Karen H. Blog

Birdsies

2011-11-13T22:59:00.001-05:00

Are you tired yet of my cruel lies? Here are some sketches of birds I did recently. They're really beautiful animals, no?

Work in progress.

2011-11-04T03:32:00.000-04:00

Rick Perry is a 2012 hopeful for the Republican nomination to run in the upcoming Presidential elections. He seems to inject faith and religion into everything he does, which fascinates me!

I am working on this piece, where we see Rick Perry being called to high office. Progress to be posted here in the next few days. God willing.*

Sorry to twitter and tumblr followers, I've been lax in that department. ;_; In so many things.

*HAHAHA SEE WHAT I DID THERE. I made a joke.

Update!

2011-10-21T23:32:00.001-04:00

Hey people! Not much to show you in the way of illustrations this time around, but I do have a selection of comics from my 365 project. I was behind for awhile there, but now I'm all caught up. Today I updated the 1st page of an 8 page story. Check it out!

365 comics what now?

2011-10-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

So, doing this 24 hour comic day has been a real learning experience! The last time I tried it out, I only did the pencils. This year I tried to do the whole kit and caboodle - thumbs, roughs, inks, etc. I didn't finish, but since I had to go out that day to see friends it ain't all that surprising.

What I learned? If I'm not terribly concerned about quality, I can make a lot of pages in a short amount of time. Even if I do inject some intermediate effort into the art, I can turn around quite a few pages by sticking to a simple style.

Ultimately, I'd like to make a lifelong (and god willing, successful!) career of comics. Alas - I am notorious about not finishing the stories I start. I hope the new year-long project I'm undertaking will help fix that.

WHUT you ask A NEW PROJECT BUT KAREN YOU ARE ALWAYS DOING THAT i know i know shut up! I'm doing it anyways! SO THERE.

I'm making 365 comics.**

You are now free to take bets on whither or not I'll make it a whole year. C'mon take a chance I'M A DARK HORSE BABY. The first one is already up and running!

**yes yes I will still be posting on this blog and on ma tumblr, no worries.

Abstract

2011-10-02T21:56:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I like to do abstract pieces, both traditionally and digitally, to blow off some steam. Enjoy!

2011-10-01T15:06:00.000-04:00

24 Hour Comic Day is upon us! I'll have to take an extended break to go see friends, since I'd, you know, totally forgotten that today would be 24HCD. Don't know if I'll strike those hours from the clock or not, we'll see.

I started 11am today! It's now 3pm and I'm 3 pages in. WISH ME LUCK.

This post is going to be updated for the next 24 hours, so click refresh to see the newest completed pages. Or you can follow my progress on twitter!

UPDATE: Hahahaha having to go out at some point to see friends killed me. I don't got anything left in me. If I kept going, the art would just degenerate into the craptastical zone and I'd rather have it done late and looking good than having it done on time and descending into meaningless scribbles.

NIGHT PEEPS

Cha-cha-CHOW-riffic

2011-09-22T19:21:00.000-04:00

Whoa. Been awhile, huh?

It's been a long summer, and I'm ready for Fall and all the things it brings.

Have some art to tide you over 'till I put together a proper blog post! I'm been participating on the Conceptart.org forum challenges. Here's some of the characters Ive put together for the CHOW challenges.

Fanart!

2011-06-05T12:00:00.001-04:00

Ohhh my new scanner, I love you somuch.

Have you seen House of the Devil? Or listened to The Fixx's One Thing Leads to Another? You should! Go do that now, you saucy minx.

Early look

2011-06-02T16:52:00.000-04:00

I've got a new scanner! Horray! My sleep sched is messed up! I am very tirrzzzZZzZzzzzzz

If you don't read my Twitter or Tumblr (shame on you! shaaaame), you may not know that I'm working diligently on a comic. It's a retooled idea that I'd pitched for Crown Royale comics. Yes, yes that does mean that it's gonna be Yaoi! Right now I'm on the final revisions of the written draft and am in the middle of the character design phase. I'm having a blast working on this reverse-gender fairytale, and am both giddy and nervous to get it down and release it to the wide, scary world. Like a mother pushing her baby bird out of the nest, and watching it plummet towards the cold, hard ground.

