Raster Dreams

Piece #6 Update 1

I actually uploaded a really basic sketch of this on Twitter MONTHS ago and...well, it seemed like a waste of potential not to finish it! So I took it up. 

Not a whole lot of images on account of there not being a whole lot that's particularly novel going on here, just the setup of what a lot of my WIP work actually looks like.  A few notes around the pic for major lighting colors and types. 

The dark border gets cropped out of the final image. The explanation for <...

Piece #5 "completed"

I may have overestimated my abilities. It's been nigh on two months, and I'm not about to spend a third trying to fix this.

So, "complete" isn't quite the word for what's going on here. 

Pretty shortly after the first update I realized there were a few things in the picture that just weren't working out, in terms of my own skill, and general composition. At the time I disregarded it and tried to keep working, but the longer I spent, the more things spiraled out of control. So...

Piece #5 Update 2

Nothing super groundbreaking this time, but I did want to point out something I do in most of my finished work that isn't in my commissions right now.

The difference between an object in the light and an object in the shade isn't entirely as simple as adding a little white or black to its colors. Areas of the subject that are in the shade have cooler (bluer) colors, and areas of the subject that are in direct light have warmer (oranger) colors. It's a super simple effect, but it makes a...

Sketch Dump 1

Some of these guys look a bit...familiar? I'm not going to pretend they aren't.

Special mention to a few sketches of Hazel and Imir being size-differency, and Tarou's deer man.

Working on a comic

The current piece I'm working on isn't ready for an update quite yet, but in the meantime, I want to talk about what else I've got planned for the month.

The sketch dump is happening on the seventh.

I'm also, as the title says, working on a comic. It's sort of something I've been meaning to do for awhile now—I probably mentioned it a few months back, too.

It's a vore comic starring Hazel and Imir, a ferret and a hare respectively. Hazel's the big one doing all the...

Piece #5 Update 1

Landscapes aren't really my strong suit. So, how better to wreck myself, than to make one an important part of a piece? All things considered, I think I'm doing alright.

For the background I cut the canvas into sections so that I could approach them one at a time. Even if the progress feels glacial, at least I can zoom out and see I'm making progress!

I pretty quickly discovered that Sai just didn't have the kind of brush behavior I was looking for—so I opened up Painter and rem...

Feb20 Update

Hey everybody.

I'm stepping down to one painting a month. This isn't really a massive bombshell or anything, it's more or less just changing the reward descriptions to reflect my actual output. I've got something in the works for this month anyway, you'll be seeing the first of it in a few days.

If I do a poll for what image to complete again, I think I'm going to start from sketches, rather than thumbnails. Partly because of readability, but mostly because I felt that the last pi...

January Piece Complete

Late, but completed nonetheless.

Getting this one into a state I actually felt comfortable calling done was a bit of a trial—but I'm not just weary, I'm satisfied! But yeah, sorry for the wait. 

I've got more planned for this month and beyond, but I'll talk about it tomorrow, once I've gathered my thoughts and written them all down.

January WIP part 1

A touch late, but getting there nonetheless.

So, making a sketch from the thumbnail proved much more difficult than I had thought it would be, but I think I got something good enough. 

The linework is actually two separate layers—one layer is entirely "vector" strokes, mathematically solved from a series of adjustable anchor points. It came in real handy for all the smooth curves on the tails! The other half, reserved for the smaller details and less regular contours, is st...

January 2020 Thumbnail Vote

Hope y'all had a good new year! Since I've got the time this month, I figured I put which thumbnail I finished up to a vote. The poll ends in about 24 hours.

Pick the top one or two you like most, and I'll turn the winner into a finished piece.

December Extras

So essentially, I was putting into practice a couple different things I'd seen or heard pro artists do.

Every once in awhile I've heard of people getting all the shading out of the way before doing any color. I think that, for what I want to accomplish, it's a useful change in process, because a lot of the lighting tricks I already use don't really require color already laid down. That, and, some particularly light or dark colors can interfere with the process, and it sure saved a lot ...

December Painting

With the yule tide receding about as quickly as Christmas dinner leftovers are eaten, it'd be no good to hang onto this any longer...especially given my recent (lack of) performance.

I can't say I'm unhappy with the work I did do. I wanted to put a bit more emphasis on the difference between matte, glossy, and metallic surfaces. It's not 100% as perfect as I envisioned, but I'm getting somewhere.

October Piece Completed

It's finally here! Things didn't go entirely to plan and I think I'm going to change how I do things from here out... I'll talk about more about that tomorrow.

There are two versions of the finished piece. The regular version (mult) and the "cinematic" version (shade) that's a bit darker, but has more vivid colors. Interestingly, the darker version is about an entire megabyte smaller.

Anyway, sorry for the delay. I'll keep y'all updated on what's next.

October '19 Update 2

So this time I wanted to try out "clean" linework. The result isn't exactly what I was hoping for, however, I think I'm going in the right direction, but I'll save it for my next crack at it. I have to finish this one SOMEday, after all...

Pretty much the first order of business was to SUPERSIZE the thumbnail I'd selected.

Not only will the higher resolution help with fine details, it'll...

v smol scale study

I don't generally do studies even on a small scale (haHAAAA), but a part of all this is to improve myself however I can. And why not tackle a little texture?

The idea I've got right now is to use a very basic, drawn-on scale texture to inform finer, more detailed lighting. As it stands it's not perfect, a bit too realish for my vaguely toony style. I'll likely only make the scales visible on the edges of highlights and shadows.

Thumbnails for 10-2019 Piece 1

And now, the first work is underway. Not a big group pic this time, I'm trying to push myself in another way. There're a few technical things I want to try out, like giving things actual texture, and varying levels of shininess.

I didn't really have an idea of how many thumbs I wanted to do this time, I just sort of went until it took more than a couple minutes to think of a meaningfully different angle/pose.

Plans for October

I'm absolutely sure what my first painting for October's going to be. You'll hear about it in a couple days, rest assured.

As for the second one? I was thinking something Halloween themed, because of course... The trouble is, I'm kind of stumped for ideas. So, if you have any, I'd be happy to hear from you.

As for extras, I'll stick some sketches here and there. And maybe the first draft of a comic I've been contemplating. Despite all the private moaning I did, I feel like my capa...

September Painting Complete

It's finally "done." I don't know, it came out okay.

I learned a lot of little things about myself while pushing to make something presentable—lessons I can actually apply, for once! I think two that stand out is that setting any kind of schedule is a recipe for stress disaster and resentment of the work, and that I ought to put more work in characters that actually fit together.

I'm still going to be doing the two paintings a month thing, but I'll see if I can work some smaller...