Futur Echo

Incomplete Awakening

2011-06-16T11:05:00.003-04:00

I was inspired by a song called Silence by Vocaloid Miku. What is really interesting about this song is that no human voice is used in the song. It's completely digital. So I thought wouldn't it be neat if the character hadn't reached their full potential and was incomplete.

Split Jump

2011-06-16T11:04:00.001-04:00

Inspired by my love of Skating and my desire to one day master this jump.

20,000 words per minute

2011-06-16T11:01:00.001-04:00

I've been watching a few too many episodes of Criminal Minds.

Fluorescent Wings

2011-06-16T10:59:00.001-04:00

Inspired by a Kanye West Video

Ranbow Paint

2011-06-16T10:57:00.003-04:00

Rainbow Bright Meets the Spice Girls!

Coffin Girl and Sea of Stars

2011-01-19T20:08:00.006-05:00

These are Pics I did for the anime conventions season last year. I drew this girl and couldn't decide which background I wanted her in so I did both. It was the flowers in the coffin girl pic that took the longest to get right. They are some photographs I took a few years ago of some tiger lilies that grew in our yard. getting them to look like they were surrounding the coffin took forever. I'm not completely satisfied with the result but it looks good.

Master of Death

2011-01-12T15:18:00.003-05:00

Another Pic done on Photoshop for the past convention season.

Flame Dancer

2011-01-12T15:13:00.004-05:00

I fun Pic I did for this years Convention season. This is one of the few drawing that I've done completely on Photoshop and until I get a tablet I won't be doing too many more. It is very time constraining to use the mouse and it is less then accurate for the finer details.

Goodbye Apathy

2010-10-11T21:35:00.006-04:00

Another Code Geass pic. This one with C2 (or cc) and Lulu.

No Air

2010-10-11T21:26:00.003-04:00

This is a piece inspired by the song No Air by Jordan Sparks. It's Suzaku Kururugi and Euphemia Britannia form Code Geass.

some photography

2008-10-15T23:53:00.001-04:00

So I've been really suffering with artists block lately and haven't drawn or sketched anything I'm particularly proud of, so this summer I tried my had at photography. I have a digital camera that I never really explored do I decide to see waht I could do with it. Here are some of the results.

More photography

2008-07-02T15:24:00.004-04:00

Sometimes animals can provide interesting pictures by doing almost nothing. I present my cat for your viewing pleasure.

Photography for inspiration

2008-07-02T15:03:00.003-04:00

So I haven't really been able to draw lately. nothing looks right and I get frustrated with everything I draw. so I decided to take my camera outside and snap a few pics to inspire me to draw. Here is the result.

Art from anime north 2008

2008-06-05T17:11:00.004-04:00

Just a random smattering of some of the work I did for Anime North this year. Enjoy

Harry Potter stuff July 2007 take 2

2007-09-06T09:59:00.001-04:00

And these are the keychains that were handed out to the kids who waited in line for there books on the 21st of July.

Harry Potter stuff July 2007

2007-09-06T09:53:00.000-04:00

These are the windows I did at my day job for the release of the 7th Harry Potter book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They were painted with acrylic paint and took me about 12 hours a piece (except the door which took about 2 hours). Overall they were a great success.

2007-06-19T16:25:00.000-04:00

The Summer and spring Fairies.

Harry Potter Banners

2007-05-15T20:16:00.000-04:00

I did some Banners for the book store that my friend was working at for the 6th book launch. They took me about 2 weeks to sew and paint but I think they look pretty awesome. I was quite impressed with myself considering I'd never done anything like this before. Unfortunately, I no longer have the banners (the store kept them), but for the next and last book I'll be doing some window art for a different book store. I can't wait for July it's going to be really exciting with the movie out on the 13th and the book the following week on the 21st. I'll post pics of my work once it's up.

I bruise easily

2007-04-16T13:42:00.000-04:00

A pic of Torhu from FRUBA. She just seems kinda like a fragile angel sometimes.

