L Triangles

L Triangles: I was struck with inspiration today. I was looking through the first volume of Death Note, especially adoring the drawings of L. On drawing really caught my attention. Because of how his body was folded in the crouch and the interplay of negative space with his form, I realized "He's a bunch of triangles". Excited, I broke him down into his shapes and then built him up from those shapes into his full form. This just goes to show that no subject is so complex that it can't be broken down into a simple process of building off of shapes.

Tools: Pencil, Crayola Twistable colored pencils, and a Sharpie ultra fine tip pen.

Star Wars-Previously...

Star Wars - Previously...: A little bit of Star Wars fan art I did before The Last Jedi came out (which, by the way, was amazing!). Just got myself a nice set of Prismacolor colored pencils for dirt cheap at Target, and had to use them on something. The fact that I didn't mess up any part of the drawing makes this the best inking and coloring job I've ever done.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Pigma Micron pens, and Prismacolor colored pencils.

Farewell for Now, Patreon...

Here's what I've been meaning to fill you in on for the last couple of weeks. Please watch.

Quest for Soup

Winter quarter has begun, and so have my adventures into Electronic Illustration and Intro to Stop Motion! Here's the first peek of some of my work.

Quest for Soup: On one of the first days in Electronic Illustration, we were having to make illustrations based off of one-word prompts. That day, it was "soup". I wasn't sure how to make of it what I could (Tale of Despereaux kept popping into my head), so I made it an epic fantasy setting, with a magical cauldron full of soup. So far, this is my favorite and best work of the class.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop.

ArtzDeeva - The Start of a New Beginning

ArtzDeeva - Origins: I'm in the middle of some serious renovations on this blog and my YouTube channel, and I'm also figuring out how I'm going to work better as an artist (which is why I haven't been so good at posting lately). One of the things I'm doing is making an animatic on my artist's story. Yeah, it's easy to do a "Draw My Life" kind of thing, but why do that when you've got your own cool idea of telling your story and showing where you're headed. I will put out a fuller update on things going on soon!

Tools: Adobe Animate (formerly Flash).

Chess - Game of the Century

Chess - Game of the Century: This is it. This is my final for 3D Modeling and Animation class! The set up of the pieces, if you take a close look at them in certain shots, is based on the famous Game of the Century between Fischer and Spassky. This is also a basic rough prototype of what the arena in my actual Chess concept is going to look like.

(Sorry I didn't post last week, things have been getting crazy - I'll have an announcement out in about a week or so)

Tools: Autodesk Maya and After Effects.

Chess-Madness of the King

Chess-Madness of the King: It's finally here! I'm so happy to finally be sharing this with you all. This video starts setting in place all the blocks of story that make up this Chess concept. I sincerely hope you enjoy this one!

Tools: Adobe Animate and Adobe After Effects.

Chess Board Progress (Delay Announcement)

I'm sorry I couldn't post this sooner-I've been experiencing a lot of annoying Internet connectivity problems recently. Because of said Internet problems, along with work and school, I'm delaying the concept art video until next Saturday. I'm really sorry, but in order to make something that looks good without driving myself insane, I have to do this. Thank you for you patience.

But here, in the meantime, is what I have on my Chess-related finals for 3D-modeling class!

Chess Board #1: An overhead view of the chess board! The armies are complete and ready for an abbreviated version of The Game of the Century.

Chess Board #2: We've learned to play around with depth of field on the cameras in Maya, and now I can take beautiful shots like this.

Chess Board #3: Here's a more sinister shot of the White royalty staring down the enemy.

Chess-Madness of the King (Teaser)

Chess-Madness of the King (Teaser): I have for you the title of the new Chess concept art video, The Madness of the King, along with this piece of teaser art. Some would say that Chess is just another dimension of life, and for the White King Edward, the realities are blurring. What once were his friends on the opposite side are now his enemies, and his only desire is to have the board completely under his control.

Working fast and hard on this video - it will be out next week!

Tools: Adobe Animate (formerly Flash).

Laurie and Cumming (Plus Announcement)

First, announcement out of the way: I'm going to take a break from Wildcard Wednesdays. I've kept forgetting to do them for quite a while because of homework and my schedule, and until I'm on a better schedule to be doing them, I'd rather drop Wildcard Wednesdays and give you a crap ton of art than forget for the millionth time. So sorry about that! But the Saturday posts will keep coming, and I'll include a section called "Extras" for all the little bits of sketches and art that would normally go in Wildcard Wednesday.

But without further ado, here's some art!

Hugh Laurie: We finally started working on faces and portraiture in life drawing! We studied two faces, and one of them was Hugh Laurie. The process behind this sketch was my teacher would take the photo into Photoshop and blur it so we could only make out value shapes. Then, in two and five minute increments, the teacher would slowly sharpen the photo, and we would add more detail and information to the sketch until the photo was completely sharpened.

