Waterdroplet's Blog

being busy

2011-02-04T19:12:00.002+09:00

Well, I can make all kinds of excuses for not being able to update this blog, but there's one thing that explains it all:

early Christmas present by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

or

handshake by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Yeah... a new baby decided to drop by in the middle of Dec 2010 and was busy preparing and taking care of her lately.

Anyway, here are stuff I've created since the last update:

train by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

snow by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

moment by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

light bulb by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

and the latest:

dog by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Illustration: Concept Art Practice 10

2010-10-27T13:32:00.004+09:00

concept art practice 10 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Concept art practice.

What I did different this time was to not use default round brush but customized it to square shaped brush for eraser and brush.

Result was... it was not much different from a round brush.

I also tried to use more layers this time than before so I could play with layer effects. I used blur for motion or movement(don't know the exact translation for this) to add some movement to the illustration. However, doing too much seemed a bit distracting.

Anyway... I saw some improvement from my last painting I did for fun:

after I got this from my relative (shitake) :p

I started off with white base color, and that made the illustration a bit blurry. As a result, I used black from the start for my recent illustration, and it showed some improvement. Hopefully, I could improve more on the way.

IllustStudio
Photoshop CS3
2-3days (actually worked on this for a few hours over those days)

Update

2010-10-25T13:42:00.004+09:00

Once again, it's been more than a month since I last updated this blog. I have been busy lately so I wasn't able to update Japanese blog as well.

The latest illustration is up only in Pixiv since it was for a contest. As a result, I can only put a link to it:
http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=14061391

It's viewable for members but non-members can view a thumbnail.

What's different between last and this month is that I got Vray for Cinema 4D. As a result, I could have better render for my 3D CG. However, it's taking longer than usual to get use to it :3

Anyway, other stuff I did besides it:

I used Vray for this as well:
Illustration/3D CG:

operation room by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

space by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

A test using Vray:

model room by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

city at night by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

It was just a joke:

42 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Photography:

rasberry 1 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

rasberry 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

rasberry 3 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Update again

2010-09-03T15:51:00.003+09:00

Hmmm... it's been a while since I updated this blog ^^;

Ok... starting from illustrations:

cafe by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Illust Studio
Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Textures: my clothes, Sozai Jiten Vol 3, 19, 24, Wafu Parts/Pattern
several weeks

library by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4
Photoshop CS3
Illust Studio
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Texture: Sozai Jiten Vol 19, 164 (commercial photo stocks)
a month~several months

Photos:

sky 14 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

sky 13 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

glass by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

firework 3 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

firework 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Canon Kiss X3 (S18-55 F3.5-5.6 IS)
Lumix Tz-7

Update

2010-07-14T16:07:00.003+09:00

Oi... it's been close to two months since I last updated this blog.

However, these two months had been pretty hectic that there was not much development in art.

Anyway, here I go:

Illustration

Sorcerer by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4
IllustStudio
Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Textures: Sozai Jiten Vol 19 & 24, Lace Sozai (Japanese commercial photo/texture stocks)
~a few days

water by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4
Photoshop CS2&3
Illust Studio
3 days

Photography

strawberry by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

orange by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Canon Kiss X3 (S18-55 F3.5-5.6 IS)

Hmmm...

2010-05-13T21:20:00.005+09:00

forgot to update this blog in a while- three months to be exact since

1. I didn't have internet for a month since I moved to a new place
2. I was away on my wedding ceremony/honeymoon
3. away on another trip
4. sleeping and eating
5. Preparing for a big wedding party
6. busy with another big event of my life at the end of this year (secret since I don't know if it will work out). :D

Yeah... so my life has been a bit of hectic lately since it changed so much since Feb.

Anyway, since I can't put all stuff up since Feb, I will just put illust and photos that represent what I did since Feb.

Here I go from oldest to newest:

Illustration

Revolution by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

dive by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

botched illustration

3D CG

bug by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

3D CG models
LAMP and others

Photography

flower 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

flower 3 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

sky 10 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

More are present in my deviantART gallery and folders.

Wallpaper + 3D CG model

2010-02-15T06:42:00.003+09:00

I had cold at the end of last week and finally recovered.

Here's wallpaper (for personal usage only):

music 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Cinema 4D R11 studio

Photoshop CS2 (I did it in CMYK mode)

Comic Studio Ex 4

2 days

and 3D CG model that you can use without a credit for commercial/personal use if you have a software that can support .obj 3D file:

bucket-3D CG model by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Cinema 4D R11 studio

a few min

I have some simple 3D CG models uploaded in Clip Studio website (Japanese site for IllustStudio/Comic Studio users) under the username Vole36. I will change that in a month or two to my usual one though.

This was created from my usual doodle like 3D CG activity:

photos

2010-02-08T06:35:00.001+09:00

sky 8 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

神戸湾
Kobe Bay, Japan
Lumix TZ7
Photoshop CS3

I forgot to clean the lens before I shot these

|||(-.-;)|||

2010-02-05T06:27:00.000+09:00

inspection by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

I am usually inspired by photos, and this time it was silver mask by lost-sin. Thank you very much. :)

As a word of thanks, I give permission only to her to do whatever she wants with the graphic.

IllustStudio
Comic Studio Ex 4
Photoshop CS3
8-9 days (but I actually worked on it within last few nights)

and changed my deviantART ID:

Cinema 4D R11 studio
photos I put up earlier
a few min

and also... thank you very much everyone for 20,000 page views for my deviantART page!

Since I was a bit of late realizing this, I didn't prepare anything... will try to do it next time... perhaps...

Wallpaper: flowers

2010-02-03T06:36:00.000+09:00

Before the wallpaper (for personal usage only), sunrise I took this morning with a mobile phone:

and wallpaper:

flowers by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

I combined the wire frame and render I made with global illumination in Photoshop.

This is the first time I created stuff from polygons and painted directly on 3D CG using the Body Paint function in Cinema 4D. Hopefully, I improved a bit in my 3D CG skills.

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS3
~3nights（1 hour of rendering(Global Illumination)）

A practice similar to this I did a few nights ago:

For this one, I didn't make from polygons but just changed the shape of a rectangular cube.

