Summer Projects ver 2.6539-1

So, I made some good headway earlier on this summer, and now as summer is ending I thought I would try to dig in a little more. The last month or so has not been....pleasant, but it could have been worse. So instead of going completely insane, it's better that I keep drawing. This is my latest...not flash or intended to be a tattoo by any means. I'm just about to start on the coloring, but this is the sketch. Comment or not at will. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/chloe.jpg ahlyn/d

Hmmmmm D..... That has a nice looseness about it gettin' started....

Not bad, better than what I could do(but that isn't saying much). Can't what to see a more completed version.

So here's head mostly colored, unfortunately the scanner is really sensitive and added more of a tint to the white than there actually is. But it's a pretty ok scan besides that. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/chloetop.jpg

D, You have some good ideas going. Two questions.... 1.Was the idea to make the appearance that she has blood stained lips? 2. Is the black and grey on the face suppose to be "on" the face?

Yes, to both. In real life there is a subtle difference between the lipstick she's wearing and the blood smeared on her lower lip, but the reds just kind of run together on the scan and look kind of wonky. The design on her face is meant to be body paint that wraps around her jaw and down her neck. I wish the scan had come out better because I really am pleased about it, but such is technology. I'll try to do another update later on today.

So, here's an update. I'm working on her very small jacket, it's alot of black and is going to need an assload of work to make it not look fake. I'm going to concentrate on the black and come back with most of the highlights. The scan sucks, as per usual. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/cholebust-.jpg

Bump, no progress tonight just finished some work junk. In the meantime, talk about my stuff!

This is just me as an artist.. certainly not accomplished in the tattoo design field other than my own. While it didn't show up on the initial sketch.... the first thing I noticed was that the breasts are too high and a little too far apart. A good tutorial on female figure drawing can be found here: http://www.cablenet.ne.jp/%7ejapanime/tutorial/fbody1.html The ears are also a little high, and the collar's a bit wide, but those are small errors. That said, I really like the hair, and I like how you've done something unique with the piece on top of the hair. The I like the angle of the eyes as well, and I think with a better grasp of fundamentals your art will be fantastic.

I took a look at what you were pointing out, and although I think they are excellent suggestions, I'm not too certain about changing all that much just yet. I think you might be mistaking her clothing as looser than it is in reality, I haven't made much headway in shading it. But honestly, in a really very tight and small top your breasts are pushed upwards quite a bit further than a natural line. As for her ears, they're supposed to be pointed if that's what you mean about height, and her head is canted down and away, if her other ear was visible it would be much lower than natural as well, given her position. The collar is extra wide, it's a collar that's modeled after (in part) the neck of a suit of armor, it's kind of a smaller dracula type thing if that helps. Although I don't agree with your criticism, I appreciate it!

You might look at the Sub-commander Topal (not sure of spelling) from the show Enterprise. She is a "Vulcan" so she has pointed ears and good feminine shape to model this kind of drawing after. This is a link to a good picture of her: http://www.yozone.fr/IMG/jpg/tpol2.jpg

Found a better one: http://www.enterprise-home.de/downloads/galerie/tpol/tpol2.jpg

Ears and collar -- your point is good.. I see what you're trying to do now. But half her breast is above the armpit.... that does look a little weird.

I honestly don't know what you're talking about. One arm is up and forward, the other is rolled back. That might be accounting for your perspective on alot of things, her body is angled.

So here's what I'm working on now. The scrollwork is supposed to act as a sort of deconstructed wooden frame around the fruit. The scan, as per usual, sucks. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/fruitframe.jpg

I mostly finished the wooden parts, but I'll probably screw around with them most of tomorrow before working on the fruit. I finally realized why the scans are coming out so awful. I press so hard and go over so many times that I dent the page and when I try to flaten it, it gives this sort of bunching effect that the scanner picks up. So, uh, try to ignore the peaks and valleys, so to speak. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/fruitframe2.jpg

D I think this is going to be the best, and my favorite ,thing that you've done so far...I'm diggin the perspective on the scroll work...badass!!...T

Thanks...I try not to suck most of the time. Anyway, here it is all done. I think it came out alright. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/fruitframe3.jpg

Moving along...this is kind of a doodle that I thought I should put some more effort into. It's the top of a longer staff..I've started coloring it, but I honestly don't know what color scheme it'll end up with. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/stafftop.jpg

