May Not Look Like Much

It may not look like much... But this is the happiest of Christmases we've ever had.

This is a belated Christmas picture I wanted to do for 2009.

It went through many stages in my head as I was brainstorming for it.

It was first inspired while I was flipping through a magazine in the dentist's office, and saw some awesome Christmas decorations being displayed in the snow... and a bear and a Labrador popped into my head.

I got really into it. I couldn't stop thinking of the scene... the movie in my head about a bear adopting a little puppy Labrador, and it became decently elaborate.

I played with different scenes and poses and 'camera angles'... but then a friend of mine, who loves bears, and dogs had his precious dog pass away.

It moved way, in a mix of good and bad feelings. It's great to see how much someone loves someone, but death is always a sad moment. But after that happened, I wanted to change the characters around, make the Labrador a GSD, and add in a third character to represent my friend's wife.

I was JUST about to do this, but it WAS a touchy subject, and I felt like it'd be best to stick to my original plan, and not make it DIRECTLY about my friend, his wife, and their dog, in fear of touching a touchy subject with them. I thought of asking their friends, and while that would've given me a good estimated guess as to if they'd be hurt by a picture like that, I figured the SAFEST bet would be to just stick to my original picture plan.

So here, I did.

I wanted the characters to be feral, in the sense that the lions in Lion King are feral.... but still have some slight anthropomorphic qualities. If this picture was animated, they'd be able to talk.

A good friend of mine, wrote a short passage about Christmas and to set the mood and tell a bit of a story for the picture. The story itself has changed a bit too.

ORIGINALLY, It was an injured Labrador pup giving his father bear his favorite stick for Christmas, and the bear had given the pup a tennis ball. I eventually strayed away from this idea, because a tennis ball felt out of place in a forest scene with feralish characters. I tried to replace the tennis ball with something more naturally found in the forest, but then there was the trouble of portraying it so the viewer could know which gift belong to who.

So I ended up just changing the story slightly, to have only one gift, from the bear given to the pup. Naturally, the father bear doesn't need any gift in return, cept for the love of his pup.

The jar of fireflies acts as their Christmas Tree.

The picture also started pretty saturated, which was a bit of a mistake on my part, so I went back and tried to desaturate and cool and dim it down some.



This picture wasn't meant to be a polished up and detailed piece of work, (and I'm on vacation currently), so I wanted to stick to that plan.

I tried to bring a bit of the saturation back near the bear's foot and toes and the back of his arm.... pretty much where a lot of the firefly light was hitting.

Hope you all had a good holiday and a good new year. :)

Belated Christmas 2009

So here I am, working on a belated Christmas picture.

I had this idea awhile ago, and it came up while I was waiting in the dentist's waiting room, flipping through some magazine and saw these awesome snow-themed pictures. As usual, I'm in my sappy Christmas mood, and just started devloping some mini short story in my head involving a lonely bear and an orphan Labrador puppy with a broken arm.... but how despite their situations, being together with someone you love can make any seemingly bad Christmas, become the best Christmas.

I imagined both of them in a semi-feral form (ie: Lion King, Brother Bear, etc.), living in the woods. The Labrador pup, as naive is the pup is, made pretty his favorite stick, to give as a gift to his papabear, using foliage as ribbons. There's gonna be a gift that the bear has given to the pup, and I was thinking of making it a pinecone, but I haven't decided yet....

I set plans with a friend of mine, Kashra, to write up a short short story to be paired up with this picture.

There was a quote floating around in my head that helped this creative train along, for this picture: "It may not look like much, but this has been the best Christmas, of all Christmases."

This picture was definitely one of those pieces that I kept going back and fourth on between the amount of toony-ness. But I think I landed in a comfy, decently toony area that I think I'll be happy with.

I'm aiming for a snowy, cool-toned picture here, something that's calm and peaceful and most of all, cute.

*Crosses fingers*

The Half Moon Pride: Strength of the Alpha

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So this is the Alpha Wolf, in a universe that a friend of mine writes about. He's standing at the entrance of the marble temple, with a bit of the interior, mostly with the giant waterfall and foliage that travels through the multiple levels of the temple, through the center, like a spine.

So instantly, as I think about how to draw this alpha wolf, I know I want to go for a more mature, maybe even a little more feral (in the face) style than I usually draw. So right off the bat, I knew I wanted to try something new.

I also usually minimize the amount of linework WITHIN the outline of the figure, but this time, I didn't go crazy, but I didn't limit myself either with linework within the outline of the figure.

I knew the character was all black, so I also knew that would be a bit of a challenge as well, to get the contrast in certain parts of the body that I need.

So as a rule of thumb when I do anything with color, is to 'never' use pure white or pure black. Because not only do those colors tend to look flat, but a pure black or white doesn't usually appear in nature, due to light being reflected off of pretty much all surfaces.... so I don't like to use pure blacks or whites in my art either.

Along that line of thinking... I try to never use a flat hue of color for anything. For example, snow is white, and so most people would be tempted to just paint white snow. But in reality and on the contrary, white snow, from a visual standpoint, isn't just white. Snow, whether subtly or not, will pick up hues from its surrounding lights, and objects, and those objects will pick up hues from the light reflecting off the snow.

Just because an object is not glossy, does not mean it does not reflect color. Even matte materials reflect color.

It's all a matter of the AMOUNT of reflections.



The above red-circled areas in the background, are the more obvious points in the background, where you can see color reflect off of each other. How the sunlight reflects off the water, and reflects off the bark of the tree, and how the surrounding greenery can reflect onto the bark, and so on....

So anyways, with a black wolf, I never used a pure black or pure grey either. There was ALWAYS some warm or cool hue to the dark shades used the color the canine.




For general composition and visual hierarchy, I tend to use linework for things in the foreground, and no linework for the background. The above close-up is just to show how the wall in the foreground has linework, and the foliage in the background lacks any common linework.

The only time I will -kinda- use a pure white, is for glares and other such naturally lit phenomena. Such as the cross-stars. in the water splashes from the waterfalls.... I say "kinda use pure white", because I select a pure white in my color picker, but I adjust my brush's flow and don't usually go ALL the way with it. So there's still a hint of transparency to pick up colors from the layer under it. Same with the glares on the eyes.

Trouble I'm having now with this entry is knowing when to stop talking about it. I've learned a lot, and experienced a lot, and so I really enjoyed it, and hope to continue learning from myself, as well as others. Thanks a ton to all those who helped me with any and all feedback during streams and such for this piece!

Arch WIP1

So I'm working on a drawing for a friend of a friend, as a Christmas gift actually. It's not really a Christmas themed picture, but it's a Christmas gift nonetheless, and I'm happy to do it. A mutual friend of this person, actually thought up the idea, and I'm simply executing.

This character, named Arch, is part of the story that a friend of mine writes. In this story, Arch is the alpha of a pack called The Half Moon Tribe.

So right off the bat, with "alpha" in mind, I knew I wanted to draw a very mature looking wolf, who was a great balance between muscular for strength, but not TOO muscular for agility. This is my own interpretation and take on this character, as far as physique goes.

It may seem like a simple picture, but I know from personal experience that for me personally, crossed-arms can be a difficult thing to draw... and from a few friends, I've heard them exclaim the same. I think they're difficult, because you're working with multiple joints, that have to match up well, to fit together like a puzzle piece, or else it looks awkward and unnatural.

On TOP of that, I honestly don't draw too many really muscular figures, so this piece for me was a big double whammy.

I tried to form his muscles organic, yet also a bit edgy to further emphasize an almost "chizzled" appearance, as well as to denote a bit of toughness to his figure and personality.... basically to let you KNOW he's a badass.

Excuse my french!

He's a black wolf, a fire elementist at that too. The background to be honest is a bit in the balance still. I would USUALLY have everything sketched out and ready, but due to time restraints, with Christmas almost being here, I gotta do things in a bit of a different fashion, as far as my usual processes go.

Undulation

Starting out, right off the bat, I knew this was gonna be fun, and that I WILL run into problems. I've never really drawn lions before. And to be honest, lions aren't really my favorite animal either. I'm not a fan of the manes

So you can see from the beginning of the sketch here, I was trying to minimize the mane.... It never looked right though, so I finally gave it, and just gave the mane for volume.




And I'm glad a did. I finally reached a state in the sketch, that I was actually pretty pleased. I gave the mane some volume, I adjusted him for composition, and I'm starting to just take mental notes of how I'm gonna color this thing.


(Click for Full View)


I used Artrage2.5, to digitally paint this piece. It's a great program (though 3.0 just came out!). I naturally starteed with traditional mediums, with acrylic paints being my favorite. So I love working with a (cheap) program that simulates real mediums decently well.

But I DID try something different this time. Usually when I work in Artrage2.5, I'll primarily work with one layer, or in minimal layers. I usually have no linework at all, or if I do, I have it on the same layer as my color layer. I also usually start coloring first, then start blending in natural linework if any. That's how I do it in real life with traditional mediums.

BUT, this time, I went back to my digital routine, where I did some inkwork first, then made a layer for my colors. And I think it resulted a lot better, and closer to what I'd do with traditional mediums, so I'm pretty pleased with the results, and I think I found a better way for myself to work in Artrage.

I also added even MORE volume to the mane. Also, as much as I don't really care for manes, I gotta say that PAINTING them, was a LOT of fun, because I got to play around a bit, and I aimed for a blurred line between the main looking like smeared paint, yet being organized and intentional enough to look like the natural mane of the lion.

I usually go into Photoshop for a few touch ups, but with this piece, It was purely painted in Artrage. :)

Twas a fun piece!

The Half Moon Tribe: Sword and Dagger

Whew! So I finally finished this commission piece, for Kyle. I'll try to keep it short.

So this piece was a lot of fun. It's a piece for a story that Kyle is writing, and I liked working with characters that actually had a back-story.

So when I'm working on a commission, naturally I want to please the commissioner. He gave me a lot of information, and I tried to use as much of it as possible. Originally, the composition wasn't going to show the sky or forest. But as he described the setting to me more, I realized it was important enough to have it shown and set the setting in the picture. On top of that, I think the sky and forest helps add interest to the picture.

I knew the background was going to be broken. I honestly thought it was either going to make or break the piece.

So originally, the temple in the background was pretty simple, as shown below (paying attention to linework, not color):



But as you can see in the finished piece, I fleshed out details in the temple, which I think really helped. Imperfections such as cracks in the marble, I thought was also important to really make the picture feel more alive, rather than some perfect modeled out drawing.

It was a lot of fun to work on overall.

---

Kyle's Description for the picture:


The Half-Moon Tribe. A society of magic, stealth, speed, and strength. Ruled by their Council, each of its members represent a unique aspect of their society: the mages, the striders, the scouts, and the warriors. The council is headed by Arch, their Alpha and supreme protector. These five people work to better their tribe and live peacefully with the other packs and tribes, most notably the leopards.

Slayn, the Alpha-Strider for the Half-Moon Tribe, is responsible for coordinating the intricate network of messages, reaching not only in their territory but to other tribes all over the known world. New to his rank and unsure of himself, the presence of Arch makes him act out of character. He must learn to not only fill the role of Strider-Alpha but realize his personal opinions and feelings are not always the best leads to follow in the course of life.

Avalon, a new member of The Half-Moon Tribe, was given the rank of Gamma-Warrior. He arrived during a turbulent time in Slayn's life. Honorable, strong, and brave, he naturally protects people who need his sword, making Slayn a prime target for his attention. His desire to protect Slayn puts him in harm's way, risking his new rank, his place in his new tribe, and potentially his life.

Halloween 2009 - Jack-o-lanterns

Halloween 2009 just hit us, and it hit us hard.

Personally, I have not been in the spirit for Halloween this much, for years. I've been watching a lot of horror movies, I drew Halloween art, I read more of my Zombie Survival Guide, etc.

Jack-o-lanterns.

Growing up, my parents never have been very much in the spirit of most holidays. In all the years growing up, I think there was one time, maybe two times, of my life where my I've carved a pumpkin. My family never really helped either, they simply handed me the pumpkin, and I carved it myself. My brothers were never into it either.

So anyways, as soon as it was suggested that me and my friends carve pumpkins, I was excited.

So they emptied the pumpkins, I sketched the patterns, and we all transferred and carved our own pumpkins, and I think they came out pretty good.

Transferring wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, but we basically secured the sketch onto the pumpkin, and pricked tiny dots all along the lines, then carved out the pieces.

Out of the few times I've carved a pumpkins, these were easily the most complicated ones.

It was a lot of fun though, because art for pumpkin carvings have a few challenges, like making sure it all connects to the edges of the pumpkin, you have to consider the details you CAN reach with your carving tools and the details you can NOT reach with your carving tools.

I wanted to TRY and keep things simple, and so I wanted to work with only carved and uncarved, rather than mess with partially carved that all the fancy pumpkin carvers do. It felt like I was doing vector art in illustrator or flash. Which is fun. I had a good time carving this with my friends.

Happy Halloween everybody, and I hope you all had a good and safe one. :)

(Click for Full-View)

Keto


Vason


Radjin


Kashra


Three of them on a table (Radjin's candle ran out)

Tiberius Commission WIP2

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Sketch is finished. I worked with the composition of this piece a bit, shifting the characters around, and playing around with cropping and such, and this is what I ended up with.

I think this will be a picture where the background will really help make the picture overall. The characters are sitting on top of the staircase of a temple in a forest.

This one's gonna be a lot of work.

All those damn stones in the background will look great I think, but it's going to be kinda tedious.

But hey, I'm being payed, and I gotta do what it takes to satisfy. I can't half-ass it.

These characters are part of a story he's writing, so I feel like I wanted to not only portray the characters, but as well as the setting to help encompass the world that he's writing about.

I have a friend who's going to help me fix some of the form in the bigger canine's legs and arm. I'm not use to drawing muscular characters, and my friend is, and I 'ain't 2 proud to beg'.... (TLC reference)

I was streaming this picture live, and TLC came into conversation....

Tiberius Commission WIP1

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Here's the first (two) WIPs for a commission I'm working on.

The first character you see here, is Slayn, an agile and swift anthropomorphic wolf.

Right now, I'm currently just working on his physique.

What you see above is a comparison of my first attempt (left) and my re-editing (right). Because the character is suppose to be agile and swift, I had to actually edit his formerly more muscular physique.

This Slayn character is part of the commissioner's story, and he was very specific on his physique, so naturally, I want to be as accurate as possible.

The character's physique is important to emphasize and compliment the character's role in the story he's in. There will be a second character, who will actually contrast the lean-physique of Slayn, with a more muscular physique.

Working with specific body types of other's characters other than my own, or characters I'm already familiar with, is really interesting and fun... reminds me of Life Drawing classes I use to attend, which were amazingly fun and felt incredibly productive and educational.

I miss it really.

But hey, I can still practice on my own, and just get general feedback from other artists and non-artists alike using this blog and streaming live.