Stranger Things Fan Art: Hopper and Eleven Dancing

Hello! I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season. This break meant that I finally had some time to finish this drawing of Hopper and Eleven from the second season of Stranger Things! My husband and I really like this show, and I thought this scene was so cute and sweet. :)  This drawing gave me good practice getting back into doing fulling finished drawings (with textures, lighting, etc.).  I'm very happy with how it turned out! :)

I had the idea of turning this drawing into an little two-frame animation from the very beginning. I had dabbled with animating on my old Photoshop Elements 7 quite a few years ago, and I was excited to try it again!  The hardest part was figuring out how to save it to the right file type to get it to actually be animated online. haha  This was such a fun personal project for me! :)

I will do another post in a little while with my process-- I actually took screenshots throughout making this piece that show all the different steps!

Bakery Logo Design

Over the summer I also was commissioned to do a logo design!  A family friend from back home has a delightful and delicious Swedish bakery called "A Little Taste of Sweden" where she makes traditional Swedish cakes, pastries, etc.  She has primarily been working from her home via word-of-mouth and private events, but she decided to branch out into the Farmer's Market and community event world.  In order to do that, she needed a logo for her business to put on promotional materials, cake box stickers, bags, and banners for her booth. She commissioned me to design her logo and then adapt it for banners in different shapes/sizes.  I had never done professional logo design before, and it was a great experience!

This project was a really good learning experience for me as it was very collaborative (there was a large amount of discussion, brainstorming, and feedback between the owner and myself).  First, we discussed her ideas for what she was looking for in a logo.  She wanted something that was simple, that obviously indicated her business was a bakery, and that incorporated traditional Swedish images/icons.  I then came up with and drew approximately 18 potential design ideas based on those requirements.  It was fun and challenging to try and find a readable, clever, and aesthetic way to incorporate all of those elements together! I was very happy with the idea that ended up in the final design-- having the Swedish flag in a slice of cake. :)

After receiving the owner's feedback, I combined elements from several different designs that she liked best (including lingonberry laurels). I drew the final design in a larger, more detailed format, and then scanned it into the computer. From there I re-drew it in a digital format with Adobe Photoshop, and then played around with different color and font options. I created quite a few versions of these and she decided which one she liked best.

When the final logo was created, I adapted it to a vector image in Adobe Illustrator for printing purposes. Then, at the owner's request, I also adapted the oval logo to fit a rectangular banner format, and created a separate, narrower banner design with just the name of the bakery and the Swedish colors.

The owner of this bakery was wonderful to work with, and I loved being a part of this project.  I was able to see a picture of the finished booth that had both banners and it turned out so well! :)

Musical Composer Portraits-- Commission

During this past summer, I had the pleasure of working on a commission for my awesome cousin. She just started teaching music at a Junior High, and she wanted some art to put on the walls of her new classroom.  She asked me to create portraits of some of her favorite composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

First I gathered quite a few reference photos online. I looked up existing portraits (or photographs in the case of Tchaikovsky) of the four men, as well as clothing styles/fabrics/colors/etc. from the time and place in which each man lived.  I then used this reference material to create portrait drawings. My style started out as more realistic, but my cousin preferred a simpler, more cartoon look (which ended up being perfect), so I drew them again.  After getting her approval on the final designs, I scanned the drawings onto the computer and used Adobe Photoshop to redraw them digitally, color them, and add textures to the fabrics.

I had a couple ideas for ways to make the backgrounds more interesting and personalized.  I asked my cousin what her favorite pieces of music are by each composer, and I overlayed the sheet music for those scores to create the background for each portrait. Then I found pictures of the composers' actual signatures and used those to create the name plates.

I am so happy with how these turned out! It was such a fun project to work on, and I felt like I was really able to show my style and abilities.

Inktober 2017: Drawings from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2)

And finally, here are the last drawings I did for Inktober from book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  This has been a great experience participating in this drawing challenge. I feel like I improved and learned a lot, and I am more motivated now to keep up the habit of creating art regularly again! While I won't be doing a drawing every single day like this (it's been a bit exhausting haha), I hope to be posting art on this blog a lot more now.  :)


This drawing gave me another chance to do some character design. I'm not very familiar with drawing mythical creatures, so it was a bit challenging. I was please with how Griphook turned out!

Day 29: “Well, I need some help Griphook... I need to break into a Gringotts vault.”

Oh how I love Neville Longbottom! haha The idea of him and Professor Sprout fighting the Death Eaters with Mandrakes and other magical plants is hilarious and perfect. I had forgotten about this scene, so I was glad this was on my assigned page for the day!

