Tag Archives: illustration

Color Blind

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      Didn’t I promise you guys a greyscale image that I’d color by blending them in?

      I can’t remember….

      It doesn’t matter though, cause I’m doing it anyway! I begin by drawing my subject from a very bad phone shot. No, I won’t show it; I’m a videographer my rep would suffer! Besides, this is really just a sketch. Once it’s done I began by changing the color and opacity. I create a separate layer for all the line work needed. Always make sure you’re using hard edges at this stage.

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      Once you’re happy with your line art you can divide it up if you choose. I always put all the interior detail work on a separate layer, so that I can change it to go with my color fills. I’m pretty sure that’s not standard or anything,  it’s just something I prefer.

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       Today I took a cloud brush and stamped in some green clouds. Why? Hell if I know!  Just kidding. I actually have an idea kind of bouncing around in my skull. After that I create another layer and use the selection tool (w) to outline the main layer of art. If it doesn’t come all the way into the line, choose [Select> Modify> Expand ] to increase your selection edge by increments of pixels.  So much fun!

      Once you’ve gotten a good setup, make sure you have the interior of your outline. It you see your selection ants on the border as well, press [Ctrl/Cmd +shift +I] to invert your selection. The next step is to pick a midrange color and using either your brush or paint bucket,  fill the selection area. Pretty easy, right?   
      That’s it for now. I’m going to go drink and play while you practice. Just like a real teacher…

High Grade

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     I have a playlist of anime songs. Apparently it’s very motivational, because I was able to finish the picture I was working on.

      My life has hit a quiet patch; as a consequence of this,  a lot of my ongoing projects are calling for my attention. Plus, I intend to start doing a little more creative art just for fun. So there may be fewer people in the near future.

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         The funny thing is that I joined a new group and offered to make this image a procedure tutorial. Hopefully I can pull it off! In the meantime, my next drawing will be of a beautiful Asian lady I met on my train commute! Hope she’s going to tune in!

The Wall of Why

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     Listening to Sugar Ray while sitting in my art room drinking shots.  How old school is that? I’m actually adding my shadow layer now. Since shadows are never actually black (unless you’re that feeb, batman), I try to pick a color that’s on the far end range of the neutral skin tone I chose. Also, an overall warmth will be a part of this image so instead of a cooler version I went with a reddish brown.

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     I’ll admit that I have no real preference as to where I start my shading process. I’m sure there’s probably a very technical reason for it; to me it simply feels right. Lately I’ve been reading about how digital art seems “soulless” to some. As a personal choice I try not to completely smooth out my shadows and layers of color. I actually like my stuff a little rough! Again no true reason for it, other than it appeals to me. Could it be that I’m starting to develop my own style?…

Mayk

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    Back to work!  This is the last of the fitness competitors that I have to draw. Needless to say it’s been a long series of drawings to get through. Couple that with a few requests to NOT be featured here and you can see I’ve got a real sense of relief.

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      The way I go about these steps tends to vary, with me frequently simply going by feel. This time I decided to go with using a brush set at 30percent with reduced hardness. I color in with a larger version to block in my areas of light. Then, using a smaller setting, I add detail to this layer.

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      The reason I can concentrate on just shading is because I made this layer a clipping mask of the one below. Trust me, unless you enjoy doing line clean up, this is MUCH easier.

Happy New Year!

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      Yay, I finished my picture!  Hugs all around. Even though I missed the bodybuilding show that a lot of customers attended,  a couple of people sent me pictures…

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      Of course I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. All the images,  coincidentally, are of the female competitors. And this far away. At least they were being helpful,  so if you’re reading this, thanks.

      To be honest a lot of my energy right now is being expended on getting my home repaired. But hey, if you can’t make time to draw, what’s the point?

Life

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   I’m a terrible person to try to keep up with. A lot of things have happened to me recently and I was sidelined for a moment. Still, I only slowed down and my drawing was always at the forefront of my concerns.

    Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been doing more”traditional” type work. For me, it’s a little easier to do; I still find myself concentrating somewhat to illustrate digitally. Oh well…

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    This image bothers me. It’s not that it’s inaccurate or incomplete. It took all of 10 minutes to realize what was wrong; I like her. When you draw someone you like, there’s a glow on them, but it’s only in your head. So it gets lost in the recreation. That’s why artists tend to repeatedly draw their muses to some extent; you can’t draw love, you can only feel it.

Dirty Souls

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     I spent most of this morning correcting the line art and making a scrumptious crotch for this image. It wasn’t hard actually. Even though most of the work went easily enough, I still have a hard time giving her a good background.

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      After changing the color and adapting my shadow layer to her light source, I decided to stop here.

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          I’ll finish the hair later, promise.

Maliciously Innocent

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      Some of you may have noticed that my workflow on this image has been a little bit different. I started with my sketch and didn’t bother to clean up my linework at ALL. I even laid my colors down on one layer. What gives?

      I’m trying to show you guys that there’s more than one way to get the job done. A lot of people will try to convince you that there’s only one and its theirs. But you honestly have to try different techniques!  For me, my style is an amalgam of all of my influences; sci fi, comic books, anime and porn. Yes porn.

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does it show?

        You may have other graphic styles influencing you. Go for it! It’s okay to copy someone else’s style when you’re starting out, but eventually you will notice that you admire bits and pieces of a lot of artists.

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       You may have noticed that I brushed my flat colors in then used my burn and dodge tools to get tonal range on the skin.I’m not going for realism here, more of a cartoon style effect. Later I’ll add shadows and highlights with a soft brush set at about 20% opacity. I used this on the leather and her cleavage and got a pretty good effect.

     Don’t be afraid to experiment. It may not always work out, but it will always pay off.

Pretty People Don’t Lie

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     There’s a reason now for why this isn’t linked to my Facebook page. I’m being harangued by a lot of pretty girls to draw their images. Remember the redhead I was drawing for awhile? Well she’s a close friend (eyes front buddy, no hanky panky here) and she put the word out.

       Anyway…yes the above image looks a little sketchy. Usually I would do my lines and delete it; it never occurred to me that I was leaving out a whole step in my process. My bad!

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Maybe this step too?

     Lately I’ve noticed that my hand shakes. Not a lot. I’m sure a normal person wouldn’t notice,  but the ability to create smooth arcing lines is kinda useful. I’ll admit that formal training may help, so I’m going to take some art classes next semester. Stay tuned…

Switch Throw

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          I’ll never understand why some people are constantly being abject dirtbags. After all, what reward can there truly be in such behavior? I guess it’s a crime of consent; if you’re too “nice” to stop them, that’s your flaw not theirs…
         This little rant is due to a potential customer that I should have seen coming a mile away. The request seemed innocuous enough; a favor that was needed by someone who considered themselves a friend. My usual response is “what’s the favor? ” in which case I can freely refuse.

        I didn’t heed my own advice.

        So in the end I had to cancel all of it. Every bit. Of course the person is angry at me, but since they had NO INTENTION TO PAY,  I felt justified in my refusal. You heard right. They wanted an entire wall size painting of a 13 member family by Christmas as a favor.

      Parasites. You never know where you’ll find them.