BoS Drawing Challenge - #21 Vacation

A reasonably quick one today :

If I had more time I would have done more with the snowboard, the snow and the glow of the lens flare and the jawa's eyes.

Still - I like this one. It's fun.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #20 Fortitude

It took me a little while to make a link to the 'Fortitude' theme word. Eventually I came up with this :

Not the best. But it fits.

Rish Outcast - 3D Text v.2.1

On getting some good constructive feedback from a friend of mine ( thanks Will ! ), I've darkened the extrusion material a bit to get more contrast with the text facing - so 'outcast' doesn't look like 'outlast' ! :

I was going to mess around with the point light a little - but I didn't have time this morning !

Rish Outcast - 3D Text v.2

One good thing of not being able to sleep is that you can sometimes use that extra time construcively. I had another play around with text for 'The Rish Outcast' :

I was trying to make the letters look metallic - though they turned out to look more like ice. I kinda like it. Has a 'Fortress of Solitude' feel.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #19 Gray

This drawing is, to me anyway, the first real disappointment - and I very nearly didn't share it here, and that's AFTER I fixed it up a bit in Photoshop !  :

Ugh. In my head this was going to be much cooler. This just didn't turn out right. The foreshortening of the gun arm doesn't look right, the legs are WAY wonky, and I really messed up the other hand ( to the point where I put in some weird alien technology in it to cover it up ! The face is wrong looking too. The best bit is the gun - and even that is pretty naff.

Sigh. The can't all be good I guess. Or even average !

I think I'm going to re-try this one at some stage, and see if I can get it looking more like the image I had in my head.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #18 Rainbow

The guardian of the Bifrost Bridge, Heimdallr :

A very quick colouring job - but not too bad. I kinda like this one.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #17 Blood

Macbeth for number 17. I think the link to blood is strong !

"I am in blood stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o'er."

And now for something completely different ... 3D text !

I'm doing some cover art for the all-round swell guy Rish Outfield, and his solo podcasting project.

I started experimenting with 3D text tonight - nothing too fancy, just trying to learn the ropes a bit. Here's what I came up with :

So - in doing this I learnt about extruding 3d objects from a layer selection, rotating objects, changing the alignment of the 3D plane, changing aspects of 'infinite lighting' , adding a new lighting source, changing the extrusion depth of 3D objects, how to render a 3D image, and dynamic lighting as a filter effect. Not too bad for a couple of hours. I also was playing around with mesh texture wraps - but all the default ones looked pretty bad on this - so I didn't use one. I'll have to search for some cool ones on line. A decent metal texture might be cool.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #16 Questioning

I had most of this done last night - but I quickly did some finishing touches with Photoshop :

The shading isn't great - but the colour helps establish that the eye is computer generated ( at least a little bit ). If I had more time / talent I would have made it look pixilated. The speech bubble was very much inspired by the very-talented-indeed MISTER HIPP.

As for the theme - well, you can't get more questioning than the ultimate question !

BoS Drawing Challenge - #15 Silence

A quick one tonight :

That, if you didn't know, is one of the Boys of Silence - an enemy from the game 'Bioshock Infinite'. Genuinely creepy guys - and responsible for a truly great jump scare in that game - which totally got me ! It's a great game - well worth playing if you haven't done so.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #14 Smile

Just a quick one I did before staff briefing this morning :

BoS Drawing Challenge - #13 Misfortune

I really struggled to come up with an idea for 'Misfortune' for some reason. I just couldn't get a connection to anything for ages. Then I latched on to the idea of 'Miss Fortune' - and had a few ideas on what I could do there - ranging from an inverse of the 'Lady Luck' images, to a super villain, and then I settled on the idea of a plane pin-up girl. You know - the ones painted on the side of WW2 bombers :

Meh - not great. I struggled to get the pose / proportions right ( eventually having to look at some actual pin-up paintings and steal a pose from them ), and I messed up the face / hair. I still tried to get an aspect of the original 'misfortune' theme by having the pin-up girl look a bit like a black-cat. I'm not sure that really worked. Ah well - it's all practice !

BoS Drawing Challenge - #12 Insanity

I should have posted this yesterday - but I went out yesterday night. So I didn't.

I did have it penciled out on Friday though - so we're still within mission parameters :

That's a video game character who is well and truly insane. A serial killer - in fact. Major props if you can tell me who it is. Clue - despite appearances, it ISN'T Guile from Street Fighter 2.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #11 Memory

Here's number 11 - not much to say right now as I'm in a rush and will be late to work :

Second Batman related drawing - and I'm sure it won't be the last !