Day 30: “‘Mandrakes!’ Neville bellowed at Harry over his shoulder as he ran. ‘Going to lob them over the walls— the Death Eaters won’t like this!’”

I wasn't sure how I wanted to do this final drawing. I could have shown the destruction from the Battle of Hogwarts, or shown the trio in Dumbledore's office or with the other survivors. But I thought that Harry, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley all deserved a peaceful rest in the Gryffindor Common Room after all they had been through. It seemed like a great way to end.

Day 31: “The End”
“‘And quite honestly,’ said Harry, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him in Gryffindor Tower, and wondering whether Kreacher might bring him a sandwich there, ‘I’ve had enough trouble for a lifetime.’”

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1)

For the final drawings for the month, I worked on trying to incorporate more background details and making the people really feel like they are in the setting. I was pretty please with how they turned out!  Here are the first few drawings from book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

This drawing of an Order of the Phoenix meeting at The Burrow was fun because it gave me a good excuse to draw some different characters, such as Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Bill Weasley, Ginny, Weasley, and Remus Lupin (in addition to Harry Potter himself of course).

Day 26: “They were often joined by other Order members for dinner now because the Burrow had replaced number twelve, Grimmauld Place as the headquarters.”

It was tricky trying to figure out exactly how to do the perspective on this drawing so you could see Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger in addition to the Death Eaters outside of Grimmauld Place. It was good practice for me!

Day 27: “Barely a day passed without one or two people arriving in Grimmauld Place with no other purpose, or so it seemed, than to lean against the railings facing numbers eleven and thirteen, watching the join between the two houses.”

I had never really pictured what young Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindewald looked like before, so I had to go back and read what little description we have from the book on their physical appearance. It was fun to come up with their look and figure out how to make their clothes look older than those belonging to the modern-day characters.

Day 28: “The very same summer that Dumbledore went home to Godric’s Hollow... Bathilda Bagshot agreed to accept into her home her great nephew, Gellert Grindelwald.”

Inktober 2017: Drawings from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (part 2)

It was interesting that my last two drawings for book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, showed Harry with polar opposite emotions-- exuberant confidence (from the lucky Felix Felicis potion) and completely shocked grief.


Drawing and trying to shade this greenhouse was more difficult than I had planned for, but getting to draw Harry's jaunty little walk more than made up for it. haha And I was quite please with how my depiction of Horace Slughorn turned out as well-- I think it looks a lot like how I picture him.

Day 24: "Liquid Luck: 'It seemed clear to Harry that this was a whim on which he should act, so he directed his feet immediately toward the vegetable patch, where was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Slughorn...'"

This drawing was hard for a lot of reasons.  I wasn't sure how to best draw Dumbledore's death at the Astronomy Tower and Harry's grief without it being too graphic, but so that you could still tell what was happening.  The poses were definitely tricky, and I relied on reference photos quite heavily (which helped a lot-- I highly recommend using reference!).

Day 25: "He did not want to move anywhere... Then another voice said, 'Harry, come on.' A much smaller and warmer hand had enclosed his and was pulling him upward."

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (part 1)

Here is the first half of the drawings for book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:


It was very nice to get to start this book by drawing Molly Weasley taking care of Harry at The Burrow, since the last book ended with such a sad drawing of him.

Day 21: "Thank You, Mrs. Weasley"

Once again I had the chance to draw all the headmaster portraits in Dumbledore's office as he and Harry explore Voldemort's memories in the pensieve, but this time the portraits are "sleeping". :) This drawing made me realize again how much I need to practice drawing furniture/backgrounds.  But I was pretty happy with how Dumbledore turned out!

Day 22: "Sir... is it important to know all this about Voldemort's past?"

Sassy Harry for the win! I wanted to make sure that Harry's expression towards Scrimgeour was properly intense and furious. That "I must not tell lies" scar pretty much speaks for itself, though!

Day 23: "I haven't forgotten, Minister... the Ministry wasn't so keen to be pals last year."

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (part 2)

These are the rest of the drawings from book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix:


I had waaay too much fun with this drawing of Hagrid and Madam Maxime trying to blend in while in France. haha It's almost certainly not "canonical", but I couldn't resist. :D

Day 17: "Secret Giant-Hunting Expedition"
 "We was pretendin' we was goin' on holiday together... 'cause Olympe and me, we stick out a bit... so we had ter be careful."

Ahh... poor Harry and Cho Chang. It certainly didn't last long once they actually went on a date. While it may have started on a good note, that Madam Puddifoot Valentine's Day excursion was a total disaster.

