Winston and Baum's 4th book Cover!

My talented hubby has been writing an awesome adventure filled steampunk series for the past several years, Winston and Baum. These fun books follow Winston and Baum, two partners that specialize in the extermination of pesky supernatural trouble makers.  I have had the honor ...and frustration of illustrating each of his covers for him. 

the first Book of the series. 

the second book. 

the third book.

It is an honor to be a part of such an entertaining extension of my husband's mind. Being able to bring form to characters that he created has been amazing. However, I specialize in cute animals or girl's so when my husband asked me to draw some men with guns...needless to say it was a bit out of my comfort zone. It has been frustrating to work on each of his covers but probably none so much as this last one. Over four weeks of sketching and re-sketching to get Winston and Baum to look right on the page.

rough sketch (erased and re-drawn about 4 times)

inking the sketch now

I knew the look and position that I wanted to portray but my pencil didn't seem to want to cooperate ...yes it was the pencil that was the issue I'm almost sure of it. :P  And don't even get me started on the coloring issues...there is ALWAYS coloring issues.

Colored in PhotoShop...this program knows what I want it to do but it never listens. :P

But here I am, still in one piece and the fourth Winston and Baum cover is looking pretty awesome if I do say so myself. :D 

Here it is, Winston and Baum and the Trials of the Baba Yaga. 

The 4th book is available for pre-order on the kindle and should be available in paperback very soon. Get all his Novels and short stories on Amazon via his website.

So very proud of my hubby. Love you Seth! :)

Thanks for reading! 

~Caralyn 

First Time Wood Burning Experience

My husband and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this past weekend. We like to stick to the "traditional" wedding anniversary gifts and this year was wood. So off to Michael's Art Stores to pick up a little wooden box, they aren't expensive and they come in several different styles. The one I got was specifically chosen to hold my husband's Bicycle playing cards collection. Originally I was planning to just draw all over the box with a Sharpie but as I walked past the wood burning tools, I was intrigued to give it a try. They didn't have too many tools to choose from so I purchased the least expensive one, I'm sure there are much better quality burning tools but as a first time user, I wanted to make sure I would enjoy it before spending alot. So now that I had my tool and my canvas, it was time to go home and see if I was going to create art or burn the house down :D

After carefully reading the user directions and making sure I was following the safety tips, such as wearing gloves, I was ready to test out my new toy. I started with a small box I purchased just for the testing of my burning tool. 

Holding the tool takes a bit to get used to, you hold it much like you would a pencil, however you are gripping it higher on it's base so it feels slightly awkward, at least it did to me. Touching the tip to the small particle board box and the wood melted away easily leaving a nice black dot. Dragging the tool along I was able to draw, not as smoothly as you would a pencil but without too much difficulty. Before I knew it, my little testing box was covered in my scorched doodles. Now to move on to the gift box.

I was not happy with the little latch that came with the box so I first replaced that with another I was able to purchase in the wood section.

Then I sketched out the picture I would be burning; there is no eraser for the burning tool so I wanted to make sure I knew where my lines would be. 

Burning this box was slightly more difficult than the smaller box, I am not sure, but I think it was due to more knots in the board. But I was still able to fill my little particle board canvas with lots of art work with a small amount of effort. 

Make sure to always wear gloves when working with your wood burning tool, I was thankful I had gloves on when about half way through my work I smelt leather burning and realize I had rested my ring finger on the hot metal of the tool, had I not been wearing my protection that would have been a painful lesson that no one wants to learn.

After my box was covered in my burned designs I stained it. I am sure that the particle board was mostly to blame but the stain washed some of the burned lines off and I had to reburn them. If I had used oak wood or some other type of wood it may not have erased my lines but it was not that difficult to touch up my piece.

My gift was done and my husband loved it and promptly stored his card collection inside.

I loved wood burning and am definitely going to use my new tool again soon :)

Hope you all enjoyed reading about my first wood burning experience that since I didn't set my home on fire I plan to be doing again :D

Thanks!

~Caralyn 

 

Why Hello there 2015 :)

Super Excited for 2015! 
Looking forward to the projects I have planned for this year. I have a whole bunch of new animal pals planned along with plenty more Dragons, not forgetting Steampunk Dragons and Pocket Watches. I have a few more Framed Sculptures that I will be working on and hopefully, I will be able to color the mountains of Sketches I have waiting on me. AND we might be seeing a few of those sketches make their way onto T-Shirts EEP! :D
Also, I have had a lot of you ask about sculpting tutorials so I am planning to do some step-by-step art videos for you, walking you through creating my Dragons and Animal Pals.

Last year I put off some of my commissions, but this year, I should have some of my schedule open up so I can start taking requests again, just message me on FaceBook or email me at mysticreflections@gmail.com 
I am currently working on the art for a fun children’s book, I won’t give you too many details yet but I’m super excited about it and now that the holidays are over, I will be able to put more time into it. I’ll try and post plenty of progress photos along the way :) 

If things go as planned, you will be seeing a lot more from Mystic Reflections. Can’t wait to see what this year brings! :D

Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn 

Dragon Pal Doodles

Realized I forgot to keep posting the Dragon Pal Doodles for all of my Blog readers, so that is what today’s Blog is all about. Here’s the little guys I have finished so far but I have plenty more planned and being colored :)

Thank you all for reading, keep checking my blog and Facebook for updates on my work.

~Caralyn

Fairest Blog of them all :P

Really Love how these sketches came out. The idea came to me, after I did the Steampunk Dorothy and Wicked Witch sketches, to do a Steampunk Snow White and the Wicked Queen. Gave the Wicked Queen a Steampunky mirror in the back and Snow White a sort of rustic looking backdrop with roses. Working on coloring both of these, hopefully before Dragon Con in September.

Also working on a few new sculptures so keep checking my blog and FB for updates.

Thanks for reading.

~Caralyn

Helloooooooo Operator!

Enjoyed doing the “Mind if I smoke” Steampunk girl sketch from last week so much, I decided to do another one…and I am planning at least more. :)

I call her “Hello Operator”

Funny side note….I googled “old phones” for reference material for this sketch, so I could get the telephone right, but Google mostly brought up slide cell phones and flip phones.

Considering I still have an “old” cell phone, I realized, if Google is calling me old now, it must be official LOL

I am going to be doing a few more sketches so keep checking my blog for updates.

Thanks for reading.

~Caralyn

This one's for the Birds

Good Afternoon Everyone! So I haven’t accomplished much arting this month with the move'n'all but since we are finally getting settled into our new home, I should be able to start on it soon. I’m really looking forward to sculpting again.

Anyway I did find a few minutes of free time (during work, don’t tell Shhhh :P) to sketch a couple new ideas. It will probably be sometime before I can add color to them but I really think they came out cute. I would like to do a few more and make this a small series of pieces. I’m thinking of calling them “Bird Watchers” for obvious reasons :)

Thanks for reading, keep checking my blog for updates.
~Caralyn

Back to Work Until New Years!

Good Morning Everyone,
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas.
Now that I’m back at work for a few days until New Years, I decided to post the next group of “SkyBirds” I finished before the Holidays. I think this one is my Favorite just because she came out looking so relaxed.
First link is the sketch I did on Backing Board, Pencil and then went over the lines in ink.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=201883352&albumID=1828666&imageID=33392102

Next I painted it with Water Colors
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=201883352&albumID=1828666&imageID=33392103

Finished, sorry the picture is a little blurry but I will scan it later.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=201883352&albumID=1828666&imageID=33392104
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for looking.
~Caralyn

Look Ma, NO HANDS!

Hello Friends!

Yes I know, I haven’t been posting anything for you recently but I’ve been busy…or as most people call it lazy. But so you don’t think I have abandoned you I have been working on a brand new picture that I finished last night and made sure to have it ready to post today. Ya know it’s just cause I love you so much :)
Anyhoo about the picture. So I usually sketch a picture on paper, ink it and then scan it into the computer to add the color. With this one I actually started it in MS Paint Brush…then transferred it to PhotoShop, yep pencil never touched paper with this bad boy…Don’t know why, probably because I was drawing it at work and it is easier to look busy when working on the computer :D Not sure why I found that little tidbit so fascinating, but I’ve shared it with you all and I hope you enjoyed it.
Whelp on to the main event, I call it Wounded Angel for now, I’m still thinking about that title.
Let me know what you think.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=201883352&albumID=1475118&imageID=32398681

Thanks for looking, I have started arting it up again so I’ll be posting more, Keep checking my blog for updates.
~Caralyn

How It's Going so Far...

Hey Everyone,
As you probably know I have been working on a Large Fantasy Painting for Dragon Con. This is a picture that I have been drawing and redrawing since I was a child. In all I have done this picture 4 times, it started out a small picture on notebook paper, then redrawn on 8x10 printer paper. The last one was about 11x17 colored and laminated then given to my mother as a present, not sure if she kept it but no matter because I’m doing it again. This time It is about a 30x24 piece and is the 2nd largest painting I’ve ever done so I’m kinda nervous as to how it will turn out.
I told you all I would keep you up dated on my progress so I included a few pictures so you can see how it is coming along.
Okay first I started with sketching a few of the creatures I wanted to have on it. I arranged the sketches on the canvas and once I had them where I wanted them I drew them on the canvas its self. After tracing over the lines in ink I started to paint the largest part of the whole painting…the Dragon…Ooooooo. I’m using a dark oil/acrylic paint to shade the dragon but once the shading is done I will paint over it in red.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=201883352&albumID=1828666&imageID=29568590

I have a few more pictures to post as I finish so keep checking my blog for updates.
Thanks for looking.

~Caralyn

All Work and No Play Makes Caralyn a Dull Girl

Hiya!
Oh Boy, I’m so excited about a new picture I started sketching at work when I was supposed to be taking calls…don’t tell my boss. It started out as just a doodle but as I was drawing, the idea came to me. It’s nowhere near ready for scanning so I’m not going to ruin the surprise by telling you what it is…Okay no need to twist my arm I’ll tell you :)
It’s my rendition of Arwen and Aragorn from “Lord of the Rings”. I drew an Elf woman in a silk looking dress and a rugged man with a cloak. He is sort of embracing her. At first I was just drawing a girl but she turned into an elf. My sketches usually end up taking on a fantasy/si-fi feel because…well because, who doesn’t love si-fi and fantasy! Then I added the man, I went through a few different drafts with him. I thought about making him a vampire but I’ve already done that with my Vampire & Nymph drawing I did a couple years back. I try not to duplicate too much. After a few moments of pondering is when I got the idea. I really think it’s coming along nicely. I still have a few more details to add before I can ink it and my work always seems to turn into something else, so when I’m finished it probably will be completely different but for now it is a human/elf couple.
Well I’m going to add it to the pile of things I’m working on…that never seems to get smaller… cause I keep adding to it.

Back to work…or not,
~Caralyn