New Hardware

I received my new graphics tablet and of course it doesn't really work with wacom's drivers on their site. The pressure sensitivity didn't work, so I uninstalled those drivers and used the one that came with the tablet and now it works peachy keen.

It's a lot larger than my old bamboo. Plus now I have four times the buttons to map to keys or functions. I'm only using about half so far as I can't think of any more to shortcut. The touch controls work for the most part, but they're a little choppy at times.

I'm going to experiment with a new piece. I have the initial sketch posted below. I'm going to take it two different directions. First scifi then fantasy. I guess this'll show of my versatility to potential clients.

Also update on the Final Fantasy Piece.

Ice Mage

Trying to stay loose and go with what feels right. Turns out when I do this it takes less time.

Today's Update

Decided to color the dwarf. Never made one before and the different proportions were fun. I'm also working on a button commission for PAX. Decided to take the beaver in a scifi direction this time.

Sketches

Warm ups before I get to business. Can you guess which one I did first?

Sketch

Warm up sketch as part of a polycount forum sketch thread. I chose the spotted swordfin. Keep working guys!

Important Lesson

WARM UP.

Sketch. Loosen your shoulder. Get the juices flowing. This is very important.

I never gave any credence to this lesson because I never needed it. Things would flow from my brain onto whatever media I was using at the time. BAM! Voila! It's great!

I recently moved and I had to take a little over a month off from doing anything art related. I was very unhappy. I attempted to try something a couple days ago and it was complete shit. It's like I forgot what I was doing. It made me not want to try it again for a little while. I can see why people would be afraid to pick up something they haven't done in a long while. They don't want to see that failure staring back at them.

It could be anything. Cooking, music, art, dance, filing, running. It's tough for anybody. I couldn't understand why someone can't pick something back up and want to do it every day. I probably made them feel bad and for that I'm deeply sorry. All you can really do is encourage them.

So stop beating yourself up for making something that isn't perfect. It's a warm-up routine. Nobody has to see it but you. Work on it for about 10-20 minutes and then throw it away or keep it in a sketch folder.

And get better. No excuses.

My sketch. About 10 minutes.

A New Idea

A rough for a new idea I've had kicking around for a little while. Can you tell what it is!?

More Practice

A Sargent. He's particularly nice when you want to stay loose.

Texture Texture

I'm experimenting with texture now, and I've got to say how nice it is. It really cuts down on trying to paint every detail.

More Paintings

The paintings are starting to go faster. I guess this is a good thing? I find I've got my color wheel next to me most of the time now. It helps break down the master paintings into manageable sections. I still want to play around with adjustment layers, but I feel i could be painting on the image rather than dicking around with a shadow. Practice makes perfect.

On the plus side I'm becoming more comfortable with color.

Practice Practice

Slowly but surely making progress in the photoshop department. I've decided to copy old master paintings so I can relearn painting basics in the digital format. Up next, I think I'll tackle a Frederick Leighton.

Goofing off

As I play more and more with photoshop and my little graphics tablet, the more I like building an image from scratch rather than scanning and painstakingly inking it. Here's something I did in about 35 min.

I couldn't resist.

This is me as the hungry alter boy at a random funeral. I had way too much fun with this one. Inked it in photoshop.

Neat

Here's the first drawing I've done with the tablet.

Wacom Tablet

I purchased a graphics tablet! I've been wanting this for years and I finally got one (that I could afford!)!

I received it yesterday so I haven't had a lot of time to play around with it.

It's weird.

The sensation of not looking at your hand while drawing; It'll take a lot of time to get over that. Think about it: You've grown up drawing dinosaurs and whatnot. You ALWAYS had your hand within your line of sight, sometimes it even got in the way. Now you hardly glance at it.

Unfortunately I have to teach myself a new medium. This is exciting and yadda yadda, but it's frustrating to put out crap when you know you'd rock it if it were paper.

Time to draw.

Sometimes I don't feel motivated to do...well, anything. I'm sure everyone has this at some point, but I never expected to be feeling this way. It's like drifting in a little yellow raft on a glassy, green-tinged ocean that goes on and on in every direction. Nothing to do but lay back with your legs splayed over the sides and stare into the cloudless sky.

Inventor

This was a sort of fan-image I did for Beaton. You know how there's a portion of a drawing you like more than the others? For some reason this guy's hair gives me a happy feeling.

Packing up the apartment. Looks like it'll be a humid one today.

A little late, but here at last. It's been a wild week what with visiting friends moving to California, keeping the house spotless for the people coming by to possibly take over our lease and nervously anticipating a reply to my recent job application.

I need to get back on schedule with these updates.

Advancements have been made in the job department! Well, not forward progress, but at least I've been allowed to apply for the position. I think. I was told to submit it and see what happens. I hope this job has equally awesome people to work with and half the crap to deal with.

Now we have to find a place to live. The other place had its ups, by it had a couple big downs. Looking at three places tomorrow.

Have a grumpy evening!