Caught Up in Conflict

I realize that I haven't posted any progress in almost a month, and it's probably because I've been caught up in some of the most inconvenient timings of both work and hobby schedules. Things have been a little 'tight'... I mean, feeling 'tight in the stomach', and I've been waiting to breathe a little. But enough of them little personal critters, and let me post some progress on the artwork:

 

It's my first time doing a scene where a lot is going on, and I'm struggling to focus on one element at a time. I had to adjust the characters' spacing, as I noticed there were some awkward spaces, especially in the sharp angle.There's still a lot of loose ends, and I wish I could finish them all before proceeding with with hands, which I admit is a great movement indicator in a composition. Oh and the flames, I may need to learn how to make proper fire and add more colors, but this will have to do for the moment. So far, I'm around 60% satisfied. Hopefully when I finish this, I hit my 100%.

An Egwene Update

Another long weekend is coming up and I'm so excited. I get to do my stuff! Clean the house, the office, work in the garden, and of course, finish the painting. Maybe do a craft or two. Considering how stressful the job is, these little tranquil days of quiet are so precious.

As for my second painting, I've finally added a hand! Based off my own of course, and I had to strain to get a nice meaningful pose - not just your average gnarly fireball-conjuring hand.

I also toned down the colors a bit, which is a wild guess. I will have to go over the other computer to view it again, and see if my colors are right this time.

I think I'll be done before the weekend comes and I'll be posting this to my deviantart account!

Alone like Egwene al'Vere

I think I'm coping up nicely being the lone 'Artender' in the Creative Department, and so far I've managed to squeeze the time to design my own artender table. Hopefully, the production team will get to fabricate it in two weeks, so I don't have to sit exposed to everyone anymore (Yes, everyone who passes by can take a peek at what I'm doing -- which would piss off any artist immensely!).

In other good news, my work was featured at dragonmount.com, which fired me up to make another WoT painting! I've been thinking about my second painting for the past month, and I've settled myself with a major character - Egwene.

So far, I've only seen two interpretations of her in The Gathering Storm, so I thought I'd contribute to the fanart community. I chose her particularly because I could somehow empathize with her, in how she handles her position of power. Although life-wise I relate to Moiraine so much more, I kinda like how Egwene 'learns' things, and in that way I think I've learned a lot from her too.

And learning from my first painting, I think it would be better to detail out a few things before I jump right into the coloring, so now I'm taking my time in sketching. Here's a sneak peek:

I may have to edit the facial features more, but so far, I'm happy with the pose. 

However, my long-time friends and I are going to have a little party this Saturday, so I think there goes my weekend painting plan. In any case, I'm taking my time with this one, and hopefully it would turn out great, if not better than Verin!

 

Work and My Assistant

Work has been incredibly tough of late. With my assistant artist submitting his resignation letter, I've been forced to take on all our brands. That includes designs for a vast range of clients: from dental products to liquor, hair care and hair styling, hotdogs and meat products, real estate, health care and pharmaceuticals, energy drinks, spice and baking products, to condoms and banking. It's a wonder I haven't posted anything this September, but still, I am thankful for all the projects.

For any who are wondering, I'm the Creative Director of my company. Well, it is a small company, and through the years, I've trained graphic artists who now have come and gone. Now, my artist who has been with me for over five years has come to the decision to leave, perhaps to pursue a higher paying job - I really haven't gone through enough investigating, but I guess I will simply have to respect his decisions and be proud of what I helped make.

So far, I've got no new artworks to post (well, if you consider brand design, I've got hundreds of those!), so I'm simply going to post pictures of my beautiful, mean cat, Siomai.

I adopted him well over a year ago, and I think he's accustomed to me well. It seems I can't take away his 'meanness' completely, but I think he's gotten so much sweeter now. He stays up late by my side, trying not to sleep when I work late, and often reminds me that it's time to sleep. And when I do, he sleeps on my towel beside me, the whole day.

New Stuff and Painting One (Part Four)

Almost there! I think I've done around 60 percent of the total composition and I'm liking the feel of it. I'm already itching to adjust the depths, but I can't do that unless every element has been laid out.

