Recycling Memories

Once upon a time, there was an itty bitty little girl who's mom bought her a gorgeous, girly jewelry box--the first and only she would ever own--for her birthday.

As time wore on, the corners of the box were scuffed, and the white-as-white-can-be paint began to peel. Splotches of sparkly nail polish spattered the drawers on the left-hand side of the box's face; the pink velvet lining on the inside of the box became soiled and discolored. An early attempt to revitalize and return the box to a shadow of its former glory ended promptly when she quickly realized she didn't have enough hot pink nail polish to do the job and do it right.

I had tried so desperately and clung so valiantly to the ideal that I would someday find this pitiable jewelry box to be at least somewhat salvageable.

During one of my routine room-wide purges of useless junk and worthless "mementos," I stumbled once again upon this present from my childhood. Once again, I felt much too sentimental to just throw the thing out. I even considered repainting it for my younger sister, but it soon occurred to me that she had ample jewelry boxes whereas I have never purchased another besides this one. I was also painfully aware that it wouldn't mean the same thing to her as this gift meant to me.

But what to do with it?

I fetched my paint, dusted off my brushes and sponges and let a perfectly synced combination  of imagination, inspiration, and ingenuity drive the direction of this unique transformation project.

I regret to admit that Legend of Zelda, while hugely popular with the right people for years now, has only just recently made an impact on my gaming radar. That being said, as one of my newest obsessions, this jewelry box seemed like the perfect scenario to attempt recreating these newly beloved characters of mine for the very first time.

I was on a fairly short time frame (especially considering that I'm quite the slow painter), so I went for an abstract rendition of the characters and their essence rather than photo realism in this particular instance. This is especially apparent in the Ganon and Zelda portraits, seen below.

Ideas have a tendency to change between bud and blossom; originally the box was going to be solely based on a Majora's Mask theme. I was rather partial to the idea, and even was intending to include an abstract image of the happy mask salesmen which was to be painted on the inside of the main door. However, I ended up shifting my plans and instead gravitated towards a more general theme based around the sybolism of the triforce itself.

Major updates to Krystal Dawn Blog are in the works right now. I'm employing my every ounce of programming cunning to design a 100% custom  Blogger template from absolute scratch for use on this blog. It's super exciting, and I'm having a lot of fun with it, but its a lot of work too. I've even taken the liberty of designing a super special awesome custom logo, straight from the heart of my very own graphic design prowess, and its turned out just gorgeous!

On an ending note, I've nearly finished my first week of school having returned to college after an extended break, and I am downright exhausted. I've also been working part-time as a freelance writer-- that's right, Krystal Dawn's been getting paid to write. I honestly never saw that one coming, but hey, work is work. More on my writing and school and blog improvements will be discussed in more detail in the very near future, so sit tight, and enjoy the ride.

Thanks guys, you're all lovely and wonderful and so fantastically supportive! As always, comments and questions are more than welcome :) Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
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Return From Rose City: A Comic Con Recap

Normally Monday is an opportunity for me to break out the stack of low-cost, low-quality comic books I've accumulated over the years and write up a comedic and entirely opinionated comic book review which I then proceed to post for the whole internet to glance over and not actually read.

However, I spent not this past Saturday but the Saturday before with my dad at Rose City Comic Con, and had decided that an account of my adventure into nerd heaven and all around geek ecstasy would be a more than appropriate replacement for two weeks worth of our weekly comic book review. It's a little late coming to you as life has a tendency to happen whether or not you've set deadlines for your blog entries and planned to set aside time to type, and it doesn't always give you the chance to spend those entirely necessary several hours writing up something you'd feel is at least semi-acceptable to share with the rest of humanity. It may be a week late, but I managed to put together a little revisit of the awesomeness that was Rose City Comic Con for you guys, complete with pictures. So grab some Doritos, pop open a can of Rickey's tea, pause whatever game you're currently playing on an emulator, and get prepared to enjoy a little geek culture.

Now first things first: Our objectives on this trip?

