Adelle

portrait/lighting warm-up from the other day, featuring one of my favorite characters in Sequence.   you can buy the game through Xbox Live Indie Games for just $3; it's only been out for a few days and has already gotten rave reviews!

here are some sprite alternates for the character... she's an astrologer who tries to read your fortune with tarot cards :P

happy mother's day

wishing all the awesome mothers in the world a happy mother's day!  this illustration was part of a card that i made for my mom, who always took care of me when i got sick as a kid, by making me lots of hot tea and letting me walk around the house wrapped in a giant blanket. moms really do know best!
i'd also like to note that the blue bathrobe/blanket thing in the drawing was a surprise gift from my mother-in-law, who is totally awesome and sweet.  i was feeling really sick and under the weather for the last few weeks, but apparently that gift was all i needed to be cheered right up.  :)

here's the initial sketch without the text... this style is really fun to work with!

brush tests

 Royal Guardians, wip illustration

got a new computer and finally installed the newest versions of Photoshop/Painter, so i'm playing around with brushes like always (cross-posted from my art tumblr)

... hope everyone's been having a great 2011 so far! :)

Pixar Times TS3 tribute

Ken & Barbie disco party, drawn for The Pixar Times to celebrate the DVD release of Toy Story 3!  i was invited to this project by the very talented Jerrod Maruyama, you should definitely check out his work!

here's the thumbnail sketch for figuring out the placement/gesture

pumpkinman

hope everyone had a fun halloween!  here's a little fall-themed illustration to celebrate my favorite season... i was probably the only oddball who did this after halloween as a kid, huh~ :P

loose sketch + color test ... this step's always fun!

lone traveler

environment layout for a story, also a style/mood test.  here's a close-up~ 

starlight geisha

fun with corel painter and origami textures... also, here's a close-up~

Illustration Friday: Caged

eep, talk about a late submission!  in any case, here's a little illo i made for this week's Illustration Friday topic: caged.  i tried to think outside the box since the topic was my suggestion and i intended for it to have an "emotional" connotation.

the illustration is about shyness, which i believe is best described as a self-imposed "cage" around those who suffer from it.  it is both ubiquitous and all-encompassing; for many people, it underscores every social interaction they take part in.  i think that the best cure for such a condition is to learn to love yourself, and only surround yourself with people who accept you as you are.  don't let it prevent you from being all that you want to be! :>

painter oldies

some ace attorney painter studies from late '09... these served as a fun, no-pressure means of learning corel painter, color theory, and lighting~

and HOLY COW, i got the topic of the week for Illustration Friday!  the topic i suggested was "caged."  it's my hope that people will aim for an emotional interpretation of the word, rather than a literal image of a caged animal or something.  go crazy and be creative!! :)

if you came here via the IF link, i'd like to thank you for visiting my blog! now i want to draw a nice piece for this topic since i'm the one who suggested it! :>

green spirit

just a quick corel painter warm-up... i'll post some better updates after i hit my deadlines this week!

family fluff

this blog needs some color and variation; too many 'figure study' posts on the front page.  so here's some less rigid junk that i forgot to post from last year. :S characters are from capcom's ace attorney, some of you may be familiar with this game as one of their best!

these were sketched w/ pencil, brush pen ("pentel pocket"), and corel calligraphy tools... it's important to shake things up! ;)

these guys are my favorite fictional family ever, so cute ♥

Conté on Canson

... is my new favorite drawing medium! :p started drawing w/ Parisian conté in late '09, thanks to a tip from an artist at life drawing. it's a very challenging medium, because unlike vine/compressed charcoal, conté is wax-based and nigh unerasable. definitely makes you slow down and think harder!

finally got back on track w/ life drawing after being out of it for so many months... now i'm really close to having a full sketchbook, woo! will try to photograph it soon, digitizing artwork is just so tedious to me :/

also, here are some corel painter brushwork studies... gotta keep up with this stuff or else i'll forget how it works. now if only i could figure out how to get corel brushes to work in high-res...

study buddies

ack, i've been so busy drawing but i still can't show anything yet... @_@ so here's something quick and sweet for now... drawn with corel's calligraphy tools, which i love to pieces~ i really like how deliberate you have to make your lines, i find it takes a bit more thought than just regular pencil!

Painter practice

here are some older head/color studies from when i was learning corel painter~ i really love working with this kind of simple brushwork! most of these are from capcom's ace attorney, the top one is from disney's mulan.

this last one was made in oekaki shipainter, not painter... but i like the colors enough to post it :)