Pank Pwnies

CTNX is nearly here!

It's Octo-Bear!

Join me at CTNX 2015 this November!

I'll be down in Burbank this November selling the new sketchbooks and drawing for everybody. 

Come say hi!

This is the joint right here:

Make a Paper Tiger!

This dropbox link has all the printable paper parts you'll need to make your own paper tiger! It's a little bit of a puzzle though!

Paper Tiger

false friends

Quick sculpt griffin head

Ladycorn

Final ad thing

Opted for more dramatic light and INTENSE colors. 

This isn't very polished, but I also kinda hate painting... So here lies the compromise! 

#CTNX2015 #CTNEXPO

CTNX table ad WIP

I'm gonna try to get a color thing done! Hngggggg. 

more horses, plus a moose horse

horses

moar comic messin'

I imagine Hellboy is punching me. Because I really don't.

color practice

I don't even...

Up late. Heard this song. Decided Medusa needed a gemsona. Diamond shot gun you guys!

color practice

quick rhinos

Frog Boss

Panels

Just messing around in Photoshop trying to get set up to maybe finally make that comic I'm always chatting about. Just playing with file size, settings, brushes here. This comic page is about people who point and go places and point some more.

I've also been watching a lot of this...

Oh geez an OC...

Been watching a lot of Steven Universe!

Our name is Tourmalite. We build strength out of weakness. Ruby followed our way once. She rebuilt her shattered stone, yet we kept a shard apart. As she weakens we are bound stronger. A thousand cutting pieces entwined. Flame and ash will always pass this way. 

Was listening to Weezer and thinking about the Keeping it Together episode. What if multiple gems can fuse but also build up by adding small parts of other gems to their strength as well. Sometimes relationships work, but they drag down and poison the relationships around them. They build themselves up by tearing down others, which individuals or groups can do. I think of Tourmalite as kind of a gang. With a couple of whole gems bound together but bullying and coercing the fusion through mob rule and the promise of power.

Bird people!

Angels part 2

Bet you didn't see this coming

I'm drawing a comic about angel babies... For fun.

POOOOOSEEEEEEEE!

Raccoon Quickie

ECCC 2015 dolla dolla bills yal

Here is this years chart so far of expenses vs. profits. I do two conventions a year. While the second convention does not have the overhead of production, it does have the overhead of travel and stay. Which is roughly similar to my production costs. 

As you can tell, I am hemorrhaging money towards buying the artwork of other people and I am okay with that. Lion King, know what I'm sayin'?

Though at almost 600 dollars alone for a 8x3 table, it's pretty rough to bring in money for me. 

If I were smarter I would quit making sketchbooks and stick to prints and commissions, but I like sketchbooks and comics. I like making them and I like buying them. Also, I should probably stick to an artists alley table which is smaller, but less expensive. Conventions the way I'm doing it aren't good for me from a financial view. I would need outside support to make this work for me if this is all I did. 

I do ask myself the question if it costs so much why don't I change my behavior and solve the problem or stop doing it all together. The answer is A, I'm pretty busy and prints need to be in color to sell well for most people, and I really dislike doing color work. Then B, conventions are both fun and stressful in a way that helps me grow as a person. The experience has value to me, just not financially. Though financial value would be nice too. 

Take away from this what you will. Next time you see an artist you like, buy something from them, cause they probably aren't rolling in it like you'd imagine. 

Animation fun times

If you haven't checked out my Tumblr before, I've been posting a bunch of animation tests recently. You might like them!

http://katyhargrove.tumblr.com/

Gonna be at Emerald City Comicon next weekend!

Hey all! We are gonna be at Emerald City Comicon as The Artists of Sketchwich again this year! Swing by booth 1418 and meet the likes of Doug Williams, Matthew Barrett, Finn Phineas Phinney, Derek Sullivan Illustration, and mystery art friends!

I just got new sketchbooks in and a bunch of swank vinyl stickers. colonthree emoticon As always I draw in every sketchbook and I challenge you to challenge me with weird ideas to draw in yours.

Hope to see you there!

Speed sculpt tonight

The timelapse is super fast, but you can slow it way down in the youtube options!

Sculpting a dragon bust Pt 1

Spent about 40 minutes on this. 

I find that if the forms aren't solid and full of expression at this level of detail then I shouldn't move on. Just keep pushing the big stuff around until it feels right. This is the spirit. Everything later is just attempting not to destroy what is happening here, yet finding a balance with bold choices. Good sculptors are able to plus the model as the detail comes in without ruining the sketch. I feel this dragon. It is looking back at me and I sense a being, a real presence. Now to move on and keep digging to pull out the full character, less art more craft now. It's why polished work is difficult to devote myself to. 

And, every thing I create is a relationship. As I sculpt I will begin to fall in love, by the end, love will be replaced by distant fondness and a shame that I could not maintain that feeling. When my work has an audience, and I'm just brim full of apologies and embarrassment, it's because someone is viewing completely yet another failed relationship. I feel awkward looking at other people's art because I fall back on this assumption that everyone feels the same way I do, which I know is not true. Art is a different experience for each person doing it. 

Art is hard work and messed up feels and it is addicting as hell and I love it every day. 

And yet this is just another dragon in a long line of forgotten creatures. 

                             

color study

Took a few minutes to do some color studyin' between unpacking and organizing the office/art room. Art all the timeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Quick color tonight

red fish blue fish

color playin'

Got tired of cut and pasting this year's sketchbook pages tonight and colored some random thing from it's pages.

I always like my sketches more. 

Mechawulfie

Abandoned Con Commission

Some person wanted me to draw their Mom's bulldog Bandit as a bandit and never returned to pick up the art at a convention. Lots of artwork gets abandoned at conventions. I "lucked out" because I like this little guy lots and get to hang on to him.