Pre-Production

I know, I know, it's been a LONG time. I have been doing a lot of art though and do have some stuff planned that is going to make the next few months very hectic for me but very awesome for those few that actually enjoy my art.

School has been kicking my ass lately. I'm doing really well, but I do a LOT of work and still don't do enough. But, I am finally learning! Thank god for Elio Guevara! He's my character and object design teacher. He's REALLY talented. His blog has some awesome stuff in it. He's really taught me how to draw.He gives excellent criticism and actually TEACHES unlike my other teachers. I can't wait to scan the stuff in my portfolio when he gives it back.

Anywho... I have decided to finally do a comic... FOR REAL THIS TIME! Shea and I worked out a vague idea and I designed some characters (via the awesome pre-production techniques Elio gave me). I'm having a hard time designing the last character, but he'll come along.

Basically so far I have this:

It takes place in the future, in a steam/cyber-punkish world. Organization 1 (it has yet to get a name) is a huge assassin's guild that has been around for thousands of years with small parties at different points in a City (also unnamed). We focus on one of these parties (also also unnamed). The party consists of 4 guys and 2 androids:

Jax - Human; a sarcastic obnoxious guy that doesn't take his job seriously but is amazing at his work when he actually tries. Spy.
Xavian - Human; The leader of the bunch. He spends most of his time on his computer sorting out targets and payments from clients. He used to assassinate but lost his arm and now has a hard time doing his job. Secretary/Leader.
Devon - Human; Jax's little brother. He is very obsessed with his job and comes off as inhuman or heartless because of his eagerness to assassinate a target. Assassin.
Kantor - Human; was roped into the guild because of his linage and really isn't into his job at all, most of the time, unless it is a large mission, he stays at the base and cooks and cleans. Jax calls him 'mother'. Cheff.
Kalintz - Android; Built to kill, Kalintz is cold and deadly on the battle feild. He is an experiment put together by the guild to create the perfect killer to reduce loss of human life from the guild. To fund the project they teamed up with a company that wanted to create the most humanoid android they could, so he is also a test for computerized human emotion.
D20 - Robot; D20 adds a cutesy element to the normally dark focus of the comic. He is Xavian's computer and helps him with two-handed tasks, processing invoices, and finding the perfect dating site. He has no human emotions or desires and therefore comes off as airheaded.

The main conflict in the story lies at the hands of Organization 2 (ugh, I know), a newly formed group that highly disagrees with Organization 1's actions and wants to thwart them. So you have the two large groups at war with a central focus on a small group of assassins.

There you have it. Concept. I am having a hard time designing Kantor, but am in LOVE with everyone else... especially D20, which makes me sad because he doesn't call to be drawn much.

Once I am done designing the characters, I will ink and color all of them in a nifty pose and splice them all together into an awesome group of badass looking dudes... until then, I am swamped with work and Character Design home work. This time I need to design a character that is a total 'dude' but is also a monkey or a bear. I think I am going to try to make him something like a marmoset or a red panda... stretching it, I know...

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on Comic (shoot me now). Thanks for reading!

Writing.

I've been writing a lot lately. My goal for the summer is going to be to write two pages in a book everyday. I think it's going to be a very urban slice of life/reflection thing. Probably starring Justin because he's the shit. I updated my writing gallery with a few things that I would like to talk about.

Despairing Jake

This is based off a drawing I did while bored in Pubic Speaking. It is also loosely based off of Jake Chambers from The Dark Tower. I will probably add the picture later. It is also a reflection of how horrible life after death sounds to me unless something very cool happens. I cannot fathom just stopping, so I imagine it would feel like laying with your eyes shut for eternity with nothing to do. I hope when I die I get to float around in the universe with everyone else that has ever died for eternity. I want to listen to stories and float through space, meeting dead aliens and the like, haha.

Insult

This one was sort of hard to post. I don't like talkign about my body-- at all. I hate every little thing about my body. This story pretty much summerizes my feelings and then explores the little bit of optimism at the end, so that I don't sound depressed or self loathful...

