Art in Pain!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

Before we get into the main chunk of the blog, I just wanted to focus a little time on one of the comic industry's biggest losses. Today, Stan Lee has departed for the big cameo in the sky at 95 years of age. Its strange to think of him as having passed away, as he just seemed to keep going alongside Marvel for as long as I can remember. I grew up with cartoons of Spiderman and the X-men, Fantastic Four and Ironman, and, of course, the various Marvel movies. My dad was also a big collector of the comics as well and I would read them too.

While my style is closer to manga than that of western comics, it was still western comics and the cartoons based on them that was part of my childhood and, in a way, did inspire much of my imagination before I ever really got into reading actual novels at all (and it took me ages before I saw written novels as anything other than school work, whereas comics and graphic novels were what I could read for fun).

It's a sad day today for all comics fans, but I'm sure the mark Stan left on the world will remain for many a year to come. Excelsior, Stan Lee! You will not be forgotten.

It almost feels a little awkward to talk about my own sketches and such after talking about a comic legend, especially as I haven't particually done a huge amount this week (that I can show, at least, as I'm working on a commission that's no where near done yet). Part of this is due to long hours at work, but also partly because of both back and wrist pain. My wrists are...well, a somewhat reoccurring problem, as some of my followers may have seen me talk about in past blogs - one time even looking like a puppet from Thunderbirds and the likes because of how I had to strap both wrists at the same time but my back is a bit more hit and miss, usually relating to staying in certain positions (sitting, standing etc) for large amounts of time. It got to a point where by Friday I could barely move, so that cut...well, much of my drawing time short this week. Kind of annoying when you have several ongoing things you really wanna get done but can't because of your own physical limitations. Grrr. Still, so long as I rest for a little while and take it slow going back in again after the rest, I'll be able to get back into those things asap! (though I'll still be trying my best on that commission in the meantime!)

Anywho, my pain aside, I did do a couple sketches that I can show you guys! :)

So firstly, remember how I did that face sprite of Zack from Angels of Death, based more on his game avatar rather than the anime version of him? Well, I thought that it would only be fair to do the same for Ray. Similar to the Zack one, Ray is a head sketch based on her game design rather than the anime one, and is currently only a pencil sketch that I hope to digitize, so to speak.

I'll probebly need to take a better image of the sketch when I use it as the base for the final version, as this one looks a tiny bit wonky....Anyway, the digital version will likely be tweaked and a tad more detail added, of course, but in comparison to her anime form, her game sprite is somewhat more simplistic. Though, oddly, for a game constantly saying her eyes are 'dead', much of her state of mind is reflected in her eyes in the game. Not certain yet which 'state of mind' I'll end up giving her. We'll have to see.

The other sketch I did was mostly inspired by the Halloween ones I did, or rather the Devil Contract story that Hex Doll is from. This time was the character Lucy. I think in the past I've only show a very rough concept (by that it was rather rough, little detail) which is funny since she is the main female lead, despite the fact I've sketched Damien, the male lead, at least a few times since. So...this is mostly me getting used to her design! lol

She is supposed to be around ten years old during the events of Devil contract. As you can see, she is holding the currently dormant Hex Doll. I sort of had the metal image that she had only just been given that by Damien. (Also had a silly mental image of her thinking he's a weirdo, but that' more my parody mind at play there. lol!). Either way, even though this is also a sketch, there is more detail in this one, mostly around the face and clothing, though more would be added once digital. 

I motioned before that it is with Devil contract that I'm considering laying around with the line art style to go along with the different tone the story itself has compared to the overall themes of Dreamwalkers. 

Of course, any constructive comments are always appreciated!

Until next time!

Tara

Return of Nui!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

Two of my electronics died this past week. My tablet and my mobile phone. RIP to my old tablet and phone...

In terms of my tablet, I actually had a second one that I bought a while ago, so thankfully I was able to use that one once I set it all up. It's an Intuos pro, so definitely an upgrade. Still getting used to it at the moment (mostly with the short cut keys and accidentally nudging things since I'm not used to the bigger tablet, but it's definitely doing well so far. As for my phone...Honestly don't know what happened to it. It kept glitching on the screen lock - when I put in the correct code, it just shut off and I had to wake the screen up to try again. After about 6-7 tries, it just shut off completely. Thing was, I had 50% battery at the time and it wouldn't switch back on or charge or anything. I'd had the phone for about 3 years, so it was probebly an event waiting to happen. I have a new phone now, though I lost a ton of photos that overshot the memory card and saved on the internal memory.