Uh.

Here's the first look at some of the character sketches. In this one, I was working on the facial features and some hairstyles for the Stepsister, who've I've called Jeanne. The hairstyle still needs to be decided, but I love her look.

More to come in the next few days!

ALL HAIL SCANNER GLORY zzzzzzzz

Inspiration: Edward Hopper

2011-05-15T00:01:00.004-04:00

Today is the day that Edward Hopper died (May 15, 1967), one of my favorite fine artists. I won't pretend to be an art critic but what I will say is that I can stare and stare at his paintings, and rarely get tired of them. The loneliness of them arrest my attention, and the captivating compositions are a big influence on me. I often feel like his work says things I wish could my own work could say, so several of his paintings are quite close to my heart.

Holy gosh, a comic!

2011-04-27T18:23:00.001-04:00

This comic features Yien Yip! She's a groovy gal.
Apologizes to any korean-speakers if, perchance, I have butchered the language.

Inspiration: Passover

2011-04-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

When Passover comes around my Mother often asks me to help with the customary cleaning. In an effort to shirk her requests I usually point out her subconscious gender discrimination: she never asks my brothers to help with this, just me. Time and again my mother half-grins at this comment, looks thoughtful, then says she'll ask them to help too.

Does she? Do they? If they do, I'm never around to witness this mythical event.

Anyhoo, I am usually guilted into polishing the silverware.

Growing up in the Jewish community and as a regular synagogue-goer, I was often surrounded by judaic/biblical art. Polishing silverware is tedious, but it does give me satisfaction in removing the tarnish off the religious objects I grew up with.

In Judaism there is a mitzvah - commandment - called Hiddur Mitzvah. The idea is that the use of beautiful aesthetics in Jewish practice glorifies god. Here's a selection of Passover objects I found while scouring Google Image Search and EBay that make my art bug itch and my wallet whimper. Click the links for the wiki articles relating to those objects.

Kiddush Cups

Detailing, detailing

OhSoPretty

Seder Plates

Mmmm contemporary

SO SEXY

Not as sexy, but still sexified

And finally,

Matzah Trays

I heart this so much.

reminds me of english tea sets!

Blog Update, Sketches

2011-03-23T22:12:00.000-04:00

If you keep up a blog, how do you do it? I've been struggling to maintain this baby for awhile now. I've not given up on the old gal - HURR, DETERMINATION - but I am a bit frustrated at how slow I am. So how about it? What helps you to get blogging?

Also, I'm trying to update the look of this thing. I'm... seriously unhappy with how it looks right now, but it'll have to do for awhile. Please bear with me while I tweak with it, dipping big my toe into the scare CSS pool.

Also, did you know I have a Tumblr and Twitter? Well, you do now! Check em out, drop me a line!

I have not come to you entirely emtpy handed - Voila, some fun sketches: Two of my crushes, Ray Stevenson and Barberella!

Things

2011-03-14T05:13:00.001-04:00

Things I've been watching:

Elektra, the 1980 Opera from The Met:

I think the liberetto (lyrics) are fantastic - I'd love to make a comic based on the opera someday. I found myself wishing that I could have seen Birgit Nilsson in her prime, as this performance happened late into her career. Ce la vie. I will have to dig around for old recordings of this fab lady.

I loved Donald MacIntyre as Oretes. One, for his performance, and two, for his sexy gams.

Also, been watching Dangerous Liasons from 1988:
Why the hell didn't anyone tell me that Glenn Close is fabulous? So far, I've been stuck on the part where John Malkovitch dumps Michelle Phiffer. Brutal.

Rick Santorum Take 2

2011-03-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

I wasn't so happy with that last Illustration, so I put in a little more elbow grease and made the likeness a bit better. Am now much happier with the picture, and the splotch on his stupid face.

His douchey smile is what I'm proud of.

Rick Santorum...

2011-02-24T01:05:00.000-05:00

...Has got a little shmutz, right there.

Horray for new work! Boo for homophobe politicians.

Two more new peices.

2010-10-17T03:36:00.000-04:00

Two more pieces that I had done for the Speakeasy show. Easily my favorites:

Speakeasy Gallery, New Work!

