Color_profile

Back with another all color painting. Still learning... and I hope to continue getting better into the next year. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Color Face

Today I did a little more with with color painting. I still begin with a basic sketch, next I do a general gray scale of some of the main shadow areas, then...that's it. From there it's all color. I'm trying to get better at recognizing the colors in human skin. The biggest gain from working in color is that I can do a painting much faster. So it's important that I get more comfortable with it. Again thanks to idrawgirls.com for inspiring me to draw again.

The Eve of '08

Hello everyone. As 2008 approaches I begin to reflect upon this year. What have I done? How have I progressed? Well, not as much as I expected but I have done a lot and learned a lot. Not just in art but life in general. As for art, this year was largely one of experimentation. I still haven't found my niche market, but I feel I'm getting closer. I've opened my ears to suggestions as far as selling my work and such, but it may take the biggest piece of advice to get going, relocation. There are many great cities out there where the art scene is bigger, but moving to anyone would be disastrous without knowing what I'm looking for. Then again. Maybe what I'm looking for will find me? All I know is something's gotta happen. My situation has instilled in me a feeling that I"m running out of time, but now as I type this, the feeling is stronger than ever.

Merry Christmas with Dani.

Merry Christmas everyone! Thought I'd get up this morning and post one of my latest ANTM paintings, Danelle or now Dani from cycle 6. Peace to all!

Tank Top

Hi everyone. Nothing huge today...i continued with my black and white sketches and decided to add color to this one. These drawings have a nice quality to them but I'd like em to be a bit cleaner. Gotta work on that.

Khalen

More ANTM but only one this time. Khalen from cycle 4. I think this is one of the better ones as far as likeness. I'm reallying liking my hair painting as of late too.

ANTM Girls

Firstly, I'd like to thank Xia Taptara for inspiring me to draw again. I had been doing some doodling since the Lollipop project, but nothing serious. I recommend anyone visit www.idrawgirls.com and see his work and learn from his tutorials! By his site name you can tell we share an appreciation for the female gender. But on to the drawings...I am an admitted watcher of America's Next Top Model. Though the recent seasons haven't been that great, the show over the years has produced some interesting reality characters. I took the opportunity to draw various contestants from the show. Hopefully, you can tell who they are as I'm trying to increase my ability to capture a likeness. These are all done in Photoshop which I'm beginning to like more and more for sketching.

I was surprised at how fast these came together. Xia talks about how important it is to be loose early on in the drawing and to consider the entire composition. One of the techniques he mentions is to picture things as "shapes." It certainly helped me place the elements of the face quicker and got me to lay down some values fast. Expect more drawings.

More Color Tests

Today it was just Team Fortress 2 and some painting. I worked more with color, attempting to sculpt better without the black and white. I still have much to learn in that area...this was my best attempt.

Weaning

Today I attempted to wean myself off the wonderful black and white technique. The technique is great but it can make a painting take longer to complete, and sometimes there's issues with color control. So, this time I worked completely with colors still keeping the idea in mind. The bald chick is the result. I never posted the finished Lollipop pic on here so I added it as well.

Sucker update

Here I am messing with some color. It needs a layer of texture. Still not sure what to do with the background though.I know I've been slacking on the Illustration Friday's but hopefully I can come up with something this week.

Sucker...WIP

More of the black and white technique. Here's the latest piece. I've already began a color version but I'm not certain about the colors yet. So, please enjoy the black and white and offer any suggestions.

Black and white FTW!

I'm still here everyone! This time I got some paintings for ya. These were exercises in which I revisited this "light painting" technique used by some artists. Since you focus on black and white it allows you to get your form and lighting right first, without the distraction of color. I'm finally feeling comfortable with it and I can't wait to do something more complete. For now enjoy these! I used reference photos for both.

Nude Sketches

Just some good old-fashioned pencil rendering. Continuing my study of the female form. Update on my headaches...I've been feeling better for the most part. But I still went to a doctor and he recommends an MRI scan.

Career taking a toll?

Oh headaches, headaches. Lately I've been having head pains in the morning, at night, whenever. I have reason to believe it's from my CRT monitor even though it has a glare screen. I'm searching online for a suitable replacement LCD that'll hopefully reduce some eye strain. I certainly can't do any work if I can't look at my monitor.

