"Calm Skies" - Some Reflections

A section of the artwork -- links to full version at the end of the post

Simply put, my original plans for this artwork was quite different. With Death's Candles out of the way, I was free to do a new piece. It was very easy to return to my often-used female model (my "Kiya"), but I realized that Kouseikei, the current male lead in my artistic universe, had yet to be given a solo artwork of his own. All my other artworks that feature him are either group pieces, or otherwise show him with Kiya. Now was the time to remedy that situation, I thought.

Meh, I still suck at human anatomies :(

Horrible preliminary sketching/planning aside, the process of its finishing was interesting, to say the least. The time period of its making coincided with some drastic events in my life. For one, the Philippines was being buffeted by the typhoons Saola and Haikui just as I was painting the background of the image.

At that moment, you can say that the artwork was in itself a prayer for calm skies again.

I owe Google images and Wikipedia a lot for jump-starting my muse and finding references, definitely. However, the weather wasn't the only significant influence in the artwork. I won't say it in many words, but as I was fleshing out Kouseikei, I made a decision that significantly altered my day-to-day living.

And made me notice some things I have never seen about him before, with regards to his character.

Admittedly, I am not too fond of using persons I know of as bases for my characters. I am not saying that my real-life interactions have no influence in how I design or conceptualize my characters (quite the opposite). I just don't like my characters ending up as simply being Ms. or Mr. So-and-so in a different name and look in my artistic universe. (Think of how awkward it could get.) Likewise, Kouseikei was "born"  more as a plot necessity and not as a virtual model of a real-life person.

At least, consciously. Because, if some people who know me by my real name also read about Kouseikei's story, they might find some glaring similarities with his personality and that of someone I know of. Don't worry, "he" has no wings, and neither was he scarred on the cheek and back by his cousin. :)

View the full artwork here or here.

Death's Candles Conceptualization

Now that I am no longer fighting my Wacom tablet, I have decided to give my upcoming artwork a thorough revamp. Originally it's entitled "The Incoming Tempest," but now (partly due to Halloween-esque inspiration) it will be "Death's Candles." Now for a preview pic:

Click to fullview -- you know you want to ;p

The change was also to help the artwork be more "Giratina," for lack of better term. In fact, so far this is the closest I have been to the Gira in my mind, physical- and character-wise. Although it's flattering that he has many fangirls in DA (my cousin even point blank said he has more sex appeal than Dialga *coughs*), I am a bit bothered that people may be forgetting that he is first and foremost the Dragon of Shadows, the God of Death. 

And no, his chest doesn't have to be that bare in the final. Still thinking if I am going to give him a necklace or something. :D

Incoming Tempest Update 01

Gee, is it coincidental that I get more psyched up to continue this artwork when there's a storm buffeting the Philippines?

His expression is probably more intense than what the original sketch implies, IMO. And somehow, if this in-progress work is the only basis, methinks he bears more resemblances with Kiya than Dia does (dunno... the hair perhaps?).

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?

Yin to the Yang

Time for something comparatively more lighthearted. It may not be evident yet because I have yet to go far in Flight of the Star Maiden, but two of my gijinkas actually... well, look similar (intentionally). However the personality of one is the yin to the other's yang (read: opposites). Want to guess before scrolling down?

A	B
Volatile and fickle	Calm and disciplined
Outspoken	Silent
Confident	Self-effacing
Immortal	Mortal
Privileged	Poor (sorta)
Blue and Silver	Red and Black (post-Starmaiden only)
Can't stand children XD	Gets along well with kids
Could be naive	Rather battle-hardened

Hah, it's already obvious as hell to those who have followed on my works for so long. But anyway, if A is your type, then you may like...

Dialga! I don't have a semi-realistic colored art of him yet, so I just chucked this speed paint/practice in. Gomen ne, Dia! 

On the other hand, if you would rather go with option B, you'd better stick with...

Ah, Kousei darling. It's been a while.

Just one teeny problem though: both of them are taken, at least where their respective story universes are concerned. XD But hey, if you are in for a life-or-death match with two martial arts-experienced women (one of which oversees space), why not?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Or rather, my signature long-haired female character through the years. Although some of the proceeding stuff may hurt the eyes (including mine), one does get the urge to see the evolution of my art guinea pig (sorry, Kiya!) every once in a while.

Artwork: Gijinka Palkia and Dialga ver. 1.0
Comments: Oh boy, would you believe she originally looked like this?!

Artwork: Dragons of Sinnoh
Comments: Although that artwork was quite a milestone for me, well... at least my coloring was a bit better...

Artwork: Reconciliation
Comments: Woah, her hair's down for the first time!

Artwork: Cosmic Covenant
Comments: Now that I look at this artwork, I kind of like the background more than the people in the foreground. :/

Artwork: ---- (unrendered sketch)
Comments: Now, if only the final results were as pretty as the sketches...

