Firebluegraphics

Autumn

2007-09-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on a new series of fantasy illustrations playing on the theme 'Autumn'. The first piece is called 'Autumn wind' in which I depicted a scene with a bird-girl and a dryad.
For this piece I was inspired by Audrey Kawasaki's paintings and used the idea of having wood texture backgrounds and innocent looking subjects as my jumping off point.
I developed my own style for 'Autumn wind' by making the faces more doll-like, layering in more textures and having my images more opaque. Overall I managed to create a rich piece that has a children's book illustration quality to it. I plan to create more pieces in this style, playing with different textures for the background and with diverse subjects.

As much as I love the final piece 'Autumn Wind' I thought that I needed to create a more mature and a more painterly image, and so I started on my next piece 'Autumn court' in which the main subject is the queen of the forest in her Autumn garb as she is surrounded by her loyal subjects.
I also plan to create a third piece, perhaps with a fairy as a subject and employing a more anime/manga character design look to it. In the end, I plan to use the three autumn pieces as my template for future illustrations, or until I develop another style.

Storm Coming

2007-09-12T12:54:00.001-07:00

Finished my interpretation for this week's ImagineFX challenge theme 'Outbreak'. I went for the classic zombie/ghoul outbreak, a small town is slowly being overrun by a group of crazies out for blood. I always thought that the most interesting part of any zombie movie is the part when the plague has just started and the mayhem is at its most exciting, I wanted to capture that energy with a really gritty and grungy piece. To accomplish this, I used watercolor brushes and kept all the sketchy line work. I also did some minimal refining of details and gave my trust to the brush effects. For this month I wanted to challenge myself further by adding a weather element to my entries and a storm seemed appropriate for the theme, it also added another layer of texture and made the piece just right. I really enjoyed working on this piece and it feels great to know that I am growing as an artist, but I know that I have tons of other techniques and challenges I need to learn and face.

Ice Summoner

2007-09-09T04:04:00.001-07:00

Pushing ahead on adapting the manga/anime style, I just finished this new piece I call 'Ice Summoner'. A Summoner is a common staple in fantasy characters, and their main task is to call forth creatures or command an element, and in this case, I thought it would be interesting to create something that involves ice. The main challenge in this piece was creating the face of the girl, as I am still trying to develop the anime/manga style and since I chose to keep the girl's skin white, it was challenging to render her face and nose using only a limited pallet of greys. Speaking of color pallet, I loved how the color combination came out, especially how the pale yellow of her hair pops out of the other neutrals.

Misty

2007-09-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Trying out something different with this piece, I want to develop a style something close to the anime/manga. Eventually I want to have a collection of more character designs on my art portfolio. This piece is part of a series with a theme 'undersea circus' and Misty is the ring mistress, but instead of a whip she has the trident of power that she can use to command the circus creatures. I posted the finished piece on amateur illustrator and someone commented that her legs are too short and somehow her proportions are off, I was actually going for an exaggerated look but maybe I did not exaggerate it enough. For the next piece, I'll try to push for longer legs, maybe a more exaggerated pose and a more manga looking face. It has its flaws but its a good start, I hope I do better at it.

Out of the Fog

2007-09-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's just a couple of days into the new month and I feel pretty positive about September. This month I want to be able to produce more illustrations and generally continue to improve my skills and the quality of my work.
This piece is for this week's ImagineFX challenge with the theme 'Mutation'. For this piece, I first worked on the main image, I thought it would be cool to create an insect-like mutant reminiscent of the classic scifi monster, the Fly. For the background I had a more elaborate set in mind, I was going to have the creature be in the middle of a laboratory surrounded by crazy equipment and giant jars filled with mutant fetuses, but in the end I decided to concentrate on the creature itself and just have it emerge from the fog, with the hint of an abandoned factory in the background. I'm pretty happy about the final piece, especially on the treatment on the monster and the monochromatic sepia colors, but mostly I'm happy about finishing it earlier than usual.

Blessed Unrest

2007-08-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

Here is an editorial illustration I made for an article for the Earth Island Journal entitled 'Blessed Unrest'. The brief was to create a piece about this unnamed movement for change that is somehow sweeping throughout the world. I approached it with a comic book perspective: far in the horizon the earth sends out a beacon like the bat signal, a few people stand out from the crowd and see it, their faces beaming with positivity and hope. The art directors liked my approach and approved my sketch. I only had a couple of days to finalize it and I wish I had more time to actually work on a better layout and a better perspective for the buildings in the background. But in the end the whole process was awesome, from getting the assignment, to being approved, to sending the final version and finally getting the check from the mail today. It would be great to get more assignments in the future.

Splash!

2007-08-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Created this image for a weekly ImagineFX challenge with the topic 'Colossus'. I opted to create something close to the actual Colossus of Rhodes but instead of an earthquake or a tsunami destroying the city, I imagined a Greek monster as a culprit, the hydra. Traditionally the hydra has at least eight heads which multiplies when one is cut off. Since I was in a bit of a time crunch, I just opted to make three heads. I was being ambitious and I wasn't able to make the deadline. It was a fun challenge and it was more important for me to finish the piece than post something half-assed.

Gnome work final

2007-08-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Finished my gnome illustration today. I added in final details like the rings on the robot's arms, some shadows and mostly texturing for the robot and the background.
This was a simple and fun piece, I think it would be an appropriate image for possibly a Christmas card. I also posted this image on Amateur Illustrator, hopefully it gets noticed and gets good feedback. I decided to regularly post my work on that community as I am more confident about my abilities. I also realized that I reacted more negatively that I should about the criticism I got for some pieces I posted and later took out. I should think more about the simple enjoyment I get in finishing my illustrations, & focus on improving my techniques & coming out with more quality work.

In other news, my website host is down and so I couldn't gain access to my emails. Hopefully it will be resolved tomorrow as I need to add in some new illustrations on my website, and most importantly I need to link this blog to it.

Gnome work pt.2

2007-08-28T00:59:00.000-07:00

Almost finished with my gnome illustration, I added more detail by filling in the color, bringing in some textures and finishing with some line work. I kept the traditional colors of a gnome, basically red and green and kept a monochromatic rust color for the robot.

Gnome work

2007-08-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a new illustration I'm working on, a simple image of a gnome tinkering in his workshop. Right now I've only finished the line work for the gnome, and I just threw in a basic pale brown color as a base. I'll be working on an image of a robot he's trying to put together next, and then I'll work on all the details and the coloring.

Delicate

2007-08-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

As my first post in my fresh new blog, here is an illustration I just recently finished for an ImagineFX challenge. The challenge for this month was to create an illustration with the topic 'Fragile Things', I came up with the image of a water nymph dressed in delicate silk and lace sleeping with equally fragile and beautiful jellyfish.