Things I Am Up To

Yep....school's over and I am expected to be working on my career from here on out. It's rather daunting....who wants to work? Waking up to a 9-5 job, spilling hot coffee on your lap during the commute, cranky bosses with jelly donut stained ties, heading home late.....

Hmmn....well, how about waking up, worrying about getting freelance work over morning coffee and fighting with the dog to not eat your mail (unless it's bills), and spending all day working on your artwork till it makes you go nutty  in the head?

Ah, that sounds about right. So....I am working on some freelance illustration work once again for Hero Games. Another commission for some villainous ladies. I rather enjoy these commissions....I like the pin up work style even if I do find it a little bit mundane in comparison to some of my 'fine art' pieces. Some day I will discover a way to reconcile the way that I paint 'fine art' as opposed to my illustrations. That is the day I will be very happy (at least in theory). 

Some other things to work on: some character sketches for my game group members. Poor Tim has waited so patiently for his character sketch of Mathias....that is on the list of things to do. Another friend of mine from the group wants his new character done as well, Velen. Both are playboy characters but totally opposite in many ways. 

Which reminds me, there is a small gaming convention towards the end of September that I will be running events at (at least, I volunteered to), and hopefully playing in events as well. Just a small little convention, nothing too fancy. 

Hmmmnnnn.....what else? A GM screen for Matt.....a much simpler one than the last, this being a two panel spread that will be 11x17 inches horizontal of a D&D scene. It'll give me a chance to get some good painting done, and be a  nice portfolio piece in addition to that. Unfortunately, the first screen I did was ruined while transporting it, which sucks cause I spent so much time working on it. So, back tot eh drawing board on that one, sadly. This time, I think I will take my former instructor's advice and scale it down instead of working on it to size. Maybe it will go over smoother this time. One can hope. 

I am getting involved a little bit more in the online challenges on CGHub's website. It gives me a chance to futz around with my photoshop skills a little bit more, which need development. Sadly....or perhaps not, I enjoy traditional media a lot more than a plastic pen and tablet. Things just apply smoother and don't look....well....so digital. No happy little accidents on the computer, not with CtrlAltDelete around anyways. Or should I say Command Z? Someone needs to make that into a shirt.

Mia's Best Friend

I missed out on the last online challenge to create a super villain. I can't tell you how much that sucks, but I spent too long on doodling my idea and never got around to finishing it. I may still do the final anyways, a bit of collage. It was for The Scarlet Curse (didn't say it had to be a good villain....besides, nothing else strikes as much fear in my mind...well, spiders do...and clowns, but who wants to draw those?). 

Right, focus! So, this current challenge is for robots. No, that is not something that I would normally do. Robots are clunky, and not interesting in my opinion. So it's a good thing to tackle I suppose, since it's not something that I would do.

My composition is up above, I am titling the piece as Mia's Best Friend. I dunno much about Mia yet, I just liked the feel of it as a title. She's taking a stroll across a fallen tree in the middle of the woods, dressed in a servo suit that controls the movements of the giant mech following suit after her. 

While I was at Gen Con I came across a cute little battle mech display (by cute and little I mean it was bigger than me) and thought it would be cool to have a giant teddy bear mech. So, it seemed natural to pounce on the chance to live out that dream. The teddy mech is a cross between a huge teddy bear, influenced by the teddy scares (macabre care bear toys), and a stormtrooper. I just can't break away from star wars. 

This is an interesting piece to do in my own opinion as it includes the mech, warped perspective, and background, with the female figure being small and less important. I hope this piece turns out well, even if it doesn't it'll be a learning experience I am sure. 

Deadline is Sep 12th.....so I need to get cracking. I am working on it in photoshop, but really want to do it traditionally. It's hard  not having a working scanner at home....and I will have to wait to use the school ones....so....100% digital...?