Wednesday, May 28, 2014

snowflake

[listening to "drunk in love" by beyonce feat. jay-z]





thought i'd show what i made for my niece for her 5th birthday this year. i swear she gets all the cool art presents from me cuz we happen to be into the same stuff. (don't judge me!) last year for her 4th bday present, i drew her as a Sugar Rush character and dubbed her CHOCOLEA PINKLEBERRY. which she totally still remembers and i think that's just durned cool. this year, she had a Frozen-themed birthday party and she loves Anna. so instead of just drawing some Frozen artwork, i wanted to personalize it and drew her this! she said she was gonna put it next to her Chocolea Pinkleberry. AAAAWWWW!!!!

the letters and decorative elements were absolutely recreated from my Art of Frozen book. wanted it to look as "authentic" as possible. then i just added a wooden texture over the background elements, just cuz i thought it'd be cool. =) don't worry copyright police, i only made this one piece for my niece as a present. i have zero intentions of selling this in bulk or whatever. not even on my Etsy.

i really had fun coloring Elsa. got a splatter brush that works great and some snowflake brushes for the bold patterns. oddly enough, Olaf gave me the hardest time to draw. his design fights all my natural urges when it comes to drawing snowmen. he's all angular and not really very cute in the way that i think an illustrated snowman could be. i musta redrew his face like 20 times. something about what i was doing made him look sad. don't ask me, i have no idea why. eventually, i got it. its weird that what seems like the simplest character is actually the hardest to get right.

anyways, wish i had an artistic aunt when i was young to draw me my favorite things. ah well. i guess i'll just be the cool aunt that does that. i can dig it!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

simple

this entry is solely for the purpose of me ranting about Godzilla (the new movie) and nothing to do with my art. i'm trying to get my angry rage monster under control. so if ur not really about this kinda stuff, please feel free to ignore. but if u feel like reading, then yays! 
also, if u haven't seen the movie, please don't read this cuz it has SPOILERS! i'm writing this under the assumption that anyone that cares to read it already has seen Godzilla and formulated their own opinions about it.


from http://edskudder.tumblr.com/  (i would've drawn my own version of what i felt about this movie but i think this image pretty much does the trick. he apparently thought Godzilla sucked too. go follow this dude's tumblr!)

so, i'm a simple gal with simple needs, especially when it comes to my fun movie entertainment with fantastical premises. u tell me there's giant monsters fighting giant robots, i say great - bring it on! u tell me there's dragons and nazi zombies and what appears to be a cute school girl kickin all their asses, i say let's do this! if u tell me that scientists found a way to bring back dinosaurs and there's an entire island of them now, i say hell yes! and when u deliver that which u tell me i'm about to get myself into, then i say that's a win.

here's my biggest beef with Godzilla. they told me there was gonna be Godzilla and history tells me Godzilla fights with the people OR it fights with other monsters. they also said "hey, bryan cranston is the star!" problem is, Godzilla was basically the 3rd-stringer in the Godzilla movie and bryan cranston died like 20 minutes in. what the what?!? now i don't know much about Godzilla history, i will admit i don't think i've ever seen an entire classic Godzilla movie (i did see the Matthew Broderick one). but i'm pretty sure Godzilla is supposed to be the main focus of the Godzilla film, right? yet i only see him (or her) in the last third of the movie and even when i do see him, they keep cutting back to the flippin humans! i came to see a giant monster fight stuff, but it seemed like the running gag was "let's follow this human soldier dude and see what he thinks of all this. meanwhile, there's an epic battle between giant monsters happening outside and ur totally missing it!" of course i'm simplifying the premise and purpose of the dude (who's name in the movie escapes me at the moment cuz i really didn't care about the character. i must now IMDB it, which makes me upset even more!) but again, i'm a simple gal and i just wanna break down what i saw simply. (FORD! the soldier dude is Ford. got it.)

so yeah, Ford. i don't care about this guy. i don't care about his childhood. i don't care about his wife & kid. i don't care about the random kid he saved who served no purpose nor furthered my respect for this dude. am i supposed to understand he's a caring soldier cuz he thanklessly saved a kid? is that not what good soldiers (and people, in general) do? i think i knew that in the first 5 minutes of him coming home from being deployed and tucking his son into bed. the only thing i cared about Ford was that his dad was Bryan Cranston, who they told me was the star of the dang movie! but turns out he dies and never even actually sees/interacts with Godzilla. and though the whole thing with him losing his wife and feeling like he left her at the plant really broke my heart, because Bryan Cranston is a heck of an actor and he made me feel his helplessness. but all that coulda been told in a flashback sequence IF it were to be sacrificed so i could get more Godzilla later on in the movie. oh and Ken Watanabe, the main scientist dude who i was super excited was casted as a scientist and not some bad-ass Japanese dude with a sword, was just as shocked and confused as i was at every turn. i'm sorry, were u not brought in as the expert in this? u can't be as confused as me, i'm just a layman with some college experience.

