Tag Archives: character design

Is Art Ever Done?

digital drawings, process, sketches, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Japanese_blossom_sml

No.

Simple answer to a complicated question…I know

The longer answer is this. An art piece’s completion is completely subjective. It could potentially be done when I cock my head to the right squint my eyes and dim the lights. It can be done, when I’m tired. It can be done when I’m hungry.  It can be done if there is a deadline. But wait…What if there is no dead line? What if the piece is a personal project. Is there an inner deadline?

Yes there is.

It is when you die!

Just kidding.

I’m sure dead artists wouldn’t agree.

I don’t think I ever really complete a drawing. Sometimes it just clicks with that final line. Sometimes it’s missing something edgy and then I go to sleep and wake up with an idea, like adding a creepy insect. At times I begin a drawing and put my wacom pen down knowing I need to give it some final touches the day after. Sometimes it feels like I worked on it for too long. I sucked most of the juice out of it. I ate it up and enjoyed it like a fresh luscious apple and now I want to take the final bite and relax.

I may come back to it after a few days and realize to my surprise that the apple had a few more bites to it after all. But by then, like an old apple. It just needs to be left alone. There are plenty of new apples waiting for me.

So I’m never really done.

And that’s alright.

Japanese_blossom_black_hair

Maybe she should have black hair.

Bedtime Warrior

digital drawings, process, , , , , , , , , ,

 

Bedtime_warrior_CU

It’s 21:55. She reads them five books. Fetches two glasses of water. Walks the big one to the bathroom and stroks the little one’s back. She soothes and sings and plays and cooes and begs and chants and prays and finally…Finally.

Finally!

They fall asleep. Children are so adorable. And even more so when they are sleeping. She sits herself down in front of the TV or a book or a blank wall and chills for a moment.

It has been a looooong day.

But!

a subtle noise alerts her attention. It comes from the upper bedroom. Tiny, swooshing, hardly even there, brushing against the carpet, tiptoeing of two pairs of naughty naughty feet?!

Impossible.

Bedtime_warrior_Long

I made a portrait for my great and talented Friend . She’s an amazing, super creative, talented and funny mother of two similarly amazing daughters. Her name’s Avital and she has a great blog and a beautiful collection of illustrations.

I looked for a color pallet for reference and found A portrait of Empress Maria Alexandrovna by Franze Xaver an amazing 19 century German Artist. I loved his soft color schemes and gentle style.

I was also inspired by Serge Biralut aka Papaninja. A contemporary artist who creates the funniest sexiest images I have ever seen.

Bedtime_warrior_Detail

Bedtime warrior sketch

Here’s a wip

Here’s the beautiful lady herself…See some resemblance? Maybe a little? I  hope so.

Bedtime_warrior_ref

 

Antler Beast

digital drawings, process, sketches, , , , , ,

It’s a deer…It’s a beetle…It’s a giraffe?…No!

It’s a Gireetledeer Camelopardalis from the Cervidae family.

Yes it is. Thank you Wikipedia.

Antler_Creature

He makes a few appearances in the story I’m writing. He has no name.

Antler_Creature_CU

Double pupils to see better in the dark 🙂

 

Beast_Making

Here’s a little gif to show the process

Refereces

Beautiful beast references.

Eve time

digital drawings, process, sketches, , , ,

It’s dark and so is Eve.

All I wanted to do on a lazy autumn Saturday was to draw like old times . It’s been awhile and my sketch book had a few last pages. My daughter was kind enough to play on her own for a few minutes at a time. Between a batch of minutes here and there I sketched Eve. A character on my work in progress novel.

Eve

Last night I painted her in Photoshop and became so engaged in the process, I ended up staying up until 2 AM.

Putting her on paper in color or rather in monochrome was so helpful. Imagine getting a description of what someone ate for dinner. Then imagine being served that dinner. Two different experiences. That’s how it felt for me. Describing vs illustrating. I know her better now.

I’ll write her better now, which means I must draw all the characters in my book as soon as possible. There are a few more and more coming.

I want to illustrate all the creatures for that matter.

And all the main scenes.

And write in between.

Yeah…I could do that.

Eve_CU

Can you guess some of her characteristics?

Eve_making

Aora’s begining

digital drawings, process, sketches, , , , , , ,

Aora's_portrait

Aora's_portrait_CU

 

Aora's_begining

 

Around 21:30 the house fell silent. Nothing is more pleasing to me lately than those quiet hours. I used to be so tired in the past. I guess I slept enough for a while. these days I’m vibrant as a vampire when the city rests.

It was time for some fun, but not in the bloody sense. Just geeky stuff.

Beginnings are so exciting. Aren’t they?. The middle is a bit muddled. So this post is refreshing for me in the sense that I found it so pleasing to quickly illustrate this character. To enjoy the beginning of the creative process which depicts the actual contrast of what it represents.

I’m in the midpoint of a novel I’m working on. half done and half more to go. The main character is Aora. She is a work in progress. It’s so fun to describe a character in words, when I’m so used to describing in color and form.

This girl is inspired by the looks of the beautiful Marina Nery. I sketched her in pencil first, just to get the feel of her. Color was done in Photoshop. The process began in a speed painting in my standards. by 23:30, 2 hours later I was happy to put my Wacom pen down and complete a “wip” version of my main character’s face. A few weeks later I came back and sat down to give her more attention and more detail.

This is a little sneak preview of my inner world. I love books. I love getting wrapped in a good story. I love science fiction. I love fantasy. I love dystopia. I love evolving with new ideas. I love a good journey. i’m on a journey here, venturing into a whole new realm.

There will be more work in progress art of this yet to be completed book as it comes along.

It’s gonna be fun.

Aora's_begining_sketch

 

 

 

BubbleGum Character Macot

3D, digital drawings, process, sketches, , , , , , , , , ,

bubble_girl_sad

Designing character Mascots is a long winding process. The race to the finish line is full of sketching and going back and forth.

bubble_girl_confused

The brief can be an endless list of character traits , style, properties or what ever the client has a vision for. The end result is symbolizing the brand successfully. The process is the incubation period and the result is a cute little baby mascot. All shiny and new, ready to represent and reflect what it’s company stands for.

lovable_baloon_from_the_sky

Sketching the first shapes and colors, the inspiration was from water creatures and balloons.

bubblegum_sketches_version_02

And then after a bit more exploring and doodling. It looks like we found her.

bubblegum_sketches

And then we get more specific and add variations, expressions and poses.

bubblegum_mascot_blog

After the emotions are approved, comes the time to bring in the big guns. Maya and Photoshop combined. There you have it. A new Mascot is born!

bubble_girl_love

I hope you like the process of my bubble girl. I sure had a blast.