Mish's blogtastic blog

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2012-02-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

The coolest grandma in the universe turns 82 today! All she ever wants for her birthday is to go watch her team, the Pittsburgh Penguins play. Watching her enjoy the game is almost as good as watching the game itself. Happy Birthday, Gram!

Birthday Mermaid

2012-02-02T21:35:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine asked me to do a drawing for his daughter's birthday, which is today. I like to sketch, but painting frustrates me. He likes to paint, but not sketch. So we collaborated, and here's what we came up with. Happy birthday Leah!

Here's my sketch:

And here's his colors:

Fairy faces

2011-10-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

Sassy Sierra

2011-10-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

It's been a while. Here's a quick sketch of Sierra, looking more sassy than usual

color!!!!

2011-06-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Attempting to not suck at color by keeping it simple...

Ballerina

2011-06-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

Just a quick sketch for the night

Island Girl

2011-05-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Joe and I have an upcoming trip to Kauai planned. It inspired this.

Island girl

2011-04-23T00:59:00.001-07:00

Foxy

2011-04-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch tonight

Lyra and Pan

2011-03-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

I've been reading The Golden Compass. Here's a sketch of Lyra and Pan in the north. Click for a larger image.

Sucker Punch

2011-03-21T00:16:00.001-07:00

Joe is way too excited for this movie. Took a quick shot at knocking out a drawing of Babydoll.

....it's been a while

2011-03-20T19:15:00.001-07:00

Rainy day sketch collaboration with a friend. My rough sketch:

And his colors.

Pretty colors thanks to the talented Gabe Sprenger.

....here you go, Alex.

2010-02-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

As requested by Alex last post....Cinderella as Cyclops.

Cinderella-ey

2010-02-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't been drawing in a while, so the best thing to get me back into it is something super-girly-sugary-sweet. So, inspired by a Mary Blair-ish Cinderella book I've had since I was a kid (and in really bad condition, a testament to how many times I'd poured over it) I decided to do my own version of the Cinderella portrayed in the book. I remember being disappointed by the movie version of her mouse-made dress as a kid because it was pink, while the one in the book was yellow. Plus she had lime green shoes in the book. How awesome of a combination is that? If you're a fan of Mary Blair you should pick up this book, it's available at Powell's :

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=61-9780736421515-0

Hopefully the color version won't be as much of a struggle as it usually is.

Sketchy heads

2009-12-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

November was a busy month. This is what happens when I'm super busy at work and I get a bunch of schedule printouts that keep changing....I draw all over the back of them.

Click on each for a larger image.

Olivia's nest

2009-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Click for a much larger image. Did this as a template for a friend's new website. Check it out! http://oliviasnest.com/blog/

Fashionista

2009-09-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Just in time for fashion week. Actually, I did this one a while ago and completely forgot about it. Here she is, post-cleanup. I'll put it in the queue for clean up and paint!

For Allie

2009-09-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a birthday sketch for my god-daughter. I drew it and Joe did the colors. I think it came out really well. The original sketch is really huge so that she can print it out poster-style and hang it up in her bedroom. Happy birthday, Allie!

Backlog of sketches...

2009-09-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of sketches and paintings I've been working on but haven't posted:

Poison Ivy....she was the drawergeeks subject a few weeks ago and I'm just now finishing it!

I liked the way this random sketch came out. Hopefully I'll get some color on this soon.

A little mage with her dragon friend. They both like fire.

Incredibles!!!

2009-09-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

What a fun week for drawergeeks! I drew one of my (many) favorite scenes from the movie, the part when Dash and Violet learn that they can team their powers up.

Trying out something different....

2009-08-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

A quick environment sketch, since I do almost exclusively character drawings. Click for a (much) larger image.

Another WoW sketch

2009-08-12T20:54:00.001-07:00

For the same friend. Did this one between playblasts at work with blue color-erase pencils and a ball point pen. I'll probably insert her into the first drawing so that she can pal around with Kel. Click for a much larger image.

first stab at painter....

