Just a little bit more time

It’s been a very tough time lately, it has been filled with a lot of work from all fronts (school even has me reading multiple books at once…). But the main time consuming thing is creating the new format for my Youtube videos. I will finally be making that comeback I mentioned, but I really want to up my game so I’m trying to create a strong new video format that I can feel proud of and that people will hopefully like and will also retain their interest. Time constraints are a bit rough right now though. I also have to make a presentation in a week about a book we have to read for class and that will require a good a bit of time. Haaaaa…….

I have made some new things just haven’t had the time to upload and whatnot. Let me get through this things and hopefully I will have some more time soon. We have a lot of things to catch up on, seriously.

For those of you who read these here is a sneak peak to the video:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39021947955/in/dateposted-public/

I will be adding some “shading” later on but haven’t had the time to do so yet. I’m still not done with the ending quite yet, but the meat of the video shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. But I do worry about whether I should actually talk in the videos or not…

Will try to keep in touch.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

January 26, 2018 0

Start of a New Year! 2017

I guess since high school I have been doing an art piece especifically for new years. Usually I start it the day before and finish it on the first day of new years. This year though I made 2 before new years (one of them was El Chavo, and the other one I will show below) and the Eri Sawachika one for new years. I’ve been quite busy lately but when it comes to just drawing and not painting the workflow is not that bad and I can move relatively quickly.

This was one of the other pieces I did before new years. Again I was inspired by that video I showed on the last post. It was also done quickly so I made a lot of mistakes, but the biggest is the proportions… especially the “bobblehead”. But I figured I would try and fix it digitally using some techniques I saw online.

Character is Harima Kenji from School Rumble.

I used this reference, but decided to change things up a bit, for some reason had an image of him in a Kung Fu like scenario (like Bruce Lee). Decided to take off his glasses just as an extra challenge.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/24639023747/in/dateposted-public/

Bobblehead Harima… I guess I was so focused on the pens that I didn’t think of the proportions especially since I imagined his whole body from the get go and I ran out of space below.:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/24639000007/in/dateposted-public/

And here he is with an edited head:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/24639002027/in/dateposted-public/

Posture still seems a bit off. But it was just a test anyway so it should be fine as it is for now.

And so having shown both of the pre new years pieces, let’s now focus on the piece I made for and on new years. Again I chose someone from School Rumble. I wanted to do something simple and just modify it for new years (plus I wanted to learn a thing or two from a pro). With that in mind I decided to recreate this scene:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39477590652/in/dateposted-public/

Here is the quick draft (as to be expected it is quite faster to just draw it one time instead of the two times that I usually do, rought draft then a clean final version):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38799615714/in/dateposted-public/

By this point I finally figure out that there was no way I could just copy everything over (so much for just doing a simple piece…) New years in these parts of the world are winter after all, so I had to dress her up appropriately. After a quick search online for winter clothes I came upon this reference picture:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38612206075/in/dateposted-public/

So I decide to use that sweater and that design:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39477594802/in/dateposted-public/

Should’ve stopped by this point and made the rest digitally, but since I wasn’t sure of how I was going to go about it I continued on:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39477594492/in/dateposted-public/

… I didn’t even do any clean designs, I just made some quick lines with no real ideas on the type of knitting. It doesn’t look horrible but I should try harder.

Here it is with the filled out dark parts:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38612203505/in/dateposted-public/

So I got to this point by the end of new years but it was quite late so I had to call it a day.

Time was running low already so at this point I finally decided to mix it up with digital techniques. But for that I had to search up screentones and textures that I had to use. That took a while. On top of that I decided to clean up my messy texture lines so that it would be ready for the knit textures.

Here are the textures and screentones I used:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39477592442/in/dateposted-public/

Then I had to take out the color and change the contrast:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39477592872/in/dateposted-public/

This is the screentone I used to darken areas up:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38799647334/in/dateposted-public/

Since it’s new years, of course I needed some fireworks:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/24640047977/in/dateposted-public/

That looked a bit lonely though so I decided to add a cityscape:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39507959611/in/dateposted-public/

I couldve modified the darkness of the fireworks screentone with the cityscape’s lighter sky but that would take too much time, so I decided against it.

This is the final piece, clean and simple (though quite time comsuming due to finding and modifying the screentones, and cleaning up the rough knit lines I made).

