Rowena Aitken - Illustrator

THE BLOG HAS MOVED

2011-07-09T19:28:00.003+01:00

Nothing to see here from now on. Blog is now on my website at http://rowenaaitken.com/

Alchemy

2011-06-26T16:40:00.000+01:00

Having a bit of photoshop overload so switching to a new prog for some idea gen.

Alchemy

I used it a few years ago and thought it was "cool" but didn't feel I could use it for what I wanted to create. Just messing around with it and very quickly came up with some nice things (not useful to what i'm doing but interesting).

Also, remember to save as a jpg or pdf. Just saved one as a svg(?) and it will not open in anything. I am a dufus.

Books for sale

2011-06-24T20:33:00.000+01:00

Right guys, got a load of art and game art books for sale. Difference being that ideally you can come and pick them up or I can post them to you but obv at your cost. The reason i'm not ebaying these is cause books cost a bloody fortune to post and with most sites offering free delivery, cost of book + postage prob = or more than the cost of getting it new. So anyhoo, below are a list of the books i've acquired from the days when I wanted to get into mobile phone games, being at uni and blah blah.

Make me an offer. The Game Art: Creation, Direction and Careers is currently missing the CD. I MIGHT have it somewhere but lets call it missing for now. If I find it, i'll edit my rambles.

I'm based in Edinburgh and I take paypal. If you would like to email me about any of these my address is rowena.aitken@gmail.com

meh skull

2011-06-13T17:19:00.002+01:00

Having an off day. Can't quite get my eye in so decided to do a bit of practice from a model skull I currently have balanced on a pint glass.

It's meh but it's ok, it's just a practice.

~1hr

Video here

kneeling knight ref page

2011-05-23T21:00:00.001+01:00

For you to look at while I livestream.

www.livestream.com/rowena

BkM update

2011-05-22T15:11:00.001+01:00

bit of lighting yada yada, stuff, pff...

sketchover for Charco

2011-05-20T16:51:00.003+01:00

Ciaran Lucas' piece over on cghub, which I would link you to if cghub wasn't down AGAIN.

BM WIP

2011-05-19T23:18:00.002+01:00

quick wip post

This is good, but also bad

2011-05-16T13:28:00.003+01:00

Right, come to a stinking realisation. The next piece I am very proud of but it has also taught me an important lesson.

I loved working on this and I think it's a great image HOWEVER I spent too long on it.

See the problem with working digitally is the ability to zoom in, and while it is good practice not to zoom in past 100% which I rarely do these days working @100% on a 1/4 page illo is a complete and utter waste of time. Now when working @100% I do keep a window @ print size of the same piece so I can track progress but sometimes you get sucked in to the little folds and creases. Half an hour passes then you glance at the print size piece and lo you can barely make out that bit of spit and polish on Crumbly's face.

So what am I going to try and do this week? That's right work on my pieces on screen at print size ONLY.

So attached is the finished image for Frog God Games for Hex3, a comparison between 100% and print size (for ref my screen res is 1920x1200 but i've cut the toolbar off at the bottom) and the line work just cause I liked it.

In a way i'm a little bit pissed off but then if I learn from it then that makes this piece very valuable. Even if I deleted that piece right now the knowledge would have been gained (although payment would not find it's lovely way into my bank account).

Dr Sketchy's V-tines Spesh pt 2

2011-02-13T19:53:00.002Z

Since blogspot only lets you upload 5, here's the rest.

Dr Sketchy's V-tines Spesh

2011-02-13T19:39:00.003Z

Just back from Dr Sketchy's, ashamed to say it's my first life drawing sesh since graduating in 2006. Bad bad bad. But I did love it and will def go again (the novelty of drinking beer whilst drawing will not wear off soon ;))

Not the most awesome work but i'm going to these classes to improve so fingers crossed it works :)

CS5 and Wacom woes

2011-01-30T18:21:00.003Z

Ok internets I need your help. Serious issues are afoot. Going to write this as simply as I can, hopefully without swearing.

Photoshop CS5 is not recognising pen sensitivity UNLESS I do the following.

