We Happy Few-Islands Apart

We Happy Few-Islands Apart: It's been a while since I've put out some We Happy Few art. But now that it's coming out in the summer, that's definitely about to change. This is a piece I made after Compulsion Games teased their female playable Downer.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Micron pens from Sakura, Mincho gray scale alcohol-based markers, and Crayola Twistable colored pencils.

Moving the Blog

Greetings from the ArtzDeeva! I've got a pretty big development happening pretty soon.
While Blogger has been very good, I feel like the blog would experience a lot more success and visibility if run on a different blogging service. So I'm simply going to be moving the ArtzDeeva blog to Wordpress in February.
I'm not going to take this blog down - I've put so much work into this version of the blog that I'll simply leave it up with a post directing readers to the Wordpress blog when it's up and ready. I've still got a lot of work to do for getting the Wordpress blog up and ready yet, but I will let you know when it's ready. From then on, the art and the ArtzDeeva journey will continue!
Also without spoiling a whole lot, I've got a lot of great content coming up soon! I'm going to start putting more emphasis on video content, ranging from things like the ArtzDeeva video I put up last week to more formal things like speed draws. But I've got a lot of fun, crazy ideas I can't wait to get started on, and I can't wait to share them with you on the new blog!
That's all I have for today - ArtzDeeva over and out!

ArtzDeeva Emerging

ArtzDeeva Emerging: I'm so excited to share with you a test for a form of new content - ArtzDeeva videos! This will be my animated persona talking about a variety of personal, nerdy, and artsy stuff in what I call the ArtzDeeva Den. Again, this is just a test, but I was so pleased with the result that I had to put it out there!

Tools: Photoshop (background), Adobe Animate (ArtzDeeva persona), and After Effects (editing).

Power Couple

Power Couple: Happy New Year, everyone! What better way to start it than with new ideas and concepts? This is a couple I designed over the holiday break (most of which was spent lazing around being sick). One is all about science, the other about the arts, but in the end, they will bond together over love and the one enemy they can only defeat together - the stand in for stupidity. Who will totally not emulate Trump in any way, shape or form.

Tools: Pencil (outlining), Sakura Micron pens, and Crayola Twistable colored pencils.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.