After making the piece smaller and a .jpg it made the cityscape screentone quite choppy.

Aside from the obvious changes I made, I also changed her expression. I wanted her to be contemplative and yet have some hope for the future, thus the small smile.

Anyway, this year has finally started so lets do our best to make our goals successful.

Happy New Year.

And as always

Hasta la proxima,

-Nube

January 1, 2018 0

Merry Christmas (and happy holidays!)

So Christmas has finally arrived.

I was working on an artwork for this year and just now finally finished it. I will be making a background at some point but that will have to wait for next year. But for those who visit my site, here is a peek at it. (The print won’t be available till next year though).

Will talk and upload more photos at a later date.

My brother’s finished presents.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39265906372/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39265905482/in/dateposted-public/

Have a great time guys. Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

December 25, 2017 0

A little update 12\3\17

I finished my paper about two weeks ago but my side job has been aking for more of my time lately, though we should be done for the rest of the year once we finish the next job (whenever that is). As for school, I just have a class tommorrow and finals next week. So I’m almost finally done for this year and will have a couple of weeks where I can focus completely on art. So for this weekend I will be giving some time to just study, but for most of this week I should be able to keep working on art (aside from the daily chores and things to do).

Having said that, I have been working on some new artwork these past few days. Drawing I can hatch things out quite quickly but again color is still giving me problems. So I decided to make a piece with simple color schemes and color application like that done in older anime. This works two fold. I wan’t to give my brothers a specialized gift for Christmas and also make a demo of a possible service I can offer customers. This whole year I’ve been trying to just learn as much as I can before I started to sell again. But I can’t keep it in the backburner for too long, the year is almost gone so I have to think about keeping the business side of things alive again.

So what is this new potential service? How about a personalized recreation of a poster where you or someone you know is taking the place of the protaganist/character. Or something simpler like the anime version (of you or someone you know) in what ever style you’d like.

I doubt my brothers check this page so here are the two artwork I am currently working on.

First is Gundam X, sorry the line art is too light for the scanner to really catch it. and I don’t have a digital line art copy for some reason.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38788297862/in/dateposted-public/

I tried using the colors from the anime so I just focused on applying color. But as expected I still had a lot of trouble working it since I’m still not used to painting digitally. It’s a great tool I but I much prefer traditional. But I’m still not good enought to make colors as smooth as digital. Though I did learn a lot and could definitely get better. but I feel I might have to make a choice on which one to focus on. Learning both will take quite a while… We’ll see.

Despite that it look alright.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38103035524/in/dateposted-public/

Next is the Evangelion one. I have started painting it digitally, but I think I will switch it to traditional. Time is running out and I wan’t to do a lot more pieces. I just don’t know how people could paint so amazingly using the digital medium. Switching between both really confuses me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/38788297312/in/dateposted-public/

This is what I have so far digitally. I’ve seen people fix their colors and make really cool effects by adding textures to the paint jobs, but I don’t know if that is what is needed…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/27043309749/in/dateposted-public/

So there is the small update, have to go rest a bit and eat.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

December 3, 2017 0

Another year of life

So, another year has passed. I put some goals for my self this year, and although I could have done better I did accomplish them. So I will continue to go forward. The future does seem quite shaky and uncertain. But that’s life… I won’t give up.

I guess my goals for this new year is to take things further and accomplish even more things this year. I also want to be more physically active and learn Japanese to a proficient level. I’ve put those guys in the back burner for far too long. It’s time I give them the time they need.

This is the drawing for this year. I was thinking of adding some Dia de los Muertos influences, but maybe next time. Today was quite a busy day so I wanted to make a quick drawing. I really like Yoshitoki Oima’s art style a lot (creator of “A Silent Voice”), so I decided to use her style for this drawing. I didn’t have much time for coloring either (I actually just drew it in about half an hour a couple of minutes before I started making this entry) so I will just do the line art like if it was from a manga panel. I was thinking of inking it as well but the day is almost over so I will leave it like this. Besides it looks quite clean this way.

Here’s to working towards a better future and accomplishing our goals!

Hasta la proxima,

-Nube

November 2, 2017 0

Hidden Turtle in Monkey’s Eyes

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but I am a big Martial Arts movie fan. More specifically Hong Kong Kung Fu movies from the 80s and 90s. Jackie Chan movies being my favorites. So I wanted to try out making an homage poster like artwork. Now one of the other things I really love is the original Dragon Ball (when he was a kid, I say this because people think I mean Dragon Ball Z which was just ok). I want to talk about these two loves of mine a bit more, but I will have to wait on that because I am planning on covering these topics on future videos.

With that out of the way Inspiration came from the gag character Jacky Chun and my love for old Hong Kong films. I chose one of the first movies where sparks of what Jackie Chan would later present to the world, Drunken Master. A 1978 classic Martial Arts film. And since Dragon Ball has many martial arts influences including Drunken Master it would fit perfectly.

There are many poster variations but I ended up picking this one (which I feel might be the original poster).

I really like these old posters where they hand paint them and have really interesting themes and expressions.

This is the rough draft that I originally made while at an anime convention.

These two are the basis of what I am working with, and next is the process. First are the pictures I took with my phone.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311149092/in/dateposted-public/

I used Copic Markers for coloring by the way.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311148792/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311148482/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311148292/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311147582/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293944066/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311146852/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311146422/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311145752/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293943226/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340990021/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293942896/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340989371/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340989051/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293940916/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340988661/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293940466/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340988351/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37293939806/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340988011/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36631801324/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340987681/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36631800874/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340987411/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340987081/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311141932/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340986821/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311141632/in/dateposted-public/

The title of the movie poster is done with a brush, so I wanted to do it traditonally. I measured the center and spaced out three spaces for the characters.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340986531/in/dateposted-public/

I also tried to emulate brush strokes for the characters.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37311141462/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37340986281/in/dateposted-public/

And now some scans of the process.

After painting on the title I was contemplating painting on the rest of the text. And well, I tried but soon realized to instead do it digitally.

I decided to make the text digitally because it would be alot cleaner, the text would be level and wouldn’t be crooked. On top of that, I was trying to have it ready for Nan Desu Kan.

Here is the original poster again:

And here is my finished version:

I tried to emulate as close as I could all the text around the poster (as well as the background texture), I don’t know Chinese (though I did study a bit of it for a semester once, I obviously am nowhere near at the level where I can say I know a little or any really, just a couple of words and phrases) so I had to guess what each sections of the text would mean. For some of them I just added whatever I thought I could cram with references to me and my work.

Here is what each of the characters I typed means (I used Google translate to come up with the characters so it most likely has a lot of typos and misspelled words and phrases):

That concludes the process for this Dragon Ball piece. Hope you enjoyed it and that it helped you on your art journey if even a little.

Hasta la proxima,

-Nube

September 26, 2017 0

It’s been a stressful week… + NanDesuKan Report

This week has been full of tedious and time consuming obligations. I’m still not done but things have been progressing quite well. Of course I haven’t really stopped working and have some things to show you guys. One other thing to note is that last week was NanDesuKan so I’ll talk a bit about that.

Since I went to two conventions earlier this year I was having convention fatigue. I didn’t really feel like going but I did want to take some artwork for the Art Gallery section of the event. This time I decided to take only some prints so that I could sell them for a lower price in hopes that I could sell them this time. This year I took the piñatas That I made all throughout the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Some have actually sold already, such as the Popplio and Eevee and have been comissioned to make another one. So for NanDesuKan I was offering Pikachu, Rowlette, Litten, Mimikyu, Totoro, Jiji, and I made two new ones for this convention. Goku and Kuririn. I made them as kids wearing their attire from their training days under Muten Roshi (I even decided to make their turtle shells the day before the convention).

Just in case you forgot or haven’t seen them before, here are the piñatas that I took with me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628223106/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628014416/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32515650162/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628204896/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31856433233/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32546322051/in/dateposted-public/

Here are Goku and Kuriring that I made especifically for NanDesuKan.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152283125/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754812210/in/dateposted-public/

The construction of the turtle shells using foam board.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36963133466/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152447945/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316255544/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152447945/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316255544/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/

And here they are with them on and painted (painted using spray paint). Tied with some garden ropes to emulate the ones in the series.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36338391343/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152268315/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152251955/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316051194/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754626810/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754643650/in/dateposted-public/

This was the piñata side of things. But I prefer drawing more, so of course I took some of the new 2d art that I have been working on this year. Thinking back I was learning more than creating this year. But I feel it was worth it (I still have a ways to go, but I’m starting to understand things a bit more now).

