Pretty Pretty Pictures

Insert Clever Title About Alligators.

2012-01-30T19:20:00.001-08:00

So after something like 2 months (?) of work, I can finally stop thinking about alligators. The goal of this project was to pick a specimen (one that can be easily obtained) to create a plate that describes an interesting fact about it.

Being the masochistic being that I am, I decided to go with an alligator. To obtain two alligators, I had the pleasure of digging through the Functional Anatomy department freezer. It was by the most fascinating freezer I've ever seen. Once the alligators were thawed, I had the pleasure "kalima-ing" one alligator (aka, dissecting and removing the heart) and posing the other.

I lucked out since the alligators preserved in a swimming position. All I had to do was hang the alligator and use pins to move the arms.
Then we spent a whole lot time drawing the specimen in pencil. After a while the scales started to get nauseating.
Then we took the drawing and photoshopped the background, text, and insets . The little factoid I concentrated on was the crocodylian heart anatomy. Long story short, alligator hearts are complicated and cool.

The end of this project feels like the end of an era.

Up next 3D sculpting, inked stuff, or things I waste time drawing . We'll see.

Morbid.

2011-12-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying good food and family. Since I am home nursing my ever messed up vocal cords, I thought i'd take the time to share my morbid project.

Our assignment was to create an image with a first aid procedure on it. After sketching out some less morbid first aid issues like dealing with sprained ankles, I drew a couple sketches on taking care of accidental amputations and ended up doing my final on it.

The the challenge to this project was to make it as least morbid as possible. Hopefully I solved it the right way.

So since the year is almost over, I'd like to say it was a turbulent year, but it was good and humbling. I look forward to the next year and I hope everyone has a Happy New year. Till next year.

Anatomical Sketches

2011-11-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sketching anatomy is the most relaxing class I've ever taken. We sat around and drew anatomy for 3 weeks. It was like a mini-vacation. Here are some highlights of this class.

Hands

Kidney

Submandibular gland and parotid gland.

Intestines

Heart (the prettiest thing in your body)

Bissected Skull

Next up, biological illustration.

What Happens When You Put a Perpetual Doodler In an Anatomy Class?

2011-10-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

In the last seven weeks, I took the most physically and mentally draining class ever and I survived! (hooray!) Anatomy might have been the most fascinating class I have ever taken, and I feel blessed that that I had the opportunity to learn from some of the coolest people ever.

So how did I stay awake throughout the class (which started at an ungodly hour)? By doodling! There were many mornings where I mentally felt like the image below. (I was fairly good about not sleeping class. hehe)

So, since I don't have any new "real" artwork, I decided to slowly go through my notes, binder, and sketchbook to find some doodles.

My sketchbook was quite handy in learning the skull. The bones and foramina in the skull were a pain in the ass to learn, but drawing it was certainly enjoyable. The 1st image is from an atlas (Thieme) and for the 2nd image I used a mixture of a real skull and an atlas to figure out where all the little bumps and holes were.

I also doodled a ton in my binder, but most of it was just my hand relieving itself of boredom so none of it really makes sense.

One of the strangest things I noticed was that many of my drawings got weird while sitting in class.

Anyway, now that anatomy has ended, I am now auditing a biochemistry class where I am realizing very quickly that I am not very good at it. I unfortunately left my binder in my studio last night.

This is what happens when Hannah leaves her binder at home.

Hip Bone Hank and My Adventures in Anatomy

2011-08-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

So, the first project that I was assigned at Hopkins is a 100 year old tradition that all my predecessors have done. The assignment was to draw/paint a hipbone using carbon dust. It's been a while since I've done a true technical drawing so getting used to measuring, sketching, transferring and dusting took a bit of effort.

What i've come to realize is that carbon dust may be the strangest medium I have used. It seems to be unbelievably fragile but plastic all at the same time. We called this a drawing, but it felt more like I was painting since we used paint brushes to layer on the tone.

After we finished the carbon dust drawing. We scanned it and did a computer exercise. I relearned illustrator and came realize what an awesome program it is. (prior to this exercise, I had beef with the pen tool) I decided to outline the muscular origins of the hip bone in the three different regions.

After the first two projects, we were then thrown into gross anatomy. So far it's been a bizarre experience. I was given a "bone box"( which is quite literally a box of bones) and it's been sitting in my closet for a week or so.

Now the lab portion is great and all, but the readings for this class have completely consumed my life. I spend half of my day in lecture and lab and the rest sitting in my room reading and drawing pictures of body parts.

Anatomy may consume my life and cause me anxiety almost all through out the day, but so far this class has been quite awesome and it's full of cool information.

About a month has passed since I've moved back and I am pleased to say that it's been better this time around. I have experienced an earthquake, which happened on the 1st day of anatomy) and will brave a hurricane in 24 hours. It's been an epic start to my semester. ( thats a view from my awesome studio!)

Back in B'more (again)

2011-07-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

Now that I have finally settled in Baltimore (yes, I am back for some more), I took some time to finish the striped bass I was drawing.

This is a gift for someone and I hope she likes it.

Also with all the newly made time, I took some time to scan some bookplates that I worked on.

These were a couple bookplates for my Barnes and Nobles people whose birthdays passed months ago. Happy (ridiculously) late Birthdays.

Now that I will be studying Medical Illustration, hopefully there will be more art posts soon.

Enormous Sketchbook Post

2011-02-28T18:03:00.000-08:00

I have been very bad about scanning my sketchbook so this is post will be enormous.

My favorite floor in the Natural History Museum is also my new favorite place to draw. Theres something very enjoyable about drawing dinosaur bones.

I also spent some time at a barn drawing horses. Worst models ever. hehe.

Another place I enjoy drawing is at church while people are listening to the pastor. It keeps me awake and I get to draw.

People always look like they're falling asleep in sermon.

Sleeping man on the train.

Fish/ Sea Creature documentaries are a good thing to play while doodling.

Last but not least, i had a chance to doodle while at the Yann Tiersen concert.

The semester has started once again. I may be sparse.

More traditional stuff.

2011-01-13T12:22:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted, but i've been busy with the insane holiday rush , the end of school and applications. I hope everyone else is having a lovely time. So in celebration for taking my GREs today, I decided to spent a little time uploading my stuff. (by the way... anyone else who needs to study for the GREs should get used to staring into the computer screen for 5 hours. I felt like I burned my eyes out of my orbit)

The fish were fun to draw minus the fact that they started to smell pretty bad very fast.

The prettiest bouquet of dead flowers that ive seen. The green scarf was a strange consistency that held very little form making it tough to color. I'm also very proud of that apple.

mmm... looks tasty ( at least it does to me :D )

Two stuffed toys I own . Stitches and Bubbles. Both made by Nancy Muller

and last but not least a drawing of my brother. who is by far the worst model I've had to draw so far.

I discovered white pencil and i love it

2010-12-07T01:28:00.000-08:00

I decided to scan a couple sketches done in between my insane semester. My buddy Sunny came back to America with a sketchbook and I started filling it with small doodles while taking small breaks. The paper is a dark grey so I decided to experiment with white pencil I liked it so much that I went nuts with it. So thank you Sunny for the sketchbook.

laryngitis days.

Small sneak peak at what I will probably color next. (If I can stay alive!)

Another Post!?

2010-09-26T21:54:00.001-07:00

Some Drawing i did at Society of Illustrator on Thursday night.

these were 20 min poses. I just could not get back in the habit of drawing in a larger sketchbook. It was very disappointing.

Then this morning I doodled a little at church to keep me awake. I liked the drawing so i colored it while taking a break.

1 hour color

Redhead with Eyepatch

2010-09-26T00:10:00.001-07:00

So on the way home from NYC last week I started a sketch and decided I liked it so I finished the pencil drawing. Then when I got home, I started reading my textbook, decided that I hated the textbook, and started coloring, and now color on my blog!

