Traditional X Digital (Color) III

This is the third try at coloring. This time I will be using an old piece from 2008. This one is from one of my top manga favourites School Rumble. The reference used for this recreation came from Vol. 1 Chapter b01.

Here is the original:

I remember the first time I saw this page I fell in love with the artwork so much that I just felt compelled to recreate it. I noticed that there isn’t much shading done on my attempt. I wonder if that is because I drew with pencils not much stronger than HB or because it is so old that the graphite has rubbed off? Or maybe this was back when I was still trying to master shading?

In any case here is the piece I used to practice my digital painting:

I’d say i got rather close, although my lines are quite rough thus showing how much I was struggling making fine lines and making a clean recreation. On top of that the lack of shading does make coloring digitally more difficult. Despite all that, I am quite amazed at how it turned out.

As for my first attempt to color it, here it is:

It doesn’t look all that much special does it? Take into account that I did do quite a bit of work on this piece. I also added quite a bit of details with countless layers to add more depth to the drawing, but in the end it still looked rather mediocre.

That’s when I remembered a technique I had been playing around with when I was painting the first Cardcaptor Sakura drawing. And that is to add a duplicate layer of the drawing (specially if the if it lacks shading) so that it can give it more depth and detail. So here’s how it looks after doing just that.

Remember I just duplicated the original drawing layer (the drawing layer is all on it’s own set above all layer, marked as Multiply):

Doing something so simple gave it so much depth, and I really didn’t have to change any of the colors to achieve it. It’s quite wondrous how much the drawing and colors changed just by duplicating the original drawing. The hair alone was giving me problems, but this one technique gave me the color and feel I was looking for.

After this I tried adding some more details like a bit of blush and more details around her body:

After this I just tried playing around to try and create a background from scratch just using my imagination and the tablet. I did ok, and would just need to add a bit more layers of detail on all aspects to truly bring it to life. But in the end I see no need for that since I can do that and more just by doing it traditionally first then applying color later.

In any case here are my unfinished attempts at creating a background:

It looks quite out of place next to Yakumo, but making it all fit would require quite a bit of tweaking to make it all cohesive and look good. But I think I should just develop my own style for now and learn how to make art digitally that way and then eventually learn about making all digital work (at least for backgrounds) later on. Though I will just end up integrating those techniques to work along side mostly traditional artwork.

I will stop working on art for a bit so I can work on that Youtube video I mentioned before. I want to try and make something different and that’s also high quality, so that will probably take me a bit to make and edit. Hopefully not too long.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

July 25, 2016 0

Traditional X Digital (Color) II

Here is another go at coloring digitally. For this one I will be doing a much more simple drawing with no background. I wanted to use only about two different varieties of the same color to see how simple coloring would look on a drawing. This drawing is again of Cardcaptor Sakura and also from 2006. I know this is a reproduction, but I don’t know where I got the reference from. Most likely it is from one of the volumes of the manga, the things is I just don’t know which volume… So I apologize I can’t show you the original this time.

In any case here is the scanned drawing:

It’s a bit rough, but it will do. It is a very simple drawing that I can just apply color to it.

So for this drawing I tried to use some of my traditional techniques. On top of that I used some the few digital techniques I picked up so far.Not looking too closely, it almost looks like if I colored it using Copics. And that makes me ecstatic. Of course this is still a bit new to me, and I have much more to learn. The road seems to be a long one, but I really hope I can grow exponentially as I go along.

Here’s working towards the best!

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

July 23, 2016 0

Mikoto Misakas and Tsuyu Asui Final

Finally done. This piece was done with a combination of both watercolor and Copic markers.

I wanted to make a drawing with a simple background, which I have a really hard time doing. So I want to now focus on these for a while so that I know how to do them. I was annoyed by how much time it took to come up with something. Keep in mind a design like this is quite easy, so finishing it in one day should be absolutely no problem. And yet the amount of time it took me to come up with something is excruciatingly slow. So really, it’s more of my mental capability to make up backgrounds that will need to be strengthened so that I can not only make backgrounds that fit with the drawing but are also interesting to look at.

Since it is done traditionally I have to rely on just my brushes and my markers. This is where I can run into problems if I want to make identical patterns. I could do it the dumb way of drawing it one by one, but that will take too long, it also wont be perfect recreations and really it would be really annoying to do it that way. So the best options are either making stencils or better yet make a stamp. Which is what I ended up doing.

And here it is (it’s made of an old eraser that I cut into shape with an e-xacto knife, sadly the eraser was too soft so it gave me problems when applying tint on it, and to make matters worse it started breaking off in the end):

So in the end I came up with a really simple design that was brush painted in a light green. From there I decided to make the Gekota stamp to make reference towards Misaka’s adoration to anything Gekota so that way I can connect why she seems to be entranced by Tsuyu Asui, definitely one of my favorite characters from Boku no Hero Academia.

Now, why are there other Misakas? To be honest my original plan was something a bit different. And that had to do with having the background filled with Misaka imoutos (younger sister, aka Misaka clones). For that idea I was originally thinking of making a stencil with the figure of an imouto, then reproducing it on the background to give it a somewhat cute/creepy mood overall. In the end I opted against it and went for a much simple design which funnily enough took me more time to come up with…

In any case along with that idea I wanted to have Last Order the smallest Misaka and Misaka 9982 (the most cheeky of all the Misaka sisters). I remembered Last Order having those goggles so I quickly came up with the scenario where she would have like to make a trade for Tsuyu’s goggles which look quite interesting and of course Misaka 9982 being the voice of reason when it comes to Misaka Mikoto’s obsession with anything Gekota. I also really loved the annoyed facial expression she makes so I really wanted to recreate it.

Now as for Misaka Mikoto I really wanted to capture this catlike expression she makes whenever her curiosity and infatuation comes into play. And of course not wanting to make the drawing too simplistic I also wanted to add some creepy/cute love aura around Misaka. I also thought making Tsuyu look a bit more worried would be a good idea, but I remember that she rarely changed her expression and going back through the manga I was right so I decided to keep this simple expression.

The drawing looking a bit too lonely on the left side I decided to add a speech bubble that emphasizes her worry about the situation. What do you guys think it says? (Hopefully I spelled it right)

Before I forget I should also give it a title. The title will be: “Misaka Mikoto’s PARADISE and Tsuyu Asui’s Confusion”

It will be up as a print in the gallery.

And that concludes this piece. What do you guys think?

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

July 11, 2016 0

Mikoto Misakas and Tsuyu Asui II

Almost done, just one more detail (or maybe a couple more) and I should be done with this one.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

July 8, 2016 0

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.

July 1, 2016 0

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

June 24, 2016 0

Messer and Kaname Update I

So as you can tell I changed the drawing a bit from the rough draft I posted before.

If you can tell above I was thinking of having Kaname in her Walkure uniform, but after seeing episode 11 I started thinking that for the scene I was going for it wouldn’t really fit. So for that reason I went ahead and used the outfit from the scene where Messer revealed that he was saved by Kaname thanks to her song back when she was the lead vocalist.

The outfit really reminds me of Ai Takahashi’s outfit in the MV “C\C Cinderella Complex”by High King.

By this point I decided that this was set in the future as a memorial where Kaname sings AXIA in Messer’s memory. This scene of course is inspired by both the time Messer and Kaname talked (before he died) and the scene in episode 11 where Kaname decided to continue singing and become a stronger singer.

And now here are some scans as I colored Messer and Kaname.

I will continue to update this as I go along, almost done.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

June 22, 2016 0

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

June 16, 2016 0

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

June 11, 2016 0

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

June 3, 2016 0

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

June 3, 2016 0

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

May 30, 2016 0