Updates

I've gotten a small amount of work done. I mostly tried to fix some issues that I still have with the mouth and face in general. I'm getting a bit caught up right now in the hair and the background. I keep agonizing over some details that I should probably just leave lone. The hair on the left side of the face needs improvement because of the corrections I did on that side of the face. The background (flat value) is looking not so consistent. I've gotten some more sketching in, especially on the hair. I also did a little more work in the neck. I'm pretty happy overall with what I have done, despite the issues that I have with some of it. I do admit that I need to buckle down and get more work done in one sitting though. I've been distracted with other things. I'm still not too worried about my deadline and I feel like I'm right on track.

Beautiful Dreamer updates

I've gotten a little more work done. I still need to finish the hair but I did a little of work in the neck and background. I also tried to reexamine the proportions again. I still have a bunch of things to fix. I know what they are though and that's what's important. It's getting late right now though so I'll have to pick this up tomorrow. I'm still feeling good about the deadline, again though we'll see if that changes as it gets closer. The photo I took of it isn't the best but I really wanted to update this.

Beautiful Dreamer updates

I got some more work done. I've decided to do the background. I'm eliminating the linear architecture in the far background, but the leaves and that metal sculpture piece is going to be there. I'm starting to sketch in more of the drawing, though I plan to keep with the idea of working from the top down so I don't smear anything. I still think I'm doing pretty good time wise. I got more done today than I was expecting to.

Background debate

I've done some more work on the hair, and gotten a bit of sketching done. I'm really happy with the hair. Though now I'm starting to question my decision on the background. I'm really determined to start adding more into my backgrounds, but I'm not sure if this will be too busy with the background in it. I also want want to work from the top down on this so I don't smear it later when I come back in to do the background. I need to put some more thought into that. Also I'm really shooting to get this done for a competition deadline, May 1. I think so far I'm on schedule. I don't know though it's hard to tell this early on.

Not much progress, but it's something

I'm stressing out a good bit about this. I don't have my progress done because I'm stressing over every detail and I'm struggling with the hair. I tried to fix the lips again, I think the shadow on the right side needs a little tweaking now, but other than that I'm leaving it alone. I'm not sure if it's better or worse now, than it was before. So in fear of just ruining it I'm going to pretty much leave it alone, and concentrate on the hair. Which still needs a lot of work, it just doesn't look right right now.

Small Drawing Update

I spent less than an hour working on this, so of course it's not epic progress, but it's something. I still think the lips are a bit off, and I think rather than tweaking they just need to be fully erased. Though I love how I drew them and if I had real life Photoshop cut and paste abilities I'd just do that and move them up a little and rotate them a little. I'm having some difficulty with the hair, which is about usual for me, because I find hair so difficult. I'm trying to lay the values in subtly on the face without getting too dark to quick. Though I'm having trouble getting dark enough in the hair. Once I perfect the face and work some more on the hair I'll move on to the body. Then maybe I'll just loosely sketch in the rest of the composition. I'm really fascinated with some of the shapes and objects in the background but I'm not sure exactly how much of the background I'll include. I don't want it to look to busy. I might dark the background a bit overall just to make it recede. Though a flash wasn't used to take the photo, I was lit from the front by a huge window so the darks aren't too strong to begin with. I think the soft lighting works, despite my preference for dramatic lighting.

New drawing

I restarted the drawing. I traced the eye and nose from the first drawing. The mouth is till not in the exact right spot but I think it looks good regardless. The bottom lip needs more work so I may go in a fix the angle a bit. I'm really happy that I switched to pencil. I'm having so much of a problem working on the little details with pencil. If I was working on a larger scale it might be easier. Though I'm thinking of making this a birthday gift for someone so I think based on the wall space that they have it would be best if this was smaller. I think it will look good in the end especially if I stick to the plan of laying in the detailed background.

Polynesian Slumber

*Edit*
I'm really happy with how this turned out. I've posted this on my website. My next drawing is going to be in graphite but I will be revisiting colored pencil soon. I really enjoyed working on this and want to work with the media again.

