Moar Transformers!

More human versions of characters from "Transformers Prime". I tried to do Megatron, but for some reason I just wasn't happy with the way he came out, so this is as far as I got. I think it's because his face was hard to reinterpret as a human: as a robot, his helmet makes his head look wide, but his "cheekbones" are high and sharp, and his muzzle area is fairly narrow.

My troubles with Optimus stem from the fact that heroes just aren't quite as much fun to draw as villains. You have to play them straight, and can't do weird things with their anatomy or they start looking less heroic. I just couldn't bring myself to give Optimus a tiny little Bruce Timm waist and huge hulking chest, so this is as much as I could manage. (His hair was probably the next most difficult thing, since as a robot he has none, and his helmet doesn't really lend itself to suggestions.)

In the end, I went with what I hope is an ex-military feel to Optimus: stern, strict, powerful, and possessed of immense discipline.

Starscream Fangasm

So, uh, yeah. Starscream. >_>;;

I think this is literally the first robot/mecha I've drawn since high school.

Transformers!

So, been kind of a slow few weeks. Been a bit art-blocked and working on other non-drawing/painting projects. I also finally got around to watching a few "Transformers Prime" episodes for the first time recently, and liked what I'd seen so much I ran out and bought the first season on DVD.

LOVE.

I was never a fan of the original Transformers. I didn't hate it; I just never watched it. (I was more into He-man, She-ra, and the Ninja Turtles.) But this new series is amazing: amazing designs, amazing voice acting, amazing animation, scripting, etc. Also, I've decided that my favorite character is Starscream. There's just something about the "magnificent bastard" kind of character that I can't get enough of (it may also have something to do with Steve Blum's voice work). 

Anyway, I've never really attempted to draw mecha or robots, so I decided that for my first attempt at TFP fan art, I'd do a humanized Starscream. His robot face was really easy to reimagine as flesh, because he just has the coolest facial proportions ever. I've seen some people redraw him looking way too bishie and young, which really doesn't appeal to me. So I decided to make him look a bit older, deadly, and conniving.

Also...I can't draw dudes without drawing them naked first. It just...happens. :'D

Mad Dog Colored

Colored version of my last posted piece of line art! :D I wanted his colors to be muted, since he occasionally has to go on stealth missions to accomplish his goals. The idea is that he's wearing a somewhat mismatched set of leather armor. So he gets some very dark, muted browns and grays. The red is a holdover from a much older armor design. He also has a magic gauntlet connected to his tendons because he's missing 2 fingers on his left hand.

The name "Mad Dog" comes from a nickname Ryuuichi earned as a reckless teen. That's also about the same time he lost those fingers.

Mad Dog Lines

Ugh. It's been a very eventful month or so. In late March, my computer died. Everyone I asked with the slightest bit of computer knowledge seemed to have a different opinion on what the problem was. It seemed like the motherboard may have gone bad, and since my motherboard was about 4 years old, if I replaced it I would also have to replace my processor and RAM, which were also 4 years old. SO. I bought new hardware, but that didn't fix the problem. Turns out it was the hard drive. So I bought a new one, installed that, and installed Windows. Well, that worked, but my dad took my old hard drive and reformatted it...and that worked too. Since it turned out to be a software problem and not just the hardware, I returned the new hard drive and kept the old one to save $80. That's the thing that really got me...all the money I spent and effort I went to setting up a new system...and it turns out I needn't have spent a single dime for all my trouble. Note to self: ALWAYS reformat the hard drive first. (I couldn't return my processor since it was OEM, so I also decided to keep my new RAM and motherboard.)

In the mean time I'd set up an Etsy store to try and supplement my income, so most of the work I got done was towards that end. It pains me to say it, but I got very little personal work done. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

ANYWAY. It's my birthday, and to celebrate (or something), here is my latest piece. I decided to redesign a VERY old character of mine, the elf you can see in my previous post.

I realized I wanted to make him look a lot more well-worn. Given the fact that this character is a nihilist who has actively courted death, I decided to rough him up. A lot. So now he has quite a few scars and is missing a few fingers. I also included a few detail sketches so you can see the magical gauntlet he has rigged up to replace his fingers, and the hilt of his sword.

For fun, here's the character as I drew him the very first time, back in 2000. >_>

More March arts!

So I had the flu last week, which took me out of commission for...well, the week. I don't think I've had the flu since high school, and I'm glad it took 10+ years. I'm totally willing to wait another 10+ years to catch it again. @_@

Anyway, sketch dump today, since unfortunately I was too busy trying not to die last week to get anything accomplished. First off, an aborted character portrait. I really wanted a grittier feel to him, but unfortunately my elf came out looking like a Calvin Klein ad. Oh well. Second picture is a WIP. I love the covers to old sci-fi pulp magazines, so I am trying to recreate the look and feel of those...just with a few differences.

Two updates for the price of one!

Here's some art I did recently but forgot to post. An original creature design, the bone dog (original inhabitant of my previous forest picture), and an original costume (re)design sketch.