Diggin' through the archives...

I've got a small handful of works from the last year that I think would be worth posting, among which are some illustrations done for the Redwall e-zine, Terrouge. I like doing work for Terrouge not just because I've been a fan of the site since I was twelve (oh gosh, does that seem long ago...), but it's also an excellent way to exercise my illustrating abilities (which are amateurish at best, but I'm working on it!)

Banner created in Photoshop for the Questor's Bold V site. Hosted by Terrouge, QBV was a writing survivor contest that ran from summer to fall of 2009. I also created portraits of the participants, which are viewable here.

Graphic created (again in Photoshop) last fall for a friend's book review column, entitled "Badger Reading Corner Reviews." So I thought this would be appropriate.

Lastly is the February 2010 cover (though it was initially intended as a January cover, so the subject matter is just a little bit off.) Went with a sort of minimalistic approach, and I think it worked pretty well. Created this with a combination of ArtRage 2 (no, I don't have the fancy-smancy new version...yet...) and Photoshop. The typography was added by Ashen Fox, Terrouge's current Editor-in-Chief.

That's all for now! But as the semester winds down and summer break begins, I expect to be working on lots of new art to post :)

Suspension of Disbelief

I'll be honest; I'm pretty darn pleased with this piece. It's certainly far from perfect, but never before have I had a ballpoint sketch turn out well enough for me to want to take it the whole way in Photoshop. Aside from a little bit of clean-up around the character, the lines are completely composed of the original sketch.

Oddly enough, this piece was born out of art block- but as I was attempting a sketch-a-day project* (inspired by the amazing character artist Chris Ayers), there was no way I was going to let myself not draw something. And so, this happened. Took me longer than a day to draw, though :)

I managed to finish it in time to submit it to the St. Norbert College Annual Juried Student Art Show, where it was accepted and was also one of several works featured in the SNC Times article on the show.

Bright colors. I like them :D


(Please visit here to see a sharper-quality image; blogspot makes me cry inside with how muddy it makes this look.)





*Which sadly fell apart after the semester began. When my homework started suffering, I knew something had to give. But summer's just around the corner, so I'm going to give it another try, this time via ArtSlam!

Ahoy thar!

I think it's about time to get this blog properly started. What will it be about? It'll be my art blog. Not a sketch blog, as I've got a LiveJournal for that, but a place to post my better work. There will be finished art, the occasional sketch, and who knows what else - only time will tell. My only hopes are that I keep improving as time goes on, and that others enjoy my work.

So, who am I? I'm Carolyn. I like fantasy and sci-fi, monsters and anthropomorphic animals, and color. Lots and lots of color. And there's a strong possibility that I'll be adding Dr. Who to my list of likes in the near future.

Characters are perhaps my foremost creative passion - I love taking normally unbelievable characters and making them as life-like as possible. I hope that my future holds a career involving that sort of practice.

Where else can I be found? A number of places, often times under the alias of my artistic mascot, Kyrahlynn (yes, my fifteen-year-old-self was soooooo clever when it came to names.) Here are a few:

deviantART
LiveJournal (Intended mostly for the eyes of friends, but I'm happy to add just about anybody.)
Art9
ArtSpots
Last.fm


Keep yer eyes peeled, as there's more on the horizon...anchors aweigh!



(Yes, yes, I know this is cheesy. Hush.)