I've started drafting page 7!

12:10 am pacific

Wow, I've been yawning a lot lately towards midnight this week. I guess my body has been needing rest so that means I'll be sleeping in a bit tomorrow. 

I've got page 7 roughly drafted and I plan on fixing the draft tomorrow as well as starting the inking. I'll also have to start page 2 of my friend's webcomic. That's not due until another two weeks but I'd like to get a head start. 

Attempt at drawing chibi

5:24 pm Pacific

The past times I've tried drawing chibi, I never knew the head to body ratio so honestly, my chibi were like little kids with young teen clothes. This time I attempted to draw chibi with the ratio of 1:2 ~ 1:4 heads to body ratio. I have no clue if the attempt passes a a chibi or not, haha. 

10 min in class charcoal drawing

5 and 7 mins studies - Lace and Grace, and news regarding my comic

7:31 pm Pacific

I'm definitely making this my weekly routine to go to these drawing workshops. Or at least one of them each week. I tried to go to both last week but ended up not going to the one during Friday afternoon.
This week will depend on how much work I need to do , both school and comics wise.
Yes plural!
I've teamed up with a friend of mine, originally an online game friend turned pretty close not-just-an-online-friend sorta relation, to work as a secondary artist on her webcomic.
As a possible result, my comic may end up being biweekly. I'm thinking I should be fine but at the same time, I'm wondering if I should change it to biweekly for the sake of building up a buffer. My current buffer is sitting at zero but usually I'd have 1 page, or more if I'm on break.
A side note, but related to my comic:
I've reuploaded them on my deviantART to include the right page size so text was legible.

Teens of Valor Chapter 1 page 6

With the location of both threats discovered, Team Q make their move to neutralize. Unfortunately, the first pair of the group meet some trouble with Mitchens. 

Rocket vehicle concept

4:22 pm 

This actually started out as an attempt to get a strand of hair off a mirror with steam on it. It was strange that the lines of cleared steam ended up looking something like a rocket shaped vehicle. Building up on silhouette I got to working on this vehicle. It's a mix of a mountain bike, Batman's vehicles and something else that I don't know quite yet. Quite interesting. 

Shin Megami Tensei Imagine Online memories

4:37 pm Pacific

This post is going to be a little different than usual, subject wise.

I found out today that SMT is closing down, though it seems like the Japanese servers will still be running.
It's saddening to find out that a game where I connected with people online for the first time and stayed with for about 2 years, is closing. My first MMO was a social mmo that was pretty generic (choose a class, fight things, turn in quests, repeat) called Dream of Mirror Online. I found out last year that it was closing down but I had no emotional connections with it since I had quit many years ago; heck I even gave away every item and gold my character had in that game to break all ties. It was some short amount of time after I quit DoMO that I joined the SMT community and it really was a great community to experience for the first time, as I was in the senior year of high school / first year in college. That was around 2009, give or take a few months. I made so many friends (perfect strangers but we were still friends).
Memories...

• I was asked by a clan mate to help him with his character's appearance; I was really happy when I was the one asked. 
• I organized clan meeting photo shoots, even though it drove me crazy trying to find a good time for everyone in at least 4-5 different time zones. (Easter, central, pacific, GMT, philippines' time zone and one other one I can't recall.) 
• Reached the lvl 90s range I believe; helped and was helped by clan mates to run Ichi Gold.
• Made my fenrir pretty strong; I don't remember to what level but he was my proudest achievement
• Collected DCMs and boy was I determined to get them like the ones from timed Sugi or timed *insert tower dungeon in lower Shibuya map*
• Joined DB clan mates in other games that they played after months of getting to know them
• finally got courage to use my mic on voice over IP program with DB clan mates
• drama and finding out just how emotionally attached I was to my friends in DB
• found out the stress of being a clan leader / sub leader (I'm pretty sure I was just sub leader but I have the faint memory of being made temp. leader before being thrown the role.)
• leaving the drama behind and joining Sorina
• making more new friends in Sorina and  in SMT as well
• joining my new clan mates in new events
• reconnecting with old clan mates in SMT and in other games they play as well
• rejoining the voice chat program with both new and old clan mates

I'm reminiscing.

When the news of SMT being turned over to a new company came around, I had stopped my activeness in game and on forums but I still made sure I signed in so my characters could be transfered over to the new company and server. But I never reinstalled. I was close once but later years of college work prevented me since I didn't want to repeat my freshman year experiences with staying up late playing games. In hindsight, I might have been able to play a little bit but risk having my work suffer. I kinda wise I at least signed on to chat with my friends. I do have some of those friends as my Facebook friends but there are only a few compared to the number of people I became friends with in game. Now that the news of it being closed came around, a massive group was made for all SMT players and I'm getting the chance to reunite with them. 

30 min Spitpaint

12:56 pm Pacific

I decided to do a spitpaint while I wait for my breakfast to more or less digest before I went grocery shopping. When I started the spitpaint, I started painting a road to a open arch/doorway but switched the point of view twice before erasing it to paint a rock and a log. But then I didn't like that spitpaint and decided to paint a thumbnail I did while I was in my perspective's class.

I still don't like the outcome as much; I guess since I have to paint with whatever comes to mind without any planning, the result won't be satisfactory all the time.

Sketchdump

8:32 pm Pacific 

I started with the intention of drawing a character sheet showing poses of one character but I drifted from that idea as I started sketching armor and other figures. I do plan on drawing all my characters in construction and emotions sheets but I really need to vary them more. As my instructors for my History of Visual Development warned, our characters shouldn't look like they're cousins of each other. 

Arms, Legs and Knees Oh My!

6:49 pm Pacific

Sorry, I had to for the post title; couldn't help myself haha. 

For my Clothed Figure class, our assignment this week was to sketch 5 arms, 5 legs and 2 detailed knees. I drew one extra for each category to get a little more knowledge on the subject matter; this applied especially to the arms since of the 5 I sketched initially, all of them were from the front or front side but none of them were from the back. I did the same for the legs study; picking an angle I didn't sketch yet. 

Since I doubt I'd be able to find arms, legs and especially knees to study from life this weekend, I decided to use a reference site that cycles through model photos with the filters you select (clothed, nude, male, female, time limit before shuffle.) 

Guitarist/ Rock themed model sketches

6:21 pm Pacific

I arrived late to the workshop sadly due to working on another assignment after my class today and having to catch the bus after to make it to the workshop a few minutes late. I think I missed 5- 10 minutes but no more than 15; I arrived in between a 2 minute pose and if there were 1 minute poses, I probably missed the usual 5 on top of the first 2 minute pose. You might noticed an unfinished drawing on the right (below the legs). 

It was pretty awesome sketching with appropriately themed music. Sets of 2 minutes, 5 minutes and 10 minutes poses with guitarist/ rock themed clothing and props. ...I haven't learned how to draw guitars accurately yet so they're pretty bad, the poses though aren't too bad. I had to leave the workshop early with a bus ride home, shower and dinner to complete before waking up for class tomorrow. 

Something new

3:14 pm pacific 

Well, this semester I'm using yet another new medium! This semester's new medium is clay. 

First 3 weeks were around sculpting the human figure in basic shapes while using a model for basic reference. (rib cage and hip size ; varies based on gender.) 

Homework assignments were sculpting an egg and last week, a left foot ( as well as this week since everyone's foot needed fixing). Both are a lot harder in practice! This whole class really shows how things in theory are harder in practice. An egg is the hardest thing we'll have  this class to sculpt correctly.

 

3 class weeks to complete; female clay figure 

This week, we've got a male model and with a simple pose we need to replicate or at least translate into clay form. 

So far, I've for the hip box, upper legs and rib cage. The nexck and lower legs are currently in place holder mode. 

Lighting assignment included a theme for the last image

3:20 pm Pacific

For my Digital Media class, our assignment for this week was to take 8 technical lighting shots (one o which was the famous "ghoul lighting". For the last image, the 9th one, we were to create a image with the theme of "darkness rising". I took it as something creepy so I used the ghoul lighting but with the light source closer to the face for even more white. I used the original image and painted directly on top of it, smoothing out the pixels before changing it towards the theme. The version I had 2 days ago was more or less pumpkin skin, in terms of the bumps but not as obvious and a black robe and faded decorations. The neck, as it was in the original, was nearly white and decorated with pumpkin grooves. After thinking about it last night, I changed it even more from the previous version. Green hair to connect it to pumpkin vines and no neck to relate the idea of the Headless Horseman.  Additionally, I altered the lips from human to deformed carving since a pumpkin typically wouldn't have lips carved on it but I left the nose to keep the head between pumpkin and human.

Worries over the winter weather on the east coast

11:14 am pacific 

I really hope my parents and friends on the east coast are going to be ok this winter. The snow has been really frequent this winter and there was the winter freeze during January, which I got to experience during my winter break. I'm worried this storm is going to be worse; it already sounds worse from what the winter storm warning on the weather channel said. I believe 10-12 inches and heavy snow. The two storms I went through during winter break were about 8 inches max; the first storm was fairly light while the one a few days before the end of my break was on the little bit heavier side but it still wasn't heavy snow. I'm worried that trees will fall due to the weight and then either cause structural damage on homes or electrical issues if they fall towards the power lines. 

And I know people who've already slipped on the ice; one of which was my dad and his hip got hurt from the fall. 

I heard from my mom that he'll at least close work early for the upcoming storm, which is good news. I was afraid he'd be stubborn like he was during that other storm during my winter break where he still went to work anyways even though travel wasn't advised ( according to the weather channel). The roads that day were horrendous as some streets weren't plowed while others were; our town was like that too. My house is pretty close to the next town so when their town plowed the street and ours didn't, it was visible. 

free time during class ...in a way

11:25 pm Pacific

It's an odd explanation and it's not short. I have to take a class called Digital Media 1, which is basically Photoshop basics and using a camera to take photos for composition, lighting,etc. Since I know Photoshop pretty well, except for masks and textures which will be covered later in the semester, I, as well as some of the students who also know the basics, can sketch during class if we already know the material.

So that's how I have free time during class.
I had issues with figuring out what I wanted to paint last class; the furthest I got really was a fallen log in a forest but I didn't like it. Actually, I didn't like many of my quick paintings.
This week, today, I started out with the idea of an lighthouse on a cliff and the sea.

Then the remaining class time grew shorter so I saved this and decided to play around with some of the brush sets the classroom PS CS6 had, that I didn't have before sketching out a face, which on whim, turned into an elf. 

A holiday elf?

I think I had less than 15-20 mins left before class ended and I had to return the tablet pen so I could get my ID and catch the shuttle bus to my next class. 

Exercise from grocery shopping

5:46 pm Pacific

I told myself I wouldn't carry more than 2 bags of groceries but I've managed to fill two bags completely full and they were *both* heavy. Usually I get only one bag that's heavier than the other, and that's usually when I go buy the 1 gal milk. That was the case today but I also decided to buy produce like carrots. It shouldn't have been so heavy but I guess the V8 cans added to the weight with 3 boxes of pasta and 1 big box (2 bags) of cereal. And I've said that I've been getting exercise while in San Francisco. Well....I have been since I have to either walk everywhere or take the bus for either groceries or class. The walk either supermarket is roughly 15-16 mins, in my walking speed. It's probably 20 mins for average walking speed.
Today I really did get a good exercise though since I sweated...though I don't know if that's because of the warmer weather with a light winter jacket or it's because of the weight of my groceries. It could be both. My shoulders were sore though.  I use past tense because I took a hot shower to loosen my muscles. The downside of living in the city as an out of state college student: lack of parking which means no cars available for when I'm buying groceries. It's fine when I don't buy 2 complete bags full of stuff but it was killer the first day of the Fall semester since I had 5 bags then. Ugh, I just moved my shoulders...they're sore. Present tense.

Spent another day working on page 6

9:12 pm pacific

The roughs I drew out yesterday were really rough and since I had time today, I worked on detailing the rough sketches. I need to finish up the ink part and I got the idea of penciling in shadows. I need to work on more of the sketches to make them more realistic. This definitely applies to the last panel; Tactics doesn't look like he's falling over from a failed punch. He needs more form and a shadow to show where the floor is and how far he is from the floor. 

Rough for page 6 took a while

12:31 am pacific

It actually took a lot longer for me to get the rough planned out for page 6. I had thought I planned out page 6 and onward but I forgot about what happens when Team Q enters and confronts Mitchens. Big oops.
It looks like page 6 and 7 will circle around that confrontation before the big decision Spark Shock has to make reveals itself.

Spitpaints and drafting next page

12:41 pm Pacific

I woke up today with the decision between either going to a sketching competition at my school's basketball game or working on page 6 of my comic. The weather was making me lean towards the comic though as it was still pretty rainy. While laying in bed pondering, I got the sudden idea of spitpainting two scenes. One was the Rings Above the City that I had painted a few years ago in color before I learned some of the basics/foundations.

I figured I'd start the day with the spitpaints before working on the comic layout and draft. 

Teens of Valor - chapter 1 page 5

I've started using the pen for more detailed lines. It's not as great as publishing comics and manga but I'm working my way up. I'm trying to move the story along from the situation in the city to where the main character will eventually work alongside with the group.

Where's the rain we're suppose to get?

11:34 am Pacific

I apologize for the lack of blog posts the past week or two. The semester started up last week and I haven't had much to write about. 

I guess in terms of daily life, one of my cousins got married the past weekend so I was able to attend the ceremony and reception. It was really nice seeing so many of my relatives on my dad's side; most of which I haven't met before, before 2 summers ago. They're all in LA or southern California and me, having lived on the East Coast and currently in northern California for art school, had small chances and instances of getting together for a family gathering. I haven't even seen my relatives from my mom's side in 5 years due to college. We recently had a skype call during Chinese Lunar New Year, well the eve for us in the states. Unfortunately since it was a group call, we only heard each others voices. I don't know if Google+ works overseas, I didn't get to ask them that. 

So far my classes seem ok. I won't know how big the workload is until it's closer to midterm time. (Ha, sorry, sudden change in topic). At the moment, it looks like my weekend's will be a lot more open compared to last semester. 

I might have a chance to work on my comic though the release of a page might get altered to Sunday since I would only have two days to work on it if I plan on releasing a page on Friday. Page 4 got submitted to my deviantART today though. Page 5 is in the queue and page 6 has yet to be drafted but the story has been planned out past page 6. 

At the moment though, I'm trying to quickly finish an event League of Legends has , had?, for Lunar New Year called Lunar Revel. The event is still going on until the 11th I believe but I'm behind on the collectible icons. Four more matches to go, ranging from 20-30 mins to 40-50 mins.