Matt's Art (p34: Hey, I finished something!)

[Celestial-Fox]

If you do a horizontal flip on this image, you'll notice the face is pulling all sorts of directions. Periodically flip while drawing to avoid this.

Also, for the best explanation of skin colors I've ever found, try Navate's skin tutorial on DA. It really is an amazing resource with swatches you can eyedrop from for help.

[Matt]

@Seefy - Looked up Navete's tutorials just a second ago. They're awesome. And Sai even has a quick-flip key (that I always forget). I should use it.

@Ramiel - I think I should go to grayscale as well. Seems a lot simpler than color. (Read: Easier to learn)

@Nisaren - I should use Photoshop for practice with color and shading and such and Sai for line art and all that (line smoothing tool FTW). Using Sai for anything other than EXACTLY what it was meant for is a pain.

@Cyp - I'll try that. I've seen it done in tutorials and such and noticed it in real life (the ultimate reference), so I don't know why I haven't tried it yet.

Saimoe entry, without the expressions:

It's Miri. Her backstory went through a million changes since the first time I posted it (if you remember that far back, I urgently request that you forget about it), and now she's a long-haired pianist and composer. Romance and sci-fi content are now gone from her story. All that aside, I have no clue where to take it.

Tip for writers: Build your story first, then your characters. Otherwise you'll end up with around fifty decent characters and fifty disconnected, incomplete stories.

EDIT: The background is rushed. While drawing, I made the excuse to myself that it was supposed to reflect Miri's mental instability, but it doesn't even do that effectively.

Also, I know her proportions further off than my best guess on an algebra test, but again, if I try to make everything perfect, I'll just crash again.

[ram]

guess we all went through the same thing in constructing a story.

[Celestial-Fox]

Ooh, I like the pose and expression. It's kinda just isolated and lonely. I like that mustard yellow and the dark red together, too, especially with the grey. Also! Before I forget! You did a great job with those pleats on the skirt. If you have any extra time, though I'd suggest that you try to clean up some of the coloring around the tips of the hair and her socks. Other than that, good stuff. :>

[Matt]

I wasn't sure about using yellow and red together at first, since I've been in this "MUST ALWAYS USE COMPLEMENTING COLORS" mode ever since I learned basic color theory--so I was doing a LOT of red-green, blue-yellow, etc. But, hey, warm colors work together, and I've been neglecting the convenience of using them.

When I think of Miri being a composer and pianist, I think of her being fairly isolated. I'm thinking about bring back either another improved version of Isaac or some famous piano teacher from Italy or something.

@Ramiel - The problem I have with my methods is that I'm a much better writer than I am an artist. I shouldn't be stumbling all over the place like I am. It's like a veteran tennis player having to do the noob serve.

You're supposed to write the story first, THEN the characters. I do it the wrong way, and that's why I have so many problems.

--

Anyway, a quick status update: my laptop just lost its wireless functionality--exactly two days after I got my new computer. I got it from Cyberpower for about $800, including the price reduction from a Googled rebate code. I customized it a bit, adding a wireless card and buying a cheaper, roomier (albeit less sparkly) case. The wireless card was dead on arrival and one of the memory sticks was faulty, but overall, it's a good rig. Running Unreal Tournament 3 on full graphics at 1920x1080 resolution with the maximum number of bots allowed DOES drop the frame rate down to about 15 FPS, but that's the only game it even struggles with. I suppose my next step is to run Crysis through it.

Gaming aside, Paint Tool Sai runs flawlessly, as usual. My pictures might be a little bigger than they were before, but I'll try to make it so you don't have to scroll over.

ANYWAY, update time. First up is a ten-minute sketch of Sanae Kochiya from Touhou. Drawn while listening to a metal remix of her theme:


Then a thing my friend and I did--"The Drawing Game," a game where you draw out battles between two original characters. Some degree of creative cooperation is required, but as long as the characters' combat abilities are about equal, it should work out fine.

Reads Japanese-style, right-to-left. We started off pretty un-creative, my friend drawing a box and me drawing a circle. Then he made a girl pop out of the box and I made a girl pop out of a portal that the circle put in the floor. Around the fourth panel, I showed him how to use layers. So we started coloring.

Next, we moved into a traditional anime clash: huge powers colliding, dramatic close-ups of the characters' faces or eyes.

Then we looked at the clock.

[Celestial-Fox]

Haha, that drawing game looks really fun!

And as a protip, green-red almost always reads "Christmas." The best alternative (imo) is that mustard color that's a smidge toward the green end of the spectrum. So what you did was a good choice.

Also, I like the Touhou sketch. You're getting a lot cleaner with your line economy. The sleeves are nice, and I like that you're exploring/emulating different styles of eyes. It's definitely working in your favor.

[ram]

@Ramiel - The problem I have with my methods is that I'm a much better writer than I am an artist. I shouldn't be stumbling all over the place like I am. It's like a veteran tennis player having to do the noob serve.

comic or manga makers are suppose to be good at doing stories and drawing in the first place.
if you ask me, your already good enough at drawing, and if you partner with someone and your the writter,
i'm sure that guy won't meet your expectations on how you picture your character.

anyway, what you just made really looks fun to draw!

I feel like i want to do a collab with you, i just wish you go to gb more often.

[Son44]

Drawing game looks awesome XD I'd like to join you guys one day!

[Matt]

@Seefy - I've always read red and green as Christmas or Mario and Luigi. But yes, most people wouldn't make that second connection. In my latest drawing, done with a 1px "brush" in GIMP (in quotes because it looked way too much like Photoshop's pencil tool), I struck gold on line economy, getting results that looked almost like Cyp's sketches--in terms of line look, not actually quality. I only wish I was that good.

When I look at it, it's not actually near as good as Cyp's. It's better than my usual, though, and I'm happy with that.

@Ramiel - Mangakas SHOULD be good at both, but we see a ton of manga where the story is good and the art is mediocre or the story is mediocre and the story is good. You very rarely see a good story accompanied by good art in manga, which is ironic when you think about it.

Every day, I have the intention to get on Groupboard, but I always end up doing something else or skipping my drawing time altogether. I'll get on more in the future.

@Son44 - Groupboard? I should really start going there more often.




Basically a re-do quick color sketch of a quick color sketch I did awhile ago (at least I can see improvement). The character is Siren, the sadistic loli from Angel Hunters, also a major villain. Since I haven't touched Angel Hunters in months, I think it's fairly obvious that I'm not too thrilled with it so far. I re-thought the conflict and character setup, realizing that my beginning needed to go and that I could safely cut out the first arc and make the story a lot faster-paced. Siren and Naomi are the most interesting characters. Boriol and Akiria are better off as supporting cast members as they currently stand.

I say that, and yet I know that there's two people at most who will even know what I'm talking about up there.

[Celestial-Fox]

I know what you're talking aboooout~

And maybe you could give each pair of characters their own arcs that fade in and out of prominence. I mean, that's what fantasy epics are all about, right? I rather liked Boriol.

BUT THE ART, LET'S TALK ABOUT IT. I really like what you did with the coloring here. The lines were really suggestive and I wasn't feeling it too much, but that color job knocked it out of the park. The high contrast values on the skin are A+. You're really getting the hang of using more dramatic shading to make an impact. Everything just looks so great with the shading. I'm very impressed.

BLEGH, BACK TO WORK ON MY ART PROJECT. I'm suitably inspired now.