Sayterra

you know how things come in 3?

currently battling some form of spinal infection. high fever and inflammed sore area on spine. hard to type. miss you all.

and love the drawing <3

Those are some damn yummy pencils... congrats on a verra nice piece.

I apologize for my disappearance and inability to contact folks. I was in a pretty big car wreck, and am still recovering. It still hurts to be on the computer for very long, so I'm trying to catch up on what all you crazy cats have been up to...but it'll take awhile.

And just because I'm weird like that, here's a photo of the car:
Crunch crunch goes the car...

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Grab a magazine or book or comic with human figures doing dynamic stuff, put it in some good light with a light piece of paper and start tracing.

You won't get great results at first, but it will be far from a total loss, and all the while you'll start picking up an instinct for basics of anatomy and form. Once you get enough of an instinct for a drawing groove, pick up some basic books that talk about concepts like deconstructing subjects into basic forms (spheres, cubes, rods, etc.), perspective, light and shadow, and so on. Keep applying the new concepts as you develop your instincts further.

So long as you can stay motivated as your talent and technique slowly builds this way, you should get somewhere pretty cool with it.

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I would actually stay away, as far away as possible, from comic book art if you're trying to learn anatomy, lighting, basically everything.

Start with the real thing.

Beyond lots of bad comic book anatomy, it's better to learn from real life and then shape what you learn into a comic style you enjoy.

I LOVE comic art, but it's not a place to learn from when you're just starting out.

Andrew Loomis was the king of life drawing, you can find all his anatomical books on the net for free!

http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1

I love how certain folks go on about certain movements in art and how wonderful their work was... example: Fauvism and Cubism

I dislike both movements. I understand where they were coming from, and yes they have their place in art history, but egads, no thank you.

Unlike Graver, I love impressionism. Why? Color theory. Those guys were masters at it. Do I get sick of it? Yes, from time to time.

I'm more of a Golden Age of Illustration lover. It's not a true movement, but those that belonged to it steal my heart every time: Leyendecker, Rackham, Neilsen, Dulac, Wyeth, Pyle, Cornwell...

Art is and isn't subjective and it's really up to the viewer alone to find the merit behind a piece of work they do or do not like.

Your views will CHANGE, guaranteed, with time, like everyone else. Back in high school there were certain comic book artists I worshipped. Today? I look at them and while I enjoy some of them still (Humberto Ramos, Chris Weiringo, Chris Bachalo)... there are others that I almost barf over. I look at their work and think "dear god, they have no sense of anatomy or composition and... WHY are their feet and hands drawn like that!"

So don't worry, you're fine... your friend is fine, it's all a matter of opinion anyway :3

Claire Wendling, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos :3

You know, I had a thought... I know where my inspirations come from, but what inspires other folks. I'm sure there was a thread at some point listing them, and that most of them had to do with other CoX artists (no offense you guys) but I wanna dig deeper than that.

Part of this is actually part of my BFA paper to graduate, so I'm actually killing two birds with one stone research wise

So...here's mine (with links):
Claire Wendling: I've known about her for some time, but she's only recently been imported to the US. Her earlier comic work is vastly different than what she does now. Claire Herself
Where I get my Claire Fix (and a few beautiful examples)

Alphonse Mucha: The 'Father' of Art Nouveau
Salome: An example of Mucha's work

Hayo Miyazaki: Master storyteller and artist
Miyazaki on the Web

Beatrix Potter: Weird note, when I was young, and during women's history month at school, I would often dress up as Beatrix and speak to students about her life and work. Her watercolors always inspired me, and I tried recreating her work quite often as a child. Not only that but she made it alright for me to sit around drawing dead animals as a kid.
Beatrix Potter at PeterRabbit.com

Dean Cornwell: Dean of Illustrators This man could PAINT. You don't see people painting like this guy, or NC Wyeth or Howard Pyle anymore...sadly.
Dean of Illustrators

Brandywine Artists: NC Wyeth, Howard Pyle...
Howard Pyle: One of his many pirate paintings
NC Wyeth: Robin Hood

Golden Age Illustrators (Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen): I grew up on illustrations like these thanks in part to my aunt. Again, watercolors. I love watercolor, and if I could do watercolor like Dulac did, I could die a happy artist
Arthur Rackham: Fairies piece
Edmund Dulac: From 1001 Arabian Nights
Kay Nielsen: Not the best image...but beautiful still

That's awesome! Very very cute.

