happy hearts day :)

I hope you all enjoyed a happy valentine's! i made a card for my girl this year, in a medium i don't usually use. watercolor. :3

things i forgot to post :D

because i'm derptastic like that. some finished commissions and sketches.

 A commission for the always wonderful Poet, whose blog you can find here. She wanted a female version of one of my drawings from way back and I am ever so pleased to deliver. :) Where mine was more mottled, hers has a more sepia and grunge look.

 The finished commission for CrimsonKiss89 of her characters Clyetes Arkanum and Nikolas Drake, from her novel in progress Crimson Kiss.

The finished commission, also for CrimsonKiss89, of her Dorothy Bennett from her novel Vestige.

Finished commission for Sir Mordred on Ygal (and known by other handles elsewhere) of Arthur and Mordred. Yes, as in the Arthurian figures. 

Here's another update on that huuuuge piece for my baby. I wasn't kidding when I said huge! 

Old but good sketch of one of my favorite dragon/elf hybrids, heavily contemplating a night of amazing sex.

Good ol' Apostle, being such a bad ass.

Three, four, lock that door. Concept art with the theme "There's a monster in all of us". 

Practice sketch. Recently acquired Autodesk SketchbookPro. Been feeling my way around it.

Look what I found! An old old old ink drawing of  Poet's Alexander and my Alexandra. This was, ah, a cover for a fancomic I made, I think. Still one of my favorite works.

My menstruation doesn't make me any less of a man. Genderqueer for the fucking win. :) 

 Everyone's favorite (?) sassy gay lawyer. Okay, so I made all of that up. Here's Wilhelm Helmholtz judging you. :|

Another SketchBookPro sketch. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Walkthrough: Leonardo and Ezio

I was recently commissioned to draw Leonardo da Vinci and Ezio Auditore da Firenze of Assassin's Creed II by a friend. I've never played this game but it being mainstream and a favorite of some of the artists I follow, I more or less know what's going on. Won't stop me from actually getting the game though!

Here's the process for this commission.

The commissioner was very kind to give me information on these two characters and a basic idea of what she wanted. Working with those, I make a basic sketch.

I let that sit for a night while I get some shut eye. In the morning, with fresh eyes, I review the image and decide it's lacking interaction. Where are their other arms? So I set off and make a sketch based on the first.

Awful chicken scratch in the corner is mine. I wanted something more romantic, so I had them interacting more. Here I also sketch in an idea for their facial expressions. There's something not sitting right with me though. I've decided Ezio would be hugged by Leonardo, but his left arm kind of obscures Leonardo's face. Not to mention closes off the composition too much.

 I make a new layer and adjust things a little. There, that's better. This way we can see Leonardo's face. 

I look at a lot of their reference pictures. I even look at dozens of the game videos. Also, around here I notice that Ezio has very Italian features that a lot of artists don't draw. A low brow ridge for instance, thick eyebrows. A strong nose. I decide to bring these out in the sketch. I start getting an idea for their clothes as well. It's a mess right now.

I block in a few things to get a better idea of how they flow. Well, that looks pretty much correct. Let's get started with inking!

As always, I start inking on the face. I discover I may have drawn Leonardo's head  too small. Oh dear. 

Time for me to adjust Leonardo's head just slightly. There. That looks better. I ink in their hands next. And start seeing all sorts of anatomical errors. YIKES. None of my sketches are 100% fool proof, traditionally or digitally. Mistakes just crop up when I start getting serious. Around here, a friend lets me know I drew their hands too small. ;A;

 Hands corrected! And the rest of the ink is magically done?! No, no, I spend an hour or so fixing that. I also start detailing here.

Adjusted Leonardo's face and hat because it kept bugging me.

I start laying down my base colors. A lot of them I referenced off in-game stills, while others I pick up from other artists' renditions of them. I gave Ezio a more olive complexion than Leonardo.  

I had to stop for a moment to broaden Leonardo's jaw and chin to lessen how girly he looked.

