It's Mer-May!

It’s Mer-May!!! 🐚 Kicking off the month with a little clownfish mermaid :) If you haven't heard of Mermay before, it's a fun art-challenge to create mermaids all of May! Let's see how many I can contribute this year!

Oregon Wildlife & Holiday Bazaar

This past weekend I shared my artwork at NACC's 4th Annual Christmas Bazaar! I have been so excited to embark on my Oregon Wildlife Artwork Series, and was excited to bring the first few pieces to this event!


A great horned owl and black-tailed deer are the first two creatures in my series!


They're digital sketches, but I have treated them as if it were paper & pencil. These prints (pictured left) are 5 x 7", and have the option of coming framed.


I am looking forward to drawing more of my favorite Oregon creatures! Next up, the brush rabbit!


I want to give a big "thank you!" to everyone who came to our booth! I cannot describe how thankful I am to have such support from great friends, family, and art-lovers!

This spring, I enjoyed seeing the Western Tiger Swallowtail around my studio and along nearby walking paths!

After taking photos and identifying the species, I created a small bunch of butterflies in ink & alcohol-based marker on velum.

These sketches inspired the creation of 3D cards (see left), with delicate wings and thread for antennae. I love how a little breeze flutters their wings!

I am also happy to include them as a part of my Oregon Wildlife Series!

I will be at the Town & Country Christmas Bazaar Nov. 30, Dec. 1 & 2....but that's a story for later! :) If you like, you can follow Brianna Leahy Art on Facebook for more upcoming event info :)


The artwork gifts you see on this post (and more!) will be available at my T&CCB booth!

Thank you again for reading!
-Brianna of Brianna Leahy Art & my booth buddy, Deborah of ChickadeeAndPeeps!

A Handful of Owls

🦉A handful of teeny-tiny owls makes this rainy morning a lovely one :)

I just finished individually sculpting a new batch of owls! These guys are made of polymer clay, with a small metal eye screw for putting on a chain as a necklace, or a ribbon as an adorable ornament!

I have been so busy gaining and honing new art-skills, and prepping for my next holiday art & craft bazaar! I have also recently debuted a website for my small art-gifts shop, Under Sea & Stars at underseaandstars.com! Please check it out! :D

Well, blog soon! I must get to painting these little guys.

Original Instagram post:  https://www.instagram.com/p/BbhmZBInOED/?taken-by=underseaandstars

Nursery Artwork ♡

Today I would love to share with you a project I completed for a friend. I dearly loved the process, so I hope you enjoy seeing the work!

I was asked to create a piece of nursery artwork for my friend, who is expecting her first child! The criterium:  an adorable elephant, and a excerpt from Disney's Dumbo; "Rest your head close to my heart never to part, baby of mine".

This series of images show: (Left) an initial pencil sketch, (Right) a more complete sketch as I work in Photoshop, and then the finished piece, printed & framed!

 

*My apologies for the goofy smile, my photographer started cracking jokes :)

Thank you as always for visiting, and I hope to see you back here next Wednesday for more art!
-Brianna

Pokemon Trainer, Bri!: Art-Wednesday

Good evening all! I know with all this Pokémon GO shenanigans going on, there is a lot of wisdom being shared and tons of nostalgia being celebrated! So...since I am one of those who have embraced this new chapter in Pokemon fandom, here I just had to draw myself as a Pokémon Trainer!

For those who played Crystal on their Game Boy Colors, you will notice some similarities to the game's color schemes, though I did a mash-up with the new Pokémon GO experience and my own style :) I hope you enjoy, I've Gotta go and Catch 'em All!

Prof:  What was your name again?

Brianna!

A couple of process pictures, this time last to first:

(Click to Enlarge) 

(Left):  Cleaning the sketch     (Right):  Initial digital sketch

Thank you! See you here next week!

Emerald Flora Dress: Art-Wednesday

I had artist's block the other day, and it lead me to try something a little different! I chose three images from my "inspiration bank" of random photos/artwork/architecture and fashion that I find personally inspiring. From those three, I made my own mash-up of the images and my personal style.

Hope you enjoy!

Finished Illustration:  Girl in Green Dress

(Click an image to view larger)

Left:  An initial sketch.  Right:  Value study & pattern exploration

All images © 2016 - Brianna Elizabeth Leahy

Some Sass: Art-Thursday

Some sass for this week :) A combo of a brush pen sketch from the corner of my sketchbook, and some digital color from my iPhone, the Picsart app.

