Scrappy paintings

Sometimes I feel like doing art but not drawing... so I've been painting random old doodles in my sketchbook. I should really continue with the Hunger Games art before I go watch the movie tomorrow, but I am avoiding... :'D

boku wa bani ja nai, barnaby desu.
ballpoint pen + watercolours on really crappy Canson paper :'D

curves come when the mind is blank
pilot frixion pen + watercolours

Instagram is on Android now, woo! But weeping because my camera phone is pretty crappy. /abuses and misuses anyway! 8D;;

WIP: The girl who was on fire

One thing I really want to try drawing before watching the Hunger Games movie is the District Twelve costume from the opening ceremonies. I'm very curious to see how the movie will handle it!

I'm really feeling how rusty I've gotten... it's been redraw after redraw.  D:

Current iteration (sadly, the anatomy doesn't get any better with each iteration lol)! After thinking of nothing but David Bowie from the Labyrinth and the King of All Cosmos from Katamari, I added more definition in some areas than I intended to. :'D

I drew a one-minute chibi version at the height of my frustration...

Earliest iteration...  I repainted Katniss' face at least five times until I realized the only answer was to completely redraw her.

Will see if this painting actually gets done... :'D

jumping on the hunger games bandwagon...

With so much hype surrounding the release of the Hunger Games movie, I grew curious about the story. The result: I finished the three books in five days. Aside from the fact that I have a tendency to marathon things, I think Suzanne Collins created a very intriguing world with underlying issues that are not completely unlike those of our own society. Anyway, this is an art blog so I'll spare you from a book review. ;)

I wanted to get some Hunger Games art out of my system before watching the movie next week and getting influenced by it!

the hunger games

PaintTool SAI 1.01

I started off just doodling headshots, so the lack of planning really shows in the poor composition lol. I seem to have lost the patience/ability to do anything beyond a rough sketch lately... :'D

lazy valentine's

I joined a valentine's art exchange group with my friends. :)

take it off 8D

PaintTool SAI 1.01

This was drawn for ok-yc on DeviantArt. She wanted something steamy! ;)

Characters © ok-yc

BBC Sherlock

I am a very big fan of the BBC Sherlock series! Realism isn't really my thing, but I like Benedict Cumberbatch enough to give it a shot. :)

Reference photo / testing this SAI brush setting / texture 

As always, sorry for the lack of updates! I think I need to give this blog layout a face-lift soon...

Happy Lunar New Year!

Wishing you health and happiness! :)

TnB: Taiga & Bani

Ahhhh, I can't stop drawing Tiger & Bunny! It's a severe addiction... I wanted to do something more stylized and not painstakingly rendered after doing those portraits. I just wanted to have fun so I didn't get hung up on details or refining for once! I've forgotten the joys of doodling! :)

タイガー＆バニー！

PaintTool SAI 1.01

Eagerly awaiting episode 22 subs!

Random: Wow, I just noticed how the art style is completely different in the last 6 blog entries. I am so bad at drawing consistently - I like changing it up! I never figured out whether this was a good or bad thing... D:

Black out the sun

I've been a huge fan of Darren Hayes since his Savage Garden days and Darren his new music video for Black Out The Sun is gorgeous! I wanted to capture the colour palettes and mood (and didn't even begin to attempt to capture the likeness of Darren...*sigh*). There was a bit of optical flare abuse in the video, so I wanted to include that as well!

Now all the love's gone...

PaintTool SAI 1.01 + Adobe Photoshop CS4

Okay, I swear I will fix my sleep schedule in two days...

T&B: Kaburagi T. Kotetsu

Finished procrastinating on packing drawing Kotetsu while listening to his dorky character song lol! I'm not really satisfied with it but I think it's time to move on. I've had enough of Tiger & Bunny portraits! I had a pretty difficult time with this drawing - not used to drawing older men with darker skin tones. And that hand! And that watch! And that hat! Ugh! I'm too ashamed to admit how long this took me... Might have to give him plastic surgery later. :P

This one is supposed to match the Barnaby I drew earlier!

