Shelly Rodriguez { Illustration | Sculpture | Life }

Ch-ch-changes!

2011-04-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since October 2010! After a whirlwind November weekend spent in NYC, my husband and I found new jobs which resulted in a move across the country from Salt Lake City, Utah, to New York, New York at the very beginning of December.

In October I finally decided to branch my store stuff from my portfolio work, resulting in a brand new venture called inki-jinx! All of my cute goodies can be found at inki-jinx.com.

I have a blog on tumblr, as well as a Facebook page! Follow me there if you use either service. :)

I've still been making art--including my first finished non-digital piece in a very long time, for a fundraiser to help the Japan Tsunami Relief effort.

Tee Shirt News

2010-10-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

"Sad Octi" is being reprinted, and "Princess Truffle" tee is coming soon!

Princess Truffle

2010-10-29T17:24:00.001-07:00

I'm still on a piggy kick! A new tee shirt design.

Say Hello to Monsieur Cholesterol~

2010-09-26T06:36:00.001-07:00

Ah, finally! The finished concept for a 3D piece I'm working on.

New Business Card

2010-09-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

My new business card design! Simple but good. :)

Oink!

2010-08-27T07:24:00.001-07:00

Piggy goes nom-nom!

2010-03-04T20:05:00.001-08:00

Don't know if I'll ever finish this, but it was a fun doodle.

Yo ho ho~

2010-02-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Here ya go... have a headless, handless portly fellow.

Can anyone guess who I'm modeling? :)

Time to dust off the ol' blog...

2010-02-07T09:07:00.001-08:00

Yikes, time flies! Between the last post I've made, and today:

It was Halloween! It was Thanksgiving! It was Christmas! I went to Japan for New Years! Now... it's almost Valentine's Day. My, how times flies...

Between the crush of holidays, a looming vacation and a little bit of winter blues, my plush Ika were produced and arrived on my doorstep! YEAH!

That being said, all those in the US who were kind enough to pre-order the little guys should be expecting a happy squid to swim into your mailbox within the week; those of you who live in the grand world beyond, he might take couple of weeks to arrive. Those little tentacles get tired, you know?

His siblings are still in need of loving homes--and they can even make it to you by Valentine's day for an extra dose of cuddles and cuteness, if ordered by Wednesday the 10th.

Buy your ika here, or take a look around the rest of my store for the perfect gift for the cute-loving most-loved person in your life. :)

More Teahouse Renders

2009-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Portrait Practice 2

2009-10-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

More portrait practice from photos. I like the way this one turned out a lot better--trying to stay away from opacity and round brushes on this one (as advised by my art director). So I used an oval brush and only a tiny bit of opacity. :P I'll try a rectangular brush with a little bit of tooth to it, tonight.

I actually found a forum of girls squealing over male models, and... being a girl who likes pretty men, I did a lot of 'right click/save as'... for REFERENCE. Yeah. All in the name of art, etc.

2009-10-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Taking a page out of my husband Xavier's book, last night I started painting portraits digitally from reference. Its mindless and fun, I plan on doing at least one a day--its a good way for me to get painting practice with faces/people, since I don't have access to a proper figure painting class any longer.

Silhouettes

2009-09-29T17:20:00.001-07:00

I am not good at drawing non-effeminate men (I love them, but not everyone enjoys a JRPG aesthetic...), so I am determined to draw a tough guy this go around, or at least someone who isn't 'pretty'.

I had a lot of fun with these--the ones above are the best of the bunch. Going to paint over them in photoshop and see which strike my fancy.

Monster Hunter Tri Weapon Contest Entry

2009-09-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

I don't typically draw weapons, but this was a lot of fun to come up with. :)

Dragon girl revisited

2009-09-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Kind of turning her into more of a sci-fi character than a fantasy character, but that's ok! Been working on adding bits and bobs to her outfit all weekend, extensive physical modeling of clothing is new for me.

WIP: Muramasa Piece

2009-09-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Starting to rework this a bit... Momohime is next.

Special Announcement! Squid Plush Pre-Orders!

2009-09-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

After months of working behind-the-scenes, I am very, very excited to announce the opening of pre-orders for my Ika squid plush toy!

He will arrive in January 2010 regardless, but if you snag a preorder now, he is $16 (yes, that includes shipping in the continental US) to your door, versus $20.

Ika is 6.5" tall and 5.5" wide across his eyes. He is soft, cuddly and shiny, with embroidered eyes and painted details. There will only be 250 of this colorway, so he is VERY limited!

I hope this will be the first plush toy of many. :)

Preorder Ika here!

Soul Harvester model WIP

2009-09-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just chugging away on the texture for this sucker. :) I hope to get to a 90% done point with it tonight, so I can start on the alpha and refining details tomorrow.

Too cute not to share!

2009-09-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

Weapon Designs

2009-09-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

A first rough pass at some giant honkin' sword designs.

Which do you favor more, A, B or C?

Treehouse

2009-09-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

Waterfall WIP 3

2009-09-03T22:50:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus on this piece (I just didn't know where to go with it!), I've discovered that cropping is my new BFF. Now to refine details in the character/background and add some real foliage instead of just... moss. :P

Also, ignore her creepy, creepy face please! It was literally the last thing I painted before deciding to call it a night, and spent all of 15 seconds on it, heh.

Rawr, rawr, woof!

2009-09-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of cute sketches drawn during a meeting.

Waterfall WIP 2

2009-08-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

Base colors are in... need to figure out where the characters will be, and then start refining things.

Japanese waterfall WIP

2009-08-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

Trying to get better at this background thing... :|

WIP: Beach

2009-08-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Good at titles, I am not. :X Just a work-in-progress image of the painting I started this evening!

Soulharvester

2009-08-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Colored! Now onto modeling it. :)

A new concept piece

2009-08-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

I imagine that this undead thing wanders around a vast, dry desert at night, collecting souls of those unfortunates claimed by the day's heat. Kind of like a baleen whale. :)

I know, I know... I haven't written about SDCC at all! I still need to download the photos from our camera/my iphone, even. But I will say one thing--it was pretty amazing, as far as conventions go. :)

SDCC 2009

2009-07-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

photo from www.cvent.com

My husband and I are leaving for San Diego tomorrow morning, the flight leaves bright and early at 8:30am.

Very excited!

Fan Art: Yoko from Gurren Lagann

2009-07-03T16:07:00.001-07:00

Linework for my version of Yoko Ritona, from the strange, epic and hilarious anime, Gurren Lagann. The final piece (which I plan on finishing with watercolors, markers and colored pencils) will be for sale at the Otakon art show.

Pixar vs Dreamworks

2009-06-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

My husband shared this with me... too funny!

Craft Lake City!

2009-06-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

I received a phonecall yesterday that I was accepted into Craft Lake City! It is the first year for the event, and it is in the same vein as Renegade Craft Fair and Bizarre Bazaar.

I'm pretty excited! Gotta start workin' on some new stuff--August 8th will be here before I know it!

Tweet!

2009-06-12T15:36:00.001-07:00

Those of you who visit my blog instead of watching through a reader, may have noticed that I finally caved and got myself a twitter account!

Let's follow each other, guys~

Landscape WIP

2009-06-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

Say "Hello!" to the Chublubbins!

2009-06-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

A huge thunderstorm knocked out our internet RIGHT at 9pm, jinxing me totally - the internet didn't come back on til a few minutes ago. Sigh!

Nevertheless, say "Hello!" to the Chublubbins!

Chublubbins are happy miniature monsters that love to explore. It would make them so happy to be able to come home with you!

They are hand-cast in resin and hand-painted with love. Due to the nature of the hand-casting & painting process, each figure is slightly different.

Limited to four of each colorway, and are $25 each.

More information at store.shellyrodriguez.com!

Almost here...

2009-06-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

Check my store out @ 9pm MT this evening for a special delievery... :)

Sketchbook Cover

2009-05-27T04:00:00.001-07:00

This is the image that I will be using for the front cover of my upcoming sketchbook. It will be a collection of sketches & finished pieces that I have completed between 2008 & 2009, 28 pages in full color.

If you catch me at a convention this year, they will run you a cool $10. :) Otherwise they'll be $12.50, which includes first-class shipping anywhere in the world.

I plan on sending this to the printer by week's end!

Yay, I can talk about it now! :D

2009-05-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Littlest Pet Shop: Friends was finally announced at a conference in Paris, on Tuesday. This is what I've been working on for the past year or so! It looks to be TONS more fun than the last game, I can't wait to talk about it more.

It comes out in October I believe. :) As usual, I'll update here as soon as new stuff is released!

Red Panda Mini Munny - Hello!

2009-05-09T13:55:00.001-07:00

Red Panda Mini Munny - Hello!, originally uploaded by shellyrodriguezart.

Made with a 4" Mini Munny, sculpy, acrylics, faux fur and love.

Her face & fur are detailed with a soft gold color.

She currently has no home! More info @ store.shellyrodriguez.com

2009-05-06T20:15:00.001-07:00

New Tee Shirt Designs!

2009-04-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

These are both available at my redbubble profile, for $24 each. They are printed DTG (direct-to-garment), which results in soft, colorful prints - on American Apparel tees. :)

More info, here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/shellyrodriguez

Soon, my lovlies, soon...

2009-04-28T07:18:00.001-07:00

Soon, my lovlies, soon..., originally uploaded by shellyrodriguezart.

Teaser time!

Pirate Skullypus

2009-04-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

See more of him on my flickr photostream!

I made this for the Skully Show taking place at Chuckwa in mid-May. My first urban vinyl custom, and my first show, whee!

That being said, this was a BLAST to work on - I have a munny blank that I've had for months, that I was too scared to experiment with. :P Now I know exactly what I want to do with it... started on it this morning, in fact! Stay tuned. :)

Sad Octi Tees ON SALE

2009-04-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

My Sad Octi Tees are on sale for $20!

Check it out! :D

shellyrodriguez.bigcartel.com/

Amazing Handmade Toys by Take-G

2009-04-22T14:11:00.001-07:00

Check out these amazing wooden robot sculptures by artist Takeji Nakagawa...

Unfortunately for us he only produces these one by one for shows, and thus there isn't a way to custom order one for your own collection. They are so endearing, its a shame its so hard to get your hands on one!

...I suppose if they WERE mass-produced they wouldn't have nearly as much charm, hmm?

Whew! Just chugging along on this...

2009-04-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

So its been slow going on this, but between work and Japanese classes there has been little time for it during the week! I have worked on it every night... and I had made a LOT of progress over the weekend (though of course, not as much as I'd have liked...), so hopefully this upcoming weekend I can knock it out of the park.

I scrapped the idea of making her a 'dragon princess' like in my old concept months ago, and am instead focusing on making her part of my Dominance War set of artwork. I am officially participating in the 2D contest (the 3D contest is insanely hi-poly), but I figured this was a good way to push myself to create final illustrations - gotta know what her outfit & colors are before I can texture her. :)

Gonna tweak her chest and face up a bit more tonight, and get started on her outfit and hair, finally. :)

Happy Anniversary!

2009-04-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

A year ago today my husband and I exchanged vows... and today, we ate cake. :) Under all the layers of foil and saran wrap, it looked just as good as it did when we wrapped it up last year. Just as yummy, too. :)

Dominance War IV Stuff

2009-04-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

More character/silhouette exploration stuff for Dominance War VI

Dragon girl

2009-04-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Revisiting this character concept. Been a while since I messed around with this character, and I spent almost 6 hours after work yesterday messing with it. At work I only model environment stuff, so its nice to do something completely different.

Gonna attempt the hands and legs/feet today, as well as taking a stab at her outfit. :) Tomorrow will be for texturing!

World Of Warcraft Commission

2009-04-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Custom Mini Skully Show

2009-04-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else participating in this? :) I'm really excited!

I already have some cute, cute plans for my little guy - my blank shipped from Chuckwa today, so hopefully I'll receive it early next week.

Happy Birthday...

2009-03-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

cupcake faces photo from fanpop.com

..to ME! I turn 25 today. :)

I wish these cupcakes were mine! If they were, I think I'd feel bad about eating them... at least for a few minutes. ;)

paintpaintpaint

2009-03-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Chugging along on this....

More Dominance War

2009-03-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Some more dominance war stuff... trying to figure out her facial structure.

100th Post! Plus BIRTHDAY SALE!

2009-03-24T06:55:00.001-07:00

Oh hey! Its my birthday soon! I've decided to celebrate with you all by offering discounts and FREE first class USPS shipping on most items, between March 24-April 1, in celebration of my Birthday, March 31st!

See more at store.shellyrodriguez.com!

shipping offer extends to the contenental US only, excludes sculpture

Happy Monday!

2009-03-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

It was a glorious 64F on Saturday, but unfortunately today it is snowing! At least the first day of Spring itself was lovely.

Have a good week everyone! I hope the weather is a little more kind where you are. :)

San Diego Comic-Con 2009

2009-03-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, the nerd mecca of the US, if not the world. ;) I am planning on attending this year, for the First Time Ever, and I'm really excited!

There seems to be a little bit of pre-planning 'drama' around this convention, as the hotels in the area cannot accommodate the massive influx of fans (and each year it attracts more), as well as the limit that the con places on attendee passes, so that the convention center isn't TOO stuffed. In fact, the 4-day passes sold out a little over a week before hotel registration even opened!

Fortunately for me, I qualify for a professional pass, although those are extremely limited as well. I sent my paperwork off the day after pro-reg opened up, so here's to hoping that it gets there in time.

My friends and I also booked hotel rooms ahead of time, and at a really good rate. Which is lucky, because when we tried to book closer rooms, the system was so slow that by the time I got through, everything we'd wanted was gone... which is sort of amazing.

I have never been to San Diego before... any recommendations for restaurants, or stuff to do/see in the downtown area? After the exhibition hall closes in the evening, I can't imagine there's too much to do at the convention itself...

Silhouettes

2009-03-20T17:11:00.001-07:00

I am participating in the Dominance Wars competition, and here are some silhouettes for the character I will be creating - she will be a healer of some sort, though I don't yet know if she will be human, or what!

I will post more hear as I find out. ;)

Dark Elf

2009-03-20T07:21:00.001-07:00

Here's a snippet of a commission I am working on for a private client. :) The commission is much bigger than this image I'm sharing, this is just a headshot of one of the characters. Hope you guys like it. :)

I totally saved this out as a targa/TGA file just before I uploaded it here. x_x I do so much Nintendo DS stuff at work, that in my mind that's what every file should be now, haha!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-18T13:57:00.001-07:00

DSC_1005_2.1000, originally uploaded by david owen.

Littlest Pet Shop: Spring Concept Art

2009-03-17T17:56:00.001-07:00

Some accessory designs I did for Littlest Pet Shop: Spring, about six months ago. :) This is the first time I created concept art for a game, so I was really excited! I also modeled and textured these items for use in-game.

I introduced the idea of 'sets' as far as accessories are concerned - in the game before this one they were all rather random.

Yay!

Sewing~

2009-03-17T10:44:00.001-07:00

sewing, originally uploaded by BruceTurner.

The sewing bug has bitten, and I'm thinking of making plushies again. I have everything I need, I just need to sit down and DO it. Maybe I could find a way to incorporate sculpture into my plush, as well...

Darkstalkers Tribute Entry: Hsien-Ko

2009-03-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Weeeeell... my artwork wasn't one of the chosen images for the Darkstalkers Tribute contest, but that's ok!

I feel like I got a really good portfolio piece out of it, so the time was well spent. :)

Thanks again to those who wished me well with my entry! <3

DarkStalkers Tribute Sneak-Peek!

2009-03-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

I entered the Darkstalkers Tribute contest sponsored by UDON over the weekend, it was a lot of hard work and because I put off the drawing til Thursday I was working up until 20 minutes before the image was due last night. Yikes!

The character I chose to illustrate was Hsien-ko, a chinese ghost - which explains why she is blue. ;)

I am really proud of my piece but I can't share the entire image. UDON discourages the final piece being posted until the book is out, so I can only share a snippet!

I checked the website this morning, and the competition is FIERCE:

We are awed by the number of submissions - over 2000! We thought last year's 1400+ Street Fighter submissions was impressive, but this is just bonkers. The variety and quality we're seeing overall is fantastic. Really, really great stuff. This Tribute book will be one for the ages.

Needless to say, this is going to take a bit to get fully organized and judging may take some time while we go through this mass of material.

Wish me luck, guys! :)

Cuteness Break!

2009-02-25T11:08:00.000-08:00

This baby red panda is SO HAPPY! I love him.

via Zooborns

Shirts are heeere + Shellyrodriguez.com store is OPEN!

2009-02-17T10:24:00.001-08:00

http://store.shellyrodriguez.com

I am moving everything from etsy to my new website store - less fees FTW. ;)

Also, my Octopus shirts are here, and they are AWESOME. They are printed on American Apparel Tees, using a screen printing technique to make the print soft & part of the fabric, not stiff or 'plastic-y'.

Only $24!

Preorder peeps, your shirts will be sent out tomorrow! :)

A little peek into how I work, digitally.

2009-02-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

I recently completed this piece (the characters are from an anime called Code Geass, for those who are curious), and along the way I tried to make sure to save various degrees of progress.

