Archive for the ‘tina illustrates’ Category

new year new art goals

2009 was a very slow year for this blog. There was so much change in my personal life (new job, tons of freelance work, marriage, house remodeling, husband’s job change to full time freelance) that I needed more time to myself until I got back into a normal rhythm before seriously blogging again. (more…)

Pet portrait by Red Tie Studios

David and I finished a new portrait for Red Tie Studios and it is our first official pet portrait! (more…)

hatching little nightmare

Here is a quick and colorful sketch of an unexpected little hatchling because I’ve been in a H. P. Lovecraft monster mood recently. (more…)

new illustration, mirror mirror

David and I are working on another illustration together. This one is a little darker in theme with inspirations from Lovecraft, Lumley, and our love for Egyptian lore. (more…)

quicky Mojito portrait

Sometimes the simplest things make me the happiest, like this 30 second portrait of my baby, Moj.

New illustration, portrait of Rosie

Finished a new illustration tonight, I kept this one a bit more loose and simple than the last few illustrations I’ve posted to my illustration portfolio. (more…)

Adrien Brody in The Darjeeling Limited

I spend a couple of hours on this hot sleepy Sunday painting a portrait of Adrien Brody from The Darjeeling Limited. (more…)

new bee portfolio on tinapoe.com

Yay! It’s finished! The new TinaPoe.com portfolio design is up. (more…)

new web design coming

It seems that I am constantly changing the design of my portfolio at TinaVaziri.com, but I do rest about six months in between! Many new changes are coming soon to TinaVaziri.com, I’m moving my design work out of the portfolio and into my new design business website that I have named Creative Bees, that website is currently being designed as well. TinaVaziri.com will only host my illustration portfolio, I’m excited about that because it will let me showcase it clearly. This blog will also receive a design update once the new TinaVaziri.com goes up. I have a little teaser preview for you guys here.

new portrait rosie

I’ve been drowning in work this year, and I’m sorry that my blog has been suffering as a result of this. I’ve been so busy that I kept putting off posting about this new portrait painting I’ve been working on whenever I have some free time, which is never. My friend Rosie came to visit me from San Francisco early this year and wanted me (and Red Tie Studios!) to paint a portrait of her. I got to draw her while she sat for me, and took some great photos for reference as well.

I’m having really bad drawing withdrawals recently! I need to make it happen.

Persian new year illustrations

Another Persian new year is near! The beginning of spring, new adventures, and warm weather. Mr. Bee and I love this time of year! The Persian Cultural Society of San Antonio, Texas contacted me recently to create a Persian new year illustration to be placed on t-shirts and promotional material. If you are in San Antonio and celebrate Nowruz, I highly suggestion buying a t-shirt at one of the many parties and events, proceeds go into strengthening the central Texas Persian community with events and gatherings.

Zoo and another birthday

This blog’s birthday was actually yesterday, two years and one day old today! I’ve been really busy and so my posts have been less frequent, I also needed a little break from blogging. But that doesn’t mean that I’m stopping any time soon, I have a ton of post ideas lined up and new artwork to show you. The two sketches are from the San Antonio Zoo a couple weeks ago. I love the zoo, I could go there every week and never get tired of it.

expressions study

The last few months have been so busy that I haven’t been blogging as much as I would like, I miss it! I have still made time to draw and paint, though. I’ve been doing little self portrait expression studies, to get more consistent looking and expressive characters for my “Adventures of Tina and Mr. Bee” series. I’ll post more as I finish them.

Fawn print for sale

I have added a new limited edition Giclee print of The Tall Fawn to my shop. The low price of $39.00 USD is still available!

Visit my illustration print shop to see all of the artwork for sale.

finished fawn

Yay, this little guy is done. I added a lot more details to his fur, and I really like how it turned out.

christina ricci eyes

Did a quicky illustration of Christina Ricci today. I love her big googly eyes.

buy art prints

With the holidays coming up, I have added three new limited edition Giclee prints to my shop. I’m also having a big sale! A brand new low price of $39.00 USD for any of the prints!

