Daily Sketch -- Prinny, d00d!

Seems like I've been using conte, artist oils, and palette knives almost exclusively lately so I thought it would be a good time to remember how to use airbrushes with this li'l chap.

--RWHC

RIP Michael Turner

I just found out on deviantArt that Michael Turner died of cancer on Friday. Michael Turner was a comic book artist who has worked with the big names in Marvel and DC and also founded his own company, Aspen Comics.

Michael Turner was one of my favorite artists and I first found out about him in an issue of Wizard magazine when he was doing a tutorial on how to draw sex appeal properly. Example: smoking doesn't make a woman sexier, but playing with hair and half closed eyes do.

I even learned how to do the cute triangle nose and full lips on gals from him.

I always loved the covers he made......


He drew the feistiest Starfire (Teen Titans) .....

and the skinniest Supergirl I've ever seen,


I have yet to see anyone else draw Wonder Woman like he does.


He wasn't great with just gals, though.


And he definitely knew how to make a bunch of guys standing around look good.


Thank you very much for all the memories, Mr. Turner. We'll miss you!

--RWHC

**All featured art in this post was drawn by Michael Turner and can be found in the Comic Art Community galleries.

(no) daily sketches

This rather horrible screenshot is the reason for my absence of sketches (the teslas are just fillers; they won't show up in the final layout).
I'm finally finished with a project that I've been putting off for 2 years.. my website! The only thing I'm missing is a domain name that I'm satisfied with and a portfolio....



before i make this blog post anymore useless, here are some custom made textures aforementioned by RWHC:




more to come soon.

- Azureon

Daily Sketch -- Mercedes WIP

Ok. So I know Daily Sketches aren't supposed to be finished works, but I really liked the way my sketch came out so I just kept on coloring it. Still not finished but here's the sketch:

And here's what I have so far:

Hope to get this done within a day or two!

--RWHC

Quick Hits -- Photoshop Disasters + Understanding Layers

First off, Photoshop Disasters is a fun little website that points out errors in commercial works. My favorite from the site is the one shown above wherein Batman is staring at a window frame. I've actually seen this poster advertising the Dark Knight on Yahoo!, too, so this one's real.

Secondly, Azureon's comment on Cave Bird reminded me of a very comprehensive tutorial at CG Textures on Layers, their properties, and how they affect the base layers underneath.

Enjoy and hope these prove useful!

--RWHC

Texture Library -- Sheets

Azureon was showing me a few custom textures she made earlier and when she expressed a desire to share them with as many artists as we can, I thought that this would be a good platform to do so. Of course, I won't be sharing the ones she gave me as I want her to take the credit for those, but here are a few things I've taken from different sheets around the house that might be useful for overlays, patterns, papers, or whatever might be useful for photomanips.

--RWHC

Daily Sketch -- Cave Bird

Playing around with different layer properties in this one, mainly lineart on Multiply, with a soft light and Overlay layer on top of that. Not exactly the effect that I was looking for (needed it darker) but very useful experiment, nonetheless.

--RWHC

Hidden surprise

If you wander around long enough, you get unexpected surprises, such as this:


Found this bust of Ol' Tesla in front of a church building at 25th, btw 5th and 6th Avenues. And despite what your idiotic teacher tells you: NIKOLA TESLA INVENTED THE ALTERNATING CURRENT MOTOR AND POLYPHASE SYSTEM.


And the morals of the story? Wander around Gotham, and you find things. Sometimes its pleasant like this, and sometimes ... not too pleasant, like that perpetually mumbling bum or that bugger of a mugger with a gun. If it concerns you, the latter two did not happen, but the first, which came in form of a bust of Nikola Tesla in front of a church, did.

And always, always question your authorities, whether its your teacher, parent, government leader, master chief or poopmaster. Because they're human, and therefore, chances are, they could be wrong. Really erroneously wrong, and sadly yet.... still firmly believing that Edison made AC.*



- Azureon
* but this is advice coming from a random faceless blogger, so why would you even listen to that drivel?

hating on sketchbooks - and yet still trying

*
**
***
****




* eh doodles.
** A bored attempt to draw Mario in Yoji Shinkawa-esque Metal Gear Cover-esque style.
*** kois.
**** lastly and not leastly, Batman. One of the hardest characters to draw, but one I would like to draw again and again (along with him, The Endless in Sandman, Wolverine and Solid Snake ... never drew the latter two, but for whatever reason I'm itching to draw them, despite never having read Xmen or played any of the MGS games).

After the slew of digital I found myself missing the pencil and paint greatly... so henceforth, I will be working with those as I try to spit my muse back out into this plane of existence. After all, whatever skills I obtain with these traditional tools, will carry over to my digital tools.

And this is where I hope that somehow I can get over my sketchbook hate, the way I got over my watercolor hate... not to mention actually make something that I enjoy without killing myself. And that all this effort (and cash) I'm pouring into art will not come back fruitless.





Kids, knowledge kills. So be careful what you let into your head, as once it enters, it sears you for life.


-- Azureon

Catching up with Daily Sketches -- Nausicaa Edition

I had finals last week and I also moved apartments so updating here has been scarce. However, I haven't stopped sketching and here are the sketches inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind". I have other sketches that should soon see the light of day once I touch down in Korea and have time to color them. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

--RWHC

Daily Sketch -- Hunter Metroid

Well, when the well of ideas is running dry, Metroids never fail. This here's a hunter metroid from Metroid Prime. Experimented with layering different textures and papers, as well as revisiting an airbrush technique that I haven't used in a while.

--RWHC

Projects -- WIP

When I'm not working on daily sketches, I'm usually tied up with school or other projects that I'm currently working on. I mentioned that my Avian Guardian sketch was concept art for a friend of mine and that's what I'm currently tied up doing. The rest of the concept art for that project is probably going to make it up here but for a sneak preview, here are a few of the rough sketches we have so far:





--RWHC