2010-10-07T16:45:00.001-04:00

Just a reminder!
Tonight I'll be showing some new work at
SpeakEasy's 15th Annual Illustration Show!

Come check me out, have a drink, say hello, and take a look at a huge range of awesome art!

On Facebook:

Take a peek inside the collective imaginations of 40+ talented illustrators whose work features original styles, techniques and media. SpeakEasy has a reputation for showcasing the talent of Toronto's best illustrators. This colourful event is sure to be a myriad of fun in typical SpeakEasy Fashion.

Participating Artists:
Anne Smyth, Carolyn Endacott, Cassie Zhen, Daria I. Smirnova, Dave Murray, Ariel Amiri, Freyda Goodman, Gavin McCarthy, Gibson Quarter, Gillian Blekkenhorst, Three in a Box, Hyein Lee, James White, Jessica Fortner, Joeng-kwon Gye, Karen Hannah Brown, Kelly Kirkham, Ken Turner, Lamin Martin, Leo Lingas, Lida Lajevardi, Liu Liu, Lindsey Shields, Susan Adsett

Time & Space:
Thursday October 7th, 7pm-11pm
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Second Floor Lobby + Studio Rooms

Here's a look at one of the new pieces:

Happy 24 Hour Comic Day!

2010-10-02T06:44:00.013-04:00

I'm going to take a stab at live blogging/tweeting this years 24 Hour Comic day. Hooray? Hooray! I'll start working on this scary project in about a half an hour, soooo... 7:00am EST.

Check back to this entry periodically for pictures, scans, and progress! I'll just be updating this entry, so click refresh every once and awhile to see how I'm going.

I'll also be on twitter, at http://twitter.com/karenhbrown . I'll be updating my thoughts and drooling ravings under the #24HCD hashtag. There are a number of 24 Hour Comic Day hashtags on twitter at the moment, not sure which one will be more popular... I chose this one 'cause it's the shortest.

Aaaaaaaaaaand..... GO!

Pre-Comic-Warmup

6:35am - I can't sleep anymore, so I'm up with a cup of coffee and a cheese sammich, checking my e-mail, reading news, etc. Gonna officially begin in about a half an hour when I wake up. Oomph, it's so dark outside.

6:50am - Thoughts on the news:

After his interesting comments yesterday, CNN gave Rick Sanchez the axe, eh? I wasn't exactly expecting that, but I can't say I'm crying about it. I wonder if I'll get my invitation to the Jewish Media Conspiracy Purim Gala next year... they always seem to pass me by. :(

It always surprises me how people forget that human breasts are biologically intended to feed live young.
Facebook takes down breast feeding pics.

Vogue MagazineMasquerade Ball: Ohmygosh, this is gorgeous. Now this is how you rock a party mask.

The Main Event!

7:00am - Holy cheese, time to start!

7:10am - Oh my god I have no ideas. This is going to require more coffee. Lots more.

8:35am - Ookay, so that first hour wasn't the most productive. I started drawing a few panels, hated it, tossed it, and then made some more coffee. Lacking any kind of inspiration whatsoever - panic! - I went outside to listen to some birds and trees and take in the sunrise and, well.... all I got out of that one was cold toesies. SOOooo I've been watching Project Runway and doodling character designs. Now I kind of feel like I know where I'm going to start this from, but... yikes! First hour and a half and no pages, ohnoes.

Inspire me! Inspire me godammit!

10:03am - Thank goodness for Rolaids, protecting me from my own unruly stomach acids. Alas, now my circadian rythem hates me - I'm super sleepy for some reason. Not enough sleep? So why did my body wake me up at 6:00 going, "Rise and Shine Sucker!"

At least I got the first page penciled and a vague idea for a plot. Now we're getting somewhere...?

Been drawing in bed, by the way. Haven't done that in a loooong time. Also, am contemplating hour-long catnap. Good idea... or disastrous idea? Tune in later to find out!

T-21:53 -- 1 pg penciled. It's going to be a looong day.

1:22pm - I set my alarm wrong. Oy veeeyyyy. There goes three hours.

Dramatic re-enactment of the Naptastrophe

T - 18:38!