One: To locate a handful of decently priced comic books essential to collectors--often referred to as "key issues"-- depicting the initial appearances of specific characters, deaths, or the introductions of important story arcs or scripts. My dad collects valuable comic books, so RCCC was a great opportunity to pick up some must-have issues he's been dying to get his hands on. 

(Check out our list!)

Two: To meet see some of the amazing comic book artists in the industry today and to not only get to see their work in person but to ask their advice about cons, comics, getting started in the business, techniques, and everything in between. 

Three: To find some awesome stuff to bring home that'll make all my fellow geek friends jealous. Merch is a must have.

Anybody around here a fan of cosplay? There were hundreds of costume donning fans attending the second annual RCCC, so many in fact, that documenting them became something of a chore. So as much fun as it was to "ooh" and "aw" over every Poison Ivy and Deadpool that walked passed us, we saved our lens for those that we adored above all else. I got a chance to share the spotlight with a couple of fellow fans dressed as some of my personal favorite characters, which was a lot of fun.

Sheesh, what a day. Nightcrawler insisted on taking a stance that seemed more natural to him, crouching like a demon devil creature, so that it was necessary for me to lean over awkwardly beside him to stay in the frame. Link had no qualms about getting up close and personal, but apparently I forgot that the point of taking a picture was to actually smile. I look super uncomfortable and awkward, which wasn't how I felt at the time at all. But so what? I'm a real person with a real face who has the terribly real weakness of looking really awkward in photos half the time. It doesn't bother me any. I don't have anything to hide from you guys. Plus, no matter what my face looks like, my new haircut looks pretty darn sweet. So there. Oh, and the girl wearing the blue fairy costume? I've got to give credit to the girl who pulled off Navi like a boss.  "Hey, Listen!...I like your costume!"

Now, It's a common misconception that comic con is a place for comic book geeks only, which is entirely untrue. Comic cons are more accurately pop culture conventions. If you're obsessively passionate about a book, movie, television show, toy, brand, podcast or game, you're most definitely going to find a representation of it somewhere at comic con. 

Whovians and trekkies run amok at conventions like this, and if I didn't spy a few handfuls of full-on bronys and furrys conversing with a couple of Game Grump lovelies, then I don't know a thing about geek fan group stereotypes. Most cons run a full floor of exhibitors and artists sharing and selling their crafts, wares, and merchandise, and RCCC was no exception. CD's, books, jewelry, prints, T-shirts, plushies, pillows, key chains, bookmarks, leg warmers...Almost any type of merchandise you can imagine is being held hostage by a nerd franchise vendor, awaiting either your dearest payment of cold hard cash or a breezy credit card swipe in exchange for their immediate release.

The guy running the booth where this mock NES game cartridge pillow was being sold flat out insisted that I at least take a picture with it since I looked like I was going to pass up the purchase. Sure thing, since I had no intention of dropping all the cash I brought on this one item. Sorry unicorn pillow. When we walked back past the booth later, they were completely sold out of ironic NES pillows. Darn.

If you thought we'd come home from the con with toys like this, you were terribly mistaken. I don't even want to know how much these guys are going to cost when they're officially released (but I looked i up anyways--a whopping retail price of $425. Yikes!) The displays for these guys was impressive ; half a dozen or more tall glass cases housing 1/4 inch to scale Iron Man action figures standing at eye level, lit up by strategically placed lighting, the whole thing surrounded by a rich square of red carpet? No wonder it took so long to work our way up front where we could get a good look at the Iron Patriot.

My dad struck up a conversation with some exhibitors who put together and sold custom lego sets. The idea is to prepare boxed sets for characters and scenes lego doesn't have readily available in their retail collections available for purchase: for example, a model of the original 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Party Wagon, complete with April O'Neil, The Ghostbusters Ecto-1 vehicle, or a scene from AMC's hit television show, The Walking Dead. So, these guys make their own set using pieces that lego as already made and sells the set as their own with customized packaging. My dad asked them how lego felt about it, and as it turns out, they had contacted lego about what they were doing, and they didn't mind in the slightest. "The way they see it, lego building blocks are like paint. The person who makes the paint doesn't sue an artist for painting a masterpiece with their product and selling it." That's not an exact quote, but it is essentially the gist of what he explained to us (I didn't have my notepad out and at the ready to jot down quotable moments). I found their work notable, and definitely worth a mention.

