New 3D Gundam project update

Here’s a bit of a sneak peek at the commission I am currently working on. My customer liked this piece from a couple of years ago:

What I had in mind for this piece was to have it translucent and have light shine through from the back to really make it shine and pop out. But I needed a lot of more experience at the time to pull it off. Looking back and I have a lot of ideas that could have made it work. But in the end I instead painted the background with black paint and added more details like stars, explosions, etc. with some watercolors. It actually doesn’t look bad at all. I noticed that the colors on the Gundams/Mobile Suits have faded quite a bit (this was because it was in an art gallery that was hit by the sun at almost all times of the day directly. That is a shame.

Anyway for this next project I plan on making it a bit three dimensional to add some depth and to play around with the skills I have acquired these past years. I will keep you guys updated on the process. So far about a week has passed by. Hopefully this is a two week project.

Some pictures of what I have so far.

see you later,

-XERO

August 14, 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

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

Ending the Youtube videos… sort of.

For the past, maybe three years or so. I have been making Youtube videos of my drawings and the process that goes to make them. I felt that it was probably the best way to make my work be known and to make my self commit to drawing something weekly. At the time I was not really sure about my future and my self making art as a sustainable solution. I just wanted to test the waters and see if my art was good enough to attract the attention of people. What I found out was that it was really hard to compete against other youtubers who made all sorts of entertainment videos. Even more so going against other artists that had a large following and fan base like Mark Crilley. My over all results were hit or miss really.

At the beginning I took requests, and that seemed to make people get more exited to watch my videos and contribute ideas as well as comment and interact with the channel. That though meant that I would have to draw things that I didn’t really enjoy. But I went with it for about a year till my account was struck with penalties. That’s when I decided to open my secondary account that I still use to this day, Darkcloudxero. For a while I kept the same format and continued to ask for requests, but I noticed that my enthusiasm kept lowering as time went by. I eventually decided to stop taking request and focused on drawing things I liked, while also lessening the amount of video I uploaded. This in turn started to stunt the growth of my channel. Views started to dwindle, and so did comments. In the end the popularity of the video and drawing was hit or miss (many times the most unexpected one got more views).

The reason for why my videos did so poorly can be attributed on a number of things. I did not seem to put my utmost effort into my drawings when making videos (specially when taking some requests). I felt constrained to unpleasant static and stiff positions because of the camera (couldn’t move the sketch book too much or get close to the drawing otherwise I would block the view). Quality of the drawings was very inconsistent, some came out great while others just looked childish. Inconsistent uploading of videos, sometimes it took me a whole month in between videos. Drew things that were no longer in style (things or characters people no longer cared about). etc. etc.

Point is that I had to fix quite a bit of things. But I decided to give this part up, my work suffered a great deal because of it. And not only that, but it took a long time to draw something since I had to go by the time I was given by the battery. The time it took to charge was excruciating. Plus it also didn’t help that when I am drawing, I get in a zone where I just have to keep going without interruptions otherwise it just doesn’t feel right later on. So for the sake of producing better work, I decided to give up making videos and just focus on drawing and producing some awesome stuff.

Hope you look forward to it,

-XERO

February 7, 2014 0

Darkcloud XERO Online Shop is now completely open

Just as the title implies, I have started my own little shop through my website. This is something I have been wanting to do for quite some time, it took me while to have it ready. But it is finally done and ready for action.

The website space will be divided into three sections. The main section will be the Drawing, Paintings Etc. section where I will post drawings. Some of the original drawings will be for sale, while others will only have the option to order a print (signed poster). They will all be marked accordingly. I am also taking commissions, so if you have an idea of what you want, allow me to make it a reality. If you want to make an order the prices will be in the Prices tab.

The second section will be for purchasing my handmade original Bracelets. Here you can purchase one of a kind bracelets in 6 original styles.

And lastly, the third and final section is for my Replica Woodwork/Craftwork. Here I take orders for replicas. You have a certain item from a game, movie, anime you want crafted? This is the place to do so.

Just enter into any of the galleries that are under the Browse Gallery tab and see if there is anything you like.

If you wish to order anything, go to the Prices tab, there is a form one must fill out and e-mail me in order to make the transaction. Free shipping world wide. Do not pay before contacting me.

-XERO

January 20, 2014 0

New Changes Coming To This Space

I have been absent for a couple of weeks now (no, more like months). But that was all because I was working on some new projects that I hoped I would be able to implement to this website. Back in high school I didn’t really have much of a plan of what I really wanted to do. That of course created a lot of worry within me. I knew what I liked to do, I knew what I was really good at. But in the end I felt it might have been best to try and follow the steps of the many people around me. I seriously believed I had to be like everyone else to be successful. Thinking back, I wonder what had come over me. I was never one to be a follower, I always followed what I liked or believed was right. In the end though, it seems I lost sight of all of that with all the stress that accumulated at that time. I remember being asked if I would pursue a career using my artistic abilities, at that time I just thought it would be nothing but a dream. Something I could only wish for, but nothing more than that. I seriously did not believe I could survive in this world by doing what I loved. I was wrong.

After struggling in a job I did not enjoy for a couple of years and trying out others, I realized that what I wanted most was not impossible. I would have to struggle even more, I would go through many downfalls, I would feel lost a lot of the time, but it would all be worth it once I began creating things with my hand. It would be worth the struggle as long as there was a chance to accomplish my dreams of using my skills to go through life instead of crawling through it miserably. Though this path has a lot of hardships, this is something well worth doing. If I fail at least I gave it a shot and would not be tormented with what if’s. And if I persevere and accomplish my goals, I will be the happiest me possible. And for that reason I will forge ahead as long as possible.

I hope you guys can help make that possible.

-XERO

January 17, 2014 0