Rebecca Dart

Tumblr

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:24:58 GMT

I have a tumblr now:

http://r-dart.tumblr.com/

Does that mean I'm not going to be posting here anymore? I don't know. I hardly post here anymore, anyway, so it doesn't mean much either way.

I miss Livejournal. Remember Livejournal? He was my first. You always remember your first.

Titus Groan

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 22:35:01 GMT

Another Gormenghast piece. This is Cora and Clarice, easily manipulated twin sisters standing on their giant, dead tree just outside their Room of Roots.

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:08:53 GMT

I have finally returned to the world of comics with my first solo publication since 2004!!

BATTLEKITTENS: THE ART OF R. DART is a handsome 56 page comic-sized collection -- 8 pages in full glorious color -- of the best from my sketchbooks and artblog from the last 3 years. This is the good stuff!

Join us as we launch this limited 1000 copy print run first edition of BATTLEKITTENS this saturday at Pulp Fiction books -- 2422 Main St. Vancouver That is main and 8th ave.

SATURDAY JULY 23rd, from 7 to 10pm! (And and 9pm there will be a very special prize draw, so don’t miss that!)

The facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253495901343522

Can't make it to the launch? ORDER NOW: http://cinemasewer.ecrater.com/p/11881164/battlekittens-the-art-of-r-dart

Spaghetti Doodles

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:33:44 GMT

Lee Van Cleef as "The Ugly".

Franco Nero as Keoma.

Sketchy Sketches

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:44:31 GMT

Mythological Sketch Dump

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 04:56:18 GMT

Hail Eris!

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:53:40 GMT

The Goddess of Discord.

The Goddess

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:03:37 GMT

Forest Pursuit

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:24:18 GMT

The Death Dealer

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:13:49 GMT

Hostage Situation

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 04:00:52 GMT

Joyride!

Fri, 28 May 2010 21:27:34 GMT

How are all y'all doin'? It's been awhile since I posted on LJ or have even been on LJ commenting on all y'all's brilliant, intimidating art. I've been working, I swear, but just on projects that I can't post, but here's a picture of a joyriding whitchy-poo on the back of a 1929 tanker truck. Don't look at it all at once, or you'll get indigestion.

The Page 100 Project

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:44:35 GMT

Brilliant artist and great friend jasonturner made an LJ "call-to-pencils". He has started the Page 100 Project where you flip to page 100 of one of your favourite books and illustrate it in comic narration. What a grand idea!

So, I picked "The Hawkline Monster" by Richard Brautigan.

Don't Worry, He Paid Good Money For This.

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:02:25 GMT

Ya know, I've often been told that I don't draw like a girl. My first encounter with this is when I was fourteen when a woman, a friend's mother, picked up a drawing of a drooling, disgusting monster (I drew a lot of monsters back then, still do I guess), not knowing who had done it, upon finding out that I had drawn it she exclaimed, "A girl drew this? A GIRL drew this?!"

I wasn't offended by this at all, just a bit confused. How was art by a girl supposed to look? Or on the flip side what makes art "masculine"? Should art have a gender? I've had my art judged differently once the viewer found out it was created by a female, work they deemed sexist suddenly became ironic. Is it possible to separate the artist from their work? Bah, these are question I've been asking my whole life and I'm still no closer to an answer.

Has anybody else out there had a similar experience? Have any ladies out there surprised people with their artistic prowess? Any guys out there suffer from mistaken art-gender identity? I know my husband, Robin, has disappointed a few people when they discovered he wasn't a girl drawing extreme porn.

The Auroch Autarch

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:49:29 GMT

A lot of people ask me about materials and techniques that I employ, and I've always really enjoyed it when other artists let me peek in on their process, so let's sweat the details together shall we?

First off, even before we get into materials, I think it's important to respect your art and anyone who may want to purchase it. You art is your legacy and if you're lucky it will last longer than you, you bag of decomposing bones. Although I wouldn't classify myself as a "Gear Person" you know the type; has to have the finest this and most expensive that, however, drawing on a used pizza box with a ballpoint pen isn't going to cut it either. It's important to use acid free papers and light-fast inks, your future-self will thank your past-self for doing it.

First I draw a rough on animation paper using a red col-erase pencil and a soft graphite pencil (5B). Animation paper is fine-toothed and very thin, made for light boxing. As you can see I get pretty sloppy, and that's the way I like it. I don't ink directly on my rough and I find this gives me the freedom to make mistakes and take chances. If I start inking and don't like how it's turning out *crunch* off it goes in the wastebasket and it doesn't matter because I still have my rough. I always ink the faces first, because if you screw up the face your drawings are done for. Oh, and I hate white-out and rarely use the stuff.

The paper I use when inking is from these sketchbooks that I purchase at my local art supply store. It's nothing fancy but it's acid-free and has the perfect medium-tooth for dry brush and it's 73lb, so it's thin enough to light box with. The ink is applied with a #2 Winsor & Newton University Series, they have synthetic bristles so they're inexpensive and durable. The ink I use is Speedball Super Black India Ink, when opening a new bottle I leave it uncapped for about a week to thicken it. I use a post-it note stuck near my art to wipe any excess ink off the brush, very important when applying a dry brush technique.

The overall theme to my work area is "Organized Chaos". That's my table-top animation desk that I use to do all my work on (there's a light behind it for light boxing). Non-permanent scotch tape is important to tape up your art so it doesn't fall down all the time. Also the natural-light lightbulbs for your desk are fantastic, they're easy on the eyes and makes your colours so much truer.

Thanks everybody for your continual support and now that I've shown you mine let's see yours.

A Day at the Kazoo!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:40:47 GMT

The Great Boar Hunt

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:02:37 GMT

Such Nonsense!

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:40:17 GMT

Gustave Veerbeek is one of my favourite cartoonists from the turn of the last century. Born in 1867 in Nagasaki, Japan to Dutch missionaries his art was greatly influenced by the Japanese master printmakers. He's most famous for his Sunday comic strip "The Upside-Downs"; six panels that you read as you would any regular newspaper strip, but then turn it upside down and it continues. He did 64 of these, an amazing feat!

However, my favourite comic of his is "The Terror of the Tiny Tads". It's about four interchangeable little boys crossing paths with fantastical creatures who's names where usually a mix of an animal and an inanimate object. That was the inspiration for my homage to Mr. Verbeek, who, in my humble opinion, should be as remembered as McCay or Herriman.

The Junco of Thankfulness

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:46:54 GMT

I just wanted to give a shout-out to all who showed up to the Ayden Gallery last friday. Thank you, all of you, for your support. My pieces will be up until Feb. 7th, so if you couldn't make it out on the opening there is still plenty of opportunity to check it out. There are a lot of talented artists in the show.

Thanks again!

Brienne of Tarth

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:25:20 GMT

While reading a book have you ever said to yourself, "I really want to draw this character. I really need to know what they look like."?

So, I'm reading the George R.R. Martin's series "A Song of Fire and Ice". It's a fantasy epic with lots of sex and violence ( I'm half way threw the fourth book, " A Feast For Crows", there is supposed to be seven books in total, the fifth book hasn't come out yet and is way overdue) There's this one character Brienne of Tarth, she described as being very unattractive; huge and horsey, with a wide set nose, gapped teeth and stringy hair, she's shy from having been teased her whole life, yet remains a bit naive about the world. I guess I can kind of relate.

Just a quick reminder that the Ayden Gallery opening is tomorrow, Jan. 8th. It starts at 7 and is in Tinsel Town Mall, second level, their phone # is: 778-891-4310. There will be about a dozen local artists showing their work including three new pieces from yours truly. It will be fun. I hope to see you there!

Too Much Catnip

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:21:45 GMT

I hope everyone has fully recovered from their New Years festivities. I'm still working on it.

Hey, for those living in Vancouver, this is for you: I will be having some art pieces (one of which is the previous post on this here LJ) in an upcoming show at the Ayden Gallery. The opening is on Friday Jan. 8th. It starts at 7 and goes to 11. The Ayden is in Tinsel Town Mall on the second level. There are a lot of great artists in the show and I hope to see you there so we can boog-ga-loo until our hips unglue.

Christmas on X-MA3

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:03:22 GMT

I've been very busy lately and needed a vacation, so it was time for me to hitch a ride on the military freighter the U.S.S. Heinlein. The crew consisted mostly of boisterous civilians that tried to get me drunk every night on Boo-jee, a Rigilian libation made from the fermented stomach contents of giant, translucent lobsters, quite literally "rot gut". It's disgusting.

X-MA3 is a small planetoid that is actually made from a single organic organism, the largest known orbiting organism (there are some sentient oort clouds that beat it out for overall size, however). It's sort of a giant, living hairball. It has it's own rudimentary ecosystem of fungus and invertebrates that the planet itself feeds on, kind of like living off of your own fleas.

Watching the luminescent fungus change colour reminded me of the Christmas lights on Earth and it made me terribly homesick. On my excursions to these lonely planets and moons around the universe you are struck by how retarded the rest of the universe is, now I don't mean stupid, but quite literally retarded; slower, set-back. The rate of mutation is much less than on our home planet. Bio-diversity is something we have taken for granted for so long. Every bacterium, every little hairy spider, every monkey swinging in the trees is not only unique to our little planet, but the whole goddam universe. The thought of that is so crushing to me it physically hurts.

We are from a truly blessed place.

No One is Winning

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:06:26 GMT

Kittens Battle it Out!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:25:42 GMT

The treacherous mountain pass known as Crow's Whisper was paved with the bones of brave travelers.

It was a bitter Autumn morning and the wind had snow in it that stung your flesh like needles. Although large the battle kitten, Kippers, didn't make a sound with his padded paws while walking on the frosted path. Creak!... echoed through the grey stone pillars as No Scars shifted her weight in the saddle; one hand on the the reins and the other hand always on the hilt of her bloodied war sword. There is a legend in this region of a ruthless guardian that patrols this pass.

Approaching a narrow crest, suddenly a loud cry rang out, a mix of wildcat and a barstool being scraped across a tile floor. The sound vibrated No Scars' bowels turning them to ice. It was the brutal 13 Scars on her raging steed Mr. Peepers! Bounding from a moss-covered crag the tabby fury hurled himself towards the travelers. Kippers fell backwards to meet their attacker with his fangs and claws. No Scars was thrown and then pinned under the bulk of her bi-colored charger. Looking towards the sky the last thing she saw was the point of a black spear and an even blacker shadow.

There will be more bones to pave the pass.

An Olde Murder Ballad

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:48:49 GMT