Gypsy-Maria's Art Blog

A Night at the Opera: Werther

2012-02-13T00:28:00.018-06:00

This post is unforgivably tardy. Better late than never, I suppose, and while my excuses are legitimate they are still excuses. For one thing, my scanner is an incredibly old, fussy thing that doesn't always work with my new laptop. Perhaps it's acting out of spite because I abandoned it for a year while I lived in Korea. Perhaps it isn't super compatible with my Macbook. Perhaps it's just old. Whatever the reason, even after attempting to restart the laptop and the scanner several times (which was my usual fix), I haven't been able to get the scanner to talk to my laptop for a couple of weeks now.

How I Imagine My Electronic Devices Behave:

Laptop: I hate that scanner. It's old and it smells funny and I don't want to listen to it anymore.

Scanner: Eh? Did you say something, sonny? Where are my pants?

The other reason, a bit less legitimate, is that my sketches are terrible. In short: It was dark, I'm severely night-blind, and I should have brought opera glasses or binoculars or something. Noted for next time.

Though failing to capture the awesome visuals that this opera presented (the sets and costumes were wonderful, as far as I could tell, and the photos on some of my fellow blogger friends' sites confirmed it), I am finally posting the sketchpad drawings, but please be patient and understanding of the fact that I had to take them with my webcam, so they're not the best quality. Also, pardon the fingers. You can click on the images to make them bigger.

First of all, I loved all the kids. The way they lined up, the way they played in the park, the singing. Super adorable. Those costumes! Here is my attempted gestural sketch of the adorableness.

Now on to Werther and Charlotte. Their romance, at first, was very sweet. A sort of “love at first sight” kind of story. I'm a sucker for romance, even the tragic kind, so this appealed to me quite a bit. We had some hope that maybe, just maybe, things would work out for these two. I tried to capture some of the chemistry there, the lovely gesture of the way they walked down the staircase together, and Charlotte's pretty party dress (I don't think I got the design right at all, but as I mentioned, I had to guess a lot at what the blurs on stage were supposed to be).

I also sketched a bit of my favorite character in all of this, the younger sister (I think the oldest under Charlotte), Sophie. She totally had a thing for Werther, too, and she had a really cute hat with a ribbon on it. More like a bonnet, I guess? I couldn't be sure, but the huge round shape of it caught my attention. She spends most of the show either mooning after Werther (I guess she likes the emo boys), or trying to cheer people up (both Charlotte and Werther are on the receiving end of her adorable chipperness). She also has a nice chat with Albert, Charlotte's fiance.

And then things got weird and uncomfortable, and I gave up trying to strain my eyes. Werther grabbed Charlotte's skirt and made her edge away nervously. Werther rolled around on the floor. HE MADE SOPHIE CRY. Everything got reduced to chibis, all the better to express the complicated feelings. So many FEELINGS!

And then I switched to marker because I couldn't even see my pencil sketches while I was drawing them (dark room + book light = bright glare on paper = blind artist), and things got really silly. Charlotte was equated to cake (the dresses looked like you could eat them, and everyone wanted a piece of her). Albert's consoling speech to Werther came off more as gloating and rubbing it in Werther's face that he couldn't have ~~the cake~~ Charlotte, and man, what a nice cake it was.

Captions: “Charlotte = Cake” “Man, it is so great to be married to Charlotte. I can only IMAGINE how much it sucks to be you...” “Yeah ok bro shut up.” “THIS CAKE IS SO DELICIOUS AND MOIST!”

I kind of stopped trying at all after that.

Captions: “Saddest Panda. 2^nd Saddest Panda.” “Be happy!” “All the unshed tears fall back onto the soul, and the drops hammer away at a sad and weary heart.”

Most adorable suicide ever?

...What is wrong with me?

In conclusion, DO go see Werther, or any of the other fine productions at the MN Opera House. Better yet, go see all of them. Get some culture in your life. Listen to some amazingly talented performers sing about love and loss and regrets. It's way cooler than going to see that new Twilight movie. You'll thank me later.

-Maria

P.S. My friend Lisa over at this blog did a much better job than I ever could at describing the opera and the problems that we (Lisa, I, and several other attendees) had with the titular character. She also posted on time and provided the relevant information for getting tickets to the opera, because she's not a slacker like I am. Do read her blog, all of it, because she's awesome and clever.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T10:45:00.003-06:00

I haven't forgotten about this blog. Hopefully soon, I'll be updating it more frequently as I start working on the new webcomic in earnest after the new year. Stay tuned!

-Maria

Pardon the Spoiler for '9'...

2009-09-13T11:12:00.003-05:00

I live! I haven't forgotten about this blog, but not a lot of folks look at it, so I sort of stopped updating it. Also, I just haven't had much time to draw, scan, or upload art. However, I saw 9 the other day and whipped this completely digital piece of fan art up last night. I love 5 and 9! They're easily my favorite characters, though they were all pretty much awesome. Anyway, here's the art. It's kind of spoilery for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, but I won't go into more detail than that.