Almost Time for Apple Picking

2010-09-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

So it's fall, a new semester has started and I am very excited for apple season.

so in celebration for the nice cool weather we've had the last 2 days, I drew the ideal apple picking situation.

I am vertically challenged and I frequently day dream about having a buddy that can help me out when I can't reach the top shelf of my bookcase/ or apple tree. Anyhoo, I hope I'll soon get around to coloring stuff. It's been so busy busy busy learning animal development language.

Prudhon

2010-08-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

Spent the afternoon copying Prudhon's drawing. I love Prudhon. I think he draws the most beautiful figures. His attention to the light is mesmerizing as well.

Back to basics

2010-08-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

So drawing is way harder than I remember it being. I've been out of shape so I've started a new sketchbook just dedicated to just drawing whatever. (Whatever being my hands and feet). So I scanned some half decent work that I have so far.

My foot fell asleep while drawing this.

I also found a book on horses so I doodled some horses for a couple days. Also playing with some watercolors as well.

This is pretty lame, but I got to splatter paint all over a piece of paper like a kid which is always fun.

Last but not least I started some self portraits of myself.

A) I am not easy to draw and
B) I need to get some more lights for my room
Then I blew off some steam with a large reptilian creature while watching avatar.

Now, hopefully in another month or so I'll be much more comfortable with a pencil and watercolors.

Checkers!!

2010-04-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

i'd like to wear that jacket. Does anyone know how i can upload my pictures so my colors don't fade?

Chai Fraps Make Me Happy

2010-04-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Pretty self explanatory

Today I am into the grays.

2010-04-16T23:59:00.000-07:00

Megan R. Inspired me with some lovely pictures that she found floating around the internet.

I sketched this last night and liked the looseness of it so I threw some color on it and VOILA!

there is another piece on the way.

Black Canary

2010-04-05T12:27:00.001-07:00

Project rooftop had a Black Canary redesign contest and since I think Black Canary is pretty awesome, I gave it a go.

its been a while since I colored anything and oh boy did I miss it. Hopefully there will be more to come.

Eyeshadow?

2010-04-04T12:09:00.001-07:00

Small preview of what I worked on last night.

Smelly Shark

2010-03-10T11:59:00.001-08:00

Preserved shark smells putrid. Especially when its been dead for a while. We were thinking about lighting a cigarette in its mouth, but then I may never see the inside of a lab again.

I sadly related to the shark today. clearly I'm loosing my head.

Avatarized Myself?

2010-02-28T21:46:00.001-08:00

ok so... through this website (www.avatarizeyourself.com) you can turn yourself into an avatar and i noticed that it just doesn't work with asian faces. (my avatar looked like Neytiri with my nose). So i decided to draw myself as a Navi using a photo of myself and Neytiri

It doesn't look very much like me, but i had fun while drawing it.

Training Wheels on the Tablet

2010-02-26T12:22:00.001-08:00

It's been a while.

Classroom Doodles

2010-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

So, a good portion of anything creative that I do is in class during lectures.

so here's the 1st page. I tend to never know what to draw on the 1st page. Always pretty lame too.

i got a new anatomy book (with animals!) so i had a little fun mixing and matching

i think this was three lectures worth of drawing. Yes the spine is horrifically crooked.

thats a siren.

and some random faces.

Hopefully the next time i update. there will be stuff in color.

What have i been doing?

2010-02-25T18:25:00.001-08:00

So, the last few months have been ridiculously hectic with jobs, school and more jobs so there wasn't too much time for creativity. This semester is pretty much the same but with more stuff so i'm not too sure how much time i will have to update, but i'm pretty determined to not let my art education go to total waste. There will probably plenty of updates of doodles i did in class and not alot of finished work, but oh what the hey.... i'll just have to do whatever i can.

Anyway, this semester i am working on a dragonfly fossil in a lab.

this is where i take pictures

and this is the fossil i am looking at.

Hopefully i'll find more time to scan my sketchbook as well as to do some nice finished artwork.

Hello

2010-02-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'll be right back

in the mean time,

www.worstasianever.blogspot.com