rabbit protector

rabbit protector

Earlier this month, Sylvain Reynard announced that a fourth book would be released in The Gabriel Series. The new book–Gabriel’s Promise–will be released later this year, in December! So I thought it would be a great time for another illo inspired by the series…but this time I’ve attempted my interpretation of a character I have not attempted before!

One of Julia’s first interactions with a fellow student upon transferring to the University of Toronto, was with Paul Norris. Even in that first moment in class, he had taken it upon himself to help and be kind to her. To protect her. But as he got to know Julia, and found how much they had in common, his feelings for her grew as well.

So I thought I’d attempt one of several occasions when Rabbit (his affectionate nickname for Julia) had been summoned to the Professor’s office. This time it was prompted after Julia and Gabriel had just engaged in a rather heated ‘discussion’ during class. As always, Paul was quick to insist that he come along and provide any assistance possible. He hated to see Julia upset, and hated it even more when the Professor was the one upsetting her.

Unfortunately, upon arriving at his office, the Professor made it quite clear that he was only interested in speaking with Julia and told Paul to leave. So Paul was forced to wait outside, only imagining the worst, and filled with worry about poor Rabbit. I pictured him initially hovering nearby, and pacing near the door. But eventually Paul would take up residence on a set of stairs…that also happened to have a clear sight line to the Professor’s closed office door. There he would wait…but continue to imagine the worst…

Little did he know what was *really* transpiring inside that office…

-Victoria

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category: Gabriel's Inferno Trilogy, illustration

quiet countdown

a quiet celebration
Ringing in the New Year doesn’t always mean dressing up and going out to big party. Sometimes a quiet celebration at home can provide its own fireworks…😉

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2019!

Happy New Year!🎉

-Victoria

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category: illustration

a new way to create

first sketch using Procreate

Decided to try an iPad Pro out for size using Procreate. It’s a great portable tool to add to the creative arsenal. 😉

I’m really enjoying using it so far, and love how the app records your work! You can watch a process video of the sketch below.

If you’d like to see a few other speedpaints I’ve done, please check out my YouTube channel! Please hit the subscribe button if you enjoy my videos!

Thanks! 😀

-Victoria

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category: miscellaneous, sketch, speedpaint

william watching

 

 

william watching

Often I look at random images online for inspiration to practice sketching. I actually keep several folders full of photos I find interesting. Ages ago I happened upon a photo that immediately made me think of Willam from The Florentine Series written by Sylvain Reynard. Nothing about it had anything to do with the books, but part of the pose and the mood it presented, gave me all sorts of ideas for an illo.

The photo that caught my eye showed a man sort of perched on a fire escape or scaffolding on a building. To better suit William, I changed the background and pose a bit. Instead, I thought I’d put William effortlessly seated on a small ledge on one of the domes towering above the city. This would be a very precarious position for mere humans, but not for William. After bounding from rooftop to rooftop, perhaps he would choose a spot such as this to pause and reflect. This would allow him to silently survey the people and events going on below, or give him a moment to ruminate on his relationship with Raven, and what it could mean to his future as the Prince and the future of the city of Florence.

…so sometimes my imagination gets a little out of hand. 😉 But I had a lot of fun painting this piece!

-Victoria

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category: illustration, The Florentine Series

gift pack giveaway

***UPDATE***

The winner of the Fifty Shades Freed exclusive prize pack (courtesy of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) is:

Lisa Mullenax

Congratulations! 😀

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to enter!

******

 

To help celebrate the May 8th release of Fifty Shades Freed on Blu-ray and DVD, #OfficialFifty members (including myself) have an exciting giveaway to offer everyone!

Fifty Shades Freed DVD, popcorn tin and mugsOne (1) winner will receive an exclusive #FiftyShadesFreed Gift Pack!

PRIZES:

• Fifty Shades Freed Unrated on Blu-ray
• Popcorn tin
• Mr. & Mrs. Grey Mugs

all courtesy of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment!

 

ELIGIBILITY:
Giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents ONLY!

 

HOW TO ENTER:

Simply comment on this post by Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 8am PT!
Your full name and email address are required to qualify to enter.

(Don’t worry–the comment form won’t show your email address when you post your comment. But I do need a way to contact you!) Be sure to provide a working email address or an alternate winner will be chosen.

note: comments must be approved by the site administrator (in order to prevent spam.) Comments may not appear immediately after you post. Please do not post repeatedly if your comment does not show up right after you comment.

One entry per email address, please!

 

The winner will be chosen at random from all qualified entries received, and will be contacted by noon (12pm) PT on Wednesday, May 9, 2018.

AGAIN, PLEASE MAKE SURE TO SUPPLY A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS AND RESPOND PROMPTLY. IF THERE IS NO RESPONSE BY 11:59PM PT ON WEDNESDAY MAY 9, A NEW WINNER WILL BE SELECTED.

