wonderbuttons

Greek Project, First Pass

2012-02-06T09:22:00.001-08:00

We had an assignment to storyboard a scene from a Greek myth (modernizing the Greek myth). I chose Castor and Pollux. In the myth, Castor is the mortal twin brother of the half-God Pollux. Castor dies in battle, and Pollux asks Zeus if he can join him in the afterlife.
In my adaptation, Castor and Pollux are Jehovah's Witnesses. The house they come upon in the boards is the last house on their trek. The house represents the battle where Castor will die.
Here's the first pass! Tell me what you think/how I can improve it!

6 Panels first pass

2012-02-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

We were assigned 6 panels in class. They are supposed to be based on an adult/child interation that we witnessed ourselves. I went to the farmer's market today and saw a kid pour water on his brother. The same kid hit his older sister. Right after he hit his sister, a guy walked by and gave him a high five. I decided to combine the two stories into my 6 panel.

Any crits?

Unicorn!

2012-01-31T09:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to base my three panel on my day yesterday...but I thought about it and that would actually be pretty boring. Instead, I decided to write about something magical, like finding a unicorn in the forest. Also, I just watched the first episode of season two's My Little Pony. Feelin a bit like drawing some derpy unicorns!

Know what this yard needs? A rooster!

2012-01-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

I heard a really great story on This American Life. It was about a couple guys that decided to clean up their apartment complex's yard one day. After hours of picking up trash, they felt that the only thing that would make their yard complete, was a chicken. So they went out and got a rooster.

Political Reasons

2012-01-24T15:32:00.001-08:00

I just switched banks, from Chase to a credit union. when the Chase benker asked me why I was closing my account, I told him it was for political reasons. The term just stuck in my head. My boyfriend and I started thinking of situations where you could use "political reasons" as an answer or excuse. This was my favorite one.

Workshop drawings

2012-01-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

Organized a costume drawing workshop with Kristy Kay for about 50 ShrunkenHeadMan club members. Mark McDonnell was our guest artist! He was spectacular! Here are some drawings of mine from the workshop.

Figure Painting

2012-01-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Did a figure painting today at ShrunkenHeadMan's figure drawing workshop. I normally don't like painting, but I had a good time doing this one. Having a hard time with reflective light. any tips?

Campbell Cafe

2012-01-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend and I love this little restaurant called the Campbell Cafe. The food and service is great! I always wish I had more money to tip. To compensate for my college funds, I always leave behind a little thank-you doodle for the server. btw, I highly recommend the savory crepes. Yummer!

I know this was a while ago...

2012-01-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Not really sketch or drawing related, but I we were kind of proud of this. Chris and I did a cheasy couples costume for Halloween. We decided to go as a Leyendecker painting, since we are both fans of his. Took me a while to get this posted.

Pinnacles National Monument

2012-01-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

Went hiking at the Pinnacles National Monument yesterday! It was an amazing hike! Went with a couple friends. We must have hiked 7 miles. It was amazing, but we made the mistake of hiking to a peak until sunset. By the time we were hiking back, the sun had started to set. We had two choices when for the return trail; we could take the steep and narrow trail (which was shorter), or we could take the flatter trail (which was longer). We decided to take the steep and narrow trail....and soon found out why it was called steep and narrow. By the time we had hiked back to the car, it was already dark. It was a long day, but the hikes were well worth the view. It was truly a breathtaking hike (this statement applies to both the view and my physical endurance).
Did a scribbly sketch when we stopped for lunch by a small pond.

Posting some Sketches and Dancin like a Maniac

2012-01-12T12:43:00.001-08:00

Posting some sketches! I am listening to "The Muppets" soundtrack, and dancing like a maniac. Life's a happy song!

5 panel 3

2012-01-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

Did another 5 panel! I have been going to flickr to get my jpegs. I just click the explore button, and choose the first image that comes up. I wanted to do something more dramatic this time. Let me know if it worked!
This was the randomly flickr photo used.

Amelia Earhart

2011-12-29T12:51:00.000-08:00

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to recieve the US Distinguished Flying Cross. She was also the first 'aviatrix' to fly across the Atlantic Ocean...solo! She was also an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, in addition to being a member of the National Woman's Party. I wanted to do a quick sketch of her today in front of her plane. What a Lady.

