Spiritus

The finished painting of the Ghost Hunt anime.

Made between October 3-October 29 (with lots of distractions between)
Materials: Poser 9 (Alyson model), Photoshop CS6
Total Time: 12 hours

Tattoo Illustration

Someone on an Aspergers Facebook page I follow was looking for a tattoo design, and what she was asking for gave me an idea. It's simple, but I think it would work as a tattoo.

The Making of "Spiritus"

Because I was feeling a bit nostalgic, I decided to re-watch a fantastically creepy anime called Ghost Hunt, which inspired this painting.

Step 1: Lineart (2 hours, 10 minutes)
I first made a pose reference in Poser 9, which I used to set up the character of the piece, Mai Taniyama. I used some references for older Japanese schoolrooms for the background, as well. I then illustrated the digital rough with Photoshop CS6's round brush, with flow set to pen pressure control.







Step 2: Color, Texturing, and Shading (6 hours, 20 minutes)
Because of how I was doing this painting, everything basically became one step, starting from the texturing in the background up. I used several photos I've taken over time of woods, as well as a filter gallery effect, to create the classroom, desks, and board. I also used an explosion brush at various opacities to layer various effects into the wood. I also made a photo of the woods into a painting effect, and put it beneath the window and its metal textures.
When that was done, I again used the explosive brush to texture the chalk portion of the chalkboard, and created some bloody Asian text for the board. I created the flames around Mai's body in much the same way, using a mask.
Finally, I created various apparitions using the round brush and various opacities, along with the gaussian blur filter.





Step 3: Contrast and more detail work (2 hours)
I went in and, using the lineart as a guide, masked in shadows and highlights to the desks and Mai, as well as working a bit more on the spirits around her.





















Step 4: More detail work (30 minutes)
I added more details to the floor, support beam, and Mai's hair. I also put a creature in the back corner to try to make it seem like the unnatural dark had a source other than the spirits in general.

Step 5- More Touch-ups (1 hour)
To finish things off, I added adjustment layers for the contrast and saturation. I added more detail for the desks, as well as Mai's eyes and hair. Most importantly, I worked on the lighting so there wasn't half of the image seeming burned off.


















Made between October 3-October 29 (with lots of distractions between)
Materials: Poser 9 (Alyson model), Photoshop CS6
Total Time: 12 hours

Quickie- "Feast"

I decided to try my hand at a vampire piece. That it happened to coincide with my 7 Deadly Sins project in my advertising class certainly gave me some motivation.

Council Cup Photo Op Take 2

Here are the best photos I took at Council Cup this time around.

Quickie- "Have a Very Lovecraftian October"

I decided to kick off Frightober, my favorite month of the year, by doing an illustration of H.P. Lovecraft, one of my all-time favorite writers.

Made from October 4-October 6
Materials: Photoshop CS6
Total Time: 3 hours

October Preview

I've had a busy two days in Poser setting up a few of this month's illustrations. Here are some things to look forward to:

Week of September 31- Results of Boredom

While not doing a planned illustration this week, I am still doing some design work. Here are the results:




















A self portrait made in MangaStudio EX4 and Photoshop CS6.