BEEN BUSY!

So, due to making banners and icons for Marauder Ex, an indie game developer contacted me to so some artwork for his game "Eternal Dragon"! It's a 16-bit culturally rich turn-based RPG with 18 playable characters. There's crafting of weapons and armor so you're not restricted to buying the best in the shops (this includes crafting of items as well), a plethora of sidequests, open environments and much more. Just check out Game-Zone Recreation's "Eternal Dragon" for yourself. Their website has a 10 + hour demo!

Eternal Dragon Website

Eternal Dragon Facebook

Speaking of websites, I've thought about making my own. Something a little bit more pleasing on the eye than this blog. This commission has definitely made me think about trying to amp up my tiny career here. I'll let you know!

Here's the first two of the four the developer commissioned me for:

                         A Marketplace in Diheru, "Eternal Dragon" Game-Zone Recreation LLC

                                Overlooking Multia, "Eternal Dragon" Game-Zone Recreation LLC

Both pieces were done digitally with Gimp 2.8 (Multia was a mix between Gimp for PC and Infinite Painter for android). I'm actually becoming really comfortable with digital art! All I have is a 6-7 year old Bamboo Fun CTE-450 graphics tablet with only 512 pressure, but it works great until I can get the money for something better. There's a bit of tweaking once you install wacom's drivers before painting in Gimp, though. I kept getting this terrible "brush lag" when I turned on the pressure sensitivity. I don't have money to fork over nearly 500 for the latest Corel, or the money to purchase a laptop that uses something other than XP or Ubuntu. SO! I googled away and found this extremely helpful forum on GIMPusers. I had to disable color management AND uncheck some things in the View menu of the taskbar before my pen would work as I expected it to. 

In the future I do plan to sink some money into better equipment and software but it'll be after quite a few commissions. 

Here's another piece I did today after fixing the pressure sensitivity in Gimp:

 "The Sentinels". Morbid and weird? Check and check. I have this up for sale as a poster and an 8x10 print. In my Etsy and Storenvy shops.

I'll be researching website builders tonight. Wooo! Fun. Well, goodnight and hopefully my golden Sentinels won't keep you awake! Try this song out if I haven't damaged your psyche enough:

Whimsy!

Available now on my Storenvy site is "Blue Flowers", a watered down acrylic painting on watercolor paper.

Sorry I've been gone for a few days, but I do like to socialize in person from time to time! Wouldn't want to stagnate staying at home all the time. I had a great time with some friends playing music, singing, and drawing while our kids played together. And I've now been commissioned to do a tattoo for one of those friends after she saw all of my work so far. Ego booster!

Here's what I started drawing at said social event:

I had this song stuck in my head while drawing her:



Oh, and THIS!

I'm official! I've already taken my business cards to a couple of local locations. One of ladies at my friend's house the other day mentioned a few places that sells local art, so I'm going to check those out next. See if they'll sell my prints or just my originals. Maybe even both! So excited!

Custom Portraits!

Now you can order custom portraits from me! I'm so excited!

And soon I'll have business cards to hand out to people and local stores to spread the word. I thought about getting a t-shirt made too with one of my drawings on it. That way I'm a walking advertisement for myself. I have a few more ideas for products but for now I must take a break and enjoy the rest of the evening with my little dude. He wants to sit down and draw with me for a bit while we listen to The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Soundtrack.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

So Satisfied

So here's the rundown on White House Custom Color:

The samples they sent of their textures and finishes along with different types of paper were shown with photos. The test prints were mailed with a document mailer (they said boxes would be used next time along with document mailers) and a transparent plastic magazine bag with a flap that adheres to the bag for secure closing, holding the contents within. The prints were also held in a folder with a sheet talking about their services. Sample photos were in their own individual bag.

When I took my prints out, I was pretty impressed. It looked just like it did on my monitor (they ask you to assign color profiles to your images to ensure this) and then the Lustre finish is more than I could have possibly accomplished with my home printer. I definitely find the paper worthy of being sold.

Here are my owls, blown up beside the originals.

I tried to get the texture/finish as best I could with my tablet's camera. I love it. I'm talking to etsy right now about using WHCC as my manufacturer. Hope they approve! Here's Dru as an 8x10 print. Original is on the right, print on the left.

We'll see what happens. Thanks for stopping by!

Thought Interrupting a Thought

Kidneythieves' Zerospace album is stuck in my head tonight as I patiently wait for my child to slip off to sleep. He hasn't been feeling well so I let him nap when I normally wouldn't. Kind of paying for it now! Oh, well. When you need rest, it must happen.
I've been thinking of other things to draw. Not that I'm finished with what I'm currently working on, I'm just wanting to make a note of potential future projects. Like maybe doing portraits in a fantasy type setting. THAT could be endlessly fun and entertaining. A friend's mom suggested that I draw covers for self-publishing book sites at some point, too. Gather more people to my art.
I get my test prints in from White House Custom Color tomorrow (today, technically) and I'm all kinds of elated over that. This initial order of 8x10 inch test prints was completely free and it should be coming with samples of finishes and different types of paper. I will post when I get them in. Too tired to post much else and I think the little one has finally nodded off. Ciao and as always, thanks for stopping by!
"Mistake in the belief that all I see is with my eyes" - Kidneythieves, Song "Take a Train (Awakening)"