Attack of the Startitis!

Startitis: n. A condition that affects crafters and artisans, especially knitters, that spurs them to impulsively start several projects at approximately the same time. This condition is far more common than its counterpart, finishitis, which makes the afflicted crafter impulsively finish several projects. These two conditions were originally described by Toronto knitter Stephanie Pearl-McPhee several years ago.

I finished knitting my last project and wound up at Knit Night this week with no on-hand knitting project (not that I didn't have something on the needles, I was just silly and packed it already.) When I got home, I decided to dig out a skein of sock yarn and cast on some socks. With no pattern, just loose understanding of How To Construct Socks.

That would be the rainbow project on the left. The actual yarn is a lot more saturated- it's rainbow, shifted to the red/pink/magenta end of the spectrum. I'm knitting them at the same time and toe-up, so I can be assured I won't run out of yarn for them. When I locate my (already packed) reference books) I'll finalize the pattern for them. The yarn is $10k for MSF, colorway 'Care', 75% merino/25% nylon, 420 yards.

Note to self: Winding 420 yards of sockweight yarn on a nostepinne is not a good idea.

The other yarns...

Yeah I made the mistake of browsing my yarn stash before packing it for the move. The ball of blue-cream-brown sockweight second from the left is Socks that Rock, colorway Lucy and based on WendyKnits's kitty of the same name (superwash Merino, 360 yards). Lucy was a seal point Ragdoll, so naturally this yarn demands to be knit into socks with a kitty theme. I'm going to do little lace cat paws running up these socks. They'll also be toe-up and knit at the same time. Haven't cast them on yet because I don't have enough sets of size 0 circulars.

The other three balls are Manos de Uruguay (30% silk/70% merino, one of my favorite blends, 150yards each) that coordinate almost perfectly with the Lucy yarn. The blue is more denim than sky blue, but close enough to make me happy. This pile demanded to become a poncho that will match the Lucy socks. It's knit top-down, so I had to figure out how to do the cat paws upside down so they look right. But I've got the ribbed collar done and I've started the lace panels. Progress!
I'm going to have a friend beta test the patterns for the Kitty Socks done with the Lucy and the Kitty Poncho when I finish them. May even start selling them on Ravelry if they come out nice!  

Naroko

There's a group on Facebook that hosts monthly challenges for character designs. This month's theme is Jedi and Sith. So I tossed this together, mostly for my own amusement.

From the old character files, Naroko Chiston:

STAR WARS COSTUMES

The Star Wars costume exhibit was at the EMP, and sis wanted to visit it for her birthday.

The sketches proceeded to commence- in part because of homework requirements (this week's assignment was five pages of wrinkled and folded and draped fabric. HOW CONVENIENT) and in part because I am a giant nerd who loves Star Wars and character design and costumes and Star Wars.

Emphasis on the giant nerd part.

I took about 200 photos from the Star Wars exhibit and the fantasy exhibit also there and drew from both the live displays and the photos.

Luke Skywalker's Jedi Knight robes, Obi-wan Kenobi's Tatooine robes from the original trilogy, Queen Amidala's light-up throne room gown from Phantom Menace.

Had to get the twins on the same page here. Princess Leia Organa's iconic white hooded gown (of 'help me Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!' fame) and the front of Luke's Jedi uniform.

Naboo royal handmaiden gown. Don't remember which of the prequels this one is from, honestly it could be any of them, the handmaidens show up in all three.

One of Padme's gowns from her stay on Naboo in Attack of the Clones. The one designed 'to look like it would fall off if she sneezed'. This one is so pretty- in color it fades from a peachy-yellow to lavender.

And finally, Emperor Palpatine in his 'I just declared myself Emperor and murdered three Jedi Masters come to take me prisoner' robes. Palps, why are you doing that thing with your arms, you look ridiculous.

Weekend Catchup

Buuuuuuusy busy weekend. Didn't get to post anything, but I did work on stuff!

More Sooj and Betsy concert sketches, because I got to see them perform again! Betsy had whales on the brain.

And I bound off and blocked my Estelle wrap! OMG, this thing is huge- it's longer than the twin beds in housing!

The wrap is Estelle, made from my own handspun faux cashmere. Pattern can be found here.

I know the blocking job is kinda shoddy, but this thing is going to get dyed blue anyway so it doesn't really matter. I just wanted to see how it looked.

We went to the Star Wars costume exhibit at the EMP for little sister's birthday. I got some sketches from there, and about 200 photos that I'm going to work from because this week's drawing homework just happens to be draped and wrinkled fabric ;)  I'll scan those when they're finished.

Two Point Perspective

Kind of a boring one, but eh. It was a portfolio requirement.

Yay perspective.

Hey look, I made a thing

Pixel art animation for Digital Media production. We had to build the environment, use orthographic perspective (this weird three-quarters view) and then animate a character in it. The clock tower from Gargoyles is a cool building, so I made it. Naturally, Goliath followed.

EDIT: Saw the grade on this. Prof gave it a 93% and said it was the best in class for how short it is. :D

Heads Hands and Feet

More heads, hands, and feet- because they were homework for this week.

Heads- portraits of Ming-Na Wen and Tom Hiddleston.

Because.

Tricky Pixie Concert Sketches!

S J Tucker and her two cohorts, Betsy Tinny and Alexander James Adams, are my favorite musicians. They all do their own thing (and their work is AWESOME), but when they come together they form the group Tricky Pixie, and it's musical magic. I've been going to Tricky Pixie and S J Tucker concerts for a few years now, and it's become a tradition for me to sit there during the concert and draw pictures or little cartoons based on the music they perform, then gift those sketches to the band.

Last night, I remembered to get pictures of the sketches I did before I gave them their drawings.

There's a few doodles in here I would love to make into paintings- the river child, the dryad on the mast, and the one of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf. We'll see if I get a chance to do it.

From the Archives #2

Forgot to post last night! And going to be away for the evening on top of it.

I'll be doing sketches tonight that I will post, but for now, my two favorite Otto Octavius drawings:

Someone is not a morning octopus.

Life Drawing: Heads Hands and Feet

Sketches from today's advanced life drawing class. Max time on any one sketch was ten minutes.

Special post!

On briefly before I need to head to work, but...

Yeah, guess what got an A?

I have drawings from today's life drawing class. I'll post them after work and knit night.

From the archives #1

Was doing French homework today, so nothing really got created.

So here's an old piece! I think this is from 2011?

Tomorrow is Advanced Life Drawing and Knit Night at my local yarn shop, and I'll have new stuff to post then.

Sokotay

This lovely lady wandered into my head earlier today. Sokotay Penblade. She'll probably feature in a story with Alberich.

I'll color her at some point.

Crosspost from Portfolio Review Blog: Gesture drawings

Some gesture drawings and quick sketches:

Sketch 2/1/15: Kiran and Rose

Wizard Kiran Vinayak and either Crown Princess or Queen Rose Red (not 100% sure when this drawing is set, so it could be either), characters from a book I'm working on.

Not sure what they're trying to figure out there. Probably one of their companions did something silly.

The Three Graces

One of our recurring projects in my series of drawing classes is the Master Drawing Copy. It's what it sounds like- find a drawing by one of the old masters and copy it as closely as possible.

I really like doing these.

For three quarters now I've had this assignment, and this quarter marks the third in a row that I did some version of 'the Three Graces' for my copy. First quarter it was the version by Jacopo da Pontomo, second quarter was Raphael's take on the subject, and this quarter was Ruben, finished this past Wednesday.

My mom really likes these drawings, so they're becoming a regular series for her.

The little cherubs in the background of this one were a pain. I think this sketch was a planning sketch for a fresco, hence the very vague and shadowy background.