End-of-Year AP Showcase!!

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  What's up everyone?  Sorry for no update yesterday; I was still sorta beat coming from my sis's graduation the day before (w/ a splitting sinus pressure headache trying to overcome me when the ceremony began commencing), and was also just somewhat lazy then.  Oops x3.

   Either way, here are a few more alla-primas I did the past week.  This batch as a whole probably isn't as diverse as the previous, but I guess sometimes that happens.  Still some decent ones in there tho, so uhm, let's start...

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     This one is merely a very random loose sketch.  I still had paint left on the palette and like w/ food, I really hate leaving stuff go to waste unless it's just *that* nasty.   Even in that case, I'd rather just sit it outside somewhere for a stray animal to eat..but we all know stray animals have no taste for acrylic paint (can't blame 'em).

    There was no sunset outside when I painted this.  We don't get sunsets like this around my way.  It's a little barren tho; seeing that not much would come of it, I hurried to move on to another piece.  

     Tried another semi-still life, this time of a potato.  By this point I aughta consider doing some light glazing w/ these, altho I'm not sure if glazing is a very suitable practice for an alla-prima.  I'm sure someone out there does it from time to time.

      Also, aughta try some different palettes by this point, sheesh!

 

    This young gent seems to be contemplating a serious issue on his mind.  I didn't think the palette I mixed up would work w/ something like this, but it kinda did.  Don't ever be afraid of risks kids ;)

 

     This one's probably my second-favorite.  I don't think I technically mixed a dark green for the deepest colors on the tree, but the palette was small enough to allow for some blending and harmony if quick enough strokes were done.  Although, I hate the detail up to the top-left.  That didn't work out at all :S.

     My favorite of the group and probably the first real alla-prima "painting" I've done, since it took about as  long as the other five put together (anywhere btwn 50-80 minutes of mixing and painting).  Had to create three (or was it four?) palettes for it, and had absolutely no idea where it was going.  But in the end it all worked out.

      I'll certainly return to do more of these sorts of alla-primas more continuously ;)

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   And that's almost it for the year ya 'll.  I have a suspicion that I'll neglect uploading anymore progress of my Alita picture...

    Until early next year, when it'll be finished up (it'll make for a solid opening statement for 2012 tho).  So far it's going swell, but obviously there's plenty left to get done.  Sadly most of the bulk work won't get done until after the holidays past.  I'll finish up my uploads for this year w/ a request over on dA and uploading a couple more fanart sketches on that site, while I'll pop a festive alla-prima here as a way of saying 'thanks' for all those who've been keeping up w/ me blog and just to celebrate the holidays.  All that'll be tidied up about before Thursday.

     So there we go, another update down.  I'll be spending the rest of the day either gaming or reading.  Oh, and if you get the chance go see Rampart.  Harrelson's always a treat to see, and it's a pretty good movie to boot.  And...that's it x3.  Until l8r in the week everyone, I'll see you around.  Bye.

   

Back To Traditional-SatAftUpdate

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  Good Saturday evening people; I'm going to be playing a lot of Zelda:LTTP over this weekend, and just generally relax down.  It's been a busy week.  Thankfully this past Thursday I got an urge to once again pick up my acrylics, b/c quite honestly I've been getting a bit tired of being on the computer all the time for my artwork purposes.  In fact, this could be a turning point in how I carry my art out forward for the foreseeable future.

  Truly, I'd rather not talk much about it, but let's just say I'm nowhere near done w/ my traditional painting yet.  Never said I was, and I really love the sense of 'freeness' it provides.  So, here's a few paintings (alla-primas) I did over the past few days, w/ a very small title and description for them.  The constants in these paintings are, quite simply:

   -Galeria paint:  Crimson, Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Burnt Umber, Mixing White, Titanium White, Ivory Black.  That's it.
   -Paper:  Forget the specific name, but it's Canson brand, likely 200/250gsm, linen sort mainly for watercolor, but obviously I wasn't doing watercolor techs here.
   -Brushes:  Mainly my flat 5, sometimes my short and the fan brush for parts of one picture.

  My goal in doing these was to rediscover my interest w/ traditional painting and my acrylics, which sorta died down a good deal over the summer.  In retrospect it's probably b/c they were a bit beyond me and I was too methodological w/ them.  Maybe I'm too methodological w/ painting in general, so it was a very pleasant break to just grab the brush and lay the strokes where they may.  Each picture follows a basic idea of small palettes, and I did most of the mixing directly on the support.  If I could learn a bit more about how these colors interacted w/ each other and which ones could form good palettes together, I was set.  And that's what's happening.

  The Boy:  The first one done.  Used a three-color palette of Earth hues.  Wasn't focusing on peak retention or strokes as indication of movement and energy.  Reminds me of Ed off Cowboy Bebop x3.

   StaringMan:  3rd one done; flesh tones are always a bitch, but in this case (and for the others) I had a general idea of what colors to pick up on the brush and in how much a load.  Also, since there was no attempt at precision it went pretty well x3.

   Icy World:  2nd done; worked a lot w/ Ivory Black.  Black's usually shunned w/ traditional painting but I'm not stupid and latch onto common myths for the hell of it.  If used sensibly it can work very well for mood.  I'd love to have some Mars Black around to see how these two differ.  Also worked w/ what I would Consider Payne's Grey, and a sort of purple; can't remember exactly which purple I mixed up tho.

   FruitSet:  One of the last done yesterday, really just wanted an excuse to use up the rest of the paint on the palette.  This and the rest below more or less shared the same palette set-up, but that will probably be obvious even w/o me mentioning it. 

   ThatGirl:  I guess these are the same women, different hairstyle notwithstanding.  I like the bottom one much more, just wished I gave her more of a damn face!

   TheBird:  Out of the alla primas here this one's my favorite.  Got to do a lot of neat peak retention tests and use brushstrokes to indicate energy and composition in most details.  That was always an issue w/ me before; using brushes ill-suited for their job, and not playing enough w/ depth.  I'm over that problem now ;).