Day 18: "The Beginning of the End With Cho"

This drawing of Hagrid with Harry and Hermione was done pretty quickly because I had family in town-- so the proportions and scale are not as accurate as I would like them to be. And that singular, unshaded tree is supposed to indicate that they are in the Forbidden Forest. haha Oh well! This is a lesson to never blindly agree to do something for someone-- you may end up babysitting a half-giant named Grawp.

Day 19: "Of course we'll help you! What do you want us to do? (aka: Meeting Grawp)"

This drawing was so sad to do. I tried to convey both numb shock and grief in Harry's expression after the death of Sirius Black.  I think all the oblivious headmaster portraits in Dumbledore's office staring at him helps make Harry look/feel even more alone.

Day 20: "There was a terrible hollow inside him... a dark hole where Sirius had been."

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (part 1)

During the drawings for book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I started actually looking up reference photos to really get the poses, anatomy, and settings/objects to look more accurate. I think it really helped!

As you can imagine, there were quite a few drawings from this book since it's so huge. haha So here are just the first few:

Ahh the Dursleys. I was happy that I had a chance to draw them, but it was a bit tricky. I had to look up the physical descriptions for them so I didn't just end up drawing them according to how they look in the movies. I had almost forgotten that Uncle Vernon Dursley had black hair and a black mustache! Aunt Petunia and Dudley were difficult for the same reasons, but overall I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!

Day 14: "And why have you been expelled?"

So many freckles! haha I definitely relied on reference photos to make sure I got the hands correct on this one, and it payed off.  I also referred to my previous drawing of Fred and George Weasley to try and make sure they looked the same.  I've been working on continuity with my character designs from drawing to drawing-- it's something I really want to improve on.  Poor Ron, we're not ALWAYS surprised when you get an award! ;)

Day 15: "No one in their right mind would make Ron a Prefect"

Note: people look really weird when they are riding broomsticks. haha I'm glad I got a page that gave me the chance to draw some Quidditch! Even if this particular practice was rather lousy.  I also liked getting to draw a less well-known character like Angelina Johnson.

Day 16: "Worst Practice Ever"

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (part 2)

...And here are the last two drawings from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

Both of these drawings were of tasks from the Triwizard Tournament-- so that was fun!  I think I really hit a breakthrough of sorts with this drawing of a Great Lake merman from the second task. Part of the reason that I think it turned out so well is that (for the first time) it's more than half a page in size! A lot of my early drawings for Inktober were suuuper tiny, and it made it impossible to put this much detail in it.  Because it was so big, I was able to add the "captive" Ron, Hermione, Gabrielle Delacour, and Cho Chang in the background.  Also, mermaids in Harry Potter are pretty cool-looking.  This guy in particular was really fun to draw!

Day 12: "We Do Not Help"

I'm not super happy with this drawing of the Triwizard Cup, but they can't all be my favorite I guess! I've never drawn a hedge maze before (go figure, right?) and I realized that I had no idea how to do it. But rather than look up photos to use as a reference, I just tried to make it up. It turned out okay, but I decided to stop being lazy and really use references in the future. But that being said, I like the spider legs coming up over the top... ;)

Day 13: "Cedric Was Going to Get There First"

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (part 1)

I feel like I improved a lot and really started to figure out my style while doing the drawings for book four: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!  Since there are more drawings from these later books, I will be separating them into two posts per book from now on. Here is the first half of book four's drawings:


Yay! I finally got a chance to draw Ron Weasley! :) This was a hilarious moment from the Quidditch World Cup to get to draw. Hermione is not impressed with how ridiculous the Veela make the boys get. Don't jump over the edge, Harry-- I promise it won't really impress them! ;)

Day 9: "They Brought Veela!"

I wasn't sure how I was going to draw this page at first, since half of it was just what was written on the Triwizard Tournament arrival sign, but I think this turned out pretty well.  I also got to look up and use the official crests for both Durmstrang School and Beauxbatons Academy (who knew those existed?).

Day 10: "The Arrival Notice"

Good ol' Fred and George Weasley! Turns out that drawing identical twins is hard because... they have to look identical. haha I think I managed to do alright with that, though.  Poor Neville Longbottom-- at least it was only Canary Creams this time! It was tricky trying to figure out how to make Neville look like a molting bird, but this worked okay.

Day 11: "Canary Creams- Only Seven Sickles!"

Inktober 2017: Drawings From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I discovered that I am very much a novice when it comes to drawing with ink.  It's been tricky to figure out, but not being able to erase or hit "undo" has been good for me!  For these drawings I started experimenting with shading. Since I'm just drawing with a roller pen (rather than actual ink and brush tools), I'm just shading by smudging the ink with a damp q-tips.  It's not super professional, but hey, it works!

