Curse

Death By An Arrow · Feb 02, 2011, 04:24 AM // 04:24

Hit sort of an art block >.<
ill probably be forced to draw trees for a few days, as that tends to be what I do when I get art block...
draw trees.
then after the sylvari is finished I'll probably work on some unrelated pencil drawing.

Perynne · Feb 02, 2011, 06:41 AM // 06:41

Draw a tree in platemail, and you've got a Sylvari Guardian.

Anyway. I hope you'll manage to shake off the art block. Your Sylvari is looking good so far, it'd be great to see it finished.

Charlie Dayman · Feb 02, 2011, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Trees don't wear pants. So by that logic, neither should Sylvari.

But a serious answer, I'd say it's the weapons and armor that really define the Guardian class. I see them as plate-mail wearing protectors - so there movements and behavior would be more akin to a Warrior than anything else. Nothing too out there in terms of really flexible poses, but more upright, proud and somewhat physically daunting stances.

I still like the rit pose though. Plus, it's an imagination thread, so it's not like you really have to stick to the "rules".

Death By An Arrow · Feb 02, 2011, 05:16 PM // 17:16

@Pery hm... i suppose you're right o.O but then it would feel more like LotR Ents.

@Charlie I had a few other poses sketched but picked this one cause it seemed the most "dynamic". Didn't even stop to think heavy armor=slow. >.<
That explains why I haven't been able to design any heavy armor on top of this.

Looks like we'll have to change the thread to Sylvari Non-ingame-proffesion. xD

Edit

Random google child who can describe the way I feel.
I was trying to draw the mouth, and I think I've got a way to help with a more Guardian feel. (more guardian than it is currently). Ill update it when I've got a little more work done

Death By An Arrow · Feb 03, 2011, 10:18 PM // 22:18

So... unfortantely I won't have time to finish the sylvari by saturday (threads end date) so I'm just gunna ditch it and do a pencil character sketch. The pose was good, but there was a lot I didn't get right character-wise and I kept making small changes and... well its just not right. Sometimes you just have to end things before they spin out of control Dx

Ill likely be able to do the sketch tomorrow.. I've got a new drawing class. It's called Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology. Worst possible teacher ever, and it's 5 months. Sounds like sketch time to me

Charlie Dayman · Feb 04, 2011, 03:10 AM // 03:10

Maybe hold onto the pose for another one of AJ's weekly themes. Never know if it'll come in handy again.

And a good tip is to always take into consideration the clothing/armor a character is wearing when doing poses. It really plays a significant role in how he or she will behave.

Death By An Arrow · Feb 04, 2011, 04:16 AM // 04:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Dayman

Maybe hold onto the pose for another one of AJ's weekly themes. Never know if it'll come in handy again.

And a good tip is to always take into consideration the clothing/armor a character is wearing when doing poses. It really plays a significant role in how he or she will behave.

I think I might. I do like the pose (poses were one of the things i wanted to learn to do this year), but the character doesn't fit. I might scrap the painting, but incorporate the pose with, say, a drawing of a ritualist or elementalist.

And I'll try to keep the armor comment in mind while i try and sketch it out. If it wasn't evident enough, I've never really created my own characters (or even focused on characters for that matter) as most of my background comes from still lives and photo drawing. Would you suggest designing the armor first, and then configuring that to a body or sketch out the pose and body proportions and drawing the armor ontop?

Perynne · Feb 04, 2011, 07:24 AM // 07:24

I always draw the body first, and then the armor on top. It's actually a bit of a joke with my friends - if I got several unfinished sketches in my sketchbook, it looks like all I've been drawing is nudes.

If I show my sketchbook to a random new person, I always feel obliged to explain why so many women are nude in there...

I draw characters completely naked first, sometimes adding major muscles etc, and only afterwards start sketching in armor and erasing parts. However, before I decide on the pose of the character, I will think about generally what kind of armor/clothing I want them to have and the restrictions it places on poses.
Having a somewhat detailed body underneath gives you a better idea of where your armor should be placed, and how much "padding" there should be between the actual body and the clothing. It's like playing dress-up with a doll - you have the basic body to work with, and all you do is add all kinds of fun clothes on top. :3

Thistle Xandra · Feb 05, 2011, 12:06 AM // 00:06

It's a pretty cool pose; I hope you do get you use it in a different pic if you don't plan on finishing the sylvari one.

I usually draw my reference pose first and then draw the clothes that I want my person to have. I never thought about having to consider armor weighting and limitations D: ...

Death By An Arrow · Feb 05, 2011, 01:25 AM // 01:25

@Pery; thats sort of what I've been doing too. My block sketches aren't necessarily very good though, so when I draw to add things on they feel awkward. But I know what you mean about the naked thing. I would do some of Mina's workshop entries during classes and people would always be like
"MANNNN WHY ARE YOU DRAWING NAKED CHICKS?!"
and so eventually my answers would just run down to "She's wearing a onesie go away" xD

@Thistle Ive never really thought about armor weightings and such, but if you think about it, it sort of explains why some armors I draw that are cool in concept just look awkward and unrealistic.

So as expected, I sketched abit in my Anthro class. I was kind of just doodling in my sketch book (10 pages until I get a new one

) and I sort of drew a Black Knight - midieval* - hinge - pointy helmet. So I'm going with that because it sort of fetl shell-like. Which could sort of make sense as a natural armor material as enough of them could probably be formidable? :P I dont have a scanner this weekend but ive got my camera so when it's done Ill post the sketch.

*I had to google the spelling. It makes no sense O.o

P.s. Good luck getting your celestial rabbits everyone!

P.P.S After this sketch, I'm thinking ill start on my landscape. Could be good to take focus away from characters (challanging for me q.q) and back to something I've done before.

Edit Azillion.

Edit Azillion and a Guardian. Award for longest singular post.

Its sort of... Black Knight meets Venom (if instead of the venom toxin, he was made of like.. stretchy wood?) meets a forest.

Started as a shell in Anthro, evolved into a guardian... >.>
I see the next week is an aquatic creature of the deep; something I might fair better with. I'll do another pencil sketch, as i don't want to take more time away from possible landscapes.

ALSO, i want to thank EVERYONE who participated in the selection of the Icon for the dA group. It's an honour to have been chosen, and I hope I can continue to contribute to the community ^^

Death By An Arrow · Feb 05, 2011, 04:20 PM // 16:20

In my efforts of not double posting, I seem to have failed.
I finished my Creature of the Deep Sketch [I've realized these images are sort of large in the thread. Anyone know how to shrink them down? Is there like a [img=700px] tag or something that sets the size?

And I also threw down my thumbnail sketch and some colour thangs for my landscape entry.

Thanks again for choosing my icon ^^

Ravenhawk · Feb 05, 2011, 04:43 PM // 16:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Death By An Arrow

I would do some of Mina's workshop entries during classes and people would always be like
"MANNNN WHY ARE YOU DRAWING NAKED CHICKS?!"

gah sorry. I hope I am not getting you into trouble ^_^

You know I was having an art block too before I did Pery's sin...and I was sketching random stuff as well. It does help! I like the sketches esp the deep see creature one

Death By An Arrow · Feb 05, 2011, 05:05 PM // 17:05

Oh no, it was just sort of people who sat beside me in classes; not like teachers would wander by and be like "NUDITY? EXPELLED."

cause thats how my school works. LOL

Has anyone gotten a rabbit yet? D:
im quest farming for tokens, and Im 3-4 characters in (so about 150+fortunes) and I've yet to get one

Perynne · Feb 06, 2011, 07:25 AM // 07:25

I'm only starting to farm for them this morning... eep, I hope I manage to get that rabbit. :/

Ooh, I really like the sketches. The anglerfish is truly scary, although the "bait" it's holding is strangely cute.

The sylvari guardian (?) sketch is looking great too - the only thing that looks a little off is that the sword seems to be a little too thin. It looks like it would snap with the first hit. Otherwise, I really like the armor design.

If you want a quick way to shrink them down without bothering with Photoshop, download Irfanview. It's a neat way to look through image files and has a nice, quick way to crop and resize images. I use it when I can't be bothered to open Photoshop since all my images display in it automatically.

Tommy's · Feb 06, 2011, 09:31 AM // 09:31

Used 250 fortunes and didn't get one >:( So I bought one.

And yeah I always get a lot of comments too when I'm trying to practice some anatomy during classes. Either they call me a dirty harry or something along those lines, or they ask me if its my girlfriend or they add big bushes of pubic and/or armpit hair and then tell me its my girlfriend :p I think that pretty much covers most of their actions. They all try to be nice though, so I have no problems with it :p

Ravenhawk · Feb 06, 2011, 02:06 PM // 14:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy's

And yeah I always get a lot of comments too when I'm trying to practice some anatomy during classes. Either they call me a dirty harry or something along those lines, or they ask me if its my girlfriend or they add big bushes of pubic and/or armpit hair and then tell me its my girlfriend

I think that pretty much covers most of their actions. They all try to be nice though, so I have no problems with it

I am glad I am not in school anymore. Though when I doodle, I used to doodle anime/video game or comicbook characters.

and I never noticed that bait before lol. Yeah it's really cute *was about to grab it and gets bitten*!

I guess it does it's job.

Death By An Arrow · Feb 06, 2011, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Well, I'm glad it was apply to attract something towards it.

The thought behind the cuteness was kind of a mix between Finding Nemo [where dori tries to play with it] and the spongebob movie [where the old woman sells them icecream, and shes all veiny and deformed and such].

@Pery I sort of ment to make the sword thin, but looking at it again i agree its too thin. It was just sort of a quick throw-in because it wasnt really the focus. Sort of think of the glacial blade from the EotN bonus weapons.

I got to around 250~ fortunes (my last character D; ) and I finally got one

So happy ^^ And i will check out IrfanView. Because these big images make it hard to scroll through the thread Dx

I sort of spent all day yesterday watching speed paintings, so I sort of played around with the angler fish on multiply, and did a greyscale sort of thing inbetween the layers. Looks horrible though so I wont upload it Dx

Landscapes next. I better not be the only one entering the contest O;
... unless that means I auto-win. In that case.. NO ONE ENTER.

...no, then theres no pretty landscapes. So GO ENTER NAUW.

Quick Question;

Perynne · Feb 06, 2011, 06:05 PM // 18:05

I'll be entering the landscape contest. I'm just so swamped with other things at the moment that I won't be starting my entry until after next week.

Well, I think the reason people generally get commissions is to see their favourite characters in a different style. I don't really have anything else I'd like to commission except for my own characters, or at most a scene between mine and someone else's character. This forum is very concentrated on characters. :P
I'd love to get a commission from you though, as soon as I manage to get some more money from somewhere. Just paid Eastern Magik and now my wealth is down to a few pieces of gold with no platinum in sight...

Heh, I got lucky with the celestial bunny. Had some tokens left over from last year, changed them into about 15 fortunes and got my bunny on the 7th one. First time I've been so lucky, last time I went through nearly two stacks. x_x

Death By An Arrow · Feb 06, 2011, 06:37 PM // 18:37

hm... then I likely wont do commission stuff yet.
I'm not comfortable enough with drawing people that the payment would moreso feel like a pitied -goodjob- than as a reward for achieving something good. Which wouldnt be what I want Dx So until I get more comfortable with posing and muscle tones and such, i probably wont do comissions.

edit:
happy birthing mewtwo.
the joys of genderless. asexual reproduction.

[feb 6 is mewtwos canon birthday, from a scientists diary on cinabar island]

Death By An Arrow · Feb 08, 2011, 03:27 AM // 03:27

So i wanted to prep myselfish for the landscape scene. So i did a quick speedpaint tonight. Took me like, 50-60mins. Sort of best viewed, ya know, smaller.

Is there a way to keep the painting, but adjust parts of the colour? Like; would I be able to convert some of the greyscale water to a lightish blue, and then add reflective light to the rocks without just having to repaint the water?