What I'm Working On

Remember the days when I used to post something new once or twice a week?
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Those days are definately gone, but it's not because I'm producing less work than usual. I could still crank out a fully-rendered drawing a week. However, I've turned my focus to bigger projects - and lots of 'em! The only downside is the long periods of time where I have nothing to show.
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That's why I decided to make this special post to show a few bits and pieces of all my various projects right now. All of them are works in progress, but it should give a bit of an idea what I'm spending my time on lately.

I. MousePaw: Word4Word

Not surprisingly, a great deal of time is going into MousePaw Games' latest game project, Word4Word, an educational game that teaches English skills. The kindergarden version Beta is projected to be finished in August of 2011 (Just in time to give to schools for testing. :))
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I'm approaching the animation for the game by starting with the simplest things and working my way up. First on the list is the ambient animations, which basically have the characters staying in one place, but shifting around and blinking as part of the background while the player is doing something. I've uploaded two short clips to serve as examples:
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Here are Alicia and Rebekah in ambient:


And here they are again, but this time in scuba mode!

After the ambients are finished for every stage, I will move on to the exiting and entering animations - and then finally the action and lip-sync as the characters interact with one another and with the player.

II. Vocaloid Art: Len & Rin Kagamine, Append ver.

By now, most of my blog visitors probably know how much I love Vocaloid, the software which allows users to create songs with virtual vocalists.
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Len & Rin Kagamine were originally designed by character artist KEI, the same artist who designed my two favorite Vocaloid characters, Miku Hatsune and Luka Megurine. However, I did not love the Kagamines quite as much... that was until I saw their Append versions.
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Miku's Append version, which served as an add-on to the original program, adding 6 new variations of her voice, was released about half a year ago. Besides increasing the realism of the virtual voice, Miku Append also came with new box art featuring the character Miku in a much more "technological" design. Now, last December on the Kagamines' 2-year birthday, their own Append version was released. I was absolutely amazed by the new box art and knew from the moment I saw it that I would have to draw them myself, and soon.
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And so I began with Len:

This Vector drawing may seem nearly finished, but it actually has a long way to go. Firstly, I plan to take it into photoshop and paint on more dramatic shading. And secondly:

I have to add Rin!

Here is a rough idea of what the completed version will look like. Sing it, Kagamines!!!

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III. One-Wing 2011

Because it's just been too long since I've drawn my own character mascot... ^^;

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Right now she's only in rough pencil phase. Hopefully I will get more time to finish her soon...but it probably won't be until after I finish the Kagamines.

No, the dress won't be transparent in the finished version. :P

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I'm also doing a little bit more internship work for Shine Global in NY... however, I am not allowed to post any work online. But that is what I am working on! Please come back soon to see all of these projects once they are finished. :)

Getting Pencily...again

Well as most of you know, I've obtained a position as a Game Art intern so the vast majority of my efforts are going toward that! (I've started a blog about my experience which can be found here.) Thus, I don't really have the time to fully render out my drawings anymore... and so I'm back to posting pencil sketches. Some of these I might return to once I get the time though :)
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I decided to revisit some of my characters from Covenant! Here are the two rivals, Analise Helkiah and Celia Cottonmeadow. I revamped their designs slightly too.
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The two next sketches are both of a new character that I just designed and am already getting really fond of. I can't tell you her name yet... However, as you can see, she has a fondness for playing the saxophone...and cuddling with the saxophone?

Pencil Drawings

This happens every time I get busy with a big project. Because I'm directing so much of my efforts to MousePaw, I don't really have the time to fully render out my drawings, but it doesn't stop me from drawing. So here's my latest sketches. (They're all either original characters or fan art.)

This last one is special. I guarantee that you will see it again, somewhere... Somewhere you probably won't expect!

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Hm... these drawings all have one main thing in common. I should really start drawing some more guys! >w<

Nothing But Pencil...