Dress Update

I've done more work on the dress, once again it's not seeming as bad as I thought now that I look at with the separation. Though I still think it needs some tweaks. It's definitely filled in but I need to do some more work on it to make it right. I'll definitely be ready to move onto the chair tomorrow or the day after. I'm only putting it off because I want to put away most of the red pencils that I won't be needing for the chair. I already have a lot of pencils out that I'm working with. I think I need to up a few of the shadows in the white part of that bottom pattern it's looking a little washed out compared to the big flower on the chest.

Dress Progress

I was starting to worry about the bottom portion of the dress a bit, so I went against a personal goal. I didn't want to do another post until I finished the dress. I think the bottom portron of the dress doesn't look as bad as I thought it did. I think the red needs a little more work but once I fill in the rest of the red and the white it will look fine. I thought it was a disaster but it's fine. Once I'm finished with the dress I'll work on the background. I may come back and try to finish the dress today, it all depends on what else I end up doing. I'd like to have this finished by next week, but we'll see if anything pops up.

Drawing Progress

I took a few days off from my drawing to update my website a bit. I reworked some of the elements of my site. I'm much happier with it now. Anyway I did some more work in the dress this morning, I plan to do a bit more work tonight. I'm really happy with this for the most part so far. I laid in a bit of the beginning layers of the chair in the background. Right now it doesn't look quite right but I think it will work out better in later layers. I'm going to finish the dress before I continue work on the chair.

website work

http://jessicamckelvin.com
I'm trying to fix up my website a bit. I know there is a definite need for improvement. I started a thread on Wet Canvas asking for advice for how to make it better. The first reply I got pretty much picked apart my navigation, but honestly I've known that I needed more work on my navigation. I've also spent the past hour looking up website tips for artist portfolios, and I feel confident that I'm doing the right thing with the multiple gallery pages. Though I'm not sure if my color scheme is good. I'm starting to wonder what it would look like reversed, white and black. I'm going to create a test page, and place with some elements with that. That way I can not only see how it looks for myself but get some second opinions before I apply it to the whole site. If I change my color scheme I may change my blog to match as well.

As of right now I'm thinking about taking out all of the image links in the navigation, and making it all text links. Though the one person didn't like my image category headers, I do. So as of right now I'll keep those. Though I suppose I'd have to find a way of classifying the, About, Contact and Artist Blog Pages. Because I'm not sure if they would look right without the header image. They didn't like the news updates on the front page. I think if I got rid of the news I'd keep the "Upcoming Events."

Also I'm still really unsure about adding prices to my work. I'm thinking of making up a price list for my work, that way I'd have it readily available to email to any potential clients. I know myself that I need a better way to list my services (commissions and photo editing), as well as making it known that my work is for sale, and I have prints available.

More drawing updates

Nothing really major done. I mostly took this photo to be able to look at it with some disconnection. I'm thinking the fabric is starting to look better, but that one new shadow I put in bothers me a little bit. Also I think I may have to lighten up that last shadow that I was worried about. I think the red doesn't look as bad as I though it did, and the overall texture of the dress is looking good. I'm really starting to pick up on the subtle hills and wrinkles in the fabric. Also I'm happy that her dress is really starting to pop more. My dress was taking over before but I'm happy that it's not going to be that way in the end. Despite being in the foreground it should be more of an after thought to the viewer.

Dress Dilemma

I'm a bit worried about how the dress is looking, I'm worried that the pattern is not connecting as one piece of fabric and I'm worried that I'm getting dark too quickly. I'm taking a step back and I'll work on it more later after I calm down a bit about it.

Work on dress

I started filling in her dress, I think mine is just about where it needs to be. I also did some extra work on her face, I tried to up the color in some places and some of the shadows. I think it worked out pretty well. I figured out the weave of the wicker in the background. It looks true to the patter of the chair, as I can see it in other photos. I also rounded out her chin a bit more. I think the shadow under my dress needs a bit more work, looking at in the photo. I have to look at that later.

More color filled in

I'm only posting again so soon because the lighting is pretty good in the room right now, and for the most part I think I solved the problem of the highlights on the eyelids, though I think the left lid still needs a little more work. I'm not done with my dress yet, but it's starting to come in a bit more solid now. I started working on the seat cushion as well. Also I need a bit more of a shadow on the upper lip on the left, it will help bring out the highlight. I'm probably going to finish both dresses and then get to work on the background details.