Post 7: Early roughs

Yeah- I know I promised full sprites, but it's taking a while with the unique texture layers and asymmetrical looks for these characters. So instead, we'll look at the roughs for a few characters of mine.

So first up, we have an aloof angsty anti-hero. A tech-wizard (both figuratively and literally) with a flowing cape, an arm cannon on his holster, and an all-around annoyed look. I present the pseudo-rival, Tuck.

Next, she's not quite royalty, but she's the daughter of the mayor of a big city. She may have fancy clothes, but she prefers to just be herself with her own rebellious outfit. This is the apple of a young one's eye, Eley.

Finally, in some far-off plain comes a half-leopard, half-lion, all-active secret daughter of two tribes in disagreement. Though friendly, her spear (which looks a lot like a pencil) and speed are not to be taken lightly. Once she gets her paws on something, the chances of her letting go are incredibly low. The First-Nations/Aboriginal (with elements of other Indigenous people) inspired Leetau arrives!

Fold being near them for size comparison should indicate these three would all live in the same fictuitous world as him.
Of course, the final sprites will be much neater and lively than these roughs presented above.

Post 6: Return

It's been quite a while since I posted here, hasn't it? That's what happens with life- you can't focus on multiple things at once.

To start off, here's a revised version of Fold, a simple boy with paper-like limbs.

Obviously, I redid Fold from pseudo-scratch. This included redrawing his limbs to make him less uneven and more logical. I also removed the white outline to make the paper aesthetic less overbearing and obnoxious.

More importantly than the sprite sheet is the animation of Fold, in GIF form.

Adorable, isn't he?







There will be more sprites in the future.

Post 5

Here's another in depth look at how I create my art. The subject this time is someone named Maya Brava.

Maya Brava had actually been conceived a while ago, as an homage to famous game character Samus Aran- similar in some ways, but vastly different in others. I fully drew Maya only now not just for this blog, but also as a service to fans who felt jaded by two of Nintendo's official stances on their Metroid series, as well as one unofficial stance.

Enough of that, though. Let's start with the original pencils.

 
As we can see, the helmet alone went through several different variations. Number 1 proved especially wonky, while Number 4 seemed a little too clownish. Thankfully, Number 5 shed some light on a unique design. The other armaments, meanwhile, provided their own phases.

 
We finally get to a computer-generated rough drawthrough here. While it technically looks good, the helmet and chestplates seem a little uneven. Thankfully, this got rectified in the outline.

See? Nothing a little lassoing, copying and pasting can't handle.

 
While we are technically skipping steps here, the original coloration for Maya was always intended to be blue, to contrast with her inspiration. The only real change from the original plan was her ring braces were meant to be gold. They got changed to a light silver for a little variety.

As for the scenery, it's just the average laboratory based, filled with alien monsters.
 
Add a little texture, a little lighting, some ambient occlussion, and- we're done. Now, let's hope Maya Brava can blast those alien monsters apart.

Post 4

Here's another round of artwork, just for this ocassion. This time, in addition to my own characters, there's one third-party character included. In addition, there's a little spritework.


Starting off this post is the storm dragon, Raiaspark. Just look at all that dampened ground behind the sparkling lizard. Yet he still crackles on.

 
Next, we have Ed the Reguuldroid, within the heat of an active volcano. Good thing he can actually take the heat, or we'd have a mess of metal to clean up.

 
Getting into the sprites, here's a boy. Just a boy. Who we'll call Fold.
 
Opposing Fold is this huge truck of a warthog wrestler, Brassen. He's a smug, huge wart, I'll tell you what.

Which brings us to the one character on this blog I didn't create- someone people at large have known about for nearly a century...

 
...DC Comics/Warner Bros.' iconic villain, the Joker. Rather than being based on one past design, my take on the Joker includes elements of the 90s animated version, the NES Return of the Joker take, and the Under the Red Hood interpretation. I think I even see some Caesar Romero in there, and I wasn't even trying to include that version.

This design just goes to show that while new things are important in broadening storytelling culture, there's no shame in returning to the past to find new inspiration. In addition, rather than going to an extreme of old or new, they should be combined together. Or, in other words, bringing in past ideas to build a foundation, then layer new ideas on top of and even alongside them.

Post 3: DarkChirano Art Extravaganza

It's been quite some time since I posted here. I was just refining my skills to justify uploading any more art.

This time, all these pieces were made for the purposes of showcasing. In addition, there's more of a variety between these posts and the methods used to create them. Finally, as a special bonus, I'll actually show step-by-step how this and another character concept was created.

Let's start off with one of humankind's most relateable animals- the monkey. Or, in this case, the Prince of the Stars- Prince Gene.


While normally, artists are expected to go through a few draft drawings of the character before deciding on a final one, I liked the gist of this general design enough to go with it. It's rare that a phenomenon like that happens, though. And of course, this design is a little basic. So let's go to wardrobe.


Since I had a bit of a "Journey to the West" idea regarding what I originally envisioned Gene for, I decided to look up imperial robes. Naturally, Gene being monkey led me to go ape in the patterns adorning his robe. Though I went for a basic tropical design at first, it wasn't really that appealing. (...OK, that was just terrible.) So, to emphasize his connections to the stars more, I went for a spatial design instead- mixed with bananas.

Now, we get to a basic drawthrough for Gene. As a bit of a precaution for drawing on a blank landscape, it's best to go with grey. Staring at pure white can be damaging to the eyes.

 
Following that, we refine the details of the drawthrough even moreso, adding the robe onto the Prince. Sometimes, details change after the initial concept. Also, a drawthrough is not gospel and/or absolute- it's just a guide to help with the actual outline.

 Like so. Here, there's some fur where Gene's head and ear connect, making the image more credible. Also, there's some extra fur that was strangely missing in the drawthroughs.
 
Now, we add and decide on a color scheme. While I didn't save the following, originally, Gene's robe was mostly red, with some white-yellow. However, it looked less godly and more gawdy. Eventually, I decided on a simpler black and white color scheme, with the other three prime colors mixed in to emphasize Gene's interstellar nature.

While this part wasn't actually necessary, I felt the need to add a space background. It just made the image more complete, especially in light of the final shading.
 
Which is this image. All that work led to some nice eye-candy. Now- gaze upon Prince Gene, as he meditates upon the road of darkness.

Post 2

For my first act, I submit a piece of concept art depicting a boss' office. This was part of a project- to make a short where a custom made boss character would fire a supplied employee character in some way. Of course, I decided the most comical course of action would be to take this as literally as possible. This is one of those times I decided to include the ambient occlusion shading technique (where darkness gathers at 90 degree angles).

Next, we have a setting from a fake bible pitch I did, called Sk8eroes. This run-down house is the home of the otherwise well-adjusted main hero. I always had a thing for the underdog.

Following on from that is two of the characters, Harold and Zira, in a sewer, a crocodile planning from the shadows. I really went all out in ensuring the textures were convincing and authentic.

Finally, I present the cover piece to this fake bible, depicting the three main characters. From left to right, Frank, Oliver (the main hero) and Zira are present.

Post 1

For my first post, I might as well demonstrate some variation-based illustrations.

  

Here, we have 3 weapons in 3 different flavors. A jagged scythe, a harpsichord sword, even some woodchucks to chuck wood! Normal shading, as well as the dodge and burn tools, were used in giving these weapons some believability in their ability to grievously harm.

Next, we have two seafaring women. One, ragged in her attire. The other, regal, yet still suffering the wounds of pillaging. As one can see, I went all out differentiating them from each other.

Finally, we have another four weapon variation, this time concerning futuristic guns. Whether only needing hands or requiring some hefty shoulders,  there's definitely a spectrum of options here. My personal favorite is the middle gun.