Last sketches of 2015

This October – December was the busiest on record, what with starting a new show at the studio, piles of freelance, and selling and buying a house…… so sadly my sketches took a backseat. I managed to squeak out a few, here they are!

For Inktober 2015:

A couple sketches in time for “Back to the Future” Day! [Brush pen on Moleskine sketchbook.]

bttf1

bttf2

A couple sketches of some of the regular dogs that frequent our studio 🙂 [Brush pen on Moleskine sketchbook.]

jetson_hugo

lando

quincy

And of course a sketch of our cat Mowgli in his favourite position.

mowgli

I managed to fit in two commissions done as Christmas gifts for clients. The first one was for a couple who had just gotten married and loved trees, hence the background. The second was for someone who is a composer. Both digital.

raya_justinFINAL

Corey_FINAL

A letter to Baby Chomiak

My dear sweet little bean,

You don’t know it yet, but you are so entirely loved.

These past few weeks, the word miracle has taken shape inside of your Mama, and I have had the honor of having a front row seat to the unfolding of it all.

Let me tell you a little bit about how you got here. After all, your Mommies are a bit older and bound to forget some of the details one day.

My sweet little one, this road to bring you into our lives has not been the easiest, nor the most traditional. But as you will find in life, some of the most incredible things in life require the roughest road to getting there.

Your Mama and I went to a fertility clinic and tried six times to bring you into our lives. Each time, we were hopeful and our hearts filled with visions and dreams of what could be… until we heard “Sorry, not this time.” Little one, we shed many tears wondering why we had to wait, and what we were doing wrong. I have to be honest that my heart started to wonder if you would ever come into our lives.

We decided to try a very complicated process called Invitro Fertilization, or IVF, for our seventh – and final – try. [Maybe I will draw a story to explain how it works for you one day!] Your Mama gave herself many needles of medicine for many days, had two procedures, and then we waited and we prayed.

Photo of two fertilized embryos implanted on July 26, 2015: [the day after my birthday :D]

embryos_july7_2015

The day we were to find out if you were going to begin your journey to us, your Mama and I met over lunch time when we were both at work. We pulled over to the side of the road, and in the car we called the clinic and held our breath. When we heard those words: “You are pregnant!” – well my sweet child… that was the moment that our hearts burst with a joy I cannot properly put into words. Those tears were oh, so very sweet. And without the lows of the six no’s, the high of this seventh yes would be so much less sweet. And for that, little one, we are so grateful.

On this Thanksgiving weekend, we reflect on this season of waiting. It has brought your Mama and I closer together, and forced us to trust that the God we believe in, has it all under control, despite what we can see or feel. He has been so faithful to us through each step of this process. So in the end, we are thankful for this season of waiting, and for the tough lessons our hearts have learned. What a gift it has turned out to be – the slow and hard waiting, in this world of rushing from point A to point B. We are so thankful, knowing that the waiting will allow us to cherish your arrival that much more. For how can we enjoy the mountaintops without the valleys?

Your Mama and I have been together for many years, and we love each other so much. You will soon find out how incredible she is – she gives the best warm hugs, she cooks the most yummy meals, she will laugh at silly things with you, and she will have a calm wisdom for you when you don’t know if things will be okay. You will be so proud to share some of her genes, and I can’t wait to see how your little face bears an adorable resemblance to hers.

Your Mama, not me, is the one who is carrying you in her tummy right now. But my child, I am carrying you just as gently in my heart until we get to hold you in our arms. We just can’t wait to hold you, dance with you, stay up nights with you, pray for you, wipe the tears away and laugh alongside you.

My precious little bean, you should know that some people have their own opinion about the love your two mommies share. But my sweetheart, the world is sometimes scared of things that are different. I believe that the God who is knitting you together in Mama’s womb right now, is the same God who holds us together, and has blessed the life we have led together so far. We have made mistakes, but we have tried to love, and love well – and we believe that is the most important thing. The love we share is so ready and waiting for you. And through the years of loving each other, maybe we can all show the world that love is love, and family is family, no matter what it looks like.