My original plan was to show these pieces on their own and before the convention so that those who take the time to visit this site would get a sneak peak as a sort of special “reward” for visiting the site. But I got really busy preparing for the convention that I didn’t have the time (those two weeks before the convention were also quite stressful). Luckily I did get not only the new piñatas finished, but I also had two new artworks done in those weeks prior.

I took 4 art pieces in total this year.

I made a new piece with the prints of the legendary Pokemon from X/Y.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153150535/in/dateposted-public/

I dumbly chose to do a Saber piece (from Fate Stay Night, I think). But that series can get rather complicated if you haven’t seen or played any of the games (which I haven’t). (There’s so many Sabers) So I really didn’t know what I was doing at all… This was one of the pieces I was doing right before the convention. Thinking back maybe I should have done something else, but oh well.

Done both traditionally and digitally.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153226875/in/dateposted-public/

This piece I had been working with during the summer. I took a bit of a break and did some minor tweaks right before the convention though.

It is Misaka Mikoto from the To Aru series (will make a post especifically for it later).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982080862/in/dateposted-public/

And the last piece that I offered this year is the other drawing that I made right before the convention.

This one is of Goku, Kuririn and Muten Roshi. (I will also make another post just for this one and talk about it more).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982148692/in/dateposted-public/

So these are the pieces I took this year. Now for the results. Out of all the piñatas, only Rowlette and Mimikyu were sold. And of the 2d art, all of them were sold except for the Saber piece. And out of all the pieces only one went to the live auction, that being the Pokemon X/Y piece.

On top of selling a good amount of them this year, I also won an award again this year.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982351652/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982350522/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153546725/in/dateposted-public/

Seems like I won the 3D category again this year. Plus I also won the Video Game Room Art Show award. Seems like the 3D award was for the piñatas, and the Video Game award was especifically for Rowlette. With that said, I assured another weekend pass for next year.

Not too bad.

Sorry I haven’t really been posting much, but it has gotten a bit stressful these days. And now the future is looking a bit shaky… Heck even the sun and moon were kind of ominous when the outcome of the future was put on jeapardy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36340111293/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36756416450/in/dateposted-public/

A bit weird but won’t deny, they looked beautiful. (by the way, they look red because of the fires that were burning on the west coast.)

Nothing can be done except go forward I guess… ε- (￣､￣A) ﾌｩｰ

That should be all for now, I’ll get back to you guys later.

Hasta la proxima,

-Nube

September 10, 2017 0

The start of Youtube videos and Advertisements

I have started working on some new content for my Youtube Channel. I will be doing quite a few different things though, so they will take a while to edit and whatnot. I don’t plan on releasing them anytime soon though. Or at least the new format. I will upload the old format on my second channel for those who need or prefer it that way.

Misaka Mikoto is the first one to be drawn and recorded this year. But I still haven’t decided if she will be the first video to be uploaded. I want to make a good amount of videos to create a backlog of them that way I can upload them on a set schedule.

I still plan on making a background for it though, so it isn’t fully finished yet.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32645279133/in/dateposted-public/

I’ll be opening up an Etsy shop to make it easier for you guys to purchase things. But I plan to make some advertisements first before making it go live. Tht’s what I have been working on recently.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32616430054/in/dateposted-public/

It still looks quite dark… I’ll have to make some adjustments. Bu in any case it is coming along nicely.

The next convention is almost here already! Next week. So I have to make preperations. I plan on making some artwork to explain my piñata products. In the end I believe marketing played a big role in keeping people from purchasing them. Hopefully this will help.

This was just a small update. Back to work it is.

Hasta la proxima.

-Nube

March 15, 2017 0

Preparing for Animeland Wasabi II -Piñatas Part II

It took me a month to make 8 piñatas, I could probably push at least 10 in the same amount of time. I say a month but really it’s about 3 weeks and … 3 days? Some did take a bit longer due to me not having the right color of paper or thinking about the shape I would cut the strips of paper. Despite keeping that in mind, I was surprised that they took that long to make. But now that I have finished them I can look back and and think about ways to cut at the very least 5 days off (if not more). In the end, preparation and planning takes time, almost half of it. I wonder just how much I can refine out of my process.

Looking at the pictures, I will have no choice but to divide it into two more posts. The middle process of actually putting together and giving shape to the balloons that had hardened with the engrudo and newspaper. And the final part of decorating them and giving them their final appearance.

