VN Character: Flight attendant

Happy new year! I'm starting this year off with a still illustration designed for use in a VN-style game, meaning: has to be nice to look at, has to show some personality at least, doesn't need to be animated. In practice, a still that's more or less facing the viewer and can be used for dialogue scenes.

Click to see the full picture, and there's also a small making of showing the various stages the image went through.

Character: John Charity Spring

After another lengthy absence, here's another full-body piece, this time based on a non-central but extremely interesting character from a great series of novels.

Click to see the entire image, a few making-of sketches and a bit of information about the character (and books!).

Digital painting collection 1 (Also: Photoshop versus Paint Tool Sai)

I haven't been updating for a while now, but I'm actually quite busy with *gasp* art projects. These are a few digital drawings I did on the side. It's a really, really tough learning process, but it seems to pay off. Slowly.

I'm doing the switch from Photoshop to something simpler as well. I'm currently trying out Paint Tool Sai, which is far less bloated (for drawing purposes) and less laggy. The above picture is actually a direct comparison between both programs.

Click to see the full image (+ sketch) and more works!

Sketch Collection 2 (digital drawing edition)

And in my neverending quest for some decent ability with "light" drawings (I won't dare call it realistic), here's a few sketches. From latest to most awful.

Both faces are done digitally with a rough line sketch. Reference was used for the lighting.

Only to show that I'm not dead yet.

Method: Err.

Content: Umm.

Character: Ballsy!

Woo, something new - this time, no ink and no lineart. Done entirely on PC, and of course the newb factor shows. Things like lighting, shading etc. still need a lot of work. But as a first attempt, I think it's acceptable :)

Method: Sketch, coloring, shading and everything done digitally. Listening to: this man here, whom I can thoroughly recommend for inspiration. Great stuff!

Character: The Hobo King

Method: Ink drawing scanned into Photoshop, then massacred with an inordinate amount of filters (weee, filters!). Just trying to get back into the groove.

Older work: Totally not Kane and Lynch

This is an older piece from simpler times, when people still liked lineart and no-one cared about volume and proper shading.

Method:
These two fellows were drawn rather quickly in ink and barely colored at all in Photoshop. Lazy, but effective. Also, drawings like these are when you can just let loose, start with the eyes, draw a random line as a mouth and see where you go from there.

Character: Killer Prom Queen

Done for a community activity over at conceptart.org. Theme: "Killer Prom Queen".
Tried to keep it a bit tasteful, no weapons, no blood splatter, no random heads or severed body parts. Though at second glance you might notice the strange necklace and tiara, or the suspiciously pale leather the handbag is made of...

Method:
Linework in ink, scanned and colored in Photoshop. Went with an appropriately "dirty" look, watercolor brush, clashing shadow colors, no clear light source. Accentuated the speculars on the face to highlight the "sweaty crazed" look.
I originally intended to change the skin tone later on, but the unrealistic purple sort of grew on me and gives the composition a welcome, schizophrenic note.

Oh, and the period is thought to be the 50s. I actually went through several hairdos, but the classic, massive beehive is still the corniest/best.

Character: Skeleton

Tried to put my anatomy studies to work. My critics have informed me the skeleton is missing the right femur, but I'm just not going to mention it here.

Method:
Linework with black marker. All coloring done in Photoshop, using a wet edges brush with a watercolor effect.

Oh yeah, here's my reference image - when you need a model, it can't hurt to look for the best...