Maybe you won’t remember, but I have been dancing with you already. I put my hand on Mama’s belly and then I may or may not listen to the latest Justin Bieber song and dance. I am sure one day you will put music on that I don’t understand, but I promise to dance with you anyway.

I pray that you will know what true compassion is, that you would see someone and not question whether or not to help. I hope that you will lead the sort of life who idolizes the Malalas, and not the Kardashians. I hope that you awake each day with a sense of hope and wonder, and embrace beauty in all things. I pray that we can share with you how love can heal, how forgiveness is powerful, how grace should always be the goal, and how to live a life that puts love first.

I know the label Christian is a scary one sometimes, but believe it or not, your Mommies still hold onto that label. Yes, we have been hurt and misunderstood by a lot of people who bear that label, but please keep in mind my little bean, that where the Kim Davis’ of the world exist, there are also the Mother Teresa’s. We have been hurt my little one, but we have also been loved so very well. We can’t wait to share with you why our faith is so important to us, and to see where your journey of life and discovery takes you.

We are trying to be patient these last few months… but we just can’t wait to meet you, Baby Chomiak.

Until then, my little one, keep growing strong.

 

6 week ultrasound:

6wk_ultrasound

8 week ultrasound:

8wk_ultrasound

13 week ultrasound: [Oct 2015, already sucking his/her thumb]

13wk_ultrasound

I’m gonna be a Mom. :D

We announced our big news on the social medias today, and I did this little illustration for the occasion.

Our hearts are dancing, and we breathe in these moments of joy after a long journey.  😀 😀

 

bean_announcement

Winery-inspired commission

A friend contacted me to do a commission for her and her hubby who were going to celebrate an anniversary. They share a love of visiting wineries, so she told me that she would love to have that incorporated somehow into it.

She also said that their phrase they always say to each other is “That’s amore!”, so I wanted to make sure I included that somewhere.

Here is what I came up with!

Rough sketch [digital]:

missi_andy_roughFinal colour version [digital]:

missi_andy

Character designs for unnamed project

I was asked to do a few exploratory character designs for a project, and here is what I came up with! I tried a few different styles, and it was fun just to draw a few different versions of the character I had in my head.

Brush pen and pencil crayon:

polly_A

 

Watercolour:
polly_B

 

Digital:
polly_C

 

Brush pen & pencil crayon:
polly_D

 

Brush pen & colerase pencil:
polly_E

 

Brush pen & pencil crayon:
polly_F

Painting a Norma

In doing my own sketch series for “Orange is the New Black”, I thought I would do Norma in a bit of a different media – watercolour. I need to get back into the real paints!! Here is how she turned out, step-by-step:

1 – Rough sketch:

IMG_6708

2 – Blocking in the skin colour:

IMG_6709

3 – Adding hair and shirt colour

IMG_6711

4 – Final details with brush pen and pigma liner

IMG_6713

OITNB’s Big Boo

Up next in my Orange is the New Black series of sketches – Big Boo! She is tough to love but still loveable 🙂 [But don’t mess with her!]

boo

Illustration commission for wedding gift

I was asked to do a commission of a couple for someone to give to them as a wedding gift. After seeing a few photos of the couple together, I did some roughs. Below is the rough that worked best, and the final colour is at the bottom. Rough is in Colerase blue pencil; colour is digital [Photoshop].

IMG_6358 colour_final

Poussey & Taystee

Life and work has been busy, so I haven’t been able to do many OITNB sketches lately – but watching season 3 now has made me want to do the rest of the cast!

Up next: Poussey & Taystee with their fun antics 🙂 I did this one digitally. Stay tuned for more of the cast in sketch form!

poussey_taystee

“Orange is the New Black” T-Shirt Designs for Sale on TeePublic!

I have managed to put a few of my character designs into t-shirt designs, yay! I am slowly converting some of them over, but lately I have managed to get up a few for “Orange is the New Black.”

Thanks for inviting me, Teepublic!

My Teepublic storefront is here: https://www.teepublic.com/user/schomiak

tee1 tee2