Thankfully, I did manage to back up some photos and some were forwarded to my computer at one point or another, so while I lost some, I still have others.

Speaking of some of the photos I saved, does anyone remember a sketch a did a while back that was a version of a character called 'Nui', only a bit younger with longer hair? Well, that was one of the photo's I saved (I photographed the sketch as I didn't have a printer). As I reminder, this is the sketch I'm referencing:

Well, Using this picture as a basis, I had decided to make a digital version. Tablet issues aside, I have made a start on it, though currently only the actual line art, so...it does kinda look like he's sitting on nothing right now. lol. I was thinking of drawing him and doing at least the flat colour, then focusing completely on the background to get in those details so that I can make sure the placement works, then adding shadows, lights and other final touches to the picture. With that in mind, I started with the line art of Nui himself.

I adjusted some of the picture, as you can see. The cloak part on the original sketch was a pit on the awkward side on terms of how it lay over his shoulders and arms, plus the over shoulder sash (which was more a makeshift bag) didn't properly work with the cloak being more of an actual cloak than a shoulder drape. The dagger also would have been difficult to show with the cloak as it was. I'm considering drawing both bag and dagger draped or leaning against the tree though, if only as a nod to those parts I removed from the character pic itself. I also adjusted how the sash around his waist looked, with one of the ties leaning on his leg rather than just mysteriously not being in shot. 

Some of the details, such as cloth folds at the bent legs and the likes, will be added with the shadow/light parts of the picture. I tried to add them with the lines, but it looked a bit too harsh and made the leg bend look strange in terms of how the leg below the knee was positioned. Purely shadow lines tend to be a little less harsh so here's hoping it works better once I get to that point!

I also managed to do the flat colour to the picture, using the colour pallet from the older, short haired version of Nui, since his outfit is almost the same:

I'm a little unsure if the marks on the hems is a tad too thin or not at the moment, so I'll likely end up redoing those or making them thicker on another layer to see if they work better if not as thin. I also realised in doing the colour that the cloak might end up partly draping over the branch behind his bent knee, so I will likely add that in as extra details once the background is finished, as the placement of the log might change how it looks and if the cloak would be draped behind the log rather than over it. 

I realised a lot of tiny details will likely show up a lot more once I've added shading and highlights to it, such as on the broach, some of the wrinkles in the clothing and also in the hair details. Even so, it is pretty cool to see how the image is adjusting as I'm translating it from sketch to digital. 

(It is also such a relief that I dont have to redraw a line half a dozen times because my tablet is playing up. Yay for new tablets!)

Of course, still a long way to go yet before it's done. As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts! :)

Until next time!

Tara

Spooky Scary Skeletons (And Other Weird Things!)

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So, Halloween is coming up in a few days, so I've been sketching and doodling things that are on the more....not precisely scary side, but at least more themed in that area, such as characters from my more 'horror' based story ideas such as Vita Mortis and Devil Contract. So, here are the 'Halloween' sketches/art in various stages of completion!

Firstly, for some sketches related to Devil Contract. I have shown some of these in the past - three characters being Damien, Lucy and the Hex Doll. I've once more drawn Hex Doll, both in its dormant and active forms. The dormant form is when Hex Doll looks and acts pretty much like a normal (if creepy) doll, while its active form is when it is pretty much possessed by demonic energy and has life of its own, thus acting as a kind of helper/partner to Damien.

The dormant form was drawn directly in pen, but the active form is currently in pencil and I'm considering doing it in a digital form, both in my usual art style and in the experimental art style I did my first Hex Doll idea in, just to see how it goes. Either way would be interesting, as my first iteration of Hex Doll did look kinda creepy using that alternate style. Perhaps using not so clean line art will also help the 'creepy' aesthetics in my usual style too? It'll be fun to experiment.

The other things I was drawing were related to Vita Mortis, thus about the grim reaper.

I drew this one a while ago, but thought maybe I should start diving it a bit of life. I'm not entirely sure about the flat colours, I'll admit, though it should look a lot better with actual lighting and making those eyes actually glow. I'm not entirely sure if the eyes should be red or blue right now, though admittedly when I think of a blue eyed reaper, I often end up thinking of Death from the Discworld books. It is something to experiment with. 