Today's progress...I think the black looks interesting against the bone-ish color. I think it'll be even more interesting when I add the halo lighting effect around it. http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f10/ahlyn/stafftop2.jpg

So, I totally fucked up this drawing. I had done about 5 different lighting effects and hated all of them. This left a horrific blur of color around the perimeter of the drawing. As much as I wanted to chuck the whole thing I decided I might try to make the best of it. I cut out the color at the top and just did a simple bubble-type lighting after I glued the staff top onto another piece of paper. Despite all the horrible editing I had to do (I mean I could have photoshopped it, but then all I would have is a digital document) it didn't turn out half bad I think? I like the black details best. And for your (whoever you might be) convience, I'm going to just do image tags from now on. No more off site url's. Rejoice.

... you seem to do alot of circular objects. circular objects arent dark from the outside and light towards the in. like the pear. (which is a great piece) the pears lighting effect would have had a much more drastic roundness if it had a really sharp highlight at the bottom left edge and the dark to light. doing dark to light from the edge gives the appearance of a line. which real objects have none. its hard and takes forever to get down, but when you get it you can apply it everywhere and get amazing results. the whole wooden baroque shit is badass though, i really dig it. i did this roughly with photoshop to show you what im talkin about.. and that im fuckin bored as hell, im not sure it looked anybetter cuz its a bad photoshop job. or if you even give a fuck about what im saying but here it is:

You're right....I think I get freaked out that the outside edge won't be defined. I mean...I know it is, and should be and in real life there is no direct outline.. I think I'm worried people won't really see what shape I'm seeing. I mean, I can see it, I can see it so fucking clearly in my mind, and I just get worried that people won't see the very same. This sounds like crazy-talk I know. It's hard for me to let edges be. I think my lighting is always off too, as a sort of similar symptom. Even when I make a fixed and direct mark for the light source and make the rays and decide how they should diffuse...it still never looks right. I think I'm kind of frustrated where I am right now, I always hoped to be further along in my development at my age.

You're right....I think I get freaked out that the outside edge won't be defined. I mean...I know it is, and should be and in real life there is no direct outline.. I think I'm worried people won't really see what shape I'm seeing. I mean, I can see it, I can see it so fucking clearly in my mind, and I just get worried that people won't see the very same. This sounds like crazy-talk I know. It's hard for me to let edges be. I think my lighting is always off too, as a sort of similar symptom. Even when I make a fixed and direct mark for the light source and make the rays and decide how they should diffuse...it still never looks right. I think I'm kind of frustrated where I am right now, I always hoped to be further along in my development at my age. the outside edge will be defined by opposing colors. its easy to get lost when youre using like thirteen different blues with a green highlight. things really have to fight each but get along at the same time, its hard to find that medium. i still cant do it everytime, but i work on it almost everyday. try working on the figure with an outline, and work on really opposing highlights. thats what colorbombing and new school art is. extreme color contrast of highlights and a wicked thick outline. so play with colors with an outline and then get rid of the outline or something... its really difficult to explain sinc eim not there with a paper and pencil. try working with really dark backgrounds.. really opposing colored backgrounds.. and carry your highlights further. the light yellow that was shining on the pear should have touched everything else.

ugh i forgot to erase your half. i always copy and paste the comment im reffering to so i dont go off on tangents. i tend to rant really bad. especially when im typing

Yeah I kind of go light on the highlights basically because I don't really like the super new school type stuff, I'm trying to lean kinda towards realism...actually, I'm trying to lean towards my drawings not sucking. If they could just not suck, then I could vainly attempt realism. These drawings aren't meant to be tattoos by any means, it's just a sort of practice...I'm trying to work out if I even can draw. I've been trying to figure this out for years. I haven't really gotten past "Oh...that doesn't look too bad" kind of result that I seem to be getting. It's lame

