Zoe (Firefly) - Badass women in film

Today I finally finished a digital drawing that saw me through my art block. I'm so glad to finally be done. And hopefully she'll be the first in a line of strong female characters I want to draw. I present Zoe Washburne, a badass second-in-command aboard Serenity. A character I love for her strength, her humour, her loyalty, down-to-earth nature, and compassion.

Inktober 2018

Yep, it's been a year since I attempted art. Life has been busy with a lot of OT and little to no time for hobbies. But I thought this would be a good challenge to force myself to do a little every day. But like every year, my theme is far too ambitious and I only make it through half a month before life takes over again - note to self: inktober should be a little simpler.

Nevertheless, here is how far I managed to get with Mythical Monsters from around the world. A list made by Moragot. It was fun and interesting while it lasted, and it sparked more love for monster art from myself.

Oct 1: Gremlin

Oct 2: Preta

Oct 3: Tatzelwurn

Oct 4: Krampus

Oct 5: Kappa

Oct 6: Mummy

Oct 7: La Cegua

Oct 8: Mandrake

Oct 9: Chupacabra

Oct 10: Tokoloshe

Oct 11: Jorōgumo

Oct 12: Gargoyle

Oct 13: Gorgon 

Oct 14: Werewolf

Oct 15: bubák

Oct 16: Jersey Devil

Oct 17: Owlman

Inktober 2017

Well,  it was an attempt anyway. I was working massive Overtime during October and my ideas became so ambitious that I simply ran out of time to do a drawing every single day. Half way through I decided to start combining themes to catch up, which made for some fun and interesting experiments.

For my first Inktober, I chose to do a list that consisted of  mythical creatures, and I reverted back to  ink on paper. There were so many pros to switching back to traditional drawing for me. For a long time I had been in an artistic  block - never able to finish what I started. The idea of making an illustration 'perfect' also resulted in me never being satisfied enough to finish any art.  This whole exercise forced me to finish a drawing even if it was imperfect. The results were great. It kickstarted my art again, and I was able to progress.

Oct 1: Mermaid

Oct 2: Dryad

Oct 3: Banshee

Oct 4: Dragon

Oct 5: Witch

Oct 6: Centaur

Oct 7: Valkyrie

Oct 8-9: Madremonte; Kumiho

Oct 10-11: Unicorn; Harpie

Oct 12-13: Kelpie; Grim Reaper

Oct 14-15: Selkie; Fairy

Art'd Me 2

It's been a while since I've posted these. Between moving countries and jobs, I ran out of time to complete 7 more :( But here are the remaining Art'd me projects that we managed to complete before the break!

Bill Watterson style - Calvin and Hobbes

This wasn't my best piece, but it was great to see everyone's ideas. The style is a lot more challenging than it looked, and I might try it again in the future.

Juanjo Guarnido - Blacksad

This project was a little more challenging. If you aren't familiar with Blacksad, it's a graphic novel drawn in a film noir style, containing anthropomorphic animal characters. We had to envision ourselves as an animal, usually human body with animal head.

Game of Thrones

This followed no specific art style, but with Game of Thrones season 5 starting around that time, we thought we'd all have fun trying to do concept art self portraits in the Game of Thrones world.

Avatar - The Last Airbender style

This one was a lot of fun. Many fans of The Last Airbender were present for this one and it shows. We would have to pick a faction and draw our self portraits with their powers.

Art'd Me

So we started this fun new project that has both helped me study the various styles of the human form, as well as made me grow immensely as an illustration artist.
The idea behind the project, is to do a self portrait every week in the style of a famous artist. When we started off, we would release the topic on a Monday, and have until that Sunday to complete it. Due to work getting busy, we've extended that deadline to a fortnightly piece. We seem to have gotten a lot of interest from a large group of very talented artists who join us every week to have some fun with the topic. This is an ongoing process, but since we've now done around seven entries, I feel like I can start to post them here. I will post both my own pieces, paired with the grouped Art'd pieces, in case you are curious as to how everyone contributed :)

Jin Kim Style (modern Disney - Tangled/Frozen)

Our very first project was to do a self portrait in the Style of Jin Kim, a modern Disney designer who was involved in the character creation of films such as Tangled and Frozen. Still finding our footing here, we don't have a group one for this. But this is my self portrait in that style.

16-bit Street Fighter Style

Our second week included 16-bit characters in a fighting stance. At this stage, the group images began, creating a really fun group dynamic. The cool part was, all the images were kept secret from everyone, and then compiled and revealed to all at the same time.

Laika Style - Paranorman.

The third week included conceptual design styles from Laika, specifically concentrating on Paranorman. The instructions were to draw ourselves in a terrified pose, as if we were looking at a monster.

Katsuhiro Otomo Style - Akira.

Week number four was a tribute to Katsuhiro Otomo, best known for Akira. This was one of my favourites, with everyone seeming to hit some badass streak, the group photo looked epic in the end. We were instructed that we were in some neo-80s Tokyo gang.

Jamie Hewlett Style - Gorillaz

Week 5 brought a cool style: Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz. Instructed only that we were waiting on a concert, people really nailed this style.

How To Train Your Dragon concept art style

Week 6: How to Train your Dragon concept art. It was fun to see everyone include some form of pet dragon, which is nothing that was asked of the artists, but seemed to be a fun inclusion done by everyone individually. Our instruction was that we were all running from right to left.

Genndy Tartakovsky Style - Clone Wars with an Aliens theme

And finally that brings us to the present: Week 7 - Genndy Tartakovsky Style, best known for his art on Clone Wars, Samurai Jack and Dexter. We were out to see what it would look like if we drew ourselves in the Aliens universe, using this style. Needless to say, this was amazing from everyone, and one of my favourite ones to draw.

And that's all of them so far. I'll send through another update once we've gone through another 7 of them. Hopefully this exercise will last longer, and help me grow more.