Got SAI

After a year of contemplating whether to just stick with Painter and/or SAI, I decided to get SAI!





Another concept art practice.

Bamboo Fun
SAI
15-20 min

Ta-dah!

A moth....



That's big as a pen (lined up parallel to the insect):





I saw this after I walked the dog for its late night walk.

currently studying

manga techniques from this TV advertisement for a Japanese shampoo


I think films and TV are great place to learn framing skills- especially in makeup or shampoo advertisements since they try to depict people in a certain way to make them really attractive looking.

So... I'm currently trying to study with this method as I have done years ago when I took a film class in high school.

I really like the way this advertisement summarizes everything and like the transition techniques they have in this 30 sec. cut.

concept art practice 3

Before the editing (drawn with a mouse for 20-30 min again):




Photoshop CS2/CS3
Mouse
intuos 3

Concept art practice 2

I added details to another 20-30 min doodle with mouse + Photoshop:



It's just a path on water or clouds with abstract mountains(?) nearby.


For this, I used a following brush by Velavan (since I wasn't bothered drawing lines):

PERSPECTIVE GRID BRUSH by ~VELAVAN on deviantART


and... transformed it to a shape I wanted before I started painting.

Cicada + concept art practice

Cicada that perched on my hat on the way home from a trip:


Cicada by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART



Since my painting skill has deteriorated and my digital painting skills seem to have no improvement, I decided to practice with a little doodle to try out a concept art.

What I did on Fri for about 20 min with mouse and Photoshop:



I added slightly last night with tablet+Photoshop:




Hmmm... I think I will work on a new one after I'm done with other things since buildings, angles, and lighting/shadow are all wrong.

Doodle

Doodle for lost-sin since she rocks.


haha


Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS2

2-3 hours

Manga: TLOF Ch. 3 p.12-13

English:

TLOF Chapter 3, p12-13 English by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

Japanese:

TLOF Chapter 3, p.12-13 JPN by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

Softwares Used:

Comic Studio Ex 4.0

Photoshop CS 3 (Compression only)

Time it took:

9 days

Eclipse 2009 Report

I woke up this morning and saw that it was part cloudy and sunny.

I tried to take many photos of sun peeking between clouds here and there.

Wondering... if I could see the solar eclipse today.

I took the shadow of tree leaves first (since they change shape during eclipse)

Clouds came back again.

10:45 am, about an hour after eclipse supposedly started.

It's cloudy...

I can't see it...

Wait....

Hey! Look! Look! There's a sun shaped like crescent shaped moon!

I guessed the clouds acted like filters for the camera.

11:05 am. It's supposed to be the time when you can see the biggest partial eclipse in my area..

Can't see it...

There's not even a shadow here...

But, since I got to see the eclipse even a glimpse, I was happy with it.

3 day weekend

I'm currently having three day weekend :)

I decided to make some bean soup

It had:

white beans (dunno English name for it, but it's shiro ingen mame 白インゲン豆 in Japanese)

bacon

carrot

zucchini

onion

vegetable bouillon (one-more cubes)

And practice my photomanipulation skills.

Original photo:

Photoshop setting:

I baked cookies today:




Dog decided to sit around for a while, waiting for a bite (which he didn't get since it had sugar):

DONE!!

LUMIX DMC TZ-7

Photoshop CS2

The reason for my slowness in updating art

Busy with jobs and real life.


And... plain procrastination.

Last weekend, I was away from home.

Picked up this, a kite feather...

and thought that it was a perfect feather to make a feather pen.

So, I carved, cut, and shaved off with these

into this:

but it was thick still so I cut the tip further and...

doodled.

I also bought some artbooks in used book store (got these half the price :p)


to study Japanese paintings and calligraphy to incorporate into my future B&W drawings.


I finished one job assignment today (trans) and started the next page of manga:


There will be ~5 koma, and I hope to end Ch.3 quickly (8-10 more pages to go) since I think plot sucks for this one. I want to get to Ch.4 which will have better plot.

Photos

Photos I took over the weekend.

Jizo by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

Jizo wearing afro
sunset 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART

sunset two days back
Deviant ID 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART for an ID since I feel like this during summer- slow and sluggish under scorching sun

Practice...

Painting clouds with Photoshop:

(yeah... it sucks)

Trying to figure out how to do wireframe with sketch and toon in Cinema 4D:

(abstract 3D CG made with splines)

What I learned this time:
Finally figured out how to make brushes really smooth in Photoshop -> will try to paint in Photoshop more (since Corel Painter takes a bit of time with saving)for a while.
Rendering wireframe with sketch and toon- technical drawing, thickness of 5?



Next goal: improve- really improve- on painting techniques- perhaps try out semi-realism again since I suck.


I also updated my portfolio today:

7/2/09
I updated the new version of my portfolio:

Portfolio(English)

Portfolio(Japanese)

Stock photo: Texture Pack 1

Texture Pack 1 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviantART


You're welcome to use it for non-commercial or commercial illustrations/CGs. However, please don't sell or share/distribute this image file without my written permission. If you download this image and use it, please credit me. I would love it if you send me a link to your finished product too since I'm curious as to how it turns out :D

five 3648X2736 pixels photos

- reddish brown brick
- gravel close up
- red brick
- gravel
- granite


bricks and granite taken in a nearby hardware shop
gravel from Mt. Koya, Japan the World Heritage Site



More goodies from me:
five brush set
fractal brush set

©Waterdroplet 2009