November 8, 2010

In Progress

So, I am in a new game being run by a friend of mine called Dark Heresy. Kind of a gritty system in a dystopian future that reminds me of the Necromonger society from the Chronicles of Riddick movie. Basically it is like any other RPG, we have a group come together to figure out something weird. I play a Tech-Priest. Basically it is a religion that worships the gods/spirits of the machines. These machines that exist are from the past and we have lost the technology to make them new, but these tech-priests have learned and passed on enough to keep what tech the universe has up and running. These people become more and more machine as they move up the ranks in their faith. It really is quite interesting. Certainly darker than the D&D games I have been in the past. With a new character with such striking features and characteristics I could not help myself. So here is a sneak peak of what I've got so far.

After laying down a collage of images pulled from the internet (e.g. the borg queen, hands, a golden eagle, an aquilla logo, the logo of the adeptus mechanicus, etc) I have created layers over the collage and begin blocking out color and creating layers for the details and wires and things that will be needed to make this character really look cool. This is all in Photoshop of course and it is roughly twice the size of what it should be when finished so that maybe it will look really good when it is done.

October 13, 2010

New beginnings


So. Change is good. Especially when I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Finally I am Mrs. Angela Skees! October has always been a good month, what with it finally cooling off in Texas, the smell of cinnamon pine cones in every craft store and, of course, Halloween. But now, I have another addition to the list; my wedding anniversary. And I couldn't be happier.

Here's to a fuller life and new inspirations.

July 13, 2010

Photoshop Fun

So my fiance is off on vacation, but sends me photos of his hotel and a note which says that the place reminds him of the bath house from Spirited Away. After a suggestion or two, I found a few images I could work with and added some characters into his images. The result: Awesome.





June 21, 2010

Just in Time

So, Have you seen the TV show on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender?
Yes? Wonderful!!! Aren't you excited to see the movie Last Airbender? Cause I am!
No? What is wrong with you! Go see it all now!!!

Arguably the best show on Nick when it came out, and still, it is a fantastic series following a few main characters, the most prominent of which is Aang, the avatar and last airbender mentioned in the title. His love interest from early on is Katara who sports this lovely hand carved necklace. So I decided to make one of my own. I know you can get pretty good replicas in resin from a few places on the internet, but I'm not that crafty. Instead I opted for paint.









On the reverse side? The White Lotus Pai Sho tile from Uncle Iroh's set. Pai Sho? It's a fictional game, I think, that they play in the Avatar TV series. Seems to be kind of like chess I would think. Not to mention there is a great little subtle plot line around the White Lotus. Anyway, its just in time for the movie and I can't wait to show it off. Along with my Appa hat!

June 15, 2010

Conventions


So, its that time of year again. A-kon was just a few short weekends ago, before that Scarborough Faire, and soon Gen-con. So, for the upcoming conventions I felt that I needed to create something that says... "Hello World. I'm a crafty nerd and I play pokemon!" Behold, the pokewalker pins. They serve a dual purpose, a) I have some extras to sell and b) they announce that I have a pokewalker and that people with one should link with me! I made them out of a cardboard backing and four colors of felt. The faces and eyes are fabric paint.




Also. I have modified the pipe fox with two very important additions. Safety Pins. Now he is a poseable, wearable subtle way to announce to the world that I like xxxHolic. I had very many compliments at A-kon and three offers to buy him! Perhaps once I have a house and a craft room I can go into production, as it seems there is a demand...

April 13, 2010

New Business Card



Well I had that other one, and I'm sure it would be acceptable as a business card, but like I said in my last post I had another idea rattling around in my brain. It is acceptable. Not sure which I like better...
I do think it would be really fun though to hand out a business card printed and laminated just like a playing card with rounded edges and everything.

April 9, 2010

Working Idea


So I've got that other business card which I am pretty happy with. However, I've got this itch in the back of my mind for an even cooler card... I'm starting to work on it now...

Business Card




So I thought since I might be doing some freelance in the future, that I ought to have a good business card for myself. I came up with this. Most of the art on the card is mine (can't take credit for the love birds, except for the coloring) and has all of the info one should need to find me. Cute no?

April 5, 2010

Creative Easter Fun




Coloring Easter eggs doesn't have to be boring or traditional... with a little imagination, and some help from the internet, cute Easter eggs are just a few markers away from reality. In case you don't know, the Pokemon eggs are Pikachu, Togepei and Charmander. The third images is EVE from Wall-e. And fun like this is always better with friends. :)
Happy Easter Everyone.

March 25, 2010

Flavors

Just fyi to people who look here... I made a flavors.me site. Which does nothing but point back here... :)

Really just to try it out.

March 22, 2010

Mandala


Thoughts... might be kind of cool. This symbol contains my love, my love of art, my love of typography/design and would look neat in henna. Text manipulated in Adobe Illustrator.

