BattleWraith

Here's a rough scribble for Blackberry Thorn's Oni character:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/50955110/

The composition will make more sense in color. The interior portion of the gate will be distorted and hellish, in contrast to the outside.

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He became an idea and "Remember, ideas are bulletproof."

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Well that's not really a Buddhist perspective. Enlightenment transcends the mind and thus ideas. Politically, it doesn't come across as a viable catalyst for social change.

I don't remember this forum becoming a political one, but art often is political. It's just as inapropriate to me to say people can't discuss political imagery here as it is to say they are required to (no that anyone has called for censorship, just saying). As usual, my stance is "if you don't like the content of the thread, simply don't participate in it."

As for the game character....who knows. I think its a provocative design but it's kinda high brow for a callous joke. Doesn't really bother me or interest me enough to ponder the motivation.

The actions of the monk in real life don't make any sense to me from a Buddhist perspective. A central image in many schools of Buddhism is a man (Buddha) saving a child (us; our karma-bound consciousness) from a burning house (existence as we know it). So i guess immolating yourself comes across as ironic. It's a great protest gesture....just don't see how it's supposed to point anyone towards enlightenment. I feel sorry for the copy cat immolations this inspired. The accounts say the monk didn't flinch at all. A master of meditation would likely feel nothing at all. People with lesser ability may not have been so fortunate.

Ok here's the final for Memphis Bill's character, Sanguine Phantasm. I couldn't decide which of these versions I preferred, so I'm just going to throw both out there:

version 1
version 2

Heya, here's a color update of the Memphis Bill's commission. Been really busy lately, so this is coming along more slowly than I had hoped, but should be wrapped up soon.

Sanguine Phantasm Color Update

On a side note, if someone gives you gift art you should acknowledge it unless you want them to regret doing it. I did a piece for someone a while back, took me about a week. After it was done, I posted it online and even sent them the source file. I got no thank you at any point, and there was never any return email even just telling me they got the file. Messages go awry sometimes, but this would've been a lot of awry.

Yup yup freebie.

For a while now I've had issues with the antialiasing of my lines when drawing things on the wacom. I was experimenting with a different kind of brush and came up with this sketch. I liked it, so I went ahead and rendered it out.

Enjoy Buck:
Warfox, probably NSFW due to language

Very nice! Gratz!

Hey, here's a greyscale update. Did some minor changes on Sister Psyche as well:

Greyscale Update

LOL, great reaction in that last frame.

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Okay, yeah, I want critiques, but this is a little too much. No offense, but can you please stop?

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Yup, you got it.

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That's anime proportions... Oh well, live and learn.

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The proportions don't necessarily have anything to do with his hand landing on his crotch. You could easily bend the arm out a bit more and put a bulge on the side of his body to indicate that the hand is there in a pocket.

The majority of anime I saw when I was in Japan is near correct human proportions. The stuff that is really off tends to be aimed at younger children. Shooting for more realistic proportions would help you understand the body better and achieve more dynamic poses.

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I'm debating how to color now... Should I do it shiny, or my old style...?

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Tone down the white. Most importantly, have your highlights correspond to some light source. For example, look at the highlights on his eyes. There's one on the top to the side, one in the liddle of the eye, and then one at the bottom. Realistically speaking, that would indicate a lightsource in the air--up above somewhere, one right in front of him, and then another bright one below. But none of this agrees with the shading on his body, which is very dark, especially near the feet.

But if the staff is going straight down, it means that the hand holding it is behind the foot as well. Doesn't address the crotch issue at all spatially. It would also seem kinda hazzardous for someone with a head that big to slide one foot forward and stick a pole behind it no? Won't he fall over? There isn't really any bend in the legs or waist to indicate the weight shifted forward.

Well the pole appears to be vertical and the bottom is behind his foot. So based on what you've got going here, the hands would be pretty much on the same picture plane. The fact that the knuckles of the hand on the staff are turned towards the front means it's losing volume, not getting bigger.

Then you can look at the width of the wrist going into the pocket. The center mass of my hand is wider and longer than the width of my wrist. So assuming he has something close to human anatomy, that pocket would occupy the space where his groin would be. The size of the hand on the staff supports this. You could always give him a pocket or something off to the side to put the hand, but right now its burrowing towards the center mass of his body (i.e. his crotch).

You know, I just looked at this again and it occured to me that his hand on the staff is really very large compared to the width of his body. So assuming the hand in the pocket is the same size, it would completely cover his crotch. Clicking on the larger image and looking more closely, there does indeed seem to be a large bulge there. Once you think about it, it's kinda suggestive. Is this something you intended?

How to draw comics the Marvel Way.

Yes, that's why I'm commenting on it.

You don't want to use pure white for your highlights. Trying using the layer setting "screen" or something similar. For something like skin, you'd have to have an intense light source to get anywhere near that kind of highlight and the image would be washed out anyway.

Also, try to get your highlights to match the shape of the object. The hand for instance. The highlight is too blobby, it doesn't indicate any particular shape on the surface. The hair highlight is flat and round. It should have streaks to indicate the direction of the hair fibers. Overall, he looks hard, like a porcelain action figure.

Pure white should be used for things that are hard (eg. glass, metal), wet (highlights on the surface of the eye), and/or very slick or shiny (eg. leather, vinyl, etc.). And a little goes a long way.

The darks on the skin are desaturated and a bit coarse, so to me he looks like a caucasian who hasn't bathed in a while.

Lol. Hmmmm...I wonder how I ended up on that slippery slope!

Heya, here's an update for Memphis Bill's piece. Out with generic longbow guy, in with a tangled up Sister Psyche:

Sanguine Phantasm update

I took liberties with the character and gave her a weapon, a rope dart. I actually got to see one used when I lived in Japan, it looked like a huge lead sinker. Anyway I thought it worked with the furtive "drag your victim away" feel of the piece.

Most viewed, favorited, and my personal fave

I spent a lot of time on this one and I'm still happy with how it turned out. Feral Kat/Kitty is my favorite subject to draw and since Katfood inspired me to participate here, this one has sentimental appeal.

Very nice TA!

No I think I posted those sketches in the scrap thread. Was going to try to keep this one more for finished pieces.

Hiya, here's the final version of Dark Ether. I kinda obsessed over this piece..maybe it brought back memories of shadow maul's cone getting nerfed.

Dark Ether

Next up is Memphis Bill.