Kaburagi T. Kotetsu

PaintTool SAI 1.01 + Photoshop CS4

Although I really enjoy drawing Barnaby, Kotetsu is actually my favourite character from Tiger & Bunny. You just can't help but like the guy. Two days until ep 22! :D

WIP T&B: Kaburagi Kotetsu

I tried so hard to fix my sleep schedule, and it lasted about three days...  I decided it was time to attempt a drawing of Kotetsu from Tiger & Bunny to go with Barnaby. I just couldn't get into drawing Kotetsu's hair - not curly/layered enough for my tastes! ;) 

I was discussing with some friends about drawing speed and I think I'm a really slow artist. This is where I'm at five hours in (from blank canvas)... I expected this to be done in less than three hours. :(

That hand/arm is giving me a lot of grief (and just noticed the strange colour difference from his face haha...)!

Shall continue at a more reasonable hour! 

T&B: Barnaby version 3

EDIT: half a year later... I repainted his face again lol. I can't even tell if I'm making it better or worse anymore, but I thought the proportions looked a little better like this. Until next time... :'D

Barnaby Brooks Jr.

PaintTool SAI 1.01

I ended up spending the night giving my Barnaby illustration more plastic surgery and refining the CGing. I think school has caused me to become much more obsessive persistent with reworking my art. Okay, someone take this drawing away from me, I'm probably going to want to tweak it again in a few days... :P

Revised gag version because I just can't take Barnaby all that seriously (especially after episode 19 :'D)!

"Kotetsu-san... Why did you bitch-slap me? *weeps*

It is Saturday, but the subs for episode 20 aren't out yet... Sadness. D:

WIPs & doodles

Doodle sketch for new shark card that will be freely available to couples getting married who are against shark fin soup! I plan on fleshing it out this Sunday. :)

Tiger & Bunny has hit the point of being an addiction lol. The show's just too good and they keep ramping it up with each episode! I must admit I first liked Barnaby's character design for jokes (I mean, look at that hair!), but it's really grown on me. Barnaby's hair is so time consuming but it is my favourite thing to draw right now. :D

I had all these test render times of like a minute or two during the last couple months, and I never figured out what I should be doing during those short intermittent periods. This is what happens when I'm left to my own devices... 99% of the drawings are really bad but I thought I'd share more evidence of my obsession lol! ;) 23 pages and counting hahaha!

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T&B: ivan

Ahhhh I have neglected this blog for so long! I handed in my final animation for school recently (though there are still some tweaks to do)! So now it is time to draw some animu and dang, am I ever rusty! I gave him plastic surgery a gazillion times but it still doesn't look quite right... Ah well, I've lost patience and copped out with another portrait. :P

ivan 

Photoshop CS4

This was originally supposed to be Barnaby from Tiger & Bunny (the most underrated show of the season!!), but the more I worked up the face, the more it looked like Ivan/Origami Cyclone to me so I just changed it... But I'm not really much of an Origami fan. Must draw Barnaby next! :)

Bunny!

Sorry, not the cute, fuzzy variety. :'D

I got kicked out of my school building today because the janitors needed to wax our hallway. Perfect excuse to give in to my intense craving for some smurfing animu-drawing!

This is Barnaby (nicknamed "Bunny") from Tiger & Bunny, a surprisingly good anime this season. It's set up as a hero show and the plot is pretty predictable, but the great chemistry between all of the characters keeps me watching!

Barnaby Bunny!

Adobe Photoshop CS4

I tried to CG with the brush I normally sketch with. It was a nice change of pace. :)
EDIT: Did a bit of colour and blur tweaking.

Here are a couple of alternative versions. I ended up inking the original sketch and tried my hand at cel shading! I never really do clean lineart, so this was an interesting route to take!

I think this last one is probably my favourite, which makes me really sad because I spent considerably more time on the rendered version!

Copic multiliners + Adobe Photoshop CS4

Texture from CGtextures.com

Back to Maya tomorrow!

return of Gintama!

