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.

Moon Crisis 2014 Babys' First Gallery Show.

It's been 20 years of moon madness!

I was invited to help celebrate by taking part in Moon Crisis 2014. Hosted by the Rothick Art Haus Gallery in LA. My piece hung on the same walls with the likes of  Bara-chan, Glenn Arthur, Miss Kika, Babs Tarr, Ann Marcellino, Sayamis... and loads more.

If you were lucky enough to be there then here, have some of my jealousy. I hear there was fun and treats all around. And everywhere you looked you were moon'd... Sailor moon'd. BA-bum Tss!

I did manage to hire my sister-in-law A smashing photographer to record some of the missed fun for me. Click the link to her site to see way more photos of the event than the piddly few I posted here. Some great shots to be discovered!

All the Sailors were there. Venus, Moon... Err, Mars. 

I wish I could have seen the arcade cabinet in person. Pff! I'm dreaming small. I wish I could have played it in person. Cause that is the coolest, most "spesheru spoto" touching thing there!

Lean in there girl! You take in that detail. Or maybe she's looking at the piece next to mine. I can't really tell. And you mister... The one with the phone. What you're doing there is an extremely accepted form of bootlegin. Go on son, take your pics!

HA! I just now noticed the Pajama Usagi cosplay. That's cute.

 And whoa... I spy the most immaculate bowl cut. No, that there's a Yamica cut, ladies and gentlemen!

 Mah... Gawwwd, How good does that look?! Well, at least you and I both have one form of vengeance on these tastebud teasing photos. And that's in knowing that the photographer (Dear as she is) looked like a foodie douche while photoing her own food. So there, Kat!

Hey lookit that! Even the host of "Insight in Progress" made it out to the show. Wonderful guy. His show is totally worth your time. psst! I was invited to record an episode with him. It's #9.Check out episodes #1 and #3. Some funny and intelligent stuff! #3 bout split my side.

Luna, Dark Lady and one of my faves, Miss Kika. Sweet girl.

Hey Zambi! Is that a large Pegasus sticker or a halo-cut print? Cause if it's a sticker I need one for my collection! I'll trade ya something! Art...my toddler.No idea who this couple is. But they are so awesome that they make the perfect close to this post.

And there you have it. My very first gallery group show.

"Not a single cloud"

"Not a single cloud".
Painted on Polypropylene watercolor paper with random brand craft acrylics.
And inked with Pass Color, Sepia Gouache.
And is for sale HERE.

dig that "real medium" shine.

This is my first time using Polypropylene paper.
The TLDR of it... It's a thin but resilient, bright white sheet of velvety smooth plastic. Meant as a watercolor paper it has a feather light tooth. Allowing for a wide variety of inks, watercolors, gauche and acrylics. And I love it!

To be frank, I hardly have any experience with watercolor. I love the look of the medium and admire those who can whip it good.
On regular watercolor paper I struggle. I didn't know what to expect and had no preconceptions of how it would behave. Therefore all I could do was pinch my nostrils closed and jump right in. And boy did this paper make the water temp a nice pee warm. First off one of the biggest benefits is that it's doesn't warp, wrinkle or buckle! After all it's plastic so there's no worries of water fatigue. You don't have to stretch or mount it. No pre-prep needed you can just start back handing it with all the water you want.
Which exactly what I need. I complain at the end of every year that I hardly have any finished work to show for it. And it's due to my own "every last detail" obsessions. Everything has to be planned perfectly before I make any large moves. Sketches trudge on for weeks as they are worked and reworked. Usually leading to the project being abandoned.
I've been rightly accused of over working an idea right into the ground.
But that's my own personal problem. And I've gotten off track...

This paper was super smooth to work with. I can imagine the lack of tooth may throw some off at the start. Brush strokes just glide over the surface. Like painting on butter with oil. The color medium sits on top of the surface rather than absorbing. Which can take more time to dry for larger puddles of color. Tread lightly if your going to use a hair dryer to speed up drying time. You could very well push any soppy wet color right out of its own brush stoke. Just like blowing ink spiders with a straw when you were a kid. Or heat scorch the paper, causing ripples. As plastic tends to do in the face of a heat source.
One down side is that you have to treat this paper like it's going to be dusted for fingerprints. Any oils on the surface will handicap the medium's ability to stick and can cause it to break off into tiny flakes when passed over again by your brush.
Also the color can be scrapped off if scratched heavily enough. I don't really see that as a con, really. Cause any paper surface can be scuffed, scared or damaged. I see it as a potential plus with this paper. I can envision taking an X-acto blade to it and scratching out intricate patterns or re-revealing white negative space.

In conclusion, a quick note about the inking of this piece.
The inking was done with a Hobby brush. Initially purchased for vinyl custom painting, but the long, slenderly tapered bristles make them great inking brushes. It doesn't matter if your hands are shaky. By the time the tremor travels down the bristles it gets dispersed and you're left with a smooth line. You also get greater control and comfort thanks to the triangular handle grip. These brushes are made for painting tiny details in tiny areas. And that basically my default work setting. I suggest you give em a try!


You can expect I'll be doing more with this paper.

Nearly 200 Hours later...

This piece is done and off my monitor!
So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go reward myself by tossing my fat yet bizarrely contradicting narrow tocks on the couch and finally watch a movie this month.Or just go to bed. Yeah... bed sounds nice.

"I remember you" Will see those of you lucky enough to be in Cali, at the Rothick gallery in June.

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.