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Ok, so I reverted the size of the piece back to how it was. I think it's for the best... though I worry that without a sky-scape in the back, that I will detract from the piece. I might end up having to switch it from landscape to portrait orientation later on in the piece and paint in the surrounding mountains and sky. But I'll see how I go on! I would prefer to avoid that, because this orientation ensures that Evelyn is the prime focus of the piece. Anyway. This is the sketch, done. I'll lay down some basic colours next and see how it looks.
Today hasn't been a particular productive day in terms of art or anything else! But I have managed to transfer the sketch I made of the castle into a digital lineart (on a different layer to the sketch of Evelyn and her horse, I will erase the overlap when I decide on final positioning!). It's neater, more geometrically accurate, and I've included some perspective distortions in it so hopefully it will sit well within the final picture.
I have also changed the size of the canvas, because it really didn't feel right as it was... I'm not sure though, I feel like I still haven't quite nailed the size/shape of the canvas... hmm.... Might need to take a breather to re-evaluate this piece. Anyway, hope you like the lineart so far.
So I designed a basic outlook for the castle/keep for the background... It's the castle at Arlyn (fictional place from my book) where Evelyn (one of the main characters) says goodbye to her father.
I looked around at lots of different places to reference for this, but in the end the one most close to how I picture the castle turned out to be Raby Castle, which is in County Durham I believe. I drew some of it freehand, and some of using a ruler just to make straighter lines! I only drew in one window as it's a basic sketch for now, though I think I will tweak the design slightly. Think I will enlarge and move the door too. It doesnt fit as well into the design as I thought it would sat there. I took inspiration from the door from a beautiful local church.
You can see how it fits in to the drawing as well. I will re-line it in Photoshop to make the lines both neater and darker, and to cut out some of the noise from the scan I took from my sketchbook. Wish I had picked a bigger sketchbook to draw this in - I ended up running out of room! I need to extend the building to the left.
Oh goodness me. Horses.... are REALLY hard to draw! I used to draw horses (and foxes) all the time when I was a kid! I got pretty good, actually. But that was... *cringe* over a decade ago so I'm 100% rusty!
I will be glad when I can get some colour down on this piece, because that's when humans really start to look like humans, and hopefully horses will actually start to look like horses! Still got the background to lay down in sketch form though. Hmm. Just trying to decide about layout. Drawing the bakcground required designing a fort.... which I can't say I've had any experience with! I need to pin down my vague ideas. :) It's going well so far though. I am enjoying this piece. It's always lovely to draw something that I have had in my head for a while. :-)
This is a work in progress of what I plan to be my next "big" picture, a.k.a. one I'll go all the way on, painting and everything, or so I plan to at this stage. This is a scene from my book. When I was writing it, and when I read back over that particular bit I just see this particular still image really vividly. The colours, the lighting... I have, of course, no hope of capturing what my minds eye sees, but I'll give it my best shot. :) It's a chance to attempt movement, horse anatomy, buildings, perspective, composition, and atmospheric lighting all at once! Frankly, that's quite scary! Wish me luck, haha.
I've wanted for some time to make a small head/shoulders bust of a dragon (out of polymer clay). But I just can't seem to get the plans right! This was me having another failed attempt. I don't know why I can't draw a really nice dragon head. So back to the drawing board with this one. I'm debating as to whether I should skip the planning stage and go straight to sculpting?
The dwarf is just a random doodle I felt like drawing! ImagineFX magazine had a great dwarf drawing in the Christmas issue which I had just read at the time.
So yes. Random sketches, enjoy. Hopefully I will post something better soon, eh? :-P
I didn't feel like doing more than one gesture sketch this day (Wednesday 7th December), so I spent time developing the shading instead. It's a hand, cut off by the edge of the page because I'm an idiot and didn't leave enough room to develop it! Hands are something I need significant amounts more practice on though, that's for sure!
