Spear Guy - pose

Trying to really push the pose.  I always have trouble with stretching and squashing torso when it's not directly facing the camera.  Not sure this looks right but I think I'm getting some energy into the pose.  Will screw with it more later.

Wizard's familiar painted

Now with colors!

Wizard's familiar sketch

Top sketch is an attempt at re-posing and polishing the design of the same character on the bottom sketch, after some very helpful tips from Paul Richards.  Thinking about weight is difficult but a lot of fun.

edit: started painting him before leaving for the day.

Flamered

My SW:TOR character.  I love her facial ridges.

Sarah

First piece of "finished" painting this year!  Also my first Starcraft fan art ever.  Belated, considering that I loved Starcraft since high school.

I couldn't really understand the story when I first played through the Starcraft I terran campaign because I spoke very little English.  It wasn't until I replayed some of the Starcraft I missions when I got SCII collector's edition that I realized exactly how Kerrigan turned into the queen of blades...  Man, if I were her I would probably be even angrier.

Below is a cropped/closer up version for my homepage:

Sketch Practice #2

Actually had a very productive winter break... likely caused by simply not having a gaming computer.

I did more monitors, trying to think about function.  It's kind of a struggle for me because Sci-fi stuff never made a lot of sense to me.

Then I copied a couple of more Paul Richards drawings, trying to channel some of his crazy talent.  I did a few monster head doodles of my own but cannot get close to the badassness of Paul, unsurprisingly... maybe one day?

The jeweleries are kind of a warm-up.  I used to write a lot in high school, and one of my made-up worlds contained a civilization of humans that worships crystals.  I chose phoenix as the symbol of royalty and "three" as the number of honor, and tried to come up with designs of emblems and jewelery using both the stone and the animal.

Last sketch - finally stopped beating around the bushes and attempted to design a set of warrior armors that server different functions but belong to the same faction.

Thoughts and advices would be greatly appreciated, thanks!  And... happy new year :)

Sketch practice #1

I've been meaning to do some master studies of concept sketches since a long while ago, but always felt like I didn't know where to start when I look at the hundreds of badass sketches from crazy artists such as Paul Richards.  So today I finally got around to doing one... hopefully more to come.  I also tried to sketch my own, much lamer, versions of the same subject-matter in an attempt to internalize some of the study.

What I forgot to do in the study was to figure out a purpose for these devices, and to try to communicate that.  Doing so may also help me keep my shape language consistent.  Could have also pushed the main screen a lot more.  These are notes for tomorrow, when I hope to do more and better sketches of the same subject-matter.

Also, it's actually incredibly refreshing to draw with a pencil for a change.  I did realize that my sketchbook is just a tad too large for my scanner though... ugh.

Last Ourdoor Painting Group of This Year

San Juan mission was a pleasant surprise.  It didn't look big at all from the outside, but the inside features surprisingly beautiful ruins and some nicely laid-out courtyards.  The slight overcast lighting also worked really well.  The low angle of the winter sun was perfect for painting.

Selection Tool Test

I've always thought about trying out selection tool + airbrush, but it took me this long to actually do it for some reason.  It's actually a lot of fun.  Maybe I can try to integrate it into a serious painting next.

Pin-up

For the weekly sketch thing titled "pin-up".  I hope this came across as more funny than disturbing... but maybe a little of both is ok.  Actually had a lot of fun trying to mimic Gil Elvgren's style.

Cyborg and Dude

Doodles!  First one was done while listening to sketch group demo.  Second one is for the weekly activity with my friends at work.  I decided to try to draw a guy because I very rarely do.

Forest Faerie

Rushed again... oh well.  This is what I get for slacking off till the weekend to paint.

Forest Faerie WIP

Again... I procrastinated till the weekend to get started on my weekly painting.  Can't do this next week, because Skyrim comes out on Friday!!!11!!

Work in progress.  I guess I'm painting a lot of spooky stuff lately.  I guess growing up with the fear of darkness has its advantages... or at least this one advantage.

Zurg

From Toy Story series.  Trying to draw more robots, but procrastinated seriously on this one and had to rush through it tonight.  I blame Dungeon Defenders.

The Boogeyman Final

Wow, I actually finished something outside of work or WoW cards.  Crazy.

I might wake up tomorrow and decide I want to do more with this piece, but for now it's final.

The Boogyman WIP 2

Took the Boogyman a bit further.  Really trying to push the anatomy.  It was very difficult for me, but thankfully my art director extended a helping hand.

Wine Cup

I have a Chinese poem stuck in my head tonight.

Even though I now mostly dream in English, the Chinese language still feels 100 times more flavorful than English.  The more I experience in life, the more some of the ancient poems I learned so very long ago ring true.  There are so much layers of subtleties and undertones, the kind of connection I do not yet and may never have with English words, that I could entertain myself for a long while at a time just reflecting upon each and every word in the verses.  If you have ever heard a song that seems to be written just for you when you are feeling melodramatic, I guess that's kind of how I feel when I remember the poems.

The particular poem that's stuck in my head right now is titled "Drinking With Myself and the Moon".  It's a lonely poem, in which the poet describes a drinking party of three consisting of him, his shadow, and the moon.

This doodle is done to two verses of the poem, somewhere near the end.  Please excuse my terrible translation.


I sing as the moon wanders, I dance and my shadows scatter
We laugh and chat till we are drunk, and we'll go separate ways after

我歌月徘徊,我舞影零乱
醒时同交欢,醉后各分散

Moar WoW Cards

I guess I do a lot of casters :\  I'm a sucker for colorful lights.

The Boogyman WIP

Halloween-themed stuff, work in progress.

Barbarian Fan Art

Just really feel like doing it.  Didn't turn out as wild and aggressive as I had hoped, but I guess this'll work to reset my palette from the over-sweet cartoony stuff.