If you had your quarters at the ready (or were willing to use the conveniently close by coin exchange machine), you could play retro arcade games to your heart's content in an area set up for that precise purpose. I'm not sure which exhibitor set this up, but the fact that the Portland Retro Gaming Expo is right around the corner could possibly be a contributing factor to this awesome addition to the expo floor. Classic games like Mrs.Pacman, Tapper, and Tetris, as well as less conventional classics like CarnEvil made an appearance. Did I mention there were pinball machines? And holy comic grader batman! A super convincing Batmobile replica vehicle was on display nearby, which we didn't hesitate to photograph. Let's be honest here, whether it was screen used or not, a Batmobile is a Batmobile and is just plain cool.

Artist Alley is what they call the section of the con dedicated to artists and creators of every skill level and artistic style. I spoke to a comic book penciller who worked on Spider-Man, as well as an artist who worked on the Mega Man comics and got to browse through the original inked pages that he worked on from the Mega Man / Sonic the Hedgehog comic book cross over. I had an enthralling conversation with Jimmie Robinson, the author, artist and creator behind The Adventures of Evil and Malice, a short comic series about twin daughters of a super villain who aim to be superheroes. I conversed with sketch artists who went into hosting a table at cons initially as a way to get their portfolios reviewed by professionals only to stumble upon their future career paths as comic artists and regular con attendees and artist alley hosts. I met a man who illustrated these fabulous images depicting distorted perspectives of Portland coffee shops. Stunning! A man who once worked on older style cartoons and their comic counterparts such as Pinky and the Brain and the Animaniacs.

If there was one piece of advice that I could share with you that seemed the most integral to everything everybody mentioned to me when I talked to them it was this: If you want to get into something, just do it. If you want to start making comics, just start making them. Nobody's going to offer you a golden opportunity without seeing what you've done on your own, and experience by attempting and failing and tripping up and making mistakes is half the journey towards making something spectacular. The more I browsed the art being sold and struck up conversations with all sorts of creatives, I realized that I could be doing this. I could be the one on the other side of the table, offering my art to the world, making a little money, but mostly gaining experience and doing what I loved. I was inspired, to say the least.

I really wanted to purchase some artwork of my own to have, original and prints. I picked up three well-priced prints from Mika Darling, a young female artist like myself who attends Savannah College of Art and Design, pictured below. 

I wish I remembered the name of the man who illustrated this awesome sticker! His work was absolutely gorgeous, and I wasn't passing up the offer to buy this sticker when it only cost a dollar.

I nearly laughed out loud when I saw this colossus artist trading card-- and not at the artist's expense, but with pure enjoyment and intrigue. Nightcrawler may be one of my fave X-Men, but I couldn't pass up the hilarity of the pose Colossus was striking here. This is a sheet of canvas/cardstock the artist actually worked on, a one of a kind artwork, pencils, ink and everything...And now its under my watchful possession.

Look at these super cute and cuddly chibi key chains I found, $3 for one or two for $5. I got two as you can see-- Nightcrawler and a humanized version of LSP, the Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time. Mathematical.

I picked up this custom made notebook from Skulltastic at the con for only $5-- You pick a cover (there were dozens of awesome nerd designs to choose from, my favorites being a parody school book cover with a bottle of "Elm Street Glue" and the "Mathter's of the Univerth" set depicting both He-Man and Skeletor), choose a binding (A rainbow of colors to choose from), choose the type of interior paper (lined, blank, comic page), and determine whether you want it binded on the left hand side or right hand side, or from the top like a notepad. Once you've made all of these important decisions, they process the pieces and put your cover and bits in a machine, and momentarily you've got yourself your own custom spiral bound notebook. I can't wait to put my new notebook to use by sketching new ideas and scripts for FRIENDZONE (Installment #2 is in the works, btw! Hint, hint)!

And of course, I'm sure you're all wondering the same thing: "Did dad get his comics?!?"

Well, let's take a look...

