Terra Branford (WIP)

My latest project is a commission  piece for a friend; a portrait of Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI. I'm keeping a step by step account (as best I can) of the progress here, so head past the break to see the progress. I'll update this periodically, so be sure to check back. And I'll put the final piece here before the break when it's complete.

That is one spicy meatball!

New drawing today. Wanted to finally break out the toned paper I bought back in December and attack it with some charcoal. The idea had been in my head since at least then, but I decided to add a splash of color. The dragon's features are inspired from many sources; the dragons of Skyrim, my turtles, and even the Krogan race from Mass Effect. I had been working on a sculpture in Sculpey for months until last night when it cracked in several inexplicable places. So I thought today I'd jump back to a medium more in my expertise.

Hier Kommt Die Sonne

 

Here she is, all completed. Now all I have to do is resist the urge to do a massive dragon so I can do the second half of this project. Read past the break for more haphazard methodology.

"Forged in the fires of Mount Doom..."

 

Last night I decided on a whim to attempt to bake my new sculpture, so I did some research on cooking techniques, and tossed the piece in the oven. I set it for 250 and let it go for about an hour. Seeing no signs of scorching or burning, I turned the heat up a bit and let it go another 20 minutes. I then turned the oven off and left it to finish cooling overnight. I pulled it out this morning and am pleased with the hardness, but there are some parts that need to be reworked a tad. Mostly just the ends of each hair lock, where they are jagged or broken or cracked. Since the whole piece is holding up well from the firing, however, adding to these parts won't be any trouble at all. After that, some sanding and flash removal, which should be minimal since I used clay softener and a brush to smooth it before baking. I guess it's time to start looking for casting materials online.

Seriously, this stuff makes me want a bagel...

Here I've carved out the forms and put more detail on the face. It was tricky getting down into the curves around the face, so I bought some small clay tools today, to supplement the ones I have. Also, I noticed there isn't a whole lot of skull going on in the back, so I'll need to round that out more.

The ear was a little delicate, but surprisingly easy to do. The hardest task I've had is smoothing out the forms, but I saw some clay softener at the store- using that lightly with a brush should do the trick. All that will be left after that is to peg the back for hanging then bake it. Then I will have to find the stuff to make a casting mold.

I'm not dead! I think I'll go for a walk...

Just a note to say that I haven't given up again, I've just been in the midst of moving, and haven't had much time or energy to actually update. I have, however been doing some sketches, and am actually working on a small sculpted piece (more on that in a bit). I've also had some great ideas for some series pieces, but those will wait until after the holidays, I think. Also, prints of the Bad Girls of Gotham will be possible soon, I just need a really high res image to print from.

So this is a first attempt at a small relief piece I'm working on, part of a diptych. It's my first foray into Sculpey as a sculpting medium.

The Truth is Written in Acrylic

Okay, so finished the arm using the same blue and burnt umber, and a bit of the napthol and cadmium orange for the hand and accents on the hookblade. The background is a glaze of napthol and alazarin crimson over the black and white. And that's it; those are the only colors I used on this. Very proud of the limited palette I used.

Overall, I'd say my favorite part is the forearm bracer section. The texture of the leather came out very nicely. I also really enjoy the hood. Honestly, they were the parts I worried about the most when I began, along with the face, of course. 

For the moment, I'm done with this, though I hesitate to call it finished. I have one idea that I want to try out before I do it, and it's sort of a surprise. But if it works, I'll post another update to show it off. Thanks for reading, and as always, comments are welcome.

We now take a break from Batman: AC and Rocksmith to bring you the following.

Just an update on this painting, to prove that I am still working on it. At least in as much as I did more work today for the first time in over a week. Not a lot to say here. I added the red of the sash and the inside of the hood using my favorite Napthol Crimson (I seriously need to buy more of this). I touched up the spot on the tunic that I didn't like before. I used the Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber in various tints for the hood, and the fur is just black and white used in light, quick strokes.

Up next is the hand and hidden blade. It should prove interesting getting the metallic texture of the blade right. I'm still not sure what to do with the background, but I have some ideas. See you next time.