Feeling confused...again

Well everyone I don't have an image this time. I just wanna talk about my career situation. Surprise surprise it's got me feeling down again. I don't know, I just feel like I don't know where to turn next. I've been helping a friend of mine with an art project and I've been doing some more paintings just for me. But somehow it doesn't seem like enough. I still struggle with drawing and I still hardly get responses from any employers. As much as I'd like to be freelance, it helps tremendously to have professional experience which I lack unfortunately. So how do I get started...where do I get started? Bouncing between 3D and 2D I feel my portfolio lacks any real strengths. Based on what I know how to do, texturing seems to be the right path for me. As I texture this new project, I'm not sure if I'm where I need to be in that area as well especially when it comes to normal mapping. Companies now like to include that as part of the "texture artist" requirement. I have messed with Mudbox some but not enough to claim master. Environment artist seems like the spot for me. Sounds kinda boring but there's more demand for it. Looking at my 3D, it seems to be a nice fit. Most of my work consists of random objects. So I shall continue with this project hopefully until completion. Maybe this one could be big enough to actually impress someone. As far as illustration, I still have much to learn about composition, telling a story and let's not forget technique or style. I missed the September Bobby Chiu class. Perhaps I should take a break from the painting and get back on the 3D. Oh well I've run out of stuff to say. Thanks for reading and keeping checking for updates.

Magazine Chick 1 update

Hi everyone. I got in a drawing mood yesterday. I hit up one of my hair magazines (cause you know I love drawing women) and I went at it. I came out with some nice sketches, so I decided I'd paint one. This is the second paint job. The first I was trying Bobby Chiu's technique again, but I haven't quite mastered it yet. So, I went to what I knew. I'm happy with the outcome. Hope you like it.

Tyra test

Woo it's been a crazy week, full of ups and downs. One of the great ups was a video blog update by master artist Bobby Chiu. As always he brings encouraging words, but I focused more on his technique. I did my best job of mimicking his technique with some decent results. This is a "copy" of a Tyra Banks photograph using the fore mentioned methods.

2D Modeling

Hi there. With this piece my goal was to paint better lighting. So I used a reference picture to do so. Ref pic: http://www.slickforce.com/portfolio/pbrooke.jpg I still may add more to the hair later.

Sittin WIP

Hi everyone. It's been a while. Here's a sneak preview of a work in progress.

Portrait x3

Alright I finally got a little something I can show. I ended up painting this 3 times, but it was worth it cause I learned things. Thanks to NoxiousFreak-Stock from deviantart for the ref, though the final image came out much different: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/58302486/

Light Study_ GEm

This is yet another black and white study. I'm still trying to improve my use of light in painting. You might be able to see the gem he's holding which is the light source. Spent about a couple hours on this in Photoshop.

25

I finally did it!! My first digital self portrait! I worked from a reference photo for more accurate results. Still I didn't match up exactly but why should I? If I wanted exact I would've stayed with the photo. Anyway I used a lot of both Photoshop and Painter. Photoshop was used for the basic drawing and arranging. Painter was used mainly for blending. The title is for my current age. I plan on doing more self portraits down the road and naming them by age. I present to you, your's truly...

Red Head 1

Back to Painter this time. I did the majority of the work in Painter, still used Photoshop for the hair and background elements. This wasn't a planned project, just something I started on and couldn't stop. I'm posting it now so I can work on something more important. 3+ hours (too long).

The Next Level

I am getting better...right? I really believe I'm getting better, but I still feel anxious as if I'm not getting better fast enough. I usually start feeling like this when I look at other peoples work, who might be more experienced, and I know this is wrong. What I must do is be happy in the fact that I am getting better. Take my recent piece for example. I did another entry for Illustration Friday.com. I was very proud of it. I felt my color blending had improved and I got a full figure on the page (something I've been scared of doing for a while). I get motivated by positive praise more than anything and for me to receive none on this piece was disappointing. I uploaded the image to three other of my portfolio sites and the results were the same. I sit and think to myself why would no one reply to this? I still can't think of an answer, because I'm sure there's something to be said, if not praise then certainly constructive criticism (which is a LOT better than no response).

