Zoe Revisited

Hmm, so I'm trying to rediscover my long-lost love for creating art. After going through the meat grinder of being a paid professional artist in the games industry, I found myself loving art less and less. I'm now hoping that after a two year hiatus, I can recover some of my skills before they atrophy completely. I figured it might be best to ease myself back into art by reworking a piece that I was particularly proud of at the time. hence, this portrait of a character of mine, Zoe. I drew and painted the image on the left in 1992 while still at the Art Institute of Seattle. There's still pieces of that original portrait that I like, but just look at that HAIR! Clearly, I was a child of the '80's and early '90's. So in updating this piece, I ditched the headband, updated the hairstyle, converted her painted yin-yang for a tat, and shifted her hair/eyes from blonde/blue to red/green.

I'm mostly happy with the results, but I know there are problems with it on a few different levels, and I definitely "felt it" while painting this piece - just like that first workout after being sedentary for a while, my artistic muscles got a serious workout!

I want to make 2012 the year that I find my way back to illustration as a hobby, and possibly even get to the point of taking commissions or landing some freelance work. I have a long road to travel to get there, though. So for my first piece of art after a two year break, I feel like this is a pretty good start to getting things back on the road.