Airman (Instrumental)
The lack of updates to this site is depressing me. I told myself I wouldn’t post anything until I could show something that was actually finished because I spend way too much time drawing sketches or line art, and never take the time to ink or color anything.
Well, I’m somewhat finished with this piece and thought I would show it off so I didn’t reach the two month mark since my last update. I’m still ironing out ideas for the art piece that I want to go in my office, and the only concrete thing I know about it is that I want it to involve Mega Man 2.
The plan, as it stands now, is to come up with some digital drawings of each of the bosses from the game, along with the Blue Bomber himself, and use the printouts to create some sculpture/painting hybrid. I’m not quite sure how it will work, as I’m still in the planning stages, but I thought I would share this test of my Airman design.
I’m trying to think of the robots more as monsters, like genetic experiments fused with mechanical parts. For this piece, the inking and coloring was done mainly with the pen tool in Photoshop, trying to achieve a solid, cel-shaded look. I also want to try “painting” with my Wacom tablet to get an acrylic look to these designs, or maybe use a mix of the two styles.
Originally I wanted to finish the “painted” version before I was going to post about this, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. As soon as I do, I’ll post the two side by side for comparison and maybe even show some of the various stages of the project. This is the year that I will finish something I’m working on. I promise.
Christmas Loot
I’m feeling both happy and sad that the holidays are winding down. Sad because I had a really good Christmas — complete with many geeky gifts from my wife — and happy because life can settle down again for a couple of months.
I spent Christmas week driving to various family gatherings, hosting our first holiday at our house and trying my best to relax during all the chaos that these times bring. My family did a good job of taking the hint that I like playing videogames, as I now have enough of them to keep me busy well into the Spring. I’m pretty sure Laura enjoyed her Christmas as well, and I know she’s excited to start our bathroom remodeling project. We’re very close to having enough money to get started.
One of the games I got for Christmas was the World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King Expansion. Now, I’m what I like to call a hyper-casual WoW player. I try to get into it a couple of ours a week at least, but I’m in no way trying to ruin my real life by playing in a digital one. Getting the new expansion has me excited to reach the level cap I need to move into the new content, so I’ve been thinking about the game a little more than usual. The art with this post is a drawing of my Tauren Druid named Zurock. He’s a level 67 right now, so I only need three more levels before I can try out the new stuff.
I think this turned out pretty well. It was my second attempt at drawing my character — the first ended up with a terrible pose. I feel like this pose fits the personality of my character more. And now I’m going to stop before I start getting way nerdy if I haven’t already.
In a room very, very nearby…
I’m very excited about the release of The Force Unleashed video game if for no other reason than I hear that the story is excellent. The demo of the game was enjoyable, and I can see myself playing this quite a bit when I get my hands on a copy. Because I’m excited to play the game, have been reading a couple of Star Wars extended universe novels, and gleaming Wookiepedia at work, I’ve been on a big Star Wars kick. So, because he is so bad-ass and completely absent from the kid-friendly Clone Wars movie, I give you a sketch of General Grievous.
I started storyboarding the Zabka comic this week, and I hope to get a lot more of it done over the weekend. I’ve never actually created a comic before, so getting the ideas and scenes from my brain to paper are quite a challenge. The storyboards are helpful, but even after that, I have to somehow divide dialogue amongst panels with action, characters and movement. I’m very excited to be working on something this ambitious. Maybe I’ll scan a couple of my better boards here when I’m done with that step.
Art should pick up now that the Summer is winding down and I’m planning on getting some new equipment — drawingboard, paints, etc — to do more things. Plus, I should be finishing Half Life 2 completely this weekend, which I’ve been addicted to for the last three weeks. Here’s to the fall, my favorite time of year.
That Dang Whistle
Two pieces in one post! It’s one way to make it look like you draw more than you really do.
The first one is Protoman from the Mega Man series. I was inspired by the I Am 8-Bit stuff, and decided to draw my favorite Mega Man character. I’d like to evolve this into a finished piece to get over my fear of backgrounds and have something that’s frame-worthy. I know he “died” in one of the other early Mega Man games, but if they sneaked him back into Mega Man 9, I wouldn’t complain.