There's all the colors. As you can see, I started detailing the cuffs of Ezio's shirt. I can't find very good references for them so I had to improvise. 

Leonardo's tunic looked a little too washed out, so I darkened it. I started detailing his tunic as well.

More detailing! My eyes are starting to bleed at this point. 

 MORE DETAILING. Although, not gonna lie, I had a lot of fun doing those leaves.

 Ezio's vest was a bitch to detail! It was a very complicated pattern I couldn't make sense of so I partially improvised. Think of it as paisley's cooler cousin. None of those prints were textures; I hand drew them myself.

 Time to get coloring! I did Ezio's eyes first, to get a feel of the piece. Then his skin. I almost always start at the face.

 Don't mind that crude sun, it's just a light source guide for me. Kept refining the colors on his face and his hands until they looked right before I started painting his shirt. 

 Not wanting to lose the detailing in his vest, I had to duplicate it, setting one layer to Screen, the other to Luminosity. The patterns were saved from the deep dark shadows of his vest. Painted other things as well, his arm accessories and his leg.

His hair was particularly challenging in this one. I wanted to show the texture of his hair so I switched to an Oil Brush to get that quality I wanted. 

 Leonardo's turn. His face is slightly more interesting, considering we've got to contend with his hat. 

I darkened the shadows on his face a little.

Rinse, repeat the same process I employed on Ezio. Here's the finished image, with the folds on the tunic just like I wanted. 

things i need to do more often:

Post here! Terribly sorry for neglecting you, blog. I got caught up in some well deserved break time and being a hermit. Hoping to change that, moving forward.

Not much on the personal life front but I have been very productive in terms of art. In no real order:

I mentioned I was anal, right? And that I tend to re-do things months later when I am way better? Here's a tiny repaint of one of my favorite pieces back in 2009.

Haha, I couldn't finish repainting the whole thing because AHHHHH WHAT IS WITH THAT INKING, THAT DRAWING IT IS HORRIBLE. Defeated by my own critiquing. That is so sad. Coloring old and anatomically incorrect lineart is a hilarious yet calm experience though. You want to make this so obviously anime thing somehow breathe.

I think I did far better on the repaint, managing to give actual dimension and shape to Raph's face. But I also think it's the increased know-how of human anatomy and the funny stuff that goes under the skin. I haven't deleted the .SAI file yet so who knows, maybe I'll end up repainting the whole image after all. Yanno, because I'm that anal.

GUESS WHAT MOVIE HAS EATEN MY SOUL? About six months too late. That's right, I watched Inception and completely fell in love. In fact, I am so in love that I did the one thing I swore I wouldn't do. Draw fan art of actors.

Pretty glad I really did push through with the fanart, tbh. I've been learning a lot about faces from staring too long at Cillian Murphy's and Tom Hardy's pictures. Currently employing that new knowledge  to paint something huge for the Inception Reverse Bang.

In the meanwhile, have some of my earlier attempts.

Robert Fischer is one of my favorite characters of the movie. Not just because he's played by Cillian Murphy but the deep sense of irony and guilt you feel as the audience keeps him on your mind. He kind of haunts you after a while.

Drew this while trying to adapt his likeness in my style, without having to paint him.

Pretty obviously, and maybe like half the internet, I also fell in love with Eames. What's not to like about Eames. This drawing is based off one of my favorite fics on the Inception kinkmeme.

Also drawing more for S. Anderson's Beyond the Veil project. Aidrianne is one of my favorites of her characters and I may be painting her soonish. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, from Futureland

Wishing all of you a safe and happy shiny new year! I spent my countdown to New Year's working on a commission 8D What a way to start 2011 eh?

Have fun you crazy kids! Don't forget to check out the Commission Me page, which I have finally gotten around to updating! Haha, better late than never!

Dorothy of CrimsonKiss89's novel Vestige.
A work in progress.

Finishing up this painting of CrimsonKiss89's Dorothy! This character's been so easy to work with and it was certainly fun trying to capture Evangeline Lilly's likeness.