Ed and Winry

2007-03-27T16:23:00.000-04:00

I just did this for the fun of it.

Some still lifes...

2007-03-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

...From way back when. I recently shot and uploaded these still life studies. Gotta say I don't do a lot of this anymore. I really should.

some fun sketches

2007-02-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

Just some older stuff from my sketch book.

Tropical swimmers

2007-01-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

I did these not too long ago. Well a few years now but I still like them.
Originally I was going to do the zodiac signs with these but I never followed through with the other eight signs. Basically after I did the water signs (Pieces, Scorpio, and Cancer) and one land sign (Virgo), I coudn't think of anything else for the other signs (Fire, Land, Air) plus I had inspiration for another picture so I abondonned the project and never returned. Maybe one day I'll finish the set. Who knows.
All four were done with markers and some pencil crayons along with a white out pen. I even used a china marker for the clouds. The water reflections on the blonde took forever. I practiced on a lot of scrap to get it just right but I still think it looks odd. The spalsh also looks off.
The one thing I am happy about is the blending on the surfer. That is just marker and patience. I used up the ramainder of my blending marker but I think it was totally worth it. Don't you?
The poses I 'borrowed' from a Victoria's secret catalogue. When I need inspiration for fashion and interesting poses VS is a handy fall back. Enjoy!

Inspired by Twilight

2007-01-03T13:46:00.000-05:00

First off Happy New year! I hope that everyone had fun and got at lest a few hours to enjoy themseleves. Me I got some time off, not much but I managed to get a few sketches on to the computer for your viewing pleasure.
These pics were inspired by a book I'm reading called Twilight. It's a book about a love story between a human girl named Bella and a vampire named Edward. The book is by Stephenie Myer and I suggest that you check it out. I read it in a day flat. (I didn't sleep) and then read the sequel immedialtely after. It's an amazing read. I'm realy looking forward to the next two books (apparently due out later this year and then the year after that, according to her web site). I was so enamoured by the stories that I bought the first book for a friend of mine who claimed that vampires might be too dark for her tastes and that she was a slow reader.
I gave her the book on the 23rd and she's half way through already. I've directed her to the web site for the book more info and inspiration.
Speaking of the web site Stephanie Myer has a play list of the songs that she was listening to while she wrote the books. I decided to download the songs and listen to them while I re-read the books. It's amazing how she's channeled the feelings and the sentiments of the songs into the story. I must admitt she's got some interesting taste in music. I've found a few more bands that I need to pick up Cd's for.
If you can't tell I really like these books, I really can't do them justice by describing them you've got to read them for yourself. Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Myer. Let me know what you think.

Winter

2006-12-25T03:56:00.000-05:00

Wow it's been far too long. First off let me say Merry X-mas. I've been horribly busy working retail jobs (or should I say retail hell) that I haven't had time to finish off all those little projects that are amassing in my room. Soon I'll have some more time free, not to worry. I'm re evaluating life and I'm putting a few things in perpective. I also realise that reatail is the worst posible industry for the artist. It physically drains you so all the creativity runs dry. Guess that's why I'm posting at an odd time of day.
But well here is the one pic I wanted the post back on the winter solstice (21st Dec or the shortest day of the year). I like winter for on reason and one reason only-ice. I like ice cuz I'm a skater and I'm infinately more graceful on blades then on land. So this is my ode to winter. Enjoy!

Kyo the cat

2006-11-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

So I thought that I'd follow up Yuki with my favourite character from Fruits Basket, Kyo. Don't ask me why I like him so much. He's brash, rude, loud and flies off the handle a lot, but at times in the anime he shows real kindness to Torhu. Maybe that's why he's my favourite. He's very human. He acts like the majority of us.
Or maybe it's the fact that his dark secret is that he turns into a cat and I absoluty love cats (see the pics of my cat posted in October)!
Anyway, Kyo and the cat were drawn and coloured with markers. The rest is all photoshop magic. I'm getting better at drawing on photoshop (not just using the airbrush and blur tools anymore). I'm also saving up fo a tablet so my drawings can be done a bit faster.
Soon very soon my plans will come to fruition!

