La vie est drole

In light of industry day - I wanted to talk about life now that you people are being hurled face first into the world. Also why I disappeared.

I havent been posting because I've been on a peyote-less spirit journey. I had to find myself again, which can prove difficult when you're smashing the walls of what you previously thought to be true, and trying to find that essence of you in the rubble of your life. #sadprose

That being said, I realized that being able to find happiness in your own work while not chasing another artist and trying to be them helps you in your success. As with everything, just be you.

I'll leave you with this quote from Einstein.

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value"

Co-Worker Caricatures

My friend Karl, the TA.

That's his thinkin' face.

What not to do

I got frustrated.

Next of Kin Cover

Here you go, here's a better cover. Drew from a few inspirations, Faith Erin Hicks included - a super talented comic/freelance illustrator from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who's also the illustrator and author of Friends with Boys. This is an odd combo, but it seemed to have worked somewhat.

I also realized that those sketches I posted last night were a complete dud without an explanation, but I won't spoil it. enjoy.

I'll be writing the story over the course of the next month or howeverlongitactuallytakes  while.

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.

-- Maya Angelou

Next of Kin is about two  half sisters who struggle to see eye to eye until a fire changes everything.

Suzy Shears, Captain of the Queen's Fist

I redid her. Her last costume apparently didn't have enough useless crap on it.  is now leaning towards Steampunk. I do find the design theme Steampunk heavily overused so I toned down the crazy, it could be crazier.

I like the direction Bioshock took, it's not quite as in your face as it could be.

If you're wondering why I'm revisiting Suzy, I'll come up with a proper explanation with images sometime soon.

Also, if you look at the last three full body posts in sequence, it's like a pokemon evolution.

Another Test

Another test for a studio, we'll see where it goes. There's more I just don't want to post it, this is the most ambiguous I can leave it until I either get interviewed/hired/rejected.

Environment Processes

I can totally post this.
I think.
Well we'll find out. Here's my workflow so far.

There's obviously some problems still in the cleanup. Might hide it in painting, instead of fiddling with it.

Woop.

Protip

Some important things to think about

When drawing/colouring semi-realistic female characters. (Ie Anime, Comics)

A lot of the time, the problem isn’t so much the design, but if you’re intent on drawing semi-realistic women (or men), you’re probably not doing it for the character design aspect. You’re probably doing it for a story, so keep that in mind next time someone says they look similar or they’re not that appealing.

If you’re doing it for a story, what other people think of the design does not matter one iota. It’s your story.

But, you probably want to make it as right as possible anyway, which is why you’re reading this. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re drawing semi-realistic women. No, it won’t be tl;dr.

1.       If you’re painting/colouring them, draw the face as if they’re not wearing makeup then in finalizing the face in colour, apply makeup as you would on your own face. If you’re a dude, then watch some Michelle Phan videos on youtube.

a.       Ex.

Disclaimer: I obviously odn't own Marge Simpson or anything pertaining to. It was just to clarify that you don't want your makeup phasers set to less than stunning.

Some notes about makeup:

• Most of what you need isn't foundation, man, you're painting, just make their faces the right colour. In Colour and Light for the Realist Painter (or something like that, sorry, I misplaced it in renovating),  the face is broken down into three colour schemes - yellow at the forehead and half of the eyes, red, nose, and upper lip, and blue for the area around the lips, which are obviously red, not blue.
• Research different types of eye shadow application, and what lip colours go with what skin tones - otherwise you end up with hookers. Be careful with blush, it can come out gaudy if you go nuts.
• If you want to push youth you can redden up their nose and cheeks. 
• Avoid drawing in eyelashes as if you applied mascara, paint it on after with a softer brush. It's a bit too strong - unless that's what you need. 

2.If characters are looking similar, but you drew their faces differently – it’s probably the hair line. Hair plays a big role in how you recognize someone. Look at their bangs (if any), and how their hair sits on their head. Is it similar to other characters? See below:

I tend to style my character's hair in one particular direction. I think it's because I'm right handed, and I naturally sweep that way.

That's all I have right now. Just a couple of protips that I've learned about drawing women and how to make them more natural instead of setting your cintiq pen to whore. If that's what you want, go ahead, but if you're trying to create the girl next door, I don't think she clarts on her makeup like icing on a cake.

cake face.

Foot note: Oh and obviously, match the makeup to the time period.

My friend Mike (Mic)

30 minutes

He went to the Waterloo Animation festival with me, and he's a tall fellow. He's also very considerate and didn't want to block the people behind us from seeing the screen, so he slouched as far down as he could without-- well, he did end up hurting himself because his back doesn't bend that way.

I've been listening to a lot of UNKLE lately....

So my blog got a bit of a redo, because nothing says fun like Eurohouse. Hope you like this, it's a nice change from the epic innocence that it used to be.

I feel like my painting has improved drastically thanks to working on this major motion picture, not necessarily by technique but I've gotten a lot faster. The total time on the header was about 2-3 hours.

Here's a WIP to prove I've been working:

Also if you're looking for some serious House or Electronic music to listen to, and you're just getting into it like I am here's two tracks you'll enjoy:

Frederik Olufsen - Rocks and UNKLE - Restless Fake Blood Remix

I found some old drawings - like a year old.

So it's not that old, but still -- I realized the gravity of drawing consistently for a year, and animating "Red" and "Wolfe" over and over again. Drawing them over and over again really pushed to improve how I approached drawing my lovely ladies in general.

This is like end of third year work:

And while it's not bad - like at all, its lacking structure, and the designs are still a bit loose. And obviously Jenna Fargo no longer has luscious black locks of hair, and a wolf helmet. I decided these costumes were gay.

And like - I think I was trying to conserve line s or something - because there's a lot of detail that could be on here but totally isn't. I suppose I was thinking about animating them - but even still, there aren't animateable at all. ever.

These are actually more animated - this is actually pretty recent; like beginning of summer recent. After pumping out 2 minutes of traditional animation (although I digress, not all of it inbetweened), I started seeing how I drew them differently - and it became more streamlined and the caricatures of their ethnicity became more obvious. Now it's pretty obvious that Kiyoko's Asian even without the epic geisha outfit; and you can tell Crystal's...well, white. But I Guess this isnt a totally smooth transition -- here's something older:

This is about October of fourth year. I haven't started animating, but I've done about 500 panels in storyboards - 90% of them rejects (obviously). Aside from Red having the world's smallest cigarette; this is about where I started to push myself painting and learning more about draftsmanship through using colour and tone.

Wolfe's face kind of looks like I took my fist to the right side of it a little bit too often, but I think this is where I finalized hair designs and Alex's signature unicorn curl on her head. Also I'm beginning to realize that everyone's eyes can't be Belle's (Beauty and the Beast) eyes.

Now this is december - I think my brain kind of exploded here because this is pushing it for even me. However -- but I think this is where structure and economy really hit home. Maybe not on the faces; but the bodies definitely. They feel fuller.

This is the most recent drawing - because it i did it last night. I dunno. I think I've made a lot of progress. This is something everyone should do -- just document how far they've come in a year. Now if I was uncouth, I'd drop a very iconic Michael Scott line here, but I think I'll keep that to voice conversation only. :)

Hope you enjoyed this post.

And the Mr. Popo Alex face up in the corner of the last drawing. I decided it should stay there to ruin the mood of the drawing.

Cheers.

EDIT: This is a fun comparison.

2009

2010

Cats are hilarious

time: 1/2 hour medium: photoshop, lack of sleep

There's this hilarious cat on ShallAdoreCat's youtube channel, called Miracle - unlike this cat, he wears a hat. I don't know why.

He also looks like an old man. Or a pillow with a really sad face on it.

Moreover: I was kind of inspired by Shane Prigmore, and I've been designing cats for the last couple of days.

I got my new business cards printed too, but they're with Andrew, because he knows this fantastic printing place- this is vaguely what they look like. She's inside the safe margin by the way - if you're wondering why she just ends. I can't wait till I get them, but that's not till Wednesday. Oh well.

Sketches

I was drawing cats today, and I drew my pretty kitty Raven. Then I drew a box cat.

I thought you'd like it.


EDIT: I also thought of a new story idea. For now I might calling Roaring Thunder -- because that's a hilariously engrish pun. And you must know that I feel very strongly for puns.

Here is a WIP

"Which way Now?"
time: about 4 hours so far; medium: photoshop w/ cintiq 21UX

Needless to say my cintiq has finally arrived (2 months later). Cleanup isn't a pleasure, but it is infinitely easier.

I like pinups, the women in pinups are always hilariously stupid. Pinups also give me an excuse to go all-out with detail. I might be overdoing it on the motorcycle, however. That'll be another three hours. Worth it, i think.

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Been busy.

SOLACE -- because I clearly have nothing better to be doing

this is my cat. his name is raven. sometimes he looks up at me and is filled with infinite sadness.

Time: About 10 minutes each, medium: blue col-erase in a q-book.

I'd been meaning to get a Q-book for sometime now.

I guess you could call these a cross between workbooks and storyboards, because they're not quite either. I was drawing from the writing I'd been doing the last couple of days.

I plan on cleaning them up, I'll show you when they're done.

Cheers

EDIT: I rearranged them so they're in order. But there's still beats missing, so it probably won't make sense.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: How to harness it.

I don't officially have OCD, but sometimes I think I do. I've been listening to "Telephone" By Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce for basically...the last two weeks.

In that span of time, I generated these, well not two weeks, about one a day over the span over two weeks. I'll go in order:

Time: 4 hours; medium: Photoshop
This was the first of the series, I just kind of threw it down, and realized how much fun these sort-of pinups were. I just kept going:

Time: 4 hours; medium: Photoshop
The jacket is a drum major's jacket, however not nearly as blinged out as Beyonce's in the music video.

Time: 6 hours; Medium: Photoshop
Why the jump in time? I decided to clean up.

Time: 6 hours; Medium: Photoshop;
I realized with the last one, the colour styling started to get too local, so I went nuts with this one - or tried to.

Also - my portfolio is now officially available here.
I'm revamping this whole blog.

Online Portfolio is Online. Frequent Posts are Frequent.

http://leishariddel.carbonmade.com/

Uploaded for Dawn Rivera-Ernst's visit to Sheridan. Check it out.

Just in case, I suppose. Also it's nice to have up it up and running so all I have to do is update it from here on in.

It has everything to do with Animation

time: 2-3 hours;

I pitched it, then was forced into completing it. People like it.

Would you wear it as a shirt? There's everything you could possibly want aside from monetary aid - unicorns, dinosaurs, lightning and lasers.

! I can see the appeal.

Considering it's actually just the stupidest (albeit most epic) thing I could think of concerning a t-shirt design, I researched T-Rexes quite a bit. I watched about 2 hours of dinosaur documentaries, including the oh so creatively named Argentinosaurus, and the Gigantonosaur. But some cool stuff on youtube, if you need dinosaurs. Search:

"Dinosaurs BBC"

I gotta say, I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to draw Tyrannosaurs, fun stuff. They're so scaly and angry looking.



I am also turning 21 in two days, however I'm not a fan of birthdays simply because I don't like the attention.

But I do like the free food.