Visit the illustration print shop to see all of the artwork for sale.

The Tall Fawn 16″x 12″ $39.00

Hugging 16″x 12″ $39.00

Maddison 15″x 12″ $39.00

underwater exploration

Look around, refresh your browser a few times. I moved some things around on the blog layout and added to the underwater theme in the header. Hope you like it, because I’m really loving it! My favorite part has got to be the underwater observation hub, it’s so cute and makes me want to hug it, looks like it has little arms and legs, pinchable ones.. okay time for me to go sleep. Goodnight!

little fawn update

I had a busy weekend filled with Renaissance festivities and birthday parties, which didn’t leave much time to paint. I have just a small update for you guys, and more to come soon!

the tall fawn

I have been working on a quick illustration as part of a larger series that I’m planning. I’ve gotten a lot down for just a few hours of work that I have put into this painting so far, but I’d like to move even faster. I hope to finish this in the next few days!

mermaid magic

I met this mermaid once under the sea, she said that to get my creative juices flowing I should add random color splashes to paper and then look to find images forming from the shapes.

finished hugging

Phew, this weekend I put in more hours on this painting then I had since I started too many months ago, and it’s done. Weee!

my baby Moj

Mojito has been feeling under the weather recently, recovering from a wound on his neck. Poor baby, my heart breaks knowing that he is feeling pain. Hopefully he heals up very quickly, but in the meantime you can send him some extra love. I’ll transfer your love into extra kisses.

I’ve been working on the hugging painting, and it’s nearly complete. I also have another teaser for you featuring Mr. Mojie. He told me that he felt much better after seeing my portrait of him completed.

(if you look on my Facebook, Rosie painted a little get well card for Mojie, you should go see it)

found

Haha! I found my lost thumb drive. My large purse had eaten it. I was cleaning out unnecessary items from my purse and found a sewn hole up into the lining so I stuck my finger in it and felt the metal of the USB tip. I was so excited! I already started working on the hugging painting again after too long of a wait.

back to square one

I have lost the thumb drive I always kept with me. It used to live in my purse and never leave my side. I put artwork on it that I was working on, and transported the files to and from any computer I used. My heart feels a bit broken because the hugging painting was on that thumb drive, and I had gotten much farther on it (I hadn’t backed up my files, stupid). I need to suck it up and start working on it again from the beginning, but it is too easy to keep moping.

I should be excited about doing more art work because I’m planning to take Stephen Silver’s nine week, one-on-one, Character Design course this fall. I’ve only heard wonderful things about the course, and I plan on my skills improving greatly.

creative sketching

San Francisco got my creativity flowing and drawing a lot. Be sure to visit my illustration portfolio and view the all new Sketches gallery.

japan town hotel

Got some early morning painting in as the sun started to shine through the Shoji screens.

disappointed in drawings

I am disappointed in myself because I am not drawing as much as I should be. I see my quick sketching skills going dormant and it is seriously embarrassing to look through my moleskin sketchbook. My line quality has diminished into rough chicken scratches that scream “LACK OF CONFIDENCE”.

I was so fortunate that my entire education was focused on building and growing my skills in art. I shouldn’t let it waste away. The only remedy is drawing constantly and always creating new artwork, so I finished a new quick illustration recently. I have to get back on track!

hugging

I saw this on ICHC today and it reminded me to talk about the new piece David and I are working on.

David sent me the drawing he did on his break at work one day, with some of the lighting and shadows pieced in. I love that he can draw something like this, so accurate in the details of our living room, without looking at any photos just doodling at work for fun.

It will be a nice challenge to tackle the extreme lighting situation with the imaginative perspective as I keep painting this.

All working artists!

Below is very important information regarding the two bills in Congress dubbed the “Orphan Works Bill” that will radically change Copyright protection, if passed.