BoS Drawing Challenge - #10 Breathe Again

I struggled for awhile to think of something fitting the theme for this one. I considered Aslan on the stone table, Frodo Baggins, T2, Run Lola Run, but in the end I went back to the first idea I had :

I'm not so great at caricature, but I did an vaguely okay effort here of Beric Dondarrion being revived by Thoros of Myr in 'Game of Thrones'.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #9 Drive

A kinda silly one tonight - a 'rat-fink' version of an X-Wing :

I know x-wings don't have gear-sticks. It's in keeping with the style, okay ? :-)

BoS Drawing Challenge - #8 Innocence

A comparatively quick sketch for number eight :

This one makes me smile. I think it's because it's something either one of my boys might do.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #7 Heaven

I know that Eden wasn't in Heaven - but there are forces of Heaven there - so I figure that's good enough.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #6 Break Away

Fully had to copy a 'guy swinging' body pose for this one - tried a couple of times but couldn't get it right. I don't know if that's against the spirit of the challenge - but whatever.

Sad Batman though, all my own work !

Drawings done during swimming sports - 2013

Today was swimming sports for out school. I tend to find it a pretty stressful day - and I try to get some drawing done while chaos ensues around me.

I was partly trying to come up with a new BoS drawing for the 'Break Away' - and I DID come up with an idea for that - but I'll finish that later.

So, two this year.

Mage adventurer :

Kaiju :

This one was supposed to be a take on 'Break Away' - as in 'Break stuff - like large buildings'. I think my other idea is better though.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #5 Seeking Solace

I did do this last night, but didn't get a chance to get on the computer.

The 'seeking solace' theme had me stumped for a little bit. Then it hit me - Roland of Gilead, from the 'Dark Tower' series :

The proportions are a bit out, and the pose was tricky to do, and the less said about the feet the better - but it's not too bad.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #4 Dark

It took me a while to think of something for the keyword "Dark", but I'm pleased with the idea I finally got :

In case you're not versed in Dungeons and Dragons monsters, it's a Drow warrior ( though I think she's more a ranger ), a dark-elf. For a sketch - I like the proportions and pose I've managed to put together. Got to figure out a way to isolate the scanned lines without a bunch of other crap from the scan turning up. Took me WAY longer to quickly colour than it rightly should have. Worth it though.

I like this one.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #3 Light

Third drawing - touched up a little with Photoshop - this time based on the word 'light' :

Proportions aren't great - but not bad for a sketch.

BoS Drawing Challenge - #2 Love

'Love' was the challenge word for number 2.

I had a few ideas about where I was going to go with this. I kinda had a fleeting idea to do something with Lara Croft and Nathan Drake in it - meeting over some artifact they'd both grabbed at the same time.

In the end - I was thinking about what love meant to me, and I had the idea to to this :

And now it's time to sleep.

Balls of Steel Drawing Challenge - #1 - Introduction

I read about this drawing challenge called the 'Balls of Steel' where you draw 100 drawings all based on different one word starters. Inspired my my friend Kirstin, I thought I would try my hand at it.

I think you're supposed to do a drawing a day - I'm going to give myself two days to get one done.

So here's the first, based on the word 'Introduction' :

I messed up the girl-vampire's nose somewhat - and if I were photoshopping this that would be the first thing I'd fix !

Still - not bad for a start.

Working Holiday - Shading

Shading has been a slow process. I've had to delete a number of attempts that weren't working. I've made some progress tonight.

Working Holiday - Gun details + some case shading

For the holidays - I'm really freaking stressed right now. Largely due to my sleep patterns being well out of it. I keep waking up in the middle of the night and then am unable to get back to sleep again. Fourth day in a row. Ugh.

Anyway - you don't want to know
about that ! Here's some more on the Working Holiday cover art :

It's largely small tweaks to the gun, but there's the start of some shading present in the inner case. I was playing around with brush opacity to see if I could build up more of a gentle shading gradient. We'll see how that works.

Working Holiday - Gun shade development

Another abysmal night for sleeping at Casa Seraph last night. I've done more on the gun :

I fixed up the magazine somewhat too - which is good.

I am now going to collapse in front of the tv and probably pass out.

Working Holiday - Starting Shade

Ugh - long day. The kids were up during the night - keeping me up from 4am to about 7. At least I was able to sleep from just after 7 to 9. That helped - but I'm still pretty tired now.

Still - I have spent some time on the art. I've started adding in some shade on the gun :

Oh - and added some of the base colour for the case contents.

