Project #8 - My First Paid Project

Wow so much new! As a few of you know I recently got hacked into my Google account. So I was unable to post like planned after I got back from Texas. But a great many things has transpired since then as well, so I'll do my best to cut it short.

1) My eye is completely healed (Thank you Jesus!)

2) I've finally figured out an alternate art style to strive for! (In place of anime. This being digital painting)

3) I have been working hard to improve my Photoshoping and digital painting skills.

4) I'm working on writing a mystery dinner. (I'll let you know more later!)

5) I plan to work on a video for a competition issued by Concordia Language Villages for a chance to win a two week scholarship! (I'll also let you know more later on this!)

6) I managed to recover my Google account :)

So for all you who don't know, yes! I got to go to Texas for a cruise last month! I did some major drawing practice too, so I actually have some stuff to show you!

But first I want to show you the illusive Project #8 first!

So for the last few months I had been working on a project for my mom who is working for an organization  that has been funding children cancer research for a number of years. This being Solving Kids Cancer. And one of their new projects has been starting a weekly podcast. And since my mom has been the producer per se, I was given the great honor of creating the icon for i tunes! Of course I wasn't paid by the company, but I did get a worthwhile enticement fee from my mom. So it all worked out. They bounced back and forth between a few different titles but then eventually came back to their first pick which was TWiPO. (This Week in Pediatric Oncology)

During the process of creating the icon I probably made at least seventeen or more versions, which I won't hesitate to say was greatly more than I'm used to. But all in all I'm very grateful for the experience, as it will go far for being such an early try at commissioning.

So here I have my first sketches. I'm normally utterly helpless when it comes to brain storming, but thankfully I did manage to hack out some decent ideas early on... It's always hardest coming up with an idea for someone else's project... 

Then I went ahead and inked them.

 

 Then here we have some variations and other ideas I laid out.

Was thinking this would make a neat banner, I would have to stretch it more, but you get the picture.

 

Could use this for pretty much anything....

 

From pretty early on I was set on using this one. I was really excited to test my hand at some digital painting.

I also liked this one a lot. It was simple and stood out well, but there wasn't enough room for the other text needed.

   

 Then they wanted to try to use Erik's art, which I thought was a great idea, until I tried to get all the text on... Then I think we all agreed this particular picture wouldn't work too well.

 Then mom wanted to try this picture instead, since it's very common for podcasts to have this styled icons.

I tried a few different fonts and things, but in the end we went back to square one anyway... @_@

 So in the end they agreed on this one. Which at first I was a bit flustered that I would have to go and COLOR the whole thing which takes FOREVER, especially after doing all that work already. So no, I wasn't thrilled.... But after I started working on it, it became fun learning how to paint using Photoshop.

 

So I did still have to make more changes. I was experimenting with some background ideas, but then we decided white would be best since it would be too hard to read the text and whatnot otherwise.

 I also tried a few different colored fonts. But came back to purple in the end.

 This would actually have been the final product had I not persuaded mom too let me continue coloring the doctor. After switching all the elements around for hours I simply wanted to have some fun with it. And plus I had only made it to step 3 of about 12 steps of what I was using for a digital painting help guide! All I did was put the base colors on, I refused to let it go like that!

 So after about an hour or so I finished. Leaving me at about step 8. (Which I didn't mind because I'm sure this was the best I could do with my current skill.)

And this my dear friends is the very tedious process of freelancing/commissioning without proper boundaries. From now on I'm going to be seriously limiting the amount of retakes on this sort of stuff... Wouldn't want me to go mad now would we?

Thanks for looking, and I hope you like it!! I'll be posting a link to the podcast when it's up, as it is currently still being worked on.

Otherwise you can now check out my new Project Chart tab at the top, or click Here to check my progress more conveniently! Thanks so much!

~Zarana

EDIT: Here's the link! TWiPO

The Pain in My Soul

Ok, so perhaps the title is a little dramatic.... But never the less I thought it tied neatly in with the blog and stuff... Haha...

Last week my eye had started to bother me. It even swelled up one night when I felt like something fell in it. So with a puffy red eye the next morning my mother concluded pink eye. We still had some of the medicine from the last time I had it. So within the next day it had healed pretty much all the way after only one drop. I was busy the rest of the week so I didn't have time to use it again just in case. Then on Friday my eye started to bug me again. My mom was in LA so I couldn't ask her to find the stuff again. But I figured my dad was here so I could just have him give it to me. (I'm severely incapable of taking anything for my eyes... I hate eye drops...) So we rummaged around the medicine closet figuring we would find it even though I didn't know the name or what it looked like. (When you are fixated on getting one of your least liked experiences over with, details on things like what you’re taking sometimes finds its way around your thoughts.) So I gave my mom a quick call to double check on what to take, and I got the machine since she was in a meeting. I went back to the cupboard where my dad was still searching. My eye caught a familiar bottle. I was sure it was on the counter the day mom gave me the drops. So I was sure that was it. Dad looked at the bottle and couldn't find anything discouraging. Why, there were even two eye droppers in the cup the bottle was in.

