Okay so lets go back to our collection of dance sketches. Continue reading
I asked for suggestions on what I should try to do a tutorial on, and this was a suggestion. So I’m going to give this a shot. Now this is a more advanced level tutorial, so I’m not going to say much, if any, about basics of anatomy or principles.
Also please forgive cause I’m going to bastardize some concepts from animation as we go. I also intended to make this one long tutorial but after writing this I realized schedule wise it might be better for me to do this in parts. So forgive if this part is more of a “well duh” than anything.
When they are done, they are done, they may not be perfect but they are finished. Looking back slows down progress. Also if I look back the anxiety monster eats me more than it usually does. But as always, there are exceptions.
Back in the halycon days of yore, when I was a young wee, optimistic, Lissa I started working conventions with fifteen prints to sell. Over time I’ve added and removed a lot of stuff from the print books. A few of the original fifteen hang around, mainly due to the fact they still seem to be popular with people than me believing they are very good.
One of these pieces was starting to show its age to me and I felt I needed to give it an upgrade if I was going to keep it around.
People still like this piece – and I have a soft spot for it even if it looks really silly on my display wall these days. Sometimes folks even recognize the rather obscure manga it’s from. (Clover by CLAMP circa 1999)
Sure I really borrowed a bit too heavy form CLAMP’s school of design when I drew her anatomy (they are the masters of weird anime anatomy), and it was also one of the first times I painted metal in any major capacity to…a varying degree of success. And I believed I knew more about drawing horses than I actually did…But I still like this piece. I didn’t do the best job at it but I was young and learning. One hopes I have learned at least a little something over the past years. Might as well try to fix things.
Holidays crashed over me and the New Year started pretty rough.
A mix up at the pharmacy has left me with a bit of a brain chemistry issue I’m still dealing with. (For the record; double check labels and spelling on any medications you take.) It’s been a fun month or two.
But despite the weird mood swings, head aches and drowsiness I have actually gotten something done.
It might be somewhat obvious on here but I’m a bit of a history nerd. I also love and collect vintage posters and post cards (well reprints anyway.) A few years back during a cross country road trip I got introduced to the National Park posters from the Depression era Works Project Administration and fell in love with them.
The Works Project Administration was a program that was part of the New Deal to stimulate the economy and get unemployed folks working. In an attempt to get out of work artists producing and as a way to get art to the lower classes they started commissioning posters for various events and projects. Public Service posters, Health Reminders, local events, and in this case advertising the National Parks. For more information and examples the Library of Congress has more information and over 900 examples of said posters.
Me being a graphic design nerd and a bit of a gamer, I tried this style out for a location in Fallout New Vegas – because making travel posters for imaginary, inhospitable locales amuses me. I had a lot of fun making that poster and it surprisingly was a great eye catcher at my last convention so I decided to try to give it a revisit when I had the chance.
When I came back from California I had a couple of weeks to get over my jetlag, work on a few deadlines, and order supplies and prep for a convention. I for some reason felt this was the perfect time to pick up another project.
I have always wanted to assemble a ‘sketchbook’ or compilation zine of my work, but never got around to doing it. Though recently a buddy of mine made one and I decided to give it a shot myself. I’ve since then had a few folks ask me how I assembled it. I used programs that probably made things more more complicated than it needed to be, but hey if you want to do this the hard way the Foolish Mortal’s got your back!
Words of a Fool Errant 