Painting Galadriel & Frodo, day 1+2

I just started this movie still study last night. Everything's done on 1 layer in SAI so far.
The purpose of this study is to capture the dramatic atmosphere and lighting of the scene. I'm not using the exact color scheme of the reference picture.

1. Laying down basic colors & shapes

2.Adding more details to Galadriel's face

3. Resizing canvas, refining some details

4. Moving on to Frowndo Frodo's face (scariest part!)

The first two stages are from last night. It took me nearly 2 hours this morning (without breakfast!) to get to the third stage. I recorded today's process but Blogger's video window is too small for the whole thing to be seen.
I have always been struggling in the refining stage where I have to turn big blobs of color into details since the day I started painting in this method. Has it gotten any easier for me? No, but that's the good part. When something becomes too easy for us to obtain, it tends to take away our will to face new challenges.

Today is the day

Photo taken Dec. 29, 2009. It's not that pretty anymore 8(

Yes, so I got my Wacom Bamboo Pen on this day, December 29, exactly one year ago. All I have to say is that it's been a perfect little buddy and I love every bit about it, but!

I NEVER knew I could keep my pen right here:

And I thought it was just a decor.

In other news, I just noticed that the nib is worn out and will need to be replaced soon even though it never caused me any problems whatsoever, even after 12 months of frequent use (that's why I didn't even think about replacing the nib). I thought it'd be there forever lol.
I remember the cost was about $59 last year (shipping fee included), but it's $62 now. I was quite lucky there.

"There’s no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership." No tools can slow down your creative flow if it's strong enough. For now, just make the most out of your tool no matter how cheap or unsophisticated it is, and take good care of it.

First digital still life

Weird device and wires on my desk...?
Painted in SAI.

And no, my desk doesn't have that color. I just picked a random color for the background and tried to make every other color go along with it. I occasionally created one new layer for the highlights and set it under "Addition". I merge everything when I don't need to work on separate layers.
Say, I've never done a series before. I might do something like that at the beginning of next year just to refresh myself.

I kind of want to leave this part like this, but then it'd conflict with the face.
I shouldn't have put too much time in the face. Now it's isolated from the rest of the picture 8C Common mistake #1.
But I wasn't inspired enough to move on to the body until I got "done" with the face. Just a lame excuse I use most of the time.

Kind of a lazy day today, but I managed to do something other than just sitting around. The process has been very relaxing.

Everyone was like, "she" looks this and that so I was all oh, okay then D8

This is gonna be a journey, hmmm........ I want my vision to grow up faster 8C

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...a disaster lol.

I'm just too sick to do anything else oTL Don't even know if I can continue on this one today.

What is this, I don't see Christmas?

Idk, just try to paint something so my skill (?) won't get rusty.

A pretty scene is right in front of me waiting to be painted but I'm too tired to do anything, hhhhh... Whenever I travel to places with lots of water (ocean, lake, river), I get sick even without getting into the water.

Something about this picture bugs me the heck out of me. Gotta try to figure out what that is.

Just trying a different painting method C:

So... Ronald Knox the zombie killer?

And New York?

That is freaking awesome.

Trying out PS CS5. It reminds me of Google Chrome haha, pretty awesome.

Everything is due next week TT___TT

Frozen shadow

I thought that was an interesting angle... If only the ground was a mirror.

And wind chill factor is one of the most evil things ever.

OC doodles and...

It is fun to do this every once in a while with dramatic bg music and all.

I saw an altar boy at my church this morning that looks exactly like him at age 13. Oh the joy.

(Sketched from memory)

And he probably knew he was being stared at.

Figure drawing practice. Each one took about 1-2 minutes, then I went back to define some muscles for about 1 more minute.
I now feel a little bit more comfortable drawing the human figure. Accuracy comes from understanding and observation, not luck or chance. I'm still avoiding weird angles thou.

But still, "the more I practice, the luckier I get".

I HAVE UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY. I CAN MAKE IT.

Looks like I'm gonna have to teach myself art for quite a while... Maybe that's what God wants me to do, idk. There's just nothing I can do to improve the situation, for now.

Just doodled a little bit while I was waiting...

This whole morning just felt so depressing. I even thought about quitting school ._.

That's bad

Shiki wears lip gloss haha.

He had his coat on at first but then I was like, uh oh, I'd better define what's beneath the coat first.

I kind of drew him in the same pose as Rin unconciously lol... Must be because they are... xD Well the story just keeps gettin' better. I don't rly care for the animation but the characters are so interesting.

I also decided to include Akira recently just so he won't look lonely:

I haven't painted 2 dudes standing next to each other in a long time... Or is this the first time? I can't remember 8\

Oh and time for a quick comparision:

How did I do THAT in 2008 I don't even haha *snorts* Oh I love laughing at myself.

It's not about the turkey

On this Thanksgiving day, I would like to thank God for creating me and opening the artistic path for me and others to walk on. Of course there are millions of other things that I'm grateful for, but it'll take a lifetime to list them all out.

-------------------------------------

I believe painting/drawing is a spiritual process because the artist in some way has to distribute part of his soul, or inner-being, to the picture for it to have a "life" of its own.
Didn't God create Adam in the same way?
The power of artistic creation is not something that can be explain thoroughly by science. When we appreaciate a work of art, it is truly our souls that react to it and not just our physical organs like eyes or brain. That is why art is a form of spirit-to-spirit communication. I respect and need you, Mr. Science, but you are not my God.

This is wrong

Studying from master artist because I like this color scheme.

Oh dear God this picture is so eye-noying to look at I don't even.

Well done, you've got me sick (in a good and bad way) alright. I mean, having 4 eyes looking straight at you at the same time is just too much. It's a miracle how the artist managed to finish it without exploding his eyeballs.

I had a frightful dream last night. Not sure why it came up, but it was pretty bad. Lotta people got killed. Probably because I watched Harry Potter? 8\

Ready to roll

Alright, it's about time I get something done on time. This is going on a Christmas float.

Humiliate myself? I do it all the time.

More disaster.

I hope when I get to do something like this next time, it wouldn't be as bad. I srsly disagree with whoever says I'm "talented" and all that crap. Oh wait, I do have a talent for being a failure if that's what they mean. Thanks but no thanks, I already knew that, you don't have to remind me.

When I die I will ask God who I could have been if I did not slack off.

May Who?

I just started working on the mayor tonight. Due: Friday.
Look how rough the surface is, holy cheez.

This is a community project so I have to work on whatever "canvas" they give me. Derrrp! But it's an interesting experience. I've never painted on anything this rough, long, and narrow before. What fun.

To-do list: Nov-Dec

(Current desktop lol)

Nov:

-Painting one or two characters from Who-ville

-Painting at the ball field

-Finishing up master copy

Dec:

-Salvation Army (not decided)

-Wrapping presents

-Working on final project: Gabriel

-Art trade with K

I don't really have time for personal works now :C

fail

Studying a picture I really like.

Man I do fail big time.

I might try to do some landscape study later this month because I'm getting sick of portraits. I mean, I'm sick of being a failure.

Sleepy head

Made this stupid sketch after I woke up. Some kind of a dumb self-portrait lol.

P.S.: I've failed to put my custom ringtone on my phone. I'm annoyed, seriously annoyed.

ROFL

I JUST WON THIRD PLACE IN A PAINTING COMPETITION THAT I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE IN TO BEGIN WITH.

I forgot to take a picture of it because I thought it was too crappy xD It's a 9''x12'' painting of a baseball field near my school that has something to do with Babe Ruth. The perspective and everything was off but whoa, I'm suprised I won something.

Thank You God for helping me pay for my trip to New York! Thank You for giving me all these time and opportunities in the last 3 months!

Art? Well... I'm not really working on anything right now other than this fail!master artist study:

(Just spotted some horrible mistakes there. Must fix 'em right away).

I've done a quick study of the same artist before (hi thar cowboy lol my shading was disastrous).

In other news, my friends wants me to do an art trade with her and I figure she'd like something Hetalia-related. BUSY TIEM AHEAD.

It's not pretty cool-It's freaking awesome!

Painted with my school's Wacom Intuos tablet! Fabulous tablet I love it. Gonna find excuses to stay at school longer now lol, who could imagine I would ever say that xD

Worked on it a little bit more when I got home and it didn't turn out so well :C

Yeah I admit it, SAI is easier to use than Photoshop.

First recorded process

Done on Tegaki. Messed up right at the last step there => fail.

It's not even done yet. I just kind of... stopped.

My school's computer lab is awesome.

I did not know anything about this character until this morning 8|

He looks too much like my OC oTL The only difference is the hair. No I'm cereal. If I knew how to draw clothes mine would look almost like that.

Well, but he looks happier than mine.

Needs to come up with something different =A=

I'm trying to find more and more mistakes so I can fix 'em, but this is what I've got so far. Too slow.

The truth is

I knew from the beginning he was awesome, and he always will be.

I srsly want to make this look good now.

First schlumpf lol

My friend's avatar in Restaurant City.

The one and only reference:

I was like, N'AAAAAAVI rofl and she hasn't even watched the movie. Added some more stuff just to mess with her.

Will finish this later if school allows me.

Harhar

I thought I made a C or D on my exam on Monday, but it turned out I got the only A in the class. This has happened more than once I'm starting to feel weird. Anyway.

Self-assigned jobs for the last months of 2010:

-Spend less time playing games and doing nothing.

-Care less about things that draw my attention away from art.

-Learn to draw proper eyes and noses.

-Put more time and efforts into my works.

-Teach myself figure drawing because I have missed the opportunity to take that class.

-Paint more landscapes.

-Re-do the picture of Gabriel to wrap up the year.

Okay some of those will have to wait until next year because I'm not having that much time.

A few more things to color there...

I thought I have given up on watercolor for good, but now it doesn't feel so bad.

All the mistakes are starting to pop. What else is new.

An initial sketch for a watercolor painting I'm going to do for my class. My, it's been almost a year since I last used watercolor, hopefully I won't be destroying this.

I don't have anything for this Halloween other than this in-class doodle of my favorite movie 8\ Didn't have time to finish any of my personal works. Oh well.

Some other poop: