Umber Sketches

I have some serious artblock right now. Been trying to doodle as...

umber-penumbra — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:27:55 -0700

I have some serious artblock right now. Been trying to doodle as much as possible today.

Kinda sorta have an idea of where I want to take this…Hoping I might be able to turn it into a really nice watercolor painting.

For comparison’s sake, I repainted the last drawing I did...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:26:08 -0700

For comparison’s sake, I repainted the last drawing I did of my character, Solitaire - so you can see my progress in trying to work out his facial design.

Still not satisfied, which is a little frustrating…but I had fun painting it anyway!

Watercolor, ink, gold acrylic.

(~~Also, what I wouldn’t give for a larger scanner with a sharper focus…~~)

umber-penumbra: RAWards 2012 VOTING BEGINS MONDAY! What is...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:59:19 -0700

umber-penumbra:

RAWards 2012 VOTING BEGINS MONDAY!

What is it?

Remember the two art shows I did with the RAW group this year? Well at the end of each season they award artists for being the best in their category. As a visual artist I could win:

Consultation with Shana Nys Dambrot, renowned art critic, writer & editor

Consultation with Claudia Deutsch, owner of Artspace Warehouse

Consultation with Kimya Nuwabi, Winner of Bravo’s Work of Art

Exhibit in Downtown LA Artwalk

Placement in Artspace Warehouse

$500 certificate to Blick Art Supplies

Opportunity to include art/prints in IndiExhibit celebrity award show gift bags (3 events)

1000 printed IndieCards from Bands on a Budget

Write-up feature on Artslant.com

Write-up feature on Staged Incident

RAW’s Golden Ticket: Unlimited free showcases in any RAW location (50+ cities) during the 2013 season

RAW:Visual Artist of the year Winner’s Seal & Accolade

RAW On-Camera interview

Honored at RAWards 2012 Ceremony as RAW:Visual Artist of the Year

Featured on RAWartists.org

HOLY CRAP GUYS. THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN.

Come Monday if you visit my RAW profile you’ll find an awesome little VOTE button on it. CLICK IT! Get your friends, parents, grandparents, and puppies to click it!

Online voters will need to register on the RAW website with a valid email address (to ensure there is no cheating) before they vote.

Each voter has one vote, per day, per category from October 1st - October 15th.

I will seriously love you all with the strength of seven suns. Click HERE or the source to get to my profile:

ALSO I’M DOING A GIVEAWAY!

Spread the word and reblog this post to get a chance to win some prints!

I’ll pick 3 winners on the 15th when the voting closes.

You don’t have to follow me to win - but I’m not going to stop you if you do :D

Your ask box must be open for me to contact you

1st Prize: These three totally fabulous prints, my last copy of the Red Betty coloring page, one freebie sketch commission, and one random original sketch.

2nd Prize: Three fabulous prints, and one random original sketch.

3rd Prize: Three fabulous prints and my everlasting adoration.

SO GET CRACKIN FOLKS. REMEMBER, VOTING STARTS MONDAY.

Marian Hawke from Dragon Age II graphite, ink, colored pencil,...

umber-penumbra — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:13:18 -0700

Marian Hawke from Dragon Age II

graphite, ink, colored pencil, digital finishing

—

Commissioned by Labcore

IT’S FINALLY DONE! :D

-oOo-

Omg this is such a bad sketch and I’m sorry but I had to...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 22:48:30 -0700

~~Omg this is such a bad sketch and I’m sorry but I had to contribute.~~

I could critique and pick apart the show all day - but at the end of it all, Amon’s story was really worth the watch. If I find the time I want to do a really nice picture :< But until then…

Pootin’ around in SAI before bed. Hehehe my doofus of an...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 00:20:00 -0700

Pootin’ around in SAI before bed. Hehehe my doofus of an ex-scarecrow

The painting I’m working on is coming along, but slowly...

umber-penumbra — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:00:18 -0700

The painting I’m working on is coming along, but slowly and with a lot of meticulous edge work.

So to take my eyes off of it briefly I sketched the Spine in watercolor.

~~I made him look creepy, oops.~~

Now back to painting wings…eeeh

umber-penumbra: Coloring page that I worked up to hand out at a...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:32:12 -0700

umber-penumbra:

Coloring page that I worked up to hand out at a mini-con that I’ll be going to in a couple of weeks.

Her name’s Red Betty - first mate aboard the ship, Ophrysia. She’s one tough-as-nails lady!

Wanna color it for yourself? Here’s a pdf to print! If you do, toss me an ask! I’d love to see it!

And if you like what I do and want to see more prints/other merchandisey things - I’ve just included a donation button to my blog page. Please don’t feel obligated though!

That’s all for now - hope to see all you Tucsonans at the Peter Piper ComicCon on the 19th!

<3 Umber

keene-portfolio: “That’s an unusual ship,” remarked Myna,...

umber-penumbra — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:35:53 -0700

keene-portfolio:

“That’s an unusual ship,” remarked Myna, peering into the dusty glass bottle on the shelf. It had faded yellow sails and a curved look to it which was unlike any seafaring ship she had seen before. Curious, she thought, but then again - so was everything else in the building.

Solitaire looked up from his work and removed his glasses, folding them into one of the many pockets on his vest.

“Ah, yes - the Ophrysia. Not unusual where I came from actually.”

—

The Ophrysia

Pencil and Photoshop, 2012

(c) Ashley Keene

Looking for non-fandom finished illustrations? I don’t upload often here - but this is my portfolio :)

The Spine - Steam Powered Giraffe Good lord this took me...

umber-penumbra — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:33:22 -0700

The Spine - Steam Powered Giraffe

Good lord this took me forever! For as simple as The Spine’s makeup is, he was certainly the hardest for me to draw. Pretty sure I started over about four times :T

I’ve also come to the conclusion that The Spine listens to Gershwin and is good friends with the 1936 Bugatti type 51.

OK, so as promised - here’s my original design for...

umber-penumbra — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:59:55 -0700

OK, so as promised - here’s my original design for Solitaire. He’s wearing a dress. A feathered, lace up dress - with a peacock print.

Now imagine the whole character in shades of blue, green, and black and you’ve pretty much got it.

Jeebus what was I thinking?

So, now you know what kind of shenanigans I was drawing in high school. I’m so glad I’ve improved since then haha.

Solitaire - Court of Fools Small portrait that I sketched up...

umber-penumbra — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:30:00 -0700

Solitaire - Court of Fools

Small portrait that I sketched up last night while watching Game of Thrones.

He’s the owner of a curio/watch shop, an alchemist, and generally unusual fellow. Makes bottled ships in his spare time.

I’ll probably make a few subtle changes to his facial design -but generally I like where this is going.

Also - I’m totally going to do a side by side comparison of this design and the original hahah. Just for laughs.

The Jon - Steam Powered Giraffe You know that scene in The...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 26 May 2012 23:15:12 -0700

The Jon - Steam Powered Giraffe

You know that scene in The Avengers when Bruce Banner describes Loki’s mind as a bag of cats?

Pretty sure The Jon’s hair is a bag of cats.

I don’t often do sketchdumps - so here’s what I did...

umber-penumbra — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:51:00 -0700

I don’t often do sketchdumps - so here’s what I did yesterday.

I was out of the house from 11am-12am so all I had on me was a steno pad and a pencil I found at a gift store. Desperation entertainment, but it sufficed :3 I was able to get some good concepts down.

//Ggghhh it’s too big for tumblr - try that hi-res button at the bottom to see it bigger :T //

Rabbit - from Steam Powered Giraffe Drawn while listening to...

umber-penumbra — Thu, 24 May 2012 02:59:00 -0700

Rabbit - from Steam Powered Giraffe

Drawn while listening to their brand new album, The 2¢ Show :D

It’s late, and I should be sleeping - but I had to get...

umber-penumbra — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:38:49 -0700

It’s late, and I should be sleeping - but I had to get this out of my system :)

Sir Spine, you are a fascinating individual to watch.

I had a dream a few years ago where I was riding a bridled...

umber-penumbra — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:15:50 -0700

I had a dream a few years ago where I was riding a bridled serpent fish through a fjord. Something happened, I think I was attacked by something and I fell off my fish into the water. I can’t swim so I thought I was going to drown - but I was picked up by a submarine made out of a huuuuuge nautilus shell. It was like a sea-station it was so big.

Kinda looked like this :)

This is my baby, from way back in pffft…2005? He’s...

umber-penumbra — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:40:00 -0700

This is my baby, from way back in pffft…2005?

He’s a scarecrow named Oliver. Oh gosh, and there’s so much history I wish I could write out his whole story here but it’d take up way too much space.

I ought to illustrate more from it.

//original story feels//

—

Also, I’d really like to dedicate this to Steam Powered Giraffe for cheering me up and inspiring me to revisit this story :)

My fiance commissioned me to draw him and his friend as...

umber-penumbra — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:23:01 -0700

My fiance commissioned me to draw him and his friend as Spiderman and The Hulk.

NUBZOOOOR!

I miss my pyro, I really do :P I’m hoping to write him...

umber-penumbra — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:21:00 -0700

I miss my pyro, I really do :P

I’m hoping to write him back into the swing of things - but I really can’t make any promises with my life all up in the air as it is.