Alan Cumming: We all put in slips of people to study for the last face in class, and we ended up drawing my suggestion, Alan Cumming. We used the same process of drawing him that we did with Hugh Laurie, and I love how this one turned out. He's got such an interesting face, and working wildly with the charcoal and white conte in his hair added a little extra flair to the overall piece.

Chess - Bishop v Knight Test

Chess - Bishop v Knight Test: Getting the hang of Flash has been a little rocky, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of things! This was a little pencil test I did of a bishop versus a knight (definitely going to have to revisit my run cycles).

Tools: Adobe Animate (Flash).

Wildcard Wednesday #62

This week, we have: the transition to charcoal in life drawing!

Life Drawing #6: These drawings are from Monday night's session, and we were lucky to have the same model from last week pose for us again. We started moving towards charcoal, a medium I love but can find tricky at times (and definitely messy).

Life Drawing #7: One of the things I soon struggled with was medium values with charcoal. It can be hard to get any subtlety out of something as bold and sharp.

Life Drawing #8: The last piece of the evening was a subtractive drawing, where we didn't focus so much on capturing the whole body, but on focusing on the relation of shapes. I found getting the medium highlights I wanted was easier to pick up with a gummy eraser than to scratch in and blend with the charcoal stick.

Chess-Conservatory

Chess - Conservatory: In this piece of concept art, we see the Black queen Florence in her private conservatory. It was made specially for her by her husband, the Black king Alistair, and serves as sanctuary. Enemies would do better not to disturb her here.

Tools: Pencil (outlining) and Sakura Micron pens.

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #61

This week, we have: drawing from life! I lost track of time posting yesterday because of school, but it's just as well, because I came back from a really good session of life drawing with some improving sketches!

Life Drawing #2: Started off the evening with gestures, as usual.

Life Drawing #3: Last night was just a review of proportion tools, but unlike Monday night's session, I feel like I was finally starting to get the hang of things. The model we worked with had a lot of good poses for us to sketch from.

Life Drawing #4: This one, I believe, had less time to work on than the previous drawing. I've found that too often I try mapping out the form and setting in the hard contour lines and details at the same time. So this evening I spent more time mapping out the model, making sure the proportions and angles checked out, so that with what little time I had left, I could put in contours and details and know they were in the right places.

Life Drawing #5: Last sketch of the evening. I think I started getting a little too fixed early on, but otherwise, this just shows even more my different approach last night. I feel the most pleased about how the torso, arms, and left leg turned out.

Pitch Black Animation

Pitch Black: Short little test animation I made this week. I was in the mood for animating one of my favorite animated villains.

(I'm going to be moving over from Photoshop to Flash, or Animate, for future animations)

Tools: Photoshop. 

Wildcard Wednesday #60

This week, we can expect: more Chess stuff (showing off a bit of my first Maya work) and some of my first life drawing sketches.

Chess-Pawn: Today marks a momentous occasion - I have only just been getting the basics of Maya for two days now, and I've already constructed a pawn with a matted color! Now that I can construct something like this, finals will definitely be Chess themed.

Chess #33: Going to be working on a lot of Chess art over the next two months, some of which I can't show 'til later or until the next concept art video comes out. One of the things I'm trying to get down to memory is the designs for all the different characters, especially the kings, now that they finally have their own distinct designs.

Life Drawing #1: Like I've said before, I'm finally taking a life drawing class this quarter. And I have to say, it is possibly one of the best classes I've ever taken so far. Drawing from real live models is incredible, and I feel like every night I attend, I keep growing in skill, excitement, and passion for what I'm going into. The model drawn in these sketches was a wonderful poser.

Back To School Feelings

Animator in the Making #1: This week ushered in the return to school, and I couldn't be more excited! I'm taking an Intro to 3D Modeling and Animation class, and one of the most essentials classes an artist could need, life drawing! Maya will soon be added to the list of programs I'm fluent in, and drawing people will come with more ease and understanding. I feel like such an evil genius right now.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, Crayola colored pencils, and Sakura blendable markers.

Wildcard Wednesday #59

This week, we have: a return to Chess stuff! Sorry there isn't much today. After the off week I had, it's time to make up for lost time on drawing.

Chess #32: A little inspirational drawing of the Black King Alistair. As I prepare for the next concept art video, I'm trying to round out not just the kings' character designs but also their voices and how big their role in the series will be.

Self Healing

This week took an unusual turn. I had most of it off and I meant to do lots of art and animation, but things were just falling apart inside for me. Sometimes you have to make time to help yourself. So instead of any project related art, this is an art therapy session.

Transition: Things have been going very well for me of late. I finally figured out what I wanted to do in life, I'm earning my way to that dream, and I'm going to school to enrich myself. But I often feel like despite all this, I'm holding myself back. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to embrace all of who I am so that I can really grow into the person I want to be.

(Also, finally got my first set of blendable markers!)

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, and Sakura Koi blendable markers.

My ENFJ Sides: Based on the MBTI personality test, I'm an ENFJ. ENFJs are charismatic, enthusiastic, and great with communication and understanding people's feelings. These are all the different sides of my brand of ENFJ to better understand myself. Lately, some traits like responsibility and putting other's needs above my own have been self-sabotaging me, while other traits like honesty and creativity could stand to thrive even more.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, Crayola colored pencils, and Elmer's glitter glue.

Wildcard Wednesday #58

This week, we have: some villains!
(also, art on time, finally!)

Tommelise #6: As stated above, I'm starting visual development on the villains in Tommelise! While I am retouching just about every character in the story, these three didn't have any work done on them at all, so I'm working through them first. They don't have any names yet (left to right: the toad, the beetle, and the field mouse).

Tommelise #7: Here I've started to work on fleshing out more details and ideas with the villains. The mother toad is this grand, bossy matriarch in flowing gowns that hide her feet. The stag beetle is a sleazy no-good kind of guy, and he's getting leather and crocodile skin in his wardrobe. The field mouse is a very well off lady and a raging narcissist, who takes great joy in manipulating people.

Chess - Concept Art Video #1

Chess - Concept Art Video #1: And here it is, the first Chess concept art video! I realized the ideas I had were too big for one video, so I've decided to make a whole series as I develop the concept. I'll probably do the same for other projects like Between God and the Devil and Tommelise.

Tools: Sketches (traditional) and Photoshop.

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #57

This week, we can expect: something a little different, actually! Revisiting Between God and the Devil and Tommelise concepts!
(Note: due to some school scheduling for the fall quarter, I may put a pause on Wildcard Wednesdays or move loose sketches to another day)

BGAD #24: Thumbnails for one of my upcoming animation projects and the latest development in Between God and the Devil in a long while! This will be entered in next year's Elkhorn Film Festival, and it's basically a pitch for the story in the form of a funny news report from Purgatory. This is going to be so much fun, and I can't wait to have it finished! I'll release a storyboarded version pretty soon.

Tommelise #? (We'll Call It 5): Like I said above, I'm revisiting my other concepts as work on the Chess concept art video goes. This includes Tommelise, which I'm giving a whole revamp. I'm working on her design to not only make her stand out, but also easy to draw over and over.

Chess-The White Queen

Chess - The White Queen: Working my way through royalty in the designing process for my Chess concept this week, and now I'm retouching the queens. The White Queen, Camilla, has some traces of her earlier design, but she's definitely lot more sympathetic this time around.

(I've been posting lots of my work on Instagram lately, and the House of Staunton, a major chess set manufacturing company, has actually been liking a lot of my Chess art-aaaahhh!)

Tools: Pencil (outlining) and Prismacolor pens.

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #56

This week, we can expect: lots more Chess stuff! And a little drawing of L because Death Note is amazing.
(So sorry I forgot to post on time-had a really busy day at work)

Chess #29: As I've been giving the Chess concept and world a full development and makeover, I'm revisiting the kings. They need to be more distinct from each other and have more character to them.

This is your first glimpse of the Black King, who now has a name - Alistair.

Chess #30: Another glimpse of King Alistair. A playful, optimistic king, he is very skilled with the game and an enthusiastic risk taker.

Chess #31: A first glimpse at the White King, Edward. Way back in the day, the kings looked very similar to each other - their only differences being black and white, dark haired and light haired. But in order to give them each their own character and make them distinct, I've added more to their characters. Alistair is British Japanese, and his character traits were listed above. Edward is British, but he's a rough, cunning bloke who's determined to succeed. While Alistair's my favorite, Edward is going to be the most fun to draw as far as expressions go.

L #1: Another drawing of L! (And I'm going to start numbering them because I have the feeling I'll be drawing him quite often) This time I tried drawing him in my own style. It's kind of hard to break away from the manga/anime look, but this time around, I think I finally got something satisfactory.

Chess - Eliza Character Sheet

Chess - Eliza Character Sheet: This week got a lot more full and interesting than I thought it would, but I managed to get another character sheet done for my Chess concept art video. This one I'm really proud of. It astounds me how much I've evolved some of these characters over the span of four years. Originally, this pawn was named Emily and honestly, there really wasn't a whole lot to her character or personality. Now, her name's Eliza, and she's a fierce little pawn who defies her peers and has moved on from a less reputable past in arms dealing to now being the Black Weapons Master.

Man, how she's grown...

Tools: Photoshop.

