shy

a quick doodle of shyori from my project stray

just a feeling

i have no time for fear
or people in my ear
head down and running so fast
try not to dwell on the past

what day is it?

and in what month?
this clock never seemed so alive
i can't keep up and i can't back down
i've been losing so much time

haley

let me down easy

mmmhmmm

yup, repeating life drawing for a 3rd time this semester. if it were up to me, i would've booked both sessions back to back but my schedule's already pushing the credit limit...





i'm getting so rusty at this. gotta practice more!

nooooooooo

how is it end of september already?!?

i've been living on 5 hours of sleep/day for the past 2 weeks trying to make various deadlines... i seriously do not recall ever being this stressed out. cries.


(yeah exactly, this kid looks like how i feel lol)

most of the work i've been doing revolve around my thesis film, flora. i don't really wanna go too much into details, but it has to do with a 4-year-old girl and a pot of flower.


i based my preliminary design on the character penny from the rescuers. it was really helpful in getting the feel of the kid's personality but i need to find a way to integrate it into my own style.


i was up at 2AM roughing out concept art for my drawing and design class. sometimes i really wonder if i signed up for the right major because i have a real hard time simplifying my designs. now if i went into illustration/sequential art i would be rocking that shit. however, animation's a totally different ball game and i gotta play by the rules or strike the fuck out.

so basically, this year's gonna be hell for me haha. and i don't think i'll have time to work on anything outside of class. super sadface.

>:|

here's a new character i've grown rather fond of. i call her ari- short for aria or ariel- i haven't decided which. oh and my scanner still hates me.



this is how she looks normally.



don't be fooled by her candy coated appearance though, she's secretly a BIG troublemaker (mwahaha).

guess who?

1-hour speed paint of an original character. as to her identity... well, you'll see when i'm done with this ;)



this somehow came out completely differently from what i had in mind, argh. perhaps ditching your original thumbnail at the last second is a bad idea...

honey honey ha!

i think i have some kind of weird artistic ADD/wanderlust cuz i can't seem to carry any of my paintings to completion D:

why does blending take such an excruciatingly long time to finesse?? i always get mind-numbingly bored halfway through rendering (even with rocket summer blasting through my headphones). also, new ideas/concepts have a way of creeping into my mind whenever i'm working. i know, why am i so weird? i don't know.



...yeah. i'm gonna call it quits for now (sorry steve!!). i'll prolly go back to it sometime after august since i do plan on finishing it.

i need a break....

but i'd rather have a break through D:



so tired of looking at this, can't wait to wrap it up and move on -_-

things to remember:
1) paint in BANDS (thank you andrew loomis)
2) NEVER forget to backup your files, layers too!
3) do NOT paint before blocking out the masses
4) careful of highlights; less is more

for the remainder of this month, i'm hoping to get a head start on 2 more pieces before switching into pre-production mode for my thesis animation. haha, talk about a screeching 180. weeee'll seeee how it all pans out! :D

baby steps

duurrr not much to say. just an updated version of the sketch i posted last night. i ditched the paper boats idea and went for rose petals instead... thought it suited the mood more.

paper dreams

i got tired of sucking @ mass painting so i switched to good ol' line art for a breath of fresh air. god, it is SO much easier drawing with lines than tones -_- i blame my addiction to graphic novels for this asymmetry in perception.

anyway, here's a wip that i hope to finish some day. girl in the pic's supposed to be seated on a ledge with paper boats sailing/floating on the clouds around her. the idea's largely inspired by a conversation i had w/ a friend. i remember that one distinctly because it was the last time we spoke before she went to study abroad.

ref credit: http://valentine-fov-stock.deviantart.com/

lesson #29417

okay so i know in my last post i said i'd update every other day and completely didn't follow through.
but before you shoot me, just hear me out:
i took a week off from digital painting in order to learn more about the medium i'm working with. in retrospect, it was a reckless move to rush into digital painting with so little prep work done beforehand. if anything, DP has shown me just how little i know about form and rendering. consequently, i found myself trapped in an endless maze of confusion about 90% of the time -_-

so long story short, i decided to hit the books and picked up harold speed's the practice and science of drawing. when i got about 1/5 through the book, my head was already exploding with a long series of HOLY Ffdsakshit.

now i understand why the guy who rec'ed it to me dubbed it as the artist's bible. god, seriously, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy.



oh yeah, this is some speed paint/doodle/thumbnail i did earlier today (that's a rose tat over her heart btw, in case the quality's too shitty for you to tell). having read TSPD, i realized that in the past, i've been way too focused on technicality and not nearly as much on the emotional quality of my works. so of course i'm gonna make amends from now on!

HOOHAH!

guhhhhhhh

i know there's like 298289428 mistakes with this pic but i really can't summon up the energy to care (any more).

-____________-

i picked just about the hardest angle to draw the head and i don't know why.

give up?
yes/yes



and so ying's fail saga continues... i'll prolly update every... other day? july's a busy month. yesh.

more fail

i was too wuss to go into color, so i decided to mess w/ grayscale some more.

change of pace

i've been working on this on and off for the past two days and it's still unfinished. whatever. i give. for an experiment piece it's served its purpose. i'm running on a tight schedule and it's time to move onto bigger and better things!!

ándale!

sprout

oh this is the start of something good
don't you agree?
i haven't felt like this in so many moons
you know what I mean?
and we can build through this destruction
as we are standing on our feet



these reeling emotions they just keep me alive
they keep me in tune
oh look what i‘m holding here in my fire
this is for you

devastation and reform

...guess who's been listening to emo music again?

haven't been very happy with my summer progress lately. it seems like i bit off more than i could chew. worse still i was doing it for the wrong reasons... but that's life. you fail and you learn.

on a brighter note though: KITTY!



aaaand my scanner still sucks.

fairy princesses no more!

during one of my portfolio review sessions sophomore year, a woman i sat down with pointed out how monotonous my subjects were. in her words, "they all look like fairy princesses".

well, i got news for her.


...in the form of burly, angry dudes *dur hur hur*

just a couple of days ago i finished reading bridgman's complete guide to drawing from life. that's 350 pages in 10 days. talk about information overload. i got very nauseous and borderline suicidal afterwards.

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT.
(yes i am retarded)


^done with ballpoint pen & col-erase pencils

i never expected to delve into anatomy so soon but damn, was it instructive. knowing what's going on beneath the surface just makes your figures THAT much more convincing. i guess that goes on without saying. but when it comes to art, all theories are useless unless they're put to practice. and that's exactly what i've been doing ever since i got home.


^a study after one of the illustrations in the practice and science of drawing by harold speed


^study of various designs; alice & ariel (c) disney


^a speed paint (in photoshop) of one of my original characters, ellaine

right now i've got a fairly good idea about where my weaknesses and strengths lie, so that gives me a decent map to start off with. like richard williams said, "begin with what you know and what you don't know will be revealed to you".

stay tuned cuz there's gonna be some epic heaps of artworks coming up in the next couple of months!

insatiable

i don't think i've felt a greater sense of urgency as i watch my friends from a year ahead graduate from college. watching them grapple with their hopes and fears is like peering into a mirror.

it's gonna be a bumpy road ahead... but i know i'll get through it because coupled with this formidable anxiety is a even more potent fervor to succeed.

time to break free from all the mental restrictions and follow the needle of my internal compass.


^mythical creature final for life drawing


^close up

obligatory art dump

spring break came and went far too quickly... time really does fly when you're having fun.


^study of john collier's the priestess of delphi


^study of a bronzino sketch at the MET








^loomis studies from figure drawing for all it's worth


^some 5 min life drawings

drawing from life

oh god... how long has it been since i last updated?

i haven't been slacking off i swear!! over winter break, i read a couple of really helpful books, including perspective made easy by earnest norling and figure drawing for all it's worth by andrew loomis. very very good reads. i would highly recommend both.


^study of torso from anatomy: a complete guide for artists by
joseph sheppard

over the course of last semester, it has dawned upon me how absolutely vital life drawing is to an aspiring illustrator/animator. and so, staying true to my 'all or nothing' motto, i booked both life drawing sessions offered at NYU. to be sure, it was very intimidating to attempt life drawing for the first time. the 30 sec/1 min. rapid poses were particularly difficult. BUT. challenges are how we learn best. after a full month of training, i am pleasantly surprised by how much i've gained from these life drawing sessions.


^20 min. life drawing

...and things are only gonna get better from here on out :)