Friday, December 25, 2009

Wallpaper: foggy morning


Wallpaper: foggy morning by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

Wallpaper topic: nature

Concept Art Practice 10 :DDDD


It's available for download (personal usage only).

The size is 1600X1200pixel.

IllustStudio 1.1.0 (only!)
3 nights



Oh... I got too lazy to post photos from USJ (Universal Studio Japan) on last Sun. It's available for viewing in my Japanese blog:
http://daydreamingsky.blog94.fc2.com/blog-entry-1378.html

I will be taking a 1.5 week vacation from tonight :D

Mostly... pigging out, etc... staying at home mostly... but... will try to be a proper COUCH POTATO of the century.

So... I might not update anything unless it's photo for my art activity. :p


The next wallpaper theme would be SciFi since I failed last time.


I also became a tester for Clip service of Celsys's site. Celsys is a Japanese company that made Comic Studio (original version of Manga Studio), IllustStudio, and Retas Studio. It's open to general public sometime next year, but I will be using its beta service for some graphics.

The following are CG I displayed on-line already. You would have to press the bottom left button in order to view it with an on-line viewer when a widow pops up.


Friday, December 18, 2009


Silence by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

Wallpaper version is here:
http://Waterdroplet-s.deviantart.com/art/Wallpaper-pack-silence-147044281

1920X1200 pixel
1600X1200 pixel
available for download for personal usage only



Cinema 4D R11 studio
Comic Studio Ex 4
IllustStudio 1.0.10
Photoshop CS3
~1 month

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Strange...

It seems as though not many people liked broiled fish- especially those people in the US or Europe. I wonder why :D


haha cultural shock- I guess.



People like whole fish as a whole in Japan after all.

Anyway, I'm currently working on next two wallpapers at the moment. I got a full schedule until six months later so it's being worked on slowly.


It seems as though SciFi drawing I was planning to create is not turning out that way but more like a modern piece of art. I might switch the order of wallpaper categories I declared earlier.


peek-a-boo:



I am using IllustStudio, Photoshop, ComicStudio, Cinema 4D and gosh... I use a huge amount of softwares at the same time. It's just that I didn't have IllustStudio when I started creating this piece that I drew line art in Comic Studio. Then, I still didn't know how to shade hair in IllustStudio so I used Photoshop. Cinema 4D is for 3D CG I'm currently creating at the moment.




Wips of Nature themed wallpaper I'm working on (which will be released after one above):
I changed from my gray to color painting style to color it in abstract style I saw people using in some places. For this piece, I want to create more depth to the piece than those I did before by using different color temperature and saturation of colors instead of making it blurred like I did before.

I decided to add something I imagined a few days prior:
and didn't like it so I changed its shape:

still didn't like it so I changed it to:

and decided that it still sucked so I started painting random stuff:
and still continued...



IllustStudio 1.0.10





Photos from the weekend when I went to Ako (赤穂) for oysters :D

Photos were taken with Lumix TZ-7 and edited with Photoshop CS3. I edited out faces of people to protect their privacy.


Ako is a town located in Hyogo Prefecture, famous for salt production and Ako Ronin.


1 for 100 yen=$1.12 (today's exchange rate)

Five BBQ oysters (500 yen)

They are cheap since it was eaten outside of the fishery place- right out from the bay.


The photo is kind a crooked since I pieced together two photos and would miss the details if I cut them properly:

This place had a fishermen taking out oysters from their shells. Oysters were probably from oyster farms in bay.
Tanks in other places had scallops, crabs, and more oysters.

This shop sold fried octopus on a stick (200 yen), oyster clear soup with noodles (300 yen), fried oysters (3oo yen per stick), BBQ scallops (300 yen?), and BBQ oysters (100 yen each).


This was how oysters were BBQ (I asked for permission before taking this photo):


And... ta-dah!

They were yummmmmmmmyyyyy!!!



After oysters were taken out from their shells, shells were dumped by:




for fertilizer or something?


Anyway, after eating BBQ oysters, I went to a place called Umi no eki (海の駅) (Sea station) right nearby to eat more.


I was really tempted by this sign at the bottom, which basicalled said, "Oppai yaki" (Oppai- slang for boob and yaki is stuff that's usually cooked on a hot metal plate or frying pans)


They supposedly named it that way since oysters are called as "milk of the sea" and yeah... boobs have milk.


Ordered fried oysters (ate the one on the far end before this photo was taken):


yep... hot and yummy:


and... the rumored Oppai yaki which looked like normal okonomiyaki but with two oysters in it.

It was soft and chewy. XDDDDDD



The shop nearby looked like this:




Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Wallpaper: Yakizakana (Broiled fish)


Wallpaper: Yakizakana by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART



This was for my best friend's birthday.

hahahahaha (^皿^)



You can download it 1920X1200 pixel size (for personal usage only).

It's never served like this on an expensive Japanese lacquerware with shell pieces (ragan, 螺鈿) and gold foil.


But, I think it's the yummiest fish of all.


Although it looks like a sardine, it's Pacific Saury.



WIP:




I didn't use any external textures. I painted them all :D


IllustStudio 1.0.10
4 nights

Monday, December 7, 2009

Wallpaper: Wish

I sort of forgot to post it earlier last week...


Ok... here I go:
1st doodle with new IllustStudio I got in last... last weekend... or two weekends ago:


My dog (took with a mobile phone camera):


and... my latest wallpaper with fantasy theme:


Wallpaper: Wish by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

It's wip is this:

process


Photoshop CS2/3
IllustStudio 1.0.10
SAI
3 weeks

p.s. I saw UP over the weekend. I think it was really good movie. The plot seemed to suck at a glance but animation part- expression of characters and etc. made me... cry several times through the movie. Ugh... shamelessly.

Friday, November 27, 2009


Collab: New Beginning by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART


YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAAYAYAY!!!!


The collab work I had with Emidy (Manhwa artist from Korea) from this May is done at last!!!!!


Actually, most of the work was done in August/September, but due to our busy schedule, we finally finished it!!


The title in our own languages are as follows:
새로운 시작 (saeloun sijag)
新しい始まり


Emidy: Character, green plant, and idea
Waterdroplet: Background and special effects.


Thank you so much!! 大変有難うございました!!감사합니다 !!


(in three languages :D)

The character is Aura, who belongs to .hack game and anime staff. As a result, this is a fan art.


Softwares used:
Waterdroplet: Photoshop CS2/3, Painter X, SAI (I switched softwares every time they froze on me)
Emidy: Photoshop +SAI?? (Sorry if I'm wrong)


>> The photos I took over the weekend during a hike from Ashiya to Arima is not ready for English Blog. So... for a meanwhile, please view my Japanese blog entry if anybody is interested in seeing photos from then. I blurred out people' faces on purpose.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Day 2, 3 forgot what...

I lost track of when I did these but how the wallpaper is starting to look like:

Day 2 (oi... made her bald as a monk)

Day 3 (started working more on background)


I must say... not much progress since this last image since I was away most of the time during this last three day weekend, and I worked on the next wallpaper last night.


Anyway, photos I took over Sat:
This wasn't Sat but a practice with water drops. I used one of those water sprays for ironing... yeah... didn't turn out well:


Sat, my dog's stuffed animal in a miserable condition:


Sky:



and... me:

Canon Kiss X3+S18-55 F3.5-5.6 IS
Photoshop CS3


now... editing photos I took over the weekend while I hiked with a friend.



Please wait until I finish choosing and editing since I took so many....

Lumix TZ7
Photoshop CS3

Thursday, November 19, 2009

News + photos + images

Since last Fri or sometime around then, my photo I took before I was stuck at home for a week due to flu,



Okayama by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

has been featured in the main page of loftwork website, a Japanese website that has more than 13000 creators of different genre. It will be posted there for ~ a week- so it will end probably this Fri or Sat.


Thank you very much for the feature!


This is the first time I had my photograph featured in a Japanese website. I had manga and illustrations featured before in other Japanese/international sites, and photograph/illustrations occasionally in individual deviantART news. So I'm happy :D



And... one more great news is that my collab partner got back to me over last weekend- so it will finish within a few weeks probably. We were working on it between our free time between our busy schedules, so it took long- since May. However, the illustration theme is set for winter so I think it's perfect timing... perhaps a bit early.


Following are photos I took over last weekend in Kobe and Kinosaki. I took all of them with a mobile phone, mostly with a new function I discovered over the weekend, so they are weird in some areas:

This is Herb Garden on top of a mountain near 三宮 Sannomiya, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Since it's a bit off season, there were mostly leaves... not much flowers other than two-three types. So, enjoyed the view while munching on a lavendar soft-serve (ソフトクリーム).

Front:
Back:

Somewhere mid-way:

Tried to take a shot diagonally:

Ate the soft-serve and went back home:

On the next day- Sunday- I went with a friend to Kinosaki 城崎 for a ride after a bit of important meeting (nothing related to art) :D

Kinosaki is in Hyogo Prefecture but on Sea of Japan side- so I guess my weekend was spent moving around places for over 300 km. Probably with train rides and all- covered 400 km.


Since I had to swing myself around 180 degrees to take previous photos, I decided to take the easy way- by taking a photo while my friend was driving.

Result:



Gaaaaaaah!!



And... a town next to Kinosaki (forgot its name):


nice sunset in a town close to Sea of Japan.



Anyway... I'm currently working on series of wallpapers. Manga needs slight fixing since I'm trying to condense the story into a fewer pages as possible. In meanwhile, wallpaper I'm working on is based on a little survey I put out a week ago, asking people in deviantART about what genre they prefer in wallpapers. I will try to improve the composition on the way.

This is the result:


Thank you very much for answering my survey! :D


Ok... so my purpose of doing this is that I could determine which genre I should start on for series of wallpapers I'm planning to create so I could practice in an organized matter. Since I randomly pick topics often, I wanted to create something that's according to a set schedule. I am currently making wallpapers with genres that had greatest number of answers to least.


Therefore, the current topic I'm working on is fantasy, and I must say I faced a bit of an art block for a week. I would create an illustration and botch it in two days of working on it. So... the first one that I botched was this:




How it looked like in Photoshop:



I used two vanishing points for this one (although I drew a third here but didn't use) then... I began to not see the difference between fantasy and Sci-Fi genre in this sort of drawing. In addition, it looked like something a pre-schooler could draw. So... I botched it.


I had two other drawings I started and then botched. The second one was a bit of Japanese themed fantasy- then botched it since it looked flat. Then, the third one was space drawing. I might use that later but not for these wallpapers probably.

Did a bit of 3D CG practice to get my mind off:

Created this in Photoshop:
and used alpha in the material setting to get this effect:



There are many ways of cutting models- Boolean and by clicking one surface one by one- but I think this was the best method to get windows for the building.

I think I will incorporate this skill in the future.

Then, yesterday... I finally got what I wanted for the wallpaper.

I finally settled on something from Aesop's fable, The Honest Woodcutter.

Following are wips:

DAY 1
First, I doodled in SAI, thinking that it would be a 1920X1200 pixel wallpaper:



I meant it to be a guy looking out from a space between buildings or walls- to a bunch of jellyfish or something floating in the space.

SAI had too small brush so I switched to Photoshop and colored in "walls":


Yeah... then I thought it was a crappy idea since it was similar to lines of:

The World of bits 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART
I worked on the beginning of this year, and

Wallpaper: Night flower by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

a wallpaper I worked on a few weeks ago.


So... I decided to use a different approach by making the bottom right side as water related place:




I've done stuff on shores looking out to water but not this angle so I thought it was suited for this time. Then, it was sort of boring just having a guy and water so I added a nymph, goddess or something from Aesop's fable:



Honest Woodcutter- was it?

Then, started coloring:



I'm planning to not do this in a oil painting style but in lines of semi-realism like:

Room by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

To be continued~