An Ageless Question

Recently, I've been wondering about my style, and although it hasn't solidified yet, I think I managed to establish a certain 'feel' to my pieces. Realizing I'm painting mostly Aes Sedai, I thought that I might as well perfect the ageless face. Since starting digital painting, I've finished four characters that are supposed to be ageless - Verin Mathwin, Siuan Sanche, Bera Harkin, and Kiruna Nachiman. So far, the nearest to the ageless look seems to be Siuan Sanche, which kinda makes me not so satisfied.

So I browsed through different approaches to digital painting, some are rough, while others are extremely polished, so I settled for something in between. Having a piece and a character in mind, I started a new style, with 'agelessness' in mind. Here's what I came up with:

My bf actually helped point out that (in photos of ageless women we browsed online),

the agelessness had something to do with the eyes - they were creased, sad, and almost droopy, while the rest of the face was unaffected. I pointed out that botox helps, and even plastic surgery - causing that tiny curl in the lip, a little cat-like in overdone cases. We both agreed that the cheeks were a little too emphasized and rounded.

My perception may be a little distorted, but I do think this unfinished portrait somehow hits near the mark. I sure do hope I can repeat it, as I suck when it comes to repeating works (hence I did not become a comic book artist). As only one of four characters in a piece I'm planning, I'm a tad bit scared to finish it.

Two Aes Sedai

I'm not entirely sure what's going on these past few weeks, but it seems things are coming up to the surface. There's definitely something to rock the house a little, as a household member leaves for a job overseas, and I think after that, things will get a little hairy. Having the office in the same house I live in kinda makes things tight and bumpy.

In other news, my last aunt on my mother's side recently died. She was the eldest of five and the fourth to pass away - which leaves my mother the last remaining of the siblings. I was a little closer to my Aunt than most, but not as close as my sister was, so she was really devastated. My mom and I kinda accepted the fact that she may go any day because she was already getting weak and very old - she was 83. I'm deeply saddened that she had gone during the night, hopefully peacefully in her sleep, but I'm more saddened by the fact that she and my mom had been together the longest, and now, my mom is all alone. I know that so many, including myself, are here for her, but nothing can compare to the love that my mom had for her sister. My Aunt Elena never married, but she had been there for my mother for so many times, it adds to the sadness that my mom never had the chance to say goodbye.

I'm dedicating this Wheel of Time Fan Art to her, and my mom. Two Aes Sedai - who have passed power among themselves. As I hear from spoilers in A Memory of Light, one of them died as well.

Part 1: Sketching

Part 2: Basic Coloring

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.

Aes Sedai: Verin Mathwin

It appears I couldn't stop myself from adding a background. Whenever I peek at this painting, something seems to be missing. So here, I've added some village houses and a few scraggly pines. I think it sort of completes the picture, adding a sense of scale into it.

Verin Mathwin in Emond's Field

Here's a close-up of Verin again:

Verin Mathwin

Well, to say the least, I'm quite satisfied for now. I think I can have a good night's sleep tonight, ending my  week-long vacation. I didn't go out of the house except for buying stuff, and instead I just cleaned and worked on the garden (which I would post about one of these days!).

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!