Here are the drawings for the third book in the series: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:

There were several fun, potential drawing ideas on this page to choose from, but I decided to go with a straight-forward portrait of Percy Weasley from the Egypt vacation his family took. I tried to make sure he looked properly pompous with his Head Boy ("humongous bighead") badge. 

Day 5: "Humungous Bighead"

Okay, I loved that I got to draw flobberworms. haha It was cracking me up! Poor Harry is not impressed with the state of Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class. And one of those flobberworms may have gotten a bit too much lettuce stuffed down it's throat... ;)

Day 6: "Flobberworms (Most Boring Creatures in Existence)"

Finally, a drawing of one of the other members of Harry's trio: Hermione Granger! And of course the ever-important Hagrid.  So here is Hermione, bless 'er heart, managing to find time to help poor Hagrid prepare for Buckbeak's trial. She certainly does look tired, though!

Day 7: "Trial Prep"

The poses for both Harry and Hermione on this drawing gave me quite a bit of grief. This drawing definitely took the longest out of any of them so far. I started several times before I settled on a composition/positions that I liked, but I think it turned out all right. And I'm very happy with the tiny Buckbeak in the background!

Day 8 "A Patronus? But who conjured it?"

Inktober 2017: Drawings from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Here are the Inktober drawings I did on days three and four from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

I decided to stick with the more cartoony style that I used in the Neville drawing from the end of the first book for the rest of my drawings.  This portrait of Gilderoy Lockhart (holding up a portrait of himself) was fun to do! I was still trying to figure out how to ink in things like his robe, without covering up details in the design-- it's tricky not being able to do gradient shading like I'm used to.  Also, after this drawing, I realized that I was going to have to start taking my husband's advice and draw BIGGER! This whole drawing is only about 2 square inches, so it was really difficult to ink in small details like the words and portrait on the Travels with Trolls book.

Day Three: "Five-time Winner"

Gotta love the singing valentine from Ginny Weasley! Poor Harry is so embarrassed. :D It was fun revisiting this scene-- it's one of my favorites, but since it's not in the movies I had almost forgotten about it.

Day Four: "Eyes As Green As a Fresh Pickled Toad"

Inktober 2017: Intro and Drawings From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This year I finally achieved a long-time personal goal: I actually participated in and completed Inktober!  For those of you who are not familiar with Inktober, it is an event where artists create an ink drawing every day during the month of October. It was first created years ago by the artist Jake Parker as a way to get back into the habit of doing art in a traditional medium (he's primarily a digital artist). It's become a huge deal with many artists from all backgrounds and experience levels participating together.  I have watched artist friends participate for the past several years, but have never worked up the motivation to actually do it... until now!

In order to stay motivated to make it through the whole month, I knew that I would have to choose a subject I love: the Harry Potter books. :D I also knew that I would struggle and spend way too much time every day trying to decide what to draw if I didn't have predetermined parameters for my topics. So I took the total number of pages in the entire 7-book series (US versions) and divided it by 31 (the number of days in October). I therefore had to draw something from every 132nd page* in the series!  Due to the way I divided up the pages, there are obviously many more drawings from the later, larger books than from the early, shorter ones.

Doing these drawings was interesting and really fun. This gave me a chance to revisit some great, small moments in the books that aren't in the movies and that I had almost forgotten about. Overall this was a great experience, and I learned/improved quite a bit over the course of the month!

Without further ado, here are the drawings from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone!

I started out with a drawing of Severus Snape during the famous "our new celebrity" moment! I wanted to make sure that I was following the physical character descriptions that are in the book, rather than basing my drawings on the movies. But really, Alan Rickman was so perfect that they are still very similar. ;) Also, ink is hard! I'm so used to being able to do shading, but I managed to kind of do it by drawing faint, hatching lines and smudging them with my finger.

Day One: "Roll Call"

 I decided to try a different style for this second drawing-- much more cartoony, simple, and shape-oriented. I really liked it! I immediately had the idea to do this different perspective on the scene so you could see Neville Longbottom's wonderful bunny slippers as well as the trio trying to sneak out of the Gryffindor Common Room. However, I drew it a bit too small to give Harry, Ron, or Hermione much detail at all. But I'm still very happy with it.

Day Two: "A Great Deal of Bravery"

*Note: For anyone who might for some reason check the pages here, I actually calculated incorrectly and thought it was every 136th page... But I realized my mistake when I got to the third book.