Life's Unfair | Make Art

One of my characters, Nonna. -Sketch done by Wanderlust, rest by myself.

15/05/2013

Lil’ Pygmy

Bebe feeling better!

Apologies for my silence; I’m just working hard on my commissions. My most recent few are unfortunately private so I can’t share- One is HUGE thou! I don’t think i’ve worked this large before with Digital (20x30 inches, 300 ppi). I am planning to be done with this one… Monday?

I really do wish I could post it but, Such is the nature of a private commission.
I do love commission work thou. Its nice to be “bossed” around now and again instead of people all willy-nilly.

———

You guy’s have fun n’ such.

Brute Wyvern Duramboros

This is part of an offsite commission; It was made into a wallpaper which I won’t share by request.

I used this piece recently in my simple Step by Step series which you can find on here if you’re curious about my process.


Character ‘Duramboros’ by Capcom
Art by Myself

Step Five: Rendering

The longest step but also the oddest to explain, sort of. Just zoom in close and start refining lines, textures, anything. Your goal is to make it look less like a bunch of wiggly lines and suggestions and more like a… whatever your subject may be :3

You can spend as long as you want, get in really close if you like! I just spent a medium amount on this one in particular, since I’m on a time limit~ It’s my most favourite part, and very relaxing.

Notice how little time i spend with the tail since its not really in focus. Not overworking every inch is key.

• Comment: Do you enjoy your recent commission work or is it something you are forced to do? - Anonymous
• Reply:

  Hello, Anon!

  I am living comfortably enough right now if that’s what you’re wondering; I have enough extra income for frivolous things like games, going out and artwork from more talented individuals.

  I do commissions because its well… fun to work with other people, people who really love my work in most cases. No one is trying to force/pressure me into making Artwork for them- If I wanted that experience I’d open up requests ;)

  

Steps Three and Four: Base Colours and Lighting

Base Colours are probably the fastest step. The colours are added as they would be in a neutral white light. I start with a solid, dark silhouette (Not Black) and go from there with my basic palette.

At first the piece is 3 layers: a background, the main image and the sketch layer. Once the base colours are added the sketch layer is deleted.

Now that I’ve been so involved in the piece I give it a flip which i haven’t done since working on the sketch phase. Flipping often is a nice way to catch problems early (And i will start flipping more regularly again as I continue) Since i’ve forgotten to flip frequently right away I see problem areas like that foot/leg.

Another quick step is the Lighting. Light and shadow shades are added to the form. There are still some problem areas that will be worked over next. Things are getting a little more difficult to adjust quickly.

For all these stages so far i’ve been working ‘zoomed out’- having the full image visible at all times. Now I will need to get closer for the longest part, rendering. It is my favourite part :3

Laro’s commission is now 40% done.

Step Two: Sketch And Refining/Alterations

This is the stage where I add in a rough background (if any) and make up a sketch from the selected thumbnail(s). If you’re a curious sort he wanted E mixed with G from step one.

I find making sketches for other people to be much, much harder then my own personal work. I can be very lose n’ wild on my own but a lot of folks wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of such a thing; They can’t look at a scribble and tell what its suppose to be, or see it in its final stage like myself.

So I do a very refined sketch and some random greyscale to further differentiate areas for the client. It is very clear so they can spot out problems quickly without having to decipher anything :3

After this if there are any changes to be made I do them very loosely over top, with lines much like an actual sketch. In Laro’s sketch you can see he wanted more action then he thought and a larger back so we worked out something more dynamic.

Step One: Thumbnails

People have been asking out my process so I’m going to do a step by step with one of my current commissions (Thanks Laro!)

Thumbnails are brainstorming; All he said he wanted was Duramboros swinging his tail around. There are a lot of ways to draw something like that so really really really quickly I did some thumbnails up for him. 

He is able to pick one, or mix and match a few to get what he wants.Then I can do more thumbnails or move on to the sketch.

Collaboration with Slug who provided the sketch of one of my monsters (Zahir) in a random situation. I’m not skilled enough to incorporate the dialog in a nice way.

Challenge 09: ” Allotropes”

09) A favourite Exoplanets surface.

55 Cancri E. All theoretical, made with artistic license.

Challenge 08: “Lo And Behold”

08) One of Jupiter’s satellites.

I don’t do any planning on these so they are really dependent on my mood so far. Something diffrent-ish everyday with times ranging from 40 minutes to two hours.