***ODE TO HALESTORM OR CONFESSIONS OF A FANGIRL***

Hey everyone ! 🙂

One of the things I like the most beside watching old Shane Dawson videos, pretending I’m Jimi Hendirx with my electric guitar (but I’m still not able to play with my teeth !) and drawing, is fangirling !

Ok, definition: according to Wikipedia, AKA the-most-reliable-source-in-the-world-and-you-know-it, “(fandom slang) A female fan who is obsessive about a particular subject (especially, someone or something in popular entertainment media).”

I think we all have a fangirl phase but some pull it off better than others haha.

So yeah, I LOVE Halestorm, an amazing americain hard rock band, and I’m one of their fangirls. I listen to their songs litteraly EVERYDAY, but I have good reasons:

From left to right, Joe Hottinger (Lead Guitar), Lzzy Hale (Singing and Rythm Guitar), Arejay Hale (Drums) and Josh Smith (Bass).

1/They rock on stage!

Joe’s guitar solos, Arejay’s energy at the drums, Josh’s groove at the bass and Lzzy super powerful voice are perfect 99% of the time ! I mean, it’s a must for rock bands, to play LIVE (Hi Britney sorrynotsorry ❤) ! They always play live, no tracks, autotune and that’s so refreshing in a world full of technologies designed to artificially improve the artists’ performances.

2/ Their upbeat songs are as good as their ballads !

One of the reasons why listen to their music all the time is that whatever your mood is, there’s always a song for you ! You feel ***flawless like  Beyoncé ? ‘Daughters of Darkness‘, ‘You Call Me a Bitch Like It’s A Bad Thing‘, ‘I Like It Heavy‘ will be perfect ! You feel melancholic ? ‘Familiar Taste Of Poison‘, ‘I’m not An Angel‘, ‘Break In‘ will satisfy you ! There’s a good balance between the ‘Mz Hyde‘ side: badass, confident and super charismatic and the more fragile, sentimental side of their rock ballds. They even won a Grammy Award in 2012 for the best rock/metal performance thanks to ‘Love Bites (So Do I)‘!

Mz Hyde, Lzzy Hale’s badass alter ego. She is for Lzzy what Sasha Fierce is for Beyoncé. (DeviantArt Credit: IceQueen1186)

3/ Their covers are dope !

In addition to their awesome original songs, they have pretty dope covers. My favourite one is the’Bad Romance‘ one, I think it’s the most well-known. By the way, Lzzy’s voice is so deep during the verses of this song that I thought it was a duet with a male singer…until I saw her singing that live !

Other than that their covers of ‘Get Lucky‘ by Daft Punk, ‘All I Wanna Do‘ by Heart, ‘Shoot To Thrill‘ by AC/DC or ‘Empire State of Mind‘ by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are as amazing !

One of Halestorm’s 2 cover EPs

4/ Their bring more fun to rock !

What differenciates Halestorm and other big bands like them (I mean, big in the rock/metal community) is that their rock is much more upbeat ! In opposition to bands such as Evanescence, The Pretty Reckless or In This Moment (bands that I really enjoy, btw ^^) that are very dark when it comes to their lyrics or visuals, Halestorm brought that 80’s vibe à la Joan Jett, Lita Ford or Bon Jovi !

Lzzy Hale (on the left) et Lita Ford (on the right)

5/ LZZY FREAKING HALE !!

And last but not least: Lzzy Hale ! It’s true that she’s very beautiful but she’s also very talented: she has a good vocal technique, her charisma on stage is obvious and she can play the guitar and the piano. It may not seem much to some people, but actually it is, it’s always nice to see female singers that don’t only rely on their appearance to sell records!

Also, she’s very inspiring because she’s a solar woman that embraces her sexiness. She embodies the strong rock chick that can inspire us to be an independent woman ourselves, in today’s society where feminism and girl power are taking over. Moreover, she stands for what she believes in, such as tolerance, pretty recently.