2010-01-26T06:50:00.000+09:00

Abstract Wallpaper:

Wallpaper pack: Egg by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS3
30min-1hour

botched 3D CG for background for SciFi themed wallpaper:

and... my attempt to try out blurry illustration:

Botanist by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Corel Painter X
Photoshop CS3
Illust Studio
a few days

BW illust/doodle

2010-01-14T06:51:00.001+09:00

Group shot by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

The 3D CG I made and used in this illust:

(I finally figured out how to render the wireframe by doing Effect>>Cel Renderer (Outline, Edge)at Render Setting. I can't believe that it took this long to figure out such thing）

What I did differently this time was to draw more than one character in one BW drawing, and use a different rendering method for 3D CG.

I used to render in Cinema 4D and pasted it or traced it in another software. This time, I rendered using IllustStudio/Comic Studio since I finally found out that exporting Cinema 4D files in Wavefront format produced .obj format files, and that could be incorporated into those 2D CG drawing softwares.

It's been a year since I had Comic Studio Ex 4, and ugh... it took me more than a year to figure out wireframe render.

I used a camera's lens effect to change the shape of 3D CG render to have a movement in illustration.

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Comic Studio Ex 4
IllustStudio 1.1.0 (since I didn't have Comic Studio in another computer)
~ a week

2010

2010-01-12T06:56:00.001+09:00

began with a lot of photography and sorting out old files.

I sorted out things from 2003-2009 to see its progress:

2003-2009 MEME by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

The last doodle of 2009:

I just used Photoshop to practice a technique I saw in a book earlier on that day. Of course, it didn't turn out the way I wanted but sort of got the idea of how to go about certain graphic.

and the first sunset of 2010:

1-1-2010 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Anyway, here I go with photos I took from 1/1/2010 to this weekend since I didn't update this blog.

Spec. info:
1/1/2010 photos:
Food:
Canon Kiss X3
Canon EF100mm F2.8 Macro USM
Photoshop CS3

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

Aquarium photos:
Lumix TZ7
Photoshop CS3

Otoso, sweet rice wine called mirin with herbs.

Ozoni with white miso:

Kuromame (sweetened black beans):

Kazunoko (herring eggs):

gomame (small sardines):

Nishikitamago (sweetened egg):

Kamaboko (fish cake):

Kobumaki (kelp roll) with salmon:

Forgot what this was but chicken thingmy:

Dog:

I eliminated some photos from 1/1 since it had sea cucumbers. I think many people are not used to seeing sea cucumbers as food so if interested, please look at:
http://daydreamingsky.blog94.fc2.com/blog-entry-1387.html#more
for sea cucumbers my family found on the beach to being on a dining table if interested.

Kaiyukan Aquarium shots (more photos are in my Japanese blog):

Dolphin playing with water:

Fish in a staring game w. me:

seals that are too fast to be in a photo:

but bothered to poop:

and play with a diver who is cleaning in middle of poop above:

Sunfish:

Whale shark:

Shot with a different screen mode:

School of sardines:

Jellyfish:

Jellyfish by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Wallpaper: foggy morning

2009-12-25T06:48:00.004+09:00

Wallpaper: foggy morning by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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.

	3D CG　イラスト(大） Vole36

	デジタルペインティング Vole36

2009-12-18T06:33:00.000+09:00

Silence by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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

Strange...

2009-12-15T06:58:00.000+09:00

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:

Wallpaper: Yakizakana (Broiled fish)

2009-12-09T06:49:00.000+09:00

Wallpaper: Yakizakana by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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

Wallpaper: Wish

2009-12-07T06:37:00.002+09:00

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 deviant ART

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.

2009-11-27T19:43:00.003+09:00

Collab: New Beginning by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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.

Day 2, 3 forgot what...

2009-11-25T06:40:00.001+09:00

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

News + photos + images

2009-11-19T06:21:00.000+09:00

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 deviant ART

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 deviant ART
I worked on the beginning of this year, and

Wallpaper: Night flower by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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 deviant ART

To be continued~

Wallpaper and concept art practices

2009-11-13T06:10:00.000+09:00

Wallpaper: Lights and Shadows by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

1920X1200 pixel
1600X1200 pixel
available for download for personal usage only in the link above.

It's wip:

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS3
Modeling: 30 min, Rendering: ~1 hr, Editing: 5-10 min

and concept art practice:

Concept art practice 9 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Photoshop CS3 (used brushes by Jama and concept-on-mac. Thank you.)
Photos: Osaka photo I took with a mobile phone a few weeks ago, 素材辞典(Sozaijiten) Vol. 168- probably Tokyo or something.
3 nights?

Wallpaper: Crossing

2009-11-10T06:59:00.001+09:00

Wallpaper: Crossing by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Result of thinking that having crossing signs for railroad is a brilliant idea.

Yeah... it was fine in my head. Then, I drew it and .... orz

I think it looks crappy or dorky... or both.

The crossing sign is in a weird angle since the right angle will chop his head off or it growing from his head like Frankenstein.

Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Comic Studio Ex 4
several weeks (drew it <1 wk on and off, modeling: 1-2 wks, rendering: 20 sec~1 hr.)

3D CG+Illust & a bunch of photos

2009-11-05T06:44:00.000+09:00

Again, I failed to update this blog regularly as I should since photos keep on piling up.

Anyway, here's the latest illustration using 3D CG:

Wallpaper: Night flower by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

1920x1200 pixel available for download (personal usage only).

I did it just for fun since satsuki-lo requested it two weeks ago.

This was a bit of hard 3D CG due to moire produced with dark lighting in Cinema 4D. No matter how much I tried- it still sucked. This was a third try- so if you count all of my renders- this took me ~7 hours of rendering.

Oi.

Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio (2 days of modeling on and off, 2 hours and 47 minutes of rendering)

Anyway, here are bunch of photos I took over the weekend:

Lumix TZ-7 (Sat):

I don't think I'm good at taking photos in aquarium.

Temple and a game in city taken with cellphone two weekends ago :

It's a coin game to catch a stuffed toy of Sentokun- a mascot for Nara Prefecture. I was amused by this since Sentokun is modeled after deer and Buddha. Weird combination, I must say.

