A Little Something Before This Year Ends

I haven't been keeping up with this so well...I've been busy with my project. I have been drawing and stuff but I haven't been posting it here. Here's something I did yesterday as a mass holiday card of sorts:

Made from a quick sketch with just my wacom--fun on a bun. I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas!  :)

Art Blog Acquired

A while back, actually--a really good friend who likes to assist me with artistic endeavors showed me this one. It's called The Forbidden Planet and it's actually more of a comic/TV/movie blog but I'm just looking at the cover art and occasionally the articles (I always spell 'occasion' wrong--I keep forgetting if there's two Ss and/or two Cs.). The Wonder Woman cover up for today is amazing--also, there's a comic called Tuk Tuk but the style is very interesting!

News

-Decided to organize days into one caricature, project, and animation per week (didn't I already post this? If so, well...I'm posting this anyways to help remind myself). For any paying projects I have, I'll make those top priority. I plan to use Google Calendars specifically for art stuff--I'll get around to it *whistles innocently*

-Speaking of which, I actually have a gig--wooooooo! The contract is being signed and stuff and as soon as I get what I need I can start this week! :)

-Decided to draw the kitchen for The Weird Family Breakfast--the lack of background is very distracting.

I haven't touched my site in ages---I want to make another section for my art commissions (which is where the drawings come in). At any rate, I need to focus on this paying project! Yeah yeah yeah yeaaaaaaaaah! 

Project: The Weird Family Breakfast PART THREE

Finished flat coloring (may change some colors later) and now I'm doing what I said I'd do and add a separate Texture layer--the only thing in it right now is the trim along Fish Mom's coat collar and the plaid pattern:

I want a plaid pattern like last time but I'm unable to find a high-rest frontal of a coat with a plaid pattern to find exactly how it'd alternate from sleeves to the body. I tried Googling 'pea coats' but there are next to no plaid ones--I've tried 'plaid jackets' but the pictures usually aren't big enough or they're the plaid with the big, thick stripes which is what I don't want. Perhaps I'm nitpicking over little things...for now, I'm just drawing it and I'll take a look at what it looks like when I'm done.

Also, I made the background purple because it's a color that starkly contrasts to everything else; it also helps me see if there were gaps I didn't color in properly.

Speed painting digitally

I think this person uses one layer the entire time...it's hard to tell since it's sped up but anyways, this is impressive:

JUST DO YOU THINK I AM?!

THE


CHOCOBO

HERO!!!!!

I've been spending too much time on this; I feel if I want to go back and change stuff, I simply can. For now, I guess it's not too bad (that was difficult to say). Onward to The Family Breakfast. Also, I have an idea for an animated 2D short that I should start working on, too---I have the sketches and stuff, might scan them laters.

New Wacom Gadget: Inkling

When I heard of the Inkling, I quickly dismissed it--but once I saw the video, I was mesmerized:

The only possible downside is that it seems that you have to start a new layer and draw only what you want in that layer. When I draw in my sketchbook, I don't really like doing it that way...it'd be annoying to have to learn. Still, my drawings come out better when I do them on paper as opposed to straight on the computer (I always scan a sketch then draw off that)

Choco Gurenn Lagann progress: Working on background--taking a while
The Weird Family Breakfast progress: Coloring
T-shirt idea: Didn't do but maybe I'll do it just for myself

Fixated on the Not So Important: Choco Gurren Lagen

On the kick of redrawing my old art, I wanted to redo my deviantID for a while...it was pretty crappy:

I did this pretty quick and this was my working on inking drawings then scanning them--they always turn out all pixelated which looks bad. I believe the original drawing was way smaller than this so that's probably another reason. Anyways, there are tons of thing wrong with this so...let's just forget about it. Anyways, I made another sketch:

Trying to work with line thickness and depth...the right foot still looks too bold--I think I may thin out some edges laters. Anyways, I added color:

then shadows:

then highlights:

then light sources, the body shadow and an emblem (which I may dump laters):

Here are the photos I used for reference:

1) Sogeking (from One Piece series)

2) Kamina (from Toppa Gurren Lagann series)

I like the gradient deal w/ Kamina's background and but the gradient feature in Photoshop is limited and would make the chocobo look flat anyways. I may just do it by hand or find something else. My original idea was to have Choco Gurren Lagann outside with clouds like the Sogeking drawing above but honestly...I just forget, hah. I'll find something I'm happy with in time...I really need to get to The Weird Family Breakfast.

