So, I saw this fashion blog recently and a couple of the images inspired me to depict my District 1 ensemble for the Opening Ceremonies of the Hunger Games. For those unfamiliar with the Hunger Games, after the tributes are selected(to compete in a televised fight to the death), they are showed off to the Capitol during the parade of the Opening Ceremonies and are all garbed in really outlandish outfits that are representative of their District. District 1 is the luxury items district. 

The concept behind the outfit is to resemble a white diamond, so the tributes’ bodies would be painted white, and there would be structural, prismatic shaped translucent fabrics containing fiberoptic material that would wrap around the figure to create the effect of a jagged, jewel-like texture. 

Also I thought you might like to see some of the process work for the piece below. 

Also, Blythe Russo and I have some time again to pick back up on our character sketch blog Glitter and Graphite! As our welcome back post, we each depicted our favorite Harry Potter characters. It was a close call for me, but I think it had to be Fleur Delacour. Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the books, and not to sound superficial, but I relate a lot to her in the books. I also identify with certain aspects of Hermione and Luna, but I think in the end, Fleur is who i have to hand it to, haha. 

Keep an eye out for this next weeks post with the goal to design a mermaid character. This has actually inspired me for a small project that I'm looking forward to sharing with you guys, but I'm going to have to keep it under wraps a bit longer! In the mean time, I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year and you haven't given up on those resolutions yet! 

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish all of you guys a happy new year! I know that I for one am excited for all of the prospects this new year holds! I haven't set my resolution in stone yet, but it definitely involves keeping up with my sketchbook more and not just working on so many finished illustrations. I got a little bogged down on the idea of creating as many portfolio pieces for a while, but I read an interesting article recently about how not everything you do needs to be a finished or portfolio piece. It helped remind me that there needs to be more of a balance between sketching and finished pieces. The case used to be that I pretty much ONLY sketched all day, every day and never finished any solid illustrations, haha! Then when I reversed the process and was only creating to make finished works, I think I sort of put myself in an unintentional block by limiting what I was allowing myself to do.

Anyway, with those thoughts in mind as I move forward into the next year of artistic growth, I look forward to seeing where my work goes! Expect a lot more sketches to be popping up here and there and more blog updates. I'm holding myself to updating at least once a week this year, because it also forces me to be sure I'm generating work! With that, I bring you the first watercolor sketch of the year, another depiction of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a tad obsessed with the books ;)

Girl on Fire

I'm currently planning out a large illustration of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, but the books are really important to me and I want to make sure I really get it right. So I've been sketching up Katniss in a number of ways and this is one of the more finish sketches so I thought I might just throw it on the web to share with you guys!

Rue's Death

This image has been sitting around in my sketchbook for ages, so I took some time off from all my preparations for grad school apps to have some fun and bring it to a finished piece. Though I've done many Hunger Games inspired pieces, I realized this is the first illustration I've actually done based on the book. I hope you guys who are fans enjoy it! For those who haven't read the books yet, hop to it! There are just seeping with inspiration! 

Death of a Tribute (the Pretty Face)

The latest challenge at the Square Carousel Collective was to illustrate your greatest fear. Well I recently competed in a huge online version of the Hunger Games called The Tumblr Games and my death was caused by my greatest fear: SPIDERS! Technically they were thousands of spider "muttations" though for those familiar with the book, and they didn't actually kill me. But because of them, my arch nemesis in the Games, the boy from District 5, was able to stab me through with a spear! UGH! Oh well, I was still in the final three! Haha! Plus, I kind of had it coming because I was kind of the villain of the Games. My district partner was right alongside me the whole time (and she WON! =D) But she wasn't quite as evil and manipulative lol. 


The reason for the title actually, is because I was known as the "prettiest" Tribute in the Games, and I was the boy from District 1. One of the ways I made it so far was that I manipulated and tricked almost everyone in the Games. Over half of the Tributes died either by my hand or by the influence of myself with my District partner. And the first person we betrayed, as we killed her I said "Didn't your mother ever tell you? Never trust a pretty face." And after that "Never trust a pretty face" became the trademark saying for those that died by my hand lol. 


I hope you guys like this piece. It's got quite a different feel than my usual pieces, but I have to say I'm quite pleased with the dark tone I created. I'm very much considering doing a series of illustrations based on the Tumblr Games, since I'm so inspired by the The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Also, this way, the illustrations would be on a much more personal level since I was a part of these "Games".