The Graphite Pit

[Melancor]

Here are a few of my drawings:
La Piata: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/lastsemester012.jpg

Fallen Angel: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/lastsemester013.jpg

Green eyed: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Picture036.jpg

Peacock: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Picture035.jpg

FFVII: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Finalfantasy.jpg

Beautiful Treason: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/BeautifulTreason.jpg

Roses: http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Rose.jpg

I forgott how to do that thingy with the links...
anyways please feel free to leave critiques.

[The Grey Wizard]

I like the first one. It reminds me of something you would see out of history or fairy tales and you did a good job on the fingers I'm terrible at drawing fingers.

[Kially Gaith]

Hot damn, you have talent. Really beautiful work, is it charcoal or pencil?

[Melancor]

The face is charcoal the ones in white paper are Pencil, the First one and the forth one are Prisma and the second one is a bunch of dotts in black paper.

and Yeah I also suck at drawing fingers... they gave me so much trouble...

[The Grey Wizard]

Yeah I also suck at drawing finguers... they gave me so much trouble

Haha! So I'm not the only one then. Indeed they can be trick I always make one fat and another skinny and so on haha. But I've never worked with Prisma before what is it?

[Melancor]

Prisma Colors, like a normal Color pencil, they just have some wax on them (which makes them about 1.50$ a piece -__-') so they can blend into each other.

[The Grey Wizard]

ahh so I would assume they are harder to draw with since the wax. But also being a buck fifty a piece makes it very important to not have to keep sharpening it so it ends up being an inch long hehe. But by blending you mean like blending paints or in a different way?

[Melancor]

Putting blue over yellow actually make Green when you add them in paper, as apposed to conventional coloring pencils where they just overlap each other and sorta looks like green.

I usallly put some white on all my strokes, to eliminate the white paper residue, and it makes it glossy.

[AdventWings]

Mmm, you got skills! :D

It's good to know there are a bunch of artists here. As an artist myself, I should tell you that you need a bit more work in your line strokes and such. Most of the lines are too uniform which makes the images look a bit flat. This is especially true for your pencil art.

Therefore, work on using lineart contrast to maximum effect. No, scratch that. Make use of contrast to Optimum Effect. :D

...Hey, I've seen that Green-Eye one before! In color! O_o

I take it you did that from Stock Photo, Nya?

[Karuka]

I like the peacock.

[Elijah_Morendale]

Whoa! That's some good work in them thar' links!



*quietly flips through his own collection of "art", then cries in the corner*

[The Grey Wizard]

*quietly flips through his own collection of "art", then cries in the corner*

Haha I'm with you there. I'm not as good as Poseidon over here but if I put my mind to it I can form a nice piece of art.

[Melancor]

I should tell you that you need a bit more work in your line strokes and such. Most of the lines are too uniform which makes the images look a bit flat. This is especially true for your pencil art.

...Hey, I've seen that Green-Eye one before! In color! O_o

I take it you did that from Stock Photo, Nya?

Yeah... La pita was taking a LONG time and it was due soon so I rushed through it, see how the bottom is all streaky, as apposed to her head.

Yeah, :D Its that girl from National geographic
http://www.stevemccurry.com/content/photos/AFGRL-10001.jpg


and acually I am not that good u__u... you should see My art class... its like Freakin' War! O____O

[Artifex Felicis]

Bugger, more good artists. People like you steal my spot at colleges! I like the work, especially the First one and the peacock. The shading in the last is a little drastic, but still well done. I have a lot of trouble with glass and your turned out well.

[Melancor]

they are reversed from the oldest to the newest.

and My high school class is like a war, so many good people, you CANT-Imagine the pressure... It always so competitive. I like it though! I love a good fight!

EDIT: now I am going through my posts and correcting their spelling.... and other rants I posted on them.... damn....

[AdventWings]

Indubidably. ;)

Right-o, you've come a long way. Keep up the good work and experiment in the RGB field now! :D

...Or is CMYK more up your alley?

[Melancor]

you mean like manga and anime?

WELL....

there are two people in my art class who specialize in anime. but I haven't experimented with it so far.... just by seeing how many times she goes back and erases, then starts again... idk, I would need a whole day to sit down and experiment... but maybe its just her way of doing it. I would need to join an animation club to mater it tho. :|

[AdventWings]

No, not Anime and Manga. :p

RGB as in taking your artworks into Color. (RGB = Red/Green/Blue) Seeing as you have most of the groundwork covered, it's time you take your artworks to color versions.

CMYK referring to the Printing Colors used by printing houses and such. (CMYK = Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black)

I say go for it!

