The Art of Dan Dos Santos

In last month's issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine, they did a feature on the artist Dan Dos Santos. Now, I'd never heard of him before, but I had seen his work. This is the guy behind the Mercy Thompson book covers.

However, Dos Santos does more than girls with tattoos. He does some amazing guys, too, not to mention what he does with magic and dragons. I'll be eagerly awaiting the day when he puts out an art book. Until then, I'll just have to content myself with lurking around his digital gallery, The Art of Dan Dos Santos. Not only does he have a full portfolio of work for you to feast your eyes upon, but a few tutorials, as well, including a free one on how he created the cover for Moon Called. For the really in-depth stuff, there's a 5-hour video tutorial available for download (at a price, of course).

Definitely worth checking out.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Man, I'm feeling productive this week. I finally - finally! - got a new page of Strawberry Syrup up, plus went ahead and updated all of my Squidoo lenses for the first time since early June. I've also photographed my latest box for Willheit Shoppes, and so listing that will probably take place early next week. I just re-listed all my other boxes, so waiting a bit will get it further up in the search.

So, what's next on my list? For starters, I want to get a couple of journals done and up for sale. I picked up some illustration board from Hobby Lobby, so I'll give that a try for the cover. I also might finally start a lens for my Zazzle shop, and if I'm still feeling uber-productive after that, maybe start a new box.

Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Kit and Coptic Binding

New skill is go!

After a trial run with a card stock cover and ordinary type paper, I've created my first hard cover journal/sketchbook!


It measures in at approximately 4 1/2 x 6", with 120 pages. I used one of my favorite pics, Terry in Flight, for the main image on the cover. Yeah, it's a little old (it was done in '06), but it's still one of my favorites. Behind that, the top image is an old map found in the Wikimedia Commons. Seeing as it was an OLD map, it was in the public domain, and thus free to be used as a backdrop. Below that, I simply gathered together a bunch of quotes that relate to creativity, imagination, and whatnot. They create a sort of visual white noise, set the mood for the journal, and are ones the resonate personally with me. Rather than assemble it collage-style, I went ahead and put it together in Photoshop and printed out the final product.

In almost all the Coptic-bound books I've seen, the spine is open. Either this is to show off the artistry of the stitch, or it's really difficult to do a cover over the spine. In my trial run, I used three rows of stitches, which worked fine, but I wanted something a little more... secure-feeling, so this one's got five. For the cover, I hunted down the backing from an old calendar - you know, the cardboard inserts the manufacturer sticks in to keep it from horribly deforming during the shrink wrap process? Well, not all of them are normal cardboard. Some of them are a really rather nice variety. I snagged some of that (See? Never know what you'll need later!), and with the reinforcement of the Mod Podge, it's turned into a really nice hard cover.

For the paper, I pillaged an old, mostly unused sketchbook for some 50lb sketch paper. Now, the really nice thing about Coptic binding is that it has the ability to lay flat on just about any page without needing a wire spiraling through it. I wouldn't suggest pinching the covers together and waving it like a fan or anything, but the binding does seem to be pretty secure, even if there is a little more movement than I'm used to in a journal.

For the thread, I used embroidery floss, whittled down to three strands and then braided. I haven't done any strength tests on embroidery floss lately, so braiding it together gives it a little more strength and security. Color-wise, the top contenders were blue and brown. Blue won out - it picks up the color in his hat and the text better.

About the only problem I'm having so far is that the first and last rows - the rows where one signature of paper is attached to the next - don't quite look right. I'm using a "one needle" technique, so maybe that's it. That, or I'm not doing something right. If any of you have any idea what I'm doing wrong there, please do let me know!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my little journal/sketchbook! I'll be keeping this one.

Kit Learns a New Skill

Every now and then, I like to go cruising through Etsy to check out what other people are doing, maybe get inspired to haul out the old arts and crafts materials and work on a new box. This time, I came across some of the handmade journals. Now, there are two things that consistently test my willpower whenever I go shopping: decorative boxes and blank books. I have an enormous collection of of sketchbooks and journals that have caught my eye over the years, but I'd never seriously considered making my own. After all, you need special glues and tools and things like that, right?

And then I saw these.

Pay special attention to the bindings. I've seen that kind of binding a few times in stores, but I'd never known what it was called. Say hello to the chain stitch, aka the Coptic Stitch in reference to the fact that this binding has been used at least since the days of the Dead Sea Scrolls (so sayeth Wiki).

A quick Google search led me to this tutorial. Turns out all you really need to bind your own journals is a needle, thread, and maybe something to punch holes with. It's kinda complicated to explain, but once you actually DO it, it's not all that difficult. It took me about an hour to bind a 60 page test book. I'm not saying I'm an expert or that I created the Bestest Little Journal out there on my first try, but the basics aren't too difficult.

I'll have to see if I can refine my technique and hunt down some better materials than what I used for my test book. If I can, I might be able to make some pretty cool stuff.

Eye Practice, Part II

And the practice continues... I wasn't happy with the first eye, so... I completely redid it.


I'm much happier with this one, as you might have guessed by the fact that I did two eyes, one with warm shading and one with cool. Yep, just for the practice, which I think is definitely helping. I decided to change the eye shape a bit, refine the eyebrow so it doesn't look so pixelated, and work on the textures. The shadows might be a little too dark, but I haven't decided if I want to do anything about that or just leave it alone for now.

I have actually finished the entire face by now, so here's just a small peek at that. The proportions may be a little off still, but it's still a big step for me, and I think those proportions a a little closer to realism than my last attempt. Don't get me wrong; I still love how she turned out, but it's still not exactly realistic. This one's yet another step closer.

Of course, the next challenge is the hair... Attempts #1 and 2 have not gone well. Hopefully third time's the charm!

