Debbie's Flower

I was at my friends Debbie and Ben's wedding in Sydney last week. It's spring in Australia right now and Debbie works in a flower shop, so needless to say the wedding was overflowing with beautiful flowers. I was taken with the peonies in particular and so in my free time I sketched them as a hat. I took that drawing and, thanks to the wonderful people who created Photoshop CS5 and wacom tablets, was able to go directly from the sketch and create a finished painting.

The digital painting:

The sketch:
The peony:

Airplane sketches

I just came back from a wedding in Sydney which gave me a lot of time to sketch on the plane. Here as some of my sketches....

Josh and Andrew's Ball Jointed Doll: part 3

Sealing the doll parts. This gives the doll a hard shell so she can be painted and played with. This also provides the overall flesh color.Second coat of sealant
Detail work, body blushing, painted toes and fingernails, nips....waiting for a head

Some beautiful face painting

Then we set her eyes, added very tiny little eyelashes, and whipped up some old fashioned glamor.....

Ladies and Gentlemen, modeling two couture looks....

LoveChilde: by McKenney and Yang

Strawberry J-Girl

Fashion Illustration

Dress: by Atelier Versace

Thumbnail Sketches:
I saw this dress in New York Times magazine (The Milan Issue Winter 2010) and I knew I had to draw it.

Black, White, and Red Fashion Illustration

original drawing is 15"x 20", black ink on watercolor paper, digital color

pre-photoshop:

sketch:thumbnail:

Digital Color Tweaking

I was looking at this piece I did last week and I decided the colors weren't right at all. After playing around with the image in Photoshop I concluded that it was really washed out and WAY too green.
Here is the updated image. I think it's much better! Don't you?

original image:

The Sea

15"x 20", Layered Acrylic Ink Washes, Colored Pencil, and Pastel on Watercolor Paper

Detail:

Process Sketches:



Process of Final Piece:The pencil sketch with masking fluid
wash 2
wash 3
wash 4
wash 5
The masking fluid is removed after purple clouds are painted, leaving pale yellow twinkles and highlights.
wash 6
wash 7
details added
wash 8
finishing touches


Her clothing is based on this look below, from Marc Jacobs Spring 2010 Ready-To-Wear collection:

photo by Marcio Madeira

Hope you like her!

The 3 winners of the J. David McKenney ipod case are......

.........in no particular order......
Derya
I love the concept of a fan as a veil! The details and color choices are superb! So pretty! So sophisticated! Well done!

Alexa
I love how you took the classic ship on the powdered wig and made it an entire scene with waves and a sunset! Glorious! Very Clever!

and Valencia
I love her! Her pink hair! Her beautiful skin! I love that she doesn't need a purse because she keeps everything she needs up on her head. Smart lady!


Congratulations!!! You have each won your very own J. David McKenney iPod case! I'll be contacting each of you via email.

It has been so AWESOME to see all of your designs! I'm so blown away by your talent! Thank you to all of the truly gifted people who participated. Judging this contest wasn't easy, I wish I had more cases to give out!

I'll try to hold another contest like this in the future as soon as I get something else cool to give away!

Here are some of the other amazing wigs submitted for the contest:










Thank you again to everyone who sent in a design! I hope you had so much fun designing these truly awesome wigs.

Marie Antoinette would be so proud!