The Making of Wiñay Marka

For this week's painting, I decided to make a tribute to one of the best anime I've watched, El Cazador de la Bruja (Hunter of the Witch). The manga is terrible, but the anime is one of the few on the long list of anime that've kept me entertained since childhood that I've watched multiple times without losing any enjoyment for it.

Step 1: Roughs (5 hours, 40 minutes)
I started out the painting by using Alyson and Ryan figures in Poser 8 to set up the basic poses for the piece. I then proceeded to draw a detailed rough, using both the Poser render and several reference photos of the anime. At this point, for whatever reason, I have had a lot easier time so far drawing out the Jody Hayward, Ricardo, and Lirio characters than the main characters Nadie and Ellis. I'm really hoping that I can change that in the next stage.

Doctor Fate

A painting I decided to do on Doctor Fate, partly because he was one of the first characters I was ever introduced to in the DC Universe, and partly because I wanted to paint a few more atmospheric, magical characters before I start on my eventual painting of Raven, which will involve a lot of effects and landscape, as of the current idea I have for her.

Made between July 22^nd and July 23^rd, in 6.5 hours, using Poser 8 and Photoshop CS6, along with a Wacom Cintiq 15x.

The Making of Doctor Fate

For this week's painting, I decided to do a more atmospheric piece, and so I decided to try to make a piece focusing on the more tragic side of Doctor Fate's story.

 I first made the pose I wanted and rendered it on a base model in Poser 8. I then roughed out the figure geometry with the round brush in Photoshop. The basic idea was to showcase the more tragic side of Doctor Fate.

Woodward Caves Take 2

After a poor attempt at photographing them mid-tour, I went back to Woodward Caves in Pennsylvania today, after arranging for a photo tour of the place. Have to say, without worrying about interrupting a tour and being able to take time to set shots up, the place is phenomenal for a photo shoot. I managed to get quite a few photos, mostly for my texture library, but I came out of it with some panoramas that, I think at any rate, came out looking awesome:

Reminiscing On My Previous Semester

I was going over some of my older works, and thought I should put what was hands-down the best things I did in the entirety of my previous semester here.

Animation:
If I can pick a definitive point where my art skills started what is, admittedly a tad egotistically, a very rapid increase, it was with this animation, where for the most part, I designed the characters, set the animation up, did the soundtrack, and managed to hook a va, all in the span of the seven days before the project was due in my animation course.

Week of July 15

Like I said in my schedule page, the week of the 15th will be a week off from digital painting, but I somehow doubt I'll be getting overmuch rest. Between working more on this blog, doing some copyediting, and doing a job over the next week that includes both doing some designs, mostly simple illustrations, and working on a website, it's probably a good thing I decided to break from the painting.

So far, I've decided that I'll be putting some of my photography up here as well, starting with my next photo op, which will hopefully be a re-shoot of a botched trip to Woodward Caves in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago. I'll also probably be making a page dedicated to contests I enter, what awards, if any, I get from them, and any certifications I get, which will save me time when I eventually build my website.

That all said, I won't be totally relaxing from painting work, since I'll at least be getting some sketching and setting up the Poser bases done for my Doctor Fate painting next week.

The Making of Alice: Madness Returns

I started the piece by creating the characters' bases in Poser 8. I also started playing the game and capturing various reference photos for costumes, set pieces, and such, though I didn't include that in the time for the piece overall. When I had those bases, I then created the geometry of the characters in the piece, using the round brush in Photoshop CS6. My intention, as shown here, was to originally have the setting in the Vale of Tears level, with the weeping Alice statue broken down, possibly from the Infernal Train running through it, and an army of Insidious Ruins surrounding Alice, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter.

Alice: Madness Returns

I was recently hearing news of American McGee's Kickstarter for the new game he and Spicy Horse are making, OZombie, and got hit with a huge bout of nostalgia, Alice and, particularly, Alice: Madness Returns being two games I greatly enjoyed when I discovered them. So, naturally, I decided on this as the source for my next painting, and possibly more in the future.

Made in roughly 26 hours, between July 9 and July 12.

The Making of Catwoman

Using Poser 8, I set up a base model and pose, and drew the base geometry with the round brush in Photoshop CS6. The time taken for it included a lot more of looking around for references than the actual drawing, which took not much time at all.

Catwoman

For my next digital painting, I decided to focus more on small details and light sources, and after reading the recent New 52 Catwoman comic volumes, I decided to make her my next subject.

Made in about 14 hours total, between June 29 and July 5, 2013.

The Making of Huntress & Question

I drew out the base geometric wireframes of the painting using the Wacom Cintiq 15x with the round brush in Photoshop CS6.

Huntress & Question

After re-watching the Justice League Unlimited cartoon, I decided to make my second digital painting of the pair of characters Huntress and The Question, both of whom I found very interesting.

Created between June 22 and June 24, 2013, in about 14 hours total.

The Making of Zatanna

To start with, I drew out the base image, as well as the pathway for the smoke to follow, using a 4H and an HB pencil.

Zatanna (My First Digital Painting)

After recently watching the show Young Justice, and re-watching many of the DC cartoons I grew up on, I decided to make one of my favorite characters in the DC universe, and one of the first comic series I ever actually read, a try as the first full digital painting I've ever done.

It took me roughly 12 hours from getting the design's idea to completion. I'll be uploading another post discussing in detail everything that was involved in its creation.

Created between June 15 and June 17, 2013.