomed to download here. Had to make it to replace the several years old pumpkin one that Jeremy had on his PC until he formatted a week ago.

~~P.S. For some reason Picasa is being weird and the preview at that link will disappear after a second, however from what I can tell, the download link on that page still works.~~

Edit: Whoops, had some privacy settings wrong so the link wasn't working as planned. You may view and download (the download link is in the upper left) it now :-)

Fall in Full Force

2011-10-10T16:07:00.001-04:00

Squirrel in Maple Tree

More photo fun. I was trying to get a shot of the red headed woodpeckers that are being crazy today, but they were too skitterish for a really good photo. This cutie obliged me instead. And who doesn't love a picture of a squirrel, really? :-)

And guess what! I actually have two more posts lined up for tomorrow and the next day (one of which is a drawing.) Who knows, maybe this will turn into a daily thing again.

For the Birds

2011-10-05T12:50:00.002-04:00

No drawings at the moment, but I had some fun with my newest lens (yay 300mm!) yesterday, so here are a couple pictures to enjoy :-)

Sandhill Cranes

First, the Sandhill Cranes. These have been plentiful in the field behind our house for the past couple years. They are fun to watch, but they also make quite the noise. There is an audio clip down a little ways on the right hand side of the wikipedia page. Their courtship dance can be fairly entertaining to watch as well.

Cedar Waxwing

Early this year, I found a odd looking baby bird in the drive way. Thanks to my junior/senior year high school math teacher, I recognized it as a cedar waxwing -- but I had never seen them near my house before. The dogs were in and it looked fully feathered and uninjured, so my plan was to leave it be and check on it later before letting the hounds loose. After less than a minute of looking at it, I was on my way. It, however, had different plans, and proceeded to chase me with his chaotic, obviously inexperienced, flight skills. I had just washed my hair before going outside and since they are berry eaters, my best guess is that he smelled the shampoo (mmm, wild cherry, can't blame him). Birds aren't exactly known for their sense of smell, but I did some research and waxwings do have a better sense of smell than a lot of birds -- so it isn't that wacky of a theory :-) Or maybe he was just one crazy little bird. Yesterday, I finally saw them in full force in our yard. A large flock was harvesting the seed cones from the juniper trees. They do quite the acrobats to get to the food, which seemed unnecessary but fun nonetheless.

Cedar Waxwing with seed cone from juniper tree

New Beginnings

2011-10-01T22:25:00.002-04:00

It is October 1st. Don't have much to show today, but I did get some new fun programs so hopefully there will be lots of fun creations from those as I learn them. For now, enjoy this "artsy J" I did while I was just poking around in Illustrator, but didn't get too far since the help files weren't cooperating. I'm looking forward to going through some tutorials for it though. I used Freehand way back in the day and really enjoyed it, so I'm excited to learn this one.

Still deciding on the specific project/schedule I'm going to do for this blog, but there should be something to announce soon. :-)

Coming Soon

2011-09-23T23:19:00.000-04:00

*removes massive layer of dust from Cintiq*

Well, that's a little embarrassing. Clearly I've been away from this for too long. October 1st will be the 1 year mark of when I had to quit my last regularly scheduled projects. That will probably be a good point to start a new project. I just have to figure out which of my many ideas to go with.

The good news is my hand is feeling better. It still feels "off" and I have a hard time doing precise movements -- but I am able to use it for long periods of time. In fact I can't think of the last time I had to actually stop what I was doing due to pain/numbness. There's discomfort, but it is bearable. I even made it thru a decently long LAN party, and didn't even wear my brace. All good signs! I do have an appointment on Monday for an EMG (does not sound fun) to further investigate all the issues since it is possible I am just masking the symptoms with massive amounts of B vitamins (the only thing that has changed since I started feeling better -- though I was tested for B deficiency a while ago and it was actually high, so it most likely isn't the root issue.)

For the time being, the obligatory 10 seconds kitty drawing:

I'm Still Here

2011-06-29T13:16:00.005-04:00

Acrylics, 11 in x 14 in and 16 in. x 20 in. canvases

I've been pretty quiet on here lately, but I haven't been completely idle. I've been working on personalizing & decorating our home a bit. It's been 2 years -- about time, right? I have a large blank red-orange (it is more red than these pictures portray) wall in my dining room. I have been going back and forth about either hanging 3 really large photos, or doing a collage of a bunch of smaller frames. And since I couldn't decide, naturally that meant neither was right. I have large photos all over my house, and decided that this wall needed something different. It needed black and white paintings, with a solid splash of deep purple -- the problem? I've never painted. I could go and buy someone else's, I suppose, but where is the fun in that? I knew I wanted something rough, nothing overly realistic; this was something that I could surely figure out. And this is what I came up with. I am fairly happy with them and looking forward to trying out some more painting. Michael's was having a canvas sale, so I am stocked up with supplies!