This was originally posted on the (New) Member Forum by Jon Hecker:

Time to write! Please take action now! These proposed changes to the copyright law affect YOU! I just sent three letters to my two Senators and district Congressional Representative. I laid out the moving story of how this bill would affect our livelihood. As independent artists, we receive no pension and we view ownership of our copyrights as our primary job security. It is critical that we as artists battle this proposed legislation.

In case you’re not too familiar with the issues at stake here, this webcast interview with Brad Holland about the Orphan Works act bill, offers insight to the ramifications of this bill if it should pass. The mp3 webcast interview about the Orphan Works act bill can be heard at:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

The changes in the copyright laws proposed under the new “Orphan Works” bill have been released and it will affect your creative career!

Write your Reps and Senators.
Refer to Bill H.R. 5889 when writing a House Rep.
Refer to Bill S. 2913 when writing a Senator.
Same Orphan Works bill, different #’s for Senate and House.

Go to: capwiz.com/gag/dbq/officials to get the contact info for your state’s officials.

This affects all of us, painters, photographers and designers alike and is getting fast tracked to get through now.

Please take time to write! Fax or snail mail in addition to any emails you’d send too please.
A sample letters is below at the end of this email.

For more info on this matter go to: www.illustratorspartnership.org

This was posted by Stella on “The Art of Licensing” Yahoo group and sums up the consequences if this bill passes:

“If we do not stop BOTH Orphan Works Bills NOW-
It does not matter that you created it.
It does not matter that you have a copyright mark on it.
It does not matter that it is registered in the Library of Congress.
It does not matter that you signed it.
It does not matter that you put a big fat watermark across it.
It does not matter that you put digital signatures on it.
It does not matter if you get a lawyer- you will get a pittance determined by the offending company and no reimbursement for legal fees.
It does not matter even if you do as they demand and pay to register it in the new registries that they will form – there is no real punishment for using your work for profit.
It does not matter that you do not want your image used on a product or to promote an agenda.
They can even sell your prints and make money!”

From Illustrators Partnership and posted on the Art of Licensing Yahoo Group by Stella too:

Here is a sample letter you can edit and send to your local and/or state representatives and Senators. These letters work best when you make your point clear, do not curse, and make them aware that you live in their district or state and can vote for or against them.

Feel free to make this personal with your story on how the Orphan Works legislation will harm your income. Stories are incredibly powerful.

Faxes work better than e-mails, as e-mails are too easy to delete.

Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator (their name)
(their contact info)
Fax: (their fax number)

Re: The Orphan Works legislation Bill # (either H.R. 5889 or S. 2913 depending who you’re writing)

Dear (their name),

My name is (your name) and I live in (your city, state). After reading about the Orphan Works bill, I am shocked and outraged that this could happen in our country.

This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact my income and life as an artist. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries.

(your personal story if you wish. It should show hardship under the new bill)

I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill and protect my rights, my copyrights, to all that I have and will create.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

(your name)
(your address)

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERY ARTIST YOU KNOW! THANKS!!!

Thank you for joining with other creative image makers to get your voice heard!

Jon Hecker

And check this out www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc

people in seconds

People watching in purple.

finished portrait water girl

David and I finished the portrait we were painting. I am so happy with it! I’ve been working very hard recently to improve my skills and I think this portrait is leaps and bounds ahead of all of my previous work. It is paying off. I am so excited about where my work is headed. Now, I just need to do four dozen more illustrations.

Be sure to pop over to Red Tie Studios to view it in the portfolio there and also to read more about it in the portrait blog.

moleskin meeting

This is what happens when there are over 50 people in a meeting.

I am always slightly surprised when I go for a length of time drawing from reference images to drawing from life and the huge difference it makes in the quality of my artwork. Everything looks so much more natural and it’s much less of an effort to get things right.

I wish I had live models to draw and paint from every day.

Portrait Art at Red Tie Studios

One of the main reasons that I had been absent from this blog can now be revealed, David and I have launched our illustrated portrait studio company website! Red Tie Studios also has its own blog where we are posting company news, in progress portraits, sketches, and studies.

I am very excited to have this done, to be filling up the portfolio with the new portraits that we are finishing up, and all of the new portraits that we will be creating in the future!