2009-08-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Not that this is great or anything, but dumbing it down to a .jpg from the original painter file really made it look like crap. It was a fun quick sketch to start learning painter.

For Kel, with color

2009-08-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

I think I need to seriously work on my digital painting skills. There's something about this color that I'm not really loving.....maybe too much blue?

For Kel

2009-07-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine that I play games with requested a drawing of his main character. Here's the line work so far (the background still needs some work).

More fairy stuff

2009-07-23T23:44:00.000-07:00

A relative of mine requested a fairy drawing when I went home for a visit a few weekends ago. Here you are, Valerie!

....Sierra needs some meat on those skinny lil' chicken legs of hers.

Fairy stuff

2009-07-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Run Olivia Run

2009-06-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

Ever since I finished a facebook drawing for my friend Jenn, I've been getting requests for more facebook sketches from various people. Here's one for my friend Olivia, who recently took up running.

The ugly angel

2009-06-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure where this came from. I was supposed to be drawing angels for drawergeeks, but started drawing bassett hounds instead. This is the result of the two.

Bassett hounds have always greatly amused me. They look like someone took a dog and tried to melt it. And they always look so SAD because of their droopy eyes. I think I got on a bassett drawing kick because I was watching 'The Dog Whisperer' the other night and the show featured a bassett hound.... and it renewed my amused interest.

for Jenn

2009-06-14T19:47:00.001-07:00

Did this quick sketch of my friend Jenn...you don't wanna mess with her before she's had her morning caffeine.

Also...

2009-05-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

Decided to keep going and do the other space girl. Starting to like the way this looks without the line work in there. Might start working like this instead.

Rocket Richelle!

2009-05-19T20:24:00.001-07:00

Inserted my friend into this one. She's so adventurous!

Space girl sketches

2009-05-11T21:59:00.001-07:00

Never got these done for drawergeeks last week...oops! I'll have to work on them for next time.

More Yuna...

2009-04-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

Another quick sketch I did between work this week.

Candyland finished

2009-04-09T23:13:00.001-07:00

...or, sort of. wanted to make this better, but ran out of time again.

Random Heads

2009-04-05T16:07:00.001-07:00

Here's a few random sketches from my sketchbook this week.

Self-Portrait

2009-03-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

Inspiration-less today, so I drew a quick sketch of me looking alarmed at my out-of-control hair. Ever since I moved to the rainy Pacific Northwest, my hair has decided it's super curly. I should have known better than to cut it short again.

Candyland Sketch

2009-03-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

Sketch with a quick color block, for the next drawergeeks subject! The painting will get better, i promise...

Dragon friends, finished (maybe)

2009-03-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

I still have one more day to turn it in for drawergeeks, so I might work on it a bit tomorrow if I have time.

Also, 3 drawings in one day? Utter madness!

Ballerina cat and Pinup girl

2009-03-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

The ninja cats needed a better outlet for their energy rather than outbursts of violence. So they took up ballet.

Also, I drew this pinup girl a while ago and just recently found the drawing again. Both of these were drawn between playblasts, hunched over my desk at work.

Dragon friends

2009-03-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Did a dragon sketch super early for the next drawergeeks topic with the hopes that I can finish something nice this time instead of half-assing something the night before like I usually do. Here's the rough sketch.

Ninja Cats!

2009-03-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

For drawergeeks! The one on the bottom right is Jingle....click for a larger image!

Tiki

2009-02-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

Newest one for drawergeeks....just a really quick sketch.

Coraline in Theaters!!!!

2009-02-12T21:13:00.001-08:00

Coraline is finally in theaters, go check it out if you haven't yet!

I worked a lot on the mouse circus (and most other mouse-related things). It took a while for me to like those little critters after working on it for so long, but I finally find them cute again.

Also, I realized while working on it one day that Michelle is an anagram for mice hell. Coincidence????

Sister

2009-02-03T22:44:00.001-08:00

My sister still needed to post a picture of herself on facebook, so I sketched this out in a few minutes tonight.

