Scholastic Art Contest Golden Key Winner

Fox Fire
Medium: digital painting

An entry for the Scholastic Art. Write. Now. contest.

UPDATE: This piece won regionals (Golden Key) and is going on to nationals!

Traditional Artwork

Stripes
Medium: watercolor paint
Second place winner at Bob Jones University Festival 

Hast Thou Given the  Horse Strength?
Medium: ink calligraphy on tea-soaked paper
Third place winner at Bob Jones University Festival

Lazy Leopard
Medium: acrylic paint

Black Stallion
Medium: watercolor paint

Elemental Lions

Ice
Medium: digital painting

Flame
Medium: digital painting

2014 Artios Christmas Extravaganza

2014 Artios Holiday Extravaganza Poster
Medium: digital graphic design

A poster for Artios' 2014 Christmas Extravaganza performance.

Fox Fire

Fox Fire
Medium: digital painting

I was listening to Let it Defy Gravity and at 2:35, this image popped into my head. I don't know what it has to do with the song, but it was fun so I painted it. In all honesty, I think it was the sound of the music that inspired this, not the lyrics.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat
Medium: digital painting

These three pals have just gone trick-or-treating and it looks like they've already finished off their bucket of booty.

What's your favorite part of Halloween?

Gold's Got Glitz

Cunning Gentleman
Medium: digital painting (Photoshop)

An animal caricature of Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) from ABC's Once Upon a Time. You may not like him, but you've got to admit: he's got style.

Anti-heroes make the most interesting, colorful characters in my opinion. He's like an onion. The more layers you peel away, the stinkier he gets.


Other Once Upon a Time animal caricatures are here:
Forgiving Heart

Nekomata

Kirara
Medium: digital painting (Photoshop)

The nekomata Kirara, because flaming big cats are awesome. Nekomata, sometimes called Split-Tail cats, are a type of cat youkai from Japanese mythology.

Kirara character is copytight Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha.

Cars

Kaitlyn's Car 01
Medium: graphite pencil

Kaitlyn's Car 02
Medium: charcoal

My friend asked me to draw these two cars for her. I don't know nothin' about cars; I don't even know what type of cars these are!

Watercolor Macaws

Snuggly Parrots
Medium: watercolor paint

Happy Year of the Horse!

Zodiac 2014: Year of the Horse
Medium: digital painting



Zodiac 2014: Year of the Horse (kilin)
Medium: digital painting

Zodiac 2014: Year of the Horse (Pegasus)
Medium: digital painting

2014 is the Chinese Year of the Horse! The lantern says (to the best of my knowledge) "horse" in traditional Chinese.

Voyager

Captain Janeway
Medium: graphite pencil

Happy 20th Anniversary, Lion King!

Lion King 20th Anniversary
Medium: Photoshop paint

2014 marks the 20th Anniversary of Disney's The Lion King, which was released in 1994.

The Elvenking

King Thranduil
Medium: Photoshop paint

Every time you leave your campfire burning and it sets a forest on fire, an elf cries. Think of the elves! Protect our forest friends. Only you can prevent wildfires.

Sorry about that. Smokey the Bear popped into my mind when I finally finished this.




The Lord of the Rings and all its relations has always been my favorite story, and I've just realized that I've done precious little Tolkien-related art. I think it may be because I'm afraid I won't do the story or the characters justice. But then I thought, "Peter Jackson changed Thranduil enough. What does it matter if I accidentally change him some more?"

This is J. R. R. Tolkien's character Thranduil, the king of the Mirkwood elves. While the book will always hold a special place in my heart, I do like all three of the movies Jackson has put out. I like almost everything that he added into the story and I like how he brought Legolas into The Hobbit, even though he didn't play a part in the book. I'm sorry if die-hard Tolkien fans are about to become physically ill for hearing such blasphemy, but I like those movies. I also like Tauriel's presence as well. I'm not a huge fan of the romance between her and Kili (that smacked of a decision they made while that one guy was in the bathroom, and was so obviously thrown in just to feed the Kili fangirls), but I did like her presence. Let's be honest, if she hadn't been in it, there would have been no females in that entire movie except for the little girl in Bard's house who screamed at the orc. It kind of needed at least one female.

