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This piece I've actually done a while back, just been truant in posting it up on my blog. I wanted to do some painting studies on cloth and rock, strange combination I know, but it ended up working well. The jagged cliffs behind the "Explorer" turned out a lot better than I thought it would be, it's actually how I decided to paint rocks from now on. The negative space looking out to the sea is my only regret.

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This week I'm posting a picture that was MEANT to be more action-y than it ended up being. I was sketching one day, hoping to inspire myself to paint something more, energetic. Something with a lot of action, a lot of hard lines, a lot of UMPH! So, sketch sketch sketch, and I ended up with a rough draft of some guy shunting away a jet of water. It was nice, in theory, and up till the initial sketch on the block, but, as I painted and painted and painted, I think it lost a lot of the energy I meant to put into it (as things go). SO, heres the finished painting, till the next "energetic" painting I guess? :P

Page XVII

Happy New Year one and all!! I start the new year with another addition to my hand paintings (and a TERRIBLE FLU!). It's an auracite from the Final Fantasy Tactics series. They're these stones representing each zodiac, each with their own type of jewel, that hold unimaginable power. This one here is the 13th stone, bearing the constellation Ophiuchus, or Serpentarius. This constellation was once accepted as one of the houses of the zodiac, having the smallest amount of days the sun travels through its sign. It's located between Scorpio and Sagittarius. The snakes in the background tie the whole theme together and they also become useful placeholders for the gems, which represent the stars of the constellation itself. :)

Page XVI

So I've been painting a few hands lately, in an attempt to try and be more of a realistic artist. Hands are very evocative, there are a lot of little nuances to hands, where the joins meet, how they bend and the way the skin on your fingers and palm fold and wrinkle. Theres a LOT of detail in hands. So for the first entry of my hand paintings, I present the Key.

There are a few mistakes that I didn't bother fixing and I'm sure the painting itself could use some more work in regards to touch ups and additional detail work, but this is a while ago, and I've gone ahead with some other paintings, though it hasn't been varnished yet so it's not too late to go back if the mood makes me.

Page XV

So it was a week until comic-con 2010, and I had begun piecing together my new shiny portfolio only to realize that OMD! It sucks! Not really, but it didn't have the kind of cohesion that I wanted, the pictures didn't quite flow together well enough. I had been in this kick of painting in a new way and I only had two or three paintings to showcase that style. I wanted so much to have another week maybe another month so I can paint a piece or two to make my portfolio seem more put together. Alas, I only had one week and I had to make it count. So I looked through my sketch book and decided that I was going to try and finish a painting... in a week.

Since I dabble in acrylic, this isn't really a big feat, I just had to keep the oils at a minimum to reduce drying time. And so I set off to paint this beautiful angelic goddess, with flaming hair and a flaming sword and a flaming ball. She would have beautiful jewels and pendants and she would be exotic. Unfortunately, I ended up being pressed for time and had to quit before all the beautiful details could be painted. I ended up with what you have before you :P

This lady is from a little game me and my friends play, called Pathfinder, her name is Sarenrae, the dawn flower and my characters patron goddess. I had wanted to paint an angel for some time now, and I am completely enamored by Pathfinder, so I decided that she would be a good candidate. I also needed something more "energetic' for my portfolio so I decided that painting fire would be a good practice. In the end I did like how she ended up.

She was supposed to have a golden breastplate with gold medallions swirling about her, but... Comic-con had come and gone and my desire to paint said breastplate and medallions went with it.

Page XIV

So in an attempt to try and be more realistic, I've been doing a lot of portraits of people I know or real people and hands. I heard once that painting a realistic human hand is one of the challenges a true artist has to face. So in keeping with that, I've decided that I would try and do a self portrait, more like a tronie really, since I used a picture of my face then just altered the position of the body. The initial sketch was pretty good (I wished I had scanned the sketches so I can post them up here too...) but when it came down to actually painting it, I might have lost some of the likeness. Either way, me or not me, I think it came out pretty good. The one gripe I have with the piece is the shock of color where a portion of my Mermaid painting shows. The colors really upset the balance of the piece, other than that it would've been tolerable lol! 

Page XIII

So heres another post where I show my new work. I've been painting like crazy for the past month or so trying to refine my craft, really getting to know my limitations as an artist and trying to break past those limitations. I'm quite fond of my new style, fond of my new way of painting. I think I've grown leaps and bounds since my earlier works. This painting was a study of body textures using mostly oil paints with an acrylic base. I wanted to try a new style of painting (i.e. brush strokes and other techniques) with a new medium and I figured that a simple nude study would be a good starter place. It turned out better than I expected and I'm quite impressed with it. :D