Sketches: Tailors Daughter, Mondigan, Gore & Pokemon

With finals, soon followed by my grandfather's passing, followed by my grandmother's epic quest to get into a nursing home, I haven't had the chance to post. But I've been drawing a lot of the sketchbooks I'll be selling the convention season.

Drawn in the hospital when my grandmother fell and broke her arm. In story, Rivek gets thrown into prison and nearly executed. Bohren is the one who pulls his wretched body from the fire. I really like how Bohren's face turned out.


"One perfect summer." The vacation after Bohren and Rivek's "junior" year and Willow's "freshman" year of secondary school, they spend some time in Cordelain - Rivek's mother's city. It's a quaint beach port. Bohren is the kind of guy who shows off how strong he is by giving girls piggy-back rides. Rivek thinks it's stupid.


"Psittacinus" means "parrot" in Latin, so my friend tells me. A symbolic piece, trying to show the pseduo-homosexual relationship between Bohren and Rivek, one that Rivek is blind to. Rivek's throat is garrotted, and Bohr's lips sewn together - a dual symbol of silence. The channeling beads - what Bohren uses to amplify magic - are tying them together but in the same process, binding Bohren's arms or ability to do anything about the situation.


I tend to draw Bohren topless. This is just a posing, pretty shot of him. Fun fact: He's named after chemist Niels Bohr. I am such a nerd.


Mirab, Rivek's elder sister of four years, is a legendary leader and warrior amongst her kinsman. Equal to, maybe even more, powerful than her brother. They call her, "The Gloves," because she ends up with so much blood on her arms. She is a tall, hot, sexy, skinny, small-breated blonde who can kick your butt.


Drew this in the funeral home while discussing stuff. What an arduous process. I was trying to come up with a (mildly) heavier, not-cloth, armor for Rivek more along the lines of traditional fantasy.


More Pokemon on the way. I don't know if they're cute, but I colored the first set here.


And finally, some Tailor's Daughter stuff. I didn't do as well as in the course as I had hoped, but I got whe I deserved given that I pooped out on the project from taking so many other classes.


I settled on their character designs. Nothing too fancy - this is the small-time romance between the daughter of a tradesman and a youthful sailor. Tried something odd for the cat, though, and I'm not sure I like it.


Also, just some random shit sketches.

Sketches: Original Character Amalgam

I have a really long post in store for today because I have been drawing a lot but not updating. I will be compiling a few sketchbooks to sell this summer, and I hope they will do well. They will be 80% original, so each one will be a great reflection on me and my characters. So far, I will have one each for: Mondigan, Tailor's Daughter, other Original Characters, Gore, and Fanart. Then again, at the venues I go to, my style is the last thing they like. I have little confidence in how others view my work (I even think only a handful of my school friends actually like it, lol!), but it's very much a reflection of me.

Enough moping. It was Hey Day, and we all got covered in condiments, so while I did the boys' laundry, they all walked about topless. That's where this idea came from. The concept is Willowren greeting Rivek in her private quarters after he's been released from internment. She wants some but understand he's still a little in shock.

I want to dispel the assumption that Rivek is gay. He's far more complicated than your classic yaoi boy, maintaining a close relationship with a strong, yet naive, woman. One of his defining conflicts is he can never be stereotypically manly - because he is skinny as all hell, and he serves a woman. But he loves this woman more than anything else. Super long forearms are super long. Must stop drawing in low light.


I asked Yiyi what I should draw, and she said I should do an original character that I don't draw too much. So I reached into the depths of my brain and pulled out my old, old RP character, Aidan Faulkner - the occasionally smoking, frequently drinking, use anything as a weapon, journeyman Watcher. He's the good boy who tries hard but never quite seems to make it - the road to uselessness is paved with good intentions. He bartends and takes acting classes on the side.

Ted said that I must have modeled Aidan after him because that's the way he sits. No, Ted, you are not that awesome. (I came up with Aidan far before I met him.)


Another amalgam of old characters. On the left is Vikku, the god of lust and war in the Mondigan mythos. He's also the alter ego of Amorek. He was made human from a fox, and when he played a trick on the head god, he got his legs cut off on replaced them with that of his horse.

