Another Chapter

 Another new chapter starts today!

Around this time one year ago, I sat at my desk with my baby asleep in his bassinet next to me. I finally had just enough peace of mind and energy to paint! And I chose to paint his cute little face :) 

Introducing my Little-Guy!

Everything before and after that moment seems both far away and like it happened in a blink! Either way, today I sit with a one-year old sleeping next to me as I write, and I am again setting myself a goal to get back to my creative pursuits. It has been very difficult for me to carve out time for my art on any kind of consistent basis; or post things online! With a new determination to guard time and energy to make it happen, I will embrace this new month as a new start!

Project Low-Poly

Recently I have been enjoying getting engrossed in making low-poly creations suitable for games :) My goal is to have a collection of simple but beautifully textured prop models, and, with some scripting help, an "animated" bird! I am enjoying the challenge of creating these models with as low polygon count as possible, while still making a pleasing form.

Below are two pieces I can share with you today, a simple model of "Claude" my real house-plant, and a standalone four-leaf clover for Saint Patrick's Day!

Claude the Aloe

Lucky Clovers :)

Take care of yourself, and see you here again tomorrow with a modeling update!

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 :)

My Moon

Crisp, cool nights have allowed for a beautiful view of the moon over the hills nearby. I don't think I have properly appreciated its glow in a while, and was happy to gaze at it between a break in the clouds :)

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 :)

Adventures & Appreciation

It is amazing how much a change of pace can do for your levels of energy and inspiration! A hike near the mountains gave such perspective, on many things! It has definitely been a week of nature-inspiration....while also sitting in front of a computer screen experimenting for maybe too long. :P

This week I focused my energies in two areas I've missed; 3D modeling and texture painting! There is a special kind of satisfaction when you update a texture painting onto the model and....viola!- it fits well and makes the model look that much more convincing!

First, the fun found feather (whew, alliteration!) that started my digital art obsession:

Next, you may recognize this plant from last week's post....but I used my painting in my texture mapping for this potted plant project (oh goodness, there goes the alliteration again!):

I have many, many more project ideas flying around my head, so there will be much more fun projects to come! Thanks for reading, and as always, have a great week!

<3 And Happy Valentine's Day!

Heart Leaves

As the flowers are starting to bloom in the park behind our neighborhood, I took special care to appreciate them as I walked by. One took my special attention....one with heart-shaped leaves and a happy yellow flower! I couldn't help but paint a study, and it became my favorite drawing of this past week :)

A Happy Diversion

This post's title could not be more fitting!

Since this time last week, I have felt in a bit of an "artist's-block" (as you know how frustrating writer's block is....), which needed to be solved with a change of pace, and working through LOTS of unfruitful sketches.

So I allowed myself to doodle and sketch and do any random art-thing that could get me out of my rut. In doing so, I am glad to have made a couple cute sketches for Valentine's Day cards (pictured below), and I let myself have the time to explore a new resource for bringing my 3D art into games (will talk more about that later!).

Pictured below:  "Batty" About you! & Lovebirds

Thanks again for reading, and see you again next week! :)

A Workflow Experiment

To make this year a truly insightful one, I wanted to start off this month with a "bang!". This week I wanted to push myself to try new techniques and work flows in digital painting. Thanks to Udemy being a wonderful resource, I found a digital painting class by Hardy Fowler. It has been a great thing to get inside another creative's head and see their techniques and process!

So, the following work-in-progress painting project is one from this class. It's still not finished, and I will update it here when it is. But the most important part (and something that I am excited to say) is that I have learned some digital-painting specific tips that I think I will continue implementing!

Something especially enlightening is the technique he teaches for gaining more organic variability in digital painting. It is easy for digital paint-strokes to look "fake", or calculated and too perfect. His painting technique helps to soften that, and I am very thankful to learn it!

Pictured: (First below) Ink & color blocking mask, (Second Below) initial skin tone painting stage. Click each image for more info.

I look forward to finishing this guy up, and hopefully seeing you back here next week! Thanks for reading! And if you are curious about the course, you can click here. (P.S. I am not at all affiliated)

Sea-Dragon Mermaid

:) Here's my last mermaid of "MerMay" 2019! I wanted to create a seahorse mermaid, so this lady is inspired by the leafy sea-dragon. Created in Photoshop with a Cintiq tablet.

My Favorite Childhood Mermaid

In honor of #Mermay & my favorite mermaid of my childhood, here's my own little mermaid! This painting-doodle is inspired by the "Under the Sea" musical scene in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" (which I was addicted to as a kid!). Created in Photoshop.*

*This is fan-art! As such, I do not lay claim to "The Little Mermaid" as depicted in Disney's film. :)

Thanks as always for stopping by! See you again soon!

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!

Infographics for National Geographic!

I am so very happy to announce that my artwork for National Geographic has been published!

At the end of last year, I was invited to work alongside a team of artists and writers to create infographics for National Geographic's Educational Resource Library. This online database can be used by teachers and students alike for class, and covers a wide variety of topics!

To view the infographic artwork I created for the resource library, please hop on over to my portfolio website, www.briannaleahyart.com! You can also click the link in the artwork descriptions to jump to the artwork on NationalGeographic.org. Happy exploring (and learning!).

You may also notice that I gave my portfolio a new look! I am always looking to improve it, and still have much more to do! :)

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

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

Art-Monday: Science Illustration!

I am back! I am excited to say my absence on my blog was because of a great opportunity! I have been working as a resident artist with the Vega Thurber Laboratory at Oregon State University doing scientific illustration for their publications & presentations! I cannot tell you how happy I am to be contributing to this educational endeavor. Their research is inspiring!

Below you can see the first of my pieces for the Vega Thurber Lab, an image & diagram demonstrating coral metagenomics & virus ecology. And my feature on the OSU artist page! I will be posting more scientific illustration as it is released in publications!

My artist bio on OSU's website!

Finished illustration for textbook publication & presentations

 

Work in progress screenshots of my reef illustration
Left:  School of butterfly fish  Middle:  Parrotfish and Acropora sp. (coral).  Right:  Reef part 1

Thanks for reading as always! See you next week for more art!

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.

Warrior Girl & New PS Brushes: Art- Wednesday

Trying out some new photoshop brushes my friend recommended to me! This was a random doodle as I was testing them out :) I hope you like her!