We walked into the living room where I would lay on the couch because I didn't like it standing up. I lied down and looked up awaiting the black red drops I dreaded. Then I felt it, at first it stung. Not unlike it did before. But then something was different. It burned, something was wrong. Then I realized it. That was NOT the same thing I had last week... I was scared, what was happening? I felt my eye start to swell and crust, I raced for the sink. My dad told me to wash it out. But I didn't know what to do! I ran the water splashing it into my eye as well as I could. Over and over I splashed water. My dad went to the basement to make a call to a clinic. I was numb, my thoughts racing. I still felt the burning pain. It only worsened. Then poor Aron my little brother ran out of his room hearing the commotion. All I could say was I was fine and it would be ok. But would it? How would I know? Still splashing the water in my eye I prayed. The best I could out loud though I never did before. Sure I prayed all the time, every day. But never out loud... I knew God heard me, I knew he was listening. But if he would answer it I didn't know. This could be it. I could be blind in one eye for the rest of my life. Was I scared? Sure I was. Who wouldn't be?

But I knew no matter what, whatever happened it would be fine. It didn't matter if I was blind. God would use it. So I didn't worry. Now the pain on the other hand was hard to overcome at the moment. Just a minute later we rushed out the door. I felt so bad leaving Aron there. I hoped he'd be ok. But there wasn't time to convince dad to bring him. We ran to the car and bolted out the drive way. Skidding along the icy dirt road, I prayed in my heart and out loud that we would at least be safe on getting to the clinic. We swerved out into the cross way onto the pavement, I thanked God we didn't crash.

We made it to the clinic in record time, and jogged into the lobby. We told the receptionist who we were and showed her the bottle of Iodine, and she freaked out. My dad told her not to scare me, but nothing could scare me more than I was, or had been the last five years, knowing any day I would lose Erik. To me this was nothing. We got in soon after where the doctor thoroughly rinsed my eye twice. I grimaced at the cold liquid spilling over my inflamed eye. Man I hated eye drops... After about fifteen minutes of dropping stuff after stuff into my eye, and examining it under the eye thing. He gave us the news. "Well here's the good news" he said. "Iodine is sometimes used in surgeries for the eye. So I don't think it will leave any lasting effect. And I didn't see anything soaking into your cornea so you won’t go blind" I thanked God. "However I did see some scrapes at the top layer of your cornea, where you could have rubbed it and took some of the top layer off" (Ok so I'm not sure word for word on this so I'll just give you the gist). The doctor said 50% of the top layer of my cornea is gone. It will heal quick and easy because it regenerates very fast. I now have a contact band aid on to protect from any hindrance in the healing process as well. And now that you know the medical details I'll rap this up because I'm tired. Yes this experience was long, drawn out, and the most painful of my life yet.

All of Friday my eye still burned. When I first took a glimpse immediately after the drops the white of my eye had shriveled and I could see what looked like a tiny wood rings around it. And the outside was stained a black red from the Iodine, which now is my main irritant which makes my lid feel like plastic... It was hideous to say the least. But I know I'll get things out of this experience, so I have no regret. After we got home dad played the guitar and sang some old praise songs I hadn't heard in a long time. And I was very happy to hear them. Aron had been fine the whole time. I was very relieved to know he wasn't scared while we were gone. I had three appointments so far. And they say the only long term thing will be to take artificial tears for about six months. I wasn't at all ungrateful. I was glad I wouldn't be blind and that was all.

I am very grateful for how God protected me and gave me strength through all of this. I know if it happened just last year, I would have been a wreck. I can’t imagine what I would have done... Losing Erik has changed me entirely. And this has shown me that... I no longer have fear in death or in pain. Nothing will ever pull me from God and his hand. Erik showed me many things, and I believe this to be the most incredible. I pray and hope that I too could be used by God. That whatever happens I could be some use to him. This is my wish for my life. And I hope that in some way this story could have helped someone out there. That this be one of many testimonies to Christ and what can only be conquered by His hand in our lives. I don't consider this experience that big of a deal in itself. But I think what the point is, is that I wouldn't have this attitude without God. Without having known him personally. It is only by His hands that I HAVE no fear. So I hope this all makes sense, even if I don't think I made it understandable enough... Thank you if you read all the way through this. It means so very much to me!!

Lots New! - - Including Projects 7, and 8

Yay! I finally posted again! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I posted last!... Ok, so a lot has happened and I've been cooked with a never ending to do list, and no time to let you in on it!...

 Some bits of Excitement

Two years ago we purchased Little Big Planet for the PS3, a game with immense imaginative and inspirational qualities. There has never been a game like it before, and it quickly caught my heart early on even before it's release. And amazingly only days before the arrival of LBP2 I was still hooked on LBP1! For two straight years me and my brother have never ceased playing or lost interest. So obviously we were very excited for 2.


Also on deviantArt I was alerted that they will be hosting a contest for the best deviation of a LBP2 level!

 

 I really hope I'll have time enough to enter something... But currently I'm really at a loss for some good ideas... 

Other Fun News

So after longing and wishing to have a house cat for nearly all my life, I got my wish! And it was the weirdest thing ever! My dad is allergic to animals, so that is why we don't have indoor pets, but he also seamed to never really care to have them in the house regardless of his allergies... Anyway, a few days ago I snuck my kitten Aphelion in my room (this was ok because he never goes in my room and he let me do it before. I also had everything I needed for it to stay up there anyway) So he ends up hearing it meow because it was lonely by itself upstairs while I was gone momentarily while I was showing him my new doodles. He didn't freak or anything, simply walked upstairs with me to see her and, (get this...) started petting and playing with her!! I was baffled! And in this promising turn of events I decided to push my luck, and ask if I could keep her up there for awhile. And to my utter surprise, not ONLY did he except unnaturally heartily but asked if I should get another to stay up and keep her company... O_O ...This is my dad.... The one who makes all the mean jokes about my animals, and used to blow up if we even MENTIONED animals in the house.... I'm not sure what else to say....

Pictures are worth 1000 words :)

She's very playful and polite. She listens well, and is ALWAYS purring! She has olive green eyes, that promise to stare right into your soul. O_o

Easily amused, she likes watching the mouse on my screen. But I think she really liked How to Train Your Dragon! 

Yeah... She's not much for cameras though....

Few More Things Consisting of Projects!

Ok so I haven't been slacking off all this time just to let you know. I've been working on lots of drawings. the two biggest projects being these:

Project #7 - My Little Big Planet Sackgirl Portrait

Since it came out two years ago, I have avidly played and enjoyed Little Big Planet, like I said before. And I recently had an idea to use a drawing of my sackgirl as my LBP avatar! 

And this is my progress so far! --More Info--

I'm currently working on a level to incorporate this portrait. I'm not sure yet, but I'll let you know if I get to work on it more. I am SO close to platinuming LBP 1!! All I need is 30 hearts (or favorites) to myself for the trophy create! I hope to be able to platinum it soon so I can be at ease while playing LBP2, not feeling like I didn't quite make the mark yet to move on... :)

Project #8 - ???

I reaaallly wanted to get it over with and post this tonight, so I will update with a new post on #8 when I have permission... (I'm not sure yet if it's ok to let everyone in on this one yet...) But at least you may have something to look forward to! 

Thanks so much for looking!!!!!

P.S. - Updated deviantArt awhile ago. And just now updated the My Art page. 

Oh! and I couldn't find a place to put this cool new word I found, so I guess I'll put it here! --Spirituel 

~Zarana

Recap

So, I decided to post today. :) Since I don't have anything prepared I might as well recap since Christmas.

On Christmas we got to enjoy some longer than usual family time, which is always a blessing! My brother and sister-in-law came home, and we got the amazing news that Raeanne is PREGNANT!!!!
Altogether making it the coolest gift ever. :) 

New Years was pretty basic. I got to hang out with my Mom/Dad/Little brother, and watched movies and played cards till barely midnight when they all wimped out and went to bed. But I can't complain because I had a great time, and I had been needing to catch up on some very much needed sleep. 
  
I am currently recovering from the flu. I caught it from my Dad who we thought had been food poisoned after eating some expired food in the back of the fridge... But realized it was indeed the flu after I started getting sick on Thursday... It really wasn't much fun, (obviously) I'm not sure exactly, but I lost somewhere between five and eight pounds, and had a fever of a hundred-and-three.


I did a lot of Photoshoping this month/last month. My favorite drawing being this: Calm
Hopefully I'll be able to post more about that whole project sometime in the vicinity of whatever is a reasonable time for myself.... 


And because I don't like quotidion blogs:

Progress of this post

I'm getting there.....

Sorry for no posts... I hate doing quick things like this, I just wanted to let you few devoted followers know I'm still alive after Christmas and will be posting real posts again soon!! Thank you for your comments and fallows!! They really do mean a lot to me!!!!

