Month: November 2018

Trying out different anime styles Takahashi Ai

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

I want to try out different styles, the quickest way is to do it digitally since I can redo every line and color as many times as I want.

It was a bit hard trying to contain my self and use simple color schemes, I just felt I could add more but it’s important to try and learn how and why these simplistic coloring styles work and hopefully will be able to create better works in the future. I was going for a 90s style.

reference used:

 

A more realist anime style:

Slightly more anime style:

Full anime:

That’s it for now.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

 

Neo-Geo Land Miss X and Athena

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This is the final piece all finally composited together. Making the background sure did take a while. It was all done using Copics. Copics are great but they do have their limitations and require quite a bit of steps in order to have them work the way I want them to. And since covering large areas takes a lot of ink it can be quite an expensive medium. But I wanted to see if I could get a handle on colors and values using nothing but the Copics.

I had to think a good bit about what I wanted the background to be but since I was going for a yanki theme I figured having them in the arcade setting would fit well. I was considering having Athena carrying a bat but decided against that for this one (maybe on another piece sometime in the future). Once I did finish the background I did have to calibrate the colors digitally and also clean up some of the forground objects so that I could place Athena and Miss X behind them. Once I did do that I went ahead and fixed their values so that they fit in with the background and then also added some shadows. 

The final piece:

Reference picture used:

Background process:

Digital process:

Hope you guys like it.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Athena Asamiya 2nd part of the Miss X project

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Last time I drew Miss X and during the time after that I went ahead and fixed some of the issues I had such as the really small feet and also added some more colors and played around with the values.

I’ve seen some artwork online of Miss X and Athena together as a team, kind of like if they were yankees. So the project will be something based on that.

For Athena’s design I wanted to draw her in her school uniform that has the long skirt so she looks even more like a yankee. So I used her design from King of Fighters 94. I really love Athena’s design and her fighting style. She is actually one of my mains.

This is the final drawing:

These are the references used:

These are screenshots I took from the game.

And these are from the official artworks:

This is the process:

Now all that is left is the background.

That’s it for now.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Miss X

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I learned about Miss X a couple of year ago when I was looking at videos about the history of the King of Fighters. They briefly talked about SNK Gals where Miss X appeared. And now she… he? has appeared once again with the announcement for SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. I haven’t bought the game but it might be a good idea to do so just for the character model viewer. Though I’m tempted to get their special edition version… (≧д≦ヾ) Luckily I can record the things with the PS4 but I do wonder how well the quality would be.

Anyway I wanted to draw Miss X. After I was looking at the finished drawing, I noticed I made the feet too small so I will have to edit that digitally when I use it for the overall project I have in mind (more on that as it all comes together). Some of my Copics such as the darker purple I wanted to use ran out and I don’t have a refill bottle yet so it was a bit tough trying to get some of the shadows. Maybe I should have added some more values but that would have surely messed up the color scheme withe the colors I had (aside from the Copic that ran out).

This is the drawing done using Stabilo pens and Copic markers:

I wanted a rather dynamic pose (though those feet look so small…)

References used:

And this is the process:

This project will have more parts to it so look forward to it.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

Xochitl and her Macuahuitl from To Aru Majutsu no Index

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Hey, another Mexican character in an anime! And what is this the second Mexican in the To Aru series? I really like her design and her powers. Sadly it was only for a few seconds. I wish there was a bit more screen-time between her and Etzali during episode 5… though it seems she has a run in with Saten at some point so I’m looking forward to that.

On another note, isn’t the pacing and editing of the third season of To Aru Majutsu a bit off? It seems to really be speeding through the story. And to make matters worse it seems like the characters have to really spit out a lot of exposition… cough, cough… that scene with Tsuchimikado going into that long explanation of what’s going on and how he defeated those robits … Σ(´д ` ﾒ) Hopefully that all gets fixed as the story goes through but I am left a bit disappointed. It kinda reminds me of how they edited down Jackie Chan’s movies to only keep the action scenes

Anyway here is the drawing done using Stabilo pens and Copic markers.

references used:

 

And here is the process:

Hope you guys like it,

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

 

 

Loneliness Tokyo Michishige Sayumi Artwork/process

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So there have been some changes to Flickr and it seems like they will limit the amount of photos one can have in one’s account for free to 1,000. And I had almost 2,000. So I had the option to either delete some photos my self or have Flickr delete the first 1,000 photos. So some posts will have photos missing as of now. If you guys want any of the missing photos from those old post let me know and I will go back and fix them.

