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I've really only recently in the past two or three years really gotten comfortable with my artwork (that place where you're still hyper-critical of yourself but know well-enough that sometimes it's time to sign your name and be done with it). I thought I'd share some of my earliest fanart from high school along with a lot of unfinished newer artworks and sketches that I haven't posted before.
I hope you enjoy my little trip down memory lane. :D
Warning, there might be a few not-quite-safe-for-work images under the cut. There's no danglies, but there's some risque stuff.
A lot of these, like the one above are of Spike and my OC Ursula because I was desperately trying to write my first fanfic (which is like the Duke Nukem of fanfic- it was never finished and never got anyway and was pretty much self-indulgent, over-intellectual twaddle that I kept revising year after year after year). The image above was from an unfinished page from my London Calling comic where Ursula is just a normal person (where I stopped trying to make her the Mary Sue from HELL).
When I was in high school (pre-2004), this is what Ursula originally looked like. Very Peg Bundy, very kitsch, with huge Sharon Tate hair. She was very blonde, very bitchy, and was one of the mulle (a type of Eastern European vampire). Man, Spike's face is all wonky in this. LOL:
I have no idea what I was doing, but this is her wearing a Hot Topic shirt that I wanted at the time ("Real Men Don't Tan" with a bunch of vampire bats). I actually miss drawing like this; I'm unable to do it this way anymore, and that makes me feel like I've lost something. :(
Old Skool Sharpie Marker drawings. Ursula with her big hair, and Spike being curly and adorable. I love drawing him doing cute things.
And this is when I first started trying to be able to draw with more realism, trying to hide the hands as much as possible, something I'm still guilty of. Since Sharon Tate inspired the hair, I just based Ursula's whole look on her. Ursula's nickname that Spike calls her in my fanfics and comics is "Sukie." I had no idea who Sookie Stackhouse was at the time I started doing it, but when I write it Sukie is pronounced sue-key not suck-eh. For me, the nickname was inspired by the blonde in The Witches of Eastwick. It's been harder to keep the nickname in there though because of the True Blood reference. Also to note in this picture, I was obsessed with drawing James's beauty mark under his right eye at this stage. I shouldn't have gotten out of that! I think his eyes are too far apart in this though.
I was still working in a cartoony style as well. This was a weird Alice in Wonderland sketch from 2005 or something when I was first in college. There's a Spike/JM emo Mad Hatter for some reason.
And then I discovered working with Photoshop to create artwork. This is the first piece I finished entirely digitally. I was working with a finger mousepad on a laptop to draw this. No laser mouse, no tablet and stylus, just my finger. It was very difficult and I'm glad I learned about better methods with Wacom Tablets or I would be insane by now.
This was the first piece I finished in a more realistic style. Some of you may remember it. Half of this was done with my finger on the mousepad, and about half-way through was when I first got my Bamboo Wacom Tablet. I have to say blending with your finger on a mousepad actually feels like painting though. It's interesting to do, but I don't recommend it.
My first piece entirely with a Bamboo tablet and stylus.
Spike and Ursula together, my first digital piece with them together before I started my "London Calling" comic. James Marsters wanted a Spike movie where he gets the girl of his dreams, completely perfect for him, but the catch is that she's human and has no idea that he's a vampire. To create the character, I took Ursula's sense of humor and a few base personality traits from my high school fanfic and fleshed them out in, I hope, a realistic manner... I also made her pregnant, but not by Spike. James said he was intrigued by this possibility when I gave him a copy of the unfinished comic, and he liked how she looked, which made me happy. I made the decision to make her brunette in the design process after talking to a few people who thought that Spike having a blonde girlfriend would be too much like Buffy. This piece got published in my college's art journal.
And my most recent piece with them together. Ursula's hair has gotten lighter and a little more like it used to be in that Bump-It Sharon Tate style. I think her boobs have gotten a lot fuller over time though. I blame it on her pregnancy. I am really, really happy with how Spike turned out in this. I feel like skintone-wise, this is probably the most correct I've ever portrayed JM/Spike.
And now for some unfinished pieces!
This was going to be the cover for the sequel to London Calling, but as I have yet to finish LC after two and a half years, I doubt this will ever come to be. The sequel was going to be called either "Absinthe Moon" or "Suitcases." Maybe one day I'll get to it. XD This is one of the few images I have the original scan of the graphite sketch without any digital lines on top of it. Spike looks off in it to me... I need to redraw this, I think.
Spike and Ursula as Bert and Mary Poppins with all the little penguins. This was supposed to be for Nekid_Spike's childhood memories prompt way back when, I think.
This was supposed to be for SockMonkey. It was going to be a large piece with a Steampunk Spike and Oz (with dred-falls), but I got as far as cleaning up the linework for the faces and never moved onto the rest. Fred is supposed to be in the center, but she never got beyond the messy sketch and was left out. I should really finish this.
This is pure hilarity. Actually, for this piece, I actually have gotten A LOT further to finishing this, but it has lingered on my desktop unfinished for over a year. Pretty much, Spike and Dru are the only uncoloured ones in the piece now, but I can't get it right to finish it. Anyways, this piece was inspired by 80s nostalgia, specifically Strawberry Shortcake. Fred is Strawberry Shortcake, Spike is a boy version of Blueberry Muffin, Drusilla is Plum Pudding, and Ursula is Angel Cake. I am such a nerd.
And because all things are cyclical, here's a cartoon of Spike and Ursula I need at the end of last year but never coloured. Ursula's gone back to her big hair Peg Bundy look because I really am fond of it. I think it does fit her after all, though she'll never go back to being all-the-way-blonde because I'm used to her having sandy/slightly auburn hair now. Spike is Scooby-Doo-ish, but obviously pleased. This piece is drawn on an old hunk of cardboard.
And so, here I am, and I leave you with a cartoon of Spike with a koala attached to his head. :D
I hope you enjoy my little trip down memory lane. :D
Warning, there might be a few not-quite-safe-for-work images under the cut. There's no danglies, but there's some risque stuff.
A lot of these, like the one above are of Spike and my OC Ursula because I was desperately trying to write my first fanfic (which is like the Duke Nukem of fanfic- it was never finished and never got anyway and was pretty much self-indulgent, over-intellectual twaddle that I kept revising year after year after year). The image above was from an unfinished page from my London Calling comic where Ursula is just a normal person (where I stopped trying to make her the Mary Sue from HELL).
When I was in high school (pre-2004), this is what Ursula originally looked like. Very Peg Bundy, very kitsch, with huge Sharon Tate hair. She was very blonde, very bitchy, and was one of the mulle (a type of Eastern European vampire). Man, Spike's face is all wonky in this. LOL:
I have no idea what I was doing, but this is her wearing a Hot Topic shirt that I wanted at the time ("Real Men Don't Tan" with a bunch of vampire bats). I actually miss drawing like this; I'm unable to do it this way anymore, and that makes me feel like I've lost something. :(
Old Skool Sharpie Marker drawings. Ursula with her big hair, and Spike being curly and adorable. I love drawing him doing cute things.
And this is when I first started trying to be able to draw with more realism, trying to hide the hands as much as possible, something I'm still guilty of. Since Sharon Tate inspired the hair, I just based Ursula's whole look on her. Ursula's nickname that Spike calls her in my fanfics and comics is "Sukie." I had no idea who Sookie Stackhouse was at the time I started doing it, but when I write it Sukie is pronounced sue-key not suck-eh. For me, the nickname was inspired by the blonde in The Witches of Eastwick. It's been harder to keep the nickname in there though because of the True Blood reference. Also to note in this picture, I was obsessed with drawing James's beauty mark under his right eye at this stage. I shouldn't have gotten out of that! I think his eyes are too far apart in this though.
I was still working in a cartoony style as well. This was a weird Alice in Wonderland sketch from 2005 or something when I was first in college. There's a Spike/JM emo Mad Hatter for some reason.
