Behold ...

I've really been hankering to draw something mechanical of late. This image popped into my head tonight, so I did a mad dash to get the concept down before bed time.....I'm a little late to bed, but I think this is a good start, albeit a very sloppy thumbnail, muahaha.

I can tell already that I'm going to have a lot of fun with the lighting on this one. I just have to take it easy and pace myself so I don't kill my hand.

Was listening to a couple of tracks off of the Halo 2 soundtrack while working on some of it, for anyone interested. In particular, "High Charity" from Vol. 1, and the latter half of "Cairo Suite" from Vol. 2 (the sub-tracks are called Jeweled Hull and Chill Exposure, the last being one of my all-time favorite pieces of music)

As always, suggestions or comments are welcome! I'm trying to decide if I want to scale that robot up or down a little, as it seems to be taking up an awkward amount of space in the picture. I'd love to be able to see the entire form of it, but right now it might also seem like "Look, I painted a picture! And then I slapped my android right over the top of it!"

Um yes, that's how it goes in my head, anyway.......

Wandering in Green

Xenithar is so good to me. She agreed to do yet another art trade when I came and asked, and she's put up with me plenty of times before. This is easily the most extravagant trade piece I've ever done, and I think I'm done doing them for a while. (I need to focus on other things)

So I started in on this piece by battling with the original pose I had of the character. I was also having a problem with the terrain, which is meant to be somewhere in a jungle. It was pretty much too flat for my liking, and the angle of the character kept bothering me. I got through the inks and started on the coloring .... then decided to scrap the whole thing and start over. I'm very happy I did this. I was so much more comfortable working on this during round two than I was with the first try.

I very much enjoyed the coloration of the character, and I also had quite a bit of fun with the lighting here. This is the first time I've tried to do some kind of light beam, and while I have room to improve, I don't think I did too badly for an initial attempt. What I did was to select a region with the Free Select tool and filled it with a gradient (foreground to transparent, specifically) then selected a smaller region inside of that and did a second gradient of a lighter shade. After that I cut out some shafts where the character was blocking the light, then played around with some motion blurring. I found out you have to be careful if you use this method for a light shaft, solely because it tends to move the light one way or another. So, if you have your light cut out around the shape of a figure, it might need to be adjusted afterward.

Character is copyright S. A. Thorup. Done in GiMP in 4 hours......and my hand is officially on vacation.

A couple more heads

Here's the remainder of the sketches I did as freebies. I wish I'd thought sooner to suggest that if people wanted line art without color, they should tell me so. I was too happy to go in and scribble color on most of these :/

Head sketches!

Today (yesterday) I offered to do some free head sketches on Livejournal. The purpose was to possibly earn tips to help me save up for my new tent, but it's also been a good chance for some practice. Here's the results of the first round. Wheeee doggies!

You know it's far too late to be up when you multiply 3 by 3 and get 12........Also, I can't seem to spell.

I'm going to bed.

More commission info

(NOTE: This is more of a technical blog post for my personal reference, and not so much an art post. Thanks!)

For the sake of reference, I decided to put together a price sheet to help me with any future commissions I might have the chance to do. Feel free to toss in your thoughts on this, as the design is a work in progress. And for the sake of further reference, I've been working out some Terms of Service, as follows:

WORK PROCESS

-Payment is required in full before I will start work on your image. I prefer Paypal, but can accept money orders or checks. Please be aware that I cannot start work until your check has cleared. If you are sending your payment via Paypal, I would prefer it if you send it as a “payment of services” for digital commissions, or “payment of goods” for traditional commissions. I ask this because it offers more protection for both you, the commissioner, and for myself.
-Digitally drawn and colored artwork will have a rough sketch sent to you for approval before work proceeds to the inking and coloring stages. Badges will not have this approval stage and are considered “as is”.
-Once I have received the details for your image (references, written description, etc.) I will work from those details. If you change your mind on something while I am partway through your piece, you can certainly let me know that something needs to be changed - I can usually do minor tweaks like making a muzzle longer or shorter, but be aware that there will be an extra charge of $5 every time you need to make a MAJOR change (like adding wings or making your character a wolf instead of a griffon, something big like that). If however you receive the final image and there is an error on my behalf (ex. “You made my character hot pink and they are supposed to be baby blue!”) I will fix said error with no charge.
-I make it a point to get artwork done in a timely manner. Time of turnaround can vary, but work is normally completed anywhere from 48 hours up to one week of payment. Depending on my work schedule, it may take up to three weeks to complete an art piece, though this is uncommon. This is part of why my work availability is limited at any given time to only a few slots. If for some reason there will be a delay on my end, I will notify you as soon as possible to apprise you of the situation.

