Tumblr Blog

I'm slowly converting to Tumblr...

http://wingspan-rio.tumblr.com/

Nninjas+

(I never know which format to save all my flattened images ><;)

This was a quick silly doodle I did a while ago which I only just managed to colour. My friends and I downloaded such a funny game on xbox called N+ which we play once and a while. So this is us in our ninja colours! There’s me (when I had red hair), Rob, Joe, and my bf Rich. :P This is for you guys. <3

Another Blog

http://wingspan-rio.tumblr.com/

I've joined Tumblr. Going to see how it goes with that blog and decide which I prefer. :)

Overwhelmed!

There's just so much I want to do with art! Sometimes it drives me crazy and I don't know where to begin. I know with all my heart I want to be a character/concept artist, but I just don't know what style is me. A lot of people seem to contradict each other about style as well, saying you shouldn't worry about style, but then others want to see a certain style. Guess I just have to keep experimenting until something "clicks."

Steam Klunk Incomplete

Really not feeling well today. I woke up late and tried to finish this piece for a jam on cghub, but was just a few minutes too late for the deadline. This is what I managed to finish and upload, but if I had given myself more time I would have done a lot more to it. I'm going to move on now from this and work on other pieces that are trapped within my mind.

Steam Klunk

an idea I'm devloping...

Quickies

Just some quick practice doodles... found a cool way to do cel shading. I keep discovering new techniques and then falling into a confusing decision wondering which method is really ME. I wish there were more hours within a day...

Firey Chibi

For a project I'm helping out with. Character designed by BritishMuffin on Deviantart. I'm not really sure about the background though.. might end up going back and changing it.

Final Moogle

The finished moogle commission. :) The client wanted a Kingdom Hearts look.

Moogle Rough

Here's a rough sketch of the moogle character I've been commissioned to do.

Moogle Design

This is another commission I'm working on for someone's moogle character. These are quick costume ideas which I coloured to show where the armour would sit. Once I've been given feedback I can get started on the rough sketch.

Quick-e

I'm helping out with a team preparing artwork for a con next year. I thought it would be a good way to give a little something, get some experience working in a team, and also to keep myself busy this summer. So here's a little sneak peek work in progress. Character created by British Muffin who you can find here:

MacMillan Prize Finals

and here they are! The MacMillan Prize required a dummy book plus four final spreads. These are the four that I chose, one of them being the final "Flight" spread which is posted step by step below. Raven flying to the heavens, opening a bag of stars, having his feathers burned by the sun, and the final spread of how he became black and how he brought light to the world. I'm so happy with these, and if I ever get a chance I'd like to finalize all my spreads. Especially the first spread so you can see the contrast between the world of darkness and light.

MacMillan Prize: Flight work in Progress

Right! Thought you all would like to see a work in progress of how I painted one of my spreads for my children's book. First I plan the pages out in the dummy book (posted below). I didn't need to correct much for this page so I lightboxed the sketch onto stretched watercolour paper and applied acyrlic texture in some areas.

Once the paper and texture dry I apply a flat wash of colour.

I keep working darker tones into the colour painting both wet on wet and also waiting for layers to dry, also keeping light areas in mind for the text.

I repeat these steps into each area of colour, working from the background into the foreground. For the final touches I will use white gouache and acrylic for highlights and also coloured pencil to bring details out.

MacMillan Prize Dummy Book

I decided to post a few older pieces up here during my last term of uni. These are some sample pages from my Dummy Book I did for the MacMillan Prize. I rewrote and illustrated the story of how Raven brought light to the world, which is an old Alaskan folk tale. The story is 32 pages in total plus covers and title page. I loved this project so much and would like to finalize the book one day if I get the chance. Not all the pages of the dummy book were in colour, but most were done in layers of colour pencil and acrylic for highlights.

I'm Back

and have major jet lag, but it was so good to see my family again. I've got a huge summer's to do list before uni starts! aahhhh!! and I want to set myself a personal project to keep improving in my art.

Dump

Just some really quick doodles before I'm off. I'm so excited to see my family again after two long years!

Business Card

Here's my business card created for the summer exhibition. :)

On an Adventure

FREEDOM! Just completed my second year of uni :) Now I'll be off to America in a few days until mid July. I'll have a lot more work to post up then and already have a couple commissions lined up for when I get back!

