DarkCloudXERO Let’sDraw Episode 1 Misaka MIkoto cool eyes

Video is finally up.

School and work sure dragged things out longer than it should have…

Plus all the new opening and closing animations were pretty time consuming. But that was all groundwork that I can now just edit for the new videos. One thing that will probably set me back still is recording commentary for the videos. That I’m not used to at all. Hopefully I learn to relax when recording so that I can do it faster and with little mistakes. We’ll see…

These are the reference pictures:

cosplayer:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/40792752271/in/dateposted-public/

“cool eyes”:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/40792752651/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/40792753391/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39897964515/in/dateposted-public/

hair:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/39897965105/in/dateposted-public/

I tried a couple new things for the way I presented the video such as having the reference pictures appear as needed and zooming in and out of the sections that I would be drawing. Hopefully that becomes useful for those who use my videos to learn how to draw (and entertaining for those who just enjoy watching these types of videos).

I think I will just draw for this videos (there may be special exceptions from time to time, it depends on how good and fast I become) so that I can make them quickly and specially so that I can work on my own projects on the side, which I haven’t really had much time to do (though I do have some that I want to show you guys soon).

As for music, I’m really into Vaporwave and Future Funk (specially City Pop which is where Vaporwave/Future Funk sampled their songs from). Just as this video was uploaded I got a couple of copyright claims for the music used in the videos. Which I expected. I’m not really going to rely on Youtube monetarily, I already got denied that ability since my videos and subscriber count weren’t high enough according to their new guidelines. So these videos are really more of a hobby. Hopefully people do learn from them, because I know I have doing them (in more ways than one).

In any case, the music can be found here (formated as Artist – Album):

Yung Bae – BAE :
https://yungbaebae.bandcamp.com/album/bae

Yung Bae – Japanese Disco Edits :
https://yungbaebae.bandcamp.com/album/japanese-disco-edits

Nanidato – Mobile Sailor Gundam :
https://nanidato.bandcamp.com/album/mobile-sailor-gundam

Night Tempo – Pure Baby Maker [Rewind] :
https://neoncityrecords.bandcamp.com/album/pure-baby-maker-rewind

Name of the songs are in the video itself.

That should be it for now, I’m currently working on a new project for school which requires me to read another book. But at least I don’t have to do another powerpoint presentation again so it shouldn’t be too bad (though I still have to write another paper about it). Aside from that I am going to be working on another video as well. I already recorded so it’s just a matter of editing which should’nt be too bad, it’s the recording of my voice that really gets me. But if I don’t do it I wont get better, so I just have to grit my teeth and do it.

As mentioned before I did work on some new art pieces, nothing really new, they are just practice pieces. I will upload and talk about them later.

Hasta la proxima,

– NUBE

March 3, 2018 0

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

XERO DRAWING – Levi Ackerman

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/35906917792/in/dateposted-public/

suggestion redraw/request: Tessa Sansom

Shorter version can be seen here on my main channel:

Longer version can be seen on my second channel:

Image used as reference can be found here

A couple of years ago I had drawn and colored a rather bad drawing of Levi Ackerman. It was suggested that I should maybe redraw Levi and try to make a better version of it. I was dealing with various things and practicing new things, I didn’t get to it till now. I want to make more videos so I decided to go ahead and draw it finally.

Hopefully someone finds it usefull.

A series of videos where I help people draw. I make these videos on requests. So if you need help drawing someone or something, leave a message.

-Nube

Title: Epic
Artist: Bensound
Genre: Cinematic
Mood: Angry
Download: http://goo.gl/bFTwWp

You’re free to use this song in any of your videos, but you must include the following in your video description:
Music by BENSOUND http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-…
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…

Epic – Bensound: https://youtu.be/ae8FyeVc7qk

July 21, 2017 0

XERO DRAWING – Kaname Kuran

I accidently used a watercolor paper and didn’t notice it till I had uploaded the video… No wonder I couldn’t really blend as much as I thought I could. On top of that, I somehow made Kaname look… younger? There’s something about the face that just looks off. Maybe lowering the mouth and nose down? Hmmmm…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36076112875/in/dateposted-public/

Normal short version on my main channel:

Extended longer version on my secondary channel:

request by: Mia S

I chose this pose since it seems like something Kaname probably would do (without even being embarrased to do so).

It’s funny, I was at the store and was surprised to find the complete collection of Vampire Knight including Guilty (right now I’m trying to buy all my favorite series so of course I picked it up). Just when I got out of the store and looked at my phone I happened to get this request for Kaname. Quite serendipitous.

If you have any questions or comments write them down below.

I’ll have a longer version on my other channel here:

A series of videos where I help people draw. I make these videos on requests. So if you need help drawing someone or something, leave a message.

-Nube

Title: Solo Cello Passion
Artist: Doug Maxwell, Media Right Productions
Genre: Classical
Mood: Sad
Download: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/…

July 18, 2017 0

New Opening and Ending for the Channel

So I have been out for a bit, well only a couple of days. But fear not, I was actually working on some more work for the Artist Project. I had mentioned before that I wanted to start uploading videos up again to Youtube, but I also wanted to do new content as well. The first thing I wanted to do though was to create a new Opening and Ending for the channel. But I wanted some more interesting visuals than what I usually had by using the easy to use effects given in programs like Windows Movie Maker and the very basics of what I knew from Sony Vegas Pro. This meant that I had to sit down and actually learn some new techniques.

It sounds easy to say, but one of the reasons I wasn’t able to do it before was because I had too much information pop up. This wouldn’t be a problem if I wanted to learn from the very beginning, but since I had something specific I wanted to do I just felt like it would take too much time to get to the part I was interested in learning. Having said that, after playing around with Vegas for a couple of months now I have gotten used to the basics on my own. So once I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I just went and searched for that very thing. Thanks to this new Opening and Ending, I learned a lot of amazing things I can do with a program like Sony Vegas. Along the way I also learned a lot more techniques so that I can fully utilize Photoshop. This was a very insightful project.

I will probably make a post of the process I took to make this video in the near future, so please look forward to that.

Here is what I was working on:

This will be the new Opening and Ending for my videos. For any of you Jackie Chan fans out there, you will notice that I am paying homage to his earlier films of the 80s and 90s. Background is from the beautiful artwork from Oboro Muramasa. I couldn’t find any clean backgrounds, which sucked. But this pretty much forced me to learn some new techniques in Photoshop, so I am thankful for that. It took some time but I managed to clean them up and leave nothing but the background intact.

I took a bit of time to get to learn how to use Sony Vegas Pro and Photoshop to make this video possible. Now that I have this done I can once again start working on some new artwork and finally start uploading some Youtube videos.

There will be a couple of tweaks I will make to this intro and ending, but overall it is the finished product.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube

August 15, 2016 0

Levi Ackerman Youtube video

I have finally finished the Levi Ackerman video, and has been uploaded.

In this episode I will tackle Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan.
As per request I used only color pencils for this drawing. I’m guessing that judging from her age she can only afford to invest on the basic art utensils. For that reason I made sure to use only Crayola color pencils (except for my black PrismaColor color pencil which works much better than the crayola, it can be bought on it’s own in a hobby shop).

Crayola pencils used: white, peach, light brown, silver, green blue, turquoise, tan, dark brown, blue, taupe, pink, brown, slate
(if using crayola, make sure to get a 36 colors box so that the transitions in colors can be done much smoother.

Overall the difference between professional color pencils and the mass market one’s are quite apparent. Crayola color pencils take quite a bit of time to blend together since the pigment doesn’t do more than three layers easily. And even then, the layers have to be placed in light coats first than applied on thicker coats little by little. I really like using a white color pencil to blend light colors together to give them a smooth transition from one color to the other and to go from color to white.

The best thing to keep in mind is that color pencils can be layered on top of one another. As for making outlines for the drawing before coloring. One can outline it with pens, but be prepared to keep the colors simple so that they don’t look bad and out of place and/or changing the thickness of the outlines throughout the drawing to make it blend well. I obviously did not do this. Instead I used only my mechanical pencil and darkened it once I had the rough lines drawn. From there I can start coloring and choose areas that I wish to lighten. I do this by applying color pencils over the lines. But be aware of how the color pencils can smear the graphite from the pencils.

This is just a speed drawing video, a slower (and longer) video will be uploaded soon.

Here are the links –

speed drawing version:

EXTENDED version:

And the drawing itself:

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Ashita Mañana
-XERO

December 16, 2015 0

Pokemon Ghost Girl Artwork

So I have finally finished the Pokemon Ghost Girl artwork. I was going to do it fully out of watercolors, but I decided to instead touch it up with my Copics which made it pop out even more and gave it a cleaner look. I have tried this before, but I think I have now finally started to get the hang of it so that they can blend seamlessly. Before I had to use so much of my Copic ink since I was still unsure of what I could do so that the colors didn’t look too washed up. Of course this also has to do with me using better watercolors (kuretake gansai tambi). With these I can make the colors do exactly what I want. They are still not as vibrant as the Copics so I do have to rely on them when doing dark backgrounds. But they are great when doing light ones.

For this drawing I decided to do another Halloween themed drawing. Although this is not tied down by it. It should fit at any time of the year since it’s just spooky and it has to do with Pokemon. At the beggining of the year I decided to do a drawing somewhat like this (just as stated in the post before this one). But seeing as I can do both characters I decided to make them two different art pieces. When thinking about the Pokemon Ghost Girl, I started thinking of what importance she would have for the future Pokemon game/s. Seeing as though she is looking for a certain person. I decided to focus on that. I had her in a room as if waiting for someone. And to make it fit a spooky atmosphere I decided to add ghost Pokemon. To not use up too much space with the Pokemon, I decided to use ghost Pokemon in their first form.

As for colors, I decided to play around with the blues. The main idea is keeping the light and darkness clash against each other but making sure that they blend well together. What do you guys think? Did I accomplish it?

Also, here are my Youtube videos for this drawing in case you want to learn or just want to see it.

