The Rose and Thorn process

Here it is! :)

ok everyone, the first step is the sketches. Thumbnails, prelims, roughs, anything! :) So this is what my first drafts looked like. 

Ok, so when you've got your idea picked out (I kind of decided to do a mix of the two) Now you move on to reference and emotional/facial expression ideas. (here's where it gets FUN!) This is the picture I used to just do the pencil lines. Shading comes next. 

Ok! You are set with that, but what about lighting?! I wanted a double lighting effect with red and green. So I took a picture of myself with double lighting. This is the reference I used to do the pencil shading and the water color.

So! Now that you have all the reference you need to pencil it, then why not DO IT?! I decided to draw on water color paper because I loved the texture it gave my pencils and I also wanted to use water color for my next step in the traditional media process.  

So here are my pencils...

OK, you have your pencils, and thats with the shading and blood (just free handed and guessed what it would look like for blood to drip) But I wanted a more solid tone around the face and hair so here's where the water color paper helps me. Here's where the black watercolor comes into play. Here is also where I put the black ink to fill in the blood on the fingers. I also changed it to greyscale because it took out any unwanted colors that I didn't want in my final.

Alright, now we get to COLOR IT! :) Now, I was pretty torn on whether I should just kind of guess on the shading or if I should really reference this baby. I'm glad I decided to add in this next step because I really think it helped in making the final realistic and three dimensional. I just took the double lighting photo I took before and put a red to green gradient over it to really show me clearly how the light hit the face.  

Finally, here is the final product! I brought the black and whites into photoshop and underneath the lineart I put a solid red to green grad (what you see in the hair and clothing) then over the grad I popped out the bright shines in red and green. I then knocked out the black blood and made it red. Then finally I added in my blood brush splatter around the hand. Then Viola! Done! :)

Thanks for checking this out you guys!!

Mermaid Painting steps

This one's for a fantasy painting assignment at school. It really took me forever, literally days. The last night I worked on it, I pulled an all nighter. I'm still new at this painting thing, so I know there are more than a few mistakes
I kind of like the idea that each one of the mermaids is a different deadly sin. 
Black and White- Sloth
Red- Wrath
Aqua- Lust...
That wasn't the original plan but it kind of turned out like that 

The following are 3 steps I used to complete the piece. There are other steps of course but these are the 3 major steps.

-Thumbnails, Roughs, Preliminary sketches, comps and color comps (sketches with pencil, colors with Photoshop)
Final, full size pencilsBefore final painting I do an underpainting (my underwater underpainting was blue)

Then final Painting (acrylics)

Lion and the mouse ink wash

Once when a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up and down upon him; this soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow him. "Pardon, O King," cried the little Mouse: "forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn
some of these days?" The Lion was so tickled at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he lifted up his paw and let him go. Some time after the Lion was caught in a trap, and the hunters who desired to carry him alive to the King, tied him to a tree while they went in search of a wagon to carry him on. Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight in which the Lion was, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Beasts. "Was I not right?" said the little Mouse.

Moral of the story- Little friends may prove great friends

We had an assignment in class to illustrate a black and white drawing for one of Aesop's Fables. I chose the Lion and the Mouse because it's a classic, and I like it because I'm little too, just like the mouse  All in ink wash, some white out for the whiskers and such.

My first Blog Post

well, Here she is... my blog... Now what?... :) 

Well, for a little back story,  My name is Carli Ihde, I am 19 and currently attending the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic art. I'm hoping to one day make a comfortable career out of what I love to do most in world. I'm not quite sure exactly what my plans are for art but I know that I want to be involved in the commercial portions of it. I'll be posting blogs hopefully quite often and as I do you will be about to note the progress I take as I continue on through my schooling and hopefully into the future after that. I'll be posting new art with every entry!

If you are interested in the work I'v created so far in my life, your best bet is to visit my Deviantart site here -> http://love-the-rain.deviantart.com/

There you can check out the kind of art I enjoy making and my strengths as well as weaknesses.

Thank you for tuning in! 

p.s. the art up at the top is my official logo/brand that should reflect what kind of artist I am. So when you see that symbol... :) it should be me