Happy March Pup

Happy Sunday!

Every day is a good day to appreciate doggos :) Don't you agree? Especially those with big goofy smiles!? So, today I sketched this handsome fella, a sweet german shepherd!

A good start for what I hope to be a very productive work-week. Hope you have a good one too! See you again soon :)

Spring & a Fennec Fox

Happy Saturday all!

As we close out this month, I wanted to share an extra blogpost with you.

This weekend, I encourage you to take a few minutes just to appreciate those good things around you. February came and went like a blur, and I am sure I am not the only one to feel that way! So as we welcome March, I hope that we all can be a little more present, and fully enjoy those little things that make life brighter. :)



To start this endeavor, here are some pretty flowers, a cute fennec fox, and some lovely creations by the wonderful artists of Carnaval de Nice (Click to go to the video)!

I was very lucky to be able to attend a Carnival celebration; the "Flower Battle" parade, or properly:  "Bataille de Fleurs" :) Performing artists including musicians and dancers dawn beautiful (and fanciful) costumes to entertain and throw flowers at the audience! :D We came home with a nice bouquet! Click on a photo on the left to go to a short video :)

Rhino, yo!

I find that if I'm in a drawing-funk that I can't get out of, sketching an animal I seldom do breaks me out of it :) Something about the novelty? Or paying closer attention to the anatomy? Not exactly sure why, but I have this rhino to thank for resetting my drawing-brain again :)

Brush Rabbit!

This little bunny completes my Oregon Wildlife trio! This is a Brush Rabbit, a species that I would commonly see at home in Oregon. Drawing him truly has satisfied a bit of my longing for the west-coast, for now!

This drawing was created in Photoshop on my Cintiq, mimicking pencil. Additionally, if you would like a print for yourself or a friend, you can pick him up on my online shop! 

Princess Pigeon

Today a friend shared with me a comic by @ChuckDrawsThings titled "self-worth", and it inspired me to draw this princess pigeon! Of all the "wildlife" of Nice, France, I must say I have seen more pigeons here in a month than I have ever seen before! They have been my constant companions out on the street :)

I also encourage you to go see the comic that inspired this lady-bird! You can see it on ChuckDrawsThings' Facebook page by clicking: here 

Here's to 2018!

🎉What a year! 
I had so many new art-adventures, got married, and set up new plans for the new year! Here’s to 2018, and looking forward to 2019! 

Here's my 'best nine of 2018!' from Instagram:

A Batty Idea: Oregon Wildlife Art

One reason I love Photoshop; it's easy to create a seamless pattern! So as Halloween was drawing near, a batty-bat pattern seemed like a must-have :) I have wanted to create more artwork featuring local wildlife, so why not start with Yuma myotis?



A cute little bat, Yuma myotis can be found near my home in Oregon. I have always enjoyed learning more about creatures and plants, especially those who share the same wilderness that I do. Energized by the thought that creating this art can bring me both joy, and the knowledge to identify this creature in real life, I decided to start a new art series!



I am excited to say that I will be focusing on Oregon wildlife artwork for the rest of this year! I endeavor to create art that inspires interest in learning about the natural world, especially for Oregonians young & old :) To do this, I will focus on local species, & include a bite-size bit of educational information with each art piece!

Currently I'm working on naturalistic wall-art, illustrated notebooks (with wildlife facts inside the cover), greeting cards, & even getting my pattern-designs on cloth (pictured left)!


New possibilities are open to my art-gifts now that I am printing my artwork on cotton cloth, and I am so excited!


I hope to bring a fair bit to my art-booths at events this holiday season as well, so keep an eye out! :D

Digital Doodle: A Mr. Bear

This grizzly guy is a study disguised as a fun digital doodle! I wanted to brush up on my animal anatomy, and this guy turned out to be my favorite of countless sketches, referencing various nature photography online.