...yes, she was always the cute one out of the 2 of us.

Link and Zelda

2009-01-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

For the drawergeeks 'Classic Games' subject. The Legend of Zelda was always one of my favorite series. Click to see a bigger image.

Saphrina of the frozen north

2009-01-03T19:35:00.001-08:00

Yuna has hit level 80. Saphrina has a looooong way to go.

Yuna of the frozen north

2009-01-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

It's been a while. I hope to get some color on this this weekend...clicky for a bigger image.

Black and White Bond

2008-11-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

Gave this one a black and white (and a touch of red) pass, I like it a lot better this way.

Bond, James Bond....

2008-11-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

Next drawergeeks topic is James Bond. I did a quick sketch of classic, Connery Bond, and another of just a sexy Bond girl. I can't wait for the new Bond movie to come out...I don't know why I like guy flicks so much.

Pap

2008-10-21T23:03:00.001-07:00

My grandfather (or Pap, as we call him) is a really funny guy. He has a bunch of silly sayings and jokes that we call 'papisms'. Here's one of my favorites (click for a larger picture if you can't read his joke).

Giant Monster in Color

2008-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Colored!!!

Giant Monsters!

2008-10-07T21:41:00.001-07:00

The next drawergeeks subject is giant monsters...I think cthulhu is probably one of the more famous ones. Here's the quick line drawing I did tonight.

Curly in color

2008-09-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

I think she looks good in green. Again, click on the above image to see a larger one.

Curly Locks

2008-09-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

The drawergeeks subject this time around is Mother Goose rhymes. I found this really obscure one that I'd never heard of before online and found the images in my head too good to pass up putting them down in line form. (click for a larger image if you can't read the text). I'll color this later in the week.

Yeti

2008-08-19T22:31:00.001-07:00

Newest one for drawergeeks. I think that I may have inadvertently done about the same pose as my Hellboy a few weeks back.....

Nekkid Sierra

2008-07-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

Sketched this out in Skecthbook Pro really quick last night.

Hellboy!

2008-07-23T21:05:00.001-07:00

For Drawergeeks! I still need to see the second movie, I thought the first one was really fun.

He looks familiar....

2008-07-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

Had another life drawing session on Monday, and I kept thinking the model we had looked familiar. He had a big, white bushy mustache and round glasses. Half-way thru the class I realized it....he looked like my design for Sierra's dad.

Strawberry Shortcake

2008-06-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Got one done early for drawergeeks this time. I tried doing about a hundred different versions of the old strawberry shortcake doll, until I thought about making her into a Harajuku girl.

Saphrina

2008-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Recently tried to get back into coloring. I took more time with this one than I usually do because color is really hard for me to get right. Once again, nerdiness has inspired my art. This is a drawing of my priestess, Saphrina.

I noticed too late that her head is HUGE compared to the rest of her body...oh well!

More Life drawing....

2008-06-12T21:12:00.001-07:00

Had a pregnant model this time, which was really interesting. I've never drawn a pregnant woman before and her shape was really fun. She had a hard time holding a long pose (8 months along = discomfort) but I did get a few decent gestures.

Scary Joker

2008-06-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

Quick sketch w/ color for drawergeeks. Since work has been slower this week I finally have time to do some drawing.

Back from Alaska

2008-06-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Saw tons of great places and a lot of wildlife, including the super-cute snowshoe hare. Some pictures are posted on Joe's blog. Also lots of sled dog pictures on mine.

Traveling Sierra

2008-05-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

A quick concept sketch for Parable 2.

The Lone Ranger

2008-05-01T20:27:00.001-07:00

For drawergeeks this week! Finally started it early enough to finish it with decent color.

More Life drawing....

2008-04-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Got some better gestures this week.

Life drawing

2008-04-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was really excited about lunch-time life drawing sessions until I realized how rusty I'd gotten....here are a few drawings that didn't come out as total embarrassments.

Kitten pile!

