Friday, February 27, 2015

Chibi Illustrations: Broskis Karamazov Edition

I couldn't help myself, so I drew more Brothers Karamazov chibis. :D
Because if there's a better way to show that I really liked a book, I'd like to hear it!
And by the by, SPOILERS!

 
So there's this bit in the book where Alyosha is at Katerina's house and her romantic rival, Grushenka is there! The two ladies get along well at first, but they eventually start to argue. I know the illustration makes it look like they're fighting over Alyosha, but he's supposed to look like he's caught in the middle of their crazy argument.
 
 
I'm uh, proud of this one. It's hard for me to draw chibis in more complicated poses because their heads are so big, you have to maneuver them right so their heads aren't in the way! But I pulled it off in a way I consider satisfactory, so yay! Ahem, this is an illustration of the scene in the book where Alyosha tries to help out a little boy who was being bullied, but the little boy seems to have some kind of grudge against poor, well-meaning Alyosha. So he bites him. On the finger. Kind of weird, but not the strangest thing to happen in the book. Not by a long shot! XD
 
This one is pretty nondescript. I just wanted to draw Dmitri. :P
 
Remember what I said earlier about really weird stuff? Yeah, Ivan's Satan hallucinations were a little odd. But dang, it was a good chapter. A... good, long chapter. Kind of creepy though, I remember sitting in the garage just glued to the recliner and soaking in every word.
 
 
 Scenery is not my forte. It's all brown! But the faces, I feel vaguely proud of. :D Especially Ivan, just lookit that mouth! He looks like he's singing the title song from the musical Oklahoma!.
 
Ah, the ending. I like how at the end of the book, things aren't all resolved, and you don't really know if most of the characters are going to be okay, and yet it still manages to be satisfying in some way!
 
Okay, so the next drawing (kind of a bonus) is pretty weird, but I couldn't help myself. So there's this Russo-Finnish fairy tale movie called Jack Frost, and in it there's a guy called Ivan, who is proud and boastful. While wandering around in the forest, he gets accosted by a little mushroom man (the aptly named Father Mushroom), who challenges him to sort of a game of hide and seek. Ivan wins, and Father Mushroom gives him a magic bow that will never miss it's mark. However. Ivan doesn't say 'Thank you' to him, so Father Mushroom curses him to have a bear's head until he does one genuinely good deed. As Bear-Ivan wanders the countryside, he gets haunted by Father Mushroom who constantly taunts him by yelling "Ivanushka!". It's a pretty goofy movie, but I like it despite it's silliness because it's just so charming in it's stupidity.
So while reading The Brothers Karamazov I immediately thought of Ivan and Father Mushroom. Especially at the part where Ivan is losing his mind and hallucinates that there's a petty devil harassing him. So I drew this. :)
 
 
Thanks for taking a look at my drawings! And if you read that entire description of Jack Frost, then kudos to you for your high weirdness-tolerance! Posts might get sparse from here until say, May 3rd, because stuff just got real at orchestra. I know you're all probably a little tired of hearing me go on and on about orchestra, but it's a big part of my life and I can't help ranting about it at every opportunity. :D
I also got a solo. Which is big news. [SQUEE!!!]
I WON'T LET YOU DOWN, SIR!!!

 



Saturday, February 21, 2015

A Quick Chibi Picture

Wow, no posts for 20 days, that's gotta be a first! Truth be told, it's been maybe the tiniest bit crazy and distracting ever since the beginning of February and lots of exciting things have been happening. Like my friend getting her first job, the transmission on our car giving out but still being under warranty [yay!], another friend's baby brother getting baptized, composing music on the iPad, practicing flute like CRAZY for my scholarship audition, and I haven't really had enough creative juice to post anyway. But I did draw this little thingamabobamajig when I got home from me and Libby's orchestra concert. :)


Because after my concerts I'm so happy I feel like I could jump right off the face of the earth and into space!


Sunday, February 1, 2015

Concerto Time!

Every year my orchestra has what they call the Concerto Competition, which is where you take a concerto, learn it, and play it for a terrifying panel of judgeful judges. If they think you did well (or if you were playing a string instrument!) then you win and get to play your concerto in the next concert.
 Since next year is the last year I can play in the orchestra (it's a K-12 thing), I wanted to give it a shot. I have to concertos picked out to work on, here they are. :)


This first one is Concerto for Flute and Strings in F Major. It's other, cooler name though is The Sea Tempest. I was expecting something really dark and stormy sounding, but this is actually really happy. Still reminiscent of a sea storm though! The running scales at the beginning sound so windy, and all the tiddly flute bits remind me of waves spraying over the side of the boat! Very cool. :)


This other one is the one I would really like to play next year, though it is a bit harder than the previous one. It's actually played on a Piccolo, something I recently picked up, and it sounds so cool on a Piccolo. You can play it on a Flute, but there are a lot of octave jumps, and I think that low notes sound very striking on a Piccolo.