Bonus fact: She has her own signature guitar in collaboration with Gibson ! She has the double neck version in the picture with Lita Ford above and the regular version underneath.

In a nutshell, I think I’m right to fangirl over Halestorm ! I pray to be lucky enough to see them in concert someday

I hope you enjoyed this article and see ya !

Electric guitars & Studded Bracelets !

Pixie McQueen 😉

TAYLOR MOMSEN Portrait Tutorial *ROCK CHICKS*

Hey, Pixie McQueen the boldest fairy of the web, in here!

Well, it’s been a while since I didn’t write anything on this blog (6 months, hum, hum…) BUT, I did stuff, okay !

Taylor Momsen’s Rock Chicks is finally done ! Her hair was awfully hard to draw because it was so messy, and also because it’s platinum blonde. The thing is that platinum blonde hair must be light but also have visible locks to be more realistic ! So I have to admit that her hair is not the most beautiful thing in this portrait !

Despite her hair, Taylor is a very fun singer to draw because she has this sharp look in her eyes that makes a face that could have looked angelic on this picture (delicate face, blonde, curly hair and blue eyes…)

So, here’s the original picture:

On this recent picture, Taylor looks classier than she ever did 😉

I chose this picture because it was black and white and Taylor has this really interesting expression but her messy hair made me hesitate…

STEP 0: SUPPLIES

Since I’m not a professional artist, my supplies are very basic :

–Graphite pencils: HB (medium)/B (dark)/4H (light)

-Black and red pencils for the background

-Pencil sharpener

-Regular rubber+ Kneaded eraser, if you have one (but I don’t so you can draw without it)

– A paper sheet (A for me)

-Optional: Varnish depending on the kind of paper you use

– Something to stump: a stump, a handkerchief… or your finger !

There you are, young blossoming artist ! Ready to draw this super rock portrait !

STEP 1: GUIDING LINES

I started by drawing guiding lines on the picture that I printed to copy them on my sheet, the being A format.  I’m just saying that, I don’t know why but my printer zoomed the picture so the drawing will be zoomed, too.So I drew the lines to have important elements such as eyes, nose, mouth, shoulder,etc… in the right place.

Those lines allow you to keep the right proportions for your drawing.

STEP 2: CONTOURS OF THE FACE

In my opinion, it’s the most difficult step of a portrait. Why ? Because, at this very moment the drawing has to (kinda) look like the original picture, but also look like it has no soul ! But, seriously, I could’ve traced this but I thought it was cheating (and I’m also not 6 anymore…) That said, nothing prevents you to do so if I can’t draw it or if you’ve just started portraits, contours can be rearranged and it’s not the most important, anyway (even if it’s a good basis to start the portrait).

So, no particular technique to draw contours, practice makes perfect. But don’t worry: if you practice on a regular basis, you’ll make it ! 😉

STEP 3: THE EYES, WELL… THE ONLY ONE SHE HAS HERE !

On this picture, we only see Taylor’s left eye, the right on is hidden by her (huge) hair, will be represented by shadows to suggest it through it.

For the right eye I used my three pencils:

-4H for contours, first grey layer on her eyelid, iris and shadows on her eyeball.

-HB for shadows around the eye (skin), first grey layer on her pupil, eyelashes, eyebrows, and also to give more depth to the shadows of the eyeball and to the eyelid, as well as the second layer on the iris.

-B to darken the pupil, the external contour of the iris, a little bit on the eyebrows as well as eyelashes and eyeshadow.

STEP 4: THE MOUTH

For her mouth, have to admit that teeth are still difficult to draw for me, so I decided to ignore them and to fill in the mouth with with my B pencil (not literally !)

Then, her lipstick is kinda light so I only used 4H and HB, respectively for the fist layer and then the second layer as well as shadows. I use 4H to draw the curvy “lines” we have on our lips to give them more volume and realism.