As for Manga/Anime style, well, it really depends. You can try that, but I suggest you make use of your Realism style to its fullest potential first. :)

[Melancor]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/StatueofLiberty.jpg

The most recent thing I've gotten back from my Art class. All my other crap and other people's are going to the "Youth Expo"

I hate not having a scanner though, the camera doesn't capture the true color of the watercolor there.

[AdventWings]

Not too shabby. ;)

[Nymph and Dragon]

Sweetness. I love La Piata. The face is awesome.

[Melancor]

Thanks. But I just noticed how lopsided my "la piata" is. :O

haha, one of her eyes is falling down her cheek.

[Melancor]

Double post, oh noes!

Well, here is a drawing inspired by Empyrean, the idea is completely her's and mine is just a quick and cheap version I felt attracted to draw. :P
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Me.jpg

[Empyrean]

Ohhh! I thought you mean you were going to just use the actual structure of a face or something from my thread! This is fine, you didn't have to credit me here. Sorry about that, hon. :)

P.S., I like your facial expressions. Also, your headphones are kickass.

Haha, "WHOA I AM BEING CREATED."

[Melancor]

This is a sketch of Melancor I've been working on. Don't credit me too much though. I just edited someone elses picture, I had to draw this 'other' picture though.
I kind of went crazy and colored in his hair so I will have to start over, I'll use this one as a template though. So here is what I have so far.
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/AnsemSketch.jpg

EDIT: Ah well, after two enjoyable hours I think I am done with my new profile picture.
And if you guys are wondering. (you probably are because they are all over the place) those are the Quals, sister's of Melancor, tranformed into Quals... I know cliche blah blah blah. That what Neletia, Mel's familiar, looks like, she is in the picture but, *shrugs* who cares, they all look the same.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/MelancorandtheQuals002.jpg

The fact that I dont have a scanner is starting to bug me.

[Melancor]

Wow, you people really liked it didn't you? :P

Anyways, at the eve of that Fiasco I am going to post a full-body sketch of Mel, hopefully I will get some comments now.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/MelancorSolo001.jpg

[Karuka]

It's very nice on the whole, but watch out for the forehead. It's a lot higher in the profile than the full-on.

[oren]

I envy your ability to put legs in water. I can't do that for nuts. Teach me master!

[A Nony Mouse]

I like the environment of the full-body one.
I like the orb of water coming up to his hand... nice details.
The two before it just don't strike me.

[Typheus]

That first one is the Virgin Mary holding Jesus sculpture, right?

If not, then it's pretty godamned close to it xD

[Raelyse]

I really like the latest one with the water manipulation. I can pretend it's Raelyse, since he has similar powers.

[MiaKane]

they are all fine and great, but i wanna see mel summon a lake troll.

cause lake trolls are awesome. who wants to go summon a lake troll and destroy half a country with it?

[Arsène]

Watching Metalocalypse as well?

[Melancor]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I made another sketch of Mel, this time only his outfit. I've been having trouble lately figuring out how he should dress... I know it sounds pretty silly, even more because when I RP with him I really don't think about what he is wearing. But it has been bothering me enough to make me to set in a quest to configure his damn clothes. Curses, don't look at me I am not a god-damned designer.

Yeah, no face, It pisses me off having to draw all the tiny details so he ends up looking like Mr.Potatoface. Alas, here he is looking like the little male-whore he is. skank~

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/IMGP0801.jpg

Anyways, this time I just kind of went around devian art and added things here and there. It ended up pretty much like the same thing I had made for the last picture, he just has an undershirt now. I am yet to figure out all the other heavy stuff he wears on top of this, but hey, I wanted to know if I was going on the right direction, what do you think, guys?. Suggestions? Comments? Anything is welcomed....

[Visla Eraclaire]

Impressive.

[Melancor]

Danke-Danke.

[Raimeiken]

Looks really impressive... -gawks at Mel crossing a river-

I, ah, I mean that I want to see some active action poses! Please~ ^^

[Melancor]

If I find a nice model to leech the concept from I'll draw something actiony.

