Sunday Afternoon

 

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Sunday Afternoon Updates

  '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.

Saturday Morning Updates

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  What's up everyone?  Today I have some more WIPs (oh, as usual, the dredgery x3); I can only roughly gauge out how much longer it'll take both, but I'll try keeping the updates from here on to a minimum.  Let's not waste any time then, shall we?...

  First, Valkyrie.  The progress so far is about to the halfway point of the finish.  I went ahead and added in much more detail for pretty much everything, basing it around the concept that I'd be using this layer to represent texture, shape and solid definition.  Henceforth, that's the same reason I have not done the same w/ the sword, gown, and skin; these things do not have normally solid textures or hard definitions; they are more subtle and dependent more on the effect of light.  So the next round of painting will involve carrying that concept throughout the whole piece, using more values and pushing around the hues a little in thinner glazes to (hopefully) achieve a softer and more realistic look.  I say hopefully b/c-like almost everything else in this piece-I'm learning as I go.

  Actually, yesterday I had a major fuck-up with the hair, getting the values all wrong and contemplating if I should just let it slide or re-block it.  The former would've been a dick move, but the latter had me worried simply b/c I didn't wan to EVER layer the paint on so thick for one step, worrying about cracking.  To my surprise, taking the latter route has benefited the picture immensely.  Her hair is closer to what it should've been the first time, and the paint layed down extremely well w/ no cracking (and maybe just minimum chipping).  Even so, I think for future pieces I'll use some gesso on the ground to support this technique better in the future.

  This one here is being done moreso for myself and possibly portfolio reasons (depending on how well it turns out) than a client.  The characters are-from left to right-Suzuka, Melfina, Aisha and Jim, from the 1998 anime Outlaw Star.  I remember OS coming on Toonami way back in the day, I must've been in middle school, certianly.  Didn't give it the time of day then due to being so infused into DBZ, but it's easy to tell that it's aged much better than Akira Toriyama's epic (though, given they're quite different in so many ways, that isn't too fair to say).  I've really been enjoying this show recently and wish I had watched it sooner, but that's alright.  Now I can do these awesome fanartz!!

  Since it's summertime, I just wanted to take the three leading ladies and the easiest male pushover and do something fun and tropical w/ them.  Although, the excessive shading might be at odds w/ a supposedly "lightweight" and "fun, tropical" theme...but atleast there's an ocean above and fish swimming!  See?!?  They're riiiiigggggghttttttt...........there!  Lolz; seriously though, I took this one up as an opportunity to sharpen my pure lining and shading skills, which have gotten complacent the past few months.  I haven't tried a drawing this shading-heavy in a few years, actually :S.  It's also been a good excuse to use up whatever amount of black marker I have left..in fact the only reason this one might take longer than it should is solely b/c of that marker drying up at the halfway point (though I hope that doesn't happen) delaying the finish.  The other colors are okay atm though.  I just don't want Aisha to find out my little confession involving the black marker...she's gonna have a fit w/ me taking so long xD.

  Well there you go peoples; I won't be posting anything else on Valkyrie for another week or so, and w/ any luck I should have the Outlaw Star piece done by middle of next week.  So to my fellow artists out there, I wish you the best in your pursuits and don't let frustration knock 'ya down; it's just an invitation to try harder ;).  Take care you all and have a gr8 week; l8r.

Valkyrie...Initial Coloring

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Good afternoon denizens of the state; today's coming forth w/ an update of the Valkyrie commission I'm doing for a friend on 1Up.com.  We've done business for little over a year; he's been my only commissioner so far but I sincerely value the contact we've had, as I've learned a bit more about the model and, hey, from here things can only get better right?

  As you can see here, I've mainly just been focusing on laying in the initial color blocks.  Tbh I know a medium other than acrylics, like goauche or casein, would have been better for this method.  That said, I only have acrylics on hand and since they're fluids, it wasn't that hard to get the consistency downpat and JUST thin enough but thick enough all the same.  I think I have a very solid idea how to proceed forward w/ this piece but you must understand that almost every concept being employed here is a case of "learning as I go".  In other words, it's the first picture employing most of what I've been learning over the past couple of months on my own, and I would like the final product to reflect the original vision.  Still a long ways to go on that front, but we're getting there (slowly).

  So far, if I can levy any complaints on what's been the toughest thing, it's actually been mixing up these colors.  Yep, no pre-made paint colors other than the primaries and some white/black/brown for me x3.  Trying to emulate other colors in this fashion w/ a limited palette is extremely difficult, and I've gone as far as to use GIMP for value mapping.  Countless swatches have been painted and in fact more are being painted as I come up w/ different ratios for new colors.  The one big drawback I see already is that, if realism was the intent, I'd be screwed over.  A lot of the colors in that Valkyrie picture use heavy doses of Titanium White, which tends to dull the color.  I would probably need to buy a wider range of primaries and a few complementary colors to get the same colors I've made swatches of so far but w/ greater vibrancy (of course, a little glazing could liven up some of the duller colors, but it's a very case-by-case issue).

  I still need to do the color blocking for her eyes, eyelashes, eyebrows and mouth, but from there I can proceed to the next step.  Very tempted still to use a variation of the dead layer technique in this..I feel it could benefit my style.  I'll just read and study on it more the next few days and see just how much to incorporate it.  Also been considering trying impasto and sgaffito in some areas; again, just considering the options.  One thing is for certain though:  I feel much more confident in my painting skills and color theory conceptualizations now, and would like to keep improving them both.  Just finding the right balance of study and practice, that's what it really comes down to eh?

   Next time I post anything up on this will be when she's nearly done, so in the meantime just keep a lookout for other WIPs and random musings.  Be back l8r, hope you all like the work and catch 'ya next time.  L8r :)

Current WIP: Valkyrie

  

  What's up everyone?  Won't keep you for long, however I figured it upon myself to put up a quickie for the current painting I am working on for a dear loyal client of mine.  It's the character Valkyrie from Namco's series of games, and don't blame yourself if you don't know her...I didn't know of her much either until I got hit up for this picture.

   I won't be talking much about this one, but I will post up WIPs for when most of coloring is done, and then a final piece when the picture is done.  I'll just say I had to restart this one four times before getting this particular rendition, but it was more than worth it.  Also been merging my coloring, painting, and drawing theories and tests into working btwn this and a couple other pieces, but this will be the first one to test how much has been gained in such a short amount of time.

   Funny enough, the client doesn't know this is the version I'm going w/...I think I'll keep this ver. as a surprise until it's done.  Compared to what they THINK they're getting, though, this one's much better and more focused (although, it's nowhere near finished yet).

  Keeping w/ the art themed topics, I'm going to be purchasing some more tubes of paint from Dickblick over the next few days.  I've been very tempted to at least try picking up some oil pastels, but the results I've been getting w/ acrylics is enough for me.  My studies on color theory and mixing are what are pushing me to get these paints, but w/ them I should be set for anything.  Also, since the art process is becoming much more streamlined, I can probably do away w/ other things I felt I needed before.  Feels good to finally be back on track, w/ a fully clear head :)

  That's it for now; I'll jump back sometime l8r in the week to chat about Beserk and Outlaw Star, two very good examples of their respective genres, and muse over some classics I've been playing.  Stay awesome everyone; l8r.