Aren't they just precious? <3

I've also been drawing a lot of LARP-related art, and some D&D stuff, so once I get around to scanning everything in, I'll post a load of stuff here and on DeviantArt.

Ciao!

-Maria

Snow Redesigned

2009-05-23T10:42:00.003-05:00

This is just an expression sheet for my Werewolf LARP character, Snow. Since I play him, and I have a new haircut, Snow has a new haircut, too. I also got some new costuming pieces for him, so I figured I'd just draw him as he looks now for future reference.

Added pink so it wouldn't be so boring.

Enjoy!

-Maria

For Gina

2009-05-17T18:40:00.002-05:00

LARP-related, but a little more general than some of the stuff I've been posting. This is Gina's character Diana and her baby daughter Lauriet, who was named after a raven shifter character of mine that died several months back. It's really sweet, because Lauriet was the one who predicted that Diana would have a baby and so on. Anyway, here's the pic:
Enjoy.

-Maria

Yet more LARP art!

2009-05-11T21:32:00.004-05:00

From my Werewolf Apocalypse LARP again.

From left to right:

Mark as Eric "Scars of Regret" Homid, Ahroun, Fianna
Brennan as Rowan "Speaks Through Fire" Homid, Galliard, Fianna
Myself as Snow "Dances in the Streets" Metis, Galliard, Bone Gnawer
Anthony as Hugh "Actions Louder Than Words" Metis, Galliard, Glass Walker

This is our new pack in my Werewolf: The Apocalypse Live Action Role-Play. We're called Tempered Steel, under the totem of Buzzard.

For all you folks that understood NONE of the above, suffice to say that these are werewolf characters, and I inked this by hand. Thank goodness for Photoshop to clean up the smudges, though. :P

Also, these are ALL MALE CHARACTERS, FYI. Just, one of the players (me) happens to be female. ;)

There may be a colored version in the future.

Also, Rowan and Snow are very good friends. ;)

Ciao,

-Maria

Inspiration in Babysitting

2009-05-01T20:16:00.002-05:00

Haven't uploaded anything lately, since most of my recent work is commissions and freelance stuff that I can't post online, but I have been trying to draw more lately. I owe a LOT of people artwork. o_o Still, I've been squeezing in some time to draw for myself, so here's something to tide you over.

I'm babysitting for a 4-year-old girl named Arianna, and her 2-year-old brother, Rowen. I've known their mother since high school, and it's just strange to know that so many people my age already have kids. I still haven't grown up myself! Anyway, they're pretty cute when they aren't driving me insane, and after watching "The Last Unicorn," Ari wanted me to draw her and Rowen riding a unicorn. So I did.

Then, I got this spiffy rainbow colored pencil from The Source Comics and Games (it was an impulse buy for a dollar), and decided to try my hand at portraiture. I'm more of a cartoon/caricature person myself, but I think it turned out all right. Stuck both portraits together, added text, and adjusted contrast in Photoshop, but otherwise that color is exactly what is on the paper.

It's too bad I have to spend so much time chasing after these kids. If they would just sit quietly more often, I'd have a couple of great drawing models!

That's all for now,

-Maria

More LARP Art

2009-03-19T17:00:00.003-05:00

Here's Snow in crinos (big hairy scary werewolf) form, and "Breakneck", another character from my werewolf LARP. Breakneck has the merit 'huge size', so even in human form he's a big, tall guy. Seven feet tall, to be exact. Snow, having the negative physical trait 'puny', is only about seven and a half feet tall in his largest form, crinos. This is what Snow thinks about THAT.

They are floating in whitespace, because I am lazy.

-Maria

RPG Sketch Dump!

2009-03-17T15:34:00.004-05:00

I've mostly been doing commission art lately, so nothing I can post online as of yet. In the meantime, however, I have been sketching and doodling during role-playing game sessions. The following are some of the better doodles. Click on any of them for a bigger image.

The first three, with the grungy-looking tan paper (this is not something I added-- the sketchpad paper is that color), are from Deadlands. You can see the group photo I drew of the characters a few posts down. First we have Lola and Emily trying to fly some sort of airship. Adam's commentary as Emily was just hilarious, and I tried to capture some of that in the scene.

Then we have Lola and her new coydog (coyote/dog hybrid), Lucky. Lucky is her familiar, and as such has a higher intelligence score than most of the other human characters-- including our 'clueless leader', Mr. Vahn.
This scene is probably my favorite. Our party stops at a nice inn and takes advantage of the hot baths. Except for Little Crow, who thinks the white savages are all insane, and will have nothing to do with their evil hot water and soaps. Lola and Emily let their hair down and play the Chinese drinking game from Shanghai Noon, supposedly taught to them by Honeybee (who is in the picture with a towel on her head). We wind up giggling more than actually getting anything done in this game, as you might be able to tell.