5 panel #2

2011-12-28T13:52:00.001-08:00

Here's my second 5 panel of the winter! Now that Christmas is over, I can hopefully get at least 1 finished per week. Here's the image I based this one off of:
And here's the 5 panel. I hope it reads. I did this one in a bit of a rush. I added some text to the panel based off of the flickr image.

5 panel #1

2011-12-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

Nic Rudy introduced me to a cool exercise for storyboard. You look up a random-ish picture online, and create a storyboard around it--adding 5 panels to the original image.

This is my first one! I am open to crits!

This is the image I used for the board:

Rainy Day! Yay!

2011-11-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

I do love the rain!

The pretty Rain from those sweet Eaves
Her unintending Eyes --
Took her own Heart, including ours,
By innocent Surprise --Emily Dickinson

All I want to do is draw short poses

2011-11-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

I was really enjoying the short poses our model was doing tonight. She had this great crazy curly candy-apple red hair.

Paper Moon Studies!

2011-11-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

I just re-watched what is possibly the best movie ever made, Paper Moon. I really love this film. I decided to take a look at all the scenes with Madeline Kahn's character, Trixie. I took my favorite shots from that part of the film, and sketched them out really quick. I'm open to crits and more drawing suggestions as always! :) I'm really trying to get a handle on this digital drawing thing!

This movie is so great...and amazingly also on Netflix instant play! However, I do have to say it still disturbs me to see Tatum O'Neal smoking.

Figure Drawing!

2011-11-12T01:51:00.000-08:00

I love short poses! Gettin' rusty! I need to draw more! Gimme some input if you can! :) I am trying to draw digitally more. Although I practice, it still feels very slippery to me. You get more grab/pull when you draw with a china marker on paper. I feel like there's too much friction when I draw with my tablet. Is there some way I can simulate a rougher drawing surface when I'm working with a tablet or cintiq?
Thank you!

This Fashion is Logical

2011-10-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

My ability to focus on homework failed, and I started doodling while working on my ideations for class. I sketched this girl in a 1920s dress. Chris said that he liked her haircut. I said, "Really? It looks kindof angular...like a Vulcan." Chris replied, "Yes! This fashion is highly logical! Put some pointy ears on that!"

...So she became a Vulcan fashion model. Yay Star Trek!
I need some help on her boots...they look really mushy to me. Any suggestions?

Underwater Act!

2011-08-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Just a little doodle! We are working on a story in 117B that involved an underwater escape/magic act. This little sketch is pretty unrelated to what we're doing. The story just inspired me to draw something in the water. Just felt like sketchin; for fun :) BUBBLES!!!!

Speed Paint!!!!

2011-07-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

Arizona! 30min-1hr :)
Road Trip Photo!!!!

Ono, I fell off the Speedpaint Wagon! 6/25/11

2011-06-25T00:44:00.001-07:00

Climbing back on the speedpaint wagon!

Speedpaint 6/9/11

2011-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

San Jose Rose Gardens!!! Can't wait to go back now that its summer!!!!
I just got my new tablet too! So glad I do not have to borrow tablets anymore. Thank you to all the awesome peeps out there who were kind enough to share!
Summer rocks, does it not?

Speedpaint! 6/8/11

2011-06-08T22:09:00.001-07:00

Roadside sunset!
Got a little busy and missed one speedpaint. At least I got this one done! Teehee!

Speedpaint! 6/6/11

2011-06-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hey again!
Here's one I did from a reference pic I took on a road trip!
New Mexico, I think.
Weeeeee!

Speedpaint 6_5_11

2011-06-05T21:45:00.001-07:00

Hey! Here's another one I painted from a photo taken on my Caribbean science trip!
My class was birdwatching when I took this photo. Believe it or not, we were looking for a bird called the "brown-footed boobie." I saw a lot of boobies that day:P

Speedpaint! 6_4_11

2011-06-05T20:47:00.001-07:00

Hey ya'll! Posted this a bit late!
Thank you Polly, Jennifer, and Yen for the crits! They were super helpful. I am trying to harden my edges, but I think it still needs sharpening! After Jennifer's crit, I really wanted to play with those darks! How does my contrast look?
I appreciate the crits! I still haven't figured out why blogger won't let me reply to comments (oh technology!), so I'll just thank you guys in my posts!
Thank you!

Speedpaint 6_3_11

2011-06-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

Trying our lots of blue!!!
Jennifer! Thank you for the comment about using a harder brush for blocking in. It helped a lot. I still think I need to work on my edges. Weee! bloobleebloo blop!

