"A Hopeless Dream Chaser"
If you know, you know.
Current painting I’m working on at the moment. I’m actually almost done, but it’s gotten rather late and I need to eat and rest a bit. So I’ll finish it tomorrow. Bummer. Though I guess that will give me some time to rest my eyes from the painting. Perhaps some things will be improved because of it.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This is the painted version of my Manbagi line art. I made the lighting a bit more reddish and darker to showcase the passage of time since the last drawing.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Happy New Year!
Feliz Año Nuevo!
あけましておめでとう!
Somehow I managed to finish it on time. This is the first drawing of the year. I decided to risk it and rest a bit after work yesterday and start the first drawing/painting of the year on the very first day of the year. Usually I start a day before and finish it on the second. I wasn’t too sure what the subject would be until I noticed that people were posting tiger themed photos on instagram. The tiger is my favorite animal so this actually made ideas flow much easier.
I had the idea of riding the tiger but felt that was a bit cruel. Then I had the idea of the tiger kinda hugging me like my dog does (well except he hugs from the front) and this concept was born. I drew it first without reference to come up with the pose and whatnot. I wanted a hopeful and determined theme, with the strength of the tiger behind our backs. Or something like that. As for the background I wanted to emphasize the winter weather and used a photo that I took years ago of a street where the mountains could be seen with a beautiful sunset.
Let’s do our best this year!
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
A redo of painting I did back in March 2020. I only did a couple of touch ups of the background and changed some of the lighting and color. The main changes were made to Terry in terms of the values and hues. The main part I mainly spent repainting were his arms.
First version can be seen here:
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
I recently saw an artist that worked with light colors and used that as an aesthetic advantage. Usually when I paint, almost every time it looks really light so I worried whether it would look well to others or not. So this time I have decided to just paint like usual and try to not overwork the painting too much. What I did want to try though is a version where I just painted and let the colors separate the whole piece as a whole. In the second version I added some lighting to the hair, darkened the lips and added some linework. Personally I prefer the original version more although I do like the the linework version as well. I went for a semi realistic/anime style. This mainly entails that one keeps the detail on the face as flat as possible and making the eyes bigger. Of course one can play with the style and how far to push the details which will give different effects. I chose to add a good number of facial details but using very light tonal changes that are noticeable but that are not very abrupt and still keep the coloring style a bit flat. As for the eyes I decided to keep the main shape and colors intact but made them bigger and enlarged the eyelashes a bit.
This study was done using a photo from Momoko Tsugunaga’s last photobook. Happy Birthday Momochi, thank you for everything you have done. Even now your work still makes everyone happy. And this of course includes me. Now that more media is becoming available to us overseas fans and that I can understand a bit more Japanese, I have so much media that I can now enjoy for the first time. It’s a shame my skills were not good enough back when you were still active. Although I love that not only did you have a goal in life (as a teacher), but you accomplished it on top of all your idol activities. The motivation you emanate is absolutely stunning. I truly hope that you are doing well and enjoying life. I can only hope that my art reaches you and makes you even just a fraction of the happiness you have given me.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This is based on a drawing I did way back in (at least from a quick search) 2016. At the time I was completely new to digital painting or using colors really. I was more into drawing and was really struggling with color. I seriously thought I could bypass that issue by focusing on the values using my pencil and then hoping that Photoshop would deal with the colors on it’s own. Of course, nothing is ever that easy.
You can see my past attempt here:
Traditional X Digital (Color) IV II Final
Actual Lelouch final
I can proudly say I have made some progress in the last 4 years.
I used the line art as a quick map of how I wanted to set up the painting, but overall the line art would be left out. Once I had some reference photos of how castles and the sky could look like I began painting. I started with the castle first and that took me a while since I kept working with the way I believed the shadows would look in my scenario. But I made the mistake of not painting the sky so I could figure out what colors I would eventually end up using. With a bit more experience I should be able to figure this out in a couple of minutes but setting up the lighting for the background took me a couple of hours. Once I was satisfied with what I had, I then began working on Lelouch. But since the colors for the background were dealt with, getting his colors was much easier. Dealing with him did have to be finished today though. I want to be fast enough to paint something like this in at least one day, but for now it is taking about two days. For this painting I decided to use the spray paint for the sun’s lighting and in some sections of the clouds and the castle. I seriously should use it more since it made the effect I wanted much easier.
My brother has recently started watching Code Geass for the first time, so when I asked him for a suggestion of course Code Geass would be the option. I figured that would be a good excuse to retry doing this painting.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Last week I started the line art for this painting (finally had some time to work on it a bit on Monday night and the rest on Tuesday night). I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do so I was just sketching whatever came out. I then had the idea of having Kenshin look up, which gave him a sorrowful feeling. I then wanted some movement so I made his hair to blow in the wind. I was surprised how quickly the drawing came out, I used to take hours just to draw something even if it was simple line art like this one. From there I was looking at reference pictures of what I could use as the background. I found this really cool one of a shrine (turned out to be one from Nagoya when I researched it) but then I started thinking that a shrine doesn’t mean it’s a graveyard (plus it wasn’t in Kyoto) so once I had to work on the space right behind Kenshin I looked around google and found some references of graveyards. I used the impressionist brush for the texture but it looked really weird compared to everything else. But it turned out to be an easy fix when I started glazing and blending the graveyard pillars and steps. I thought of adding writing on them but that would take too much time to research, come up with and paint the intricacies of the kanji. So I just made some brush strokes that from a distance might look like actual writing but they have no actual meaning, they are just scribbles. The overall look I wanted to go for was the style used in the 90s anime which I believe holds up very well. Specially during the Kyoto arc.
