Sister Sketches

Today Anastasia and I were drawing together, and started a little game: one of us would draw a small figure that then the other would have to redraw in their own style. We both have a mangaesque style, but Anastasia tends towards a cuter style than I. It was lots of fun!

Little figure by Anastasia, bigger one by me.

Small figure by me, awesome snowboarder by Anastasia!

Used the same pose as Anastasia for this one! So cute.

We should do it again sometime!

Webcomic?

My cousin "Xander" commented on my last post asking if I've ever considered drawing a webcomic. I have to admit that the thought never crossed my mind, and I figured the best way to decide on my answer would be to draw a comic strip as a test. I ended up illustrating my thought process instead... (Click on the images to enlarge; the text is illegible otherwise, I fear! To see them even bigger, right click and open the image in another tab, and then you can enlarge and scroll.)

Concerning the interruption in the first page - I was at our apartment to let workers in to deal with the damage the leaks caused to our wall, and man, their accents... So hard to understand :(  Let me translate for you... (And I apologize for my atrocious spelling of the Swabian accent!)

"I' komm glei nommal g'schwind" - Ich komme gleich nochmal geschwind - I'll come back in a moment quickly. (Lovely translation, huh?)

"Könnet Sie amal komma?" - Könnten Sie mal kommen? - Could you come for a sec?

Yep... I just said things like "Yes, of course!" "Thank you very much!" and such. Ah well.

Funny thing about the comic is: I didn't even realize that I drew myself without glasses until I stepped in front of a mirror. Weird, huh? You'd think that I would remember to draw the object that is always on my face, but apparently not! Though I have noticed that even when I look in the mirror, I tend to overlook my glasses - maybe because they're rimless and thus less obtrusive, but I can ignore them quite easily. (Not that I don't like my glasses! I am, however, prettier without. In this, I'll choose ease over beauty anyday!)

So yep. That was fun! Gotta work on drawing expressions. Thanks for the suggestion, Xander!

Scribbles from Work

Until recently I worked at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Sytems, in the Perceiving Systems department (I even happen to be in four images on the home page!). My main task was to create digital clothing, which was both challenging and fun! I hope to post some of my work soon, but today I wanted to share some of the notes I took while there.

I always kept blank A4 pages on my desk (slipped partway under my keyboard, in fact, so that they were right in front of my eyes) to jot down measurements and other notes while working on designs. Occasionally I would also add a small drawing - typically while waiting for OptiTex (the software I used) to drape the pattern I was working on, or while an animation was running.

So my typical paper would look like the ones below: Covered in numbers, song titles I liked (mainly kpop, though I see some song lyrics from Lacuna Coil there), and little sketches. Often I would fill one side of the paper, then turn it so that the covered side was under my keyboard and I'd have a blank space to use - so these have upside-down drawings and notes as well! Sometimes I'd even use the back of the paper. No point in wasting perfectly good white space!

But yes, as you can see: song lyrics and titles, measurements, scribbles, checklist...

Some bow drawings...

Some Disney-inspired princess dresses... Hey, my job was nothing if not variable!

...And there are many other, similar papers. Ah, good times!