Take a walk-through with me. NSFW, by the way.

So, how about a progress walk through for Behold, God? You game.

TLDR gif for your convenience.

To kick off, here's something you might find surprising about this work. Its concept came about when I saw this photo by Vaxzone on Deviantart.

Can you see the connection?

Maybe if I show you the way I saw it... It was actually due to miss interpreting the negative space and colors. 

Here's what happened.
I was digging around DA for something... No clue what the search was about at the time. It's been long forgotten at this point. When a glance was stolen at a thumbnail image hiding in the "More from" column. My sight is so poor that when my attention fluttered by, I saw a lanky limbed woman seated on a throne of clouds. Took a second glance and saw the image correctly. But the idea had been sparked. So a screen capture was taken and a fast doodle was thrown down as a reminder of what I saw. Ultimately to be filed away for a later date.

Thankfully the open call from Slushbox dropped in my lap at almost the same time. Which pushed the concept into production, instead of allowing it to languish in forgotten files.
Like most "flash of inspiration" ideas. 

Concept sketch.

Working sketch.

Usually, as I'm working I'll find images to cobble together to help build the idea as fast as possible. 

Rather than laboring exhaustively over a small piece or humoring an idea for hours that might not work out. 

I have such a short attention span and tolerance for difficulty that I tend to drop a project for months at a time if I get stuck evaluating all possibilities. This generally happens while working out poses and compositions. 

It turns into a flurry of "oh what if the arm was nudged a little this way?" or "maybe it'll look better nudged just a little more. Or maybe the other way." and "what if it's just switched around?" to "how about dropping it down instead" and again "let's nudge it this way, now the other way... How about up? Maybe it looked better the way it was before." Over and over and over. Till the options get so confusing I don't know what's going on anymore. The biggest danger is potentially  loosing sight of what you really wanted in the first place. 

So by "clip art'ing" I can at least see if a supporting idea or object will work out, right away. For me, it's about keeping things moving as smoothly as possible in the early stages or I'll just throw my hands in that air an walk away to go pout.

I believe there's a term for it, Analysis paralysis.

I think this one comes next...

Or maybe this one... See, the changes are so minimal that I can't even remember which version was actually saved first
.

The original concept wasn't working and caused too many headaches. It was time a for a redraw. Above is a Photoshop colorized sketchbook page. 

It was also time for a redraw and tightening of the "Goddess"

Everything's coming together. Chunky flat colors will get thrown in for readability.

Plotting paths for hair cascades.

Taa Daa!

Blocking in the midtones and highlights.

Let's try something out here.

Color palettes are always a challenge and will change several times.

At this point the sketch is finalized and ready for penciling.

                                       

LIGHTBOX TIME, GO!

To get all the line work detail wanted, the image was divided into four separate sections. Penciled, scanned and reassembled in Photoshop.

The shading seen above was done on as a separate component and scanned after the pencils. I like to keep the two separate just have on hand if I ever want to work with the image in a different medium. It's likely the most confusing, work intensive and an all together busted way to work, but at the time it felt like the most "medium open" option. 

If you think that's in any way pointless then you should see the maddening way I handle my Photoshop files.

More color adjustments.

Till we get something a little more unconventional. At least I felt so. Still playing around with the rays of light till it was decided to just stop fighting with it and go with the simplest effect

That pretty much runs through the whole thing. 

Thanks for walking with me. Next time I'll try to keep my hands to myself. Promise.

While I have a little time before the next gig starts I've gone back to working on "Pegasus Rising" or maybe I'll call it "Rise of Pegasus" Not much difference between the two, I know... Which do you think?

And thanks to my computer slowing down... I mean way the F down. Like a "Hit Ctrl+S, walk away, go pee, grab a drink and brows six blogs, then tab back over to Photoshop, see that it's not done, got check on a napping toddler, take a picture of a little angel face you never get to see when he's awake, go back to Photoshop, glare at the screen for another half minute and finally go back to scribbling." kind of slow.
And I can't understand what it's G D problem is... I haven't filled it up with large JPEG and Raw files of my first child. So much so I could make an animating flip book of his first year. I also haven't crammed tons of fonts and PS brushes in its pie-hole. God knows that's a dumb thing to do. And one of the most common reasons for arting computer slowdowns.
I'll tell you right now that I know better. Am lazy and have done just that.

Anyway, while the computer is contemplating how to free itself.  I can turn to the side while I wait and pick up a tiny frame to paint on.
Found it on one of our junk ship excursions. Got two of em. Thought they were wood carved when I first got them. Turns out they're pressed paper Mache.

And then from time to time I'll pause a bit on those two to do a little pose sketching for another project.

Moon Crisis 2014 Progress

Inking is finished and block colors are down. From here... I'm not sure. Gotta decide on which render path to take.

Sketch dump Sunday.

A few weeks ago I was invited aboard the good ship "Moon Crisis" To participate in an upcoming Sailor Moon gallery show.
Excited? Ya darn tootin!

The very first thing I thought I wanted to do was something with all of Usagi's (that's right I'm using the original Japanese name. No-weeaboo bro! I called it.) Transformation brooches. Something that would use the brooches as a border frame.  I knew she had a few, but no clue what was hers vs. her daughters. Nore exactly how many.
After all, I only made it through two seasons and was left so far behind I gave up on trying to catch re-runs. Fast forward to the early-2000's. Sailor moon pops up on Netflix. Did I catch up then?...No.
Quick to "SAILOR MOON WIKI"
...
What the hellaciuosly convoluted story line saga?! Seriously, trying to read up on SM is like reading a modern day Greek or Roman (take your pic) mythology. Mysterious happenings and objects have the same amount of reasoning explaining them. Vaguely little to none. Things just happen and you're enjoying it.
Anyone want to lend me their entire collected box set? I could go for a series gorge.
Not only are there several dozen brooches but all manner of things that steadily get upgrades into new things that make new transformations.

It took three nights. Three brain-throbbing nights to get all this algebra-esque mess straight.
Here's the first rough idea. Some flap jacking was done between the one on the left and the one on the right. Again the one on the right would have been set in the same ribbon / brooch frame.
The idea for righty was for a suggestion that maybe Serenity was having sexy time. Maybe. I don't know, really. It's simply because there are several other projects going on, all with varying number X's in their rating. So it can be considered a kick at the moment.

Before moving on, credit has to be given where it's due. Both my husband and a dear artist friend of mine, Diana, were a huge help in trying to settle on something to do for this show. The duo will often act as independent art managers during a project. And for no pay. The lovely tools they are.

Once they echoed the sediments that the ribbon frame thing was too middle-road. It was out of the running. Though the general idea could come into use one day. For something completely different. One never knows. It was also easily decided to drop the "O-face" idea.
Sketching continued.

 

 

Believe me, all these pages are only half of the thumbs and pose sketches done just trying to get a feasible idea. The four above solidified the second concept. This time centering on Nehelenia's story arc. Took ages just to read her name. Not a good name if you're dyslexic, let me tell you.
With so much progress made I may try to finish this one anyway. Maybe sell it at cons if I ever hit the circuit again..

This one was the final idea for a couple weeks. There's actually a good bit of work done on it. But it just didn't sit right. Didn't seem strong enough. It's good if it's being made for a fan poster. But that's all it is... another middle of the road fan art. And sure, this is a tribute show, which could be considered as a fan art show. But in the end, it's probably best to make something that doesn't need the source material to hold it's hand.
Enter concept number three. A huge step backwards. Now this is fan art if I ever saw it

 Time trudges on...And I begin to dry heave in my sketchbook.

Oh wait, this one's kinda interesting. The initial idea attempted didn't work but the composition is jiving.

A few tweaks, some duck tape and there. If you know the characters and where they fall in the saga then great. If not... It doesn't matter. This is the final working piece.

Whats on my plate.

Generally, I've always got several projects going at one time. Most sit in thumb nail hell. while any active works constantly rotate. 

If I get stuck on one I shift gears to another. The idea is to keep things moving, to constantly be making progress on something. Even if I only eek out a couple lines at a time. And It does progress that way sometimes.

Especially now that time has become such a rare resource, thanks to a toddler.

Here's What I'm currently staring at night after night.

• Crowned Unicorn.
• Brian Froud custom MLP 
• Brain storming invite cards for Son's upcoming birthday.