3:14pm - 16:45 hours/minutes left, and I've only got 2.5 pages done. Let's face it, I'm in the shizz! Watching Rifftrax while drawing helps, but oh man oh man, I'm starting to worry. This year may be like last year, in that I only get pencils done. I hope not, but, well, I might have to take what victory I can get.

I've switched to earl grey tea rather than coffee, because coffee was doing some unpleasant things to my poor tummy. It doesn't give me the same pep, but it is a bit more comforting.

I've been gripping the pencil too tight, and now my hand is cramped. Later, I will have to go out for lil' brother's birthday dinner.

I'm kind of hoping a pig crashes through my window and gives me divine permission to start again.

4:23pm - 1.5 pages done in the past hour. Good, but still not fast enough. Am scared, but trying to keep spirits up. Grapes made me feel better, so maybe I will cram more fruit into my gob, see if that helps.

5:11pm - Another page down! Horray for info dumps and big blocks of text! 5/24 pencil pages... 10 hours in. I can do it? I can do it! I.... I don't know if I can do it!

5:20pm - Awww, forget it.

After careful thought.... there ain't no way I can get this done on time! Plus it's my bro's B-Day, plus, I have a lot of work left to do for the show coming up this Thursday at the Gladstone.

However, I'm really digging the way the comic is going, so it'll probably be done by Canzine this year.

Thanks for checking out my crazy, tho! Next year... I'll be better prepared.

2010-10-02T06:43:00.000-04:00

So I'm gonna be showing some new work at
SpeakEasy's 15th Annual Illustration Show!

Come check me out, have a drink, say hello, and take a look at a huge range of awesome art!

On Facebook:

Take a peek inside the collective imaginations of 40+ talented illustrators whose work features original styles, techniques and media. SpeakEasy has a reputation for showcasing the talent of Toronto's best illustrators. This colourful event is sure to be a myriad of fun in typical SpeakEasy Fashion.

Participating Artists:
Anne Smyth, Carolyn Endacott, Cassie Zhen, Daria I. Smirnova, Dave Murray, Ariel Amiri, Freyda Goodman, Gavin McCarthy, Gibson Quarter, Gillian Blekkenhorst, Three in a Box, Hyein Lee, James White, Jessica Fortner, Joeng-kwon Gye, Karen Hannah Brown, Kelly Kirkham, Ken Turner, Lamin Martin, Leo Lingas, Lida Lajevardi, Liu Liu, Lindsey Shields, Susan Adsett

Time & Space:
Thursday October 7th, 7pm-11pm
The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen West
Second Floor Lobby + Studio Rooms

Cover:
Pay What You Can ($4.00 Donation Suggested)

For more information contact:
David Brown
email: david@blttogo.com

Dragonball again?

2010-09-24T00:12:00.000-04:00

Got some news coming up about my participation in a gallery at the gladstone, but for now, a sketch:

Whoops

2010-09-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

I've been falling off the wagon, in terms on updating the blog. Bear with me, I'm still trying to get into the habit of updating on a regular sched!

Here's a few doodles out of my sketchbook: I've been watching a lot of Dragon Ball, the original series. I love Tien so much - he's the triclops of my dreams. He acts like such a dickhead - he went to dickhead school and everything! - but he just can't help but be a good guy.

Oh, and also, I don't get enough protien in my diet, so every so often I grab fistfuls of meat and shove them into my gob. I ought to do a better job of balancing my nutrition.

Finally, I've burnt my drawing hand! I was draining some potatoes while my mom was buzzing in my ear, and, in my annoyance, got careless. Splash! Scalding water all over my right hand. I've slathered the thing with polysporin, and bandaged it up. It's not a bad burn or anything, but it stings and I imagine the skin is going to peel like a bastard. Lucky, it was mostly in the palm and lower finger area, leaving the tips of my fingers unscathed, free for drawins.

And drawins I be doing! I'm going to have my first gallery showing this October, along with a group of Illustrators, at the Gladstone Hotel. Keep an eye peeled here for more info and process work.

Rock on!

