Tonight I bring you some of my activities of late. Last Saturday a colleague of mine and I had a long studio day complete with a sketch brainstorm. During these sessions, we randomly choose subjects and then do timed sketches of them. This activity been very successful in the past– Redneck Pigs was actually born from one of these sessions. If I can find the original sketch, I’ll post it here at a later date. Needless to say I was very eager to get started because I was hoping for some great inspiration for personal art.

Mermaid Song Sketch – Graphite on bond

Our first subject was “mermaid” and I was surprised with how much I liked the sketch. I feel like the lines are very graceful and lyrical which lends itself perfectly to the subject matter. I do believe I have a basis for a new painting! Expect to see this drawing again in the near future.

Nerd with Corgi – Graphite on bond

Another subject later on in the evening was a “nerdy kid.” I took the liberty of making an extremely bookish nerd girl complete with sidekick corgi. I enjoyed this a lot too, and it may hopefully turn into something as well.

And of course, this past Tuesday I finally got back to the Gaijin Studios figure drawing class for the first time in about a month. I had newsprint this time instead of drawing paper, and was wildly unhappy with the outcome of my drawings. The newsprint I purchased was really waxy and just wasn’t taking the graphite well. Unfortunately I ended up hating almost all of my drawings with a passion. I’ve only got one worth showing this go-round.

Figure Drawing – Graphite on newsprint

Come back tomorrow for more on what I’ve been up to outside of Vinny. I’ll have lots to show!

I am still alive, amazingly. I’m not sure if it’s the constantly changing weather, allergies, or the fact that I work in an office, but I just keep staying sick. It’s awful. I’m getting lots of art done though, and generally keeping it together to make my Vinny deadlines. I just completed another page earlier this evening. Unfortunately, I have not yet scanned and/or photographed any of the new stuff I’m working on, so my blog post for tonight is going to be a week-and-a-half late Artist Spotlight.

Tale of a Butterfly – Markers and colored pencils. © Natalia Pierandrei.

Natalia Pierandrei, more commonly known as “Nati” has been an illustrator that I’ve admired for quite some time. I discovered her originally several years ago on DeviantArt while surfing and collecting artists that I liked to add to my Watch List. I was immediately attracted to her artwork because, like me, she does marker work. And believe me, after an entire semester of intense self-study in markers, I know that there aren’t very many marker artists out there. I’m not surprised either, with the sheer lack of instruction in and use for marker art. Everything is computerized these days! There’s not as much respect for us traditional artists anymore, I say!

Garden of Delights – Markers, watercolors and colored pencils on Fabriano Murillo paper. © Natalia Pierandrei.

I digress. Nati’s work is fabulously limited in its color palette– and boy does it work for her. Simple, graceful lines, dimmed colors suddenly superheated with one or two bright ones, and an interesting anime-influenced fusion style really gives her work a punch. There are so many of her pieces that I like that it’s difficult to choose just a few to showcase here!

Winter Commission – Markers, watercolors and colored pencils. © Natalia Pierandrei.

Her work is intricate and detailed. She says herself on her website that she takes some inspiration from art nouveau-styled artworks and artists. And the best part? She lives in Italia. Easily one of my favorite countries, and the one I’ve spent the most time in besides my own.

She just released an artbook named Precious Things which is, unfortunately, sold out at this time. But you should totally get interested and check out her website “A Forgotten Night Tale”, and her blog, “Precipitevolissimevolmente”. Her stuff is great– I hope you get hooked on it as I have.