Forces of the Light

Having identified my light source (upper right), I proceeded to add more highlights, even ahead of time.
This way, I can see which parts are given focus to when exposed to the light, which of course would lead to either details or corrections. For example is Egwene's (ok, there I identified her) sleeves. The bell sleeves would have to be toned down a bit as they look a little of a cross between candy and silk. Might add some last minute embroidery there.

I wanted the background not too dark, as the scene is in some time later in the day, but with clouds quickly forming to loom over the city. I must admit, I first planned to paint a snapshot of the city, but I'm not too confident with my cityscapes so I didn't go there. Instead, I just added some different hues to the sky, something I haven't done before, and I'm happy it turned out the way I wanted without too much strokes.

I also added a thin darkening of the opposite side of the highlights, which I think makes the effect more realistic.

So far, so good. Still got minute details to do like accessories, hands and maybe embroidery. I thought of having banners in the background so create that dramatic wind, but we'll have to see as I might overdo it.

Aes Sedai Support

Been working on the three background characters for a time now, and I decided to complete each one's figure and clothing, as opposed to them being hidden by the foreground. Also, in the course of using the new style, I found it quite clean - in fact, too clean for my taste. So I roughed it up a bit, added some ruggedness to the characters - especially their hair, after all they're in a windy area.

I couldn't resist adding highlights before hand, just to see where things were going.

Hid the main character for the meantime as I finish off everyone's clothes. While doing so I added highlights putting in mind where the light was coming from. I think it's a little dirtied up now, much to my preference. Will have to see what would happen after I finish the foreground and the background.

Of course no hands yet - I like to put them last :)

A New, but Traditional Style

It's strange that a certain scene in the Wheel of Time series that feels so boring is compelling me to paint it. Maybe it's the characters who do nothing but talk, plan and think on top of a building, but for me it's probably the feeling of 'acceptance' of one character's leadership, despite the age and experience gap.

This blog contains many spoilers, especially for people who have not yet advanced in the books. So I'll leave some details out, but I'd probably name the characters once I finish the piece, or near completing it.

I looked through various painting tutorials, and although they're methodically done, the pieces seem to achieve more than mine could in such a short time. So I tried changing my style, and opened my mind to learn what other digital artists have to offer. Here's a little of the process...

1. I did the traditional way of digital painting (again!), which is completing as much pencil as possible.

2. I colored the parts slowly and flatly. However, I couldn't resist painting faces, so yes I jumped a little back and forth.

3. Found out that painting faces the traditional way was soooo much easier!

4. Added the main character - here you can see I first painted her flat.

5. I learned that to paint correct light, an object must be taken as reference in the light of choice. So in normal light, the least amount would be the darkest shadows. Then second is the brightest highlights.
On average are the lesser shadows and highlights, while the most amount would be the midtone - the flat colors. It was a revelation to me.

6. Being (quickly) satisfied with the faces, I tried to do clothing so I wouldn't get bored. I first practiced with the leftmost character, using my old style. Surprisingly, I wasn't happy anymore. Then I tried the middle character using the new style - I was quickly impressed!

7. It took half the time to finish the middle character's clothes! I think that I should be redoing the older one's but to get my enthusiasm going, I might try the other characters first. I added a blurred background to get the feel of the atmosphere. I will have to paint that last.

Let's see how well this goes!

If you're interested with the major influence of this style, here's the the link to Mominur Rahman. He posts his tutorials on deviantart.com, and here's his website! Thank you so much, Mominur!

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.

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%.

Chewing Clothing

Ugh, I may have bitten more than I could chew. So far, I've added two warders to help with the fight. I should probably add 1 or 2 more, just to balance things out. Then my nightmare, doing lots and lots of Aiel. I'm still thinking of how I could find an easier way to paint them.

I wanted this battle to remind me of old Kung Fu movies where fight scenes were done with a lot of fabric flashing and folding, that it becomes very dramatic, even to just move a few awkward steps.

Here I added some nice flowing fabric to our Aes Sedai, as we all know, they all love.

Wishy Washy Weaves

I call my way of painting wishy-washy, because of my very fickle pattern of fixing the layout. Obviously there are a lot of changes to the front character, but I think I've remained loyal to the sketch of the second. I do hope that I can get quite content with them this time as I realize that I've still a long way to go.

