Just for Fun

Joseph (my husband) and I in 8-bit

Pepper

So for fun (and for a chance to do work for myself) I joined in on a sketch challenge recently. The topic was Iron Man, so I decided that I would draw Pepper Pots in her own suit.

I was recently asked about some of my steps, so I thought that with this illustration I would take better note of how I come to the finished product. Mind you I'm no expert and I'm still experimenting, learning, and basically trying to find the best methods.

So for my first step I usually look at other artists to get inspired, not hard to do since I do that almost always. Then I try on my own to doodle and come up with some poses and ideas. Then to improve on those rough sketches I look at references. Below are some really rough sketches, and some of the references that I looked at. As you can see I ended up combining two poses.

 

 

stock image credits: shutterstock.com, faestock.deviantart.com

For the next step I took my final pose and started drawing over it just to get some better lines to work with. I also started focusing more on the characters face, I also decided early own that I wanted Pepper to look like her movie character played by Gweneth Paltrow. 

 

After a while of drawing I decided that Pepper looked annoyingly stiff, so I pushed her upper body forward a little.

Then always referring back to more reference, I keep drawing. (I also try to take breaks where I step away from the computer and the drawing. After a while of staring at the same drawing I tend not to see my mistakes anymore).

Next I take my cleaned up lines and put them to the top most layer, turn down the opacity, and turn the layer to multiply. Under that layer I start filling in the parts with color, and trying to make sure I keep all the parts separate, for example a different layer for the head, body, hair, etc.

Next I just start working out the details in different areas. In no particular order, just wherever I feel like focusing on. In this instance I started with the face and hair. I just keep going adding more detail as I go along, and always trying to keep everything on its own layer.

Finally, I try to polish the illustration and make adjustments where needed. I adjust things like the hue and saturation, the curves, add an unsharp mask, and use the liquify tool to fix or distort where needed—then PRESTO, it's done.

An oldie, but goodie

I was just looking through some of my old stuff when I came across a design that I did for my first semester Bio class. I thought I would share. :)

UI Art

Another little bit of design I got to do this semester was UI design. There were several projects in this class, but the final two were a client project and a personal project. Each project required coming up with a game spec, then a prototype that was tested among the student, wire frames, and then the final art.

Below is my client project that I did for another student called, Dragon's Land. The game is supposed to be an ipad game where you fly around as a dragon capturing or destroying medieval villages. Before moving to the final screens I came up with some real quick sketches below.

Below is my personal project called, Galaxy Maid Service. Inspired by Super Stardust HD, Galaxy Maid Service tasks a brave maid to keep the galaxy safe and tidy. I wanted the game to have a cooky 50's B movie vibe. Here I'm showing some of my sketches, and wire frames along with the screen.

A little bit of graphic design

So it's been a long time that I've really had a chance to work on graphic design projects, so I was pretty excited when I got the opportunity to do a little bit of design work this and last semester.

Below is the concept sketch and the credits that were featured during our animation project Lollip Lollip Oh Lolli Lolli

 

Below are the credits for the animation project Mai's Wrath, featuring the beautiful environment and character designs of Katy Arrington and Emily Baldado

Finally, below are the completed animations for Lollip Lollip Oh Lolli Lolli and Mai's Wrath

Sketches

Here are just a few recent figure drawings and sketches

Last Character of the Semester

For the last character design project we were given the chance to create our own character. For this character I was very inspired by Star Wars and Mass Effect. Cadet Fierros is a half alien and half human woman, and the first woman to join the US Navy in the year 2159.

BONANZAI Project- Monster

One of the final characters/creature for the Bonanzai project