MidWeek Post

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

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.