I recently passed the 40,000 pageview mark on DeviantART, and two people caught the kiriban. This is the first of the two kiribans I've done art for (the second is to come). It was based on the first persons sketch (that person being this person!), which I've lined and coloured in. I picked this sketch of his because the feeling behind it really came through on the sketch. I thought it was lovely. :) Ooh it was nice to do cell shading, I think it's years since I have done!
Credit for the lovely sketch must go to : Tom Kiely
I'm alive! Ok, so assignments aren't quite done yet but the end is in sight. Anyway, I decided I should really start getting back into basics, and experiment with some gesture sketches. So hopefully this will become a regular thing. I hope to be doing a couple every few days as and when I can fit them in. I spent 10 minutes on each of these, but I definitely aim to cut that down significantly with practice. Hopefully over time I can become a pro at creating gesture sketches and poses! :-) This is the site I used for this set of gesture sketches, it's really good! http://lovecastle.org/draw/ Enjoy. :-)
P.s. I am unsure whether to watermark these gesture sketches. They're not exactly a big deal, I know, but eh. I can't decide whether it's still worth it to. I'll see how it goes for now.
To those who wonder why my art blog has fallen silent of late, I'm still alive!
It's November, and thus, university assignments own my soul (send help!). I don't even have time to write my book, let alone sit down and draw. It's very depressing! :-|
I hope to be back with a vengeance in December, doing a lot more writing and getting some sketches penned out to share with the world. But until then, if you don't see me, you know why!
Take care, all. :)
Hmm, well I've finished this, so now it's just subject to client's final approvement. :)
I'm quite happy with this. I really enjoyed making the background in this painting session. :)
These are a few edits that were required by the client.
Ok, so this is practically finished apart from final touches now... :)
Worked on Lilith's hair here.
Have worked on Lilith's face this time!
Here I've spent time ageing Diana... so I hope this has worked. I've added a lot of hand drawn texture to the skin, wrinkles and folds (subtle and not so subtle).
I've worked on Diana's face & skin, which are pretty much done now apart from the lips and some final definitions. I'll work on her red robes next but first... it's lunch time! It would be great if I could get Diana finished off today, actually! :-)
The next two WIPs from a commission I'm working on of two original characters (who are twins). Basic colours, and then work on Diana's hair. Actually really happy with the hair and enjoyed doing it, which makes a change! :-)
The start of a commission of some original characters, identical twins. The preliminary gesture sketch for the pose, and also the detailed sketch. I had better get this approved as is, actually, before I continue with the colouring!
Another hour and a half; done 9 hours on this now. Considering whether or not to redo the hair. I just see her with quite wavy hair, really... it's just not quite right. Unsure if I will have the time to amend it.. Anyway, enjoy. Worked on the outfit (except the billowing white sleeve).
Another hour on this doing some work on the hair. I'm really not satisfied with the hair. Find it very hard to draw and I really haven't done it well here so I will have to come back to it at some point although I haven't finished the first painting of it yet. Hmm. Frustrating... Anyway, that's all for today. I will have to get a move on if I want this done by Thursdays book signing!
Another hour and a halfs work on this (so now a total of 6 and a half hours work on this piece) - texturing the skin with a dappling brush and doing those lovely eyes! Have had to do some anatomical corrections - I flip the canvas occasionally to pick up such errors (when you flip the canvas, small errors you wouldnt normally see stick out like a sore thumb!). Not sure what to do next... hair or outfit!
Erm... I wish I could show you some more steps inbetween this one and WIP 2but to be honest I've just been absorbed in this I've lost track of the progress made and haven't been able to put it down!
This is another 3 hours of work, on the face as you can see, bringing the total time now spent drawing this up to 5 hours; still a long way to go. I am having so much fun drawing this though, it's just... amazing to be able to paint someone I see in my head and it actually coming out how it's supposed to. I have such a clear image when I think of Arya as I read the books.. it's odd! I also feel like this has reopened the floodgates for my inspiration, and I feel so enthusiastic about this piece like I haven't about my art in a while. I'd also like to note I'm not using a reference for this... I'm just trying to put down what's in my head.. So thus far I'm pretty proud of it. Can you tell I'm not using a reference?
