Behind-the-scenes on "the western woods"

Another speedpaint!  This was my last one before the week from hell known as "finals."  Unfortunately, I'm still not completely done--I'm taking a required science course over two weeks at my college to get it out of the way.  Yeah, it's not gonna be fun, but at least then I'll be done with it!  (Darn you liberal arts educationnn!)

My latest paint was referenced from RiNymph-Stock on deviantART.  She has a lot of lovely stock photos, so if you need references or ideas, be sure to check out her wonderful gallery!  (The photo I used can be found here.)

So let's get on to the step-by-step!  :)  Check it out after the break!

Behind-the-scenes on "all this and heaven too"

So in the wake of the disappointment of last environment speedpaint, I was far from finished with environment speedpaints.  If anything, I was more fueled and excited than ever to give it another go and improve my digital speedpainting.  And my latest speedpaint, "all this and heaven too," definitely shows a lot of encouraging improvement!  (The title comes from a song of the same name by Florence + the Machine.  <3)

This is going to be a short step-by-step process blog of "all this and heaven too."  I saved a few files along the way, so you can see a bit of how the final came to be.  (Next time, I'll save more pics along the way.  ^_~)  I also used this opportunity to become more comfortable with some of the brushes I have saved onto my computer, which was a lot of fun!

Before I begin, I'd like to state that I did use a reference for this picture.  I believe I got the reference from a friend's Facebook photo album I was flipping through.  Unfortunately, I was really stupid and forgot to write down whose album it was (it wasn't an artist friend; just a random friend).  If I ever figure out whose picture it was, I will, of course, credit them.

Check it out after the break!  :)

Blizzard Speedpaint: Knowing when to quit

Remember this picture that I speedpainted awhile ago?

Well, I did say I was going to return to it and finish it.  And I diiid...

Let's just that speedpainting this really taught me a lot.  Even if the final product is mediocre at best.

Environments are one of my weakest points.  Of course, as a growing artist I have to recognize this and, instead of shying away from them, only work on them all the harder.  As I have been trying to do... with, well, results.  Of some kind.

But hey, everyone's gotta start somewhere!  And now I know things like looking at reference pictures.  (Can we just say I was testing out brushes and that's why I didn't bother to look at a reference?  Yeah let's go with that.)  But it's okay, because I'm learning.  And that's what sketching is for!  And next time will be a whole lot better!  :)  So here's to more environments and better painting!

Also I'm trying to work without textures (besides just brushes).  For someone that abuses textures, that's no easy task!  But I'm getting there.  :)  This might have been a kind of difficult picture, but it didn't start strong, so it's no surprise that it ended on a disappointing note.  So finally you just have to throw up your hands (or tablet pen) and say, "You know what?  I've done my best.  Time to move on and try again!"

And try I will!

Spoilers and Stories

As you might know, I am currently writing/drawing a graphic novel entitled Everdusk (which can be read here).   Really quick, here is a short summary of ED: "Everdusk is the story of Sol’aar, a country that has been under the whip of slavery by its southern neighbor, Galena, for nearly two centuries. Now, the pieces of revolution are falling into place. In the face of crushing oppression, four god-blessed heroes must come together in and overcome their individual bitterness order to obtain their country’s independence and learn what it truly means to become an everdusk."

Obviously, Everdusk is a fantasy-adventure genre tale.  I've always been a fan of fantasy, magic, medieval things, etc.  And just as obviously, as I work on Everdusk, I draw the cast of ED a LOT.  This includes drawing the magical characters using their magic.

Now I have struggled with one question constantly as I have drawn these pictures.  Should I post them on my deviantART (or the Internet in general, such as here), or not?  Is it spoilers to post some of these characters using magic?

I think there are kind of two circumstances here.  One is that the character already knows he/she is a magic-user.  In that case, I don't think it would be any problem posting pictures of them using magic.

What about characters that are introduced in the comic who are not initially aware of their powers, however?  In one way, it's almost as much as a surprise for the audience as for the characters when their powers are revealed.  To be honest, though, I think we can all admit that it's usually clear when a character is going to have magical ability of some kind.

Let's look at some pictures in question.  Both the following pictures are of Mai, the main character in Everdusk.

The one on the left was a speedpaint I just completed this evening.  The picture on the right is a commission by Hchan on deviantART (QUICK PLUG she is an awesome artist with her own awesome webcomic, dream*scar, and you should totally check it out!).  Both of these pictures show Mai quite clearly using some kind of magic.

At this point, it's silly to pretend otherwise as to Mai having magical ability.  Although Mai learns this fact early on in Everdusk, it still has yet to be officially "revealed."  (I have to add, though, that I have not yet revealed to anyone the nature of magic in Everdusk, so although you see this sparkly fun, I don't think many of you could accurately guess what it exactly is.)

So, is it a spoiler to post art like this about things like graphic novels you're working on?  Should you keep all this kind of art from the public until it's officially been introduced in whatever you're writing/drawing?  Why or why not?  What d'you think?

Behind-the-scenes on "stars from my heart"

As a sort of celebration to finally getting my Photoshop CS2 installed on my beautiful desktop (<3), I decided to work on a painting I thought of last night while listening to "Cosmic Love" by Florence + the Machine.  When I finally made myself stop, it was about two hours; a pretty solid speedpaint.  (I saw "finally stop" because this was one of those pictures I feel like I could have kept tweaking for hours if I'd have let myself).
Here is a first "final" version I completed, then a second finished version I completed after tweaking:

Now, I want to address some of the thought process that went into this painting.  I had an initial idea in my  head, and normally I probably would have just plowed into it.  However, I thought better of it.  Recently, I've been reading the newsletters from Disney Visual Development Artist/Character Designer Chris Oatley.  One of his recent newsletters talked about the "The Starting Buzz"--something I'm sure every artist has felt.  "The Starting Buzz" is when you get an idea for a picture and are so excited you just leap right into it, only to find shortly that you just lose interest.

I am definitely a guilty of practicing this.  After reading Chris's newsletter, I really took a look at my art process and decided to make some changes.  What I'm going to talk about here is my decision to take more time in "pre-production," the beginning of the drawing process when you figure out things like composition, maybe some basic colors, etc.

It took me several tries to figure out exactly how I wanted to frame "stars from my heart."  When I was finally pleased with the composition and started laying down some base colors and values, I'll admit I almost lost faith.  I was having trouble seeing the finished product and felt like I wasn't making progress.   Once that happened, I actually decided to slap some drastic colors and textures onto the picture, just to sort of make a big leap and see something new.  And you know what?  It really helped!  It kind of refreshed the picture for me, and I carried on.

Two hours later, and I had what you see on the screen.  I'm not saying it's perfect--far from, of course--but it was a joy to draw and I really felt like I learned a lot during the process.

So remember, guys: Pre-production is one of the most important--if not the most important--part of the drawing process!  Don't plow through it--embrace it!  :)  I really think it makes the end product much more satisfying!