Just as I was about to upload this painting I noticed that I hadn’t painted in Kenshin’s iconic cross shaped scar. Good thing I was too tired yesterday to upload it or he would have gone with out it.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Many of the side characters in Captain Tsubasa could’ve been very generic stereotypes but I really do believe almost every single one of the main rivals that Tsubasa encouters are not only very interesting but interesting enough to be main characters in their own series. Truthfully I prefer almost every one of those rival characters to Tsubasa who I find to be really boring (but I guess that is usually the case with most protagonists of shonen series.
In any case, I have said it before and I will say it again. The best character is Hyuga Kojiro who very easily could have been that cool bad character that one loves to hate but is usually very one dimensional for most of the series until they decide to flesh them out. But instead they decided to show just how much of a hard worker Kojiro is and how selfless he is as well right from the start. Aside from his rather combative and harsh personality in the field, he is a person that one could look up to and admire. His life is not easy, as he has to support his family who is struggling financially by both working and taking care of his siblings. He not only does it but he understands the situation and doesn’t hold a grudge against anyone for his predicament. And finally, despite all that going on, he decides to continue doing what he loves and works towards his dream of being a soccer player. He truly is the antithesis of Tsubasa who was born a genius soccer player with a whole family who not only loves him, and has financial security but they also do everything they can to allow Tsubasa to pursue his dream of becoming a pro soccer player. One has everything given to him and the other has to struggle to achieve his goals.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
There’s a contest currently going on with Corel. It’s supposed to end today. As soon as I finished with my 2B painting I started working on this one. Aside from using a reference photo for the background I went ahead and painted Nube from memory. The original version was lighter and faded so I went ahead and added a multiply layer to add more color to it. I just started painting and just let it flow.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This was originally done in August 24, 2018.
I had an idea of what I wanted for a while, but I also wanted to try a fast and simple coloring scheme like what I see on Pixiv. This is what I ended up with.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004976567/in/dateposted-public/
I’ve been practicing drawing from imagination, at least the form and main idea. For details I still need references since a lot of what I draw has very specific … well … details.
This is the rough draft and the progression.
In my memory I for some reason had in mind Eva 01 look like
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44941957681/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44941957661/in/dateposted-public/
I had in mind that episode where Eva unit 01 was eating an Angel after going berserk
this one (Screen capture I took from the anime):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44893031482/in/dateposted-public/
so I went with this color scheme, and yet in my mind I had the sunset scene in my head. So I tried to see how it would look with darker blue hues first.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44941957611/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44941957651/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44941957561/in/dateposted-public/
After some thought I decided to go with the sunset scene instead.
Using these references for the color scheme (Screen captures I took from the anime):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44893037072/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44942025511/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663775/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663725/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663695/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924627/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924497/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663655/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663585/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924387/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663505/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663485/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924277/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924227/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663345/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924347/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44221398254/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/30004924197/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44029663245/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/44221398194/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31068776248/in/dateposted-public/
That should be all for now.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
It took quite a bit of work to finish, both with the actual drawing and the coloring that had to be done after. But I made sure to put in all the hours that I could into it so that I could get it finished by today. It was a fun drawing, I remember having a bit of a hard time deciding who to add to the drawing. I wanted to add the main characters for one, but that would be too little. So for that reason I started adding some extra characters so that it wasn’t too lonely but they were characters that I actually liked. Not like that tree trunks.
I wanted to add a bit of life to the party and have everyone doing their own thing. I have Finn and Flame Princess having a tender moment together. Jake being a pig eating all the bread but still being nice enough to share some with Lady. Cinnamon Bun being a dufus and falling while dancing (for some reason I really like this character) I have two characters kind of hidden and lurking in the shadows because they weren’t invited. The most obvious being Lumpy Space Princess. On top of the tree I have Peppermint Butler giving his creepy look as if he has some diabolical plan in motion. In the ground I have BMO dancing and having some fun. The scene I had the most fun doing was with the trio Marceline, Ice King and Princess Bubblegum. I had Ice King being the usual goofy weirdo he usually is by trying to dance with Princess Bubblegum, which if course annoyed and creeped her out (oh yeah I also placed Gunter by Ice King’s side). Meanwhile I had Marceline providing the music for the party while looking warmly at Ice King having fun (Marceline is my favorite character by the way, Ice King being somewhere in the top 3).
This was all colored with color pencils except the actual gang themselves. I colored them with Copics (since they are so small the Copics didn’t have a hard time coloring them despite many of them needing a refill). In some areas I went over with my pens to make some outlines. Bristol and PrismaColor go very well together. Now I just need to buy a blender so that I can make cleaner transitions between colors and areas that go from a color to completely white (meaning just the paper). What do you guys think?
-XERO
I’m pretty much almost done, finally. Here are some updates on the drawing. I hope to have the final piece either today or tomorrow.
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