Goku Dodging Jump

This is a double feature of sorts. I will be doing two types of painting on this drawing of Goku which has been drawn with ink. I first used watercolors to paint Goku and then I painted him again digitally using Corel Painter 2020. The time between each was very noticeable. The traditional painting took and the digital painting took me only . I really have to think about how I advance after every movement. Meanwhile with digital painting, I seem to have more experience and I can make as many mistakes as I want since I can undo right away. But I guess that doesn’t completely transfer over to traditional. Although I can go as detailed as I want, it might be better if I develop a simpler style like Little Thunders which can be so versatile but not overworked.

This painting has made it clear that I should practice more with watercolors. One other thing I remembered, don’t ink your drawing if you will be using watercolors on it (this is only if the inks aren’t waterproof). Otherwise they will smudge when painting. Instead, go over the lines by pressing hard on them using a pencil (I mean I know this, I don’t know why I didn’t remember). Then erase everything. If done correctly, the lines will be visible even when painting over them. One you are done painting, the line art process can finally be done. This can be done with ink, color pencils or more watercolors.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Metal Bat inked painted

I just noticed, but this drawing was done almost a year ago. And it has been painted for almost a couple of weeks now. But I kept pushing it back. Maybe I should upload every day instead of only on weekdays. But I do plan on making videos on things beside the speed paints as well, so I’ll see how my schedule ends up looking before I make a decision.

I went for a flat colring style this time. Hmm… Metal Bat looks a bit like Dracula…

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Baseball Airi Suzuki

Originally drawn for inktober 2020 day 08.

It can be found here: https://darkcloudxero.com/2020/10/08/inktober-2020-08-airi-susuki/

I used the pastel brush for the background which gave it quite a bit of texture while still being rather loose. Airi was painted in flat colors using Photoshop before moving over to Corel Painter for the other color layers. I remembered that I had left the logo sections free which prompted me to add Suu-san and an A for Airi. For some reason it takes me longer to paint solid sections more than doing it freestyle using Corel Painter’s Oily Brush. Thinking about it now, it might be easier if I just rework the line art digitally and use the bucket tool like animators do. Aesthetically though, if the drawing itself isn’t good, I guess it won’t work either way. I also wonder if having solid black lines might be too much for this type of paintings. I’ll have to keep experimenting. I really want to do more studies of Airi, there are a couple of photos that I have had in mind.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Gina Nina BoomBox

This is a study using an old ad from Sanyo. The ink drawing was first drawn for inktober 2020 day 04. For this piece I wanted to try out a super simple painting with no shadows or lighting, but as I kept working on it, I decided to just go ahead and try adding more details just to compare and contrast. To add a bit more of color to the simple painting style, I decided to use color burn for the line art which worked really well with the static and colors used on Gina since it reacted in very interesting ways. I wanted to go for a more pop art look so I went with more saturated and vibrant colors which really makes it pop.

When I first saw the reference ad used I thought it was Phoebe Cates, but as I was working I noticed that there was a name on the ad in the left bottom corner that spelled out Gina Nana. When I searched that up, no much came up about it except 2 or 3 other ads with the same model. When I searched up her name using Katakana more photos and ads came up. So yes, this model is actually a different person by the name of Gina Nana. It seems she was a model for Sanyo for a while during their cassette electronic campaign. The reference I used was from 1985.

Reference used: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/5e/0d/8a/5e0d8af9940bc91dee1021a525068556.jpg

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

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

Final Gear Contest Bernadette Ukiyo-e

Today is the last day to upload to the Final Gear -Heavy Battle Princess contest here on Pixiv. I wanted to try something different this time, so I decided to try going for an Ukiyo-e style. I decided to go for a mix between traditional and digital (although if I had a bit more time I might have painted it traditionally). But I quite love the way it all came together. I really loved working in this style, I really want to try it again at some point. Hope you guys like it.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

Shoujou Comando Anime

A painting of the ink drawing I did for Inktober 2020 day 16.
It can be found here: https://darkcloudxero.com/2020/10/16/inktober-2020-16-rocket/

I’m actually quite interested in watching it, luckily it seems like it has been fansubbed so I will have the chance now. I’m really glad the community of this media exists.

For this painting I went for a simple 80s anime. I played around with the static filter, but this time I only used in for the background while leaving the character layer clean and crisp. I quite like the way it looks together.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

The Artist Avatar Challenge DarkCloudXERO

My entry to the DeviantArt contest. Tried to include all my current art styles into this piece, both traditional and digital. Background is fully digital, painted with Corel Painter. The astrological clock, character and ink jar backpack, g pen and brush were done using Photoshop. The pixel maid was done using Pro Motion NG and then enlarged using Photoshop. The skeleton was drawn using my g pen and the tiger was painted using ink. The text was drawn using Photoshop. 
I painted my current workspace which I used as the background, but most of it was covered up by the front layers and also cut off. 
Apparently if Scorpio is in the Moon Sun position, it indicates that they are “creative, intense and mysterious”. Which I thought would fit in well with the theme. 
Luckily I read the instructions again so I redid the VHS distortion by hand which does the trick quite well and has some cool painted effects from the I believe it was the pastel brush.

The character himself was actually the element that took me the longest to paint since I was just coming up with each section as I went along. Life can be hard and it can chain us down, both in terms of time, physical methods and psychologically. But art is a way that can help us break those restraints and let our emotions and creativity take shape, letting us create anything that’s inside our minds or that of others. 

With that in mind, I wanted to create a painting where I could use my art tools to bring my creations to life and help free me from my limitations and problems. The tools would change in size depending on the application and would revert to their original size when I needed to put them away. The ink jar I felt would be carried as a backpack. 

The reason the skeleton and the tiger are splattering ink is because they have been newly painted/drawn so they are not fully dry yet. 

Hope you guys like it.

#ArtistAvatarChallenge

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

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