Lil' Dragon - Pyro Training - Day Four

Had some extra time to work on inking in the background details today.  The scene is now set for a late evening camp fire ... wonder if Lil' Danny Boy Dragon will be able to pull it off?!  If so, perhaps some "Smores" will be on tonight's dinner menu???  We'll see .....

This scanned image is actually a bit lighter than the original, probably because I just ran a quick automatic mode scan; but you can see where I am going with this piece.

Take care and be happy,
Karen Anne and Danny Boy

Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens 2014 Brochure

Earlier this year I was contacted by a representative of Faber- Castell with regards to having my artwork included in a 19 page brochure they were creating for 2014 featuring artists, who use their Pitt Artist Pens, from all over the world!  I was extremely complimented and delighted that my work would be included in this project, along with so many other talented artists, to say the least.

Faber-Castell emailed me a copy of the brochure a while back, but with all that was going on with Mom and Jim, I just kinda forgot about it.  Yesterday, while cleaning up the mess of saved files on my desktop, I came across the PDF file I had received from them.  Today I "Googled" how to change pdf format into jpeg format so that I could share a portion of the brochure with all of you.

I have condensed the brochure to include the first 5 pages and page 11, the page on which my work is featured.  If any of you would like to see the brochure in its entirety, let me know and I will be happy to email a pdf file to you.

Here is my condensed version of the brochure:

and here is a full page copy of page 11 (my page!) ...

I was lucky enough to be able to share this honor with my Mom before she passed, I think she was kinda proud of her eldest daughter ... :)

Now I am proud to share this sweet honor with all of you ...

Take care and be happy!
Big hugs,
Karen Anne

Lil' Dragon - Pyro Training ... Day 3

In addition to five loads of laundry and walking the doggie, I also managed to get the background watercolors painted.  I can already see how the colors are going to dictate the ink work I add to the piece tomorrow ... hope it turns out as well as I am seeing it in my mind!

I have covered Lil' Dragon and the fire with frisket film to protect that portion of the drawing while I am working on the background.  The hardest part with the frisket film is cutting around the protected area with an X-acto knife then removing the excess film, tedious and time consuming work.

I have to tell you, working with watercolors on Stonehenge paper is terrific!  I literally had this piece of paper sopping wet today, I had applied too much dark paint and I was dunking paper towels into water and sopping up excess paint; I am just amazed that there is only a slight curve to the dried paper.  Amazing!

So much for all the technical chit chat ... here is day 3 progress:

Take care and be happy!
Karen Anne

Pyro in Training in Ink ...

Today I transferred the pencil sketch to Stonehenge Paper in ink.  I am pleased with how it turned out and look forward to beginning the coloring process.  I am also saving copies of the ink drawings for coloring pages, it is always fun to surprise neighborhood kids with a fun page to color!

I'm going for a similar background as I did with the first Lil' Dragon but am inclined to doing him in blues, lavenders, reds and possibly green this time ..... we'll see!

Take care and happy day!

Karen Anne

New! Lil' Dragon - Pyro In Training ...

Hi family and friends!

I definitely have dragons filling my head and have just finished a sketch for a new piece, this one will be of Lil' Dragon in "Pyro In Training".  This is also a piece showing the evolution of this little character. I have changed things a bit in his physical appearance and have started calling him "Danny Boy, Lil' Dragon in Training"!   In other words, Lil' Dragon is evolving!

This particular illustration was prompted by my youngest grandson, Jake, who dubbed himself "Pyro in Training" these past few weeks when he was learning to start a fire with excess tree debris in our backyard fire pit.  Now he (Jake) just has to work on how to burn a "clean" fire sans smoke!

Thanks for the inspiration Jake, my boy!  Happy to present my initial sketch of "Lil Dragon - Pyro In Training"!

So, for the next several days we will be following the progress of a Lil' Dragon in Training!  Hope you will enjoy his progress as much as I surely will!

Lil' Dragon finished on 6/18/2014!

Lil' Dragon is officially completed as of June 18th, 2014!  I am pleased with how the little fella turned out and hope you like him too.   The finished, trimmed size is 8.278" x 10.803" ...

