Painting Practice

For Christmas, I ended up getting a new drawing tablet, so I decided what better way to break it in than with some practice painting! 

I've been wanting to get better at my painting technique, so I've taken up doing 30 minute paintings. This is sadly from a reference picture, but I wanted something to try out, see what I could do with the new guy. Overall, I'm happy with what I produced after 30 minutes. 

Dichotomy of Sisters

The theme this time around was Frozen, so I decided to play off of the idea of the two sisters and how the reflect each other. 

This is all done in Photoshop this time around. My painting skills are still lacking a good bit, so I wanted to force myself to do something that I'm not naturally comfortable with. Overall, I'm happy with how this one turned out. We'll see if down the road I have to readdress some of the issues I have with it, but overall I think this is a good finished product for now. 

Meditation

Oh my goodness, I do not like how few are far between these posts are. But sadly, with me stuck in retail at the moment and Christmas upon us, they are probably going to continue being a bit spotty.

This is my quick submission for the theme "Ninja Turtles" in the group I'm in. This was drawn and painted in Photoshop. I ended up trying to go with a cel shaded style, since that would be quickest for me. I've always liked the individual personalities of the Turtles, so I wanted something that would showcase each in their training. 

Space Girl

I've been busy as of late working on some random projects and getting a resume ready to start sending out, so sadly I haven't been able to get anything new posted in a while. But that ends today! 

I wanted to get some more practice in with my painting ability in Photoshop. To that end, I ended up talking to my friend, the ever-talented Josh Addessi, who graciously sent me some linework he had created. This is the end result, which I'm personally pretty proud of. This is what I would call the breaking point for me, where I've finally gotten into my mind a set method of painting. I was having some trouble overcoming that mental block... until now! I'm quite proud. 

And if you'd like to see more of Josh's amazing work, check him out here http://joshaddessi.blogspot.com/ or from the link on the side. 

Robotnik Propaganda - Line Work

I so enjoyed my line work with this one that I just had to post it to share. I went pretty exact for when I went into Illustrator. But I am quite proud with what I came up with here.

Robotnik Propoganda

This was a fun one. The theme was "Villains", so I used a print idea I've had for a while now. I've always wondered what type of propaganda Robotnik (not Eggman! What villain would call himself Eggman?!) used to try and ease his takeover. So, I looked back at some old Soviet Russia propaganda posters for inspiration and came up with this piece. I rather like how the finished product came out. I've got the brown color scheme, which helps to tie it all together as well. For those curious, this was drawn in Photoshop, made in Illustrator, and then shaded back in Photoshop. 

Wielders of the Triforce

The theme this time around was The Legend of Zelda, and when I was trying to think of what I wanted to do, the wielders of the Triforce came to mind. In each of the pieces, I put the corresponding holder. And when trying to think of how to design it, I got to thinking... hey, maybe a monochromatic color scheme could be fun! Thus, each is colored in various shades of the color commonly associated with them.

This was done in Photoshop and Illustrator. Most of it is brushwork, but the shapes and the Hylian crest are shapes from Illustrator. Just couldn't resist those straight easy lines. Other than that, I'm happy to be doing some focusing on my painting skills. I'm still learning techniques and trying to nail down how I work, and I think I'm starting to get a decent feel for it finally.

Doodle United - Nightcrawler

Ah, Nightcrawler. One of my favorite X-Men. This is for Doodle United again. The theme this time around was "X-Men", so I picked my favorite of them. The big thing with this piece is this is officially my first time ever doing painting in Photoshop. I've always been a bit hesitant with it cause I couldn't get my mind around painting for some reason. But I'd say I've decently overcome my black. Now... to start painting and refining this skill!

Oh, and kudos to Mr. Josh Addessi for saying to bring on the rim lighting more than I originally did. It definitely helped the piece pop more. Good call, my man!

Make Way for the Royal Court

I finally finished up all of the Disney Princesses (of the official Disney Royal Court that is), so I thought I get them all posted here together. I also did a mock up of what a print might look like with them together. I think it turned out fairly, if I'm honest.

My Neighbor Ice King

Poor Doctor Princess is the latest victim of Ice King. Meanwhile, he and Gunter are just chilling in the snowy forest with their umbrellas. This is my fan piece for Adventure Time fan piece, based off the classic poster from My Neighbor Totoro. I'm rather stoked because this is the first piece I've fully finished that's fully digital. Normally, I've been drawing into my sketchbook and then scanning in, but this one is fully a combo from Photoshop and Illustrator. I'm rather proud of my first digital outing here, if I do say so myself.

