Quisum

On DeviantArt there is a custom where you can offer a piece of art as a prize if someone can catch a certain page view.
I offered one at 15,000 and Quisum was the artist who caught it. This was a long time ago now, and I struggled with it immensly. Late last summer I re-drew it, and I've been working on it recently and this is where it stands.



I think I'll finish this off in the next few days- it wont take me long at all.
Drawing the background on this was very much a light bulb moment when it came to doing backgrounds- after this backgrounds have come much more naturally to me and I really enjoy them now.

Brutus

So back during summer I was approached by a student who was part of a group making a flash zombie game. He had found my DeviantArt page and liked what he saw and asked if I would be willing to join the group as a concept artist.
I was thrilled even though it was an un-paid job; I'll take any experience when it comes to working on games. The brief I was given was to re-design the "Brutus" zombie, and the playable character- a rabbit.

This is as far as I got before they stopped replying to me. I was really quite disappointed when they stopped replying to my emails, but I've learnt a really important lesson from this. Copyright everything, although in this case it was quite difficult as the designs were not my own.
Still, I should have taken precautions, and I most certainly have learnt that I need to be more careful when it comes to dealing with people.

This is as far as I got with the designs. Looking at them now I can see that they had potential, and if they were my own designs I would finish them.
Needless to say that drawing the Brutus got me thinking about drawing mutants for my Negotiated projects, so it wasn't a total waste of time by any means.

Tyr 2

More progress on Tyr. Background is now complete and I can move on to shading the fish.







I know that there doesn't look like much difference between the last two images, but I lighted up the moss ball (the plant on the bottom right) to what it was in the top image, and added shading under the roots of the plant on the wood. I also tidied up the black sand on the bottom and dulled down the roots of the plant in the middle of the patch of sand.
That's it for now I think; once the fish is done I wont be working on this any more.

Fox

So a while a go I drew this for my other project:



I don't feel that it really fits the general vibe of the story, but still really wanted to develop the character/species further.
And this is what I have so far:



His build is inspired by a mix of equine, feline and canine anatomy, and so far I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The markings on his hind legs bother me at the moment, so when I start rendering the fur those will probable change to look a bit more natural. I think some Bongo inspired markings along his back might also look nice.
I also need to rotate the whole character as I'm really not feeling the floaty pose that's going on at the moment.

Lee Carter

So back in Creative Futures Week I met a great artist called Lee Carter. He was kind enough to hang around for an hour after his talk, and I got to talk his ear off. At the time, I also asked if he would be willing to take a look at my portfolio and give me some feedback.

It's taken a while, but he's finally replied to me, and it could not have made me any happier or given me a bigger confidence boost ^^

Quoted from the email he sent me:


"I had a really good time at Wrexham, it was great to chat and meet the student afterwards, would have been nice to have had the full day there with a smaller group, still Im really happy you enjoyed my talk,
Your portfolio is great , a lot of nice design work in there really liked your ice queen and the pose on your medusa. The sketch book work is always a good idea to have, as it shows you can show an idea without too much rendering or over working,a lot of companys really like this type of stuff as it means you can quickly pass your design to the modellers who then can make a start,
sorry i cant make my crit much longer, but i do think you have a really good start
maybe catch you at your final show as hopfully i might be able to pop in"

Again he's given me some fantastic tips, and I fully intend to carry them out.
Time to email some more artists I think; I'm really quite shy about doing this as my confidence is often quite fragile and I'd be terrified of getting a very negative response. But I've learnt recently that I can't take criticism to heart, and that it can only make me stronger.

I'm going to start posting on ConceptArt.org, as there are many industry professionals on there from whom I hope to learn as much as I can.

Tyr

As a bit of a break from my main uni project I decided to paint another portrait of a betta fish, like this one I did back in January. I do these little portraits because they're great practice when it comes to doing backgrounds and also painting lots of different textures and colours.



So I've taken reference from my own photos of my tanks and fish, and this is the process so far.

Website finished?

So I've spent most of the last two days trying to finish up my website.
I'm happy with how it's turned out, although I'd like to hear feedback from people before I declare it completely finished.

My website can be found here!

I just need someone to read through the "About" page and my resumé, which still needs a few more details added.
But all in all, I'm really pleased; Wix is a fantastic website maker, especially for people like me with no knowledge of coding. It can take a little bit of getting used to, but the amount that Wix has to offer more than makes up for that.

Now I just want to get the funds to be able to upgrade my account on there and host it on my own domain. I'm not sure it's something I'll be able to do whilst I'm at uni, but once I have a job and a reliable income then I'll definitely upgrade it.

Just in case for any reason my website doesn't work, here are some screen shots.

Sister Moon

This is just an idea that's been floating around in my head for years. So this is just a quick mock up I did before going off to sleep. Not sure if it works compositionally, but I have tried to experiment with different styles. I've been very much inspired by illustrators like Kay Nielson and Erte for this; simple but exaggerated forms followed by flat, bold colours.



I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I have the time to work on it and develop it any further.

I've ordered from Moo

So I've ordered 10 free business cards from Moo, to see what their quality is like before I would commit to buying in bulk.
They should be here before next Friday, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what their like. I uploaded 10 different images, and on the back put my details and contact information.

As they are free, there's an advertisement for Moo printed on each card, but I don't mind that as like I said, this is just to see what the quality is like really.

Really impressed that there was an option between glossy print and echo friendly 100% recycled card. Naturally I went for the recycled option, as conserving our planet is very important to me.

Will update with photos when they arrive.