SatMorn Update

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   I'm back, peoples, and it's kinda been a long time.  I skipped posting up any art last week b/c I felt I hadn't made enough progress (and the fact I've abandoned the Suzuka and cloud pictures, MOTL), and throughout the time since then I have just been focusing intently on finding my strengths w/ Corel and the real direction I want to take my stuff in.  Welp, I'm back now; I feel like I've gotten a fair deal of tough shit done, some ample progress, and I'll also show off one of the newer pieces I'm now just starting on.  So let's jump in there, eh?..

   Like I just said earlier, Suzuka and that cloud painting have been put on hiatus, indefinitely.  I've learned a great deal from the effort put in both, but finishing them won't allow me to do that much in terms of reflecting what I can do *now*.  And, that's what it's really about; I need to do pieces that reflect relatively well where I'm at right now.  I drew those Outlaw Star pics weeks ago (my drawing skills have improved dramatically sense then, if I do say so myself ;) and the clouds one was just started on a whim to get used to painting them (which I am now,...well, at least cumulonimbus clouds are x3).  It's probably true that you can turn anything to a high level of polish regardless of its starting state, but everything can only be improved by such a measure, if the underlying foundation can accommodate.  That's why I've moved from those pieces for now; I have a pursuit to push myself to the levels of the artists I admire such as Joe Vriens...

Genzoman...

and Artgerm....

  ....and it might seem a little impossible to try and cram so much effort in so little time but I'm just that hungry to improve, I'd say.  Of course, I can't neglect what progress I make at any time or depreciate that feeling of satisfaction over any piece, so even w/ these works I have discontinued, I feel eternally grateful for what they've helped me learn, as all of that carries over into the newer works (the ones here, I WILL be finishing btw!).

 

Newer version; grainy, rough, but the foundation's there...

   This is the new 'Blue Mary' piece I may or may not have mentioned a while ago.  I think this drawing's about maybe 2-3 weeks old by now (if not older), but it's still newer than Poison.  I've always been a sort of semi-closet fan of SNK's characters; the original FF3 movie got me hooked into ther aesthetics and universe, and while I may tend to favor Capcom fighters from a pure playability POV, in comparison to the older SF games I think many of the later FF and some of the KOF games more than hold their own.  One thing that's always impressed me w/ them is their sense of detail and atmosphere in their backgrounds; by comparison I don't think it was until Darkstalkers where I began really caring for backgrounds of Capcom's fighters, but SNK had that on-lock from the original FF.  A small cavet sure, but still...

 

A much older drawing done back February of the same char

   Anyway, I actually decided to do Blue Mary b/c I had drawn her a few months ago and inked her out, but never finished.  I was going to color her digitally and all, but I just kinda moved on.  Looking back, I can appreciate what I was able to do w/ that one then, but I knew I could do a much better job now and henceforth I'm carrying onward w/ the new rendition.  I'm really trying to push for 'full-inclusive' sorts of shots now; work in some focus, some drama, some strong sense of perspective, proportion, foreshortening and composition.  It amazes me sometimes how some really technically awesome artists, when you really think about it, stay in some very basic rooms on some of that mentioned stuff.  That's the sort of box trap I'm hoping to avoid.  Certainly I can see why some may be that way, b/c personal struggle @ this moment indicates that just getting one or two of that sort of stuff down is very challenging, and w/ different subject matter only that much more so.  But yeah..back to the picture (lolz)..at the very least I hope it seems like Mary is "reaching out" to the viewer.

    Although painting has started on this one, it's so crude @ the moment I'd rather not upload it just yet.  Next week tho, I can definitely put up the painting (for all I know it might be finished by then too...just shot myself in the foot, didn't I?)

 

I would've put the coloring for the jeans and shirt up, but the shirt is terrible atm and why put up the jeans w/o the shirt x3?

P.S: Also, still no lines; haven't inked them yet :S

   Now w/ Poison, I've finally gotten most of the base work done; the areas to tackle from here are the textures and lighting.  Oh, and I still need to do the linework as well (the paper will be getting got TODAY, thankfully).  It's been a tall order, and in-between the week I've had to really reorganize some files to make them easier to access and compressing active memory consumption, but all the effort's been worth it.

 The original reference photo...

  Somehow, I seem to be pushing for a more realistic look, not necessarily hyperrealism but not quite as simple as some of the more 'basic' anime shading either (which would actually be harder w/ my mouse setup, plus the fact I don't tend to use colors directly, aka I'm a Glazeman).  Somewhat unexpected but maybe just natural coincidence.  Yesterday alone I spent a good deal of time trying to paint some convincing lipstick/lipgloss  and some skin texturing...the issue of constraint and finding a balance btwn too little and too much realism is really daunting, but one step at a time, I would suppose.

     Btw, a closer look at the lips: busted my ass trying to somewhat replicate the ref but not ripping it.  Some more tune-up work and could have something to go w/ for real ;)

 

..and my result, many layers and strokes l8r...

   
   I'll leave it @ that for today's update.  I do have an inkling to catch up on some games and films I haven't had the chance to do so w/ over the week, but at the same time...I REALLY don't wanna stop drawing and painting x3.  Will definitely continue to try painting more of both pics throughout the day and just noting what works for me and what doesn't.  At the very least, it feels good to have a head filled w/ some useful jargon again.  Hope you all enjoyed the stuff, pleae look forward to next time.  L8r and have an awesome weekend!

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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 :)

      

Poison Proof

  Cool everyone, nothing too special or big here.  I'm actually ready to eat dinner before I resume work on the actual painting in an hour or so, but this past Saturday inbetween Zelda, Mario and some other games I had an urge to play around in Corel and test out some painting for the Poison picture. 

  I also went ahead and created most of the palette that day too.  I've been most curious in how to get more realistic coloring, and taking what I've learned from classical approaches and some curious tinkering of my own, I think I've gotten somewhere to a sweet spot so far.  This here is really just a test of the color depth; the shading's all messed up and it's very obvious some stuff wasn't even proofed any further (like her short skirt and hair), but as I said this is the low-res version and I have to begin painting the real version later tonight, just making sure I have time to finish up the lines of my Garuda picture ;)

  Okay that's all for now; be back Wednesday.  I'd like to give an extended thanks to my followers; truly I didn't even think anything interesting enough was going on here to warrant you guy's interest.  Special big up to Enrique; your stuff is truly awesome man, keep up the gr8 work.  Alrighty then...I'm gonna stuff my face.  See you all l8r. 

SatMorn Update

    

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     It's Saturday again, and you know what *that* means!  Finally somewhat of a break xD.  But before I go and do any recreational activities (and it feels really good outside at the moment; perfect breeze, sun's up, just enough clouds in the sky...watching my step before this becomes some poem) or wind down on some gaming goodness needing to be goodified, I'm here to post up some more progress on a couple of artwork pieces.

     Before that, though, I do feel the need to mention that I cancelled the Valkyrie comission w/ the client between Thursday night and Friday morning.  Thankfully they did not take it too hard and I even said that if and when I feel up to that again, they can reinstate the request and I'll likely do it.

   However it has donned on me the past couple of weeks that this was NOT the proper time to start comissions.  I had been working w/ this client for a while actually, when in truth I maybe shouldn't have.  I say "maybe" b/c doing those pictures for them helped expand my skill reach, and likely helped give the motivation to begin my own push for self-improvement again.  On the other hand, I probably kept changing styles and direction w/ each piece, which isn't so much a sign of being daring as it was a sign of being very unsure on even basic fundamentals like anatomy, perspective and the properties of the tools I was using.

     So yeah,..that was then xD.  I've been focusing very hard on improving in all the fundamentals and pushing myself to try harder each time, and it feels as though I might finally be producing some results that are living up to what I want to do.  As I say, art is a continuously evolving process of improvement and experimentation; I can never be sure if I've settled into a "groove", and when that does happen I have to be careful not to get too comfortable or else the boredom and complacentness begins to settle in.

     For now I'm feeling just the right balance is there, and would like to keep it that way.  As for the "commission" stuff, well it's like I told that client; maybe sometime in September.  There would still need to be a lot done in terms of setting prices, some payment model etc, but at this point I'm really more concerned w/ producing good enough work to get some publishing, maybe w/ a few magazines, books or comics.  Commissions can be set to the side in the meantime.

   Alright, so enough of the boring stuff eh?  Let's get to it...

    I said I'd be giving Poison a shot and am living up to that tease.  First off I have to say 'damnit' to Ono and Harashi-san for forcing Ikeno to make a Poison so sexy.  Or maybe I should say slutty..those are some *really* short shorts after all.  Secondly I have to say 'hell yes thank 'ya!' to Ono and Harashi-san for forcing Ikeno to make a Poison so sexy.  Or maybe I should say slutty...those are some--ah, well, you get the idea x3.

    She's an enigmatic character despite being so flamboyant, but you could say I was only going for some sexiness here and not much more.  I definitely wanted to show off her glutes in this, since that's what recently attracted me to the character.  Hmm...'exxaggerate' her glutes his maybe more like it.  For anyone worrying that her holiest of holies is getting a squeeze too tight into cameltoe territory, keep in mind it's kinda more like a skirt those jeans are now.  Or atleast are supposed to be..they might need to look more skirt-like.

    I've been trying to find a balance between my influences for a while now, and this Poison pic is sort of an evolution in that regard.  Talking about a "style" isn't really relevant; it's just a reflection of what I've been learning for a long time now and am managing to put into practice.  What others make of it is on their hands.  I just want her to look hot xD.  Painting hasn't started on her yet; I haven't even settled on a palette or color scheme/mood, but tomorrow looks alright to get that done.  And from there hopefully it won't be much time to finish.

      If it's not a problem, can we divert for a second?  Up above is a sort of "test" I've been doing to see how certain elements would mesh together in terms of the art.  The drawing itself is of a character named Anubis from the really old anime series Ronin Warriors; he was my favorite character in the show :).  Anyway, I've been trying to get a better grasp of color, shading, and lighting and just sorta used this old picture as a test to see how my manipulation w/ certain painting and brush techniques would work out in combination w/ line art.  The palette I drew the main colors from is about the same as the one I'm using for Suzuka, minus the skin, which I made a more unsaturated, deeper color.  So far I'm really just doing this to see if my understanding on color saturation and temperature is on-point, although I wouldn't call the coloring on his face near finished :S. 

     Specifically, since I want a more realistic style in general, I have to adapt to more realistic rules of lighting.  I come from a traditional background and that will always shape my view on color, which is a very good thing.  A while ago I read up on some stuff speaking of how the temperature of a light source can affect the shadow of objects contained in its range.  I think the general rule is, in real life, the way colors and light works in that regard is that brighter, saturated colors (on the rainbow scale) absorb more light while darker, 'purer' (unsaturated, is what I'm trying to say) colors reflect more light.

     This is immensely interesting, as we also know that brighter colors reflect heat while darker colors absorb heat, so there's maybe a proportional relationship between a color, it's saturation level, and the amount of light it absorbs being counter to the amount of heat it absorbs.  If I can keep this in mind while painting, I maybe can finally break past some of the color and lighting barriers I feel have been keeping me on lock for some time..though I still need take many other things into consideration.  Honestly, a topic like this is too in-detail to talk about in a post like this, but I just needed to get that out there, it's been on my mind like forever and will be there for all the same.

"Nevermind the orange streak there...working on it..."

    Okay, so w/ that in mind maybe this Suzuka picture can be seen in a different way..or not x3.  So far the painting is still in the other stages, as is the blending.  The blending is actually very tricky; I want the colors to still stay clear and somewhat present, but too much blending will start making things murky.  Maybe this piece has an Impressionists tone going for it right now?  Truly I wouldn't know; I've only been trying to work w/ color and blending in a way that feels good and by some chance it is going in this direction x3.  I don't even know much about Impressionist art, so maybe that's worth reading into in the near future as well.

   Regardless I think I'm starting to get a solid grasp on how to shape the rest of this picture, so now it just comes down to how soon it can be done.  Being the way things are, I'm in no rush to speed through this piece unless I'm being very careful along the way (I've barely been touching the Undo button except when the mouse gets super-screwy when I lay a stroke, and most of the actual painting is being done on one layer...yeah, that's more traditionalist habits carrying over).

    That appears to be all I got for this week; well, there are other pictures around but I don't feel ready to show anything about 'em just yet ;).  Their time will come, surely.  Meanwhile I just want everyone to enjoy their weekend so they're refreshed for next week.  Do what 'ya gotta do, basically.  I'm off to have some fun (well, wash clothes and cook lunch, then fun) for now, and next week I'll part some words on that crappy movie I saw (sad really; the prequel was pretty awesome).  L8r out everyone.