This category is reserved for scenery. Like nature, beaches, tress, etc.
I finally got around to putting that drawing I’ve been working on into Photoshop! It’s not completed yet as I would like to go over it all again and add a whole bunch of little details, but I feel like it’s coming along nicely so far. I’m not entirely sure what kind of details I would add exactly, but it would likely involve enhancing those windows on the buildings, as well as making that moon glow properly.
I was hoping to get some Photoshopping done today, but that just wasn’t going to happen. So for today, I went to town on adding detail to this drawing on paper rather than doing the Photoshop thing. Lo and behold, it’s turning out pretty great.
I seem to be making a bit of a habit of getting started on my drawing pretty late in the day. Then when I go to post my drawing, it’s so late in the day it takes me forever to think of something I can properly put into words. Something might need to change.
Late post tonight! I did my drawing early though, thankfully. I’ve had company all day and haven’t had an opportunity to get anything written yet. Until now, at least. Well, that being said, it’s now getting pretty late, and I’m not going to go too crazy on this post. I drew the rest of the starry sky, and if you look close I penciled out a bit of the building shapes.
I have some interesting plans for tomorrow. I really want to find the best way to get this picture uploaded into Photoshop so I can try painting it. I’m thinking up all kinds of different effects I can try, and I really need to get back into digital painting. Tomorrow’s another day, and that’s when I’ll get to it. Until then, I’m off!
Okay, so this drawing is incredibly early on. I’m sure you can get an idea of what it’s going to be, but I thought it would be fun to post what I’m working on, as I’m working on it. Not to mention that I’ll be working on it for most of the night during two hockey games, so I wouldn’t have found time to post until after midnight if I didn’t do it now.
So, here it is! It’s not going to be realistic, but I’m planning on adding a lot of windows. I’m thinking up ways to make it so the windows are the only thing on the page with any real color. The moon will be pale, not unlike the crescent moon I did a few days or so ago, and the buildings might be shades of grey, or …maybe I’ll make them bright red! I really don’t know. I just want to convey some kind of emotion using the buildings and windows. Not to mention the fact that they are standing tall all around you.
So yeah, that’s what I’m working on. Nothing too impressive at the moment, but when I look at this early sketch, I see a lot of the finalized picture. There are just a few question marks sticking out at me. What colors am I going to use? And will those windows all fit in there correctly at the correct angles? It’s going to take some work. I don’t do scenes like this often.
If you want to see an updated version before I do tomorrow’s post, I usually post those smaller updates on Instagram.
Nothing I was drawing today seemed to be turning out the way I was planning. This cloud picture was my third try at something interesting, and I’m just settling on using this as today’s work because nothing else looked post-worthy!
I’m not sure why I was having so much trouble with my drawings today, but I seemed to feel frustrated even before I really got into it. It just wasn’t a good day creatively for me, I guess. I’ll try to change some routines up for tomorrow to hopefully help put me in a better frame of mind to try and create something fun and/or interesting.
Now, let’s leave the actual artwork behind for now, and move onto answering a couple more questions about myself!
What are some words that describe you?
This is not a simple question to answer! I have a hard enough time answering questions about myself as it is, but only giving a few words to describe myself just compounds this already difficult task. Let’s try for a couple words though.
Dedicated is the first one I’ll go with as when I make the choice to do something, I always do it to the best of my ability. No matter how much time I need to commit to make it happen.
Oh! The other word will be positivity, hopefully for obvious reasons if you know me personally. Well, even if you don’t really know me, just understand that I always feel that absolutely everything in the universe is awesome and has some sort of purpose. Even if we don’t always immediately understand the reasoning for everything.
How do you want others to feel about your creative work?
Oh man, these questions really are fantastic at getting my brain going! They’re giving me things and stuff to think about that I haven’t really thought about previously.
First off, to set up my answer, I made the commitment by starting this year long creative habits project in order to make a career using my artwork. So, with that in mind, the answer that popped into my head almost instantly is that I want people to get attached to characters and worlds that I build. I get goose bumps just thinking about helping to create something that hadn’t existed previously, and people enjoying the mythology and detail of the world so much that I have this feeling of obligation to continue making it. So again, I want people to enjoy the content so much that I can build upon a universe and do that everyday.
I’m starting to think that rather than calling this is a Star Wars drawing, I should use this (or something similar if I want to draw another one) as a location for my characters to visit in my imaginary comic book series. You know, those pictures I did awhile back. Anyways, I could potentially make it a Star Wars reference rather than an actual Star Wars location. I’m thinking that I could maybe have a little green Yoda-like creature giving advice to the main characters as an obvious reference. Hell, the story could be filled with all kinds of geeky references!
Okay, so speaking of my imaginary comic book idea, I had a dream last night. I want to make sure I talk about this before I forget and the idea disappears. Talking about it might also help keep me accountable to actually do something with this idea. Anyways, so I was thinking maybe I should go through with creating a web comic. I have whole bunch of interesting ideas about the whole comic book idea in general; like how to sell it, how big each issue will be, time frames, etc. But what I want to talk about today is my idea for the main characters; what about a web comic series centered around 3 androids who explore the galaxy Star Trek style?
Speaking of Star Trek, think about having a crew of three Data-like characters. Data was an android from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he was without a doubt the most developed character on the series. He goes from being the traditional “straight as an arrow” android, to fiddling with new found emotions, dreams, and more or less trying to deal with his own existence and humanity. I say “humanity”, because in his case he was built by a human scientist, so he has lots of human characteristics. Anyways, my characters would be quite different, but they would deal with some similar themes. They also wouldn’t have a human-like appearance. Data even ends up owning a cat, that alone would be an interesting (and hopefully humorous) situation for one of the more eccentric characters to deal with. Well, maybe that’s not the best idea, but I haven’t thought through actual side-story plot details yet.
I was thinking of basing the characters off of the 90’s WB cartoon, Animaniacs. Yes, I’m quite serious. You’d have the down to earth (well, so to speak) and mostly logical android, the constantly malfunctioning and unpredictable android, and then the feminine info-heavy android. I’m thinking of making that last one a little sphere or hover-bot of some sort. Like the R2D2 of the adventure. Or maybe, if anyone remembers that robot from the Robin Williams movie, Flubber. No? Well never mind then. I don’t know! These are just some early ideas.
Am I crazy? Does any of this sound interesting to anyone? I’m feeling like this is something I definitely need to pursue and go all out on. Maybe I’ll dabble a little here and there with character building and some basic designs and such. Once my year of creative habits is over in August, I can go full force on building a first issue!
Oh man, I tell ya, the more I use these colored pencils on this paper the more I fall in love. I’m really starting to feel comfortable using these tools, and even though I’m still pretty early on in this drawing, everything looks marvelous so far! I still have to meld the colors a bit better on that tree though, because I’m noticing that the lightest color stands out a bit too much. It’s really nice to feel confident enough to know how I can easily fix that issue if I just apply myself.
That disgusting “water” there looks pretty good. I was attempting a ripple effect with those lines there, but I’ll work on that more tomorrow to hopefully get it looking even better. I’ll probably also begin coloring the large fallen tree in the center of the image tomorrow as well. So, doing the math, this should take me just two or three more days to complete.
I watched a movie last night called “Birdman”, I’m sure you’ve heard of it as I’ve been hearing a lot about it lately. I believe it’s up for several awards. It stars Michael Keaton and a whole other group of well-known actors and actresses. This movie was extremely impressive. This has got to be the most immersed I’ve ever felt in a movie’s story. I’m not going to talk about the actual story or spoil anything, as none of that is really what I want to talk about here. What I want to say though, is that I’m not really much of a movie fan in general. I’m in my early 30’s and I feel that I’ve seen it all. What I’m saying is that it’s very rare that I find a story that isn’t predictable. And predictable often means boring. Well, I don’t really watch movies expecting to be impressed, when I do watch them I hope to be surprised. Show me things that I would never have thought of on my own.
Birdman really got my brain going. It’s definitely one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, and I’ll likely watch it a second time sooner than later. Which is quite rare for me. I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about the story, and I’m not… technically, but I just want to say what I liked best about it. This movie reminded me of why I don’t usually enjoy movies. It has a fantastic moment where Michael Keaton’s character talks about (and vividly displays) how the art of telling stories has changed. We see the epic blockbuster, the theater, and the independent film. In contrast they’re, of course, very different. But they’re still just telling stories in the end. It’s like comparing a novel to a comic book. I find it rare that a movie like Birdman can successfully mix all my favorite elements together.
Anyways, Birdman surprised me. I heard that it was good, but I thought that was solely because of the unique directing style. However, this wasn’t the case. The directing was what immersed me in the story, but the characters are what wanted me to stay there. If you saw the movie, what did you think? If you haven’t, do you have any interest in seeing it? Why or why not?