Widow Ching!

2011-06-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Hi Hi!
This is a character design I did for my Art 117 class! It's based of of Jorge Borges' stories of the Widow Ching Pirate. She is a Chinese pirate from the Quin Dynasty. She lives to avenge her late husband's death.

I decided to illustrate her as an older character than she was in the books. Widow Ching, right at the start of her retirement. She has a pet crane!

Speedpaint 6_2_11

2011-06-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

Tried to do a speedpaint of a cave, but had a bit of trouble with it. Awesome photo though, right? (thanks Polly!) I posted the photo reference I was working off of next to it. Anyone have ideas on how I can fix it?
Thank you!

6/1/11

2011-06-01T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hey! I'm starting to do speed paints!
I did this from a photo I took of the Tobagan coastline. It's nice re-living the memories of my Caribbean science adventure!

The Other Toy Story!

2011-05-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hey all!
Joyce Dallal (amazing artist and teacher) has a really interesting and interactive showing happening right now. I was one of the many student assistants she hired for her COLA 2008 piece, Descent. I remember how awesome it was to work for her. I really wish I could make it to LA for this show. She's a really cool artist! Go check it out if you can!
Go check out the website! Donate a toy to the cause!

Here's the email she sent:

"Receptacle," a 10 foot tall trash can/baby doll/sculpture, as part of "The other toy story" a project I have been doing with the Marlborough School. Bring used and broken toys to the gallery throughout the exhibition. We will be "feeding" the baby with toys that would otherwise end up in the trash. Learn more at www.othertoystory.com.

The Other Toy Story
May 5-June 3, 2011
Marlbourough School Seaver Gallery
250 S. Rossmore Ave., (corner of 3rd and Rossmore)
LA, CA 90004

Reception, Tuesday May 10, 3-5pm
Artist talk and baby feeding: Saturday, May 21, 2-4pm

Funded by the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation

--Joyce Dallal

go check it out you guys!
http://othertoystory.com/

New Wolf Character Designs!

2011-05-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hey! Here is another revision of my wolf character!
I was wondering if anybody could offer a crit.
Joel said I need to work on the extreme poses. They are off model. Also, that the sheeps skin needed work still. With this design, it cuts the wolf's head in half.
I'll post more revisions after finals week.

Ooh, also, thank you for the advice on my treehouse Jeanie! Blogger still won't let me reply to comments. Weeeeeeerrrd huh?

Treehouse!

2011-05-01T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I have more tree house revisions!
I would love your feedback! If I don't reply to your comments, it's because my blogger is giving me the silent treatment. Every time I try to reply to a comment, blogger just won't respond.
Things I know I need to work on: perspective, painting in Photoshop, and the placement of the chair in the medium close up.
Things I need to know: how to make these better, and how to do a triple time-step to the side (my tap final is approaching) teehee!

Interweb Difficulties

2011-04-25T12:06:00.001-07:00

I'm having some technical difficulties with my blog. Blogger won't let me respond to comments for some reason.

More Wolf Designs!

2011-04-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Crits? I think this one is better than my last, but it feels a bit stiff. Can anyone draw over my stuff? Thank you, and Happy Easter!

Character Designs!

2011-04-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

I would love some help on these characters!
Any insight?

Practicing Photoshop

2011-04-14T03:42:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to improve me photoshop skills. Any suggestions? Crit?
Thank you!

Shapes! New Comp For Treehouse!

2011-04-14T03:34:00.001-07:00

Tree House Ideations!

2011-04-13T23:26:00.001-07:00

We are designing a tree house in my illustration class! Super excited about it!!!
Crits Crits Crits? :)

Help Japan

2011-03-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052&idb=0

Here's the link to donate to the American Red Cross, and help Japan!

Kitchen Stuff!

2011-03-20T07:39:00.001-07:00

Kitchens based off of Gary Soto's stories and poems!

Figure Sculpting

2011-02-27T09:22:00.001-08:00

I started taking figure sculpture recently. I highly recommend this class. It's super helpful with figure drawing, and loads of fun. Any sculpture veterans got tips?

Storyboard Highlights

2011-02-26T22:31:00.000-08:00

Here are a few panels from a storyboard assignment I had a couple weeks ago. It's about a guy coming home from school late at night. He hears a sound that frightens him, fumbles with his keys, and runs inside. Spooooooooky!!!!!!

Practicing Digital Painting

2011-02-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

Here are some paintings I did for my illustration class. Photoshop painted from life! I painted the butter in the art building, and got some funny looks, which was entertaining! Originally, I was going to paint a dish of chocolates...but every time I sat down to paint, I just couldn't help myself, so I switched to butter. Much harder to scarf down a dish of butter. Teehee!

Sketches from the Winter!

2011-02-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

CARTOON!!!!

2010-11-25T20:50:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out painting in Photoshop. Thought I'd start out with drawing cartoons, just to get the hang of it. :) Anyone got tips?

Character Designs!

2010-11-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

These are character designs for my art 115 film. It's a 30 second short about karma, and the importance of common courtesy. I'm animating water for it at the moment. Anybody know some good principles for effects animation? It's twisting my brain into knots. Teehee! :P

Forest Projects!

2010-10-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

I did these for Bunny Carter's 113B class! The top one is my Macbeth forest, and the bottom one is my midsummer night's dream forest. The bottom one is also based off of the Trinidad and Tobago rain forests (which I was lucky enough to travel to). It was great being able to use the reference shots I took while there. I was taking my Granny's rainforest ecology class when I went. Really great experience!!!

Toy Design!

2010-10-01T09:08:00.001-07:00

Hey all! Sorry it took a while to get these photos up!
I wanted to share the work I did at CSU Summer arts during Toy Design!!!
I had a blast! We had amazing super helpful guest artists! Made some great friends there too!
This is my toy, Sampson and Ozby. I collaborated with one of the writing students at summer arts, to come up with a story for them.
Here is an excerpt of the story:
Cerulean Odyssey by Chi Swalloon
A hundred years ago, the lands of Losterra became infested with flying monsters called
Skyquake Sharks. They eat everything in search for the Losterra’s Aura Gems hidden inside the
planet. Their terrifying jaws tore through the lands until the planet became nothing but floating
islands scattered in the skies. The Aura Gems give the islands power to fly and keep from falling
into what is left of Losterra’s burning magma core.
Ozby, an adventurous navigator and map maker, return ed to his hometown on Caelum
Island only to find nothing but teeth marks in the ground from a Skyquake Shark. The worried
mouse packs his maps, tools, and his favorite flower the polemonium caeruleum, and flies his
grandfather’s machine in hopes of finding anyone left. But he has trouble piloting the strange
device and collides into a school of Cumulous Manta Rays crashing down into a vast wetland.
After his failed attempt, Ozby traverses on foot through a wide grassy marshland and notices
something descend from the clouds colliding into the soft mud. The little mouse runs through
the tall grass and encounters a large sky horse unconscious in the m arsh. He approaches the
flying creature taking each of his steps in silence. Within a few feet, his foot breaks a twig
waking the sky horse into a fierce uproar of shrieking noises and shifting its body color to a fiery
red. Startled by its actions, Ozby falls into the mud dropping his flower near the horse. The
rampaging animal calms its nerves, notices the flower, and gently eats it changing its color to
a calm blue. Ozby makes a second attempt approaching the composed beast and gently pats
its head and wings. With all his strength, Ozby carefully pushes it onto some dry grass and
watches it flap the mud off its wings. The sunlight shimmers off its translucent wings, giving
a colorful rainbow reflection to prepare itself for flight. The sky horse bows its head lowering
its golden body before Ozby. “You want me to get on?” The s ky horse answers with a nod
and a melodious tune. He climbs on its back trying not to fall while the sky horse’s curling tail
launches them into the clouds soaring through the blue. “I shall name you Sampson. Is that
a good name?” The sky horse smiles a joyous tune with the colors of the rainbow and dives
toward the next island while Ozby shouts with excitement.

He's a great writer! I absolutely loved collaborating with him. We were so cramped for time in both of our workshops, a lot of the time story discussions were made over the salad bar at lunch.

Thanks Chi! You were awesome! Special thanks to all the people from Leggo, Mattel, and Fresno! Big thanks to Adrian Amjadi for taking the fancy pics of my sculpture!

Sack Pantomime!

2010-05-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

For this exercise, we had to take a flour sack, and give it a character. Then we had to put it into a situation where it interacts with an inanimate object, and has a change of emotion from this interaction. Special thanks to Dave Chai and the whole Space Monkey crew for their support!

This animation is dedicated to Grandma Pat.

Renderings!

2010-05-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Who likes sticks and acorns? I'll tell you who, squirrels. This is for all you silly little fuzzy creatures out there. enjoy.

Tree Sketches!

2010-04-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

I do love looking at trees!

would you like a jelly baby?

2009-12-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

a christmas painting i did for me little sister, who is the biggest whoovian i know (dr. who fan). i painted the rendered part of it from a photo i found online. in the early shows, the dr. always carried candies called 'jelly babies,' and would offer them to anyone in any situation at random. we got some actually, and they taste quite nice. a bit like gumdrops. excellent show.

if i could give tom baker a hug right now, i would.

113A landscape painting

2009-12-18T21:23:00.001-08:00

i like the outdoors :)

drawey draw draw

2009-12-18T21:19:00.001-08:00

is that my cow? why no! it's a color rendering!

2009-12-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

wish i got more done in this painting! i decided to try and mix atmospheric perspective with the intuitive color palatte, but it ended up taking a lot more time, so i missed out on some of the typography. i think my black and white was a more successful painting, but personally, i like this one better. the colors are just saturated enough to keep me from getting too bored. i'm not sure i'll go back and rework this painting, i need to take a break from painting from photos. time to paint some trees!!!
the atmosphere needs some help, so any suggestions on how i could improve on that would be great! i want to be able to apply atmosphere to my forest paintings next semester!
many thanks to all those in the art building who critiqued this painting. it really helped!

for polly:

2009-12-12T18:48:00.000-08:00

polly has this amazing technique for handling stress.

sketch leftover from summer

2009-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

black and white rendering

2009-10-13T23:07:00.001-07:00

here it is! my painting!
wish i had more time to spend on it. the rock on the bottom left still looks like a brain/bran muffin. i was quite ill when i worked on this, and apparently, not feeling terribly intelligent either, because i thought it would be a dandy idea to pull an all-nighter. baaaaad baaaad choices in the land of hillary's health. oh well, at least i finished my painting!

dressy dress

2009-08-14T13:24:00.001-07:00

practicing painting clouds

2009-07-27T18:57:00.001-07:00

i've had fun playing with photoshop. i've started painting with it. i'm practicing my clouds now, for a painting i'm working on.

tasty

2009-07-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Photo Series "Tasty, #1-8" for the show "Tasty."
July 21-August 29, 2009
Reception: Saturday July 29, 2-5pm

Java Man
157 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254-3607
(310) 379-7209
open daily 6am-6pm

Miss. Heather

Miss Meredith

Miss Satoe

Miss. Hillary

Miss Heather

Miss Meredith

Miss(ter) Adam

Miss Melissa

...why yes, they got screen credit!

These photos were a blast to work on. Heather Anacker's food was wonderful too! She has organized this show, as well as preparing some incredibly special sculptures for the show! Melissa Anacker, Satoe Fukushima, Won-Sook Kwak, Mark Lucero, Joey Madjali, and Geoffrey Udo are all amazing artists and wonderfully fun people! Come and see what they've created!

fabric!

2009-07-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

also done at bootcamp. everyone else had gorgeous fabric drawings! i hope they all post them!:)

...i see naked people!

2009-07-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

the one at the bottom was done at sheldon's bootcamp, but i did the others at these workshops i've been going to a local cultural center. los angeles has tons of figure drawing sessions, i just wish my buddies from san jose were there. wish the l.a. sessions were as affordable as shrunkenheadman too:( still, well worth it to get as much drawing done here as i can!

"Paw Paw," a drawing for Boompa and Granny

2009-07-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

the photo quality of this drawing is terrible, mind you. i'll get a better one soon:P
this is a drawing of my great-grandfather ross, or "paw paw." this drawing is for my maternal grandfather, a.k.a. "boompa," and my granny :)

2009-06-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

2009-06-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

more intro to illustration sketches.
these are some from the blues festival at SJSU.

2009-05-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

here it is! the reversal!
i will be posting a better picture later on, i just really wanted to get this on my blog soon.

so this is how the project started out

and this is how it ended up:

sorry about how grainy the photo came up. my charcoal technique was not perfect, but it's really not all that blotchy.

2009-04-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

more sketches

2009-04-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

2009-04-03T21:41:00.001-07:00

some gestures, sketches from the boardwalk, and a contour drawing

hello, it seems i have created a blog

2009-03-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

hello.
lookie, it seems i have created a blog. i hope it turns out to be a delightful one to maintain.
uh, and that is all i have to say.
bye now! have a lovely day!

hillary