Pirates and Contests

There's this group on Facebook that is essentially a design competition.

So I joined, thinking it would be a good exercise.

First month's theme is Pirates.

I'm really intimidated.

Because everyone's submitting this really awesome stuff and all I've got is this SoB.

He... ugh I can do so much better than this.

His character is far more interesting when he isn't all dolled up for the sake of looking "piratey."

He normally doesn't have as many tattoos, wears much lighter shoes, and his headband is usually a thin gold band.

The monkey isn't even his, I pretty sure he's borrowing it from his captain to try to get in someone's pants.

He's a faerie pirate, hence the wings. He isn't the captain of his boat but many believe he owns it due to his wealth which he may or may not have obtained from his many rich ... suitors.

His good looks rarely go unused as he is incredibly talented at convincing people to do what he wants.

Pretty much what I wanted to do was change up the usual dynamic-looking male characters and standard-issue pretty female characters by making a pretty male character.

Maybe next month will have something I can make a creature out of.

And maybe I'll show that I'm actually competent.

Luckily I forgot to turn this one in on time, so maybe I can spare my dignity a while longer.

~Allie

Your (Ir)Regularly Scheduled Update

I've been informed that I've done a poor job of keeping this blog interesting.

My bad.

Guess now's a good a time as ever to do a review type thing, excluding that which I've already posted here. (Plus my plans for the New Year consist of watching Enchanted and pretending that I'm going to do something productive before the semester starts.)

Plus I promised an update on this:

I finished this a while back, but forgot to let you guys know.

And I did this to see if I could still use markers:

(just pretend the wallpaper doesn't look ridiculous)

This is me attempting to do Bioshock fan art, but it's more like a precursor to something more polished. And inked.

Speaking of Bioshock: 

This is what happens when your professor introduces you to ADAMS software when you're on a gaming kick.

Also, some time ago it was "Draw your cat in a dress day" 

I did my best.

Here's a cute monster that I cannot replicate for the life of me.

Why must the cute ones be so hard to draw twice?

And if anyone looking at this happens to go to UAH, this never happened: 

The last class of the semester is rarely interesting, so I ended up drawing my circuits professor instead of paying attention. (Seriously, this never happened. I'm watching you.)

(Besides he smiles a lot more than this, neutral expressions are just easier for the first time with a face.) 

And that's all I had the motivation to track down.

I will try really hard to actually do some finished work and post it in the coming year.

(We'll just pretend engineering is not a time consuming major and that in my free time I won't be completely braindead.)

Welp

Later dudes,

~Allie

Wall Art Progress (Thursday)

So, you may remember a while back I posted a picture of a chalk drawing on my wall?

Well, it's been a while, but I actually did some work on it!

The first coat is done, but the second is proving to be an issue. Turns out that rather than the very careful method I'd employed for the first coat will not get this thing done quickly. I am having to liberally slather paint on the areas I've worked on several times. This is making it go a bit slow since I want each section to be done before I work on the next. And after the tree, I have the text to do at the top.

At least I'm getting somewhere.

You may notice the distinct difference between the parts that only have one layer and the ones with more.

The text at the top is elvish for "Speak Friend and Enter" plus a little embellishment because I didn't want to go back, erase it, and center it. I chose to do that instead of the stars when they decided to be a huge pain in the neck to get right.

(Very geometric things look very wrong when there's only a slight issue.)

So I'm going to get back to working on this.

Go with God,

Allie

Finals (Monday)

Of course by "later this week" I meant in about two weeks.

Sorry for the delay, the semester's wrapping up and so things got particularly busy after that post. It's Finals week at last, and with inclement weather delaying tomorrow's final I found myself with time do scrounge up some of my more finished work from the semester.

This is brought to you by watching way too much Face Off.

Pen sketch I did at a campus ministry event. It looks off because I didn't have a pencil to do any basic proportioning with first.

And this was referenced from a picture in Hyrule Historia. I'm particularly fond of the environments from Skyward Sword, so I thought I'd take a stab at copying one of the concept sketches. Didn't turn out terrible, so it's here.

Once I move back home, get my desk set back up, and go through my notes I'll have some doodles to show you as well. I haven't been entirely idle this semester, I just haven't set aside much time for practice.

