WIP Wildling Woman

This is a project that I am working on in my free time. It means that it probably won't be finished as quickly as other things because my schoolwork is my priority.

Friends have already commented that it could use a warm reflected light from the bottom left (nothing too strong) and that the owl arm needs to be lowered a bit, so when I get the time to shoot my reference (Hopefully this weekend!) I will take these into consideration :)

I am super excited to start this project because honestly it has been way too long since I made artwork in my free time rather than sleep or something, haha!

This is just the line art though; when it's all finalized it will be transferred to tracing paper and put on a canvas where I will start painting traditionally. The big challenge, I think, will be the limited palette associated with the night, and also the starfield background. I've never tried to do such a thing before. I'm nervous and anticipating it at the same time. :D

Jenny Greenteeth

So, here is the finish of the long-awaited Jenny Greenteeth piece.

For many reasons, this is my most ambitious piece to date, and even though I am positive there are flaws (which I am not sure how to fix at this time), I am rather proud of it. It took a lot of time and complaining but I am left with something that I didn't think I would even be capable of a few months ago. There are a few touch-ups I want to make but for all intents and purposes, it is done. Of course once the touch-ups are made I will repost with the update, but yes.

I hope that you all enjoy this!

Done in Photoshop CS5 with Intuos5 Tablet

Character Redesign: The Old Man and the Sea

These were done for a class assignment in which we had to read and redesign the main characters, Manolin and Santiago, from tHemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" to a fantasy or science-fiction setting.

I chose to genderbend the characters, and though the other elements aren't yet apparent (the assignment hasn't been done yet) also made them into sky fishermen, hence why the Santiago character is holding a bird rather than a fish. The "fish" Santiago will eventually catch is a sky dragon and the boat flies through the sky.

This is also why I gave heavy coats; Even though the skirts and headdresses denote that they aren't necessarily from an arctic environment themselves, the coats are needed for high-altitude sailing.

The next step for these is to color them and put patterns on Manolin's skirt and headdress and refine the birds/birdcage but for the time being I am calling them done and am excited to show what I have :)

These were done entirely digital in Photoshop with a tablet. While they're still not perfect in many ways, I consider this to be by "Bedb" of digital work; an opening of doors, so to speak, of what I am actually capable of.

In the works....Jenny Greenteeth

I know that the figures at least are really bare-bones roughed in, but I thought maybe people might like a look at how I start doing a project.

I generally start my sketches in PS, because it's easier to move things around and shrink/enlarge things as needed. It's also a good place to start doing color studies as well. For the figures, I usually shoot my own reference with friends for models, that way I can control the lighting and outfits and all that.

After this point I tighten up my linework and make the transfer onto a canvas or board, and then start to block in my painting.

This one, though... This one I am debating about keeping in PS and making a wholly digital piece. It's something I need to learn how to do anyway, and in order to make this a painting it would have to be on the larger side of things if I want to get the level of detail I want to achieve. (I usually work smaller than 18''x24'' to put into perspective the sizes I generally work at.)

I'm really excited to start this for real nevertheless, regardless of which way I choose. I picked the story of Jenny Greenteeth to work with, and after weeks of feeling miserable and uninspired I finally feel energized and happy. It's a nice feeling :)

If anyone has any thoughts, I'd be pleased to hear them.