Concannon Kauffman Illustration

The Chain [bat fairies]

2012-01-19T01:45:00.004-05:00

These are my bat-based fairy ladies. They are my current favorite thing.

The Logical Song [Baphomet and a heart]

2012-01-17T11:56:00.002-05:00

Tattoo designs for some friends.

We Can Do It [witchy WIP]

2011-05-23T13:07:00.004-04:00

There has been a serious dearth in updates, I apologize.

Have a WIP! The sketch can be found here, for the curious.

Meet Hatter and Hare [snowdrop tattoo]

2011-05-02T09:37:00.001-04:00

The adventure of this past week - a new tattoo.

Born This Way [album art]

2011-04-19T19:14:00.005-04:00

I wanted to do extra credit for my Type & Image class. I asked myself, "What should I do? A movie poster, a book cover?" And then Lady Gaga released the album art for her Born This Way. And my question was answered.

I don't have a problem with the Gaga-motorcycle combination, as odd as it is. I have a problem with the little flares all over everything. And the text. Lord do I have a problem with the text. So I made my own BTW cover, including both the current shoulder spikes Gaga has been sporting and a nod to the music video for "Born This Way," where she sports a skeleton ensemble and a marvelous ponytail.

The photo of Gaga belongs to the Haus of GaGa, and is from the cover for the "Born This Way" single.

O Death [a tree and a pile of legs]

2011-04-12T20:32:00.002-04:00

Assignment for Type & Image, to illustrate a definition from Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. I chose the word limb. As was only natural, I drew a leg tree.

Fresh [a shark]

2011-03-29T13:01:00.002-04:00

Finished tattoo design for a friend, though the kanji is subject to being moved around or resized.

No You Girls [the flight plight of fat dragons and other drawings]

2011-03-06T22:36:00.008-05:00

This has been in my moleskine for forever - well, okay, a few months - and I just finally got around to scanning it. It's one of my "Connie tries to use something other than pen" pages. So it's colored pencil and watercolor, with some added painting in Photoshop because the color was pretty flat. And there's also another randome moleskine page.

Watershed [extinct]

2011-03-01T16:58:00.004-05:00

Assignment from my Type & Image class, which is possibly the best class ever. Three compositions illustrating the same word - one type dominant, one image dominant, and one where type and image is equal. And also a stupidly cute collab with Mary Carter - ospoise on the left is mine, fowlger on the right is drawn by her, both are inked by me. And now back to bed to convalesce.

Overload [fanart]

2011-02-28T23:54:00.003-05:00

About a week ago, I sat down determined to draw some fanart for Neil Gaiman's short story "Snow, Glass, Apples." And I seem to have channeled the wonderful Abigail Larson while doing it.

So here's the drawing with some quick Photoshop color slapped on. When I have more free time, I hope to add an actual, you know, environment.

The Way [color on Tris and Dhamon]

2011-02-24T18:36:00.001-05:00

Tearin' Up My Heart [Tris and Dhamon, my very favorites]

2011-02-23T23:57:00.002-05:00

Tris and Dhamon love each other, really. And Tris loves singing along to boy band songs. With great physicality.

Fortune Faded [disney]

2011-02-23T00:05:00.002-05:00

My love affair with Jasmine's nose continues, and a WIP of Belle chilling in a field, reading. Like she do. In her blue dress, because it is what she wears for the majority of the movie. No love for you, giant ball gown.

Monsters in the Parasol [the song title is actually related for once]

2011-02-18T15:04:00.001-05:00

There's more I could do with this, but for the most part I'm pretty damn happy.

Bills Bills Bills [a scroll]

2011-02-15T21:17:00.003-05:00

Seamless illustration assignment for Sequential Imaging. The story is Chris Nolan's 'Inception' - to me, the plot just boils down to Cobb and Mal's storyline, so that's what I did. As foxes. Because it's easier to draw foxes than it is humans, hahaha. And a picture of the exterior of the scroll! Because the construction was not simple, okay.

Grenade [wips - fanart and a zombie]

2011-02-08T19:41:00.003-05:00

WIPs! Poison Ivy being all saucy, and a little zombie girl playing jump rope. With a length of her intestines. Zombies are very frugal beings, you know. They make do with what they already have handy.

Sweet Baby James [I'm alive!]