Bad Girls of Gotham (Part 2)

Here is the finished Bad Girls of Gotham drawing. I'm pleased with the final product, though I wish I had a better camera to capture it. The lighting is bad here, and I have to take these with my phone. But I was able to adjust it a bit with the Picasa photo editor. I had finished the drawing on the white background, but there were some breaks in the surface of the paper that caused some discoloration. I originally was going to paint it with a pink background, so I decided to do something a bit drastic. I cut the drawing portions out and glued them to the prepainted paper. The logo at the top was also drawn and cut out the same way. Anyway, thanks for reading, and comments are always welcome.

Nulla è reale...

I'm currently in the last stages of finishing the Bad Girls of Gotham, and as soon as it's done, I'll be sure to update with the finished product and the second half of the process. While I waited to finish that (I need fresh X-acto blades), I got to work on my next project. Here's the first stage for your perusal:

I plan on finishing this one before November 15th. Hopefully much sooner, because I will likely be moving BEFORE then. Anyway, head past the break to check the process and progress on this one.

Wait until they get a load of ME...

So, I took a break from the Bad Girls of Gotham drawing, mostly because I was running out of black Prismacolor pencil. So while I was watching Terra Nova and House the other night, I did a sketch of the Joker based on the one I did on the whiteboard, just for the heck of it. I liked how it looked and decided I should suck it up and paint it, since I'm not that good with media that doesn't require sharpening. I grabbed an old half-finished painting assignment and gessoed over it, and got to working.

I started out with a black and white underpainting, with no midtones, to establish a dark, dramatic lighting. I filled in a dark painter's black of Dioxazine Purple, Phthalo Green (Yellow shade), and Alazarin Crimson. I started the skin on the darkest purple so that I would be bringing the highlights out of the darkness, gradually bringing it to a midtone purple/titanium white blend. I then used a dab of the phthalo to tint some more white to start adding highlights. I tried to do this as alla prima as I could, to increase the color pickup in each layer. I then used some straight phthalo to block the shapes of the hair. I started bringing out highlights in the hair by adding in some Yellow Medium Azo to the phthalo. Finally, a purple tint for the last highlights. The lips are my favorite Napthol Crimson, with the dioxazine for shading. I used the same to do the eyelids. The teeth blend the purple, yellow and crimson to a white/yellow tint. The irises are just the crimson and yellow. I then went back with my Mars Black to do some final shadow work. Then, after snapping this pick, I noticed the nose was missing some midtones to make it pop, so I fixed that. Maybe I'll take a better pic and replace this one.

I've gotten a lot of interest in the BGoG drawing, as well, mostly people looking for prints. So I've decided to give away the painting instead at the midnight event. Meanwhile, I'm still going to finish the drawing and try to find a way to reproduce it, then possibly offer prints somewhere. Not sure how I'll scan it, but I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, time for bed.

Bad Girls of Gotham (part 1)

As I mentioned in my last post, I do artwork to advertise all sort of stuff in the GameStop I work in . Also, I am a HUGE Batman fan, and am eagerly awaiting the follow-up to the stunning Batman: Arkham Asylum- Batman: Arkham City. To advertise our pre-order bonus, I drew this on our whiteboard.

The reaction from customers was surprisingly enthusiastic- I'm told some took pictures. After doing another piece of art for Gears of War that we raffled off at the midnight which also got a really great response, I decided that this was a good way to work out my chops, to stretch my artistic legs, so to speak. So I decided to do another piece for B:AC.

Originally I was going to do a painting based on the above drawing (I still might), but something a coworker said about a "pin up Poison Ivy" stuck with me. I really like retro style pin up art, and I decided that would be even more fun. So, head past the break to take a peek at "The Bad Girls of Gotham."

(C'mon, how do you turn THAT down?)

Seriously? A whole friggin' year?!?

Okay, yeah, a whole year. I suck, I know it. I even ended up letting my domain lapse (mostly an accident). But I figure I actually HAVE done some stuff in the past year, so I need to start documenting this stuff. I work for GameStop as an assistant manager, and between explaining to my customers the basics of a supply and demand based free market and finding little old ladies a copy of "Grand Theft Auto: Eye Vee" for their seven year old grandkid, I've actually taken on duties as my store art guy. This happened at my old job in Seafood at a grocery store, too, so I'm not surprised. I don't do a lot of "art" for the store, but I do a LOT of really fast drawings, in four colors, on dry erase board, along with our table displays and such. I've been taking pictures of them as I go along, so I want to start putting them in my albums, so I have a record of them. I'm uploading them from my hone to my Picasa as we speak.

