Graver

Alright... it's been a bit longer then I first anticipated (I think I was planing on having this thing done last night

Either way, I have an update... the first layer of color has been applied and, with all due luck, I should be able to have it wrapped up by the end of Wednesday night / Thursday morning.

I'm trying something new and incorporating colored pencils into the mix and, so far, really loving the results. The Imperial has, so far, been the only thing to receive the colored pencils. Also, I think my scanner might be dying as so many subtle colors are missing in the scan... honestly, it looks much better in person

Oh ya, and here's that link thing what not who ever shibidy doohicky lota hum... link... thing, yup... HERE!@!!!!!!!!!#@#@@#!!@!

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*the voices of a heavenly choir swell in the background as a shaft of golden light illuminates the Fan Art and Screen Sots forum.*

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Ummm... Have you been drinking again Graver? Hasn't anyone told you to be careful when you log into Pinnacle Server?



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Nope, not at all today... ya know, that might be the problem... I'll get right on fixing that!

*looks up at Starchasm* Ah, yay, that's my personal artwhore, keeping on the ball there... but I couldn't help but notice, yer not showing enough cleavage. The public demands cleavage... and sparklers!

And to Seppy, welcome to the art boards where not most of the best hang out, but the best *the voices of a heavenly choir swell in the background as a shaft of golden light illuminates the Fan Art and Screen Sots forum.* Damned heavenly choir with there noise and lights... always interrupting me, damn them *shakes fist at heavenly choir*

Either way, I'd be more then happy to take on your project. You can check out my DA site at graver13.deviantart.com to get a good idea as to what I do. There will be a bit of a wait if you do want to go with me, but quality takes time and all of that. Just PM me or email me at graver_13x@yahoo.com if your interested.

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Wow, How do you work so fast? This is going to look soooo good when you are done.

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Me, work fast?! That has got to be the first time anyone has ever said that in relation to my work, you've got to be on some serious medications there ... but I'll take the complement

Either way, thanks all for the help and critiques on the face there. I ended up just completely redoing it today as, Star was right, it was a bit too prominent and it might have remained so even if I made it all fuzzy the way I like to do So, I shrunk her down a bit, and in redrawing the face, she came together much better. However, I will not be adding Cape Cod to the globe. It's my world and if I don't want cape Cod to be mucking it all up, then I don't have to so .

Either way, I should be updating you guys with some painting on it before the nights over

Yup... it was a damned beautiful movie!

But about the art... loved the illustrations and the little story layout. Excelent stuff!

Gah! Get back, goat, don't eat that, no... NO! noooooooooo....

Eh, oh well, that was just the pose sketch. I got the pencils mostly for the most part finished. As usual, took me a bit longer then I had first thought. Either way, I'll be starting on the painting of it tommarow.

The Imperial: Pencils

And I'm glad you all liked my... pose sketch... seriously, it as just a pose sketch... this is a lot closer to how it's gonna look ya know

Edit: Oh, and Starchasm, what I was doing last night was waiting for Imperial to get back to me and working on the posses for Battle-Angel The nerve insinuating that I up and slacked off... I tell ya...

YAY! #45 when I checked! You beat those kids, you beat 'em good!

Alright, so I took a couple of days off to visit Starchasm while she's in-state so that kind of slowed production down a bit, but I'm back and working like a coked up monkey now.

As mentioned earlier, currently on the chopping block is that immortal tank of a man with the burden of time weighing heavy on his immovable shoulders, the Imperial. I have the pose down for him here and should have the pencils completed in a few hours (keeps fingers crossed).

I think I done told ya i love the new chibi set, but just in case I haden't, I love the new Chibi set! And I would have to agree that the Rowr one is way too damned cure... *in a haunted tone* there's something about the eyes..

Wow, nice to see this one finally finished, and it turned out great! I love Megumiko's style of coloring / painting there... it has a very colored pencil like quality that I love and the color choices are great!

Yup, I'd agree, it really did turn out quite nice!...

if you can get past her tinny itsy-bitsy eyes

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Could almost be like one of those motiviational posters but I can't think of a catch phrase :P

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"To reach the summit, patience, perseverance, and... oh my god, HEADS UP!"

or

"Patience and perseverance are the tools needed to reach the summit, but powers of pure darkity darkness are needed to hold on to it"

or, if your into a pessimistic work place that will keep the wage slaves in line

"No matter how high you climb, there's always someone higher waiting to knock you back down"

And in all seriousness,

DAMN FINE FIX THERE! To echo the choir, the dark miasma effects are a GREAT addition. They add great visual interest, dirty things up, and tie in AoT's powerset. That and they are just beautiful!