SIDE NOTE: My friend Tim suggested that I overlay a gradient. I tried it and it looks pretty cool. Still, I'm going to mess around with even more stuff to finalize this picture. Tim's deviantART page will be posted below and he's a talented artist who does commissions and stuff. Please give him money to draw stuff for you:

http://dra90nboi.deviantart.com/

What's On My Plate

I get overwhelmed and new ideas pretty fast and jump to them w/o finishing stuff--here's what I have to work with so far:

IMPORTANT:
-Caricature sketch of two of my friends (for website)
-The Weird Family Breakfast remake
-The Weird Family Breakfast: Waffles remake

NOT SO IMPORTANT
-My devaintID pic (Kaminaesque chocobo) remake [worked on this yesterday]
-Pokemon Team Pink: Pacole & Lickitung
-Prinny Tea Time


For the front of my webpage, I'll have a collection of my various work--I'll just pick stuff from what I'm working on now instead of making something separate for it. I'm thinking of scheduling different stuff for each day so I can finish a lot all at once--I need to learn to be fast but efficient. Blaaaaaargh.  XP

I've Been Drawing, Honest!

I've just been too lazy to scan. More to come soon! :O

Lookit!

Made a Favicon!! I'm going to bookmark my own site so I can admire it!!!

...even though it'd be really small...


...but whatever! :D

Thin lines ftw!!! I didn't really know what to do w/ the background but I think it's fine enough. I'm impressed that I got so much detail on such a small scale. Whoa, listen to me being proud of myself...this is kind of weird...

T-shirt Contest And More

http://atrium.threadless.com/826/

Another Threadless contest; I've tried entering my shirts in the general running they have but this one was posted by a friend on Facebook. I think I'll give this one a shot. I'm worried this'll put a damper in my original work schedule but...I dunno. Too hard to pass up. I have until the 12th of September to do this thing!

About my workload...I need to be able to do several things at once. Working on one drawing at a time won't cut it, especially with my ambitions. My work load's gotta match my mind load! >:D

So I've been thinking about doing the unthinkable...

...

...

...getting...a planner!!! My only problem with this is that a) it's impossible to follow it meticulously and b) I always forgot to put stuff in it and/or actually read it. Also c) sounds lame.

Here are the pieces I tried to submit to Threadless years ago (and phailed):

I should have submitted this in the winter--this would have been perfect. Some of the suggestions were to add more branches on the tree--also, I probably should have scratched the oval frame and make this only for a grey T-shirt.

The ideal behind this one is that it's a forest at night composed of owls--the giant owl's eye is the moon and the little airborne owls around the big one--their eyes are the stars. The tufts of the sleeping owls on the bottom are hills and trees. I think what I should have done was zoom in and put more details in the feathers..other than that, I liked the idea and was kind of sad it didn't get selected.

Project: The Weird Family Breakfast PART TWO

No work today so I tried to be as productive as possible (ran into some snags, like finding out that you can watch Darkwing Duck episodes on Youtube. Oh, nostalgia--it's nice to remember how great that show was/is). Anyways, I feel that I finished the lines--learned how to use the elliptical marquee tool to draw a better table. Did some finishing touches and voila:

If there's anything I need to change, I can always do it later but for now, I've been dying to do color--here's what I got for now:

I'm using this piece to determine the official colors for these characters; I'd like to get around to creating (if possible) a palette for these guys so I won't have to swatch from previous drawings anymore. Also, I want to find a style that suits these characters--for little details. For example, the kid's pajamas were solid seafoam green before--I think I'll add thin lines of a slightly darker hue. Debating on whether or not to add a pattern to the table (I can always make a pattern swatch but that may be tacky. I also want to avoid using flat colors for things--the monster dad's shirt is actually a really light tan color as opposed to white. Maybe I'll switch to a blue-white. 

I realized I forgot the fish mom's hair band but...well, I may add it in but I may not. I hate how I'd overlook little things like this and I seriously spent a lot of time honing in on the line portion, something I don't usually do. Gragh, I think I need a break. 

Sketch Dump!

Project: The Weird Family Breakfast PART ONE

This was the first sketch I made that started the Weird Family Breakfast series; a combination of characters I created for my Animation classes--even though they were born because of class assignments, I kind of took a shine to them. Anyways, here's the first drawing:

I took the sketch, darkened it a bit in Photoshop, added colors and then copied the sketch and overlayed it to get the bright colors. It made me think of a Saturday morning cartoon series and I decided that I'd always draw these guys eating breakfast. 

Even though it was a rough, hurried sketch I made out of boredom (or something), I liked the sketchy look. Still, I had to urge to redo this. At first, I started tracing this with my wacom but then I realized that 1) I've been changing the appearance of the fish mom with each WFB piece and I've felt I've decided upon a final look for her and wanted to incorporate it in my remakes. She'll now be sporting a shorter, blonde do with a hair band and a fabulous pea coat w/ cuffs. She'll wear her apron only when she's cooking and when she does, she'll usually wear a green version of the yellow raincoat she's wearing in the picture above. Anyways, here's the rough sketch:

Fun on a bun...now for the line art:

I'm desperate to start coloring and shading (because I'm closer to making the drawing look like what I can see in my mind) but I know I want to make sure the lines are just right. I'm learning to control the pressure I put on the pen--a lot of lines vary. Drawing hands is always a pain and drawing Fish Mom w/o oven mitts was challenging; I've decided to give her the fin-hands of her male counterpart. I gave Monster Dad a shirt and a bigger newspaper. I found myself wondering how he manages to sit in a chair but decided that he's probably using two chairs..or something. Actually, he's pretty tall--he could just be sitting on the floor. Scale is another thing I had to consider--I may make Monster Dad smaller but maybe slightly taller than Fish Mom. Well see over time. Anyways, I wanted to post this to show others (all three of you) and myself that I am being productive and...well, this helps and encourages me. Also, something I got from a good friend:

-Deciding between two sites to make my website---will scan and post list later.
-Drew a quick cartoon for fun (found my radiograph pen and my newer ink pens which delighted me)--drawing comics gave me a lot of joy.
-Also planning to redo a lot of my older work. I tend to not like to improve on what I already have and always draw something completely new. No more of that!