[Melancor]

Hellow Althanas.
Well, sorry to disappoint you guys but this time I'll be posting things out of my scrap book; I managed to get a hold of a scanner, though its not that good. These are all sketched- rough drafts of projects I have made for my art class.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos009.jpg
This is just me being bored in my art class without a picture to work with. I guess I was never good drawing lips out of memory. Don't ask me why I bricked them because I do not know myself.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos004.jpg
I drew this bust for I project I think I posted here a while ago, but that got removed by the awkward feeling I had gotten since no one replied. Hopefully you guys are liking these ones better so far. I decided to choose this pciture, and rip it off Davinchi, In an attempt to recreate his steps I started Cross-Hatching her for the tempura background in the finalized project. It wasn't a bad technique at all.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos005.jpg
"The angel of silence" or something like that. I found the original in deviantart.com and I must say it is a really nice picture, unlike this sketch which didn't turn out the way I wanted. You can see me here getting more attached to the fine Cross Hatching. I made this draft for a figure-drawing project for school, it was just a compendium of figures. The final product ended up pretty well, though the huge paper is at school as of now.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos010.jpg
Another figure. A sketch from a statue of Athena somewhere in Greece. Did I mention the scanner sucked? it cut off half of the picture. Oh well, imagine there is a pedestal down there somewhere. I really liked this one, I think her tunic flows pretty well. And no those are not her bewbs, people, that is part of her gown that creases there. I had to fix her arms and her face, the statue itself was so disproportional; she had gorilla arms, I know people saw her as a buff woman, but common!

[Melancor]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos007.jpg
One of my favorites. You can see that I grew pretty cozy with the medium and the method here. I took the liberty to make a detailed shading of the awesome picture, though school's a bitch so I had to halt half-way and use only her outline; I wouldn't have finished otherwise. It's a shame I never got to finish it though, I would, but my backpack isn't a friendly place, and with time the paper has worn and weakened, so handling it right now would just rip it. Same for all of my other pictures, I should learn the value of a portfolio... even more, now that I realize that I cannot take these into CMYK . I chose this picture specially because it depicted a tragic scene I'll make my alt, Selene, go through in a future quest. I also drew this picture for that same figure project, and it is there, in the finished one, but again I don't think you guys will get to see it any time soon. And for those of you with no depth perception, this woman is sitting atop a grave, the viewer is looking up to her.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos008.jpg
-Work in Progress
Speaking of Selene, here is yer mourning mistress. I have made myself a proposal, when I need people I will look for characters of Althanas, and use pictures that look like them for my projects, then I will give you guys some pictures of my own vision of your characters. This is for another project, we are doing grisse' (or something like that) in a white object. For this project I was thinking in drawing Lillian, a statue that resembled her atleast, but I stumbled across a Selene so I ended up drawing her instead, sorry Ataraxis, I'll draw her something eventually, if you don't mind me doing so that is.
So I seem to have grown pretty fond of the fine mechanic pencil cross-hatching (I am "special" when it comes to #2 pencils, I have to use a mechanical one, although its pretty unconventional; it scratches the paper with its sharp led) As you might be able to tell I am not done with this picture, but so far its coming out pretty decent. Yes, her face looks fat, but realize that's because of the angle her face is in, in the original picture her face is way wider than that, I had to use artistic license to avoid her looking like she has a tumor on her cheek.

Comments are welcomed! eh- yeah.

[Raimeiken]

...wow! You're really great with realistic styles! o_____o

I don't know what to comment on other than great job. I can't even draw to save my life. ^^;

[Melancor]

Thanks, I am glad you liked it.

[Ataraxis]

Impressive stuff! And I'd really like to know what kind of paper it is that you use, if it's special in any kind of way, to see if I can find myself any around these parts.

[Arsène]

You should start taking Althanas requests. It'll make you incredibly popular, and you have the talent for it.

[Lavinian Ambition]

You should start taking Althanas requests. It'll make you my slave, and I have the shackles for it.

Fixed.

<3

[A Nony Mouse]

gotta say, you have some talent.

[Arsène]

Fixed.

<3

WHO LET YOU INTO MY CLOSET?!!?!11

[Melancor]

*considers shackles*


Impressive stuff! And I'd really like to know what kind of paper it is that you use, if it's special in any kind of way, to see if I can find myself any around these parts.
It's not really special, if it being very very thin counts as a special attribute. The paper is newsprint, probably the cheapest- the most abundant- kind that goes around. I actually prefer it over any other paper (although It's supposed to be used as a disposable "insurance" you can restart from in case your project craps out); It's really soft so its actually difficult to leave hard lines. But that is probably due to the age of the paper we use, recently I've been getting "whiter" pieces of paper that just bother me. [/nag]


You should start taking Althanas requests. It'll make you incredibly popular, and you have the talent for it.

Danke-Danke :3

I was actually thinking about taking requests, aside from my usual "Oh this picture looks like that guy-I'll draw it!"-thing I have going on. I will, though I am scared of people pouring in from nowhere by the hundreds and asking me to draw their charies; I don't want to have to have 20+ requests to think about overnight. Althanians, (including myself) = picture whores. Maybe I'll take a few request to work with here and there in my spare time, if I have nothing else to occupy my excuse of a life in that is.

I won't refuse a manager though, lol.

