Coming Soon…

Avatar Run Down

Here is a quick run down on the process I followed for the creation of an avatar I am using.

As is what I always intended, I do the line work on paper, scan it in, and then do the rest using Photoshop Elements.  This was my second attempt at Holly Summers fan art, as my first one was pretty horrible.  I intend to post the horrible one next to this one at a later post  but for now lets keeped focused on this.

Also I was insanely proud of this when I first drew it but now I’m not so sure…

Also scanning the linework was a pain because HB does not scan well, so I had to increase the contrast a large amount which distorts the line work.

Anyway.  Step 2 was to clean up the line work which left me with a rather freaky looking image.  I also reduced the size somewhat to make it easier to work with.  As far as Elements went all I did was create a new layer, trace over my previous work and hide the old layer.

Now I just shrunk it again and coloured it in.  I used two layers of colouring, one for basic colours (which is pretty much everything) and one for the darker part of the hair and the white highlight.  One of the problems I found was while I love the colouring on my screen, on other peoples computer it comes up darker and dirtier.

And that’s how I made my current avatar, which I am pleased with, although it still can not compare with the original image (which was designed by Yusuke Yozaki by the way).  Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

Absences

Sorry about the lack of updating, but here in Australia it is the final exam period at university.  That finished for me today, but don’t be hanging out on more updates.  I am now permanent part time at work so I will be there a lot of the time, especially coming into the non-denominational politically correct holiday season.

Also I’m lazy.

Teaser Image to show I have still been drawing though:

The background isn’t that colour but either I have a bad scanner of the pencil lines were to light to pick up.  Or both.

The image is a fan art image of Holly Summers, copied straight from the concept art images.

I will try to post other stuff soon.

Not Connected

Although hardly skilled in the strictest sense, I have been commissioned (by my dad) to create a “not connected” t-shirt.  That was all the direction he gave me.  From that I created two possibilities.  Here is my favourite, and what he chose to go with:

This was hardly the level of art I had in mind when getting into t-shirt design, but it’s at my level and you need to start of small.  So yeah, you can draw your own artistic conclusions from this.

At any rate my client (dad) wants the blue men to appear all around the shirt, which is going to mean I probably can’t do this using an Internet service.  I have the design ready to go, I just need to find a custom shirt manufacturing place in my town.

Mmmm, so… yeah.

Scribbling turned GeekArt Shirty project.

Yesterday I was practising drawing hands (and by practising I mean copying them out of the book, also I only drew the one) and I had an idea for a t-shirt.   Seeing how I want to get into t-shirt design I am now starting a project.  This is my 3rd t-shirt project (I will tell you about the other two in a later post) and this is the rough sketch I am planning:

Firstly, I know this is rough, I plan to clean it up.  I’m not sure If I am going to colour it though.  Secondly, scanning artwork on a AUD$99 scanner (my new one!) does not do the linework any favours.  Although that might be universal for all scanners when scanning light HB.  The hand took the most time to draw.  The power sign took 20 seconds.  The cloud 2 seconds.  Anyway, I am going to be developing this over time and will keep you updated on the progress.

Maria “Tia” Kennedy – My Original Character

In a recent cleaning out of my room I found a USB disk. Upon looking at the contents of the USB I found this:

That is Maria “Tia” Kennedy, and was my first attempt at drawing a character.  This was back in December 2007 when I was planning for the Webcomic I only have done once.  Basically I drew this straight from a series of tutorials I found on the net.  So this was more copying other peoples styles than drawing my own.  Ironically this was my first characters but it still remains to be my best work in drawing animated people.  Ugh.  It’s a benchmark to improve from though.

Get Digilated

While I have been focusing on classic sketching up to now, it has always been my intention to go digital.  However I find learning classical sketching useful for the following reasons:

1. It’s practice.  Practising a drawing style I won’t end up using is better than doing nothing at all.

2. It teaches anatomy and fundamentals.  Drawing people is a big part of what I want to end up doing.

3. Learning classical drawing will get chicks.  Well not really, but a skill is a skill and the more skills I have the better.  Learning is power.

However, when I start producing the work for my website I intend to do my line work on paper and scan them in a Photoshop Elements the rest.  Which brings me to the point of my article: my digital setup.

So far the program I am using Photoshop Elements 5.0 because I had a copy that came with my graphics tablet.  I’m not going to use Photoshop CS2/3 because A) It costs a gazillion dollars, and B) I am not going to need anything beyond layers and tablet sensitivity, which PE 5.0 does have.  So that’s my software.  My graphics tablet is a Wacom Bamboo Fun.  Not exactly professional but it does the job.  It also cost my $400 and has a scratch on it.  Ugh.

I also need scanner, which is why I have not been updating recently.  I have pictures to upload, I just haven’t the means the do so.  Until then, I shall keep practicing my fundamentals and (eventually) posting the more relevant results.

Sorry about updates

Sorry I haven’t been updating recently but with me housesitting, I have been spending time trying to do my assignments in a house where none of my university texts are.  Now I am home, I need to buy a scanner for my computer, as I don’t have one.

When I post again, I will be posting a bad picture, and then I will tell you why I think it is good.  Look forward to it.  Or don’t.

A new cube

New drawing benchmark for myself people!

Remember the cube from the very first post?  Tried it again.  Here is the result:

Obliviously not great but it’s a heck of a lot better than the other one.  Decided to not shade the face around the hearts because it made it look busy.  You can also tell which parts I concentrated when shading and which I got lazy with.  Also the edges are more subtle.

Figured out that the shading will be better if I shade with the side of the lead, not with the tip.  This is why practice is good.  Learning is doing or something.  That’s how I figure this stuff out.  Any way, this sets a new bench mark for me.  Won’t post any other cubes unless they are REALLY good, otherwise this will just be blog of me posting weighted companion cubes.

Anyway, I stayed up until 1:40am to draw that, and I am done.

Until next time.

Where I am going

Okay, the title theme is wearing a bit thin, I am running out of tenses to use, so this will be the end of that…though.

In order to remain motivated and have a sense of direction when learning, I found it helps to have something to aim for.  And given that I have been doing a lot in pencil sketching, I like concept art and character creation and I am fan of the game “No More Heroes” I decided to start off by aiming for skills equivalent to this:

This isn’t mine, all rights Suda51, Grasshopper Studios, Nintendo, Nintendo Mag, whatever.

But this is something to aim for.  It shows that an image doesn’t have to be fully cell-shaded computer rendered to look like awesome on a stick.  Basically I like this image as a point to aim for because it show how simple HB sketching, not even inking or line-work inclusive, can look good.

I actually have a folder of works from lesser known artists / draw-ers such as Aaron Diaz, and better known artists such as Jamie Hewlett.  I use these images a reference and to get ideas from.  Basically a portfolio of people 1000 times more talented than me.

At any rate, this means I am going to have to go back to studying anatomy if I want to draw a person.  More samples of my work as it comes along soon.