Back to Normalcy?

So it's been a while. Yeah, the end of the semester always brings with it lovely events that infringe upon my free time: grading, my own work, oh, and the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  I actually planned to blog from there, but for some reason, my laptop refused to connect to the wireless network at WMU. My iPad worked fine, so go figure. And I forgot to bring the charging cable for my iPad's wireless keyboard.

I planned to blog from the conference, because there was an interactive panel on medievalisms in video games (read, Bring Your Own Console and play).  I missed the panel, because I didn't feel like climbing a steep hill on this brown, slushy, muddy drink that officials at WMU tried to convince me was coffee.   I also forgot to take my sketchbook to actually draw while away. But I'm back, and I hope that means a return to normalcy and regularity.  

Anyway, here's a "Before and After" type of thing. I drew this little mourning scene with pencil and pen, and then I colored it using brush pens. Overall, I'm actually fairly happy with how it turned out. I may do some manipulations and digital recolorings later, but right now, I'm happy with this.

To summer. To art. To life. To loss.

Rain on the Graves

In a continuation from my last post, I'm still trying to get the darker visage of a young woman that I see. I'm getting closer, but I'm not quite there yet in terms of the dark beauty. Overall, I'm fairly happy with how this turned out. The hem of the dress could have been better, but I knew the effect I wanted, and I just winged most of it. Portions of the image were not originally sketched in pencil, but most of it was. I tried to use only a few non-gray colors to keep the tone somewhat somber, and I liked how it turned out. Although the scanner seemed to make the umbrella a bit darker than it was on the page.