I have no idea what possessed me to draw this during deadline week. Actually, staying at school past 1 am regularly and staring at particles might do it... Anyway, here is another fanart of Gintama. After a one year hiatus, the new season of Gintama returns this Monday. I'm actually super excited, so I thought I'd draw something to celebrate! :)

april 4th

PaintTool SAI + Adobe Photoshop CS4

Looks kind of different from my usual stuff. It's oozing animu-ness. Ah well! It's not quite how I'd like it to be and there are a bunch of mistakes, but it is now 5 am and I must get back on track with school stuff tomorrow/today! 8D;;

It all sort of snowballed when I pulled out my tablet to do a quick stress-relief doodle (I was dismayed at how dusty my tablet had become from neglect):

snazzy!

PaintTool SAI 1.01

quadruple dose of animu

I've developed a bad habit of not finishing what I started (when it comes to non-school work anyway)! So here's a batch of not-so-refined works and WIPs:

I generally tend to avoid fanart (unless for anime convention purposes...) but somehow that's all I've been drawing recently! B-but Gintama is just so goooood!

ginpachi-sensei~
PaintTool SAI + adjustments in Adobe Photoshop CS4

WIP: (Does Professor Layton count as animu?) I definitely plan on finishing this...eventually! I can't wait until the next game - Professor Layton and The Lost Future was so incredibly epic! I had the Curious Village in mind when I was drawing this, though. :)

PaintTool SAI 1.01

WIP: I haven't decided whether to fully render this in colour, or go for flat b&w.

PaintTool SAI 1.01

And finally, a quick chibi doodle for a friend! And yes, I enjoy super blinding yellow backgrounds.

Adobe Photoshop CS4

I must admit, I've been running away from reality (read: school) a bit recently. I need to get back on track starting tomorrow! I also need to retroactively add all those projects I finished in February here...

sukonbu princess

I decided I deserved a break after a long week full of deadlines. :)

sukonbu princess
PaintTool SAI 1.01 + adjustments in Adobe Photoshop CS4

This is Kagura, from one of my all-time favourite anime, Gintama (its punchlines come straight out of grade school humour, but I love it...) . I'm trying to use SAI whenever I'm not doing school things. I've gotten so rusty at it! But I find it pretty amazing how we're capable of remembering shortcuts in so many different programs (thank goodness for procedural memory?!).

Will post school things when I can bring myself to open up the files again to save out images!

(PS. Any Gintama fans out there? Waiting for April 2011!!!)

I ♥ red fundoshi!

This drawing is dedicated to the most passionate red fundoshi proponent ever. Check out their fabulous video!

red fundoshi + megane FTW!

PaintTool SAI 1.01

This is what happens when Joyce gets fed up with rendering kidney tubules and staring at dots for her info visualization project (more on those later). 8D;;

i said no more portraits, i know...

This one was for a joint Gaia Online art auction i held with a few of my friends. i did a lot of Gaia commissions back in the day, so i can really appreciate a request for a pretty girl and not a crazy overloaded Gaia avatar, lol! i joined the site back in 2003 when it first launched. It was a great artist community then, but it has become too complicated (evolving items?!) for an old lady like me!

sakura
paintTool SAI 1.01 + adobe photoshop CS4

i will seriously do something different next time around! This isn't really the direction i want my (non-medical) art to take. But i just realized i only have 2 weeks until the start of school, so "something different" may just mean school work! *sigh* D:

another day, another fail D:

i've been rewatching Samurai Champloo recently, and it is still so damn good (that baseball episode still cracks me up every time lol). i'm a huge fan of Jin, but i definitely did not do him justice here! There was a lot more to this drawing, but...i failed. 8D;;

fail-jin D:
paintTool SAI + textures from CGtextures.com
(slapping textures onto a failed drawing doesn't make it better, i know. lol!)

Perhaps i'll revisit this one day once i've improved on my life drawing/anatomy/etc skills... >:

i feel like i've been heading the wrong way with my artwork recently. i'm going to try to do something different. So if i draw another half-assed portrait, smack me. 8D;;