Christy's Artlings

Winter and a Basket

2011-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!

Fall is here

2011-10-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I last updated. I have not forgotten about the blog, i have just been focusing all my efforts lately on making comic pages and creating content for my real job which has been in crunch these last few weeks. If your interested in seeing some weird stuff than check out my art team's blog (http://cupwolfcake.blogspot.com/).

In the upcoming weeks I will begin posting my comic work,
Happy fall!

The BFA Show has Arrived!

2011-04-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

Join us for a night of art, refreshments, and good company.

We are excited to see you all there.

Some BFA Work:

Part-time Indian

2011-03-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Some images from a fall project based off a entertaining Sherman Alexie book called "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian". Not my favorite work but I am still learning how to tell a good story through images.

A forgotten comic?

2011-02-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Let me take a moment to share with you a project i would love to devote years of my life too. "The Forgotten Order" is a fantasy comic that I have several chapters written out for and countless sketch books full of ideas. Unfortunately it always gets thrown to the side when school starts, but 3 years since its inception and i still always return to it.
Anyways, here is a sample of some of the panel work. The comic has 2 styles- a dreamy patterned astral world and a more representational waking world done in thick pencil outlines. When im outta school this blog will probably showcase way more work from this thing.

The Hazards of Love

2010-12-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

"My true love went riding out in white and green and grey
Past the pale of Offa's Wall where she was wont to stray
And there she came upon a white and wounded fawn

Singing oh, the hazards of love

She being full of charity, a credit to her sex
Sought to right the fawn's hind legs
When here her plans were vexed

The Taiga shifted strange
The beast began to change
Singing oh, the hazards of love
Singing oh, the hazards of love
You'll learn soon enough
The prettiest whistles won't wrestle the thistles undone
Undone"
The Decemberists, Hazards of Love Album

I wanted this piece to feel more like a storybook. Maybe i should make more things like this =)

More Boardtrack artwork

2010-10-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

1920s Board track racing

2010-10-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Our BFA project this semester focuses on the old timey sport of Board track racing. Its been fun researching on motorcycles and the 1920s. This is just some color sketches of characters.

Social Gaming/ phone games

2010-09-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

My current project, is a fun action adventure and puzzle game designed to be played through a social site or on a small hand held device (like a phone). Its about a steam punk Archaeologist and her trusted rifle man who enter dangerous lands to seek out ancient ruins for study (and treasure). What secrets will they find? I dont know, but one thing is for sure- there will be a lot of wild critters and angry ghosts waiting for them =)
Expect more prop pages and accessories. How i love to draw cute little things!

House of Chai: Enrique Wrecks the World

2010-09-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Another internship on a summer short film, this time I did background painting, some color comps, and visual development. I was also the official blood painter for some reason (lots of cute animals suffer horrific deaths in the animation). The film isn't available to view for a little while because it will be entered into festivals.

BFA Video!!!

2010-09-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

A time lapse video of me creating a punch needle embroidery from start to finish. Approx time about 3 and a half hours. The patch i made is the logo of my animation/illustration club, the shrunkenheadman!

The Yellow Wallpaper

2010-06-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Some visual development work based on the late 19th century horror story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

John had the best intentions when he confines his depressed wife to bed rest. But unfortunately he is blind to the fact that his cure is actually driving his wife slowly insane.

You can read the short story here

The world that Comes After

2010-03-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Painting from Life

2010-03-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Some work from figure painting class. The top image was a about a 4 class session, and the bottom were sketches ranging between 20 minutes and 2 hours.

You will be assimilated - updated

2010-02-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: It was definitely a challenging semester.Here is the finished model of my bust. I had more fun painting and lighting than making the model. But I think it looks OK for my first attempt at realism in Maya. Hopefully future projects will be better ^__^

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Concept piece for a3D project- yours truly as a Borg drone. This is still pretty rough but i may revise if i have the time.

For some reason my teacher likes the Klingon Borg, so that's what im going to model- no time to get that sketch to full color though =(.

Story Boarding

2010-02-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

These are also from last year. First panel was drawn by my instructor, Dave Yee, and our assignment was to tell a story within 8 panels.

115 animation

2010-02-19T14:41:00.000-08:00

I forgot I had these from last Spring, I cant believe these are almost a year old. I'm hoping my character design has improved since than.
Anyways, these guys were from a short film I made called "No Goat No Glory".