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  So as you can guess, I have plenty more of these to get around to doing.  If things pan out soon I'll be buying back up more paint supplies, b/c now it's really dawned on me, I can't go w/o traditional.  Blessed as I am for what I have been learning digitally and continue to learn there, I'd feel a bit cheap w/o my brushes and tubes of paint.  Of course, each of the two have their own merits and use, so I'll continue doing fanart digitally (in terms of painting it) but will be taking a much greater initiative now to do original pieces traditionally. 

   Speaking of fanart, I have a new post for my Alita pic, and some sketches of Cerula (aka Daymn She's Fine!):

   After a little more clean-up and inking I'll finally get to painting her on Monday.  Eager to try a few new things w/ her, mainly dealing w/ transparency.  I'd also like to attempt not using the lines so heavily (I started the process of that w/ Bilstein), since a lot of lines is starting to be counter-productive to my process.  As for when it'll be finished,...welp, before the holidays sounds about nice (there a couple other pictures to work on too, but I might skip coloring them in favor of just inking).

   Cerula is one of my favorite BAA characters; she's powerful, has heart, cunning skill and intelligence, and most importantly, a nice pair of bosoms ;).  Oh, and she's a vampire, but not of the lame Twilight variety.  Playing up on sex appeal aside, I dunno if I'll proceed w/ finishing these ones out, or just proceed to other renditions of the girl.  The "sketch" mentality is taking over my whole process, and I'm not making it a mandatory note to finish up every picture I draw out anymore, just do what I feel like (but of course having some sense of direction along the way).  Seeing as how I do like how the one on the left looks tho, I will most likely finish her up, before maybe drawing her in proper canon outfit or w/e.

   Okay, that's it for my update.  I'm off to cook lunch and watch Eatman and ATVOTOMS.  Stay warm, awesome, and edged.  Until next time, l8r out.

SatEve Update

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    What's up people?  I'm gonna try things a bit differently than usual now.  Before I was uploading work both here and to my dA on the same day, but now I think it might be a better fit to save blog updates until the weekend.  Particular pieces-mainly fanart-I'll probably be uploading to dA first when they're complete (I'll be aiming to do at least one a week now, whether digitally or by hand, MOTL), and tbh I do get *slightly* more traffic there vs here.  Maybe when I become more prolific, people would take care to search out me blog more often x3.

    But yes, while I will be updating finished fanart pieces to dA first now, I'll be cutting out all the WIP posts there, and I've already stopped uploading non-fanart pieces to the site as I said I would.  And given I won't be doing anything w/ CA.org until next year, that gives me plenty of time to work on getting as much content as I can to this blog and working on my Pro-Spec site (which I'll actually be doing l8r today).

    Okay, so this is a bit of a big update; let's just get to it then shall we?

    First, a new venture.  I've always been particularly interested in wanting to make my own video game, and a while ago I got a lot of inspiration for an idea I'm now working on moderately btwn pictures.  That's all I'm saying of it now, but suffice to say it'd be neat to get it into playable form.  Only problem is, I don't really have any programming experience and my artwork is only now beginning to get to a point I think could work well in main projects such as a video game.  I could just as well get a group of experienced programmers to do the hard work for me, but not only is lack of money an issue there, that's also a bit of a cop-out.  This is my project, my first project, and I'd like to devote as much of myself to it as possible.  It'll take a little while to learn how to do the technical stuff, but I know I have the capability to do it.

    Rather than using a programming language or a proprietary software like Flash, I'm going to attempt coding the game in HTML, particularly using the multimedia tags and <canvas> element.  It seems like the W3C group has paid solid enough attention to the innovations of the net since Adobe bought Flash on-board, and I've seen some very neat examples of what the technology can do in capable hands.  There's also the fact that the opportunities the new HTML5 standard can bring may-if the pieces fall into place as they should-remove the need for heavy-proprietary plug-in software like Flash which, good as it is, is also a bit expensive.  There's also plenty of other potential benefits to HTML5, but long story short, I'm gonna give it a try and using such a standard will allow me to keep most of the money spending to game assets and marketing, while still getting to the largest possible web audience (most browsers support many HTML5 standards, the exception being the newer Internet Explorers :P). 

    At the moment I'm *just* learning HTML (well, again...I spent some time a few years ago at a technical college where it was one of the course material) and it's going pretty well.  Just basic stuff, and I'm hoping by the time I get to the game-relevant stuff I have a solid base of how the technology works and can be implemented.  In fact I'm going to attempt putting together pseudo-sites as I learn and maybe even create a website out of all of this l8r down the road next year, but for now I'll just keep things modest.

    This is the first picture update I have, it being the base to the background for my Pro-Spec site.  Haven't had much time over the week to work on this actually, but that should be less an issue now.  I'm not sure just how much detail I'll explicitally draw and ink, as I won't be using the lineart in the finished piece anyway (it's a background!), but at least I know what to do w/ the scenery's mood.  It's set in late evening, about shortly after sunset.  I want it to be very neon-intense w/ a slight cyberpunk complex in there for good measure, while still keeping it grounded to what you'd expect of a modern-day metropolis.  I'll have updates as it gets attended to.

    Some more work on my Alita fanart piece; got around to doing the inking and starting some clean-up now.  Although I was considering NOT doing any inking this time, I also think my initial reasons for wanting to stop that were ill-informed.  The Bilstein picture had some really chunking work on it which I wasn't happy w, but I only have myself to blame for that.  And it's not like I don't know how to moderate my pressure (although it's a bit difficult to do so when you're outdoors and it's feeling like 40 degrees).

   So this time, I've taken more precautions, mainly to only ink in room-temperature conditions and to not be so lazy w/ 'reading' the pencil work.  This'll be one of the next pictures to get painted, altho I'll have to do this in addition to two other fan-art pieces I'll post some roughs of next week.

