Glasses

One of the characters I'm working on. I was part of the glasses/braces club as a kid...fun times!

A Grimm Meeting

This was an old sketch I had done a long time ago and I had always wanted to color it. It may be one of the only illustrations I have placed myself in. I'm obsessed with the Brothers Grimm so this piece is a child of that obsession. Who wouldn't want to meet the brothers if given the chance?!

Mimi

Here are some storybook illustrations I did with a different painting technique.

The Nutcracker

This is a scene from the story of The Nutcracker where Clara wakes to find the rats attacking her Nutcracker who has come to life.

This painting came together rather quickly. It was fun working with the different textures and color for this piece (you know me I love my bright saturated colors). Clara herself was a joy to work on. I went for a more 3D look for her when rendering.

Painter/Photoshop
© Jessa Sininger

Thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who has commented on my art posts. I read each and every one. Thanks from the bottom of my heart!

BBC Sherlock_Sketch Batch

Sketches I did while watching some BBC Sherlock.

Never Open the Door to a Wizard

Here is the newest illustration I did. I wanted to make the light the hero of the piece and I stuck with the basic complementary colors of yellow and purple. As usual saturated colors and light are not spared. Enjoy!

Painter
© Jessa Sininger

Sketches

Here is a sketch from my upcoming art book and some fanart of the Nickelodeon show The Legend of Korra.

More on Comic Pitch

A page and the cover for a Comic Pitch.

Images © Jessa Sininger

Pitch

Here's some more work on a pitch I'm involved with.

Image © Jessa Sininger

When the Neighbors Decide to Party

Yes, I kid you not this is me when it happens. By the time my head hits the pillow I'm exhausted from the days work. Luckily the neighbor I share a wall with moved out. It's been really peaceful at night lately. However, it's only a matter of time before new neighbors come in. Crosses fingers for someone quiet.

Inking Process

Here's a look at my inking process. I used some calligraphy brushes with an assortment of different sized tips. It's a dangerous medium to master.

Miyazaki's Girls

Here is the next genre batch of sketches. I absolutely love Miyazaki/Ghibli movies (Spirited Away is my fav). The characters are so loveable and fun to draw. Can't wait for Arrietty!

Cinderella

This is an Illustration based on the Fairy Tale "Cinderella" in my vision.

As with all the other Illustrations in this collection I'm doing my influence on the original stories. This is my third illustration from the Cinderella story. I don't know how it got to be this many! I suppose the story is just rich enough to pull enough inspiration from. This turned out to be one of those fun pieces you enjoy painting. I really wanted to work with a restricted color story again (blues and purples) and tackle another night scene. I took advantage of bounced light as well. Hope you enjoy. On to the next Illustration!

Photoshop
8 hours
© Jessa Sininger

A Charming Meeting_Ink

This is another illustration from my series entitled "Investigation of a Fairy Tale". It's a retelling of Snow White as a murder set in the Victorian Era. An unknown woman was found dead on the cobblestone street with what appears to be an apple in her outstretched hand.

Mirror Mirror_Ink

"There now dear, look at that lovely reflection. I'd say you’re the fairest one out there in that dress. Able to catch the eyes of someone special, I'd wager," breathed the seamstress.

This is another illustration from my series entitled "Investigation of a Fairy Tale". It's a retelling of Snow White as a murder set in the Victorian Era. An unknown woman was found dead on the cobblestone street with what appears to be an apple in her outstretched hand.

The Window Seat

A fun simple background painting.

Ride On Prince

Sorry for the lack of updates. Hopefully this makes up for it. This is an extension to my Fairy Tale Illustration Series. Although this isn't a specific Fairy Tale it stays within the realm. Enjoy!

How to Draw Long Hair

I'm doing a series of instructional art videos on how to draw. Here is the first bracket on "How to Draw Long Hair."

I'm so sorry about the sound quality. It does get a bit high in range and hisses. It gets better as you go on. I will fix this in the next video I upload. Please try to bear with it as much as you can or just mute my voice. Thanks.

Page Sketches

This is a character for one of my side comics.

Artist Tips From Yours Truly

I've decided to compile all my artist tips that I tweet on my twitter account. These are tips that I have learned as I go about doing art. If you want to see more future art tips from me or odd posts about yellow shoes follow my twitter account here http://twitter.com/#!/JessaSininger I hope these are of help.

Artist Tips of the Day:

Never try to be clean with your drawings. It forces your brain into a state of fear to not make mistakes. Dirty up the page and smudge it to your hearts content! You can always clean it up when your done.

When using photo pose reference shrink it down to thumbnail size to study. It will train your creativity to grow and make it so your not dependent on copying.

When sketching try using the side of lead to draw with. It will push gestures more & will exercise the ability to control a drawing.

The secret to drawing realistic hair is to treat it exactly like a piece of cloth. That includes draping the hair.

Lighting within a painting is one of the most crucial things in a piece...if it lacks a lighting scheme it lacks life.

When painting a composition don't go overboard.Too many textures/patterns can clutter a piece. Keep it simple so it can read.

When watching movies pay attention to the colors in the scenes as a whole. This will help with coming up with color keys for your paintings.

When drawing long hair think of it like a ribbon wrapping around for construction then start detailing. Don't create uniform lines they should be simple and done with a purpose to show the foundation of the hair. Don't create lines for the sake of lines!

Don't be afraid to scribble on the paper. Loose gestures offer appealing designs.

Take some time to think about the overall colors you are using in your paintings. Do they fit...are they appealing...

When painting eyes bleed a little color of the iris into the pupil. It will make the eyes more soulful.

When painting make sure you are keeping an eye on the thumbnail of it. If it pops as a small image it will pop as a whole!

Surprise

This is an Illustration I did using the cutout style.

Fantasy Sketch

Sketch I did before work this morning.

Hades and Persephone

Back in high school I spent many years at the public library in my spare time reading all I could about Greek Myth. It's my favorite region religion/mythology. My favorite story was definitely Hades and Persephone.

I wanted to incorporate some Art Nouveau into my style for an Illustration based on Greek Myth couples. This is the first in the series. I really studied Alphonse Mucha for this piece. If you really want to expand your knowledge and challenge yourself take on a different style or design. The big task on this was pulling back and being strategic about simplicity and embellishing.

I chose to think of each Greek God as a color (ie-if they were a color what color would they be). Hades takes on the ever surprising black to display not only mourning and loss but a somber disposition. Persephone, being the daughter of Demeter (Seasons) had to take on green to signify growth, life, and earth. I also added a tribal element to the designs giving each God a painted pattern on their skin. By choosing to go with the color theme it really restricts you to choose the right color combinations to make the piece work. It also tests your strength on how well you can place colors. I was happy to use my popular love of transparency painting (which seems to be a theme in all of my illustrations) within this piece. Also big hair is always my favorite thing to draw. Who doesn't love a great love scene. I know I do.

Maggie Look

These two are part of a bigger composition for an illustration I'm working on down the line.

The Princess and the Goblin Illustration

"Stay in the light, dear princess."

This is an Illustration based on the Fairy Tale "The Princess and the Goblin" in my vision. The original story is by George MacDonald.

As with all the other Illustrations in this collection I'm doing my influence on the original stories. I have been waiting to paint this Illustration for a long time now. Out of all the Illustrations lined up for this project this is my favorite take. I went with warm vs cool colors in this piece with purple and yellow being most dominant. Everything else pretty much fell into place as I kept working. I fell in love with the goblin king and enjoyed rendering him most. I'm starting to see purple tends to show up in my paintings more so now so I'll have to keep an eye on that so the pallets wont be similar. If anyone is asking about why a ball of string is in the illustration take some time and go read the story. It's cute and a fast read. You should be able to read the whole story online as well. Up next is "The Snow Queen." Stay tuned!

Painter/Photoshop
20 hours
© Jessa Sininger

Investigation of a Fairy Tale Sketch

"A curious case indeed. Almost as if the girl came straight out of a fairy tale," described the commissioner.

This is the sketch for another Illustration for my Fairy Tale Collection I am doing.

I came up with the idea of a fairy tale murder set in the Victorian age. An unknown woman was found on the cobblestone street with what appears to be an apple. The plan for this is to ink it and use a basic wash of color tones to make the piece pop. This piece is a couple down the line to get painted but I thought I'd upload the sketch for it. Enjoy!

Storybook Thumbnails

These are some of the thumbnails for my own fairy tale I've written. I will be illustrating it and using watercolor and ink to render it traditionally. There are 16 illustrations total in the book.

The Trial of Alice

This is an Illustration based on the Fairy Tale "Alice in Wonderland" in my vision. As with all the other illustrations in this collection I'm doing my influence on the original story. Word to the wise 10 characters in a single composition is hell on wheels. This piece took forever to finish. It went through many iterations till it reached this result. I wanted this pallet to be very saturated in color and take on the look of the children's story book illustrations that pop off the pages with color. Originally the Mad Hatter was to be in a tweed jacket but once I painted it it really cluttered the piece and I had to choose a more simple approach. Simplicity seemed to be the key with this busy composition so I had to pull back from doing the usual textures I love to do with clothing. I'm finally happy to shelf this for a bit and work on the next illustration on the list.

Painter
45 hours
© Jessa Sininger

Arie Character Sheet

This is my model sheet for one of my characters for another side comic project I'm working on. It's not affiliated with anything as of yet, but it does contain my copyright (so no stealing!). It's a short simple comic which will be only one book. I'm already having so much fun with this project.
GOBLINNAPPED © Jessa Sininger

Sketch Topic #1

We started a sketch group at my studio. The topic was "Dark Disney Princess." Now I know what your thinking...no I did not suggest this topic. Another person did but I was very happy to go with it. Who doesn't love to draw Disney! I chose to draw Jasmine since Aladdin is my favorite movie. I'll post the other topics as they get announced at work. Stay tuned!

Lamp Shade Painting

Since I haven't uploaded any new art recently this is the best I can do for now. I'm painting on a lamp shade for my room. I just recently moved to a new apartment. Life has been pretty busy as of right now. I barely get time to pick up a pencil but I hope that will change soon enough...

This is just acrylic on a typical normal lamp shade I bought from a store.

Beauty and the Beast_Two Worlds

This is an illustration based on the Fairy Tale "Beauty and the Beast" in my vision.

It's my take on the original story to Beauty and the Beast. I wanted it to show two separate worlds. Beauty's bright happy village by the sea with calm and peaceful happy workers. Then on the opposite side you have the Beast's world which is always night and the waves are rough against the castle's edge. Both roads lead to the other if you have the ability to break through the barrier of good and evil that separates it. I went with a design unlike any beast's I've seen out there. I thought to go with a more deer type look with a more heroic attire. Opposite of that is Beauty. I gave her a more normal attire of young ladies at court. The headpiece is a foreshadowing of an angel's halo to signify the good of her being in conjunction to the horror of a beast.

This was a huge undertaking for an illustration. It went through many iterations until finally I believe I'm happy with it...for now.

The Little Mermaid

This is an Illustration based on the Fairy Tale "The Little Mermaid" in my vision.

As with all the other illustrations in this collection I'm doing my influence on the original story. Here I wanted to make the mermaid of a different species than what the typical do. Her hair refused to be any color other than blue so I had to oblige. I wanted to make the "Sea Witch" a fish because their are so many in the sea and they seem somewhat docile creatures. So to say they would seem trustworthy...

I kept this color pallet harshly restricted to blues and greens. It was one of the hardest things to do to be confined to not add in foreign colors to an established color key. The goal from the start with this piece was to Keep it very simple and not over detail anything. I hope it gives it the storybook illustration feel. I always hate when I have to loose my sketch lines in my paintings so it stayed for this one.

This story in particular has always held a soft spot in my heart because I was exposed to the cartoon based on the original story as a child. I believe it was done in Japan. It affected how I viewed fairy tales in conjunction to the real stories and "Disney" so to say. Anyways on to the next!

Painter
6 hours
© Jessa Sininger

Peter Pan

This is an illustration based on the Fairy Tale "Peter Pan" in my vision.

I went with a dark to light technique with this piece. I wanted the "Color Light" to come directly from Peter Pan himself signifying the joy and fun of being a child (which is what he represents). I kept the surrounding colors subdued with a desaturated pleasant-ville look. Peter Pan is a wonderful story if you ever get the chance to read the real novel by J. M. Barrie.

I'm slowly but surely going down the list of my Fairy Tale Illustrations and painting them. Fifteen Illustrations total! Up next is The Little Mermaid.

Painter
20 hours
© Jessa Sininger

Disney Centaurs

Here is the result of my livestream I did today. The topic was Disney Princess Centaurs.

Midnight's Spell

This is an illustration based on the Fairy Tale "Cinderella".

It's one of those pieces I never want to let go of. However, the time came for Mamma to let her chick fly. This has become one of my favorites of my Fairy Tale series. In each Fairy Tale I try and go about doing it with a different style than the rest. This one was on the more time consuming side, but I am happy with the result. Going over my list it seems I've favored the Cinderella tale quite a bit with a total of 3 illustrations. This piece has gone through many iterations over time. Thank god for audio books to keep me at the desk painting.

Painter/Photoshop
30 hours
© Jessa Sininger

The Glass Slipper

This is one of my illustrations from the Fairy Tale "Cinderella". I wanted to go for a more cartoonish style. I messed a bit with coloring and texture for this.

I Love Your Face

Finally I got to do some art for Megamind. This movie is so funny I just love it to death.

HTTYD Hiccup with the Ladies

Hiccup isn't very good with the ladies...

Here is a sketch I did for How to Train Your Dragon. I know its been a while since I posted last. The comic is seeming to monopolize all my art time. I will try and update more. Enjoy!

Harry Potter

A while ago I did a poll for which I should sketch Avatar Air Bender or Harry Potter. Potter won so here is the set I did for it.

Mermaids_Page 2

More Mermaids...

Scavengers

Here's another sheet that's going into my portfolio. I took my old designs I drew a year ago and did some more concept art for it.

Mermaids_Page 1

Here is one of the pages for my Artbook as well as my portfolio.

I Need Feedback For My Comic Please

I thought this day would never come!

Alright folks I need your help in choosing what style of painting my comic should be done in. The choices are 1, 2, or 3. If you happen to like certain things about some please do let me know.

I gotta say if your wondering this is was the hardest most boring thing to do is paint 1 page dozens of times. I came up with about 6 different painting styles on this and have narrowed the selection to 3 to choose from (the ones not included are not part of the group for the reason either it took too long to render or it looked horrible). Also a quick note don't judge whether the paintings look done or not. Look at what it could be. A good rule of thumb is to look at the top two panels to judge. The bottom panels were done fast.

Here's the details:
Painting 1-Color scheme is more stylized and contrasty. Isn't based on natural tones that go together. Background more rough painted. Characters are bright and colorful with defining strokes. Influence is a little bit of Loish with the blob of color look then I went my own way from there.

Painting 2- Background rooted in neutral subdued tones found in real life rendered close to reality with a bit of messy strokes. Influence is Carlos Meglia. The characters are rendered a bit more vibrantly.

Painting 3- This painting has a traditional painting style to it. Influence was my Rapunzel and Snow White painting style piece. Tones in the piece are muddy.

Starbucks Sketches2

I went to Starbucks today and did some quick people sketches to warm up for the day : )

Looney Idea

If you know me I come up with the craziest ideas most times. This is one of them. I just couldn't get this idea out of my head so I had to put it on paper. I love watching Looney Tunes (although the cartoons with the road runner and Wiley were not my favorite ones at all). I wanted to mimic the old cel style with a little traditional flair.

Artwork © Jessa Sininger

Comic Preview

Here is a preview of one of my pages of my Comic Book I've been busy working on. I am now 25% finished. Which means 24 pages. There will be 100 pages for book 1. The series will consist of 3 volumes total and one origin story on one of the characters. It will be free online as a web comic. However the origin story will cost a little since I have to figure out a way to make a little bit of money off this. I will print it out on books that will be sold online and at conventions when I finally launch (hopefully next year).

I took it to get scanned and it turned out looking horrible. I'm going to have to find a way around this since my scanner isn't big enough. Anyone have any suggestions with scanner options?

I can't give anything away about the characters or the plot till it gets copyrighted. Sorry guys. Its worth the wait though I promise.

Artwork ©Jessa Sininger

The Princess and the Frog Art

This was a speed painting of my idea for the Princess and the Frog. My hand is so going to fall off right now. It took around maybe 3-4 hours to finish. I'm the odd artist where when I get an idea to draw/paint something I can't just log it away for later I have to paint it right away no matter what I'm doing. I get that way with movies and shows as well. I have to watch what I put in since I'm susceptible to being influenced into doing art for it. I'm trying to practice in different forms of art. This would be concept art. After seeing this movie I was so excited. The last time I was excited about a Disney movie was either Mulan or Tarzan whichever came last. So I finally did some fanart for this lovely movie. Its a long time coming. It was tough keeping it loose and gestural. I didn't use any sketches or reference for this piece. I free hand painted the whole piece. Hope you enjoy!

Can you spot all the main characters from the movie in this piece?

Oh and my favorite character from this movie has to be Dr. Facilier. Not only is Keith David a wonderful voice actor (Goliath from Gargoyles-yay) but his design, personality, and animation were show stopping. The part where he's singing and he jumps in the air in slow mo gotta say I kept replaying that part about 50 times. I think I have a thing with villains for some reason. They're always my favorite!

Colored in Painter
Artwork ©Jessa Sininger