At the bottom is Ailinar Vaulkner, the direct ancestor of Rivek. He had the entire right side of his face destroyed by shrapnel -like magic. Despite this, he remains pretty cheery until someone takes advantage of his blind spot, killing him. He is the kind of guy whose personality is so warm that you ignore his disfiguring. That said, he's also got a great body. Rivek's scar and surname are a homage to Ailinar's.

Whether my friends deny it or not, the girl on the right is not Madeline, Marissa, or Barlow. Long ago, I was inspired by Alexandria to draw a girl with matted black hair. This evolved into a possible concept - Rivek's child. I didn't want him to have a son, nor would I want the child to be with Willowren. Then again, Rivek is also a character who would never leave an heir. I don't know if I should put this into the story. Anyhow, this was me playing around with what she would look like - stick-thin, large almond eyes, wavy black hair. I'm still not sure about the long nose.


More concepts for the Tailor's Daughter - outfit designs for the gull and environment designs for the kitchen. Which do you like best? Most like the first and second outfits, but I don't want to convey him as royalty. More like a dock-worker. Girls shouldn't have to fall in love only with princes.


And one more sketch for Dominance War. He looks way too happy. I need to re-do this. I'm trying to figure out something for the final beauty shot.


There are recurring motifs in my art - missing right eyes, skinny men, people turning into birds. I can't tell if this is my uncreative qualities or my theme.

The Tailor's Daughter: Girl Character Sketches I

Joy of joys, I have moved onto the character design stage. This was hard, and I seem to have landed in a semi-cartoon style. I just can't see the story working with hyper-realistic characters.

The story focuses on hair, so I started off designing that. The only criteria was "long" and "white," and I established that bangs were too modern. The top of the middle portion is my experimenting with overall figure shape, similar to silhouettes. I though the fishtail dress was too adult. This is as much a coming-of-age story as a romance. The bottom-middle row is possible dress designs, inspired by Disney princesses and Lord of the Rings elves. The picture at right is what I have so far, but I need more suggestions. I don't know what my "vision" is yet.

The Tailor's Daughter: More Landscape Sketches

So, this time, we have the accompanying interiors for the girl's room. The perspective is horrible on the first, but it helped me get an idea of what I want. The third, though, feels too cramped. I like the second - the caged bird concept. The girl is well-treated, but everything hints to her wanting to go outside. The tapestry, her painting, her needlepoint, are all outdoor scenes.


Here are some exterior environment pictures. Trying to expand into a new look or time, but non capture the feel, as well as the second batch I think.


I can't wait to really peruse the reference photos that Josh gave me. For some reason. my middle sketch is always best.

The Tailor's Daughter: Initial Landscape Sketches II

Some more sketches of the house on a hill. I'm happiest with the middle one. They all feel pretty Miyazaki, "Kiki's Delivery Service" though. I'm going to try some more using different ethnic settings., just to see what I can do. After all, the only story requirement is that it's a house on a hill by the sea.



I want to go to New York Comic Con so bad.

The Tailor's Daughter: Initial Landscape Sketches

Environment sketches for the Tailor's Daughter project. Not quite there yet, but I know what I like: pipes coming out of the roof, Spanish-style shingles, ivy, clotheslines, broken outside walls, heavy wood-and-iron doors, and painted wooden shutters.

Advanced Animation Project: Samsa-kosara and Sena Mahara

Just some tentative character sketches whose stories I likely won't follow through with. I was attempting to make some interesting deity figures, which were at once human yet not, and all together rather gruesome (because old fairy tales were, well, actually rather adult). For me at least, I've discovered that developing story and developing visuals go hand-in-hand - that doing one helps a lot with the other.

This drawing is Samsa-kosara ("samsara" means suffering). I wanted to play with the idea of Siamese twins, "grey twins" who are the children of the Yin and Yang deities (yet un-named). They are male and female, which is impossible in nature. This gives them an otherworldly duality and unison. The female, Kosara, is immaculately pregnent with a child that grows every year with the seasons and is always stillborn. Samsa-kosara is similar to the Fates - jaded, wise, sinister, ever-present, cyclical - the kind of characters mortals seek help from ... at a steep price. They make instruments from the bones of those who don't pay up.