1. Uninstall the drivers
2. Restart pc
3. unplug wacom
4. reinstall driver
5. plug wacom back in
6. start photoshop

now this would be fine and dandy only that IF for whatever reason I need to/accidentally close photoshop or it crashes but as soon as I open photoshop again, no sensitivity which is a little bit annoying since I own a Wacom Intuos4 XL and I use pressure ALL THE TIME!

I have also tried the following:

1. a full format
2. reinstalling photoshop cs5
3. installing photoshop cs4 (same grief)
4. older drivers
5. starting/stopping services
6. swearing at it
7. unplugging wacom
8. different usb ports
9. updating motherboard chipset

Which is more troublesome is A has the same version of Windows 7 (ie 64bit) on his laptop, with photoshop, with the same drivers. NO PROBLEMS.

Which leads me to think is it my pc hardware? Is it the motherboard?

This is driving me insane, I need to paint. How can it be so tempremental? Just... why? I can't spend my life rebooting my pc every time I want to open photoshop.

I live with a software engineer and A who has been building pcs since he was in nappies and they don't have a clue.

Please... someone... help?

Doodles, days off and ultrasounds

2010-12-17T22:17:00.002Z

Hey folks,

Those of you who may know already I have been suffering from abdominal pain for the last month. Today I had a scan which eliminated gallstones or liver problems; everything fine apparently. So it's more or less a mystery for now :/

Yesterday and today I took some time off, was feeling mildly burnt out and cranky. Felt good to do nothing, so ofc I doodled. Little bit of practice R&R really, no pressure. Most of my colour work lately has started off greyscale then coloured over that to get the values right so decided to challenge myself and go straight in with colour. Turned out pretty well (and yes the self portrait is supposed to look cranky!)

Also in freelancery i've been working on various fun things and one, Dark Harvest: Legend of Frankenstein, was announced where I found out my work is being printed alongside the superfab Scott Purdy! http://www.scottpurdy.net/contact/Contact.html He's a bit good and a cool friend to have :) (which reminds me Scott, need to send you an email ;))

So things I suppose are good :) Changed my hair up a bit and lightened the ends ombre style just for giggles, it's almost Christmas so I can spend time with the folks and see the inlaws for Hogmanay in the highlands, with cocktails as per :) Andrew and I have decided not to get each other presents and instead save some cash for when we get a kitten for it's vets bits and bobs and general cat paraphernalia.

So if I don't post before then have a rocking Christmas and Hogmanay :D

Love Me xxx

I'm ALIVE... kinda

2010-12-02T17:34:00.003Z

Yes, long time no post. Lot has changed; now full-time freelance and struck with gallstones WOO! Talk about making life easy?

Day 13 of feeling like crap and resigned myself to the fact i'm gonna feel like shit regardless of what I do so i'm knuckling down. So far this afternoon i've got a commission finished and a folio piece done which I started AGES ago. But it's done now. All in all a productive afternoon apart from stabbing pains and having to make coffee by boiling a pan of water since the kettle assploded the other day. This causes fun when one remembers an hour later that there was a pan on the stove full of useful hot water.

So yes, also nuked the folio and doing new stuff for that inbetween work and gallbladder attacks.

So, enjoy.

horse sketches

2010-10-24T22:09:00.002+01:00

Following a forum topic on linkedin and a challenge on cghub I thought i'd do a bit of practice. Here's some very loose horse sketches taken from ref photos. Need to study the anatomy in more depth then move onto some sketches from imagination. Dissapointed with some of them but we learn from our mistakes, one mistake being i'm not sketching nearly enough.

Rowena teh zombie WIP5

2010-09-26T01:43:00.002+01:00

Well, gonna call it a night. 1:43am and i'm up for fun rather than work. If I don't go to bed now i'll never get up and tomorrow is a busy day :)

Pleased with the results, that Hepworth character knows what he's talking about!

Rowena teh zombie WIP4

2010-09-26T01:09:00.001+01:00

Decided that all my grey work IS TOO DAMN DARK! So, took some advice from Andy Hepworth and working between 10-60% grey then darkening/highlighting at the end. Happy so far :)

Rowena teh zombie WIP3

2010-09-25T18:20:00.002+01:00

That's all for now, need to do work :)

Rowena teh zombie WIP2

2010-09-25T17:18:00.004+01:00

Rowena teh zombie WIP1

2010-09-25T16:36:00.000+01:00

Ooft

2010-09-04T13:22:00.002+01:00

Hi watchers and new time viewers :)

Sorry for the disgusting lack of updates but I have been working like a mad thing AND moving house AND started a new fitness regime (woo!)

Got a little update for you guys, a nice little treat since Aunty Rowena hasn't visited in a while.

Here is a full page illy I did for Necromancer's upcoming release, Fane of the Fallen. Really proud of everything I produced for the project and everyone at Necro/Frog God have been superawesome to work with. Long may it continue!

BIG NEWS!

2010-07-16T19:52:00.002+01:00

I am now a cover and interiors artist for Necromancer Games!

WOO! http://www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/news

My designs on products! WOO!

2010-07-09T22:01:00.002+01:00

bloody slavers anyone?

2010-07-01T22:13:00.002+01:00

Mmmmmm juicy

Managed an entire half an hour on this tonight thanks to having a tooth yanked out yesterday of which I am many suffering. Twas about all I managed to do in fact.

battlebitch - the eyes have it

2010-06-26T13:52:00.005+01:00

full and an actual pixels screengrab.

Artwork set @ 400dpi A3

battlebitch colourpass 1

2010-06-26T13:18:00.001+01:00

battlebitch b&w complete

2010-06-21T20:34:00.000+01:00

now for the colour!

battlebitch continued

2010-06-21T16:27:00.002+01:00

Should be doing paid work but feeling totally exhausted, this doesn't need my full concentration as it's just for me (well it does, but you get what I mean!)

ooooh pvc trousers!

2010-06-13T21:15:00.001+01:00

I have a pair just like that; just kidding, i'd look like a walrus in a binbag.

bitchier

2010-06-13T19:50:00.000+01:00

rarg

2010-06-12T23:00:00.000+01:00

well I think I just levelled up

2010-06-12T21:36:00.003+01:00

bitch render

2010-06-11T23:57:00.002+01:00

done a little bit, she will be more clothed than that but wanted to get some practice painting black skin.

terminator hyena

2010-06-11T21:05:00.002+01:00

that is all.

front wheel drive don't you know?

It's arrived!

2010-06-07T13:29:00.000+01:00

Sorry the photos suck but here's Andrew's sensationally late birthday present!

Octomapus!

2010-05-31T10:10:00.001+01:00

Painted this yesterday, I love love love drawing organic lines!

Think I need to do more traditional stuff :)

A4
Mixed Media

Photo ref used to the octopus anatomy but the pose came from my fingertips.

This is for sale, framed in an ikea frame if anyone is interested. I accept paypal and can ship worldwide!

Send me an offer and I might just accept it

DONE!

2010-05-24T16:15:00.002+01:00

That's it, done. No more. I could noodle this for infinity.

can't draw today

2010-05-03T14:38:00.002+01:00

Redrawn that f$%*ing koi about 8 times, noooo couldn't do it before I started painting. Too impatient to get in there with the colour wern't we.

Going to go and do something else not drawing related. *grumble*

bubbly

2010-05-03T11:38:00.001+01:00

Prob gonna be a wreck in the top left for a sense of scale and depth. Going to be a challenge since I'm not keen on non-organics.

Florence and the Machine pt2

2010-04-26T14:48:00.001+01:00

Feel like i'm def 60% through with this!

Florence and the Machine

2010-04-26T12:18:00.002+01:00

Couldn't think of what to call this so just called it what I was listening to.

Been painting this on my livestream since about 10. My neck is killing me and has been for about a week, any suggestions?

Love how he's going now, need to make him whiter though... suggestions too?

RIMLIGHT!

2010-04-19T14:41:00.002+01:00

Might go mad and add some irridescent jellies XD

Erm yeah

2010-04-19T13:22:00.002+01:00

Amazing what a dramatic effect changing the border has given.

Andrew's dragon

2010-04-19T13:09:00.002+01:00

Hey, I know this is taking ages but I am only getting 1 day a week to work on this. I am loving how it's coming out. Knocked a lot of the colour into the water and popped out the horns and face. The eye is poppin'!

inky koi

2010-04-10T20:40:00.003+01:00

messing around with some artwork for the bedroom - usual PS and wacom

Rather a lot got done

2010-04-05T16:44:00.002+01:00

Awesome day today, really love parts of this - others not so happy with but it's getting there! Don't know when I can work on it next as I am working the rest of the week - maybe if he's off climbing or something I might be able to attack it.

Available on my livestream

scaley!

2010-03-30T16:02:00.002+01:00

Just done a bit of work on it, need some ideas how to deal with the fins?

more detail

2010-03-30T14:05:00.003+01:00

still a huge way to go with this, my eyes are fried.

sneeky

2010-03-29T22:14:00.002+01:00

it is rather humorous trying to paint using an xl tablet and a 15" laptop XD

koi dragon shading

2010-03-29T15:42:00.003+01:00

just working on the shading :D pretty awesome watching LA Ink at the same time :D

koi dragon flats

2010-03-29T14:12:00.002+01:00

Flats for Andrew's birthday present (his bday is tomorrow, but he can get it a bit late ;)) i'll do the koi after i've done the dragon - I know it's a bit backward but I just want to get the big guy done.

tinkering with fishy textures

2010-03-28T22:19:00.002+01:00

Well I am working on a birthday present for someone rather close to me, he might get it a bit late since things have been a bit topsy turvy lately.

In other news, I am now an inhouse illustrator for a greetings company - woohoo! Start of Furzday.

Uncle Fungus

2010-03-15T10:23:00.002Z

Well given the lack of updates I hoped you guessed i've been helluva busy and neglecting my daily sketch warm-ups. So here we go, I call him Uncle Fungus.

A wizard arrives precisely when he means to

2010-02-23T16:06:00.002Z

Gandalf

Approx 2hrs

A4
Wacom Intuos 4 XL
Photoshop CS4

Ref used

badger skull

2010-02-22T17:15:00.000Z

from life.

yes I have a mossy badger skull.

approx 1hr ps cs4

Christopher

2010-02-17T15:34:00.002Z

Long time no sketch :)

Christopher Johnson of District 9

Jackalope

2010-01-28T21:23:00.001Z

How he got his voice :)

Jackalope close to completion!

2010-01-27T23:09:00.000Z

Please crit!

Jackalope update

2010-01-27T17:53:00.001Z

It's been a while, this keeps getting pushed to the back of the pile but I will get it done tonight. Some really nice things were finished today, the arm and hand especially.

Thought i'd put up a printscreen of actual pixels, just for fun!

Bel

2010-01-22T14:12:00.002Z

Completed with the aid of Kula Shaker

Jackalope repaint

2010-01-21T22:49:00.003Z

Erm... long story cut short, saved over the psd with a low res version. Doh.

Here's the repaint!

Overload

2010-01-21T14:51:00.001Z

Just been putting too much pressure on myself this week and trying to do too much at once. Handling one thing at a time.

Got back into this jackalope painting. Crits welcome. I know her neck is a bit weird, i've got an oversketch to fix it.

Waitaminute, this ain't no drawing!

2010-01-19T21:53:00.001Z

Well spotted oh observant crowd! I took this tonight, I thought it was bloody good, I share.

Sprinkle on a bit of AWW

2010-01-18T18:48:00.001Z

getting there :D think i've nailed the ZOMG CUTE! factor XD

Pup

2010-01-16T19:48:00.002Z

It's actually further on than this but I thought i'd keep you posted ;)

Busy

2010-01-16T15:43:00.003Z

On many things; website, promo, commish. Lots to do, so little time!

Here is my latest project :) Sorry I know it's not a great pic but the lines are very light!

:D

2010-01-11T12:01:00.002Z

Thanks guys for all the kind birthday messages, it really touched me :D

Just a quick progress update for ya'll :)

Is it the Wacom?

2010-01-10T17:56:00.003Z

Is it my new attitude to life? A combo of the two? Who knows, but i'm feeling superconfident. New tablet and next week; new glasses and 26 tomorrow. Feels like only yesterday I was in first year at uni, but that was 2002. I've come so far and i'm happy to announce i'm starting with a painting that I am superhappy with.

Come on 2010, i'm ready for you!

First warmup doodle of the new year

2010-01-04T13:46:00.003Z

Hello folks, I hope you had a great Christmas and Hogmanay. Just had my first sketch with my new Wacom Intuos 4 XL and ZOMG it's incredible!

The sketch sucks but the tablet is incredible :P

The finished fox drawing is available to see on my dA (http://wanwan.deviantart.com)

My main site will be updated this week and I will also be planning some new pieces to hopefully wow with :)

I need to do more traditional pieces

2009-12-22T22:38:00.002Z

I started to hate what I was doing, then turned a corner when I moved from nib and ink to black rollerball gel pen.

Quick pic

Inkery Part Deux

2009-12-22T19:12:00.003Z

More ink done, pleased with some areas and not so pleased with others. Need to pop some areas out with some white acrylic but that'll be a finishing touch job. Getting it done faster than I though, which is nice.

Inkery

2009-12-22T17:26:00.003Z

Started inking and I love how the trees turned out, there is a big booboo in the lower middle section but i'll fix that with something. Annoyingly it's almost dead centre and about 1/3 of the way up. ARG!

Early start

2009-12-21T10:47:00.002Z

Did a bit more this morning, gonna fade the lines then clean it up and hopefully start inking tonight.

Got bits to do for other stuff plus my job (my voice still isn't back but meh).

Shh it's a secret!

2009-12-20T23:35:00.003Z

Mum and Dad's Christmas present shh!

50x50cm again, this time in ink!

Can I do it in 4 days AND working at my other job? Here's trying!

Here he is!

2009-12-20T20:36:00.003Z

Complete and I am so proud of this piece. Hope Carma, and her uncle, love him :)

Getting close to completion!

2009-12-20T16:32:00.001Z

This'll be done tonight definitely!

Commish and poorly

2009-12-19T16:53:00.001Z

Ugh, my throat is hellish. I can't speak and when I try to I sound like a cross between Watto and Marge Simpson.

Inbetween sleeping i've been working on the commission for short periods, my head is thumping so can't concentrate for too long. Here's today's efforts.

Commish Part 2

2009-12-18T21:00:00.002Z

I can hardly speak, had a long day at work and had a good stab at the commission tonight. Hope I get my voice back tomorrow, even just a bit.

Commish

2009-12-17T22:39:00.002Z

Working on a portrait of a dog for someone at work. Eventhough I feel like hell I am still up and working on it, with an early start tomorrow.

Here is tonight's progess!

(Yes I do know I jump around the image quite a lot, it's how I roll)

Fire Dragon Complete!

2009-12-13T21:11:00.002Z

This took ages, but the result is amazing. Sea Dragon however is still my fav, but working with reds, yellows and oranges for me was a challenge but I am really pleased with the finished piece!

Nearly there!

2009-12-13T16:48:00.002Z

Ugh this is one epic dragon! Not getting long stretches to work on it is really affecting my productivity!

It's getting there now, just got a few tweaks to do; the horns, Bob's arm, a bit of shield heating up from below, the rock on the bottom right hand corner then SHAZAM! done :)

This is getting finished tomorrow if it kills me

2009-12-10T21:47:00.004Z

...and it probably will since i'll be at work for most of the afternoon and evening.

There are some things I love about this painting, some things I like and some things that i'm not sure about.

Bob (shield dude) has a good pose and he will be what shall be rather challenging with 2+ lightsources and a cast shadow from Bernie (the dragon).

Maybe i've just got 'i've been staring at this too long' syndrome. I don't think it sucks by any stretch but some things need work. The addition of the blue into Bernie's mouth fire was a good move, will try and get more accents of blue in, especially from the flame hitting the shield.

Think for painting Bob i'll switch the dragon layers off (don't worry it's not my normal epic layering; just the body, the head and I think a little caustics).

Crits welcomed, if not encouraged :D

Why do I have this fascination with really dark images, with soft lighting in square comps lately?

It's very hot in here!

2009-12-09T13:17:00.002Z

Mr Burny Dragon is going very well, turned a corner with this. Decided to update me blog now since i'm on a late un at me other job tonight.

Will hopefully get a lot of this done when I get home, but prob won't get onto the PC til 10pm, then tomorrow i'm not in work so i'll tackle that tree dragon. Would be nice to get those two done by the weekend - might be pushing it. But as Master Yoda says "Do or do not, there is no try."

What?! This isn't what you were working on?!

2009-12-07T20:42:00.002Z

correct! ...it's a tree dragon!

It's been sitting there on my hard drive waiting for tweaks and just thought - post it.

Any crits welcome, it's not my fav one and any tips on painting foliage would be greatly appreciated. :)

Going to work on more details, can't believe I posted something so unfinished #epicfacepalm

Well that was a waste of time

2009-12-03T22:54:00.002Z

Windows 7 and I have gone our seperate ways, nevermind we'll always have Paris.

Back on Vista64 and updating teh drivers and whatnot. It's a pain but less of a pain than 7 was. Some people have had great experiences with it but it just didn't work out for me. Alas. I could have reformatted with 7 but then with no guarantee it'd be ok the 2nd time I thought reverting would be a better option; so far so good!

Anyhoo I am now covered in glitter threading baubels onto strings while pressing next> next> finish> restart> install> etc... with work tomorrow.

Nevermind, there is always tomorrow evening when the bloke is out at his Christmas doo (without me! sniffsniff)

I'll catch you tomorrow night, hopefully a happier gal :)

Post Number 30!

2009-12-02T21:53:00.001Z

Been working on the fire dragon today. Happy with the background and the dragon's head is getting there. Will have to look at some ref of the Balrog to see how i'm going to handle this. Only realised it looked a bit Balroggy after about 2hrs. Nevermind, it'll be cooler though!

FRAMED

2009-11-30T22:12:00.002Z

In a good way ;)

Epic cat is complete

2009-11-29T19:03:00.003Z

Now from the drawing board to the ironing board!

epic cat is epic

2009-11-29T17:41:00.002Z

...and almost complete! Need to do a bit of work on the ear and the muzzle, add a few whiskers, trim it down and frame :)

This is going well!

2009-11-29T13:26:00.001Z

Sat in my pjs and dressing gown working on this for the last couple of hours listening to Alanis Morrisette, Queen and Radiohead (I am SO 90s!)

Will definitely have his furry fizzog finished by the end of the day :)

Oliver... more of

2009-11-29T01:34:00.002Z

Well I wasn't really tired so I pushed on. 1.34am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, I am teh hardcore!

FIRE! Doo doo doo!

2009-11-28T23:40:00.002Z

After a faux pas with a candle and a blanket I managed to get a bit done on the portrait of Oliver.

Want to spend the whole day on it tomorrow.

EPIC CAT

2009-11-27T23:27:00.002Z

Something drove me to do a huge drawing of my sister's cat for her Christmas, and Han if your reading this now; congratulations you ruined the surprise!

Got further than I thought I would today considering work, fun working on a huge traditional piece (50x50cm)

Thanks to Andy Hep for the tip off about the good art shop on the Bridges :)

Progress shots so far :) I have work tomorrow so although I would like to work on it for hours i'd better get some shuteye!

...if these phone drivers ever install...

Drawing, or lack thereof.

2009-11-26T12:15:00.002Z

This week has not been good (in a drawing sense).

I haven't done any artwork since Saturday, a fact which has annoyed me quite a lot.

Had an uber tech prob with my pc, windows7 and wacom compatability which meant most of Sunday and all of Monday was spent backing up, formatting, reinstalling and messing about with wacom drivers.

Tuesday I was working and due to inlaws staying I was mostly tidying and crashing after a hard day and little sleep.

Yesterday was Andrew's brother's Graduation, congrats Robin for getting your Batchelors in Software Engineering. His folks and half brother and girlfriend were down and a good time was had by all. Shame for Andrew who had to go to work this morning (haha).

So now my day is free and I will be popping down to the art shop for some bits for my sister's christmas present; portrait of Oliver (aka Snoogles/little shit) her 14lb blue-point ragdoll cat.

It'll be a lot of work but not done a big traditional piece in a long time so really looking forward to it!

Technical difficulties

2009-11-22T20:20:00.001Z

Due to some unforseen technical difficulties I will be unable to update my sketchblog or indeed do any work on my PC for the next day or so. Nothing to panic about, just some software issues, should be resolved by an upgrade tomorrow.

...or so I thought

2009-11-20T23:36:00.002Z

Well, after looking forward to getting stuck I was immediately taken down a peg or two. Was painting away thinking "this looks great!", had a break, went back to it and just felt woe.

So, no update today cause it just sucked. Going to spend the weekend on the fire dragon again, redrawing and colouring.

Think a big problem for me is line art, my lines are always really hairy and it takes me forever to get it clean. I know it is worth doing, and anyone with any tips would be greatly appreciated. I do have a lightbox and that helps with cleaning up but still...

A weekend of drawing lies ahead of me, which is no bad thing.

If at first you don't succeed...

2009-11-19T22:58:00.002Z

take a break, get a coffee, start again, read a few mags on the subject and persevere.

The sky sucked on the sky dragon, the sky just looked totally wrong. It was too nice, too serene. Right now it looks so badass and it's going to look so incredible with a semi translucent electrified dragon.

It's good, I'm happy. Gonna be so happy working on it tomorrow.

YEAH!!! EPIC WIN!

Finally I am getting somewhere!

2009-11-18T23:33:00.003Z

Right, decided my method henceforth shall be; lines: traditional; colour: digital.

Cracked out the lightbox that Andrew built for me for Valentine's day a few years ago back at uni (aww) and worked over some mad comp lines.

This proves that eventhough I feel like crap I can still get stuff done so frankly there are no excuses!

Feeling confident again, which is nice!

Epic sketch fail

2009-11-17T23:33:00.002Z

Well, it wasn't that much of a fail. Nailed the layout pretty quickly for the sky/cloud dragon; i'll probably go for the second one. I just need to workout the overall design of the beast. I want it to be semi-transparent which might be tricky. I reckon looking at irridescent marine life might give me a hint. The beast should hopefully be sitting in the clouds in ambush of planes which it noms; occasionally geese for a fois gras nom too.

It's like Snakes on a Plane, but except it's Plane in a Snake, and there will be no Samuel L neither.

In case you can't read the scribblings of a knackered and nae too weill artist that says 'Gee, 4 years if art school didn't teach me a thing did it?'

Really looking forward to a whole day of getting stuck in. I am absolutely shattered so my bed is most definately my next destination.

Night night folks, there will be lots of #epicblogrts , livestreams and stuffs tomorrow.

Sometimes you can't be precious about your art

2009-11-16T22:28:00.002Z

Fitting title as I feel, and probably look like, Gollum.

Was only at work for 5 1/2 hours but it took it out of me but had a mad urge to draw when I got back after a chillaxing borderlands sesh.

The dragon painting is giving me jipp, I think I was too precious about the head and I reckon it's going to have to change and possibly will be based on the one of the insane doodles below (btw that's an A1 drawing board).

9am start tomorrow at me job so as much as I want to sit and paint til my eyes bleed, I can't; otherwise i'll be a total zombie in the marnin.

Might take a total break from this and sketch up the sky/cloud/wind dragon thumbs I did at the weekend.

Sigh!