Thanks for a Successful #EMGSketchFest 96!

Did you attend #EMGSketchFest 96? Our 96th Sketch Fest took place over this past weekend, starting at noon AKT on Friday and concluding at noon on Sunday – and it was an exciting, vital weekend of creativity! 27 participating artists contributed nearly 100 sketches of swamp mermaids, hairy unicorns, dragons with flowers and riders, and so much more!

“The Witch of Rose Quartz” by Sachiko Mili

We also had several new members join us for the first time – including Sachiko Mili, the artist of this elegant, esoteric witch. “The Witch of Rose Quartz” creates love potions and is famous for helping lovers – she always uses rose quartz since its energy is pure. Her loyal crow Edward is always at her side. Sachiko used ink, watercolors, and colored pencils.

“Hairy Unicorn” by Mary Rose Magpily

This handsomely ridiculous and ridiculously handsome “Hairy Unicorn” is one of our favorite illustrated responses to Becca “Boo” Moore’s prompt, “very hairy unicorn.”

“My Favourite Highlander” by Francis Bax

Anyone recognize this hunk of Highlander?  I’m sure a few of you do! Francis Bax drew this breathtaking graphite sketch (2B and 4B) over the course of a Sketch Fest hour.

“Spring Has Sprung” by Katerina Koukiotis

About “Spring Has Sprung,” artist Katerina Koukiotis said “we can only hope because in NY [it] still feels like winter but crossing fingers soon enough. This illustration is colored pencils and pastels on 5 x 7 toned paper. (Model reference from FantasyStock.) You can grab an LE ACEO print for only $6!

“Swamp Flower” by Maria J. William

Maria J. William created this beautifully atmospheric illustration of a swamp mermaid from Edward Cammarota’s popular and provocative “the swamp mermaid” prompt. “Swamp Flower” is colored pencils and white charcoal on 6 x 8 toned paper. You can purchase prints at $7 or $10.

#EMGSketchFest looks like fun, right? It is! If you missed participating in Sketch Fest 96, we hope you’ll join us for next month’s Sketch Fest – #EMGSketchFest 97 will take place from April 13 through April 15

To participate, you need to register at the Sketch Fest site. You can just leave prompts to inspire others, or you can also participate by creating art yourself – and remember! We welcome artists of all skills levels and all sorts – you can create jewelry, knit or crochet, or even write something inspired by the prompts. The only rule is that you work for only 1 hour!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Sketch Fest 96! We look forward to seeing you next month as well.

After EMGSketchFest 1

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Ellen Million Graphics promotes creativity in quite the festive fashion! We maintain a coloring group on Facebook, where members receive free coloring pages to color and show off to friends and family. We maintain Portrait Adoption, a gallery where players of RPGs (or even Game Masters or simply writers) can find their characters. And we host monthly Sketch Fests where any artist can participate in a 48-hour period where they have permission to sketch freely, to experiment boldly, and not focus on perfection.

In Sketch Fest, you get one hour to work on a particular illustration – or knitting project or piece of jewelry or whatever your particular creative form may be. After an hour, you put it down. (You can work on it in subsequent hours if you don’t yet wish to move on to the next thing.) There are prompts contributed to each Sketch Fest by participants and watchers, so inspiration is provided if you don’t bring your own. Each artist shares their pieces in the Sketch Fest gallery, where participants and watchers can comment. And artists can even sell their creations – either the original or prints, right through the gallery!

EMG’s Sketch Fest has been going for 7 years and we’ll celebrate our 100th Sketch Fest in June. That’s dozens upon dozens of participating artists contributing over 18,000 sketches (or other created items)!

It’s amazing.

It’s inspiring.

It’s exciting! So we’re honoring some of those artists today, showing off the pieces they started during a Sketch Fest and finished later, finalizing their sketches into breathtaking works of art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We begin with “Wisdom,” a serene and striking scene sketched by Inge Geertsma during Sketch Fest #81, inspired by Tara N. Colna’s prompt of “The Snowy Owl.” Working within the Skech Fest hour, Inge detailed the main figure – a winged woman – and more loosely sketched out a tree and its branches, rife with edged ovals that would later become owls. “Owls are so nice to draw,” Inge said. She completed the painting two months later in January of 2017 – with details so lovely you can feel the cold, see the wind ruffling the snowy owls’ feathers, and admire the dreamcatcher clasped in her lady’s hands.

 

During October 2013’s Sketch Fest #43, Afke van Herpt answered Miss Ava’s “use as many colours as you can” prompt with characteristic verve. In “As Many Colors,” a woman with multicolored hair took shape under her hands, rainbow electric. Afke said, “I’ve decided to use all the Copic colors I have in one picture. I ran out of time, used 79 out of my 99 so far (skin hues and grays still remaining).” Afke firmed up the woman’s form, lightened her shoulder, and threw that fabulous hair into even greater relief a couple of years later.