Okay you guys... so the last couple of weeks have literally been the most busy in my entire life - not kidding. :(
As you may have noticed, I haven't posted for a long time. Well, that's why. And I'm not out of the tunnel yet, either, although I can see the light at the end now, at least!
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Anyhow, this unfortunately means I haven't gotten a whole lot of time to work on art lately. However, it doesn't stop me from drawing completely. So, I thought I'd post my latest stuff just to remind you all that hey, I'm still alive and making stuff! But due to my schedule, it will all be (for now) in pencil.
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First, a new character design: Kel Zeiter! She will make an appearance, somewhere, some time, some place... ;)
An important scene from the generational role-play G7...

And lastly, an introduction to my latest written novel project, Forsaken ... (And no, I haven't had time to work on this much either. Urgh I hate being busy...)

Putting Things Into Perspective

I was drawing away the other day when I came up with a rough drawing I was pretty fond of:

A fun drawing of a dynamic between a male and a female character with expressive poses...just the sort of thing I like. But something was not quite exciting enough about it... I felt like it needed something more.

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And so, I changed the perspective!

Perspective seems to be a good way to take a drawing and make it interesting. I think I'm going to work with it more in the future.

**Special Feature** The Story of an Image: From Conceptualization to Completion

Once upon a time, I had an idea.

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About a year ago, I was considering the unique dynamic between a pair of characters who absolutely hate one another...and yet are irrepressibly drawn to one another at the same time. You know what I'm talking about - those characters that are "grr" one moment and then holding each other the next. I'm sure everyone knows a pair of characters (or real people!) that fit this description. ;) Anyhow, I decided to attempt to depict this. I failed.

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Time and time again I found myself coming back to this idea, though. I could see it in my head, but if only I could get it down...

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Then, finally, I drew this.

It was exactly what I was going for. The pose was dynamic and fluid, and the facial expressions showed ferocity while their proximity to one another communicated their undeniable attraction to one another.

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Now to make them a little less naked.

As you might have guessed, these two are very specific characters of mine, and I've dressed them as such. However, I absolutely can't tell you who they are. It's a major spoiler of one of my novels... >w< But now that I've got everything penciled out as I want it, it's time to move on to inking:

And here it is, all cleaned up and ready for color.

Since the "opposites attract" dynamic is oh-so-much-fun to play with, why not dress one character entirely in white while the other in black? But it's not quite done yet. One more step to go - shading!

And there you have it - the finished image. "I don't know if I want to kiss you...or kill you." That's what they look like they're saying, to me. Hehe, as you can tell, it was a lot of work but I really enjoyed it anyhow - especially since it is the completion of an idea that I've been carrying with me for suuuch a long time. :)

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You haven't seen the last of this pose, either. I know quite a few other characters that have the same love/hate dynamic going on, and I think I might see how they look drawn in this pose! And if anyone would like to suggest to me a pair of characters to draw in this pose, drop me a comment. I will more than likely go for it - maybe I'll even make a series.

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That's all for now, but you know I'll post again soon ^.^

~One-Wing

Artbook Stuff...

I'm in the process of developing some very neat stuff ... But that's not done yet so I thought I'd just post my recent works for my character artbook. A few turnarounds and concept sketches...nothing in color. But you still might like to give them a look. :)
Elhiroth turnaround

Moon Dancer turnaround

Ruka/Ryru concept sketches

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I promise you in just a few days I will post something very neat. :3

The Dawn of a New Generation

It's been a little while since my last post... but I am able to make it up to you all by posting a whole bunch of art today. :)
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Over this winter break, Generation 6 (G6) has just given way to the next generation, G7! And here are the first characters of the new generation - at least, the ones of my creation.

Consecutively, they are William Princeton, Dawn Halflight, Corine Lancaster, and Curtis Nestle.
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As one might be able to tell by the title of this post, this time I am going to be focusing on Dawn today. Here she is in her combat attire:
And here is my very first drawing of her in the same outfit:

But Dawn is not the only character I've drawn in combat attire. Here's Corine:

Don't worry, the guys are still to come. :)

Elhiroth Concept Sketches & Covenant News

And it's more art for my character artbook... Elhiroth!!!

