Good News and Sips N' Strokes

Hello readers, I have some good news!  I was recently accepted into the Marietta Artist's Market this Saturday, second time this year.  So if you're in or around the Marietta, Georgia area on the 13th this Saturday...look for me.

In other news, my mom introduced me to a interesting art class/get-together called Sips n Strokes.  According to their website, these classes allow artists and non-artists to create paintings they can take home.  It was founded in Alabama by Wendy LoVoy and her classes are offered in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee.  My mom got to go to a class with her friend and they had fun creating their own artworks.  I might show a picture of her work tomorrow, it looks good.

And now sketches:

I'm brewing ideas for a story here...something about owls and angels... (yeah I know barn owls don't actually have those eyes.)

Some fairy creature with dreadlocks.

Note says: Nuptial-- pan-dimensional owls and things occasionally pass by New Heaven, Nuptial is one of them.  She stayed in Heaven to watch over the creation of the First (prototype) Degogions and became guardian over Lucifer's Power.

Recently redesigned Harrvarin creature (left).  Do you remember Segieran (very bottom of the post), he's the same species as this guy, Secirragos.  Let me explain the note a bit: Secirragos  has three breeds: Original, Outbreeds, and Inbreds.  The Original is characterized by their long hair and whiskers, short forelegs and long hind legs.   Their numbers were greatly reduced by captivity and hunting and were almost driven to extinction during the 14th  century (Earth Time).  The surviving breeds were results of years of inbreeding within a small population.  Inbreds were plentiful but they became wild and steral.  They also suffered from a disease that is slowly killing them off.  Outbreeds (right) are the only ones with out the disease and their presence may mean that the species might survive.

Some Old Pen Art

Here's some of my old pen art I did back in 2005.  These were totally unplanned (except on the second and fourth pictures, those started with a sketch) and were done in ballpoint pen. (sorry for the giant watermark!):

This was a bookmark...

It took forever to shade these.

And this too.

Old rabbit species, Harrvarin.

Another Harrvarin rabbit.

Some Stuff I found on the internetz

Hey, sorry if I dropped off the face of the earth!  Anyway, I'm back and I found some pretty interesting things on the internet:

So...You're a Cartoonist? by Andrew Dobson (2025 update: yeah no) and I am ARG! by Andrew Richard Gregoire are autobiographical webcomics based on these artists' artistic and sometimes very weird lives.

MS Paint Adventures by Andrew Hussie is a site dedicated to his comic/rpg/animated/ interactive story games. He has about four stories on the site, of them PROBLEM SLEUTH  (complete) and HOMESTRUCK are the longest.  Don't let the art style fool you, these stories are funny and rather enjoyable.  He also have a downloadable soundtrack to HOMESTRUCK created with help from his fans. 


I made fan-troll based on his troll characters in the comic:

G1v3 M3-Za all 0f y0ur-Za 1n-valuabl3s-Za.

And lastly Soulless by Kaarina Makowski and its a very interesting sci-fi webcomic about...well go see for yourself.

Art Dump 2 !!!

Hey, I updated the last two posts with new pictures.

Anyway, here's some sketches!

Barn Owl gryphon steed

Cat bird...I need to work on the wings a little.

Flowing hair practice.

Jellyfish Owl bat.

And great Eastern Dragon vs a (My little Pony) pony

New Character! (Warning mild nudity) (Edit)

Just started working on creating a new character.  Her name is Hoffthang:

Sorry for bad quality, I don't have a scanner large enough to scan my 9x12 sketchbooks....sigh

Edit with better pictures.

Aftermath and more sketches (Edit!)

I had my first artist's market last Saturday!

It was the Marietta Artist's Market and it's on every second Saturday on April thru November.  It was an interesting and fun learning experience there.  I didn't sell anything but I did have a great time talking and interacting with many creative and inspiring artists there.  I saw many different artists there from fantasy artists, glass makers, sculptors, arts and crafts people, and digital photographers.

I learned a lot about getting prepared for this event and about creating a display for my art.  I learned that I should create a display that welcomes people to view my artwork, I need to create a business card that shows my website, blog, and Facebook page, and I need to introduce myself as an artist and describe what kind of art I can create.

I would like to thank all the artists I met at the Marietta Artist's Market!  I appreciate your kindness and encouragement.  Thank you!

 And now sketches (bad quality due to some camera troubles):

(Edit: better picture quality updated)

Special announcement

I just got accepted into the Marietta Artist's Market this Saturday.  The event starts at 9am and ends at 12pm.  I know this is a short notice but if you are around Marietta, Ga on Saturday, I'll be there.

The Power of Sketches

In the world of art, the most basic form of any visual artwork is sketches.