Artwork: Part of cover page of a fanfic
Comments: Wow, so pale. Wonder what possessed me to give her the vampire-like look, considering how I don't like... ahem.

Artwork: Starmaker (revamped version)
Comments: Not half-bad, but why still so pale?! (*Facepalms myself*)

Artwork: One With the Night
Comments: I was riddled with a lot of technical difficulties here, so I might say this is only so-so. But at least she doesn't look as drained of blood as before.

So, I deeply apologize if I burned anyone's eyes out. The next pic is actually the updated preview of my only pending full artwork. Nix the earlier face you may be familiar with, because a couple o' weeks earlier, I just realized how much I needed practice in rendering semi-realistic people. Of course, the day may come when I may look at this new face and come up with the same negative reaction I now give its predecessors, but for now, it will have to do. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Note: Despite the tons of revisions, the last pic still isn't final! There's a big chance the actual output will look different.

Dark-robed Dragon updates 02

Our internet service turned wonky last evening, and who knows when it will be restored. I am not too keen on posting updates via public terminals, so expect any artwork progress work to be uploaded in long intervals. Gomen ne.

Those who are familiar with my devART account will most likely recognize the character (if you don't, shame on you!). But this was the first time I drew her wearing a dark color scheme. Different, yes. But I am loving it. I actually based her outfit on the Coorgi style of draping a sari, although since I drew the borders of the cloth a little too narrow, I just let the palla hang unpleated over her right shoulder. Here's a video on how to do it:

The original headdress design was radically different from the one I ended up rendering. It was supposed to be more crown-like, but I had a hell of a time doing it, so I scrapped it in favor of a simple circlet. I am quite happy with how it turned out, though. Now for a detail shot and some of the patterns used:

The middle pattern may not be seen easily, but it's on the lower part of the shoulder drape. I have actually posted a Photoshop tutorial in devART on how to capture that glittering brocade effect here. I will try to post another version online for the non-devART users, but since my internet is... yeah, it may not happen soon.

Dark-robed Dragon updates 01

I finally got my lazy ass moving and compiled a set of images showing some artwork progress. "Dark-robed Dragon" isn't going to be the final title of this piece, but for the sake of this preliminary report I will use it. So here's the work so far (or at the part involving him at least -- he's supposed to have a companion):

Kouseikei - my first major male OC in about four years

For those who are unfamiliar with my characters, the guy was actually a humanized version of Salamence. But since he hardly looks like a Salamence anymore (apart from the headdress and the wings -- which are not yet rendered, by the way), I am counting this artwork as my first major original semi-realistic piece. Yes, that's a step to lessen the amount of fan art I am drawing.

The outfit is considerably less "robe-y" than most of the ones I have designed before (like this, this, and this), but then again, that's for practical reasons. ATLA fans may point out a similarity with Fire Nation guard uniforms (and I'll admit that I am also a fan of that series), but I guess the parallelism came out because the producers and I drew inspiration from a similar source:

That picture on the right, ladies and gentlemen, is the basic male costume of the Khmer Royal Ballet (Khmer = Cambodia from SE Asia, for those who don't know). However, I did modify plenty of aspects in the costume, as seen on the sketch on the left. Noticeably, the heavily decorated brocade panel dangling down the middle of the dancer's body was moved to drape diagonally across the torso. Ironically, it became closer to the style of the female costume in the end (see a picture of it here). Even then, I deviated from my original design sketch when I got to drawing. Instead of just letting the brocade fall freely down the back, I pulled it over the right shoulder as seen in the actual artwork preview (akin to a style of draping sari).

Note that it's actually a girl donning that costume in the picture; females often (if not almost always) take on male roles in the Khmer Royal Ballet. A drastically different case from Kabuki, if you'd ask me.

Yup, that's the pattern I used for the red borders. It's nothing more than the same rectangle being rotated and scattered semi-randomly over a 200x200 pixel canvas. I emphasize semi-randomly, because I also had to make sure the image tiled properly.

Ah, my favorite part of the costume (although whether much of it can still be seen in the final version, I don't know)! Those who have followed me in devART may be familiar with how obsessed I am with fabric textures and patterns. The last image is the basic warp-weft pattern (rotated 90 degrees) I used for the brocade. It is a rough replication of an actual t'nalak design. T'nalak is a special cloth woven by T'boli women (the T'boli are an ethnic group based in our southern island of Mindanao), and authentic t'nalak patterns are either handed down from generation to generation or are dreamed. Yes, dreamed. Down to the number of threads to be used. I will expound on this in a future blog entry, since I have been dying to replicate t'nalak patterns digitally ever since my Sociology and Anthropology teacher introduced me to them.