Fairy Sk8er

2006-11-28T16:39:00.000-05:00

I've been alittle strapped for time lately. So much so that I've been trading sleep for work (or is that work for sleep since I've fallen asleep a few times at work. Trust me this is harder then you think seeing as all 3 of my jobs require me to stand). So when I got a few moments I scanned this older sketch I did a few months ago. I had planned on finishing it but alas it will have to wait for a while. The pose came from a magazine I think. Although I've lost the magazine so I can't be sure. I think it's cute kind of how I feel when I'm skating, it's like I have wings and my skates are magical. That's the only way I can explain my double jumps. I miss skating. This 3 job thing is getting to be a bit much. But well what are you going to do? The world is driven the almighty dollar, not pretty fairy skaters.

Hummm....

2006-11-20T18:11:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I draw a picture that almost exactly represents my mood. This is one of those drawings. I don't know why but I've been feeling a bit isolated. Since I've been working 3 jobs and only seem to talk to people who have instructions for me, it feels like I've become a bit introverted, not in actions but in what I say to people. I feel I'm always careful about what I'm saying and aware of how I'm trying to be cheerful and general. I mean I still have normal conversations with my fellow co-workers but it's not a real conversation. It's like most of my conversations go as follows:

1: Hey! How are you?
2: oh hey, I'm good...Um been outside lately. It's gone real cold huh?
1: Yeah. Too bad this is just the begining of winter.
2: humm, I suppose. But you could go away for a week or so
1: True true....Maybe somewhere warm.
2: yeah.....well gotta go there's work to be done

It reminds me of those family guy gags where theres a weird awkward pause, or where they drag the gag out just a bit too far. I guess when I'm not so new and people know me a bit better it will be better, until then I'll just keep trying to have real conversations.

Prince Yuki

2006-11-14T16:42:00.000-05:00

This is kind of funny. I did this drawing as fan art for the show Fruits Basket. It's a cute and sweet anime and I suggest that everyone see it. The character here is known as 'Prince' Yuki, mainly because he's the schools pretty boy and of course everyone loves him. His dark secret is that he turns into a rat when hugged by any girl.
But what's so funny? Well 2 things. The first is that this picture was absurdly easy to draw. I did it this past summer in a matter of a day. The character and 'throne' were done with marker and then I totally made up the background on photoshop.
The second is what is going on in my life. I drew this when I couldn't get a job no matter how hard I tried. Now, almost daily, I'm getting calls of either a job offer or interview. Suddenly I'm so absurdly busy that I don't even have the time to produce a fully finished pic such as this. Funny how things work out like that. At lease I don't have to worry about being frustrated over not being able to draw well. I don't have the time!

Musical Sketches

2006-11-13T01:48:00.000-05:00

So seeing as it's Novemeber and that season known only as Christmas is approaching fast (thought the stores would have you believe that the season is now and that your running out of time) I decided to try and get a start on gifts for my friends. This year I decided to make a mix Cd of my favorite music (all leagally bought), and I'd design a cover and label for them as well. So the above are 2 random preliminary skectches of the cover. I'm not too happy with either (my frustration is still commimg through when I draw) but they are a start at least. Hoprfully this year I'll get them done in time. Stay posted for the finished version.

Just some sketches

2006-11-08T12:15:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd post some sketches of stuff I'm working on while trying to get through my frustration. Eventually these will be coloured. I'm still not sure of the posing but so far their not too bad. Enjoy

