I made the deadline!! Mermaid in a bottle.
SVSlearn.com contest submission for Mermay2019.
www.laurabalmaceda.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misslaurabalmacedaart/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misslaurabalmacedaart

Laura Balmaceda
@laurasketches
@misslaurabalmacedaart
www.laurabalmacedaart.com

"Don't step on a crack, or the underworld attacks..."
A goggle search to research superstitions informed me that "Don't step on a crack" had once held the dark fear that demons would escape from the underworld if a crack was trod upon. And... Percy Jackson has been playing non-stop on audiobook over summer road trips...This is what I came up with...

Bongo and Clyde! Going for practicing process on this piece.

@misslaurabalmacedaart
@laurasketchesart

This is the slowest of slowvembers for me. I played the viola in high school. (I was dismal at it..._)I daydreamed in Orchestra quite a lot. On the back of the sheet music for Vivaldi's Four Seasons, I sketched a cellist with a tree in each of the seasons sprouting out of the neck. The image has rattled around in my brain ever since.
For this piece, I wanted to explore some of the ideas I learned in the Light and Shadow class...and practice digital painting...which I'm still learning.
Slowvermber: Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Hopefully representing the power of music.

Snow angels... making tracks in the clouds.. I mean snow...
http://www.instagram.com/misslaurabalmaceda/

Hey y'all...I'm in for inktober this year.... (nail biting). But, in years past I've always become overwhelmed and burnt out. This year, I'm combining my desire to do some character design with the pressure of daily drawing. AND I loved @Braden-Hallett's idea of drawing through September so that I only need worry about inking each day. Also, I needed a theme: my art directing daughter (age 10) has been audiobooking through the first series of Percy Jackson. Which is the young adult stories for which I think my illustration style fits best. Speaking of style, I am also trying to channel my "influences" (read--I want my art to be exactly like) Wylie Beckert and Mucha. Here are some of my drawings....am I hitting my stated goals? Does it matter that I am disregarding the prompts completely? 

"Its bedtime...turn off the light!!!!" The conflict every night with my book-loving kiddo. Nightfall means the advent of imagination brought on by stories. My instagram: @misslaurabalmacedaart. It's my 11th hour entry....but, I made the deadline! (Thanks, leap year!) 

www.laurabalmaceda.com
@misslaurabalmacedaart
Eleventh hour entry... Cinderella (not the dress part of the story--although that would be really, really fun to draw, but the moment when the prince realizes he's just as excited to see the cinder girl as he is the princess).
Love this story....

@andersoncarman You picked some tricky fish!!! I was stumped with a solution for the combo of "rockabilly" from Tom Bancroft's official mermay list, and your fishy prompts....especially because a sturgeon looks so mean (great solution from you with your warrior merman!) - I considered sturgeon merman gangs (think west side story) for a minute then gave my rockabilly mer-chic a tatt. I seriously need some free time to paint all my sketches....

@misslaurabalmacedaart
https://www.instagram.com/misslaurabalmacedaart/

@Nyrryl-Cadiz 2020 is kicking my butt and draining my creative energy...but I'd like to support Jake AND inktober...at the very least, I'm looking forward to seeing all of y'all's work.

Nice work! Clean and easy to navigate!

@Braden-Hallett I was wrong--I have a 13" screen--I feel your pain. AND It might be because it was designed to be both computer and tablet and screen, but when I connect it to photoshop, it will not give me a full zoom... so my working area is reduced to about 5X5 inches...(grrr) Hence the shop

Has anyone found resources for purchasing quality used wacom cintqs? And does the HD model make that much difference.... the pricing is substantially higher....?

Alright....I hear y'all about the cintq....Here's another question: I am able to use my Wacom Mobile Studio as a Cintq BUT it has a 16' sceen...and that feels REALLY cramped when I'm working. Optimal size? (I'm thinking a 22....)

Technology question here: I am in the market to upgrade my digital tools with a budget of $2000 (I've done some saving). I own a high powered laptop that runs my Adobe CC subscription. I also have an ancient IMac (2010) that allows me to see my work on a large screen, but doesn't have the computing power to do a bunch (the opperating system is maxed out at Serria (I think). I also own weird Wacom mobile studio that works like a cintq when connected to either device. It sort-of allows me to draw on the go...but it has an old Android opperating system which will not download new drawing apps...I'm stuck with Autodesk on the go. Here's the question: get an ipad pro or a bigger wacom cintq?

This. is. awesome. I want commissions like this...

Really fun characters..Maybe consider the saturation of the background. Right now the purple is so intense it is overwhelming the scene. You could likely get more "pop" out of your characters if the saturation of the color was pulled back a bit--I agree with @silvialcg if you adjusted the placement of the hat (maybe scarecrow is taller or more left?) then the silhouette of the hat could read better. Also...at first glance I read the emerald city as a tree.. perhaps some geometric shapes?

So exciting!!! Congratulations!!

@NessIllustration Thank you so much for the critique....back to the sketchbook...