The First Alien of Spring

Spring began a few days ago, the weather's getting warmer, the trees are blossoming again, and I celebrate it by drawing alien mercenaries.  It all makes sense, I swear.

Our spiky friend here, code-named Shrapnel, is an older character who I have tweaked and modified over a few years.  At one time he was telepathic; at another he was a potential villain; at the moment, he is a special-operations soldier who may or may not be telepathic, specializes in unarmed combat and knife fighting, and keeps his goals and purposes to himself.  (And yes, he can turn off the glowy bits of the armor.  Glowy spec-ops troops are a short-lived paradox.)

Petunia Practice

Practicing for an upcoming watercolor workshop I will be attending.  This one started out a little too casual, as you'll see in the first frame of the GIF below...I got serious about it on the second or third wash, gave it my all, and I believe it ended up as a decent painting.  The petunias themselves I am most proud of, the background I'm not so sure about.  Lesson learned: take the painting seriously from start to finish, even if it's "just practice".

The watercolor workshop in question is hosted by TLC Workshops, a wonderful little program that takes place in Bothell, WA.  They bring professional illustrators and artists in to teach workshops over the course of several days.  Give them a try if you're interested in a small-class (ten to fifteen people) setting for learning illustration.