Onto the first WIP (work-in-progress):

I prefer to start with linework drawn on cardstock, over most other papers (bristol board is ok, better for doing markerwork I think). I like the way that cardstock holds the pencil lines, nice and smooth - its also good for markers. The linework doesn't always have to be perfect, since I'm painting over it anyway. I can't draw very well on a tablet, but I can color just fine. Huh

For this piece, I didn't want to show all of Suzaku's face. I felt like it was more mysterious & less obvious not to - anyone who has watched the series knows who he is without seeing his face.

This image shows the base colors I put in. I almost always work from dark to light, and prefer to work on a purple-toned image.

I focus on painting the sky/background, and then characters' skin. I'll probably start on the clothes or hair next, once I am happy with them.

Here I start on the clothing - it is not something I like to paint without reference at ALL - but I tried my best! Can't improve if you don't try, right?

Unfortunately as I ramped up to finish the image, I forgot to take any more WIPs! Sigh! I did however shrink her head down a lot... it was waaay too big.

Here is an animation of the progress:

I hope that this was useful on some level... if you have any questions or helpful tips to share, please leave a comment~

HellSackboy

2009-02-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is so adorable!

There's even a sackboy group on flickr, with oodles of Little Big Planet/Sackboy cuteness! Who knew? :)

If you're the knitty/crafty type, you can even purchase a pattern to make your very own sackboy!

I don't need any more hobbies (art + costumemaking is enough!), or I'd make one for myself. Sigh!

(Crafycrafty.tv via Wonderland!)

Dancer

2009-02-07T19:24:00.001-08:00

Been working on this on and off for most of the week - started on the colors last night after work, and juuuust finished it, after working on it for most of the day.

I'm very happy with how this turned out!

Polly want a texture?

2009-01-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the bad joke! OK, so maybe I'm not really sorry. ;) I've grown to love bad jokes.

This is a 3D model I started over the weekend, as a part of my new portfolio. The modeling portion is almost done, I just need to add some claws and clean up the geometry a bit (too many loops on the side of the bird). I hope to UV map it tonight, and start painting the texture map for it tomorrow.

Tee Design Spring 09: Sad Octi

2009-01-21T23:12:00.001-08:00

Oops! Looks like this poor little guy has dropped his ice cream. :(

I'm starting preorders for a new tee design!

The shirts will be printed on 100% cotton American Apparel tees, and professionally silk-screened. You have a choice of navy blue, brown or black tees - the printing will be in white.

Each shirt is only $20, plus shipping and handling. Pre-orders will be open until January 31st. After the pre-order period is over, these babies will be going up to $24.

I'll be sending the order off to the printer on Monday, the 2nd. How exciting!

Please comment or email me if you're interested in placing an order, with your size, shirt color preference (navy blue, brown or black - printing will be white) and zipcode (so I can calculate shipping). shelly @ shellyrodriguez.com / paypal: etherrawen @ gmail.com

If you have any questions, leave a comment! <3

Mana

2009-01-18T23:32:00.001-08:00

A gift for a friend, of her character Mana.

Spring

2009-01-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

The first in a series of girls based on seasons.

New Items in my etsy shop!

2009-01-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

One of four new items in my etsy shop. I like this one the best!

Monsters, monsters everywhere...

2009-01-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

I was casting more of my little monsters, when I realized that I hadn't updated my blog about them recently! So have a photo of the beginning of my monster army. :) I'm having a lot of fun with these little fellows - and I'm already brainstorming what to cast next. Of course, my enthusiasm might be curbed after sanding/priming/painting all of the casts!

I'm planning on getting a few of these guys to a finished state this weekend, hopefully I'll have a monster update for you on Monday morning! :)

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

A new piece I finished up last night - I feel really re-energized about my artwork, it felt good to draw this! Copic markers on cardstock, with a little editing in Photoshop. As always, click for larger.

I plan to complete more pieces in the next few months, I need to get back into the habit of creating completed illustrations, as well as the sculptures I've been making all along. :) I plan to have my portfolio revamped by mid-July, just in time for San Diego Comic-Con. How's that for a New Years' resolution? :)

My cat is cute. ♥

2008-12-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Taken back in late October, when things were still green and it was (comparatively) warm outside. :) So cute!

Expect a monster EXPLOSION soon!

2008-12-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry to post again so soon, but I wanted to share with the blogosphere. ^_^

I tried pouring again last night, and my mold worked!

No photos because I'm lame & left the camera attached to the computer overnight (so its battery is totally drained), but whee! I'm going to buy some supplies (more gloves, masks, & rubber bands) tonight after work, and hopefully I'll have quite the little monster horde to share in a few days' time. :D

I need to start working on colorways... I've had a few in mind since I started sculpting the first little monster, but I need to get them out of my sketchbook and colored up in photoshop.

