We're seeing some changes around here. Mornings are getting cooler, the humidity is fading away, and late allergies are beginning to flare (at least here on the east coast). And that must mean......fall is approaching!
It's time for that beach holiday to end - it's back to work for the adults and back to school for the kids! Then again, many adults are always working - I'm one of those adults now. Summer, for me, used to mean the time of the year when I got to do nothing and not think about work. Now it's just another time of the year. I don't use it for vacation - I use it like I would use any other time of the year: work during the day, rest in the evening, take a break on the weekends. So I don't really have what you'd call a traditional summer vacation anymore. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my summer. I got to go to two anime conventions just a few months apart; I made the big move out of my parents' home into my very own apartment; the workflow at my office has undergone many overhauls in the last few months which, although initially coming from negative events, highlight improvements moving forward. Everything is changing; a wave has washed over me and is dragging me along. I've yet to see where I will drift, but I'm having fun and making due along the way. I'd say this has been a more eventful summer than I was expecting because of that. I can't wait to see what changes fall is going to bring (not to mention I'm ready for some cooler weather!).
So how did your summer go? What kinda of activities or vacations did you take part in? Let me know! I hope it was an eventful one! :)
Actually, I didn't even go to a beach this summer! I'm not much of a beach person; and it seems that Sei isn't either if such events like the above befall him. This drawn by hand and colored in Photoshop. I'm still learning a lot in the ways of digital coloring, but I still feel like I'm improving. I'm not happy with the sky; I feel like it could have even a few slight shades to add depth to it, but I'm pleased with the rest of the work. I was unsure what kind of sandcastle Sei would build, so he decided to make a whale carrying a Pachi castle. How predictable of him.
Some time ago you may recall me saying that this post would be a precursor to the next Nostalgia Week on Pachi's Portrait. Well, as Nostalgia Week hasn't yet become a staple of the blog and I don't want to make promises I can't keep, for now I've decided that during this time of the year (September/October/November) I will strive to make several of my posts nostalgia related, rather than doing three in one particular week. I chose this period because Fall always makes me look back and reflect on the things that have come before that year; I can't really say why. But that makes me think of nostalgia. So, here's the first of hopefully several nostalgia-related drawings/updates. You may have already guessed what today's is based on the title and image: Transformers!
If you're of the newer generation you're probably thinking about the live-action Michael Bay movies when I say that, but that's not what I'm referring to. Yes, they are a part of the Transformers franchise, but I personally don't like them that much. And why? Because I'm a G1 junkie. G1 refers to the retro-actively named first generation of Transformers toys and media that popped up from 1984 to 1991. I was born in 1987, so I appeared smack in the middle of its popularity. I didn't actually start to discover these toys until the G2 generation of 1992, but I soon found the original toys thereafter and Hasbro's cartoon series that ran from 1984-1987 - I was only able to see a handful of it in reruns and syndication. I loved it. It wasn't until years later that I was able to see The Transformers: The Movie (since it was in theaters before I was born), but I adored that as well; today I rank it among my favorite animated motion pictures of all time.
While I loved the toys and the cartoon, there wasn't a deep appreciation for them - I just thought robots were cool, especially robots that could transform. It wasn't until 1996 when another Transformers series, Beast Wars, aired on American television that I became a hopeless fan on another level. That show helped me respect the story and mythos of Transformers and truly see that there was more to it than meets the eye (sorry......I'll only say it once).
But yeah, there's not much else to say except that I love Transformers (as long as they have nothing to do with Michael Bay). I still collect the toys to this day and feel no shame in doing so as a transforming-robot loving adult. :) If you're a Transformers fan, which series/generations of them are your favorites? Favorite characters? Do you tend to lean more towards Autobots or Decepticons? Let me know! (I'm a Decepticon at heart.....Soundwave has and will always be superior)
Hi everyone! I'm still alive, and I'm making an update that I promised months ago! It's the long-procrastinated third batch of character profiles! Only two of them in this set, sorry. I promise that more drawings are on the way, including one big one that's partly complete which will be a sort of precursor to this year's Nostalgia Week; which again, will be in October. I'm really excited to get this one done and rolled out to you! Anyway, if you would like to meet two more of my stable of personalities, click either of the two links below!
Profile #6: Wo Chun Fa
Profile #7: Wo Quan Li
Hey, guys! Sorry I've been away so long! There's been a lot of things going on, but I'm going to try and get semi-regular updates going again starting this week! But I'm back, and I now find myself........trapped in crazy summer weather.
A lot of people know summer as that time of the year when the temperature goes so high that you just want to lie back and do nothing. A time of rest and relaxation. Other people know summer as that time of the year when the elements go completely haywire on a regular basis. As a great cartoon teenager once said, "Summer rains, you can never predict them." And indeed it rains, it frequently rains. It can be hot and sunny in the morning and then overcast and rainy just a few hours later. Why do I bring this up?
Because the weather around here, in the eastern United States, was rather.....irritable a few weeks ago. For me, anyway. Every other day it seemed started out bright and sunny, but then devolved into violent overcast storms by late afternoon. I guess that's not really bad since we always need rain, especially in this time of year when it can get very dry, but the storms are what I don't like. I have a particular kind of weather I don't like, and that's thunder/lightning storms. Cliche as it is, I'm afraid of them. Part of it may be the thought that the lightning could be hitting somewhere, causing damage to something or someone. Part of it may be the fact that my sensitivities get shaken by those bright flashes and banging booms. I just don't find it calming in the slightest. I don't mind the rain.......just leave the theatrical additions behind, please.
Are there any types of weather you dislike or like for any particular reason?
NOTE: One quick thing - I've finally updated the Art & Sketches page of the site! So that's something.
I decided to make this image at the hate of my previously stated annoyance with all the thunderstorms we'd been having for awhile (at the time of preparing this post, the storms have actually been less frequent). I thought a fun idea would be to throw Sei headlong into a battle of clashing weather. Storms, wind, snow, heat, lighting, fire!! Okay, fire isn't a type of weather, but......it's hot! Designing Sei's outfit was fun - I wanted him to be too cold in some places but too warm in others. As you can see, he's not too happy about it. I don't know what the visor goggles are for. I just thought it'd be cool if he had some kinda headgear. Just pretend a big burning fireball of a sun is looming ahead of him.
Pre-post Note: I'm alive! Welcome back to the portrait, everyone! Actually, I'm still technically on hiatus. I have begun work on some new drawings that I hope to share with you all soon. Unfortunately, I still have yet to get a scanner in my new apartment - for now, the best I can do is use the one at my parents' home next time I visit them. I'm still adjusting to life in this apartment, but I've gotten into a pretty good groove, so I anticipate that I'll start settling into a regular drawing groove very soon! With that out of the way, I do have SOMETHING to show you; a small piece I put together with my tablet which was inspired from a very particular place:
Ever feel like you just gotta get going? Ever feel like the opportunity is out there and it's up to you to reach out and grab it? Or, do you have to get going because of a sense of urgency? You don't have any other choice? An external force has given you no option but to move? Whatever the reason, I have that feeling right now. And the reason is that I am finally leaving my parents' home (I've been living with my folks since college, by the way) and moving into an apartment on my own (with a friend). The build-up to this time has been consuming, it has been hectic, it has been worrisome, but of all the things it could be - it is exciting. Changes are manifesting at this very moment and I'm not entirely sure what they are going to bring - all I can do is charge forward and see what's on the other side. I hope to continue to receive your support from my new location, coming soon!
Will this be effecting updates? Erm.......maybe? I don't mind saying that I have the 3rd installment of Pachi Profiles planned to go up before the end of the month, but those aren't as difficult to plan as a normal sketch. Your safest bet would be to assume that updates will come at about the speed they always have, with only possible delay within the next couple weeks. Please bear with me until then - I want to show you as much of my art as I can, and I promise you many more will be coming after I'm settled down in my new home. Look forward to it! :)
Even though these were aimless sketches, I have to say I was quite impressed with the crazy Simpsons-lipped girl in the upper-right corner. Between her an Chung, I must have a thing for drawing crazy girls. XD
When I'm drawing one of my characters, there is usually one thing on my mind: the face. The face is the part of a drawing that I MUST get right before I can feel happy moving on to something else - if the expression is wrong, or the eyes are positioned incorrectly, it can ruin an entire drawing for me. This is because when I see a drawing of a person, the first aspect I am drawn to is the face. The subject of an artwork, the primary character, creates a mood for me based on their expression, and I seek out that mood. That helps me form my initial reaction of whether I like or dislike a piece of art. The surrounding and aesthetics come after - for me, I like to go to the expressions first. Even if there is no "characters" in the work; I seek the expression in whatever the primary character of the work is.
But what am I rambling about? This post is about accessories in a drawing, not the face conveying emotion. My point is, I spend so much time obsessing over the emotion of the face in my art, I often neglect the extra bits. This isn't necessarily considered BAD. There are plenty of artists who don't feel comfortable drawing certain things, and they often stick to particular tropes in their work. I in particular have a penchant for drawing characters with simple clothing designs and minimal backgrounds, if any. It's what I tend to draw more than anything else. I still put a lot of attention to detail and care in my work, but most of it goes into making the character look good. Due largely in part to my inexperience with the other aspects.
Oh clothing, oh clothing, why do I have such difficulty with you? Forget about the post details like folds and texture (I could get into a completely different rant about my difficulty with that - one at a time now), I just have a hard time coming up types of clothing to draw that look interesting. I'm not including plain old shirts/jeans/whatever in this because they're run-of-the-mill and take little to no thought to come up with. Best case scenario would be drawings like Union on this Night where I research a particular type of clothing and create a design mixing my own style and whatever I happened upon. Worst case would be ones in which I just make up the design on the fly. I know I've said in a recent post that drawing the first thing that comes to your head can be a fun tactic when you're low on ideas (trust me, I do it all the time), but when you get down to nitty gritty details and accessory designs, you really should have SOME kind of plan for them. It doesn't take too much effort to make believable clothing, but it also doesn't take much more than that to make clothing look ridiculous. Unless ridiculous IS your style - there are exceptions for everything. :p
That's about it this time. I don't have any solid advice for you on clothing because I'm not very experienced with the topic myself. ^^; But if I'd say anything, it's this - unless it's clothing that's not being worn, the item should compliment the owner wearing it. No matter what type of situation it's in - a formal suit, school clothes, casual wear, a weird outfit the character in question would never wear - ANYTHING can work, no matter how ridiculous or straightforward. It's all a matter of finding the thin line that makes the clothing look like clothing. The easiest way to find this line, in my opinion, is to draw your clothing around the character last. Don't start drawing their clothing right where the collar begins - draw them as if they were naked first. (unless they're actually supposed to be, but in which case my tirade about clothing does not apply to you XD) Finalize the pose of the body before doing any accessories - then you'll be able to more firmly accentuate the clothing to the lines you've just defined, rather than trying to figure out the shape as you're creating the clothes. You're performing two steps at once that way, and if you can do it, more power to you. But if you find that makes things difficult or you're just not happy with how your clothed characters look, try it the way I said and see if that makes a difference. :)
