Tag: new

New Opening and Ending for the Channel

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, Update, Youtube VideosLeave a comment

So I have been out for a bit, well only a couple of days. But fear not, I was actually working on some more work for the Artist Project. I had mentioned before that I wanted to start uploading videos up again to Youtube, but I also wanted to do new content as well. The first thing I wanted to do though was to create a new Opening and Ending for the channel. But I wanted some more interesting visuals than what I usually had by using the easy to use effects given in programs like Windows Movie Maker and the very basics of what I knew from Sony Vegas Pro. This meant that I had to sit down and actually learn some new techniques.

It sounds easy to say, but one of the reasons I wasn’t able to do it before was because I had too much information pop up. This wouldn’t be a problem if I wanted to learn from the very beginning, but since I had something specific I wanted to do I just felt like it would take too much time to get to the part I was interested in learning. Having said that, after playing around with Vegas for a couple of months now I have gotten used to the basics on my own. So once I had an idea of what I wanted to do, I just went and searched for that very thing. Thanks to this new Opening and Ending, I learned a lot of amazing things I can do with a program like Sony Vegas. Along the way I also learned a lot more techniques so that I can fully utilize Photoshop. This was a very insightful project.

I will probably make a post of the process I took to make this video in the near future, so please look forward to that.

Here is what I was working on:

 

 

This will be the new Opening and Ending for my videos. For any of you Jackie Chan fans out there, you will notice that I am paying homage to his earlier films of the 80s and 90s. Background is from the beautiful artwork from Oboro Muramasa. I couldn’t find any clean backgrounds, which sucked. But this pretty much forced me to learn some new techniques in Photoshop, so I am thankful for that. It took some time but I managed to clean them up and leave nothing but the background intact.

I took a bit of time to get to learn how to use Sony Vegas Pro and Photoshop to make this video possible. Now that I have this done I can once again start working on some new artwork and finally start uploading some Youtube videos.

There will be a couple of tweaks I will make to this intro and ending, but overall it is the finished product.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube

Traditional X Digital (Color) I

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, Traditional X Digital, UpdateLeave a comment

A few days ago I said that I was working on a new technique where I digitally colored an old drawing that I had archived and scanned. From there I plugged it into Photoshop and after converting it to a layer and setting it on multiply I placed every other color layer below the scanned picture. What is amazing about doing this is that I get to keep every single detail that I placed on that drawing once I color it in. This is great because I really suck at drawing on the tablet. I prefer traditional. I’ve gotten to the point that I can draw traditionally very good at a really good pace, but when it comes to adding color… I am still learning and that is where most of my time now goes. And since it takes so long, I don’t have time to practice digital art. Doing this will be the best of both worlds! (If you have been reading the past posts you may be wondering why I keep repeating all this. The reason is simple. I am super exited that I can do this and am really looking forward to when I get to master this technique.)

For the first piece I will use to try out this new technique (at least to me anyway), I will give the honor to a drawing of Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura (one of my all time favourite animes, and a fond childhood memory). This was done at a time when I was still learning how to draw by mimicking my favorite artist (almost all my old drawings are reproductions of one thing or another). This is a drawing I tried to recreate from one of Cardcaptor Sakura artbooks.

This is the piece I’m talking about:

233

I still couldn’t let go of a lot of my habits from traditional drawing… I will have to try and develop some new ones. The best way is to learn from others that have already learned how use the digital medium, and luckily there is  alot of artists making Youtube videos showcasing their artwork and techniques so really it is just a matter of looking for it.

Anyway, here is the drawing I did when I was around 14 or 15 years old.

2006 Sakura (740x1024)

Now as to why the drawing is inverted is any ones guess (no seriously I really don’t know why, maybe the copy of the artbook I got was inverted because it was Japanese and  they decided to have it open like western books here in the States… thinking about it, that might not be far off.)

Now as for the first piece to go through my fledgling digital abilities, here it is. I will admit, it isn’t the best coloring job ever but I did the best I could with my current digital art level.

2006 Sakura (740x1024) Colored I

It may not look like much to you, but for some reason this did take me quite a few hours to do. Aside from painting it over I was also messing around with my tablet and learning keyboard shortcuts along the way. I actually learned quite a lot from this piece and also configure my tablet’s buttons to do all the shortcuts that I felt I would need the most to move in the most productive way possible. The original scanned drawing doesn’t have much detail or shading so I do wonder what kind of effect it would have on it when I add even the most simple of coloring techniques?

Well this was a quick update on the beginning of my quest to mastering the elusive Digital Artwork!

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Will upload a new Youtube video soon

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

I have been wanting to revive my channel for a while now, and I will be editing one soon. It will have a different format from other videos before, so hopefully it won’t be too jarring. The videos will focus on the Artist Project that I am implementing and supplement the documentation of my progress. I also want to touch on other subjects like artwork and artists that I like, talking about my artwork a bit and even why I drew that piece in the first place. The whole point is to let people know about my self and my thought process when creating artwork, and hopefully helping other aspiring artists in their own quest to become better or even take the plunge and try and become professional artists as well.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Training on my digital skills

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

So for that last days I have been working on my digital skills. And despite all the advantages of being able to go back and redo things infinitely it is still quite tough going from traditional to digital. It’s quite frustrating. But I eventually came to a great discovery after learning that I can use my traditional drawings and color them digitally. I have had the idea of doing this for quite a couple of years but I never really learned how to do it, till now. Turns out it was actually quite a simple thing to do. I just had to create a new layer and make the actual scanned drawing into a layer and then place it on top of the new layer and also change the drawing layer from “Normal” to “Multiply” and I can keep all my outlines and even the shadings intact. And that is exactly what I dreamed of being able to do. For now I will work on an old drawing from 2006.

I’ll keep you guys posted on this. But I will say that this is a dream come true. I can now do digital art, but I will also be able to use my traditional skills as well. This will make the transition much easier and now I have to only focus on coloring.

Things are looking good.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Human Culture’s Songstress

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

 

Here is the final piece, it will be added to the gallery now.

Human Culture’s Songstress resize

Two questions.

What do you guys think of the final piece?

and

Do you guys know what is on the light panel?

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Mikoto Misakas and Tsuyu Asui Final

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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):

Gekota stamp

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…

Misaka's dream XI cropped edited resize

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)

Misaka's dream XII FINAL resize

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

Messer and Kaname Final

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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.

Singing for a Special Fan - Kaname and Messer resize

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.

AXIA lyrics resize

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

Messer and Kaname Update I

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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

Kaname and Messer I resize

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.

Kaname and Messer II resize

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

Kaname and Messer III resize

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.

Kaname and Messer IV resizeKaname and Messer V resize

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

Kaname and Messer VI resizeKaname and Messer VII resizeKaname and Messer VIII resize

Kaname and Messer IX resizeKaname and Messer X resize

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

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Ideas and rough drafts for the next projects

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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.

Kaname and messer

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.

Tsuyu and Misak, Last Order and Sister

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

Lynn Minmey, not the final piece

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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.

Lynn Minmey FINAL resize

I almost forgot, but do you guys know what is on the light panel?

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

Lynn Minmay Update VIII FINAL?

On By Nube ObscuraIn Artist Project, UpdateLeave a comment

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.

Lynn Minmey FINAL resize

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO