Good Saturday evening people; I'm going to be playing a lot of Zelda:LTTP over this weekend, and just generally relax down. It's been a busy week. Thankfully this past Thursday I got an urge to once again pick up my acrylics, b/c quite honestly I've been getting a bit tired of being on the computer all the time for my artwork purposes. In fact, this could be a turning point in how I carry my art out forward for the foreseeable future.
Truly, I'd rather not talk much about it, but let's just say I'm nowhere near done w/ my traditional painting yet. Never said I was, and I really love the sense of 'freeness' it provides. So, here's a few paintings (alla-primas) I did over the past few days, w/ a very small title and description for them. The constants in these paintings are, quite simply:
-Galeria paint: Crimson, Ultramarine, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Burnt Umber, Mixing White, Titanium White, Ivory Black. That's it.
-Paper: Forget the specific name, but it's Canson brand, likely 200/250gsm, linen sort mainly for watercolor, but obviously I wasn't doing watercolor techs here.
-Brushes: Mainly my flat 5, sometimes my short and the fan brush for parts of one picture.
My goal in doing these was to rediscover my interest w/ traditional painting and my acrylics, which sorta died down a good deal over the summer. In retrospect it's probably b/c they were a bit beyond me and I was too methodological w/ them. Maybe I'm too methodological w/ painting in general, so it was a very pleasant break to just grab the brush and lay the strokes where they may. Each picture follows a basic idea of small palettes, and I did most of the mixing directly on the support. If I could learn a bit more about how these colors interacted w/ each other and which ones could form good palettes together, I was set. And that's what's happening.
The Boy: The first one done. Used a three-color palette of Earth hues. Wasn't focusing on peak retention or strokes as indication of movement and energy. Reminds me of Ed off Cowboy Bebop x3.
StaringMan: 3rd one done; flesh tones are always a bitch, but in this case (and for the others) I had a general idea of what colors to pick up on the brush and in how much a load. Also, since there was no attempt at precision it went pretty well x3.
Icy World: 2nd done; worked a lot w/ Ivory Black. Black's usually shunned w/ traditional painting but I'm not stupid and latch onto common myths for the hell of it. If used sensibly it can work very well for mood. I'd love to have some Mars Black around to see how these two differ. Also worked w/ what I would Consider Payne's Grey, and a sort of purple; can't remember exactly which purple I mixed up tho.
FruitSet: One of the last done yesterday, really just wanted an excuse to use up the rest of the paint on the palette. This and the rest below more or less shared the same palette set-up, but that will probably be obvious even w/o me mentioning it.
ThatGirl: I guess these are the same women, different hairstyle notwithstanding. I like the bottom one much more, just wished I gave her more of a damn face!
TheBird: Out of the alla primas here this one's my favorite. Got to do a lot of neat peak retention tests and use brushstrokes to indicate energy and composition in most details. That was always an issue w/ me before; using brushes ill-suited for their job, and not playing enough w/ depth. I'm over that problem now ;).
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So as you can guess, I have plenty more of these to get around to doing. If things pan out soon I'll be buying back up more paint supplies, b/c now it's really dawned on me, I can't go w/o traditional. Blessed as I am for what I have been learning digitally and continue to learn there, I'd feel a bit cheap w/o my brushes and tubes of paint. Of course, each of the two have their own merits and use, so I'll continue doing fanart digitally (in terms of painting it) but will be taking a much greater initiative now to do original pieces traditionally.
Speaking of fanart, I have a new post for my Alita pic, and some sketches of Cerula (aka Daymn She's Fine!):
After a little more clean-up and inking I'll finally get to painting her on Monday. Eager to try a few new things w/ her, mainly dealing w/ transparency. I'd also like to attempt not using the lines so heavily (I started the process of that w/ Bilstein), since a lot of lines is starting to be counter-productive to my process. As for when it'll be finished,...welp, before the holidays sounds about nice (there a couple other pictures to work on too, but I might skip coloring them in favor of just inking).
Cerula is one of my favorite BAA characters; she's powerful, has heart, cunning skill and intelligence, and most importantly, a nice pair of bosoms ;). Oh, and she's a vampire, but not of the lame Twilight variety. Playing up on sex appeal aside, I dunno if I'll proceed w/ finishing these ones out, or just proceed to other renditions of the girl. The "sketch" mentality is taking over my whole process, and I'm not making it a mandatory note to finish up every picture I draw out anymore, just do what I feel like (but of course having some sense of direction along the way). Seeing as how I do like how the one on the left looks tho, I will most likely finish her up, before maybe drawing her in proper canon outfit or w/e.
Okay, that's it for my update. I'm off to cook lunch and watch Eatman and ATVOTOMS. Stay warm, awesome, and edged. Until next time, l8r out.
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 :)
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 :)!
It took a day longer than expected, breaks and all, but I have finished the Vice entry for that pirate contest over on dA being run by GBK666 of the Fighting Game Elite club. Well...*sorta* finished...
I actually fully intended on doing a back shot to go w/ this, and even w/ this submitted version a lot of little details got chopped due to time constraints, mainly the sword and the hat. As-is, I honestly don't think it's going to win the contest but I'm not even upset about that.
See, this picture helped to remind me why I love painting w/ color again, something another certain picture I was working on for a while made me forget. It's important to never become tethered to the rules of norm if it feels 'boring' to you at the end of the day. No insult to what's been proven to work in the past, but I have to find what's up for me, and apparently I have more of a taste for impressionist and abstract than I once thought. This Vice picture it certainly rougher than I would have let it be if I had the time to be a tad more careful w/ it, but I gained a shitload of insight on myself while doing it. Needless to say, it was more of an 'experiment' and I will definitely be carrying forward in this direction so far as use of color is concerned.
Another reason I'm really happy w/ this one from a not-technical POV is b/c it helped me rapidly streamline my painting process. Layers in particular, were being really abused my me and were not doing much good in creating something w/ energy. I'll be uploading the Poison picture tomorrow to show proof of this, and hey maybe what was done w/ that picture could be a fit for someone else, but for me it was too many layers, not enough forethought or critical thinking, and boring to work on after a while. I guess I am a speedy bastard after all when it comes to this stuff; no matter the subject matter or complexity I'd rather knock a pick out in three or four days tops, and now I feel I can do that very much so.
There is another contest being ran on that club, for SNK chars in particular (gee, wonder why I couldn't just wait to submit this Vice one for that instead x3), but for right now I'm probably not going to participate in that one. I have a lot of other pictures to start painting on, using what I accomplished here as a launching pad. So the Blue Mary picture is first up and I could/should have it done by Saturday. I also really need to get around organizing Pro-Spec and finishing up pieces to host up there. In general, I need to be focusing more on setting up a good network to begin putting myself out there and finding some work w/ this art, contests can wait xD (tho they're good for exposure, certainly!).
So that said, that wraps it up here. I'll complete the other Vice picture likely sometime (it'd be a shame to let it go to waste), but there are many other ones to get to. Thing is, I'm certain they'll all get done very quickly. My energy's back for this, and it ain't going nowhere ever again.
Peace out everyone; take care and I'll be back l8r. Byez.
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 :)
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.
'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.
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.
