Quick Update 10/21/16

The deadline for voting on the winners of the art contest on DrawCrowd was yesterday on 10/20/16 and yet only the cosplay category winner has been announced… None of the actual Corel winners have been mentioned at all. That’s truly strange, I wonder if the winners have been notified yet? Having said that, there are two pieces that I feel should be first and second place (of course this is just my top picks).

For second place I would choose this one:

Artist – 녹충

She appears to be an artist from South Korea.

I really like the way it looks, it’s simple and gives a scene that would happen in real life.

My pick for first place:

Artist – Miimork

She appears to be from Thailand.

This one has so much going on. And without words you get a story out of this one image. I really like it and feel it deserves to win above all other entries. The description says it all though, “This is the illustration of my friend who’s studying architecture. Back to school, new project, and old friend.”

In any case, good luck to the winners.

As for my work? I have been uploading artwork to DrawCrowd in intervals and at different time periods to see when it is most effective. I started with a Reina Tanaka drawing, uploaded at night which got over a hundred views in a day. That amazed me.

It was this one:

Tanaka Reina photobook study — Are you interested in it as a print?

Uploading to Pixiv you barely get a hundred if that in about a week and let’s not even talk about the abysmal views on DevianArt. After I believe five days it is getting close to 500, amazing huh?

After that I uploaded an Ai Takahashi drawing about two or three days later in the morning. And that one exploded in views. In one day it got around 6,000 views! I’ve never had that many people look at my work in such a short amount of time. After two days it is getting close to 9,000 with two likes and one promotion.

This one:

Ai Takahashi pencil drawing — Are you interested in it as a print?

What does liking and promoting mean? DrawCrowd is pretty interesting in that you have two options to let the artist know how much you like their art. You have the standard like option. By liking an artwork you are making a personal and private list of work you liked while letting the artist know that someone liked their artwork. Promoting an artwork on the other hand compiles a public list that is shown in your profile showcasing artwork that you deem good enough to recommend. It’s a really good system that creates a chain reaction of exposing artwork that others that follow said artist might like as well.

Now back to the third piece I have uploaded thus far. The third piece is the Halloween painting of Yuzuki Yukari I made last year. I uploaded it today in the morning and it has already reached close to 20,000 views! In just one day! This site is incredible at giving exposure to one’s work. I’m really glad I decided to give it a try. It did so well in fact that it has made it to DrawCrowds daily ranking! These daily rankings are a list of artwork that are popular during a day and are showcased on the homepage of DrawCrowd giving the artist and art piece more exposure. I debuted at #195, so I still have a ways to go compared to other artists. I wonder if I can reach the top 100?

This one:

Yuzuki Yukari - "Halloween Pumpkin Smash" — Print now available.

Well that was a quick update. I also have another announcement but I will leave that for tomorrow. Till next time.

Hasta la próxima,

-Nube

October 21, 2016 0

Yuzuki Yukari – “Halloween Pumpkin Smash” Youtube videos

As mentioned before. I have started to record myself drawing my artwork again. I wont be doing it all the time. But I will be trying to do it at least twice a month or so. Again, it also depends on whether I get request on Youtube. I plan to make another Halloween video aside from this one.

Anyway, here is the Yuzuki Yukari video. There are two versions, a short fast version and a longer slower version that is easier to follow.

Main video:

Secondary (long) video:

I do apologize. Looking through the video I noticed that the camera’s safety strap falls into view at the start of the video, and there was a mistake with my emblems popping up a bit earlier than it should. But seeing as it takes massive amounts of time to render an hour long video I decided to just leave it as is and pay more attention next time. I had a lot of difficulties starting up the video. I mentioned before (I think), that I upgraded to Windows 8.1. That means that I had to re-install some programs and transfer some files over to my computer from my external hardrive. And that ate up some time. But, now I have everything set up and ready to have the raw videos just plugged in modified and rendered just like the old times.

Hope this helps the people that wish to learn from my style.

I will add another post later today to let you guys know what I will be working on next.

-XERO

October 16, 2015 0

Yuzuki Yukari Halloween Drawing

Back on my Youtube page I was asked to make a video drawing Yuzuki Yukari, a Vocaloid. I had already drawn her before, so I decided to try something a bit different and also try a different version (something I found out while looking for references). I believe she has three different outfits that correspond to different versions of her voicebanks.

Now, as I have stated before. Making a video out of a drawing takes some time. I’m not able to move about freely when drawing, and have to be mindful of what I do so that the camera is able to pick it up and in turn allows the viewer to watch and hopefully learn from my actions. It can get a bit annoying but oh well. I’m sure that with time I will be able to do it much quicker and easier.

As for the drawing, I decided to make it Halloween themed. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do with the background of this drawing. After all, I am still planning on making two more Halloween drawings… But after playing around with my rough draft, I finally came upon an idea and just went with it.

Video will be uploaded to Youtube and linked here as soon as I am done editing it (here’s hoping to have it ready by tomorrow).

In any case, what do you guys think?

Ashita mañana,

-XERO

October 14, 2015 0

Hatsune Miku Final

Materials- Copics: C1, C3, C5, C7, W1, W3, W5, W7, B0000, B01, B21, B24, B28, B32, B34, BG13, BV00, E00, E31, E33, R27, YR65, Y26, Y28, R00, RRV11, G09, 100

Sakura Koi watercolors: Black, Gray, Blue, White, Yellow, Red

PrismaColor: PC 1069PC 1060, PC1063, PC 904, PC 935, PC 927, PC 950, PC 1084, PC 917, PC 918, PC1051, PC 906, PC 992, PC 1006, PC 928, PC 930, PC 925, PC 940, PC 915, PC 903, PC 905, PC 941, PC 938, PC 948, PC 1065, PC 997, PC 1034, PC 1072, PC 994, PC 1074

I finally managed to finish my Hatsune Miku drawing. So this is what I manged to do with it.

So if you remember this is where we last left off.

And this is how it looks when I added a some Color pencils, as promised I will add more pictures showcasing the process.

The first one has some color pencil added to the background and a bit on Hatsune Miku. On the second one I added a bit more color to Miku’s skin and added a couple of light effects coming from the sun. I was surprised at how easy I was able to pull it off, the rainbow glare effects came out quite well. Also, I added some lighting to Miku’s eyes and some glowing effects around Miku’s body. One thing I did not like about how she looked before was her face. I didn’t really like some of the features so I decided to soften them and change a couple of things like her left eye. I feel she looks better now.

I wonder what name I should give this drawing? Anyway, what do you guys think?

October 3, 2014 0

Hatsune Miku Update II

As promised, here is the next update to the current artwork that I am working on right now. This is only the base with some shadows added. This was done with both water colors and Copic markers. Now I am in the final stages. What I will do now is add some more colors with my color pencils. And that will be my final step, so next time it should be the final piece.

September 30, 2014 0

How to Draw Challenge – Luo Tianyi (COLORED)

Request by: DOGChels
And so this the second installment of the Luo Tianyi video… “In Color!” I recently obtained a set of 50 color pencils so my array of colors has grown a bit (finally). I am still unpleased with the way my coloring comes out. The time I borrowed my skills from Banpai Akira the drawing came out amazingly good, but I still have not been able to replicate it on my own. This time I tried to use a different style (that is a bit more plain but is much easier to use). Despite that I feel it needs a bit more effort. I’ll keep making more videos but I want to try to master my coloring style so that it comes out flawlessly. I hope you guys will come with me on this adventure to master the “color”.

Hope you enjoy it,

– XERO

July 28, 2012 0

How to Draw Challenge – Luo Tianyi

Request by: DOGChels
This is the design for the winning entry for the very first Chinese Vocaloid. I seriously like it. Hmmm, it seems that I made the skirt a little too long… but hopefully you guys won’t mind?

Hope you enjoy it,

– XERO

July 25, 2012 0

How to Draw Challenge – IA

Request by: ChelsDOG

Once again we have another Vocaloid. This time it is another newcomer, IA. I have heard a couple of songs and really like her voice. She really sounds realistic too, which I find interesting.

Because the hair color tended to change a bit in the references I had a hard time choosing how to go about it. In the end I decided to create a bit of a mixture of both light yellowish creme and a hint of pink. To my surprise it actually looke really good.

What do you guys think?

Hope you enjoy it,

– XERO

May 30, 2012 0

How to Draw Challenge – CUL

Request by: ChelsDOG

We will once again be drawing a Vocaloid. This time, it is CUL. From the information I read about her, it seems that she became popular after hosting a couple of things and has gone through some changes since then. Namely her clothes. If one sees her original design then one gets to see that it went from a plain dress to this rather cool and detailed design. I really like it.

Hope you enjoy it,

– XERO

March 24, 2012 0

How to Draw Challenge: The Seventeenth – Yuzuki Yukari (COLOR)

Request by: ChelsDOG

It seems that the Vocaloid craze has been growing and growing these past few months. If one thought that the selection of Vocaloids was already big, then think again. The numbers just keep increasing, Yuzuki Yukari is one fo the new additions to the cast. And truthfully at first glance I became a fan. Her style and color scheme are amazing + adorable. Just today I went and looked for some of her videos and to my surprise she has gotten rather popular (but that’s to be expected). There’s something about cute bunny girls that I find to be a bit unresistable, dont you think?

Hope you enjoy it,

– XERO

March 3, 2012 0