    Finally, the Bilstein picture.  It turned out pretty well; I learned a lot more about lighting and NOT working too much w/ the underpainting base layer this time, and definitely got a stronger handling on contrasting values.  Even managed to tone down most of the lines where appropriate.  I still wish I could've drawn him a bit more 'badass' like, but there's always next time (which will itself benefit w/ me now being familiar w/ his design much more). This picture also solidified my color palette approach and has taught me in balancing the palette.  In truth I think differently than most others in deciding what colors to put on the palette, but at least I know now that way of thinking-which I might elaborate on some day when I'm on my deathbed xD-has been paying off. 

    I'll also take this time to make a vow to begin doing more traditional painting again.  Even tho oils would be preferable, I still like the acrylics and doing some traditional work should help balance out the monotony that eventually sets in when doing so many pieces digitally in a row.  That's really all I care to say of that right now; as usual, letting the actual work do most of the talking when it's ready to present itself.

    Oh and, if you can, check out the South Park episodes 200 and 201 again.  I don't think CC is ever going to re-air them, but I have a couple of links to them here- http://akirathedon.com/blobblog/watch-south-park-14x05-200-stream/ -, and here- http://www.watchsouthparkonline.net/season-14/episode-6-201/ -.  Very much worth watching, probably the most fun I've had w/ the series since their 13th season reached the halfway point. 

    'Kay; that's all for now.  Be back soon, so try and have fun even when the frost is locking up your joints (particularly for those of us on the East Coast, it's always like that this time of year) and turning you into an ice statue Sub-Zero would be proud to demolish.  L8r!

Update This Saturday

  Hey peeps; there might be a slight curiosity as to why I have yet to update my blog this week, when that usually gets done every Wednesday.  Well, the truth is that I'm holding out until I have a definitively finished version of a picture before doing so, something which should take place probably today tbh, but even so I wouldn't have the time to post that and a few other planned pieces until the weekend.

   And yes, the picture I'm referencing is my Bilstein project entry for FGE.  I uploaded the image there yesterday and you can visit it via this link http://fngrscr8dstroui.deviantart.com/#/d4hsi9j. I'm very happy of the image so far but it isn't finished in my eyes.  The deadline for entry was yesterday so I kinda went w/ what I had, which was "finished enough", but isn't the optimal version of the image.  For that I'm going to work more w/ the floor lighting, further contrast and a few more effects while toning down some of the lineart more.  So like I said, it should be definitely finished today, and that just means sooner to jump into new art.

   Speaking of which, I'll have a good bundle of that to show off as well when the weekend comes, so please look forward to it.  Until then, just do you and..um...watch Victoria's Secret (I know I do ;)?  L8r.

Bilstein Update

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  What's up?  Today's going to be a mess around here, it's raining and-tho I've yet to check the weather forecast-I get the feeling it'll be this way on through 'till bedtime.  I like my outdoors time :(.

   Not a big update like I wanted today; I've been working on a group of new illustrations but want to hold out until Saturday to post them (that would include the background image for Pro-Spec), so in the meantime I have a considerable update for Bilstein.

   The flats have pretty much been put in and the first wave of underpainting's done for the big man and his chair.  When I say it was a tall order given all the little details, I really mean that.  But I know I'm getting much faster at this 'easy bulk work' now as well, and that's a good thing b/c it means the difficult stuff can be given more attention, particularly the effects and finishing touch.

  As of now, I'm moving the picture in a different mood than I originally considered.  It was going to be a sort of 'golden renaissance' piece w/ a dominant hue range of cool yellow and red earths and a warm cadmium-like yellow.  Basically, something warmer and 'royal'-like I'd suppose.  Well, had I been serious w/ that, I'd of actually picked some Terra Rossa or Golden Ochre on my palette, but instead I picked some dark greenish-blue, earth greens, cool earth reds and warm earth yellow (I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out the colors).  That's what has led to this very grim-ish, almost cyberpunk-worthy color palette, and I like that.  Always wanted to do something a little darker and forboding, and since this guy is technically a villian (and the series invested in high-tech awesomeness), it fits him like a glove.  Plus I learned some neat stuff about the colors on my palette so far, and expect to learn even more as I finish this up.

  Since I only have 'till the 30th to complete this, the next update will be the finished piece.  After that, I have another project entry to get to work on while I also begin tackling the background for the Pro-Spec site.  Just b/c the holidays are around the corner doesn't mean there's time for a guy like me to rest down and hit Santa Claus on the cell.  Indeed, he'd probably be using Rudolph emoticons in his texts...that idea's always bothered me for some reason...

   Okay that's it for now; see you when I come around the weekend.  L8r.

Bilstein Lineart

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  Good Wednesday people; I'm not up to posting a lengthy blog today, but as per usual I come in w/ a midweek update.  This time, it's the finished inks for my Bilstein boss tribute entry.  These should've been finished earlier, but I ran into the issue of working on multiple pieces.  Some of those are on hold @ the moment as I continue painting this one (I'll probably post some painting progress next week if it isn't already done by then or close to being done by that time).

 

  I'm still experimenting w/ line weighing to achieve the best results, and it doesn't help that-on the paper I use-my smallest pen (at least the Prismacolor one; haven't given the Fabel-Castell one any use yet as there's no need) still goes a little heavy-handed on some areas, tho I could use some further refinement in adjusting pressure of the hand on the surface.  Indeed, I didn't really 'get' into the groove for the inking until around halfway through, and seeing as how I have to ink the image twice (once to cover details, then again to close gaps after erasing), I could've gone much easier on the 1st round.  Notice for next time.

  Also went ahead and changed his left arm quite a deal from what I had going for a while.  The old position (not sure if that's in the WIP I posted earlier; doubt it) just wasn't convincing.  Inking this image was somewhat a nightmare, and like I've said before the sheer amount of detail and non-organic features on Bilstein was a big factor.  I definitely will be trying more inorganic, geometric objects to draw in the future (might as well go look for that ruler while at it) so characters and instances like Bilstein aren't as much of a problem.

   Even so, I'm fairly satisfied w/ how the lines have turned out.  Due to the way I paint, a lot of these lines will either end up getting chopped or trimmed down a lot, something I thought of doing w/ Mai but only sparingly did so.  In fact, as I attest to in the opening, painting's already started.  Hoping to have the flats done today (no biggie), and working on the underpainting w/ what time can be afforded.  In any event it should not take long to finish this one, even tho the amount of detail is heavy, simply b/c the overall color palette is going to be smaller (if that actually qualifies for noting if anything's gonna be easier x3).

   Next week I'll come back w/ an update on this, my Alita pic and the background image I'm using for the Pro-Spec blog (yes, I finally got around to the damn thing xD), all at various points of completion.  Meanwhile I'll be drawing, living and tying up loose ends.  Take care; l8r.

 

MidWeek Post

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What's up everyone?  Finally I can post up the finished image for my Mai picture, which will just serve as a short reprieve as of this time.  I really tried to take my skills up a few notches w/ her, and imo the results were worth the headaches.  I'll also mention some other stuff too towards the end, concerning my inactivity on a few other accounts and a few decisions that are for the best.

   Yes, this is the same image that I had posted some time ago, but even I didn't foresee it being taken in this direction.  I was really just going to do w/ this one what I did w/ the Chun-Li picture, before realizing that'd be a cop-out.  I tried something bold (for me) w/ my avatar image and learned alot doing it, so it would be a crime to just rest on laurels and not do something challenging w/ this one.  Next thing I know, traces of sunlight were penetrating through the blinds in my room and hitting the computer monitor.  Normally that's annoying, but oddly enough it gave me a great idea, to try and play with lighting in a new way, hinting some form of interference.  I would have pushed for something much more, but such can be implemented in anohther picture instead, whenever I get back to inking it out :S.

    As for the water, I'm not quite so sure where the idea came from.  Maybe a thought in my head went along the lines of "she's nekkid, maybe she should be sweating some".  I looked around on Google for reference images and had to take some time to figure out how to implement what I saw, but it's actually work I did on my older Poison WIP that gave a giant boost in making it work as well as it has.  I guess for this image, I'd say she's moreso wet than sweaty; indicating the differences btwn the two (they're extremely subtle of course) will take some time, as will contouring lines of water to the body's form (in this instance a tablet would be a significant help), but for a first effort it came out bangin'.

    And of course, since it's fall I went w/ autumn-esque colors for the background ;3.

    Like I said, this was a challenging picture to attend to once I decided to implement the lighting and the water; those two aspects easily doubled the time to complete it.  Yet I have zero regrets on the matter.  I think many, MANY artists are afraid to tackle subject matter like water, because of its innate complexity.  I'm definitely no master on that, but I feel more confident in drawing and painting wet, sweaty peoople now, and wet-like items of clothing and the such.  Certainly, I'll be building on this (and what was accomplished w/ the avatar picture too) in the next few pieces, which are about on the horizon.  So I hope you all like what I was able to accomplish here..depending on how things go I might use this as a portfolio piece.

    Not to take the festive mood down a notch, but I'm also using this time to announce that I'm renigging on my CA.org and dA accounts.  It's too much to go into right now, but given the past few weeks I realize now how I work best as an artist.  I think back to when I was at my peak in terms of creating complex pieces quickly (a peak I still feel I haven't reached or surpassed just yet, but am definitely running full gear into obliterating given this pace ;), and during that time I didn't really take much to frequently seeking criticism or posting stuff up.  I just isolated myself w/ my work, and did what I felt made me happy, completing it in due time and maybe doing something w/ it from there.  Granted, I'm really hoping to become a professional freelance illustrator but I know what that has in store, and it doesn't neccessarily involve what and how I've been conducting myself online so far.

     Honestly, at this point I think it is best for me to scale back on my online networking, at least until I get myself to the level I want in terms of bulk of art and skillset.  I should also be more honest in working at a pace that's natural to me, knowing when to push, and when to kick back.  Altho I won't be having my Pro-Spec blog up until early next year, at least then, I know I'll have a hefty deal of art to publish there and a solid lock on my process.  Sorry all; I just learn best when I attend to myself in my own space, my own world, the outside inconsequential to my drive and focus.

     To that end, I'll keep my CA.org account open but won't start publishing there until January.  As for dA, my current account is maybe loaded w/ too much excess baggage, in terms of the things that have occured w/ me and others over the time since it was created, and it just isn't very professional.  I'll be deleting it completely and opening up a new account under my new screename 'fngz', also in January.  And this time it'll be strictly professional (tho just to the fanart side of things).  For the time being I'll keep up the current account and post this and a final few selection of fan pieces under that name, but from then on everything will be under the new account.

     ....Ready to pick the mood back up?  Heh, cool; here's an update to my Gally/Yoko/Alita picture:

     The perspective for the background is being shifted from what I first imagined, and the image as a whole is now a lot different from the one I was using as a mental ref from the graphic novel.  At this point her form is basically complete; I'm giving her the cape she wears in the first few volumes of Last Order, and as for that right hand?  Possibly a plasma sword.  Her left forearm meanwhile is completely gone, so I gotta make that look banged up.  I'll have to work a little less on this one as I finish up the Bilstien image over the next few days for that contest entry, but it shouldn't be too long before this one is complete.

      That's all I gotz for today.  If you're wondering about why no new sketches...yeah I'm not doing that anymore.  Sure there's still sketches being drawn, but I don't finish a lot of them, and the ones I tend to really like (like the Alita one) end up becoming full paintings anyway.  Maybe one day I'll dump the sketches to whoever, wherever but we're a shitload of time away from that happening.  Until next week, do your thing and enjoy life.  Catch 'ya l8r.

Wednesday Update

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  Good afternoon you all; the middle of the week is upon us and you know what that means...yep, nothing much lol.  Who ever REALLY goes into Wednesdays expecting them to rock their world?  Oh but don't feel too bad; I'm here to try and inject a small dose of X...and not the kind to lead to wild kinky night you-know-what [if you're looking for that try the blog three jumps forward ;].

  There are a few pictures I'll be posting.  Well, more like a few sketches and some progress for my Bilstein image.  I could mention about the shitload of other pictures being worked on, but for me art is more the process of showing, and everything else is either too little or too far completed to show off today.  Anyway, now that such has been established, let's cut to the 'ish.

   I've been doing some massive reading on the Battle Angel Alita graphic novels since a while ago, as I attested to in the previous blog.  It's good-fashioned cyberpunk sci-fi seinen [I think it classifies as seinen, since it-in my opinion-is a little too complex and violent at times to be shonen, even if most of those injured or kill are cyborgs...cyborgs got feelings too ya'll] and was something I had been wanting to get the full story on since seeing the OVA some years ago, and again just recently.  If you haven't already, check them out, especially if you're hoping James Cameron's adaptation will live up to the source [I'm hoping so, squarely off his work on the Terminator films...oddly I still have zero interest in watching Avatar, maybe the material doesn't strike a strong enough cord w/ me just now].

   Before too long I knew I'd wind up doing some Alita sketches, which is what I have here posted above and below.  They aren't anything special these sketches; still trying to work out varying issues of perspective and anatomy, only using a recognizable character this time.  Since these ones are sketches, there's no telling if I'll complete them or not, but if I do I'd rather save the final versions for some sort of sketchbook.  In fact, that likely will be the new plan w/ this; post w/e sketches are around for the week and finish them for inclusion in some form of something later on down the road.  That way I can do new sketches for each week rather than reposting updates. 

   I will, tho, be posting some more progress for this sketch as it's turned into a full inked and colored image.  Alita is quite gorgeous, but it took me a volume or two to really notice.  And those pouty 'octopus' lips just make her even sweeter to me.  There was one graphic in the extra stories graphic novel where Alita [in some revealing short-shorts] is posed ready to battle a quite formidable nemesis.  The pose and overall composition and foreshortening work on it inspired me to try a recreation of that image, my own way, and altered enough to not look like a copy.  It'll also give more good practice on many things, too numerous to mention.

  I just started drawing this one yesterday admist completing the Avatar image and working on other pictures [not to mention attending to ho-hum chores and duties], but so far we atleast got a head and upper torso defined xD.  Still figuring what I want the full shot to be in terms of a background, lighting, color etc, but for now I'm just gonna concentrate on getting the pencils laid fully by Friday.  If it's alright, I might start uploading progress at each big step w/ this picture, just to give an indication of how my process is like, altho I know there will be quite some hurdles along the way that could make that impossible, but oh well, it's worth a try.

  As for this big lug?  Well he's still waiting to get finished, but one thing Mr. Bilstein needs to understand is that he's possibly the most complex-designed character I've ever tackled, and stupid me had to throw this overly extravagant chair into the mix as well.  I have had some lousy luck in finding really good reference shots for him, so some details are being made up, others taken liberty of, etc, but there isn't any major compromise in that regard.  I wanted the chair to look more Egyptian, but...well, meh, I could use some studying of Egyptian architecture sometime if in case something like this pops up again.  Full-blown work on this one probably won't start until I finish the Mai image this week, but once it does, it should go by fairly quick, hopefully just a week or so, which would complete the dude right on time.

   So that will finish the updates for this week.  Well, I will upload the Mai image btwn Saturday and Sunday, so this technically isn't it.  But until that time comes, I wish the best of prosperity for everyone out there, just so long as you do what you love.  Truly, life isn't worth a damn if you hate what it contains for you day in and day out.  Oh, and put down the Iphones for a while eh; Jobs wants you all to stop texting him so much in Heaven already. 

   L8r.

Avatar complete

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   Hey peeps, my keyboard has suddenly stopped providing functionality for the Shift keys these past two days, so I probably won't be loading this short entry w/ a lot of funny little faces that quickly grow repetitive.  Damn, and just as I was hoping to annoy w/ just that...

   Anyhow, the past few days have been somewhat filled in terms of pictures getting worked on, with a few new sketches started, inking on older sketches and resuming work on my Bilstien entry.  Meanwhile I'm trying a few 'new' things w/ my Mai picture to elevate my skill set, and it's going pretty well.  More on her, tho, as she's completed, which-barring other things to attend to-will be a few days out from now.

  So with all that said, I have at least managed to get one picture completed today, my late Avatar image, which is gonna be whored on my scant few social profiles [including this one], if just for a few weeks.  Altho I went into it w/ just the intention of doing a mere avatar image [thus, it probably has too much going on to serve that purpose lol], I took the plunge and pushed to try many new things, particularly regarding getting better at contrast and lighting.  From what I have here, it was a big success.

    I even tried doing a little desaturated lighting, and that came about on a whim as I was finishing this up.  Granted some parts look a little underdeveloped-particularly the flames-and those are phenomena I will study up on more to learn how to interpret them better in future pieces.  But as a whole, a lot was acquired working on this piece and I feel like a much stronger artist b/c of that.  In fact, a lot of things I've done here and am doing w/ the Mai picture have been going back and forth, but thematically they're as opposite as can be.

  The only regret I have about this picture is that I couldn't finish it in time for Halloween.  A bit of a shame, but something that can be tolerated.  The true horror festivities never cease w/ just the passing of a holiday, of course hehe.

   That will be all for today; I'll post back some new pieces tomorrow.  Not gonna say what they are, it'll just be a surprise until they're uploaded.  But regardless I hope you all dig the work on this picture and look forward to more extremely soon.  Until then, be awesome, and catch 'ya l8r.

Change of Plans

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  Happy Saturday morning peeps; altho I tried my best to complete the two pictures I had planned to show off today, it wasn't enough.  They are very far along and near-finished, but are lacking that final spit-n-polish.  Therefore I won't be uploading them until early next week.  It's better this way, tho, than to post what progress is done now...surprises are fun ;).  But yeah, my apologies on that one.

  Actually I won't be posting any art until next week anyhow, but you probably already saw this coming.  It's not easy actually trying to finish a piece when constantly switching between upwards a dozen of 'em simultaneously..that's...still a thing I need to get used to doing more often.  Neverminding when a roadblock presents itself and slows any work down tremendously, bleh!

   For this entry I just got a few quick blurbing points.  Beavis and Butthead was just relaunched on MTV, and I checked out the first episode via a stream this morning.  It was nice seeing them again, and they do still *feel* like they should.  But I think there could be some big issues in the future episodes that have more to do w/ the material they're ripping on than the characters themselves.  What made B&B fun for me back in their heyday wasn't just their (oft-time insensitive but damn funny anyway) humor, but that the stuff they ripped on were music videos that were, as a whole, collective of a better bunch of songs than the ones the show will be able to rip on now.  I'm not one of those "everything's best in the 90s" idiots, but I do think mainstream music on MTV was much stronger back then than what they put on now, that much can't be argued.  Almost as if admitting that weakness, the show will end up mocking their other shows more.  Problem for me there, though, is that the shows MTV have now aren't that interesting to me.  They're annoying, pretentious and just kinda boring to me (there's no interest in me watching 16 and Pregnant, for example, not even to mock it).  I hope the show can manage well regardless minus these circumstances, and there's a good chance it can, given I found some humor (albeit more in the line of the B&B's interactions than anything they were making fun of) in the premier.

    If shit hits the fan on that front, though, then I might as well kiss any Aeon Flux or The Maxx-or even Liquid Television-revival goodbye too; failure to make B&B work will inevitably point to MTV's inability to make any of those properties work again either.  At least the old episodes are still around (in various ways hoho).

   That ties it up for today.  Going back out to DMV, and to have some fun (even tho it's raining atm).  I'll be back w/ a healthy stream of art next week I promise you.  So until then, have an awesome weekend.  L8r!

Bilstien WIP

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  Welp, today was pretty interesting.  My stupidity caused me to forget bringing my birth certificate, therefore preventing me for taking the dmv knowledge exam.  That sucks, but at least I can go out l8r in the week to try again.  But what was really fun, was seeing this Tupac Shakur-like dude basically act like a felon on the run across not one, but two buses, and causing unprecedented commotion along the way.  Truly, he was a class act and made the afternoon trek much more enjoyable, tho I feel sad for his bike...it's going to be a lonely bike now for a few days, maybe even weeks, and I have been pushing to do more cardio...

   Other than that, got a few more pens for illustration work; unfortunately I couldn't find any col-erase color pencils so I guess I'll have to order them off Dickblick, waiting time guaranteed, but it'd be worth the effort.  I won't be posting any new sketches except the one this blog's titled after (mainly b/c I haven't done that many new ones since the last post), and I will have both Mai and the avatar picture done by Saturday so for the sake of thinning out the herd I'll wait until they're complete to post again.  That being said, I do have some progress (not much tho) on my Bilstien entry, so let's jump to it eh..

   Not knowing his design by heart, it's been a bit of a challenge to draw this dude I must admit, and it hasn't helped I've been using a shitty reference picture.  Hence, why I started working more on the chair.  I have a color scheme in mind, and I guess I'm going for a more Ranisseance-like 'holy' vibe w/ him, so basically lots of mute earthly tones aside from the plasmid energy to give some life.  But there's the need to, um, actually draw the picture out first, so I'll be likely attending to that tonight and over the next two days while I work on other pieces, as it'll be the next up to bat.

   W/ the new pens, I can ink out some pictures I had finished before, which might be a good idea but seeing as how my drawing capability has improved steadily since drawing the pictures, I'm half-tempted to start 'em from scratch.  Yet, my pencils are on the verge of proving useless, and if anything they aughta be used for new drawings amirite?  So regardless, there's still a shitload of pics to complete and that business is good on my watch ;).

   I'll swing back around over the weekend to post the finished results of the aforementioned pieces, while I also work on updating my CA.org profile (should get it up tonight) and seeing what's up around there.  In the meantime tho it's grubbin' time, so catch 'ya all on the flipside.  Peace!

Midweek Updates

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  What's up everyone; if you didn't watch the GOP debate last night, you missed out on some good arguing.  These candidates (the majority of them) may not have any concrete answers but boy can they entertain w/ their bickering I assure you.  And Ron Paul actually got shown more face-time instances than fingers I can count on one hand, so there was some progress in any case x3.

  Also, must say I'm seeing why everyone rates Samurai Champloo so highly.  I'm four episodes in and plan to watch the rest of it about daily.  I said this already too, but, Eatman '98...underrated.  Third ep's much better and sophisticated than the starting two, so if you're that odd person who saw it way back when, just the first ep and thought "eh", I urge you to stay w/ it and wait until the 3rd to see if you feel the same way ;).

  Okay, well that's all for the small chat.  Let's get on w/..more small chat.  But this small chat has pictures w/ it too, so yay!!!

 

   I still haven't posted anything up on ConceptArt.org, but that'll be changing this Saturday, when I put these sketches-among others-to my scrapbook there.  Since I get the feeling fanart isn't liked very much around there, I'll be sticking w/ non-fanart pieces, which is just as well b/c getting any serious opportunities would come down to much more than how well one can recreate a popular pre-existing character.  These sketches are being done for various reasons; to study anatomy, to study and improve stylization, to try different body types and ethnicities, and to get back to non-human stuff.  B/c I love backgrounds and props and scenery as much as the human body and regard them as highly in terms of a good finished piece that emphasizes any amount of scenic composition.

  The plan is to keep doing these sketches for an hour or two everyday or every two days; I just wanted to have an ample number of them for when I post to CA.  Meanwhile some of them will get inked out and some of those will be colored l8r down the road; nothing epic, just exercises to improve in my artistic capabilities and try out new interesting things w/o the bother of having to do deadline for some project or commit to a preexisting set of rules.