Moving on from Deadlands, here's a group sketch of our 4th Edition D&D characters. From left we have Saraneth the tiefling warlock (played by Virginia); a human rogue (played by John-- forgot his name-- will add later); Reynard the Reluctant, a human paladin (played by me); a human fighter (Darcey's character-- forgot her name, too); the female dwarven ranger, Ruada, and her boar, Mottle (played by Hayden); and Sif the surly, drunken, dwarven cleric (played by my boyfriend, Chris).
That's all for now.

-Maria

LARP art

2009-02-17T17:25:00.002-06:00

This is my Werewolf Live Action Role-Play (LARP) character, Snow "Dances in the Streets" Takayama. He's a Metis, which is the breed of werewolf you get when two werewolves mate, meaning he's sterile and has a genetic deformity. In Snow's case, he's albino. He also has a tail, but he can shift into human form without it when he concentrates, and he tends to be sexually ambiguous (mostly because I'm a girl, so when I'm playing him people forget the gender of the character and call Snow "she" a lot)-- thus the little Fu Manchu beard. I've drawn him in Glabro form, which is the near-human form, but he gets tufty ears in this form and a bit more wolfy looking, not to mention a little taller and more muscular (he's kind of a shrimp in human form).

I had a little too much fun with my bubble brushes for the background. <_<

Pencil, Photoshop Elements, Wacom tablet.

New Plug-in: DreamySuite

2009-02-07T14:59:00.003-06:00

Got another new plug-in for Elements called DreamySuite. It gives your image a glowy, soft, dreamy look to it. I used my ZOTC fanart (as seen in previous post) as the guinea pig pics to try it out. Here are the results:

Kinda neat. I'll have to play with various tint effects and such later.

Fan Art, La La La...

2009-02-06T02:08:00.005-06:00

I have recently rediscovered my love for the anime series "The Slayers", and have watched the entire first season with my boyfriend again. We'll be getting the rest of the series soon, as he enjoyed the first season. Anyway, this sent me on a major trip down memory lane, and I hunted up one of my favorite Slayers fan fics, Zelgadis on the Couch by the lovely Queen of Swords. I looked back on the old fan art I'd drawn for her wonderful fic, and decided to do some new stuff to show how much I've progressed. Oddly enough, as soon as I started drawing Slayers and trying to color the resulting doodles, I reverted to my high school self and got all sloppy. XD Oh well. Here are the first two results of my fan arting (f'arting, as I like to call it). I have a couple more in the non-photo blue pencil stages that I'll finish up eventually.

First one is of her original kitsune characters, Sylph and Jaz/Jessica. The second is from a scene where Xellos (obviously) kisses Lina, and Lina is none too pleased.

So, there we have it. It's sad how little I've progressed when it comes to Slayers-style art, really. It's like I just picked up right where I left off ten years ago. XD

-Maria

More fun with Deadlands

2009-01-31T15:38:00.000-06:00

Downloaded some fun plug-ins for Photoshop Elements today, and decided to try a few on my Deadlands picture to make it look more old-timey. First I sepia-toned it, and added a paper texture, then I used a Frame plug-in to give it this awesome grungy, torn-edged look. Check it out!

They had a bloody grunge texture, too. I think it'd look awesome for a zombie picture. :D

Deadlands Art

2009-01-30T17:30:00.000-06:00

On Fridays I play a Deadlands RPG game with some friends. A couple games ago, I sketched this in my sketchpad, and finally got around to scanning it and tossing a bit of color on it. Pencil and Photoshop Elements, plus using the color setting for the brush over the lines to give it that extra "pop" of color, like the last thing I submitted.

From Left to Right:

Honeybee= played by Darcey
Lola Gillespie= played by me
Jayne Vahn= played by my boyfriend Chris
Miss Emily Perfect= played by Adam
Little Crow and Badger= played by Virginia

FIRST ART POST FTW

2009-01-30T02:18:00.000-06:00

Just to show that I'm not completely dead, here's some gift art I did for a friend of her novel characters.

Did something different this time; used a brush set to "color" over the pencil lines in Photoshop Elements. I like the results.

-Maria

The Maiden Voyage... or Post, whatever...

2009-01-21T13:09:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my new art blog. This is not where I'm going to whine about how crappy my life is, or gush about my various fangirl obsessions. For that, check out my LJ at http://psycocatgirl.livejournal.com

This is where I will be posting my art. This includes my ongoing comics/illustrated novels projects, any arts&crafts like knitting or plushie-making, and any other sketches or doodles I feel like sharing.

And now that I have given the driest description possible, I leave you to the blog.

~
Gypsy-Maria