Fantasy Novels

I stumbled upon my old stash of fantasy novels I had read in middle school recently, while helping my parents move out. I can't emphasize more just how much they influenced me and my work (I made an art piece and blog post about reading through Tamora Pierce's The Immortals series). I was never a very bright or motivated kid in school--pretty average, and one point I even lagged heavily behind in math and reading skills and needed special attention. It wasn't until I was in seventh grade that, hanging around the school library during lunch time, I picked up 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and found that a quarter of a way through I didn't have to force myself to keep reading; it was engrossing. From then on I ended up reading a couple of novels a week, yearning to escape from the isolation at school, like Philip Pullman's Golden Compass (yeah, [insert Hipster meme] I read that before it was popular) and Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, which is still my ultimate favorite.
I just read Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and drew a scene from it where Aerin clumsily slays her first dragon:

I mean, these novels are no Game of Thrones in terms of complexity and depth, but they were and still are my guilty pleasure!

The First Day

I've been running around so much I'm surprised I got to finish this:

 

 The First Day

A lot has happened these past two weeks! I got a new internship at a fashion company and

also a waitressing job. My biggest fear is dropping a tray full of dishes---hence the above illustration. I've also been really interested in the history of domestic service after my last piece, The China Room, sparked my interest by its setting. I'm planning on making a couple more illustrations on the subject--definitely delving into some politics too.

Last Tuesday I attended FIT's The Triangle Factory Fire: Then, Since, Now gallery opening which featured beautiful works by MFA illustration students, including one of my own illustration professors, Ed Murr. 

It was so exciting to see other artists react to history the same way I do!

Anyways, here is the original drawing for the piece:
Sometimes I prefer the lineart version of a piece than the full-colored; there's something so satisfyingly organic about it. 

 

Here's a WIP screenshot that I posted on my twitter too (follow me!):