And then there's Thranduil. Jackson completely changed him, and I thought for sure I wouldn't like it, but I did. (Just so we’re all on the same page: I like Thranduil’s character, but I’m not a Thranduil fangirl.) I like both Tolkien and Jackson's versions. In this picture I tried to combine the two. I wanted to show the softer, "less wise" Thranduil of the book, and the hard-core, emotionally scarred Thranduil of the movie.


I mean, come on! He's an elf, which is awesome, and he's a king, which is awesome, so he's awesome + awesome, and… and…

What does that even equal?

"King Thranduil" detail
Medium: Photoshop paint

A close-up of the eyes, because eyes are fascinating and fun to paint. I painted them in a moving car. I should be proud of myself.

Elemental Flame

Fire
Medium: Photoshop paint

This girl is on FIRE!

Oh gosh, where did that come from? I don't even like that song. "Looks like a girl, but she's aflame..." Well, if it's not a girl, what is it? A bug-eyed alien?

Anyhow, this is the elemental flame lioness to go along with my elemental ice lion. He was lonely and wanted a mate. I think he got more than he bargained for. Ice Lion can be found here: http://kristengracehall.blogspot.com/2014/04/sparklelion.html

What does the... NO

Watch Eyes

Medium: colored pencil

Won first place in the Drawing category at Bob Jones University's 2013 High School Festival.

Christ

Christ
Medium: Photoshop paint

Sparklelion

Ice
Medium: Photoshop paint

This is a concept of an elemental Ice Lion. I was doodling, and he happened.

Layouts

Profile page layouts for an online game called Howrse.com.

Rocky River Horses

Rachel101's page

Cityscapes

Rome, Italy
Medium: Photoshop paint

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Medium: Photoshop paint

London, U.K.
Medium: Photoshop paint

Model Horse Customs

There's a form of art called customization, which is where the artist takes an already-existent toy, figurine, or something along those lines, and repaints it, sometimes re sculpting parts of it along the way. However, the artist must always give credit to the original sculptor, seeing as it's the sculptor's art as well.

Braided Bay Paint
Medium: acrylic paints on toy horse (1:9 scale)

Frosty Appy
Medium: acrylic paints on toy horse (1:12 scale)

Pearlescent Black Unicorns
Medium: acrylic paints on toy horses (1:12 scale)

Spirit and Rain
Medium: acrylic paints on cake topper horses (1:32 scale)

Tessellation

Bears
Medium: Photoshop paint

This is a simple tessellation: when a shape is repeated several or many times with no gaps or empty spaces in-between. Another name for tessellation is tiling.

Phantom Stallion

The Phantom
Medium: Photoshop paint

The Phantom Stallion series, by Terri Farley, was probably my favorite book series when I was younger, and I still enjoy them now! The stories center around Samantha Forster, who lives in Nevada, and her adventures with her friends and family, and the animals she lives with, including the wild Mustangs, her favorite of which is the Phantom, a wild silver stallion that she raised as a colt.

Romulan

Devious
Medium: Photoshop paint

Q

Q is Foxy
Medium: Photoshop paint

An animal caricature of Q from Star Trek's The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine. Q is one of my favorite characters, even if he is the most irritating out of the bunch!

"Me?? Such villainous actions, one could hardly suspect me, mon capitaine!"

Traditional drawings

From a Low Angle
Medium: pen and ink

Portrait
Medium: charcoal

The Pink Unicorn
Medium: marker

Crouched
Medium: pen and pink

Elli Mae
Medium: pen and ink

Horse Eye
Medium: graphite pencil

 

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Love Found Us
Medium: Photoshop paint

Although this movie is not realistic and people have used it to create some pretty strange ideas, I still enjoy it! The plot is simple, but it's a kids' movie after all. I think the animation is some of the most beautiful I've seen, and not just because it's horses. The blend of still art, CGI, and hand-drawn animation is lovely. Hans Zimmer's soundtrack may not have been the best he's done, but it worked very well for the movie, and it's still a fun soundtrack on its own. The only screen play thing I would have changed would be fewer close-ups of eyeballs. In the end, it's a kids' cartoon and should be treated as such, but it's still a fun movie! I'd love to hear your opinion of it.