Battel Face

2006-11-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

So I've had a really crappy week. I spent the Sunday before Halloween arguing with my father and then I spent the rest of the week avoiding him because every time I look at him I get frustrated. The main problem I have with him is the fact that he never is wrong even when he is! (Not that I'm always right, but I do like my oint of view to at least be heard) I often feel like I'm dealing with a child who hasn't developed the logic skills that we all aquire as we age. It's just he's right and that's the end of it (I wish I could blame some kind of mental illness for his behaviour, but alas no). So even if I try to discuss what happened and how I feel, the conversation ends up I'm wrong, the world hates me because I'm miserable all the time (apparently I don't even know how to smile), and since I'm his child and only a child I should obey him and be done with (even though by all the standards of the world I'm considered an adult and have been for some time now). So all that pent up frustration led to this drawing. I just feel that sometimes to make him listen I need a battel face (and be male because he never gives my brother this kind of agravation, and I'm the eldest so that makes no sense) or else he won't take me seriously. Either that, or I ignor him for a few months (when he ruined my birthday I didn't talk to him for 6 weeks) and he eventually forgets.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-24T17:42:00.000-04:00

Something fun!
This took me four days but was soooo worth it. This is a line drawing, coloured with markers. I did use a bit of photoshop for the background because I am a sloppy artist and had finger prints in the moon. Trust me it kind of ruins the image when you have a big blue finger print on the moon. It really ruins the illusion of depth.
I got my inspiration from 'the nightmare before christmas'. And the girls dress from some fashion show I was watching a few weeks ago. I can't remeber who the designer was but they did some really dark clothes which I felt were perfect for halloween. I have her in blue because black kind of becomes a hole in the picture.

Star Fall pt 1&2

2006-10-16T17:59:00.001-04:00

I was goofing aroung on Photoshop with some sketches I had done and I came up with these. Needless to say I was messing with the brushes, blur, rainbow gradient and dodge tools. There is also a little glowing egdes in there. I just did these really quickly so the line drawings are not that smooth but they look alright. Originally they were supposed to be together but I like them as two seperate pieces.

Beach

2006-10-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

I felt like painting the other day but I didn't feel like cleaning up so I tried to paint on photoshop. It might have been faster just to get out the paints, oh well it was fun. This used a lot of reference to get the colours right and I had to use about 6 layers just to get the water to do what I wanted it to. But it turned out really well. The water was created by layering layers of blue with the Stain glass filter (blurred and waved then tiltled in pespective) and the chome filter (also blurreed and tilted in perspective). The clouds are the leaf bush painted and blurred randomly. Finally the sand is just experimentation with different brushes.

Surfs up

2006-10-13T01:23:00.000-04:00

Friday the 13th (for me a lucky day!), so I decided on one of my favourite finished pics. The figure in the foreground and her board are all done with markers (the stars are photoshop). I'd like to claim that I own some really fancy markers, but alas no. While I do own quite a few nice tria's and prismacolours, my collection is still very small and I often use no name markers. This makes backgrounds difficult due to the fact that they dry sooo fast and tend to streak a lot. So the background is all photoshop. The water was especially difficult to get just right, otherwise it starts to look like glass. I think it turned out great. Enjoy!

Birthday Clown

2006-10-07T21:59:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine recently celebrated her 30th birthday. She wasn't completely pleased with the fact that she was turning 30 but was happy that she was celebrating with friends and family and good food. It was funny because she mentioned a few times that she was upset that she was leaving her 20's behind and now had to be a responsable adult. I remarked that she already had (she has a house, car, is engaged, has several pets that she treats like children, has a full time job - sounds adult to me) but she has younger friends such as myself to keep her young (because I'll never grow up- no matter how much I may try). So for her birthday I drew her a card. I figured a clown is young at heart and festive.
This was done completly on Photoshop except for the sketch of the character. The version given to my friend has a different background and has a message to her but this is basically the same. The character came from a school project I did fa few years ago. I always invision him as being about 2 inches tall. Don't know why.

My Skates Have Wings

2006-10-07T12:45:00.000-04:00

Recently I bought some new (previously loved) figure skates. The ones I wanted cost too much brand new and were way outside my budget, so I bought used ones in a similar style (Gotta say I like used skates they're easier to break in. Not so much pain in making them comfy). Since they were a bit scuffed in places I decided to add my own touch. While I left the scuffs in most places (shows I work hard at landing those jumps and getting the footwork fast), I painted wings on the outside heels of each boot. So far I've had no complaints the wings are helping me fly when I'm on the ice. I painted them with gold and silver acrylic paint, outlined with a blue sharpie, then sealed it with clear nail polish.

