Yuumei

Hmmmm part 2

We're getting the Frey model ready to be released to Patreon for the $20 March reward and somehow it became really shiny lol. We're gonna fix that but in the mean time...

I got the flu Q_Q

Hi everyone, I just got back from Anime Boston and unfortunately I came down with the flu. I'm from sunny California and the Boston snow really did a number on me orz...

I've been recovering in bed and getting better, but I'm really sorry about the slight delay with sending out everyone's March rewards. Everything will be sent out in the next few days after I've recovered a bit. 

Thank you all for the support and patience!

Comparing the old and new Knite

Above is the new version, below is the old version.

When I decided to reboot Knite, I wanted to tell a different version of the story that's darker and with older characters. Chapter 1 will have the same exposition to introduce the setting and characters, but slight differences in design shows the change in the story.

Min-min is no longer in a cozy corner bed with her stuffed animals. Now she's ...

At Anime Boston table H-65

Woke up at 3am to catch my flight on Thursday, and then it was setting up the table all night. I'm so jet lagged and tired 😴 but I can't wait see everyone! 

Where the Stars Fall

Finally getting used to my remade brushes :D This one took about 1.5 hours.

This is another painting from the adventures of Fantine and Lala, my yet to be made children's book. One of these days... I'll get the time to paint the actual book. 

This will be the last painting for March. I'll be busy with preparing and attending Anime Boston this weekend. Once I return in early April, I'll be sharing the HD files, process video, and 3D model with my patrons :D

Thank you all again ...

One hour speedpaint

Still testing out those brushes that I lost... I never want to update my programs again orz

This time I tried using some flat brushes for the hair, which is something I don't normally do. I really like the result so far :D

And I was able to record the video for this without anything crashing! The video will be available for $10+ patrons in early April :)

Lovely Sunday

Another speedpaint to test out my new brushes. This one took about 2 hours. I actually recorded this video process but I found out after I finished that the recording program had crashed 5 minutes in ;_; so um, no video for this one, sorry!

Testing New Brushes

When I updated my SAI program, it somehow deleted all my brushes, which has never happened before orz. I spent hours remaking them and testing out new ones as well. I also took the time to organize my Photoshop brushes and test those out too.

This was painted in both programs and you can probably tell some brush strokes are very different from each other. The whole thing took 1 hour and 20 minutes. It was good practice and I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with my new brushes. ...

I'll be at Anime Boston!

I'll be at Anime Boston for the first time this coming weekend :D Come hang out with me in Artist Alley table H-65! I've never been to Boston before so I'm super excited. I hope it won't be too cold lol

Because I'll be traveling and gone for days during the convention, I won't be update any new art, but I'll schedule some more comic related previews in advance :)

Hmmmm

The frustrating and hilarious thing about working with 3D is the all too frequent program glitches. And in this case, a lag caused by auto keying somehow made it so his eyeballs do not move with the head. 

It's not a real issue and won't show up in the render, but it sure is annoying but also entertaining XD

Neon Night

I actually drew this a while ago as a paintover test while learning how to set up lighting in Blender. I finally remembered to post it after noticing it hidden among piles of icons on my desktop XD

Below is the original raw render from Blender. The character model is made by Maika and the clothes and rigging is by Colin Barton. Colin is great at teac...

"May I interest you in some suspicious cookies?"

I've been working on Knite ch2 for the past few days but now I'm going take a break from this and do some original paintings. I realized that working on just comics or just paintings gets boring after a few consecutive days and switching it up helps refresh my imagination :)

Robin Paint over test

Maika did some further updates with the hair and added some temporary place holder teeth (hence the awkwardness). Below is the raw render and above is a quick paint over test I did. Doing these tests helps me learn which areas of the models need improvement. 

The hair is purposely kept short in the model because it's actually easier for me to work with it this way during paint overs. 

...

Knite Chapter 1 Sneakpeeks

Here are some additional preview of the Knite reboot. Knite is my very webcomic series from 2009, when I was still in college. Due to various reasons from a bad publisher to my hand pain, I never got to finish the old story, which I always regretted. 

When I decided to reboot Knite, I didn't want to retell the exact same story with new art so I rewrote everything. The character are still in the same setting, and the premise is the same, but I made everyone older, and the story darker. I w...

Refining models

This model of Robin from Fisheye Placebo was made years ago when I first hired Maika (the character modeler). We've both grown as artists over the years and now that we've finished enough other characters and backgrounds to start production, she's going back to refine the existing models. 

Here you can see the hair she made fo...

Knite Reboot Ch2 Sneakpeek

Even though Ch1 is pretty much done, I've decided to wait until a few more chapters are completed before releasing them all for a better reading experience. 

