Final Project (Wednesday)

*Drumroll*

Ok, not the best picture, but it really isn't my best work either.

I really wanted to use characters for this. And my own style.

I had to ask the teacher for permission to do a lot of things before I went full-tilt into this project.

He gave me the go-ahead, and I got an A for it!

So, process time!

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This was originally going to be much more complex, but once I got into it the task became more daunting. 

First off, I've never actually drawn elementists... elementing.

I've designed them before, but never took on the elements themselves. I ended up referencing Avatar (the cartoons, not either of the movies) a lot. The water was fairly simple, but fire was a whole other animal.

See, water has mass, whereas fire (at least what we visualize as fire) is actually combusting ash.

How do you even draw that?

Here's one of my practice sheets.

I ended up treating fire as, rather than a stream of flame, smaller comets with an implied center of mass.

(I almost snuck a little eye on the main one because they reminded me of fish.)

The big problem I had with the water elementist was her positioning.

I initially wanted her to be facing the viewer more than her opponent. I chose that so I could show that I could draw a face from more than one angle and still have it look good, but she ended up looking detached from the situation, so I turned her to profile.

Also notice, she has both hands visible, and the fire elementist doesn't.

I admit to not being very good at drawing hands, so I attempted to avoid them as much as possible, but that didn't really work.

When I first sketched the idea (during a Physics lecture), both were wearing gowns, but I also sketched some "battle gear" in the event that the dresses didn't work.

I tried. I really did.

They added an extra level of motion and complexity that I felt a final project needed, but they were also bulky, and didn't show the posing very well. Not to mention they felt really out of place in a battle scenario. (I mean, did it start as a heated debate over cocktails or something?)

If any of you remember when I drew those dragon ladies a while ago, you may be thinking that these two look really familiar.

Don't judge me for recycling ideas.

The dragons exist is a different story-verse than the elementists, and they're still deep in development.

Fun Fact: I actually drew this twice.

Yup.

I was particularly brilliant and went into coloring mode and forgot to bring shading mode with me.

So I got to draw this again.

It was kind of a mix of tracing and just plain redrawing.

I've sketched these poses enough (I've got about 5-7 pages of practice sketches), so I knew how to do it, but I had already done most of the work, so I loosely traced it.

Also, really proud of the fire elementist's right foot.

Look at it; it's marvelous.

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Ok, I'll stop rambling for a bit now.

For all its faults, I am proud of the amount of work I put into this piece.

I've shown myself that I can sketch an idea and then draw it later.

It also proved that I can redo a piece I've messed up and not be so far behind that I can't make a deadline or something.

So I guess I did learn something from my art class, even if I did have to teach it to myself.

Go with God,

~Allie

Moving Out (Thursday)

Sorry, no art here.

Ungrateful people, move along, I'm just typing up thoughts here.

So move-out day is.... hectic.

Triple checking to make sure all the drawers are empty, deciding which electronics stay out of boxes to keep me entertained, and folding mattress pads is busy work.

I might miss the ... coziness of the dorm, but I look forward to having more space (and a spinning chair).

My sketchbooks are either at home or buried in a box, along with my scanner, so it might be a little bit before I care enough to get some things done.

I will, however, be doing some painting (this might be the first thing I do this summer). So that may be posted here.

Got an A on my final project (yay!), and my teacher acknowledged my having already developed a style before joining his class. Even though I made a good grade in the class, I'm not looking to take another one. I've found that I manage to learn just fine on my own with the internet and other artists' work available to look at.

I've also been practicing with my copics again. I would like to do more shading, but I'm going to need more markers. It might be time for me to just buy a set or something. (First I need money.) I don't really want to because I'd have repeats of markers, and with them being stupidly expensive I don't like that. Maybe I could find a used set somewhere... (Woah, there's 5 different sets of 72.)

So that's what I'm up to today.

I'll get back to you once the dust settles.

Go with God,

~Allie