Sketches: Sena, Dominance War, 1714, and Pokemon

Every so often, I find I have a new follower. Thank you, it really brightens my day to know people are reading this. :) Even if you are secretly making fun of it. No matter how weird my stuff is... Now, speaking of weird.

I have a thing for very old mythology, and a lot of old mythology is very dark. Prior to the Victorian ages, fairy tales were very different, and I'm trying to craft my own set of similar stories which possess these themes - in particular, transformation. Obviously, male-female relationships have been a point of contention since the beginning of humankind.

Long ago, the ocean was perfectly still. Sena Mahara is one of four gods and goddesses whose human forms were crafted from animals. She was a great, silver fish. Her human body retained the same svelte qualities, and every mortal man worshiped her, hoping to find a woman half as beautiful. Verulis was the only man who dared court the goddess himself. After much searching, he trapped her in a net and impregnated her against her will. Enraged, the goddess took him between her legs and dove into the sea where the ocean bloated her flesh like a beautiful corpse. The mortal man clung to her like a parasite, and the water beasts turned them into a tentacled, symbiotic creature. Since then, the sea has always been a seductive yet furious mistress towards all sailors, and Verulis is a name for men whose downfall is caused by women or their own rampant libidos.



Ta-da. More Dominance War - his final design, I hope. I'm sick of drawing him, though. So I'll color this and be through. The 3D model is so close to completion as well. Color compositions soon.


During my friend's swing dancing show, my other friend leans over and says, "Grace, your spirit animal is a zombie." My other friend, Joe, says, "My spirit animal is a bear - with sharks for hands!" It escalated. So, here we are: YiYi (Wall-E), Kristen( Cat in Apron), Daniel (Black Hole), Alice (Piranha Pete Plant), Jake (Talking Cupcake), Hamster Riding A Dog Riding a Bigger Dog - All Pink! (Rebbecca), Meerkat (Zoey), Other Meerkat (Nirav), Zombie (Me), Drunk Golden Retriever With Eye Patch and Bow Tie (Ted), Penguin with Shotgun (Rob), and Bear With Sharks for Hands (Joe).

I have awesome friends.


Also, continuing on the "cute" theme, I'm making Pokemon keychains for convention season. It's going to be a lot of work, especially since I have to re-draw almost all of these. Only Espeon and Jolteon don't look like they're diabetic. :(

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.

Sketches: Rivek, Bohren, Cat, Dominance War IV; Again

I finished the sketchbook I started in August which I dedicated solely to original work, so I decided to christian my new one with a drawing of Rivek. Just plainclothes, though, something he would wear on a daily basis. I always draw him in something he would only wear on occasion... or not wearing much at all. On a funny note, someone at the con pointed to the sketch and said, "I would so date him."

A friend of mine commented on how long it would take my characters to get dressed in the morning because of all the bandages. I excuse myself saying the bandages are for pitched battle - which still exists in my all-too-hopelessly-romantic world - and with pitched battle, one can be ready ahead of time. That said, binding a wrist doesn't take too long. At least, not nearly as long as putting on plate armor.

I really like drawing the figure, using knowledge of muscle structure. So sometimes, I just get too damned lazy to put them in clothes. That happened here. Plus, my hands were shaking from too much caffeine, too little sleep. Rivek has a tattoo, but people always seem to forget/don't know that.


On the same note of too much caffeine, too little sleep, during the Giant Studios presentation, the Ph. D. student, Joe, leans over and says something about a big, fat, cat (He has one, it's name is GUI - like graphic user interface). In my fragile, sleep-deprived, state, I heard "draw a big, fat, cat." So I did.


Lastly, some sketches from Dominance War, trying to add some stylication and affect the body to show the way the character moves - bow-legged, close to the ground, active arms.

Sketches: Dominance War 2009 III

More Dominance War. The orthographic projections this time. I like how the one on the right turned out, but I forgot a few items (i. e. pistol, because he doesn't want to, uhm, die). Design is almost finalized - I wanted to go simpler in the clothing layer - to show off anatomy more, more complex on accessories - because he's gear-reliant as a character, and more gritty on the texture - for the sake of making things look cooler and more worked.


I think I'll be there after one or two more, posed, sketches.

Sketches: Dominance War 2009 II

The big challenge has begun! I will be entering Dominance War for my Figure Modeling final. Here is my character's story:

He is an intellectual prodigy who graduated from a magical/medical school at twenty-one. He had been of wealthy ancestry and considerably sheltered from too much physical activity in favor of more academic pursuits. Therefore, when the war began, he applied to be a clericon.

War, of course, does not distinguish between soldier and healer. Especially war with demons. Two or three months since his enrollment, he received a victim who had been infected by a Death/Darkness demon. His previous knowledge proved useless, and the soldier died. Much to his chagrin, he contracted the disease as well, through a cut on his right palm. It warped his muscle tissue and caused his skin to flake, pale, and sprout yellow lesions.