2011-02-07T15:19:00.002-05:00

I'm alive, believe it or not. With doodling abilities intact. More worthwhile work should be along soon. Really. I promise.

Iris (some moleskine work, and Supernatural)

2010-10-12T21:11:00.003-04:00

My Chick Bad (happy autumn, Tris, and Fred the unfortunate griffon)

2010-10-06T01:23:00.003-04:00

Okay, back to homework. (Fred, for anyone who is curious, is a Reddish Egret and a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.)

Brand New Day (fanart)

2010-09-30T03:05:00.002-04:00

First, a sketch of Professor Snape - there are so many different interpretations of him, I was trying to iron out my own image of him. Then a couple drawings of The Patrician, Havelock Vetinari, from Terry Pratchett's fantastic Discworld series. (In one of the novels, he's referred to as a "predatory flamingo." So, uh, hence the flamingo sketch.) And Princess Jasmine, who is my favorite Disney princess. :]

Rufio! (dinosaurs and a colorful lady doodle)

2010-09-26T14:14:00.000-04:00

Invisible Light (zombies and a doodle)

2010-09-23T02:31:00.004-04:00

No time to write, must sleep. Head being assaulted.

Time is Running Out (fanart)

2010-09-19T06:39:00.006-04:00

My favorite crime solving ladies of television: Emily Prentiss (Criminal Minds), Ziva David (NCIS), Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds), Jennifer Jareau (Criminal Minds), Juliet O'Hara (Psych), and Abby Sciuto (NCIS). Just because.

Sledgehammer (a comparison)

2010-09-15T16:41:00.002-04:00

Okay, now back to work. And maybe sleep.

Take Me Away (on the subject of daemons, zombie wip, a sharktopus)

2010-09-14T02:46:00.005-04:00

Obviously I've been spending my time well.

Heart of Glass (Tris, the ages of Dhamon, and a monster)

2010-09-08T01:18:00.003-04:00

A couple of character drawings, and a monster WIP (heavily inspired by Chris Sanders, with a little bit of Brian Froud thrown in - I was watching Labyrinth while I was drawing.)

Losing My Religion (bondage? and a giant fantasy lizard)

2010-09-06T00:50:00.007-04:00

A serious case of song inspiration - this is entirely the fault of "Crime" by Temposhark. (Also, another ballpoint doodle.)

Who's that guy? (not-so-rough doodles and a WIP)

2010-08-31T20:48:00.005-04:00

Today we have some doodles that grew to be more than doodles, but have not yet matured into full pieces. They're like the tweens of artwork. And there's a mermaid WIP - she's based on the lovely pajama cardinalfish.

The Girl from Ipanema (art nouveau and animals and yarn)

2010-08-30T15:15:00.013-04:00

(Sorry to anyone who witnessed the html fail in this post - that'll teach me to try to edit my blog on a school computer.)

School has started! Time to be busy busy busy.

Doodled up a month or so ago for Alphonse Mucha's 150th birthday; more animals cads for the VCU SOVO Fair (the corgi and the conure were drawn by the imcomparable Mary Carter and inked by me - everything else is entirely mine); just to prove that I do indeed crochet, here are a couple of things I finished in the past couple days (though neither pattern belongs to me).

Crime (catching up)

2010-07-06T20:00:00.006-04:00

Oh hello blog. I'm sorry I've neglected you.

Layla (WIPs: the Joker, some characters, and an angel)

2010-05-26T11:10:00.003-04:00

I'm kind of unexpectedly in Boston right now, so I don't have my tablet or a scanner. But I can offer some WIPs!

Stand By Me (some fantasy critters, and a girl in a bathing suit)

2010-05-17T00:14:00.003-04:00

The kirin and the wyvern are from a couple months ago - they were for my etching class. The girl is what I oh-so-wisely spent my evening drawing.

And now, to bed!

Jimi Thing (stan the jackal)

2010-05-15T13:36:00.006-04:00

Funny how a thirty second doodle can actually turn into something, isn't it?

This ended up becoming the mascot for the gossip blog Oh No They Didn't, better known as ONTD. The image now belongs to LiveJournal, so I would recommend not doing anything with it.

Go Go Gadget Flow (doodles and fanart)

2010-05-14T14:07:00.003-04:00

The semester is over, finally. I still have a few outstanding projects though, so, you know. Instead of working, I'm wasting time here. Makes perfect sense.