Wildcard Wednesday #55

This week, we can expect: if you guessed Chess, you're correct! More Chess work, why not?

Chess-Character Sheet #1: Starting to crank out the character sheets now! This one is for Lorenzo.

Chess-Lorenzo Test 1: Lastly, a little test animation of Lorenzo. This one's based more on personality than movement and combat, but those will soon follow!

Chess-Isolated Pawn

Chess - Isolated Pawn: A new teaser for the Chess concept art video. Since I haven't focused on this aspect so much, I'm going to be drawing/animating more in-game scenes, like fights between pieces, dramatic shots, and other such stuff. I've got pretty much all of next week off, so I'm going to be putting in a lot of time into this.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop (plus thumbnail).

Wildcard Wednesday #54

This week, we can expect: more Chess work and some playful doodle work.

Chess #28: Some thumbnails for the concept art video.

Theatre Doodle: Some random concept I'm playing around with. Not thinking of getting too serious with this one at the moment. I've got so much work to do on Chess and Between God and the Devil.

Chess-Eliza

Chess - Eliza: As I plan for character sheets and the Chess concept video (which will be coming out a little later next month, since things got busy), I've been thinking about my characters. And I've decided I'm actually going to cosplay as one of them for Nebraskon this year. I'll be going as Eliza, the Weapons Master on Black. I thought not only would this be fun, but it could also get some interest in my Chess concept. I'll be cosplaying her exactly how she looks - and that includes pale skin and the black and white/grayscale scheme. The red accent is not a part of her official character design, but only to add some contrast to the cosplay.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Artist's Loft colored pencils (trying out new brands), Prismacolor pens, and a Sharpie pen.

Wildcard Wednesday #53

This week, we have: more Chess, Stranger Things fan art, and a random character design for fun!

Chess #27: Working more on the concept video for Chess! This piece of concept art illustrates a moment where a Black knight, Rory, finally finds the courage to face down the White bishop Basilio. This was a lot of fun to make, and I can't wait to illustrate other moments like this!

Stranger Things - Will: Finally doing some Stranger Things fan art! I love this show so much, you'd think I would've gotten on the fan art wagon sooner. Well, better late than ever! This is a moment from the season two trailer.

Character #1: To loosen me up and keep my creativity on point, I'm drawing random characters that come to me. I was kind of thinking of Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians when I was drawing this dude...could be a good guy or a bad guy. Don't really know.

The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water: I love Guillermo del Toro's films. The man has such an imagination! I had no idea that he was dropping a new film this year. So when I saw the trailer for The Shape of Water, I was immediately in love - so much so that I decided to make some fan art from the trailer. God, this movie's going to break my heart!

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Prismacolor pens, and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Wildcard Wednesday #52

This week, we can expect: developments in Chess! Yes, all current focus is now on this concept.

Chess #24: You are looking at the first scene of the first episode of Chess! For four years I've struggled with finding a compelling story to tell with these characters and the people who play them. Now I have one. This concept is going to be bigger than I ever dreamed it could be.

Chess #25: A blind date in the chess world usually means an interrogation. And when it comes to loyalty, none are harsher about it than the White side.

Chess #26: Some gesture drawings of fencing knights. I know, I know, they're knights! Wouldn't it make more sense to have them joust? But why use a horse and a lance when a fencing foil is so much quicker?

Chess - First Stage

Chess Stage #1: To help make the worlds in my concepts more real and tangible, I'm creating props and backgrounds for a small cardboard box I'm using as a stage! This first stage is very simple. I used acrylics on the background, but I'm going to be a little more considerate using acrylics again, because when you paint with acrylics, seventy percent of that time is spent blending.

This is a view with the chess pieces themselves. And then...

Chess Stage #1.2: ...here's a view with the characters themselves! I'm going to learn how to better make character stand ups and props the more I work with these stages.

Tools: Cardboard, Prismacolor pens, acrylic paint, pencils, and crayons.

(Belated) Wildcard Wednesday #51

This week, we can expect: concept art for Between God and the Devil!

Before I start with the art, I seriously apologize for forgetting to post art the last week and a half. I'm still adjusting to my new job, doing some rethinking on my Patreon, and fitting art into the mix (also been having some technical difficulties with some Adobe stuff). I can promise you that from this week on, things are going to settle down a bit, and I'll find a rhythm to work with. Without further ado, on with the art!

BG&D #22: Some concept art surrounding the scene where Angelica meets Valentyne for the first time. Trying to bring in more detail, characters, and story into my boards and concept pieces.

BG&D #23: As I've been revisiting all my concepts, huge changes to story are occuring. Same goes for Between God and the Devil. No spoilers, but the circumstances that bring Angelica and Valentyne together are different, and so are the trials (complete with a valley of thorns to traverse).