Caught

2006-10-06T15:58:00.000-04:00

So keeping with the idea of Halloween and cats, here is my pic 'Caught'. It's just a marker drawing with a gradiant background done on Photoshop (mainly to hide that fact that I was sloppy with the markers and ended up with smudge marks everywhere). I drew this for a contest about 2 years ago. The contest gave three words (Cat, Wing, Wand) and you had to come up with something interesting. Then the public voted for it's favorite. Unfortunately I didn't win but I managed to sell a few prints of this.

Behold! My cat!!!

2006-10-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

Well it's October. That means it's the month of scary things that go bump in the night. It's also the month of my favorite non holiday-Halloween. I like scary movies and the idea of ghosts and witches and the idea that the fabric between this world and the (possible next) is thinner on Halloween. Really we should all have the day off and celebrate Halloween properly with some kind of pagan ritual, failing that dressing up in a costume and trapsing aroung the neighbourhood asking for candy is just as good. So in honour of my favorite day I present my black cat (or if I was a witch, my familiar). Isn't she cute!

Dancers

2006-09-27T12:37:00.000-04:00

So I change from skaters to dancers. Actually these were inspired by the show 'So you think you can dance'. That is one addictive show! So rather then just being a couch potatoe I decided to try and draw some poses from the talented dancers. Easier said then done! I had to translate a mood and movement into a static image and then put my characters into the mix. I'm really not sure if I was successful, but they look neat so....

Sk8ers

2006-09-21T21:33:00.000-04:00

Again with the skaters. I really like skating (I should, this was my sport of shoice for over 10 years). So I draw a lot of figure skaters and skating fashions. Usually with a twist, like these 2 here.
This picture is a water colour and ink painting I did for a skating friend. She had an accident and broke her toe, so that means she can't skate for a few weeks. Although I think she'll try and push it and get back on the ice in a few days. She had pointed the sketch I did of this pic out of one of my sketch books and exclaimed 'I'll take that one please'. So I decided to give her a finished copy as a gift. Hopefully she'll like it.

Shawna & Vache

2006-09-21T17:06:00.000-04:00

So last year I introduced my friend Shawna to anime with a show called Trigun. She loved it and proceeded to rent the entire series from the local video store. For a whole month all I heard was Trigun this Trigun that, how cute Vache is Why are anime guys drawn so good looking? I almost wished that I had chosen a different series. But her enthusiasim was contagious. So for a birthday gift I drew her as an anime character and had her hugging Vache (she has the only colour copy and the only original). She absolutely loved it. So here is my skech of Shawna hanging all over Vache in typical fan-girl fashion.

Liquid Flame

2006-09-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

So I was messing around with Photoshop the other day and an old sketch, and by fluke I ended up with this. Well not so much a sketch but a nearly finished pic; it's a bit to clean to be a sketch. But I digress, the neat thing I managed (by mistake I might add) is the flame. First I scanned the pic and darkened the lines because they were barely visible. Then on a new layer I used the ploygon lasso tool to make a random shape. Then I filled it with a rainbow gradient. I copied the layer painted in some random stars in various colours, and put a glowing edge filter on it. Now here's where my fluke happened. I accidentally hit the liquid button on the filter menu. I experimented and ended up with what you see. I duplicated the effect on both layers of the flame and there you have it. I left the rest as is to make the flame stand out.

Afro Chicken

2006-09-14T15:26:00.000-04:00

So I was digging around my room, cleaning out some stuff and I stumbled across these pics. They're from when I wnet to the Royal Winter fair with school. Every year we'd go and draw for a few hours and come home stinking of barnyard animals. It was generally pretty fun, especially when you heard of people trying to sneak in because they couldn't afford the outing. So these are my afro chickens (why I keep old drawings around is beyond me, my inner pack rat won't let things go). They're just rough sketches done with a black ball point pen in an 9x10 sketchbook. I will admitt that I'm gald I kept these drawings, they make me laugh.

