Here are some watercolors I had kicking around because I am tired of talking about the Sketchpad. (There will be one more sketchpad entry, and then we're done. Done, I tell you.)
First we have a very, very civilized portrait of Beasty, where he is looking very proper and wearing clothes. He looks nice in blue. The subject however, was critical of this piece. His critique was WHY DID YOU MAKE ME A BLOND WOMAN?
The second piece was done for a Hitchcock-themed group show. This is inspired by Rope, which is not one of the movies everyone thinks of when they think of Hitchcock, but is really quite good. This piece now belongs to my friend. It's a bit more cartoony than I usually go, but I think it works. I also think I got the expressions of the characters right: reluctant follower on the left, smug douche on the right.
I have a bunch of big oils paintings in the works, but I have to figure out a way to photograph them since the autofocus on my camera is still auto-fucked. I will likely borrow my mom's camera, but I really dislike that camera. Oh well. It will have to do.
I made another one!
I've lately been slightly obsessed with Creepypastas and in particular with Jeff the Killer. I don't know why, I just really like him and think he's adorable. I'll admit to having a little bit of a crush on him. So, like one does when one has a crush on a fictional character, I decided to make a doll of him.
Maybe I do spend too much time on deviantART.
Jeff here was also a Monster High doll before his makeover. I don't remember which one. I sanded the face off and cut off all the hair and repainted him using watercolors, gouache and chalk pastels, just like the other one. Jeff, in canon, (if Creepypasta can be called canon), has a Glasgow grin and lidless eyes. I created the mouth by lining its edges with glue--this created the sense that his teeth were behind his cheeks, and made his skin look extra scarred and nasty. I also scalpeled his nose and jaw a bit. The doll, in true Mattel style, was molded to be some kind of square-jawed, hyper-masculine dudebro type (which clashed oddly with the thin, long-legged and rather feminine body mold), the kind I, as a female, am apparently supposed to find attractive. I, however, prefer my men to have a narrower jawline, so I tried paring him down with an Xacto. It didn't do much. Jeff is also supposed to be lacking a nose, though I have a problem with this as it doesn't really make sense. (I mentioned before that the original Jeff Creepypasta is nonsensical bullshit, so I don't pay much attention to it.) Anyway, if I took the nose off the doll it would have a hole in its face, which I wanted to avoid, so I just flattened it a bit.
The hair was interesting. Originally the doll had shortish black hair with a blond fringe (stupid-looking), and something like wax had been applied to it to hold it in place. I cut the hair off, rendering him bald. The hair you see here is actually the hair I cut off the first doll (and saved in an envelope marked CREEPY DOLL HAIR). It took a bit of thinking, but I managed to come up with a way to create what is essentially a doll weave. First, I separated the hair into flat sections, then melted the ends on one side with a lighter to create a fringe of hair that would lay flat. I think this is known in the fake hair business as a weft. Anyway that's what I was calling them. The hair melted wonderfully, and ended up being pretty stable. Then, I sewed a piece of tulle to the doll's head, fitting it on like a bathing cap. I was then able to sew the hair wefts to the tulle, sewing around the fused edge to keep it in place. He has a bunch of them and it took a while, but I think he looks pretty good.
As far as clothing goes, poor Jeff remains naked. He's supposed to wear a white hoodie and a pair of black pants, but my sewing skills, particularly on such a small scale, are not good enough to make anything convincing.
He looks happy enough, though.
Two posts in one day? What is this?So there aren't many pages left in the old sketchpad, and so our tales will be winding down soonish. But here are some more lovely pictures of Boyfriend. Isn't he the cutest?
The first one is what would happen if you crossed Jeff the Killer with The Rake. Because you know what you get? The Jake. Get it? It's funny because that's his name. And because he really looks like this. Shortly after I drew the first image, he was chasing me around, as usual, and then he stopped and said thoughtfully, "You know, I finally get why you always draw me as a creepy animal."
I was like, wow, took you long enough.
Shortly thereafter he requested another portrait where he looked a little more dignified. He said he wanted to be shown wrapped in his dead animal blanket (it's fur, I don't know what kind) with some kind of bone decoration. So here he is relaxing in the evening. I like to think he's saying, "Hi there, why don't you sit down and relax and have some wine. Of course it's not really wine, it's the blood of your loved ones for I am The Jake." It's hard to see but his necklace is a human hand.
He's so great.
(Also, I've been reading a lot of Creepypasta lately. I really like Jeff the Killer, he's adorable, but his backstory blows. It makes like zero sense. I wrote him a new one over on deviantART and he'd better fucking appreciate it.)
So I was looking through dA the other day and I noticed that people were doing really interesting things with Mattel's "Monster High" line of dolls. If you don't know, Monster High is this god-awful franchise involving teenage-girl versions of classic horror movie monsters. They all dress like hobags and the animated series actually causes brain damage. Seriously. It makes My Little Pony look like Shakespeare.
SO I convinced Boyfriend to come with me on a quest to WalMart to find one of these hideous little dolls. The Monster High section had been completely demolished by the time we got there, though. There were literally 2 dolls left. I have to admit it was fun buying a doll. I haven't bought a doll since I was like 10 so it brought back some nice memories of pulling limbs off my Barbies.
Then came the process of sanding and repainting the doll. First, I cut all of the hair off. I saved it in an envelope marked CREEPY DOLL HAIR because I plan on using it for another doll. Then I sanded the eyes and lips off, and sanded the body as well so it would take paint better. Sanded-down plastic smells like shit, in case you're wondering.
After that came the recoloring. I used chalk pastels for the base coats, scraping the pastels with a scissor to get a fine dust, and then applying it with a paintbrush, which was something I learned from various tutorials on YouTube. The detailing was done with watercolor. In between steps I sprayed it with acrylic sealant (outside, you don't want that shit in your house). The body was harder to paint than the face, being made of hard, smooth plastic, but I managed to get a nice emaciation thing going--not hard, considering the bizarre proportions of these dolls. I also carved in some wounds on the chest and back, and painted them red and gross.
The clothing is made from an old T-shirt. The arms, head and legs are wrapped in strips of it, and a sort of kirtle over it. The clothing is sewn on, and I don't plan on removing it, although it does cover the wounds. The gold cross is glued on, and was actually the strap of the purse that came with the doll. The triangle in the middle was also a doll accessory, in this case a bangle. Weirdly enough, the outfit was inspired by one of the costumes in Lady Gaga's "Judas" video. Hers, of course, is a bit more plush.
The idea for the doll was a religious fanatic who practiced mortification of the flesh as a way to achieve spiritual growth. This one likes self-flagellation and fasting. I already have another on planned, and just picked up a doll from Amazon. It's going to get a face full of hot glue. I am excited.
So I really dislike Twilight. Like, a lot. For a variety of reasons, most of which can be echoed on a certain Tumblr blog I frequent.
And after completing the "Bella Sucks" meme that I found on deviantART and having a lot of fun, I decided to elaborate on a particular image on page 2 of the meme that filled me with glee. Out came the sketchpad.
So here's Beast Boy in all his feral glory upon discovering the invasive activities of one of our newer, more sparkling pop-culture figures (because I cannot, in good conscience, call him a "literary" one) and taking action.
Aw.
Here are some watercolors I had kicking around because I am tired of talking about the Sketchpad. (There will be one more sketchpad entry, and then we're done. Done, I tell you.)
