August 2011 Sketchbook Highlights

Mikayla and the Angels, Pencil
August 15, 2011

His "Majesty", Pencil
August 21, 2011

(writing is actually random lyrics from Placebo's "Post Blue")

Art is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011
Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

July 2011 Sketchbook Highlights

Anne, Pencil & Watercolor
July 30, 2011

Warm-Up Sketches, Pencil & Watercolor
July 14, 2011

Art is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011
Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

June 2011 Sketchbook Highlights

Milady, Pencil
June 26, 2011

Mr. Hall, Stylist Pen & Crayon
June 9, 2011

Milady, Pencil
June 26, 2011

Art is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011
Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

May 2011 Sketchbook Highlights

Tobias, Watercolor and Stylist Pen
March 24, 2011

Alternate Scan

Theo and Johna, Watercolor and Pencil
May 24, 2011

Alternate scan!
Johna belongs to Joneko 

Ryan, Watercolors and Stylist Pen
May 23, 2011

Art is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011
Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

Sleepy Bear

Tobias (as a bear) and Ryan
pencil on regular ole computer paper, photographed on cell phone and colorized slightly using Picasa.

Art is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011
Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

Miki as a tweenage super-heroine.

Hand-colored poster version available on Etsy! 

Space Knight is from the Sera Myu Musicals

Ruth and Thomas from a 1920s story in my head.

Why yes, they are just another version of Tobias and Ryan. 

Anne searches for her beloved companion… 

Clarence!

Annie and Bluey from ye ole failed comic.

Ballet doodles for “Miki and Sir.”

Sable belongs to Clear on Manga Bullet

(this was from an Art Trade) 

Sir 

Ojo

An is joneko’s character

(another Art Trade)

Minty for mintyhae on Manga Bullet

Art  is © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011

Characters are © Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011 unless otherwise noted

Riona and Brett

Pencil

Riona was drawn by me, Colleen

Brett was drawn by Joneko 

Art Dump! :D

Cara

Stylist Pen, Crayola Crayon

Lady Anne

Pencil

Manly Unicorn

Stylist Pen

All drawings in this post are (c) Bombshell Cat Studio/Colleen Rauch 2011

Toby Sketches

Pencil

Tween Mikis

Stylist pen and Crayola crayons

Camera Commission

Stylist Pen, Crayola Crayons

This is a logo I did for my friend Jamaal's business card. He is a pretty stellar photographer. Check out his photos here: http://jlewisphotography.tumblr.com/ 

Dragonfly For Mom

Dragonfly, Stylist Pen

This evening my mom asked me to make her a business card, something I was more than willing to do. We tossed ideas about over the dinner table and quickly decided on a blue dragonfly, which I drew and inked immediately afterwards. Blue is my mom's favorite color, you see. 

Dragonflies have always been special to my mom, but they are even more precious since Grandma passed away last spring. Shortly after she passed away, two of my cousins were reunited with her in the form of a large dragonfly that shared their beach towel. After some research, my mom discovered that dragonflies are sometimes seen as go betweens with the spirit world. As a result, dragonflies are precious to us. 

My mom is a great peace-keeper and connector. I am sure she is part dragonfly and I am so glad she loves her cards. :)

(Also, special thanks to Joneko for cleaning my line art and making it blue.) 

Warm Up Sketches, No Guides

Today I made a very important decision- to do more "no guide" drawing. This means two things:
1. No using proportion guidelines
2. No references
While this does not make for good, polished pieces... it does help with capturing character instead of worry about "Gah! HER ARM IS NOT LIKE THAT!" all the time. It is also just plain fun!

Tobias, Pencil
This is a pretty good example of what "no guides" looks like: really messy! (Also: look! I have no idea what a guitar looks like!) Actually, when drawing Toby the lack of guides is very freeing because I stop thinking about his skeleton and start thinking "he's a pillow."

Ryan, Pencil
Since I ended up thinking less about anatomy, I got to make some basic but important design changes that better suit Ryan's character. Long hair? Not very practical for the girl on the run. Or the girl with five brothers.

Tobias, Pencil
On the other hand... if I were using guides you would be able to tell that Toby's hands actually make sense in this pose.

Line Art: Toby and Mark

Stylist Pen

The final, colored version of this illustration will be in this weekend's update of "Miki and Sir"- but it was far too adorable not to share! This is possibly my favorite illustration for the series so far.

(Though, really, the one of Sir in that apron is right up there...)

What I learned today: Drawing a one year old is not easy! I had to throw everything I know about proportions out the window for this and one other illustration involving little Mark!

(Mark's birthday is next week, by the way: February 12th.)

Anne Dress Concept

Pencil & Colored Pencil

Pose and dress modeled on an image in Tom Tierney's "Renaissance Fashions" coloring book.

This piece was made to get a better feel for the style of dress I will be using in a painting later. (This exact pose and dress will not be used.)

Mr. Toby Color Test

Stylist Pen and Crayola Crayons

Just a quick little sketch to test skin tone and other colors for Toby's upcoming appearance in "Miki and Sir." I think the skin tone works but I hope that I can find a better color for his shirt so he looks less... blah. Toby is NOT a "blah" kind of guy. 

The writing on the right side? Those are color notes. I try to keep track of what crayons I am using in the story and how many of them are NOT in a regular 24 box of crayons. (The goal is to keep the non-24 box colors to a minimum so that it is easy for fans to get a hold of the colors used.) Toby's skin tone is one of only three colors so far that is NOT a 24 Crayon Box crayon. (Tumbleweed is the color, for those interested.) 

Lady Isobel and Sir Theo

Stylist Pen & Crayola Crayons

Miki Proportions - WIP

Mikayla

Bic Mechanical Pencil

Tonight I am doing a lot of work on getting Mikayla's proportions right. The above doodle (picture brought to you from my cell phone) is just one of many. For this particular one I used a picture of Margaret O'Brien as a reference. From this one I was able to stand Mikayla upright with the same proportions and then move her into different poses like a little doll. 

I find it weirdly easier to work with proportions if the original pose is not dead on. 

January Sketch Book Highlights

Silly Tryan Nonsense

BIC Mechanical Pencil, Crayola Crayons

Lady Anne

BIC Mechanical Pencil, Joneko's Gel Pens

(Collab with Joneko)

Sir and his Ladyface

BIC Mechanical Pencil

Shield Lesson

This image is of Sir Theo (I am sure you remember him... as he was one of the first focuses on this blog) and his squire, Johnathan. (Johnathan is Joneko's character.) While I was on my first real vacation in a small age, Joneko and I decided to pull Theo and his old universe out of retirement to start an "sort of secret project" that maybe you will someday see!! Not today though. Today you get to see THIS. 

I will, however, tell you a little bit about what is going on because I made this part up and am proud of it:  This is a defense lesson. It is a lesson that takes place early on in a squire's education. Two knights face off, each defending their squires. The squires are meant to watch and pick up on how the shield is used when defending another human being. Later on the squire is meant to defend a small child using only their body and the shield while their master tries to poke/tickle the child. The aim is not for the squire to defend himself- but rather to defend someone as unpredictable as, say, a screaming damsel. 

Materials: pencil (for sketch), black Stylist pen, Crayola crayons (24pk.), Joneko (my collaborator)

This art is (c) Bombshellcat Studion & Joneko 2011