Totem collab'13

My part of the Totem Collaboration , In Newgrounds. Many artists gather and each creates a 200x500px picture , then a moderator puts all the pictures together to create a looong totem. I wish i had more time to put on it , i really do , but with 2 album cover commissions , i am choking  But , since it was a small picture , i could afford some spare time to it. I will post the link to the complete totem once it is finished , i think the mod said its gonna be in one week.

Here's the original forum in NewGrounds

Oni sketch

Hey guys. This is what i've been up to

Its a character inspired from the Oni , japanese ogres/demons , very iconic in their culture and folklore. I wont be able to finish him for some time cause right now i got to do two album covers ( yes i got both jobs after all :D )

As you can see i have first drawn a quick sketch , to determine the pose and mood of the character. I then went on creating the final linework. I always start with the head and leave the limbs for last. Its useful cause this way i can change my mind on how i will position his arms and feet and even give him another weapon etc. Well , i wont get into much detail for now , more of him later , now i gotta work!

See you soon!

Quick update!

 Hey guys , sup!

On my end , all goes well. I am currently assigned with an awesome commission! Im going to draw the album cover for a local band that i really love! It's gonna be a blast! There's also chance that i will be taking one more commission for yet another album cover from another composer.

Aside from that im halfway finished with a character from a personal concept that i had in mind for some time , updates on that soon! And..i decided to create a new avatar/website banner/signature symbol since my current one feels outdated :

I sketched a bit and drew a concept that i found cool , here: 

I aint sure if ill develop this one after all but im sure it will be about a long nosed dude. I realy dig goblinesque characters :P

See you soon!

IT'S ALIVE!

After plenty of effort and lots of tissues , i present to you my latest piece

If anything , it's the one piece i have put the most effort to accomplish yet. I'm sure i have missed some spots here and there but i really wanted to finish it today , i was too excited! The other reason this artwork is important for me is cause it shows my progress durring the period of one year. Last summer , late July , i made another artwork featuring Demons of nurgle. 

To both pieces i have devoted a lot of time and used everything i knew related to my art. So , they stand on equal height and its great cause , when i look at these two pictures , i see the passing of one year of practice and work , everything i learned and everything i still dont comprehent. It's a great motivation and if you are into art yourself , i really suggest you do this every once in a while. Take an old pic of yours and redraw it or draw something very similar. It's eye opening , both to what you have accomplished and to what you still need to learn.

Now , some tech stuff. I use Paint Tool Sai , i prefer it over ps a lot. Its line quality is superb and makes my life very easy. I dont recomend it for realistic styles but comic ones like mine are home on sai. Another good thing about it is that sai has limited tools. This sounds like a paradox but it isnt. I dont like to have the machine work for me and nobody who is new to art should. If i want to draw something , i must learn how to do it myself. If im just mixing brushes and collaging textures , i feel like im just trying to make an artist out of photoshop. I keep my "magic buttons" to extreme minimum. No shortcuts. This way , im learning art , not how to use a software. Ofcourse this is just my opinion and im not accusing anyone for doing it. I just think its better to do it yourself , or at least try. And have in mind that , if an artwork has a not realistic style , by adding realistic textures you are instantly crippling it. You can see this in my old Nurgle work. See how the clouds look strange and out of place with the characters. Its like i merged two different pictures. A solid , even style is vital to the product's appeal.

Now , i did use ps on the final stage of the artwork in this occasion. Ps is masterful in colours and its easy to do colour corrections fast and accurately. Some darker tones , some stronger highlights , some fog effects done with a simple soft brush and voila. The best of two worlds :)

The original title will propably be "A Feast for Nurglings." , i like how it sounds. I hope the WIP process was helpful , its the first time i shared it and it was fun! Next time i'll try to be more thorough. Now all i have to do is start the next piece :) See you next time and thanks for visiting! 

Le Final Step before the end WIPno4

Ok i didnt plan on uploading it in this stage , i mean , its almost done now so i thought id show the finished product. Buuut , i saved a jpg file to show it to my buddy so why not show it to the rest of you.

