cfgriffith

As I mentioned in my last journal entry, I have a new scanner (yay!!!). I've been a scanning fool these past two days. First, the main gallery of dwarf and Thorin fan art has been updated. I am not sure if I will bother with some of the scraps section sketches, because many of those no longer exist since I finished them with ink.

However, today, I pulled out my over-stuffed portfolio and started scanning some of my old art (the first few pieces were from 1998 and 2000). I don't want old art to show up in the "featured" section of my main page, nor do I want it to show up in the main gallery. Not sure how that all works and don't really want to mess with it.... so... I added them to the scraps section, and then created some side folders to organize *everything* (including my main dwarf fan art).

If you check out the gallery folders, you'll find the Dwarf Fan Art, Middle Earth Sketches (just dwarves right now, but who knows what'll get dumped in there... I don't want 100 folders taking up space, so I thought that would be best), Old Nature Art, and Old Darth Maul/Star Wars Fan Art.

It's going to take some time to scan and organize everything, but I wanted to let folks know I was doing some organizing here. I'll just have to remember to keep putting things in their folders when I add them.

Thanks for looking!

I finally have a scanner, so unless I have really HUGE canvases/paintings, I will hopefully be able to scan instead of take photos of my finished art. I still need to get used to it (it's been sooooo long since I had a nice scanner), so I'll hopefully be messing around with settings and get a feel for it. I'm hoping to finally be able to scan my art properly, so please be patient -- I will most likely start replacing some of the current images with better versions when I can. I'll try to remember to click the "notify friends" option, for those of you who would also like to download the better version.

This is also good, because I will also have a printer (scanning area is 11 x 17, and I think it will print up to 13 x 19). I can get back to my more usual way of drawing, and hopefully soon scanning inks for coloring on the computer too!

Between getting used to new gadgets and remembering how to do various digital stuff, as well as trying to get back to some sewing project deadlines, I might be somewhat slow. However, I'm hopeful that this will mean things won't be as much of an annoyance and allow me to do a lot more too!

I am still having to take photographs of my drawings instead of scanning them. Occasionally, if I manage to get a better one without discoloration or shadow, I will replace the old file.

A lot of the drawings I’ve been doing have been mainly to get used to drawing again, figuring out which style I want to draw the dwarves, and get used to drawing their details. Most of the images so far tend to focus on the dwarf, but once I’m feeling more comfortable again, I’ll add backgrounds and even others into the same drawing.

I’m not sure I will ever draw all the dwarves (maybe for a couple projects) – there are a few I like the most and tend to focus on. I enjoy inking with a brush, but eventually hope to even add some paintings to the mix. I’m just having fun drawing again.

I also post some sketches and other scribbles in the “scraps” section of my gallery. Due to other hobbies and things that happen out of the blue, I have to put drawing off... it's a bit frustrating, dealing with those interruptions. They make me feel a bit awkward and struggling to keep getting back to the "feel" of it. Oh well, it's all for fun, right?

Since I currently don't have a scanner, I'm having to take photographs of the drawings and sketches I'm working on. It's been several years since I regularly worked on art, but I'm hoping to get back to it. I feel a little awkward after all this time, and I'm also still working on sewing costumes and other hobbies. So it will take a little time to build up my gallery here.

I'm enjoying The Hobbit movie, especially the dwarves (and especially Thorin!), so I'm focusing on them for a bit of fun and practice.

I'm not sure when I will be able to post (much less work on) finished pieces, but hopefully I will start working on a few things in the near future.

Until then, I'll just get used to this place and have fun sketching.

Best Wishes!