Composed of just a few loose lines, sketches allow an artist to quickly draw out ideas, record life, and help plan artworks.  It is also an excellent learning tool and can be used to experiment on any style and subject.  It works as a second eye, capturing a moment in life or a fleeing idea with a few strokes of an artist’s pencil.  Sketches are raw.  They are sometimes graceful and clean or wild and messy.  Sketches are glimpses of the artist’s imagination and within them there are a million stories, artworks, and new ideas; dreams waiting to be realized.

Artwork begins with a sketch.  Artworks evolve through sketches.  Completed Artwork is the finalized version of a series of sketches.

And now sketches (and artworks) from the archives:
Sketch to Completed Art for "Bring Me Home":

Sketch and Finished Art for "Warthog":

No update today

There is going to be no update today, but check in tomorrow for more sketches and artist insight.

Character study (late, I know!)

When I create a new character for a story or an artwork I tend to study who they are.  I think about them every day, I imagine them in dramatic or funny situations, or I just stare at their drawings just to see...emotion, intelligence, and whatnot.  I become a stalker of my own characters, recording every single aspect of their daily adventures in another world

When I create a written version of a character's adventures, I explore their lives, the people around them, their religious or atheist beliefs, hardships, family, culture, moments of joy and happiness, and other things that add up to a living feeling character.  There are times when I create more than one story for a single character, for example, my character Vistalgia currently have four stories and one of them I decided to develop for a future comic.  Having multiple stories for a single character is good but this can quickly become confusing when developing a back story that works best for that character.

The last thing I want in my story is a bunch of nonsense plot-holes on a series of characters, especially the main character.  Writing notes or a series of short story helps avoid major plot-holes and other inconsistencies.  Organizing character's stories and designs will help in keeping track of who they are.

Anyway, hopefully all that artist/writer lingo makes sense. Here's an old example of what I'm talking about:

(Note: The following may or may not make sense, have any connection with the Mult (future comic), or even have proper grammar.)

Thoughts on Johnovia^©

Ideas by Amari Harkness

Onundav, 3^rd , 5009

            Journal of World Tracker and Empiroplanetnologist Krillvony…

            So, here I am, looking over the lands that once was a great mighty planet kingdom…or pieces of it. Hey, all the other kingdoms and realms would be so jealous of her blessings: the abundance of forests and creatures, the clear light purple sky and blue clouds, perfect weather year round, and so much land and water. Now, Johnovia is just a tragic victim of a Dilyefilla gone astray from its distant home, the Outer Walls.

There is only one muliverse, an enormous universe with many little universes inside of it, in existence. Our muliverse, Engu.  Surrounding Engu, there is Chaos, or the Johnovians call their creator god, AllTime. Keeping Engu safe from the randomness and the chaotic nature of AllTime is the Outer Walls. Within the Outer Walls is the Inner Walls. Within the Inner Walls are universes, realms, and worlds; the Inner Walls keeps them safe from the Outer Walls' vacuum… normally.

The people of Johnovia didn't know about the Dilyefilla, the Inner or Outer Walls. They didn't know that once every hundred years or so Dilyefilli, fragments of AllTime's power, would break out from the Outer Walls and into the Inner Walls of time and space. And from there, one or two or maybe even twenty Dilyefilli passes by their opposites, the Illifeylid, and make their way into the universes in the Inner Walls. One just happens to hit Johnovia's universe. This sort of event is completely unpredictable, even the Channels of AllTime wouldn't see it coming. Johnovia didn't see it coming.

What are even more unpredictable are the effects of the impact or the entry of a Dilyefilla. Anything can happen when it made close enough to a universe, from changing the universe's natural laws to transforming the organic inhabitants into metal or liquid. Sometimes if two Dilyefilli hit a universe simultaneously, they turn it inside out, hurling any living and nonliving thing in to the mercy of the Illifeylid of the Inner Walls.  In Johnovia's case, the Dilyefilla entered the universe without doing anything harmful at all until it hits a planet or a star.

Johnovia was so lucky that AllTime made it a utopian planet that lasted for billions and millions of years, yet so unlucky to be in the path of the most random and destructive force in the entire Engu… it makes me wonder, why? The Johnovians had great faith in AllTime, they conquered planets and realms in his name, discovered new technologies and cures, built an empire spading several hundred dimensions, and they gave all the credit to Him. But, why did AllTime allow the destruction of Johnovia?

Sigh, maybe He got tired of them or left them. Or He stayed and watched them suffer.

…

Or maybe He gave them a challenge, a challenge that if they make out of this alive…maybe if they are still alive…or even still exist…

I-I don't know. Silly idea. There is no way they are still alive. Then again, I might be wrong…
____________________________________________________________


This example is an experimentation on a character named Krillvony.  Here I'm using him to explore a lost world through his point of view.  From this short essay I can tell that Krillvony is some type of archaeologist studying the remains of a long lost civilization.  He is troubled about his findings on Johnovia especially on how the civilization died out.

However, Krillvony's character is still in the works.  I must continue studying his character to make him more than what's presented above. (Does he have a family, where does he work, why this job, etc.)