Matsuyama Hikaru snow training shot

I’ve been watching Captain Tsubasa 2018 and let’s say that it has been an amazing experience. I have seen the original series when I was in Mexico and then I saw the Road to 2002 version while I was in middle school (I think, it was quite a while ago)? That version was just ok although I did like the voice actors but the art style is really not my style at all. This new version is actually quite amazing. At first I wasn’t too sure about it since they were changing somethings from the original version, but they were mainly done because it was after all a version that is taking place in this time period. It was also a bit weird seeing an anime that goes from the old coloration to the new really bright and vibrant one we have today. But it does look quite amazing. One of the things I really like is that as the series kept going the quality also increased and to top it off they were paying more homage to the original manga. The second opening is definitely my favorite out of all the versions that have been released throughout the years. Of course my favorite sections are when they go into an animated version of the manga panels having Hyuga and Tsubasa going at it.

It looks so cool (I wanted to incorporate some of those speed/power lines into my artwork). I really hope they release it on blue ray over here in the States:

In any case I have done a piece based on Hyuga already, although he looks really stiff. I would like to make an updated version at some point. So now I wanted to make a piece on another one of my favorite characters, Matsuyama Hikaru. He has always been among my favorites, competing against Hyuga for my first place (which is funny because they have a rivalry within the series itself). In one of the most recent episodes he has finally unleashed his special shot. I’ve been watching it while I workout in the gym and that scene got me fired up and going even harder while I was doing my cardio. This series really helps as motivation to push me even harder. So with that in mind and the actual snowfall that has been hitting here in my city I wanted to make a piece of him training his special shot while it snowed.

One other element was having Yoshiko Fujisawa looking over him. There are many couples in this series but theirs is definitely among my favorites. The headband that is given to Hikaru is such a cute and tender moment that I feel it is quite iconic in the series. Must be nice having someone like you like that huh…

(〃￣ω￣〃)ゞ

Here is the final piece:

This is the main reference for the body posture (I wanted him to look like he was moving and not too stiff):

Here are the rest of the references (first two were to get an idea of the color scheme):

Here is the drawing process (at first I was going to have him training in his jersey but that would have been mean huh, so while getting screenshots for reference I came upon his tracksuit so I went with that instead):

And here is the digital painting process:

What I like most about Matsuyama Hikaru is that he is a hard worker. He might not have the genius ability of all the top aces from the series but he has the initiative and drive to push himself and in turn also his teammates in order to compete on even ground to the other teams. He truly is an inspiration for the many of us who might not have a natural talent but could still achieve great results based on pure hard work and tenacity. If you have something that you are passionate about don’t give up when you encounter setbacks, push through and achieve new limits by working hard.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

January 28, 2019 0

1st painting using Arches cotton cold press Michishige Sayumi

By the end of last year I bought a lot of art supplies which included new brushes, a ceramic watercolor palette well and of course the titled Arches cold press cotton paper. But I decided to use them at the time that I created my first cotton paper painting. They are quite expensive so I was a bit weary about using them. I painted all of my mistakes on the old cheaper Canson paper so I figured that I should be ready now that I understand what does and doesn’t work.

So of course I chose Sayu as my first subject. I chose a photo from her Instagram, seems like it was from a photoshoot.

I guess I should mention that I am now finally using my Instagram. What’s great about Instagram is that I can upload sketches and unfinished artwork. So I’ll probably be updating things there more often than here, obviously with less in depth details and pictures about the process.

I decided to play around with the aspects that are unique with watercolors making Sayu the main focus and then fading away as I moved to the edges. After looking at what other artist can do, it seems like I can push things further by using other mediums like color pencils to make certain areas finer/smoother and to control the values. But I want to practice that a bit before I do it on cotton paper.

Here is the final piece:

This is the reference picture:

And here is the process:

I actually quite enjoyed using cotton paper. It has more versatility than paper. It retains more water, paint and it also doesn’t start peeling off after a couple of layers. Although it still bowed by the end, it does react better than normal paper. Next time I will tape it down. I saw this painter on Youtube (named: Watercolor by Shibasaki ). He shows his skills doing just that in this video. where he paints without having the paper bow. I’ll have to work on that.

