28 Feb 2015

Faces! Faces for everyone!

Ok, so I may not have spent the whole day doing what I was meant to do (which was drawing and writing) - but I did half of what I intended. Drawing.

Anyway, how many faces behind am I? Ok - it's the 28th in Australia, 27th on the other side of the world, and I have done up to day 18.

Oh boy.

So first off today I decided to play around with an application called Alchemy (Click here if you want to try it out - it's free and pretty neat!) and tried to make some faces that way. Here is the result

And I am totally counting this as two faces. You can see where they roughly came from too.
Calling them Monster Royalty. When I use the Alchemy program, it is mostly to make tribal inspired patterns to use for a project (because I suck at designing things).


The sketchbook got a little roughed up from the trip back home - or maybe when I tripped over the bag it was in during the middle of the night.
So the three above are just random sketchs, but two of them look like two already developed characters (or possibly their children). Either way, totally happy with how they turned out! And remember - this isn't the 29 Hands challenge. It's 29 Faces.

Here are some close-ups

Face 21
Face 22
Face 23

Huh? I'm getting somewhat better with the second eye and eyebrows. Sweet!

Also, did you know that I play the clarinet? I mean, I do play it pretty badly, and the instrument is in dire need of a good service. But I can play music.

Anyway - it has taken a few years, but I finally found my clarinet! Dad hid it a while ago and I have been searching for it for a long time. I first got it in grade 3 if I remember correctly - so I have had it for around 12 years. It's been a bit battered up, but each small dent and fix has a story behind it. Maybe I'll write a post later about my musical abilities (or lack thereof).

But, because I found it recently, I decided to draw a picture of a clarinetist (yes - that is the term used. Well, that or clarinet player).

I do have a colour version, but I decided to make it black and white just because I can!
24 faces are completed. 5 to go.

...

I can do this!

And now I have an idea or two to reach that goal... Fantastic!

Anyway, have a wonderful day everyone!

25 Feb 2015

More 29 Faces!

Now with 99.9% more paint!

So I am a little (lot) behind with this challenge... And so I sat down early yesterday morning and started to craft. Then I went out to the Uni to talk to some people about my academics, which dampened my mood when I later talked to Dad about it.

Anyway, I came back after a few hours and sat down at my work area - that was the dining table with all my stuff over it -

And if you look really carefully, you will notice that I did not drop the paint anywhere. Besides all over the newspaper.
- And I crafted with clay, painted with left over paint, and attempted watercolours but after colouring decided to not screw up the picture anymore by adding water.

Here is the run down of the faces.

While waiting for my clay to dry, I painted...

Day 13 - Otherwise known as 'Splat'.
Then I thought he looked rather lonely on the page, so I did...

Day 14 - A Flower Girl
Then I painted the clay and noticed more colours and more empty space on the page, so...

Day 15 - Red, with freckles or a blush. Probably freckles.


Day 16 - I was just trying out hairstyles at this stage.

By the fourth face the clay project was pretty much done.

Day 17 - Prince

It's Owen's birthday present - only a few weeks late! This is the Prince from a game called 'Beautiful Katamari' - which is an odd game but kinda fun (and the music gets stuck in your head if you listen to it long enough).

You can tell how bad I am with clay.

And lastly, at the end of the night, I pulled out my watercolour pencils and drew another face.

Day 18 - At this stage of the night I had no idea what I was doing, but decided that I would continue to do so until I was finished. For the day anyway.
HA! I am now only 7-8 days behind! Muahahaha!!

*Cough*

Now if you would excuse me, I have to pack my bag and charge my laptop very quickly for the trip back home.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

19 Feb 2015

Just a quick face

*Sigh*

Dungeons take forever to clean up. And work takes up lots of time.

And then there is a worrying situation with Trin.

Oh. And a Category 2/3 cyclone is heading this way. I actually really really like the rain, the sound of it on the roof, the bright green leaves after it passes...

I don't like hearing zombies from the front room - Mum and Dad are watching the Walking Dead and it must be a pretty intense scene, but the rain is drowning out most of the sound, so yay!

Anyway, here is a quick face that I drew up a little while ago (and I do mean a little while ago, like an hour or so)

A character for a table-top game that I will be playing on the weekend. In chibi form.
Because sometimes you need a chibi in life
So... Day 12: Done!

How many days behind am I? Oh well, at least not as far behind as Mum, and I do nag at her to do some art.

Hehe, have a wonderful day everyone!

14 Feb 2015

Please don't remind me...

I'm sure that people who have visited here know that I don't like Valentines day - or Ferris wheels (and by default the guy who made them) - and it all coincides today. Instead, Goodle has decided to tell that it is the Cricket World Cup today, so I have mixed feelings ('cause I don't like that either).

Anyway! I have been in a bit of a bad mental spot recently and nothing was really working, which resulted in this...

You see? This is what happens when I get left alone with nothing to do! I find the chalk and draw on the driveway - which solves the 'nothing to do' problem.
It has been long established in my family that some people are born a cynic - I am one of those people. I'm also the child of a guy who got a degree in philosophy. This probably doesn't count as a face for the 29 Faces Challenge, so I won't make it one.

Continuing through the week, my mood got worse around the Tuesday-Wednesday mark which resulted in these faces...

Day 7

A rough sketch - but I liked it (considering what a bad mood I was in when I did it)
Day 8 and 9
So I decided I was going to make a small series about wishes - something like a before/after thing with some stand-alone wishes in between (does that make sense?)

And on Thursday... I felt better and there were three reasons for that - 1) I wrote five sentences that made me smile - 2) I found an old game that I used to play, which made me draw one of the characters from that game

Yue - the merchant from Rune Factory 2. I really like the art style from the Rune Factory games and you can see the shift from game to game, but its still cool
Day 10
And reason number 3) I bought the lastest game in the series! I can finally play as a female!!! YAY!

I read an article once about someone who justified the lack of female player characters in games by 'guys don't want to play as girls - in case there is romance in the story and have to kiss a guy'. And I was kinda ticked off, because I have been playing males in games for years - YEARS. I have played as guys who kiss females, does the same logic not apply? (Well, maybe not to me 'cause close my eyes and then open them after a good 5 minutes). The person who wrote that article pointed out that flaw. And once when I was talking to Owen about a game called Mass Effect (which he started way before me and still hasn't finished) the following happened;
"Did you play as male Shep, 'cause default Shep is best Shep." - Owen
"No. I played as female, because I'm a female and liked the option." - Me
"... Fair enough." - Owen
Which then lead to a different conversation about how I regretted being nice to characters, because I accidently romanced one of them - which sucked.

So the fact I can now play as a female in the Rune factory series (without being a second generation kid) is great for me. Anyway, I was playing the game when something happened...

Only counts as one face, because I cheated and copy/pasted
Day 11

Mitch would know. He would understand.

*Cough*

One line of spoken dialogue and I heard a bit of a character from an anime I watched. So I did a quick search and confirmed my guess - there are other spoken lines from the game that sound nothing like Tamaki, except for when the character in the game is excited.

...

Where was I? Sorry, I got sidetracked looking at pictures and now my desktop is overflowing with them... Uh... I need to clean it up now.

So Days 7-11: Mission Accomplished! The mission being to get back into the mood of doing creative things.

Now if you excuse me... I have a dungeon to sweep (and some pizza to eat)! Hehe.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

5 Feb 2015

Days 4,5 and 6 - A Red-haired Family Unit

Hi all!

How is everyone going?

First off...

HAPPY (Belated) BIRTHDAY OWEN! 
You probably still read this thing, so hi - also can you say 'hi' to Mitch for me?

Moving on.

I've kinda been down in the creative slumps recently (well, actually a few years), I am also a worrywart about everything and current government in the backwards land of Down Under, so my mood has not been the best recently. Most of my free time is spent trying to get to sleep which I have lost a lot of to avoid headaches, so I haven't crossed any books or games off my to-do-list.
However I play for a short burst in the afternoons (after failing to nap) because if one thing bothers me the most in video games, it's people/bosses that I can't beat. And don't even get me started on an X-box game where I completed all the other stories for, but the main one because I couldn't beat a angsty teenage boy (my friend Mitch will vouch for that, since we kept switching after every attempt). I beat all the tougher and more strategic characters, but the guy that keeps running in to attack me? Apparently not.

Urgh.

Where was I? Oh yeah, short bursts and unbeatable characters. The game I have been playing for a while is a game that I do play in short timeframes, because as soon as I hit the two hour mark the game says "Remember to take breaks" (and it rewards breaks too which is a bonus). And there are two people on my map that I had passed at Supanova, and their level is ridiculously high (and 3 characters in their army can transform in high level dragons - it's so not fair when I only have 2 mid-level).

Now to tie the two points together...
I have not been able to draw any of my own characters to a satisfactory level now for a very long time (due to the lost in confidence), but I still get the itch to draw (especially when competing in the 29 Faces), so I drew a family from the game that I have been playing to level my characters up and slaughter beat the people on my map.

So here are the faces!

I used watercolours. Yay~! ... Can you detect the sarcasm? I have to learn how to use them properly.
So from left to right; Gregor, Cordelia and Severa from the game Fire Emblem Awakening. I decided to only paint in the shades of red in the hair and outfits.

Oh, and I had asked Mum for help with Gregor due to him being a more mature age. Turn my back and Mum rubbed out almost half of what I had done and did a semi-realistic face. So I kinda lost the old pose/layout and as I inked, realised that he and Cordelia look a little odd in their pose. Severa was initally smaller, so drew her bigger and made lots of mistakes.

Sorry, you guys aren't here for rants are you? This is why I keep to myself a lot of the time.

Anyway, day 4, 5 and 6 are completed and ready for combat!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

3 Feb 2015

The Immigration Officers of Here

Hi!

I am already behind in the challenge! And I do solomly vow that I will visit most of the people in the challenge. Probably on weekends mostly though.

Anyway, so here's something - I'm in the Writer's Club at Uni, who are putting together an anthology of short stories which I am contributing to. I have a signed contract and everything (the writers are nice, but overly cautious and funny which may be why I like them). So I recently finished my full first draft, and since I am two days behind, decided to draw my two characters that feature in the short stories.

So here are two quick sketchs that were done while watching Castle and Vikings.

Day 2
Olesia is a big alien that handles the Immigrations Office. A bit rough but she normally means well. She can't stand the smell of the hospital and is a good fighter.

Day 3

Suke is a different kind of alien and he eventually becomes Olesia's apprentice. He can't speak the common language properly, but he can understand it. Oh, and he can fly too.

So, days 2 and 3 are completed, as well as my draft. Whew! I feel much better - almost. Someone who created a show that I liked died the other day at 33 years old, so I'm a bit upset. I went to a panel of his when he was in Australia and he was a cool guy, so I feel sorry for his work-mates and family.

Well, I don't want to bum anyone out, so be sure to smile!!
Have a great day everyone!

1 Feb 2015

Restart the clock!

Gurgh...

It's been so long since I have done a post. So... Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Pinch-and-a-Punch-for-the-first-of-the-Month (no backsies by the way)!

And the main reason I am doing one is to get back into the habit of painting/drawing and writing (hopefully). So I noticed AyalaArt is doing another 29 faces challenge, and so I asked Mum if she would do it - Because there is nothing quite like peer-pressuring your mother into doing art.







Mum was doing art, but Trinity is starting her film college tomorrow in Brisbane (which is exciting for all of us) and so Mum was checking in on her.

And so, here is the first face of the new 29 Faces round!

Done with photoshop, this is an early design for a character whose name I do not know. GAH! I just realised there is a shadow missing on her left arm!

Be sure to go and visit other people in the challenge. You might learn a new technique or find a favourite artist, more people join everyday!

Anyway, have a wonderful day everyone!