I'm thinking that I would like to try my hand at another Lil' Dragon ... ;)

Tuesday Progress on Lil' Dragon

I had a bit of time after all the other stuff that needed tending today so I was actually able to work a bit on the Lil' Dragon.  Today his face and arm/hand holding the Dragon Pop have been completed and I started shadowing on the yellow part of his torso ... I think I may just complete this lil' guy tomorrow!

PS  Today I received two lovely comments from Oma Linda and Lise ... would you believe, I hit the "Delete" button instead of the "Publish" button!  I just want you both to know I received you comments, and I loved them ... that Delete button is just too darn close to the Publish button!  Sorry Oma Linda and Lise!  

Monday progress on Lil' Dragon

Put on some nice classic Rock Radio today and began working on the Lil' Fella!  Using my Yarka Watercolor paints I applied a nice bright coat of color which I am following up with shadowing using my Prismacolor Verithin pencils and Tombow Irojiten pencils.  The pens are Prismacolor Premier Fine Line Markers (.005) for the extra fine and color lines, with Faber Castell Pitt Pens for the stronger black ink lines.

I managed to finish up his wings today and I am very happy with the results.  I'll have to wait until Wednesday before I can work on the drawing again because I have too many scheduled things to take care of tomorrow.  Really looking forward to Wednesday!

Here are some photos of today's endeavors ...

Here is a close up of the detail on the wings ...

Happy day to all!

Karen Anne

Progress on Lil' Dragon

This is as far as I got on the "Lil' Fella" Friday, 6/13/14; working on the background, have applied water color pencils to the background and am using the resulting patterns to create a somewhat fantasy background.  I have applied a plastic film over the lil' guy so that I don't smudge him up too much; as you can see, some of the water did seep under the plastic frisket film ... but, hopefully, not enough to do much damage.

I wanted the background to be on the muted side so I used Derwent Graphitint water color pencils, then did a bit of shadowing with Verithin and TomBow colored pencils.  I used a .005 Presmacolor black ink art pen for the line work.  Just an FYI for anyone interested.

I finished the rest of the background on Saturday, 6/14/14, and look forward to working on the Lil' Guy on Sunday or Monday ... probably Monday since Sunday is Father's Day.  

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the great Dads out there!

 

Toddler Dragon - Ink Rendition 6-12-14

Here is phase two of my Toddler Dragon, basic lines done in black ink.  All ready to apply color!

Back up to my studio to begin adding some color!  Since my acrylics haven't arrived, I begin this version with colored pencils (wet & dry) and finish it off with ink ... will be fun to see where it goes next!

Bigs hugs my good friends!
Karen Anne

Baby Dragon Pencil Sketch 6-11-14

Today I wanted to draw a dragon, a baby dragon to be exact.  Don't know why I am  fixed upon a dragon as my next piece of artwork ... but I am and I am going to keep working on him/her until I have developed a cute little character.  I'm thinking I could add him into some of my other pieces eventually.

Today I had a couple hours to spare so I really cleaned up my art area, put on some good music with a happy beat and lost myself in a little pencil sketch.   I think I am going to do this little guy in watercolor, colored pencils and ink; then I may attempt to do him in acrylics.

Yep, my dear friends ... acrylics!   From the time I was 17 (late 1960's) until the late 1980's most of my work was done in acrylics.  Then life got so busy (I had to go to work) that I had little time for artwork. My paints eventually dried up, most of my brushes kinda disappeared and I just lost interest in acrylics.

Well, for the last 6 months I have been wanting to try my hand at acrylics again; finally, after MUCH deliberation, I finally ordered myself some acrylics paints, some brushes, canvas paper & acrylic finish and it should all arrive by this Friday at the earliest.  I am looking forward to dipping my new brushes into some paint and seeing what I can do now ... oh boy, nice challenge!

Back to my "Toddler Dragon" ... this is how far along I got today with my pencil sketch ... now, I am going to study him, tweak him, and see where my pencils take me on my drawing of a dragon quest!

"Toddler Dragon" 6-11-2014 (1st sketch)

If you have any suggestions on changes you can see that would enhance this image, please feel free to share with me!

Thanks a bunch!

Karen Anne

PS  After 8 days in the hospital, my hubby finally came home 5 days ago; he is doing much better now and working on regaining his strength and weight.  Thank you so much for all the prayers and good thoughts and wishes you all sent ... they really do help and are very appreciated!  Take care and know you are loved.  Karen Anne *big hug to all of you*