I guess every culture has some sort of mermaid, and I have Sena Mahara. I've always loved the concept of the sea as a woman - both loving and beautiful yet furious and death-dealing. The slime, tentacles, and barbed tale hint at her sexual relationships, all of which were sour.

Sena's father was a poor fisherman who prayed to the for a child. Therefore, the Trickster god slept with his wife, and they had a beautiful girl with jet black hair and ocean-colored eyes. Even at a young age, every man she spoke to fell in love with her. A gift from the gods must be treated carefully, but people always seem to forget that. Her father decided to arrange a marriage for her. Although her suitors offered plenty of material bribes, Sena hated all of them. One day, a red goose showed up at their door, and she chose to marry it because it is the only man she has met who does not want her for her body. Her father arranged a marriage, anyway. On her wedding night, after sleeping with him, the man her father made her marry strangled her because he did not want any other man to have her. In horror at his own actions, he throws her body into the sea. The red goose dived in after her and revealed himself as the Trickster - he real father. At his bidding, the sea creatures came to her body, filling it with their own lives and giving her control of the tides. From then on, all men had best to be careful when entering the water lest they die at the hands of Sena Mahara.

My problem is the goose. I feel it should be something that draws her into the ocean. Geese aren't ocean creatures. Maybe a herring, a red herring (just kidding). That, I also don't want to imply that beastiality is okay, either. He's meant to represent a relationship without ulterior motive.


Human folly when dealing with gods, abuse of talent, men turning into birds, and forbidden lovers seems to be a recurring theme in my work. Although, what's the difference between a "strong recurring theme" and a "re-use of old material because you can't think of any better"?

Thinking up character names has to be a weak-point of mine. They always sound like they came from a bad fanfiction. It's hard because I need something that doesn't reference anything easily found in the real world without sounding like I randomly hit letters on my keyboard. I'm very well open to changes.

Advanced Animation Project: Story Notes and Landscapes

For my Advanced Projects in Animation class, I am working on concept art and visual development. In short, I'm trying to create a fairy tale that exists within my "headworld" - environments, characters, storyboards, etc. Hopefully, I can turn it into a short film when I am a senior.

So, here are some trial environment sketches. I am trying to do perspective freehanded.


At the moment, my greatest difficulty is creating a myth that fits the time frame of a two-minute film while still delivering a moral.


On the bright side, I will be writing prose versions soon. I post my notes more so that I can reach them later if my computer crashes.

Writing: The Tailor's Daughter

Trying plots for my Advanced Animation project in Concept Art and Story Development. Here is the first. It's a re-working of something I wrote this summer.

---

Once upon a time, there lived a girl, a tailor, and a magic cat in a house overlooking the sea. All the lands' royal families knew of the silken garments produced within the house, embroidered with silver and softer than lambskin.

However, few knew the family's secret. Fascinated by her father's talent, Tarsa the Weaver blessed the girl with magic, silver, hair, softer than any material found in nature. Each day, the tailor cut the girl’s hair to make his famous clothing, and every night it would grow until it brushed the floor. Tarsa also blessed their cat, giving him power to talk.

"Now," the goddess warned, "this cat is my watchman, and he will make sure you do not abuse my gift."

Afraid his secret would leak, the tailor convinced the girl that she was so frail that she would fall immediately ill if she left their house. Therefore, each day when the tailor went to market, the girl and the cat would count the sea birds that flew by her window.

The girl would long to know where they went. On her sixteenth birthday, she turned to the cat, and asked “Why do I feel so sad?”

“It is because you are lonely,” he purred.

She had never heard this word before. “Lonely? What does that mean?”

The cat laughed wryly, “Tonight, cut your own hair, and in the darkness, weave a silver net. When your father leaves for work tomorrow, cast your net to the sky and catch a sea bird. Then, you will understand what ‘lonely’ is.”

So, the girl followed the cat’s instructions and pretended to be sick the next morning so her father would not see. As she watched him round the hillside to go to town, she threw the net into the sky.

The fibers wrapped around a passing gull. She reeled it in with all her strength. However, as it touched the floor of her room, it transformed. Before her stood a handsome young man with golden eyes.

He turned to leave through the window. “Wait!” she called.

“I am a vassal of Akos the Hunter. A human cannot see me in this form. I must leave.”

As she tugged his arm, her hair caught the sunlight. He recognized the work of Tarsa and took pity on her.

“All right,” he laughed. “I see you are familiar with gods' magic. I will stay for you, but no other human may lay eyes on me. This the law of the birds.”

The girl readily agreed. “What is it like to fly?”

He smiled and told her tales from his journeys across the ocean, about the beauty of the open sky and the follies of sailors. As the sun set, she heard her father coming back up the hilly road. The bird-man left, promising to return the next morning.

The girl turned to the cat, “I feel good. This cannot be the ‘lonely’ you spoke of.”

“No,” purred the cat. “This is ‘joy.’”

And so, this exchange happened every day for a fortnight, and the girl grew happier and happier. More and more she wanted to see the ships her lover spoke of. At dinner, she asked, “Father, if I am very careful, will you take me to town with you next week?”

“What has gotten into you?”

“I want to see what a real sailor looks like.”

“You fool,” he yelled. “The outside world - especially men - are nothing but trouble!” He took her plate and sent her directly to bed.

Suspicious of his daughter's behavior, the tailor decided not to go to work the next day. Instead, he drove his cart and donkey down the hill, out of sight, and waited. He then trekked back on foot, so she would not hear him. He heard voices laughing as he ascended the stairs and grimaced. The voice he heard was too deep to be his daughter's or his cat's.

He opened the door and saw the young man sitting in the window, midway through explaining what a passing robin had said about the king. Silently, as quickly as he had come, the young man vanished in a flurry of blood and feathers. Furious, the tailor struck his daughter, "You ungrateful girl, I have taken care of you all your life, and you chose to betray me. This is the last time you will see the birds. No, even the sun. Tomorrow, I will seal this window and lock this door forever."

She held her tears until the door slammed, and the lock clicked. Then, she collected the feathers around her room by the light of the dying sun.

“This,” said the cat. “Is what ‘lonely’ is.”

She finally understood, and the sobs welled in her throat. Consumed with grief, she leaped out the window. Tarsa the Weaver saw this and took pity on the girl. Before the girl's body hit the ground, her lover's feathers engulfed her, and she turned into the first dove.

When the tailor entered the girl's room the next morning, he could only find the cat. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"She is happier than she has ever been with you," the cat jeered. "You have taken your gift for granted, and, from now on, you will be alone." To the end of his life, the cat never said another word.

As for the girl, she had her own wings and could search the world for stories on her own.

Sketches: Color Keys

As an assignment, I had to take three scenes from a movie which use color to help the narrative. Here's the result. I couldn't think of one better than Moulin Rouge.

"Outside it may be raining, but in here, it's entertaining!" The first scene introduces Harry Zeigler, the owner of the Moulin Rouge. I liked how the rows of patrons against the building, further against the sky split the screen into thirds. The value contrast also has a greater range on the figure, which is further brought out by the pinks in the doorway and his face as well as the red on his coat.


"All you need is love." The next scene is where Christian, the penniless writer, confesses his love to Satine, the can-can dancer. I liked how, despite the use of all three primary colors, black, and white, the scene still holds together and can be defined as night. The canopy on the left balances out the figure to the right while still staying in mid-ground. The light blue highlight and Christian's dark clothes help pull him out from the background while still showing his face.


"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." Here, Toulouse, while acting as a truth-speaking sitar in a musical production, overhears that the play's financier wants to kill Christian out of jealousy. I particularly liked the light green in this shot and, being a complementary color, how it pulled the figure forward from the dark red background. Also, there is a use of value to define the curtain - which is a brightly lit neon - and backstage - which is less saturated brown and black. The diagonal lines formed by the shapes in the scene not only show that Toulouse is above the audience but add an air of danger.