Hope your Christmas was great, and Happy New Year everyone!!!

~Zarana

P.S.
Metaiodobenzylguanidine - Because I could :)

Snow and Clay Figures

Alright, I'm not going to let another day go by with a constant twinge of regret for not posting. The last week had been somewhat busy. The network at out house went out for a few days. So I didn't get to post Friday... (I didn't have anything prepared anyway) But I thought I would nonetheless post some desultory things today...

-I decided to use at least one uncommon word in each new post from now on if I can... It's fun and I'll be able to work on my vocabulary!-

Today it snowed heavily at our house for a few hours... I wanted to take a picture while it was snowing to post today, but my camera was dead and it stopped snowing shortly after... So I took this picture anyway. This is the view from my window!

Yup, I know pretty dull...
Hahaha. No literally...

And I have to say I am pretty proud of this... It took me a good two hours or so to finish. And I have had no previous training whatsoever with wax molding... (Besides what I did on my own when my mother wasn't looking =3)

Meet Waxy the Snowman :)

I only used candles for this. I only had white, red, and blue. For the black I just burned some wax over and over. 

This is a full view of the whole clan!

Left to right: Waxy (Wax), Brown Cat (Clay), Mopey the Black Cat (Clay), Sackboy (Clay), -up top- Erik's Winged Dinosaur! (Clay)

You can also see the glass piano that Erik got me a few years ago. And on the left is a collage I put together of Erik and me!

I wrinkled some paper for the background, pasted some of Erik's doodles from his note books, then added some of my own doodles. :)

Lastly this is my kitten Oliver <3

Well, that's all I have for you today! I hope you liked it!

I'm sorry to say I won't be scheduling my posts anymore...:( I pretty much covered my current projects I worked on recently. So there won't be many things of interest for awhile I'm afraid...But I will continue to update. (Hopefully once a week or so)... I'll try to update some old projects and re-post my progress on them!

Thank you so much for reading my blog!! And I hope you all have a lovely holiday season!!! 

~Zarana

Project #6 - The Tea Party

So I started this in March, and still haven't built up the courage to start coloring it... I knew I wanted to do it with Copics right away, but I wasn't talented enough yet to do it... So here is my progression of the well known tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland...

This is the first sketch. I was pretty happy with it since it was one of my best unreferenced drawings.

 This is the partially inked version. You can see I added a lot more things to the table.

Here I started cleaning it up a bit with the eraser. Also straitened some of the slightly askew sketches.

And this is my fully inked version. (I use Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens) And this is how it looks right now :)

So although I have rarely used my Copic markers I have attempted to practice on this picture multiple times, trying to get the right look....

 This was my first try at using the Copic markers on Alice... I used a transparent clip board to trace another Alice on a separate piece of paper. Then simply went at it with the markers! I was also using Prismacolor pencils since I have a very limited amount of different Copic colors... Plus it leaves an interesting effect... (as you can see I was really not sure what I was doing on the hair...

This is Copic Test no.2

I used the colorless blender more with the Copics on this one... and was trying to be more careful on the skin... (I ended up smudging some of the ink accidentally on the eyes...) I tried just using pencils on the hair, which turned out looking much better than using the Copics...

 And then we have my last try... (Note: All the skin is actually more peach looking... My scanner wasn't working very well....) 

On the Left you can see I was being impatciant on the hair, and on the dress I wasn't quick enough with the Copics, so it turned out having washed out layers of color... I also tried to leave some white on the skin for highlights to no avail... (I'm still working on adjusting to the bleeding range) 

In the Middle I tried using more gold and yellow colors for the hair just to see what would happen... The dress came out smoother but the skin turned out a lot more blotchy then the last... I did manage to get bigger highlights though. 

On the Right I changed the cup to green to see if I liked that better... But I think I'm going to go with the purple. It has a much more natural feel against her blue dress... Over all I was just really impatient with this one... The hair is just streaky unkempt lines and the dress... I'm not even sure what went wrong there... But over all it had the best skin in my opinion. So I was glad about that...

Over all this is my proudest work so far... I really wish to finish it soon. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to for awhile until I have developed more skill with the Copics! And I'm planing to purchase a few other colors for the skin since I really don't want it to look like Alice developed a sunburn in Wonderland... But one day or another I will come back to it. It's all a matter of time.

Thanks so much for looking!! Please let me know what you think about my projects! Nothing brightens my day like a comment! :)

 I'm not sure if I'll be posting on Friday yet... I currently don't have any new projects... But if so I will be showing my progress on the previously posted projects!
 Hope to see you Friday!


~Zarana