So I get to meet my favourite male author next Thursday for a talk and book signing! I am beyond excited! Naturally of course, I have to do some fanart...! So this is how I have alwasy pictured Arya Svitkona from his Inheritence Cycle when I read the book... :-) I actually really like this roughly coloured version. I think when you refine an image you often lose that potency of the sketch, that raw feeling of what someone is like. So.. I hope to retain that but I know that it will be hard. Anyway. Yes, I am alive, yes I am drawing again, and yes this drawing will be addictive haha. :)
I've been trying to spend a bit more time drawing on the go lately, in a small A6 sketchbook. This is a quick drawing of me and my bf, which I did in the past week. I quite like it.. I'm no good at drawing a realistic self portrait (no idea why) but this seemed much easier. It was lovely to pick up my markers and colour pencils again though mainly. I've also included the part completed one as it has a nice simplicity about it, I think. :)
So the last tattoo was for my boyfriend, this one is for his brother. Haha. :) Enjoy.
I actually designed this back in February but for some reason never posted it anywhere. This was a design I did for my boyfriend for his next tattoo. Might do a colour version, not sure. I think he would prefer black and white. Please don't use this, it's obviously a personal piece. I wrote the first four lines of the verse myself, he picked the last two from a quote he liked. Enjoy. :)
The finished version. Original DeviantART post here!
This is a repaint of my Masquerade piece. Needed a bit of a breather from Georgina and the Dragon! Still far from perfect but looks nicer in my opinion. :) Original piece is here.
I've refined the background here! Another hour - 19 and a half hours up to now. Wow, its adding up! You can compare this to WIP3 for the basic background. Much nicer now, methinks!
Another hour... Wings done and some of the other markings. :)
Another half an hour, quite impressed with how quickly I've got these scales done! (17 and a half hours so far)
Another hour and a half on this; total tally 17 hours so far. Still quite a way to go! But as you can see I'm making headway with the scales. :) Theyre actually quite theraputic to draw! Theyre not ideal (ie not quite how I imagined them) but I'm still liking how its turning out. :) I actually lost all of last nights work as Photoshop crashed so... that really gutted me. I feel like I cant trust my darling Photoshop anymore. :( It was lagging tonight even as it saved the files into jpeg format so I was nervous, but it didnt crash again, phew... gonna have to take it easy with such a huge file size perhaps!
Another three hours, so up to 16 hours now... I've shaded the dragon's hide. Now I'm adding scale detail and also refining things like claws, etc. I am too tired to work on this anymore today so I will come back to it tomorrow, now. :-) I'm sad that I've only been able to do this this weekend, but unfortunately for drawing, it's been pretty busy! I have Friday off work so I am determined to finish it by then though.
13 hours done on this so far... I didnt quite manage to get Georgina finished tonight but I've got pretty far at least! :) The armour was hard to do - I really dont know how to draw that... But I had fun making her tunic all dirty haha. This was really theraputic... cant wait to get back to it tomorrow :)
Up to just under 11 and a half hours on this now. I'm hoping to get Georgina painted totally tonight though that may be a bit ambitious! :)
Another half an hours work last night (yes it took me half an hour to paint that teeny bit of chain mail lol. Told you it was time consuming!).... Making a grand total of 10 hours so far!! It's scary that this is so nowhere near finished haha. I long to paint more on this tonight but unfortunately I dont have the time. Fingers crossed I can put at least a good hour down on this tomorrow night though. :)
Another hours work on this. Chainmail is very time consuming to paint!
I painted another hour to get to WIP 4, working on the skin. Then I have spent a further hour and a half on the rest of the skin and the hair. Up to a whopping 8 and a half hours on this so far and I'm nowhere near finished!
Next I want to paint the chainmail - I can't wait for that! :D I'm really happy with how this is turning out, thus far. :-)