For those of you keeping up with Covenant, you're probably wondering when you'll actually be finding more out about this guy! So I thought I'd let you know how progress is coming along on my graphic novel project...

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Firstly, as some might expect, Covenant has been placed on the back-burner as I have so many other projects consuming my time. So what will become of it? Well, firstly, I promise to finish Chapter Three at the very least. And Chapter Three is when Elhiroth introduces himself and we find out more about who he is, so that answers the question above. However, it will be some time before it's through. Drawing-wise I am about half-way finished with Chapter Three, but that doesn't include clean-up, rendering, etc. Yet I plan on tackling it over Christmas break and hopefully I might be able to get it done if not get significantly far on it.

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Thank you all for waiting; I hope I can make it worth the wait. :)

Ruka - Turnaround & Concept Sketches

Work on my character artbook requires me to focus on my seven specific characters that I've chosen to showcase, so I'll be posting a lot of art of these same characters (One-Wing, Elhiroth, Analise, Moon Dancer & Dusk, and Ruka & Ryru).
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So here are some works of Ruka, some messy while others have been cleaned up. No color though - I've already done a full-render of her which can be found on a post here.

Ruka might be quite the twisted character, but she sure is cute and way fun to draw in her frilly dress and crazy poses/expressions. You can definately expect to see more of her.

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It is amusing that Ryru (the male version, as seen in Covenant) came first, but I ended up liking Ruka better.
I'm far from done with Ryru though; I actually just finished a scene of Covenant chapter 3 which features him.

YES, I am working on my character artbook, Covenant the graphic novel, AND Moon Dancer II: The Tale Untold the written novel. Busy busy! But I love it all.

Concept Sketches - Dusk and Moon Dancer

As mentioned before, my mind is fully submerged in the land of my novel, Moon Dancer, which I am fully revising in hopes I can get it published. (Still looking for readers to preview it, by the way! Email me at elusive.dreams@yahoo.com if interested. I will send you the adobe pdf version which is layed out like a real published novel for your reading convenience.)
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So here's a few new concept sketches of the two main protagonists.
Here's Dusk, the stoic and soft-spoken Wulven male from the Lune Pack. I kind of sort of love these sketches...especially that surprised look in the middle. Aw, Dusk.

And here's our main character, who keeps changing her name throughout the novel - for convenience's sake I will just be calling her the same name as the novel itself, Moon Dancer - the spirited young woman who is seeking her place in the world. Both she and Dusk have many sides - although it takes the two being together to unlock all of them!

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I have done many, many, many drawings of these two together but have not yet drawn one I find worthy of a full render. But I will keep trying!

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I'll add that to the list of a million other things I want to make, hehe. Keep checking back if you're curious to see what sort of things I come up with! :3

Concept Sketches - One-Wing

Here's a whole bunch of pencil-y sketches of One-Wing, exploring the facets of her character. I really like the last one - the sketch of her profile- so I might just ink & color that one. We'll see.

Head Sketches - G6 characters

Just some pencil drawings of the 16 characters from the G6 roleplay I have going with my sister. These are for her. :)
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You know, some people tell me they like these messy pencil sketches better than my tidied-up inked and photoshopped drawings. Could this be?! If so, then why am I working so hard cleaning them up, inking them, etc etc? Should I post more raw stuff like these? What do you all think?