but really, my main beef was there wasn't enough Godzilla. not enough people fighting Godzilla. not enough Godzilla fighting Mothras. cuz when i break down this movie, the main characters are Ford (or Kick-Ass which kinda surprised me), Mothras 1 & 2, and then Godzilla. i can't have Godzilla be that low in the hierarchy of characters to care about.

oh, and let me not forget to mention the absolutely useless application of a nuclear bomb that went off for no good reason. it didn't kill monsters, it didn't kill people, it only served to get other soldiers killed in the retrieval of it. Ford's only usefulness in the entire movie was killing Mothra babies, which he really shoulda told his higher-ups about but didn't. his other purpose was supposed to turn off the bomb and he didn't.

what i did love was what Godzilla looked like. it was epic, really. when i finally got to see him in all his entirety, i was so excited! he wasn't the abomination that was the Matthew Broderick iguana lizard. he looked like the classic, only real! the spikes were so great! and his nuclear firey breath - awesome!!! but the fact that he looked so totally fantastic made me even more upset at the movie cuz i only got to see him fight off and on until the very end. and though that finishing move he did right at the end was almost enough to forgive that i missed most of the fighting, i just spent like an hour and 45 minutes being told to care about people. it just left me wanting.

this is why i feel like everyone else that loved Godzilla saw a different movie. they must've gone into the movie with different expectations. that's the only explanation. cuz anyone going in to see great big giant monsters fighting other great big giant monsters would probably be as disappointed as i was. for me, Pacific Rim is still the best film i've seen of the genre. acting in there was fairly bad, with the obvious exception of Idris Elba. BUT WHO CARES! cuz i came to see giant robots fight giant monsters and by golly Guillermo Del Toro delivered with probably the best visual and sound effects i've ever experienced.

ahh...now i feel better. thanx for listening, vast internet universe. it's like my version of screaming at the top of my lungs in the middle of nowhere, except i didn't have to leave the comfort of my chair. =)

Thursday, May 22, 2014

tiger

[listening to "never" by the roots ft. patty crash]

for once in a long time, i'm not late on this week's "cat lady" theme for the Girls Drawin Girls blog! i like the sketch so instead of trying to finish it up with colors and whatnot, i just wanted to make sure i made it on time this week. drawn with my Derwent Inktense colored pencils on that same brown cardstock i always use.

while drawing this i realized i don't know how to draw cats! especially big cats. i'm definitely more of a dog person so cats escape me. so if my tiger & cubs look wonky, that's why. and either the tiger is ginormous or the lady is pretty tiny. but that's ok. i learn as i go along and these weekly themes and sketch_dailies exercises are my way of figuring out how to draw stuff i'm not used to. i don't have the ability to take classes nearby or the money to take the good ones online so i do what i gotta to learn. oh, and kids, my college education failed me on this. so please don't ask me if i think college is necessary, cuz u and ur parents will probably not like my answer. but with that bein said -
BE COOL! STAY IN SCHOOL! SAILOR MOON SAYS!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

summersketchsale

[listening to frozen soundtrack (again)]

 
  remember these?!?!

so now that theFranchize and i are done with Loki:Ragnarok and Roll, i'm looking to fill my time with more art. since it's finally starting to feel like summertime, i wanted to do a sale to welcome the season! i know getting a full commission from me is a little pricey so if u've been thinkin about getting a sketch from me but not have too much funds, here's a perfect opportunity!

backstory: last year my studiomates and i ran a fundraising sale we called #sketchesforhaiyan. if u didn't know, basically we did sketches for $26 and ALL the money that wasn't used for shipping was sent to the Philippine Red Cross for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. we raised hundreds of dollars which translated to thousands of Philippine Pesos and i couldn't be more humbled.

but now i kinda miss drawing those and so i decided to do a #summersketchsale in the same style as those sketches! no charity this time (except the ME charity), just a fun sale till the end of May! here's the info -

  • $20 - each pencil headsketch of any character you choose
  • $6 - Priority shipping anywhere in the U.S. with tracking number (international shipping is additional)
  •  all sketches will be drawn on 5.5x8.5" brown cardstock
  • PayPal payments only to PENELOPE @ IDENTITYCOMICS . COM
  • email me at PENELOPE @ IDENTITYCOMICS . COM to discuss the details of the sketch(es) you'd like
  • sale ends on MAY 31st
i'm only running this sale till the end of May because once June rolls around, more comic cons will be happening and i won't have time to do them. i'm very very much looking forward to sketching these again. i really enjoyed drawing on the brown cardstock and folks even had me draw their family members! please tweet/instagram/facebook the info with the hashtag #summersketchsale. tell ur kids, tell ur wives, and tell ur husbands too! =D