Characters copyright Dreamworks.

Save the Mustangs

Stampede into Oblivion
Medium: Photoshop paint

This is a piece I made about BLM Mustang roundups. The BLM rounds up free-roaming Mustangs in the western U.S. states in order to reduce their population. The BLM believes the Mustangs to be overpopulated and tells the public that they are starving. However, when unbiased facts are brought into the question, a different story emerges.

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13511&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nationalacademies%2Fna+%28News+from+the+National+Academies%29

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13511

Mustangs, although not native to the U.S. are not a major invasive species. There is no doubt that Mustangs are eating endangered plants. However, other, native wildlife, such as elk, deer, and rabbits eat those same plants. Mustang advocates are surprised at the apparent narrow-mindedness of many anti-Mustang groups: all herbivores are eating the plants, but only Mustangs are targeted as invasive. Thus the question arises: we know that Mustangs existed in populations much, much larger than they do now, and that native wildlife lived comfortably alongside them, including plants and animals that are now endangered, so what has changed? What has caused horses and wildlife to move into and graze in areas that they didn't inhabit before?

Fortunately, the answer is clear as to what has changed: cattle. Domestic cattle and sheep number around 4 million on public lands. They outnumber Mustangs 50 to 1 in most states, and 200 to 1 in others. That's 3 million more than there ever were of Mustangs on those same lands, and 160% more than the modern Mustang population. The huge cattle and sheep populations have pushed out native wildlife and Mustangs, displacing wildlife and causing them to live in and eat plants that are unnatural for them to eat. Although cattle are rotated seasonally, there are still millions on the land at any given time. Even when a space of land is evacuated, it is typically so run-down that wildlife do not move back into it. Thus, cattle move back and keep the land as their own. Even though it's clear that cattle greatly outnumber Mustangs and are also forcing Mustangs and other wildlife into unnatural and often inhospitable areas, anti-Mustang groups continue to argue that Mustangs, not cattle, are the true invasive animal. They say that because Mustangs are non-native, that they are automatically invasive. However, they completely ignore an enormous factor in the equation: cattle and sheep, the other non-native species. It's not logical to ignore the more abundant, newer, non-native animal and choose to accuse the rarer non-native animal that has lived in North America for hundreds of years longer, and also lives in populations much, much smaller than it used to, back when the ecology of the land was relatively harmonious. Since Mustang populations are lower than they ever have been, it's not logical to pin all the blame on them. The main cause of degradation to public lands is cattle and sheep, not Mustangs. Cows graze within a mile of water, often standing in it until the water is so soiled it’s unusable for some time, while wild horses are highly mobile, grazing from five to ten miles from water, at higher elevations, on steeper slopes, and in more rugged terrain. Horses and donkeys also have solid hooves which don’t tear apart the earth nearly as much as a cow’s cloven hoof. A congressionally-mandated study by the National Academy of Sciences found that wild horse forage use remains a small fraction of cattle forage use on public ranges. Private livestock outnumber wild horses at least 50 to 1 on public lands. (4 million cattle and sheep > 25,000 Mustangs.)

 

Mustangs also don't pose much of a threat to cattle ranchers as studies have shown that even after massive roundups, the land is not much improved for cattle, if it is improved at all. On top of that, there are so few Mustangs in the wild now that they simply can't out-graze and starve domestic cattle.

 

Mustangs are not the main cause of damage to rangelands. The main cause of degradation of public lands is livestock use, not Mustangs. Cows graze within a mile of water, often standing in it until the water is so soiled it’s unusable for some time, while wild horses are highly mobile, grazing from five to ten miles from water, at higher elevations, on steeper slopes, and in more rugged terrain. Horses and donkeys also have solid hooves which don’t tear apart the earth nearly as much as a cow’s cloven hoof. A congressionally-mandated study by the National Academy of Sciences found that wild horse forage use remains a small fraction of cattle forage use on public ranges. Private livestock outnumber wild horses at least 50 to 1 on public lands. (4 million cattle and sheep > 25,000 Mustangs.)

 

The idea that Mustangs are starving is a well-believed lie propagated by the BLM to rally people to their cause. The truth is that on average, Mustangs are not starving and many are fat. Despite federal protection, wild horses have been relegated to the most inhospitable areas of the range. Still, they have adapted and survived. Wildlife biologists in Mustang areas frequently photograph and watch Mustangs. They say that the majority are in good condition and there are always fresh horse hoof prints around the waterholes. Also, how could the Mustangs be starving when the land they are being removed from can feed over 4 million domestic cattle and sheep?

 

The few Mustangs that are starving are starving because their food and water has been fenced off for cattle. There is more than enough public land to comfortably house all the Mustangs and an appropriate number of cattle. At the time being, cattle outnumber Mustangs 50 to 1. There are currently more than 3,000,000 beef cattle on public grazing lands, around 1,000,000 sheep on publics grazing lands, and fewer than 25,000 Mustangs on all American wild lands combined. Grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a right, and can be taken away. But while Mustangs are being squeezed out of their legal lands and managed to extinction, no one is managing the ranchers. Occasionally natural disasters such as droughts and floods will take away graze or water and special action needs to take place, but that’s relatively rare.

 

America does not need more cattle. The fact that Americans like beef is irrelevant to the Mustang debate considering that America throws away tons (using the actual measurement of weight) of beef every year. In addition, cattle on public lands shared with Mustangs contribute an whopping 3% of America's beef consumption. Wildlife and cattle are killed for nothing but rancher and government greed. Instead of pouring more money and land into the beef industry, the economic response would be to find an alternative outlet for ranchers seeking more profit.

 

BLM helicopter roundups are inhumane. The BLM only allows the public to view carefully-staged roundups where a few horses are trotted into a pen. The other roundups are often photographed and documented by undercover or lucky individuals, and they can be shocking to behold. Horses are frequently killed during roundups. Helicopters drive entire herds (including pregnant mares and newborn foals) at the speed of a flying helicopter over land deemed too rough for vehicles. As I have young and/or sensitive watchers, I won't post more on the violence of BLM helicopter roundups here, but if you would like to learn more you could visit my Mustang website (savethemustanghorses.blogspot.com) or you could Google "BLM Mustang roundup results." Not all the information on Google will be accurate, but a lot of it is.

 

BLM helicopter roundups are irresponsible. Because the BLM manages Mustangs to such low populations, much lower than the natural carrying limit of the lands, Mustangs work to rebuild their numbers after each roundup. The horses spring back as they would after a natural disaster or plague. In essence, the BLM is triggering an endless population bloom. As the BLM wants to reduce the number Mustangs on the range, they perform more and more roundups, which in turn cause greater and greater population growth. The National Academy of Sciences estimates a population growth of 10-15% each year. With more and more horses being removed each year, the cost of helicopter roundups and caring for the captive Mustangs is skyrocketing. It costs around $100,000 every day to feed the captive Mustangs. It's estimated that it will cost around $80,000,000 by the end of this year to continue rounding up Mustangs. Where does this money come from? Your tax dollars. The BLM is headed for a financial train wreck.

 

Also, by removing horses from the range, the BLM is forcing Mustangs to inbreed, which is destroying the breed. As it is now, around 85% of the Mustangs on the range are below genetic viability. If more genetic information is removed, what will our Mustangs be like in a few years?

 

 

In the end, I have nothing against keeping Mustangs at a manageable number in the wild, but we must do so responsibly. Helicopter roundups are costly, inhumane, and irresponsible. Better approaches would be fertility drugs such as PZP. The BLM allots 70% of its budget to roundups and stockpiling Mustangs (even while the public's demand for Mustangs has hit rock-bottom) and only 6% to fertility drugs and on-the-range management. If you would like to learn more, feel free to visit my Mustang website and read the different pages (listed as links on the right-hand side.) http://savethemustanghorses.blogspot.com/

 

Lion King

Look at the Stars
Medium: Photoshop paint

"Green"

The Green Dragon
Medium: Colored pencil

 

Dartmoor Pony and foal sketch

Dreadlocks
Medium: Charcoal



Frolic Foal
Medium: graphite pencil