KissX3+Canon EF100mm F2.8 Macro USM (Sun):

Salad in a restaurant:

Car:

Yeah... I liked to play with overexposed images.

I fixed this little with Photoshop (only this one) to give slightly aged look:

Sky Building in Osaka:

Playing with Bokeh in the car (while stopping for a streetlight):

The clip of a next illust I'm working on:

Somehow, almost all characters have similar hair styles, but I drew line art since I haven't in a while. Compared to the one on top of this entry, it will be a bright and cheerful illustration with a dash of modern theme. I made most of the 3D CG models for the past week. Now, I will have to arrange it so it fits with this line art and start coloring while rendering. Hopefully, it goes well.

Doodle: Dragon and a guy with apron

2009-10-30T06:11:00.000+09:00

Alchemy

Photoshop CS3

2 nights

Up close:

Yeah... this was a doodle I did for the past two nights. I first created the face of a dragon using Alchemy and painted over it in Photoshop. I meant to paint a coat for a guy and ended up with bistro apron guy.

Since... I like bistro apron. I think they make people hotter *cough *cough.

Nah... but... they indeed make them seem a slightly different. Longer legs? More professional looking?

But... this tends to look like a skirt than apron. Ugh.

This was an instant drink I had recently called Amazake.　A traditional Japanese drink.

I was a bit high on sugar from drinking this that I made the ad looking thing above- with bad typography and sense of taste... I took the photo with DSLR and fixed and edit in Photoshop along with typography and etc. It's a bit off season since fans are symbols of summer....

Oi vey...

Doodle: Concept Art Practice 8

2009-10-27T06:22:00.003+09:00

concept art practice 8 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Photoshop CS3
1-2 hrs.

Thanks a million to Jama and battlefist for tips and brushes!

This is a quick practice, sort of speed painting, for concept art. I think if I don't concentrate... all of my paintings turn into waterscapes. My old bad habit. I want to explore more paintings with Photoshop like this in future.

I know now how laziness and short height gets in the way of imagining landscapes.

1. Used vanishing point this time- properly, two point perspective thingmy- which I didn't do it properly in the past often

2. Must draw these kind of landscapes from angle- high up or aerial view to make the place seem vast. I often drew from the perspective of a ground level and that... made things look flat. Oi.

Doodle with Alchemy

2009-10-23T06:50:00.002+09:00

Ever since I found about Alchemy from Jama's comment in his page, I became obsessed with the program.

To Jama:

Congrats on receiving DD!

I was a bit amazed how gallery mod responded fast to a suggestion (a day after my suggestion, he received DD). He would have gotten it sooner or later though since he's a great concept artists with a wonderful sense and skills. Really friendly and helpful to others as well.

Anyway, my attempt of last night:

Insect like thing:

Some sort of pattern:

And a bunny... no some sort of rodent:

Alchemy

Switched to Photoshop and used PS brushes that Jama kindly gave me other day:

Ta-dah!

Okay... I will try to do better next time I use this same method for the concept art.

All of this took a few min~30 min. So... quick doodles.

3D CG+Illustration: Modern Room

2009-10-22T06:15:00.000+09:00

modern room by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Aimed for interior design look.

Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio (Global Illumination)
SAI
~ 6 nights

I was originally planning to start drawing manga after this illustration, but the script and the background image is still not ready. So... I will do concept art on Photoshop after this since I got brushes from Jamshed Jurabaev last night. Thank you so much!!

I found out last night, but he works as a designer in Tajikistan under href="http://www.ustodesign.tj/">Ustodesign. He's very kind and helpful to other artists so I kind of became a fan recently... well.... I became a fan once I spotter his concept art a month or two ago.

His work:

The path by *jamajurabaev on deviant ART

His technique I'm planning to use for the next concept art is the use of

Alchemy

It's an open share software (is that how people call free softwares?) and is usable in Linux, Windows, and Mac. I tested it out last night and both worked fine in Mac though tended to be a bit slow compared to Vista. I don't know how to use Volume thing but supposedly, it creates images with sound through microphone or something.

He used this for character concept art and painted more in Photoshop as seen here:

Characters 3 by *jamajurabaev on deviant ART

My attempt with the software:

1st Round:

送信者 Waterdroplet's Blog

2nd Round:

送信者 Waterdroplet's Blog

Third:

送信者 Waterdroplet's Blog

Fourth:

送信者 Waterdroplet's Blog

Positive side:
- Usable in both Mac and PC unlike inkscape which claimed that it was usable but couldn't in Mac OSX
- light and easy to learn
- in both Japanese and English

Downside:
There's no undo option- so must erase the canvas completely in order to get rid of a mistake

I think it's a good program to have besidesApophysis.

Apophysis 2.09 attempt (mistakenly rendered with a light shade):

The following are practices I did with Cinema 4D, trying to test how to manipulate 3D CG model so it will have asymmetrical organic object kinda look+duplication method so I could create chains:

Practice using metaball (right) and atom (center)

Ball and chain thingmy:

Chain

Trying to manipulate 3D CG into asymmetric shapes by pulling, smear, smoothening, and etc. using a brush tool (originally a sphere):

and transparency test (used gradation +turbulence):

All of them took a few min. to create. I think the last one was the most interesting so I might use this technique for the next 3D CG.

Photography

2009-10-19T06:50:00.002+09:00

I went to Nara during this weekend... after 15 years? I was in elementary school last time I visited there.

I was trying to take a photo of sudden rain storm... and couldn't get the effect from having non-DSLR camera that day.

Decided that it will be fun to try out 鹿せんべい (Shikasenbei)- a snack for deers- which my friend mentioned that it tasted "gross" (since it's only for deers) while taking out my camera and 150 yen...

And... the next second after I bought it, GAAAAH!

Deers were all over, nibbling away on my clothes (to urge me to give the snack to them), stepping on my foot, and

took away the last batch before I could even try it out myself. Dang.

My friend was chased by four does, while I was calling out, "Hey, somebody's popular!"

I was chased by only two deers.

A little deer was also present... probably a few months old by looks of it.

with its mom- awwwww

and further down the street toward Todai-ji Temple, deers seemed to rule the streets (also its poop)

Buck

Doe

Deers were worshipped as messengers from god in this area. With tourists and all, they are pretty much all over this area- still wild so even though they seem tamed- so be careful how you approach them.

Deers seem to be pretty related to goats and sheep as can be seen by the shape of their pupils.

Curious deer

sideways
walks like kings/queens

I think this fellah wanted to say,

"I'm the King of the World!"

since world seems to revolve around him

some fellah is head-over-heels with his doe

and the main temple of Todai-ji Temple. It's where a huge Buddha statue is present

Lumix TZ7

Illustration

2009-10-19T06:44:00.000+09:00

imagination by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4.0
SAI
Photoshop CS3
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Lumix TZ7
~ 6 nights (actually worked in 4 nights)

Three day weekend photos

2009-10-13T06:49:00.000+09:00

I went around Osaka during this three day weekend.

Tennouji Zoo, Tennouji, Osaka Prefecture:

Some sort of statue with a bad taste...

Curious polar bear (male)

who decided to play some sort of semi-volleyball with a log:

Polar Bear by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Alligator skeleton:

Osaka Castle:

Sky Building:

where the city view at night was rather nice:

Everything but last several photos were taken with Lumix TZ7, the rest were from my mobile phone so the photo size isn't big.

Lumix TZ7
Photoshop CS3
+ mobile phone

Digital painting: Gensou + some photos

2009-10-07T23:28:00.003+09:00

Wallpaper: Gensou by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

I referred to glacier in Iceland and rocks on Ireland, but it didn't really turn out the way I expected it to be.

Since it's 4:3 format, I made it into a wallpaper. Personal usage only.

Corel Painter X
Photoshop CS3
~ 1 week

Photos I took over the weekend and a few weeks before:

高台寺(Kodai-ji Temple, Kyoto) (this Sun):

Two weeks ago at 岡山 (Okayama), a few hours before I passed out from flu:

Random shots with DSLR:

My dog as a model:

I think he wants to become a pâtissier or something:

Lumix TZ7
Kiss X3+ EF-S18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS
Photoshop CS3

and oh... random abstract 3D CG:

blob by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Cinema 4D R11
Photoshop CS3
30 min- 1 hr.

3D CG: digital

2009-09-28T09:29:00.003+09:00

digital by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Global illumination +gradation practice. D#($! I didn't know that this whole year- I was rendering my models without GI and didn't know that until this weekend!

This scene took me 13 hours 27 minutes and 26 seconds to render. This was inspired by music (Imogen Heap's Tidal from Ellipse I got recently), chromatic series of k3-studio and cheerful colorful drawings of satsuki-lo

This wip:

my current desktop 7 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS3
Comic Studio Ex 4.0

1 day+ a few hours

I guess I will use this sick holiday until tomorrow I got from getting Flu... probably swine flu... to play around with different features of Cinema 4D I missed out for a year.

3D CG+digital painting: gone fishing

2009-09-26T21:29:00.001+09:00

Oops! I forgot to post it here.

gone fishing by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

It's whole view

Cinema 4D R11 studio (modeling: 1-2 hrs, rendering: 53min)
SAI
Photoshop CS3
2-3 nights

Ugh...

2009-09-25T21:55:00.005+09:00

For the past three days, I was down with cold... or so I thought... and was even absent from my job for the first time in my life.

It turned out that I had flu and have to stay at home until the middle of next week. Grrrrr!

It's due to Japanese policy in response to the new flu going around- swine flu. Confine or quarantine a person at his/her home for a week so he/she won't go about spreading the disease.

That sounded like something out of a newspaper until it came to me for treating one of my sick family members over the break. Ugh. Most people get it after they travel around places abroad. I got it locally. Ugh.

Well... it means that I can't go back to work until middle of next week.... It really sucks...

But, people around me were really supportive for the past few days so I really really appreciate their kindness and generosity.

I don't know if I have that one since the hospital that diagnosed me didn't have that much of detailed check up thing. Supposedly it's a paper chromatography method. Interesting... since it's pretty basic scientific method. I still remember the time when people had to grind up spinach leaves to do that and thinking of my snot running up the paper... Interesting.

Anyway, the CD I ordered yesterday came today!

It's Ellipse by Imogen Heap.

I'm a great fan of her songs :D

Very inspirational

Doodle: stairs (3D CG+digital painting)

2009-09-18T06:48:00.000+09:00

stairs by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Only the brown part is 3D CG. Other parts (including green stuff) are digital painting done in SAI or Photoshop. Since this was a concept art practice, I used 1/3 composition rule or whatever it is called.

Since my last 3D CG as front, digital painting in the back illustration did not go well, I did a bit tweaking on the texture of 3D CG. Since it was kinda boring with just a brown muck, I added plants, using reference from a forest photo from Yakushima Island, Japan.

I finished this early since there's a stuff I want to work on next, which I think is more interesting.

Photoshop CS3
SAI
Cinema 4D R11 studio

4-5 evenings

Photography

2009-09-12T17:18:00.004+09:00

Normal Lens Practice:

Macro Lens Practice:

side view by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Progress

2009-09-11T06:22:00.000+09:00

I started working on 3D CG for my next illustration. Hopefully, it's a matte painting.

I watched the first 5 min of the recent popular movie.

I don't like animation usually unless it's 3D CG, but I thought it was interesting. I might watch till the end if it get some sort of international award up to Academy or etc.

photo +3D CG practice

2009-09-10T06:51:00.002+09:00

Train window

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

bokeh practice- street

Kiss X3
Lens: S18-55 F3.5-5.6 IS
(white+blue is a building, red light are cars, and green is the green light)

abstract 3D CG practice:

Original version:

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS3

I usually worked with a 3D CG background and painting in front so I switched that around to see how it looked like. I guess I should have painted more in detail and will that from now on.

But... not bad for a work I did while talking to a friend on the phone for a few hours XD

lol

I think I will practice matte painting next but... I don't know if I can do that since I need to paint realistically. I haven't done that in a long time... though tried to lately.

Anyway, after that- I might play around with bokeh. :)

got my first DSLR last night!!!

