Smore

 Western Fantasy Tank, Eastern Fantasy Civilian.

I forgot to post these

More finished ones.

If there's time, I'll be changing aspects of some of these (Most likely the Horror ones). There's bits I'm not too happy with in them, but overall I think it'll do.

Also, the Western Fantasy Assassin is meant to have really long legs, but the pose makes it look like a mistake. It's a shame, because I think this particular pose suits her better than standing ones that show off the legs better. I'll just have to explain it in the book to make sure my intentions are clear.

Horror Tank

I feel like I finished this too quickly. It's not as detailed as I planned (I was going to painstakingly draw every limb in detail on the body), but I don't really have time to do something that would probably look too busy and get deleted anyway.

Well, I'm glad I finished it today. It was one of my most dreaded pieces, and having it out of the way feels like a big relief.

Another one down

Range 1920s.

I've been using Blurb and trying to get everything compiled for a book. I think this software was made by someone who despises the world. It's sinfully painful to get it working at times.

I've stopped thinking about how much time is left. I really am too nervous to consider it. I'm just trawling through and hoping I get enough done. It's not worth the terror of counting the days.

One down, millions to go

I finished the Eastern Fantasy Support. It brilliantly crashed a whole lot so about half of the video is missing (hooray!) but at least the picture is done. I spent a long time perusing Japanese pictures when drawing it. It was really, really hard to pin down what makes a traditional Japanese picture look like a traditional Japanese picture, but I think I hit at least some of the key points:

1) Canvas texture

2) Background (Will pop one in later)

3) Calligraphic lineart - though a lot of pictures had quite simple lineart, it helps to make it look authentic anyway

4) Pure black hues

5) Smoothy straighty "wavy" lines - I really can't describe it. It's just something I tried to get a feel for.

The basic idea behind this character is that he's a Houngan sur pwen from Africa who was taken to and raised in Japan. The skull is a mix of a Gashadokuro and a fetish used for healing, protection, divining and other things.

ARGH

I'm getting rather sick of all the corrupted videos for my project. One or two I could handle, but when every picture gets maybe 4 or 5 ruined segments, especially in the crucial bits of drawing, it's really not okay. It's several hours of development down the drain. 

CamStudio is really crummy for recording important things.

In better(?) news, I applied for more jobs today. I really hope I get something this time! There were some jobs in particular that seemed like great opportunities - exactly the sort of thing I'd want to do - so fingers crossed especially for them.

Maybe I can do 3D after all!

Sorry for being arrogant, but I'm really proud of myself!! I can't believe how well it turned out. I know it's not brilliant by normal standards, but considering I was so unconfident in my 3D ability, I think it's so much better than anything I've done in 3D before. I'm so pleased!!!

I did have to use a tutorial to do it, which I was grumbly about at first. I tried not to be overly dependent on it so I did my own model rather than the one in it. I feel like, if you follow some tutorials exactly, you don't learn how to do anything for yourself; you just learn how to make the thing in the pictures. By doing this model, I had to think how I could apply what I was learning and how to actually use it myself. I really felt like a learnt a lot too.

3Dizzle

If you like uncanny valley, you're going to love this.

 

It's not finished, but I don't think it's going to look a lot more different. I tried really hard on it, and even though it is a bit eerie, I'm happy with how it came out. I figure it makes a good addition to my Honours too!

It's taken two days so far, and while that isn't a very long time, I think doing a body will take up too much longer when there are other things I ought to be doing.

I'll post wireframes and the UV when it's all done. Hopefully it'll only take a few minutes tomorrow, then I can get back to those final pieces.

Horrible Week

Between taking care of an invalid and intense landlord drama, I haven't had a productive week unfortunately.

In short, I no longer have a decent connection to the internet.

We had an email about the degree show from Craig today, and apparently everyone who requested a monitor will have to share one with up to 3 other people. I felt a bit bad that, as a character artist, I get equal allowance as a 3D modeller, so I offered up my space to give someone a better go.

We had an Honours pin up on Monday. It was nice seeing all the work on the wall, but I wish there was a bit more. I put up my favourite characters and got to work on the 1920s background. The past few attempts I had were just awful and I felt a bit miserable doing them, but the one from Monday went a lot more smoothly. It's not finished, but I felt a lot more in the zone and I think it's already a big improvement over the others.

Done!!

I finished the Assassin. I don't like it as much as that headshot I did, which is a shame, but I kinda like it. A bit. Maybe.

It took exactly as long as I thought it would - 16 videos - but 2 of them are corrupted, which means I have 14 in total. I have the start and the end, at least.

I really hope there's nothing wrong with it. If there is, I'll be a little bit heartbroken because it's going to be pretty hard to change.

Great song, or GREATEST SONG

Just to make sure it works! Jack suggested saving it in chunks, lest I lose the vid. This way, I only lose a bit.

For some reason, none of the toolboxes show up and the bottom of the screen is cut off. I don't know why that is yet, but I'll try to figure it out for next time.

All the rest

I'm starting the final images soon so I'm uploading all the characters that I haven't yet. There are still 2 more waiting - 1920s Civilian and Eastern Fantasy Tank - and they are designed - but there are some things I want to change about the pictures. They'll be up soon though!

Well, it's time to have a go at the first proper picture. Wish me luck!

