Pretty Girl Art

I decided to paint a kind of manga fusion portrait. I planned to use my usual technique for creating a fully rendered painting while adding some manga elements; Large eyes, hint of a nose, angular head shape, etc.

I started with a sketch over a neutral color background, blocked in the lights and darks over a midtone and blocked in the skintones.




















Next I carefully blended the skin color transitions, worked on the hair, refined the details and worked some of the background colors into the skin and hair. The following is the finished painting.




















One of the things that I focused on in this painting was to portray the appearance of skin texture. To accomplish this, I used some of Painter's digital watercolor brushes on various paper textures. I also used some custom watercolor brushes of my own design. Following is a detail of the skin texture.

SciFi Armor Sketch

A sketch that I pushed a little further than usual. It was mostly about working with texture and a limited palette. I wanted to create a look of worn armor against a subtly textured background. I think that the trick, when working with texture brushes, is not to overpower the subject by using every brush in your repertoire. I believe that I did pretty well in holding back this time and am pretty satisfied with the result.

The Art of the Matrix

The concept art portion of my personal library is growing nicely. I picked up a hardback copy of The Art of the Matrix for $3.00 today!

This book has it all:

• Concept art and designs
• Storyboards
• Screenplay
• Assorted thumbnails and other art

Lots of ink drawings. Many color pieces also, which I assume to be guache. A very good find indeed!

HellGirl

Most of the art boards that I frequent have activities that center on a monthly or weekly theme. Artists will paint or draw works based on that subject or theme. One board's theme was to create a female equivalent of the Hellboy character. This was my take on the subject: Lucy Van Pelt, the original Hellgirl!

The Art of Star Wars - The Clone Wars

Another trip to the bookstore yields another visual gem. The Art of Star Wars - The Clone Wars is full of concept art. As I've been noticing, more and more of the concept work is being done with digital painting programs. There is still a fair amount of tradition marker work, but even that is starting to be produced with digital tools.

As for the art itself, its loose and vibrant. There is just something about roughs that really draws me. It may be the telling of a story or the relaying of an idea artistically, without much detail or refinement. It takes a very skilled and imaginative artist to pull it off.

I would have liked to see more storyboards, but that's a minor nit. All in all, its a very enjoyable collection collection of concept art and background studies.

Blue Wizard

I had a little time today and was able to knock out a quick, monochromatic doodle. If I was going to push it further, I would probably have punched up the the highlights to provide more contrast and maybe added some type of embroidery to the hood.

Pinkerton

I came across an old scribble today that I thought was worth sharing. I believe I'd recently watched "Pale Rider," starring Clint Eastwood, when I scratched out this sketch. I always liked those dusters that the "lawmen for hire" wore in that movie.