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".