Sometime Around Midnight

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for all the support in 2012, and you can look forward to lots of exciting new artwork and BIG news announcements in 2013!

Feliz Ano Novo a todos! Obrigada pelo apoio em 2012, e vai ter muito mais arte e boas notícias em 2013!

There and Back Again

With a couple weeks left to go until the release of the first "Hobbit" movie, I'm starting to get excited. For all my fears of it being broken into a trilogy (how many zombies did Peter Jackson shoe-horn into THIS one to stretch it out for three movies?), this is an adaptation of my favorite book of all time, produced by a film cast and crew who made one of my favorite film trilogies of all time, so I'm choosing to go in optimistic. 

"The Lord of the Rings" films, flaws and all, are very near and dear to me. I loved the books, of course, but the films came out at a time when I was in art school, studying to tell stories through my illustrations (at the time, I expected I would go into conceptual design...this was before I realized every illustrator my age wanted that job, and most of them were male and drew the way everyone expected of conceptual designers). And suddenly here was this series of art-rich movies to inspire me. So, it makes sense that as another story of Middle-earth is coming to the big screen, the excitement shows up in my sketchbook. 

(I mean, I'm certainly too old to go to the premiere in costume this time... ;) ) 

Exploding Pens?

It figures the first piece of "Skyfall" art I'd draw wouldn't be of 007 himself, or of a sexy Bond girl...but of the new, skinny, nerdy-hot Q, played by Ben Whishaw. Because we all know I'm a sucker for skinny nerds. 

After the Storm

Just added this new drawing of my favorite X-Man(woman!), Storm, to my Etsy store today. 100% of the sale of this piece will be donated to the Red Cross relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. And if the X-Men aren't really your thing, during the entire month of November, I'll donate 15% of all other sales on my Etsy shop as well. 

Please share, repost, and retweet! 

Autumn News

My favorite season is here! Sort of! OK, so it's LA, and fall means it'll be in the low 70s today. But I'll be wearing scarves and boots and drinking pumpkin spice lattes all the same.

Apologies for neglecting the blog in recent weeks. I've had some very, very good news which I can't announce yet, but I can say it's keeping me very busy doing the thing I love most of all.

Please check back here, on Twitter, and on Facebook in the next few days as I will be posting some new artwork for sale on Etsy to raise funds to donate to Hurricane Sandy relief. I have so many good friends on the East Coast (most of them in New York and New Jersey) who are all thankfully OK and many even still have power, but so many people were not nearly so lucky. You guys get fabulous artwork, they get much needed aid. 

Also! As Halloween is over, and it is now officially "Christmas" according to the advertising industry...that means it's gift time, and I am open for taking commissions in the next two months! So if you want to request a custom-made piece of artwork for someone special (or for yourself), now is the time to let me know. Black and white one character sketches are $30, color (markers) is $40-50, add $15 for each additional character. Full illustrations are priced based on complexity so email me with what you want and I can give you an accurate quote. 

Beijos!

O-Ren Ishii

"Now if any of you sons of bitches got anything else to say..."

Zorg

October's theme is villains! So next up is another sci-fi baddie, the awesome Gary Oldman as Zorg from "The Fifth Element".

Resistance Is Futile

 A random doodle tonight of one of my favorite sci-fi film villains, the Borg Queen from "Star Trek: First Contact". 

Routine

Run.

Draw.

Sleep...and repeat.

Medo do Mar

A little bit of my process here, working from super rough thumbnail scribble to tighter layout...pencils soon. :)

Last Breath

Work in progress, which I finished inking today while waiting for some client feedback. :) This was good brush inking practice! 

Avengers Assemble

Two brand new sketches from "The Avengers" for you today! These and my earlier Avengers drawings are now available on my Etsy store...except Tony Stark, who was already spoken for before I even had a chance to post him. ;)

Shadow

Iemanjá

I'm Always Angry

Better

These busy couple of weeks have kept me from my sketchbook, and from the blog! Today's random doodle is brought to you by a morning spent in the juror assembly room. :)

Black Widow

The First Avenger

Iron Man

No, I don't know what that thing is he's tinkering
with. It's a sketch. Get over it.

Under the Milky Way

Here Comes The Bride

A little bit of classic horror today...this piece was a request, and the timing was fairly interesting. Without giving too much away, I can say that I've been watching the original James Whale "Frankenstein" films for inspiration for an upcoming project. ;)

As You Wish

Warm-up sketch inspired by, of course, "The Princess Bride", which I saw again for the umpteenth time over the weekend. This one's up on my Etsy store now too!

Letras

I draw a great deal of inspiration from the music I listen to. Even my warm-up drawings or my sketchbook doodles are sometimes pulled from the lyrics of various songs...whatever brings an image to mind.

You Look So Fine...

...I want to break your heart and give you mine.

My Etsy Store is NOW OPEN!

Bom dia!

A quick post this morning to let everyone on this blog know that some of the drawings you've admired over the last few months can now be purchased from my Etsy store! For sale right now are several original drawings that debuted on this blog. If you had a favorite piece (Zou Bisou Bisou, anyone?), here's your chance to own it for yourself at Megan Levens Art.