Woohoo!

Girl Sitting

A sketch of the main character in my childrens book for a uni final. Still expirimenting with digital and traditional.

KH OC

(maybe) Finished commission for someone on DeviantArt of their OC Kingdom Hearts character, Lexia. I've tried to colour her in Nomura's style, but not really sure I was successful with it. I've got so much work to do now so I've been trying to finish this up tonight. :)

Four Weddings and a Funeral Poster WIP

For uni I have to create some fine art poster prints from a list of classic movies. I chose Four Weddings and a Funeral mainly because I thought the colour scheme would be easier to work with, red, black and white. (I can only use a max of 4 colours)

I wanted to do my posters using traditional lino, but unfortunately I'm buried alive under so many projects. I want to spend as much time as possible on my negotiated project so I'm trying to knock these out of the way using photoshop. :/ Not as good as a lino would have been but in the long run the negotiated project is the one I'll be handing out to clients!

Oh yes, the font is just thrown in there for now, I'll be playing around with it some more.

Commission Sketch tweeked

scaled down the head and hands slightly then changed the legs

commission sketch

Working on a commission for someone on DeviantArt who wants their Kingdom Hearts OC done. :3 I've got a lot to fix in her anatomy!

Midna

well.... I was pleased with this earlier in the morning. It's night now and I hate it. XD Such dreary boring colours! Quick sketch of Midna from Zelda Twilight Princess in between uni work.

Marker Sketch 2

Just a quick sketch I did today. I tried to colour it in Photoshop using Adam Hugh's methods, but it wasn't very successful in my hands XD I love him to bits!
I'm still trying to find a colouring style that best suites me on photoshop. Sometimes it's overwhelming the stuff you can do and I feel lost. :/ I think I definitly like straightforward colour rather than how some people start off painting in greyscale. But then again traditionally I really love the look of greyscale markers. SO MUCH CHOICE! aahhh... just gotta keep practicing.

Not Dead... Yet

Ahoy there! Just a quick post to keep updated. I've been really really busy lately. The dummy book I previously posted about is finished. Not all the pages are in colour though, and lately I've been painting my finals for the Macmillian competition. I have to hand it all in next Friday so really nervous! I've been taking some photos of the finals step by step though to share. :)

After this I'm writing out my own short story which I hope to illustrate and self publish in time before uni closes, and there's a couple commissions that people want done. I would love to get back into some character designs, but I am also loving this childrens book!

So I'm not dead yet, but might be soon with all my uni work due after Easter Break *cough* what break? *cough*

Oh yeah, this sketch is Toothless from How to Train your Dragon, which is an amazing movie by the way so go check it out.

Dummy Book WIP

I'm trying out for the Macmillan Children's Book competition! :) I'm really excited about this, and am now working on the dummy book. These are just some photos of a spread I did the other day. A sneaky peak ;)

My story is a retelling of how Raven brought light to the world. It's a traditional tale from Alaska, but I've changed it around a lot. :)

Inky Time

I've been meaning to upload these for a while! The wolves were done as a background to Ronai Cover Star- entry for the ImagineFX competition. They looked really cool on their own though! The kid was painted for a uni project where I had to create book jackets for Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book.'

Imagine FX Cover

My entry for Imagine FX's cover star competition. I scrapped the more detailed wolves for these shadowy ones :P

Rendered Ronai

Rendered Ronai and scrapped the wolves. They weren't working so I have to figure out another background.

More Wip

So I wanted to create a really crazy inky background to go behind Ronai. At first the wolves were just going to be black shadows with glowing eyes, but after I sketched them I really liked them, lol. So Instead I'm going to use it as a texture which I'll lay over another painted background once I've rendered Ronai. These are just her flat basic colours to start off with. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking when I painted the background and the top right hand wolf is going to be covered up by something on the cover, so I'm going to have to slide him down more and probably scrap the lower right hand wolf.

Ronai Inked

Inked her up tonight!

Ronai Sketch

ImagineFX is hosting a cover competition and the deadline is so soon! At the last minute I decided I shouldn't let this oppurtunity pass so I've quickly sketched up Ronai, an original character of mine from a book I have yet to write, lol. I sketched her in blue pencil which I'll ink over now. The background is going to be hand painted dark drippy wolves... I hope. Let's see.