So , im a man of my word , as i said , Epidemius.You can also see how i extended the canvas for the shake of better composition. Epidemius was so fun to draw! Its the first time im drawing an obesse man sitting in a chair that is carried around by a ton of childlike demons! What a trip! Instead of the useless kitchen knife we see him holding in GW's miniature , I gave him a hourglass in his hand for the purpose of symbolism. You know , the fleet of time , the passing of age and the eventual arrival of death who , in warhammer , is mostly represented by Nurgle. So the hourglass , in my mind , repressents the inevitability of Nurgle's triumph. Another spot im very fond off are the nurglings who carry the chair. I wanted to portray them as a mass of playful and anxious lil' bastards! The ones pushing each other on the left , the one pulling pranks on the right , trying to bring em all down...I think they make a good contrast with the seriously serious Epidemius.

So , im almost done and this makes me jiggle! I put a lot of effort and care in this picture and learned many things. I'll get to that once i finish it though. So , lets sum up my remaining tasks!

1) Add the liquid effects.
2) Finish the base colours of Epidemius , then render him along with his servants.
3) Draw a proper sky , not just a blank colour gradient. Thats important. I must force myself to put more effort in my backgrounds. I often put lot of work on a character and then im so excited about him that i cant wait to upload him , resaulting in a lazy background. Sometimes it work , but other times it diminishes the effort i put on the character. Nevertheless , if you settle for few , you get none.

My next post will deliver the finished piece :)

Nurglings WIP no3 , almost there!

 Hey guys! Took me some time to post anything but i was busy with that commission! Soooo.....My nurglings are happy today cause they got all rendered nice and proper. Well , not exactly but at least im at a 90-95% I still need to render all of their eyes and the main guy's intestines. See:

Im really happy with how they turned so far! But now is not the time for rest. To sum up my next steps , i have to:

1) Render teh eyes.

2) render teh space marine.

3) add his chapter's symbol to his shoulder.

4) Add liquids , many liquids. This is the key to give the feeling that they are all slimey and disgusting. Saliva , muck and body fluids will do the trick. Also gonna render the pale maggots.

5) I was thinking a lot about the background. I dont wanna ruin the effort i put on the characters by throwing a lazy background behind them. So i discarded my initial thoughts of toxic gass clouds. My second thought was Plague Marines marching forward , giving the feel that the whole scene is captured in the middle of a fight. But there is little space for them and i dont really feel like drawing PMs right now , i wanna keep this piece strictly daemonic. So , some hours ago , a light bulb appeared above my head:  Epidemius ! This guy is a plague bearer , which means he is a class above nurglings already but..Epidemius is not just any plague bearer. He is THE Plaguebearer. He is chosen by Nurgle himself to be his tallyman and is one of the council of  the7 most badass plague bearers there are ( GW has given no hint about the other 6.)  Best yet , Epidemius is sitting atop a throne that is carried by nurglings! He will fit just perfectly in my opinion. His carriers will give a sence of continuity and depth since the eye will compare the size of the nurglings in the front with the ones in the back. If i pull the pose nicely it may even appear in a wave like motion. I will position him in the space above the nurglings in the right , a space that was akwardly empty and ruined the picture's balance. So , one stone , two birds ;)

Thats it for tonight , im gonna go and try this thing humans call "sleep". More filthy , nurgly stuff tommorow! Cya!

Nurglings WIP no2

My  Nurglings again , this time bace colouring included. I settled for a Black Templar , mainly cause they are black lol. Their colour scheme works well with the image. I wanted to give different skin tones to my nurglings , i hope i didnt overdo it. There are still plenty of details to add besides the rendering. Muck , saliva , shitstains , more maggots(?) , draw a proper sky and im even considering of adding something big in the background like a Great Unclean One or a Plague Hulk . We will see...

In other news , im getting close to finishing my latest commissioned work. Client is happy so far so thats a great thing. Once i complete it ill be able to spent more time on the nurglings and my other projects. Unfortunately i wont be able to share the commission until late August , since it is going to be a gift for a certain relative of my client.

Till next time !