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!!)

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  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.