Eye Practice

Yesterday, I got my hands on Impact Publishing's "Fantasy Art," which they term a "bookazine" because it is over 200 pages and probably only got stuck on the magazine rack because it's Volume 1 and bound like a nice magazine and because the creators couldn't even decide on what it was (alas, that means it's exempt from most coupons). Plus, it comes with a CD with video tutorials, brushes, and reference images. Haven't gotten into them yet, but yay, references!

In any case, it's chock-full of tutorials and helpful hints on everything from painting portraits to designing architecture. Every now and then, I like to try something a little more realistic than my normal anime style, so when I saw the tutorial on digitally painting eyes, I decided to put the Popsicle pic on hold and give it a try.

This is what I've got so far:



Still not quite as realistic as I'd like, but not too bad. The eyebrow needs some serious help, as well as those lower eyelashes, but overall, I think it's a step in the right direction. And yeah, went for a red eye (can't completely purge my fantasy tendencies!). Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Popsicle Process

Yep, didn't exactly get it finished yesterday - an impromptu round of WoW with the brother and sister-in-law demanded my attention. Several hours of traipsing through the Barrens later, and it was back to work.

In any case, the lines are done and the base colors are all set on the girl. Which means it's time to start on the background. I'm going for more of a city scene. Or, at least, a town. Not something I do a whole lot, but practice is a good thing. Little trellis thing will hopefully be a cafe, and the further background will be done sans-lines, I think. Stick some city-bound foliage in there... I don't want the background to dominate or compete with the girl for attention.

Coloring this is going to be... interesting, to say the least. We'll see how it goes!

Home Improvements

This has been an interesting month. Terrible for blogging and doing anything productive, online-wise, but still interesting. We're in the process of making a few home improvements - specifically, new vanity tops in the bathrooms and, for the big one, new floors through much of the ground floor. Seeing as I'm from a family of packrats and clutterbugs, this means a LOT of packing things up to relocate them during the installation.

Exactly HOW I fit so much stuff into such tiny spaces, I do not know. I'll have to take some pictures.

Anyways, my goal for today is to get one more finished pic up in my deviantArt gallery, so I snagged one from a recent sketch session to try and get that done. If not, I'll have a fresh pic for August, then.

I figured this one was a nice, summery one. Girl eating a Popsicle - nice variation from the typical girl-in-a-bikini pics that usually show up when someone wants to do something summer-like. It's half-inked right now... and outlining in Photoshop takes forever, but it gives me a smoother line than in MangaStudio. I'm still not sure what I'll put in the background, but we'll see what shows up!

Okay, back to work!

More Avatard Kit

And for all of you who have been wallowing in despair ever since M. Night's bastardization of The Last Airbender hit theaters, a ray of hope! Yesterday, Nickelodeon announced the greenlighting of an animated sequel series set in the Avatar universe: The Legend of Korra.

You can read the full press release and see the pretty promo picture here.

Now, normally I'd be worried about a sequel series, especially after what a certain director decided to do to one of my favorite TV series, but there is one very important aspect of The Legend of Korra that makes me really look forward to it: it's done by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the original series. They have proven to put the quality of the story and the characters at the top of their priorities list. Perhaps just as importantly, they are willing to listen to their creative team's suggestions and use them to craft the best story possible.

They also have an excellent track record with creating strong female characters . I'll admit, I had a twinge of doubt when I read the description of Korra. Well, less of a 'twinge' and more of a bevy of alarms developed from years of reading urban fantasy, which is filled with so-called "strong" female characters who can be described as "hot-headed, rebellious," and "independent." None of which are bad traits, mind you. It's just that in the hands of a lesser writer, "strong + female" translates into a genuinely unlikeable character you actually want to personally drop off a cliff.

Good writers, on the other hand, don't think of characters as "strong males" or "strong females." They just think of them as "strong," without trying to figure out how they can try to play with gender. At the very least, a character's gender is not that character's defining trait. The Avatar crew probably could write books on how to create strong characters with depth and fully rounded personalities.

It's one of the reasons Avatar was so popular.

In any case, I have high hopes for The Legend of Korra. With any luck, it will stand alone as a good, high-quality story with more great characters and not be a shadowy imitation of the original.

Avatard Kit

This past weekend, M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender opened in theaters. For those of you who don't know, it's based on the completely and totally awesome Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series took place over the course of three seasons, each with their own title (The Book of Water, The Book of Earth, and The Book of Fire) and, unlike most American cartoons, had an overlying story arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Add to that characters that actually developed and grew over the course of the series, romance, moral dilemmas, action, adventure, and a serious threat to the world, and you've got yourself a winner.

Oh, and can't forget the humor. Lots of humor... so I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the previews of a dark, joyless world in the grips of angsty melodrama.

I haven't seen the movie, nor do I intend to in theaters. I know, I know, there are some people who like it, but I'm having a real hard time reconciling some of the changes Mr. Shyamalan decided to make to the actual mythos of Avatar. Cutting things out of Season I to fit it all in a less than two hour movie, I can understand. Drastically changing the plot and the characters' personalities to suit his own personal vision? Unforgivable. And don't even get me started on the names. -_-;;

In any case, I did find something to help ease the anger over some self-absorbed director mauling one of the best things in the past ten years in some quest to make it his own: the Avatar: The Last Airbender Artbook. I spotted this in the bookstore Monday and just couldn't resist. Mike and Bryan (the creators) talk about the development of Avatar and how they got it all together, which is fascinating for anyone who is creating their own world, plus discuss the characters and the process and provide plenty of development sketches and conceptual artwork to drool over.

Yeah. This has made my week. :D

As for the movie? Well... we'll see what happens when it hits DVD.