In other news, I'm planning to help my colleague clean up the office, with all these cigarette butts lying around. I will have to find some cheap ashtrays to assign everyone, one big ashtray for all is encouraging laziness! So I thought why not assign people their own ashtrays with their big names stuck on the little canisters - that way everyone gets to see who smokes like a chimney and who acts like a slob. Brilliant! If I may say so myself :)

Trollocs and Trolling

After watching the second season premier of Grimm last night, I was feeling a bit shady til I fell asleep. Then, a few disappointments at work and facing my pet emotional vampires...coupled with my growing insecurity became my little clammy sandwich for dinner. I don't know why I should feel this insecure, I'm way better in almost every aspect I can think of.

Maybe it's just an 'older child' thingie. Where you don't get praise enough and the younger, problematic child gets all the praise and comforting. I'll probably get over it soon, and hopefully before the day ends. I have absolutely no reason to feel insecure, and every reason to feel privileged

Anyway, as far as painting goes, I've added another element to my Verin composition. Trollocs! So far, they're not as detailed yet. But here's a sneak peak.

Kinda looking like a cross between a rat and a boar, and I think I'll continue to depict trollocs this way - as not just from one species of either bird, boar or goat, but as a mix of human+2more species. Hopefully I can do more and not take shortcuts... I have to do 3 more big ones, and a bunch of background trollocs!

New Stuff and Painting One (Part Two)

So far, so good. I've taken some new approaches to my painting style, and it seems that I will always revert back to my style 10 years ago. I'll try hard to flex these point-of-view muscles as much as I can, but as for now I will have to do what feels comfortable.

After sketching the layout, I proceed with some details. As I've often said, I like to put intricacies last, most artists (like those who love comics), start with most details, almost to the point of finishing it off. I kinda jump right in with the layout, coloring first, then applying the details. Sometimes, doing both at the same time.

Bear with me, I've been off painting for more than a decade. Here's the progression...

I noticed that too much detail on faces causes the pixels to merge (unpleasantly) when zoomed out. So here I tried to minimize the facial features - believe me, I've a hard job restraining myself.

Verin Mathwin Painting

Well, I guess I'm a little satisfied. Not too ecstatic about it, but for a first, I'm quite happy with it. By the way, I'm sure all you Wheel of Time fans out there would have recognized the character from the 'plumpness' and colors used. It's Verin Mathwin! Know more about her at: http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Verin_Mathwin

New Stuff and Painting One (Part 1)

Yaaay! I've finally bought my first pen/tablet and I'm so excited to paint - digitally! I think the price was really cheap considering the size, but I'm not quite sure how long it will last since it's one of those lower-end products. I installed it today through my laptop and started sketching right away... given that I hate going through tidbit training and I tend to just jump right in, I started with a large scene and composition.

Okaaay... So I may have gone over the top a little. It's another Wheel of Time scene, and I think it will be well worth it considering this is my first time painting again after, what... a decade?! Anyway, wish me luck!

A Little Depressed with Elaida a'Roihan

Having a moderate case of Seasonal Affective Disorder today. Hopefully that’s just it, and nothing too serious. Feeling a little bit helpless about my future, not having a lot of resources to pull from, unlike so many of my colleagues and friends who have successful family members to turn to for help, or family investments to tap on in the future. Seems so easy for them when everything’s laid out already, all they have to do is check, check, check. Well, as for me… I have to plant things yet, and hope they grow. Well, so far the things that grow have become stagnant, and I’ve very few choices to make.

Anyway, I wouldn’t want to depress anyone else, so I’m saturating myself with happy food for the rest of the day. A double dose of coffee, chocolate doughnuts, and later some hot cocoa. I’m planning to fix the garden today, that always makes me happy, but only if it doesn’t rain anymore, and only when people start to leave the office. I should probably print out my Sketchup dream house, and draft it in the moleskin.

Unfortunately an email (one of many) came up again for more revisions on our projects. Maybe I’ll just delegate this and forget about it for the meantime.  I’m beginning to love these sarcastically hilarious quotes from my friend’s FB wall, and I think this one is appropriate:

Haha. True, true. 

To get my blood flowing a bit and refocus this stream of sad energy into a raging waterfall of activity, I'm posting another Aes Sedai. The one everyone loves to hate. Elaida.

Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, The (Usurping) Amyrlin Seat from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series