Other: [NSW ART] Emalin's Various Artworks

[HIGH ON PIE 14]

Oooh, I like that aurora borealis. You managed to get a tree line in there too, realy brings out the brightness of the northern lights!

The best part about the space one is how three dimensional it looks. Combine that with the wide variety of colors, the effect is good.I love how in the upper right corner, its black with a few white stars - that gives it a real space feel, and brings out the other colors - great to have so the pic looks like space and not a funkydelic 70s thing. Wow!

I do think you have found a good niche.

~HOP

[Ferc Kast]

All of the artworks look very well executed. Better than anything I could do. Keep up the good work.

[Emalin]

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. I really appreciate it, especially now that I'm in new territory. (*gulp*)

Before I go on, I would like to insert a shameless promo for my new livejournal account! It's still a bit sparse, but should get some meat on its bones before too long. Come by and visit me!

But, annnnnyway. Since this is an ART thread, today I give you a simple practice piece I did a few days ago. I call this little guy Milo. Yes, I know there are a few anatomical blunders...but...I really, really wanted to squeeze his tail into the picture.

[HIGH ON PIE 14]

Originally Posted by Emalin

I call this little guy Milo

Milo! The few anatomical erorrs are so worth it for that wagging tail.

~HOP

[Rev7]

Love the dog!

[The_Catto]

The anatomical errors, in my opinion ... don't count. This is a wonderfully drawn and coloured picture, Em. Great work. Hoping to see some more work soon!

[[That would have to be one of my most smallest replies in this thread ever! ]]

[Endorenna]

Whoa! I just read all of this! Great pictures, Emalin! Late congratz on the contest.

I loved the picture of the 'charcoal man', and the pencil rose was beyond excellent! and the red glass one was really really really great! And--I think I need to stop before I hyperventilate!

Seriously, I have a friend who did a year of Commercial Art in college, and next time I see her, I'm gonna show her this thread. I'm pretty danged sure she'll love it as much as I do!

And you like Lord of the Rings as well as Star Wars. Don't suppose you like Pirates of the Caribbean?

I've enjoyed this art as much as I enjoyed 'Return of the Gizka' and 'Consumed'.

[Emalin]

Wow, thanks for the awesome response, guys! I feel perfectly at ease about those anatomical blunders now.

Endorenna: you're gonna show your friend?! Oh my! Thank you so much! You've just made my day... no, make that my WEEK. I'm glad you enjoyed "Return of the Gizka" and "Consumed", too. I didn't know if anyone read those anymore, lol.

Yes, I love Lord of the Rings. In fact, I loved Lord of the Rings before I loved Star Wars! It was my major "thing" for a while, before sci-fi and the GFFA took over. As for Pirates of the Caribbean... well, I've never been a big fan, actually. But Jack Sparrow suuuuure would be a hoot to draw!

Speaking of drawing, I'm sad to report that I have no new art to post right now. I haven't done any drawing with the tablet lately, as I've been rather short on time. Oh, but I do have an oil painting that is *nearly* finished. Hopefully I should be able to post it within a month.

Thanks again, everyone, for your encouragement!

[Emalin]

Hello again, everyone!

Guess what? I got a deviantART account recently! w00tness!!!!!! So, from now on that'll be my most up-to-date art site, though I will probably still post here from time to time. Be sure to visit me on dA!

And now for that oil painting I mentioned. (See? I TOLD you I'd get it posted within a month) This was done from a photo that I took a year ago while on vacation in the Appalachian Mountains. 'Twas lots of fun to paint... though I did want to throw my brush across the room sometimes. (Tree leaves are killer, y'know?)

[Rev7]

Whoa

That is really really good. Great./ Wow

[Endorenna]

(chokes on tea) Dangit, Emalin! How on earth did you learn to paint like that!?!?!?!?!?

[CommanderQ]

Wow... you are quite the artist Emalin. Keep up the good work.

Also, Endorenna, one should not drink tea while looking at pictures. From experience, it can be dangerous to one's health. Heh

[Emalin]

lol. Thank you, guys. I hope to become a lot better at this. Up next is... er... lots of things. I dunno. There are so many big projects I want to tackle! I want to try my hand at painting people and portraits. Then again, there's this landscape I have stuck in my head... with a pretty sunset... agggggggggh mustpaintitmustpaintitmustmust.

Endorenna: I learned to paint like this by painting those flowers. As well as painting a hideous starter piece, by which I learned what NOT to do when painting with oils, and which I would rather burn than post here.

Oh yeah, and I second CommanderQ's advice. I try to avoid drinking anything whilst exploring deviantART. O_o Seriously, you guys need to check out some of the pieces I've favorited there. They put me to SHAAAAAAME!

[Emalin]

Ooh! I think I know what I'm going to do next.
It started out as a line sketch on paper. Then I photographed it and messed around with it a little in Corel Photo-Paint, and it turned into this:



No, it's not pre-metal-jaw Malak, lol. It's not even Star Wars or sci-fi. Meet Erulameon, a character from one of my (non-fanfic fantasy) stories. If he looks evil/creepy/etc., that's 'cuz he is. Though you can't tell it here, his skin is extraordinarily pale, even translucent in places. This is because he belongs to a nocturnal race.

Expect to see more of this guy. I think I'm gonna paint him. After all, he really needs some color and realism, and I need practice at painting people. And then I could go on to some other characters... ooo! I COULD REALLY RUN WITH THIS!!! ::gets excited::

[Rev7]

You did a really good job with the facial features in Erulameon. I approve.

lol

[Endorenna]

Ooo, freaky dude!

I definitely like this one!

[CommanderQ]

Awesome Job, Emalin! Yoou really conveyed the scary aspect of this art piece! Keep up the good work!

[LordOfTheFish]

Originally Posted by Endorenna

Ooo, freaky dude!

I definitely like this one!

QFT.

[The_Catto]

I love the oil painting.
Use of colour works exceptionally well with the contrast of the shadows and light from the tree's and sun. The scene actually reminded me of an autumn setting, but with less yellows and browns in amongst the trees.
Great work nonetheless however!
Tell you what I really like about that painting though .. is the corner at the end.
It makes me wonder what just is beyond that. Where does that path lead to?

That is something that makes a painting such a great thing. Well done.

Nice symmetry with Erulameon. The thing that really stuck out at me was though, was the big bung nose, haha. Nothing wrong with the overall picture as far as I can see. It would look heaps better when painted and I can't wait to see that.
Keep it up, Em!

[Yar-El]

Do you like Impressionist paintings?
Camille Pissarro

Originally Posted by Emalin

Hello again, everyone!

Guess what? I got a deviantART account recently! w00tness!!!!!! So, from now on that'll be my most up-to-date art site, though I will probably still post here from time to time. Be sure to visit me on dA!

And now for that oil painting I mentioned. (See? I TOLD you I'd get it posted within a month) This was done from a photo that I took a year ago while on vacation in the Appalachian Mountains. 'Twas lots of fun to paint... though I did want to throw my brush across the room sometimes. (Tree leaves are killer, y'know?)

[Emalin]

Wow! Thank you so much, everyone! Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Mr_BFA: "big bung nose"? LOL!!!!! I see it now that you mention it. Yeah, I'm working on the painting finally, and should be doing some more work on it today. Hopefully he'll look pretty good when he's done. It'll be the first time I've painted a person. O_O

Yar_El: Yes, I love impressionism! It's my dream to be able to paint realistically, though. So I guess you could say I love realism better, and hope to be able to pull off both styles someday.

Thanks for dropping by, btw. And the same to you, LordOfTheFish.

[Emalin]

Ooo! Speaking of Erulameon being painted... here's a WP shot!



As you can see, he has a looooong way to go before the final "hey it's done!" shot. I haven't painted in his eyes yet. There are some maaaaaaajor proportion and shape issues that need fixing (especially with his face), and there's gonna be a LOT more layers, a LOT more shading, and a LOT more clean-up and fine-tuning. My intention is to create a realistic portrait with dramatic lighting. With that in mind, critiques are welcome! I hope to post more WP shots in the future.

If you look closely, you can see the shine where the paint's still wet.

[CommanderQ]

Well, it's a great start! Excellent job, Emalin!

[Emalin]

Hello again, everyone! I hope you guys had a great Christmas and New Year's. I know I sure did!

Well, with the new year comes a new semester of art class (which starts next week) and new art-related challenges. O_O But before I get started with anything like that, I've been drawing simple stuff. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I was just introduced to it this year, and I loooove it. This week I drew my first piece of fanart. Other fans will recognize this as Sokka, a.k.a. Boomerang Boy!

It's a quick sketch, so it's not perfect. And I used a handy-dandy how-to guide, so it's not original. But I had fun with it. Hopefully I'll be able to draw better and more original fanart in the future.

[LordOfTheFish]

Wow! That looks so much like the real character.

[Rev7]

It does! Fantastic work.

[The_Catto]

It might be my screen, it might be because I've hardly ever watched the show so hence not knowing the character, or it may just be my eyes straining cause they're so freakin tired! That I just seem to think, "should his body be that long?"
Like, haha, he must be tall!!!
It just seem's to me that from his elbows, to the bottom of his tunic is a bit elongated than what it should be? But I'm thinking reality wise, not cartoon, so don't mind me!

