I missed posting on Monday again. But just like last time I was working on another contest that appeared right after I had finished writing last Friday. This time the theme was for the new film The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu), which will be Hayao Miyazaki’s last film. It still requires that weird format, but this time I had last competition’s experience under my belt. This is what I assumed would happen if I kept joining contests since it forces one to produce quality artworks in a small amount of time that requires one to keep a deadline in mind at all times. I felt I could do even better, but this was a big leap from the last entry. With this format (2000 x 550) it was still a bit annoying but surprisingly I did better. I decided on a theme that touched upon the harsh past that flowed to a  brighter future because of their meeting each other (sadly judging by the trailers the woman protagonist will most likely die from tuberculosis). I could only come up with so much by seeing the trailers and reading the extremely short synopsis given by deviantart.

This time I decided to work with my small collection of Copic markers I bought a couple of years ago, I was hesitant in using them because of how expensive they were. As well as my struggling ability to work with color (though I have been getting much better). To my surprise, using them was extremely intuitive. Mixing, blending and just coloring was much faster and effortless than with color pencils, which require a lot of work to have the colors stay on the paper and meld with the picture it self. There is this new technique I have been thinking of using for quite some time now, and seeing just how much I can bring out of the markers and color pencil (though I still need to work more on the color pencils) I can see the vast possibilities I can bring to my work.

The drawing and design for this piece was definitely better than last times, sadly my camera was not able to capture all of it’s greatness. The end sides got distorted because they bend up, making the drawing and colors blur. I just might have to invest on a big scanner. It’s a pain but it will be worth it if it shows my work in it’s original intended form.

In any case this is my entry:

 

Until next time,

-XERO