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 :)

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.