OMG ~ :D

Sketch Challenge, Day 16

2008-12-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

Sketches for Dec. 14th & 15th

2008-12-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

New monster sculpt, almost done...

2008-12-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

I wasn't happy with how the mold turned out for my last little monster (to say the least), so this weekend I started him from scratch! Believe it or not, he is much cuter, and smoother without the hours of sanding (thanks to the use of rubbing alcohol!).

I put him in for his first baking last night, after I add all his details, I should be finished with him tonight. :D

I am going to be trying a one-piece mold this time around, and though there are also challenges in that approach, compared to a two-piece mold, I know they're fundamentally easier. ^^;

I may even get to the moldmaking process tonight. :O

STAY TUNED!

Sketch Challenge, Day 6 & 7

2008-12-10T08:13:00.001-08:00

Sketch Challenge, Day 3

2008-12-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

I used reference for the woman's face and arms, but other than that, its all me. :D I'm very happy with how that figure study turned out! I guess I'm not quite as rusty at human anatomy as I thought. :) I'm looking forward to today's figure drawing lunch!

To the lower left, I couldn't help myself - I've been playing Too Much Animal Crossing. ;) So have a chibi Shiba Inu and Japanese Bobtail! Awwww.

As always, click for larger!

Sketch Challenge, Day 2

2008-12-03T07:28:00.001-08:00

I decided to do some anatomy practice from one of my college textbooks, and feel like it turned out pretty well. The hand on the bottom arm is funky, but after it was pointed out to me that the hand in the original image was badly drawn in the first place I let it go.

I'm very happy with the girl character. :) I want to refine and fix her up for simple photoshop coloring.

Sketch Challenge, Days 0 & 1

2008-12-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I need to keep a sketchbook again, like I did in college - I improved so much when I did, but I've fallen out of the habit! So for the entire month of December I've challenged myself to fill up one sketchbook page per day - though since my sketchbook is small, I may bump that up to two pages. I guess we'll see how I feel each day. :)

The image with marker sketches is what originally gave me this idea, and was done on the weekend. The image with the figure study was done last night.

Sculpture - More Xombie Progress

2008-11-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

More progress on this sculpture commission - he's almost done and ready for painting!

If you notice he has no toes/feet, there's a reason for that! :) I like to keep the feet as plain stubs until after I bake--super sculpey is so soft sometimes, its easier to bake in stages and then add more detail. I'll do the same thing with his tail, adding more bulk to it after its had a preliminary baking. :) Its on the 'ratty' side right now, no good!

I should have more photos, of the baked and painted version of Xombie, soon. :)

WIP, plus a few sculpting tips

2008-11-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a close-up shot of a work-in-progress for a client on Etsy, of her American Pit Bull Terrier, Xombie. I really like how his expression turned out. :) I need to add his bottom teeth and his tongue, but its a good start.

You can see a bit of the foil armature at the bottom of the photo--I typically start with a base of foil and/or wire, depending on the size of the sculpture, and the structures I need to create. Stocky shapes are usually just foil, while thinner ones are a base of wire and foil. For example, Xombie's whole body/head is foil, while his forelimbs are wire with a few layers of foil on the outside.

I'll take more photos as I go along (right now only this fellow's head/face is in any sort of 'finished' state), and explain my process a little more, over the next few days.

Happy Monday, everyone! Have a great week. :)

Sophia, monster-ized!

2008-11-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

Jenny over at My London Flat Couture commissioned me to 'monster-ize' her pup, Sophia! I think it turned out pretty cute. :) This was completely digital! Please click the image for a bigger version, so annoying when blogger shrinks things down so much!

I can do a rendition of your pet/favorite animal in a similar style for $35. You will get a web-sized image, and the original high resolution 5"x7" 300 DPI image to print.

