Is it obvious that I'm a Jim Henson fan?

So I bet you're curious about the progression of my Labyrinth illustration! Oh my gosh, it is turning out to be a lot of work, ha! I told myself from the start though, I was going to do as much to it as possible in order to make it look awesome. And by that, I mean put in various color layers in order to make it stand out and not look like just blocks of solid color. I wanted to give it some degree of dimension. I think I'm slowly getting there.
For the past week, I've put most of my focus on getting "Sarah" completed. I'm still contemplating whether I want to illustrate Ludo's body or if I want to finish him up in Photoshop. On one hand, if I illustrate him (like Sarah) it's going to take a very long time and could look cool. On the other hand, if I paint his fur in Photoshop he could turn out to look more "fuzzy" as he really is which could also look really cool! Oh, and it would be quicker, ha! Thoughts?

In the meantime, here is my progress for the past week =)



I also have a secondary project in the works now! I spotted, and had it brought to my attention by a friend, that the Jim Henson Company is doing a tshirt design contest for Fraggle Rock's 30th Anniversary. Now, how can I pass that up? ;oD I have memories of watching that as a kid...along with The Muppet Show. I was known to heavily rock back and forth in a rocker/recliner when the intro theme for Fraggle Rock played, haha! Fraggle "Rocking", lol. A fun, goofy memory from my childhood =)

I'm itching to share what I have started with this project too, but I'd like to hold out a little while. I want to make sure I'm happy with it before I go sharing it because at this point I'm not sure about it. I will however, describe what I had in mind. I was going to do something with the Fraggle gang and Sprocket (the dog)...which could expand even further with other characters I suppose. But so far I've only progressed with Sprocket. I only just found out about it yesterday, so.

Creative Inspiration

[CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: "Til I Hear It From You" by Gin Blossoms]

I think it's maybe time to update my blog here.

Rather than the standard, "what have I been up to since my last entry" sort of update (most that know me, already know I've graduated by now)....I figure I'd kind of toss out some creative ideas that have been rolling around my head these days.

I recently completed building my new website, but I still feel this NEED to do something incredibly awesome and artsy with my downtime of unemployment. Yes. I will be pushing forward with my job searching now. But hey. Who says I can't do other things too?! ;o) Truth be told...for the past couple of years, I've greatly lost any desire to do much of anything artsy that didn't pertain to the job I held for a year and a half, and then school related design/art projects. I've essentially been in a funk for roughly 3 years or so. Gosh. Feels weird to say that. It doesn't seem like that much time has passed.

But I hate that I allowed myself to grow apart from something I loved doing. And I'm hoping to change that...and to continue with it through my future endeavors ;o)

Some weeks back, I purchased two 14"x14" canvases from Hobby Lobby. My intent is to paint something that could potentially sell. I have this habit of holding onto everything I create, and I don't want to do that anymore. I haven't thought of what I would like to paint on the canvases yet. But considering how my Chuck Taylor shoe paintings went over real well...I almost want to do something just as fun and quirky.

In the mean time, to kind of get my creative juices flowing again, I've recently started a digital movie poster project. Just for fun! Nothing more. Maybe sometime down the road I will find a way to sell prints of my work and I'll make that an option too :o) That's something I would have to research and look into.

But I thought it would be fun to combine my knowledge of both Illustrator and Photoshop together. Right now, I have been focused on the vector art of it. Once that is all complete, then it will be brought into Photoshop for additional effects to be added to finalize the piece, which the goal is for it to appear vintage.

Anyway. This is what I have done so far in the span of 2-3 days. If you're a Jim Henson fan, then this should look familiar. Let me know what you all think!