Here's a Patron's only sneak peek of one of the Ch2 panels :) I've also recorded the paint over process to share for April's reward. This whole process took about 1 hour and 10 minutes. It would definitely take much longer without the aid of...

More paint over tests for Fisheye Placebo

Up until now I had to draw the lineart for everything because there were some bugs with the V-Ray's lineart render engine that were causing problems. The bugs finally got fixed in a new update so now I can finish these even faster than before. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes to paint over :)

Some final adjustments are being made to the background of the next chapter before I begin that actual panel production. I don't want to spoil the story so I won't say much about what's in the ba...

Paper Koi Lantern Demonstration

Edit: Hmm looks like the video doesn't display properly on Patreon :/ You can watch the video on my instagram/facebook/twitter/tumblr ...

Real Life Inspirations for Fisheye Placebo

In the latest chapter of the story, the very last panel showed the image detection software categorizing Vance and Frey as "person". This is based off of a real program called YOLO (the creators are pretty funny, you can watch their TED talk here. 

The way the algorithm works is by gathering lar...

WIP

One hour wip :) Though I probably won't finish this for a while because I have a lot of comic related work with my team. 

They're all 3D experts and I need to catch up just to be able to use the models they've made. The rest of today is watching tutorials and testing out the new background model that'll be in the next ch of Fisheye Placebo :D

Blue Planet

I finally got to finish the painting I started the other day. I was busy with my team the past days (more comic wip to come!)

This painting took about 3 hours total. The full video recording will be available to all $10+ patrons in early April :) The HD file will be released then as well.

I tested a few different ways to make the fish so you'll probably notice some look quite different.

When will Rewards be sent? Q&A

I've been getting some questions from people about when the HD files, video processes, and 3D models will be sent to them. I'm very new to Patreon myself so please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, Patreon only charges patrons at the beginning of the month, and then it takes a few days to process. 

That means even though you've pledged to pay, you haven't actually paid yet, and you won't pay until early April. Patreon set up the system this away to minimize credit card ...

WIP Painting :D I'm in love with water <3

Here's a work in progress of another water themed painting. I just really want to jump into the ocean right now, but the water here in CA is too cold ...

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to try out new painting styles so this is something I've been exploring with new texture brushes in SAI :) The progress to this point from scratch took about an hour. I still need to add more details to the hair, sky, and some fishes :3

I'm hoping to finish this after some exercises. When I was you...

Woah, we surpassed the first goal already!

Thank you all for the amazing support! I can't believe we reached the first goal after just 3 days :D Now my long time team members will get a well deserved raise. 

I've been testing out the Cyber Frey model from an earlier post, and painting over it. This took about 30 minutes, which would normally be shorter if I wasn't testing out a new model. The video process for this was recorded for those interested in how it's done :)

2018-03-14 03:57:15 +0000 UTC View Post

Fisheye Placebo Art Studio Render Test

Here's a render test for one of the future Fisheye Placebo environments. This is Jen and Cocoa's art studio :D Right now the glass is way to reflective so that's something my team will be adjusting before we move to production. 

I actually made this 3D environment many years ago when I first started exploring 3D techniques for comic making. It's good to feel that this model will finally be shown in more details soon. There's some funny hidden details the model that'll be revealed in futur...

Over and Under

I've been working on Fisheye Placebo and Knite for so long that it feels like I haven't done any original paintings in forever. 

Here's a 2 hour speed paint I just finished, and it feels so good to let my imagination flow again. This painting features Fantine and Lala from my WIP children's book "Dream Without Dream". You can see some of my other drawings of them below.

2018-03-13 04:59:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Sneak peek of Knite ch2 storyboard

The reboot of my original motion comic, Knite, has been long in the making. Even though Ch1 is basically done, I want to wait until I have a few more chapters finished before releasing them all together. 

Here's a behind the scene of how I work with my team. After the models have been built, I roughly pose the characters and draw in the storyboard. This is then used by other team members to refine the pose and set up the environment lighting before rendering. 

2018-03-12 23:28:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Thank you all! This is my first time on Patreon :)

An amazing thank you to everyone helping me bring my comics to life! Here's a little sneak peek of the Cyber Frey 3D model that will be appearing in my next Fisheye Placebo chapter :D

The body is made by the talented Sozo Maika who is the character modeler for all my comics. The outfit is made by one of the newer members of the team, Bryan Link. Che...

Fisheye Placebo is back after a 3 year hiatus!

Thank you all for following my art over the years, and thank you for supporting my newly made Patreon! :D 

I'm so excited to get back to comic making again after hurting my hand. It's been a long journey, so without further ado, you can read my newest chapter of Fisheye Placebo here https://www.yuumeiart.com/fisheye-placebo/#/ch1-part-5/

Enjoy! :)

2018-03-11 21:49:34 +0000 UTC View Post