People/characters are my most favorite thing to draw so I must continue to look for ways to improve there. I know I could draw more for starters. Secondly, I just don't think my brain has enough "material." I read about how important it is to fill your brain with food so that you may approach different projects "better equipped." That means more pictures, more reference, and more paying closer attention to the visual food my eyes see everyday. There is also an emphasis of having an active social life. Now that is an area that could use work. I make a lot of excuses why I'm not out more, but I guess there really is no excuse. My life as a whole needs to be taken to the next level, but it's proving to be tough. Well, I still am motivated. I still want to get better. I still want my work shared and recognized by the world. Looks like I still have a long way to go.

IF_Citrus

Been a few weeks, but I finally make my return to Illustration Friday! I enjoy drawing women, and even with a topic like citrus, I wasn't going to let that stop me! I must say I had fun making this drawing and I hope everyone else enjoys it too! I used Photoshop CS.

Painter sketch

Hi everyone. Just wanted to share one of my first Corel Painter sketches. I hope to do a complete piece utilizing this program, because I am now seeing it's great potential. No guidelines or anything just a sketch.

Job Opportunity

Hi everyone. It's been a while since I've posted any work, just wanted to let you know I'm not giving up just yet. I've been involved with a possible job opportunity that's been occupying my mind. I've been doing figure drawings mostly still trying to improve at that. Oh I've also got my new site up: www.ladmatic.com which now includes a link to this very blog! I'm very proud of it and I hope to see it last longer than previous designs.

Today I looked at some of lynda.com tutorials videos for the the new Photoshop CS3 extended. Though there's some pretty cool stuff I'm not sure if it's worth the extra $300. It certainly was neat seeing 3D models in photoshop being manipulated. Photoshop is my favorite piece of software if you haven't guessed by now and I'm looking forward to doing more work with it. I'm thinking maybe some more photo-composites. I had fun doing the "Daydream" piece. It will allow me to work faster and improve on the basics like composition and color scheme. The hardest part is finding inspiring references photos. I've got a nice digital camera myself that I should be using more. Random objects are always interesting but I've been too lazy to hit up garage sales and whatnot, gotta work on that. I still need to setup up a photo studio for these objects so that the lighting will be right and even.

Well that's all I have for now please wish me luck on this current job opportunity. I'm really looking forward to taking the next step in my life whatever that may be.

Flower Daydream

Hi. Been awhile since my last post, so I'm back with another photo-composite. Thanks to 521Stock, ashlee7307Stock, and Mistaken-EyeDenTitty from deviantart.

DSF_theBlueDot

Hi there. I managed to complete another one of cgtalk.com's Daily Sketch Forums. The subject here was "The Blue Dot." I had 30 minutes to complete it but i finished in 25 minutes. Oh and Photoshop CS as usual.

IF_Hide

Hi and welcome to my page! My second entry into the Illustration Friday.com project. I was inspired by the way we hide ourselves, more or less in plain sight, on a daily basis. To make it somewhat a graphic design piece, I went for the magazine cover look. Materials were Photoshop CS and some personal photo textures. Enjoy.

LADmatic Promo1

Hello again got another!! I decided to make this the first of a promotional series of pieces that celebrate me forming an identity. Sounds kinda weird but if you're an artist you might understand.

Rebounding...

Hi there. Been a while since I posted something so here's a couple of pieces. I had a bad week of following my "schedule" but I'm getting back on track. References are noted on my deviantart page: http://ladmaticca.deviantart.com/

Thank you.

Smiley Lady

Hi everyone me again. Here I am posting yet another drawing. This one comes from a sketches I did some weeks ago. I decided to dig it up and give it a color face lift. Hope you enjoy.

SOTD_"Day Dream"

Me again back with another sketch. In an attempt to develop my creative skills, I'll be participating in activities such as cgtalk's Sketch of the Day. Theme for this one was "Day Dream." This was done in Photoshop in 1hr and 45 minutes. Hope you like it.

IF_Gravity

This is my first entry for illustrationfriday.com. The topic was gravity and this is what I came up with.