Art Pyro tries her hand...

[Pyrophobic]

Hrm, I haven't posted here for ages, so I guess I'll try again with another thread of much derided artwork (I can't draw manga, okay? Is that really so wrong!?) which I tried my best at making sparkly. My CG skills have advanced slightly, but I only ever use them to add a few slight finishing touches to the pictures I do by hand. Just so you know, I'm not a Photoshop genius ^_^' *wishes she was*.

Well, introductory spiel over - my first picture (hopefully not my only one...) is some artwork I did for one of my novels about ... heh, it sounds corny ... giant mosquitoes. I swear it isn't just braindead horror. After several sketchy developments, I got to this look and I think it's the one I'll stick with. The below image was executed in a 6B pencil before being colourised a rather fetching blue and given a few highlights in Paintshop Pro 6.

Please comment! I'd be ever so grateful if you did! ^_^

[AzureWolf]

I can't believe no one has commented on this yet.

That's just amazing work you've done: you can't even tell the original was hand-drawn. I think you could have used more constrast, though, since it's a little hard to make out some parts from others.

It reminds me of [I]Aliens[/I] more than mosiquitoes, though. :sweat:

[Pyrophobic]

Thanks for commenting. ^_^ I think a lot of people don't really like my work because it's not really manga - if anything, I'm more into western comic book-style graphics, but manga's pretty too. I just don't try to draw it, that's all... ^^'

Yeah, I'm not great with computers. I'll try upping the contrast, but at the same time I still want it to look gloomy and dark.

Ah, bingo. The resemblance to Aliens is pretty obvious. It's because I've been looking at a lot of H.R. Giger at the moment and reading the Aliens graphic novels. I really love the look of Giger's designs (however creepy/dodgy they can get). That's probably where I got the elongated head from and those jaws - although I think the head shape was there before I started looking into Aliens. The maximilli (teeth) looked awful before I decided to sharpen them, though, so the influence has done me some good.

[Baron Samedi]

Ooh. Impressive. It looks very good. Some of the frilly things you obviously havn't coloured in yet- however, the rest of it... is flawless. Some of the maximilli look a leetle bit off but yeah- it looks like Computerised Graphics. Very good-I am impressed. Love the lighted highlights and the awesome colouring.

Aesthetics: 8.5/10
Technical: 8/10

[Kanariya]

[size=1][color=chocolate]This piece gave me 'oohs', that's for sure!
Yeah, it is more like aliens, it reminds me of the galaxy with it's cool color and weird shape. I really like this, good work. Very artistic indeed.[/size][/color]

[Boo]

[color=red]A splendid piece of art Pyro ^_^

It would be even better if I would understand the whole thing but I dont lol.
I see the head and all (I think), so yeah. That should be enough for now.

Great job, and make the next one a little bit clearer =P[/color]

[Pyrophobic]

^_^ Thank-you very very much for all the comments! They are much appreciated. Heh, I quite realise I haven't perfected my use of contrast - I thought a dark look suited the design and my intentions regarding it best.

Actually, Baron Samedi (incidentally, great name), the frills were deliberately but not very well scrubbed out because they had the most dreadful white edges. Normally I would have removed them with an airbrush effect, but my hand was too tired for precise work. They were only a test - really supposed to be sensory hairs - because what scares me personally the most about insects is all their spindly appendages, and the sense that they aren't really a solid mass, but something carried along by these fragile limbs - it's as if the physics humans recognise and define don't really apply to them.

I appreciate that I didn't give lots of backstory, and that that which I did must have sounded astoundingly tacky, like some old B-movie from the 50s. To elaborate a tiny bit more, the giant mosquitoes idea really came from reading some articles about GM anti-malaria mosquitoes. In fact, most of my stories come from science journal and paper articles. I'd read also of mixing species' genes, like pigs' DNA with jellyfishes', etc. - so I wondered what it might be like to formulate a large laboratory-located organism which just churned out billions of mosquitoes designed to replace the malaria-carriers, sort of like a huge machine, only an insect. Since insect exoskeletons can only be so big before the entire creature literally collapses in on itself, I had to detail a mixture of mosquito genes with the robust inner structural genes of, say, a mammal. That mucked with the anti-malarial eggs produced, and also, following your usual SF nuclear conflict, which insects and small organisms usually seem to survive, allowed for mutations until the offspring of the big 'mother' organism increased in size. It's very far-fetched, which explains why I don't try to deconstruct it and don't see much future in the scientific potential of the project, but I like the design and where the story, post-mosquito mutation, goes.

Eck, that must have been a boring and stupid paragraph. Anyways, I'll post a new picture now - one with significantly less backstory. This image was a simple consequence of playing about with a watercolour pencil sketch of the "rampant" herald unicorn used in Great Britain's Coat of Arms which was originally simply to illustrate a particular interpretation of George Stubbs' "Whistlejacket". I can't draw horses, so I was pretty pleased with the result, and decided to mess around with it on Paintshop Pro 6. I'd done several mock-ups for entirely fictional CD covers before this, but what I got when I inverted the image and applied 'rotating mirror' was the sort of thing I'd like to see on a shelf in something like the Heavy Metal rack of HMV. Since all albums need a title, I just called the image (after entitling it "Doubletempest" as a working label) "...And Doubt". It really reflects something I was writing at the time and still am about cloning. You can replicate something, immortalise it, yet one has to look at the replica at some point and ask if it's the same thing. It might look the same, think the same, chemically be the same, but it occupies a completely different spatio-temporal location. All we ever can be about such things is [I]doubtful[/I].

That, and unicorns are very pretty. Particularly neon blue ones.

I'm ever so grateful for your comments - please continue to post them! Thank-you!

[Baron Samedi]

*is shocked*

That is so cool. I absolutely love that. May I ask how you got the unicorn bodies to be a faded black whilst the tails, manes etc. are this vibrant, neon glow. That is so amazing. How did you do it? Very good work. Also, I think the name 'Derivative' would be a good name for the band. Or the Album. Heh.

One improvement- move the unicorns up a bit, I don't like their feet right on the bottom of the cover.

Good work overall. You seem to be very very good on whichever program it is you use.

Oh... thanks about my name. It is good, isn't it? lol

[Pyrophobic]

Thanks for the comment. I originally did the white unicorn's tail and mane and so forth in a very flaring red that stood out dramatically from the shorter body fur. I then introduced contrast to enhance that factor and inversed the image's colours to see what would happen.

[QUOTE]Also, I think the name 'Derivative' would be a good name for the band. Or the Album.[/QUOTE]

'Derivative' being a synonym for unoriginal. I'm not sure whether to laugh or be rather offended.

I agree with you on the positioning - I'll add a little black margin to the bottom.

I'm actually rubbish with computer art programmes. Most things I get out of them have happened purely out of luck. I think my frustration with the silly things is why I always go on about the tragedy of people leaving pen and paper behind entirely. Everyone nowadays uses Photoshop, and whilst it looks nicer, you seldom get the sense that the person physically engages as you might with, say, charcoal. But art programmes are very nice - particularly if you know how to work them.

[Eclectic]

I love your art. It's so different from what everyone else, myself included, does. Everything, from the use of color to the shading is just so eyecatching. I'll sit back and wait for more

[Baron Samedi]

[quote]'Derivative' being a synonym for unoriginal. I'm not sure whether to laugh or be rather offended.
[/quote]

Please don't be offended. What I meant was ..... I don't know. The word just occurred to me and I thought it would fit nicely. The work is excellent, but I think the album or band for it should be called 'Derivative'. I meant it in more of a... stepping up, moving along from the original. Splitting off the mainsream and becoming a separate entity. Thats what I meant.

So, it is a compliment. Or intended to be one anyway. It wasn't even about the artwork but... yeah. Good work anyway. Keep us updated with some more lovely pieces, by all means.

[Pyrophobic]

Ah, okay - heh, sorry to scare you. ^^' I usually miss most things, so I thought I'd be super-sensitive for a change. Anyways, I'll pop up another picture (pfft, it looks like I just churn these out sometimes - heh, I really don't...)

I don't know how much explanation I should give for this image without sounding as if I'm seriously plugging. It's just, a picture without a story can seem strange sometimes, particularly when it's one of mine. I guess I just don't tell the story INSIDE the picture, although this image, like the first, was some offshoot design art I did for a novel project.

I mentioned something earlier about writing about cloning. The title of that project is "Limbo Men" (no sniggering at the back there - I know it sounds sad at first...), and it basically exists within my favourite genre of dystopian science fiction. The story is set, to detail it in a nutshell, in a future where immortality may be achieved by transplanting the mental processes (that is, memories, thoughts, personality, tendencies) of a dying human being into another physical body constructed from their tissue (i.e. a cloned shell of them) in order to allow that human to continue his or her existence. The desired result of this is to keep a constant, optimum population in those nations capable of purchasing and maintaining the required technology which does not devour all resources but keeps the nation's economy and society in operation. There are plenty of implications (e.g. sudden, quick and accidental deaths) that would stilt this process, but these are discussed in the story itself. The picture discusses the actual point of the story, when several random people start to experience sensations in between the two bodies as their mental processes cross over (usually this process, known as Transfer, occurs simply as a case of 'go to sleep and wake up again in a brand new living body', without any "bad dreams" in the middle). The spatio-temporal happenings of this in-between period are termed the experiences of 'limbo', and are very distressing for those who are affected by them. The plot basically involves a policeman getting to the bottom of the mystery of the 'limbo men'.

Blargh, I tried to make that brief. It seems riddled with gaps and holes, but I have done my best to fill them in the book. The picture is rather abstract, with two white masses at either side representing the nice, beautiful existence that the living bodies experience either side of Transfer. The black structure with all the detail is the 'limbo' period that only a fraction see - yes, that is supposed to be a stretched human body in the very middle, inside of which is a figure facing away from us praying (the soles of his feet are highlighted slightly), which the novel accounts for. But really, make of it what you will. I don't think it's as good as my CD cover, but then it was never supposed to be complicated - I'll be doing some more complex artwork for a sequence of the novel soon which I could post up here.

Again, thank-you all so much for your comments (and Eclectic, you can be my 'yes-man' whenever you like ^^) - they are well appreciated and I've already acted upon them. Please feel free to continue your critiques. ^_^

[Baron Samedi]

*feels free to continue his critiques*

Before I get down to the piece... at first the name for the story seems strange, but once you told us about the story it fits nicely. Also, I think your storyline is really interesting- I love it. A very good plotline you have there. If you ever write it up fully, I'd be delighted to read it.

I like this piece. I can [just] make out the human sides on the edge of the white areas. However, I got a bit confused by your explanation of the picture's layout. I didn't see the 'stretched out human body' in the middle or anything. Maye I am just blind, lol. Anyway, even if I could barely see the praying man either, I know what this piece is... wonderful. The font is awesome, the image awesome... I don't understand how you can say that you're not a good computer artist. This piece refutes that statement ten-fold, this is wonderful- a hundred times better than anything I could do, and it looks really swell. You should be very pleased with this. It would make a very good cover for your story I'd imagine. Good work.

One thing that I must comment on however is those white squares behind the text- get rid of them. I don't think they fit in at all. Just leave it bare, or replace with smudges.

Aesthetics: 8.5/10
Technical: 9.5/10

[Kanariya]

[size=1][color=chocolate]Okay, wasn't back to comment your two other pieces you had made.

The Unicorn one is just marvelous too. It looks so well and all I can say really is that this piece is very good. Same goes for the next one; it is creative and it looks so good.

You are very creative. Keep on the good work![/size][/color]

[Pyrophobic]

*Pyro returns to her thread after - rather a long absence*

Thank-you all for the comments - about the Limbo Men image, I incidentally hadn't looked at it in quite the same way as you, Baron Samedi, so it's pretty cool to have someone draw something entirely different from it. ^_^ And I attempted to remove the white squares - the annoying thing is, my computer screen doesn't go up that high when it comes to brightness, so they weren't there intentionally and they were kinda' hard to scrub out.

Anyways, I have indeed returned with a piece of fan art this time. I have recently submitted a version of this with a background to the fan art section of theotaku.com, and am waiting with baited breath to see if it's uploaded. Till then, I do have this basic sketch with the initial colouring that I added on PSP before having to render the image so that it fitted in with a dingy background. I personally think this sketch is the better version, but I had to sacrifice coolness for a background just for once to see how it looked. At any rate, I shall allow you to make your own judgements. The picture is of a "Cerberus", a zombified doggy from the game Resident Evil. I didn't want to draw it as a doberman as it is in the video game, in case any fans were wondering - rather, I used a dog with longer hair to give it a wilder appearance. Originally a biro creation, hence the highly linear construction. Oh, and please don't worry about the text - I just felt the picture was a bit bare without it. For some strange reason. *shrugs* So what do you all think? Thank-you in advance for any comments!

[Heh, and don't worry about the file title - it has nothing to do with brains]

[Boo]

[color=gray]To me it looks more like a lunatic hyena than a cerberus lol.

Nonetheless, you used splendid shading as usual and detail to the bone.

Great Job Heath ^_~[/color]

[Pyrophobic]

Bwaah, the terrible secret of my name - partly disclosed! [Well, it isn't anything like Heathcliff unless y'all were wondering. Though I do have a certain penchant for charging around marshes]

Thankies for the comment, though, Boo. ^_^ Much appreciated.

Uhm, my signature's looking a little threadbare - so I don't want to make a big thing of this, but I must upload a banner. So here it is. I'll be back soon with some art for this thread (when I've had my fun with Maladjusted's contest ^_^).

[SonPikkon]

Well ive seen all the pics now (i never mentioned the 'cerebeus' one on your Otaku) and as with your pic on my otaku i think you have unbelievable talent.

Your first pic (Mosquito) i couldnt make out much but i only glanced at it for a few seconds so my bad, But of what i did see and remember the detail is great, i can see the influence from Aliens, i'll have to check the pic if i wanna say anything else.

The next pic (Horses i think) Was almost Flawless but as you and *insert member here* agreed on the horses are a bit too close to the bottom of the album cover(?), The skill behind the faded outline of the horses torso,limbs and head and the Neon blue of the talis and hair is fantastic, and the pose they were put in just makes the near perfect picture that much better.

I would comment on the abstract person pic but i cant exactly see....[I]anything[/I], i can slightly (i think) make out the souls of the feet but im not too sure. So i suppose i'll leave it at that.

And the final pic (excluding your Matrix banner) is well......fantastic, i noticed before reading the post it resembled the dobermans from Resident evil what with the bloody colour and with odd bones being visible, and i suppose i shoulda guessed it was influenced by the mangey mutts but alas i never so my bad. Anyway "Cerebeus" looks perfect, its in a wonderful stance as well as looking quite realistic (for the undead anyway), i hope i helped in some way (doubtful but meh).

Well lets wrap this up shall I, overall im in love with your work lol, They live up to the greatness of your Bahamut and Tifa pic on My Otaku.Good Job.