And still MORE art... Mara WIP

arsheesh
arsheesh
edited December 2010 in General Discussion
Hey Guys,

So I used to do quite a bit of sketching in highschool and took a drawing class my Freshman year of college. Since then life has gotten busy and I haven't made time for drawing. However I've always regretted this. You see I used to love to draw, it was one of the few things I was good at in highschool and it provided me my primary creative outlet back then. At any rate, I've been meaning to get back to drawing for some time, and moreover have really wanted to learn how to paint. Well, I discovered GIMP last January and, after being inspired by the artwork of my fellow Opites decided to go for it.

I started with an old "rough sketch":http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/arsheesh2/Age%20of%20Legends/Mara1-1-1.jpg of a character (Mara) that I had done for my Age of Legends campaign about a year ago. I had scanned the image into my computer back then in order to upload it to my site. The image is pretty low resolution, but since this is really just a trial run for me I'm OK with that. Anyway, I then did some web research on how to paint in Photoshop (most of the GIMP tutorials were woefully bad). Once I was confident that I understood the basics, I went to work on painting the face of Mara.

It took allot of trial and error trying to figure out flesh tones and blending, but after several hours I feel that it is starting to come together. I wanted to share my WIP with you guys since it was your creativity that inspired me to take up artwork again. At any rate, here is what I've got so far: "Mara WIP 1":http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/arsheesh2/Age%20of%20Legends/Mara_WIP_1.jpg. As you can see, I haven't gotten very far. I still need to add highlights to the hair, and I feel like there is something wrong with her neck, but I'll get to that later. At any rate, thanks Dusk, SHIN and Dyluth; you guys are really the ones that provided the impetus for me to want to learn how to do this.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

Comments

  • DarkMagus
    DarkMagus
    Posts: 425
    Holy Critical hit!!

    That is amazing Arsheesh! Please let us know when this is done so that we can see the final product.
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    Arsheesh, I am completely blown away.

    I knew you were a terrific artist already because of that magnificent map. I had a feeling you had character art in you!

    Like every time one of us inspires the other to aspire to greater heights, I am going to get into a more painterly style of coloring my character art, starting with my character, Det. Simon Cruz from Rase Cidraen's Dark Queen of the West campaign.

    As for the neck, it's nothing you've done wrong, at all. Women tend to have long, slender necks, and that can look strange during the actual process of coloring them in. The sketch looks fine, but as you started with the head and are working your way outward, your mind's eye is distorting all the white-space near it. I recommend working on the shadowy areas of her neck, underneath her hair, then working your way lighter. If it still looks off, I think she would look lovely with an ornate collar to match the metalwork of her armor, perhaps with a small talisman-like charm that drops down from the center. That would break up the length a bit, and tie the armor further up on her body. However, even if you didn't do that, it is already a well proportioned piece, and I think once you get it all painted, you will find that the neck wasn't really off after all.

    I have to credit SHINenzo for being one of the reasons I got back into art to begin with, as it was when he joined my Wyrmshadow campaign, Sins of the Fathers, that I felt compelled to start drawing everyone's characters again. Then again, with a cast of nearly 300 characters, 30 of which have been PC's, I feel that I had to rush quite a few of those pieces. Given time, I hope to begin an art redux project. That is in the distant future. Too much stuff on my plate at the moment, and too many distinct and planned-out goals in my immediate future.

    Once again, Arsh, I am very impressed, but not even a little bit surprised. Have fun with it, and if I can be of any help, at all, you need only say the word.
  • gaaran
    gaaran
    Posts: 740
    Holy poop, Arsheesh! that's some pretty amazing digital painting, and I can't WAIT to see the finished project. I can't quite tell if the neck is a little to long or not, but if you're going to shorten it even a little, I'd definitely do that before you finish the rest of the work. But I'm not here to critique, I'm just here to ogle the beautiful painting style :).
  • Poutine_Paladin
    Poutine_Paladin
    Posts: 285
    Okay, wow...seriously? Unlike Dusk, I have to say I was definitely surprised, good luck catching me off guard like that again, though. It's probably just because I haven't known you as long. Very nice work...keep us up to date on your progress, and I hope you continue with other characters after this one.
  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850 edited December 2010
    Hey thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback. Dusk, I agree with you that an ornate collar would look nice. I've done some Google searches for ladies armor and seen some great examples. However Mara's character is the real "rough-and-tumble" sort; she doesn't go in for frills. Hence, I decided to make her armor functional rather than ornate. Thanks for your comments though, I do appreciate these types of suggestions.

    Well I haven't made a whole lot of progress so far so there's not a whole lot to see, but here's the latest "WIP":http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/arsheesh2/Age%20of%20Legends/Mara_WIP_2.jpg. I finished Mara's neckline and gave her armor a basic primer to get it ready for detail work. I'll throw up another WIP once I'm further along.

    Cheers,
    -Arsheesh
    Post edited by arsheesh on
  • Everdark
    Everdark
    Posts: 122
    HOLY ****!

    Dude, Arsheesh, I didn't know you could draw! I saw that and my jaw went ajar! That is like some of the greatest coloring/shading I've EVER seen, man! Wow. I'm floored! I'm thoroughly impressed, bro. That's fantastic. I think it looks great so far, man. I can't wait to see it when it's finished!

    Also, I'm completely flattered that both you and our good friend Dusk listed me as an inspiration to start drawing again. That means tons to me. You guys are such great artists and to be named among you both is an honor! Thank you!
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    Arsheesh, I thought you should know that your artistic endeavors have inspired me to bump my character art for Det. Simon Cruz to the front burner. I just got started on him.

    "Here's my WIP.":http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/31822/Simon_WIP1.jpg

    Also, I was wondering... were you planning on doing a backdrop for Mara?
  • RaseCidraen
    RaseCidraen
    Posts: 890
    Guys, absolutely Phenomenal. I've actually decided that OP needs to change what it means: Overwhelmingly Phenomenal. The quality of work you guys are capable of generating is incredible! I must say, truly superb.

    Some day, when I grow up, I want to be just like Dusk and Arsheesh!
  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    @SHIN, wow, thanks man!

    @Dusk, nice! I really like your new painterly style. Cruz has some real character. Looking forward to watching this piece develop. Also, I'm still deciding on whether or not to do a background for Mara. In fact, initially this was just going to be a bust pic that I was going to insert into a character sheet at my site, but I may decide to flesh it out a bit more after that.

    @Rase, thanks buddy.

    OK, so this project is absorbing quite a bit more time than I had anticipated, and I still don't have much to show for it, but I guess that's just a part of the learning curb aye? At any rate, I finished work on Mara's shoulder plates and am now trying to decide what to do with her upper torso. Originally I was going to go with chain-mail, but now I'm thinking about giving her a tunic to wear over the armor. Still haven't made up my mind on that one. At any rate, here's the current "WIP":http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz351/arsheesh2/Age%20of%20Legends/Mara_WIP_3.jpg.
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    So far so good, Arshy, old buddy. I like the idea of the tunic, honestly.
  • gaaran
    gaaran
    Posts: 740
    That's ridiculous Sheesh! Considering you're just figuring out how to paint in gimp I must say that I'm blown away.
  • Duskreign
    Duskreign
    Posts: 1,085
    Considering how brilliant he is in every other aspect, and how impressive his world map is for AoL, I'm not that surprised to see how terrific this is turning out to be. That's not to say I'm unimpressed. Far from it. Arsheesh has already proven he's capable of so much, that he is quite a Rennaisance Man, that I would be surprised if he wasn't artistically talented. I am willing to bet there's some music in him, too.
  • RaseCidraen
    RaseCidraen
    Posts: 890
    Arsheesh is like a music box. Filled with music on the inside, but covered with archaic and arcane scribblings of art without. Or he's like a box of chocolates. Minus the coconut ones. Or Watercress.

    I'm tempted to scream out for a Duskreign/Arsheesh compilation work!
  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    You guys are far too kind. Oh and Dusk, no, sadly I do not have any musical talent. In fact, the first time I ever went Swing Dancing years ago I kept stepping all over my partners feet because I couldn't follow the rhythm of the music. She left with bruises! At any rate, we've had company the last couple of nights so I haven't been able to do much with the Mara piece, but hopefully I'll have another WIP soon.
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