Some attempts to pin down simple designs for Sam, Dean and Castiel (of the TV show Supernatural) and Holmes and Watson (RDJ and Jude Law). Don't ask about the bird, I don't know.

Hey Mickey! (creature design, a fowlger, and some tattoos)

2010-05-06T20:10:00.011-04:00

Connie, where have you been? (You ask.)
To which I say - IT'S THE END OF THE SEMESTER, WHERE DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN? (Which means, I've been trying to do way too much in too little time.)

So we have some creature design, for an art trade, a doodle for the lovely Miss Mary Carter, and some tattoo design. The snowdrop is for me, possibly for my wrist, and the sharks are for a past teacher of mine (which I still find kind of hilarious). The first shark is mostly a base shape for me to try some expansion on.

Tainted Love (doodles and more doodles)

2010-03-30T20:43:00.005-04:00

I have to go write an essay and draw a bunch of character sheets. So here, have some doodles to entertain yourselves!

My original attempts to emulate Chris Sanders' style. (You can find the final piece here.)

Photoshop sketch. I like top hats.

Every Morning (eyerape, a character, and a doodle)

2010-03-25T12:35:00.004-04:00

I have absolutely no explanation for this. Sorry about your eyes.

This is Graeme O'Connell. He's a werewolf. Also, a cowboy.

Like it says.

Mr. Monotony (an experiment, and a wip)

2010-03-21T01:11:00.005-04:00

Question - can I paint landscapes out of my head?
Answer - no. Not at all. Noah Bradley I am not.

So in the category of things I need to practice? THIS.

And here, have a work in progress with subject matter than I can actually kind of do something with.

Semi-Charmed Life (a present, a grump, and fanart)

2010-03-16T23:53:00.004-04:00

Oh, what a random post. The pug (or pig-pug, as we've been calling it) was a present for my friend Carrie's birthday. The grumpy lizard-thing is fairly self-explanatory. The third piece is Supernatural fanart, of Jared Padalecki as Lucifer. Or Samifer, as it were.

OH DEAR EVERYTHING IS FACING THE LEFT

Liar (doodle, fanart, and imitating Chris Sanders)

2010-03-15T15:35:00.003-04:00

Now is time for that oft-mentioned but little seen wonder, personal art! In the form of a doodle, Discworld fanart, and another Design-A-Character challenge on deviantART.

Freedom! (a bunny and some ravens)

2010-03-12T23:07:00.006-05:00

It is FINALLY Spring Break. You know what this means? No, not beaches. Not parties. It means YAY I GET TO DRAW WHAT I WANT TO FOR A WEEK

That said, here. Have some schoolwork.

Character design for a sequential imaging exercise (and the exercise itself). The story had to include a bunny, a brain, and a pencil.

And this is a book cover design for Imagery for Sci-fi and Fantasy. My book of choice was American Gods, because I'm a Gaiman fangirl like that.

Die Hard! (random things)

2010-03-07T15:19:00.004-05:00

This is kind of a bizarre mix of things. An amalgam, if you will. And that's all I have to say! (Back to homework. Midterms are next week.)

Leader of the Pack (adventures in lithography!)

2010-03-05T00:27:00.008-05:00

This semester, I'm taking an elective in the Painting & Printmaking department. Appropriately, the class is Printmaking. (Surprise surprise.) The first five weeks were dedicated to lithography. Let me show you why I am not a printmaking major.

First, my plate itself. (These are aluminum, and 18x24 inches, if I remember correctly.) Notice the scrunched anatomy that happened when I realized she wasn't going to fit? Yeah.

For those who are really curious, the drawing on the plate was done in litho crayon (the fine lines) and tusche. The tusche did not agree with me. Or perhaps it's better to say that I didn't agree with it. Or maybe I just fail at applying etching strengths. It's a mystery that will never be solved.

Next, we have one of my proofs (newsprint), and one of my editions (some nice paper, I don't recall what).

And my digital piece, based on the same sketch. Yes, I know you've seen it before. Bear with me, it's here for comparison's sake.

Growing Up (self-portrait and fanart)

2010-03-01T15:34:00.005-05:00

Feeling sick and remarkably inactive today, but I did manage to accomplish a few things over the weekend! Specifically, a self-portrait and a mermaid. (A perfect combination, if I do say so myself.)

The Difference A Year Makes

2010-02-26T02:06:00.006-05:00

One of the great things about being an artist is constantly getting better. And I have examples!

First, I have a slapdash compilation of drawings of my character Tris, starting from '01 and ending a couple weeks ago. Then! Two Photoshop character portraits, each with a version roughly a year old, side by side with a current painting.

Yellow Brick Road (a gorgon)

2010-02-25T13:26:00.003-05:00

Scribbled this out yesterday in a few hours, since I kind of had a lull in homework. It's inspired heavily by the Roman sculpture of a young Flavian woman - I was looking at it, and thinking about how amazing the hairstyle is. I was trying to figure out what the style would lend itself to, and then I realized. MEDUSA.

And it had to happen. So it did.

What A Wonderful World (Draco Malfoy)

2010-02-24T19:17:00.005-05:00

Harry Potter fanart, because those books are my childhood.

And because Malfoy is pointy and fun to draw.

Dance Back From The Grave (sketchbook)

2010-02-23T18:56:00.009-05:00

Sometimes I still draw (not necessarily well) in my moleskine. See?

Old Brown Shoe (a bust and some fanart)

2010-02-22T03:01:00.006-05:00

Tonight, our specials are an original character bust and an example of how you can't really draw celebrities out of your head.

Tris, the heroine of my not as-of-yet-written young-adult novel-thing (I like hyphens), looking more elegant than she really is. And also, Watson as played by Jude Law, in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. I tried to draw him from memory. As you can see, it didn't really work.

Character design

2010-02-19T18:13:00.006-05:00

Sometimes, I draw things for fun.

There's a great group on deviantART called Design-a-Character, where weekly character design challenges get posted. So here are a few of mine. I really can't recommend doing this enough. (Also, there is a dinosaur. Just because.)

The snooty butler guy remains my favorite.

Homework and a Cheshire

2010-02-18T11:22:00.005-05:00

And today we have a couple of assignments for my Imagery for Sci-fi & Fantasy class (I'm fairly happy with the first one, but the I'll probably mess around with the second one a bit more), and a character design for the Cheshire Cat. Just because.

Bouquet, and the steps thereof

2010-02-07T19:07:00.003-05:00

Originally sketched as a guide for a project in my lithography class, I ended up being so fond of this drawing that I had to paint it. Heavily inspired by Alphonse Mucha.

Possible internship and sketchbook

2010-02-05T21:52:00.006-05:00

I found the perfect internship. It's through Time Warner (which would mean working with Cartoon Network). It's specifically illustration, and calls for character design, love of cartoons, and knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator. The only downside is that it's in Atlanta. But if I can get it, I'll make it work.

And now, what you really care about - sketchbook time!

How many of you caught my spelling fail?

When We're Human (class WIPs, fanart)

2010-02-03T00:37:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple WIPs from my Imagery for Sci-Fi and Fantasy class, plus some fanart, because I'm madly in love with The Princess and the Frog.

I love when I get to draw ripped men* and dragons for school.
*kind of men.

Groundhog Day (fanart, a dinosaur, and a painting)

2010-02-02T00:02:00.006-05:00

Some more miscellany. And now, to read!

Odds and Ends

2010-01-28T23:30:00.006-05:00

Today is a miscellany! A couple of sketchbook pages, something from Concept Art last semester, and a bunch of little handout cards that I drew for Kappa Pi, the international honorary art fraternity.

Dinner and a show

2010-01-27T18:08:00.006-05:00

And now, a round of sketchbook pages drawn from movie and TV stills (Singin' in the Rain, NCIS, and Psych). I was going to make some remark about pop culture, but Singin' in the Rain isn't really "pop" anymore, is it?

IT'S ALIVE

2010-01-26T21:33:00.008-05:00

And by "it," I mean me.

We're one week into the semester, and I'm going strong. Hopefully I can keep it up - only having three studios this time around should help. In theory. Probably.

So here! Some sketchbook things, and then a few other random bits and bobs.

When Apple products have problems, they go big

2010-01-06T16:03:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed that I've been a bit absent. (Or maybe you haven't. I would never think to tell you what you may or may not have noticed.)

At first, I was detoxing from a rough semester. After a couple of weeks of lolling about and doing absolutely nothing, I sat my butt down and did awesome things. And then.

AND THEN, MY HARD DRIVE DIED. It just up and quit. My sweet MacBook Pro, which has never given me a peep of trouble in the past year and a half, gave up the ghost. Kicked the bucket. Et cetera, et cetera.

So while I wait for the Apple store to fix it, this is all I have for you. :[

A painting and a drawing.

2009-12-02T03:52:00.009-05:00

I swear one day I will actually manage to update this in some sort of consistent manner.

A painting in progress! 2x2 panel and oils. And a lone sketchbook page - I don't have time to scan any more at the moment, since that painting is kind of due tomorrow.

And I'm back! take two.

2009-11-17T00:52:00.016-05:00

ETA: Just had to come back and say that I'm so offended by this: Spandex, a "comic book featuring the world's first gay superhero team."

For one, I'm offended because they're presenting the characters as being defined by their sexuality. Being gay is not all a person is, just as being straight is not all a person is. Secondly, it's reinforcing stereotypes.

But most relevant to this blog, THE ART IS TERRIBLE. Seriously. I am so horrified that someone has been paid to do that, when I, along with many of my talented friends, am sitting here penniless.

Wow I've fallen behind on this. Sorry guys, I've been really sick - still am, in fact - and my productivity has seriously faltered.

So, here! Playing card designs from a project (from forever ago) for Digital Drawing. We had to design our own cards within one suit, including the face cards, the ace, the Joker, and the back.

My theme - Greek gods. Hopefully you can tell who is who. (And then the Joker, and um. Don't ask me why, but a female version of Jensen Ackles [Supernatural, Dark Angel, Smallville].)

Cold is like the ragged claws scuttling

2009-10-07T17:34:00.014-04:00

Okay, the thermostat in my apartment needs to stop deciding that the ideal temperature is 85˚. BECAUSE IT'S NOT. And it's really annoying to have to reset it every few hours. And my cold seems to have sunk its claws into my throat and is now settled in as a bad cough. Not related to the A/C, but similarly annoying, so there. (The blog title is a references to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Man I miss reading.)

And now, some sketchbook pages. My scanner absolutely ate the colors on the animals; the kookaburra and the ferret are actually bright orange, not red. And the rhino and cow are much more blue.

And my tattoo, side by side with my original design. Clearly some sacrifices had to be made in the translation, but I'm fairly happy with it.

>

And I'm back!

2009-10-06T15:38:00.009-04:00

I have been struck down by the worst cold ever. It's much better now, but the past few days have been miserable. Sniffling and sneezing and a headache and a sore throat. Blech.

My stomach just started hurting, and while I was wondering why, I realized - I haven't eaten since eight this morning (it's now nearly four). And all I ate this morning was a small piece of cheesy bread.

Whoops.

And now, art!

First, a project from Concept Art, illustrating a brief article about two long lost twins who encounter each other in prison, one as a guard, the other as an inmate. You see that hand on the inmate's shoulder? That's what happens when you don't have a references. Hands that are slabs of meat. Sausage fingers.

And an illustration for Visual Studies. I had to conceptualize perfume, so I took that as an excuse to go Art Nouveau.

Halloween-y mock-up of my strange big cat mutt Doe, and what she normally looks like.

I have a bunch of sketchbook stuff to share, too, but I didn't sleep last night, so I don't really have the energy to scan at the moment. But soon!

Logo fail.

2009-09-22T18:25:00.008-04:00

So apparently Amy Winehouse just launched a new label, called Lioness Records. I don't really care, but everyone keeps talking about how good the logo is.

It isn't. The concept isn't bad, but the execution is absolutely killing me.

And so this post isn't entirely empty of my own work, have a few random things.

So an in class project from Concept Art, illustrating the phrase "art is work." (I confess that I mostly wanted an excuse to draw a muscley guy.) And a personal WIP. Scars are fun to paint.

Sketch dump, the first!

2009-09-15T19:32:00.002-04:00

The tattoo I got on Friday (my first one) is peeling. This is a patently strange sensation.

Anyway, sketchbook dump! The last two are movie stills, so you should be able to recognize where they're from. Well, the last one, at least.

It's a brand new day. Or evening, as it were.

2009-09-15T17:05:00.001-04:00

Why is Helvetica not a font choice? This is a crime.

Anyway, new sketch blog! Have a colored sketchbook scribble to kick everything off.