Hons Feedback

I got lots of really good feedback today. Josh and Rhoda suggested making books and fabric hangings and things. I'd never considered doing that before but I think I'd love to do it. Josh recommended making a book of monsters. If I have the time to come up with a few more, I'll definitely do it!

I might have to cut 1 or 2 of my genres. It'd be a shame, but they might not really add anything new to the project.

Rhoda mentioned a big book, like a 'making of' sort of thing, which would be really nice to present. It'd be arranged by genres, and I could have it set out like, 

character profile, character image,

development work; 

character profile, character image,

etc.

That way, the finished picture is the first thing you see, then you get a nice biography with it followed by some little sketches and notes.

I asked Craig for a monitor and speakers on my booth. It might look too busy with the extra stuff, but I wanted to have a video of drawing all the characters with narration over the top so people can see how I draw things and why I chose to do what I did. It shows that I thought it all through, and with some music it could be a nice little display!

(If I get the speakers, I'll have some headphones with it so it doesn't disturb anyone else.)

As for the fabric hangings, they'd look so good pinned up either end. I could pick my two favourites and have them blown up and fancy. Can't wait!!

Just have to do everything now.

Eastern Fantasies

I began the new group last week. I got off to a slow start, mainly because of the research. I don't know a lot about Japan and I wanted to make sure it was fairly accurate aesthetically and historically. There are some sites that have a lot of good info - though some were a bit hard to find - so I've been trying to catch up now. So far, I've done Civilian, Range and Support, and I't part way through the Assassin. The colour scheme (If you couldn't tell) is black, white, red, yellow and a bit of pink.

Last of the Horrors

I really dislike this one, but there doesn't seem to be much I can do for it. That's pretty much what it does, there aren't more poses than that and it's just a shadow. Shadows don't have shading since they are shading. It makes it look flat and messy and horrible, but what can I do?? I think the final image could look okay, but there's not much I can do concept-wise.

Horror Batch

I'm having a great time with these characters, I really am. I'm a sucker for horror, so getting to do this team now has been a bit of a pick-me-up.

Time's running out so I'm not spending as long on these design sheets. I'm aiming for 1.5 - 2 finished per day. That way, I get plenty of time to do my finished pieces. This means cutting it down to 1 coloured picture, several finished linearts and maybe a shaded one if it seems to need it. I'm trying to get some essential poses and things down so there's a decent reference there rather than a set of useless images.

Anyway, here are the Civilian, Range, Support and Tank!

EDIT: Looking back, they seem a little bare. I might add more pictures, especially on the Civilian and Support.

Characters

I finished the Western Fantasies and I moved onto Horror. It's a lot harder than I thought. I did the Soldier, and now I'm on the Tank. I can't think of many (Or any) poses for it as it's just a big lumbering... thing. Also, I want to have detail on it that'll take forever to draw. I'm not going to go all out at this stage because it's too much, and hopefully it won't drag me down too much on the final image.

Looking at the WFantasies again, I think the Tank needs to be bigger. The problem is that I was relying on her summons to be the 'bigness' of her, but when they're not with her, she looks very small. I'm thinking more armour will help. Maybe I should make her something other than human, then add some extra details to make her seem a little more punchy.

I need to find the time to fix up both of those Soldiers too. Panic is really beginning to set in now.

Yewnee

First day back yesterday. Wasn't too bad! I put 1920s on hiatus and started work on Western Fantasy. I feel more motivated now that I'm doing something new.

Jack and I gave Rhoda a bribe souvenier from Germany as a thanks for all the help. There was this stall in one of the markets that sold these nice little elf models, so we got her one. I got one for myself, and I love him. If I go back to Cologne, I'm going to get another. And another.
As many as I can.

I don't have internet at home for a few days as I had to take out the ethernet cable. There's a PAT tester or something coming over, I dunno. Landlord doesn't like the wires for some reason.

Today's Futures, and everyone seems to be itching for their results. I hope we get them today, and I really hope I did well.

I can't find my 1920s tank.

I'm so sure I did some work on it at home, but since it's not here I reeeeally hope it's at uni.

I don't see why I don't have it, considering I back things up a lot.

A lot.

So yeah.

I really wanted to have him and something else done this week, but by the looks of it that isn't happening. I'll just have to move onto something new if it isn't here.

EDIT: I see it on remote access but I can't get it. Annoying.

1920s Range

Ugh, I kept churning out failure after failure with this guy. The art was pretty awful, the content was rubbish and it just didn't look like what I'd imagined. I'm not going to post most of the things I drew of him because they're really bad, but here's a couple of things that turned out okay-ish.

My favourite is the uncoloured one where he's lighting the molotov. I think the face looks most like what I had in mind. Rhoda suggested a posher waistcoat for him, and I think it looks more fitting than the wooly one. Very snazzy!
The gun isn't any in particular, though it's most like M1903 Springfield rifle. I spent ages trying to find a bolt-action rifle that can be disassembled, but I didn't have any luck. I think it really has to be suited for quick dismantling, and bolt action thingers look really cool so I want to keep that in.
Anyway, I did a stylised picture of him that I was hoping to match with the Assassin. Something about it isn't quite fitting - I think partly because the makeup adds better detail and the Range obviously doesn't have any - but I think it's alright for getting a feel for the style. I think I should've done thicker lines in places, but.
Ehhh.