2008-04-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Started this for drawergeeks but didn't have time to finish it properly. I've been turning in a bunch of half-assed things lately and I didn't want this to fall into that category.

Another Samurai

2008-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

Did a better one tonight...this time with color!

Random sketches

2008-04-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it been almost a month since I last posted? I feel like a slacker. Did a quick samurai sketch for drawergeeks this week...he looks a little lopsided or something to me. I'm going to try to color something nicer to post if I get the time.

And here's a tree I did when i felt inspired my Mary Blair.

Tarzan

2008-03-07T21:17:00.001-08:00

The latest for drawergeeks.com - had to do this one really fast so I'm not too excited about the color on it.

Snowboarder

2008-03-04T21:45:00.001-08:00

We went skiing again this weekend, it was a very snowy and windy day. But fun...I think I'm slowly getting better on the greens as Joe tackles the black diamonds.

Hey, that's me....

2008-02-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

I'm featured on the front page of the Parable comic webpage. Before you start thinking that's super-special...they're doing it with all the artists who contributed. But it was still kind of fun to click on the page and see Sierra smiling at me.

Parable 2

2008-01-29T22:36:00.000-08:00

I've been working out the story and rough layouts for my short comic in Parable 2, which I'll be working on this year. The first edition of Parable will be published and in stores at some point this year, very exciting!

While I'm not saying much about the new story, I will say that it'll star Sierra...which is why I've been drawing so much of her lately. It'll be fun to finally have the character I've been drawing the longest in print!

Legolas

2008-01-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

Drawergeeks topic this week was Lord of the Rings. So more drawings of pointy-eared people from me. I started to give this some color but didn't like what was coming out, so I scrapped it and kept it a sketch for now. I'll have to work on the coloring later on this weekend.

...and now with 100% more color!

2008-01-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

Tried coloring this in Sketchbook Pro....I think I'm gonna have to give it a try with Painter next, since I got a free copy with the new monitor.

Angry Pixie

2008-01-19T13:38:00.001-08:00

Since Jingle won't let me draw her, I drew an angry pixie instead.

Jingle

2008-01-19T13:14:00.001-08:00

Jingle laid still in the studio only long enough for me to get one sketch out of her this morning. She likes to roll around on the carpet and do these really funny poses while laying on her back...I think she knows we think it's super cute.

Sierra...again!

2008-01-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

More Sierra sketches!

Back from traveling

2008-01-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

Had a great Christmas with family, but I'll be glad not to fly anywhere in the near future. The only thing I don't like about the holidays is all the traveling that's required to get us anywhere near our loved ones.

The new monitor is inspiring a lot of Sierra sketches lately. Did a quickie again today and got lazy on the colors. I still kinda like the way it came out.

Off for the holidays

2007-12-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Taking off for the craziness that is Christmas travel tonight! Have a safe and happy Holidays, everyone!

Trek girl?

2007-12-18T22:49:00.000-08:00

This girl is all ready to adventure in space! Or maybe brave a convention...I don't know.

Scared Sierra

2007-12-17T21:55:00.001-08:00

Here's a quick sketch of Sierra as done with Sketchbook Pro on the new Cintiq.

Merry Christmas to ME!

2007-12-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

Joe and I had our own Christmas celebration this weekend since we usually have our own quiet gift exchange before we go home to family madness. Joe always tries to outdo me in the present department with some last minute surprise, and I was pretty determined this year to get him some great stuff.

Well, he trumped everything again this year by bringing out a brand-new Cintiq monitor. I almost cried I was so happy, and also mad that he spent so much. But mostly happy. Sketching on it is incredible. I haven't had much time to do any really detailed drawings, but this is the first thing I drew on it, a quick sketch of holiday-Sierra.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-12T20:54:00.001-08:00

Sierra dressed up for drawergeeks this week, since she's an elf. I'm getting excited about going home for Christmas and seeing my family again!

Star belly (?)

2007-11-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

The topic for drawergeeks this week was star belly....completely open to interpretation. I couldn't think of anything super-creative for it, so I made a girl with a star on her belly. GENIUS!!!!!