I took a lot of pictures about the process, but don’t wan’t to flood you guys with information so I only posted the most important photos here. But if you click on one, it should take you to flickr which is where I uploaded all of them. There you can get a full view of the process in case you need more angles and steps in between the photos that I did post. In case you don’t want to leave this page as you see flickr than you can right click and open in a different tab.

I made it so that the photos spoke for themselves about the process I took, but if you have any questions do let me know and I will respond as best as I can.

Sorting out the shapes once they had dried sure took a while, next time I have to find a way to keep together the balloons that correspond to one another.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252956550/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32478830102/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820294113/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789145354/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591818516/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32478815652/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820280493/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789122444/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789117984/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820267073/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32632173215/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591764026/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820211643/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32632112145/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252834090/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509636691/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820136413/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509593571/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591605716/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591595286/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252733110/in/dateposted-public/

To speed up the process of cutting the paper that will cover the piñatas I recommend to do several at once. Line up strips of paper together than folded up in halves.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820061383/in/dateposted-public/

You’ll end up with this at the end, from there just cut out the shape or shapes you wish to make and that will minimize the amount of time you will be using to cut paper. Otherwise it is a time eater, I can tell you that from experience.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509530941/in/dateposted-public/

Here’s a sneak peak at what is to come next time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252715430/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591584436/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252705620/in/dateposted-public/

That will be all for now. I will be adding the final process and showing you photos of how they turned out. I’d say they came out great but we’ll see what you think.

Hasta la proxima.

-Nube

January 31, 2017 0

I’m back!

Sorry I disappeared for about what, a month? The last few weeks were quite hectic. I had finals during the beginning of December and truthfully, it was the final project for Japanese class (a language class) that really took quite a bit of my time. We had to create a children’s story and have at the very least 10 pictures to go along with it. I made sure to take care of the actual story first so as to not have problems later, but I failed to take into account the pictures. This became a problem, after all I was planning on drawing them all out.

It was a rather interesting experience since it was a new experience and fun but also quite hard and really stressful. Working on it was making me feel sick throughout the whole experience. I had to work on it as soon as I woke up and took only breaks to take care of things like eating and other living necessities. In a way I got a glimpse at the life of what a mangaka has to go through every single week. And, I seriously have a whole lot of more respect for them. To be fair, the work I did was still mediocre in the end (this is what happens for trying to draw it all in 5 days) but still presentable. What’s funny is that I was planning to color them too. Boy was I wrong!

Anyway, it’s been just a little over a week since I entered winter vacations. Although I did decide to take about five days off to just stop and take a moment to just have fun, I had to quickly get back to work. I do feel bad for not updating this space for this whole time though. I truly apologize. But worry not, since I was documenting my work so that I can speak about it in days to come. I have quite a lot of work that is to come. It’s quite daunting actually, but I’ll make it work.

Next semester I will not be going back to school. I decided to invest my time and money for the sake of artwork. I don’t remember if I already mentioned this before but I have been accepted by two anime conventions at the beginning of the year. They are Anime Land Wasabi and Colorado Anime Fest. I still have to take care of some things so that I can say I will 100% be there (it has to do with taxes, I will explain later since new artist have to know this), but I shouldn’t have any problems taking care of that.

Having said that I am currently working on the products I will have available at my table. I will write about that later. Truthfully I just wanted to give a bit of an update about where I’m at and a little glimpse of what’s to come.

Hasta la proxima,

Nube Obscura

December 27, 2016 0

Another year of life (2016)

I’ve made it through another year of life huh? This is the year I was preparing my self for. All the work I have put towards getting better were for this year that has finally come. It’s sink or swim now. Will my efforts bring forth fruit or will I have to deal with a crushing de

feat? That is what I have in store. It’s all a matter of my work from here on out and sadly luck… I don’t like leaving things to chance, but that seems to be a factor as well. All I can do is go at it with everything I have and work towards the best. Whether that will be rewarded is still yet to be seen.

Speaking of which I have some news… I got a table at one of the anime conventions next year. This one is for Wasabi. I’m a little nervous, but we’ll see how it all goes. Still haven’t heard from Colorado Anime Fest. They were supposed to let the applicants know by the 31st, but still no response. I wonder if they only contact the applicants that got a table? Oh well. This is one step closer to see what happens with my art in this type of setting.

November 2nd is “El Dia de los Muertos” (day of the dead) in Mexico. It’s a holiday very much like the OBon festival in Japan. It’s a time of celebration where we go to the cemetery to clean and remember our past loved ones. It is said that this is the one time a year when they (the spirits) are allowed to descend to Earth and visit their loved ones. I only ever experienced this festivity in my life, but it was a truly wonderful time to spend with one’s family and speak about one’s ancestors. I’m glad it’s getting some recognition outside of Mexico.

It’s strange though, this is the first year I have ever had a cake with a “Calabera” (skull)(a gift from my brother). Though I guess it makes sense. All my family is living and buried in Mexico so one can’t really celebrate it here in the States.

Of course the cake is “Tres Leches” a really tasty cake that has a really soft and moist layer filled with sweet milk. If you ever have a chance do try it.

We usually don’t give gifts on birthdays, we’ve always been quite frugal since just hanging out together is a good enough gift. But I have made it to 25 so I guess my brother felt he should give me something good this year. And man will it make it much easier to work. My Vaio laptop is no slouch, but once it gets to the intensive jobs it does slow down. Which is why the gaming pc he gave me such a great gift.

I was thinking of getting a stronger pc so this really relieves me of having to worry about that. Just a couple of more things and I will have everything I need to fully create everything I can think up to it’s full potential and be fully self sustainable.

So far this year has had a strong start. Here’s hoping I can continue to make it better.

Gracias por estar conmigo este año, espero que sigan con migo en este que viene.

Hasta la proxima,

Nube

November 2, 2016 0

Quick Update 10/21/16

The deadline for voting on the winners of the art contest on DrawCrowd was yesterday on 10/20/16 and yet only the cosplay category winner has been announced… None of the actual Corel winners have been mentioned at all. That’s truly strange, I wonder if the winners have been notified yet? Having said that, there are two pieces that I feel should be first and second place (of course this is just my top picks).

For second place I would choose this one:

Artist – 녹충

She appears to be an artist from South Korea.

I really like the way it looks, it’s simple and gives a scene that would happen in real life.

My pick for first place:

Artist – Miimork

She appears to be from Thailand.

This one has so much going on. And without words you get a story out of this one image. I really like it and feel it deserves to win above all other entries. The description says it all though, “This is the illustration of my friend who’s studying architecture. Back to school, new project, and old friend.”

In any case, good luck to the winners.

As for my work? I have been uploading artwork to DrawCrowd in intervals and at different time periods to see when it is most effective. I started with a Reina Tanaka drawing, uploaded at night which got over a hundred views in a day. That amazed me.

It was this one:

Tanaka Reina photobook study — Are you interested in it as a print?

Uploading to Pixiv you barely get a hundred if that in about a week and let’s not even talk about the abysmal views on DevianArt. After I believe five days it is getting close to 500, amazing huh?

After that I uploaded an Ai Takahashi drawing about two or three days later in the morning. And that one exploded in views. In one day it got around 6,000 views! I’ve never had that many people look at my work in such a short amount of time. After two days it is getting close to 9,000 with two likes and one promotion.

This one:

Ai Takahashi pencil drawing — Are you interested in it as a print?

What does liking and promoting mean? DrawCrowd is pretty interesting in that you have two options to let the artist know how much you like their art. You have the standard like option. By liking an artwork you are making a personal and private list of work you liked while letting the artist know that someone liked their artwork. Promoting an artwork on the other hand compiles a public list that is shown in your profile showcasing artwork that you deem good enough to recommend. It’s a really good system that creates a chain reaction of exposing artwork that others that follow said artist might like as well.

Now back to the third piece I have uploaded thus far. The third piece is the Halloween painting of Yuzuki Yukari I made last year. I uploaded it today in the morning and it has already reached close to 20,000 views! In just one day! This site is incredible at giving exposure to one’s work. I’m really glad I decided to give it a try. It did so well in fact that it has made it to DrawCrowds daily ranking! These daily rankings are a list of artwork that are popular during a day and are showcased on the homepage of DrawCrowd giving the artist and art piece more exposure. I debuted at #195, so I still have a ways to go compared to other artists. I wonder if I can reach the top 100?

This one:

Yuzuki Yukari - "Halloween Pumpkin Smash" — Print now available.

Well that was a quick update. I also have another announcement but I will leave that for tomorrow. Till next time.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube

October 21, 2016 0