Kat Powell Artist

A few years ago I saw a bunch of artist trying a drawing challenge. It is based off of an artist named Kim Jung Gi who draws extremely detailed and realistic images with only ink. No pencil, no sketch and straight from memory and imagination! So, I decided to give it a go. The image you see below is my attempt at straight ink drawing. I also wanted to test my imagination and memory by drawing everything you see from memory. Of course, most of the drawing is fantasy but this was a great challenge for proportion, perspective, background, and anatomy.     It was a great way to get out of my comfort zone and test my confidence as an artist. I would highly recommend this challenge for intermediate and advance artist! I will be honest, it was very scary at first. But if you stay focused on what you are creating and have a general idea of what you want to draw then you will have more fun! You can start off simple by drawing one object or cre...

 Quick lighting advice. For this video I wanted to experiment with a single light source. When you are working on something like this you need to constantly think about WHERE your light source is. For the first skellie you see sitting right in front of the computer screen, the light will framing his figure and casting an intense shadow around his frame. And a tiny bit of light will show around his eyes. I made the light here the most intense because that is where I want the main FOCUS of the image. Everything else still keeps with the light source but is more muted because the other figures are both farther away and not the focus of the image. By the way, rest your eyes when you can! (And I will try to take my own advice...)

If you've been following my work you know the Skellies are a common occurrence. I love drawing in scenarios that look like they came out of a storybook. I just having fantasy images that feel as if you walked into the room and see all the characters going about their own business. For this image I wanted to challenge myself with a complex watercolor painting that has foreground, mid-ground, and background. I wanted the stain glass, which is the background, to be a bit out of focus. And as the characters and items in the scene get closer to the foreground there are different levels of details. I keep the color palette a bit subdue, mostly oranges and blues. You can see in the video that I start with the background. This is not a necessary step for watercolor, but it's a habit I tend to have from doing acrylic and oil painting for years. (I start with the background so that way I can layer stuff on top of it and it stays as the background.)

  Butterfly Heart   Butterfly Lungs Butterfly Spine

Watercolor Painting that I've been working on from June 2015 to present. After I catch up with all the works from last year I will post a more resent image of this watercolor painting. Colored pencil drawing of a flayed horse with Chihuly inspired colors!

Unfinished, ink drawing with colored inks, might make this into a painting one day Ink, colored pencil, ink wash drawing of flowering cat A few older drawings from May and June 2015

Two lovely new images. Love y Amor. https://www.etsy.com/listing/261024737/love?ref=shop_home_active_1

I have opened an Etsy shop where I sell prints, please go check it out!! https://www.etsy.com/shop/KatPawCreations

Honey Bear, FINISHED! colored pencil, pastels, acrylic, metallic silver paint (wings) on tinted paper 17.5”x24” 180 bees in total!

White Noise , done in Dec 2014 colored pencil, watercolor, graphite, acrylic, varnish (you can see the varnish effect in the sunlight, very neat).

Did this image in Nov 2014, ink drawing with digital color.  

colored pencil, pencil, ink on lightly textured paper, done back in Aug 2014

Mouse Skeleton ink on paper :) Sunflower Skull 2hr speed painting 16”x20”, acrylic

 Wow I shamefully haven't updated this blog in a good long while. Well here comes the posts, I hope your bodies are ree~ady! :3 Series: de- Title of first image: Pollen Title of second image: Sound Wave Concept drawings for a new series to keep me in practice. These are referenced from Beauchene Skulls, aka Exploded Skulls.

Full image, pencil on matte board 40"x19"

Owl Ink Drawing (finished)

This image has been such a monster, but I am so happy with the end result. I created this to express my discomfort with vivid color and brightness, so it's fitting that it has been a struggle to get the right colors. Prints @ society 6 http://society6.com/KatPowell/15-Birds_Print

I keep getting closer and closer to finishing this image, I finally found colors that I'm happy with.

small acrylic studies