Speaking of the grim reaper, though, I did draw said character in a bit of a more active position, along with an idea for their scythe. 

Once again, I'd like to try out drawing this in a digital version, but with different types of line art. While smooth line art does leave a crisp picture, sometimes the line art itself can make the feel of the image change. I know that I dont tend to vary much at least digitally where line art is concerned, so it should be interesting to see what less strict/jagged or even just different sized line art would look like where this image is concerned. Depending on how it goes, when I end up focusing on Vita Mortis, it might make for an interesting aesthetic that might better fit the type of story I'm telling. If nothing else, changing up my line art styles could give me ideas for later 'dreamscapes' in my Dreamwalker series to help differentiate the various dream worlds from each other, and making reality and dreams a bit more obvious without screaming 'its a dream!'

Whether it works or not, it should make for an interesting experiment. Of course, as usual, I'm always happy to hear peoples thoughts! :)

Until next time (Happy Halloween!)

Tara

Sketches in Wonderland!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So, I've been asked to do a wall mural. This is something a bit different for me, as the only wall based painting I've ever done was an image for a comic stall at my university, where in our last year we get to decorate it and sell our work on it during events. Beyond that, I've never particually considered myself a painter. I have the upmost respect for those who paint, to be honest and totally wish I was that good!

Still, I have been requested this and so I will do my upmost. At the very least, I'll be doing the design for it. Whether I paint it or not is still a little up in the air.

Anyway, so the theme I've been asked to work with is Alice in Wonderland, leaning on the Disney-esque side, since the mural is for a child's room (and I don't know about anyone else, but as much as I like the story, other interpretations do have the characters....ah....a little on the unnerving side, at least for a young kid).

At first, it was just a character with some writing, the child's name 'In Wonderland' in a stylised font. So what I started with was the Cheshire Cat, which would be laying on top of the letters of the child's name. I have drawn the Cheshire Cat before (The sketch of which is on my Deviant Art page though, admittedly, this was a good five or so years ago) so I at least had some background in drawing this. Plus it was my favourite Alice character. This was the sketch I came up with:

The Cat would be laying on top of the name of the child, as mentioned, at least in the initial idea. The font itself was to be the kind seen in other Alice in Wonderland interpretations, though I unfortunately couldn't just borrow it from online if it's free or buy use of it - As this is to be hand drawn onto the wall. I'm still working on my typography of that to get it as close as possible, however - I'll have to talk about my attempts on that another time, however.
The next idea I had was the same writing, but rather than the Cat at the top, the White Rabbit would be running at the bottom. The idea for doing the Rabbit came from the fact the child in question likes rabbits, so it made sense that having a Rabbit in the art might be nice for them.

And so, I sketched the White Rabbit:

This is my first time drawing the White Rabbit, but I was rather pleased by the result of the sketch. I think he became my favourite to draw out of the Alice cast, honestly!

There was one thing I left blank in this sketch, and that was the clock. This is because I was thinking that, if there is a time that means something special to them - such as the time the child was born, or example, then I could have the clock hands sit on that time rather than just some random number. Of course, that was just a thought, and it is, ultimately, up to those I'm doing this for. Still, the option to do it is there regardless.

Still, after doing these sketches, I have been asked if I'll be doing a multi-character image, rather than a character and writing. This, too, is an option, though obviously different from the initial idea I was given. It honestly depends on what they feel about the end result of the sketches as to if they would like the actual Mural to be more simplistic with a character and writing, or to have a full blown scene.

I do, however, have an idea of Cheshire in a tree, with Alice sitting below looking like she's about to have a Tea party, with the Rabbit hurrying on in the background. Still, its only an idea and, once I've at least sketched Alice and the Tree, I'll be mocking up a few ideas to see if they like them. Hopefully I'll have a bit of progress on my drawn typography too, so I can give them full scene ideas rather than just character design.

Still, even if there's only these two sketches so far, what do you think? As always, feedback is welcome!

Until next time!

Tara

New Masamune Sketch!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

I've been a bit under the weather this week. I occasionally get flare ups in my back and I've been suffering a bit with that, making it somewhat difficult to really work on much before I've needed to move around or otherwise not sit in front of a computer for long when I'm not at work. Still, I have worked on a sketch for something later.

If you've seen a picture I drew of a character called Masamune at one point, I did another drawing of him, though at a different angle and position. The previous picture held him at a side view, whereas this one is a bit more of an angle with some perspective to it. The sketch is pretty much a work in progress and may have changes as I go along, depending on how it goes.

So, this is what the first version I ended up with:

I'm a little unsure about the angle of his body as he seems to be curved in a strange way, so this is something that will need to be fixed so his back doesn't look like its been curved into a C shape. This should be fixable by adjusting how the clothing sits and the shadows of the opening so he seems more as if he is leaning forwards instead.

The other part I'm unsure of is his hair, whether it's causing the image to seem unbalanced somehow. I'm considering switching the sides it is on, but at the same time, it does look like he had just scooted back from something (If I put dust clouds around his feet, so the hair could be at that angle from momentum.

The bandage-like socks  and the wrapping in his hair, as I possibly mentioned in the previous image, are meant to resemble the way cloth is wrapped around a sword hilt, mostly an aesthetic to combine with the fact his limbs can become blades.

This sketch also includes some faint set up lines and stuff that I had been drawing to help me with the pose a bit, though as mentioned I did screw up a bit on his actual body.

Still, though its not much, what do you all think? As always, I'm happy to hear feedback!

Until next time!

Tara

Zack The Icon!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So...very very annoyed with my tablet. It seems to constantly be getting stuck, even after I try to reset the pressure. If anyone has any advice on it, I'd love to hear. Or do you all think I should just give it up and go for new? please let me know as it's really causing me a lot of difficulties.

Still, I've been persevering as best I could recently while trying to work on the line art to one of the sketches I mentioned last time. Though it is very difficult when it get stuck and a small line ends up a scribble across the whole page.

Anyway, the image I was working on was the icon/avatar image of Zack (Isaac Foster) from the game 'Angels of Death'. For those who didn't read my last post, Angels of Death is a Horror RPG maker game that has a manga and an anime that recently came out based on it. Zack is one of the two main leads of the game. Its certainly interesting, if a bit on the goofy, over the top side when not touching on some fairly dark subjects. The image of Zack I did was based more on the in game design of Zack, rather than the more anime/manga version, mostly because I got so used to seeing Zack in this way rather than the anime interpretation.

In my last post, I posted a sketch that I did of Zack for the image, though I've now done line art for it in two ways. The first very simplistic, which could be used better with colour and shading, while the other is still a bit unfinished, but is to go with something more black and white, also following the simplistic designs of the in game icons.

The simple line art is this:

This line art pretty much allows me to play around with the colour and effects while showing where everything is. I am still trying to see what works for the basic flat colours - though I may have to check the anime colours if I can't find the in game ones. The colours I checked out first (if only to see if things worked) were only a starting guestimate.

Skin colour wise is a bit difficult to figure out. As a character, he is mostly bandaged due to burns, and the in game spite and icon only shows black where the skin around the eyes are. The anime had a darker skin representing the burns, but I'm not entirely sure what to go for in the colour version, so the shown skin is mostly a placeholder.  The mouth was always in the game and anime shown over the bandages. I'm not sure if it was a simplistic way of showing it without having to mess with how the wrappings work, or if its just to show the mouth under the bindings, but I'm sticking with the theme. 

Admittedly, the hair is a bit on the light side too. But it does seem to work fine in colour, assuming I can get the light and dark tones right. It'd likely look better with shading and lighting to help pick out the colours rather than them all blending together.

As mentioned, I did try another version of the line art, though its incomplete at the moment thanks to my iffy tablet. This one would work more for monochrome colouring, with the shadows being a stark black. With this one I also leaned towards the game design where the exposed skin around the eyes are concerned, making it black. This is what I have so far:

As you can see, it does make the character itself stand out more and give some depth to it, and that was with only partly done. It does need my tablet to not stick though, as I need to focus on which areas are blacked out. Small details are awkward to do with a sticking pen, so to speak.

Still, I really do want this to come out well! I may even try it with a very simple colour pallet, or in monochrome, to see if it stands out even more. Either way, tablet aside, I have been enjoying working on this version of it :)

Hopefully my tablet will be working properly again soon, but I'd still love to hear if anyone has suggestions on that front. Please let me know!

Until next time!

Tara 

Sketches! Milo and Zack!

Hey everyone! Welcome back!

So while work has been a bit on the busy side, I have been doing some sketches. Some of these are ideas based on what I mentioned last week - ie the anthropomorphic animal character, but I also couldn't help but do a little sketch based on something that caught my interest of late. More on that one later, though. Firstly, let's talk about the first lot of sketches.

