Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

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Lenny Solidus
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Mon Nov 28, 2022 11:28 am

Raid wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 7:48 pm
I think doing Inktober was a massive boost to my self confidence more than anything. I know these are going to look extremely amateurish to trained artists, but fuck it, I don't see the harm in taking a bit of pride in a couple of pieces I'm currently very happy with.
You did a great job man and you should be proud of all you accomplished and every single piece you posted. Not only that, you now know exactly what it takes to do it again next year. Are you considering doing it all over again now that you have a newfound confidence in your work? I think you certainly should, you improved in leaps and bounds thanks to this years efforts.
Building the future, and keeping the past alive - are one and the same thing.

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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Wed Jan 18, 2023 4:49 am

Thought I would share some commission work that my son asked me to do for him, specifically based upon one of his own playable characters. The only reference material I was given were of a very typical looking character stance stat screen, naturally at first I was happy enough to concentrate on only the direct rendition leaving the background as a complete afterthought with so little to go off other than "make it look anime-ish". I've never drawn any form of anime before and took it on as more of a challenge...

How it started:
Image

After completing a very bare looking room, he didn't seem all too happy with what I presented and asked for a rework to which I told him well give me more reference, I was sent a single wallpaper. I then thought ok fuck this and took to looking up some of his Twitch vods of him playing the game and started taking direct reference from paused screenshots, and after no less than 7 background/foreground reworks I finally started to make some real headway. The picture has gone from a roughly 1920x1080 piece to a 5000x3000 one - and I'm still not really being close to done due to the amount of additional properties I included in the scene...

How it's going:
Spoiler
Image
The funny thing with art is often that as time-consuming as it can become, and as difficult attempting to realise the often very specific vision someone else is asking of you, there always comes a distinct and always important flow that once you discover it begins to very much feed you. And with my long term mental health struggles, being invested in something such as this really takes me to a place where I am at my most concentrated but also most comfortable.

You tend to get carried away even if you know you are even partially meeting what you believe in your mind is the true expectation that will make them go - yes, that is what I wanted. He wanted more than I initially provided but gave me so very little to go off to realise any of it - now I'm at a point where I've committed but kind of also want it to end. I've always been a black and white artist at heart, I simply love the process and a clean unbiased look, honestly though just thank god I don't have to give it a colour pass too.
Last edited by Lenny Solidus on Thu Jan 19, 2023 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Raid
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Raid » Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:15 pm

The scope's certainly expanded a fair bit!

What's your process for taking on a commission like this? I know in this case it may be a little different given it's for a family member, but from second-hand experience I've learned that the commissioner has to at least give the artist some idea of what they want before they begin. The expansive background you currently have couldn't be much farther than the one you'd initially planned, and it feels a little unfair for the commissioner to give such direction after you've started. In my extremely limited experience, trying to come up with a background to fit the character is far more difficult than making a character fit a background.

I find the colouring process reasonably therapeutic, although I'm still coming up with processes that work for me. I reckon I'm always putting in more work than I ought to to get the effect I want because I haven't learned a better way of doing things yet.

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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Fri Jan 20, 2023 2:08 pm

I believe fault lays a little bit at both of our feet tbh, I couldnt make my mind up which direction to go in and he didn't provide me very much at all to make that decision any easier.

My original take was his character gun drawn in a neon lit back alley - pretty straightforward. But the problem with many of the games he plays now is that they all look like Genshin Impact/BotW clones and after my maybe 2nd or 3rd rework I completely changed what it was I was going for due to not having any solid reference, I did request some and lo and behold it looked like fucking Genshin Impact. Grass, hills, mountains, far off valley and towers, the usual.