Yeah I kind of go light on the highlights basically because I don't really like the super new school type stuff, I'm trying to lean kinda towards realism...actually, I'm trying to lean towards my drawings not sucking. If they could just not suck, then I could vainly attempt realism. These drawings aren't meant to be tattoos by any means, it's just a sort of practice...I'm trying to work out if I even can draw. I've been trying to figure this out for years. I haven't really gotten past "Oh...that doesn't look too bad" kind of result that I seem to be getting. It's lame i was sayin more to take the concept from new school. im certainly no new school artist, but ive studied it and i can do it. then what are you trying to do. do a painting or drawing and when your done be like. this is it, this is the best i can do, im the fuckin shit. because when that happens you subconciously become cocky and it just goes downhill. that drive to get better is all you should ever need. i myself am never happy. ive been working on this inch by inch square on this girl stomach for two weeks. but its oil so i have the ability to do that. ill just stay in one spot until i get it ok. oil is the hardest man... so i do these mini projects. to where i draw in pencil, and no line can be erased. ever. even if it goes no where. the concept and image has to be created from everything. then i watercolor it. the outcome is original and its freeing. what im gettin at is. maybe work on some speedy stuff to get your head away from your ego crushing conscience (that all artists MUST have). do something thats quick and fun.

Yeah...that's a good idea. I'm really just a perfectionist so it's hard for me to do loose drawings unless I know that I'm going to refine them later on. It's part of the reason I hate charcoal (part, but not all, heh). I just feel like I should be a great deal better than where I'm at. I'm 21, in about 7-8 months I'm going to graduate (with honors and a double major thank you very much, I worked..am working my ass off for stupid cords) and then I really need to figure out what I'm going to do with my life. Because graduate school is not at all college. I feel like I should just get my doctorate and get it over with. Rambling... And the lesson is, when you get stressed out..buy a new purse. Mmmmmm new purse...

The use of CONTRAST especially with textures can create super dynamic effects...you have that going on but maybe a bit more?...Like I said I love the almost Italianate curvy object...I love forms and shapes like that...that shape combined with the fruit could be a very powerful image D....As Vish said...a bit of the new school opposing highlights would really bring things to life...as for the other drawing ...its just too disjointed and a bit busy...maybe simplifying things would help?...I would also suggest doing some texture research...ie Guys "Reinventing the tattoo"As we know Guy is AMAZING with textures and is a very adept teacher. You are DEFINATELY getting sooo much better ...I love seeing skill develop!

I guess I'm getting better? I actually think I did better when I was younger and have been steadily de-evolving since that point. I actually can't get that book of his because I'm not a tattoo artist. Well I mean, I probably could if I just asked, but I can't, he still intimidates me (it's my own hang-up). The thing that amazes me is the attention to detail. One of the best parts of my tattoo are these teeny little flowers growing off the bottom of the tree. I didn't really see them for about two weeks after I got the thing (I think I was just in total shock that the tattoo was there at all). Don't get me wrong, the whole composition is amazing, but those teeny little flowers...I wouldn't have thought of something like that at all. In other unpleasant news I couldn't get my greedy little hands on a new purse today, so I guess it's just more artistic depression. Le sigh. Monsignor Ripley asked me to do a poster so I guess that's going to be my project for right now. I'm thinking of doing some hand drawn elements mixed with magical photoshop and illustrator goodness. So this is the recent thing I'm hoping not to fuck up. Pray for me, or sacrifice a goat. You know, whatever's your thing.

I can't sleep. And I have no drawings to show. But I do have this! http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html Trogdor fucking burninates again.

Well, the end of the summer is here, and I have to say that my portfolio is in much better shape than it was at the beginning. I have 2-3 things that I'm thinking about adding, and some more graphic design stuff. I'm starting to re-focus on school more, so my updates...if there are going to be any, will be much slower for awhile. I'm working on this fun drawing that I might have up before labor day. In any case here are some swirlies I used on the aforementioned poster. They're sort of monochromatic (not really) basically because blue is my favorite color, heh.

D, Those are some pretty neat designs you have flowing there.... Something that bugs me about them though is that the edges are a bit sloppy. (Does that make sense?) ... Other than that, you are definitely improving.

Meh, I don't think that's necessarily true, I think you're thinking that because the images are about 250% larger than they actually are in real life. There might be some wavers, but they're much less or non-visible in real life. To give you some idea of how distorted the size is, those flecks in the background are tiny little shavings off of a colored pencil point. I knew I should have resized them before I uploaded them, but I really haven't resized anything else in photobucket, mostly because I got tired of Photoshop because I use it to the max every day :^P Also, I'm lazy. If you want I can send you the poster they're on, I don't see too much issue with them there.