Please email me (shelly[at]shellyrodriguez.com) if you're interested, or have any questions. :)

Yummy Beef Stew

2008-11-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

photo & recipe from marthastewart.com
I made this beef stew for the two of us late last week--and it turned out WONDERFULLY! That, and its pretty nice to come home when its dark and chilly outside, to know that you have a hearty meal waiting for you. :) Martha Stewart's recipes have never let me down, they're always so delicious. :)

I'll be making another soup/stew tonight - the last of the stew is coming with us to work, so we'll need something new for dinner... what can I say, the cold makes me lazy! ;)
--
Ingredients

Serves 6

* 3 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of visible fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
* 1/3 cup tomato paste
* 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 1 pound medium onions (about 2), cut into 1-inch chunks
* 1 pound small white or red new potatoes (about 6), well scrubbed, halved if large
* 1 pound carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
* 6 garlic cloves, smashed
* 2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch oven (5-quart) with a tight-fitting lid, combine beef, tomato paste, vinegar, and flour; season with salt and pepper.
2. Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover, transfer to oven, and cook until meat is fork-tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and, if desired, season with salt and pepper before serving.
3. Slow-Cooker Variation:
Place beef in a 5-quart slow cooker. Distribute tomato paste, vinegar, and flour over beef; season generously with salt and pepper. Add onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves. Cover slow cooker; cook on high until beef is fork-tender, about 5 hours (or cook on low heat 8 hours).

Time for a poll!

2008-11-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Please take a few minutes to fill out this poll about tee shirts & designs, I would really appreciate it! :)

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I'm featured in a Treasury West! :D

2008-11-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

There's my pinkie monster, top row & center! You can see the rest of the treasury here.

How fun! :D I'm pretty excited, its my first time being featured in a treasury!

IKEA!

2008-11-07T07:05:00.001-08:00

Ah, the land of cheap, yet stylish goods... we're going to be decorating a bit this weekend!

People with license plates from Nevada and other surrounding states are usually in the parking lot. Its so crazy how people make a pilgrimage to this store, but at the same time I can understand it. ;)

I'll finally be buying some better lighting for my art area, and some wall organizing stuff, as well. Its intended for kitchens, but I can easily see bottles of paint, scissors, sculpting tools and other things hanging within easy reach of my desk. :)

I think these will work perfectly--right now all my acrylic craft paints are in a sad little shoebox, and I usually keep my brushes in a plastic party cup. It works 'ok', but it takes up a lot of space on my small art desk! Thankfully the things I'll be discarding in the organization bonanza can be reused/recycled. :)

I'll take photos once everything is up~! :) I should have some art to post this weekend as well, been working on new stuff for my etsy store!

Voting day in the US!

2008-11-04T07:10:00.001-08:00

This is probably the most important election of our generation. Please do NOT 'not vote'- exercise your privilege as an an American!

Our country needs change, and you can help. History could be made today, folks...

What I've Been Playing: Little Big Planet

2008-11-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

I love, love, LOVE this game!

The concept of "Play, create, share," is wonderful to me. Although I haven't created any levels yet (the mood hasn't struck), playing through the levels created by other users is actually a lot of fun.

I've stuck mostly to the story mode, and have enjoyed it immensely. The settings for each group of 3-4 levels is really inspired, drawing on cultures, cities and geographical areas around the world.

The game is played with a 2D camera, and because of this the gameplay is very reminiscent of old 2D platformer games on the Nintendo/Super Nintendo & Sega Genesis, but with amazing 3D graphics in place of tiny, pixelated sprites.

You control a 'sackboy' (which can easily be transformed in to a sackgirl via accessories), and you are given almost limitless options to customize them. Fabric patterns for your 'skin', wigs, glasses, hats, dresses and jackets, even a lion's mane, ears and tail!

Your character starts out looking like everyone elses', brown, with a silver zipper, big button eyes and a happy face. But upon playing with the controller for a few seconds, pressing any button on the d-pad gives you a whole range of emotions--happy, sad, scared, angry--and different intensities.

As you play through the game, you unlock various objects to use in the level building mode, as well as stickers (used to unlock more items or secret areas), and of course, more clothing items for your sackperson.

This is one game where I feel really compelled to get 100% in all the levels, for all objectives (finishing a level, collecting all items, and finishing a level without losing a life). Each objective is rewarded with a gold icon to denote that you've completed the task, as well as even more items & accessories.

In summary - I want to stay home all week and play this game, until I've gotten everything they've hidden away in each one of the beautiful levels. I can't remember the last time that happened...

P.S: Like I just mentioned to Xavi, if Sony ever decided to sell physical sackpeople with oodles of accessories, even at the age of 24 I would buy them up (and play with them!), no question. They are too adorable for their own good!

Little Big Planet is for the Sony Playstation 3.

MAUstudio Givaway, last day!

2008-10-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

My little bloo monster guy is up for grabs in the MAUstudio MEGA giveaway this time around! Check it out, and GOOD LUCK~!

