K.M. Carroll's Blog, page 17

Maids and suits

Did some commission work this week. Then, since it was Friday, I decided to cut loose and draw something just for fun.

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First commission: a guy’s character with the characters from the game A Hat In Time. Very cute! Sorry about the watermark, but commission.

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Next up is a guy’s DnD character in a maid outfit, all anime style. Despite my stockpile of ruffle brushes, the ruffles and wrinkles gave me quite a bit of grief.

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Drawing the maid outfit made me want to draw a guy in a suit. So here is a Destiny character, Prince Uldren Sov, in a slightly rumpled suit, because it’s the bad boy look. Also having fun with the way manga draws suits. You do all the hard edges and wrinkles, then you hit it with an airbrush to soften everything. Loving this look and it’s super fast and easy.

People are like, “I love your style!” and I look at these three pics and go, “What style?” I’ve got cartoon, anime, and a more American cartoon look going on. :-p

Cinematic painting attempts

I painted over some Destiny 2 screenshots as part of a tutorial in cinematic painting. You’re supposed to practice with photos, but you can’t post them, because you don’t own them. I figured, hey, screenshots are the same, and I can stage them myself, so why not?

[image error]The original screencap



[image error]Repaint



[image error]Original screencap.



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These were made by following a tutorial by FZDSchool on Youtube on cinematic lighting. I’m sort of getting the idea, but I have a ways to go yet.

Inktober early – Kari and ghosts

I’m so jazzed to start Inktober, I’m just going to start posting ink drawings early. It’s in like two weeks, right?

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This is Kari, who is developing the ability to hear her husband’s ghost in her head as well as her own. I drew it in an hour instead of working on my commissions. Bad llama.

Pensive character

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Concept scribble for a story. This is Jayesh, on his way to pick up a cursed weapon that might eat his mind. He’s understandably freaked out and trying to cope.

My understanding of the perspective of a cockpit interior is appalling.

So this one requires some explanation

On our writing group, I asked if somebody had a book that was super light and fluffy because my brain was burned out. A friend offered me his book. I started reading, and it’s basically what’s called a light novel–that is, a manga in novel form without pictures. The characters are all obviously anime characters, with anime powers, and anime tropes. It’s very light and just what I needed.

So the author mentioned that his second book has catgirls. A lot of catgirls.

I said, “What, like a harem anime?”

“No!” he replied. “The catgirls are trying to kill the heroes.”

I said, “Well … that’s not much different from a harem anime …”

For those not in the know, a harem anime is like a love triangle. Except it’s six or eight attractive women vying for the affection of one clueless guy. No idea why this hasn’t caught on in the YA book genre yet.

So I threatened to draw a harem anime poster, but do it as Destiny characters, just for laughs. Everyone dared me to do it. So I did.

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I asked people to contribute their characters, and everyone cheerfully did. And now, here they are, all together in a spoof of a Love Hina poster.

Welcome to the wonderful world of art dares.

Experimental comics

So, I’ve been experimenting with visual storytelling more and more lately. Here’s a couple of comics I did to try out different things. First, this one, where my character meets a friend’s character and they nerd out.

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This comic was particularly tricky because sitting poses are super hard for me. Especially in a chair. Especially at any kind of an angle. Ugh. This comic was pretty much nothing but posed models and me fiddling with hand and arm and foot placement. But it came out super cute.

So I decided to try something harder.

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This comic has a model in one pose, just from different angles. I wanted to try telling a story without words, so hopefully this comic has that going on, just from the pictures. I also kind of went nuts with foilage brushes, so it looks like I slaved on the backgrounds. I also am trying to get better at using only three values.

So those have been my latest art experiments, still trying to learn things and challenge myself.

Too sexy?

Dropping into my poor, neglected blog to post a pic that might be … too sexy?

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I’m kind of a poor judge of these things.

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One of those pics I love and got like … zero likes because I guess it’s too sexy or something. Or maybe not sexy enough? Anyway. I am just slowly making art over here.

A Medieval knight in the future

So some friends and I had a funny conversation one night. What if a knight from the Middle Ages became a space marine like in Destiny? So … these comics came about.

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More to come as I continue to butcher King James English.

Artwork: Iron wolves

I spent all week working on this one pic, so here it is:

[image error]Sentinel wolves

Still learning how to use the various tools to create the effects I want. I think I need more brushes.

More July artwork

I think I missed posting any art last week, so here’s what I’ve been making. I think I’m just going to post each pic as I finish it, so this blog actually sees more action.