Deirdre, personally, I think your work is progressing very nicely, I thought the 'original' woman was a good start and the most recent color swirl shows a good use of color,contrast and looks good. As to what you said about the enlarged 'closeup', believe me, I know what you mean and hope others can appreciate it. I once looked at a rather well known oil painting from about 8 inches from the canvas, frankly it looked rather crappy THAT close. Perhaps ya should go thru the hassle of sizing, it would give folks a lot better/accurate visual. Keep it up, your work really has improved and it's neat watching it develope. J-Werk, next time you're around one, take a jewelers 'loop' and look real close at your skin and get back to me as to how good that looked...Doc

Well thanks, I really appreciate those compliments from someone who has been in the business for awhile. It's not Jason's fault, it's mine for not resizing it, and I can understand what he's talking about. Gimme 5 jiffs and I'll change the sizes and repost them. On the whole I feel pretty ok about the work I did this summer, there's a bunch more stuff in my photobucket album, going all the way back to the flash sheet I submitted for that tattoonow colaborative flash set. If you ever get bored you can see the rest of the stuff by just taking one of my old links to the album and delete the information in the url that takes you to the specific drawing. I've got some graphic design stuff from the internship and my web design class, some charcoal portraits that I've had for a couple of years and some other things that will build a fairly nice portfolio. If I decide I want to try to look for an apprenticeship. Which I'm not sure about yet. But I'm rambling, I'll get to resizing with my photoshop mastery (ha!)

Being hyper sensitive about the edges I tried to get them to the right size on Photoshop, but it just wasn't working out very well. So I thought I would post the poster instead, which has the sort of cropped versions of them. Also, you should get a portrait from Mike Demasi, his portrait of Prince drives me crazy! In a good way...

Doc, I know what you are getting at and D, I know that prisma's can really rack your brain when the ends break off and then you have smudges gallore all over.... Let me see if I can try to be a little bit more definite with my explaination....and you will have to excuse the earlier one. I was at work and surrounded by morons and couldn't think clearly.... regardless of size on the computer screen, I know the difference between a smudge and a mark made from a pencil. (Please understand that I a super anal retentive so please don't take this a me being an asshole.).... There are a couple of spots on the softer edges that your pencil "drifted" on you. And understandably when you look at it from a ways back you don't notice it. But up close it is very noticable and is a distraction; to me personally but like I said, I a super anal retentive. It's just one of those things that some people look for and some don't really care.... differences of opinion, that's all. Seriously D, you have improved by leaps and bounds since you have started posting your work on here. In this particular piece the use of color and blending is very good. The flow is good and the design is very pleasing to look at. Sorry I was so vague and just threw down a comment without going into detail.... I had a Special Ed moment! =)

J, didn't mean to sound like I was jumping on ya, hopefully it wasn't taken that way. Just meant and tried to give example of what close-ups can do. As to you claiming to be 'anal', son, I was 'anal' before ya had one so I definitely KNOW where you were coming from. You're right, some of the outline is not clearly defined, but, it definitely IS an improvement. J, don't ya recall my comments about that Koi months ago when I commented on the quality of that outline? I too notice things most people just don't seem to 'see'. I doubt there's anyone whose ever used prismacolors that doesn't know what fucked 'skid marks' ya get when the point breaks in the middle of coloring (AND there's not an eraser made that will get rid of it-I've tried 'em all I think) However, again, my point is/was that I've seen a real improvement in the work. (and J, as to you having a 'Spec Ed' moment,just wait 'til ya get older, those 'moments' become fucking lunch breaks)...Doc

Doc, no offense taken. I knew what you were getting at. It was only fair that I explained myself better instead of just posting some half assed comment out there. .... ah fuck it! H8TER! =P It's just this weird thing taht I have inbred in me that now matter how good something looks from a distance I expect it to be just a good up close.... maybe that is expecting to much?... no such thing as perfection, I know.

J, I think it says something 'bout your character that ya too the time t o explain (we get more than enough critism for being too harsh) and I too am cursed with being a 'perfectionist'. Drove my ex's almost nuts but my clients seem to like it, and personally, as an artist, I've always thought that was a good trait to have or at least strive for (but it ain't gonna win ya too many popularity contests, trust me on that) When's your lazy butt gonna post some by the way?...Doc artwork

To borrow a line from the Tazman... It's in the works. Concentrating of music for Tazfest has taken a large hunk of my time. I guess I could go through and find some older stuff but I would rather have some more recent stuff to post instead. I'll find something to put on here for ya though! Promise....J