My Fan Expo Faves

2010-09-02T22:17:00.000-04:00

I'm going to post all the stuff I had at my table last weekend, but for now, here's one of my favorite pieces from Fan Expo:

Alas, the print didn't go over so well, ce la vie. Next time I'll shoot for a brighter, crisper print.

I've been listening to a lot of Lovecraft audiobooks by the way, read by the awesome Wayne June. Does this mean there's going to be some Lovecraftian stuff in my future? You bet yer bum there is.

Whew

2010-08-31T21:15:00.000-04:00

Whew!

Fan Expo was awesome, and thanks to everyone who stopped by! Quite a learning experience. Now I'm going to read some Dragon Ball and sleep 'till I can't sleep no more.

Fan Expo

2010-08-27T02:14:00.000-04:00

Tommorow I go to Fan Expo! If you're in Toronto, check me out this weekend at Artist's Ally, table A9, near Rue Morgue.

This'll be my first convention, so exciting! So nervous!

Holy Flipping Barnacle Bras Batman!

R.I.P. Satoshi Kon

2010-08-25T17:08:00.001-04:00

Although the news broke yesterday, I learned about Satoshi Kon's passing this afternoon, and it hit me like a kick in the chest.

He was the director of several acclaimed anime films, several of which are my personal favorites - Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers.While I'd seen Perfect Blue as a teenager, I saw the latter two movies only recently, which cemented me as an enthusiastic Satoshi Kon fan. While I wasn't wild about his last film, Paprika, I've been making my way happily through his series Paranoia Agent, and waiting eagerly for his next film, The Dream Machine. He passed away while the film was in production, and while I don't know if it'll be finished now, I still hope to see it someday.

I'll probably detail my feelings on his work at a later date, but for now I'll throw up some clips from the above mentioned movies. It's always sad when we lose a bitchin' talent.

2010-08-20T19:02:00.000-04:00

Just dropped the prints off at the printers! Eeeee!

Time to relax for a bit and tuck in with a book, maybe catch up with Dan Savage columns and podcasts. I used to follow both almost religiously, but kind of dropped off in the past year. I got a bunch of crazy sexcapades/problems to catch up on! Podcasts are also a great to play while yer working, so if anyone's got any recommendations, leavea comment and lemmie know.

Speaking of Dan Savage, Joe Newton has been providing fun and adorable illustrations for the column consistently for the past I-Dunno-How-Many years, check out his portfolio.

Fan Expo Sneak Peak #2

2010-08-16T04:46:00.000-04:00

Two more peeks into the sketchbook for Fan Expo:

Inspiring pinup artists: Gil Elvgren, Zoë Mozert, Duane Bryers

2010-08-12T23:53:00.000-04:00

I'm having a blast working on these superhero pinups for FanExpo. Safe to say, I've been inspired by one of my favorite Illustrators, Gil Elvgren.

Better descriptions of his art have probably been written, so I'll just say here that my favorite quality in his work is the way he managed to make the girls look innocently indecent. Whoops, my skirt just fluttered up! Oh noes, can you see my butt? I don't know how, but he managed to make the slightest sliver of skin seem quite salacious.

Zoe Mozart is an artist that I'm learning more about and enjoying, specifically her nude/pinup work. The most famous female artist of retro pinup artists (so the internet tells me), she often used herself as a model.

Duane Bryers is often credited with being one of the first artists to paint plus-size pinup girls, specifically 'Hilda'. I love Hilda to death. With over 200+ Hilda paintings (gouache on illustration board), this guy blows me away.

Links
Official Gil Elvgren Website
Zoe Mozart at The Pinup Files
Hilda Gallery at Toilgirls

Fan Expo Sneak Peak #1

2010-08-11T07:26:00.000-04:00

Goodness me, it's been awhile hasn't it?

I've been deep on the down low all year, detoxing from my college days. It's time to knuckle down and get some serious work done, though. I was scared to death to get back to painting, since it's been so long now, but things are going pretty well.

I'll be breaking my convention cherry at Fan Expo this year - Gasp! Blush! - and I'm both excited and nervous! More info about where I'll be located to come later.

In the lead up expo, I'll be posting sneak peeks of new art. Horray!

Here's your first look:

Fans of boobies will be pretty happy with me this year!

