Sketch Dump #1: Inaugural Post
NEW TOY: LAPAZZ GRAPHICS TABLET
rhymephile and I both wanted a graphics tablet, but we didn't want to dole out $300+ for a Wacom tablet. So, when she wrote in her LJ about a promotion that Geeks.com was having on the LaPazz graphics tablet, which features a 8x6 inch working area and 1024 pressure sensitive levels (comparable to the Wacom Intuos), all for $43 total after shipping (with a coupon for $30+ off, it is normally priced at $77), I pounced on it. Well, not exactly. First I researched it, figured out it used to be named UC-logic graphics tablet, and has been renamed and repackaged...well, I thought, if this doesn't work out, it's $43 down the drain. Not exactly lunch money, but...for the chance at an excellent graphics tablet with 1024 pressure sensitive levels? I've been hunting down those Wacom tablets which are bidding for over $300 for USED tablets on Ebay. It is quite impossible to get one cheap. I had considered the Wacom Bamboo Fun, which I can get for $89 before taxes and shipping (and will probably come out to be well over $100). So I thought, why not?
I just received it two days ago (had to make a special trip back to Los Angeles to get it, since it was shipped there, but I was in Long Beach the day it came...thank god my friend craved Diddy Reese!), and I've been playing with it ever since. Well, not exactly, I've only been playing with it when I'm not working on my latest corset (which is almost done! Yippee! More news in friends-only).
This tablet is fabulous. Much better than I anticipated. It was a little difficult for me to install and activate it, but that was because I didn't read the installation directions carefully. Install drivers, THEN plug in. I also installed a copy of Corel Painter X and have been exploring the numerous delicious options in it. I was going to do my work solely in Photoshop, but then Corel Painter is making it so easy to do everything without looking for hundreds of additional brushes and paper textures.
Which leads me to this:
ABOUT SKETCH DUMPS
So, this journal will now feature my sketch dumps. I haven't yet decided on public or friends-only. For the time being, all sketch dumps and other total digital artworks will be public, but I may decide to make them friends-only later on. They will be posted sporadically, and they may not always feature correct anatomical proportions, because 1) I think I may have a mutant proportionality gene, which translates into faulty RNA translation, which causes the incorrect protein to be manufactured, resulting in the eye seeing figures in temporarily slightly distorted ways...thus creating anatomically unproportional artwork, and 2) these are sketches, and I am usually in a hurry to get the whole gesture done and do not really care much for proper lengths of arms, fingers, legs, etc.
Also, if you are seriously myopic and are not wearing corrective lenses, all you may see are blurry blobs. That's because I am very sketchy. I tend to use a lot of lines to figure out forms. And it may not look like anything, but I'll try to explain it to you.
Today's sketch dump: Hermione and Harry in three poses.
Character(s): Harry, Hermione (in separate sketches)
Rating: G
Media used: Corel Painter X
Notes or Warnings: None, unless you tend to blow an aneurysm when faced with partially-completed, very rough sketches
Comments: Detailed comments accompanying sketches
Preview:
Hermione the Determined Student, Clutching Her (Potente Potions) Book: This is actually the second drawing I ever did on the tablet (the first one is absolutely crappy...I was playing with different charcoal pencils, and it ended up looking more like a scribbling pad than anything). I gave her full hair, which is supposed to be busy but I didn't quite draw in the details. I liked the way I rendered her eyes, but I wish I put in a bit more detailed. I think she is perhaps...a fifth year or so in this one? Or maybe sixth year. I couldn't decide how to position her arms, and so you see a bunch of different arm positionings, including one very botched attempt to have one arm hanging at her side (it's all wrong).
Harry the Pensive: I generally start all sketches with a face and no idea what the rest of the body is doing, nor any idea for the context of the face. So here, I've rendered Harry's face (in Corel Painter X with a cover pencil only), and he looks somewhat young to me, possibly a 6th year or so. I don't usually render hair very well, and in fact, I hate doing hair in anything except Adobe Illustrator. But here, I did part of his hair in a way that I kind of like.
After finishing the face, I then do some gesture drawings to figure out how I want the rest of his body to look. I liked the way I positioned his shoulders and the little curve of his neck. So I went from there to these three poses:
Pose #1: Harry after the fall of Voldemort (probably more suitable for the version of events in GreenGecko's fantastic epicfic "Resonance"). Here he is standing looking kind of blank and heavy at Voldemort's body (not pictured). His greatest nemesis is gone, but he can't help but feel guilty and lost. He's wearing jeans, t-shirt, and has a robe on, but it is open. The hem reaches his lower calf. He is holding his wand. I couldn't decide how to place his legs, so you'll see two different leg positions. One has his leg bent as if walking away but still looking forlornly at the dead body, and then the other one (which is less clear) is a more fixed position, with his legs straight.
Pose #2: Harry in his Invisibility Cloak. I rather liked the form in this one. I had in mind those Hellenistic Greek statues of women (and some men) in togas or wrapped in gauze. Here, Harry is wrapped in his invisibility cloak, after he obviously pulled the hood off and is looking at something (maybe a fallen warrior, maybe his parents' grave marker, or maybe, you know, anything, since Harry is emo).
Pose #2 version 2: Harry under the Invisibility Cloak: I decided I needed to actually draw his form under the Invisibility cloak to get the folds of fabric draping around his body right. But I changed his hands a little bit, and...ehh...don't really like it. I thought maybe he would have his hands folded on top of each other. But why, I have no idea. I picture he is wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and ratty old Converses.
Pose #3: Harry the Classical Greek: I had in mind a painting by Raphael of a young man (or saint, or someone) in this pose, except his eyes was looking up. Or maybe it was one of the ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo. I can't remember any more. Anyways, that was the inspiration for this pose, which was done rather whimsically, just to see if I can get the pose right. And there were NO reference pictures used for this pose (and all the other poses).
If you're new to this journal, please note my friending policy: all are welcome to friend this journal and most likely I will friend you back (it's helpful if you leave me a comment or two letting me know that you'd like to be friended back, because sometimes I'm not sure if someone is watching the journal or also wanting to be friended back).
If you have not friended me, and may consider it, you will find the friends-only areas of this journal to contain all sorts of blog-entries (most of the time annotated with off-topic graphics to entertain you if you do not care for reading text), photography, all sorts of photo diaries, fine arts, additional friends-only graphics, friends-only requests, etc.
rhymephile and I both wanted a graphics tablet, but we didn't want to dole out $300+ for a Wacom tablet. So, when she wrote in her LJ about a promotion that Geeks.com was having on the LaPazz graphics tablet, which features a 8x6 inch working area and 1024 pressure sensitive levels (comparable to the Wacom Intuos), all for $43 total after shipping (with a coupon for $30+ off, it is normally priced at $77), I pounced on it. Well, not exactly. First I researched it, figured out it used to be named UC-logic graphics tablet, and has been renamed and repackaged...well, I thought, if this doesn't work out, it's $43 down the drain. Not exactly lunch money, but...for the chance at an excellent graphics tablet with 1024 pressure sensitive levels? I've been hunting down those Wacom tablets which are bidding for over $300 for USED tablets on Ebay. It is quite impossible to get one cheap. I had considered the Wacom Bamboo Fun, which I can get for $89 before taxes and shipping (and will probably come out to be well over $100). So I thought, why not?
I just received it two days ago (had to make a special trip back to Los Angeles to get it, since it was shipped there, but I was in Long Beach the day it came...thank god my friend craved Diddy Reese!), and I've been playing with it ever since. Well, not exactly, I've only been playing with it when I'm not working on my latest corset (which is almost done! Yippee! More news in friends-only).
This tablet is fabulous. Much better than I anticipated. It was a little difficult for me to install and activate it, but that was because I didn't read the installation directions carefully. Install drivers, THEN plug in. I also installed a copy of Corel Painter X and have been exploring the numerous delicious options in it. I was going to do my work solely in Photoshop, but then Corel Painter is making it so easy to do everything without looking for hundreds of additional brushes and paper textures.
Which leads me to this:
ABOUT SKETCH DUMPS
So, this journal will now feature my sketch dumps. I haven't yet decided on public or friends-only. For the time being, all sketch dumps and other total digital artworks will be public, but I may decide to make them friends-only later on. They will be posted sporadically, and they may not always feature correct anatomical proportions, because 1) I think I may have a mutant proportionality gene, which translates into faulty RNA translation, which causes the incorrect protein to be manufactured, resulting in the eye seeing figures in temporarily slightly distorted ways...thus creating anatomically unproportional artwork, and 2) these are sketches, and I am usually in a hurry to get the whole gesture done and do not really care much for proper lengths of arms, fingers, legs, etc.
Also, if you are seriously myopic and are not wearing corrective lenses, all you may see are blurry blobs. That's because I am very sketchy. I tend to use a lot of lines to figure out forms. And it may not look like anything, but I'll try to explain it to you.
Today's sketch dump: Hermione and Harry in three poses.
Character(s): Harry, Hermione (in separate sketches)
Rating: G
Media used: Corel Painter X
Notes or Warnings: None, unless you tend to blow an aneurysm when faced with partially-completed, very rough sketches
Comments: Detailed comments accompanying sketches
Preview:
Hermione the Determined Student, Clutching Her (Potente Potions) Book: This is actually the second drawing I ever did on the tablet (the first one is absolutely crappy...I was playing with different charcoal pencils, and it ended up looking more like a scribbling pad than anything). I gave her full hair, which is supposed to be busy but I didn't quite draw in the details. I liked the way I rendered her eyes, but I wish I put in a bit more detailed. I think she is perhaps...a fifth year or so in this one? Or maybe sixth year. I couldn't decide how to position her arms, and so you see a bunch of different arm positionings, including one very botched attempt to have one arm hanging at her side (it's all wrong).
Harry the Pensive: I generally start all sketches with a face and no idea what the rest of the body is doing, nor any idea for the context of the face. So here, I've rendered Harry's face (in Corel Painter X with a cover pencil only), and he looks somewhat young to me, possibly a 6th year or so. I don't usually render hair very well, and in fact, I hate doing hair in anything except Adobe Illustrator. But here, I did part of his hair in a way that I kind of like.
After finishing the face, I then do some gesture drawings to figure out how I want the rest of his body to look. I liked the way I positioned his shoulders and the little curve of his neck. So I went from there to these three poses:
Pose #1: Harry after the fall of Voldemort (probably more suitable for the version of events in GreenGecko's fantastic epicfic "Resonance"). Here he is standing looking kind of blank and heavy at Voldemort's body (not pictured). His greatest nemesis is gone, but he can't help but feel guilty and lost. He's wearing jeans, t-shirt, and has a robe on, but it is open. The hem reaches his lower calf. He is holding his wand. I couldn't decide how to place his legs, so you'll see two different leg positions. One has his leg bent as if walking away but still looking forlornly at the dead body, and then the other one (which is less clear) is a more fixed position, with his legs straight.
Pose #2: Harry in his Invisibility Cloak. I rather liked the form in this one. I had in mind those Hellenistic Greek statues of women (and some men) in togas or wrapped in gauze. Here, Harry is wrapped in his invisibility cloak, after he obviously pulled the hood off and is looking at something (maybe a fallen warrior, maybe his parents' grave marker, or maybe, you know, anything, since Harry is emo).
Pose #2 version 2: Harry under the Invisibility Cloak: I decided I needed to actually draw his form under the Invisibility cloak to get the folds of fabric draping around his body right. But I changed his hands a little bit, and...ehh...don't really like it. I thought maybe he would have his hands folded on top of each other. But why, I have no idea. I picture he is wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and ratty old Converses.
Pose #3: Harry the Classical Greek: I had in mind a painting by Raphael of a young man (or saint, or someone) in this pose, except his eyes was looking up. Or maybe it was one of the ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel by Michaelangelo. I can't remember any more. Anyways, that was the inspiration for this pose, which was done rather whimsically, just to see if I can get the pose right. And there were NO reference pictures used for this pose (and all the other poses).
If you're new to this journal, please note my friending policy: all are welcome to friend this journal and most likely I will friend you back (it's helpful if you leave me a comment or two letting me know that you'd like to be friended back, because sometimes I'm not sure if someone is watching the journal or also wanting to be friended back).
If you have not friended me, and may consider it, you will find the friends-only areas of this journal to contain all sorts of blog-entries (most of the time annotated with off-topic graphics to entertain you if you do not care for reading text), photography, all sorts of photo diaries, fine arts, additional friends-only graphics, friends-only requests, etc.