October 23, 2015 0

Yuzuki Yukari – “Halloween Pumpkin Smash” Youtube videos

As mentioned before. I have started to record myself drawing my artwork again. I wont be doing it all the time. But I will be trying to do it at least twice a month or so. Again, it also depends on whether I get request on Youtube. I plan to make another Halloween video aside from this one.

Anyway, here is the Yuzuki Yukari video. There are two versions, a short fast version and a longer slower version that is easier to follow.

Main video:

Secondary (long) video:

I do apologize. Looking through the video I noticed that the camera’s safety strap falls into view at the start of the video, and there was a mistake with my emblems popping up a bit earlier than it should. But seeing as it takes massive amounts of time to render an hour long video I decided to just leave it as is and pay more attention next time. I had a lot of difficulties starting up the video. I mentioned before (I think), that I upgraded to Windows 8.1. That means that I had to re-install some programs and transfer some files over to my computer from my external hardrive. And that ate up some time. But, now I have everything set up and ready to have the raw videos just plugged in modified and rendered just like the old times.

Hope this helps the people that wish to learn from my style.

I will add another post later today to let you guys know what I will be working on next.

-XERO

October 16, 2015 0

New Youtube videos and an UPADATE

I got asked to help draw Lelouch Lamperouge and Kei Kurono, so that took about a week. It has been quite a while since i last did a video so I had to relearn somethings. This also took some time because I took some time deciding about the the format that my videos had. I felt it was time to change it. So, after much thought, I decided to just draw straight from a reference. This is for a couple of reasons. I be able to make the videos much faster. I’ll have a reference that anyone can use to follow along and I will be able to make more videos if needed at a quicker rate. This also means that after finishing a video I can go back to my own projects. Aside from just using references, I also decided to divide the workload. I will not be coloring or shading the drawings in the videos, instead I will only do that if and when I am asked to do so. And also do so in the medium they wish to see. This way the viewer will learn what he/she wants to learn instead of seeing me use a medium that they don’t care for. Again, this also lessens the time i spend making the videos and only put time in the drawings that the viewers wish to see.

Here they are by the way. Hope it helps out some of you guys.

Lelouch

Kei

On another note, I had run out of ink for my Copic Markers so I had to postpone a couple of pieces including the Metroid drawing. But I am happy to announce that I have finally managed to order some refills and also some more markers. This is something I am very excited about. With more colors to play with, I can make more color combinations possible. I hope this helps me produce better drawings.

Well, till next time.

-XERO

May 22, 2015 0

How to draw Misaki Ayuzawa’s Face I-IV

If you have any questions let me know in the comments.
I placed no audio track so please listen to your own music as you watch.
Hope this helps at least a couple of you guys.
I have a couple of other videos in store regarding Misaki Ayuzawa’s face. So please look forward to that.

On another note, tomorrow I will upload some rough drafts of my next artwork. So I hope you look forward to that.

-XERO

January 16, 2015 0

Misaki Ayuzawa 6 Facial Expressions

This video was made to help a youtuber drawing Misaki Ayuzawa’s face. I don’t really have much of an idea in what exactly the I should be explaining. so for that reason I just uploaded the video with little editing. Hopefully this is helpful to the original person that asked for help and to other people.

If you have any questions let me know in the comments.
I place no audio track so please listen to your own music as you watch.
Hope this helps at least a couple of you guys.
I have a couple of other videos in store regarding Misaki Ayuzawa’s face. So please look forward to that.

-XERO

January 15, 2015 0

XERO DRAWING – Godzilla x Gypsy Danger PART II

Time spent: 11 hours 48 minutes (total: 17 h 08 m)
Materials used: Sakura 0.7 mechanical pencil, Faber Castell Perfection 7056 pencil eraser, eraser,
Sakura Pigma Micron set Black 03,
Sakura gellyroll White,
Uniball Signo White
Reeves Water Colours 18 set: Ivory Black, Phthalo Blue
Copic Markers: 100, C1, C3, C5, C7, W1, W3, W5, W7, Y11, Y15, Y17, Y26, YR04, YR68, B0000, B01, B05, B21, B24, B32, B34, B45, B97, BG10, BG13, BG72, BG75, BV00, E04, R00, RV14, R27, V01, G21, G24, YG03, 0

I’ve finally gotten done with this drawing! It took quite a long time. It took a total of about 17 hours and 8 minutes. The longest so far (I think). In any case, I’ll probably make a couple of slight modifications like adding more details to it before I add it to deviant art.

I made the drawing with them at the start of the conflict but ready to go with their strongest attack. I also wanted to try out a couple of new techniques, so I decided to make the scene dark, something I rarely do. Over all I am satisfied with how it turned out, but I also feel that if I were to do this again it would look at least a bit better and cleaner since I have a better understanding of the process I have to take to make certain effects like on the water, or making light.

As for who I like more? Obviously Godzilla. I seriously enjoyed the Pacific Rim movie specially because it was done by a paisano but, Godzilla has a lot of sentimental value to it. And I enjoyed the Heisei movies more (even though they were a bit cheesy at times). This goes for who would win in a fight as well by the way.

-XERO

August 30, 2014 0