March 15, 2010

Beartato Pillow


Hey everyone. So I was watching Project Runway... which always makes me want to sew something. So I tackled one of the smaller projects I had lying around the house waiting to be done... I love this web comic called Nedroid. It is delightfully strange and silly. One of the characters is named Beartato, and he is my favorite after Bartholomew. T shirts recently became available and as soon as I saw the design I knew I needed one, not because I need more shirts, but because it would be TOO easy to make into a plushy/pillow. Starting with the shirt flat on your table... Cut off the sleeves along the seam. Cut straight across from armpit to armpit, to get the shoulders and neck off. Cut some off the bottom so he's about the right size tall. I cut the sides off as well at the 6th tooth from the middle. This left me with two squares (one from the front, one from the back of the shirt) with his face in the middle. I rounded the edges of my square Beartato. I used the sleeves/scrap t-shirt to make ears. I had some black fabric leftover from something else and cut out arms and legs. I sewed up the arms, legs and ears. Then I stuffed the ears. His arms and legs aren't stuffed because they are too thin/small. Plus his arms are floppy and I kind of like it that way. I put it all together inside out and sewed it around the edges of the body.I left a hole at the bottom where he sits so that I had a place to stuff it full. I hand sewed up the bottom hole after I was done stuffing. Tah-Dah! Beartato! I would say that he is about 16 inches wide and 12 inches tall. I was trying to get him rounder, since he is in the comic, but I'm happy with him the way he is. He is by far the cutest pillow on my couch!

March 11, 2010

A study of dumb little vampies





















I used this website to make these. It has different settings that can be messed with to create different looks for how the brush works. Kinda cool. Certainly a great time waster.

March 10, 2010

Jason Throws Whiskey



Did a quick logo for my fiance's friend's band, named Jason Throws Whiskey. You can find them on facebook if you look.

I manipulated a font that was already chunky in Illustrator. Added a vector hand and a border from a vector illustration of vintage train stamps.

March 5, 2010

Dumbest Little Vampy


So lately whenever I've been bored this little guy shows up on whatever paper is around. I used Nancy Lorenz's sheet, which I saw one day when looking through google images for anime faces... you can find that here. Anyway he's all over my notebooks. One day I'll start scanning them all in. He lives in an old mailbox and has a rat friend. He's my dumb lil' vampy.

January 25, 2010

Kitsune from xxxHolic



Yet another project just completed. This is from a pattern off deviant art as well. It is a pipe fox (kitsune) from xxxHolic (the anime). It was pretty tough to make for something that looks so simple. I hand sewed the entire thing. (don't think I will next time though) It is made from one 40inch long tube that was stuffed with a second 40 inch long tube that contains the fluff and a strong beading wire so that it can be posed. Stuffing the thing was the hardest part. Basically I couldn't simply shove the stuffing tube into the other one since it was a tight fit and it was sooooo long, so I had to open the tail, insert a bent hanger, attach it to a hoop on the end of the tail of the inside stuffing tube and pull it through the outside body tube (like they do when putting wires underground). Then the head was sewn on. I really ended up liking the fabric i picked too, its not the same fur as the tutorial called for, but it's really soft and the back side of it is this suede brown so the underside of the ears is cute! He's my new favorite scarf!

Brain Slug Hat



I have been awful crafty of late... This is a good friend of mine modeling a new hat I created. I made a bunch of tiny crocheted brain slugs from a pattern off deviant art for my friends... this hat resulted from a request to make a large one that could eat your whole head. All I did was make the pattern really big and sized to fit. (And of course I left the bottom off so that it could go over ones head) Pretty cute. Sucks that most of the things I've made lately have been for others.

January 18, 2010

Socktopus



Socktopus is my latest completed project. Took me about a month total to crochet all parts of this toy. I saw a post somewhere on the internet about an octopus with socks on his feet. Its basically a good leftover yarn consuming project. Each leg has a different sock. And, No, there is no pattern for this because I made it up as I went along. Each leg I think is 10sc around except for where I decreased and increased to make it look like a sucker pad on the end of the legs... they are slightly different lengths, but you can't tell, at least I hope you cannot. After I did the first I simply held the rest next to it to get the length. I also found it was easier to stuff as I went along rather than try to shove fluff all the way down the tube. For the head I followed a sphere pattern I found online and doubled the sc until I felt it would be big enough. I did most of the circle stuffed it and then sewed the legs on with more of the same yarn around the hole at the bottom of the head sphere. Then after all the legs were on I began to crochet again, after stuffing it full, starting at the head then doing a couple crochets through a leg, then back into the head, then in a couple in the next leg... etc... all the way around. That way the legs and the head became more of one piece. After that, since this toy was given as a baby toy to a friend of mine, I decided to sew the legs and head together more just so the legs cant be too easily ripped off. In the end I think it turned out pretty well. And now of course I want one, so I guess another will be in order...eventually.