Because of that I had to find another site that I could use and that would not have a size limitation. I thought I got lucky and would be able to use Google photos but it seems like WordPress would have to download the photos and it would count towards my storage space so that wouldn’t solve the problem…

So I looked at the sites that would allow me to embed photos here easily and would not have a size limit. Begrudgingly it seems like I will have to use Facebook. A site I’m not too fond of… But I need it so I guess I will have to revive the old DarkCloud XERO Facebook page.

With that said and out of the way here is the new piece. I actually finished this on November 3rd. but decided to hold it off so I can space my artwork during the week. This piece is based from the previews that Sayumi has been posting on her Instagram for her new single “Loneliness Tokyo”. I took a screenshot and used that as a reference.

This is the painting:

Reference used:

It seems like I can post the whole gallery in one click so that’s cool. But it seems like to view it, it will take you to Facebook so I hope that won’t be a problem for you guys.:

I quite enjoyed making this painting. I started working on it on October 8th but had to wait till I finished Inktober. When I did come back to it I was surprised by how much easier it felt to paint her compared to when I first started a month before.

Congratulations on the new single Sayu! ₊·(ϱ॔⌄ᵕ๑॓)‧*

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shampoo, Trying out my new azure markers

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I was at a Burlington store a couple of weeks ago, more than two months? Anyway, as I was browsing around I found a pack of markers by Royal Langnickel called azure. They were a pack of pastel colors and seem to be blendable (so similar to Copics). I didn’t get the chance to try them out since I was busy with other projects, work and school and then Inktober ate up a good bit of time… ヘ（。□°）ヘ

But things seem to be clearing up a bit so I will try to make as many new artworks as I can since I have seen a great improvement after doing a drawing everyday in October.

On top of trying out the azure markers I also have a chance to try out some of my new colors that I bought for my Stabilo pen collection. I really loved the ones I had before and after using some of my new colors on this drawing I can once again fully recommend them. I’m so glad I gave them a chance! ⸌̷̻( ᷇ॢ〰ॢ ᷆◍)⸌̷̻♡⃛

Now as for the drawing itself. I decided to draw Shampoo from Ranma 1/2. I remember watching Ranma 1/2 when I was a kid in Mexico. I really loved that series, along with Macross and Dragon Ball. The character that really caught my attention was Shampoo, not only did she have a funny name but she was so pretty and a really good fighter. I want to make a couple more drawings of her but that should wait till I re-watch the series.

For this drawing I decided to go for a simplistic style and would limit my self to only using a couple of my Stabilo pens and the colors that came in the azure set of markers.

IMG_20181105_204112

References used:

qoqzzvswcymxpixlwberrbwkkhmclmrpgudblshp-3000

01fb8ee0aa4d432de502f24e9c0a13ea

2afcbf06df35794f3da7ab666141f49d

c08dc8e454a9434bed65563312501209

73ae4fb09f9cf3d4dd1c0027959b8692

Dp7SoD_U4AEzvtP

And here is the process:

The new addition to my Stabilo pen set:

IMG_20181105_184347

The azure pen set:

IMG_20181105_184949

IMG_20181105_184354

IMG_20181105_192206

IMG_20181105_193059

IMG_20181105_195428

IMG_20181105_200653

IMG_20181105_202028

IMG_20181105_204112

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

First attempts at using G pen

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This was originally drawn in July 26.

I’ve never used a dip pen till I drew these. I didn’t know exactly what I would be able to do so I went with a simple design. Then on September 3rd I decided to try giving it a simple painting process I believe using Photoshop.

Personally I liked the way Sayu’s ink drawing turned out.

First the ink drawings:

Michishige Sayumi First Manga pen drawing III

Kamei Eri:

Kamei Eri Second Manga pen drawing II

Sayu’s drawing painted digitally:

Sayu pen work I digitally painted simple

I was wondering how much color I could actually work with, but since I was unsure I went with really simple colors. I like the way it looks but I really want to do things differently now. I wonder what colors I could use. The problem of using things like black pens is that it limits one through values. I’ll have to practice a bit and find out.

