September Art Challenge: The Result

Hello.
Here it is, October 1st and I know you are all eagerly awaiting the final reveal of my art challenge.
Well.
I didn't finish exactly what I set out to do. I wanted to do 3 series of work, with 10-15 portfolio pieces for my website. That may have been a bit ambitious.  I did not get that done sadly.
However, my project headed in a different direction and I am getting pretty excited about it. I think I told you in my last post that I got a lot of good feedback on my bullying pieces. Well, I've decided to take the plunge and make it a full length children's story. This will be my first time doing something like this, completely without words, and in a new style!
I did finish another set of sketches; however, they aren't quite ready to share. I want the story I am telling with these to be very clear, so you will see them when they tell their story, and not before!
In order to not completely disappoint, here is the character from my bullying story:

Just a whimsical little girl

I may not have finished my goals for September but I learned a lot and am really excited for the next steps. I experimented with digital production of art, I tried drawing in a new style, and I have the basis for a children's book that I am excited about. I learned what I can get done in a month beyond the work I already do, I learned how to be ok with not reaching a goal, but also how to push harder to reach the next one. Overall, it's been a good learning experience.
So what is my goal for October? To finish the book of course! You might think this is ambitious, but I feel pretty confident about it. Besides, most of the brainstorming is already done! I just need to edit, rearrange, draw some more, and then add color! And even if I don't finish it, I know I will learn more about my process and what I am capable of, and that is really what it is all about.
Since I am extending my art goal for another month,  I thought I should add something new to keep it exciting. My friend Olivia (again, see her art here) found this challenge for us! It's called Inktober, and the idea is to draw (with ink) something everyday for the month of October.  It was started by an artist named Jake Parker to develop his inking skills and good drawing habits. The best part, anyone can do it! Read more about it on the facebook page. I thought since I was already trying to challenge myself to draw everyday, this was a great way to keep myself motivated! Also, there are so many talented artists already doing it, so it's a really inspiring community to be a part of. My friend Cathie is also doing it with me so I am really excited! You can see (and follow!) her page here.

So if you don't already, follow my facebook page, and on instagram (username: anneappertillustration) to see my Inktober drawings every day!
This also gave me the excuse I needed to buy a new set of pens for the challenge, plus a nifty little case to keep them in!

Plus you get to see my drawing for today!

Now I really need to get back to work since I have a lot to do. Pick up your pens and ink and start making art!

Road Trip Part 1: San Diego!

Hello again!

It's time to tell you all a bit more about my trip! After the wedding, we decided to stay for a few days in San Diego so we could see the sights there. The first day, we went to Balboa Park. What a beautiful park! Balboa Park is where the zoo and a lot of museums are in San Diego.

First, we went to the art museum. Every time my sister and I travel to a new city, I drag her along to the art museum. (She likes museums too, but I do limit myself to 2 hours in a museum so she doesn’t get bored out of her mind!). The museum was nice. I think it was a bit overpriced for it’s size, but I am a Jersey girl and spoiled by the MET.  It was pretty small, you wouldn’t need two hours to see the entire museum. Granted, we only ever look at the exhibits we are interested in, and that didn’t take long.  There was an exhibit of Joaquin Sorolla’s paintings and drawings that I really liked. He was an artist I hadn’t heard of before, so it was worth going just to be introduced to some new art that inspired me. He drew on location in gouache, and his drawings of New York were amazing. He really managed to capture the busy bustle of it with just a few loose strokes. I loved them, but of course, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the exhibit and they didn’t have any postcards of the art I liked. His paintings were beautiful too.

Me! In front of the art museum

 After that exhibit though, we were done at the museum and made our way across the park to hear the organ concert. That was a lot of fun. They literally have a giant organ in the park, and at 2 o’clock on Sundays they have a concert! We sat there for a bit, but really you could hear it from anywhere in the park. I wanted to draw because everyone was using umbrella’s to keep off the sun, and it looked really funny!

The organ. It was so cool!

A quick sketch of the organ concert.

We did go to the Japanese Tea Garden, The Model Railroad museum, and the Botanical Building, but really the park in and of itself would have been fun to just go hang out in.

The Botanical Building. The Buildings were so cool!

The next day we went to the zoo. My sister loves pandas, so our first stop was the panda exhibit. They were both asleep! I love red pandas though, and they were awake. They were also super fun to watch! We decided to come back to the pandas so that Elizabeth could see them awake.

