Thursday, February 2, 2012

Isabelle Lightwood

Isabelle Lightwood
character study from the book City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
graphite on Strathmore 400 11 x 14"
I'm working on having some giclee prints made up of this drawing. They should be available in my etsy shop by the end of next week. An 8 x 10" will be $30. Smaller sizes will be coming soon as well.

 'Shadowhunters: Looking Better in Black Than the Widows of our Enemies Since 1234' - City of Bones   

The other day I had the strongest urge to just draw something. I have been neglecting my sketchbook lately and if I do that for too long I start to feel very unhappy. So I started this drawing from a non-copyrighted photo I found of a young woman with a hefty dose of attitude while I was waiting in the car to pick my kids up from school.

After about fifteen minutes of drawing I realized that she reminded me of someone. A character (Isabelle Lightwood) from one of my favorite books, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Once I realized that, the drawing started to take on a life of its own, and it was SO much fun.

No, wait fun's not the right word to describe it, it was just enjoyable and satisfying to put on paper an image I had held in my head since I had first read these books nearly four years ago.

Drawing characters from books is something that would not have occured to me if I had not found and became friends with Kim Kincaid. She is an amazing artist who draws character studies from books she loves (a fellow bookaholic just like me!). Click here to see some more of the characters she created from this same book.

Sometimes I really feel like drawing is as close to real live magic as I can possibly get. And it is awesome.



Have a great week everyone! See you on Tuesday. :)))




25 comments:

  1. GORGEOUS!!! <3 I love that you drew a character from this book :)

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  2. Love this drawing! Beautiful lips was my first thought.

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  3. Beautiful drawing! What a good idea, to draw characters from books- never thought of that!

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  4. Wonderful!...in fact awesome pencil work, I am so impressed with your work Crystal, you leave everyone else in the shadows!

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  5. This is a beautiful drawing, Crystal!!! You are incredibly talented!!!!

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  6. SPECTACULAR!!!! oh my i do love this crystal. and the concept is brilliant!! this drawing did more to inspire than my usual hour long blog crawl! and thank you so much for the link to kim! OMG what a great time i just had!!!! just outstanding work. thank you and a huge BRAVO!!!

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  7. Did you draw that just from your head? Come again? I cannot believe my eyes... This just made me realize again what an awesome artist you are...

    I've been following conceptart.org since about 10 years ago and always admired people who have an image of things they read or think about in their head, and are able to pull them out using a pencil (or a digital tablet) out of a whim. I cannot draw or paint anything unless it's right in front of my eyes... You have my applause and my envy, Crystal!

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  8. Am I right in thinking you drew this from your imagination??? With no other reference???? I mean, even with a photo it is an amazing and beautiful drawing - But from your head alone, well that's just REMARKABLE!!! :OD

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  9. This is just extraordinary, I feel like I'm seeing magic. That you created this based not on a photo reference but an image in your mind's eye based on a character you loved... and the last photo, how you cropped and framed it, powerful, I can almost hear her breathing. Amazing talent girl.

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  10. Wow Crystal, you've done a fabulous job with this portrait. Really brought her to life! xx

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  11. Thank you so much everyone for your very kind comments! You have no idea how much they mean to me. :)))

    And just to clarify, I did have a photo I used as a reference, but it was just as a starting point. I ended up changing her quite a bit in the end, so she would be 'my' Isabelle. :)))

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  12. Wow I love this--and I agree about the attitude which is what makes you drawn to this girl. And I love that you were inspired by a book character, since you can imagine them the way you want.

    Also you really captured the texture of her hair and the emotion in her eyes--all around, great work.

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  13. Oh she has some attitude.. Reminds me of the song 'She's got the looks'. And she also looks like some one straight out of book. Has such a strong character.
    And this work is almost real. Look at that hair. How do you do it everytime..

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  14. This is marvelous! Glad to find your blog!

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  15. This is marvelous! Glad to find your blog!

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  16. She definitely has some attitude! Lovely drawing, I wish my sketching was half that good!

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  17. Very cool! Love the character and you capture her well!

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  18. Wow! Your art is so beautiful :) I would love to start drawing or painting someday. It's lovely.

    And thanks for visiting my blog! About the fabric flowers, yes they are are also hair clips. I attached a pin and a clip to the back of each one.

    Have a great weekend :)

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  19. An absolutely stunning portrait! Seems so effortless!

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  20. Beautiful, Crystal!! Love the shiny hair texture. Looking forward to more character sketches!

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  21. HOW did I not comment on this?? I did a million times in my head! This is a stunner. Snap! Mad skills my friend. The range of tonal values are excellent. The delicacy in her hair, her defiant look, the neckline...bang-on. Love, love, LOVE!

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  22. Oh Crystal, wowza. She is wonderful. Such attitude. I love her.

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  23. And THANK YOU for linking to my blog. My quick characters pale by comparison to your Isabelle. I haven't done serious fan art in so long. Your portrait makes me want to return to it. I think you need to continue and do all the main characters. I've yet to see a good Simon, hint, hint.
    Thanks again.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

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