Electric Boogaloo

So, as I mentioned in the last post, working in digital gives me the chance to change and edit images and experiment with different angles. In this case I was able to alter this characters hairstyle after the fact, a process at one time only possible by using a xerox machine and masker.

       

I was unhappy with the way the hair turned out on the original sketch so I used painter to go back and try a couple of alternatives, settling on the longer hair version (although looking again now I'm kinda swerving back toward the pigtails...).

Next stage was to put some inks over the line work and tidy it up somewhat:

Lining the sketch also allowed me to pick out details I wanted to work on when it came to painting it up.

God damn that background looks cheesy. Should really do something with it. The palette I chose for the colour job was mostly earth tones with a smattering of reds and greens. I'm particularly happy with the way the details on the corset and the silver scroll work on the gloves and boots turned out, as well as the lacing on the dagger sheath. The shadow I dropped behind the left arm helped add some depth to an otherwise rather flat pose.

I am horrified at how flat the gun looks. I had wanted it to be held in profile to show off the design but in retrospect I should have pointed it out of the frame somewhat.

We live, we learn.

Next post with showcase some of the sketch work I've been doing of late.

Ta-ta for now. 

Digital Pencil Case

Okay, so anyone who has read this blog may have suspected that predicting an update in less than a week was probably more than a little bit optimistic. Still, at least there is an update.

I have received some gentle encouragement to produce more work for DECONSTRUCTED and of course, this will be forthcoming, however, as mentioned in my last post I have experienced some revived interest in the slightly steampunky/ fantasy world of my Untitled Fantasy Project No.2.

On a side note it may be interesting to point out that the time I am able to devote to creative projects has greatly increased of late owing to the recent demise of my artistic nemesis. After many years of unproductive time consumption my beloved Xbox360 finally gave up the ghost last week and popped its metaphorical clogs having suffered a failure in either its lens or laser optics. The green- eyed cyclops now sits blind and impotent, no longer able to exert its terrible powers of indolence. Rejoice!

On the subject of todays post it is fun to again note that the image posted above was rendered completely in Painter 12, and although it may not look very different to many of my other works it has allowed me to create in a less restrictive way.

The character is a 'Pirate Princess' thus far un-named, who would serve as the leader of a renegade group within the fantasy setting. Commander of a rag-tag group of dubious moral standing she, of course has a heart of gold. Picture if you will a female cross between Robin Hood, Captain Jack Sparrow and Mance Rayder from A Song of Ice and Fire.

The fun thing about drawing in a computer is it leaves me free to chop and change features, experimenting with ideas that might otherwise be left unrealised owing to the more perminent nature of paper and graphite, for though pencil lines can be erased there is no way to revert to earlier versions or to mix and match changes other than creating an entirely new rendering.

This picture went through various revisions; with cape and without cape, both hands on hips, flintlocks holstered on her belt (which had the unfortunate appearance of sex toys which, combined with the heeled boots, tight leather trousers and corset gave a decidedly different slant to the character) and various hairstyle revisions. I'm still not satisfied that I have tried all of these permutations and I may yet go back and make some more alterations, but the fact that I have the option to do so excites me.

Unfortunately work calls, and I am required to eat, live under a roof and pay for electricity (one thing a pencil and paper don't require) so I am forced to leave my creative musings here.

I shall not make a prediction for my next update, you wouldn't believe me anyway.

Ps. Apologies for any particularly noticeable spelling catastrophes, Blogger's spellchecker doesn't seem to be working properly.

Mixed Bag of Holding

It's ironic to think that a blog I originally created to escape the daily pesterings of Facebook has that same wretched life- eater to thank for it's first update in a year and a half. 

Here I am, however, looking at a daily hit spike that can only be explained by the mere hint of an update  in an earlier status message and I'm forced to admit that it may have it's uses after all. 

For anyone paying attention, I have been sporadically posting new sketches on my Facebook feed for the past couple of weeks (mostly due to the discovery that drawing in Corel Painter 12 is awesome) and I've got pretty addicted to the instant response that I can gain from using it as a forum. That being said it seemed wholly hypocritical to expound my hatred for it as a soul sapping time- thief if I continued to ignore this blog and use it instead.

I hate hypocrites. 

A couple of days ago I put out a request in my status for ideas to draw. One of them was "medieval steampunk". I thought this was a pretty cool idea, and then I realised I already had a ton sketches on the subject, related to 'Untitled Fantasy Project No.2' so out came the old sketchbooks...

I found character sketches, location drafts and technology concepts. Sadly I cant remember much of the world I had crafted in my imagination to house them. There were far too many to post in the format I had been using in Facebook so it struck me to post them up here; to that end-

 

These guys were to be main characters, it would seem. Justin Bieber with a sword, a young Madmardigan and a dashing pilot- type fellow. Can't remember anything about any of them but I think the pilot guy looks quite dashing.

 This is the main setting for the story; a walled city built up in the style of Mont St. Michel. The higher towers have mooring points for visiting airships.

 A royal airman. If our heroes were to be the heroic rebels, these would be the guys they would be fighting.

Plans and doodles for airships; these were the main concept that the rest of the world grew around. Dirigibles with underslung gondola hulls powered by steam driven prop shafts. I came up with tons of wild ideas for these.

I really like some of these designs. Think I might fancy another stab at them. Look out for some new material, maybe as early as wednesday...