We close with “Generating Light,” a sketch by Mary Rose Magpily she created a couple of months ago during Sketch Fest #91. Her soft sketch of a vague female forming hovering in a light bulb held aloft before a larger person’s face afterward became a full-color illustration reminiscent of an illustrated novel – luminescent and bright, with that ineffable comic quality.

Thank you to all the artists who participate each month in Sketch Fest – we enjoy the privilege of watching you work! And for everyone who’d like to play next Sketch Fest – it’s December 9th through 11th. (Here’s the Facebook event, if you please.) We look forward to seeing you there!

Don’t forget to use our official hashtag on social media: #EMGSketchFest.

Sunday Sketches

EMG Sketch Fest 91 is drawing to a close, and it’s been a great one! There are dozens of ink and pencil sketches, paintings, handcrafts, and so much more over at the full gallery – which is full of autumnal delight, witches and fairies, magpies and crows and cats.

We’ve selected a few illustrations to feature that’ll intrigue you and have you clicking through to the full gallery in no time.

A fluffy white cat sits with tail curled around its paws, looking at out the viewer from the mid-right; a pair of round glasses lay to the left on top of an open book with the suggestion of lines of text; another open book lays partially atop it and behind the cat, and another open book lay further in the background. Stacks of books occupy the right edge (one in front of another) and the left edge of the illustration. Brown pencil and white charcoal on toned paper.
“Ex Libris” by Maria J. William

This beautiful cat from Maria J. William is just waiting for you to start reading before she happily and pointedly walks across your book and sits on it, purring all the while. You can purchase a glossy print of this 6″ x 8″ brown pencil and white charcoal drawing on toned paper for only $10.

Rough sketch. A kid-sized dragon faces away from the viewer, standing on two legs and wearing a backpack patterned with circular squiggles. There's the suggestion of flowers around its feet, and a bus stop sign in front of it.
“Waiting for the Bus” by Kir Talmage

This young fellow is ready to get back to school in Kir Talmage‘s adorable depiction of this kid dragon at a bus stop. Look at his little backpack! We can’t wait to watch this pencil sketch develop further.

A wizard faces the viewer on the right side of the drawing, his cheeks and chin and visible neck covered in stubble. He seems to have mid-length hair or long sideburns. His face is lined, and he has a gruff expression on his face. His brown eyes almost glare at the viewer. He's wearing a purple knit hat with golden arrows pointing down detailed along the edge; it's pulled down over a wrinkled forehead. He may be wearing a blue plaid scarf, along with a purple jacket or robe - you only see it from the shoulders. A wand is held aloft, sloping in from the left side of the page - held aloft by the wizard, no doubt. The wand is brown, and there's a poof of golden magic floating above its tip.
“Gruff Old Wizard” by Charlie Galvin

Charlie Galvin‘s “Gruff Old Wizard” isn’t taking any guff, and isn’t above a little magical assist to get those darned kids off his lawn. So, y’know, stay off his lawn.

A blue detailed sketch depicts a field of mushrooms of varying height, shape, and sizes. The mushrooms seem the size of large hedges compared to the little witch depicted among the mushrooms. Her body faces the viewer but she's looking and pointing to the viewer's left. She points with her right arm and holds a broom with her left. A waist-high fox stands next to her and looks in the direction of her pointing. The witch is wearing shapeless robes, belted with a small sack at her belt. She also has the requisite witch's hat on, which is a bit lumpy.
“Through the Mushroom Forest” by Mary Rose “Marose” Magpily

Marose has got us longing for a story! This witchy cutie and her sharp-nosed fox pal are definitely headed for adventure, and it looks like it’ll be a fun one.

A fat tome of a book sits on a vague background in this ink sketch on white paper. The book is padlocked; a crow sits on top of the book, back to the viewer and its head looking to the viewer's left. The crows holds a key in its beak. A mouse standing upright on its hind legs and wearing a hooted cloak and some type of baldric presses its back to the book (which is taller than it is), looking apprehensively up toward the crow above.
“The Quest” by Katerina Romanova

Speaking of stories, we’re also eager to know more about this cloaked rodent rogue and the key-grasping crow. What’s in the book? Who’s the rat’s tailor? Will we ever know?! Only Katerina Romanova can tell.

That’s it from #EMGSketchFest 91! (Have you been remembering to use our official hashtag?) More illustrations may be added over the next several hours, but our event officially ends at 12 PM AKST. We hope you all had fun – check our social media feeds next week for the announcement of October’s Sketch Fest dates!