Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Cliched Metaphor About Starting Something

So here we are, at the end of one year with 52 (plus a few) drawings to show for it. It feels amazing. After three years of trying to finish one drawing a week every week, I've finally made it. I'm proud, and the knowledge that I can do it is a pretty huge reward all its own. Where do we go from here?

We take the plunge.

It's my goal to dedicate the next year to finally lifting my webcomic off the ground. What this means for the blog itself I'm not totally sure. Will it be weekly progress of the comic pages? Will I juggle comics and weekly drawings besides? Who knows. I don't even know where to host the thing yet.

But here's to tomorrow and 2015, folks. Let's hold our breath, jump in the water, and see what happens.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Week 52 - Humble Endings

There is going to be a great, well-thought out journal entry about finally completing Weekly art as I always intended - with one drawing to show for each week of the year. But that's going to wait until after Christmas.

For now, the drawing that ends it all for 2014. Some simple but soothing Attack on Titan fan art. I could have ended the year with a huge deal and a bang, but with the holiday busy-ness, I chose something that I could enjoy doing without stress.

Hanji comforts an upset Levi during a rainstorm.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Week 51: Lost and Found

A few days ago I lost myself, and spent the days between then and now missing myself. But it all worked out because I found me again last night though sketching, chatting with friends, watching A Supernatural Christmas special, and playing Guild Wars. Good thing too, I was just about to put up "missing" posters.

So the product of pulling myself out of an everything block, some pen and ink sketches of anime characters:


Thursday, December 11, 2014

Week 50: Living Arrangement

I decided my only real goal for this was to have a map out and color key, so there it is. The posters will have things on them... eventually.



Monday, December 8, 2014

Week 50: Wrinkly

After I had the furniture sketched in, I used the line tool just about obsessively to go through and turn everything into simple blocks. This of course made everything look super sterile and just a bit creepy, so after that I added the blankets on the bed and re-lined things so they looked more natural.

The outlines won't stay purple and but I needed a way to tell them apart from the building blocks.

Am I having fun yet?





Saturday, December 6, 2014

Week 50: Setting

How is it the 50th week of 2014. When did that happen.

It's about time I did more work for this upcoming webcomic that I keep dabbling in.

Backgrounds are... well they're not something I consider fun. So in theory if I do the backgrounds of the first chapter now it will make life easier in January when I actually have to make said chapter. It takes place in Rose's house, but only in two rooms, so those are all I'm bothering with. Those and the exterior.

I might only do Rose's room this week, but if it doesn't take too long I'll add on the living room too because why not.




Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Week 49: A Kick in the Something

Sometimes it takes a long time to get on my feet after a holiday as busy as last weekend. Thankfully it was not the case this time, though it still shows in that I didn't bother with any shading or highlights. I figure that's acceptable for a "back on my feet" drawing.

Can you believe it's already December? Sheesh.


Monday, December 1, 2014

Week 49: Get Your Kicks

My brother recently talked me into watching One Piece. I'm plugging through it slowly but it's enjoyable enough. I believe I started in October and just finished episode 33... out of 600-something. Haha.

So far my favorite character is Sanji, though Zoro and Luffy are close behind. I'm sure there are a million fanarts of him kicking floating around on the internet but it looks like I'm contributing one more. Lemme tell you the anatomy in this style is so weird. My brain doesn't want to wrap around it.


Sunday, November 30, 2014

Week 48: Still Kicking

Much to my relief, I actually did not lose out on my weekly art challenge (yet). I actually finished sketching this last Wednesday, but then the holiday weekend hit and I was either too tired or too busy to scan it until today.

It's not  my best and frankly not what I was hoping to present for Week 48, but something was drawn within the span of a week and that is the point.

Shiro Fujimoto once again, this time injured after a mission or... something. He probably feels about as knocked over as I do.


Monday, November 17, 2014

Week 47 Is A Surprise

This has been in progress since some time last week, but since it was a gift commission I agreed not to post it until the one of the recipients had been given his printed, framed version. Since his wife (my client) gave it to him today, I'm free to post it.

It's my friend/boss Mike as Ernie and his friend Tim as Bert. Fishing. Shenanigans will take place and it's debatable if anything will be caught.

This was a lot of fun!


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Week 46 Was A Little Crazy

Last week I participated in a fandom-related even where you spend seven days filling a prompt each day. It can be writing, drawing, or anything else, but since I'm already writing I chose to sketch. Every day. While doing National Novel Writer's Month. Because I am not smart.

I won't post all seven of them, but here's the highlights. The theme of the week was my favorite pair from Attack on Titan, Levi and Hanji.

Prompt: Dream (Day 2)

Prompt: Forever (Day 3 I think)

Prompt: Poison (Day 6)

Prompt: Red (Day 7)

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Week 45: Gray

The original plan was to color this, first with pencil and then digitally. And then I decided last minute that I like it the way it is. So Week 45 is done! Back to novel-ing


Monday, November 3, 2014

Week 45: Aged to Perfection

National Novel Writer's Mont is upon us again, and while I will be very distracted trying to bleed 50,000 words out of myself during the month, I do plan to keep up Weekly Art. This is the first year that I've made it this far and I have no intention of giving up now.

Some self-indulgence this week - Shiro Fujimoto from the anime Blue Exorcist. I happen to think he's awesome, and pretty easy on the eyes too. I need to fix a lot of his face and his leg, but I'm just glad to have him fully sketched out for the blog. I actually don't like posting sketches that aren't really identifiable.


Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Week 44: The Stubborn Girl Part 2

Once again just barely in time, Rose's outfit/color guide sheet.

Rose is actually half Mexican and I recently realized that would probably make her name "Rosa", but she goes by "Rose" just to lessen any bullying/complications with classmates/racist jerks. Though she's just finished high school so I guess the former is no longer relevant.

Her clothes are no baggy as a fashion statement. Her clothes are baggy because living with an abusive step father does a number on your appetite and you don't eat much. Her birth father was awesome, just so we're clear. He's also where she gets her Mexican blood from.




Thursday, October 23, 2014

Week 43: The Stubborn Girl

This week was spent working on a re-design for Rose, trying to make her look less plain. She did not cooperate well, especially for the frontal view. I think all has ended well however, so here's her turn sheet at last. I shaped her eyes differently, gave her a heavier set brow, and made her lips larger.

I'm uncertain if I'll do her outfit/color guide next like I did Charlie's, but there's a good chance.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Week 42: Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout a Sharp Dressed Man

Well, maybe not every girl but dang.

I spent a lot of time goofing off that I could have been working on this today so I had to rush the coloring to finish it. I'll go back and fix it up if need be, but after coming so far this year I wasn't about to fail a week just because I'm tired and lazy.


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Week 42: Greenback

Coming up with dumb titles for this week has been kinda fun, actually.

I realized after pasting the background from the other picture in that I drew Armin much smaller than I did Mikasa. Fixing that will have to wait until he's fully shaded in so I can just merge all of his layers and resize them in one go.


Monday, October 13, 2014

Week 42: Suited for Success

It's a good thing I started this fairly early last week because it took me forever to sit down and actually ink it. Once I did the process wasn't long. I just had to reel my attention span in... repeatedly.

Fine hair tips are difficult for me to ink digitally. It's just easier for everyone involved if I add them in with the pencil tool.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Week 42: Cutie in a Suit...ie

There's a chance of me turning week 39's subject matter into a series of sorts, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Normally by the time I've drawn two of a series of anything I'm bored with it. We'll see where it goes.

This is another new Attack on Titan character for me - Armin Arlert. He's brainy and adorable and all sorts of wonderful. He also doesn't get as much love or attention as he deserves.

As a bonus I plan to do more character design this week but we'll see how that goes.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Week 41: A Guide of Sorts

The reason that there were no progress shots of this week is that I sat down and did it in about an hour... if you exclude two attempts before this one. I don't want to think about how long I fought with each of those before giving up.

Anyway, the old guy's name is Charlie. I don't think he has a last name yet but that's not really a pressing matter. More concerning to me are the outfit and colors that I'll have to repeat possibly several times per comic page. His height isn't determined yet but somewhere around 6 feet seems reasonable.

Charlie is a half-Native American veteran. Which tribe and which war specifically aren't yet determined. The former will depend on where I set the story, which I haven't figured out yet besides it being an urban area. I will say however that I plan to represent him in a respectful, non-stereotyped manner, and will do my best research for it.


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Week 40 - The Process

At some point my plan was for Week 40 to be big, colorful, and epic. Due to some health complications, that did not work out. But realizing how far along in the year I am did bring about the decision to light a match under myself in terms of a massive personal project.

A webcomic I've been thinking about for a couple years still needs quite a bit of work done on it in terms of characters design and... almost everything really. I've posted other works of other characters (Rose and Thatch if you remember them), but the third major character had no face until this week.

This is my process of designing a character. Some practice with references of people with the age/body type I'm leaning towards, some free sketching, and finally something cemented once I think my character is "them".



Next week I plan to do a full body drawing and color chart for him... and also dig up whatever document I have his name in because I honestly forgot it. Oops.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Week 39: Own It

Years ago I drew a character in a red dress with a minimalist city background blocked in behind her. This was before I had a tablet or any decent digital art program so it was a huge pain. Technology made things so much easier and smoother this time around. Another plus is that if I decide to make a series of it, I have the background in a document ready to use.


Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Week 39: Step Up

Every time I decide to try a new shading method it turns into "I dunno, make several guesses until something looks good", which makes duplicating the process difficult. Working on this also made me realized that I need to do some muscle studies, both structure and lighting because once again I forgot how to anatomy. Also her foot is huge, which I went back and fixed after saving this file.


Monday, September 22, 2014

Week 39: The Lady in Red

It occurred to me recently that I draw a decent amount of my favorite Attack on Titan character, Hanji,and a lot of my other favorite, Levi, but there are so many other wonderful characters that I haven't even touched yet. Mikasa is wonderful and strong and passionate and just an all-around great character. I couldn't believe I hadn't drawn her yet, so that's what this week is all about.


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Week 38: OFF-Beat

Ever since watching Markiplier play through OFF a couple weeks ago the need to do some fan art started gnawing at me. Finally the right inspiration struck and allowed me to whip this up. It took about an hour altogether but I'm happy enough with it to call it Week 38. Hopefully my inspiration high will remain and I can start Week 40 way early.

I apologize for the fact that I can't really explain this image. The game is so bizarre and surreal that I'd probably have to right a five page essay for this to make the tiniest bit of sense.

There are two versions because I wanted people to see the Batter's face at least a bit.



Monday, September 15, 2014

Week 37 is Gifted

Gifted to some friends that is! Original character drawings for one friend for giving me advice on my cat's fleas recently (the blond cutie), and one as a birthday gift for another friend.



Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Week 36: Finishing Touches

It's done! I feel pretty good about it, and I'm eager to see what my client thinks.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Week 36: Flatline

It took a lot of pushing myself today, but the flat colors are finally down. Tomorrow the shading and the detailing on the outfits and she'll be done! Now I have to figure out Week 37.


Monday, September 8, 2014

Week 36: Stand in Line

Didn't touch it all weekend but did all of the line work today. That's often a big hurdle because I'm so finicky about outlining my work but this time around it was simple. I'm sure the free-flowing dress helped a lot.


Friday, September 5, 2014

Week 36: One for the Money

This week is a commissioned piece for a friend! It's actually a full color image with two characters, and since it will take a while it only makes sense to use it as my piece this week. Plus my friend will get to see each and every update, so there's a bonus for her.

It's two of her original characters who wear wonderful fancy clothes.
Right now I think Tessa is a bit too large proportionately so I'll be fixing that.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Week 35: Fictional Birthday

It was a week of major artistic blockage... and then yesterday I remembered that a fictional character has her birthday on the 5th of this month (Friday!) so I decided to celebrate with a nice, quick sketch. It's Hanji from Attack on Titan, the lovable eccentric scientist soldier.


Thursday, August 28, 2014

Week 34

It could be argued that this week is late BUT I didn't start it until Sunday to technically it took me less than a week to finish it... but I digress.

Some Hetalia characters, USA and Hungary, having a fun day shopping.


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Week 33: More Dragons

I thought I was done with dragons after last week, but dragons weren't done with me. This drawing would take a long time to explain the story behind so I'll summarize in bullet points:
-It's role play related
-The dragon can change between human and dragon and has a half-way point (pictured here)
-Yes they are Attack on Titan characters in a fantasy type setting

I was kinda aiming for that popular movie poster image of the woman leaning into her hero for protection, but the pose didn't quite work that way and I intentionally spoofed it by making Hanji look super excited. She's married to a dragon so I can't blame her there.


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Week 32

This is the drawing that helped me discover the free deform tool in SAI. It's a wonderful thing that helped me correct many proportion errors. I also discovered that I'm not in a hurry to shade white any time soon, and that reptilian eyes are totally different and drawing them feels weird.

All in all though I like the outcome.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Week 32: Extreme Makeover Dragon Edition

Since I was on a roll yesterday I continued on for a few hours after posting the first progress image. I basically redrew his entire head and neck area and now he looks less like a mutant cat and more dragon-like.


Monday, August 11, 2014

Week 32 Is A Bad Idea

...but one I'm going to carry through anyway because I have no sense.

The reason it is a bad idea is that I fought with art block until Saturday night and just now had the inspiration for something today. Unfortunately that something is a while dragon and not only are reptiles one of my weak points in art, but white is time consuming and merciless to shade. There's two strikes against me but the third might be the background if I feel like torturing myself that much.


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Week 31: 10 Tacles

When it comes down to it, I'm really glad this is over. A lot of it was difficult, but a healthy sort of difficult. It feels like she has more presence on the 'page' than a lot of characters I've drawn recently. I need to make note of that and find a way to repeat that with character that only have four appendages instead of like, 10.


Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Week 31: Wardrobe and Hairstyle Change

After watching some clips from the Little Mermaid I realized that hair under water tends to move more together than to fan out and be more annoying to draw. I also realized that the starfish pasties looked really stupid and were totally impractical. So instead she has half a tube top made of kelp.