It’s a nice zoo, but a little confusing to navigate. We were trying to see the tiger, and all we could find were monkeys! However, we did eventually find the tiger, and it was asleep. It was really hot that day, so a lot of the animals were either asleep, or not in their enclosures. I did get to see a lot of koalas though! They were all asleep too, but at least they were in trees so we got to see them. When we went back to see the pandas, they were awake and moving around so that was good. My favorite was still seeing the red pandas actually awake, and seeing koalas for the first time.

It was a beautiful zoo, but again, I do still like the zoo in Washington D.C. ! (I guess you just can’t get the east coast out of me).

Some gorgeous shots by Elizabeth: (All the photos in this post were taken by my sister Elizabeth, unless they are drawings or she is in them. I will be using many of these for reference for drawings, and they are beautiful, so I figured I would share them so you could all enjoy them too!):

Elizabeth going to see the pandas! In her panda shirt, of course

I love red pandas!

My drawing of the red panda in the travel journal we kept

Pandas! Elizabeth had so many pictures of the pandas it was hard to choose one!

a cute little monkey

sleepy koala

One of the many elephants

Me and a new friend ;) 

The next day we started our road trip. Which you will hear about in another post!

It’s time for me to get back to work on some art projects that have been neglected since I’ve been away.

Look for some new posts again soon!

Pandas, Pandas, Pandas Everywhere! (and a hippo)

One of the things we did often in school was draw from life. Unfortunately, I've fallen out of this habit a bit since then. However I have decided as a New Year's Resolution to do more drawing from life.

Therefore, the other night I was sitting on my bed looking at my twin sister's bed. She LOVES pandas (and that is an understatement.) I think she has about twelve pandas at the end of her bed, all in a pile.
So I pulled out my sketchbook and a pen and drew them. (there is also a hippo, a tiger and some sort of brain cell there. yeah she's a science nerd too)

"my sister has a lot of pandas. sometimes it's hard to tell where one begins and another ends"

This was a fun ten (maybe fifteen?) minute drawing. It is just a inky pen drawing. I thought people may like to see some informal art, as opposed to the finishes I keep posting. Hope you like the pandas!

It's almost time for the New Year. . . Goodbye 2011

  My goal was to have my website filled with new art by the time the New Year rolled around. However, with family things and whatnot, that has not happened. I am a little disappointed about that, but I did take the time today to come up with a revised design for the website with a couple of new pieces. I want to execute a couple more ideas I have floating around in my head and then I will put the new site up. Stay tuned! (my new goal is Jan. 31. Maybe by putting that here, I will actually get it done!)

Anyway, I have been hinting at a couple of pieces I was working on as Christmas presents which I can now post here.
The first was a set of "paintings" I did for my mom. She has a flowering plum tree in her front yard that she loves. So I did a drawing of the tree as well as a close up of one of the branches.

the pencil drawing

with tissue paper

with tissue paper

the pencil drawing

She loved a recent pencil drawing I did so I decided to keep the original sketch. I scanned it into the computer and then printed it on card stock. Using matte medium, I glued tissue paper over the drawings. I was pretty happy with the result. 

Another piece I did was for my sister. Last summer, I was able to spend a weekend at the beach with her and her family. From the trip, I got a lot of amazing photos. So I decided to do a painting of her children.

The first is the pencil sketch I did from the photo reference. The second is done in watercolor and pen and ink. I was really happy with the result as it is something I can add to my children's illustration portfolio.

2011 has been a good year for me. I graduated from the BFA Illustration Program at FIT, found a part time job working with great people, started this blog, met a bunch of great illustrators, and got a website up. I am excited for what the new year will hold: a new portfolio and hopefully some illustration jobs!
Happy New Year everyone. May it be better than 2011!!!

Some Documentary Art

Hello!

Now that I am done with my undergrad (hooray!) hopefully I will be able to share more of my art with you. This work is from my class with Bil Donovan, a Documentary class where we went around the city and just drew people in the environment. The first one is one I did at Grand Central in the food court.
This second one is portraits of my classmates; the weather wasn't great for going outside but this was fun to do .This final one is from the Museum of Natural History.

These are done on watercolor paper toned with gouache and ink (except the dinosaur one is not toned). They are drawn with pen and ink.