Barron Storey

2009-12-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

I had the great pleasure of taking conceptual illustration with the amazing Professor Barron Storey. This class was a pleasant change from the sometimes grueling and tedious work i do in my other illustration classes. Not only did I learn to better develop and communicate my ideas but im also starting to understand the potential of my abilities and go beyond simple visual narratives. The above piece is one "bit" from my collage piece on the generations of wedding dresses. Below is an ink wash addressing the issue of sending minors to adult prisons. This piece was a challenge because I had only 2 hours to work on it in class. And :astly is my spread in our class zine "Pinky Swear" - a fun collection of work about childhood misconceptions. I'm definitely going to miss this class.

Steeple Chase

2009-12-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Just some preliminary work on an amusement park ride I was designing for visual development class. These animal silhouettes where the most fun for me, maybe i will make more.

forest fey lady

2009-11-26T13:33:00.000-08:00

just a photo shop exercise, i'm still working on how to paint hair.

locksmith

2009-11-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

Hes in a band...

Tree House Project

2009-11-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

My rendered exterior and a rough interior shot, plus a prop.

Soto's Kitchen work

2009-10-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

I just finished up work on the kitchen assignment for vis dev class. This was my first time designing an interior. Its basically a kitchen based off the writings of Gary Soto, a Mexican American who grew up in 1950s Fresno California. I tried to stage this in 2 views, One of a kitchen in the evening after the kids have been tucked in for the night and the other in mid morning when mom does chores and the kids are busy getting into trouble (mixing a big bowl of pudding on the table).

To help facilitate this assignment we did a lot of outside research and studies, including these little still lifes I did in photoshop.
The Hardest part of this assignment was trying to capture the mood of the story in an imaginative way while remaining true to reference and research.

Curiouser and Curiouser

2009-09-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ive been driving myself nuts on a new pattern. I have always loved Alice and the artists that portray her. I just now finally have found the time to take it on. I based this piece off of the original illustration by Tenniel (1866).

The difficult part was figuring out how to convert the original illustration into a simplified pattern. I made several passes over the drawing, taking out information here and there until it was mostly shape instead of line.

What is different about this punch needle is that I used the color of the weavers cloth as part of the image. I like the look of the cloth but just in case i am doing another version with a neutral colored background punched in. This is also the largest design i have made 6 1/3 x 4/1/2 inches, big by punchneedle standards. The pattern should eb up and ready for sale on ETSY in the next few weeks!

I think the story of Alice is one that will endure and be loved by many more generations. Many of my favorite illustrators have contributed to the subject including Arthur Rackham and Mary Blair. Now that the new movie is coming out this year i am excited to see how Alice will be portrayed in live action.

Some Thoughts on Color

2009-09-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Some times the hardest stage of pattern making (and picture making) is picking out your colors. We want good contrast, we want a lot of variation and interest, but we also want it all go together. Sometimes i choose out colors and i feel like I'm either too bland and predictable or drowning in a rainbow of sensory overload.
I find that the best way to get inspiration and make good color choices is to seek out good reference.
Palette hunting can be quite fun and i am often surprised how well certain color combination can work. You can find these palettes anywhere: advertisements, photos from interior decorating magazines, fine art paintings and design books, and even photos of nature.
My favorite place for reference is COLOURlovers This community allows users to create their own palettes and colors and upload them for all to see. You can even import a picture or painting you like and extract the main colors from it.
I made the palette below by extracting colors from this picture:

Color by COLOURlovers

The colors are mostly monochromatic and have a nice warm feel to them. I also could of pulled out some of the subtle greens and pinks from this picture, the options are limitless. But it only took me a few minutes to put this palette together, if you had just handed me a color wheel with a million options and said go for it i would be at it for hours and probably wouldn't of come up with something this nice.
Now the hard part is finding these colors in floss form or mixing them yourself with paint.

Here are some tops palettes right now:

Color by COLOURlovers

Color by COLOURlovers

I even used this site to help me pick out my wedding colors.

Color by COLOURlovers

Grand Opening!

2009-09-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my little art and punch needle corner on the internet.
My name is Christy Morgan and I am an illustrator and crafter. This blog will show case my newest patterns for punchneedle, my student work for illustration and design, and also be a place to share my thoughts on crafting, art making, and etsy.

I also have my patterns available on www.punchneedledog.com _ a site that offers wholesale, valdani floss, and really cute primitive gifts!