Taylor Swift Portrait

Sometimes things don't go exactly as you plan them to. That's what happened here.

This is a portrait I illustrated last year of Taylor Swift for whichever art class I was taking at the time. It was near the end of the school year, and I had completed little artwork on account of the fact that one of the other students in the class, who was a complete stranger to me earlier that year, and whom by this point I was rather good friends with, consistently helped me distract myself from work.

I remember I was home seriously sick with the flu, and upon beginning to recover, I sat at our kitchen table, reluctant to move out of fear that I may become more sick if I did so. I had some notebooks and paper sitting there, since I was hoping to bully myself into working on homework (much more important than bullying myself into eating, as according to my stomach at the time). What happened instead was that I pulled out the Taylor reference picture I had printed at school earlier that week and began setting my fingers to work. I completed three full portraits during those hours, two of which I admired, one which I hid among my other failed sketches, ashamed.

It doesn't quite look like the image I used to draw her, specifically due to the shading on her jaw, which was peculiar enough in the picture and difficult to exactly replicate. I did the best my ability would allow at the time, which was rather well I feel, considering I was rather ill.

I hope you guys enjoy this Taylor Swift drawing, and will check out my other artwork, as well as the portraits and designs yet to come.

 -KDVan

Comic Book Thumbnail: Page #1

Sometimes it seems that I have to many ideas to even begin to possibly express each and every one, whether through words, writing or my art. Some ideas go only one way; for example, there are ideas that I can simply never put into words, or ideas that I can only explain with precise diction and specific syntax.

The culmination of these artworks were ideas that were difficult to push one way or another. 

Theses illustrations represent a sort of rough comic book thumbnail mock ups. More thought and emotion, effort and ideas went into these four artworks than any person could possibly guess, and yet they are still quite incomplete. I can certainly see detailed colored digital renditions of these images being a guaranteed future endeavor...

This is the first page of four comic book thumbnail concepts. Specifically, this piece is a sort of splash page representing where the title and comic specifics would be (Chapter title, credits, etc.). Look for the other three later this week, or perhaps later this month. I despise repetition, so I may post other artworks in between these so there's a little more variety.

Perhaps one day I'll have the time and discipline to sit down and craft something magnificent. For now, let's just see where today takes me.

-KDVan

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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I Scream...

I love finding past artworks that I had written off as so absolutely finished, complete, and unbearably "done" that they were stored away in some discreet pile of random papers, stuffed in a corner and left to collect weighty dust. What I love even more is finding these pieces and seeing the potential that time has given them-- the potential I had been blind to during our previous encounter.

This is one such artwork.

 Once an assignment for a middle school class that was not art related, we were to study the spatial relationship between positive and negative space and create a visually appealing product simultaneously. We were told to draw a relatively simple shape, draw lines through it, then color every contacting space an opposite color.

Originally drawn in pen, probably sharpie, I have digitally remastered my old creation and have given it a bit more to look forward too. I didn't actually post the original artwork, but instead used a photo-editing program to recolor the black and white spaces, eliminating the pen markings, then posted this as a sort of "monochromatic" version of the illustration. This piece is fairly simple, vastly modernistic and contemporary, and vivaciously fun. If I were asked to sum up this piece in one word: vibrant.
-KDVan

Art Class Wrap Up: Mixed Media Collage

People who are familiar with the sort of work I do know that my typical first choice medium when working on an artwork are graphite pencils, especially when working on serious, realistic artworks, such as portraits. 

This aside, I always put vast effort into trying to experience other types or art, experimenting with new mediums and sharpening my skills to the most prevalent they can possible be. In honor of these morals, when my school's art instructor explained the types of projects we'd be focusing on this year in art class, I decidedly made a commitment to push myself to the limits and perform to the best my ability (and time restrictions) would allow.

This is an untitled mixed media project I completed for our class. First and foremost, I want to point out that the images here are exactly that-- photos cut from a magazine. I don't feel that the photos were altered near enough for me to own this artwork in entirety, which is why I consider it mixed media collage practice.This particular collage was made by cutting out carefully selected images in a variety of strategic shapes and patterns, gluing them down in layers with a glossy medium, painting designs over these, and finally adding unique and peculiar textures to add visual interest. The following is an excerpt from the artist statement I wrote regarding this piece, detailing the importance of color within the artwork itself.

"Most of the colors represent feelings themselves as purely as I could procure them. For example, the tinges of green with shades of turquoise and cyan represent euphoria in my mind. Often times, however, people associate greens with tranquility, equality, peace of mind and relaxation. A simple explanation for my deviation is the human experience and a bit of habituation; The flush of tidal waves and sea foam in a Seaside mural, salt heavy in the air, childhood dreams captured in the power of the waves; the vibrant sheen of the cloudless dome of heaven as I walk towards summer from the last day of school, from my past and into tomorrow; the crystalline glow of a sculpted jade dragon, every immaculate scale a small wrench in my artist’s pursuit of whim and fantasy: all these things I remember, and in essence feel, when I look into this shade of green. My euphoria."

I haven't the faintest idea who painted the solemn clown I found and placed near the bottom right hand side of the piece, but I absolutely loved their portrait. I very much so became an instant fan of their artwork and hope their identity doesn't always remain a mystery to me.

I'm in the process of planning some truly original mixed media pieces, crafted entirely from my own personally taken photographs and artworks. If you're interested in seeing me create some more artwork of this vein let me know--an artist always loves feedback.

Leave a comment here, or on Facebook.

-KDVan