What it do

[Zengus]

Thanks Sam :)

Almost done. There are couple things I wish I'd done differently/not at all, but given how minimal the composition is I'm surprised there aren't a bunch more standing out to me. I feel like this one has a little more slick and polished a feel than my older pieces.

Just need to adjust some contrasting tones and fill out the sky/reflections a little more. I think I'm going to leave the blocks next to the sail white, if I filled them in even a little it would ruin the linework of the rigging (or whatever those lines are called on real boats). I kind of like the highlight effect it has too, really draws the eye to the boat.

[Esunasoul]

Try watercolors. Seriously.

[synkr0nized]

[Zengus]

Hmm. It's been a loooong time since I've tried watercolors. I didn't enjoy them so much last time around, but I kind of sucked at enjoying drawing at all back then. They might be a nice (cheap) stepping stone to oil paints as well, which I want to learn (I feel like if I ever want to have work hanging in a gallery and for sale (hey, why not? Have you seen some of shit that people put up?) it's going to have to be painted, since people don't seem to think art is valuable if it's just on paper instead of canvas)

[Esunasoul]

Your boat painting would be an amazing watercolor. You just have to get some watercolor paper, do the proper proper prep (soak and dry), and be very intentional about where you put the colors moving from light to dark. Honestly that pencil style is mimicking watercolor already. But with the smoother gradient in that medium, your bottom part wouldn't seem blank as you suggest.

[Ventilator]

I really like these pictures. This style of art you have going would probably sell a lot of indie video games.

[Zengus]

Thanks Vent. Now you have me wondering how to market to indie game developers.

[Ventilator]

Get a portfolio together
Send it in to the dev teams of Braid, Limbo and Bastion
***This step is critical!*** Bribe them with those cookies you make
Collect royalties

[Zengus]

Just in case anyone doubts Vent's claims about my cookies, I should note that I made a (miniaturized) version of that recipe for my culinary school graduation party, and in a room full of food made by the chefs actually on staff at the school they were still the first thing to run out. It was not because I didn't make very many :D

Oh hey, I forgot to post the actual finished version of that boat drawing. There's a lot of red/pink tones around the center of the page that didn't really come through in this picture, which sucks because they make the whole image pop a lot more. Anyway, I am happy with it.



I have a fairly mundane project that I can't skip (drawing a portrait of two friends of mine that are getting married later this month), but all of this talking has put it in my head to try watercolors again. I also recently came into full possession of my apartment (no more roommates ever, if I can help it), and I am aching to put up a bunch of murals in the living room and kitchen. The next few months are going to be good for painting, I can feel it.

[Zengus]

Just in case anyone was wondering, I still make the dankest cheesecakes and cookies around. These are a couple shots from a much larger spread I made for my best friend's wedding; it was on Saturday, and I pretty much had to kill myself to get them done (adding a 10 hour project to a 70 hour workweek suuuuucks), and I didn't get to work on them under ideal conditions (they were hilariously sub-optimal, actually; my home kitchen sucks right now). I am still quite proud of them, though. Keen eyes might recognize these as a more skillful take on two of the recipes I've posted photos of here before, years ago.




I'm also doing that whole savory thing. We just changed our menu over at work, and these are a couple of the new dishes I've been making. I need to get in the habit of taking pictures of my especially good plating jobs more often, now that my phone has a decent camera.