Return to sketching: Sirens

Hello again everyone!

I have decided to try to go back to the basics until I feel like I've really mastered them. I feel like leaping into the concept of color might have been a little premature.

So for that reason, this new project was done using primarily the pencil tool, with a little bit of work with the airbrush, blur and smear tools.

This is my own personal spin on the sirens from mythology. She is a magical being who uses her voice to control people. As a singer myself, this one really speaks to me. ;)

I was particularly proud of my work on her forward leg (the one with her foot on tiptoe) and the shading of her hair.

I hope you all like it!

~QD

Hair, Coloring, and Female Necromancer

So my next individual step in my drawing and computer illustrating was that I wanted to do some specific work on hair and making it more realistic. I also wanted to play around with layers (for anyone who doesn't know, layers are a digital illustration tool used to bring certain colors or parts of the illustration to the front, back, or anywhere in between). I also wanted to start using other tools besides just the pencil tool.

Below was my first attempt at creating more realistic looking hair using layers. The blending of my under dark layer didn't work out so well, but the rest of it I was alright with.

For my next big project, I decided to draw a female Necromancer. I wanted to integrate my work with color for the first time, and some new tools. For this drawing, I used the pencil, air brush, and felt tip pen tools.

I was very pleased with how the necromancer herself turned out, as well as the backdrop. However, I was not too pleased with the foreground, such as the person being raised from the dead and the flame coming from her right hand (the one on the left if you're looking straight on at the picture). 

I had been trying to keep the foreground with a little less detail because I wanted the focus to be on the wizard, but instead of my desired goal, it just looks unfinished and primitive. 

So my goals for my near future projects are to integrate more detailed backgrounds and foregrounds, and to continue playing with layers and different illustration tools. 

Wands, Staves and Female Nature Wizard

Hello!

I know I don't have any followers yet, but since I've done a bit more work, I'd like to go ahead and share it for my future viewers :) And then I'll go do a better job of advertising and getting some people to see my work.

So I started by trying to draw a female wizard. This proved to be difficult, as I had to adjust my initial skeleton to match the features of a female body while still fitting the proportions. My goals from the last post was to make more realistic clothing and add more detail in the face (as well as the new goal of getting female body proportions right). How did I do?

She is a light wizard; one who specializes in the light magics. That's about as far as the backstory goes for now (I've learned that the best characters for artwork, especially when those characters are human-esque, have strong backstories). I'll start adding more background and backstory in the future to my characters. I'm trying to focus on specific art enhancements for now.

The next thing I decided to do, after being mesmerized by the idea of the staff in the above drawing, was to do a wand and staff study. I did a little research as far as how wands and staves were used by wizards and then did a little practicing on designing and drawing them.

I also played around with color this time. This is something I've definitely not dabbled with before. It was a lot of fun, so it's something I think I'll continue.

Please let me know how I'm doing so far and what you think of my progression! :) Thanks!

The Journey Begins...

Hello everybody!

QueenDivetta here. I am very dedicated to the performing arts. I sing and act professionally and play several instruments. But I know very little about the visual arts.

I've always wanted to dabble in visual art. It's always kind of been a hobby of mine. But recently, I discovered two things that opened some new doors to me for my art. First, I discovered some Beginning/Intermediate art books especially for people wanting to draw things in the fantasy genre (which those of you who read my Sims 3 legacy know!). I've never taken a single art class, but I'm learning a lot from these books.

Secondly, I had always been fascinated by computer drawing tablets. I never thought I'd own one, though, because I always assumed they'd be really expensive. Well I really got into blogging and photo editing, so I decided to do some more research on the tablets. It turns out you can get a really nice Wacom drawing tablet for around 50 bucks. Who knew? So I have now acquired one and opened up my computer illustration doors.

Now that it's so easy to share my artwork (I've always been limited to my physical sketchbooks), I wanted to start a blog to document my process. I want to learn and grow, and invite anyone who is interested to join along.

I would love remarks, comments and constructive criticism! Please let me know what you think, and what I could do to improve.

The first thing I drew on my new tablet were some contour hand drawings. I learned how to pose hands and draw them from a friend who draws a year ago, and I wanted to test out my tablet and get used to it with something I was somewhat familiar with.

Some of the proportions are slightly off, but overall I was pretty pleased with the poses and shading.

The next thing I did was read in the book about the body proportions of a human figure of different typical fantasy archetypes. The first one I tried was the basic wizard of balance (between a light wizard and dark wizard).

Again, pretty pleased with the shading on the fabric. My goal for my next human drawing is more detail in the face and more realistic and detailed choice of clothing.

I'd love anybody's opinions of my work so far and perhaps some ideas on how to improve. Remember, I'm still very much an amateur, so be nice :)

I'm starting out with basic sketching, but soon I'll be adding color and different mediums besides just pencil.

Welcome to my journey!