Shades

are added. I'm keeping the background
elements relatively flat so the image doesn't
become chaotic with details. I like to have
breathing space when I look at illustrations/
paintings when they are put on the wall.

Updating HP

Because I am not going to have my portfolio
for the next few weeks (almost a month?),
I at least trying to upload all of my pieces
from the main portfolio to my site.

Basic flats

of gray scale laid out, time to decide where
the light is coming from. (Most likely from
behind the figures, making it consistent from
the previous illustration.)

Cleaning

the lines and erasing shades that I've made,
as it will be a distraction once I start the value
study. (Although cleaner than usual)

Armors

Almost finished with the pencil stage.
I'll be tweaking around the background and
the guy's face. And I can't forget to draw in
gears and stuff the horse's carrying around.

Figures

Working on the angle & the anatomy of the
figures before I start adding armors & other
equipments.

Background

Based the background from the forest preserve
around my house (January~February for the no
life look) and a stone bridge from somewhere in Europe.
Also a little bit of Resident Evil 4 influence.

Changing the route

Instead of the original mood I was intending on
doing, going along the line of the previous illustration.
It seems like I am unable to work on creepy/ dark
images lately. If that's the case, I'll just produce
happy stuff.

Lost

Debating whether I want the mood to be peaceful
like the other one, or the opposite. Hence the right
arm is not drawn yet. The positioning of that hand
will make the difference of mood to the viewers.

Changing composition

Because I haven't been linking the previous
pencils, I chose to redo the composition.
It's based off of the other piece I did for the
gallery. Hopefully when the two pieces are
placed next each other it'll work out.

I just need time... Intern+freelancing is
leaving me like half an hour for me to do
anything personal everyday.

Hmmm...

I don't know. I'm not "feeling it" with this
illustration..

And for the next ten minutes what I did
is write something ->delete, loop x times.
Most of it's a rant, so deleted all.

Working on stone tiles

Perspective of randomly aligned organic
shaped object is always difficult for me.
I'll be reworking the tiled road, because
it is not matching the angle of the characters.

HP updated

After a month, it's updated. I've got few more portfolio
pieces and all 5 pieces from the gallery to post. I need
to get going...

Departure pencil

Usually I start with the background, but it's
different this time. I started with the horse
before I forget the anatomy of it. Or at least,
getting the structures laid out.

Recycling

Other than working on my commission, the only other
art stuff I did was reworking my blog-photo for deviantART
ID.

I might even change the blog one to this, but without "Tekamza
on deviantART."

Horse sketches

as a practice before I start the pencil
for the concept.
It's reminding me of my high school
mascot. The Broncos....

Thumbnails

Some thumbnail sketches of an illustration
with the hero.
My personal favorite is the middle.

The Heroine

Left: Heroine from the same story as the
guy in the left from yesterday's post.
(I'll call the story "Saga" because I don't
remember the title at all)
Right: The main character from Ladybird.

Here's where the comparison plays out.

Please look at the hero from ladybird and
the heroine from Saga...
Yes, they look the same. Even the main
hero from Saga and Ladybird. (It helps having
them drawn in a similar pose, right?)

I laughed when I found the original sketches from
middle school and saw these similarities.

Hero

So the guy to the right is going to
be the hero for the Ladybird series.
The one to the left is a character I
created during middle school, drawn
from memory. I thought it'd be fun to
compare them and see the changes
that I've gone through.
Although I'm not seeing too much
difference...

New Character?

I played around with the image a little,
and here's what I've got. It's about time
to introduce the hero of the story.
(The top image is toward the end of the
story, and I'm not following a specific
time line when I'm painting this series.)

But before I work on this painting, I'll
have to do a debut piece so I get a good
handle on this hero's design.

Random sketch

Not so sure if this is going to turn into
a finished illustration.
If so, I'll have to decide on what is going to
be behind her.

Logo

Playing around with the center dragon.

Life drawing day

Tried doing white and black pastel on
gray paper again (on Painter).
Really shows that I haven't been doing
this for years...

Logo colors

Sample colors for the logo. The middle
imagery will be changed to different
dragon.

More life drawing

Focused on parts that I struggle
a lot with.

Life drawing

To practice the new pencil "brush" in Painter 11,
I chose to do some life drawing. (Haven't done it
in like 2 years, so it's nice to get back into it.)

It's done from a photo, so not the best life drawing,
but better than not doing it at all, right?

Suanni

Finally, all 9 dragons are sketched out, time
to start building the designs.
But first, I need to get used to this new version
of Painter... The modified pencils are great
(yes, Corel chose to fix pencils and add markers),
but I've got to set my workspace, small brush
settings and other small adjustments to what
I had in version X.

Yazi and Shoz(?)

Taotie and Baxia

Horo(?) and Bian

Two more of the nine dragons.

Logo design

My concept: fusing Asian and Western
design.