Turns out the game he was actually referencing is called Tower of Fantasy, which I had honestly never even heard of.
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Raid » Fri Jan 20, 2023 2:43 pm

I guess for a videogame character you could ask for an actual level or zone (in the case of an MMO) name. If someone wanted me to draw their World of Warcraft character for example, I'd want them to specify which region they want their environment to look like, something that ought to be searchable - Elwynn Forest at the least, Goldshire if they want something specific. If they don't particularly care, fair enough, but I'd say they need to provide *some* direction, else they could be disappointed. I wouldn't have the first clue what a character in Tower of Fantasy ought to be doing, but I've at least got something to go on if they were to tell me they want them standing at... *googles*... Vera Gobby Rock Pillar, whatever the hell that is.

I think you need to protect yourself a little when it comes to this stuff by asking more questions. If they come back and say they don't care, fair enough, but to basically get you to scrap a whole load of work because there wasn't enough direction feels unreasonable to me. I know in this specific case you might treat it differently because of who the commissioner is, but unless you charge for redraws its you that loses out at the end of the day.

I'd love to eventually take on character commissions, and I reckon I'd have a standard questionnaire for a commissioner to fill in for the basics, and you could then go back with more tailored questions depending on how they respond to them if you need more info. Nailing down what the most important questions are is the tricky part I guess.

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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Tue Jan 24, 2023 12:51 pm

It was 100% down to whom the commissioner was, in fact I had a bit of a meltdown with him in Discord when I got to a point I was feeling I couldn't really deliver what he was more than likely expectant of due to the creative constraints I was feeling, hence so many reworks.

Your questionaries idea makes far more sense, but as you say knowing what to ask is another hurdle all its own.
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:32 am

Spoiler
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Sly Boots » Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:34 am

Needs a Lenny bursting up from the earth :)

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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Wrathbone » Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:49 am

Sly Boots wrote:
Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:34 am
Needs a Lenny bursting up from the earth :)
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Closest I could find.

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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Sly Boots » Mon Jan 30, 2023 11:57 am

:lol:

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Lenny Solidus
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:07 pm

Accurate. :lol:
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Snowy » Mon Jan 30, 2023 1:11 pm

Raid wrote:
Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:15 pm
What's your process for taking on a commission like this? I know in this case it may be a little different given it's for a family member, but from second-hand experience I've learned that the commissioner has to at least give the artist some idea of what they want before they begin. The expansive background you currently have couldn't be much farther than the one you'd initially planned, and it feels a little unfair for the commissioner to give such direction after you've started. In my extremely limited experience, trying to come up with a background to fit the character is far more difficult than making a character fit a background.
As you know Chris, I have also commissioned Dave to do a piece for me. I have been as vague as possible, but there are reasons. What I said to Dave was that I wanted a physical artwork - again as you know my office space has oodles of different artworks in it, mostly band related signed artwork but all framed and all bring me great pleasure day to day. In terms of subject matter, I wanted a picture featuring the four Dark Judges from 2000AD, with Dredd optional - and that's it. How the image is set up is entirely down to Dave to decide. I had wanted to commission something since way back in the early PW days.

My rationale is hopefully a sensible one: I want Dave to draw something he will enjoy (I know we both share a love of the Dredd universe), and as someone without an artistic bone in my body know that whatever Dave came up with is likely to be better and more coherent than anything I came up with myself. I have not put any time constraints around it either - I don't care if I receive the finished article in 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years, I know Dave well enough to know that he will deliver and that's enough for me.
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Apr 05, 2023 9:08 pm

Hey guys, I know there's a fair few artists on here so thought I'd pick your brains.

My eldest has expressed a desire for some kind of tablet-type thing she can use for her art, something that could utilise a stylus etc, for her birthday (she'll be 13). Anyone have or know something that could fit the bill?

Ta muchly.

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Lenny Solidus
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Lenny Solidus » Wed Apr 05, 2023 9:17 pm

HUION H610PRO V2 Graphic Drawing Tablet 10x6 inch...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUION-Upgraded ... r=8-4&th=1

A good starting point, I have one. Currently 20% off.
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Re: Arty Antics and Similar Stuff

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Apr 05, 2023 9:47 pm

Nice! Thanks, that's actually a lot more affordable than I was expecting :D

Edit: Although, thinking about it, I think something that's basically self-contained and doesn't have to be connected to another device would work better

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