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A new world and a new blog!!!  Please visit www.ravenbherrera.tumblr.com for all my new work!

I had originally wanted to do a portrait of someone famous and current. Lady Gaga was a good choice even though I didn't really listen to her music, but after researching for this painting a little, I found out I'm a Gagamaniac!

I did a job for singer/songwriter Derek Smith, based out of Norfolk, Va. He's an amazing guitarist with his first CD "Lifesize". I was lucky to be able to do his cover- http://dereksmithmusic.net First is the original sketch, then the full CD, then the painting full size.

As an attempt to broaden my portfolio range, I've gotten into a little fashion illustration, which I'm reeeally enjoying. What I find so great is that it is allowing me to break away from my usual media routine.

A couple quick heads...

After a moment of getting it together after my traumatic graduation, I am puttin it out there once again- First, a bit of the old and soon to be retired work and portfolio.

This is another for the "Cosmicomics" series. This is of my favorite character for Distance of the Moon, the captain's wife. The main character in the distance loved her, she loved the cousin, but the cousin loved the moon, so she resigned herself to becoming the moon.

Here is another piece for "Cosmicomics", and this chapter was called Sign in Space. It was my favorite chapter in that my brain had to work extra hard to understand it. The basic idea revolved around the first mark ever made, how it became the maker of the mark, and how each mark, or life form is getting lost among the infinity of all other marks. It was a lot of fun.

These two pieces are full page and a spot I did for "Cosmicomics", the chapter called "Distance of the Moon" which I really loved and had a fun time portraying.

I recently returned from a trip to Doha, Qatar. What an experience! I was especially influenced by all the Arabian line work and henna patterns, so I channeled it into one for my crow series.

This is a theatre poster that I did for Kimberly Akimbo. In the play she is fifteen with a fatal disease which makes her age like an old woman. At the climax she goes on a safari and is stopped in the road by a giant hippo, which becomes a metaphor for her disease and how it is the obstacle keeping her from a normal life.

Another one for my crow series. This was done on a new surface for me, yupo paper, very finicky but fun.

These are a spot and double page illustration I did for a fairy tale I wrote. In the story, the mythical spirit of Aurora Borealis is trapped by Winter inside of a glacier. All of the animals of the Arctic are trying to save her, but none make it except a small snow fox, who makes it to the glacier and through his love, he cracks the ice and sets her free. Awwwww.

This image is from a series I did for the story Thumbelina, an appropriate one for me:) In this image she has been lost after being kidnapped by the toads and is floating down the river. She comes upon a school of fish who help her find her way. This one was tough for me, I wanted to distort her figure in a certain way, keeping her torso longer than her feet, and still make it look normal, very hard indeed.

This image was my most successful piece from the series I did for King Grisly Beard, an old Brother's Grimm fairy tale. In the story, the princess is given a number of suitors to choose from, and is urged by her father to pick, however she is spoiled and rejects them all, including a certain grisly king. Later her father forces her to marry the first man to walk through the door, who happens to be a poor farmer, who makes her slave and toil on his farm. After she finally learns the lesson of humility and appreciation, she discovers that her poor farmer is indeed King Grisly Beard, and of course she lives happily ever after.

So, finally I have managed to recoup from the semester and get together most of my images. This was certainly the hardest semester I have had, and rightly so since my work at VCU is almost over. I was mainly focusing on producing a children's book portfolio, and enjoyed relaxing my brain into the mostly narrative images. This first one I did for the Richmond Times Dispatch holiday image contest and pulled out third place;). I was featured in the paper, along with a nice little pic of myself, but still haven't seen the 25 bucks I'm due, ha.