-Traditional media badges will be laminated and mailed out upon completion. In order to do this, I'll need a valid mailing from you, so be prepared! Both digital and traditional art requires a working email address where I can contact you.
-Understand that while you retain ownership of your characters, I still own the copyright to the original artwork. As such, I retain the right to repost the image on my art blog and keep it in my personal portfolio at my discretion. If you would prefer that your commission not be posted to my blog, please clearly state this during consultation.
-I would ask that if you repost an image I’ve drawn for you, you credit me as the original artist. I’m fine if you do something like coloring linework I created for you, but I would ask that you do NOT alter the linework. If there’s something that needs to be changed, it’s up to you to let me know at the sketch stage.
-I reserve the right to refuse any commission for any reason. If you have already paid me and I am required to cancel the job before beginning work, you will be refunded in full and notified of what has happened. If for some reason you’ve had something come up and would no longer like the commission, please talk to me about it. If you’ve already paid me and I have started work on your piece, I will keep a portion of the cost to cover what I have done and refund the remaining amount to you.
-Due to legal restrictions, I won't draw copyrighted characters (Lion King, Pokemon, etc.) I WILL NOT draw any mature material, including violent, gory or suggestive pieces. I prefer to keep the rating of my art at G, perhaps PG at the extreme highest. I also cannot draw anything of a homosexual nature, for personal reasons. If you’re unsure if I will draw something or not, or if you're interested in something not listed here, feel free to ask me about it :)
-Please be aware that any reference images you ask me to work from should be kept in the bounds of "Safe For Work".
-By commissioning me, you agree to these terms. Terms are subject to change.

And for even more reference, here's my work availability (slots):

1. "Woman of Virtue" - Inking
2.
3.

PawPer badges

I got commissioned! HURRAY!! First drawn commissions ever, so I'm very excited. These turned out very well, too, and the recipient was pleased with them, so what more can I ask for?

Several weeks ago, I found some brush pens hidden in our art supply closet. I was so thrilled to find some form of markers to play with, but I didn't realize until I was working on these commissions just how wonderful those things are. It seems that depending upon the pressure used while coloring with them, a person can produce different textures. Texture! Do you know how much fun it is to find out that I scored like that with an inking tool?

All of these were done in micron pen, colored pencil, brush pen, and some gold gel pen thrown in to help with colors. Much of the black fur on the first two wolves was done with a black brush pen and then touched up with black colored pencil. Because of the nature of the pen, I was able to do the fur a lot better than I would have using just pencil. I also tried to do more of a comic book-type of lighting on the fur, meaning a stark difference between the lights and darks instead of the very blended look I usually go for. I'm really pleased with the result.

The first and third images are of a type of art/convention badge I'm thinking of offering for commissions that I'm referring to as "Paw Perspective" badges - in other words, they're supposed to look like the person's character is standing on a pane of glass above you, or something to that extent. It's a very different, challenging angle that I enjoy drawing from, I think partly because it forces me to think differently on some of the anatomy of the character. It's not an angle I see many people draw from.

HollyAnn badge

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of this one. Like really, really proud. I never draw anything at all from My Little Pony, though I did play with them when I was under three feet tall. This badge is for HollyAnn on the Livejournal comm, who apparently has a My Little Pony collection. Since I haven't looked at that kind of stuff for over twenty years, I had to do some research last night .... and the result was me sitting up far too late on a work night and giggling like a fiend while I sketched this out.

Done in micron and colored pencil.

Some doodles

Here's some quickie little drawings I've been doing this week. Someone on Livejournal posted something called an Art Jam, which is basically where anyone interested may comment with image references of their avatar or original character. Anyone skimming through the comments who finds an image that they like may draw that character in any media or of any quality and post it as a reply to the person who owns the comment. I've done a small handful of them (obviously) I like to blame it on how drawing helps me focus on something other than anxiety issues, but sadly, I think it's also become a way for me to procrastinate my writing. Back to the grind.....

Starting from the top left and moving clockwise, the species here are a dragon, a corgi (yes I know, I did terrible) a thylacine (also known as a Tasmanian tiger) and a bat. Characters are copyright their respective owners. Please don't steal!