I know I said a year ago I'd be putting more things up on here, and I meant it then. Things got in the way and became excuses, but I'm determined to put something here HOPEFULLY once a week (give or take). A new drawing, doodle, or a commentary on an old piece.

And I mean it this year, too.

Holy delinquency, Batman!

Okay, so I haven't updated in a while. My bad. Seriously though, it's been a bit crazy what with moving and getting promoted to assistant store manager and more moving. I only recently got my workspace set up to even begin on anything, but I also did not have internet for a time, nor was my computer even set up in a manner that was conducive to tablet art. These ailments (read: excuses) have been rectified (hurray for the new computer desk), and as such, I should like to begin posting again on a regular basis. I still need to procure a digital camera with which to document my work, but I actually AM working on something, which is at least a step in the right direction.

On a related note, I also have decided I actually should use this space as a sounding board on my art related musings and ideas, as well. So please look forward to me sharing what meager thoughts I have in the near future.

New Stuff

Okay, so after many hours of work, its finally finished.

I'm fairly happy with how it turned out, although the process was more trial and error that I had hoped it would be. I did find some new tricks along the way, and also rediscovered the program Poser for rendering observational models for reference. I will have to make better use of it in the future . (It would have made the Vincent painting below much better.)

Preview #2

Just wanted to share this. I really like this section.

New Project Preview

Preview of a new project (as if the title didn't explain that fully). I'm working on a new painting in Photoshop. It's big. As in the preview area below is roughly 1/10th the area of the full picture. I'm attempting to use some chiarascuro techniques. So far, I'm liking what I've got.

The more artistically critical of you might say, "But you're only utilizing the lower half of the dark/light spectrum, you hack." You'd be right, and I do plan on using much more in the upper half. But for right now, I'm still establishing my forms. I just wanted to share this with anyone who might happen to stumble by while on their way to something far more interesting.

On a somewhat related note, I very much still consider myself a student of art (probably always will be). So if you should be reading this and have some constructive criticism, on this or any other of my works, please feel free to share. I always appreciate tips and suggestions.

Late art. Or early. Whatever.

Sometimes my mind wanders. Occasionally, when it does, it brings back souvenirs.

A few months back I was at a friend's house with a sketch book and let my mind wander, and it came back with this odd little character. No name, no identity, no purpose. Just him, under a bare tree reaching down for something. Someday, when I have a sketchbook section, he'll probably end up there. I've carried the little guy around in my head, searching for his purpose ever since. I feel like he has a story to tell me, but I don't know what it is.

Tonight I was thinking about some stuff, and my mind went off, and when it came back, who should I find leading it but my little friend. I opened up Photoshop and began to paint quickly, trying to capture what he had to show me. I don't know where it came from or what it means yet, so I'll leave that up to you.

Another Quick Painting

Another quick painting to drop off, this time of Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII. This one I wanted to try fast and loose, playing with a different PS brush style.


Also, just to note, this one, along with the Joker from the other day, were both painted in a single layer. I consider it practice for the canvas.

I think I want to try working from an actual drawing next. I've colored line art before, but always going from an art cel standpoint. I think my next project will be something more like a combination between line art and a painting. We'll see what happens.

Do I Really Look Like a Guy with a Plan?

I feel like I haven't been able to exercise my creativity lately. The biggest reason is that I don't have a lot of space to work, and lately I have been very busy working the day job. It becomes hard for me to do art work without a dedicated space, since I have to factor setup and tear down into my work time, and then decide whether the remainder is even worth utilizing for any project.

There is one medium that requires no setup or cleanup- digital. So whenever I get that urge for now, I think I will have to sate it by cracking out the tablet, and going to town in Photoshop. At least until I have a space that I can just put stuff out as I'm working on it and not worry about it being disturbed.

So today, I decided to flex my digital skills with a quick digital painting.


All in all, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I'm more pleased by the fact that I felt like I had learned some neat things from the process. It makes me feel like I didn't waste my time. r^_^;

I've set up a Digital Art section to keep stuff like this. You can find it under the newly labeled Works section of my site. Hopefully I find the time to do more stuff like this.