Kate Ristau's Blog, page 41

Can I just post the face? Drawing Dragons Day 29

What if I just post the face? Because I was drawing Bob as a dragon, and he looks SUPER FLY from the neck up.

He’s got his Hufflepuff hat, and he is rocking it, ya’ll.

But then I started drawing his body. His neck. And his angel wings. And if you look at the picture below, well, it kind of looks like he’s wearing an old-timey bathing suit with a pair of bell bottoms. THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN.

So, eyes back up here. Check out that hat. Keep hufflepuffin’.

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Stop and smell the flowers: Drawing Dragons Day 28

I saw the first flowers after Winter — those beautiful white snowdrops that push their way through the ground.

I quickly drew this little dragon holding a flower. I did not use pencil and then ink, I just went straight to ink.

Hence the strange claws, thin body, and unexpected wings.

This shape is getting easy for me, though the arms and claws are still a challenge.

Simple, yet beautiful. Easy joy.

Here’s to a wonderful week ahead.

Kate

 

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An Open Book: Drawing Dragons Day 27

When I was in first grade, I had read all the books in our classroom. At least, that’s how my mom tells it. While some kids were still learning their letters, I was browsing through the dictionary.

Mom says they considered moving me up a grade, but then I would be with my twin brothers, and OH WHAT HAVOC WE WOULD MAKE.

Three fiery dragons let loose in a small town Catholic school would do less damage than three Anderson kids in the same grade.

So, I stayed with my classroom full of books I’d already read.

I was in heaven.

I read these stories, and I read them again. They filled the corners of my mind. Every year, I plowed through each classroom’s books. Leveled readers were a challenge — until I finished them up. Then, they were a joy as I went back through and actually enjoyed the stories. I devoured books at school.

And I loved my trips to the library.

You see, we lived on a farm, so we only made it to the library every couple of weeks. And our limit was two books. Two.

I hated living so far from all those books. I still remember imagining what it would be like if someone forgot me at the library. I’d settle into the stacks; would that be so bad?

We left the farm in second grade. For me, the worst part of leaving the farm and moving into town was leaving my horse, Cupcake. The best part of moving into town was going to the library so much more.

Before I turned ten, I crossed the divide to the books written for teenagers. I found Choose Your Own Adventure Books. I found RL Stine. When I was 11, I found “Wait Till Helen Comes.”

It was about a girl. She had dark hair, like me. She seemed just like me in so many ways; except she was best friends with a SUPER CREEPY GHOST.

I guess that’s what happens when you live next to a cemetery.

I’d much rather live next to a library. I’d much rather be friends with a librarian. I’d much rather read a book.

So, here’s my Book Dragon. I thought of her wings like an open book. Perhaps, in the future, I will write words all over her pages. Or, maybe, she’ll write her own.

I forgot her claws had to, you know, actually hold the book. But I do like those lines on her neck and chest. The curvy horns are cool too. Those eyes took me WAAAY longer than you would suppose. But that book title made me laugh. LOTR, anyone?

Keep creating,

Kate

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Inky: Drawing Dragons Day 26

So, I’m still a little sick. I totally forgot I was going to ink this in a couple of different colors. I may still fill him in at some point. But I SUPER like him. He makes me feel all cuddly inside.

. 

Any opinions on future color?

I told my librarian friend, Robert, that I used this reference to draw him. I seriously googled “Cute Dragon.” Robert said that as a librarian, he wholly approves of reference.

Slow clap.

I hope you are all having a slow clap kind of day.

Keep creating,

Kate

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AHHH!! IT’S TOO CUTE!!! Drawing Dragons Day 25

AHHH!! SO cute!!! I can’t even handle it, you guys.

It took a bit longer than it should have. I couldn’t get the face right.

What I’m trying to figure out is how to make ADORABLE dragons, instead of kind of weird ones, or kind of scary ones. I’ll save the dangerous and terrible fire breathing dragons for when I feel like breathing fire.

Right now, I feel like cuddling.

And I am super going to cuddle this dragon.

I’m working from this image.

I love the way the eyes settle into the snout, and the buck teeth! That’s how you do it!

I almost stopped there, but I couldn’t help myself. This little one needed wings.