So, If you didn't see last time, I had mentioned a character made that was an anthropomorphic animal, but that I hadn't done many animal characters in a while, showing one of the last few times I did as the two page short comic project I did at Uni. The character in question is an anthropomorphic raccoon by the name of Milo Forager and is basically from a story where animals are instead of humans (though that's not the main deal of the story, just as to why I've been thinking up humanoid raccoons instead of a human character design for once).

The first few sketched ideas were drawn directly in biro, but were mostly just me thinking up ideas while on break at work - apologies for the odd colouring of the scrap paper I was using.

So, these were my first iterations of Milo. Still a bit of a work in progress, but for having not drawn many animal characters recently they didn't come out too bad, though admittedly, the full body one still feels a bit stiff. Plus the markings around his face aren't particually fully matching to the animal it was based on. Even so, the design wasn't absolutely terrible, so if I could ease up the body a little more so he seemed less stiff, I'd be happy.

I did, however, try another version later on, mostly to see how he might look with markings a little closer to his actual; real life animal counterparts:

Still not quite happy with this one either. While he does look looser in body, I think his head looked a bit on the warped side - mostly just being too big for the body. But this one was mostly just an experiment on the face markings more than anything. If I do a combination of the first and second full designs, it might be something a bit more fitting.

Maybe I should try taking a pencil to work with me when sketching, so I can edit them a bit better with the power of an eraser! lol. But either way, these were fairly quick sketches that were mostly me getting used to animal characters more than anything else. A (large) work in progress, but I will persevere! I hope to be able to draw something fitting for him! If I can do that then it will certainly help with drawing other animal characters as well. Always good to keep your hand in!

The other sketch I mentioned doing was based on something that interested me of late. Recently, I've been into a game called 'Angels of Death', an RPG maker horror game which has also spawned a manga, anime and novel. I haven't yet really looked at the other iterations yet, since its always fun to see the source material in all its glory first. While its not a horror in a 'jump at your face' kind of way, it certainly becomes unsettling in places and it helps that you come to genuinely care for the main characters. I found myself a number of times feeling for them in different ways, only to be pulled up short when I remember exactly who I'm suddenly worried for. Either way, I very much enjoyed it and do hope to look at the other mediums to see how they hold up as well.

The game artwork is, from what I can see, somewhat different from the other mediums, however, having a very unique style to them which fits the unnerving undertone even when they look...kinda adorable in their own way. Whereas the clips of the anime and manga I've seen tend to lean towards more stereotypical anime/manga. Not a bad thing, of course, as it certainly fits their mediums and lets them feel a bit more 'realistic', but it is a bit odd when you got so used to character portraits to see the characters elsewhere look the same, yet different. 

The main reason I mention this is because the sketch I did of the character Zack (who you really come to like and is often the source of my cheering on and then being pulled up short remembering that he isn't exactly a hero/good guy and is a serial killer, no matter how he's the male lead.) was drawn mostly with the game in mind, rather than how he is drawn in the manga or anime. This means more cartoony/rough design.

Yes, I know his mouth is over the bandages. Why? I have no idea, but that's how he is in the portrait and elsewhere. I have a few theories on why in the game - either its so you can see his wide variety of expressions in his portraits (you'd otherwise only get his eyes and his facial expressions really do make his character), or there would be a hole in the bindings near his mouth and it was a more simplistic way of drawing him. Either way, since it was more based of his character portrait, I thought it best to go with that, whichever reason it is. 

I diiiiiid miss off one bit of his hair closer to his forehead - whoops - but that could just be explained by a gust of wind or movement (I'll be fixing it though as I do more stuff with it). The odd shaped outlines on the hood (which aren't shaded here) are actually blood splats dried on, but at the moment those are just placeholders so I know where they should be. I'm hoping to do a digital version of him as an icon, or maybe some kind of badge? not sure yet. We'll see how it goes :)

Either way, I do suggest the game. Its weird, admittedly, and unnerving rather than scary in places but as mentioned, you do learn to like the main characters in their own special ways. Its currently on Steam, but I hear its also coming to the Switch (which is...a tad odd, since I suppose I never linked such games with Nintendo consoles, considering its themes). Still, like it or not, the ride at least is interesting.

I may do more Angels of death sketches here and there in the future, too.

But anyways, until next time!

Tara