[grim137]

Maybe I'll take a few request to work with here and there in my spare time, if I have nothing else to occupy my excuse of a life in that is.

Just for the record, you don't even have to ask (I'm just saying).

But seriously great art man, you've got some serious talent. Love your style, good shit.

[Melancor]

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

I've been trying really hard to make leaps forth with my art, rather than the modest steps I have been giving since freshman year; I am interesting in an art institute, I don't really have the money, however, so its just a dream of mine. I am scratching here and there seeing what I can improve on.

Anyways, I am thinking who I should try drawing next.

[Melancor]

What's this Photoshoping that you speak of?

Hmakay, well I know this is not graphite, charcoal or what have you. But I decided it give it a go with all this crazy Photoshoping that's been going around. I downloaded Gimp and well, decided to color the bust of Melancor I has sketched before.


http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/MelancorintheMist.jpg

I was trying to give the appearance that he was inside a thick fog bank or something like that. I guess his head kind of does that, but I just ended up fading the picture down at the bottom. Now I know it's not the best thing the world has ever seen, but the damn hair took me for F-ing ever and this software is by no means simple. So there is my first attempt and failure, lol. If any of you people skilled in this field have anything to recommend then I'd be more than happy to hear it. I need to explore this murky territory.

[A Nony Mouse]

The GIMP is great, how did you do it? There are several coloring methods to use, many of them require patience which I do not have.

[Karuka]

I might just have to get GIMP...

[oren]

He makes me think of Xemnas. o.o

I think you pulled off the foggy ness you wanted. =D

[Melancor]

The GIMP is great, how did you do it? There are several coloring methods to use, many of them require patience which I do not have.

For Melancor I just did a lot of blending, and old-fashion color mixing... until I found out about the prowess of the smudge tool. As for the fog, meh, I just when it with a low occupancy brush into the bust, kinda.


He makes me think of Xemnas. o.o

I think you pulled off the foggy ness you wanted. =D

Really? I should look him up, I need more models for this mofo. ^^'

EDIT: Well I either subconsciously stole the character (I think the most likely) or It's just an eerie coincidence. They are pretty similar, but my Melancor doesn't have those nasty amber eyes.

Edit: I am vexed, after the realization and fall of grace from my belief of originality I think I'll end up cutting his damn hair and his leaving him a mane. *goes back to the drawing board*

[Tainted Bushido]

Check him out He's the final boss from Kingdom Hearts 2.

[Melancor]

Alright,

So here is how my baby turned out. I can't say I am completely satisfied with the final; It seems I lost most of her expression during the transfer, I couldn't get her weary eyes that I had drawn in the draft, which pissed me off.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos020.jpg
Besides that I think I am okay with it, though I purposely left it half-finished, I like the emphasis it gives the figure.

Onto bigger things.

Remember that figure project I was talking about? well I got it back along with all my masters, so I figured I would put it up. I really hate the photo quality; the random highlight you see where they shouldn't be is the light reflecting on the ebony work I did to get the really dark areas.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/IMGP0832-1.jpg
It sucks I know, its so much brighter, yet it wont pick up the damn colors. It was either this one or the one with really bad lighting (http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/IMGP0823.jpg) quality. I made this with water color and pencil, I can't say it wasn't a pain in the butt, but you know, I guess it was worth it. There is just one more project left and after that I really have nothing to do, other than some requests here and there.

[oren]

My laptop has an awesome graphics card and glossy screen; perfect when I make magazine layouts =D Your second image came out godly!

FINALLY someone who can work with one colour - different tones (Technically it's two colours, but I'm not sure whether to count the darker) without over killing thier work! And something I happen to do every time I have a project that needs India Ink, or watercolour.

[Melancor]

Thanks , I really need to find a way or a place to scan my big stuff, In my screen the dark hues are just stains around the figures, they don't show how they fade out -o-'
I think the project was the one that made me love water color, when I used to despise it with all my heat because it just bled all over the place.

[oren]

Very few people can use water colours well. I'd practice with it but water colour paper is expensive and not worth wasting for practice purposes. I personally love water colours since it doesn't make me feel like I am blasting through a page with solids like acrylics, oils, and gauche do.

I see the fades and highlights, you do know how to conserve parts of the paper.

[Winterhair]

Silver hair/silver eyes fuck the what, Melancor. :D Great job.

[Auryon]

The Silvery theme is unfortunately cliche'd here, haha.



I see the fades and highlights, you do know how to conserve parts of the paper.

This project is technically brand new, so there is no real damage to it yet. It's just the quality of this picture that makes it look horrible. *sob*

[oren]

I don't know about picture quality my screen says it looks fine. I'm just complementing how well the enture project is handled. :D

[Melancor]

Thank you Oren!

