Speak with the Spirits

Tempest Brookshire, Lv. 11 Badass

And so it began two years ago when our new adventuring guild was formed on the West Coast. When moving from Chicago to the Bay Area three years ago I left behind not only awesome friends and family, but my previous adventuring party. I wasn't really too sure that we would play much once moving, but luckily the word of our DnD nerdiness got around and we met our wonderful members of our guild. A Guild Called Quest was formed and we've adventured ever since! I've been wanting to do some direct DnD-inspired illustrations depicting our characters since my Chicago guild's adventures. At last, the process has begun! First, of course, with my own character.

different pose sketches with notes on all my current equipment; I wanted to make sure I had everything!

I wanted to do an interior illustration similar to what I see in the Dungeons and Dragons books. I decided to focus on my character in a pose with minimal background. I started sketching different poses and concepts--either surrounded by numerous spirits of the dead or summoning spirit animals.

Add another five to the drawing challenge!

I then started drawing heads to get a feel for Tempest's character. I've sketched her out before but this time I really wanted to nail it. I liked the middle top one since it felt the most animalistic, was different from other ladies I'd drawn, and most importantly felt like Tempest to me.

They're watching you....

Next I knew I needed to design her totem. I am currently equipped with a Lv.8 Watchful Spirit Totem. I did research on Native American totem poles and then image research on the animals: I knew there had to be a raven since Tempest worships the Raven Queen, then went with two favorites: owl and wolf!

I did a rough sketch with little reference for the details just to get an idea for what all her equipment might look like and her position in the pose. It was time to get up!

Don't mind my hotmess of a closet back there...

I took a bunch of photos in the pose with different hand and head positions. When you need a staff, get a broom! One day I hope to have sweeter props: validate my cosplay and fantasy purchases as illustration costume pieces! Yes!

Then the tight drawing... I left the staff to draw once I transferred the drawing to bristol for inking. I did some research and internet browsing for armor ideas and was inspired by Leather Lore's designs. I haven't had the pleasure of purchasing anything from them so I can't speak on the quality exactly but damn does it look cool! I also wanted something that was a bit feminine/sexy but still made sense as armor--not just a bra.

There ye have it! I inked each wolf separately, Tempest and her equipment, then through the magic of Photoshop was able to manipulate the lineart like I wanted with ease.

Character Sketches

Really busy today so talk will be brief.

Here's some figure sketches from my Character Design class this past Monday!

Trying to push shape still, while also drawing poses and figures which I like.

There's far more bad than any good at all. But so is the way of getting better!

Have a great Wednesday!

Oh, painting, How I hated Thee...

I've mentioned before that one of the things I tried working on this past semester whilst painting was staying loose. Another, even more difficult, practice was to keep working on a painting through the stages of "God, that looks awful", "Ugh, I hate this", and "What the hell am I doing?"

This is one such painting.

This was the last in-class painting for my figurative painting class. We had five weeks and it was to be our best painting of them all! Granted, I missed one class but even with four weeks this painting frustrated me more than any other painting the entire Spring semester. I re-started this three times. The only reason I didn't re-start it a fourth was because I was running out of time and worked through the hatred.

And I'm glad I did. Granted, the composition I still dislike. It doesn't utilize the space of the canvas and continually frustrated me. However, it's what I learned while painting that was worthwhile. Working through frustration and dislike of a painting or drawing is almost always beneficial because I learn what it is that's bothering me and try to work a way around it. Compositionally, with this one I tried accommodating for my terrible placement with texture and color in the negative space.

Working on this further and not starting over also allowed for me to develop the skin tones and plane changes more than I would have been able to if I scrapped it and started anew. I like how the breast and shoulder turned out. Also, I think I captured the cool light on one side and the warm on the other pretty well. I'm not sure had I started over that I would have had time for these nuances.

Do I love this painting? No. Is it my favorite of the semester? No. But I did learn a lot while painting, the best being how to deal with my frustration and work through it. This is super helpful because in case you don't know me well, I tend to get frustrated frequently and with ease. It's a work in progress.

Also, I'd like to note I didn't post Friday... sorry about that. Hence this Tuesday post. Also, I have a super awesome friend visiting me tomorrow and staying for a week, so I'm doubtful that I'll have time to post anything until next Friday.

Have a great week, everyone!

Transient

Today's post: "Transient" painting in process to completion!

Underdrawing.... I only did underdrawings with the brush this past semester to force myself to keep loose and not get hung up on the drawing. However, I still want to experiment with a detailed, rendered drawing and painting over it... but I suspect I need a re-work varnish. Anybody know for sure?

Happy accident! So, I was cleaning my brushes when I accidentally flicked one and some of the cleaning solution/turpentine hit the wet paint. Oh, shit! Wait a minute... I really like that. A technique was uncovered! I'm still in love with my drips and splatters as textures, but understand I need to experiment with my control and use of them. I think using the turpentine to create them and then layer color over them (sometimes not) helps create a greater sense of texture than just the ink splats I've always been so fond of.

Underpainting complete! Kinda creepy... which, of course, means I'm into it.

Glazed color...

Stage it was in right before the last session. Empty eyeball socket really enhances that creep factor.

And final! I still need to sign it and varnish the painting, but it's mostly complete.

I really like how this painting turned out and a lot of people enjoyed it at the gallery show last week. I wanted to explore lost edges and had the concept of her being some sort of ethereal space woman in mind when painting. I think some of that emotion and mood came through in the final without having to become literal.

That's not to say there won't be space paintings coming your way in the future.

That's right. Paintings of chicks in space. It's happening.

Somber Bunny

Behold, my final in-class painting for Situation and Environment, a clothed figure painting class! I'm pretty happy with how it came out and am always enamored when stuffed animals are used as props.

I think I learned a lot more about painting skin this semester between this class and my Figurative Painting one. Still no master by far, but starting to really understand how to describe those bony landmarks, accentuate and explore color, as well as define depth. Hey, it's something. Now to integrate what I've learned into my own illustrative style...

Ah, faces in profile. Years ago, the concept terrified me and my faces were absolutely horrible. Still working on breaking old habits that are no good, but I feel like I've made some ground (I would hope so after so many years in art school.... @_@)

Also, some may have noticed I didn't post this past Friday--gasp! I was really in the thick of finals and it just escaped me. My first miss in schedule since I started posting regularly.... Felt a little bad about it, but it shan't happen again!

Got underpaintings for your underpaintings

The paintings are coming....

Blue Nude

Today's post is an in-class painting. This was done over three weeks (which I didn't miss out one class on! Score!)

Both warm and cool, with that hotspot of a FP, this painting was a lot of fun to paint. I also had some specific spots where I really tried to express the depth within the figure and space.

The best damn feet I've painted yet, despite the problems they were determined to give me.

mmm... focal point...

Have a great weekend, guys!

Prints Now Available!

Well, make that print. As in singular. I ran out of ink today and need to hit up an Office Depot tomorrow.
But check it out; they're cheap! ^_^

Oh, my! Nurse...

My second experiment with Painter X! In the form of this hot nurse, a little deranged since she is cutting her own tongue and all. I want to play around more with the brushes and sensitivity in Painter, but at least I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere.

Oh, there's also a panty-less version of this. XD Just thought I'd post the somewhat less R-rated version. Enjoy.

EDIT: I tried defining the pattern in the top of the stockings a bit more, as well as her freckles.