**Note:  Tad darker than the working file, gotta fix 'er up on that**

  I started painting this one first but of the two it's further behind (tho I did make a note to finish the following picture first anyway).  Basically, everything I did w/ the Chun-Li picture that worked is being employed here, but I'll also be looking for any opportunities to improve on certain aspects.  In particular, I could've done more interesting shading and coloring w/ the clothing in that picture, and maybe some texture work as well (it's not like Corel doesn't have the brushes for the job), so on those fronts I hope to make amends here.  I also want it to just look more solid, lively and technically accomplished, so I'm taking careful note and attention to the technical aspects of it as well.

 **Note: Tad darker on the bg than the working file, I need to fix that**

   Avatar's almost done; I went ahead and fixed around w/ the dome earlier today and some more shading in the skin.  Also learned the limits of one of my chosen colors on the palette as far as how much it can go w/o resaturating, so the darks I have here are about as dark as I can push the picture in terms of overall value, which, ironically, works out great.  Still tho, it's something to especially consider for future pieces.  I'll be making sure the Mai picture matches (and exceeds) what's gotten done here but seeing that a lot of complicated stuff is being dealt w/ here is really improving my confidence.  There are maybe three pictures sitting around waiting to get painted, but they were way too ambitious for me @ the time to start on.  I feel a bit more up to tackling them now (and yes the Blue Mary picture is one of them), but they'll have to wait until these two and Bilstien are finished.

   Speaking of which, here's the S.O.B now.  Went through SO many iterations just to find something I could say I liked.  I wanted a pose that wasn't just him standing around, but some of the other ones I came up w/ were either off-character or too disjointed for him to pull off (I mean, he's a big dude and isn't quite a gymnest either).  Eventually I just settled for this one of him in his mighty chair holding his sword.  It's unbelievably rough @tm (barely gotten started), and I need to have it done by the end of the month, so here's hoping I can switch to this one for a few and finish it fast enough to resume the other two pics and have 'em done by the end of next week (which, technically, should be more than possible now).

   That will conclude it for updates this week.  Once I get the CA.org situation organized I'll link to it here, and I will also be posting some work on Pro-Spec finally by the end of the month, starting w/ the Chun-Li picture (unless I draw and paint another one before then, most likely I'd roll w/ the new one), even tho that blog needs a lot of design work done regardless. Oh well.  Anyways I hope you all like the update and I'll see you next Wednesday w/ more stuff.  'Till then, l8r out :)

New Stuff on Wednesday

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  Happy Sunday everyone; this weekend has been filled w/ not one, but TWO birthdays, back-to-back.  Saturday's was my nephew's 9th bday, where I did what I could and entertained him and the neighborhood friends outside w/ my collection of PS2 games and the assistance of a fellow neighbor.  Altho the sun threatened to melt the system and television away, we found a method to deal, and despite the rambunctiousness of the children @ times it was pretty fun overall, cake & ice cream and all.  Today's one of my older sister's birthday, a lot more low-key and she probably will be treating herself out to some fun w/ friends, but all in all happy b-day and good wishes there too.

   As can be imagined, I'm either too into other things or too tired to post up anything anywhere this weekend, and I wanted time to relax from that, just for a couple of days if could manage.  Progress is coming along very swiftly w/ all the new art projects, altho I have yet to start my Bilstien contribution (and that's gotta be done by the end of the month).  There's been a major influx in new sketches, mainly to put on CA.org, but I will probably eventually ink and color some of them, depending on the mood.  Either case it's neat to be able to find some time each day to work on these sketches (I only call them sketches b/c they aren't inked and colored), it has REALLY been helping me get quite better and more open in concepts chosen.  Quite liberating actually, since there's no need to stick to the concepts of a well-established character, and it also gives time to sketch out some cool concepts that may or may not ever be taken in other directions.  That being said, I'll dump the sketches near the end of Friday, but they'll likely be up on CA.org earlier.

    Wednesday I'll post what's been done of my Avatar and Mai images, and a rough for Bilstien.  Depending on what happens Monday (I need to head out and get some supplies and handle another delicate manner, altho I don't HAVE to do them on that day,...it could be put off until some other time in the week tbh), I might be able to finish one of those aforementioned two by then, or at least that's the hope.  Since I've gotten a pretty damn good hang on the tools and the process that fits me, tho, they're getting done much faster than expected.

    That's all I gots in me for today; if you haven't yet, I'd recommend checking out the Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita graphic novels.  Very good stuff, and I hope Cameron's adaptation lives up to the energy of the source material, and is atleast as faithful as the 90s OVA was (given that, the OVA took some giant liberties).  For w/e reason I find Alita to be pretty cute, battle tendencies and all.  I just love her spunk and she's got a pretty sexy fit body to boot x3. 

    Anyhows, l8r :)

Chun=Done, and stuff

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  What's up everyone; I was going to hold off on any posts until tomorrow, but seeing that I'll be busy tomorrow not just drawing and painting, but studying and doing some chores an' whatnot, it seems like Wednesday would be a day too far behind.  In addition I just want to clear the air on what's already done, so the slate is clean to move on to new stuff.

   First off, tho, I'll just re-state my current goals.  I already got my accounts for ConceptArt.org and Game-Art-HQ set up; @tm I'm doing various sketches and drawings to post to a sketchbook on the former, and if I can submit art directly to the latter that cuts out dA for the middleman.  I did mention dA would just be a dumping place for my fanart now, but maybe it could just serve as a central hub for selected work.  No sketches or WIPs (I got this here blog and CA.org for stuff like that), just certain finished pieces that "fit in" around there.  I doubt I'll ever be a mainstay on that site but if there's an audience, any audience, for at least some of what I do, I would like to make it somewhat easier for them to see what's up.  Any case, I should start posting on CA.org by the end of the week, and if GAHQ has direct submissions I can start sending more stuff around there directly that's fanart-related.  I'm also still looking for some serious job boards to scour around if in case I meet any criteria for a gig ('cuz damnit I need some good work!)...craigslist doesn't count (really).