Overall nice work, Em. As always haha.

More! More! More!

[Emalin]

Actually, Mr_BFA, you're right. He came out taller than he should be... roughly about one head taller?!? o_0 In that animation style, characters' heads are supposed to be slightly bigger than their bodies, creating the illusion of being shorter than in reality. So, yeah. I goofed. :P I'll go back and fix that, then. Thank yooooouuuuu

[CommanderQ]

GREAT WORK, EMALIN!! ABSOLUTLEY GREAT!

Like BFA@ MORE MORE MORE!

[Emalin]

Lol, thank you very much.

Ugh! Turns out my Sokka has several proportion issues, which is what makes him look "off". I am SO going to redraw him now 'cuz it's going to drive me craaazy til I do.

In the meantime... more? lol, ok. Here's a small something. It started out as a doodle of an eye, then it took over the entire left half of the page. And it ran OFF the page, which is why her head isn't complete. *sad*

But anyway. Have you ever wondered what it would've been like had the Joker been... female?

I call her "Jokerette" (*snicker*).

Joker: Ha ha, hoo, hee, ha. And I thought my jokes were bad.

[The_Catto]

I likes.
The shadow's on her eye's give great depth and it makes me look at the longer. They're the defining aspect of the drawing me thinks.

At first I thought the outline of the face was too rigid for a female, but then I looked again and found that it was just right the way it was. [Don't mean that to sound anything than what I meant. I meant that, I think males have a more 'definitive' jaw-line and what not than females. But hey, I might be wrong]

Anyways. As I said, I likes.

Originally Posted by Emalin

It started out as a doodle of an eye, then it took over the entire left half of the page. And it ran OFF the page, which is why her head isn't complete. *sad*

Don't ya just hate that!

[Quanon]

Nice, very nice

[Emalin]

Thanks, Quanon! And a special thanks to you, Mr_BFA. You always give awesome critiques. Don't worry, you're right about the jawline thing. As a general rule, males have stronger, more squarish facial features. Jokerette's facial structure is a bit muddied by her hair (and the incompleteness of the pic! ) which is probably why her face looked too rigid at first.

Originally Posted by Mr_BFA

Don't ya just hate that!

I do, Mr_B. I really, really do. I so need to complete this piccie. But school starts tomorrow and it'll eat all my time and AGGH!!!

[/blowsteam]

Ok. I feel better now.

Ohhh, btw, I have a question for any computer geeks and/or artists who use graphic tablets. For a couple of months now I've been having problems with my Wacom tablet. Namely jerkiness, inaccurate tracking and such, all of which make using the tablet a bit like hell. (Which explains why I've posted no digital art.) I noticed some problems when I first got the tablet, but they didn't seem so bad then. Now I can't stand it no mores!

My dad suspects my computer isn't up-to-date enough for my tablet. So I'm thinking about upgrading, because I want to be able to use my tablet, like, really really badly. It would be nice to get a Mac, but KOTOR2 doesn't play on a Mac, so... I'm kinda in a bind!?

Any thoughts? Recommendations?

[Quanon]

Originally Posted by Emalin

Ohhh, btw, I have a question for any computer geeks and/or artists who use graphic tablets. For a couple of months now I've been having problems with my Wacom tablet. Namely jerkiness, inaccurate tracking and such, all of which make using the tablet a bit like hell. (Which explains why I've posted no digital art.) I noticed some problems when I first got the tablet, but they didn't seem so bad then. Now I can't stand it no mores!
My dad suspects my computer isn't up-to-date enough for my tablet. So I'm thinking about upgrading, because I want to be able to use my tablet, like, really really badly. It would be nice to get a Mac, but KOTOR2 doesn't play on a Mac, so... I'm kinda in a bind!?
Any thoughts? Recommendations?

Well, I've got a Wacom myself aswell

And indeed they can be heavy on your system, my old -now dead laptop- I had to wait now and then for the lines to be drawn on the screen.

Its ofcourse not a fault in the tablet, but the PC who lacks the power.
Mostly with some digital painten, you're going for bigger sizes and higher resolutions.

Most MACs are designed for graphical work, I work on MACs in school ( doing graphical designer, Desktop Publishing stuff xD ) they're great, fast and fun to use.

Though their workhorses and more limited on the 'fun' side, mainly cause they can't run every program thats out there. Recent new MACs can run Windows but then why not buy a decent new PC...

If you go for PC there's a tech ( geeky) forum part around here, I bought a new PC recently, most of the money went into the Motherboard, graphic card and a big 22 inch screen.

I'm not a heavy hardware geek, I asked the local family geek to help me out on a good list of parts that work well together and are reasonly priced.

[Emalin]

Thanks for the quick reply, Quanon. Yeah, Macs are geared toward graphical work, which is certainly a desirable aspect. I'm thinking that once I have a decent setup to work with, I'm gonna fall in love with digital art. However, I'm not going into art as a profession, but writing. And I like to play computer games every now and then, so it would seem a Mac isn't general purpose enough. Unless they can run good word processors. Then I think I could give up computer games for such a sweet deal.

So, yeah. Next question: word processors for Macs...?

[Rathoris]

office 2007

[Emalin]

Oh. Dang. That's a $200 purchase right there. Maaajor dealbreaker. Ok, thanks for the help! I've decided to go for a PC upgrade. Now to pester the family geeks about it...

In the meantime, I leave you with a quick sketch from a few weeks ago. It's of a young man called Johnis, the main character in the Lost Books series by Ted Dekker, which I just recently started reading. I'm quite happy with these sketches, especially the two insets. He ended up looking pretty cute! His sword is supposed to look slightly battered, fyi. The one thing I'm concerned about is if his right arm looks properly foreshortened. (Oh Mr_BFAaaaaaa? lol! )

[The_Catto]

!!! I'm here !!! haha

He has a straightened posture so in that case, his arm works relatively well. If he was bent slightly, then it would've looked awkward - but for now, in that posture, it looks fine, imo.
Could maybe bring his arm out a tiny bit, but I don't know if that will make it look different too much, so it would look weird or something. Just experiment if you aren't entirely sure about it.

In relation to the sword: To make it look slightly more battered, why not adding little crooked edges and splinters [maybe the wrong word, ] along the sides of the blade so it looks like it's seen it's fair share of battles.

I like this piece a LOT. Very nice symmetry and a great facial expression. The horse is good too.
I've heard good things these books. I might look into getting them sometime in the near future.
So anyways. In saying all that, pics are going great, and I'm wondering as to when we will get to see the finished Erulameon painting????

PS: Oh, and insets ... = Awesomeness!!!

[Quanon]

Originally Posted by Emalin

Thanks for the quick reply, Quanon. Yeah, Macs are geared toward graphical work, which is certainly a desirable aspect. I'm thinking that once I have a decent setup to work with, I'm gonna fall in love with digital art. However, I'm not going into art as a profession, but writing. And I like to play computer games every now and then, so it would seem a Mac isn't general purpose enough. Unless they can run good word processors. Then I think I could give up computer games for such a sweet deal.

So, yeah. Next question: word processors for Macs...?

Well Adobe has Indesign, it does work like Word, though its really geared towards pro-publishing.

It takes awhile to get used to it and ofcourse it isn't cheap to get...
There are ofcourse other ways to get but thats a bit shadey for these forums

If you upgrade your PC, go for memory ( RAMS) and a good Graphic card.
THough becarefull: most PCs can only handle 4 gigabyte of ram and graphic cards have ram aswell, you need to count that in.

Unless you have a 64bit PC with Vista, these "monsters" can handle up to 8 gigs of ram.

Anyway Photoshop CS 3 likes to have at least 2 Gigs, else it'll be slow and cumbersome. Ofcouse if you got an older version thats not really necesarry

And cool sketches, which I was so neat in pencil.

[Emalin]

YAY! Mr_BFA likes it!!! Thanks for the advice on the sword, I'll have to remember that.

Originally Posted by Mr_BFA

I've heard good things these books. I might look into getting them sometime in the near future.

Yes, do! All of Ted Dekker's books are amazing. He is probably my top favorite author (as evidenced by the fact that I'm drawing his characters...).

Originally Posted by Mr_BFA

In saying all that, pics are going great, and I'm wondering as to when we will get to see the finished Erulameon painting????

I start back to art class this week, so work on Erulameon will begin again soon. As for how long it'll take to finish, I really don't know. It'll definitely be done before the summer, I know THAT much.

Quanon: dude, you're awesome! Thanks a bunch for all the info. Yeah, I don't want to fork over +$200 to buy a word processor for a Mac, especially when I'd have to buy the Mac first. AND when I want a copy of Photoshop. All three combined, that would be more than I can afford. My dad and I will look into upgrading my current PC, or perhaps buying a brand new one.

Oh, and as for Photoshop, which version should I go for? Since I don't plan to make a career out of art, it would seem unnecessary to go for professional grade like CS3. Not to mention it might overwhelm a newbie like me. At the same time, though, it does have a bunch of great features, and I would hate to buy an older version of Photoshop now, only to buy CS3 later.