I can’t really explain the second one, really, because it’s just a matter of “what you see, is what you get.” An idea for a penguin with a sword was mentioned in conversation at work, and I took it a few steps further. And yes, that is a martini glass in his hand.
I’m also trying out one of those personal logos that some artists place on their pieces. It seems to be popular with comic cover artists and whatnot. I just got tired of typing my name on everything and wanted a unique way to copyright my stuff. Whether this one sticks or not, I can’t say, but I like it now.
Now if I could just get some time to do some meat and bones art for the projects I’m supposed to be working on rather than just doodling around in my limited free time, I’d be a happy man.
EVA: Attempt 01
I’ve been meaning to draw an EVA ever since I started watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. I’ve started and stopped at least a half-dozen times because I just couldn’t get the proportions or the pose that I wanted. So I copped out a little and found a picture of the Revoltech toy online and used it for reference. Even though it turned from a true original art piece to more of a figure study, I still like it. My next goal will be to do my own version of an EVA.
I also finished the poster that I mentioned last blog, but I want to wait until I can go back to finalize the illustration before I post the color one. I didn’t get the kind of time I wanted to truly finish it the way I envisioned (i.e. I didn’t get to shade it).
Path of the Chosen
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how you got from the idea stage to the finished project with a piece of art. Sometimes it’s even harder to make yourself stop.
Take this picture I made of Pikachu. The idea began with a conversation I had about making a Pokemon Kart-Racing game. We were talking about how each Pokemon could have a special item dedicated to their type and it would be effective against other Pokemon depending on their type — just like in the regular game. You could also level up during the race by getting XP for fast lap times and winning races, and you could even evolve based on these characteristics, changing the way your character races.
This discussion led to me drawing Pikachu as he would look after winning a race. I pictured him being confused and simply oblivious to what just happened. Maybe you could even hear a questioning “Pika” during the post-race photo op. And the reason he’s smoking? I just really have fun drawing smoke. That and Pikachu loves menthol.
I might revisit this to add more to the story.
Hail Him! Again!
Laura and I moved into the new place three weeks ago and we’re just now getting settled. Of course, one of the first things we did was make the trip to IKEA and buy a crapload of stuff that is absolutely necessary. Two of those things we tables that I’m using as my new desk and they completely rock. I finally have the ability to not only place my scanner and new printer — used from Jeff — near my iMac for once, but I also have room to spread out a little more. All that’s left is to build some shelving so that I can surround myself in toys while I work, and I’ll be all set.
I also received my new Wacom tablet in the mail last week, but because of the many minor projects and trips I’ve had to make for the new house, I haven’t even had time to open the box, let alone mess around with the tablet itself. I’m still working on my ideas for a Starscream mural for my room as well as compiling as large a selection of sketches that I can use to practice with the tablet. I posted a quick 20 minute sketch of another idea with this blog. He’s supposed to be flying, but I ran out of room on the paper for the air thrusts on his feet.
I listened to the podcast by Scott Kurtz of PvP today and learned a lot more than what I thought I knew about the proposed Orphan Works bills that are being talked about in the House and the Senate. I sent one of the form letters from this site to my Congressman, Senator and Governor and though I got a pretty standard response, I think by contributing this way, hopefully as a group, we can get this stopped. If you haven’t already, please use one of these form letters to let your political leaders know that you oppose the Orphan Works bills. You don’t want the creators of art to be stripped of their copyrights nor have their creations used without their permission. And if you do want that, I hope you find yourself staring into the many eyes of a Deep Crow.
All Hail…Starscream
I’m throwing around ideas for a mural I want to do in my new office. I’m thinking of a Starscream portrait or art piece, and I really want a version of “King Starscream”. Too bad he only got to be king for about three minutes of the animated movie before he was obliterated by Galvatron.
It’s hard to do sketches at work though — mostly because I rush them — and I end up with some wonky proportions and whatnot. (His legs look a little small and if I could redo that left hand about fifty times, I still don’t think I would get it the way I want.) It’s a good start though, and definitely something to throw into the practice pile for when I get my tablet.
It’s kind of scary to share these raw sketches, since I’m not used to showing anyone anything until I’m completely finished with a piece.