Thursday, September 30, 2010

Posting, take 2

Well, here I am again. Time time with a wifi signal of more than one bar.


And what do you know, it actually worked. So yeah read my posting from earlier today, just apply it to the actual image that you're seeing above this text.

Looking at it again later in the evening, there's actually quite a bit of it that I like. I'd want to refine/correct the anatomy, and change the blade positioning so that she won't be cutting off her fingers as she cleans the blade. But otherwise I think there's some promise here.

Anyway, have a great evening and I'll be back tomorrow.

Pink Haired Fury

I'm often amused by what ends up inspiring me when I sit down with a sketch pad (digital or otherwise). Today's sketch is no exception.


Ok, so it's of a girl cleaning the evidence of a rather deadly encounter that has ended in her favor. She appears to be brandishing a Shirasaya (litterally, white scabbard) katana and cleaning it with the traditional rice paper. Though it could honestly be a rag. I didn't really go into much details showing the material used for this cleanup job.

But, after I had a quick sketch on a layer, I dropped in the background color. Then my hands decided to add in a pattern on her skirt which I really need to adjust as the dots are far to large for this image, but oh well. Then I added color. And for some reason I apparently needed to give her some pink-ish colored hair.

A few blood spatters, and some white on the blade and I decided to call it good. All in all the image took about 15 minutes in CS3 on my MacBook.

I'm hoping to get another sketch done this evening to make up for not getting one done yesterday, but I'm not counting on it.

Till the next time, have a great evening.

Update: Well it looks like the wifi here at work doesn't want me to upload the image so I'll have to post it later this evening. See ya'll later.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Senpai

Good evening everyone. Hope you're ready for another update in my sketch a day blog.


Today's sketch is of an older senpai in a karate dojo. He's probably not the instructor of the dojo, but rather one of the most senior kohai.

Honestly, I was inspired to do the sketch from when I was reading the striking post. It's a pretty interesting blog about karate training, and life.

One day I'll probably start a blog like this of my own, covering the styles of martial arts that I enjoy to study, practice and watch. But that will have to wait for another time.

Anyway, I hope you all dig the sketch and I'll see you back here tomorrow for another update.

Monday, September 27, 2010

A rough Monday sketch

Hi again folks. It's time for a Monday installment of ninjaboy's sketch-a-day.

That being said, it was kind of a rough sketching day for me. Probably because of the long break I took from the blog. Or maybe it was just one of those days.
Either way, lets just say that things didn't come together at all the way I wanted.


I went through about 5 or 6 figure outlines before I just decided to work on one to get a post done. And midway through it I decided to just focus on the head and face, then throw in some tones.

For me it was akin to practicing kata. At times, you just end up getting stuck on even the most basic of movements, and you can keep doing them wrong over and over again and get frustrated, or you can move on to something else. Maybe even a different kata all together, but one that uses the same movements. When I was learning katas I found that sometimes just switching to another kata helped me to understand some movements that were giving me troubles in previous katas.

At the time, I figured this was because the earlier versions of the kata were distilled from these advanced versions. Which isn't all together incorrect (depending on the kata you are talking about). But more to the point it was giving my mind a break from doing an action one way, and having me look and perform it from a slightly different 'perspective'.

Which is what ended up happening here. I worked until I was ready to quit, then I changed the background color, flipped the image and worked a little more.

As you have probably noticed, the sketch is of Bayonetta. And I've been wanting to do a sketch of her since I downloaded the demo on my PS3 last week. I have to say it's a rather fun game. Which isn't really that big of a surprise coming from a male geek who enjoys over the top action games.
I'll probably pick up the full game sometime down the road. Till then I'll just keep enjoying the demo.

Have a great evening everyone and I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Man, where have I been?

Good evening everyone.

I know, it's been quite some time since my last update. I've been on vacation for the past week, and while I know that's not exactly a very good reason for missing my sketches it did have an affect on getting them done.

I've been having a good time with the girlfriend and daughter, and playing some games on my new PS3. And well, things just got away from me.

The games inspired me to do a sketch of an elven archer and considering the fact that today was a 'game day' gift from the girlfriend I didn't want to spend too much time on it. I set an alarm for 12 minutes.

So I present to you my 11 minute elven archer.


I actually had another sketch in the works this evening, but for some reason I have not quite figured out, my MacBook decided to restart its self before I saved the image. Bummer.

Oh well.

Hope you enjoy and I'll see you back here next week for more regular postings.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Kenjutsu, Mae

Hi everyone. Blogger is freaking out on me and making it very difficult to post my sketch. Hope it works this time.

Another Iaido sketch. Enjoy.


Looks like it's going to work. I guess 3rd time really is the charm. Have a good evening and I'll see you all back here tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Witch's Brew

Good evening once again everyone. Welcome back for another sketch.

I'm sorry that I didn't get one done yesterday. The day completely slipped away from me.

Tonight's sketch is based off of a show that the girlfriend and I are addicted to, and is my third sketch inspired by the show.
My muse this evening was the local witch who is spending too much time with the dark arts, Devon.


I didn't want to over think this sketch too much. I tried to keep it all simple. Quick linework and layout. Simple colors. Minimal rendering.

Stepping back from it, I think it turned out alright. It's actually an image that I could see myself coming back to in the near future. I know, I know. I've said that a lot. But I always mean it.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy the sketch and I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Friday, September 10, 2010

WIP, part 4

Welcome everyone. Here's my Friday edition of my Work In Progress series.

Or what I call, Where Things Went Wrong.

Ever have one of those projects where you think things are really turning out well. But you then come back to look at it again at a later time and it really wasn't as great as you thought it was?


Yeah, the coloring really didn't turn out the way I was hoping it would. I think I'll do a cell shaded version next week. Just to cleanse the linework that I actually like.

Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Hope you all have a good weekend and I'll see you back here Monday.

WIP, part 3

Well, here we are again. Time for another update in my Work In Progress series.


Today I worked on doing some cleaner linework and even started laying down some base colors.

I actually like the way that its starting to turn out. Not much more I want to say about this tonight, especially since it is now midnight so I'm going to turn in.

Have a great evening everyone and I'll see you back here for another update tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

WIP, part 2

Hi again. Well here's part two in my WIP series for the week.

I spent a little longer on the sketch today, working more on the costume designs and refining some of the line work.


I also wanted to try and lay in some background coloring but when I looked at the piece again this evening I realized that it was rubbish so I deleted it. And in all honesty, it looks better this way.

So tomorrow I'll continue working on the base illustration and I should be done with it either tomorrow or Friday.

We'll see how things work out.

Anyway, I just finished another round of the 100 Pushup Workout so I'm gonna stop typing. Have a great evening and I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

WIP

Good evening everyone. And welcome back for a new sketch.

Today is the first work day of the week, so I give you my first sketch. I didn't really get much time to devote to the sketch today, so I decided to make this week a Work In Progress week.


I'm doing a sketch of an elven warrior. I know, a big stretch for this blog. But it was the first thing that came to my mind when I sat down with the Bamboo tablet. I wanted to play around with the clothing and armor on this character. Maybe make it a little more fantastic than I normally illustrate.

Anyway, I hope you like this first sketch, and tune in again tomorrow to see where the sketch takes us.

Good night.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

A Princess of Mars

Good evening everyone. Well well, what a busy week this has been. I've been honestly trying to get my sketches done on time. But sometimes intentions just aren't meant to be realized.

But I did manage to get a sketch done tonight.

At work I took a little break and was looking at the works of two artists. The first one was Frank Cho, and the second one was Adam Hughes.

Of course both of these guys are known for their incredibly beautiful women. I'd say that few others can even compare with their sketches.
Frank's drawing style is of the more realistic, traditional fantasy school of illustration. But he also has a heavy american comics element to his figures. But when I see his illustrations, I'm often reminded of the works of Larry Elmore.

Adam Hughes on the other hand is master of his craft. He is able to travel from realistic high fantasy, american comics, animation and back again with the ease of a seasoned craftsman.
Which is not surprising considering that he is a legend in the industry. And while I don't draw with his style, I do often refer to him for inspiration.

And today I was inspired by both of them. I have started reading the book A Princess of Mars and surprise surprise, both of these illustrators have done fantastic renditions of the character Dejah Thoris from that book.

This evening, I present to you my very quick interpretation of the same character. It took about 25 minutes in CS3 using my Bamboo tablet on my trusty MacBook.


I hope you like, and I'll see you back here tomorrow for my Friday sketch. That does it for me tonight. Time for some rest. Good night everyone.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

More tardiness

Good morning everyone.

This hasn't been a very good week for my blog.

I finished up Monday's sketch yesterday morning and was planning on working on my Tuesday sketch at home last night but my daughter decided to illustrate why people refer to the "2's" as "terrible".

Suffice it to say, I never did get my sketch done. But I am posting my late Monday sketch.


It's of a young Raistlin Majere pondering the secrets in his dragon orb.

I didn't have much time to spend on it, so it's not as colored as I would have liked it to be. But I think it has some promise.
I'll add it to the list of 'must revisit' sketches.

Anyway, I need to get to work so I'll (hopefully) see you all back here later today.