25.6.11

The Incoming Tempest - Beginnings

The Philippines is being buffeted by the typhoon Falcon as I am writing this entry. Heck, a tornado even formed at the part of the National Capital Region right smack where some relatives are living, and they had to call the fire department to remove the trees that have been uprooted in their property. As far as I know, this was the first time in my living memory that a tornado formed there. Signs of the times, indeed. I've got to be thankful that we are still all right where we are staying.

So, you can say that this calamity also rather influenced the sketch of what will be my next project. Actually, the sketch wasn't the only thing I drew. I pretty much put to pencil most of the vital characters in Starmaiden (even those that have yet to make an appearance), in an effort to pull myself together after suffering from a little emotional breakdown. Don't worry, it's nothing too serious. Just the matter of not getting enough sleep and suddenly being given four chapters of Plato's the Republic to read, annotate, and highlight for the weekend. (And I actually managed to read it all and understand the main points, after I took a good restful sleep.)
*gasp* Giratina, is that YOU?! Drawn right on Paulo Freire's essay The "Banking" Concept of Education from many semesters ago.
Ah, a great fan-favorite, Lord Gira is. Any female watcher of mine would most likely recognize him. *coughs* But your eyes are not deceiving you. That's my human-form Giratina, like never you have seen him before. Some of his fans (read: my cousin) have been pestering me to draw him again. Thankfully my muse was in a good mood (and yeah, I wanted to get back to my other characters after drawing EltaninShipping for two artworks in a row). I intend to use the same style I did with Magnolia Metamorphosis with this one, except that the no-stock-image personal rule still holds. Stay tuned, everyone, and please pray for those affected by the typhoon.

12.6.11

Entropy Paradox: Post-artwork Evaluation

“Scientists have often been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe. The laws of thermodynamics seem to dictate the opposite, that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder, greater entropy. Yet all around us we see magnificent structures—galaxies, cells, ecosystems, human beings—that have all somehow managed to assemble themselves.”
- Steven Strogatz

"Entropy Paradox" is perhaps one of the most (if not the most) geeky artworks I have ever drawn, if one takes into consideration the science that inspired it. Well, just look at the title, for heaven's sake. I do admit, though, that I fared better in Chemistry and Biology than in Physics, and the irony of it is that I enjoy Quantum Mechanics and Relativity more than I enjoy the Newtonian stuff. Heh. But enough of that.

I did mention two blog posts earlier that I intended to stick with two objectives in this artwork: [1] no stock images, and [2] stay true to the original sketch. Sticking with [1] was a success. Apart from the fractals, which were rendered with the aid of Apophysis, everything was pretty much drawn by hand or using paths. As for [2], compare the two images below and judge for yourself.

DevART version is a lot better, but it's concealed behind a mature tag.
Minor changes here and there, but it's pretty much the same... right?
Going with the "paradox" theme, I inserted a lot of "contradicting" elements in the artwork. Flat-surface versus depth-oriented, living versus inanimate, flowing versus rigid... you find it. But the main contradiction was perhaps... well, order versus disorder. After all, that's what the physics is all about. The problem was how to pull it off. In the end, I decided to intersperse fractals with hand-painted figures. Fractals, with their mathematical iterations and whatnot, somehow contrast with free-form painting, which in turn may not follow "the rules" so rigidly.

So here are some of the non-brush fractals used (and yeah, I know they're not so sophisticated -- I'm just an Apophysis rookie):

It's hard to see this one because I used it as a texture for the wings.

And on a closing note, if those rune-like markings on my signature got your eye, be aware that I did not invent it. It's Baybayin, a form of ethnic script in the Philippines. I could already write it well even though I am still rather slow in reading them. Like Japanese hiragana and katakana, Baybayin is spelled by syllable.


Read more about it in its Wikipedia page (unfortunately, you have to know Tagalog in order to understand the samples). You can download Baybayin fonts here. The downloadable files contain instructions on how to work the fonts, so no worries there.

10.6.11

No More Missus Nice Girl!

A.K.A. proof that Antarel doesn't always draw clothed people. *cough* (But hey, I don't do this all the time! My last "daring" artwork was five years ago, and only in pencil.)

So does this merit a mature tag in DA?