Ww!

Portrait commission, tried to move out of my comfort zone a little and do more dramatic light/shadow.

chepeng:

I decided to post some unfinished stuff that is floundering on my hard drive!

And to buck the trend of overambitious fanart that I lose interest in when 80% complete or so…. have one actually finished picture :D

the doctor is always worth it

My fiercely burning Tony Stark fetish has been flaring up and the only cure is FAN ARRRT

Camera phone and photoshop express for android are poor substitutes for a scanner and actual photoshop, but those don't fit in my pocket, ok. I've been using my phone so much for stuff I'm considering getting a nicer one.. I kinda want a galaxy note for the giant screen and stylus, but I need my qwerty slider, kinda want a mytouch slide for the 12megapixel camera and HDR... etc. Godammit gadgets still not scifi enough, gimme all these things in one smartphone already I basically want a pocket-sized tablet laptop is that too much to ask??

:p

Extremis Tony is my favorite (ugh don't get me started on that magical bleeding edge armor, I suppose he stores his extra mass in a pocket dimension??) but a while back I did some research on bionanotechnology for a paper and I always have my own sci/fi bullshit ideas for how stuff works. Instead of having an undersuit stored in his bones (arrgh bones aren't hollow, learn to anatomy!) he'd sweat out a protocellular metallic gel that functioned as a medium for nanobots and synthetic flora to leave his body and interface with the armor like a circulatory system. He'd sprout fiber optic "hair" that would wire into his nervous system. Wetware! It would be super gross :D

I steal ideas from myself (in this case the Antonia Stark that I did forever ago)... cos it IS challenging and fun to design robot armor, but you can't really improve on perfection :p There's only so much you can do before it loses its iron man...ness.

BUT I needed to give him rocket launcher arms I DRAW WHAT I WANT

I love animated music videos and I love 70's inspired graphic design and I love clever combinations of 2D and 3D animation and I love this!

A crooked crook with a crooked grin >:D Hurr. I gave up on trying to be efficient with my work, it's just not me. Well, I GUESS I can make it me if I have to, but I don't have to like it! Pattern from squidfingers.

reblogging on the off-chance any artists who follow me haven't read this WONDERFUL post full of excellent advice. Its ALL here :D

Character design and drawing are tome-sized topics and even if I had all the answers (I don’t - I have a lot to learn), I’m not sure I could communicate them effectively. I’ve gathered some thoughts and ideas here, though, in case they’re helpful.

First, some general things: - Relax...

I know this was posted a million tumblr years ago but it's... STILL bothering me so rant forthcoming! This... was just so heartbreaking... like I seriously took the Pini's behavior personally because Elfquest was a HUGE inspiration to me as a kid and Leetah has always had a special place in my heart as a character (because representation IS important don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise) and I've considered cosplaying her many times. I still have trouble understanding why so many white cosplayers are so OBTUSE about brownface seriously. Just don't do the thing. Its like every damn halloween when all the articles go around asking "is your costume racist?" Probably. Wear. Something. Else!

Posting from mobile and won't let me make a cut so tl;dr I guess.

Its offensive to treat brown skin like a costume because poc and especially darker skinned poc everywhere have to deal with BS specific to their skin color that white people don't ever have to, its dehumanising and disrespectful to dress up to look like people who get discriminated against for FUN. I guarantee you many poc have had experiences where they wish they could just wash their skin color off at the end of the day. PLUS it usually looks TERRIBLE :p I've seen some white cosplayers whinge about it cos nobody gets mad about dressing up as blue or green or purple-skinned people COS THATS TOTALLY THE SAME THING? What would you do if a suddenly real purple person came up to you and told you your purpleface was offensive- make up another fucking fictional skin color for your justification??

Cosplayers already rank so low on the "geek hierarchy" for having the NERVE to be SO openly geeky. Black cosplayers get called the "ghetto" version of whatever character they're dressed as, women who dare to show any skin dressing as characters usually designed by MEN get creeped on (and omg don't get me started on the creepy creepy treatment of mlp cosplayers by bronies)... People post photos without permission to point and laugh, women, poc, fat cosplayers, cosplayers who aren't super goodlooking, or technically skilled at making stuff ALL get majorly harassed and god forbid if you're several of those things HOW DARE YOU HAVE FUN IN PUBLIC. USUALLY even at a place where THE ENTIRE PURPOSE is nerds getting together to have fun in public.

It's gross behavior that stifles creativity and that will always be really infuriating to me. Personally it hasnt been something I've experienced much because my cosplay wishlists have always been entirely giant robots and power armor. :P Currently daydreaming about Striker Eureka, Samus, SEVERAL transformers, Bunny/Barnaby Brooks Jr, and the yellow Power Ranger I share a name with (another special place in my heart for her! She came on tv at a super important impressionable time in my nerdy childhood for sure). But cosplayers deserve to oh I dunno, NOT get harassed, whoever they are.

