Superhero Family Portrait!

My friend Mark just adopted his third boy from Taiwan, and since he's a comic book fan, I decided that the superhero family portrait was definitely the way to go for present-time. I thought the custom type wound up suiting them surprisingly well, and I was pleased that my glowy backlit experiment worked out. I printed the final 14 x 14 inch piece on canvas and stretched it myself; it's now hanging in a place of honor in the Cheng's foyer.

Oh boy.

Broken Toe Buddies

Only two weeks after I broke my toe, my work friend Michelle broke hers too—with an equally unfortunately uninteresting story. When I heard her telling others she stubbed it on her couch, I stepped in to provide a more colorful explanation. It's not actually entirely untrue—Michelle does indeed study taekwondo, and I bet she could defeat a black belt fire breathing dragon. :)

Goin' Home

I journeyed to PA this weekend to partake in the festivities surrounding my grammy's 90th birthday!

Some photos from the adventuretimes:

I may have window envy of this setup going on in my mom's living room.

Flowers on the picnic table! 

Flowers everywhere! My mom loves to plant flowers. Here are two lilies in her garden.

Trip over the mountain to the fruit farm! 

YAY, peaches for dessert! And peaches for peach cake, and peach waffles, and peach ice cream, and peach muffins... :D

Speaking of dessert...let's make some cookies!

Aren't they cute? I especially love the ice cream cones. And the sunflower. And my good old friend octopus-cookie, who made an appearance again!

Psychedelic mushroom! But not the kind of psychedelic mushroom you're thinking of. It's the kind that grows when you have a mushroom cookie cutter and are relatively indiscriminate with the rainbow sprinkles. 

Poppop runs an auto-body shop. Why this pineapple juice was floating in a giant watery bucket of bottle caps in the front yard is beyond me, but I thought it was pretty.

Look who we found out back, perched atop an old race car tire! The infamous missing deer skull! My cousin spent all day last easter digging up the whole back yard because he couldn't remember where he buried it. At days end, still no luck. Apparently his luck has since changed. 

One of the two roosters that wander around and hang out while everybody is working. 

Dinner at Mommom's house—look at Mommom's pretty flowers!

Sunset over the backyard + pool

The main event! I am pleased to report that I did manage to secure and consume one of those giant pink flowers.  Happy birthday, indeed. 

What time is it? WATERMELON TIME!

Ever since watermelons re-appeared in their prime this season, this little guy has been dancing in my head. He was chosen somewhat at random and somewhat for his form to be a beta tester of my new artmaking process. As of late, I’ve been wanting to be less of a digital colorist and more of a digital painter, a distinction that can be difficult to see in an end piece, but makes all the difference in time it takes to make something and the scope of stylistic potential that something has. I had been drawing all my outlines by hand and then coloring them digitally, a process that I have become more and more convinced has been limiting me from reaching the particular aesthetic quality I am hoping for. I’ve been itching to get away from the crutch of outlines, but have so far not found a process that let me get around without them satisfactorily. And then finally…

 With this piece, I solidly made the leap—aside from the original pencil sketch, the entire thing was painted with a wacom tablet + stylus in photoshop! I’m definitely not comfortable with it yet., but I’m pretty sure that I finally made it across the gap that was keeping me from travelling in the direction I really have been yearning to go: my present quest to make digital pieces that don’t look so darn digital.

This post originally appeared on The Wheelhouse Review

Amanda the Interior Decorator

Finally did something about that large unsightly black rectangle that has been visually polluting my living room: iMAC CLOTHES!!! :D AESTHETIC VICTORY IS MINE!!!

I did not actually make this guy—just bought 'em. But he fits so  well in Amanda-land! I was hesitant to get a new iMac for the longest time because my old one was sooo-ooo cute, and the new ones are definitely anti-cute. THEN I found out about iMac clothes, the deal was sealed. Do you also have a large unsightly black rectangle problem? The folks over at Little Odd Forest can help! All of their stuff is handmade, and they are super nice.

Defender of the Flowers

This card for my grand-mom  was executed under the art direction of my mom. "Can you draw her pulling weeds?" she asked. Mommom is excellent with flowers + weeds—her flowerbeds are always full of pretty things, and sometimes she even helps out at a flower shop.