2009-09-07T09:08:00.003+09:00

Test shots

- As I was told by TE2YA (thank you so much for all the advise you gave me for this past month!), macro lens require a lot of light
- need a tripod since I get blur+bokeh. I just want bokeh.→ probably use my old 30 bucks tripod

Must get a bag for single camera and protector for lens.

KISS X3+Macro 100mm F2.8 マクロ USM

Doodle: City sleeps

2009-09-05T22:01:00.001+09:00

city sleeps by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

My latest concept art attempt turned into painting.

Wanted to make it interesting to look at. Use a lot of black but not too dark or quiet. :p

Corel Painter X
Photoshop CS2

4 (probably 3) nights

Doodle (still in progress)

2009-09-02T06:50:00.001+09:00

Now that I started having an idea of what to do, I will start working on the next illustration.

I decided to try out Sci-Fi like city in color.

It still needs fixing and lots of painting involved, but this is the basic one I'll be working on:

I think I will change a lot with this one since the angle and shapes are all wrong since I didn't follow basic rules of perspective drawing. However, I am following 1/3 rule for composition and trying to draw things diagonally as I read in a tutorial and other people's works. Once I get used to this type of painting, I will start drawing in details in future illustrations. This one will be in color-perhaps in sunset or night time since I don't think I had much of those before.

Corel Painter X

Concept Art Practices

2009-09-01T08:40:00.003+09:00

These

concept art practice 5 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART
3 hours
Painter X (charcoal, digital water color)

Dragon and a boy eating roasted sweet potatoes (yeah- random):

2 hours
Painter X (Charcoal, air brush)

1.5 hours
Photoshop CS3
Painter X (airbrush)

The one above was created after I created this in Photoshop CS3:

Basically, drew a simple outline of tree-like stuff, used a composition method of drawing circle like objects to guide the viewer's eyes to a certain area of the illustration. Then, I painted on top in Painter X

Now that I had several practices, I will try to draw more dynamic illustrations. So... might take a few days on that once I get the idea.

Illustration: Battle

2009-08-28T12:15:00.006+09:00

Battle by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Concept Art+digital painting practice+procrastination.

I first tried to make the image dimension equal to golden ratio but decided to use one third rule. I made the sky as white since it was interesting to have a high contrast image.

SAI
Photoshop CS3

~1.5 wks though I didn't work on this most of the time.

Progress in a nutshell(stuff in the end's missing)*crazier than usual:

It started with a basic background... tower with a person sitting on a rock?

Since it was sort of boring, I changed the shape.

Still boring... expanded horizontally + more people

The angle was boring so I did transform a bit on each

Added a person, deleted a person

Getting slightly finer details...

started shading... arm is funny... fix that and change the person pointing finger to archer

More shading... and erase that person being chased by a dragon since no one looks desperate

This guy needs an armor

More details+ shading

Ugh... only guys are boring

Lady added but she's too naked

She's wearing something now but bald...

Adding hair gives more movement

Highlight gave more interesting image+ starts coloring in whatever color I can find ( it doesn't matter what since I will change it anyway)

Changed the staff size

added hair color to the guy

More coloring...

and added details +colors-sky+more vertical space since she's too crammed+magic like effects -> ta- dah!

I used out of the norm steps for this digital painting since I was just allowing my imagination to do the work. So... no composition, not much planning, and in the end- interesting experience.

I will work properly from now...

>>

Found the Concept Art Tutorial concerning composition at last!!

Environment Concept Art: Composition by Philip Straub

I will try to study this and use it on my future illustrations! Yay!

Photography

2009-08-25T06:50:00.000+09:00

I'm still working on the next manga page and illustration at the moment.

Anyway, here's photos I took over the weekend:

sky 5 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

sky 6 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

sky 7 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

and my dog:

id 3 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

It's the same dog that found Chimaki on floor and just spread rice all over the floor last night... Tisk Tisk

Music that I want to get

2009-08-18T21:16:00.003+09:00

WIRE 09 COMPILATION I heard on radio.

I think it's perfect for my illustrations...

Since I got proper headphones a couple of months ago, I think it works well.

3D CG: summer

2009-08-16T09:34:00.002+09:00

Room modeling practice+my manga character :D

summer by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Photoshop CS2/3
Comic Studio Ex 4
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Panasonic DMC Tz7

2 days

update

2009-08-15T20:39:00.006+09:00

I went to a book signing event today. It was for the illustrator who draws Ajikan CD jacket art. I got the illustration book since I'm a fan of that music band... and well... I was interested in learning how to draw in this artist's style so I got it last week- which came luckily with a book signing deal :p

He wrote my name on the book but I hid it with a mouse pad in this photo :p

This is a magazine (architecture) I got today to study lighting for 3D CG. :)

I think I want to explore using different materials for lighting and texture in future.

3D CG practice

2009-08-13T10:14:00.005+09:00

I decided to practice Cinema 4D since I didn't handle it for a while.

The topic was to build a room.

External view:

I combined two renders of a room with different lighting in Photoshop. I used GI/ambient light for Image 1 and another (Image 2) without.

Image 1:

Image 2:

What I did differently this time:
1. I used Boole
2. Incorporated DSLR technique of using wide angled lens. I used this idea from the tutorial + catalogue for DSLR lens I was studying recently.

I think I want to build more rooms in future to play with lighting and what not.

Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS2

30 min modeling, 8min 30 sec for each rendering, <10 min of editing in Photoshop

Doodle: Room (Sci-fi themed)

2009-08-11T11:52:00.002+09:00

Finished the doodle at day IV.

Room by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

It's progress in nutshell:

Room- Progress by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

SAI
Photoshop CS2
commercial stock photos (marble, rust) (Sozai Jiten)

DAY 2

2009-08-09T00:08:00.003+09:00

I added slightly more details today:

After I went out drinking with friends and came back (slightly tipsy but... decided to paint slightly more):

I added more colors to skin with water color and added more details and etc. with acrylic. I'm working mostly in that acrylic brush with this piece of work.

Anyway... sleepy now so off to sleep.

to be continued...

Doodle: ROOM - SF styled painting (DAY 1)

2009-08-07T06:09:00.001+09:00

This is the latest doodle I'm doing in an attempt to do SF style since it didn't work the last time :p

This is the DAY 1 steps I made- from a basic sketch to simple coloring yesterday. I will do more later.

Ok... so I will use SAI this time since I'm on Windows Vista. This could be done in Photoshop or Painter but... since I need to practice SAI I got last week, I will use this.

Brushes I used in this:

Pencil

Eraser

Acrylic (for thick ones)

Water color (for light shade)

Blur (? I'm not sure what it is exactly called in English version since mine is original Japanese one)

I did a basic sketch of the scene and made rough outline with acrylic brush. During these processes, I am constantly changing the brush settings- mainly thickness of the color (opacity?), how much water there is in the brush, and sometimes, brush tips to default to 丸筆 or round brush. Every single time there's image in this entry, please think that I created a new layer.

Now... shading. I used mainly water color brush + blur
More details and shadows with acrylic brush, with thicker black color:

slightly more detail with acrylic brush, white this time:

Now, start the coloring. First, skin with water color:

Now some hair and shirt...

More colors

And... this is where I passed out last night. Off to sleep

will be continued... perhaps on Sun since I will be drinking out Fri and Sat nights with friends :p

SAI

a few hours

Illustrations

2009-08-04T00:00:00.002+09:00

suzuran by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

鈴蘭 (Lily) from my TLOF manga.

I still have a hard time with lines. It seems as it's in a vector mode or something... It's harder to control the lines as much as Comic Studio.... I think I will work on that with CS rather than SAI next time.

SAI
Photoshop CS3
~1 day

and...

Commission from a real life best friend:

Commission: Mr...er ... right? by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS3
a few hours

It's Colin Firth from Bridget Jones's Diary. She specifically requested to have a reindeer jumper.

Beetle

2009-08-01T13:07:00.000+09:00

beetle by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

SAI
40 min

Got SAI

2009-07-30T22:49:00.005+09:00

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!

2009-07-30T22:45:00.004+09:00

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

2009-07-29T22:26:00.003+09:00

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

2009-07-29T11:06:00.002+09:00

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

Photoshop CS2/CS3
Mouse
intuos 3

Concept art practice 2

2009-07-27T21:51:00.003+09:00

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 deviant ART

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

Cicada + concept art practice

2009-07-27T08:39:00.003+09:00

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

Cicada by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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

2009-07-24T08:26:00.001+09:00

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

2009-07-22T15:00:00.000+09:00

English:

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

Japanese:

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

Softwares Used:

Comic Studio Ex 4.0

Photoshop CS 3 (Compression only)

Time it took:

9 days

Eclipse 2009 Report

2009-07-22T14:58:00.004+09:00

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

2009-07-20T12:15:00.007+09:00

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

2009-07-09T21:08:00.008+09:00

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

2009-07-06T11:54:00.002+09:00

Photos I took over the weekend.

Jizo by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Jizo wearing afro
sunset 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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

Practice...

2009-07-02T08:33:00.008+09:00

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

2009-07-01T08:53:00.003+09:00

Texture Pack 1 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

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

Illustration: 夢見続けるから。。。 (Yume mitsudukeru kara...)

2009-06-29T12:09:00.003+09:00

yume mitsudukerukara... by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Please click on above for its description and for bigger image.

It's a contest entry for I Dream contest held in deviantART.

:p

Softwares Used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS2/3
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Brush used: custom and my own, five brush set + typography.
Font: Tender by Mr. Kabutoya from his book, High Grade Design Font. I really appreciate him for allowing me to use his fonts since the time I created station.

Time it took:
Three days of planning

6/12-6/29/09- worked on it every night little by little.

Music:
或る街の群青 (aru machi no gunjou) by Asian Kung-fu Generation

Finished translation

2009-06-24T10:19:00.004+09:00

I finally finished all of the required translation for a small Japanese history translation project that my client asked me to do and handed in a day before the deadline~ Yaaaay!

So now, I will start doing 3D CG and restart coloring of my next illustration for a contest.

(Just a small clip of it)

Update

2009-06-15T10:51:00.002+09:00

I'm currently drawing an illustration for one on-line contest coming up. It will be a slightly complex piece so it might take a few weeks to finish. It will have 3D CG in it but in a different way than usual.

It will be fun and something quite new :p

Started Zazzle

2009-06-10T15:30:00.004+09:00

I created a simple matching T-shirt design as a test recently:

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Anyway, I will start adding my own illustrations for sale in Zazzle from now. They will be available on different types of prints- T-shirt, buttons, skateboards and etc. If you have some illustration you would like in a certain product, please leave a comment.

It was recommended to me by my current collab illustration buddy, and I decided to use it once I found out that my friend from univ bought her Father's Day gifts from that site yesterday.

What a coincidence :p

p.s.
I created a badge from my manga:

Kappril by Waterdroplet
Make custom buttons at Zazzle

Kappril by Waterdroplet
Create pinback buttons with www.zazzle.com

As you can see, there are two shapes available. I will begin to create more designs, not restricted to manga/anime since I'm really interested in learning product designs.

Fireflies

2009-06-09T22:51:00.008+09:00

I went to see fireflies with my dog tonight.

I just caught them with my hands while they are flying midair. It can be caught with just one hand too.

My dog who jumped up when he saw the firefly for the first time and got bored after taking one sniff at it. He thinks that rice paddy is more interesting than glowing fireflies and me chasing after them and jumping up and down the road like a maniac.

Okay- a quick doodle with photos:

Done in ~30 min- something between a speed painting/doodle. All the yellow green lights- so everything except for the face are bunch of photos combined. They are real fireflies I took photos of. I didn't really pay attention to lines or shadows and didn't clean noises on photos. I just wanted to capture the moment I saw fireflies last night. That was my main concern.

I used spray mode for the first time in Painter while seeking well blending brushes similar to SAI and has quick response. I like it how it blends so I might use it later.

So... in nutshell, this is in:
Photography
speed painting (... probably)
manga/anime
photomanipulation (a dash)

Softwares used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Corel Painter X
Photoshop CS2

Time it took:
~30 min while dozing off

I first posted in DA but since it sucks, I will just display them in blogs. :p

Photos

2009-06-08T15:40:00.004+09:00

Random photos I took during my trip to Kanto area and back.

Tunnel 1 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Tunnel 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

and as a joke:

fryin' fish by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

(traditional way of doing photomanipulation- done as a joke)

Doodle I did last night:

Before I forget, I would like to thank Holly6669666 for featuring my:

Sunrise from Mt. Fuji, Japan by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART
and

old shop, Asuka-mura, Nara by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART
in
Huge Photography Feature

Manga: TLOF Ch.3 p.11

2009-06-03T23:20:00.002+09:00

English:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 11 English by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Japanese:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 11 JPN by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Now done and over with for p.11!

Please click on the image above to get more descriptions. I will be away for a few days starting Thurs so no illust update or work in addition to no internet/computer.

Update

2009-06-02T08:22:00.006+09:00

My illustration collab buddy finished with her part yesterday, and so it's my turn now to finish the illustration. Since I will be away at the end of this week, it will be a week or two weeks from now that I finish with mine.

I worked on my next manga page last night. It's still not done. There are many parts to add still so hopefully, I can finish within two days.

A song I heard this morning on radio:

サイクル by cutman-booche (Cycle by cutman-booche)

Album:

(from amazon.co.jp）

my way by cutman-booche

Since I liked the song, I would probably get CD soon.

Done with Commission

2009-05-29T13:55:00.002+09:00

Commission: TRC by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

This is a commission requested by 1stQueenYuko. Thank you so much for giving me this wonderful commission. I enjoyed working with you.

The character, character design, and most of the composition of this image belongs to CLAMP, Production GI, and Kodansha. It is a fan art of ツバサ Tokyo Relevations (Tsubasa Tokyo Relevations). Since I was asked to draw one particular scenery from that anime, I tried to draw it closest to the original as much as possible. However, since I didn't watch that anime, I made up character's expressions by referring to original manga, ツバサ-RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

It is my first time drawing these characters as well as drawing two characters right next to each other.

Softwares Used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS2/3
Commercial lace texture
Time it took:
4 days

Good news

2009-05-27T10:10:00.003+09:00

I found out this morning that I will be a staff for one art site. :)

Since it's not officially announced, I cannot say which site or what I will be doing but ...

Yaaaaaaaaay!!!

I was doing the trial to be accepted for the position for the last few weeks so it's a good news :)

Commission closed

2009-05-26T10:01:00.002+09:00

I'm currently drawing up an illustration for one commission requested by one US client.

Meanwhile during the wait- please enjoy yourselves with (IF YOU ARE VEGETARIAN/CAN'T STAND BEEF- DON'T!!):

Air Yakinuku

Details are here.

It's totally random and stupid but interesting at the same time.

Next 3D CG style I will be pursuing

2009-05-22T09:51:00.007+09:00

I created this as a practice last night while using this Cinema 4D tutorial.

I have two images in mind which might not be as colorful as the tutorial but will definitely use this new 3D CG technique in how to add textures. I will start working on it once I'm done with collab illustration (which I hope to finish within a week) and next manga page.

This is just one method of creating 3D CG vector images.

>> There's one thing I learned with Cinema 4D's Sketch and Toon. I had a trouble with my old manga page:

TLOF Chapter 3, p.6-7 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

where I couldn't produce BW shading so I drew them myself. I found out last night that it's just because I didn't change shading's "quantize" to 1. So... all those black shading was just done with a click of a mouse last night compared to a few days for this page.

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

Photos

2009-05-21T08:17:00.003+09:00

Bunch of photos I took with my acquaintance's SLR Camera. The last one is conceptual photo from the past.

fire alarm by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

key hole by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

reflection by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Picture
Make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model: E-330

+

tripod
Photoshop CS3

Art Trade: Disciple

2009-05-19T16:34:00.007+09:00

Art Trade- Disciple by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

This is my first art trade where I tried to present Wings-of-Shadow's O.C., Disciple as a puppy.

I used digital water color as a method to paint since he belongs in heaven. I wanted a dreamy look.

Softwares Used:
Corel Painter X
Photoshop CS2/3

Time it took:
1 week (for the one I botched), 1 day+few hours for this one

5/21/09

Wings-of-Shadow finished with her part!!

Over the World by *Wings-of-Shadow on deviant ART

The original one was this dude.

iN yOuR dReAmS by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Thank you so much for doing the wonderful job!! I really enjoyed this art trade with you!

Swine Flu

2009-05-18T21:23:00.006+09:00

This is the condition in many shops in Kansai now- all masks are gone from shelves due to panic caused by swine flu epidemic. Schools in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures have closed down. Hospitals in Kobe are in chaos due to panic.

Even though the swine flu is similar to old ones, people still fear it. So, areas that don't even have it yet ran out of masks. The earliest we could get is in the middle of June since all the companies ran out of them.

People around me talked about masks all day, and so I called up my relatives who are in the area close to where latest cases were found just to see if they were ok.

The response I got was:

LOL

"Oh, if the mask runs out, I just have to make them from gauze. I used to do that long time ago (lol)"

So... there shouldn't be too much panic going on, but people are still afraid of this new type of flu since they don't know about it. Anything new- people fear, and even though I'm supposed to be fine, people around me panic so I panicked as well. Fear is more contagious than flu.

And, even worse, I always imagine scenes from I am Legend whenever I hear about flu from people around me. If it happens for real, I'm dead for sure.

My work has been featured

2009-05-18T08:58:00.002+09:00

My previous work,

was featured in DA news, Dreams Feature.

I would like to thank Maixu for the wonderful feature.

In addition, there's another news, this time introduced by myself.
Blue, Green, or White Feature

I included blue, green, or white works from my art buddies, those provided by random artists, and my personal favorites. I would like to thank those artists for helping me out.

My previous feature was:
Red, Yellow, or Orange Feature

Since I haven't heard from my art buddy yet, I will be releasing the latest illustration later. I must say that... I had a hard time drawing that one... since I didn't practice much of similar sort... so hopefully... she likes it... well, I did my best.