Working Holiday - Colour

Okay - so here's the thing I'm trying. No outlines at all. Radical huh ? :

Working Holiday - Case outlines

A bit more done this evening :

Working Holiday - Gun outlines

I did something cool in Photoshop tonight - I worked out how to make a custom shortcut ! While that probably isn't that amazing to you, it's a pretty damn handy thing for me ! I use the 'stroke path' command quite a lot these days - and having a shortcut to this command, rather than having to 'control + click' then select the option from the drop down speeds things up a fair amount - particularly when I can map that shortcut to the buttons on my drawing tablet ! Good times.

Anyway - I've been doing the outlines on the gun:

It's not great - but I'm thinking of trying something a bit different with this piece, so the outlines might just be more of a reference point for what's to come.

New Project - 'Working Holiday' cover art

The last few weeks have been very hectic - but let's not get into that shall we ?

I volunteered for this cover art a few months ago, but haven't had the time to start. It's another old podcast episode that I'm helping to update with some new art. The story is called 'Working Holiday', and it ran on The Dunesteef podcast - which is one of my favourites. It's about a guy going to this alien planet to assasinate their king. It's funnier than it sounds !

Anyway - I've been doing a few sketched of sci-fi rifles over the last week or two, and I've learned that guns are pretty freakign hard to draw. All weird angles and detail which are hard to get perspective right with. In the end I took a picture of my nerf rifle leaning up against my chair at work ( I keep it at work for some stage combat work I do with my year 10's ) :

 Which really helped a lot.

Got the original sketch scanned and then quickly went over it in PS, then did the same with a suitcase :

As always - very rough at this stage - but it'll get better !

Rose and Elderberry

It's as done as it's going to get :

I'm reasonably happy with it.

Titania and Oberon - Nearing the end

I have to get this finished tomorrow night. I was late home from rehearsal tonight, and Lorenzo was going MENTAL when I got home ( he was overtired - AND he's figured out how to escape his cot, so that made bedtime extra challenging tonight ), and I finally had something to eat at around nine.

I did sit down for 40min and got a little more done though :

It's coming along - though it's not as cool as I wanted it to be. I think I might have a try of adjusting Oberon's clothes so they're a little more blue / purple - as the gray is blending into the background too much now.

Day of truth tomorrow !

Titania and Oberon - Background !

I'm not entirely sure of this background. I might try a different one tomorrow :

Titania and Oberon - Shading #3

Long day at work today - had a performance assessment evening to oversee. Made myself sit down and do a little more on the art before I crashed :

Some skin shading on the Queen of the Twilight Kingdoms done. Looking better already !

Titania and Oberon - Shading #2

Not much to say tonight. I like the way Oberon's cloak is looking though.

Titania and Oberon - Shading continues

More of Oberon shaded.

So tired.

Titania and Oberon - Colour #3

Right - I've got one week to get this done. Added the rest of the base colour tonight, and started the shading process :

Titania and Oberon - Colour #2

Super busy yesterday and didn't have a chance to get to the drawing, but I got some more base colour down tonight :

So that's good. Time to get to my 250 words of writing now !

Titania and Oberon - Colour #1

Jeesh - been SUPER busy at work with the production, AND I've been doing this writing challenge as well, so that's cut into the art time, which has made me very unhappy. But I went to a TMBG concert last night, which was fun. Sure - I got effectively stood up as well, but that wasn't going to make me now enjoy seeing those guys ( it was so good ! ).

Anyway - had a little time this evening to tidy up the outlines and start to add some colour :

It's always exciting to get to this stage - the picture really starts coming alive.

I'm going to try using clipping masks with this piece ( which I've only just learned about in the last couple of weeks - they sound REALLY useful ). More soon - seeing as I have to get this done in two weeks !

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 6

Gosh, I'm tired.

Two nights of being awake from 2am is not great. Hopefully a better night's sleep awaits me tonight.

I have had some time to put in the art tonight :

It's coming along. It's nice to get Oberon's other hand in there - and the lower part of his body, even if it's just a sketch at this stage.

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 5

Only a little bit of development here this time - but a significant bit :

The only difference is Titania's raised hand. It is how holding a sprig of elderberry ( which does have some significance in the play we're doing - though I wouldn't want to spoil what that was ).

It's the best that hand has looked so far. I've been really struggling with her hands ( just in case you haven't noticed ! ).

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 4

As you might expect - more development of the outlining :

I'm not altogether happy with the state of Titania's hands.

Hands are REALLY hard to draw.

In case you didn't know.

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 3

And Titania makes an appearance :

I had to redo her arms - the first time they were way too thick. Then I had to re-size the bracelets. It's nice to start seeing the balance in the piece now though.

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 2

More progress :

It was fun doing the detail on the breastplate / bracers.

Titania and Oberon - Vectors 1

Able to spend some time today drawing the 'real' outlines for the T&O art :

I reworked the face and the ear - I think they look better now. The hands are going to be a pain.