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.

 

Inspired by Africa: Art-Wednesday

This week I was just in an African animal drawing mood! So I had fun creating these ladies for my daily art challenge. I am especially happy with the lioness! Both drawings were created in Photoshop on my Cintiq.

(Top) Complete Lioness Illustration! (Bottom Left): Work in progress/initial sketch, (Bottom Right): Lady Giraffe Sketch

Art-Wednesday: Birthday Edition!

Today is a special Art-Wednesday, because it is my birthday! So here is a silly birthday-doodle of a birthday pup as happy as I am. I will leave this post as a short one, and go back to celebrating! Catch you next week and thanks for reading!

Sketched in Photoshop on my Wacom Cintiq tablet computer:

Coral Reef Study: Digital Painting

Starting off 2016 right with more consistent artwork! I painted this quick study while watching Disney & Pixar's "Finding Nemo" last night.

My goal doing the painting familiarize myself with some of the shapes and colors of a coral reef. I planned this exercise as a very fun and informal introduction to coral biology, as I am looking forward to a more in-depth project collaborating with a microbiologist in the field!

Please Follow me & Heart artwork on My Instagram
Painted on my Wacom Cintiq Companion, with Adobe Photoshop CC

Video Game iOS Release: "Beaver Smash"!

Yay!!! I am proud to announce that on August 13th,  Iron Ninja Games​'s "Beaver Smash​" is launching for your iOS devices! I had the great opportunity to work on this game, so go on the iOS App Store and get it next week for some fun! And please, rate, review and give us your comments!

We are looking to release to Android devices in the near future too!

Click here to visit the official Facebook Page and Website
Pictures released below thanks to Iron Ninja Games
(check out that illustration work and those handsome trees!)

Impromptu Portrait: Digital Illustration

Someone was not paying attention, so I naturally just had to paint him! Thanks to my boyfriend for not moving a muscle while working on his computer

"Beaver Smash" Videogame: Illustrations

Hi! I want to share with you some more of my recent work for Iron Ninja Games. The following promotional illustrations for the iOS app stores were released by the indie game developer to their development blog! So I get to share them with you as well! To see the full article and the rest of the team's progress on our upcoming release, please visit IronNinja.com and click the development blog tab! You can follow our progress there!

Beaver Smash: Beaver Illustrations

Hello! I want to share with you some of my recent work for Iron Ninja Games. This past week, the indie game developer released the two following promotional illustrations to their development blog! So I get to share them with you as well. To see the full article and the rest of the team's progress on our upcoming release, please visit IronNinja.com and click the development blog tab! More to come soon!

Digital Doodle: Animals!

Here are a couple silly digital doodles I have done in the past couple days on my Wacom Cintiq tablet with Photoshop CC! I hope you enjoy!

Pearl Girl

A fun sketch I made last night before bed. Painted on my Wacom Cintiq tablet with Photoshop CC.

Lucy! A Digital Doodle

A proud puppy! This is a painting of a lovely fuzzy friend of mine, Lucy Jackson.

Painted in Photoshop CC on my new Cintiq!

Iron Ninja Games Work: Beaver Costume Concepts

In addition to creating the tree game models, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to do costume concept art for the main character in Iron Ninja Games' upcoming game. If you have had the chance to look at their development blog, ironninja.com, you may have already seen these. The following drawings are a sneak peek of the fun waiting for you in the game!

The costume and variation design are my work, completed in Photoshop.  Just so you know our process, I start with a written description and a few reference pictures from the art director of the desired look. I follow with my drawings, and complete any necessary modifications in design that are requested. After that, the approved concepts are sent to our awesome character modeler and texture artist Matt for completion! 

Also, please note that the base character design of the beaver (which you can see in full 3-D form on the development site) is the original work of another artist of our Iron Ninja Games team, not myself.

If you are interested in following the game's progress, you can do so here: ironninja.com , and make sure to check out the Development Blog tab!

Ravena Concept: Work In Progress

This month has gone fast! I have been hard at work on a body of freelance work I cannot release yet, so I will do an update on some of my personal work!

 This is an improved concept for my warrior girl 3D character model. I started the project as just practice to improve my modeling skills, but after completeing her basic shape, I realized I really wanted to make her into a real character. So I went to work sketching up a different look for her. I knew so little about armor design and through more sketching and researching I have came up with this! She is still a work in progress, but her design has definitely improved! So here she is as she exists now, warrior Ravena Arlan!