Super Mario World

This was a piece for a group I'm a part of on Facebook. The theme was Super Mario World, so I decided to go with a print idea. I ended up making a poster containing all of the collectable items in the game. I ended up with a pretty simplistic style. This was done in Illustrator, with my love the pen tool. (Man, I love that thing!) I'm pretty happy with the final result, especially with my color choice. I think this one deserves being printed out for a wall at some point...

Melody Character Design

I've finally started doing some work on my story idea. And where better to start than with some character design! This is Melody, one of my main characters. This is basically some beginning work on what hairstyle I'd like to go with. I tried several different styles, and I think I've settled on around 3 to try coloring.

 I was proud of myself for thinking of a decent way to experiment with hair. I drew up her face as I liked it, then scanned it into Photoshop and made the hair a different layer. So, basically I was able to copy and paste however many templates I wanted. Yay for me actually thinking for once!

The school year has finally calmed down, the students are moved out, and summer has started. My hope is that with this decrease in activity, I can start getting more projects worked on, and have a much more regular posting schedule for on here. Since it's been so long, I wanted to get some more of what I have down up here. This time around you get both Toy Story and A Goofy Movie. I must admit, I'm pretty partial to the Bigfoot one. I think he turned out preeetty well.

Finally an Update...

Finally, I'm sitting down to get an update out after a month! It's been a crazy month of work, funerals, and other random life things.

This isn't going to be a major post. Just a few more of my spectrum pics. But this will hopefully prove that work continues on it.

This time around I thought I'd give you a look at Perry, all three of the Bre'rs, Beast, and the ever classic Goofy. I'm liking how everything is coming together.

The Throbbing of a Heart

In honor of the day, I shall post the cards I made for my own Valentine's distribution today. I think the showcase who I am pretty well...

I went for the uber cute look here. Nothing says I love you more than big eyes and hearts floating around everywhere.

The Spectrum Begins...

I've been working on this idea for the past couple of months now. The idea is to combine the ideas of minimalist art with the color spectrum to create a giant poster. These characters ended up seeming like a natural selection for this project. The core concept here is to make each of the faces out of only basic shapes and colors pulled from the character. This is by no means all I  have done. This is merely a.... sampling of much of the work I've already accomplished. I'm rather enjoying the project, especially the digging back through all of the animation I grew up with.

This project is really the first time I've been able to sit down and use Illustrator and the art of vector work. I must admit, I've fallen in love with the program. I can't believe it's taken me this long to sit down with it. But I'm quite enjoying the project and I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like once I finish.

Melody

This is an unfinished piece I had going of a character I thought up. Her name is Melody. She is a bit of a thief and rogue, with a very complicated past. She actually fits into a much larger world that I've been slowly piecing together. Already since drawing this piece I've started making changes to her. Namely, she now has black hair, or she will when I get around to drawing it.

This was started in Photoshop, and I planned on getting some shading done with her face, but after that first bit with hair, I think I got distracted by another piece. I do enjoy this one, though, because it not only shows Melody, but also one of my processes for doing some shading. Improvement is still being made, but it's fun to look back and what I was coming up with.

Use Toast Attack!

Poor Charmander. Everybody just wants to use him for his flame...

This was another entry with Doodle United. The theme this time around was 'Pokemon', and seeing as I do love the series, I figured I better make an entry. I always thought about how useful Charmander's flame would be if I was to go camping, and this eventually led to the idea that all the other Pokemon would think the same thing. Sometimes, you just gotta take one for the team.

This was a digital piece done in Photoshop.

Amulet of Fun

Sometimes you just need a little bit of a change up. This is a scan from my sketchbook. I was playing around with different amulet designs, and this is one of them that I came up with. Nothing to complicated, just some simple designs. I was looking at making a tree as the base design on the main section there, and then play around with out the limbs spread out from it.

Rough and Tumble

Ah yes, what could be called the first official panel for the comic series "R is for Argyle". This idea came about after watching "Dark Knight Rises". I have always been confused as to why the thugs think attacking one person at a time is going to work against Batman. You'd think they'd figure out a massive swarm would take him. Oh well... it wouldn't be too much of a movie then, I suppose.

This was again a run with Photoshop. My linework was slowly improving, looking a bit better from the previous entry.

Clean Up on Aisle 7

Sometimes I get this urge to translate my life into comic form. Ok... well... maybe it's more of what I imagine my life to be like. This came from my thought of how ridiculous it is in Pokemon when you make eye contact with someone. No matter where you are or what innocent thing you might have been doing, someone always thinks eye contact means "BATTLE ME!"

This is pure up Photoshop. While I do like a couple of the facial expressions I pulled off in a few of the frames, over all you can tell this was an early attempt of mine in making myself a cartoon.