The Indoor Kids contest - getting bodies better

I find it hard to draw bodies in the correct proportions from my mind. It's probably why I tend to draw a lot of monsters and robots and things which don't have traditional proportions. I wanted the body shapes in this drawing to be a bit better than they currently are. What to do - what to do.

I decided to use some break time at work to take some photos of myself in the approximate poses in the sketch. I was able to use some of the props and costume pieces from the department, a tripod and a digital camera to capture these :





From there I erased out a bunch of the backgrounds, and imported the images into the current re-work of the original sketch.
I also changed the orientation of the sword arm on the left 'me'.



From here, I dropped the opacity of the photo images so I could sketch out the vague outlines necessary, with better proportions, with a tablet.



Better already !

It's going to be a little weird turning that left side 'me' into a armored sword-woman though.

Indoor Kids Contest - Sketch 1

A cool / funny video game podcast I listen to is having a 'do something cool for us' contest with Gears of War 3 things up for grabs. I thought I'd give it a go ( even though I have a bunch of other creative things I need to be doing ! ).

I did this initial sketch today while in a staff meeting. I've done another couple, but I think this idea is the best. It's only part of the overall idea ( though a fairly central part ! ), but it's a start at least.



The figures on the left and right of the door are going to be the hosts of the show, or as close as I'm able to draw them anyway ! The next step here will be digitally drawing in the line work. I'll keep you posted on how it's going. The entry has to be in by the 9th of December - so I need to get cracking !

Dunesteef cover #1 - Uberman - more things / small changes

This thing is progressing like a glacier - small, but inexorable advances :

Some colour shifting on the main chassis, so that the 'hood' can stand out more.
Moved all the 'dial' and detail stuff up more.
Mask-layers out some of the upper pipes so they slot into the 'hood' thingy.
More details.



Still excited about how this is going !

Dunesteef cover #1 - Uberman - more things

A few more details added in.

Dunesteef cover #1 - Uberman - stage 1

Haven't updates for ages. For that I apologize to my legion of rabid fans.

So, I recently got in touch with the Powers That Be from the Dunesteef podcast ( which is really cool - and you should totally listen to it ! ) and offered to do them some cover art work, and they said yes !

I'm starting off doing some for past artless-episode, the first one for the 'Uberman' episode. It was a really cool story which had the Nuremberg interview of a Nazi super-soldier, who was being held in some sort of containment device - which was described as looking like a cross between a deep-sea diving suit and an iron maiden. That image really hit me - so I volunteered to do that episode almost right away.

I'm trying a very different style for this piece - more pieces of block colour, which I'll shade slightly later on. This is a very early stage composition :



As I said - it's at an early stage so far - but I'm excited at where it's going so far !

Me and my boys

Me and my son Angelo ( 3 and a 1/2 years old ) and my son Lorenzo ( 5 mths ).

New sketches

These are mostly what I was doing at the Swimming Sports today. Good to use the time constructively !! :

Kinda a Jedi


Scary Ghost


Deathbot


Killer Robot Ape


That must catch me up a little with my 'Thing a Fortnight' backlog !

Coverwork - Drabblecast Art Reclamation Project

Hey there - thanks for stopping by ( possibly again ! ).

Here's what I've been working on lately. It's something for the Drabblecast Art Reclamation Project. They're trying to get a bunch of art for old episodes that didn't have any, so I signed up for an episode. This is for episode #52 I think - 'Eggs'. It came out on the day Angelo was born, so I thought that would be fitting in some way.



It's SUPPOSED to be like an electron microscope picture. It's about as good as it's going to get in that way. Not perfect, which is annoying, but there you go. I had a heck of a time with this one. I had to ask a very talented friend for advice on the texturing process ( which I then promptly ignored when I discovered the 'texturalize' filter option in Photoshop ! ). It's vaguely successful I guess - and it looks alright. I'll try and tart it up a little more - but I don't think I can make it that much better.

More rehearsal sketches - Thing a Fortnight

Some more drawings from production down time :

Power Armour #2

Alien Armour Suit

Knife Grrl

Encounter Suit - Hightlighting and background

Highlighting done ( pretty much ) and a new background added. I like the circuit board pattern ( though I might need to have a different eye colour now ! ).

Encounter Suit - first round of shading / eye highlights

Really liking the new techniques I've learned. I mean, they're nothing amazing - but clipping layers are very useful !

Encounter Suit - first colour application

I've been working on this little drawing for a wee bit now.



I've been learning how to use solid colour layers combined with mask layers to quickly colour a picture. It's a really good technique for a couple of reasons. First - you can tweak the colours REALLY REALLY easily afterwards. Second - it's VERY easy to colour in areas efficiently via the fill tool in the mask layer.

I know it doesn't look like much now - but it'll pick up once shadows and highlights are in.

More as it happens.

Sketches

With this and that ( read - new child and school production ) I've had precious little time to do any drawing. I have been doing some stuff on my 'encounter suit' pic - but that's not ready for publication just yet.

As a bit of a catch up - here are some sketches I did during rehearsals over the last weekend or two when I had a second :

Late for a good reason this time.

You might have noticed there is no new 'Thing a Fortnight'.

This is largely because of the birth of my second son, Lorenzo Alexander Moretto.

He was born on the 24th of March, at 7.51pm.

He is healthy, and a good deal more relaxed than Angelo was at his age ! Which is good.

More soon - but I have started a new blog for Lorenzo ( largely to facilitate picture viewings by grandparents who - for very good reasons - don't want to deal with that 'Facebook nonsense' ). You can check out the little guy here :

Lorenzo : OMG - ALMB !

Thanks for your patience !

SSS Cover - More colour, more reflections, a reg.number

The latest version - quite a few changes. Some feedback for the last version was that there was too much gray, so I colour shifted the robo-cat to a more orange / coppery tone. Also added some darker patches via a new layer and reduced opacity. Mice are now a range of tones too ( that was a bit of a pain to do - had to re-colour a number of layers. Kinda finicky ). There are some more reflections, and the cast shadow of the cat is darker to help ground it ( looked like it was floating a bit before ). There were a couple of other things I did too - but I can't be bothered talking about them here !
This may well be the last one - we'll see what the art-director for SSS says. :-)

Thing a Fortnight #4 - Flying Robot

Just a quick one this time to keep up with the quota ! Quickly did this tonight while watching an episode of Fringe. I think I'll have to do more giant robots.

Thing a Fortnight #3 - Frost Wyrm

Fairly late ( I think that'll be a theme with this ) but here it is - a sort of dragony thing. The name 'frost wyrm' jumped to mind when I was drawing it.

Thing a fortnight - teaser post !

I have yet to scan the official thing-a-fortnight ( it's coming ! ) - so here are some things to keep you going !

I loved loved LOVED my magna doodle thing when I was a kid ( until some idiot acquaintance of my folks split beer on it at a Christmas party - which ruined it ).

I was having a play with one on the weekend - here are a few ones I did :


Robot with guns !


Spider with bugging out eyes !

Stripy thing !

Damn I love magna doodle !

Some actual writing !

So - I tried to to write a drabble today. The first draft came in at around 500 words instead of the required 100. Still - for the first thing I've written for ages, not too bad an effort. It needs redrafting - but here it is, just to prove I did it !

Scrape

I know what you’re thinking.

I’m not insane.

She’d asked me to scrape off the old wall-paper to help the renovations. It was a old house, and it needed some attention. Insulation. Double-glazing. Keep out the cold – keep the little guy from getting sick.

Sure, I’d said. I like the simple hands-on monotony – kinda zen-like.

It was slow work – taking me well into the late night. It was downstairs though – I didn’t disturb her, or the toddler, with the gentle splash of sponge into bucket or the grind of the scraper in my rubber-gloved hand.

The first thing I noticed were the numbers. Penciled into the drywall, hidden under the layers of garish wall paper. But there’s nothing usual about that. Measurements. Tallies of construction material perhaps. How long to cut the wallpaper. How wide the next piece of dry-wall needs to be. Practical.

Normal.

But then the other things crept in, revealed piecemeal as the sodden paper sloughed away.

The symbols.

Circles. Triangles. Spidery stars – slanted hexagons – spirals.

Interlocking and eldritch.

But they were only shapes, right ? In pencil. I mean – that’s normal. Right ?

Perhaps a child. All those years ago – when the house was new. A son or daughter. Whiling away the long stretches of tedium, while dad is busy papering. And dad doesn’t mind – it’s all going to be hidden soon anyway. Hidden away. Under the paper.

That’s normal.

So I didn’t pay it any particular mind.

I carried on. Heaven help me, I carried on. Spash and scape.

Splash.

Scrape.

By the time I noticed that the symbols had given way to language, to words, spiked with harsh consonants and coughing vowels, I guess it was too late.

I had read them. And then I couldn’t stop reading them.

And then I was saying them. Echoing the words with lips and tongue, the words rolling in my mind like a broken body down a cliff face – all snap and hiss and whispered, mangled scream.

And though I tried, heaven help me – I tried, I couldn’t stop saying them.
And when I finally did stop, stopped those terrible words – that abominable alien litany, and opened my stinging eyes – I could see them.

The things behind the walls.

Not the walls of the house, you understand. The walls of this world. This universe. This dimension. This reality.

All hooks, claws. Faceted eyes. Snapping maws. Sniewy quivering limbs and tongues.

Writhing.

Scraping against the walls. Trying to get in.

And in those last patches of uncleared wall, hidden only beneath a few breaths of glue and paper – traced in unearthly curving lines of pencil – I knew there was a door.

Did I start the fire ? You already know.

It had to be done.

I wasn’t thinking straight. I was so desperate, so out of my mind with terror. It wasn’t till the house was well ablaze that I remembered.

I tried to go in.

Look at me. Can’t you see the skin crafts I’ve suffered through ? I tried.

I’m sorry. I wish I’d gotten them out first. I wasn’t thinking straight.

I’m so sorry.

I know I deserve to be in here for that. I have to pay. There’s no need for the padding on the walls though.

I’m not insane.

And it doesn’t hide them. Heaven help me – I wish it did. I can still see them. Pressed against the walls.

Writhing. Undulating. Scraping against the barrier between us and them.

Trying to get in.

Bonus sketch : Ape vs Robot

A wee bonus sketch for you ! I found this in a clip board - I think I started it during a sports / cultural exchange with the sister school of the one I work at. Those things can be pretty tedious. I also fleshed it out more at the dance auditions for the school production last year.



Inspiration ? I saw someone else doing a 'monkey vs robot' drawing and thought I could do one too.