cinnamonoire

I have Disney to thank for my interest in illustration. Growing up, I watched all the "classic" animated Disney films. My favorites were the princess movies (naturally). I could watch Fantasia and The Little Mermaid a thousand times over.

And it was my dad who taught me to love working with my hands.

"How to Draw 50 Dogs" was a book in my elementary school library that I was constantly checking out. I mostly traced the dogs... a samoyed, a yorkie, a bull terrier.

With DVDs came "special features." I studied how to draw a horse by Dreamworks' step by step feature on Spirit.

Then came Harvest Moon 64. I wanted to draw all the bachelorettes. High school came along and I was introduced to manga. I compared styles, borrowed a few books, and started building a binder full of sketches.

Nowadays I'm inspired by people, books, film, TV, games, and anime. Music, as always, keeps the mind working and the pen flowing.

Currently improving my coloring skills: shading, contrast, etc. I'm open to digital methods, but I don't like the disconnect between my hand and the screen. I like the look of copic markers. I'm experimenting with copic caios combined with colored pencils. It can be very tedious. The markers bleed outside the lines if I'm not careful. But I like how blending creates virtually endless color possibilities. I find pencils are good for shading and detail.

In other news, I read this book you all should read: Heaven is for Real. Looking forward to seeing colors I've never seen before.

I have a scanner! This makes uploading my sketches 100% easier. Love Triangles took minimal cleanup on screen. It also helps retain the original sketchy look. I will hopefully be uploading a few more of my existing sketches in the near future. Sorry I've been so lame lately :/