Canzine!

2009-10-31T17:49:00.013-04:00

I am about to rip my hair right out of my head, this prep for canzine is frazzling me so much. It's really my semi-official debut on the art convention/fair circuit, and holy crap, did I underestimate how much work goes into it all.

So a gift to to myself (and you!), I'm putting up a 10 page preview of my 24 Hour Comic, 'The Last Minute'. I'll be selling paper copies at Canzine tomorrow, so if you like it and you're in the area, swing by to have a glance and chat me up!

Click the pictures to see 'em at full size!

Designs, oh my.

2009-10-24T12:07:00.004-04:00

I've developed a recent obsession with Wonder Woman! To celebrate, I'm doing art challenges on the Wonder Woman message boards at Comic Book Resources, check it out!

First one was Wonder Woman's Winter Wardrobe - it's a cardi & underwear take on one of Wonder Woman's weirder costumes. I'm working on some other designs, but damn it's hard.

I'm also going to have some stuff at canzine, so if you're going, drop by!

24 Hour Comic Day

2009-10-04T20:52:00.003-04:00

October 3rd was 24 Hour Comic Day. I didn't know it was coming, but a friend told me about it the night before. I decided, what the hey, I'd give it a spin. I worked from 1pm to 8am the next day, and then crapped out on the last 5 hours. I was dead in the water. It was pretty hilarious to make up the story on the fly, without any pre-plotting. I trashed something like four start pages before finally settling on one.

Anyhow, I managed to finish the sometimes-rough-sometimes-polished pencils. I'm going to clean the sucker up and ink it, and post the whole thing here in it's entirety. Or at least, link to someplace where you can read it. It's a pretty straightforward story about a space lady boarding a ship to complete some unspecified mission.

But it's got monsters! Aw yeah, monsters.

In the meantime, he are some of my favorite panels, and my fave page.

Gosh, an update.

2009-07-11T23:56:00.004-04:00

Hey people, I have not abandoned you. I have just been hermetic since school ended, reeling for the climax and anti-climax of it all. As you can see, the place looks a little different now. I went back to the blog today and winced dramatically at the colors I had dressed this blog in. I'll stick to white for now until I can muster up the courage to conjure up a better layout.

The long-promised portfolio site is a bit closer on the horizon then it was before, but it still may be a little while until that reaches you. For the curious, I'm simply trying to fill my portfolio with work that I can feel a little happier about. Until then, this blog will have to do.

Another school assignment that makes me smile, Sherlock Holmes. This was done in a painterly style that, while I do like, takes a little longer to complete than I would like.

He's no Robert Downey Jr., but he's still my man.

I'm currently working on a book project with Yien Yip, featuring her artwork and my words. What will it be, you are wondering? It will be cute. It will be utterly adorable. And, ah, gorgeous. Of course. Go and dig Yien's flow at her website.

Now go hug someone. C'mon, don't be shy!

2009-05-15T11:23:00.004-04:00

Website and blog re-vamp still coming swear to god. In the meantime, have some Wolverine:

Oh, project rooftop. I heart you!

Workin' onnit.

2009-03-29T10:11:00.004-04:00

There's a lot of face lifting that's going to happen on this blog-thing, but not quite yet. Stay tuned for exciting things like links to people and portfolios and... so on. Thanks for popping in.

"The Mysterious Traveller"

Every so often, I do an illustration that serves as a benchmark for all the illustrations to come. That's pretty much how I feel about this one. There are times in art and writing when things manage to just come together, without a lot of fuss or struggle, and work out in a way that makes you super happy. Or maybe that's just me.

Behold: Art.

2009-03-19T15:35:00.010-04:00

Greetings!

So this will be my sketch/illustration blog, where I will be posting new and old art, sketches, comics, and update on upcoming and ongoing projects.

Coming Soon: Website & Online Portfolio. (Perhaps a separate blog as well for blog-blogging, in addition to illustration-blogging. )

These shop bots are for an assignment early into my 3rd year. It's still one of my favorites.

I call the one with the big red lens Norbert. I imagined that he wouldn't be much of a talker, but he'd be there to hold up your bags and stand in line for you at Starbucks.