Lynn Minmay Idol prompt

Today’s Pixiv theme is “idol” so why not draw and paint the eternal idol Lynn Minmay from Macross. It’s funny, while looking for references for the pose I would use to draw Minmay. I came upon a photo of Naoko Kawai wearing almost the exact same clothes that Minmay used in “Do you Remember Love”.

This is the photo in question: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/65/46/72/65467210d1a96d7d94cde7e6efe16c18.jpg

That of course had me decide on this particular reference photo. Really quite enjoyed the way it came out, specially when it was colored in.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Naoko Kawai UNbalance

An anime version of Naoko Kawai’s UNbalance cover of her 1983 single (if you get the chance check it out).

For this painting I again went for a flat painting style but added in color variations that dealt with shadows and translucence. I still wonder if I should add highlights? will have to try it out at some point. The metallic arch was surprisingly simple to paint.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Akina Nakamori Prologue Static

Akina Nakamori’s anime cover for Prologue, her debut studio album. I of course went for an 80s anime painting style. The static really reminds me of the cellulose that was noticeable in the old airings on tv back in the day and on old prints of classic anime. When I see it appropriate I really like using the static filter effect that Photoshop contains.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Naoko Kawai Jeep

It’s been a while since I last painted with watercolors. Truth be told, I was really afraid to go at it. But after looking at a couple of pictures from one of my favorite artists, it gave me that push to just start painting. The artist I’m talking about (and that I have mentioned before a couple of times) is Little Thunder. If you haven’t seen her work I really suggest you go and check it out. It’s absolutely beautiful and definitely one of my artistic inspirations. I tend to overwork my paintings and not use color theory to my advantage. I still don’t fully comprehend it but I do know when colors look right when used with each other, so I have at least developed my color abilities to that level. Having said that, I still was guided by Little Thunder’s artwork as I painted.

Here’s her instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlethunder/

I really like Japanese 80s music, and one of my favorite artists during that time is Naoko Kawai. Her voice and music are amazing and brings me joy when I listen to it. On top of that she is super cute. So of course I would do another piece of her. This time I wanted to try something a bit more difficult that had various variables, and well I just plain liked the photo of her in the Jeep. I was surprised I was able to finish the painting so fast. It was three days, (a few hours on Wednesday for the rough draft, Thursday I finished the rough draft and focused on inking, I then got all my courage and actually started painting today Friday). I really love the way watercolors look. It changes my art style quite a bit. I’m planning to do more paintings but October is coming so that means Inktober, plus I need to write three essays… It’s gonna be a rough month. But I’ll give it a shot. I was amazed when I saw Little Thunder finished a drawing/painting in 15 minutes. That’s a good goal to aim for.

Hope you guys like it.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Beach Soda Pose

It’s a bit late when I’m posting this so I will keep it short but this is based on the ad campaign called Yes Coke Yes. The reference used is one of the ads that Hayami Yu. I’ve been wanting to do some summer artwork and also utilize the 80s ads that I have. It has also been a while since I’ve done a simpler painting. It was a lot of fun painting this piece, luckily I managed to finish it in time.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Seiko Matsuda FireAlpaca test 01

My brother was telling me about whether I had used FireAlpaca. I actually hadn’t heard about it before. He told me to check it out since it was free and his friend used it so he was wondering what I thought about it.

Just as he said, the program is indeed free. The program it self is lightweight and easy to understand. There are a number of functions that are missing compared to Corel (realistic brushes) and Photoshop (it’s photo editing features) but it also has a number of functions are pretty cool. It has functions to upload directly to Pixiv. One of the things that really surprised me was how fast and responsive it reacts. It opens fast and it paints smoothly. I decided to use their watercolor brush and it reacted pretty closely to the oil brush from Corel Painter which I loved. I was planning to just paint a quick test but it eventually led to actually finishing the painting (I just couldn’t stop once it begin to take form).

Conclusion about the program (as of now), there are some features I miss from Corel and Photoshop but it is a solid program that people should get. Especially if what you are looking for is a free art program. Give it a try.

I’ve been wanting to make a painting using the 80s references I have been archiving for quite a while now. So I used this as an excuse to give it a try. As mentioned above, it was just going to be a quick rough draft to try the program but ended up finishing it. Seiko came out really cute, I really like the the washed out colors used and the way her expression came out.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

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