Nendil's Procrastination Outlet

I'm gonna regret staying up in the morning, but I'm also gonna relish getting this done in the morning :)

( Impressionated )

( Are these pics too big? Guess I'll cut them. )
The blue one is for the Universal Waite deck, and the purple one is for Shadowscapes. :3 The blue fabric is just a nice pattern I picked out from the quilting cotton weaves, but Shadowscapes deserved special treatment... so it got a fancy silky sari fabric. 100% worth it!

Oh yeah, and they're both double-layered with a gold lining... forgot to take a photo showing that.

I'm so addicted to trawling the fabric store for the perfect fitting materials to match a deck. :D Since I only own a few decks myself, I'm thinking of opening an Etsy store to fulfill other people's requests... But I'll have to get used to using the mini-sewing machine I just got from Amazon first. These bags for myself were stitched meticulously by hand, but obviously I can't go at that pace if I'm going to do more of these.

(As a bonus, maybe now I'll finally be able to sew some proper costumes for cosplay...)

( Careful, it's big. )

And since for once I actually have the restraint to not toss it up on DA the second I declare it done, I'll ask you guys here first: Think people'll want to buy poster-sized prints of this? :)

It is probably not the best idea to declare a painting finished at 4am but I DON'T CARE, NO MORE OF THIS.

( SO MUCH EFFORT. NEVER AGAIN. D: )

...is what I would say, but this has actually been a tremendously valuable learning experience.

Lesson 1: Plan composition and lighting BEFORE (or at least concurrently with) lineart or face the risk of BORING.
Lesson 1b: Rule of thirds! Easy and delicious!

Lesson 2: Don't count on painting to cover up f-ed up lineart, it will not work and you will regret it! D:
Lesson 2b: Get models D:

Lesson 3: Colors need to be unified in a picture, even with crazy bright & saturated fantasy designs!
Lesson 3b: Photoshop is the best lifesaver EVER. I fear for myself if I ever go back to a brush & canvas.

Lesson 4: Shadows on left side, light on right side ;)
Lesson 4b: However, objects in the composition should read left-to-right!

Lesson 5: Define the faces and hands well first, and everything else will come together easy-peasy.
Lesson 5b: Except fabric folds. >:[

Lesson 6: Strong, realistic lighting makes or breaks a picture. Lern 2 impresionsm.
Lesson 6b: Big/rough brushstrokes are okay valuable. Lern 2 impresionsm x2.

A-And I was going to ramble more here but I'M GOING TO GO DIE NOW KTHX BAI.

Since ling84 seems to think I'm dead, I'd better let you guys know I'm not.

First, Sonic is officially in Smash Brawl! ...Snake is cooler though.

And now, the mystery of sculpture guy solved:


In your face!


How does he do it??

P.S. If someone can tell me what Link is doing to/with Zelda in this video (Edit: in respect to the game. Is that a taunt?) then you are better than me.

Okami is the most beautiful game ever made, hands down.  And it's topped Ocarina of Time as my "best game ever", at least until Twilight Princess comes out (possibly).  But I'm not even past the "prologue" (15 hours in), so no spoilers mmkay?

As for some not-so-beautiful art, here's some renders from my Gnomon homeworks so far.

http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/monitorrender1.jpg
http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/monitorrender2.jpg
Intro to Maya assignment: NURBS; model the monitor in front of you.

http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/watch2.jpg
Intro to Maya assignment: NURBS; model watch from a picture.  We'll texture it next week.

http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/bunnies.jpg
Texturing 1 assignment: make some of these materials from procedurals: wax, rubber, opaque plastic, gold, glossy paint, glass, chrome, clear plastic, metallic paint.  I made all of them, some more successful than others.  The environment is ugly but it's just to see if everything reflects/refracts properly.

http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/mallet1.jpg
http://www.liuart.com/gnomon/mallet2.jpg
Texturing 1 assignment: texture a polygon mallet.  But I made it into a mallethead shark :)  Hand-painted textures just to see if I can.

Will have more in 1 or 2 weeks, including Okami-inspired brush marker practice!

Well, winter break time's over and I didn't get done basically any of the projects I set aside to do "over winter break" (Sorry ctrl_a, I'm afraid that FF logo is too complicated and scary for me.) but at least ( I didn't completely waste my time sitting on my ass! )

I halfway did a painting but then the computer wouldn't come out of standby.  [sweary] [swear] [swear] laptop.  Didn't even come with a stupid manual.

So here's a drawing of a fuzzy thing instead.  Chuzzle Deluxe is evil addictive hazardous to your productivity oh so cute.  They squeak!

Oh Popcap, what'll you think of to enslave our souls next.

So, first bit of obligatory fanart. There's about a 0.1% chance of this actually happening in the game, but it's what started coming to mind when I think about Zelda adept with a sword, and hear other people discuss the co-op dungeons in Wind Waker. And I know it doesn't make sense for her to be dungeon-crawling in such a fancy dress, but it's the only bit of official wardrobe we've got, dammit.

( I think we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque )

Well, obligatory inasmuch that I haven't actually drawn anything for Valentine's Day for the past few years, but uh... you know I would have. Meant to. ;P

Anyways, I always see various fanartists putting up cute pictures every Feb. 14th, and it gets me all wanting to do one too, but by then it's too late. But NOT THIS TIME

Also updated website with some stuff you've seen before, and some stuff you haven't.

Edit: Geez, it looks pretty crappy when I view it on the monitor at work. Will try to fix it up better when I get back. Damn contrast.

Edit edit: Okay, that should be better, although now I can barely see it on my screen ^^;;