This is an art/creativity blog. So before anyone gets mad that I made some sort of "sjw" post instead of art just know that you can't divorce that stuff from reality. POC are artists and nerds too, OBVIOUSLY. I know people in general have trouble treating each other with respect but just... try? Its worth doing. This specific way of treating people decently is NOT that hard. Dooooon't brownface. THE END. Kinda dreading any attention this might get me but it's just been on my mind so much cos I'm going to get back into cosplay this year and I just wish it was possible to be a huge nerd and have a good time without also risking having to deal with tons of BS over it? Maybe?

....That would be great ffff

Planning to Honeybee at Wild Wild West Con, btw :D STEAMPUNK ROBOT BEE FAIRY BALLERINAAAA

ElfQuest, the Pini's, and Racism.

This is something I’ve been putting off writing for at least a month, because it’s been so hard on me. When I say hard, I mean just kind of spirit-breaking to even revisit in my memory. If you care about what I am saying, if you really care about racism in the artistic industries and such, SHARE THIS. Read this, and if you REALLY feel it, SHARE IT. Please.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore - sorry - adored ElfQuest. Wendy and Richard Pini were my role models for a long long time. I started reading the series when I was very very young. Sure, there’s questionable content, but to me it was a fantastically constructed world. There was also something about it that stood out to me in bright vivid colours.

There were elves of colour in it. Deep, rich, beautiful brown elves with their own distinct (although vaguely familiar) culture. Elves in a fantasy setting that felt no need to be justified. Elves that I, as a minority individual, could cling to and feel as though I belonged to their world.

Now, if you have already made your mind up on whether or not you want to accept what I’m going to write, don’t click on. If you become offended, if you decide to come after me for writing this, be very very aware that you were warned that the content of this may upset you. You had the choice to move on, and to be ignorant of the following information.

Read More

Sharing art from 2009 without sharing anything from 2019? Because I don't really draw like I used to. I'm sad about it sometimes, but I don't see it as having quit art. I still sketch regularly, but for years now my interests have been absolutely all the way into Making Stuff. Lots of learning and experimenting with Skills and less easily consumable content to share online...

Since I made my illustration I still like to call my Masterpiece (lol), my life changed a LOT. I changed a lot with it. The mockup of companion poster I started not long after is STILL asking me to complete it, it belongs right next to the poster of my Elf Son. I made a file of unfinished illustrations that I still Care about, this is the major one. I miss how much mental real-estate my elves took up, it was fun! But had to make room for Other things.

Stuff I've learned since drawing less: C/C++ (I'm garbage at it but I keep trying lol), Crochet & Knitting, writing small programs for Arduino, Blueprint Reading/Creating, metal machining on lathe and CNC milling machine, Circuitboard Design, Sculpting/moldmaking, Drafting slopers and clothing patterns from scratch for sewing... Next will be welding xD I want to MAKE! AND! BUILD!

How to achieve your dreams when you have 6 or 7 of them? I've abandoned two already (professional puppeteer, stage magician) but I still have only so much time on this earth! ;p

I also keep quiet these days cos I dont seem to have relatable problems. Creative block? I don't know herrrr.

When I die there will be 38,472,000 unrealized project ideas that simply cease to exist ಠ_ಠ

I'm keeping the Illustration skills in my back pocket, but it was honestlyyyyy never what I REALLY wanted to do forever, I want to do SO MANY things. I'll be 35 soon (hhhhhhhgh) and if I view my life as ONLY an illustrator then I peaked REAL early and have been Struggling since lmao! My destiny is tangential to colorful drawings. But lets be real its tough to be literally ANY kind of artist. Im just a lot busier Adulting and trying to survive/thrive in a worker-unfriendly economy with insufficient mental health care xD

ALL THAT SAID, I really do want to finish that poster, eventually xD and the elves need their story out in the world in some form. Still gotta decide what that is.

I got a book on artistic printing a while back and it really spoke to me, especially the slightly bizarre compositions... I think of it as roughly the design era that happened just before art nouveau, it has a little more anarchy to it that I totally love. Then my awesome friend gave me a book of clipartprinting press designs from 100 years ago, I spent 2 days scanning my favorite designs and converting them to vectors (arrrugh that was so much work ahaha) and I still only converted the stuff I wanted to use right away. AND I have been working on a new look for my website that is SUPER influenced by that design era, see?? SEE?

Since I want the title bar to look like moveable type I think I'm going to go all the way and flip them, it'll be extra cheeky that way, oho.

Am I gonna apologize for not posting? Ever? NAaaah. xD I rarely have time to draw while I'm away for work and when I'm home I'd rather MAKE STUFF. Even then I have to make annoyingly hard choices about what to work on cos I just can't do everything I want, weh

Buuut here's some semi-recent Jak & Daxter fanart I'm probably not going to finish cos I don't have tiiiiiime :C Fuzzy little douche was very fun to draw tho