octoelafonticorn

Introducing my most recent creation:

Main Entry: oc·to·el·a·font·i·corn -aka- Monster#2
Pronunciation: \octo-el-a-font-i-corn\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural octoelafonticorns also octoelafonticorn


My newest project is making monsters for my niece to give her on each birthday. This handsome fellow was for her first birthday (the other monster in the second to last picture, "Monster #1" was for her literal birth day).

The creation of this guy required me to make my own pattern, a first for me. Much harder than I expected, and I ended up making a test Octoelafonticorn to see where I needed to revise the pattern, or change fabric types. Monster#1 was hand-sewn and created organically; I did not create a pattern for him before starting. While he came out alright in the end, I decided that I would approach the next monster a little more logically, and arm myself with a sewing machine as well.


Currently, I am working on simplifying the pattern so I can produce a limited run of Octoelafonticorns to sell on Etsy at an affordable price. Or that is the plan, anyways. 

self portrait

I did a self portrait of sorts for my friend Donta's blog, david crockett destroys and thought I'd post the guts on here.

I like animals and creepy crawlies more than my face, so that was the basic theme of it. From conception to finish it took around ten hours, eight of which were digitally coloring it in.

Really, I was itching to do a watercolor, having found my missing 12-color set only to realize why it had gone missing in the first place. I hate them! They are fine when my palette consists of simple variations of the limited colors in the box (giraffes!), but trying to mix them is a bear and.. oh, I just got frustrated. So I took a photo of the watercolor abortion and uploaded it to Photoshop so I could use my man's Wacom monitor and stylus pen to color it in. Viola!

Here are my references:

The rough draft (this is was the base I colored over in Photoshop):

And the final result:

I enjoy the convenience of digitally coloring. Not so much the lack of mess (I like making messes), but the fact that I can change a gesture or position of something drastically without having to start over. That if I make a stray stroke, Ctrl + z fixes it with no trace of the mistake. The downside to digital coloring is that everyone's monitor is different and therefore see it differently. That happens with digital reproductions of art as well, but at least there is an original in a museum somewhere showing it's true hues.