So sometime after next week I will post again.

(Hopefully it doesn't take me longer than a week to move back home.)

Go with God,

Allie

School Starts Wednesday (Monday)

So here's some art I've worked on recently.

(At least the more finished stuff.)

Just a note, my scanner's decided to start doing this thing where when the paper you're scanning isn't perfectly flat it shows these weird shadows where there aren't any.

I'm trying to think of a way to work around this.

Info:

The first is a magician concept. She's still in flux at this time, I really can't pin her down, but this has presented itself as an option.

The second is an odd character who, despite having been sitting around since before winter break has elected not to entirely reveal his true nature. However, his look is rather fixed at this point, so you get that.

The last is something I drew last night. She's one of the elemental judges; earth, if you couldn't figure that much out. Her leg is made of "living" branches because of backstory issues. Her coat, face, and figure I like, but I think the dress needs to change. Maybe.

And I just drew the little cute thing for my own entertainment. Thinking about giving the full one a quick color… maybe with pencils.

Go with God,

Allie

More Progress (Tuesday)

This is how far I've gotten.

Just the chalk outline, no paint just yet. I probably won't be working on it much as school is starting back soon, and I've got move-in stuff in a few days.

With school starting back, I do have a request:

I would like some ideas for what to draw during the semester.

I may try and do some more photo-realistic stuff again (I have the sudden interest in drawing Matt Smith really well), but it will likely be more of my own style. I would like to try some new expressions and poses, so it all might just be a bunch of practice pages. Or some full shaded/colored stuff.

You never know.

So if you want to see more of any particular thing or want to suggest something new, let me know in the comments!

Go with God,

~Allie

Sleeping is for the Weak (Saturday)

What happens when you're awake at 12 am with hours worth of energy?

Art.

Art happens.

And for some reason it turned into three dwarf ladies at a pub.

Well, there were three, then one went to go use her perfectly styled beard to attract a young warrior. Hers is less practical than her big sister's, and little sister is only starting to get significant beardage.

The book that would really help me nail the clothes and furniture costs about $40.

As fascinating as it is, I would rather figure it out myself.

(Soon as it's on sale, consider it mine.)

Also, if you look up pictures of the dwarf ladies from The Hobbit, they are significantly less bearded than I have deemed necessary. Really now, how are they supposed to catch themselves a decent man with only that little bit of fuzz?

So yeah.

12 am   =   (magnificently) bearded ladies

Go with God,

~Allie

And yes, I'm starting a dwarf tag. May come in handy in the future.

Dwarves (Monday)

So I've been slacking recently, but I drew this.

Just wanted to take a stab at drawing a dwarf lady.

Not as detailed as I'd like, but a decent start.

I chickened out a bit on the facial hair. I'm not practiced at drawing beards, and I didn't want to put an ugly beard on a lady. Maybe I'll try drawing some dwarf gentlemen to get a better idea of how to style all that hair.

(I feel like her arms should be thicker... hmm.)

I'll try to get something else accomplished soon.

Go with God!

~Allie

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!

---

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.

---

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

Finals and Whatnot (Tuesday)

Taking a short break from studying/busywork and thought I'd give you this.

Silly thing I drew in physics.

Rather happy about the hands.

So, yeah.

Finals coming up.

Working on my final art project (tell you more about that when I finish).

Also preparing for move-out day, that'll be... interesting.

Well, I need to go get toner so my printer can, you know, print things.

Go with God,

~Allie

My Art Teacher... (Friday)

Is completely pointless.

Well, maybe not completely, but he has frequent moments.

So we were supposed to do some random lines and make a sort of drawing out of it.

I have actually done a similar exercise on my own, but most of the time my method does not create a good opportunity to create a full piece out of it. So after staring at my random lines for a good bit, I ditched that in favor of something more fun.

(Mind you, the teacher passed my work multiple times while I was working on this and said nothing.)

---

Most of the demon itself was done in-class, but I had to run out and get the red, black, and brown pencils to add some depth and color to him after.

He is all graphite and colored pencil, and the background is hard vine charcoal for the lighter parts and soft charcoal for the dark in-between bits.