Friday, May 16, 2014

hibiscus

[listening to "love is my disease" by alicia keys]

lately i've been a bit tardy to the party over at the Girls Drawin Girls blog's weekly theme. i don't mean to, but with personal life intruding more and more into work life, i find myself with less and less time to do things for fun. so, in true Peng fashion, this is my sketch for last week's GDG blog's theme of flowers. it's very much inspired by the fairies on Disney's Fantasia where they kinda wake up as flowers bloom. but i added a lot more flare to this one with the swirls on her body and the obviously different wings. and i was originally gonna color her like a polynesian fairy with a caramelly tone on her skin but decided to go with blue to contrast the bright pink hibiscus. in hindsight i kinda wish i went with my original idea but oh well!

i was also trying out some stock patterns/textures i got online, this one in particular being one of the canvas textures i got. but i must not be doing it right cuz i don't think i really like it. still, i figured i'd keep it so i can see what i don't like about it as i continue to experiment with them. i'll keep working on it though, maybe one day i can get it lookin the way i want.

and yes, it's in the same no-nose style as my octo-pie from before. cuz i think it's cute, that's why!

Thursday, May 15, 2014

baby

[listening to "don't say a word" by ellie goulding]


thought the GIF that google made for me automatically was kinda cool so i had to share. this is a card that i made for my homie and studiomate Flash. his wife had their brand new baby boy about 2 1/2 weeks ago and i made this card for them. it's inspired by one of my absolute favorite Pixar shorts and i made little stickers so they can dress him up however they want. think it turned out pretty neato. =)

Saturday, May 10, 2014

working

[listening to "why i love you" by kanye west & jay-z]

quick update guys. i just wanted to let u know i'm still here and working. it's just that, as per usual, it's the type of stuff that i'm really not allowed to show/talk in detail just yet. red tape - go figure. didn't think i'd have to deal with that when it comes to art but evidently that's quite common in this line of work.

sooooo.....i'm posting pics from Free Comic Book Day! theFranchize and I had such a blast at Captain Blue Hen Comics. if ur anywhere near Newark, DE and u haven't discovered this cool comic shop yet, u MUST go. they have some of the best people in the business working there. normally we're at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, MD but this year we were invited to CBH. it definitely feels like i'm cheating on the fantastic folks at Third Eye but both shops have amazing people.
anyways, Flash couldn't make it cuz his wife just had their newest baby like 6 days before FCBD. hopefully next year all 3 of us will be there. thanks so much to the coolest people that came out to FCBD and stopped by our tables. i seem to find myself humbled so much more with every con/show that we go to. its indescribable to see some of my fans come out to see me. i have the best fans out there - guaranteed.

Maleficent pencil sketch
the Maleficent sketch was for a fan that told me i could pick any Disney villain cuz he knew i love love love Disney. now one would think i would pick Ursula but as Disney villains go, Maleficent is my favorite. u ask me to choose and 9 out of 10 times i'm gonna pick her. cuz she is a true agent of the forces of evil. cursing babies?!? that's a bad bad lady. i guess Hades is a bad dude too cuz he tried to kill Hercules (obviously i'm talking about the Disney version), but Hades is Hades so...  as u can imagine, i'm SUPER excited about the new Maleficent movie. u mean my lady-crush plays my fav disney villain?! where has this been all my life?!

Guy Gardner ink sketch
the Guy Gardner sketch was for another fan who had a book of Guy Gardner references. theFranchize told me not to draw the bowl cut version but i welcomed the challenge! i wanted to make the turtleneck and bowl-cut look cool. =) oddly enough, only after the show did i notice he kinda looks like Kristoff (from Frozen). guess i have been watching it a lot.

Adventure Time full-color sketchcover
and any excuse to draw LSP, well, i'm all about it.

Friday, May 2, 2014

fcbd

Free Comic Book Day at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark, DE | May 3, 2014
so it's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY again tomorrow! we've been asked to come out for the event at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark, DE this year! this will be our first time doing FCBD in this shop and we hear it's quite the day, so we're pretty durned excited to be a part of it. because our studiomate Flash just had his baby last weekend, he won't be able to attend so it'll just be me and theFranchize. i'll have my prints and Adventure Time sketchcovers for those interested. i'll even have my exclusive covers for My Little Pony, Soulfire, and Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake with me! i'm hoping to see some familiar faces as well as some brand new ones. (just to put it out there, i'm probably not going to be doing a lot of personal commissions at the show. there's really not enough time. if you want one done, i'll probably have to mail it to you if you're cool with that.) so come out from 10am - 5pm for fun times for the whole family. i think they have face painters and free art classes and gelato! gelato?? yes please! hopefully the day will stay nice and everyone will have a good time. go here for more info on the day - http://www.captainbluehen.com/free-comic-book-day/

also, here are some sketches i recently put up on my instagram. if u don't already do so, gimme a follow! i'm @p_e_n_g !