A Grizzly Guy Doodle 🐻 #briannaleahyart #art #artist #artwork #bear #ursa #bruin #grizzly #grizzlybear #bear #teddybear #creature #animal #green #gold #wildlife #draw #drawing #digitalart #paint #painting #quickdraw #doodle #sketch #guy #fuzzy #cuddly #hairybear #wildlife

A post shared by Brianna Elizabeth Leahy (@briannaleahyart) on Aug 2, 2017 at 8:57pm PDT

A Bazaar Adventure!

Artist & a part of our booth!

A new year & so many art-adventures to share!

This weekend was my very first arts & crafts bazaar as a vendor! I was so excited to share my art shop, Under Sea & Stars Studio! To all of my wonderful family, friends, and the lovely patrons who came to the event, thank you for supporting my artwork!

Valentine's Day Cards

"A Bazaar to Love" was a Valentine's Day themed event, so I created all-new Valentine's Day mini-cards! My designs include love & friendship themed cards & nature themed mini cards, all with a gold sticker-seal.

I also brought along my new labor of love:  mini animal sculptures! All these little charms are sculpted & painted by hand, and make perfect pocket-sized gifts!

Animals at the Bazaar:

Zebra 

Elephant (Available here)

White & Gold Unicorn

Black & Gold Unicorn

By far the most popular this weekend was the white & gold unicorn :)

I was very lucky to share the booth with two other wonderful & creative ladies! Jessica of "Roosevelt Kid" (pictured left), & Meg of "Adornments by Meg" (center).

"Roosevelt Kid" brought her sweet sewn creations, which you can check out here.

"Adornments by Meg"'s delicate natural stone jewelry was lovely too! You can visit her shop here.

&... of course my shop is UnderSeaAndStars! You can see my shop here...

& my Studio's Instagram here.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read! Catch you next week!

Groggy Grizzly: Art-Friday!

I am back! I managed to get a pretty nasty, knock you off your feet cold. This bear doodle is pretty much how I felt getting back to work! But man am I so happy to be back to drawing!

(Click any image to enlarge)

Thanks for reading! See you next week!

Zootopia Fan Art: An Art-Thursday

Had some fun with fan art this week :) Say hi to Officer Clawhauser from Disney's Zootopia! If you have not yet seen it and are a fan of animated features, go see it! It pleasantly surprised me at how much I laughed while watching it.

My fan art digital painting was done on my Wacom Cintiq with Photoshop. Thank you for reading as always, and see you next week!

 

Here is what my initial sketch looks like!

*P.S.- I do not take any claim to Disney's character, Clawhauser! Of course.

Arrow the Pup: A Special Art - Tuesday

I was honored with the opportunity to do a portrait in loving memory of a sweet dog, Arrow. Below you can see the final portrait and a couple of stages of my process. Rest in peace dear pup.

Raven Passport Cover DIY: Art-Wednesday

I am excited to have my first passport ever! In anticipation for my first big trip out of the country as an adult, I could not help myself from wanting a nice passport cover! After some price-checking and research, I decided that I would love to make a custom one with some leftover felt I had in the house. 

Keep reading to see my art & process!

My Completed Raven-Passport Cover!

Materials:

I personally really love using eco-fi brand felt, because it is made in the US out of 100% polyester from recoiled post-consumer plastic bottles! I used most of a "sheet" of brown felt for the base cover, and small scraps of black felt for the raven. I had some black elastic from my last project too, so I used that to create the closure for the flap. Other than that, it was just thread, ruler and a charcoal pencil to mark the measured felt!

I also had too much fun with raven studies and designing the pattern from my Cintiq in photoshop!

Initial Raven Studies, Cintiq & Photoshop

Raven Felt Pattern Design, Cintiq & Photoshop

Was so excited when it came time to add the raven! Printed the pattern and cut into a stencil for the felt. Dark green thread for his feathers to give him a bit of subtle color.

Making of the Base Passport Cover (And improvising design all the while!)

Thank you for reading!!! Hope to see you next week! And please, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here, or on my Facebook page: Brianna Leahy Art!

You can be crafty and eco-friendly too! I was so excited to find the Eco-fi felt in my local craft store. If you would like to learn more about the recycled plastic felt, here is the link:  eco-fi website .