Through fevered study, he created an item to stop the disease from spreading. The magic bandages could not bring back his self-amputated arm, but they became tentacle-like replacements. In place of his infected eye, he crafted a clockwork (non-magical) magnifying glass and linked it directly to his occipital lobe.

Despite this, he remains a diligent doctor and continues to tend to the wounded, now specializing in demonic attack. However, he suspects the disease may have entered his brain, because he has recently been hallucinating before bed.

I began with some contour sketches. When that failed, I moved on to just defining his equipment and gear, which ended up helping. I chose to refine the design on the far right - dropped the lab coat and priest ideas in favor of the field medic one.


Draw him bigger, so I could see exactly what he was wearing. This ended up way too stiff to be a final sketch, but it's a much better idea of the clothing detail. Unfortunately, it doesn't give too much view of anything anatomical.


So, here, I just did some sketches with stance and figure. I hope they're not too light. I wanted something less straight-up-and-down for the contour, so I widened his shoulders and shrank his waist.


Right now, I'm working on an orthographic projection, the base mesh, changing the clothing in minor ways, and a more interesting "final" sketch to work off of. And a name (I've been using "surgeon general" so far...). He hasn't got a name. I think the part I'm most worried by is the poly-count. I'm at 1500 so far, and that's not including head or clothing.

Sketches: Dominance War 2009 I

Some portrait sketches for Dominance War IV. Argh, the portrait is due Monday, and I can't decide which character to actually go and paint (not that I have time this weekend, anyway... :( ). From top to bottom:


Medic - A prodigy in his own time, this young doctor would travel from battlefield, aiding his country. Of course, being a medic causes contact with sick people, and he contracts a disease which causes white spots on his skin, which flake off in moist-yet-chalky, moldlike, bits (think ick, that disease that goldfish get). Since it's contagious, people avoid him, but there are still those who require and purposely search him out for advice. He has retreated underground, and is loyally followed by the other infected because he can, if anything, lessen the pain from their condition.

A free-runner in the drug business who makes the bulk of his money from the horse-racing business. Unafraid of underhanded action, he uses drugs to rig the outcomes of these races (think steroids). This is harder to track than selling drugs to people. On the outside, his business looks like a messenger service. Once an urchin himself, he killed a drug dealer and took his wares as start-up funds. With his money, he makes mechanical alterations to his body and hires a mob of teenagers to do his dirty work for him.

A Bedouin trader, who sells weapons to the highest bidder. The higher the bid, the bigger the weapon. However, he is underhanded and will never let anyone get an advantage over him. He modifies his personal weaponry so that it would outclass anything he sold. His army is a ragtag group of plainclothes spies and merchants which serve to protect him, only a few in each town - a combination of fear and desire for payment. If any actual client saw his face, their eyes and tongue would be taken out.

Here are the failed progresses:

Sketches: Rivek, Bohren, Dominance War IV

Here's the scrapped Valentine's Day picture with Rivek and Bohren. I'm very happy with how Rivek's face turned out. Figure sculpting helped a lot. I might turn it into an icon. On another note, he is very much due for a costume re-design. His current one, although I like it, seems too feminine for the rest of the world. Which makes me question why, when I first drew it two years ago, I didn't think his midsection armor looked like a man-corset.


CGHub is participating in Dominance War IV , and I will try to participate (not that I will win, but I want a good piece and some good encouragement). I wanted to do someone kind of anorexic for my Figure Modeling final, but the Jack Cateater may have to do. I wouldn' t have the time to do two models. I'm sure Scott would love if I textured this foul beast. God, unwrapping these UVs would hurt. Displacement mapping is a godsend, and I'm learning ZBrush tomorrow, I swear. Anyhow, concept. I wanted to make a "War Lord" in the sense of a ruler who doesn't do much in terms of actual battle.

Seventeen is the age when want to becomen men, sometimes through the validation of a woman. Now, seeking a woman is a different matter. Courtship is such a hassle when one has a full purse, but these types of markets don't have purchase guarentees. The Plague serves as an eerie marker adorning those who chose to quell their sinful desires.

Jack Cateater cannot remember his real name anymore, but he remembers that one night of gold and hot sweat. Supposedly, he was once a merchant's sole, arrogant, heir. He still has a head for numbers and will still drive a deal with you. For anything you'd like. If you are willing to pay the price, of course. And the price can be quite steep.

As for the nickname, he only says, "Cats eat rats. In that sense, a cat a wonderfully diabolical, wonderfully cruel, sewer lord, is he not? Now, if I ate rats, that would make me equal to a cat. I, for one, most certainly enjoy my position as the lord of lords."