Also, I drew her mole with the B pencil, you must not forget détails because they are the ones that allow you to catch the likeness the most possible ! 😉

About the skin around her mouth, at this moment you just have to draw her chin drawing a little curve under her lower lip, shading it with your HB pencil.

STEP 5: SKIN PART 1: THE BACKGROUND, THE FIRST LAYER

For this first layer, we’re gonna color her skin lightly with 4H pencil to have a basis to draw the shadows later. We can already start to lightly draw the lighter and darker places of the skin, so we’ll have marks for the rest. I also started to color her black jacket with B, but we’ll need more layers of grey for it to be dark enough. I also rounded her face a little bit because I thought it looked to angular.

By the way, don’t forget her neck ! =)

STEP 6: THE HAIR: PART 1

As a said at the beginning of the tutorial, Taylor’s hair is HARDCORE to draw for two reasons:

1/ It’s platinum blonde

2/ It’s messy as hell !

First, I think platinum blonde is the hardest hair color to copy in drawings. Indeed, this color is light kind of yellow that, ironically must not be to yellow…The thing is that I didn’t find a solution to this problem for the moment…

Then, when you have to draw platinum hair in black and white, you have to use a very light shade of grey but to also have  a strong relief to make the hair more realistic. For that purpose, you must draw “guiding” locks to draw the movement of the hair with your HB pencil on a basis lightly colored with your 4H pencil. After that, you must “draw” locks with your rubber to enlighten the hair.

Personally, I’ve been loosely inspired by the hair of the picture because copying it excatly would’ve been way too hard for me.

Also, you can already darken her roots with your HB pencil, but we’ll make them even darker in the second part.

STEP 7: END OF THE PORTRAIT: SKIN & HAIR PART 2 + BACKGROUND

Yes, I could’ve divided this in two, even three parts but I forgot to scan the drawing…=X

FOR HER SKIN: Taylor’s skin is light so no need to color it entierely a second time ! Bu we have to darken the shadows and erase the lightest parts of her face and then stump that, to make it more realistic. HB will be enough for shdows.

By the way, don’t forget her neck (again !)

FOR HER HAIR: Taylor’s hair is as light as her skin, so, same, we’ll draw locks with our HB pencil, then erase it, stump it, draw it, erase it, stump it, draw it, etc… Until you get to the right result !

FOR THE BACKGROUND: You just have to hatch the background with the color you want (black and red for me).

At last, you just have to sign, date and (if you want) give a title to your work of art !

IN CONCLUSION:

TADAAA! =D

I’m kind of satisfied with the result, even I wanted the hair to look better ! It isn’t my most lifelike portrait yet but I thought it was interesting to add my own unique touch of human craft because it makes the portrait one of a kind and it reflects my point of view on the picture !

BONUS: EPIC FAIL OF MY FIRST ATTEMPT

Go ahead and laugh ! xD

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I already have the next Rock Chick in mind !

If you have any idea of a female rocker that I could draw for Rock Chicks or any advice/opinion you can tell me in the comments !

Skillet & Stardust ! =P

Pixie McQueen xx

PS: This tutorial is inspired by another one from the French site Graphit’Art (sorry it doesn’t exists in English :() and thanks to it I progressed a lot ! So you should definetly check it out ! (No sponsoring ;P)

Pink-Haired Girl + Taylor Momsen!

Hey Guys! =D

This drawing wasn’t supposed to be on the blog but I really enjoy it and I had so much fun with the hair especially! 😉

So I wanted to tell you about my new project coming up: ‘Rock Chicks’! As a huge rock fan thinking there are not enough women in the rock genre I wanted to pay a tribute to all those singers/musicians I love! This will be a series of portraits of famous female rockers. I’m gonna start with Taylor Momsen, leader of The Pretty Reckless (and former Jenny Humphrey from Gossip Girl). So I wanted to show you some sketches of her face I started to draw and the real portrait should come as soon as possible!

*Rock
*Black
*Smokey Eyes
*Leather
*Studs
*Messy hair
*Platinum Blonde

Pixie Stardust McQueen =)