I'll be constantly adding to the shop with prints, paintings, and possibly comic pages as well. I'm also available for commission work, so if I haven't yet drawn your favorite character...just ask and you shall receive.

Beijos!

Come Fly With Me

It figures my first piece of fan art from "The Dark Knight Rises" would be of Selina Kyle, and that it wouldn't even be of her in her Catwoman suit...but rather, in her fabulous airport outfit. I want that hat!

Cosmic Love

Random sketchbook doodle today...it's a little bit classic Star Trek, a little bit classic sad Megan girl. 

SDCC

Comic-Con! My Twitter feed and Facebook page have been lit up with news, events, and photos from San Diego already this week. This is actually the first year since I moved to California that I haven't gone to SDCC.

There's a lot to love about a gathering of like-minded geeks and talented artists in one space. I always somehow talked myself into going year after year because I knew I would see friends there that I almost never see otherwise. Comic-Con, for me, was a big reunion, and for that, it was worth the crowds, the smells, the angry pen-wielding Harry Potter fans, and spending a year's vacation budget on a hotel room only to sleep on the floor.

This year, it just got too big, and all of those people I went every year to see decided not to go. So this was the year that I stayed home too. Especially after the extreme drama of last year's event, I'm relieved to be at home and in my normal routine.

But, in the spirit of Comic-Con, here are some of my sketchbook entries from last year's tumultuous SDCC weekend. :-)

Burguesinha

Finished the colors up. This is a little more muted and flat than my coloring tends to be, but I kind of like it. What do you think?

Happiness Hit Her Like A Bullet In The Back

Sometimes, a wonderful thing can actually just end up nearly killing you.

You Can Stand Under My Umbrella-ella-ella...

This has been a backburner piece for a while, but I finally finished up the colors for my "Only Happy When It Rains" illustration.

Home

I just got back from a few days visiting my parents back home in Missouri. It was my dad's birthday, and I needed a change of scenery before LA made me crazy. (OK, crazier.) I never do much drawing when I'm home, but I managed a few sketches of some of the wildlife during this last visit.

WIP: Copacabana

Finished inks on a piece I've been sneak-peeking on Twitter and Facebook. In what passes for my free time, I'm revisiting my story "Somewhere In Between", and this image is intended to be the cover. Brazilian readers, or anyone who has been to Rio, will recognize this as the sidewalk pattern along Avenida Atlântica in Copacabana. (My friends will recognize it as that crazy wave design that Megan draws whenever she's feeling homesick for Rio.)

Color coming soon!

The Artist

Tonight's wind-down sketch is one of my favorite images from the movie "The Artist". You never realize how few neutral tone markers you have until you try to do a scene from a black and white film...

Lost

Another birthday drawing for a friend. These two might be the worst pirates ever. I think I've drawn them in various stages of searching for treasure for about three years.

Inanimate Objects

After a busy week and a half, today's workload has lightened just enough to let me scan a few sketchbook doodles from various café sessions this month. Time permitting I may have some fun drawings after this weekend to share. :-)

Birthday Presents

For some reason, it seems the majority of my family and friends' birthdays are in June, and there's an usual concentration of them between the 16th and the 23rd. As a fun sketch after a long day doing storyboards yesterday, I scribbled this one of Joan from Mad Men for one such friend's birthday today. 

Samba e Amor

So, Tuesday (June 12) was Brazil's version of Valentine's Day, Dia Dos Namorados. As a little nod, I collected a bunch of sketches and art of the two main characters from my webcomic "Somewhere In Between"...hopeless romantic gringa Molly and her Brazilian love interest, Marcelo. Then I got a call that afternoon to do some storyboarding work which kept me busy for the past two days, and is going to stretch into today as well.

This is normally the part where I make some joke about this post being late in classic Brazilian fashion, but seeing as how one of my carioca friends managed to get a birthday gift to me before anyone else (including my own mom), I think it's more accurate to say this post is late in classic Los Angeles fashion...meaning, it started out early to arrive ridiculously late. Blame the traffic. 

Favela 3

Crazy week! But I had time during the "Mad Men" season finale to unwind with a new favela drawing, which I wrapped up last night. If it looks familiar, that's because it's drawn from the same photo I posted in the last entry!

Eu Te Amo, Rocinha

A little bit of fun news about my artwork! DJ Zezinho sent me the link today of a great video that Brazil's largest network, Globo, posted featuring his Spin Rocinha DJ school. I had the chance to meet Zezinho, DJ Ramon, and some of the students while I was visiting Rocinha, and I designed some t-shirts for the students. This video is in Portuguese with no subtitles, but you English speakers can clearly see my t-shirts being worn by the students, and you can see the enthusiasm everyone at the school has for music and their community.

Desde que eu tenha seguidores no Brasil e Portugal também...hoje o DJ Zezinho me mandou esse video sobre a Spin Rocinha escola de DJ na Rocinha, no Rio de Janeiro. Na minha última viagem ao Rio, eu desenhei algumas camisas pros alunos da escola, que vocês podem ver nesse video! Tô com orgulho. :-)

Here are the original drawings I did...Aí vai os desenhos originais que eu fiz:

Beijos!

Zou Bisou Bisou

Today's warm-up sketch. With apologies for getting that song stuck in everyone's head now.