*Special* The Making of Covenant

Welcome all to a very special post I've been preparing for the sake of my blog visitors. Out of all of those who have taken a look at the first chapter of my Graphic Novel/Manga project, Covenant, many have asked me how exactly I went about doing it. Since I follow a step-by-step procedure, I figured it would work well to show pictures of one page as it goes through each of these stages, so you all can get the feel of what it is I do!
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If that doesn't sound special enough to you, the page I have chosen happens to be from the yet-to-be released Chapter Two - Sealed Fate. In fact, it was specifically chosen to serve as a preview of sorts for the upcoming chapter. So, enjoy! And if any of you have not yet looked at Chapter One - Darker than Shadow, it's still here: http://covenantmanga.blogspot.com/. It shouldn't take very long to read; please take a peek :) And if the inconvienient formatting bothers you, I promise I am still looking for an easier way for people to read it.
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So without further ado, let's begin.
The Making of Covenant
Step 1: Thinking up the Story
I can't very easily show you a picture that goes along with this first step, because it is all in my mind. This is the only step that I can do anytime, anywhere - and I do! Any time that I'm doing something that requires very minimal concentration, my mind drifts off to Covenant-land and either tweaks certain scenes I already have planned, or comes up with ideas for new ones. At the moment, I have about seven chapters almost completely planned, out of the twelve total that comprise this giant project I've decided to tackle. But anything not yet drawn out is still prone to change, which is one reason making a graphic novel is better than just working on a written novel as I so often do - I get plenty of time to tweak the scenes and twist the plot until it is ideal.
Step 2: Writing the "Screenplay"
During this step, I take the story that is in my mind and turn it into dialogue, typed up on Microsoft Word. Occasionally I add notes of what is happening as well, so all-in-all it turns out to be much like a screenplay.

Step 3: Dividing the Page
This part takes more thought than one would suspect. Once I have the dialogue all written out, I decide how much I want on each page, and then use a ruler and pencil to divide my page into sections ideal sizes for each frame.
Usually, this just consists of boxes, but as you can see on the page below, there is also the outline of a figure - occasionally, this must be done when I decide I have a drawing that I do not want to have in a frame, thus the drawing itself is the frame.

Step 4: Drawing Each Frame
Once sectioned out, I can draw each frame as I've imagined them in the previous step. This I do in pencil, freeing me to make as many mistakes as necessary before I am satisfied with the look. Dialogue bubbles are also drawn in, but remain blank.

Step 5: Inking the Drawings

A pretty self-explanatory step. I go over the pencil drawings with pen - only the lines I want to keep, of course.

Step 6 - Erase the Pencil & Add Bold Lines

Step 7 - Scan Onto My Computer
Also pretty self-explainatory. Adding bold lines is something I only recently started to experiment with. I really like their effect, and often use them to create emphasis or mood to a few frames. I try not to overdo it, however. As you can see, I have only used them on one drawing on this page.

Step 8 - Clean-up

Now we are in Photoshop. I admit this is the step I least enjoy. But it must be done, because there will always be remaining pencil lines and eraser dust on my newly scanned drawings that must be done away with before I can move on to the more interesting steps.

Step 9 - Add Flood-fill and Gradients

Now that our picture is all clean, we can add grey to the black-and-white lines. This takes lots of decision-making: I want the layout to be as visually pleasing as possible, and of course, something that portrays the story as I wish it to be told. I may not be the best at it, but this step is what really brings my characters and story to life. Usually I use flood-fill on the characters and gradients on the backgrounds.

I really like how the bold lines work well with the flood-fill greys. :)

On this page, I have also pasted in a scene from Chapter One on the bottom square to serve as a flashback!

Step 10 (Final Step) - Imputing Text

Only one thing left to do! And that, of course, is finally putting the text into those dialogue bubbles. Even this takes a bit of planning, though - I don't want the text to ruin the artistic layout of the page, so special tweaking is applied to each block of text until it fits in with the intended frame as seamlessly as possible.

And here you have it - the finished page! I'll leave it up to you to wonder what is going on here... but hopefully you have not forgotten Celia Cottonmeadow from the beginning of Chapter One. Apparently she has a big of a larger part to play in this one...

You'll be finding out the rest next August. :)

Weekly Assignment #2 - More figure drawings

Pretty self-explainatory; these are my next couple of figure drawings. Nothing great. There are actually 11 shown here, but 1 is from the last figure assignment. So yeah!

Weekly Assignment #1 - 10 Figures

In order to ensure we don't lose our skills over the summer, other students from my major have been keeping us working by giving weekly assignments. This one is due today at midnight and it's 11... woo-hoo, one hour early!
Nothing impressive here, just a few pencil sketches... some from life, others from pictures; it's pretty easy to tell which is which.