Happy Halloween, folks! :)

Your Halloween Soundtrack?

2008-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

So, we're having a Halloween party on Friday, and everything is falling into place--bought the main ingredients yesterday for dinner, going to buy some candy and ingredients for baked yummies tonight, going to buy the last few (extremely perishable!) ingredients on Friday, for drinks and garnishes. I foresee lots of cooking on Thursday night--and I'm looking forward to it! I love putting parties and get-togethers, well, together. ;)

But... we don't have any music! This album on amazon.com is a good start (I'll download the tracks off of iTunes instead of buying it), but I need more!

Suggestions, anyone?

Happy Monday!

2008-10-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good start to their week! Above is the invitation I designed a few weeks ago for our Halloween party. :)

Look what we got...

2008-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

And I can't wait to play it! For all the nerds reading, I'll write about my impressions of the game later. :)

Yay!

Thanks, Hasbro!

2008-10-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we had am impromptu meeting at work--Hasbro had wanted to show all of us on the Littlest Pet Shop team their appreciation for making Littlest Pet Shop the best game that we possibly could, having never made a DS game before!

I think its wonderful that Hasbro recognized each and every one of us--and look, there's my name~! :D

New Mailing List! Have a Happy Friday!

2008-10-24T12:00:00.001-07:00

I started a mailing list last night--mailing list members will get a 'sneak peek' at new merchandise before the rest of the internet, word of upcoming sales, special list-only promotions, and news of events/shows I'll be attending.

You can sign up here on my blog, or on my website!

--

Ahhh, its been a very busy work week! Lots of art being made at work, which is great fun (I love being busy)--but at the same time I feel pretty lazy by the time I get home. I've been working on 'after work'/personal art a lot less this past week and a half--though being ill may have had something to do with that as well.

I have art to make tonight (I'm lookin' at you, London Flat Couture!), sculpts to finish up, and photos to post. I had wanted to share photos NOW, but unfortunately, my camera's battery needs a recharge... so hopefully that will be ready by the time I get home tonight. :)

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Shelly Rodriguez { Illustration | Sculpture | Life }

Ch-ch-changes!

Tee Shirt News

Princess Truffle

Say Hello to Monsieur Cholesterol~

New Business Card

Oink!

Yo ho ho~

Time to dust off the ol' blog...

More Teahouse Renders

Portrait Practice 2

Silhouettes

Monster Hunter Tri Weapon Contest Entry

Dragon girl revisited

WIP: Muramasa Piece

Special Announcement! Squid Plush Pre-Orders!

Soul Harvester model WIP

Too cute not to share!

Weapon Designs

Treehouse

Waterfall WIP 3

Rawr, rawr, woof!

Waterfall WIP 2

Japanese waterfall WIP

WIP: Beach

Soulharvester

A new concept piece

SDCC 2009

Fan Art: Yoko from Gurren Lagann

Pixar vs Dreamworks

Craft Lake City!

Tweet!

Landscape WIP

Say "Hello!" to the Chublubbins!

Almost here...

Sketchbook Cover

Yay, I can talk about it now! :D

Red Panda Mini Munny - Hello!

New Tee Shirt Designs!

Soon, my lovlies, soon...

Pirate Skullypus

Sad Octi Tees ON SALE

Amazing Handmade Toys by Take-G

Whew! Just chugging along on this...

Happy Anniversary!

Dominance War IV Stuff

Dragon girl

World Of Warcraft Commission

Custom Mini Skully Show

Happy Birthday...

*paintpaintpaint*

More Dominance War

100th Post! Plus BIRTHDAY SALE!

Happy Monday!

San Diego Comic-Con 2009

Silhouettes

Dark Elf

Wordless Wednesday

Littlest Pet Shop: Spring Concept Art

Sewing~

Darkstalkers Tribute Entry: Hsien-Ko

DarkStalkers Tribute Sneak-Peek!

Cuteness Break!

Shirts are heeere + Shellyrodriguez.com store is OPEN!

A little peek into how I work, digitally.

HellSackboy

Dancer

Polly want a texture?

Tee Design Spring 09: Sad Octi

Mana

Spring

New Items in my etsy shop!

Monsters, monsters everywhere...

Happy New Year!

My cat is cute. ♥

Expect a monster EXPLOSION soon!

Sketch Challenge, Day 16

Sketches for Dec. 14th & 15th

New monster sculpt, almost done...

Sketch Challenge, Day 6 & 7

paintpaintpaint