Almost done, just one more detail (or maybe a couple more) and I should be done with this one.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Mikoto Misakas and Tsuyu Asui II
Mikoto Misakas and Tsuyu Asui
I’m sorry that it is a bit too light but hopefully you can see it.
It took me a while to start this piece due to some things I had to take care of and me actually going out to see Colorado. But now that I have actually finished that I can continue and finally finish it. Here are two updates. Although I plan to make this simple so it shouldn’t take too long to finish it.
Messer and Kaname Final
So I have finally finished this new piece (well I finished it yesterday but whatever). This is now available in the gallery as a print. Coloring has gotten easier it seems. I’m no longer afraid of dark colors so I can do a lot more with them.
I wanted to try something a bit new which is why I left the the left side blank. I decided to add the music player that Messer had containing Kaname’s song AXIA – Daisuki de Daikirai.
After I had the music player drawn out at the top I noticed that maybe it would have been better to extend the player vertically instead of horizontally. The original idea was to add the lyrics of AXIA in the bottom section. Heck I even copied the lyrics on my notebook.
As you can see I got the lyrics from Hina from Hinatube who does covers and of course not only covered AXIA but also put the lyrics on the video.
Here is a link to it:
But after writing it all out and seeing the space, the kanji (which I didn’t want to miss-write, and the limitations to how precise I can my my strokes with the current pens I have, I decided to skip it all together. And that is when I lamented the option of having the music player being vertical.
But not wanting to waste much time regretting that decision I instead went ahead and added some other details so that area wasn’t alone. Right away I had the idea of having tear drops falling on the “screen”. So I added those, but it still did not seem complete and since the screen seems to be projected and translucent I made the background on the right continue on the left. Over all the effect looks good.
What do you guys think?
Now that this one is done it is time to move on to the next project.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Ideas and rough drafts for the next projects
I have quite a couple of projects I will be working on, the matter now is how long it will take… I have three different pieces I have in mind but for now here are two rough drafts.
The first is a drawing of Kaname and Messer from Macross Delta. Based on episode 10, but after seeing episode 11 I decided to change things. Especifically for Kaname.
If you haven’t seen the series skip the next part.
(spoilers)
I had hoped that there was more interaction between Messer and Kaname but in the end it all turned out to be one-sided huh? But in the end it at least managed to inspire and light a fire in Kaname (as well as everyone else) to be more assertive and increase one’s ambitions to be better at what they do.
(spoilers END)
Overall I think I will only use watercolors for this piece… we’ll see.
Now for the next one I decided to do a Boku no Hero Academia drawing. Truthfully this series is amazing, easily made it to one of my favorites (if you haven’t read or seen it, please do, it’s an amazing series). Anyway, all the characters are likable and very unique. One of my favorite characters (although to be blunt almost all the characters are) is Tsuyu Asui. It really didn’t take long for an idea to pop into my mind as for what I wanted to draw. If any of you guys have been checking this page and my work for a while then you all might know that I am a big fan of the To Aru series. So of course a crossover drawing becomes logical. It’s a bit rough but here you go.
The idea is there now. Getting an idea and looking for information and references for details takes quite a bit of time, but now that that has been done, hopefully the final drawings go without a hitch.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmey, not the final piece
I finally got my Copic refills. So I worked on the Lynn Minmey drawing. Hmmm… I guess I could do more, but I wish to move to another piece now so I am pleased with what I have now. I learned quite a bit from this drawing. I really enjoyed drawing Minmey and really want to draw another piece of her sometime soon (except I want to stick closer to the anime aesthetic).
Now that I have finally finished this drawing I have decided on the title for this piece; “Human Culture’s Songstress” a title that most fans of the series will get (I hope…). If you haven’t seen the series please do, despite it’s age it really holds up. Having seen it as an adult I can really pick up on the adult themes that are much deeper than I could have anticipated. In short it is a masterpiece and a classic anime from the 80s.
Here is the final piece, it will be added to the gallery now.
I almost forgot, but do you guys know what is on the light panel?
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update VIII FINAL?
I say final but I really think I have to do a couple of more touches a little later. In the end I ended up using all the ink in some of my markers and need to buy some refills. I will have to put this one on hold for a little while, I’d say it is at least 95% done. All that is left is a couple of more details really. I am considering adding a shadow behind her due to the lights lighting her from the front, but I am still over all undecided. What I find kind of irritating is that from afar the face (or maybe expression better describes it) I drew and wanted people to see changes quite a bit, if you look at it from a closer point then the real expression becomes more noticeable. I’ll have to look at it a bit more later when I have the markers ready to go again. I really want to emphasize movement as well… hopefully when I come back to it I can make it possible. For now I will leave this here, and as of yet unfinished piece.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update VII
I’ll be posting another update later today. Sorry for not posting on Wednesday, I actually decided to give the drawing a few days so that I could review it with fresh eyes and make a decision on whether the way I left it was ok or whether I would change it a bit later. Results of that will come with the second post, so please look forward to that. For now see what I have as of now.
Hasta al rato,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update VI
I actually had most of this done since Friday, except the last two scans but I kind of took the weekend off to think and rest a bit, so sorry for those who were awaiting the latest updates.
