Not Dead!

In case anyone was wondering if I was still alive, I assure you, I am not. You may have heard that it is now summer, and I am hard at work on art. Not digital stuff, however . I'm neck-deep in a commission . It's a traditional painting featuring three layers of hard board stacked on top of each other. It's an abstract background, a bird of paradise, then a flamenco dancer.

I had the rough idea for this a while ago, but after going at it again and again I decided I definitely needed to overhaul the idea. Instead of being three panels on Arches paper, it's a four-foot-tall piece on boards.

Anyway, here's a sneak-peek of my work in progress.

Minoans 3.0

Been so busy with school, but that's to be expected. Assignment due left right and center. Two of these assignments are to continue the Minoan theme project which was started in our Character Design class by creating a few layouts and painting them. In order to save myself a headache and because I like the way it looks, I decided to continue this assignment with cel shading. It took longer than I expected, but I took a lot of breaks while doing it. I guess sitting in a chair all day in the same position has a negative effect on your muscles.

I'm really feeling it now, as a matter of fact.

Anyway, before I completely collapsed I thought I would post my day's efforts here for alll to see. Enjoy a labrynth surrounded by forest, everyone.

Minoans 2.0

Just the beat boards from the Period Theme project, which carries from character design into storyboard, layout, and painting.

The beats are pretty self-explanatory, but here's a breakdown anyway: Thalasso (Hero) and Gracy (Love Interest) are in the labrinth. Fleeceus (Villain), believing her to be in danger, rushes in to save her. Thalasso and Fleeceus begin fighting. Gracy takes this opportunity to follow the string out of the labrinth. On the way she meets Derpeus. The two fall into derpy love and run away together.

The ensuing layout is just a setting design, showing where things are in relation to eachother. I had to scale up the doors quite a bit from the beats, Thalasso is much larger than I thought. Darn you perspective!

 Lastly, our school's yearbook is digital this year! We don't have to pay for a page, and everyone gets a free digital copy, HOORAY! I was going to use old art, but thought that this was a special occasion. Sure, why not, I said. I have the time, let's make something awesome. This is what I ended up with:

Some time in the future when I start going more crazy my blog may come to be focused around this guy. Oh, have I not introduced him yet? Maybe not. Anyway, this is Get to Work Fish. He's about 15inches or so tall and he pretty much stands there in his G-string and commands you get some work done. I'm so unmotivated sometimes I need a muscular fish to tell me what's what.

Til next time!

Laying it Out

Layout Assignment! Draw a background meant for panning, do it digitally.

THIS looks like a job for cut-out style! So here it be. Fifties-style diner, friend of those who want a simple and recognizable design.

Sorry the overlay is separate. Can't put it on, it looks too awkward. I can tell you now, though, that it's just chair backs zooming by.

Theme Assignment!

For character design we have to do a series of characters with a mutual theme. It's a period piece that ties in with our storyboard and layout classes (so far). I just finished it, am very tired, and thought I would post the drawings before I got too tired, or just forgot.


My time period is Minoan Crete. It was fun to research, interesting, too. Looking at the past is always so fascinating, but disturbing. I mean, periods of hundreds of years are summed up in a single sentence. That's generations of people lumped together into a period that they didn't even know they were in! I'm sure that once I'm dead I'll be yelling at the living for including me in a time known as "The Early 20th Century Pre-Doom Era" or something.

I digress. Here's some purdy pictures.

More Painting Stuff

For the first digital exterior assignment we had a few colour keys and tonals to do as well. I'm doing ti a bit backwards, finishing the painting and then figuring out what else I could have done. What can I do; I actually knew what I wanted to paint as soon as I got the assignment this time.

I'm incredibly surprised how incredibly normal my painting became with a bit of hue sliding and brightness adjustments. Pleasantly surprised. I think that if I had set out to paint a green hillside it wouldn't have ended up so nice.

Anyway, here she be:

Slightly Less of a Jerk!

So I got around to finishing my painting today. Well, actually, I didn't get around to it; I needed to do it by today. Same difference. I stuck with the candy colours because they make me smile. I did make them a bit more orange after a little critique, but they're essentially the same.

I ended up doing a sort of "more scribbly the farther back" thing. Anywho, I'll be posting more paintings as the semester continues. These turn out better than my traditional paintings seem to. I guess it's something to do with a lack of paper to overburden with paint.