I HATE INK

Hate it.

Prismacolor

Just ordered a 24 piece set of Prismas from eBay!  SO EXCITED.  I've wanted those babies for years; I have no idea why I never thought to buy them at a severe discount before.

Bathroom

God, what I would give to have the ability to draw straight lines.

Unfinished Bored Person by Sea

Technically this is cheating because I didn't do it today, but it took a day and it's unfinished because this is all I can do in a day.  Better speed up.



Yes it's flat and poorly lit and has weirdly alarming eyes, but this isn't my showoff blog; it's my progress blog.  The harder I suck today, the more incredible will be my improvement tomorrow.  Or so I tell myself as I cry in the corner.

Noticed some anatomical anomalies: jawline goes too far back, no ear.  No wonder it looked funny.

ART

I am a crap artist.  I know that I have the capacity to be a slightly less crap artist, if I practice.  Which is why I need to practice.

So, here's my self-challenge:  one piece a day.  Doesn't matter what it is, or how quick the sketch, I have to do one piece of work a day and put it up on this here site.  There, I have publicly declared my goal and must now stick to it.  It's true that I have shamelessly aped this idea from certain other superior artists* I know, but isn't that the whole idea of any pursuit?  To copy those who inspire you?

*P.S.  Sorry for linking without asking.  I figure it's the price you pay for being insanely talented, but if anyone wants me to un-link, just let me know.

MEL GUI 1.0

Line Weight

Manga artists have such a knack for line weight. Ink is a medium I've always had something of a hate-hate relationship with, and I'm beginning to realize it's because I don't know how to use it to its full potential. You can say so much with just slight variations in thickness.

Pulled this off of Amy Hadley's deviantART page.  The girl writes/illustrates an English-language manga called Fool's Gold.  Looks great, and vaguely Sherlock Holmes-y.

Refraction Attempt #2

I'm still a little suspicious of my algorithm, but I think I finally fixed refraction.


Scary next step: photon mapping at last! I foresee problems already, but maybe forging on ahead will illuminate ways to address them. Or will cause me to trip over myself. Either way, it should be fun.

Orange with mold

[vimeo="http://vimeo.com/13888456"]

Fur still isn't sitting right. I need to iron out this two-pass system I have going. Maybe I'll add a fur shadow pass.

Orange

A little dark, but otherwise more convincing than the apple.

Fake-looking apple goes boom

[vimeo="http://vimeo.com/13858040"]

Brown spot looks like it's floating on top of the apple rather than being an actual part of it, and the mold is the wrong color.  Baby steps, baby steps.

The difference in growth pattern from the tomato was produced by varying the constants in the RD equation.  Sometime in the foreseeable future this variance will be determined by factors like water content of fruit, skin thickness, firmness, temperature, and humidity.  Right now it is determined by factors like whatever I pull out of my ass.

Apple

I made a fake-looking apple, and since I have nothing else to offer, here it is:



Stem material is a bit funky.