I also managed to get around to planting some annuals this year. The ones I have in pots are doing fairly well. The ones in the flower bed ... not so much. The dogs can be thanked for that, I think. So, I'll leave you with some photos of those, and one Bud rocking his new doggie wheelchair. It has made a huge difference in his life.

Gerbera Daisies & Wave Petunias

Pretty Pink Rose

Bud is ready to roll!

Validated!

2011-04-05T15:33:00.000-04:00

Yay! Corki made Top 10 :-)

Vote for me (Corki by Havynn)! Or whichever one you like best, I suppose :-p

Contest Ponies

2011-04-04T21:07:00.000-04:00

Here is what I actually ended up submitting to the contest:

From My Art

There were a lot of good entries. However, some random person (non-judge) put my Corki in his Top 10 list. So even if I don't make it to the next round, that makes me happy :-)

My Little Nunu

2011-04-04T17:17:00.000-04:00

And another :-)

A little more rushed than the others, but it still looks good in the overall scene.

The purple dragon is a sidekick character (Spike). Just thought I would mention it for the non-Pony savvy, so they wouldn't think I just turned Nunu into a dragon for kicks :-)

From My Art

My Little Corki

2011-04-04T00:21:00.003-04:00

Another pony for your enjoyment. :-)

From My Art

Whew

2011-04-01T13:08:00.001-04:00

That was a *really* long 2 weeks, eh?

My hand continues to be fussy, but overall, bearable. I've been doodling some, and thinking about what my next project will be. I have a few ideas, which I will introduce as I get a decent start on them. (Since we all know I have problems with finishing things.)

Current project: Ponify-ing LoL Champions

Bless Denny's heart for always sending me LoL related art contests. For whatever reason I decided to actually do this one, and after getting over the initial shock of what they have done to MY Little Ponies, I drew this:

From My Art

More to come. *shame*

Hiatus

2010-10-01T23:37:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, I'm still having carpal tunnel related issues. I went to the doctor today about it, and it was suggested that I splint it for 2 weeks straight. Basically what I have already been doing -- except I would always stop once it started feeling a little better and thus re-irritate it. So, I'm giving it a full 2 pampered weeks, and if there isn't serious improvement, I will probably see a specialist about it and start to maybe possibly think about considering the surgery route. But obviously that it not preferred. As such, I'll be avoiding activities I know aggravate it (holding a pen and writing/drawing is the *worse*), which sadly includes the two projects currently on this blog.

Maybe I will find something else to blog about (maybe about all those books I was supposed to get around to reading...), otherwise -- I'll see you all in 2 weeks!

Project 365: Capture -- Day 201: See, Sarah!

2010-09-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Capture

See...I'm working on it!

Photo editting, yet another thing I <3 my Cintiq for :-)

Project 365: Sketch -- Day 201: Simply Creepy

2010-09-30T23:21:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Sketch

It is odd how creepy the spiders in Minecraft are...

Project 365: Capture -- Day 200: All Set

2010-09-29T23:10:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Capture

I'm ready for FFXIV tomorrow. I'm opting to play with a controller. I think it will be easier on my wrist. The mouse lag really irritated me in the beta, though I hear they fixed it. Generally speaking though, I've always preferred console gaming, and since this game is designed to be played on the PS3, why not use a controller for the computer version too? And this way maybe I will stop hitting the space bar to jump. Only to find that I can't jump and it opens the chat. Which I then have to close.

:-)

I'm seeing a doctor about the wrist on Friday. Bleh.

Project 365: Sketch -- Day 200: Still Cheating

2010-09-29T23:03:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Sketch

Another old one :-)

Project 365: Capture -- Day 199: Creeper

2010-09-28T23:00:00.001-04:00

From Project 365: Capture

Project 365: Sketch -- Day 199: Fishie Fishie

2010-09-28T22:58:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Sketch

Another random background :-)

Project 365: Capture -- Day 198: Loyalty

2010-09-27T23:06:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Capture

I've been on the couch for a good portion of the day fairly ill. I can always count on her to be there to keep my feet warm :-)

Project 365: Sketch -- Day 198: Forest

2010-09-27T23:04:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Sketch

Random background I made a while ago but never used. Seemed fitting for the cold weather coming in, so now it gets to be the blog background for a bit :-)

Project 365: Capture -- Day 197: More Blooms

2010-09-26T23:24:00.003-04:00

From Project 365: Capture

Project 365: Sketch -- Day 197: Another Bat

2010-09-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

From Project 365: Sketch