Clouds

Not sure how I feel about this one. It is an accurate description of how Justin and Gray view eachother, but at the same time it is a little unclear to some people that have read it, and that makes me sad. I want it to be really easy to understand. Justin is sober for the first time in a long time and day dreaming. Gray wakes him up and they walk, then Gray has a day dream. They both say their daydreams are about clouds and delicately tip-toe around eachother. Haha-- silly, but it fits my purposes.

Anywho. I think I may start something new now... please read those and give me feedback <3

I am in school again and it is eating me-- AGAIN. :/

Break's Over

So my spring break is over and other than a few shitty sketches, NOTHING got done. But I really needed the break so I don't feel too bad. Today I start new classes. Public Speaking is at 6. It's 5:18. I don't know what I have said or what i haven't said so forgive me if I reiterate. I finished my sculpture and also a few other silly projects that I may or may not post. I'll scan sketches tomorrow during my break and upload them. I don't think a single one is going on devART until it is 100%. Let's see... I have to finish Jonas and Cuthbert and then I will work on the new ones.

I am going to get sidetracked and talk about something else now. I'm sure that I have mentioned reading The Dark Tower by Stephen King-- well, it has eaten my life and is all I want to talk about. I am in LOVE with Roland, Cuthbert and Eddie. I would do ANYTHING for either of them... and that's a little scary. Never in my life have I been so in love with fictional characters... I mean, yes, I have loved characters... but these seem like real people. It makes me sad. Mr. King, you are a genius. I have a TON of Dark Tower fan art to post... even though one or two are spoilers... I will warn you when I post them.

I have gotten back into the role playing scene and for the past few nights have enjoyed the most amazing role plays I have had in a long time. I may type up short stories/chapters based on the role play's events and post it here or on devianART. I did post my script and a few other things on my writing gallery on deviantART and would enjoy if you took a gander. I have been thinking of writing a lot more lately. I'm trying to start a web-comic with my girlfriend and have been thinking of trying to write a novel. I just have to think of something cool before I take on these tasks.

I'll have stuff posted by the weekend, so plese keep a look out for stuff. :)

Music.

I have been listening to a lot of music lately that I haven't listened to in a long time and let me tell you something-- I LOVE PLASTIC TREE. For a long time I thought that I had grown out of them, but I still love them very much. Romu and Fiction are probably my favorites by them. I think my next sculpture is going to be based on their song Andrometamorphose.

Speaking of sculptures, I finally finished Justin. I hate him-- not to mention that he kind of broke. I'll post pictures of him and talk more about him later, but for right now, I don't feel like thinking about him.

I have also discovered my all-time favorite band-- LM.C! There is not a single song by them that I won't listen to/don't like. My favorite song is Boon!!-- and that's my favorite song, ever, not just by them. I don't know, but there is something about Boon!! that just makes me happy and cheers me up no matter what mood I'm in.

OH!! BIG NEWS!! CHROMATOSE, my website has finally been published. Go take a look-see.

Monday is my last day of class and then I don't have to go back until the 6th. Thank the gods. I really needed a break.

Buhh... I'm going to go listen to Boon!! and waste more time on the internet. I've been so lonely this week-- I've been the only one in the house. Everyone went home for spring break.

fuck.

Sometimes I see other people's art and read other people's stories and feel like I am just not good enough. It is a very common that I feel as though I am in the wrong profession and that the people around me outshine my work so much that I seem to be just emerging as an artist. The truth is that I have been doing this for over 10 years and although I do see improvement I have noticed a plateau, or even a decline of my creativity and artistic ability as of late. I was browsing through Bonhwa's gallery and it actually brought tears to my eyes... I am often moved by art but her art has me floored. It is some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen and every one of her works is gorgeous and moving. I just feel that I will never be able to achieve that greatness.

I know artists are their biggest critics and I know I seem very juvenile in the fact that this is the second post I have written in which I explore why art makes me sad. I know that I sound stupid. I just feel that the more I write about it the more I will be determined to fix my flaws and work toward that greatness.

almost done.

I've been making slow progress on my art, but I have done a lot of sketches and I am proud of a few of them. I completed some (very craptastic) character turnarounds for class. I am also working on designing a floor for a restaurant for a geometry project. I finished the bone for my sculpture class and took photos-- my teaches said that we should consider these for portfolio pieces but with the way he is turning out, I don't think that is going to happen. I'm already mostly done with his muscles, too. I've been working on Justin's story for writing, but when I went to do the story beats I became very discouraged. Oh well. Atleast this semester is almost over and I will be able to take a break for a while and get some real stuff done.

Anyway, the man to your right is Jonas... he's a royal guard and he will kick your fucking ass. I'm serious... although I hate the sword and it was omitted in the inking process which is not done yet. He's the one I mentioned in the earlier post that mentioned Final Fantasy XII. Although he is very much based on the style of FF12, he is not an FF12 character... I made him up. I even decided to justify his outfit so it isn't a riduculously silly Final Fantasy outfit. I am proud of him, although I do see some flaws. I mostly like his nose. I would love to cosplay him for my own enjoyment some day, maybe as a practice before I make Larsa. Both of these images are better viewed at full size, so please click on them. Especially the one on the right.

The next picture is of a man I have dubbed Jun. Jun is a very busy asian business man who works hard at the office for his family- a wife and a son. He works for a packaging plant an manages the invoices. He was mostly a pose and fabric text, but I think i failed in both of those aspects and only succeded in the hand department... which is still sub par... and now for my favorite picture I have done in a very long time, which is sadly unscanned.











HOLY CRAP, IT'S CUTHBERT!! So the Dark Tower serise by Stephen King is fucking cool and I love Cuthbert <3 He's my favorite!! If you haven't heard of these books, go read them! If you have heard of them and haven't read them-- you are a dork. Usually I don't like Stephen King and think that he is a loser, but these books are totally worth it! I'm happy I worked in a different style for this. It's mostly based on the comic books. I love this picture :)

moar progress.

I have actually made ART! I have found time recently to sit down and draw/color/refine/post. I entered a contest that Melly Black was hosting with a friend. I feel as though I wasted my efforts though... because I am not in LOVE with the picture and I didn't win. I stressed out over it, too. I also inked and uploaded a new picture of Justin to my deviantART as well as finishing my Illustrator homework which can be found under the title of "Significant" in my dA gallery. I have a ton of drawing to do for my classes over the next few days and I will be sure to post them either here or in my dA gallery. Be on the lookout.

I have also been hanging around with Sequential Fallout, my school's comic book club... sure they aren't the coolest kids, but they provide 2 hours of a quiet place to draw. They also are encouraging me to write strips for their newsletter-- those might happen.

I finished the basic skeleton for my sculpture project and pictures will be taken before I start on the muscular system. Those will be posted by the end of tonight.

Overall, I was VERY stressed last week but am doing better, mid-terms are this week so I shouldn't have much work to do-- no, studying isn't work, especially when you only have one class that you need to study for. GEOMETRY. Not bad. My writing teacher may give me something, but how hard could that be? And how could he after giving us the work load of doing 3 turnarounds and character profiles in 7 days?? DX

Anywho-- I know I have been a slacker to my fan-base, haha, yeah right, fanbase! But I have been increadably busy and as soon as the server comes back up I will register for next quarter and try to form a scedule that doesn't eat me alive. See you soon <3

experimentation.

So I've decided that my main goal for the next few weeks or so is to improve my artistic ability. I started with costume design. I was watching Ren play Final Fantasy XII and got inspired and actually designed something that I am proud of... I'll take my stuff to the scan lab tomorrow and get some stuff scanned so you can see. I think I am going to focus on character and object design because I am going to sign up for that class next semester and I don't want the teachers bitching at me for lack of artistic ability.

I'm happy I finally have an inking style that I like so I'd like to finalize other points of my artistic style. I think there is going to be a lull in my work load this week so I will actually get shit done. I am also going to try and get some pictures of Artemis up because I feel like I haven't done anything with him for a long time. For those of you who don't know, Artemis is my BJD (Ball Jointed Doll). He is from Angel of Dream and is a Chi model, mini size. Blah blah blah... work is coming soon.

industrial.

