More sketching for MATS Bootcamp

On Monday, we began our second assignment for Lilla Rogers online class, MATS Bootcamp. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, Lilla always starts with a "mini." The minis help us warm up, draw, paint and enjoy ourselves before we're given our actual assignment.

This month's mini is the scenic plate. She showed us several cool plates from her own collection, all with different kinds of scenes painted on them. Yesterday, I chose a plate with a pastoral landscape to sketch from, as well as one with a charming lord and lady courtship setting.

(I had some difficulty keeping my paper and pencil away from my new, extremely-playful-and-cuddly kitty, as you can see in the picture below.)

Work in progress, The Guitar Player

I've been working on this guitar-playing character the past couple days. Today, I plan to build her an audience. It might just be one child flanked on her shoulder. Perhaps another at her feet. I'll post again when she's complete. Thanks for visiting!

Sketching today

Yesterday, I went to the Met to see the Madame Cézanne exhibit. While I'd gone to view the paintings, it was Cézanne's sketches that I was most drawn to. I was once again reminded of how much I love swift and unfinished work. How a quick graphite sketch can capture more for me than a detailed portrait. I just love them.

This morning, I set out to sketch a bit myself. Here's one of today's drawings of my husband.

Making fonts with my kid

This morning, my son's school was delayed due to the snow, so we spent the extra time creating our own fonts on paintfont.com. My son worked on his while I shoveled, and when I came back in, I realized he'd made pictures, instead of letters — his own hieroglyphics! Or secret code.

Below is Archer's super-cool picture font (look at all those cool characters!!). My handwriting font follows. We had a great time, and I highly recommend trying it!

Today's Edwardian sketch

I have a few more rounds to go on this character, but here's my initial Edwardian-themed sketch. It began with a series of Edwardian brooches that I created for my 2015 MATS Bootcamp course. Stay tuned to see how she's completed.

More character development + creating the scene

In my last post, I'd just started to develop this new character. I have since been working on editing some of her details and creating the scene to place her in. I decided upon this semi-fantastical, wintry backdrop, a green jacket and a mysterious book...

Your comments and feedback are always welcome. (:

Another character I'm illustrating right now

In addition to this new character that I posted about yesterday, I have also been working on this girl. I'm still developing her story, but she is about to embark on an unexpected mission.