And TA's pose is much better. The more exaggerated perspective on him is excellent and really hammers home the feeling of death from above Love his boots too, them boots was made for stompin'!

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Think it is the eye crease that is not lining up that people are seeing.

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Yup. The eye to the left is not tilted as far forward as the eye to the right. It's in the right spot, it just doesn't have the tilt that the main eye does.

However, nice fixes and a great drawing so far. The claws look WAY better and the hair is great. All in all, great work so far. Good luck with that eye thing though... those damned ocular globes can drive one insane

Thanks for the complements, guys! I'm glad it went over so well... I was a touch worried now and again about it

And, PMD, again, you are dead on. This piece didn't come out the way it did despite the problems with the boards, but because of those problems, it came out this way -the flames in particular. I wouldn't have been able to paint them the way I had if I weren't painting on gesso. The non-absorbent surface enabled me to literally smear the paint out with my fingers and then take a wet brush and smooth out part of it, giving them that ribbon like look. I'm not sure how I would have tackled them on the regular boards, but it definitely would have taken a different technique and would have come out looking different. I don't know if they would have looked better or not, but definitely different.

I'm really glad the background is so well liked... that was the part I was most iffy on in the whole piece. But, ya, all in all, this piece turned out the way it did because of the difficulties faced. It's just another example of the fact that bad things aren't necessarily bad things.

*cries*

Ya... brushes... ya... those are the supplies I was taling about... ya *hides the fixatif, glue, and industrial stringht permanant markers behind his back* ya... hehhehehehe :drool:

Hum, lets see, shameless ego has put Juggs in there , and then there's Xanatose, Killer Whale, Roxstar, that Assassin guy with he staff (who was he again? ;p), Celtic Bolt, and... and... gah, some guy with long hair... damn. And yer from Virtue... and you left out The Ascendant? Hell, random NPC's still talk about him

And I would try to hype my own character, but, ya... she's so low rung, about the only press she gets is as a reason why the regulations regaurding hero licenses needs to be looked at and retooled

Alright, here's the finished (hopefully) version of MysticFire.

MysticFire

I had a lot of issues with the media this time, but I think, in the end, it all worked out for the best. I would say more, but I already commented the hell out of it on the DA site and if you are wanting more to read, well, there's plenty more there for you to read

Oh, and PMD, just so you know, I didn't get into art for the art... it's all for the art supplies... mmmmmmm art supplies... :drools:

Edit: damned art supplies... almost forgot to give y'all a heads up on who's next in the ol' queue. Up next, we have The Imperial as well as, ever so slowly coming along, Battle-Angel (a WIP for her shall be posted soon...). After which shall be the ever playful Dragonberry. To all patiently standing in line, I again want to thank you for your patience and apologize for the magazine girl falling over dead. I'll have a replacement for her soon and you will get your reading material and snacks. Again, thank you.

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Now you are adding artists to your phone list? Daaang

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Shoot, I got his number... does that make me leet too?

Oh, and DJ, damned fine piece! The details are GREAT, especially on TA. I can't wait to see the improvements you have in the works as, I'd agree, in the grander scheme of your body of 3d work, it's not your best (though that still makes it great by most standards). Foo made a good point as one thing that might be dragging it down a notch is the fact that it looks too perfect... the city looks perfect, both characters look pristine and mathematically perfect... and that always comes off as a touch stiff and too precalcualted. I would try to offer up some suggestions on fixes, but not only do I not really have any (the 3d realm is way far out of my domain... I would have no idea where to start ) but it sounds as if you and TA already have a new battle plan in mind. I really can't wait to see the tweaks! It's a great piece, but coming from you, it can be even better!

It's also been too long since this board was graced by your work Good to see some new stuff!

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Odd, a few entries got deleted. Anyways, I'm back and will have new art and photos from abroad to show.

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Ya... that was my fault. I said something about welcome back and being envious of you for being able to take such a trip. I realize that was bad of me, very very bad. I'm sorry for that and it won't happen again.

So... no welcome back from me and I don't want to go to Europe. Also, the fact that you had, what I would guess to be one helluva awesome trip is of no concern to me what so ever. I don't care to see the paintings that you will hopefully post soon either... so, um... don't hurry up and post them... NOW! So, um, ya... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

HOLY FLYING FISH STICKS! I can't believe what I'm about to type. It... it's just plain crazy. I don't know how this could have happened but, I just noticed that, oddly enough, despite all the problems with the board and all, that I am actually, OMG, almost done!

Here's the work on MysticFire so far. I'd have to say that, to date, it has to be my most saturated piece... a combination of the watercolor not soaking into anything and the fixatif I guess. Look back, I'd have to say I think the gesso + fixatif option that I took is a damned good one. I have never been able to get this far on a piece in such little time. I will definitely have it finished out by Sunday night! It even has a nice shine like it's some kind of glossy print out too... I'm really digging this. Like I said, we tend to fuss and [censored] about change, but a lot of times it's a good thing... and I was really needing things to get shaken up for me again.

Oh, and Rowr, giving up was simply not an option for me. I have a very strict budget and the need to get these out in a timely fashion. That meant I couldn't by new board... I had to find a way to make what I had work. It's a good thing though as I would have never tried this combination which worked out quite nicely in my opinion (I hope I'm not delirious).

And Serrate, as to your questions... I need the boards to paint on... they is the surface that the watercolor and ink goes on. And they don't wear out or expire (the are actually supposed to be exceptionally durable, having a pH factor of 6.5 - 7.0, and due to the epoxy resin in them, they are supposed to be impervious to insects, mildew, mold, won't yellow, etc). I simply ran out of the old stock as I had painted on all of them

Well, looks like I should be posting a finished version of MysticFire late Sunday night, so keep yer peeper peeled! yay, and then I might be able to actually log in again! But now I sleep before I fall over... since I'm having some difficulties typing with these nubs... *holds up his large round fingerless hands) THESE NUBS!!!!!!!!! NUBS!!!!!!!!

Wow, nice job! Great line work and a nice fix on the hat too Is it too late to suggest just one little thing? Because I did notice that the lines for the stripes on her stockings on her right leg (our left) are a little off on her thigh. On the thigh, you might want to curve them a bit more on the underside of her leg. As they are right now, it kind of flattens out her thing instead of showing it's volume. It's really just two lines there on her thigh... if you can get them to end at about a 90 degree angle from where they began, you'll have one heck of a killer piece. As it is, it's great! I totally love it!

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RAWR! <^_^> Ink version of my latest pencils! I'm pretty proud of it; though I'm a little annoyed at the eyes <;.;> They're drawn 'ok'; but they're too low and too small... not totally happy with their shape either.

But I'll let everyone else tell me what they think <,< When I finish; the color version will get its own thread.

Yumii - Inked!

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Um... your gonna have to define "too small" because I apparently just don't understand the phrase at all. And too low? I'm totally not seeing that either. Did you put the right link up?

Her eyes seem to be in about the right place and if your were gonna move them, I'd say down before up. If they were raised any farther, she's have no room for her brain up top. It's a great drawing... about the only problem I can see with it has nothing to do with her eyes; it's her head. Her jaw should go up and towards the ear where her neck meets her head. As it stands right now, her head would need to be scoched over to the right a touch or her jaw should go up before going into the hair. At the moment, she has a touch of the boble-head syndrome, but that's it.

Good drawing so far... and I have no clue what you're going on about with the eyes... again, is that the right link?

Okay... finally, I'm back on track again! It took me some experimenting, but I found that freezing the board and then giving it a coat of gesso seems to have done the trick. It's a bit different but has definitely opened up some new doors for me to explore here.

I spent most of the evening / night so far playing with how the watercolor interacted with the gesso and where I might be able to go with that. This is just the experiment that I had done and is not the actual piece I'm working on... though I did take this time to figure out what and where I could go with the background. One thing that I'm excited to see what and where it will go is the fact that, on gesso, I can pretty much pull the color right back off with a wet brush and some cotton swabs. Not only can I now integrate the characters and the backgrounds a lot better but I can tackle these more like paintings then like colored drawings.

Either way, I should be posting some actual progress on MysticFire very soon. Stay tuned!

How in the hell'd I miss this one yesterday? Damn great work there guys! I loved the pencil work (I always do, there's just something about those lines) and the colors turned out great! very cold feeling.

GREAT work!