"A Hopeless Dream Chaser"
I’m sorry that it is a bit too light but hopefully you can see it.
It took me a while to start this piece due to some things I had to take care of and me actually going out to see Colorado. But now that I have actually finished that I can continue and finally finish it. Here are two updates. Although I plan to make this simple so it shouldn’t take too long to finish it.
So as you can tell I changed the drawing a bit from the rough draft I posted before.
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.
The outfit really reminds me of Ai Takahashi’s outfit in the MV “C\C Cinderella Complex”by High King.
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.
And now here are some scans as I colored Messer and Kaname.
I will continue to update this as I go along, almost done.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
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.
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.
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
I’ll be posting another update later today. Sorry for not posting on Wednesday, I actually decided to give the drawing a few days so that I could review it with fresh eyes and make a decision on whether the way I left it was ok or whether I would change it a bit later. Results of that will come with the second post, so please look forward to that. For now see what I have as of now.
Hasta al rato,
-XERO
I actually had most of this done since Friday, except the last two scans but I kind of took the weekend off to think and rest a bit, so sorry for those who were awaiting the latest updates.
I’m quite surprised I was taking as long as I was to color the background. As expected dealing with darkness is quite tough, especially when not doing a stylistic approach to it. I had to really think before adding any colors and going over and over (repeating many times) till I had the right shades in place and then eventually adding darker areas around the parts that were supposed to have light both from the light sources and the light being reflected on the ground. I really wanted a shiny floor no matter what since I don’t really deal with such backgrounds due to knowing how hard they are but in the end I decided to go at it anyway. Over all despite the amount of time it took and cont less retouches I felt pretty confident on what I managed to bring forth. Now it is time to actually focus on Lynn Minmay herself which I had a hard time deciding on what color scheme her clothes would have. I actually did quite a couple before scrapping them and coloring them over with what she has now.
In the scans she looks quite darker than in real life, and the hair having no color surely doesn’t help things either. But trust me it shouldn’t look too weird once I have everything else in place. I’m hoping on finishing this tomorrow, here’s hoping it goes along well.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
I got quite busy these last few days again, but I did get to advance on this piece. It takes quite a bit of thought process to continue after finishing one area and moving to the next. And doing on area require one to go back to previous sections to make sure they compliment each other color wise. Don’t know how long this one will take but I have been learning quite a bit from it and am no longer afraid to work with darker colors. I used some previously learned techniques which made things easier but had to develop some new ones so that I could work with a dark setting. I’d say the hardest part is making the lights look like lights. I’ve added some more details to make it look better than the last scan shows but you guys will have to wait for that update. The scanning always takes away the real lighting of my work and I have to correct it afterwords so it feels really off when I see the scanned piece on the screen.
In any case I am making progress. Just a bit more and I can have the background done so I can actually start on the main focal point.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
I think I have everything that I wanted drawn, now it’s just a matter of coloring… I really hope I can pull it off.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
I’m really contemplating on how to go about this piece. I need to stop overthinking it but I feel I can probably come out with a nice piece if I do this right and on top of that learn some new techniques… Anyway this is what I have so far.
I went back to basics and bought a pencil set so that I can start using H level pencils again. Since they are so light they give me less problems when erasing them and if I do it lightly they don’t leave a mark either. I should be able to get better and cleaner work this way. The drawing is almost done now, I think I will change the background lights and make them smaller so that it appears as though the stage is much bigger. The hair is rather tall and fluffy huh? I was thinking of making it a bit smaller but after modifying it a bit I decided to not alter it too much so that I can make it look as if it was bouncing as she was dancing so that it looked like she was in the middle of movement. After adding that and a couple other details I should be ready to color. Here’s hoping I can pull off what I am imagining.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
I had two final classes this week but I still have to do a couple more things until the 27th but over all I should have more time to focus on art (among other activities that will benefit my body and mind). Hmmm. I had a couple of days worth of searching for some more references of Macross and the main idols (Akina Nakamori and Seiko Matsuda) I will be using for this piece. Although I kept working on the piece throughout the week I didn’t really get much progress since I couldn’t decide on the outfit and the background.
Macross is quite interesting isn’t it? It has a very obvious 80s feel to it (it makes sense since it was made in the 80s) and yet is set around this time period. With that in mind I can actually modernize it if I felt like it. Though one can argue that the fall of the Macross on earth and the war that came from it might have stopped the progress of innovation when it comes to music and fashion. I think about things too much…
Anyway I decided to keep with the 80s feel so I set out to look at the concert performances during that time. I mostly focused on Akina Nakamori and after a couple of videos I came up with this:
I wonder if it even makes sense? I want to make this so 80s it brings nostalgia for those who actually lived it or saw the movies and music in the 90s.
Hasta la proxima,
-XERO
These last few weeks have been… tough, I seriously thought I could finish my last research paper in a day or two since I had most of the information in my mind. But as it turned out, I ended up having too much and ended up writing five different papers before eventually deciding on the last draft. I ended up cutting quite a bit from it. I hope that turns out ok.
Now that I am almost completely free I can start focusing on improving my art and putting some time for my body since I have been doing nothing but sitting these last few months. I made sure to buy desk that I can adjust the height so I can stand up as I work as well. I have to make sure not to neglect either side. I figure the biggest downfall for me is that I have tunnel vision and can only fully focus on one thing at a time. And that is incredibly annoying, so overcoming that is one of my goals during the summer.
Now that I have this all thought up, I have to start back with some new work and soon. We’ll see what conjures up.
Hasta la proxima
– XERO
Sorry for disappearing again, the end of the semester is coming upon me and things got a bit out of hand. I just need to finish a paper and I will pretty much be free of school obligations.
Anyway, after much thought I think it is finally time to make this piece go fully live. And like with all my previous works I have finally decided upon a name (although I had one a long time ago but I forgot), “Rebels vs the Empire – A fight between father and Son”. The theme of this piece is set in the 1940s when WWII took place. A lot of influences were drawn from Germany for the Empire after all, and of course there’s the whole Japanese influence (mainly the ideas of samurais, ki, etc.).
So with that in mind I had Darth Vader use a German uniform. I really liked the baggy pants which aviator divisions (among others) used. I thought of making his buttons different colors, but decided against it. The idea of making a communication device provide those light did come to mind, but the place I wanted to place it on would be covered by his arms so again I decided against it. I thought of making him go in all black, but I decided for a mainly three color scheme of black, gold and grey. I really wanted some more variation within Vader’s uniform. Plus I had the idea of having some type of armor beneath his jacket and pants (some of which can be seen on his arms). The idea is that the technology isn’t there for fully robotic prosthetics, so what if he just had his burnt skin replace with metallic armor?
As for Luke I wanted him to portray some influences of Japan, but also the Allies from WWII. I eventually decided on a combination of Yankis (specially since he represents the rebel forces) and some parts of the uniforms of the allied forces (which pretty much just ended up being the boots, undershirt and maybe, just maybe the pants). I could’ve gone for a camo pattern, but since he is supposed to be like a delinquent he wouldn’t follow the rules would he? So the decision was made to have him in all black like in the final movie (0f the original trilogy).The jacket I wanted to look like those that Yankis wear. They tend to put nonsensical (usually) kanji together that sounds cool and tough into a completely made up word or phrase. So I decided to do the same. It was actually quite fun to do and now understand why Yanki do this (and why they get some weird words and phrases that don’t make sense). I used Kanji for “Rebel + Alliance” on the right arm and “Defeat + Evil Spirit” on the back. I was going to add something else to the left arm but decided (mest up/forgot) to not put anything on it… The Rebel crest is also there. As for the red cloth on Luke’s left arm, I was thinking of the headbands used by Yanki, but I decided to put it on his arm.
Finally, as for the swords, I used the colors from their final confrontation.
The setting was originally going to be inside a battleship, much like in the movie. But after much thought I figured I could do more on a cliff where I could add air and sea battles to the background.
This was a bit of an annoying piece due to the amount of details and objects I had to keep in mind as I worked on it. Not only that, but as I added new objects and colors I had to go back to previously finished areas to have them meld well together…
But it’s now, finally, officially done.
-XERO
Man, I have been busy these past three months like crazy, because of that I haven’t been able to work on this piece except every once in a while. But now I have finally finished it. Here it is.
Now that I have finally finished it I can start focusing on other projects. Now the question is, what will that new project is.
Hasta la proxima,
XERO
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