I’m quite surprised I was taking as long as I was to color the background. As expected dealing with darkness is quite tough, especially when not doing a stylistic approach to it. I had to really think before adding any colors and going over and over (repeating many times) till I had the right shades in place and then eventually adding darker areas around the parts that were supposed to have light both from the light sources and the light being reflected on the ground. I really wanted a shiny floor no matter what since I don’t really deal with such backgrounds due to knowing how hard they are but in the end I decided to go at it anyway. Over all despite the amount of time it took and cont less retouches I felt pretty confident on what I managed to bring forth. Now it is time to actually focus on Lynn Minmay herself which I had a hard time deciding on what color scheme her clothes would have. I actually did quite a couple before scrapping them and coloring them over with what she has now.
In the scans she looks quite darker than in real life, and the hair having no color surely doesn’t help things either. But trust me it shouldn’t look too weird once I have everything else in place. I’m hoping on finishing this tomorrow, here’s hoping it goes along well.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update V
I got quite busy these last few days again, but I did get to advance on this piece. It takes quite a bit of thought process to continue after finishing one area and moving to the next. And doing on area require one to go back to previous sections to make sure they compliment each other color wise. Don’t know how long this one will take but I have been learning quite a bit from it and am no longer afraid to work with darker colors. I used some previously learned techniques which made things easier but had to develop some new ones so that I could work with a dark setting. I’d say the hardest part is making the lights look like lights. I’ve added some more details to make it look better than the last scan shows but you guys will have to wait for that update. The scanning always takes away the real lighting of my work and I have to correct it afterwords so it feels really off when I see the scanned piece on the screen.
In any case I am making progress. Just a bit more and I can have the background done so I can actually start on the main focal point.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update III
I’m really contemplating on how to go about this piece. I need to stop overthinking it but I feel I can probably come out with a nice piece if I do this right and on top of that learn some new techniques… Anyway this is what I have so far.
I went back to basics and bought a pencil set so that I can start using H level pencils again. Since they are so light they give me less problems when erasing them and if I do it lightly they don’t leave a mark either. I should be able to get better and cleaner work this way. The drawing is almost done now, I think I will change the background lights and make them smaller so that it appears as though the stage is much bigger. The hair is rather tall and fluffy huh? I was thinking of making it a bit smaller but after modifying it a bit I decided to not alter it too much so that I can make it look as if it was bouncing as she was dancing so that it looked like she was in the middle of movement. After adding that and a couple other details I should be ready to color. Here’s hoping I can pull off what I am imagining.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Lynn Minmay Update II
I had two final classes this week but I still have to do a couple more things until the 27th but over all I should have more time to focus on art (among other activities that will benefit my body and mind). Hmmm. I had a couple of days worth of searching for some more references of Macross and the main idols (Akina Nakamori and Seiko Matsuda) I will be using for this piece. Although I kept working on the piece throughout the week I didn’t really get much progress since I couldn’t decide on the outfit and the background.
Macross is quite interesting isn’t it? It has a very obvious 80s feel to it (it makes sense since it was made in the 80s) and yet is set around this time period. With that in mind I can actually modernize it if I felt like it. Though one can argue that the fall of the Macross on earth and the war that came from it might have stopped the progress of innovation when it comes to music and fashion. I think about things too much…
Anyway I decided to keep with the 80s feel so I set out to look at the concert performances during that time. I mostly focused on Akina Nakamori and after a couple of videos I came up with this:
I wonder if it even makes sense? I want to make this so 80s it brings nostalgia for those who actually lived it or saw the movies and music in the 90s.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Next project 5/1/16: Lynn Minmay
I have decided upon the next project for my next piece, and that is non other than Lynn Minmay from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (my all time favorite anime). When I first watched Macross I really came to dislike Minmay, she seemed to fickle and self-centered. But upon re-watching last year now that I am older I came to really like her. She was written in a way that doesn’t make her dislikeable, in reality she only saw Hikaru as a friend and nothing more (at least throughout most of the series) so seeing her not treat Hikaru as anything more than a friend is quite understandable (having experienced it myself).
Anyway, despite what people might think regarding her personality and actions she is quite cute making her a good model to draw. I went on a binge of downloading and searching for references. Eventually I got the idea to actually search for actual photos of idols from the 80s to serve as a firsthand visual reference to make something a bit different and more in tune to reality. That’s when I learned that Minmay was actually based on two of the most famous idols of the 80s in Japan. Those idols being Akina Nakamori and Seiko Matsuda. They are quite famous even now, I was actually quite surprised how much of a fanbase there still exists. And I’m glad because I found treasure troves of reference pictures to make my artwork come alive.
I can really see the influences in Minmay after looking through the photos. At first I was thinking about using a Chinese model for the drawing but after learning that these two were the influences I decided on just using them. And just before writing this I learned that Lynn Minmay is actually half Japanese from he mothers side so it’s ok if I just use Matsuda and Nakamori as the models.
I’ve written quite a bit so I will just leave it at that, here is a little taste of what I have done so far:
I know it doesn’t look like much yet, but I am quite happy with the base I have so far. I want to start incorporating movement into my work. And I truly think this is a good chance to do so. Drawing shouldn’t be hard anymore, what I worry is when I add color (which I still haven’t mastered).
Here’s hoping for the best.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
Darkcloud Xero's Online Shop 