I’ll ink it tomorrow and show ya’ll the final so you can see it better. I need a new camera on this phone!

Don’t worry; I am feeling LOADS better. I even drank a cup of coffee today.

 

Things are looking good.

Enjoy the cute.

 

Keep drawing and writing,

Kate

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Flu Dragon: Drawing Dragons Day 24

Mama dragon is still sick. She roars, but it’s pitiful, really. Like a question mark, or an after thought.

Wonder asks for stories. Mama dragon tells the story of the day she lost her roar, and went searching for a pillow.

It’s a confusing, meandering story, filled with more twists than turns, and an overabundance of yawns. Wonder breaks in to tell Mama about his day.

Mama nods and listens, kisses his head, closes her eyes, and dreams of pillows.

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Ursula: Drawing Dragons Day 23

Ursula K. Le Guin died yesterday.

She was a light, a powerhouse, a women of subtlety and fire.

She created worlds that opened up our minds; we sailed on dragon wings to Earthsea. She showed us the left hand of darkness. She immersed us in her realms in such aesthetically transcendent and literary ways that she changed our perception of science fiction. Of stories. She showed us what they can do.

And she showed us ourselves.

All of our bigotry, despair, and pain; but also our light, our truth, and our love for one another. On other planets and in different times, she revealed who we are in moments that were stripped down, bare, and aching.

Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.

We’d find ourselves staring into the dragon fire and wondering who we are — and who we could be. We’d wonder about love, about gender, about race, about class. We’d see so much pain in other worlds and want to change it in ours.

Nobody can do anything very much, really, alone.

She reminded us that we need each other. But she didn’t settle into the thought like a tea cozy on a fancy table. She lit a flame. For artists, she wanted more. Expected more. Demanded more.

And for me, being a woman SFF writer, trying to write a world bigger than I can understand, I heard her call to not be lazy. To do the work. To practice. To try.

We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.

So, that is where I am today. Going forward. Making mountains. Writing, drafting, drawing, working toward a better piece, but not abandoning the world for it. We have work to do here, hard work.

Will it be easy? No, art never is, and neither is life. You have this vision in your head — this picture — of what you want to create, but it changes as you work, and you often fail. Her eyes don’t come to life. Her cheeks sag. The dragon’s snout is too defined.

But still, you press on, knowing the need for the practice, the work. Remembering all you’ve learned and all the ways you’ll fail again.

But still, you press on.

that stone is heavy in the hand

On toward something, not an end, not some grand masterpiece. But toward a practice. A better world imagined in the stones. You see it there, even as the words dissolve on the paper or the pencil erases the line.

You’ll work on it the next day, and the next. If not this one, then another, all leading back to the work, the vision, that you can create a brighter world, and that your stumbling still draws you forward.

Only in silence the word,

Only in dark the light,

Only in dying life:

Bright the hawk’s flight

On the empty sky.

Shine on, Ursula.

 

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Finding some magic: Drawing Dragons Day 22

We are sick.

I woke up this morning, thinking I’d get Wonder off to school and then get back into bed.

But then he got sick. Very sick.

And we stayed in bed all day anyway.

It was a sleepy day, a yucky day, a sad day… a day. If you’re a parent, you’ve had this day. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

I’d wish them a little magic instead.

Wonder had an idea: I should draw a Magic: The Gathering playing card.

He picked me Mirrorwing Dragon.

I was distracted. I couldn’t figure out the bottom of the dragon through the shadows. Maybe the artist was cheating too.

I left the dragon fading into the background.

I love Mirrorwing; I should have taken more time with the frame, but  I’ll leave that magic to you — we need all the magic we can get over here.

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Huh? Drawing Dragons Day 21

I feel a cold coming on. Hopefully not the flu.

I tried chocolate, but it didn’t work. Tea is up now, along with this little dragon.

I think tomorrow will find me staring at dragon faces and figuring out a solid snout. Hopefully, I won’t be nursing a cold — I just want to nurse this dragon’s face.

It’s currently saying: “Huh?”

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Sweeties: Drawing Dragons Day 20

Watching people make sweets is almost as good as eating them.

Just kidding.

Here’s a dragon I drew while watching an Australian dessert show. Because dragons love macarons.

Sweet dreams, friends!

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