Is there a shortcut to painting thousands of Aiel? If there is a way, let me know!

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

Silverpike!

Added some 'silverpike' earrings and completed the rest of the stole. Softened some shadows on her face and added some neck details. *sigh* I really need to learn speedpainting.

Sick with Siuan

Got a little sick literally, and by the time I've finished half her shoulder, my nose is already dripping wet. And I thought I've finally gotten all the time to finish her this vacation week. I was planning to do a little plant shopping tomorrow and work on the garden a little more, just in time for Easter. Ah well, let's see what happens tomorrow. Maybe I'll work on Siuan again tomorrow night.

Stretching with Siuan

It's been a while since I was able to post something and I guess it's time to stretch my little fingers a bit once more. I realized that all the characters I paint had something 'significant' happen to them, especially in the last book, and trust me, it's not something I expected in the first place.

Maybe my blog is the unofficial prophecy book!

Siuan Sanche

Obviously, it's Siuan! Siuan Sanche as we know her, was the previous Amyrlin Seat, here in all her ageless mystique. I really tried to achieve that ageless look, where a face makes you second, or triple-guess an age. Moiraine describes the look clearly in her narrative, as an estimation of a twenty year old face quickly causing one to second-guess it as a forty-year-old's.

I wanted to veer away from that Zooey Deschanel look people portray her in, and instead give her latin-inspired features. Her nationality was Tairen - Robert Jordan's version of Spain, or some other latin country. I based most of her features from Jennifer Connelly, with those thick, dark brows, making her eyes so intense. Siuan was described as having a strong face, and an intense blue stare.

Although the books say she didn't have concern over her clothes, I interpret it as 'having no care whether what she wears is beautiful or ugly'. So I added lace, partly because there's a small line in New Spring where she smiles in delight at Anaiya's lacey room, and also because it looks so appropriate to give off a hispanic feel.

I really do hope I can finish this one within the week. But at least I got most of the hard part down. Oh wait... what background?!

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!

Backgrounds are Hard Work!

I showed my unfinished Egwene to my boyfriend and he gave me some nice suggestions on how to improve my little painting. So I took his advice, and it got even better!

I must say, painting the background is hard. Even if they're just clouds and smoke, I really wanted to get a good mix of both drama and realism. Anyway, I still have to view this on the other computer and see how the colors turn out. My laptop's colors are screwed!

Long Weekend with Egwene

It's a long weekend once more as the Palace declared today a holiday. So I finally got some R & R and some more time to work on my Egwene project. Here's how it's coming along:

I've been trying to tone down the colors every now and then, and given that my laptop isn't calibrated, I really can't see if the colors are too intense. I'd really like a dusty look filled with debris and smoke, but I think I'll add that last. And yes, no hands yet! I have a hard time making hands so I'll be making those last ;-)

A Change of Mind

Ok, so as time went by, I kept scrutinizing my sketch of Egwene, and I finally changed my mind about it. Thankfully I did. The old sketch was a bit too rigid, with a weird arm gesture that wasn't really my first intention. I realized I wasn't following my normal thinking process, I was thinking through all the painting tutorials I found on the net. So I erased everything and started anew.

This time, I first made the flow of things, then made a really rough sketch to let the gestures flow with the movement. And I went back to my old habit - coloring without finishing the sketch!

Well, I think I've made a good job of it, as I'm much more satisfied with the progress.

I thought I could use the time-tested process, that sketches and details come first, then colors and highlights come later. I can't! I must paint immediately! Scrap the details, I'm adding highlights right now!

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!

 

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!).

New Stuff and Painting One (Part Five - Final)

Finally! I'm done with my very first digital painting. Although I was first meaning to put in a lot of detail, I think both laziness and exhaustion got the better part of me. Well, I wouldn't want to drain myself so I think I'd just stick with the basics.

Verin Mathwin

Background does seems little plain. Anyway, it's still my first, so I'll be studying how to make better backgrounds in the future. Hey, if you want a copy of this for your desktop, feel free to comment or contact me here, and I'll send you one!

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!