   Okay 'nuf of that shit; it took a little longer than expected but the Chun-Li picture's finished.  Here she is:

  I combed back to some stuff I had done w/ all my works prior in Corel to push this one out, and I'm happy w/ how it turned out.  From here I hope to develop more complex and scenic pieces emphasizing greater depths of composition and emotion, but for this one in particular I just wanted to capture her as if outdoors in natural sunlight, a bit different from the original idea but good all the same.  The Mai picture should take only a couple of days to finish now since I've gone through the hurdles of figuring stuff out w/ Chun-Li (they're supposed to be similar in execution style), but alas, I have a few other pics to attend to.  Like that avatar monster-thingamajig (<-lol it's a real word!)...knock that out, maybe color in a few sketches, and then get to Mai.  But I also need to (finally) start on Bilstien...don't wanna half-ass him like I did that Vice entry a few weeks ago.

   Right, so that'll conclude it for today.  When I get that avatar pic up (maybe a day or so from now), I'll post it here and update my avatar on all my networks as needed, but in the meantime this'll do.  There are a lot of things being worked on right now, and I'm just attempting to figure out the best time to attend to them, and completing them as soon as possible.  But still, I'm most trying to up myself to handle a good showing on CA.org and (very soon) put out some portfolio-worthy work to attract clientelle, local, national, global w/e; just as long as they have solid ideas, open minds and some cash to pay for services.  Wish me luck everyone, and I'll return shortly.  Until then, I'm out.  L8r.

Moving to ConceptArt.org, and misc.

  Good Sunday peeps; I went ahead and started my ConceptArt.org profile.  It's something I had considered doing a while ago but waited until I felt I was @ a "good point" w/ my workload and ability, and on a certain mental level of dedication.  Now that such a point's been reached, I feel it was a good time to start it up over there.  Part of the reason is for honest improvement; I know the community there is very serious and analytical, and that's what I like.  No false camaraderie, just truthful opinions and tips on improvement.  I also hope that having a presence there will be good for professional networking reasons.

   What this means for my dA is that I'll be severely reducing my presence up there unless for the purposes of fanart.  I haven't been finding myself as involved w/ the dA community on a whole the past few months and maybe that's to do w/ the fact I don't share the interests of the vast majority of its users.  Despite what I've been posting around here and on dA for the past couple years, fanart is not my main holding ground, just the one that is the most instantly recognizable.  dA is predominantly a site for fanart and otaku culture; I play my games/watch my show, and I find aspects of Japanese culture interesting.  However, I am not hardcore devoted to either, and enjoy a more balanced presence in my life on the grounds of the art I create and the cultures I invest interest in.  It's also just not a terribly professional spot or a place where you'd get any serious critiques and tips, outside of a handful of other folks (most all of whom I've met in the forums).

    If anything, this means I can start producing drawings more plentifully, and I don't have to worry about them being all fanart images either.  In fact, I might take a break from all of that for a little, and it will naturally die down as I commit to future projects, many already in the head but just awaiting a good time to get started on.

    The only other thing on my mind @ the moment is the issue w/ the Occupy Wall Street protests being conducted in NYC and offshoots happening around the country.  Even tho some of the people there probably don't really know what they want (or know the full truth in regards to the issues plaguing this economy; I don't claim to understand them all either but I do know Wall Street isn't @ the top of the matter), but you gotta commend them for taking a stand.  Protests as a whole seem to be rising in this country and that's a good sign people are tired of the broke-down conditions the markets are presenting day in and day out to us.  But w/ any protest, there is likely violence to follow, and I hope these people, many of them young adults like myself, try to keep from inciting it and defend themselves if enforcement comes down on 'ya unfairly. 

    That's it for today; be back early Wednesday w/ some updates.  Take care :)

New WIPs (ugh!!)

-------------------

  What's up everyone; I haven't been as consistent as I'd like, but I've also had to rethink this whole "social networking" angle as well.  Donned on me a while back that it's not so much how often I pop up to post something, it's that I make it worth the effort.  Lots of other random boring details could ensue w/ that, but I don't have the energy to waste on talking about it.

   Needless to say, I've been feeling very invigorated to give it my all w/ the newest works.  I gots a couple of WIPs for today and a revelation for an entry in another art project over on dA, so let's go!

   This is the current coloring having been done on that Chun-Li picture the lines of which I posted last week.  Went back and tightened up the lines on her and Mai some, learning line weighing again.  Very happy w/ the coloring so far and it's surprisingly been thanks to some simple setups, tho the road to realizing their use was convoluted.  Should be done within the next couple of days.

   Surprisingly I haven't done a real avatar picture for any site other than when I was around on 1UP.  It's always been snippets of other pictures I was on @ that moment.  This time, it's the right mood for something much more appropriate.  Another artist I met on deviantART, brenthenowell, is very good w/ creature renders and designs (just check his page out here if you're interested).  I'd like to consider myself a monster fan, but don't really show it that often.  So, figuring that and Halloween's this month, I drew up this random design in celebration of the fact and to use as an official ava around my network sites.  Will complete him after I'm done w/ the Chun-Li picture, he's gonna be scwarwy xD!!

   GBK666 over on Fighting Game's Elite and sister site Game-Art HQ is holding a Boss Tribute project for the month of October.  Participating artists are able to claim multiple characters from a list of 33 (I think it's about five more than that now) and draw them during that time.  Oddly I picked Star Gladiator's Bilstien.  Not gonna lie; I haven't gotten a chance to play these games, but this looked the closest to any Cybermorphs on that list (a game I HAVE played and loved the hell out of @ that), and besides Bilstien's design is awesome.  Seriously, designs like his and most of the ones Arika came up with during their collabs w/ Capcom make me hunger so bad for their return to the scene.  You can just look at him and tell he's boss, exotic and very interesting.  Seth...no, just no xD.  Hopefully my fan tribute can live up to his character and existing official art.  Now if I could just start drawing the damn mofo.

   Okay that's all I got for now; I'll only return when the Chun-Li picture is complete, so that should be this weekend (keyword: should).  Until then I wish everyone the best of luck w/ their pursuits and to enjoy their lives as they are right now, and of course strive to make them better.  Oh and down w/ Wall Street!!  Okay, that's truly enough for today; l8r.