I've started on the collab illustration last night. It's working out well for this one since it's something I'm used to.

Manga: TLOF Ch.3 p.10

2009-05-12T10:37:00.003+09:00

English:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 10 English by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

日本語:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 10 JPN by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Used Cinema 4D as a reference. Please click on images above for further description in English.

I think I will be working on art trade and collab works from now. I decided to finish this page beforehand so there's some progress. Dang... I couldn't work on this much last night since I was feeling unwell from a minor form of heatstroke. I slept really early and ate breakfast -> charged to max!!

Softwares used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Cinema 4D R11 studio
Photoshop CS2

Time it took:
３－４ evenings

2009-05-07T15:07:00.002+09:00

station by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

This incorporates the following:
3D CG
vector
anime/manga drawing
typography

I used Font K by Mr. Kabutoya for the typography. Thank you so much for giving me a permission to use on my illustrations :)

For further description, please click on the image above.

Softwares used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS2
Illustrator CS2
Cinema 4D R11

Time it took
~a week but actual work: 3-4 nights

News feature

2009-04-30T11:59:00.003+09:00

My previous collab work with k3 has been featured again in deviantART news :)

Big Big Big Black and White Feature

Thank you googly-googly2 for featuring my work!

Hmmm... now... about my works.

There was an issue of clarification that happened again in my manga page so I might fix that a little in the next page or two. Just a little since I don't want to reveal everything in my manga just yet.

I worked on 3D CG for my next ilustration last night and rendered until morning. However, there were several things that I need to fix so I might do that tonight.

Manga: TLOF Ch.3 p.9

2009-04-29T19:58:00.001+09:00

English:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 9 English by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Japanese:

TLOF Chapter 3, p. 9 JPN by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Now, off to do some illustrations.

Photo

2009-04-28T09:09:00.002+09:00

highway by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Picture
Make: Panasonic
Model: DMC-TZ7
Shutter Speed: 150/10 second
F Number: F/3.3
Focal Length: 4 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Date Picture Taken: Apr 27, 2009, 7:25:42 PM

15 seconds exposure at Starry night mode.

Yaaaaaay!

I got permission from the publisher and the author of:

to use his font in my next illustration!!!! Yaaaay!

I asked them yesterday and got a reply today! Thank you so much!!!

2009-04-25T19:18:00.003+09:00

My dog who stole/ate butter that I dropped from fridge (last night):

He felt sick for a while from having too much oily butter in his stomach. I thought he learned a lesson from this but stole a piece of bread this morning from kitchen table. Ugh.

This is a story I worked on for 2-3 years while I was at high school. Random fantasy. I think I went up to 200 pages of (mostly intros since I couldn't write properly) stories, but most of them got lost somewhere since they were written on scratch paper.

manga progress

2009-04-24T17:11:00.003+09:00

For the past few days, I've been working on a site, so not much progress going on manga. However, I am now ready to draw a page, so I will try to work on it tonight.

The next illustration would be something in lines of subway- which I wanted to do for the past few months even before I watched the following music by Ajikan:

However, I will be working on it in the future while listening to this album track so it will be influenced by this music.

3D CG+ illustration: h20

2009-04-20T09:16:00.002+09:00

h20: version 2 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

And it's wallpaper version:

Wallpaper pack: h20 by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

This is for personal usage only. You may not sell or share this work without my written permission. Other than that, enjoy.

Two other versions available for viewing:
h20: version 1

Rough version:
h20: original version

Click on the each link or image to see further description about the piece.

Softwares Used:
Comic Studio Ex 4.0
Photoshop CS2/3
Corel Painter X
Cinema 4D R11 studio

Time it took:
10-13 days

Illustration progress

2009-04-17T08:56:00.006+09:00

Still need to edit, but basic structure of a glass I will be using for illustration is this. Total of four types of 3D models were created yesterday. I need to create more for the next illustration, but the major part of 3D modeling is almost done.

Glass shape was created entirely by my imagination, but I thought the glass similar to iittala design was nice since it fits into the palms of the hand easily and is very stable when placed on a table. In addition, it is a simple but gives out nice atmosphere. In addition, nice for anyone of any age instead of a wine glass that's seen on the back of the graphic above.

After a year and three months of being registered at deviantART, I finally figured out how to make my prints into something other than normal prints (i.e. mugs, mouse pads, post cards, and etc.)

You can purchase them here。

Sample pages are:
this and this

I will try to adjust all of my prints eventually and add more so more varieties are available. Mostly- for myself so I can get stuff for my friends' birthday gifts coming up.

3D CG practice and a snap shot

2009-04-16T09:46:00.004+09:00

Bottle I made last night:

Taken with my new Lumix DMC TZ-7 camera and edited a bit in Photoshop(since there were reflections and dashboard)

Although my new camera does not produce really high quality photos, it's enough to create textures for my future CG. So, I'm happy with it.

Stock images+Photoshop Brush set

2009-04-15T17:43:00.001+09:00

Checker texture for UV editing by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

Five Brush set by =Waterdroplet-s on deviant ART

You're welcome to use them for noncommercial or commercial illustrations/CG/3D CG as long as you don't sell these very files.

Illustration progress 2: 3D CG

2009-04-15T09:37:00.005+09:00

I'm currently making 3DCG models for my upcoming illust.

For the first time, I did something similar to UV editing, using kind advice from two 3D CG artists and tutorial about wine glass and bottles.

Before:

After:

It's not the best, but this is the best I could do now with editing splines and etc.

I'm planning to create a bottle tonight according to the tutorial, and modify it so it's my fav. shape and not necessarily wine bottle.

You're free to use this for UV editing:

It's because I couldn't find it in Cinema 4D so I made it in Photoshop other day.

Progress diary

2009-04-14T08:03:00.002+09:00

So... my illustration is going very slowly right now due to my real life being quite busy and having lots of distractions. However, it's progressing nevertheless.

The only problem is the longer I take to make stuff, the reference materials tend to disappear on their own. Yesterday, mineral water I was planning to use as a reference just got into my stomach (since I was getting thirsty). Of course, I filled it back with tap water since I need to use it as a reference for my 3D CG.

Lucky that it wasn't food.