...The Uncanny X-Men #142 and #141, the introduction to the Days of future past story arc and the deaths of Wolverine, Storm, and Collosus.

...Marvel Premiere #47 and #48, the 1st appearance of the new Ant-Man.

...A replica of Action Comics #1, for display purposes.

...The Amazing Spider-Man #135, the 2nd full appearance of The Punisher.

...Giant Size Spider-Man #4, the 3rd full appearance of The Punisher.

...Yeah, I'd say he definitely got what he was looking for. 

Now, tell me: who doesn't love freebies? Every Exhibitor and artist had a stack of business cards on hand, making keeping track of artists and their sample work and contacts a cinch! I scanned my favorite business cards so you could get a glimpse at the diversity the con had to offer. All art pictured below is representational of the artist's actual work. Cool, huh?

Something like 10,000 people were expected to attend this years convention. Instead, there was a whopping 17,000 people that gathered on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd in Portland Oregon. Now, I'll let you all in on a little secret...Wizard World is coming to Portland January 24th-26th in 2014. And that is a comic con I'm not going to miss out on.

Alright, well I hope everybody enjoyed this little recap. If you've got questions, insights, feedback or criticism, feel free to leave a comment. I'm more than happy to answer questions and have discussions, so feel free to talk to me. You can also tweet me or post on my face book wall, all the links are posted below.

Also, look out for a series of brand new artworks, being posted this week on all of my social media pages. Like, retweet, share, and all that jazz. I've got more work to attend to, so I'll end it there.

With all sorts of nerdy well-wishes,

Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt

DeviantART: kekei94

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FRIENDZONE (#1)

The first ever installment of my new online web comic "FRIENDZONE": a comedic approach to my life as a  quirky freelance artist, full time gamer, college student "sort of" and all around geek. Don't forget to leave constructive feedback, criticism or suggestions, so that I can improve the next installment!

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt

DeviantART: kekei94

Can't Sleep: Piecing Together Majora's Mask

If only I could live each day like this. I'd spend any and all my energies in performing the tasks placed before me with a deep faith rooted in the belief that an efficient performance of the work ahead will pave an easier road for me to stumble upon in days nearby. Married to this moral, I could live a full life, and die content with myself and what I had become, and what I left behind.

Exhausted, but content. Who can possibly ask for more?

Well, I might as well.

Every morning I wake up bound by an unrelenting exhaustion that I consistently fail to escape. My muscles ache as though I had never properly stretched them before, and my consciousness behaves as though it hasn't come to terms with the quick, fluid motion and impressive effort necessary to cross the room and silence the alarm clock. Moments after having performed this action, I'm pulling the covers back over my face and I drift into discomfort as distant voices whisper in my ear. I hear the sounds, but not the words. They mean nothing to me. My horrendous slumber lingers as I lie awake in bed, and lies in essence as the dark rings curled up beneath my eyes that stay with me throughout the day.

 I haven't been sleeping well.

What I remember of my dreams tends to leave a bitter taste in my mind each morning as I dredge up the superhuman strength required to lift my concrete eyelids and admit entry to the blurry rays of curtain-filtered sunlight. Sometimes the details escape me. Sometimes they don't. Always, ALWAYS they are fraught with a fierce anxiety, like a many-headed serpent, that snaps and clutches at me at every twist and glance. No matter the circumstance, or try as I might to evade the beast's jaws, I am always finding myself practically thrown into the wyrm's mouth by own best intentions.

What I ask is for is a peaceful sleep. A sleep without worries and that anxiety which I have finally managed to successfully evade during the day, now intent on living on through some sick subconscious fear in my mind while I am resting and have no means with which to beat it. There's no use in coaching yourself to breathe deeply and count backwards in a dream.

Most curious is perhaps the fact that it is only the memory of a panic attack, or the memory of the anxiety and physical symptoms that occur during my sleep. Panic and worry are not necessarily physical, substantial things as much as a state of mind that can affect an individual's mind and body. Would that make my dream panic just as real in the sense of how it affects my body and mind as my ordinary conscious anxiety?
Something to ponder, I guess.

***

This artwork is part of my Nintendo64 era inspired collage artwork series, and depicts Majora's Mask as those geeks out there should already know without me telling them. Before I get into the media and discussing the project as a work of art and the physical creation process involved with it, I wanted to say a little more about the subject matter.

I'm at that awkward age where people were playing Super Nintedo Entertainment Systems and Sega who knows what when I was born, but had already upgraded to better consoles by the time I was actually old enough to hold a controller. I started playing the N64 when I was little more than a toddler, and never looked back. It was then written in the book of geek that I would forever onward be a nerd, which I completely took in stride, without even knowing I was doing so. It wasn't about labels or stereotypes or living up to some misogynistic "gamer girl" ideal. I fell in love with gaming. It was what I liked to do.

The Legend of Zelda games were actually something I sort of fell into later on in my life, a much more recent acquisition to my gaming experiences. I rented Ocarina of Time from a Hollywood video store once when I was still in elementary school and was clueless as to how to play it. Whether I could read and simply chose not to, or whether I found the paragraphs of plot presented to the player at the opening of the game mind-numbing as a 6 year old, I don't know. What I do know is that I had no idea what I was supposed to do and ran around kokiri village like an idiot for more than an hour every day for a week until the game rental was up. I never found the kokiri sword or equipped the shield. I never tried to lift rocks or discovered the rupees hiding in the tall grass. I didn't even realize you could save the game by pausing. In fact, I didn't even know there were subscreens when you paused the game, and somehow I forget whether I even knew to press the up c button when navi tried desperately to get my attention. Did I even know where the up c button was located on the 64 controller? I hope with all that's right in this world the answer to that was yes.

As it turns out, Ocarina of Time would become that one game I would always regret not playing. It was that game that other gamers would ask about and would then commence to verbally abuse me for having conjolingly skipped, and likewise the entire Legend of Zelda franchise.

So why Majora's Mask...?

It honestly just seemed like a good place to start.

I wanted to make an artwork inspired by the Legend of Zelda franchise, and the thought came to me to do the mask, as it was a simple, substantial object that could be effectively captured with this particular collage technique. I'd really like to move on to doing other collage artworks inspired by video games, and work my way into designing much more complex collages with much more intricate details.

One of my followers on Twitter suggested doing more masks, and highly recommended the mask of truth. All I can say is that it is extremely likely I'll be tackling said mask in the very near future, as the idea of making more mask collages is one that I absolutely adored.

This image is entirely compromised of National Geographic magazine scraps that have been carefully arranged and secured to a large canvas.

I hope you all have had a fabulous summer, and are sleeping much better than I have been as of late!

Sincerely, Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
DeviantART: kekei94

Princess Sally

A quick mixed media sketch of princess Sally Acorn as a little girl from the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie adventure series. Colored pencils and markers.

I have so many things going on right now! So many projects, and updates...So much work to be done...Man, and on top of that, this insanely hot weather that only makes it twice as hard to work feverishly on artwork and posts.

-Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
DeviantART: kekei94

Giratina: Origin Form

And for your viewing pleasure, legendary pokemon Giratina, in origin form!

Growing up, pokemon played a major role in my life. I was, and so remain, an avid fan of the original pokemon franchise as a whole. And what with the announcement of the next generation of new pokemon with the release of pokemon X and Y, marked for release in October of this year, and the controversy revolving around the  further announcement of the newest pokemon type introduced to the series, its nice to have a little reminder of some of the things Game Freak has done right in the past.

Mixed media: markers and colored pencil on regular copy paper. I really need to invest in some higher value drawing paper. Cold press, or bristol board or something of the like. I'd also new fine tip inking pens. I guess I'll just have to add those to my starving artist shopping list.

In other news, I finished Zaius, the third and final part of my three part Planet of the Apes Portrait series. Next on my to do list, I need to have all three portraits sprayed with fixative so they don't smudge before I get a chance to scan them and have prints made. I'm also considering adding digital manipulations to the drawings, like using layers to create watercolor backgrounds. I think I have a clear idea for a way to add a little more color and overall visual interest to my simple Planet of the Apes portrait series. If all goes well, these might be prints I'll sell as a limited edition, a "Rose City Comic Con Only" type deal. 