I actually have a star tattooed on my hip. I lived with 3 other girls in an apartment in college, and we not only got along, but still we're best of friends. We met up a few years ago for a reunion weekend, and got star tattoos to mark the occasion. It's in white ink, which I got partially because I thought the subtlety of a white tattoo was cool and also because I wussed out at the last minute and wasn't sure I wanted a tattoo. Now I really love it and i want it filled in with a darker ink so it shows up better.

Cleo in color

2007-11-19T16:38:00.001-08:00

Did a quick and ugly coloring job on this in photoshop today....I cropped it because the rest of it was bothering me. I must be out of practice!

More quick sketches

2007-11-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here's another sketch I did yesterday at work of a tall skinny girl. It's not a great drawing by any means, but I kind of like the shapes I got in this.

I hope to get some colored drawings up this week while I have some time off.

Vacation time!

2007-11-16T21:47:00.000-08:00

This month has been crazy. I haven't been drawing or painting anything. BUT....I have the whole week of Thanksgiving off! I'll be giving thanks for that!

In celebration (and because I was distractedly sketching at work today while thinking of vacation) here's a fast doodle that I did on some note paper. A few people came by and commented that they liked it, so I'll post it.

Cleo

2007-10-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Yikes, it's been a long time since I posted anything. Work has exploded in craziness once again and we've had visitors. This was a drawing of Cleopatra that I was supposed to do for drawergeeks about a month ago and never painted. Here's the rough drawing, hopefully I'll get the colored version up sometime this week. Joe said that he really liked the roughness of this scan so I didn't clean it up at all for this post. ;)

sketches

2007-10-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Stupid wacom tablet isn't working again. I think it's high time for a new one.

Here's another quick sketch I did between playblasts at work. I think she came out looking a bit like Moongirl.

New blog!

2007-09-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Started a new blog for my pictures, so if anyone is interested in seeing pictures from my recent adventures in Vancouver with Sarah, take a look!

http://michellegorski.blogspot.com/

Clowns...but not scary clowns

2007-09-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to doing a drawergeeks drawing for this week. The subject was clowns, but I didn't want to draw a traditional clown cause they're kinda....wierd. I always liked Harley Quinn from the batman series, so I decided to draw her instead. It helped that work was pretty slow today, so that I could do a few!

Shy Sierra

2007-09-10T21:44:00.001-07:00

I was going to color something tonight, but my wacom tablet pooped out again. And I'm feeling sick and lazy. And I'm feeling like making up excuses for not doing anything worth posting. So here's a quick pen drawing I did at work that a co-worker said was cute. Sierra looks hopeful, yet shy in this drawing and I kinda like that.

That's all the creativity I have in me today.

I've been busy...

2007-09-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

August was "hey everyone, come and visit us in Oregon!" month. So we had a block of guests for about 2 and a half weeks. I haven't found time to color anything. Hopefully I can get some of that done this week. Until then, here's a silly anime-ish looking drawing that I did at work.

Another Mermaid?

2007-08-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

I drew this a few days ago and still haven't gotten around to coloring it yet. Then, I clicked on over to the lovely and talented Sarah Mensinga's page and noticed she'd posted a mermaid recently too! Coincidence?!??!? Um....I'd have to say yeah, probably.

In other silliness....

2007-08-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ha ha....this is what I'd look like as a Simpson's character!

Wild-life

2007-08-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

We came home tonight and Jingle was standing up at the screen door by the back porch so we decided to let her out for a bit. Joe noticed that she was just sitting at the edge of the porch with a poofy tail and big eyes, so we took at look outside to see what she was looking at.

What the....hey, there's a deer in our yard!

He was right below the porch, chomping away on the clover down there. As soon as we started sneaking out to take pictures, he decided to mosey on to the back of the yard to destroy our blueberry bushes instead.

Sierra in a hat.

2007-07-17T20:31:00.001-07:00

A very sullen-looking Sierra all tomboy'ed out.