Ah colors, such a harsh mistress...and I so green in my attempts :-/
Working on doing a pinup at the behest of a friend. I'm fairly happy with the pose and comp of the figure, but the background and the layout is killin'. Doesn't help that I don't have a good feel for her character (character: Lafiel from an animated series "Crest of the Stars"). I was thinking of a dark BG/light character or light BG/dark character. From what I gather online it's some sort of "space opera" genre, so the background was going to be planets with a glowy moon or something hovering over her foreground hand, but the overall structure of how to achieve that is weirding me out.
Here's some variants...preferences or feedback?
Here's some variants...preferences or feedback?
And another WIP, this one of a water pump with a cat head. On both of these I've been trying for a much more smooth look that would cater to illustrator more easily so I could vary the linewidths, but I haven't seemed to be able to get a smooth livetrace yet despite varying the stroke and threshold quite a bit. Growing pains....
Oo oo just got back this weekend from my first scientific conference in Pittsburgh (BMES)! Gotta admit I loved the heck out of it. Met my Hero of Research, Mr. Paul Yager ((<3)) (*guh*) and some other cool peeps. I think one of the things that endeared me the most to our Fair Western State was the abundance of crazies there. People who didn't mind going nuts for all kinds of stuff (environment, science, art, literature, what have you). I suppose it's that maniacal, ambitious aura that draws me in to every 'con and keeps me going back for more?
2 comments:
SHE'S BACK! HOORAY!
"crest of stars," eh? i was guessing macross or maybe space battleship yamamoto: is this a future cos-tume in the making? elf ears are pretty snazzy
i'm really feeling the darker backgrounds (images 2-4): they seem to contrast more with the blue hair(!) and simultaneously bring the character's face and upper torso into the foreground. the boots do get lost at bit as a result, but who needs feet anyways? i think the dark bkgd also help accentuate the spacey-ness you're developing: some 30 pin-prick stars with a milky way trailing behind her (those details framed by the undefined fluffiness of the clouds) would be sweet. i can see the faint beginnings of a moon in image 6, but maybe instead of a literal moon, you could shift the crescent down a bit to create a curved motion arc (as in she's waving her hand up like she's speaking italian). that might give a subtle moon-reference while also injecting some delicate movement into the piece? or perhaps a shooting star/spaceship?
and wow, the water pump is super cool! so intricate: it's a fun visual riddle to follow the flow of the pipes to figure out what's going on. the lower components really express a globby mass; the central portion (the erlenmeyer flask) is a little flat in comparison.
livetrace is indeed quite finicky in illustrator. the alternatives are tracing using the pen tool (prepare to get your hours sucked away if you do) or using this free web site:
http://vectormagic.com/home
there are more options for your livetrace and they let you download the result as a vector. the downside is you can only work on a couple of projects per ip address before they want you to start paying for membership. bryce swears by them (but naturally has yet to subscribe).
heh heh, oh california crazies... indeed, my daily commute is seldom boring (says the guy riding the bus with arms full of print screens, random pastic bags of various fabrics, and waaay too many bristol pads). seriously, is it time for wondercon yet?!
motion blur = moon? dark bgs with red tones? capital suggestions, sir, capital.
nay this is for the lovely and far more veteran costumer, ms. riddle.
bristol board yayy! Wondercon is, as always, at the top of a shortlist of events that must be attended. On second glance at the pricing for thanksgiving flights I may be up a financial creek for a rate of ~100/day (ouch!) but of course winter break is mandatory Cali time with wondercon not too far behind
And OH MY GOSH have you seen eric canete's blog?
http://kahnehteh.blogspot.com
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