(P.S.- No, I am not being sponsored or anything by this company, I just get excited about eco-friendly things, and I love sharing my discoveries!). 

All content in this article is ©2016 Brianna Elizabeth Leahy

Miss Bear Print on Etsy! Art-Wednesday

Miss Bear is now on my Etsy shop, UnderSeaAndStars! Below you can find photos of Miss Bear's 5x7" print, and a preview of my Etsy listing! 

You can view it for real here:  UnderSeaAndStars Miss Bear Print 

Thanks for reading & see you next week!

  

All images © 2016 - Brianna Elizabeth Leahy

Foxy Pendant: Art-Wednesday

This little fox is made of clay, and I created her specially for my little sister as a good luck charm (and pick-me-up) for her last finals of college! Worked perfectly! :)

Sculpted in polymer clay, painted with acrylic paint, and finished with a waxed cord. I didn't measure her before giving her away, but she is about the size of the pad of my thumb!

My Completed Little Fox Charm

My sister @briannaleahyart is an actual doll & made me this fox pendant to help me get through these last few weeks of classes. ✨🐺💖 #fox #art #SOCUTE #handmade

A photo posted by Amanda Marie (@irisofamanda) on May 18, 2016 at 12:39pm PDT

Back View:  Signature Initials & '16 

A look into the process; blocked shapes sculpt before refining & baking.

Zebra & Horse Pendants: Art-Wednesday

This week I dreamt up a new pendant idea for my upcoming Etsy Shop (which I have changed the Shop name to UnderSea&Stars)! I wanted to create a Sahara friend for my existing elephant pendants, and also horses & unicorns. I am planning on using the same basic silhouette for all three, and embellish them with accents and paint to distinguish between them.

Below you can see my initial concept digital painting, clay sculpts, and two paint-tests I have done so far. I really like how the naturalistic paint test went for the zebra best so far, but will finish with the red one in the near future!

These guys will be available at my Etsy Shop's Grand Opening (excited to choose a date soon)!

Initial Color Zebra Digital Concept Sketch

Sculpts start with my self-made mold, which creates horse-ish blobs.
I then trim the clay and hand-sculpt, getting the right proportions & crisp edges. 

Completed paint-test for Natural Zebra Pendant

Paint-test in progress for Colorful Zebra Pendant

Mini Art Cards: Art-Wednesday

I am happy to announce that I have hatched a new Etsy shop artwork idea! I am currently (albeit slowly) creating a collection of miniature art cards! Each card will come with a matching patterned envelope, and will be part of a themed set of three.

To start, I will have the following themes:  coast/ocean (pictured below), woodland animals, and flora. At 3" square, they can easily fit inside standard invitation envelopes for sending to friends, and will fit in pockets for surprise hand-delivery!

I look forward to releasing them on my Etsy shop soon! I will write here on my blog when they are as well.

        

Brush Pen Sketchbook Pages: Art-Wednesday

Brush pens and Copic markers are great, helpful tools for me! They force me to loosen up, which feels a bit contridictory since they are instantly permanent. But I suppose that's why; I cannot fret about making every line perfect, I just have to visualize carefully and trust my hands.

So, these are a few of my recent favorite sketches.

 

Miss Bear Portrait: Project Process Art-Wednesday

Meet the sweet Miss Bear! A digital illustration completely done in photoshop, I thought it would be interesting to some of you to see a more in-depth look at my digital process! So below her portrait, you will find my three main stages that I use in my drawings. Thank you for looking!

1) To start, I do a number of warm up sketches in the size of thumbnails until I find one that match my vision. They are usually very rough and messy. Eventually I work up to a drawing I am happy with:

 

2) I refine my design on a separate layer above my sketch, getting clear edges and planning colors:

3) On another layer, sandwiched between the existing two, I start painting! On the right, you can see my color palette for the bear. I continue with this process until the whole canvas is painted. I add another layer on top for subtle warm and cool tones. The very last step before I am done is an extra pass to clean up edges!

Thank you for reading!