Here are the references used:

I was thinking if I should draw her eating the chicken wing but decided to omit it and instead gave her a similar expression since I really like how she looks in this photo.

sayumieating

002

Thinking back I’m quite amazed at how much I can do now after Inktober. I never would have guessed that I would not only be able to draw freehand with ink but that I would feel quite comfortable doing so. I still do mistakes from time to time but it isn’t too bad now. But since this was my first time and I rarely work with a permanent medium like ink when drawing I used a pencil to do the rough draft and primary line art.

Process:

Michishige Sayumi First Manga pen drawing I

Michishige Sayumi First Manga pen drawing II

I really like her expression and the way she looks right into one’s eyes.

Michishige Sayumi First Manga pen drawing III

Sayu pen work I digitally painted simple

Kamei Eri Second Manga pen drawing I

I was contemplating what I would do about adding shading to her hair but I was too worried I would have messed it all up so I decided against it. Looking at it now I could have done so many things differently and add more details to make it all pop out more. But for a first attempt it isn’t too bad, the lines are just too rough.

Kamei Eri Second Manga pen drawing II

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

 

Another year of life. 2018

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Another year has passed. This year was rather nice and productive. I was planning on my making two pieces today but it was rather busy today so I could only start drawing quite late today. ＼(;´□｀)/

The plan was to make a calabera of me drawing but making and planning the design would take too long and I have work tomorrow morning at my other job so that will have to wait. I think this will be the base design and I will keep adding designs as I come up with them. Something that represents me. ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)

I hope to make this coming year even better and more successful. Hopefully you guys do as well. I would like to take this time to thank you all for visiting my site and looking at my work. Here’s to another year where you and many more people become aware of my artwork. (≧∀≦ゞ

Feliz dia de los muertos! (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ

As I’m writing this the wind is rather strong at the moment and blowing the leaves around my town… I really love the sound of the wind, this is a great present on top of the ones my family has given me by being along my side all this time. ⸌̷̻( ᷇ॢ〰ॢ ᷆◍)⸌̷̻♡⃛

In any case here is the base drawing that I will be designing throughout this year.

IMG_20181102_231658

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

 

First painting corel painter 2018 Sayumi Michishige

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This painting was finished on August 15.

I’ve been wanting to learn how to add color to my pieces so the best way is to study photos and also see why other peoples paintings work by recreating them. Using the eyedropper tool is quite useful but I want to practice and learn how to choose color just by using my eyes and instincts. Doing it traditionally is easier since I’m limited to the colors I have in hand. But digitally I have to really focus and think about it since I have every color imaginable at my disposal so it can get a bit overwhelming and the chance of screwing up is quite a possibility.

At the time of this painting I had invested in upgrading my Corel version up to 2018. So this is the inaugural painting I did for it. Corel and Photoshop are quite different. Photoshop is quite versatile and one can do a lot of things with it quite easily when it comes to editing but I feel that Corel is the better program to paint. Something about it makes painting more intuitive. But I tend to switch from one to the other when creating new paintings regularly. Sometimes I hit a bump and for some reason seem to find it easier to do on the other program. (・∧‐)ゞ

In any case I of course chose Sayumi Michishige as the subject, as you can guess I really love her aesthetic and her photo books are filled with a lot of great pictures to choose from. As stated before I chose colors by eyeballing it and am surprised I wasn’t too far off. If you compare my painting to the photo of course there are a lot of differences but I feel like I managed to capture the essence and you can tell it’s Sayu right?  (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

First painting corel painter 2018 Sayumi Michishige resize

This is the reference picture used from Sayu’s photobook “La”:

007

Here is the process:

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 I

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 II

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 III

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 IV

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 V

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 VI

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 VII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 VIII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 IX

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 X

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XI

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XIII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XIV

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XV

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XVI

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XVII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XVIII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XIX

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XX

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XXI

The eyes were too big so I had to resize them.

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XXII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XXIII

background Sayu Corel Painter I

background Sayu Corel Painter II

background Sayu Corel Painter III

background Sayu Corel Painter IV

background Sayu Corel Painter V

background Sayu Corel Painter VI

background Sayu Corel Painter VII

Sayu Corel Painter 2018 XXIV

First painting corel painter 2018 Sayumi Michishige resize

And that should wrap it up for now. I really loved working on this painting and am glad I was able to get it to this point. It looks realistic but also like a painting which I really like.

Hope you guys like it.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE