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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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 :)
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.
Afternoon all; thought I'd stop by quick to put up some progress for a couple of new pictures. I already mentioned one of these before, but she's being accompanied by her eternal rival. Meanwhile the Blue Mary picture will be resumed as hastily as possible, but it is a complicated beast, hence why I'll do these ones in the meantime.
Just some lines for structure as I get ready to paint them today. I'm definitely using my acrylics for these ones..the big question now is how far. If I fancy it I might complete them fully by hand, which would be nice, and I think I can do that now. But I've gotten some neat stuff out of Corel...oh if only my mouse weren't such shit xD!
I'll be steady w/ these two, have them done in a few days. Meanwhile I'm going to need to eat some lunch, so catch 'ya all on the flipside :)!
What's up everyone; posting a current progress of the revitalized Blue Mary picture as of today. I got a jump on it yesterday but didn't decide on an approach (in terms of layers and color) until last night as I was going to bed, then thought long and hard on some of that as I began laying in the underpainting today.. So here's the rough painting:
Yep I'm still going about the way I did w/ the Vice picture, but this one will be much more refined and focused. It's also a lot more complex, bunch of light sources and all. I might be a fool for throwing color into it from the get-go but as I already mentioned that's my way of envisioning better and it helps me, even if it does bend some classical rules. I have the palette set up and given the current rate of progress it should take only a few days to finish, but I'll probably also get to painting another drawing to post in-between this one.
Look forward to an update over the weekend; see 'ya all l8r!
Not a biggie of a post here peoples; just following through on my promise to keep uploads somewhat consistent over the weekend while I work on these for that contest I mentioned yesterday. It actually ends Tuesday which is two more days than I thought, so I am gonna save the painting and final outlines until maybe Sunday/Monday respectively, and resume Poison on Monday (and finish her then too; just need to ink it now more or less).
I managed to get this one roughed here in maybe an hour and a half, not counting breaks and distractions. That also includes having restarted from a previous picture of her backside I just wasn't digging @ all, but that's my fault. Had no clear idea what pose I wanted doing this and in general I have a tougher time w/ backshots than front ones, which really needs to be worked on over time. Also, her left hand in particular gave me a really tough challenge; what's here is quite less dynamic of a posture for it than I was aiming for, but I scaled back b/c it wasn't looking too hot in the original form. Such is the life of drawing stuff like this w/ absolutely no handy references around whatsoever :S.
Again, did a nude mainly as some additional anatomy practice, and there's roughly enough detail in this and the front where I can just draw the rest of the outfit and proceed, 'cuz that's where the actual point of these entries is. But indeed, I'll never turn down some anatomy practice if I can squeeze it in there; the more the better ;)
I'll be back tomorrow w/ pics of the painting as it's done for them both; if able I'll pop back l8r tonight to post these ones again w/ the clothing on and then the paintings @ the end of tomorrow. Feeling really good in how these will turn out, since it's been a LOT of (undocumented, truly) time these past few weeks strengthening every aspect of my approach to my traditional drawing and digital painting, but I'll just let the results speak for themselves. Gonna eat egg rolls about now; have a gr8 Saturday see 'ya l8r :)
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!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
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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 :)
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.
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.
What's up people? I FINALLY managed to beat that bastard Mongolor in the Tower of Hera. Man, what an annoying boss. Something felt terribly off about him compared to the other two bosses..it didn't help that the sword was about the length of a broken toothpick. And to add insult to injury, you get the Master Sword right after that. Well, I have that now, the witch stuff and something that looks like the Triforce symbol from Ocarina of Time...wow I suck at naming shit lol.
Anyway, the reason I'm here is to post up a new picture. I'll post up my current work on Poison tomorrow (maybe), but for today I'll be showing what I managed to get done on Suzuka over the past two days. Actually, before getting to that, I'd like to take the moment to mention that the OS and Valkyrie painting I had been posting here for some time now are both on hold.
The OS picture (w the three girls and Jim) was really just a freak exercise in getting used to outlining and shading w/ a marker/pen again. Certainly, it's been a huge help. I will most likely finish it this week in-between much newer pieces. As for Valkyrie, the painting is just hanging on hold while I come to grips w/ "something" (it's a heavy thought; better saved for much later in some other entry). In the meantime, what I'll try doing is paint the character again, but this time I'll use Corel. "Huh?", you ask. "But that's a digital program!"....read on...
Suzuka here, as you can likely guess, is being painted in Corel. I got the program a few days ago and spent the bulk of the first half of this week learning how it worked, seeing the strength of the brushes and the mixer tool, and making test color palette sets, that sort of stuff. I probably didn't get to painting her until Wednesday. So far I'm just adapting what I would do by hand to the computer screen, and it's going pretty well. There's no doubt about this: this will be my companion in all future art pieces, for sure (though I would like to use the paints again).
While I'm still familiarizing myself w/ the program, it hopefully won't take too long. I'll also be getting a jump on painting the Poison one sometime next week, or at least come up w/ a color palette for it. Between them it's off to get a couple more ink cartridges; the printer has been out of stock on both for about a year :S. And more computer paper...yeah...
So tomorrow, I'll put up the lines for the Poison pic...most likely. I'm actually more inlined to wait until at least the base painting has been done, and that should only take a day or so. So if it's not up tomorrow you know for sure I'll post something of it next weekend. And by that time, I'll have Suzuka and Valkyrie (in yet another unsurprising revamp xD) done. The time of the WIPping boy is almost done people, just be patient.
I'm out for now; take care and keep kickin' it. L8rz.
'Nathernoon there, me fellows (please excuse the brokenness, this is my attempt at proper English, and I must admit...it's gone sour very fast). I managed to make it out to that club I mentioned previously w/ my sister, but suffice to say I have that post in another spot; you can click here to read up on it if you wish, and when I get a copy of the photo taken I'll post it up here. Needless to say, it was very awesome and just what I needed to relieve some stress that had been building up; a few more stints in Zelda and Snatcher and I should be just about refreshed to tackle some major progress on art projects for the next five days.
Speaking of art, as promised I'm here to post some updates. I know I said I'd stop w/ all the WIPs, and I'm trying to stick to that. But for the time being, until I get into a groove where I'm more focused on one single piece instead of several big pieces concurrently (and until where, for some of those pictures, I ingrain what I learn into my head where it becomes routine knowledge), doing a single WIP until they're done leaves too big a dry spell. So I'll do a once-a-week sort of update on multiple pieces, and if there's any time I skip doing that, it's the signal I'm focusing on one piece only and it'll be done much faster as a result of that.
First off, I'll start w/ a new WIP. No it's not the Poison one; I'll probably begin drawing her today and I have a very solid idea w/ her in mind (could actually end up doing two copies). This one is something I started doing so as to overcome weaknesses I quickly realized in my other OS piece (which I'll get to shortly).
Most critically, I noticed that atleast Melfina and certainly Suzuka were not looking as "on-point" to their official image. I could just bullshit and say I altered some details for my sake, but the truth is I should've studied them a bit better beforehand. Now, I'm doing a three-piece picture of the three females (Aisha too) so as to get something closer to their official designs. It was also a good excuse in doing some better portraits. Still need to finish them all up; I'm considering either inking them raw or doing some flat paints and then inking them, leaning towards the latter @ the moment. We'll see when we get to it, I suppose.
The Valkyrie commission is coming along..ever-so-slowly. Despite so much having been done, there's still so much more to get completed, it honestly does intimidate me at times. Doesn't help I'm exploring ever-more-complicated processes and implementing them on the fly, as the time taken to study, conceptualize and understand those things eats into the time actually spent painting.
But it's like I said; glad my client is so loose in their finish date. I don't want them to be disappointed in the final work and I really want to use this piece to exponentially improve in every single way, so hopefully a couple extra weeks won't be asking for much before it's done. If anything, any future pictures on this level should be done much faster, as I'll already be familiarized w/ the techniques by then (though really, I always try some new twist in everything anyhow xD).
Here's some further work on the original OS picture. Even w/ the complaints I had earlier, I realize it's a good opportunity to practice line weighing and shading to conceptualize a full, finished piece, so I'll be finishing it as soon as able. Suzuka is basically "done", so I have mainly Melfina and most especially Aisha and Jim (lol @ Jim...lol @ him!) to finish up, again worrying that the black marker doesn't dry up.
In any case, I'll be using what little cash I have right now to pick up at least a couple others from Micheal's if that does happen (or closer..doubt Wal-Mart sells Prismacolors tho :S). Certainly, this one'll be finished this week I can't see it taking any longer than Wednesday, even if switching btwn it and the other pictures.
I'm just about done here for today, and hope you all enjoyed the progress pictures so far. Before I go, I'll simply reiterate on my dA reshuffling plan in getting the old pictures out. If in case I haven't said so here, I'll be creating a shadow account there to host the older pieces, as my current account will just host the most recent work within about a three-month time span, in addition to what are the strongest pieces (could span from any length of time really). What I'm also considering, though, is just dropping off dA altogether until the fall, so even when those pictures (and others) are completed I won't be uploading them there until about the second week of September. I can use that time to focus on other 'more important' things, like fine-tuning what pics I have and looking into constructing a portfolio, not to mention look for jobs I can post for. Everything else should fall in place from there.
So again, I hope you all enjoyed the pictures; please look forward to some FINISHED work later this week, maybe some random sketches I crap out in the meantime, and further progress on what couldn't be completed by the time I come back. Stay awesome and enjoy life to its fullest; see 'ya next time. L8r.