Alizee take 2

2006-09-10T18:29:00.000-04:00

Yeay! (is that how you spell yeay?) I fixed the colours. I just saved the original in the wrong format (CYMK instead of RGB). I must admitt the red does look vibrant. It took me a few hours to get her hair the way I wanted it but it looks good. You may be wondering about the 'FuturEcco-2006' watermark on some pics. A friend pointed out that if I wasn't careful my stuff could be copied or stolen and that i should add a watermark to at least prevent theft. I admitt it's not a perfect solution but it does the trick for the most part. I might also point out that it was the same friend who said 'I think her head is too big for her body'. Upon closer inspection I think they may have a valid point. But I still like it anyway despite bad anatomy.

Pirates in Skates

2006-09-10T18:17:00.000-04:00

So I was inspired by the Pirates of the Carribean movies for these sketches. I thought it would be fun (being a figure skating fan) if a skater this year would dress up and skate to the music. So I started designing pirate costumes to skate in. I'm not sure how practical they would be but they look neat none the less. The poses most likely came from a fashion magazine, and that's why they lack action. Also I have a new scanner and I got to say it's not as user friendly as my last. I have to jump through hoops just to get a better resolution. These pics aren't the greatest res but...

Autumn (the Fall)

2006-09-06T11:15:00.000-04:00

It's September! I don't know if I should be happy about that. Sure the leaves changing colour is great and all but it means that we're one step closer to winter. I hate the cold of winter. Anyway, This is my autumn or fall fairy. She was coloured using markers (of various brands) and her wings and the background was all done on Photoshop. Unfortunately I sold the original of this pic and this is just the photo I took of it for my records. The original I actually painted on some sparkles onto the wings and added some gold to the leaves in the background. It looked much better then this does. But at least the colours came out alright. Very crayon bright. Can you tell that I like bright colours.

Stairs to canal

2006-08-28T00:57:00.000-04:00

This is marker and pencil crayon.
This was a class project I did a few years ago. It took me a long time because I realised that my perspective was way off and had to start again. I'm glad I did because the final result is impressive. Well at least I'm impressed.
The only thing is I can't remember what grade I got on this project.
Oh well it really doesn't matter.

Water Colour tests

2006-08-28T00:43:00.000-04:00

The Palm tree on the sand kinda went a bit runny. The blue I used for the aqua kind of over-powered the sand colour. So what I ended up with is a water logged island. Almost like the plam tree is growing out of the ocean. I did use a dark green felt tip pen on the leaves of the palm tree. It looked like a blob before I put in a few lines.
I like how the sunset turned out. The clouds and the pinks in the water really seem to pop. I think it really looks like the setting sun over the ocean. Oddly enough for such a small painting it took me a long time to get the colours right.

Wing Goddess

2006-08-26T18:10:00.000-04:00

Van and Hitomi from the Escaflowne movie.
I liked the movie and the series that these characters came from so much I had to try a painting.
I did the painting in guache and then did the outlines in black ink. Then I scanned the painting into the computer because I had droped water on the paper which made a large stain in the corner of the page. Lucky for me that the computer can make such errors disappear. the Original has splarkles on her wings, but when scanned, the sparkles looked like dirt so I took them out.

Alizee

2006-08-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

Okay so this is my first post and apparently it didn't turn out as planed.
First the colours are all wrong, but they are kind of neat though. I'll have to find out what went wrong so that this doesn't happen again. And once it's fixed I'll re post the pic.
Why did I paint this? I hadn't painted in a while and wanted to see wath I could still do. I'm a little out of practice but overall I liked the results. The painting itself is acrylic paint on a 3 foot tall by 2 foot wide canvas. It took me about 2 weeks to paint. The words are from a french song called Alizee. I wrote the words on the canvas then painted lightly over them. In some spots a little too lightly because they show though were I didn't want them to. Oops!