Just a small update on the current situation

I’m still working with my client on the work she has commissioned. I have already finished the first one, which took quite a bit of work since it had a lot of subjects and each one took quite a bit of time to color in. Right now I am working on the second commission which I have fully drawn out and am currently painting at the moment. All is going well. If things continue going this well I wouldn’t be surprised if I finish by tomorrow. Although I do have to do some homework and study for a quiz for my college class…

Anyway, after this I will have one more piece I have to draw and paint and I should be able to continue with my previous projects until the next commission comes along.

Hasta la proxima,

-XERO

January 31, 2016 0

Star Wars art piece update IV

Currently really busy working on a big commission with three different art pieces. One of them will finally be done today. Two more to go. I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much here in a while. anyway here is an update on what I have done so far on the Star Wars drawing. I’m almost done, I just need to finish coloring Luke and Vader then adding some finishing touches.

January 20, 2016 0

First Drawing of 2016!

It’s not a finished drawing, but it will be the foundation for this years work. I’m surprised at how much I can do without references these days… my skills have definitely been improving, here’s hoping I can go even further. In any case, can you tell what this drawing is about, and who is in it? It’s only a rough draft right now, but it definitely captures my feelings and thoughts quite well. Since it’s so rough you guys might have a hard time seeing some things, but it is vivid inside of my head. It’s strange, I get all warm and fuzzy every time I see it, I just can’t help but smile…

The hardest part is to get the poses it seems… I have been wanting to do a piece for quite a while now, but I just couldn’t come up with a good concept. But now I feel really confident in making my art subjects do what I envision with out the need of references. Studying the way human bodies look and move has really helped. Every time I can I try to pay attention to the way a body looks and does things. I have much to learn of course, but it has made it easier to make movements/poses that make sense in an art piece. That is what I wish to impart in this drawing. Of course I will be using references to help make the drawing more lifelike. But that will be mainly focused on facial expressions and whatnot. This rough draft still needs a bit more teaks before I start adding more details. I want everyone to be “connected”. There’s three “connections” I need to make. I just have to think about it carefully so that it looks natural.

This drawing will be advanced as I see my skills up to par with what I have in mind… I get chills just thinking of me getting to that level…

Anyway this is a year round project, so I will be putting most of my effort on commissions and other projects. Right now I will be working on the three commissions I have at the moment and also work on the Star wars drawing I started last year (feels weird saying it).

So far this year has gotten off to a great start. Here’s hoping to make it better!

Ashita Mañana.

-XERO

January 7, 2016 0

New Art Piece – Star Wars

Currently working on the next piece. This is a sneak peak. I’m hoping to use some new techniques with this.

Ashita mañana –

XERO

December 21, 2015 0

Levi Ackerman Youtube video

I have finally finished the Levi Ackerman video, and has been uploaded.

In this episode I will tackle Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan.
As per request I used only color pencils for this drawing. I’m guessing that judging from her age she can only afford to invest on the basic art utensils. For that reason I made sure to use only Crayola color pencils (except for my black PrismaColor color pencil which works much better than the crayola, it can be bought on it’s own in a hobby shop).

Crayola pencils used: white, peach, light brown, silver, green blue, turquoise, tan, dark brown, blue, taupe, pink, brown, slate
(if using crayola, make sure to get a 36 colors box so that the transitions in colors can be done much smoother.

Overall the difference between professional color pencils and the mass market one’s are quite apparent. Crayola color pencils take quite a bit of time to blend together since the pigment doesn’t do more than three layers easily. And even then, the layers have to be placed in light coats first than applied on thicker coats little by little. I really like using a white color pencil to blend light colors together to give them a smooth transition from one color to the other and to go from color to white.

The best thing to keep in mind is that color pencils can be layered on top of one another. As for making outlines for the drawing before coloring. One can outline it with pens, but be prepared to keep the colors simple so that they don’t look bad and out of place and/or changing the thickness of the outlines throughout the drawing to make it blend well. I obviously did not do this. Instead I used only my mechanical pencil and darkened it once I had the rough lines drawn. From there I can start coloring and choose areas that I wish to lighten. I do this by applying color pencils over the lines. But be aware of how the color pencils can smear the graphite from the pencils.

This is just a speed drawing video, a slower (and longer) video will be uploaded soon.

Here are the links –

speed drawing version:

EXTENDED version:

And the drawing itself:

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Ashita Mañana
-XERO

December 16, 2015 0

I’m finally free for the winter!

Finals are finally done, so I can start having more time to focus on my artwork again full time.

Of course, despite not posting things here, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been working on work behind the scenes. I have made some progress on the cosplay. here are the boots for Camus.

Now, as for the second armor, here it is. This time it is Gemini’s armor.

All that is left to finish is the shoulder plate (which is a bit tough) and the arms.

Aside from this, I got a new request for my youtube channel. This time I have to draw Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan. Here is the rough draft of what I will be working with. It was requested that I use color pencils. It seems like the requester doesn’t have the funds to afford the more pricey art supplies, so I will be using my crayola brand color pencils. This will give a good indication of how much I have improved since the last artworks.

Here it is.

Well, I’m off to work. And since I have more time, I will try to post things more frequently.

December 10, 2015 0

I’m finally back, and some more updates on new projects

It took me quite some time to finish some work I had to do for school and some other things. But I am finally ready to start work again. I apologize for disappearing again, but the research paper took much longer than I thought. Now that is finally done and I will finally be able to work on some of my artwork, and some other projects such as some armor for a cosplay set me and my group plan to take for next years anime convention.

Here’s a sneak peek at what I am currently working on. This is Camus’ armor from Saint Seiya. There are about four more armors I will be working on. So I will not be saying what they are and let you guys take a guess as to what they will be.

I had to take this pile that I had all jumbled up and rebuild it back into the armor. That takes quite a bit of work, but I hope to take the template and finally make the cuts to the foam and build the actual armor. I currently have two armor templates done, next will be to build the next two.

What do you guys think?

November 23, 2015 0

The final update on the “Draw Our Mascot” contest entry 7/2/15

I finally finished that drawing I was talking about. Here is a link to the contest just in case you guys want to join, theres still 18 days left: http://anime-x-life.deviantart.com/journal/Draw-our-Mascot-CONTEST-18-DAYS-LEFT-533616298

There’s another contest I will enter which will end in 8 days on Youtube, more on that one later. I also have a commission I will start soon and another contest, but that contest will end in December.

I will write a bit about this drawing tomorrow and what I was thinking when drawing it.

July 2, 2015 0

Working on a piece for a contest on DeviantArt

One way to increase my level is to compete with other artists head on, so I decided to start working on pieces for contests. I will explain on this a bit more later.

Anyway, here is some updates on what I have so far.

July 1, 2015 0

Inadequate

I’ve been feeling quite inadequate lately. My skills have improved but are still not good enough to reach the next stage. I have many regrets that are currently plaguing my mind. And that annoys me to no end. After all, if I was strong I would just overcome them without a problem in no time. But because I didn’t prepare beforehand, that all went down the drain. I used to be known as a really hard worker, but it seems that sometime before I became rather soft. A shadow of what I used to be. Recently some of that spark seems to be ignited from time to time but I don’t need just a small spark. I need to set my soul ablaze and go at it 100% just like I used way back when. The first step is to not just think it, but do it. Which is why I decided to finally join the world stage so that I can test my skill repeatedly and increase my skill faster by going against stronger artists. That’s how I picked up skill before after all. Although I know I can do it, I just hope it doesn’t take too long. there are many goals and wishes I wish to accomplish before they are too late after all. Here’s hoping it all goes well, I will continue trying to set my soul on fire so that I can reach those at the top and accomplish my dreams. Hopefully you guys follow me on this journey.

-XERO

June 26, 2015 0

Trying to showcase my art around the world using the internet.

My skill have been rising, though I will improve much more, it is finally time for me to start trying to showcase my art around the world. So with that in mind I will start uploading it to various sites such as Pixiv, Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook and DeviantArt (which I have already been doing). I placed some test drawings that I hope will get my feet wet and allow me to understand how best to post art and link it to this website.

Here’s hoping it all goes well.

-XERO

June 22, 2015 0

Alice Margatroid

This drawing was done about almost exactly a year ago. I’m amazed at how much detail I was able to pour into this drawing. There are a couple of problems with it though, such as some places that are a bit slanted or warped, actually it’s really only two areas that are a bit wonky (the candle holder in the floor and the window panels). I wanted to go for a spooky feel. A puppeteer with her marionettes surrounding her as she has a calming read with candles in her cabin. For some reason I really like this type of atmosphere, it gives me this nostalgic feeling that I’ve felt since I was a kid. I can’t really explain it, but point is, I enjoy it and will probably make some more drawings like this. Although I am a fan of Touhou I’m really not so informed on the lore as much as others, then there is also the fan made lore which complicates things. But I really like Alice, and like the fan art that is being created about her. This is what I enjoy about Touhou so much. A creator makes something, and the fans make it into something even better and greater than it was meant to be. The art, music and even fan made games are just incredible. Here’s hoping I can contribute to it.

p.s. I had also filmed myself drawing this piece, video can be found here.

This drawing will be available as a print by the way.

June 19, 2015 0