For Vector?

Illustrator, hands down.

For art in general?

It really doesn't matter, I've seen people do amazing things with MSPaint. The program will not make you a better artist. It's how the artist uses the program. After all, Photoshop, Painter, OpenCanvas, are just mediums to which artists create work by.

I go between programs like many of my friends. Illustrator for inks, Photoshop for base colors and shading, Painter for painterly effects, back to Photoshop. My computer LOVES me when I open all three programs at once. Heh.

KAPOW... lil sketch for myself before getting to work...
Velocity

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Dang, 73 layers?

I'm lucky (or should that be UN-lucky?) if I go over 15. And once I hit 6 - 7, I start making folders for everything.

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It's mainly because I like to play a lot. So I'll have my flat colors and inks, ya know, the normal ones... then I'll have shadows, highlights, effects, and then I go "well what if I..." and that's where my files explode into a million bazillion layers. Clicking through all of them was a pain and a half.

I'm SURE there's an easier way, I'm sure I could be taught, but that new layer button...it's so shiny.

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that kicks so much butt I can't get the words out! You say PS is the tool used? How'd you acheive that sort of texture if I may ask?

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Photoshop CS and Painter both. As to how I did the textures, that sir, is a secret I cannot reveal We artists hafta have some tricks up our sleeves after all.

Good god this was an undertaking but well worth the journey to make it, I learned a buttload while working on this piece and would like to thank Thor for his patience and support :3

Thor's Assassin and Assassin of Thor

A few specs on this file:
At the largest, this was 835MB...
Right now it stands at 635MB...

Though layers were deleted, this piece had at one point 73 layers.

As it stands now? 65 layers... that includes corrections and or unused layers...

This piece was created with Photoshop CS, Painter 9.0, and Painter 7.0

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Karen? How you doin' ?

Thanks for the compliment!

I haven't seen you at the circus in a while.

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School's got me busy as a bee. I'll stop in and poke the freakshow soon XD

Michael! Hey you! Good seein ya around here XD When I saw your name pop up on the thread I was like "Buh? Michael's here? NO WAY!"

Nice stuff as always :3 Though back in your folders... the Bunny Crusher is one of my faves.

Ok, didn't finish, 98% done though #_# It's too saturated right now... so I'll hafta fix it tomorrow night.

Update for Thor

This one...
http://www.dementedhero.com/gallery/Sayterra/hexess01c

Though I can't remember now if I made her the Queen of Cups or The Priestess...

And nearly done with TA's, so in the interrum, a quicky for my dear friend Ely, this is a belated christmas gift >_<!

The Elysienne

TA should update with the finished tonight, and Bayani this Thursday...

Thor Update

Update for Thor.

Awesome possum I love the animated ones. I want a poster of this #_#

I call this Goat Gettin Messy with potential Special Effects colorin:

http://www.dementedhero.com/gallery/...sreport?full=1

>_> Yer awesome. Thank you. Times like, infinitey XD

How weird, awhile ago I asked my fellow SG mates about doin a Tarot Card set. The only one I did was of my SGleader, Hexess though... Vedda cool thread :3

Update for Bayani:

http://www.dementedhero.com/gallery/Sayterra/bayani_001

I'm going to tackle this one a lil differently since some of the blue invaded areas it shouldn't have... How will Goat fix watercolor problems?

Gouache XD

Stay tuned #_#

Oh man Speedy, beyond having a long commission list, I have a short film to work on so I'm near outta juice haha :3 Sorry hun.