Monday, December 29, 2008

Sketch Dump



Just felt like drawing the backside of Older Toph since I only focused on the characters frontside in my month long Character Design thing. I didn't post this on DA because I know no one likes my interpretation. The breast expansion enthusiasts love it though, and that's a little creepy. I mean, I've been sort of analyzing WHY exactly I gave older Toph huge titties. I think it's because Toph is easily the most attractive female in Avatar due mostly to her character. I have never wanted to be a 10 year old girl until Toph. She's just that awesome. The thing is, I'm not a pedo, I can't be physically attracted to children. Sorry. So, I have to age her to an almost rediculous level in order to justify an attraction to the character. I have to make it obvious that she's not a child or underage at all.

God that's all kinds of fucked up.
Decided to color my crap sketch. Still trying to find a good way to ink.
I actually really like this sketch, and I may post it.
Unfinished Pirate Ninja
Angry Marine is Angry
Panda from Body Bags Sketch. I was going to finish it, then I realized how creepy it was.
Speed abstract paintan
I'm furry for Lola and Minerva Mink.
Experimenting with traditional anatomy.
Crappy experiment
Sketch that turned in to something I liked, but am not gonna post for a while. There is just too much TITTY! in my gallery on dA.

Just dumping sketch work, unfinished work, and work I'm unsatisfied with.

Kain








Decided to try out a technique of blending using the airbrush tool, and avoiding smudge or the grainy water blender in Painter. I actually like the result a lot more.

Blood Elf Death Knight










I tend to believe that there is no such thing as bad information, just bad uses of information. I decided to make an image using the techniques and ideas I learned in my painting class only in the digital format.

I began with a yellowish sepia tone canvas.

Added a brown-ish value layer.

Added color to that value layer.

Rendered and rendered.

Overlayed a canvas texture, and then painted over the layers that came forward with opaque "paint" (I did this because I learned that transparency on canvas gives this feeling of receding.

Rendered and Rendered and so on

Some Quick Kei Drawings




Every artist has their weak points. I have many, but one that really sticks in my craw is my cartoon drawing ability. I'm much better with shapes as representations of form than lines as representations of form. Now, I'm the kind of person that if I'm not good at something, I tend to work on it until I am. However, the preocess of trying to improve is a very painful one. Here are some experimentations with a more cartoony style of doing things.

I love drawing Kei. She's one of my favorite anime characters and has been since the mid 90s. I mean, the series she's in is fairly forgettable, and nothing I'd recommend to anyone else. But her character tends to stand out in the oversaturated medum that is anime. And it's not because of TnA (though I enjoy drawing that aspect very much) because there is a lot more and a lot better TnA in the realm of Anime.

Finals Weekend - Finishing Up





Sorry I didn't update with this at the time, but life's been a little hectic these past few weeks. I have a new roommate, I'm visiting family, and you know the whole christmas thing is one huge fucking time sink.

Anyway, here's the rest of the WIP photos of my final painting project.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Finals Weekend Step 4 - Painting

Started off good, using a mixture of burnt sienna and liquin. Used red and yellow ochre for the skin tones.

I fucked up on the eye and by adding a green glaze that just isn't working. I'm going to try to fix it tomorrow. I was so... exhausted by this point that I spilled paint thinner everywhere. Time to sleep.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Finals Weekend Step 3 - Prep work


Ok, I made a canvas already during thanksgiving break. I printed out the work I did on the computer and projected it on to that canvas, making a smooth pencil drawing.




Then I added a layer of transparent acrylic earthy tones, a mixture of burnt sienna and yellow ochre. This mixture is EXTREMELY wet and EXTREMELY thin.

Finals Weekend Step 2 - The drawings









Not all of these made the cut for the final painting.

Finals Weekend Step 1 - The Plan

Well, this coming week my final projects are due and I only have this weekend to work on them. So for shits and giggles I'm going to update on this blog with my progress, just incase I fuck up at some point. I can point to this journal and say "I simply made a mistake."

Anyway, my final painting project is supposed to be a portrait that's more than a portrait. We're supposed to test different picture planes using techniques used in the class. ie, it can't all be one technique, it needs to be seperated and experimental. Acrylic, Oil, Direct and Indirect painting techniques.

I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to do and I had an epiphany. Why should I try to make something that's artsy fartsy bullshit. I decided to do something that represents me and my culture without being faggy and ambiguous.

I decided to do a faux fighter selection screen, kind of like this. Only, it'll be based on a snapshot of my culture , what I find to be interesting and cool. The two opponents will be me and my teacher.

There's a lot going on here, first it's an artistic representation of a videogame. I am an artist that plays videogames, and considers videogames to be the next great art. The subject of the game is fighting, this exemplifies my approach towards improvement in art. I am a very confrontational student. I doubt many teachers like having me, but its how I learn and improve.

So, with the concept fully realized in my brain, I started trying to decide who to include in the selection boxes, and here is what I came up with:
Myself
My Teacher
Slowpoke
Michelangelo (the turtle)
Alien
Raziel
Warboss
The Burger King
Necron
Chaos Marine
Space Marine
Dr. House
Kain
Kei
Pedobear
Pyramid Head

Almost included the mythbusters, but I didn't have enough room.

Next in part two, the basic images, drawn on the computer.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

B.B. Kildare



So last post I made up a random character in about an hour. I wound up really hating the pic and wanted to redo it. I spent hours on it, and along the way, I had to come up with a story to connect with the character so I could create her. I mean, lets be honest, this started off as cheesecake. I really didn't care and because of that it sucked. Hardcore

You can find the full explanation of the process on Deviant Art. Here I will regail you with the story.

First

THE SETTING
Some time in the near future, a flesh eating airborne virus is born called “the mist.” There are two versions of the mist pathogen a plant version, and an animal version. There are three stages, infection, growth, and consumption. In the case of animals, the infection begins in the brain. Initially, the virus takes up residence slowly, allowing the host to grow and mature. At a certain point, which is different for all individuals, the virus begins to stimulate hormone production. This causes the host to grow in mass. While stimulating hormone production the virus also stimulates cancerous growths. At a certain critical mass, the virus stops producing and starts consuming. Eventually a one to one conversion rate is reached, for every one cell there is one virus and the host eventually becomes an airborne bluish mist.

The virus takes anywhere from 10 years to 10 days to kill, but it has a near 100% kill rate. Eventually, so many had died, and there was so much virus mist that the world became covered in a 1000ft thick sheet of mist. The virus can’t survive in higher altitudes. All of the costal and plains areas of the worlds were abandoned and the survivors now reside in the mountainous areas.

In the hundreds of years that followed, the corporate entities became the governing body when governments proved ill equipped to deal with the crisis that faced them. This led to a kind of medieval pseudo governmental organization; corporate vice presidents became lords, and the CEOs became kings. During this transition they controlled and manipulated education and the media. Society regressed and what was technology and science became magic. Electricity became mana. Common knowledge became unknown and forbidden secrets. Scientists, inventors, and the technologically adept became the Magi. The Magi control all of the secrets of science and as such control the everyday workings of society. They induct anyone whom they deemed intelligent enough to deal with technological and scientific data and if the inductees don’t make it through the training, they are exiled to the mist. The Magi are funded by the CEOs, and enjoy more luxury than any one. Because of this they are really just tools of the governing body.

The world itself has long run out of oil, and as such the prevailing fuel has become water. The hydrogen in the water molecule is used for a cold fusion reaction. Though the Magi call it “mana extraction” the engines that extract the energy are called “Extractors.” Water is now the hot commodity. Ground water and rainwater are used for the things like drinking and washing. The Magi, who control and focus the weather, strictly control Rainwater. Ground water is strictly controlled by the corporate entities that pump and distribute it. Water that is used as a means of energy needs to be mined out of the mist. Now, despite our planet being over 70% covered in water, the CEOs and VPs have manipulated the information. The average citizen thinks that water is a scarce resource.

The mages, unwilling to lose what power they have, support the corporate assertion, and vehemently hunt and kill anyone who opposes this idea. Their excuse is that by encouraging the belief that water is plentiful, they are encouraging people to waste water, and this is harmful to society and tantamount to treason.

Water is mined from huge air ship powered by “magic” that Magi maintain strict control of. If the crews of any of these ships begin to hint at the possibility of water being plentiful they are quickly brought in line with the corporate mantra, or disposed of.

In recent years, population control has become of utmost concern to the corporations. They are attacking this problem by either starving whole communities of energy and food, or by selecting what they deem “unnecessary” people and sterilizing them.

This has led to an underground resistance that is attempting to fight the corporate power structure. However, they have no magi, no weapons, and are really a minor irritant to the corporate structure.

Though, the resistance may win its freedom if it can merely bide its time. Some say that the mist is clearing, even lowering. Maybe someday, things will return to the way they once were. Maybe.



THE CHARACTER

Name: Rebecca Ryan

Alias: Brigid “Bux” Kildare

Nicknames: “Buxom”, B. B. , B.K.

