Sat 10 Oct 2009
Poison Dart Octopus by Meg Lyman
SOLD
HI EVERYONE!
I’m going on a blogging hiatus for a month or so. My house sold and I’m about to buy a new one and move! If everything goes smoothly, you should see more art and posts from me in less than a month.
Wish me luck!
Tue 22 Sep 2009
Cosmic Koi by Meg Lyman
11×14″ gouache and ink on illustration board
This was another fun experiment! I used a large ink brush by Pentel – the kind you have to squeeze to get the ink flowing – to do the outline. I painted the koi with gouache and scanned it so it could be used as a tattoo. Then I colored the background, using salt and a white ink pen to make “stars.” This is pretty much backwards from how I usually work. Finally, I went over the ink again. It was challenging, but fun.
Also, I was out of big black mats, so I painted a beige mat with black gouache. It’s quite absorbent, so it worked well with only one coat… but the black gouache came off on my fingers if I rubbed it. Solution: frame or put in a ClearBag.
Sun 26 Jul 2009
Another quick step-by-step demo, on a simpler piece. This technique is quick and easy and I can do it in my sleep now. When convention time rolls around and I have to do dozens of these, it comes in handy… but it gets old. Makes me want to break out the oils, or at least do a complicated gouache piece with a full background an no outlines.
Luckily I have a dozen of those complicated kinds of pieces I have to get ready for Dragon*Con, which is in a month. A MONTH. Pardon while I go panic and paint all day.
Step 1: Sketch, transfer.
Step 2: Since this is on dark-ish paper and the character is yellow, I lay down a white base layer. Without it, the yellows end up very dark and neutral. My advice when painting on dark paper: do a test sheet so you know what colors might need assistance.
Thu 12 Feb 2009
Won’t you be mine?
Woo, sorry it’s been so long since I gave you some how-tos. It’s tough getting the gumption to explain art techniques when you see PHP code in your sleep; I’m haunted by semicolons.
BUT! I want to say that I love my new white gel pen, put to good use in this piece. Magic white dots, immediately visible! Even better than chocolate.
Wed 30 Apr 2008
I can’t show you the cool art I finished for the illustration contest last week, but I can show you a peek. I used gouache for the color and then outlined it with a big, thick india ink brush pen. I loved experimenting with this style and will probably do it again, especially for childrens’ work.
Gotta run, just captured a stray cat that was in my backyard, wigging out in my catnip plant.
Wed 12 Mar 2008
Striped Pajama Squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) ACEO by Meg Lyman
Ink on ACEO cardstock
SOLD
I challenge you to find a cuter invertebrate with a cuter name. I have plans for a bigger one of these guys, matching them up with Atkinson’s Peanut Butter Bars.
I bet they’re tasty, too.
Wed 6 Feb 2008
Making birthday cards is way more fun than buying them. You don’t have to spend very long on them, because even if you make little mistakes, your friends and family will still love it more than all their other birthday cards because you made it. Even if it has a squid on it.
Sun 3 Feb 2008
Nautilus Trap by Meg Lyman
Ink on notecard
SOLD
First, I updated my website with the three meager paintings I did in January. Go look! If you want to be on my mailing list and get notified when I update the site, send me a note.
Something fairly exciting happened this week. I got a call from someone writing a childrens’ book who said she and her partner saw my website and were interested in having me illustrate the book.
Cool, I thought. Let’s see what they have to say. They took me out to lunch and pitched their book to me. It seems like an awesome book, and is nearly finished. Their next step is getting art and a publisher. I’m on track to do some character design for them, and potentially illustrate the whole book.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
The coolest thing about it (besides the characters being right down my alley) is that they found me in a fairly obscure local newspaper. The awesome artist who organized our participation in the boat show had us write blurbs about ourselves and got them into the local paper. Lesson: do as much as you can, even shows that may not mean a lot of sales, for the exposure. Never let an opportunity pass you by!
Thu 31 Jan 2008
WIP of a startled nautilus and mouse, a.k.a. title suggestions welcome by Meg Lyman
After having researched nautiluses for this painting, I have been doodling them all over. Have another! Color pending. I need to go paint.
p.s. I got this awesome book for Christmas, and it is full of awe-inspiring cephalopod reference.
Wed 5 Dec 2007
Cat Eye ACEO by Meg Lyman
Ink on ACEO
Although you’ve all given me fabulous ideas about how to clean my scanner (thank you!), I haven’t tried any of them yet. Instead, I blissfully scanned more art, expecting it to turn out horribly. As a result, when it turned out OK, I was pleasantly surprised.
I got a pack of ACEOs when I bought some gouache from someone over on WetCanvas. About half of them make me wonder what in the world people DO with ACEOs. I have shiny, slick, metallic cards, cards with stripes, and hot pink. These black ones look neat, but they’re slick, so I needed light-colored ink to use with them. I’d been wanted to buy metallic brush pens for a while… so I did, and here’s the result. Metallic ink is waaay too much fun. And the scanner handled it OK!