Said comic:

Playin' Around With My Wacom

Drawing on my wacom w/o a sketch to trace...hilarity (or weirdness) ensued: 

Wix.com was doing a special--if I bought the Premium package by yesterday, I'd be paying less annually for my website for a year. Even though payments are monthly, I always worry that they'd take the whole amount out of my account just then (I made sure to use Paypal) but I decided against it. I didn't have enough for even one monthly payment and even if I pay less for a year, I'd need to pay the regular price the next year so why bother?

Anywho, this is what I drew on the bus/in the lounge before work. This first picture is my WFB w/ tea time but I've decided against it for the time being.

I'm playing with a new look for my reverse merman; instead of jeans and galoshes, I'm having him wear those galoshes-overall things. This is what I wanted him to wear from the beginning but for some reason, I decided on jeans.

So I've decided on penguins attack a reverse mermaid in ballet for my home page drawing--pretty excited about it. I got home late so I shouldn't really be working on anything--I have work early tomorrow so I need to go to bed.  :\

Ideas for Home Page Art

1. My Weird Family Breakfast characters all dressed up and having tea
2. Sequential poses of Fish Mom (Weird Family Breakfast) doing ballet
3. Sequential poses of rabbit
4. Sequential poses of penguins pirouetting (a la Disgaea)

Thinking the sequential drawings will be better; they showcase drawing and animation aspects at the same time.   :)

     Weird Family Breakfast was a combination of characters I created for my Animation class; the child and monster are from my first group animated short and the reverse mermaid was actually a male character I made for my Intro to Animation class. Out of boredom I drew this:

A bit sloppy but I liked the charm of it--I decided to go with the breakfast theme using these characters; only a few of these WFBs made the cut for my site, this one excluded, because you have to show your best, right?

AC: Pokemon Pal

First off:

AC = Art Challenge

A friend of mine asked me to draw a picture of me with my favorite Pokemon. Being the fanatic that I am, I found it hard to just choose one but I think I've come to settle on one. I'm a fan of weird-looking Pokemon and Lickitung has to be one of the weirdest Pokemon I've come across. Definitely in the Underused Tier, he has a mediocre move set but being a Normal type, he can learn a vari--um, I should stay on topic. Anyways, here's the basic sketch:

I darkened it so I could see the lines better--doesn't really have to look glamorous. Next I traced it w/ my wacom. I like using the color blue. I also make a background layer and change the color to white:

I decided to do one character at a time so I'll start with the Pokemon; I realize that the drawing itself is a little off; my Lickitung's (named Lord Beef Wellington III, Wellington for short) feet are positioned weird and his arms aren't the same shape. I realized this way later on but managed to fix it up--for the sake of making me look good, let's say I caught it right away and fixed it when I went to draw the lines. I'm trying to shy away from simple, black lines and experimenting with colored ones:

I then add in color; I try to make the outlines darker than the base color so it'll show up but not stick out that much:

I don't like the way the eyes look; the eyebrow aren't actual eyebrows by the way--they're markings (that's why I didn't draw them in the line portion); Lickitungs have black eyes that are rounded and beady w/ a white shine in them but I thought I'd try a dark brown. I'm not satisfied with them and felt it'd probably look better when I add the shadow/highlight layer:

I'm not fully done with this layer but I wanted to post what I have so far; I'm selecting the color w/ the Drop tool and darkening the color for the shadows--it's not as easy as simply coloring black shadows and turning down the Opacity (maybe I should have done that...oh well). For now, the light source is simply above. Hopefully I'll get the eyes looking better...

Goals: Website

• Decide on whether or not I should have a Home page; I feel it's pointless because the main purpose of a home page is to host the tabs for different pages--I suppose it's also like the cover of the book (maybe I'm just being lazy). 
• If I do make a home page, I need to decide what drawing to put on it--I know I want to make one especially for it but I have several ideas so...I'll have to choose and act right away
• Make a drawing for the Contacts page; added this blog so I could have something to add other than my e-mail (didn't feel good about leaving my phone number on a website)
• Make a 2D animation; will do frames via wacom tablet in Photoshop and compile them in After Effects--will add some variety (and 2D animation is what I wanted to do in the first place)
• Finalize a color scheme
• Save up money to buy domain name and get rid of ads
• Decide on a domain name (torn between using my full name to be easier or something cool/weird)