The background if really finicky. You so much as look at it wrong and it smudges.

Ugh.

---

I really like drawing snarly faces and pointy teeth.

My classmates must think I have some emotional issues.

Anyways, he looks a lot like Roger(who's changed a bit recently, might alter him some more), but he isn't. Must be some spectral relative of his.

I really haven't had the opportunity to sit down and really draw some fun things. Well, there is one, I'll try and scan that tomorrow and post it. For the most part, outside of class I haven't been particularly inspired.

I guess I'm most productive when I should be doing something else.

Go with God,

~Allie

Grid Drawing (Friday)

So yeah, we did these grid drawings.

I still much prefer free-handing it. More flexibility that way.

But here's a shot of the progress and then the finished piece.
Matt Smith, everybody.... I tried....

His shirt was a pain in the butt.

So was his hair.

---

I started with graphite pencils, doing the outlining of his face and shoulders.

Then I went and fixed everything.

I used a sort of smudgery to shade his face.

By that I mean a colored this really dark spot elsewhere on the page, rubbed my finger in it, and used that to shade his face. Some of the darker spots I had to use a pencil then blend it, and then some work with the eraser to sharpen some shadows.

I used graphite on his hair, laying down a general shade then darkening it where needed and using my eraser to do highlights.

The pattern on his shirt was pencil too, shaded by charcoal (and my finger).

I only used vine charcoal on this; I started with hard on the jacket, but then I went and got the soft stuff to really shade it.

(Soft charcoal gets darker than hard charcoal.)

The bowtie was all soft charcoal.

I worked off a picture, but I can't be bothered to put it up.

The grid was drawn on the picture too, the drawing is about twice the size of the original.

---

I might post again soon.

Teacher let me draw a dragon in class and I've continued to work on it.

Growing fond of it.

When I get an adequate amount done on it, I'll post a photo.

Go with God,

~Allie

Tired (Saturday)

I tried to sleep in today; woke up at 8.

Sorry I haven't posted anything, I've been incredibly lazy.

Anyway, we drew faces in art class! (Like, a week ago! At least.)

So here's proof that I actually knew something going into this class.

Apparently these are fairly accurate.

Just a note, this girl doesn't like her profile. I think it's lovely.

Yes, we did draw from models (each other), so I am somewhat competent.

Wish I had my sketchbook back.

The professor keeps taking them over the weekend.

My teacher likes to take an hour to say anything, so I get to drawing fun stuff during that time.

I'm not kidding, he went on for at least half an hour about how he wasn't going to talk much during class.

However, we have finally covered perspective and shading (or "value" as he calls it), and I might have learned something.

Go with God,

Allie

Public Service Announcement(Tuesday)

Door Decorating (Wednesday)

Just to prove that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, and that what skill I have has not abandoned me.

Since this was for a Halloween decorating contest, I thought it was appropriate.

My awesome roommates and I worked way too hard on this.

Good thing we won the contest!

We're planning to leave it up through Christmas.

---

More detailed info!

We started with a bedsheet and spray painted it grey (it took like 3 cans of paint).

Michelle cut it and taped it to the actual door so that it would still open/close/lock; you know, important door stuff. She also provided to cobwebs.

The two demons are Steve (the one crawling out of the door) and a void rabbit (yet to be named).

I sketched them out and painted the lines in a glittery black (which is darker than the regular black), and Michelle and Kaitlyn helped fill them in (with the flat black and red).

Some of the details are missed here because paper rolls. There are spines on the rabbit's back, and the one hand on Steve has these really long nails.

Tiffany helped with hanging things, which was great because it was really a two-person job.

We used a lot of tape for this.

The sign was made of scrap paper left from cutting out the demons and the cell window and rust were painted on last.

---

Admit it.

My roommates rock.

Mostly because they put up with the disaster area that was the common area that happened while we were working on this.

(It got cleaned up, don't worry.)

So, yeah.

Aside from school, that's what I've been doing.

Not much going on otherwise.

I'm going to open up suggestions, so feel free to comment with an idea for a drawing, keeping in mind not every idea will be used, and please comment here if you do.

Go with God,

~Allie

P.S. From now on I'll do the process information like I did this time, with the '---'s, so that those not interested can just skip through it.

Avengers, Agreement! (Sunday)

Odd day to post.

Oh well.

Meant to post these a while ago, but I got distracted.

So yeah.

Apparently some of our neighbors have been having arguments, so all the rooms were assigned roommate agreements.

Our room hasn't had any problems, and we communicate pretty well, so we all thought it pointless. However, we got a sample with it that had Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, and Steve Rodgers as the roommates and I got inspired. The original was fairly straightforward and simply brought up things that people could use in theirs, but I thought it very out of character for some of the "roommates" and decided to fix it.

First I replaced Steve with Loki (who is much more entertaining) and just went from there.

I know there's some inaccuracies, particularly with the armor (the person who designed Loki's costume was an evil mastermind), but I did my best and I'm not going back to fix it.

This one won't be colored.

I am leaving this alone.

It took me 6 hours to finish the drawing alone, I don't even know how much time I spent on the written agreement.

Don't know what I'll start working on next, so stay there on the edge of your seat and hope for the best.

Enjoy!

Go with God,

~Allie

More Nymph (Friday)

You know, Friday used to be the busiest day of the week for me.

Now I only have 1 class in the morning.

Yay!

I'm also trying to get a good rendition of an idea related to a different class, so ... maybe I'll get around to it.

Anyways, NYMPH.

I'm liking the colors, but not so much her outfit.

I like her legs though, they turned out nice.

And I've seen that glow done somewhere before (if you find it let me know), but it looks kinda cool. And it gets the point across... I think.

If you noticed the whiteout... I hate that stuff.

It made my lineart look better, but it did a pretty fine job of messing up my colors.

Grr.

I'll also have to change her staff. At the very least it should be taller, but at the moment it's a bit quirky looking.

So yes, things to work out (still working on a style to get those princesses to look right) and an idea still in the works.

...

Plus school.

Lots and lots of school.

Go with God,

~Allie

Make this quick (Thursday)

So I've recently gotten back into DragonFable.

(I don't play all the time, schoolwork comes first.)

It's pretty fun, and this is based off one of my characters, Nymph.

Can you see where I was holding the sketchbook?

So her armor looks nothing like this, I may even change her design again so that she looks... better?

I dunno.

Favoring the mages right now, so I may draw the other one as well.

Go with God,

~Allie

Headache (Tuesday)

Scanner apps.

Yup.

Not the best, but hey, pictures.

I should tell you guys that I won't be doing anything more often, turns out that's when I get things done.

I very much had a day where all I could draw was dragons.

They're alright.

The top one is chasing his tail.

He also has a little beard.

Next time I do this I'll try to have better lighting.

It took way too long to figure out how to get this on the computer...

I'm gonna go... you know.... chill and stuff....

Classes start tomorrow.

So.

Yeah.

ugh, headache....

Go with God,

~Allie

So I Lied (Thursday)

So things didn't turn out as well as I'd like with my prototype, so I'm having to make another.

However, I'm secure enough in my process to tell you about what I'm going to be doing.

Mostly, mold making.

I'm going to try to make a blank from some miscellaneous items and use that to make a mold. I'll be making said mold from Plaster of Paris, and casting the final piece in resin (hopefully, a lot clearer than the first thing came out).

It's a lot of sit and wait for things to dry/harden, so please have patience with me.

In the meantime, I'm getting ready to go to college. Just over a week from now I'll be moving onto campus, and then about a week after that classes start.

I feel kind of bad for just leaving my readers (the glorious few) hanging, so I will leave you with a drawing of Princess Luna.

Humanized, obviously. Her look is influenced by a drawing I saw on deviantart, a bit military. I like to think of her as the more regimented type, while Celestia is more relaxed. Princess Cadance is just the people's princess; doesn't do much in governing, but is loved by the people.

...

I really put too much thought into that...

But the look is... rough to say the least. I've already got ideas for improving on it. This is one of a few little doodles I did last night, so please excuse the quality.

If this My Little Pony kick keeps up I may do all three of the princesses.

We'll see.

Go with God,

~Allie