Believe me it looks better in person.

[Xos]

Thank you Oren!

Believe me it looks better in person.

I can confirm this, as I'm standing right behind you. [/end creepy stalker mode]

In truth, they both look great to me. I'll have to take your word for it on the negative parts. I honestly cannot tell.

[oren]

Too bad I don't know you in real life... I would raid your place just to see all the awesome traditional art you have! >=] heh heh.

[Melancor]

There now. I managed to get a better picture of my figure project, I had to toy around with my camera for an hour. *replaces picture*

Since you like traditional art so much I'll show you another of my babies :P

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/fd002.jpg

My lame-born baby though.

Out of all my projects this is the one I consider my fiasco, for the time that took me (a month+) It never came close to what I had envisioned. The craftsmanship sucks, mainly because the type of medium I used is for smaller things. Prisma color is hard when you have to cover large areas like the surface of the arch of triumph and the sky.

Yes, I do realize the Eiffel tower and the arch are not that close to each other, and that the arch lies in an avenue and not in a park-thingie. Probably one of my failure factors was the fact that, aside from the arch, I used no references, thus why this image is so inaccurate. But I decided to put them together because they are the symbols of France, although the main focus here is the arch. The coloring inside the shapes is Prismacolor, the background is all chalk, though the stippling was made in ink atop the chalk.

Edit: And it looks even more horrible in photo -_-'

[oren]

I haven't blended that many mediums together, most I've worked with is watered down india ink with conte ontop and china marker for details, then a 3/0 brush using just th epure india ink for smoother and tiny little details. Nearly got killed by my drawing teacher though for using such a small brush.

Where do you live by the way... not that I'm planning to kidnap you because I'm planning to kidnap you for your artistic ability or anything. XD Just kidding, but hello mentor number 4!

[Melancor]

O.o

I'm a mentor? I am just a sophomore in highschool I don't think I can be a mentor, lol.

I live in Souther California, the OC if you want to get more specific. :P

[oren]

Yay then you'll be mini mentor number 1!


How specific XD

[Melancor]

I found my old sketchbook on a box full of trash that should have been thrown out a long while ago. I found this picture and I thought it would be nice to put it here.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos024-1.jpg

I think I was toying around with water colors when I made this, it was last year I think.

[Melancor]

Kittey

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos029.jpg

[Nautilus]

The kitty is nice, I like the expression and soft quality of the fur.

[Melancor]

Thanks!

That's why I like this paper. Although its thin it's soft and strong... it's weird but I can get things really light.

[Veatrix]

very Nice Kitty. I Am Sucker For Kitties.

[Melancor]

I wish you had a great time, Witchy. Here is my belated birthday present.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Witchy002.jpg

Not the best thing in the world but that's what I came up with, hope I didn't kill your character too much :P

[Witchblade]

Oh, wow. That is awesome, thanks Mel!!!

[Melancor]

My friend asked me to draw her.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Dibujos026.jpg

[Melancor]

Arsene.

What a pain in the maximus. This drawing was rather picky though interesting to make. I had to put a mirror around him so i could put the eye patch on the correct eye. The picture didn't fit the scanner so that odd branch going through the side is actually the side of the mirror.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Arsene234001.jpg

Here's your thank you picture, Arsene. :D

NOW POST IN THE DAMN QUEST! D:<

[Kially Gaith]

Nice works. I rather enjoyed the one of the Arch de triumph.

Maybe you'd give my character a shot at some point? ^_^

[Melancor]

I bet you guys wonder what I've been doing these past 6 months. Nothing! Unusually I've only have completed two major projects in this last semester, as opposed to the six I've had in previous years. My class in general is slower than the rest D:
Right now I have ALL my stuff with me, the first time in two years, so I managed to take a bunch of pictures. The only thing interesting that I haven't posted yet is this:

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Vatik004-1.jpg

I finished it last month. The technique is called, Vatik. You paint everything that is NOT black with tempra paint, which is pretty thick, will stain the paper and hopefully repel the water when you wash the paper; after you get all the positive space in you have to literally dip the paper in Chinese ink, and then dry it slightly before putting it under running water and gently rubbing away the excess ink. Unfortunately most of the paint comes off along with the ink, but the paint is thick enough not to let the ink sink through the paper and basically erase your picture. Scary process.

[Taskmienster]

That's. Fucking. Beautiful.

The process for making it seems overly difficult, but I think the end result is gorgeous. How long does it take, in theory, for something like this to come about?

[Melancor]

That's. Fucking. Beautiful.

The process for making it seems overly difficult, but I think the end result is gorgeous. How long does it take, in theory, for something like this to come about?
The thing in it all, and partly because of the large size of the painting, took me about two and a-half months, but I only had about 45 minutes to work on it every school day. I spent about a week on the rough draft because of all the proportioning I had to do (and it still came off a little uneven). The thing that took the longest was applying the paint. I had to methodically figure out the order in which each layer's color should be placed. Since this was the first time I'd done a Vatik I didn't really know what to expect so I tried really hard to get that copper's rust. It was a pain. I also had to experiment a lot with the paint, figuring out the right amount of blue, green, and gray scales to get that blue-green. Once I was done I made some touch ups with watercolor in the steps and the like for the sake of depth. The inking-washing only takes about an hour.

In reality it shouldn't take one long to finish one of these, because of the inking and washing one should omit most of the details when applying the paint. When I painted it I made it much more detailed and it all ended up washing away or being covered by ink. I guess this technique works better with a sorta Van-Goghish style. If you had all day to work on it, and depending of your object and the size of your paper, probably about a week or so.

[Taskmienster]

That's amazing still. I adore art, especially something akin to a more classical/neo-classical style (that being something intelligent instead of splatting color's everywhere or cubism).

I can, however, say that this is by far my favorite thing in this entire thread.

[Melancor]

There are not many people in my class that like the classic arts. I personally am all about realism.

Thanks for the comments, I am really glad you liked it.

[oren]

There are not many people in my class that like the classic arts. I personally am all about realism.

Mmm... Modern-Contemporary Art is strangely appealing since the style is so simple you can mimic it. Classical is hard because it focuses so much on realsm, which might explain why there is only you and a few other people in your class like it.

I like that vatik picture you put up. =] Eventhough it's not working off black paper it is AMAZING.

In your spare time try working off black with a white pencil crayon or white conte (pencil crayon is less messy ;D) or any colour that is light and will show on black paper. Finding the highlights on things rather than the shadow is way more interesting, plus it gives you the chance to see things differently rather than in the conventional way, and it probably will suit you considering that picture up there has a lot of high contrast.

[Melancor]

In your spare time try working off black with a white pencil crayon or white conte (pencil crayon is less messy ;D) or any colour that is light and will show on black paper. Finding the highlights on things rather than the shadow is way more interesting, plus it gives you the chance to see things differently rather than in the conventional way, and it probably will suit you considering that picture up there has a lot of high contrast.

Been there done that. Look at the first two pictures in this thread :P

Thank yooooo :D

[Lightfoot]

Dude. You're an amazing artist. I spent the last 20+ minutes just looking through this thread for your art. If you're only a sophmore-junior in high school, I can't see why you wouldn't be able to get a scholarship to an art institute if your skill steadily increases like it's been doing. You have a nice wide variety of genres and versions that would be perfect for a portfolio. You wouldn't believe how popular fantasy pieces are starting to become throughout the mainstream art community.

I think you got the chops dude. Keep messing with new art forms and perfecting your bread and butter and I think you could fufill that dream of yours.

[oren]

Been there done that. Look at the first two pictures in this thread :P

Thank yooooo :D

The second is actually a lot better than the first to be honest. The second looks like you found your comfort zone doing that one, and the contrasting between light and dark along with the mid tones are found much better. The first looks a little more strained trying to get the proportions right or something like that. But still very pretty pieces. =D

[Melancor]

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Invidia.jpg

Hardy acrylics. Finally something to be random on.

[Alydia Ettermire]

Yeesh, that head looks so real. Took me a couple of minutes to figure out if it was a picture or an actual drawing. Very impressive.

[Melancor]

:x

I always feel bad when I post something and I leave for a couple of months only to find out that when I come back someone's posted and I didn't say thanks D:

Thanks!

Anyway, I've been taking a break from Althanas as my thoughts have began warping around other personal concepts. Last year when I was choosing next years schedule and I found out I didn't have to take another year of science or math I took a huge gamble and decided to invest on my art. At this point in my life I still haven't found something I feel attracted to as much as my desire for doing art to start thinking about college and my future. I honestly don't feel like I'm good at anything other than lying around and perhaps observational drawing. People seem to like what I make and I feel as if I have an edge over my art schoolmates, even if I never obtain the results I wan't off my art I've decided to exploit what I know and challenge myself next school year. I'll be taking Studio Art, as it's what corresponds after my third year of art at school, I'll be taking Advanced Art which doesn't really have an official curriculum, and its a class only assigned to people that want to go beyond studio art. Basically, only a filler class to take over half a semester of a math period I have to make-up second semester next year.

Next I'll be sailing into uncharted territory and skip a year of fundamentals to take Animation 2, the teacher will put me on Painter, a program similar to photoshop but exclusively to "paint" on the computer through the use of a Wacomb Cintiq 21UX, I'll be illustrating art for my own concepts; A pretty young story I've been brewing since I found out what I would be doing here. Honestly I can't wait to start using the tablet, I'm a little nervous because I've never actually sat down and tried using them.
Then I'll be signing up for an additional period so I can take this course called "Art of Animation". The title is a little misleading because its doesn't rely heavily on drawing, but creating models with this software and basically animating them. We'll learn to use flash before betting into 3D but either way I'm exited.

That will make 4 art classes and only two... other classes, which I'm not sure if it's a mistake but it all boils down to what I want to do.

With all of this coming in next year I decided apply for a scholarship opportunity LCAD, an art college on Laguna Beach, offerned me last year when I went to their portfolio-day, which is basically an open house for a lot of diferent school from across the country hosted by LCAD. SU-something in New York and the Art Center, and all those other schools I didn't like too much. LCAD gave me a drawing fundamentals class, but they where also offering a class of fundamentals of figure drawing so I decided to suck it up and take a loan with my mom to pay for the class. But I'm not complaining each class gave me 2 college-credit units.

I took those classes because I wanted to hone my skills for next school year, but they totally blew high school out of the water. Obviously. Before, I didn't realize what it took to create something that you could call "art". It made me feel like those artists I hate so much that explain how their art is so deep and emotional they are not surprised I can't see how oleo slapped on paper with crayon streaks is meaningful. Fuck, actual art is deep in the technical level; art is ratios and relationships, tones, values, depths, temperatures and angles. And lines, lots and lots of lines, even if they don't actually exists (Yes, that was part of it too).

To be honest I payed for these five week-long, two four-hour classes thinking I was going to kick butt. And after the second day I was questioning what I'd been doing with my life, basically "What the fuck did I get into." All of the people taking the figure drawing class where very talented, and most of the people taking drawing fundamentals was pretty good, I was pretty intimidated the first week but eventually when the panic began to fade a little I got on the saddle and began making progress. I got a lot out of both classes, but the most complicated of the two was figure drawing. Trying to grasp everything the teacher throws at you in this condensed-course was pretty overwhelming not to mention the complexity of the human figure and its relationshops that change in distinct ways depending on the pose and the angle. And the toning! dreadfully painful to use charcoal pencils but I wont get into that. I will have to keep revising my hand-outs and practicing much more out of real life observation instead of copying images. The idea is to build a mental encyclopedia of stock models. In all, at the end I believe I did good on both classes, but I'm still pretty intimidated by those animation majors, incentive to keep practicing! >: D

Anyhow here's some of what I did on both clases.


http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Summah011.jpg

We did still lives all day, it was kind of monotonous to be honest.


http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Summah013.jpg

This is a master's copy, I haven't taken pictures of the ones I actually drew from the real-life models I'll post them later along with some gestures. Yes, if you where wondering this figure drawing class was all nude models both males and females. It wasn't as awkward as I originally thought it would be. Soon you have them walking around naked, having a casual conversation and you won't realize it.

I kind of took these classes also to see if art school would be something I should seriously consider, and as of now it is the only thing I'm considering :D
Caree-wise and art major has always been really difficult to live off of. My art education so far would classify me as a 'fine-art major', and even though pushing realism to its limits is what interests me the most, I'll have to expand on practical illustration because I think I'll go down the path of a Game Art major. There IS such a thing, and I'm not at all uncomfortable taking fine art-classes to work with an illustration-based major. Actually the chances, although not certain, of me getting a job working for Blizzard Entretaintment are fairly decent. Manly because of of LCADs affiliation with Blizzard Studios which are pretty much down the road from this school. This is a fairly small and personal school, and a couple of the teachers teaching there finish up at LCAD in the morning and go off to work at the Blizzard Studios. To be honest I've been getting pumped about this.

So the means right now is working on Studio Art and Animation 2s consept art, the goal Blizzard Studios. But who knows? A lot can change in 5-6 years.

[Josef ben Loewe]

Dang, dude, your realisms are terrific!

My father paints in his spare time and has even sold some of his paintings and exhibited twice. Luckily for me the only major style he uses is realism. He usually paints landscapes, but lately he's been painting quite some stills as well. I love most of his works, though I do find stills to be a bit boring.

Btw, do you know the Duth painter Willink? I adore him and I think you might too. Some pictures: don't know its name (http://www.adolphus.nl/xus/simeon/willink.jpg), The Zeppelin (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_73aToDpoGI4/Ra1VNXkkFSI/AAAAAAAAADQ/M99bfffbj8E/Carel+Willink,+De+Zeppelin,+1933.jpg), High-res (http://www.zuiderzeemuseum.nl/documents/press/beeldarchief300dpi/mijnkunst/willink.jpg), painting of a face (http://wcms.brouwers-tours.nl/gallerij/WCMS_brouwers/6.%20Portret%20koningin%20Juliana%20%20door%20Care l%20Willink%20%201976.%20Foto%20Paleis%20Het%20Loo .jpg).

Anyhow, I thought you might like his work.

On a side not, if you would want to paint my char then you are more then welcome :).

[Melancor]

Thanks! :D

Your dad must be a pretty impressive painter to have exhibited twice! :O

I hadn't heard of Willink before, but his stuff looks interesting.

[Josef ben Loewe]

I'm afraid it sounds more impressive then it is, since both of them were small and free exhibits, the first in a local library and the second in the back of our city hall. But, I still think he's a great painter ;).

[Melancor]

So I've been working on this since before school let out. It was actually the last project to finish, but I didn't... so my teacher allowed me to work on it over the summer and I finished it yesterday. This is a photo realism, the original picture has to be placed on a grid and then you have to grid your board, and well, you take it from there. One is only allowed to use your own pictures while doing photo realisms, otherwise you wont be able to use it on your portfolio because of copyrights. I took this picture a couple years ago of a place I used to visit back in mexico when I was a kid. A run-down hacienda's water mill. Pencil drawing.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Molinopencil004.jpg

[Duffy]

Fantastic piece of work, although there's just one small thing that's making me look twice. You've nailed the scale excellently, but the detail on the tree bark sticks out very badly, in contrast with the high definition through the rest of the drawing. I really do like the door in the window, a good sense of a ''space in a space beyond a space", keep it up!

[Melancor]

I've been wondering about that too, the bark was especially hard to draw, but i'll think I'll darken it.

Thanks for the feedback :D

[Corvus MacCallum]

Very nice, always enjoyed a nice chunk of urban decay, so many various textures, patterns and sounds by the crumbling structure. The one flaw's been explained so a bit of praise, that fissure running down the wall is damn solidly done.

[Melancor]

Now that Im taking Animation 2 I'm starting to teach myself how to use Photoshop and the wacom tablet. This is a character for a project of mine for which I'm supposed to draw concept art. I wanted to start simple so its not colored ): but I think it came out alright.


http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/JPEGGUN.jpg

It came out pretty choppy a little sloppy but it was taking too long so I just wrapped it up. Yeah I didnt draw the legs, meant to be like a torso shot :P

[Taskmienster]

What's on her head? Lol

[Melancor]

idfk, lol. Some sort of head piece, with some light bulb in the middle. Like one of them miner hats. :D

Well, that drawing came off this:
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Marthel002.jpg

I guess the headpiece made more sense on this one, on the digital one they kinda look like horns. lol but either way, its supposed to be kind of futuristiky...

[Melancor]

Alright I've been back but I haven't updated this baby for a long while. For all who wondered, here's some of my high school stuff while I was gone.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/IMGP0999.jpg

I did this as a poster for a Holocaust homage contest. We watch videos of survivors and pick one whose story we want to portray. I'm afraid to say I've already forgotten the name of the lady I picked. But her story wasn't something too far away from the typical holocaust story. No heroic escapes or near miss calls, that's perhaps the reason I chose her. Tempera paint, charcoal.

Here's also something I did at the beginning of the senior year. Hiroshima in the background the woman on the foreground was meant to be more specifically symbolic or rebirth and nature. Initially, I planned for a hole containing a radiation symbol to be placed instead her hear, almost to emulate The Sacred Heart of Mary, however I never got to finish it. I wrapped it up to present it on a portfolio review and the dean of fine arts ripped me a new one, I was so deflated I lost interest. =P. Oil paints 40x25. -Queen of Cloves

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/IMGP1005.jpg

Lastly, this is something that I worked on at the end on my senior year, by now it is more complete than this, however it is not quite finished; seriously, its humongous, and I am doing it all in color pencil. ~40x25 -Queen of Hearts

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/jb002.jpg

Below I have attached the reference, a portrait by Alphonse Mucha, and next to it a a draft I did on top of the portrait with photoshop. For this assignment we were meant to incorporate a foreign object into the piece, I was supposed to add a cat but i thought putting a nautilus shell on her head as a helmet would look bad ass. Hopefully I'll have a better picture to update with soon. :D

[Melancor]

gwarg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m145/Poseidon1776/Gabriel_Gonzalez01.jpg
Old as it gets but there.