So cool shit happened. I finished the armature for sculpture class. It actually looks like how I wanted it to look. The fingers are a little wonky but I think once I start sculpting the bones in the hand I will reshape them. I snapped a few pictures on my camera phone before started to add the bones. When I finish the skeleton I will add more progress pictures. I've got his legs and his spine and his arms done, I just have to re-sculpt the hands and feet and add ribs and his skull. That's the part I am afraid of... I am afraid of ruining him by having his skull look retarded. Hopefully it will all work out and he will turn out fucking bad-ass. My teacher says his only concern is with the bent leg. He's afraid I wont be able to fit the muscles and the skin. I think I can and he's underestimating how skinny Justin's legs are.

The other day in Writing for Animation we learned how to develop characters and while we were learning about stuff Justin's character exploded on me... I think I am actually going to start the comic soon. I may wait until I get a break from school, because even as I am typing now I have 4 or 5 really big assignments I need to be working on. I am also going to keep the story under wraps for now... I don't want anyone to discourage me from writing what I want to write. But anyway, look out for that.

This is completely off topic, but the other day I got on the train and there was a bullet hole in the window above my seat. I thought this was cool. Although bullet holes are scary and it makes me a little uneasy to ride public transit every day, I liked it. I liked the abstract lines and the way it made the glass look. I liked thinking about the scenario that led to a gun being fired. I like thinking about things like that... why things came to be, why things are there. I liked it enough to try to get a picture of it, too, but it didn't come out well. I'll just have to keep an eye out for car 659 so I can get a better picture later.

I think that's it for me. I've been busy and dealing with a lot of drama, but over the past week I have discovered things about myself and my characters, which is nice. I guess a little drama is good on occasion. I'll try to get some stuff done and post some real artwork soon. I have been drawing, I'm just not exactly proud of a lot of it. I'm doing a lot of fan art for 10foldkiller and entering her contest (which is due on the 5th) so at least that stuff will be up. Just keep an eye out for my progress. Thanks for reading and bearing with me again <3

it's sort of... a bummer.

So I have this problem... I get really crest fallen when I see art that is better than mine-- which is really often because I'm not that good. School is crazy bad because everyone there is better than me and my teachers spend their time telling me that my stuff is no good and I need to change my style if I want to get anywhere in this industry.
I understand.
But I have tried... and I hate my art when it doesn't look like this. I just can't manage to draw... it makes me sick to have to change my style to fit in to this industry. My sculpture teacher had the greatest comment on the issue, "Anime is amateurish high school art."
Ok, ok, I get it.
I think Budgie does the best at blending the two styles. I don't want to "copy" her, but I think it will be in my best interest to sort of tweak my style into looking similar-- mostly in the eye department. Hopefully I can figure something out. I just really don't want to change who I am artistic-wise just to please my teachers...
But now I sound stupid.
I know I cant get a job in the industry with my style of art. I mostly want this degree for my own personal use. Sure, when I get into Maya and 3D software my art will change and maybe then it will be suitable for clients and employers alike. I'm not saying I wont try to change-- I'm not saying my art is phenomenal enough to override what my teachers want. I'm just saying I am afraid for myself.

This may be why I quit school the first time. This might be why I hate being around other artists. I know I am a whiner and I'm probably just being silly-- but this is how I feel.

School.

So today in Illustration we actually got to do a pretty cool project. The assignment was to take a sketch and trace over the values in Adobe Illustrator. I chose a sketch of a guy laying on his stomach. I also chose blue for a color scheme... why? Because green is overrated. I really like how it turned out. I'm just sad that I cant exactly claim it as mine because the actual art work is something I didn't do... I can't upload the picture just yet, because the computers at the school have a problem with uploading images. So be on the look out for when I do it tonight. I have to do a second one based on something I actually drew, so I'll be proud to post it.

The picture has been uploaded! Hooray for the awesome Blue man! <3

i was right.

So I was right about the whole "school is raping me" thing. I haven't gotten anything done in my "Shiro's path to happiness" quest. I drew a few pictures of Justin, as I am sculpting him for class, everything I have been doing for the past two weeks is school related. Even now I have homework that I should be doing... this weekend feels like it's going to be slow though so on Sunday I will have homework night. I don't know what I need to do for Sculpture for tomorrow, but I know I need to do my Geometry homework but I can't because I can't afford the book. I can't afford anything! There is -$63 in my bank account and I need three books and expensive art supplies RIGHT NOW!! But enough ranting... to ART!

I did some work on Gray-- as made obvious by the picture to the left. I'm not sure if I will be keeping his body the way it is in the original, it looks a little off to me. I changed his hair around a bit, too.

I'm not sure when I will be drawing new stuff. I think for a while all I will be doing is inking the thirty-three or so works on my deviantART that desperately need it. I may do a few commissions-- I have one that I need to do because a kid bought me a compass. He wants a hot chick wielding a sword... I should have told him to go play Soul Calibur...

I will be doing cool stuff and taking progress pictures for my classes, so look out for those, I am especially excited about my sculpture project. Be on the lookout for AWESOME!

Rape.

So, yeah, in case you haven't noticed, school is raping me. Monday I have school all day, Tuesday I have school all day, Wednesday I have night class until 10 and then Thursday I have class all day and I had a crap-ton of homework. Hopefully this gets better, but until then, I cant really update this as much as I would like. I am working on inking Gray, I have everything but his shoulders done... I just really don't have time to work on him/my girlfriend disconnected my computer and I don't feel like setting it back up.

Anyway - I have been playing a LOT of games lately, but there are two that I really want to talk about: Lost Odyssey and Mirrors Edge.

Lost Odyssey is the most unfairly ignored game in the UNIVERSE (Ok, maybe not if you include Jet Set Radio Future, but still). Sure, the voice acting sucks ass... and I mean REALLY sucks ass, but the game and the game play are amazing. Also, unlike the last RPG I played (Final Fantasy XII) it actually has a STORY and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. It is also the first RPG that I have played in a very long time in which the main character isn't a wimpy tag-along. The only flaw in the game is the lack of "hard hitters" in your party until the last disc... that's right, I said last disc-- Lost Odyssey is a 4 disc game. The game isn't particularly long either, I have been playing for 40 hours and have just started the last disc. Not bad, concidering the fact that Pokemon Diamond has taken me 80+ hours and I am no where near finished. The graphics are another thing to rave about, you can see the character's skin flaws! It takes a while to get used the characters' subdued expressions but with texture and movement like this, who is going to complain? The in-game graphics rival the cut scenes from Final Fantasy X. I wont say anything about the story because I don't want to ruin anything... but I will say this game really is worth playing.

Mirrors Edge was said to be a big let down, but let me assure you it is NOT. The game is beautiful on top of being engaging and highly addictive. The cut scenes are a big let down as they are animated in worse graphics than Total Drama Island-- they are a horrible waivering flash animation, but the in game graphics make up for it. It isn't much for story or characters, but is one of the only recent puzzle games that has kept me fully entralled in much the same fashion that Tetris does.

That's all I have to say... I really want to go play games now...

Progress.

Since starting this blog I have been doing art-things every day, which is odd because on a normal day I am ridiculously lazy. Procrastination is my middle name... well actually my middle name is L, but we'll ignore this. I am working on inking the picture of Gray... I changed his eye and hair color and altered his hair style sightly.
...buh.
I star school tomorrow. I have to leave my house at 11 am for my class at noon and stay at the school until 7:50 pm which means I get home around 9 pm. I don't know how I feel about this... I am excited about Computer Illustration tomorrow, but I hate my Writing teacher and am not looking forward to seeing him again. It's alright though, because on Tuesday I get to go to Sculpture for Animation which sounds crazy exciting.

Anyway, Gray should be finished tomorrow and I will post him...

Justin.

So last night I uploaded the first "completed" picture of Justin I have ever drawn. I finally have his characteristics and personality down. If you don't know, Justin is my one and only current reoccurring character/muse. I first drew him on the Pendako whiteboard and he just kind of jumped out at me and I fell in love. ......that was so cheesy...

Anyways.

I drew the pencil sketch a long time ago and just never got around to coloring it, I was afraid of screwing it up.
I was looking for a tutorial so I could learn how to do it in Photoshop without fucking up the original sketch. I found a few and they all said the same thing. It was as I feared. The Pen Tool. As anyone that has ever used Adobe Photoshop knows, the Pen Tool is an ass hole. Really. But I sucked it up and over the course of a few days working on it in tiny sessions so that I didn't get frustrated I came up with this:
Once I gotten a little practice in, the process became easier and I was able to achieve what I thought were positive results... but I was stupid and because I didn't really think that I would finish, I didn't ink it on a separate layer. *headdesk* I went back over it and carefully erased the exposed pencil lines. I then contemplated a coloring method.
Because I spent so long on the lines I didn't really want to have a stunning coloring job to distract from them. I used my same meathod of color I always do, but I was hesitant to make a second layer and multiply the lines because of what pencil remnants might remain and muddle the quality... but after seeing the results I knew I had to do something... I sort of liked the outcome, but at the same time it looked a little faded and half-assed. So I duplicated the layer and multiplied it anyway and it didn't look bad at all and I was VERY satisfied with the results. I think I may use this method from now on... which means that a ton of the older artwork on my deviantART will be inked and available in full color very soon.

Now I want to talk about Justin a little bit...

I would love to write a comic about him but I just don't really have any ideas for what it should be about. I know he will have a co-star named Gray based on another old drawing of mine... Gray may be Justin's brother, because for some reason I picture them both with blue eyes and silver hair. Justin's age is anywhere from 17 to 24... There really isn't much known about him yet sence he kind of ninja'd into my life.

I REALLY NEED IDEAS!!! If you have any plot ideas for a comic starring Justin and Gray, please e-mail it to me.



Here's a picture of Gray for fun-- I think I may finish him next:

Welcome.

Hello, and welcome to my art/bjd/web-manga blog. It should be updated every day with random information about my escapades, but don't count on it. I get on the internet at least 3 or four times a day so I might update then. If you watch me on deviantART you know my work. If you are a member of Den of Angels, then you know me as Shiro and my doll as Artemis. My only web-comic is "Life With Shiro", commonly refered to as LWS and is located HERE.

This seems like the place where I do the whole "about me" thing... which is utterly uninteresting when speaking about me. I was born in California and moved to Georgia when I was 5 or six, I don't really know. I grew up in Loganville in a rental house that was pretty much in my best friend's front yard. When I was in 7th or 8th grade I moved to Snellville and my parents divorced. I met the love of my like in 10th grade and had my first kiss at age 16. My mother found out I was gay in my senior year and our relationship hasn't been quite the same since. I moved to Atlanta to live with the formerly mentioned "love of my life" around 2007 and dropped out of college due to poor attendance. We moved out of our apartment and now live with 3 others in a cruddy duplex. I started going back to school resently to re-persue my life long dream to be an animator. I attend the Art Institute of Atlanta full time and waste the free time I do have on the internet. I get excited about small change and colorful things that smell nice. I also like to collect adorable anime figures... >.>

I like talking about my music preferences... I like a lot of J-Rock. I listen to LM.C, Miyavi, and Plastic Tree. Some more recognizable bands I like are Gorillaz, Frou Frou, Panic at the Disco, My Chemical Romance and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I also like E Nomine, but they are kinda rarely heard of. Blah, blah, blah.

I play a ton of video games including Soul Calibur, Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart, Katamari Damacy, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, Mirrors Edge, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero to name a few. I am always looking for people to play with online, so hit me up with your Wii address. I also have played WoW and am in love, if I ever get a real account I will let everyone know my Realm, Faction, and name/race/class/level. My old Toon was named Salenholm, a level 20 Night Elf Druid on Feathermoon.

I LOVE anime, but I hate most TV and don't have the money to see movies, so I usually cant even stand talking about what there is to watch. Lately I have been watching Lucky Star and Haruhi Suzumiya and rewatching Cowboy Bebop, Ouran High School Host Club and Azumanga Daioh. I love talking about anime and video games so please feel free to IM me. My name is ShiroChaan on AIM.

That's all I can think to talk about for now...