Saturday, June 30, 2012

Jaqen H'ghar, Valar Morghulis

Before season two of HBO's Game of Thrones started, I did a a few quick sketches based on a photo of Tom Wlaschiha to see if I could get an idea for an image of everyone's favorite introduction to the Faceless Men, Jaqen H'ghar. I finally got around to working on the image idea for Jaqen, figured out how to tell Arya's story with it, and finished it all up (unfortunately, the season is well over with at this point).


I originally wanted Jaqen, Arya, and the coin to look like a vector image with a white background.
The coin never looked correct without some detail however, and this led to many changes.
(Click to enlarge)

Here are two of the aforementioned initial quick sketches, just for the sake of showing where the original idea for the image started.  I hadn't even seen a picture of Jaqen's hair yet, but it was pretty obvious from the books that it needed to be long; the shock white on his left side was a simple redo after viewing.


See, and I made it through this post without spoiling a single thing from the book!  Someone call the Citadel in Oldtown and have them send Pate to deliver my prize!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Warm-up Sketch: Pabu

Still working through the learning curve on Sketchbook Pro, this time via another quick Legend of Korra sketch. I am going to have to work on my stylus and brush settings to figure out how to get a smooth transition from low-to-high pressure lines (I work on a very small, 4x5 Wacom Graphire, so every little movement seems enhanced or exaggerated).

Background and lettering done quickly in Photoshop.


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Warm-Up Sketch: Korra

I finally got a copy of Autodesk Sketchbook Pro!  I have admired the work of Skottie Young and Calum Alexander Watt for quite awhile now, and was always impressed with the way they both got the most out of their line work and colors via this program.  I took a look at a number of YouTube process videos (by a number of artists) and was sold.

I just had a chance to watch the entire "Legend of Korra" series this past weekend (which I very highly recommend to anyone looking for a great cartoon series), so I figured I'd take a stab at drawing Korra for a quick warm-up sketch.

I was starting to see a bit more clearly by the end how the line-weight worked,
as well as the opacity-fill equivalent for the softer brushes.

I still have a lot of work to do to get used to the the controls, the brushes, and the overall program in general (not to mention the work I need to do to improve my ability to color), but this was a really fun first step.  I would recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a great art program (and that isn't even taking into consideration the fact that the price is unbelievably good).


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Rejected Logos

I enjoy making logos.  At times, some of my favorite designs never see the light of day.  There are always various issues that pop up (printing, usage, style, naming, etc.) that can force a design to the cutting room floor.

Here are two recent designs for a dance studio which wouldn't work based on company printing needs and naming issues.  The dancer portion of the logo will show up in the final version, but these two samples get their moment in the sun here:





(Copyright Artistry Academy of Performing Arts/Absecon Academy of Performing Arts)