And then I discovered working with Photoshop to create artwork. This is the first piece I finished entirely digitally. I was working with a finger mousepad on a laptop to draw this. No laser mouse, no tablet and stylus, just my finger. It was very difficult and I'm glad I learned about better methods with Wacom Tablets or I would be insane by now.
This was the first piece I finished in a more realistic style. Some of you may remember it. Half of this was done with my finger on the mousepad, and about half-way through was when I first got my Bamboo Wacom Tablet. I have to say blending with your finger on a mousepad actually feels like painting though. It's interesting to do, but I don't recommend it.
My first piece entirely with a Bamboo tablet and stylus.
Spike and Ursula together, my first digital piece with them together before I started my "London Calling" comic. James Marsters wanted a Spike movie where he gets the girl of his dreams, completely perfect for him, but the catch is that she's human and has no idea that he's a vampire. To create the character, I took Ursula's sense of humor and a few base personality traits from my high school fanfic and fleshed them out in, I hope, a realistic manner... I also made her pregnant, but not by Spike. James said he was intrigued by this possibility when I gave him a copy of the unfinished comic, and he liked how she looked, which made me happy. I made the decision to make her brunette in the design process after talking to a few people who thought that Spike having a blonde girlfriend would be too much like Buffy. This piece got published in my college's art journal.
And my most recent piece with them together. Ursula's hair has gotten lighter and a little more like it used to be in that Bump-It Sharon Tate style. I think her boobs have gotten a lot fuller over time though. I blame it on her pregnancy. I am really, really happy with how Spike turned out in this. I feel like skintone-wise, this is probably the most correct I've ever portrayed JM/Spike.
And now for some unfinished pieces!
This was going to be the cover for the sequel to London Calling, but as I have yet to finish LC after two and a half years, I doubt this will ever come to be. The sequel was going to be called either "Absinthe Moon" or "Suitcases." Maybe one day I'll get to it. XD This is one of the few images I have the original scan of the graphite sketch without any digital lines on top of it. Spike looks off in it to me... I need to redraw this, I think.
Spike and Ursula as Bert and Mary Poppins with all the little penguins. This was supposed to be for Nekid_Spike's childhood memories prompt way back when, I think.
This was supposed to be for SockMonkey. It was going to be a large piece with a Steampunk Spike and Oz (with dred-falls), but I got as far as cleaning up the linework for the faces and never moved onto the rest. Fred is supposed to be in the center, but she never got beyond the messy sketch and was left out. I should really finish this.
This is pure hilarity. Actually, for this piece, I actually have gotten A LOT further to finishing this, but it has lingered on my desktop unfinished for over a year. Pretty much, Spike and Dru are the only uncoloured ones in the piece now, but I can't get it right to finish it. Anyways, this piece was inspired by 80s nostalgia, specifically Strawberry Shortcake. Fred is Strawberry Shortcake, Spike is a boy version of Blueberry Muffin, Drusilla is Plum Pudding, and Ursula is Angel Cake. I am such a nerd.
And because all things are cyclical, here's a cartoon of Spike and Ursula I need at the end of last year but never coloured. Ursula's gone back to her big hair Peg Bundy look because I really am fond of it. I think it does fit her after all, though she'll never go back to being all-the-way-blonde because I'm used to her having sandy/slightly auburn hair now. Spike is Scooby-Doo-ish, but obviously pleased. This piece is drawn on an old hunk of cardboard.
And so, here I am, and I leave you with a cartoon of Spike with a koala attached to his head. :D
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From:
no subject
You have really improved as an artist.
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I'm still trying to figure out a decent cartoony style again. I guess I can't have everything. LOL.
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AND SPIKE AND URSULA! SO ADORABLE!
And now I want babyfic . . .
Also, have you ever read Paradise Kiss? That Bathtub scene reminds me of it. Kinda. The manga-ka also wrote Nana, which you may be more familiar with (you're probably a huge manga fan and I sound like I'm talking out of my ass now, but I had to officially ask instead of just assuming).