Portrait Art at RedTieStudios.com

Portrait Art Blog at RedTieStudios.com/blog

monsters finished

These are the last of the monster illustrations, phew, 14 total. Now my brain is free to move onto some other artwork and projects!

three more monsters

finished more mosters

finished monster01

finished boy

monsters

Quick concepts for 13 illustrations I’m doing for work. The quick flat color was not approved, thankfully, for lack of time to really flesh it out this way. Would have been nice though to experiment more with flat color on these characters as I was recently inspired by http://mojizu.com. These will be detailed B/W finished drawings.

scuba bee contest winner

The Scuba Bee art contest is now over and the winner is Froggy! The entries were judged by David and Froggy’s entry was the most playful and fun, congrats Froggy!

The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

Stay tuned for the next art contest going up soon, with a brand new prize!

hands

Quick studies

Reminder: The Scuba Bee art contest is ending April 6th! Those of you who still have not submitted an entry, you better get a move on. The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

drawing in bed

And watching Lost on the laptop.

beautiful characters

Watching Grandma knit

I have many secret inspirational influences that I keep hidden away and only share with my most trusted confidants. But my amazingly talented friend Adam Osgood turned me onto this one, so I can’t claim it and keep it hidden like the others: The Sartorialist is filled with captivating photographs of real people wearing beautiful clothing in day to day life. The images have a magic of their own, a little different form the usual magic that I dream about and incorporate into my work, this is real life. The images are truly breathtaking.

I want to take many of these characters and place them into my paintings, but until then, you must see the gorgeous work Adam has already done with this inspiration.

spring and new beginnings

 

Today marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. If you celebrate Nowrūz, I hope you have a wonderful start to the new year. If you don’t celebrate you can still enjoy the beginning of spring, beautiful flowers, and warmer weather.

I’m going to go eat amazing Iranian food tonight, with some wonderful family and friends. Yum!

hands bees and cats

Three coincidences:

• David and I love talking about religious history. We were discussing the story of Lilith, and her lack of mention from the Bible. Several hours later in the day we turn on the History channel and see a show on stories omitted from the Bible, with the first story being about Lilith.
• On the same show, there was also a story about Aseneth. She was seeking purification when an angel sent a swarm of bees to surround her and to build a honeycomb around her mouth. The story was beautiful and similar to the sketch I had finished a week ago, before learning about Aseneth.
• I was admiring the album cover artwork for The Bedlam in Goliath by Mars Volta and asked David if he knew who the artist was, he didn’t. The next day a friend of mine sent me a story about a very dark painting and how stupid people thought it was haunted. David and I looked up the artist and found out it was the same man who painted the Mars Volta album cover.

I’m going to do a painting for Aseneth.

working portrait, water girl

David and I have been working on a new portrait together. I love collaborating with David because he has strengths that I could never posses, and with our powers combined, we are Captain Planet! Or just really freakin’ awesome at arting. I have been sketching in my new moleskin book recently and I’ll be posting more artwork to bypass my bloggers-block.

By the way, those of you who wanted to participate in my scuba bee contest, you are breaking my heart. I’ll keep the contest going for a while longer to give you guys time, how about a month. I would really love to give my old paintings away, they do no good gathering dust in my garage.

Now for some art: My initial sketch for the portrait.

David’s perfect interpretation of my sketch into a flawless line drawing.

My coloring work, this is the part of a painting that makes my heart swell and sets everything right in the world.

art contest, scuba bee

The first of many art contests begin today, here at tinavaziri.com.

Your Objective:

• Print or Save the image
• You have one week to color it in any way that you would like (You can use any method or media; color pencils, photoshop, MSPaint, photo collage, etc), add your own flare
• Post your completed artwork in the comments
• The most creative image (extra points added for cuteness and humor), as judged by David Poe, will win a Tina Vaziri original!
• Everyone should give this a shot! The submissions will be judged on their ideas not technical skill.

The prize for this contest is an 11″x17″ acrylic and color pencil painting on bristol board.

