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 :)

Mai Shiranui Step 2

  Back again peoples, after a few more hours of working on the Mai picture I started yesterday, and was supposed to be a single-sitting session.  However, my own process seems to keep elongating the time compared to what it could be, so even today she's not gettin' done.  In fact, it might be a few more days before she's completed.

   The reason why's simple:  if I spend six-seven hours a day on it (keeping in mind I'm still learning as I go along), at least a fourth or more of that time is me purely mixing my colors and making test swatches.  A digital program might have all the colors I need right then and there, but by hand it's a pretty laborious process and requires pinpoint balance.  Nevermind the fact diluting paint w/o water is a science in itself, so yeah, it's taking a while.  Leave it to me to underestimate my own working time x3.

   So for now, I'll take it a 'layer' at a time.  I consider multiple glazes of the same colors to count to a layer, until I end up needed to reduce the medium amount or deepen the color in the actual mix, which is where the next layer starts.  Ironically it's coming off a lot like an oil painting technique ("fat over lean")..I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish the same effects, but I'm not @ that point yet to know what they are or execute them in practice (which, really, is where it would matter).

   Still, at least the basic colors have been bought out some and some details are being worked in.  I'm deliberately leaving the skin for last b/c it'll require a wholly different approach than the rest of the picture, and the background should get a good spice-up sometime during all this shit.  The whole thing should get done in maybe another few days, since I have other pictures to attend to in the meanwhile.  That's just how it goes, I suppose.

   Sorry Mai, your face won't be in the mail until quite l8r this week, but as the old adage goes, "slow and steady wins the race".  Be back l8r everyone; take care and be awesome.  Bye.

Art Day Appreciation and New Direction

  Hey everyone; for the first real post to this blog, I decided to take a piece of artwork I wanted to do for the worldwide art appreciation effort and share it here.  I'm also featuring it on my dA account (naturally), but @ least here I can muse a bit more on what it means to me.

  The idea behind this piece was simple:  since it was for a one-day event, I wanted to try a much different direction than I normally do w/ my art.  More specifically, I wanted to try a piece that was not preplanned in any way, and not presketched in any way either.  And, keeping in mind the subject manner, the end aim goal and the use of a few techniques I have only started practicing on maybe two weeks ago @ most, it's coming along pretty damn well.

  First, a bit about the character; Mai Shiranui is, you could say, SNK's mascot champion girl.  She's the main reason so many people look to SNK w/ reverence, and/or a sly bit of perversion.  Make no mistake, she is a cute, quite sexy kunoichi, and sometimes it's a miracle she doesn't cave over w/ those quite massive breasts (granted, their size tends to change depending on the game and the artist, which does hint at good variety, if unintended on SNK's part).  She's essentially also SNK's answer to Chun-Li, who, I must admit, is my favorite video game female character (and also the one that got me started on my thigh fetish x3).

"Don't be scurred, my face should be in the mail tomorrow :)"

   The picture itself is being done on what was my very last piece of Canson Montval 400gsm acrylic paper (until the new pad came in this afternoon,..talk about timing) w/ Galeria Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cobalt/Ultramarine (again, new stuff arrived and I replaced the Cobalt w/ Ultramarine a bit later), Crimson, Titanium White, and Mixing White colors.  Mediums being used (interestingly enough none were going to at first) are water, Galeria Retarder fluid, Liquitex Glaze fluid and Galeria Extender.  Materials aside, I'm going back to something I haven't done in a long time w/ a painting...actually "painting".  Not content w/ doing a laborius sketch or mapping out every detail before even taking the first brush stroke, not content w/ using my trusty color pencils for laydown.  Certainly, @ this point it's pretty blocky but the freedom that's been opened up taking this approach again more seriously has given me a new fascination for art.

   That said, I've actually been considering taking this approach for a while now.  Some of the other pictures I had been doing were leaving me unsatisfied.  Always some issue w/ the lack of color density, the flatness of the lines, etc. etc.  So I took a step back and, while still doing some other pieces in techniques more comfortable, have been doing much reading on how to get the most out of my acrylics and brushing up on various theories of composition and design.  For now, this piece is the start of me putting that into practice w/ the medium I intend to main (not exclusively, but more or less) while maturing my craft.  A tough shit to do when it's basically yourself doing the teaching and learning (save the tutorials online and some people's art you find here and there), but if you want results, it's just gotta be done.

  For this picture in particular, I'm focusing mainly on glazing technique and proper dilution of the paint.  I'm also focusing on emphasizing for and shape using brushstrokes and color, rather than relying on any thick pen/marker outlines like I usually do.  It's a whole different ballgame, not to mention this piece is heavily opaque (I'm much more used to thin transparent washes using mostly water for dilution), but I plan to make it work regardless.  The progress here is just the initial opaque glaze following a few layers of transparent underpainting washes for harmony.  At first I thought I messed up w/ the skin by making it's top glaze seen here too thick (and, well, I might actually have done so xD), but I'm hoping using a variation of a wash-glaze technique used in some of my watercolor pictures will bring it together..keeping very subtle and sensible on the skin from here on.

  That's about all I have on this one piece for now; I was hoping to finish it by midnight but it's probably better to take a bit of a break (i.e not rush shit when the hand is getting cranky) and resume tomorrow, which should have it done.  I *really* want this one to be a noticeable step up from my previous painting, rough edges notwithstanding.  So I hope everyone watching and reading is wishing for the best and together we turn Mai's magic on like she's getting out on the runway.  Thanx for stoppin' by, peace out and see 'ya l8r.