It's Official Now

"...Y'all an alpha. It's official now. Ain't nobody can tell you different, and when ya get outta here, y'all better ACT like one."

Commissioned image.

This was an interesting commission to do! I was given this scene from a short piece of fiction to illustrate; an NBA hopeful, who fell on hard times, comes of age during his stay in prison.

Researching tattoos was a bit of a pain, but worth the extra research! Hopefully the tats I gave the other inmate tells just as much of a story.

Yumeiren

Every good Blood Elf knows that the perfect way to end a long day of raiding with a quick dip in the springs to wash the blood of your foes away.

Commissioned image from buyer Naikelea!


ALSO i cannot claim credit for the background! I googled World of Warcraft hotsprings and grabbed an image! I can't seem to find the one I found again though... Hmm.

Crossroads

This was a commissioned piece! I had fun with the colours and shading on this. Tried something new that sort of worked. Er.. what I mean to say is... uh. Well I'm happy with it, and so was my client. :)  

More DS Portraits

More critters!
I really need to keep pushing the contrast of my values.

Mutt Jester

A commission of a silly mutt! 
Done on Nintendo 3DS

Working Sand

Just thought I'd post a WIP for kicks I took the other day.
Is that a pun because there's feet involved?

Anyway... this is a beach scene! So a lot of sand is involved (WHAT?!) The screenshop on top is more of a starter one, and the one on the bottom is more complete (with some tweaks)

I'm just pleased with how it's turning out so far. Man, I remember when I first discovered the multiply option many many moons ago.

Photoshop, you've come a long way with what you can do.  And so have I! Just a bit anyway.

I spent too much time studying wing structures and had too much fun to not show this here!

Targets Neutralized

crossposted from another blog of mine! I don't know how long this has taken me-too long! But I'm happy with the result.

Large Endeavour

So I endeavored to do a large-ish group image project! Larger than anything I've done as of yet, at least. I mentioned it in the last post I made. Thought you'd all be interested in an update:
... And a bit more work done on it still!

The holiday rush caught me by surprise. I meant to have this finished in time for Boxing day but...
Also I had been working on this on a PC based machine with Paint Tool Sai. But now I've managed to procure a copy of Sketchbook Pro and CS5 respectively for my Mac! This is wonderful as I'm no longer dependent entirely on one machine for my work. Also it opens up more opportunity for streaming properly!

And! ... I really missed working on a Mac!

Anyway, switching over mid-project is always a challenge. Buttons and etc change over... But it's been a fun challenge!

Things in Motion, projects and more!

I've got a lot of bits and bobs in motion here! Many I hope to add to my portfolio page soon.

Here's a cropping from a commission in progress:

It's much further along, and into the detailing stages now. Colours adjusted, etc. The bunker background was giving me the most issue, but I've settled on something I like!


Then I had this CRAZY IDEA for a group style commission. The concept is simple: create a scene, and perhaps define one or two solidified characters within it, then stage the rest as sketch 'dummies' and offer up those different spots for sale!

This is an idea I had purely for fun.
Am I a bit of a masochist? Absolutely. But how can I expect to learn if I don't challenge myself!
My actors are all solidified and I'll be streaming segments of this piece periodically! and (hopefully) have it complete in time for Christmas!


and then some Ookami sketches for fun:

Both "Young" and "Older" as he will appear in The Refuge (eventually) Older Ookami is such an interesting guy to me, and I'm sad that gesture of him pulling off his tie got cut off by the scanner. I'll have to draw that separately as I like how that turned out.
Fun fact: Ookami doesn't really smoke anymore. I tried it on the character for a while, but decided it was too Cliche'.

and finally, I'm in the process of assisting my wife in a book project! Some business for a local woman (very nice) that she'd like to have for her newphews in time for Christmas.

Not a big production or anything, but also a fun set of challenges. I'm assisting Iron-Gibbet style. I.E. helping with layout/composition/rough sketching. I've never drawn tractors before today!
I'll post what I can when I'm able.

Ah, speaking of which, three more sketches to go! Back to work!

Hunter

Judging by his weaponry, which one is the Hunter indeed?
Hmmmmm.

Triumph

I actually have no idea what I'll name this when it's done.
KEEP YOUR OLD SKETCHBOOKS! You'll never know when those old ideas will come in handy! *gestures above*

Epsilon

 I almost forgot I had finished this! Turned out rather nicely, I think.

I scanned a whole bunch of pages from my sketchbook... But I can't find the flash stick I saved them to. Whoops.

In the Doghouse

So I did a Stream a thon this weekend. Here are a couple of my favourites:

 

And below is a teaser illustration I did for the book "In the Doghouse of Justice" by Kyell Gold earlier this year! The work was so frantic I had nearly forgotten about it! 

Fireballs and Mechs

   Just a slew of recently finished pieces! Many of them from the last post. And by many I mean all of them.

Had my wife help me out on some of my colour choices! Particularly with That firey cat. ;)
The inks I did this morning. Mechs are still a bit of a challenge for me, but practice makes perfect!
 

As for writing, I've been in a rut. Stuck in that "First chapter" syndrome. While I've been able to work out a lot of story kinks-and wrote the first ever outline of my life! (as opposed to the make-it-up-as-you-go approach) ...I can't get past the first chapter. I have some good writer friends and favourite authors that all say "Just write", which is fine, but I never have the time!
Soon, though, soon...

This, that, and inspiration

  So I do like blogger's new pic uploading thing. Here's a whole lot of things! 

 

Fireeee (commission)

Onigiri! (Commission)

 

Crunch! (commission)

 

Beautiful music (Mortal Instruments fan art for fun)

 

...and this guy! (commission)

It's kinda nice to just let loose and draw as it appears sometimes. It's easy to get caught up in how busy things are and forget that. As an artist of any means (writing, sculpting, music, etc) if it starts to feel like work, it's worth stepping back and going back to the basics of what made you fall in love with your trade in the first place! 

While I haven't seen it (recently, I know the movie by heart!), the rerelease of The Lion King kickstarted that frame of mind. A movie I loved (still do) and endless hours practicing characters I could never seem to get right!

Now it all seems so simple.

Never forget the things that inspire you, friends.

Many a thing

Our live have been consumed by home rennovations lately


Alistair from Dragon Age (and Dragon Age 2, i guess) just a screengrab... for now.

A commission done by me and my best friend, Donovan! I did the line art, he supplied the colour! I will add this to my portfolio once I finally finished the website reconstruction!




This last one may be a LITTLE Not worksafe! Be advised before your scroll!

















Claudia... orage cat... you're at it again. Being creepy. Poor Ookami is going to have a complex.

Angry faces

So much anger happening!


Oh Vegeta... (work in progress)


Those empty rooms just make me so mad! I think that's why Vegeta's mad too.

So we have a critter that should have a tail, and one that shouldn't. Although Vegeta should, but if you've watched Dragon Ball Z, then you know all about that. For our purposes, he doesn't have a tail.

Below him is a commission in progress. The composition allows for a tail, but I've opted out. Why? Because it doesn't serve a real purpose and you wouldn't see much more than a shape/blob of colour anyway. There will be a lot of things going on in the image. I can always add it in if I change my mind, though...

Oh, mind the knife.
That's how vegeta lost his tail, isn't it?

Helping Hands

RAKEM FRACKEM!
Darned giant Kangaroos!

Along with my blog's theme here's a thought;
I normally wouldn't have put a tail on the angry bear foreman, but... this time I thought it was just funny. :)