The winner will be contacted by email and the artwork will be shipped to them after their address is provided.

symbolism

I created this portrait of Michael J. Fox showing innocence through the use of religious symbolism.

trick or treat

I created the Kraken card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat and Albatross cards. This card game also includes extra cards on how to create each costume worn by the card characters.

new portrait, alina

This is little Alina, my most recent portrait, finally finished! You may remember the Zara baby portrait from April, she is Alina’s little sister.

open arms fly high

I created the Albatross card in the same set that included the Cheshire Cat card. These are so fun to make, each little character took three hours with Prisma Color Pencils.

marbles and memories

This is the cover to my favorite sketchbook. I painted it over a year ago, and I think this cover helped inspire me to draw, paint, and sketch to fill the pages of the book in a way I never had before. I should scan some of the pages in and show you guys. One thing, I wish the texture of the canvas background was not as prominent, it takes away from the delicacies of the color pencil work.

spot

A while ago, while in college, I created five illustrations for Tint Magazine’s 3rd issue. Tint is a small publication that has national expose and covers women’s issues on a multi cultural platform. I created the illustrations pro bono to help the publication, but unfortunately never saw them in person once printed.

momentum

This painting was part of a series which also included the same girl looking into an indoor carnival then later ending her adventure masked. These paintings started as a dream of the indoor carnival scene when I was a child. I later developed the dream into a series where I continued the adventure that my dream did not finish. I love pieces that tell a story.

the last pharaoh

Queen of Egypt.

This one is a very old piece. My technique was still rough at the time, but there are many elements of this one that I still like. I look at this portrait as one of the fist and most important building blocks of my style. The coloration of the skin is something I have continued to do in a similar fashion. Also, the proportional differences in the body, taking note of the delicate hands.

Do you have old work that you always look back on?

missing the beach

This piece was created with children’s book illustrator Kelsea Parks as a collaboration.

Kelsea moved to Charleston, South Carolina this month, so she won’t have to miss the beach anymore.

moon light

This is an unpublished cover for the book Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, from the series called The Immortals.

I created book covers for this entire series and another one, called Emperor Mage, can be seen here.

poem

To find out a little bit more about the process of this piece be sure to read my Textures post in the how-to’s section.

discovery

a different kind of geek

Mr. Bee is a very famous archaeologist. You may have seen certain feature films based on his character, played by a sexy human actor. Mr. Bee may not be as ruggedly handsome as his movie counterpart, but he is just as smart and geeky in his vast knowledge of cultures past.

19th Dynasty pharaoh, King Amenmesses had a tomb decorated for him in the Valley of the Kings.The tomb was originally created for Amenmeses, but the decorations were erased and replaced with painted plaster scenes for the burial of a daughter and a queen. Why was Amenmeses not interred? Is he still alive? Such mysteries are the adventures Mr. Bee faces daily.

can you hear me now?

An editorial piece for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2, on demystifying VoIP call quality measurements.

I’ve updated this illustration to create more depth by adding detail to the foreground VoIP dogs, and blurring the background into space.

twist

camouflage

rejection

The fourth and last book of the series The Immortals by Tamora Pierce is called Emperor Mage. This is an unpublished cover for this book. I created covers for this entire series, and the cover of the first book, Wild Magic, can be seen here.

cat suit

future of network management

I finished a new illustration for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2. The article is about the future of network management and the difficulties ahead if proactive approaches are not taken.

my paradise

My paradise is filled with magic and cute creatures.

signs of natural life

kissable elvis lips

This is my first painting with Corel Painter X, I am very impressed with the program, and I’m still trying to figure out all of its power.

remember

This painting was the inspiration for the thesis I wrote in 2006. It is a depiction of a vivid dream I had when I was five years old.

baby portrait

I finally finished this painting after many months of working, reworking, debating, and reworking. This painting also was the inspiration for the new look and feel of tinavaziri.com.

dream spider death spider

I started and finished this in one day. This project inspiration came from this random drawing by some kid: