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.

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.