And I DEMAND you finish that Spike/Oz/Fred picture, and then we could write a fic about what REALLY came out of Spike's Steampunk Spaceship of DOOM - William, Resurrected!Fred and Future Dreadlocked!Oz! Yay!
From:
no subject
I've only written one fic involving Ursula's baby actually being born. It's a Christmas!fic so it's filled with sap. I never posted it because it wouldn't make any sense without the comic being finished. Maybe I can post it this Christmas. XD
I LOVE Paradise Kiss (I own all of it) and Nana. I think that Arashi is pretty Spike-like. XD Oh, I wish I could draw like Ai Yazawa! :D
I've actually got three Steampunk fics in the works right now- one is the sequel to Automated Utopia, one is something for Lilithbint, and one actually is a what-if fic about what would have happened if the Spike that showed up in S8 in a steampunk ship was actually Spike from my Automated Utopiaverse! Once I finish posting the rest of Paper Pusher and Acceptable Losses, those'll be the fics I post next. :D I do need to finish the artwork though. Oh, so many fics, so little time! :D
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Now let's see some Angel/us with Spike in jammies. Oh hang on, that's supposed to be my department... :>
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Let's see Angelus with a footed sleeper clad William, feeding him from his wrist! Or chest, if you prefer. :D
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Awww, William is so cute. XD
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I'm glad that Ursula's character has changed to how she is in the comic rather than bitchy. I wouldn't like Spike with someone bitchy - cutting sarcasm and wit yes, bitchiness no. I love her character in the comic and I do like her as a brunette.
Two of your sharpie marker drawings are really cute though - the one of them in the tub together and I love them on the couch all snuggly and Spike with his curly hair.
mmm, I like your Captain John :o)
I love your sketch for the London Calling sequel ( btw, forgot to mention I love the naming of the comic after the Clash song) and the Mary Poppins one.
I ADORE adore adore your Steampunk Spike and Oz. You have to finish it!! It's so right that Spike has his ponytail back and Oz's falls are just to die for! I've really gotten into Steampunk recently and as soon as I can afford it I'm gonna buy me some nifty Steampunk gear and go dressed up to a local cabaret club.
I'm curious about your art that you did on your degree and what you showed for your final degree show. Is it all illustrative and similar in style to your fan art? I'm doing an art degree in London, but I'm not illustrative at all. I mostly do installations and conceptual art, quite often with textiles and some photography. But I've never learned to use Photoshop and am very below par at drawing - apart from with a sewing machine. So I don't contribute to the fandom! The fandom also seems quite seperate to my art as only a couple of fellow art students are geeks, and a lot of the students and teachers can be a bit pretentious, and I'm very political so a bit embarrassed about being a fangirl at my age! It's my dirty secret! Apart from with the one fellow geek who's also a slasher:o)
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For the final project to earn my degree, I did a comprehensive project that was supposed to encapsulate all the graphic design knowledge I have accumulated. My project was called Vexcel, which was a fictional magazine about combining vector art (like my SD "Guide to Hiding Your Vampirism" page, done in Illustrator) and raster art (like my more realistic artwork done in Photoshop). I had to design the interior pages of the magazines, the cover mosaic, three posters, three postcards, a t-shirt, a hat, and a commercial that played on a monitor in the display (plus I had to put the display together).
I've actually got photos of my final project display here (http://fenderlove.livejournal.com/188436.html).
The displays of some of the other people in the show are here. (http://fenderlove.livejournal.com/188868.html)
At the college I went to, we had a very comprehensive program. I was required to take a variety of art history, studio art/traditional art, and computer art classes including multimedia design along with all the general education requirements in humanities, history, math, science, literature, etc. Our show was specifically for graphic design, but there were two other final shows for studio arts. I remember one person had an installation that was textile-based. It was a really interesting set of pieces.
When I was at school, I tried to keep my fanart separate from my school work, though everyone knew how much of a fangirl I was. I only did two fandom-related pieces, including adding my Spike artwork inside of my magazine for my senior project and a website for my Flash class (http://frank.mtsu.edu/~srt2s/space/). :D