The Pink Daisy Flower Fairy - Finished

I finished the Pink Daisy Flower Fairy which is fairy number eight in a series of twelve. Enjoy!

A Taste of Filming and using After Effects

I had the opportunity to experiment with filming and the use of the green screen method. Once I completed the filming, I brought the resulting movie to Adobe After Effects for editing and for adding effects. It was fun, complicated and interesting and it was all done with a video camera that is more than 20 years old. I really need to get myself a good digital camera with filming capabilities.

The Plumeria Flower Fairy - Finished

I decided to use a different color of the Plumeria Flower for my fairy. I thought that fit better on my series of 12 fairies. Enjoy!

The Plumeria Flower Fairy - In Progress

Here is a sketch of the Plumeria Flower Fairy and the flower that inspired it. The Plumeria flower comes in different colors. I haven't decided yet which color I'll use.

The Rembrandt Tulip Fairy - Finished

The Rembrandt Tulip Fairy - Work in Progress

Working on a sketch for the next in a series of watercolor fairies.

The flower that inspired the creation of this fairy.

My latest sculpture

The painting on the back was used to create this sculpture.

This new sculpture is number two in a series of sculptures I am doing based on my watercolor paintings which are shown on the back.

Humpty Dumpty - New animation created with After Effects

Meet Tombo (the fatty) and Largo (the skinny) - Coloring with Photoshop

Here are my first attempts at coloring characters in Photoshop. I love traditional art and I never thought I would adventure into any other form. However, I think as an artist, it is important to try all mediums and explore different techniques. They are all venues to express creativity and you can't tell if you like something until you try it.

Creating art digitally versus traditionally is, in my opinion, two very different skills. Both come with its cons and pros. I hope to be the kind of artist that can grab something as simple as a pencil and draw something that is fairly good without the aid of a digital product. You never know when that computer might die on you and you don't have money to buy a new one. Do you stop drawing? Can you really draw without that computer?

Nonetheless, I think a mix of traditional and digital is a great combination. I love the effects that can be created with software. It is probably something I could hardly achieve if I tried to do it by hand. I think I will give a chance to this form of creating. I do believe, however, that we are loosing a lot of the traditional way of doing things in art, due to the explosion of digital media, and I think that is somewhat sad. There is a magic to traditional art and the process and dedication it takes to complete one piece. But I am one of those people that believes in cycles and what is hot today will not be so later which means that someday we might see more demand for traditional art again and by then, there will be very few people out there who can actually pick up a pencil and just draw. For my part, I'll aim to be somewhat well-versed in both and never stop learning new things while still keeping in touch with the old.

Revamping my Website

Completed updating and improving my personal website. My aim was to make it as simple as possible while concentrating heavily on what matters most, the content.

http://mariasportfolio.com/illustrations/

Aquarium animation in Adobe After Effects

This is an animation that I created with the software Adobe After Effects. This was a lot of fun to make. The animation was done by using regular .jpg images and taking them to photoshop. Once in photoshop, I isolated the body parts I wanted to move and put them in separate layers. I then brought the .psd file to Adobe After effects and used the 'puppet tool' feature and placed points along the areas I wanted to move and started dragging the points to create movement.


Untitled from Maria Senkel on Vimeo.

Finished Animation - Grumpy Birds

Here is my finished animation. It is a story of three grumpy birds whose sleep was disturbed by a bumble bee. They didn't like that so it did not go too well for the bee. The radical ending was, of course, suggested by my husband...lol. Oh well, it happens.

Here are some pictures of how this film was made:

This picture shows the stage. I used what is called a green screen (cloth) to make it easy to remove the background digitally and put any kind of background I wanted.

Here is another view. You can see the tripod I used to place the camera on.

Here are the different eyelids I had to make for each bird to show them opening and closing their eyes.
I also did the sign and some of the bee parts which are used at the end of the film. This was all done in sculpey clay.

I put all the photographs together (more than 80 pictures) and added sound and then I edited the film using the software 'Adobe After Effects'.

Unfinished - Clay Animation (first try)

Here is part of the film prior to editing. A rough draft.

Traditional Animation - Practice

Practicing some of the concepts of traditional animation. I wish the quality of the video was better. Oh well, next time.

The Blue Pansies Fairy Finished!

The Blue Pansy Fairy

Starting the fifth watercolor in a series of watercolor flower fairies.

Update - Japanese Iris Fairy Sculpture

 **More progress to report on this sculpture. Every time I think the next piece is going to be easier than the previous one, I prove myself wrong. This one is a challenge indeed but I am getting some good practice with sculpting a small scale face. I hope to start working on the hair and wings next.


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This is another one of the watercolor fairies that I am trying to recreate in a 3D format. The first one I did was the 'Trumpet Flower Fairy' and this is the second in the series called the 'Japanese Iris Fairy'.

This time, I am trying to plan better the wire structure of the fairy. I find myself always improvising as I do the sculpture. I think it is a good idea to plan it first so I can refine the process and make more robust wireframes.  With that in mind, I started doing some drawings showing how I envisioned the wireframe and all the supporting and removable structures on this sculpture would look.

One area where I always seem to have issues is the wings. This time, I want to plan this process better. The wings in this case are removable because that will allow me to sculpt the back of the fairy and also the wings better.

Above, I started with a piece of wire and did the right side of the figure. I then start twisting the wire with the drill as shown below. I do the same with the other side of the figure. I mark with tape the knee joints so I know where to bend when I need to.

Below is the unfinished wireframe. Next to it is a rough of the wire bent to take the shape of the fairy siting on the rock. In the back, two small pieces of tubing were used to hold the wings as planned.

Below shows another 2 pieces of tubing used around the shoulders which will be holding the removable arms. Certain areas of the sculpture are further reinforced with plumbers epoxy putty.

This is how far I've gotten with this piece. I will post again as I progress.

The Slipper Orchid Fairy - finished

I finally completed the Slipper Orchid Fairy in watercolor.

Some additional progress on the Slipper Orchid Fairy

Here is some additional progress on the Slipper Orchid Fairy.

Working on The Slipper Orchid Fairy

Currently working on the fourth in a series of watercolor fairies. This one is called the 'Slipper Orchid' fairy and it is named after this beautiful exotic flower.

Surrender - My Illo for this week's Illustration Friday

Surrender or else!

The Rose Fairy

This painting is the third piece in the series of 'flower fairies' in watercolor.