Now as for the porcelain palette well, I love it. It works much better than the plastic one I had before. It’s set up in a circular shape where I can have 6 different color and a center area to mix up colors. On top of that It’s much easier to clean up.

As for the brushes, I decided to buy some higher quality brushes. Cheap ones are okay but their bristles fall off and also they are also too limp when wet so it’s hard to control the brush.

That should be all for now.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

January 22, 2019 0

Kamei Eri Cartoon X Anime

I’ve tried using another cartoon X anime style again. This time I was learning from an artist named tes I really like his style and am really happy because recently he has been focusing on Watamote artwork.

I decided to use Kamei Eri as my reference.

Here is the final painting (done using Copics, and then I added a background with Photoshop):

reference picture used:

Here is the process (when I started coloring her I felt I had messed it all up and almost gave up but I’m glad I decided to at least draw in the line art and that seemed to fix my issues):

That will be all for now.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

January 17, 2019 0

Obscurus 2019

I’ve been developing ideas for a story I wish to create. One of the things I did come up with right away were designs for characters, starting of course with the main character. Looking back on my notes about the story it self, well… it’s quite embarrassing. (⁄ ⁄^⁄ᗨ⁄^⁄ ⁄)

I’m kinda glad I was just writing notes all these years. Now that I have a bit more experience in life, art and stories which I deem good and bad I feel I can make a much better and interesting story. Some of the main ideas will remain but a good number of them will be either axed or used as a joke. More detail on this later.

Any way here is the main character Obscurus Nube (his name was at one point Nube Obscura) (will say more about what kind of character he is at a later date):

I feel his hair is a bit too big, will have to try a couple more versions till I decide on the final design. Decided to take off his necktie but overall his design remained the same. This was the original drawing I did in 2011 I believe.

I drew it traditionally first, inked and then scanned and edited digitally.

Here are the files I used to create the background. Wasn’t sure what to put for the background so I was just playing around till I noticed some things looking good and after some more editing I came up with the final piece.

And here is the process:

I want this character to be connected to the motif of the Moon (as for why I will talk about it later).

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

January 15, 2019 0

First drawing, inking and painting of 2019

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

January 10, 2019 0

Kojiro Hyuga Tiger

So I don’t know exactly how it happened but I seemed to have missed the announcement of a new Captain Tsubasa anime. When Japan released the announcement of them hosting the olympics there was this really cool advert that really embraced their pop culture. Among the many animes that made an appearance was Captain Tsubasa. And let me tell you that animation was gorgeous. It seemed to have a lot of it’s aesthetics based on the manga which I felt had the best anime interpretation of Tsubasa that had been released at that point. I really wished that the prospect of there being a new anime would happen but alas there were no plans at that time.

Here is the video. Looking at it now I do wonder if the first segment was in fact from the original series, it looks really good (the whole video is pretty awesome so I recommend watching the whole thing, but if you only want to see the Tsubasa segment it starts at 0:32 and has another segment at 1:08):

Now jump to about two weeks ago and I just happened to stumble upon Captain Tsubasa 2018. It actually looks quite good (definitely better than the 2002 version which I really did not like their art style and coloring). I personally still prefer the effects and animation from the original but this one is great. Or at least it got that way as the series kept going. The second part is definitely superior. But I do have to say, the opening animation was absolutely amazing. It looks even more like manga artwork was being animated.

Not the best version of the opening but here it is (you’ll see the segments that I mention as the opening reaches the end):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkSxkm63GPE

I really love Captain Tsubasa, although I really don’t care much for Tsubasa and his team. Truthfully every other important character from the other schools around Japan are much more interesting and appealing to me. As this post and artwork will lead you to believe, of course Hyuga is my favorite character out of all of them, though I do have some more that I really like. But Hyuga is definitely my number one.

Here is the artpiece:

It was done first with dip pens and then colored using Photoshop.

References used:

Here is the process:

Do any of you guys like Captain Tsubasa? If so who is you’re favorite character?

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

December 5, 2018 0

Quick drawing, Kamei Eri Mikan

Had to work at my other job today but after seeing the prompt for today’s theme on Pixiv I felt I couldn’t let the opportunity pass. And the prompt is Mikan (tangerine). Since that was the introduction song that got me interested in Morning Musume I decided to draw one of the members holding a tangerine. Since I have mostly been drawing Ai, Sayumi (specially) and Reina I felt it was only fair to draw Kamei Eri again.

I used a reference picture from her photo book “Thanks” and altered it to fit the theme. Could have played a bit more with the drawing but I am a bit tired and hope to rest for the hour I have before I need to call it a day.

Reference picture:

and that of the tangerine:

Just when I was about to post this post I noticed that WordPress did away with the tags, did they move them or are they now just gone? Will look into it when I have a chance.

Nevermind, it seems I’m more tired than I thought. I created a new page instead of a post so I had to redo it all again… （ー△ー；）

That will be all for now.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

December 2, 2018 0

Another year of life. 2018

Another year has passed. This year was rather nice and productive. I was planning on my making two pieces today but it was rather busy today so I could only start drawing quite late today. ＼(;´□｀)/

The plan was to make a calabera of me drawing but making and planning the design would take too long and I have work tomorrow morning at my other job so that will have to wait. I think this will be the base design and I will keep adding designs as I come up with them. Something that represents me. ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)

I hope to make this coming year even better and more successful. Hopefully you guys do as well. I would like to take this time to thank you all for visiting my site and looking at my work. Here’s to another year where you and many more people become aware of my artwork. (≧∀≦ゞ

Feliz dia de los muertos! (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ

As I’m writing this the wind is rather strong at the moment and blowing the leaves around my town… I really love the sound of the wind, this is a great present on top of the ones my family has given me by being along my side all this time. ⸌̷̻( ᷇ॢ〰ॢ ᷆◍)⸌̷̻♡⃛

In any case here is the base drawing that I will be designing throughout this year.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

November 2, 2018 0

Inktober 2018 #22 Michishige Sayumi Sports Festival

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

October 22, 2018 0

Inktober 2018 #15 Weak Itsuki Takeuchi

Today’s prompt is “weak”, I had some ideas (mainly Shinji…, and Tomoko from Watamote though portraying that may be a bit tough since she is such a complex character) but in the end I don’t know if they would work or repeat too much of the same ideas. So I decided to look at some of the manga in my collection and then spotted my Initial D volume sitting there and remembered that Itsuki and his 85′ existed. He talks a big game but is… well… pretty weak. The perfect candidate!

This is the finished piece:

Here are the reference pictures:

And here is the process:

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

October 15, 2018 0

Inktober 2018 #13 Guarded Shinji Ikari

Oh, man. If you know anything about Evangelion and Shinji Ikari I hope that just looking at the drawing will be enough to portray the theme and what I was going for. Could have shaded it and add a bit more to the background, but this feeling of loneliness and emptiness I think fits well.

Had to make a quick one today since I get busy during the weekends with my other job. Also this is the second piece following the prompts. I was quite surprised at how fast I was able to make this drawing… （・□・）

Here is the drawing:

References used:

This is the process:

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

October 13, 2018 0

Inktober 2018 #9 Leaf

Just something simple and fast so I can work on another piece. Funnily enough it was a rather tough piece. Not because it don’t have the skills but because the pen kept skipping and dropping not enough ink or noticeable droplets that messed with the values. Because of that I was forced to work with darker and darker values. A shame because I was aiming to try and get it to look realistic.

Here is the process:

While I was refilling this little container where I keep the ink I wasn’t thinking and allowed an ink bubble to burst which of course fell onto the paper. After ending the cycle of mistakes I go and make simple and dumb one.

I was actually planning to finish it at this point, but when uploading the pictures to my pc I saw that it would be an easy fix if I pushed the values further.

So I did and ended with this.

Hasta la proxima,

-NUBE

October 9, 2018 0