"A Hopeless Dream Chaser"
Today’s Pixiv theme is piercing. Today I was swamped with school work among other things so I was low on time. Luckily I still made it. Ai Takahashi posted some really beautiful pictures on her blog so I used one of them as reference.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
I took about a week off from Christmas to New Years but have been working on some new pieces during that time. On around January 3rd I started to work on the first artwork of 2019. Of course I decided to make a drawing/inking/painting of Sayumi Michishige. I had bought her new photobook “Dream” last year but didn’t open it till New Years. I really loved it. Some of the photos are quite magical and give a fairy tale feel.
What I ended up doing was choosing some photos from her “Dream” photobook, Instagram and some others I had stored up. I wasn’t too sure about how I would have done the background but it turned out to be a good opportunity to try out using some patterned papers that I have been collecting over the years. I have been stockpiling them but I haven’t actually used them in anything till now (I tried making one before with The Kubo artwork but it was a failed attempt). I did edit these patterned background, which makes me excited to see what I can do with them. Speaking of the background I wanted to draw the rabbit from the Haro Moni show where they had a segment going on amusement rides to promote merchandise. But I was afraid I would be a little too similar to an amazing painting done by koha . You can check it out here
I really love the way she was painted and the way the rabbit stands in the back. When I finished my painting and I went to look at Koha’s I was surprised at how different our styles and techniques were.
For the color selections I decided to scan my current Copic swatches that I use traditionally to choose colors. From there I used the colors I had closest to what I wanted and edited them as needed. (I would upload the swatches but as I was working with them I noticed that they were a bit off so I need to go through them and make sure the colors are correct).
Here is the final piece:
And just for you guys who stop by here some other versions (I liked the idea that I could change the tights design, heck even the color should be easy to change):
This one is with out any lightening of some lines from the original drawing-
And one with Sayu using a polkadot design instead of the bunnies-
Here are the references used:
This is the main one I used but I obviously edited her pose and added some different clothes (the one on the bottom) –
And here are the rest (the Usa Chan Peace pose being very important):
And this is the patterned paper I used as the base for background –
I didn’t really focus too much on documenting the process because I just wanted to paint without any distractions and just enjoy the process. Having said that, here are the few I pictures of the process I do have:
Sayu as a brunette:
I’ve gotten quite comfortable just painting it all on one layer, at least with these more realistic pieces. The background I do make another separate piece since I can work much faster that way without having to mess with the main subject. I do want to paint Sayu in a traditional medium, I have some Arches water color paper that I have been wanting to use for a couple of months now so hopefully that will be done soon.
And with that I end this first post of the year. Here’s to hoping we have a great year ahead of us, let’s keep working at it.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Usa Chan Peace! V(⁎˃ᆺ˂)V
In episode 8 of To Aru Majutsu No Index III everyone was left hanging with the scene of Kanzaki Kaori wearing her Fallen Angel cosplay for Touma as a thanks for helping the Amakusa followers. So I figured I would draw her after finishing up the Kojiro painting. When I was done with the Fallen Angel painting I went ahead and watched episode 9 of To Aru today and much to my surprise they did show a bit more of Kanzaki with her cosplay (a lot more…) (#ﾟﾛﾟ#)
Hmmm… I made her outfit much less revealing but figured it would only take a couple of edits to change it to fit more closely to the one shown in the anime, though looking at it closely I’m amazed by how much of her cleavage is exposed (to the point it doesn’t make sense)! Σ(ﾟДﾟ;)
So with that I decided to make two versions. This was done using a G Pen and then colored using Photoshop.
Original:
More exposed version based on the anime:
References used:
The image that made me make two versions:
Here is the process:
I am contemplating make another version that has more details to see how much I can push it but still have it look good. Personally I really like the way this version came out. I’ll keep practicing these simpler color versions. I need to be as versatile as possible to be a good artist all around.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
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
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
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✧
This is the reference picture used from Sayu’s photobook “La”:
Here is the process:
The eyes were too big so I had to resize them.
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
Did any of you guys read Chibi Vampire? We got it here in the States around what 2008?… Anyway it took the Vampire genre and played around with it quite a bit. I remember hardcore vampire knights weren’t too happy because of that but I enjoyed it a lot. ٩(•̤̀ᵕ•̤́๑)ᵒᵏᵎᵎᵎᵎ
The idea of a reverse vampire who “feeds” off of misfortune is quite tragic and hilarious. Man that would suck if Karin met Touma from To Aru… （*/∇＼*）
I really like Yuna Kagesaki’s art style and dark humor, it is quite appealing. I suggest if you guys have a chance you give it a chance. As for the anime I didn’t see it. I didn’t like the simplified style that anime had during the 2000’s. I may give it a chance at some point but I don’t know much about it (well there’s that and there wasn’t a good quality version of it online at the time or in the library).
Reference pictures used from the manga:
Here is the process:
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
I really love Watamote. And I really love the development of Kuroki Tomoko. She started out with a skewed view of the world and her place in it, but little by little she started growing up. I think most of the fans tend to resonate with her. We all probably had that moment when we thought or did rather embarrassing things that are hard to think back to, but (at least for me) those experiences make one learn and grow as a person. One can read the manga and look back to one’s own similar experiences and laugh back about it.
Sadly it seems like the anime didn’t rate so well so we only got a season. I loved the anime but it seems like it was taken as a series that was making fun of anime viewers (ahem… otaku…) and people with social deficiencies, would that be the right term? I can see where they are coming from, but for many people like me, it is the exposure and interaction with people that helps with overcoming these problems and looking back at those tough times as a funny moment of my life. But I guess for people who might be stuck in that position it may seem like something else. The OVA also covered some of these issues as well as making fun of the fact that a lot of the popular animes are made up of cliches and generic anime tropes.
All in all, if you haven’t already I truly recommend that you check out the manga which is still ongoing (and has gotten better as it goes) as well as the anime which is a treat to watch. I just warn that you have a strong stomach since it has scenes that are so embarrassing to watch one feels the second hand embarrassment in amazingly high amounts.
Highly recommend it. (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
Here is the reference picture (as well as a little sample for those who haven’t read/seen it):
And here is the process:
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This time I decided to once again give the maru nib a try again. I looked up information on the net but it seems like a stiff nib is normal when they are new so I used some paper to make some lines and see if I could make the ink flow. It started flowing but it’s so small that the ink is a bit of a pain to make work. I made a small and quick drawing of Sayu doing the Usa-chan Peace. With the maru nib releasing ink I decided to finally do the drawing.
This is a picture from the Sports Festivals that Hello Project used to do back in the day. Those days sure were filled with a lot of fun events. Sad they ended by the time the Platinum Era was around… (︶︹︺)
In any case, although the maru nib gave me problems as I went along it did work remarkably. It allows me to make subtle shading quite easily and more precisely (when it decides to work).
Man… so freakin cute… ⸌̷̻( ᷇ॢ〰ॢ ᷆◍)⸌̷̻♡⃛
Here is the reference picture:
And here is the process:
Personally I loved the way the drawing came out. ◝( ′ㅂ`)و ̑̑
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This is a video from my old account. I believe it to be one of the few gems that came out back then. The only complaint I may have is that I made her body bend a bit too much. Hopefully it won’t cause her a problem when standing and posing.
Hope you enjoy it,
– XERO
Darkcloud Xero's Online Shop 