Be sure to follow #OfficialFifty on all social media to find other #OfficialFifty members also offering this wonderful giveaway! You are free to enter as many of the contests as you wish!

Good luck to everyone! 🙂

 

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category: Fifty Shades of Grey

Chaos Commission

chaos commission
So excited to share a new illo that the very sweet and wonderful Jennifer Locklear commissioned me to create, based on a scene from her new book, Chaos! This new release is actually the second book from her Constellation series! She was very kind, and had also commissioned me to interpret a scene from the first book when it debuted in 2016!

I’ve had so much fun being able to paint Kathleen and Jack! For this scene from Chaos, the two of them are just about to share a quite intimate moment…unbeknownst to the photographer standing just a couple of feet away! 😉

Find out what happens, and learn more about these two, when Chaos is released on May 17! You can also pre-order now by clicking HERE!

I really hope you all check out Jennifer’s new book and her entire series!

-Victoria

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category: commissions, illustration

chesterfield & chocolate

chesterfield and chocolate

Over time during the Fifty Shades Trilogy, the ways in which the Playroom–or the ‘Red Room of Pain’ as Ana preferred to call it– evolved in the way it was viewed and utilized. Initially Christian hesitantly introduced it to a rather shocked Ana. Subsequent visits had their ups and downs (to put it lightly.) But interestingly, the use of the room wasn’t always for the obvious reasons, as in one instance when Ana cleverly used it as a hideout (and quite successfully, to Christian’s chagrin!) 😉

So, I thought it would be fun to imagine the Playroom being part of the Grey’s Valentine’s Day celebration! I’ll let you all imagine what came about before this scene (heehee) but eventually the two of them find themselves on the Oxblood Chesterfield couch, enjoying some chocolates! (Probably very safe to assume they would need to take a break and replenish some energy with some delicious candy!) The room encompasses everything about indulgence, so decadent treats would be more than appropriate!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

-Victoria

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category: Fifty Shades of Grey, illustration

dipping into the new year

dipping into the new year

Oops! Forgot to post this New Year’s Day illo! I had posted it on my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages, but forgot to post it here! 😧

It’s a few days late, but hope everyone has a very healthy and happy 2018! 😀

-Victoria

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category: illustration

bits & pieces 5

man in city

Time got away from me again and I have lots of pieces that I haven’t posted here, but have shared on my TwitterFacebookInstagram and Tumblr pages.

This first illo is a quickie that was unintentionally inspired by the ‘Men in Cities’ series, by artist, Robert Longo. I wanted to do a quick practice piece and was aimlessly looking for reference photos to inspire me. For some reason I felt like sketching men in suits, but in dynamic motion or flying through the air. As I started to draw I remembered Longo’s artwork. I’ve always loved that series!

 

cheesecake

Even though Thanksgiving (and all the eating that goes with it) had just passed, I found myself craving cheesecake very badly. So instead of indulging…I decided to paint a piece of cheesecake instead! 😂 I know…not nearly as satisfying, but it also contained far fewer calories! 😉

 

naptime over

During the holiday season, I’m able to share lots of great specials in my shop. But to break up the string of sale posts, I did a quickie illo of this sleepy fellow. 😉 I imagined him awakening after I had put him to sleep with all the previous posts. heehee

 

lean

I felt like attempting to illustrate a figure in a static pose, which still gave a sense of movement due to the angles of the body. I stumbled upon photo ref for a portion of the upper body pose, but made up the rest for this piece!

 

quick girl sketch

One evening I intended to try out a new Photoshop technique…but got sidetracked and ended up with this quick sketch instead!

 

golden girl

I’m constantly trying to paint faster and use more loose brush strokes, to prevent an over rendered look. To practice, I found a photo to use as reference and created this piece. Changed a few details here and there, and wanted to test out painting gold jewelry. Most of it was completed fairly quickly, but then I got sidetracked and came back to it a few days later and finished the hair. 😊

There are quite a few more, but I’ll stop here for now! I hope to post rough sketches, quickie illos and other random art pieces more frequently on my social media accounts. To keep up-to-date and see everything as I post them online, it’s as easy as following any of my social pages. All the links to my Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and even my YouTube page are at the top of the right sidebar of this site. Just click any icon any you’ll be taken straight to my page! But as always, I will make sure to post them here eventually as well!

Will post more bits & pieces soon! 😉

-Victoria

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category: bits and pieces, illustration, sketch

the final chapter

The #FiftyShadesFreed trailer debuted today!

If you haven’t yet seen it, or would enjoy seeing it all again, you’re in luck! You can watch it right here, courtesy of #OfficialFifty!

Fifty Shades Freed opens in theaters in the US on February 9, 2018, but advance tickets are on sale now! Order yours by clicking HERE!

Plus, here’s one more treat, brought to you by #OfficialFifty…a new movie poster!

Enjoy!

fifty shades freed poster

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category: Fifty Shades of Grey