Age: 22

Born: 2462 Aug 15

History: She spent her early years in the care of her mother and father. Her father was a noble. When her mother passed away a local mage noticed her solving a Rubik’s cube. She always had an affinity for solving puzzles and making sense out of what most would deem as chaos. The mage noticed right away that she was very intelligent and had great potential as a mage herself. She joined the mage academy late in her life at the age of ten; she excelled skipping several years of the normal 20-year mage course. She was a prodigy and understood her lessons immediately. During her tenth year (she had only spent three years on the program at this point) she was expelled. She was expelled for assault. She beat up five boys. Though, they way she tells it, they assaulted her first. However, she had a few bruises and between her five attackers there were three broken jaws, two broken femurs, ten broken ribs, and one boy was hit so hard in the crotch a vein ruptured in his anus. Brigid was able to do this because she had, and continues to practice several martial arts. She enjoys the idea of logic applied to motion as a means of meditation and discipline. Although she is certainly no master, she can defend herself in most situations. The magistrate called her “assault” an excessive use of force and expelled her from the academy. This can be traced as the root of her hatred and dislike for both hypocrisy and authority. In order to keep academy secrets secret expulsions and their families are exiled to the mist. After her expulsion, her father was sentenced to live in the mist and supposedly died there, before she could be sent to the same fate one of the boys she attacked allegedly helped her escape. He was reprimanded, but not expelled. After arriving in the eastern territory of the northwestern continent she took up a new name and a new life. Doing odd jobs here and there for five years. At the age of 16 she wound up as a farm hand in one of the very few small towns left, above the mist. She spent the next 6 years there. During which time she took up wearing a bodice. Brigid had always had chronic back pain because of how kind puberty had been to her. And the head of the farm where she worked discovered that she had been stealing his magi created pain pills to compensate. The head of the farm didn’t want to fire her, because she worked without complaint to this point. His wife, who was a short and stocky, but very well endowed for her frame, gave Brigid a very old bodice. The antique bodice supported her endowments much better than a modern bra thanks to the strong whalebone in the bodice’s frame. It alleviated much of her back pain. When asked why she just didn’t have the magi reduce her breast size she responded, “I like who I am. The Magi do not. There isn’t a single mage the wouldn’t turn me in and even if they wouldn’t, I can’t take that chance because what the Magi authorities would do to my whole body pales in comparison to a slight back problem.”

She currently works for an airship full of water miners and mercenaries. She, oddly enough, works as the ship’s mage. She obtained the job thanks to providence. She was part of the ship’s maiden voyage as a passenger. The village in which she lived had come upon hard times, they couldn’t afford water packs to power their equipment and she decided to stow away on the ship to attempt to steal some of the water onboard. During which, the assigned mage attempted to sabotage the ship once it became apparent that the captain wouldn’t adhere to the agreements laid out in her contract. The Captain elected to take water to the small village that Brigid had come to call home before taking it to the main city. The mage protested by supposedly breaking the engine beyond all repair. Brigid knocked out the mage before he could escape, stole his matter gauntlet and before the ship plunged in to the mist was able to repair the damage done. The mage escaped from the ship once they made port, he contacted the Academy to tell them of someone who knew how to use a Matter Gauntlet, but wasn’t a member of the magi. This led to a manhunt in the village. The Captain offered Brigid an escape if she would take up the mantle of ship’s mage. Afterward, the Captain gave Brigid the honor of naming the new ship, since she would be the one taking care of it.

She named it Isbri
"Mistress of the Four Winds,
Mother of All which Dwell in the Air,
Eternal Antagonist of the Lords of Law,
She who Breathes the Life of the World,
The Bringer of Gales, Hurricanes, and Tornados."

Brigid is smart and strong, but because of her history she has some intrapersonal issues. Her years in exile caused her to avoid relationships and moving from job to job means that her ability to communicate is sub par. Her high intelligence and quick thinking means that she’s usually three steps ahead mentally of those around her. The problem is that she’s unable to communicate effectively where she is in her thought process. This leads to her dismissing others around her as intellectual infants and outbursts of anger when those around her “don’t get it.” She also conflicts with authority and tends to take any opportunity to jump ahead and ignore what the authority says to do in order to accomplish the same task more efficiently. Many employers did not appreciate this trait. This has led to several conflicts with her employers as well as the Captain on the Isbri. In fact, the only ones who ever seemed to encourage this personality trait were the old couple that ran the farm she worked on. Which is why she has such a strong attachment to them. She also has odd relationships with men and often assumes that they all have a singular intent. Though she is not above using her body to manipulate men to get what she wants, every time she succeeds she thinks less of the male gender.

The first impression most of her is almost always wrong, and she delights in proving that fact. Though this process usually alienates people, those who stick with her find her to be a loyal friend with a steadfast sense of right and wrong. She quoted Mark Twain once by saying “The mark of a true friend is someone who will stick by you even when you’re wrong, because almost anyone will stick by you when you’re right.”


Mega Kudos if you took the time read that.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Brigid "Bux" Kildare

So, I'm on vacation, and just drawing random things. This is just a speed character design done in a couple hours. The design itself is a tribute to Kei of Dirty Pair Flash, it is not Kei.

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there's way more, but I'm not going to write it all down.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Fingerlickin Good

This was an experiment. I worked on this for months and it was going nowhere. Then one day in class we had a discussion about what makes something look like it recedes and something look like it comes forward. To be honest, I felt like ever "rule" that was listed could be broken. Even though I suggested a few myself. This piece I'm experimenting with those ideas and attempting to prove a few things. The background can still be saturated, and have warm colors. The foreground can be slightly desaturated and have cool colors. Contrast only plays a role depending on context, and so on and so on.

Ultimately, as with all my paintings, my goal is to make something visually striking. Something you look at and go, "woah, that looks cool" This was made AFTER Forest God and is an example of me trying to live up to it but not succeeding.

This, similarly to Forest God wasn't entirely thought out. Sure, with this one I had a general idea of "I want a Daemonette standing over a Space Marine" but beyond that, I had no real plan. I just started off with some shapes, found what I liked, upresed and detailed it. The process is detailed here