Ex draws stuff!

[Max Payne]

I should. haven't changed my contacts list in a long time. Just in case, check if mekino[at]hotmail.com is on yours.

Desux3: Thanks. =]

Ravynne: *pounds on sides of box* Glad you found me on dA, I need to be more active on there. ^^;

Anyhoo, this is a WIP shot of my next Photochoppery:

Yeah, it's Avatar. Who doesn't enjoy drawing random martial arts poses? I have no idea what the background will be - I think I'm gonna try for that Star Wars movie poster deal with random headshots and setting elements behind everyone.

Also, I know someone selling a Wacom Intuos4 Medium for $295... I'm so tempted to get it, especially since I've been planning on picking up a widescreen monitor soon. But even if it's kind of beat up/ghetto now, my Intuos2 still works fine... so I dunno if I can justify it.

ARGH.

Yeah it's still there

Nice WIP btw.

 

[cmXT]

Nice drawings your style is pretty damn amazing, I reckon it would be cool if you made some manga strip with intense/sharp lighting, you style would work perfectly with it I think

BTW, everyone was saying the foot looked... broken, but i think its just because too much of the sole is revealed giving it a weird perspective or something, but doesn't matter, its pretty damn great

Love the ms paint drawings aswel, the colours are fucking amazing, I love looking at washed out colours used so well

 

[TheMadHatter]

Wow, your really (really) good!
I like how you colored em too, very awesome. May I ask what program your using?

And, I love your avatar :>

 

[ExMachina]

Gwah... Sokka was the last one, and you can tell. xD Everything between his chin and foreground arm is lolworthy, but I'm tired of staring at my monitor so I declare this lineart mostly done! There's a lot of stuff that I'm planning to fix in the coloring stage...



Dacon: My internet connection's being stupid atm, so if I'm signing off randomly or not getting your messages... it's not you, it's me my ISP. >.>

Krähe: Appreciate the kind words. ^^

cmXT: Thanks! I've always had a kind of love/hate relationship with my style - sometimes I wish my rendering was smoother or I could draw cleaner lines like some of my friends, but it's still cool to hear people say that it's distinct.

Doing a manga has definitely been on my list of things to do (tm), though all of my ideas for stories are a little too disorganized to start anything. It would definitely be a great way to practice and improve though. We'll see... if I ever get my act together/unlazy.

TheMadHatter: Thanks. I love my Avatar avatar too, hehe.

I'm using Photoshop (versions CS, CS3, and CS4 depending on what computer I'm on, haha) for the most part, especially for the coloring. The exception being the 2 pixelly drawings - that's all your friendly neighborhood MS Paint. Everything is done with a tablet though, since I am fail at using a mouse.

 

[Max Payne]

I haven't even seen you online at all Ex, and I've been signing off and on a little myself.

 

[TheMadHatter]

@ExMachina:
Photoshop can do that? Wow, I never thought it could, I usually use Corel or GIMP.
Great work on the Avatar artwork, Toph looks really good :>

I'm gonna check Photoshop out....

 

[ExMachina]

Dacon: Really, so I haven't even been logged on? I didn't realize my internet was *that* crappy. -.-

TheMadHatter: Photoshop is impressively versatile, though I imagine with some learning one could do similar stuff on GIMP or Corel as well... it's just easier to learn when tutorials and whatnot are mostly written for Photoshop.

Here's a quick one: Kiriban gift for cmXT --

 

[cmXT]

hehe, its awesome girlll : D

I dont normally see this in fanart of them but you really captured the expressions on their face and colours : D

 

[Max Payne]

Well, I haven't seen you on.

And I really been meaning to ask, but how to do you choose your colors based on environment and lighting?

Do you just mix colors?

 

[ExMachina]

cmXT: Glad you like it. =] I don't think I've ever drawn Mugen outside of tiny, squiggly doodles before, so it was a fun contrast compared to Jin and his typical blank expression (which is what makes their interaction in the anime so great, ya?).

Dacon: My process is rather... haphazard. But yeah, I definitely adjust my colors according to the environment and lighting conditions that I want for the piece. Though that usually doesn't come to me when I first choose my colors... instead, I let Photoshop do all the heavy lifting. I use a lot of adjustment layers to try get the color scheme I want, which I mostly picked up from doing tags/random graphics.

Usually it goes like this...

1) Put down flats/basic shading (usually just attached shadows, with the flat color serving as the highlight) - this is just eyeballing the colors, everything on separate layers, neutral gray background. Obviously, you have to have some inkling of where the overall lighting is to do so, but if you don't have an unusual light source in mind from the start, just go with the tried and true overhead one.

2) Change background color to whatever "atmosphere" I want - this is where I can sort of establish the overall color scheme of the piece.

3) Use a color balance and/or hue/saturation adjustment layer on the fills to make it fit the environment/bg color (usually by making them either warmer or cooler depending). Most of the time I end up turning saturation down since most lighting environments aren't strong enough to make things too bright.

3b) If I royally screwed up on a certain color choice in step 1, I can always go back and adjust the individual layer.

4) Add reflected light from the environment.

5) ???

6) profit!

For example, after doing step 1... I just applied different adjustments to get different lighting conditions and environmental feels. This is just initial groundwork for a piece though - if I were to develop any of these, there are further adjustments to be made (eg toning down the contrast between skin tone and clothing in the night time one), but it's definitely not a half-bad way to try to find an overall look.

 

[Max Payne]

interesting.

 

[TheMadHatter]

Oh, well, you make Photoshop look better than most people say it is lol

I really do enjoy your artwork. I hope to see more of your Avatar images the most, oh and the new ones you posted. I can't remember the show's name or I'd say it :}

 

[ExMachina]

TheMadHatter: The more recent stuff I posted is from Samurai Champloo. Thanks, I'm looking forward to working on the Avatar piece more when I can.

I'm Photoshop-less for a week, so here's some random pages scanned out of the sketchbook I brought with me for my time out of town. Most of 'em are fairly old, though I guess the first 2 can be of interest as work leading up to the Avatar and Runaways pieces I've posted here.

Older!Aang --

Vic (+ bonus Nico) - I had an interesting time trying to figure out how exactly to do his hair...

An original char, Ron - he's gone through a couple revisions over the years

Randomness (some peeps are from Persona 3, Gundam 00, Bleach, and Avatar...) --

I seriously need to do more facial/expression studies and work on poses/anatomy of females. D:

 

[Max Payne]

I need to do more studies in general.

Would help me tremendously, and put to use the tons of reference material I have.

 

[ExMachina]

Technically more than me drawing stuff but... didn't want to start a whole new thread. ^^;

Anyhoo, my mom brought out the sewing machine for something productive... so of course I decided to do something useless and be nerdy in a different medium than Photoshop.

Just need to swing by the craft store for some gold and navy paint to do the ribbon stripes.

I was never big on cosplay, but I like hats and Naoto. :E

 

[ExMachina]

Wark, back to Photoshop! 'Nother kiriban request, apparently people who catch special page view counts want versus pics, heh.

 

[Super Mario]

When you complete Naoto's hat, is it possible to do Raidou Kuzunoha XIV's hat?

 

[Max Payne]

Lol Sniktbub.

Btw what do you think of Grayson Batman?

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Holy shit.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Holy shit.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Have to say im incredibly impressed with the sketching alone, never mind any other amazing form you show XD
Adult aang looks awesome!

 

[Username]

wicked, this is wicked art, i like this, carry on doing this cool art.

 

[ExMachina]

When you complete Naoto's hat, is it possible to do Raidou Kuzunoha XIV's hat?

If I were to do Raidou's hat... I'd probably just modify an existing one instead of making one from scratch since it's a stiff officer-ish cap. I'm no hat-maker - it just happens that a newsboy hat like Naoto's is easy to do with just some basic sewing; everything's fabric save the brim.

Lol Sniktbub.

Btw what do you think of Grayson Batman?

Y'mean Dick taking on the cowl? I haven't actually been reading any recent issues lately, so I'm totally out of the loop and don't really have an opinion. My initial reaction from just hearing about it was "oh Grant Morrison, you crazy bastard" and that's about it.

Also - Grayson's cool, but I know I don't much like Damien.

What do you think about Grayson Batman? Should I bother catching up?

Holy shit.

wicked, this is wicked art, i like this, carry on doing this cool art.

Hehe, thanks.

I love sketches myself - sometimes they have more character than finished pieces.

.......

Here's yet another WIP shot! I started coloring the Avatar thing. Goofy placeholder background is there to establish a color scheme and general layout - it'll probably change a lot once I dig up some landscape reference and texture it.

But I'm getting tired of my computer taking ages to load the composites whenever I zoom around, so it's time to take a break and play some vidya gamez.

 

[Max Payne]

Y'mean Dick taking on the cowl? I haven't actually been reading any recent issues lately, so I'm totally out of the loop and don't really have an opinion. My initial reaction from just hearing about it was "oh Grant Morrison, you crazy bastard" and that's about it.

Bah, a lot of people were just complaining for no real reason past hating change.

Also - Grayson's cool, but I know I don't much like Damien.

For me it's the other way around, Damien's grown a bit since his first appearance, and he just makes me laugh.

Dick, is, well, he's still a dick.

What do you think about Grayson Batman? Should I bother catching up?

I've been enjoying the recent issues and arcs, I was never very fond of Dick personally, he'll never be a proper replacement for Bruce, but the stories have been good to decent.

 

[ExMachina]

^ Well, guess I'll go track down the latest issues and see for myself if I like Damien's changes. I liked Dick in Outsiders and some of the runs in NW, though he does indeed live up to his name at times. xD

I can get behind a shake up of Batman though - after Dini's run on 'Tec ended, I was more inclined to read old arcs and dig up TPBs instead of following current issues. Maybe this'll make things fresh again.

.......

It is done~!



I seriously need to start planning my pieces better from the beginning instead of contriving backgrounds after the fact, lol. Think I'm gonna do some sketches/thumbnails after this and then develop from there... >.>