I wish you all good luck in your future artistic endeavors!

-Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
DeviantART: kekei94

The Gray Jinjo House

So here we have a quick study of the Gray Jinjo House from the Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Tooie. First off, this a scan straight from my sketchbook. I wanted to do more still lifes, but had no interesting subjects on hand. So what I chose to do instead was sketch the polygons from my TV screen in the sequel to one of my favorite 64 games.

The gray Jinjo house is just plain interesting.

The sign next to the house reads, "In loving memory of the gray Jinjo family. Passed away unexpectedly when a huge digging machine flattened their house."

Yep. That's the morbid humor of Rareware, for you. This was the first sign you encountered in the game, and were prompted to read it by Jamjars, an NPC who teaches you new moves throughout the game. The huge digging machine was of course the bulldozer that Gruntilda and her hideous witch sisters had used to burrow their way out of spiral mountain during the opening cutscene of the game. The house remnants are found in Jinjo village, surrounded by other colorful houses left quite in tact. Rare uses this sign to explain why Gray jinjos, which you must rescue throughout the levels, are nowhere to be seen in the game.

This was done entirely with pencil. Shading was done with Q-tips. Hope you enjoy!

NOTE: The small sketch of the critter in the corner was drawn by a talented friend of mine...She felt the need to doodle on it while it was still half finished, apparently.

-Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
DeviantART: kekei94

What Time is It...?!?

...Pizza Time! 

Originally drawn as a T-shirt design, this digital artwork brings together two of my favorite animated franchises. And I had so much fun working on it! 

This blog has seen some drastic changes quite recently, such as the overall layout and template design and even the blog name. Graphite Butterflies was always a temporary work in progress title, but somehow it had stuck. As an artist I go by the name Krystal Dawn, which is my real first and middle name.

There is much work yet to do! 

Enjoy, and feel free to comment, ask questions, and leave feedback!

NOTE: I seem to have lost my original, completely edited artwork file. So this one will have to do for now. Please bear with me as I work to correct this problem.

-Krystal Dawn

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt
DeviantART: kekei94

Happy Father's Day!

There is not a single doubt in the mind of anyone who knows my dad that he LOVES movies. Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Weird Science... He can't get enough vintage movie magic. 

...And what movie franchise demonstrates movie magic quite like Planet of the Apes?

  Hoping to commission myself to create an artwork that does the franchise justice, I drew a graphite portrait of Cornelius. This particular drawing took me multiple hours to complete. Specifically, somewhere around 6 hours, I believe. It's hard to tell one hundred percent, since around my house it's difficult to find time to do much of anything without interruption from one thing or another, meaning that I was constantly setting aside my artwork to do anything and everything from chores to babysitting. However, I managed to complete my artwork within my given time limit, and was extremely happy with the result. 

One of the things that's seriously cool about the original Planet of the Apes is the makeup and whatnot that was used to give the actors their ape-like appearance. No computer generated images, that's for sure. While that sort of craftsmanship isn't exactly my cup of tea, I can rightly appreciate how much work went into projects like this in similar movies. I had a lot of fun working on this project, especially since the ape's face is just different enough to make drawing a portrait feel like a unique and new experience.

It may not be the Planet of the Apes trashcan you saw at Billy Galaxy, but Happy Father's Day, dad!  I have so much fun working on projects with you, whether we're building another IKEA bookshelf or piecing together Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures. I love you!

-KDVan

NOTE: A limited number of prints of this artwork are now available.

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Hershey The Cat

If you're not one of those singular individuals lucky enough to be christened "geek," "nerd," or "obscenely obsessed fan of a dying franchise (i.e. Sonic the Hedgehog)," you likely don't recognize this character.

 Hershey the Cat is the name of this somewhat obscure character, who appears firstly and foremost in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series. Apparently fanart of this particular character is somewhat scarce compared to others on deviantart; within days of its publication multiple deviants wanted permission to add this picture to their sonic fanart galleries and group albums, which I willingly obliged to.

This digital illustration was actually completed just after the Espio the Chameleon illustration, yet was left unpublished on Graphite butterflies. To be quite honest, I felt that my art blog had endured enough stress from one piece of fanart to the next, to earn itself a much deserved break. Seeing this as the case, I posted this image on deviantart instead, where the art of the "obscenely obsessed," to coin my own phrase, are warmly welcomed and zealously encouraged. 

I came to the understanding after much deliberation and contemplation and  hesitation and whatnot, that art, is art. If this is what I have been working on, and I created it with my own two hands, then this is an artistic experience and instance that not only exists but that I can learn from. I'll be the first to admit that this digital artwork turned out much better than its reptilian predecessor.

Espio the Chameleon

Yesterday was sonic the Hedgehog's 20th anniversary, so it seemed like a good time to do some fanart.In all reality, I started this project just to get a little digital art practice in, since it's been a while since I've made use of the Fireworks program on my computer, and my timing turned out to be pretty impeccable.

The character drawn here is Espio, which comes from the word "Espionage", which has to do with spies and sneaking around. It makes sense considering that he's supposed to be a ninja, which is also why he's one of my favorite characters from the STH franchise. 

This illustration was originally published on Deviantart, so if you have a Deviantart page I suppose you could find it and favorite it if you'd like. For now on my fanart and fanart only will be published to Deviantart as well as to here, so I can get some use out of that old account. Also, If you're a fan of my work, search for "KDVan" on facebook and like my page so you can get instant updates on new projects.

The Champ is here!

 WWE is a family thing at my house. We all watch RAW on Monday nights in the living room while eating dinner, and we almost always have a "party" for the Sunday wrestling pay-per-views. Wrestlemania is our Superbowl. In fact, as of May my parents took me and my sister to see RAW live at the Portland Rose Garden. It could only be a matter of time until I brought this influence into my art, all I needed was a reason and an opportunity.

 Father's Day.

John Cena is my dad's favorite WWE superstar, point blank. He has tons of John Cena merchandise, including T-shirts, a signed photograph, a specialized John Cena Christmas stocking, action figures, and even a life size cardboard cut-out of John Cena himself. So, inspired by my dad's intensive dedication, I decided that I would draw a portrait of the People's Champ for my dad's father's day gift, so he could add another piece to his vast collection.

Quite honestly, it turned out rather well. The image I used to draw him was an older one, so he wasn't wearing his usual orange, or as it is now, red garb. Just black. No fruity pebbles in sight.

This image was drawn with graphite on Strathmore premium recycled paper. I honestly question anything that lists "premium" as one of it's qualities.

Happy Father's Day dad! You are seriously the best! I love you so much!

   

Retro Nostalgia

Some people move on quickly, surely, and indefinitely. I, however, am one of those who linger. Being indecisive and slightly passive, I tend to let things go longer than need be. Procrastination some might call it, but that doesn't quite seem to neatly fit into the description of my actions. It's more like second-guessing or being unsure, although neither of those is correct either. More than anything else, I am merely waiting. Waiting for something more to happen, waiting for the inevitable to occur, or simply waiting for the moment when I'll look back to that moment I spent waiting and wonder why that was what I chose to do with it.

 Nothing of this world lasts forever. However, this is a fact that deserves great celebration rather than metaphoric tears. It makes each and every experience unique, important, and incredibly valuable. Would a perfect day be so fantastically free if you lived it perpetually for years? Would a remarkable friendship really be worth saving if it were not constantly threatened by time? Would you really make the most of an unusual opportunity if it came around more than once? 

Often times I reminisce the days when my art had been very different from what it is now. If it had not been for my childhood friends' fascination with Sega video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog, I may have never learned to draw at all. It was through sheer determination and initiative brought on by slight obsessiveness and a desire to learn that brought me to this moment in time, and so brought me to create this quirky fan art piece. It was an old drawing I drew merely to test the inking capabilities of some new fine-tip pens I bought, and ended up running across some time later while going through old sketchbooks. On an unexpected whim I decided the picture would look simply divine colored and, scanning it immediately, I went to work. Making the decision to digitally color this piece, I had to put seemingly endless amounts of frivolous patience into bringing this strange piece to life.