art Archives - Page 75 of 79 - Kelci D Crawford

October 21, 2014January 22, 2015

Tis the Season for Prints and Posters

My Calendar of Deadlines and Doom...with Art! (Click to enlarge). — My Calendar of Deadlines and Doom…with Art! (Click to enlarge).

When I’m not making comics, I work at my day job, at a craft store.

Something I have noticed is that there are a LOT of people who buy seasonal crap. Halloween wreaths, Christmas decorations that leave waves of glitter at my register, and even the odd Thanksgiving table topper, are all sold to people who think buying these things will get them in the “spirit of the season” (whatever that means).

In case you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of seasonal things.

But I have started doing something that somehow gets me in a festive mood without feeling like I’ve sold my soul to kitschy trinkets.

I hang up posters.

Art (left to right) by J Peffer, the Grand Canyon, Chloe Rose, and an artist on Tumblr (Sorry I can't remember your name!). Click to enlarge. — Art (left to right) by J Peffer, the Grand Canyon, Chloe Rose, and an artist on Tumblr (Sorry I can’t remember your name!). Click to enlarge.

I hang up prints, postcards, and posters I’ve gathered from conventions and traveling.

A small selection of my postcards. Click to enlarge. — A small selection of my postcards. On the left is art done by Joseph Lawn from deviantart. Click to enlarge.

But I have so many of them I can’t hang them all.

So I only put up the ones that I feel fit the season.

Since it’s fall, I put up a bunch of prints of people in costumes, and prints and postcards with warm colors and dead trees and other related subjects depicted.

Greed and Lust were drawn by Chloe Rose. I can't remember the other artists for the other pieces. Sorry! (Click to enlarge). — Greed and Lust were drawn by Chloe Rose. I can’t remember the other artists for the other pieces. Sorry! (Click to enlarge).

It’s unusual, but it’s something I’m comfortable with.

More prints and postcards! (Click to enlarge).

Plus, I get to surround myself with things made by artists I know or have otherwise met at cons! That is WAY more personal to me than a tabletopper you can get at the craft store.

But that’s just me.

Have you been feeling festive this season? Or do you hate this kind of stuff? And why? Let me know in comments below!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.

October 17, 2014January 22, 2015

The Superhero Ladies Illustration Series (In Progress)

So a while ago, I saw the “debate” that happened when Marvel let loose the famous variant cover of SpiderWoman.

And a part of me was like, “You know, it would be great to see superhero ladies in clothes that are actually great for combat and/or aren’t form-fitting.”

Because I am aware that not every superhero lady is in charge of her sexuality or is entirely comfortable with a skin-tight outfit. Have you read the new Ms. Marvel? They talk about that in the first two issues!

Anyway, I decided to make an illustration series showing superhero ladies in outfits that weren’t sexually revealing and/or were best suited for lots of physical activity.

Right now it’s still a work in progress, but it’s been fun to create new heroes and create costumes and superpowers!

Here are some sketches of the ladies I’ve drawn so far:

Number 1 in the series. Sojourner the Mage. She has powers over wind. (Click to enlarge.)

Name unknown. Has superstrength, flight, and super speed. Click to enlarge. — Name unknown. Has superstrength, flight, and super speed. (Click to enlarge.)

PowerPat. Age 10. Super strength. (Click to enlarge).

Agent Sinclaire. Magic user that can manipulate the environment and trap opponents. (Click to enlarge).

I have enough projects on my plate to keep me busy, so right now this is on hold (just like my other illustration series, The Women Warriors Project).

I might include redesigns of Marvel/DC/etc superheroes, but I want to do more original characters in this series. If you have any ideas or suggestions, though, please leave them in comments!

Thanks and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

October 10, 2014January 22, 2015

Art, Art, and More Art: An Update

I had nothing planned to be written for today, so instead I’m going to share some of the sketches I’ve made and finished within the last few weeks. (Please click to enlarge them.)

Gestures and character concepts for new projects.

Sketches I made at work in my spare time. Yes, they are drawn on the back of a coupon.

Character designs I drew for a developing story. — Character designs I drew today for a developing story.

Plus, I’ve included some snapshots of current works in progress.

The comics are inked. Now for the color!

Oh! And I forgot to mention an illustration series I have on hold, called “Superhero Ladies.” I have at least this one finished, but the rest are sketches.

I’ll talk more about the series next week.

Also! I took the time to update the Commissioned Work if you would like to see some comics and other art I made for really swell folks recently.

What do you think? Plus, what do you like to sketch? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

September 17, 2014

Old Art Canvas Collages

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of my day on something I mentioned in my previous post.

I took some canvas I bought, some old sketches from my high school days, and some Mod Podge, and I made collages.

Here are some photos of the final results.

I even have a few close ups of the first one…

And some close ups of the second one…

You may have noticed that there are smatterings of sketches of Kingdom Hearts or Hunter x Hunter characters in the collages. I’ll be talking about that in my next blog post.

So why did I do this?

Well, I didn’t want my old sketches sitting in a box being unused and unseen. I wanted to start making a large catalog of my art, so that the artistic transformation can be seen more readily.

As time goes by, every artist improves in their craft. I am no different. I look at these sketches, the first set dating to 2006, the second set dating to 2007, and I see such a huge difference between them and the art I make now.

I wanted these sketches up on collages to remind myself of how far I’ve come, and see the progress I have made.

I intend on making more collage pieces with my other older sketches. My goal is to make one collage for every year. That way the progress can be more noticeable.

But this is just a personal project.

For now, I still have a lot of freelance work to do, so it’s back to the drawing board with me.

So what do you do with your old sketches? How long has it been since you looked at them? What are your thoughts on your old work? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on Friday.

September 16, 2014September 15, 2014

Status Update On Some Works in Progress

When last I wrote, I talked about comics projects in progress. Before that, I wrote about paintings and other art projects in progress.

I got a chance to work on some of the latter ones recently, and I wanted to give you an update on how they’re turning out!

First, the painting.

I wanted to fix the skin because it was coming out too dark for any of the shading techniques I wanted to use. This, so far, is closer to what I intend the final product to look like.

The dress is giving me a few problems. Pthalo Green is a stupid pigment to work with, especially when combined with Brilliant Blue. The Pthalo pigments always give me the most trouble. But I love the color the two combined makes, so I’ll just do the best with what I have.

I also need to fix her left shoulder because it’s off kilter.

Second, the colored pencil drawing.

Oh god the nose needs fixed now that I’m looking at it again.

I’m starting to add the darker tones now, to make the colors pop. I still want to push the colors and make them as vibrant as possible, and also have the shadows be something NOT black or muddy. So far I think this is working fairly well.

I just need to fix that nose. And a few other things. But mostly the nose.

There’s also a brand new project I want to do that I’m starting today.

It involves these canvases…

And at least half of a box full of old sketches. A lot of these date back to my high school days (oh god they look awful compared to now).

I intend on taking these sketches and a whole lot of Mod Podge to make collages on these canvases. I’ll post pictures as I work on them.

I might add on top of the collages once the old sketches are pasted on. Maybe I’ll paint some color into the sketches? Maybe I’ll draw on top of them? I haven’t decided yet. I’ll let it come to me as I work on it.

Also, I’m eternally grateful that my day job gives me discounts at the craft store. Not only that, but the Michael’s in my town is having a “3 for the price of 1” canvas sale (that’s why I got three canvases, as pictured above). Horray discounts!

So what personal projects are you working on? Let me know in the comments below! And also let me know in the comments what you think of these current works in progress.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow!