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    Howdy everyone; it's another Saturday and that means it's time for another art update.  Before I begin, you'll probably notice that this one will be shorter on the text than usual.  That's because I'm actually finding it harder to get the energy to talk about these lol.  Between actually working on these pictures (which over the past week's meant neglecting some of them and figuring out how to dramatically streamline my process to set up an environment where these pictures can get done in roughly a day or two, as it should be ;) and life in general, there isn't enough time to devout anymore in writing up a bunch of stuff for these uploads.  I'm just getting more into the set of working to actually get stuff done nowadays, so everything here is pretty much on some level of near completion...almost everything...

If this looks like she has a facial cleaning mask on, then I've succeeded.

    First up is my current work on Suzuka.  This one got neglected later on the past couple of days, so there hasn't been as much done as there should be.  However I'm likely going to take a day out to work solely on it, and get her done then.  Possibly early next week on Monday..in fact I might just do that w/ all three of these.  Take one day out for a few hours and just finish them..should work that...

    Okay anyhow, the picture itself really needs to be injected w/ a bit more life, and the colors and value mapping needs to get done as well.  At this point I've gotten the process streamlined to a point where this should be finished faster than I originally thought, just keeping fingers crossed everything holds up well.

Probably needs a little glaze of some Burnt Sienne-ish color...

    Like Suzuka my cloud painting's gone unworked on the later half of this week.  But, I still managed to inject some color in there, to where it's a bit closer to the source image.  All I have to really do is blend a bit more in most spots and add in the effects, and it should be done.  But, chances are I'll hold off until Suzuka's finished to tackle this one.

Still a ways to go, but at least it can get done much faster now

    This Poison picture managed to surprise me w/ it's original size.  @ the moment it's practically life-sized, and this version imaged here takes a hit as a result of the resizing I had to do and the compression of the JPEG format.  Actually, I've been wondering if it's best to scale down the image size period, but if this scale-down has proven anything it's that there might be too much data in the original to scale down too small before producing some ugly aliasing and artifacts.  As for work on the pic itself, yesterday it came to my attention I was moving WAY too slowly on this, so I've begun moving at fuller blast and it's paying off big time.  I'll get some more done on her Sunday but put off until Wednesday to get the bulk of the rest finished :)

     Actually, this whole "slowness" deal has always been a problem for me.  I've always been very meticulous about minute little details.  That in itself isn't bad, but something felt wrong about me tackling that level of precesion right off the bat.  In other words, I don't think I've been tackling my pictures w/ the right amount of "energy".  Ever since I revamped my drawing process those have been coming along much faster than usual from basic concept to realization (inking is another matter; I could get inks done much faster now but I have another idea for doing them which would require a printer w/ working cartridges, as far as inking digital work, given I lack a tablet and wouldn't dare use a mouse for something like inking), but I didn't bother to take the same effor w/ the painting.  And yesterday, when I was yet again going through meticulous stuff w/ Poison, I thought "this is boring.  Let's bring some ENERGY!".

       At that moment I recalled an article of a traditional artist who said that some of the most expressive stuff utilizing all the possible variety of tools and techniques available to the artist.  They mentioned, for instance, that the first few stages of a painting should be where the energy is exploding, perfection be damned.  Let loose and refine later on.  Well,..it wasn't *quite* like that, but all the same.  I had been doing the opposite even w/ these digital paintings, and it just wasn't feeling right.  So, at least on some level, I agree w/ that notion and I've been pressing fuller tilt on at least Poison since, which has resolved my eagerness and confidence.  That fits my mindset just fine, b/c I actually DON'T like spending a long time on these pieces; the onset of new ideas tends to draw away my interest of old ones pretty quickly so it's best to fufill them to their peak in the short while they hold my attention.

Lol, it's like Chop Shop Master Onion meets Mr. Potato Head!

      Righties...so that'll complete it for me as far as today's concerned.  I'll likely spend some time catching up on games and watching a few films, or just visit a good friend.  In the meantime, and until next week, I hope everyone does their best to find some enjoyment and stride in their pursuits.  I'll be back w/ something Wednesday, and finally put an end to this WIP madness next weekend and maybe let crack on a few other pictures in the wings.  So until then, take care and prosper.  Catch 'ya all next time; l8r :)