Stannis Baratheon finished, also Renly Baratheon is done too

Well, I've really got my skates on this week, I've finished two characters from my Game of Thrones epic drawing quest:

Stannis

Renly

That's all of the Baratheon brothers finished! I totally forgot to draw any poses this week though.

Hopefully some of you more eagle-eyed readers noticed I changed the theme on my blog. I've gone from the vibrant, orange, in-your-face colour scheme to something more muted and subtle.
Some of you may have noticed the theme change, but did any of you notice the new web link I added to my blog? It's in the menu on the right-hand side. I have my own website now! Granted, it's a free website, and it's very basic, but I have one, and it showcases some of my work. Go check it out: http://kimberleykirk.wix.com/illustration

Something I bookmarked a couple of weeks ago is the following web link: http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/master-art-figure-drawing-new-artists-model-21619041 I'd love to get one of these but can't stretch financially to afford it. Especially as my wooden mannequin is rubbish. Guess I'll have to keep using my pose app on my phone for now.

Also, the amarylis has come back to life, and looks better than before! not sure why it's come back, but it's welcome in my house:

And on a final note, here is my Pinterest of the week: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/314548355204907501/ Daffodils are my favourite flowers, and I have a bunch in bloom where I live. Also my boyfriend bought me a bunch last week, and they've all opened. You may remember a post where I sketch a daffodil on my tablet using a free app, I didn't realise how grey I made the final picture! http://kimshibbybob.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-lady-in-greyscale-and-daffodils.html

Scaly things

Last week I kind of cheated with my dragon. I wanted to draw scales, but couldn't be bothered to draw every single scale individually, so I made a custom brush and painted them in. I didn't think it looked too bad.
The next Schoolism video showed me how to paint eyes and scales, so I've gone back to the drawing board with the scales on my dragon and refined them:

It looks subtly better now. Oh, and I did some work on the rabbit! I will probably shrink it even more though.

I'm hoping to get the Schoolism course finished now, I'm on lesson 7 out of 9, and I still have 2 weeks to do it. I've also quit Slimming World now, so I'll be getting my Monday nights back. I'm also still a week behind on my writing course, and I'm still as blasé about it as I was last week.

Nothing much to report on from the past week. I have a busy schedule for the next 6 weeks (including, but not limited to: work visit's, seeing my nan, Xmas party, work away-day, Amsterdam and Xmas to name a few!). I think December will be a quiet month for drawings, as I'll be so busy, I'll try to get some things done though.

Also, I've come across a few websites where you design something, and if you upload it to a particular website it can be printed on things like phone cases, cushions, you can earn a commission from it if people buy it! Let me know in the comments below if you're interested and I'll post the links next week.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for this week, I've re-discovered a playlist on youtube, it's called a Study Playlist, but it's good for having as background music while I draw: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx65qkgCWNJIs3FPaj8JZhduXSpQ_ZfvL It's totally not my style of music, but sometimes I don't like listening to someone sing while I'm studying/drawing as I find it off-putting.

And here is my Pinterest of the Week, hope you have a good week everyone! http://lisapace.com/files/2014/07/1601284_802860943081664_2679415269977914934_n.jpg (sorry, I have a thing about rabbits)

Here be more dragons!

I carried on with the Schoolism videos, and I spent quite a lot of time on the 'fur' videos. I quite like drawing straight fur, but curly fur is quite difficult. I also felt like I spent way too much time on fur, so towards the end of the video I glossed over the last points. Then it was back to the dragon.

So I've spent quite a lot of hours refining my dragon. I feel like it was worth it, although I was feeing pretty down about it earlier today. It's nothing spectacular, but I feel it's a pretty good effort on my part:

Please excuse the giant rabbit. I wanted to get the silhouette down before I called it a day with this today. The rabbit won't be that big when this is finished!

I'm not sure if I'm going to get the Schoolism course finished. I have learned some key points already though, even if they're not the ones I'm supposed to be learning! I've learned that:

• Making a small thumbnail as an extra window on your screen helps you see the bigger picture while working on small details
• Use lots of reference
• Try to make sure whatever you're drawing has virality ie is cute/clever, etc
• Make sure you're drawing is clear and concise, the 3-tone drawing is good for this
• Always start with big brushes and work down to small for finer detail. Seriously, I never realised how useful this was
• I can pay for all of the tutorials I want, but unless I learn the basics and use basic techniques I'm never going to get better!

My writing course is going OK, I'm a week behind now, but I'm not stressing too much about it as this course is free, and it restarts in January anyway. If I get behind on this course because of my Schoolism course it's not a big deal.

I follow InPursuitOfArt on youtube, he posts some pretty good videos about being in the art industry, and I've just watched one of his recent ones this weekend, it's driven home a point to me that I don't need a Wacom Cintiq with state-of-the-art computer to be a good artist: https://youtu.be/1rg2c8FPf2E

And my Pinterest of the week is the following, hope you enjoy! https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/164386055/white-rabbit-print-rabbit-time-rabbit?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share

The start of Tea Dogs

I've done some more work on my Tea Dogs piece, although I found working out the shape of a German Shepherd's face more hard work than I realised!

The spaniel was easy for me though as I used to have one :) If anyone has any good captions let me know and I'll include it!

I've read some more of Imaginative Realism, and it's only as I've got tot he end of the book I'm coming across the section where there's a 'call-to-action'. I'm still not impressed with this book, and I'll be glad when I finish it.

Also in the UK there's a new 'theme park' opened called Dismaland, by Banksy. I wish I could go as it looks very interesting, there's a review of it here: http://www.creativebloq.com/street-art/why-banksys-dismaland-better-youd-ever-expected-81516387

I've been so good on fat fighters this week that I'm expecting a half-decent weight loss, I think I might cry if I don't :( I even abstained from having anything bad at a family BBQ yesterday, and hardly drank anything alcoholic, so it would be nice to see my efforts pay off.

Anyway, I hope to get Tea Dogs finished off this week (although I have a pretty action-packed week ahead of me), have a good week!

Briefbox submission

Hi all, I've finished the Briefbox assignment, but I can't get on their website to post it as it's been hacked! So here it is in all its glory:

I'm still reading Imaginative Realism, and I'm halfway through. I get the concepts he writes about, but I'm not overly bothered by the book. I want to read it to the end this time though. It kinda sucks, as I want to draw a scene from a book I like, but I'm reading Imaginative Realism instead :( I haven't ready any more of Fun With A Pencil, though I hope to start that properly once I finish Imaginative Realism.

Saw an old friend at the weekend (me being my usual observant self didn't notice her until she was practically in my face, haha ;) ), hopefully we'll get to catch up soon :)

I also decided to not join a gym, as I have one at work and can use that when I please. Although I think I need to do some stretching for my back, as I've developed a glass back since camping.

My diet plan is not, ahem, going to plan! I've learned at my weight-loss group that you can make 'healthier' cupcakes using a packet mix and a can of diet pop, they are rather nice!

Madeira cupcakes (inspired by the Great British Bake Off) and chocolate fudge cupcake. Both with chocolate chips

Work is going from strength the strength, it's nice to work somewhere where 1) You are treated as an adult and 2) I genuinely feel useful and needed, not just needed because there's a high attrition of staff... Although I'm trying to put some extra hours in to cover my holidays I had booked for the end of the year, I just couldn't face working late on Friday :) It's the weekend after all!