Secret Santa

I made this for my friend Maritza Silva. It's inspired by song she chose from the Hanna soundtrack. I wish I could've spent more time on it, but I do like that it's out of my comfort zone.

Hopefully work from 113a, figure drawings, and my winter sketchbook will be coming soon. I need a camera to photograph my paintings and none of my friends want to share. (you know who you are)

Speed Painting

Speed Painting 55

The shrubs were really difficult because they're very brambly. I was mostly trying to get the atmospheric perspective on the mountains. It came out a lot better than usual. 

Speed Painting 54 + Dragon Age Fanart

Speed Painting 54

~1 hour

The cotton clouds work, the wispy clouds got lost. The stones are way too dark. The purple-ish patches in the ocean are too dark. 

Bitter Cold

~10 hours-ish?

****DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (AND 2? 3? I think "spoilers" are dumb so I don't keep track of these things) SPOILERS****

Alternate titles: Morrigan Disapproves, Ice Witch Out

I wanted to draw Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins, but didn't know what to do with her. She's probably one of the more interesting (and misunderstood) characters from the game. I asked the boyfriend for an idea, and he said he would like to see Morrigan with her demon-god-baby. Morrigan is a very difficult character to imagine as a mother. After some discussion, using evidence of how Flemeth raised her, Morrigan's personality, and Morrigan in the "Witch Hunt" DLC, we came to the conclusion that she would be "Flemeth Light," or better yet the "mama bear" archetype. She's wild and identifies strongly with animals (and can even turn into a bear), so I think it makes sense that she would love her son and not use him like a tool as her mother did to her. I don't expect a lot of tenderness from her, but I think there would be an affection that wasn't there between her and Flemeth.

I'm sure the third installment will contradict my theory. But seeing as how Bioware can't keep their own lore straight and ruined one of my favorite characters, I don't care.

A lot of my ideas involved the environment more, (e.g. Morrigan trekking across a frozen mountain wilderness landscape), but that really didn't work with my overall goal with this piece. I don't think fan art that's more landscape than character will fare well.

Long story short, I was kind of trying to portray Morrigan as a "mama bear": Fierce, protective, and nurturing surrounded by a harsh environment.

Speed Painting 51-53

Speed Painting 51

1 hour

The shapes of the mountains in the background are off. A lot of my colors are off. They're too saturated or dark when they should be more neutral. The ocean should be brighter. The reflections of the sky on the tops of the rocks was pretty cool. I wonder how frequently that happens.

Speed Painting 52

1 hour

My colors in the background are way too saturated. I know what atmospheric perspective is, but in practice it's really hard to get the colors neutral enough to look further away while still looking like a color. Some of the greens are better than usual, others are seriously off. 

Speed Painting 53: master copy of Tiger on the Watch (Gerome)

1 hour

I thought I'd try a master copy tonight. I was trying to avoid animals and people, but this was the best I could do with the images I saved. I didn't feel like spending an hour or more searching for landscapes. The colors in the foreground aren't too bad. The tiger is a crime against nature, but I spent a couple minutes on him so that's to be expected. Atmospheric perspective sucks. I'm seeing a pattern here. I know colors are supposed to get grayer the farther away they are, but I can't seem to paint it. The hazy look escapes me at the moment. The effect is a lot more pronounced in master works. The master copy was a lot more fun than a photo and easier to work with.

Speed Painting #47-50

I'm thinking in the future I'm going to try to go back to posting each one.

SP #47

Time: ~45 min

These colors were extremely difficult. I was trying to get the atmospheric perspective.

SP #48

There's something about the color green that is just awful. 

SP#49

I managed to do this after a beach trip when I got home. Personally, I'm surprised because I was barely conscious.

Time: ~60 min

SP #50: Mama Bear

This is an idea I have for my next illustration, it's another Dragon Age fanart. Haven't worked out compositions yet, this was just a general idea of what I wanted.

Time: 60-90 min

Speed Painting #46 + Completed Illustration

It's been awhile. I've been lazy about posting my paintings.

Speed painting #46

I need to work on atmospheric perspective. My paintings don't get hazy towards the background. The sky doesn't have the same luminosity either. And the green. I'm beginning to suspect green is the most difficult color to paint with, particularly in nature. I think I need to go more into the yellow-brown spectrum.

She Who Ran Away With the Apostate Mage


This took forever and I'm tired of looking at it. It was (kind of) a fun project. This is one of my most thought out paintings and involved painting a lot of things I had no idea how to handle.

Speaking of things that may or may not have been handled well: the fiery inferno in the background. It occurred to me way too late in the progress of this painting that due to the nature of light created by fire, it could not light up that huge area. So I used a lot of artistic license and the rule of cool to make it work.

Dragon Age 2 Spoilers

This painting is a fanart for Bioware's Dragon Age 2. With the exception of a few notable features in the game, I did not like this game. I did, however, love the tortured apostate mage Anders and his romance with my playable, snarky, rogue Hawke. My Hawke does everything she can to help Anders, sides with him against a good friend after he blows up a damn church, and abandons her home and wealth for a man that only has 20 years of life left, and how does the game repay me? The sole completed romance with no kiss!

... Yes, my anger over the lack of a kiss from a fictional character inspired and fueled 40+ hours of an activity I despise. I don't know either.

Speed Painting #22+WIP

I need to use less brushes and do these earlier than five in the morning.

Time: ~45 minutes

One day, I will finish this. In the mean time, a haiku:

Why why why why why?
Why why why why why why why?
Why why why why why?

Speed Painting #15

Speed Painting #15

Architecture is not fun.

Time: ~45 minutes

Photo

Painting

Still new brushes! Wheeeeee!!!!

Speed Painting #14

I'm sure I'll stop abusing them. Soon.

Time: ~60 minutes

Photo

Painting

Dragon Age 2 Fanart WIP

I wrote a haiku to describe my progress:

Poor choice in lighting

Bending the laws of physics

Filled with much regret

New brushes! Wheeee!

Speed Painting #13
There totally was a 12th speed painting, but Painter enraged me so I rage quitted. I'm back with Photoshop and have a bunch of new brushes. I definitely abused and misused them.

Time: ~60 min

Original

My interpretation!

Speed Painting #11 + Illustration Colors

So, the idea with speed paintings is eventually they improve. So far... not so much. I also forgot what time I started working on it. I thought it was 5, but I checked the clock when I was almost done, and it was still 5. So I'm either really fast or I don't know how to tell time with a digital read out.

Time: ~30-60 minutes

Actual Picture

What I thought I was looking at

Ah, the fun stuff! Well, not so much. I hate colors. I like drawing and painting, but everything in between is just really boring for me. Was trying to maintain a analogous red/orange/yellow color scheme with blue accents. It didn't help that my focal points were wearing red and black and my secondary focal point ladies to the left were wearing my accent colors. Which is why they will be covered in freaking shadows.

I did a value study also, but it's in graphite. So you won't get to see it since my scanner is dumb. Basically Hawke and Anders are lit the best, the fire in the background is really bright (as opposed to dark fire...?), and the sides are really dark. Otherwise Aveline, Isabela, and Merrill would be a little distracting.

... Merrill's looking a little pink. 

Time: ~2 hours

Speed Painting #10 + Illustration Sketch

10th speed painting. Something nice I can say about this atrocity... At least the green isn't nuclear this time.

Time: ~60 minutes

The real thing

 My bastardization

This is a sketch of my Dragon Age 2 fanart. Yes, it's going to stay this messy and loose. No, I don't care I'm going to paint over it anyway. I went with the third kiss because when I put both in the composition, this one looked much more romantic and like it belonged. Some extra ladies snuck in when I wasn't looking. Trying to think of rhythms and flow in the composition and focal points. Value studies and color comps are next. Hopefully the identity of the mess in the background will become a little more... apparent...

Incidentally, I deeply regret deciding Dragon Age would be my new fandom. I always forget how game characters are so detail heavy. Why couldn't I choose Avatar: The Last Airbender? I don't want to paint this. I didn't even want to draw the detailed mess of garments these people put on and have the audacity to call clothing. Really, does Isabela really need an intricate necklace? Does Anders really need to wear a murder of crows around his shoulders? Does Hawke actually require 30 buckles on her arms and torso? I submit that they do not! 

Not to mention game characters almost never wear drapery or have long hair... this is just so devoid of all the things I love...

Speed Painting #9 + Illustration Concepts

Should be from life, but I have no paints and I can't exactly carry my laptop around outside. I know this is full of fail. But, I have to start somewhere... I just wish it was somewhere less embarrassing.

Time: ~60 minutes

Original Photo

My idea of what this looks like?

Now that that's out of the way, I had an idea for a piece of Dragon Age 2 fanart. It was an awful game and I hate it, but I can't deny that I loved the romance between Hawke and Anders. Actually, that's the only reason I finished the game. I spent all day trying to figure out how to draw people kissing. I got one good looking set of faces (middle), after that I got frustrated and didn't feel like dedicating 2 hours to each face to make it not look dumb. They are going to be wearing clothing, I just didn't feel like drawing it. Trying to decide which kiss I want to use. I prefer the middle one, boyfriend prefers the bottom one. He says the bottom one has a better flow and is more romantic and the middle one is too sultry. I don't think "too sultry" is ever a problem.