Art by Erika Taguchi-Newton

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Armadillo Dream

Just finished this painting, hitting my end of the month deadline. This was a really fun piece to work on. I used the same technique I used on my Christmas painting. I used acrylics again to get the layering effect. The sky has about 8 layers of very thin glazes of paint. Not sure who's dreaming, the armadillo or the girl. They both have their eyes closed. The snails? They have that weird shimmery, translucent body. Maybe they can travel between dream world and real world. Next time you are dreaming, see if there are any snails around.

Armadillo Dream - Final

Lina wrote a little poem for this painting - I love it!:

Tenderly she plays a lullaby,
for all the animals and the sky.
She makes the flowers bloom,
and the kites fly high.
Daintily she spins the world
as she rides by,
our little Princess of Valentine.

Step-by-step:
WIP - Armadillo Dream (rough sketch)
Initial concept

WIP - Armadillo Dream (rough sketch 5)
Tighter sketch

WIP - Armadillo Dream (rough color)
Color comp in Photoshop

WIP - Armadillo Dream (Pencils)
Starting pencils on panel

WIP - Armadillo Dream (Pencils 2)
Still more pencils

WIP - Armadillo Dream (Pencils 3)
Whew! Done with pencils

Oops! Didn't take pics of the painting steps...

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Little Red Riding Hood - The Superhero

Little Red Riding Hood - The Superhero

So what happened after the Woodsman saved Red from the BBW? Well, she became an ass-kicking defender of the Wilderness, wielding the Woodsman's ax. And of course every superhero needs a sidekick. The dead Wolf's spirit is her reluctant familiar, making up for his past bad deeds.

For Illustration Friday's theme - wilderness.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

January's Art Show at Howley's


I entered couple of my watercolors into the show. Very nervous, I'm not use to showing my work yet. But that's one of my New Year resolutions, get over the shyness and stop being a hermit. The opening night reception is tonight - great food, great music, and really yummy milk shake! And I get to hang out with other great artists.

Artmurmur did a post about the show (link).

UPDATE:

Photo by Amanda Linton

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Pencil Drawing - Confined

Taking a break from a big painting project, decided to do a quick little drawing for Illustration Friday theme - Confined. This brings me back to my younger days when I liked to draw a lot of sword & sorcery - brooding wizards, warrior women, dragons... I forgot how much fun I had. Yes, I am a geek and proud of it!

Confined
"Darkness Confined"