Sketch Dump

Just trying to compile and organize some sketches I've had kicking around so I don't have 358724651351 million papers to worry about packing and moving every semester.

An old expression study for my OC Kala

 

More recent posing, gestures, and hairstyle experiment for Kala

Yet another experiment with Kala's design and style.  This was inspired by the work of O-mie.  I really like it, but I'm not sure it's going to work for me

This was sort of inspired by an RP with Evie, but I actually mostly wanted to draw Thystle with wet hair

A scruffy, haggard, and furious Vahaadi.  This is a scene from his canon story; he's facing off against Iryl and the Heir.

Working on a concept for Vahaadi's fiend form, based on a savannah cat.

Size Comparison of Vahaadi and his fiend form

First piece of concept art for Tryvnah (QUITE old).  This is him at age 18, when he and Vahaadi met.

Leimira's ponysona, Snake Charmer (or just Charmer). Her cutie mark is a snake coiled in a heart shape.

Study of Fawn from the Tinkerbell movies.  I screencapped a picture of her talking and caught her making this appraising expression.

Bitty chibi Sparks!

I've been meaning to draw Evie's OC Armera for awhile now.  I found this thumbnail sketch I did of her to experiment with her pose and build. Evie once wrote her saying something about having arms like tree trunks, so I think she's probably got some sweet guns like Venus Williams, on account of all her swimming and trident-hefting.

Pretty sure this was another attempt at drawing Holly for AC.

 Design sketch I did for LC

Steampunk Spark I did for a RP idea pitch.  This eventually led into Loose Canon, because this was the first time we considered the idea of Spark getting her powers from Vahaadi instead of a comic-book-esque genetic mutation

And super recent, an unfinished Whirlwind from Skylanders

You Would Not Believe Your Eyes

For a long time I've had this vague idea for this race called the Sylphs for my fantasy story project.  I envision them as faerie-like, delicate, winged beings that are kind of the societal wild cards of their world.  As air-elementals, I thought it might be interesting if they were highly amorphous illusionists, and thus capable of generating their appearance according to their whims.  But where would I begin in designing characters that could look like whatever they wanted?

As an exercise and challenge for myself I created a thread on GaiaOnline a long while back soliciting for lists of images and text that I could draw from to see how the concept would play out.  Specifically, I asked contributors for five different images representing, in turn, a color scheme, a place, an object, a character and a calling (like a role or occupation).  I also asked for words of some kind.  These are the parameters/explanations I posted of each:

• For “color," use an image that shows colors you’d like me to emulate. This can be a picture of something from nature, a character with a cool color scheme, an article of clothing, a single crayon, or even just a blob of colors you scribbled up in MS Paint.
  
• “Place” needs to somehow show a setting. It can be an environment like a forest or desert, a building like a castle or a beach house, or something even more broad like a map with a certain region circled or highlighted. Remember, they don't have to be real places, so something like a snapshot from WoW or zOMG! will work just as well.
  
• The "Object" is probably the most versatile essence. For this, you'd just send me a picture of a thing. Something, anything. A weapon, a toy, an article of clothing, a piece of jewelry, something from nature, even living things like animals or plants. If the specific object you have in mind isn't the main feature of the image you use, make sure you circle or highlight it somehow so I know what you want.
  
• "Character" is pretty straightforward. You'd simply post an image of a person, real or fictional. These can range from photos of real people to movie/comic/anime/video game characters to personal OCs and avatars from anywhere. You can also use one of your other pets if you'd like your Sylph to emulate them. Keep in mind that the "character" you choose doesn't have to be human--anthros, fantasy characters, robots, animals, plants--anything that could be considered a character counts.
  
• "Calling" images should in some way depict a job, class, occupation, etc. Though Sylphs usually live only on the outer fringes of society and generally don't have to deal with such "mortal" things as figuring out how to put food on their plates, many will emulate some kind of lifestyle that will effect the way they look. "Callings" can be stereotypical fantasy classes like warriors, rogues, and clerics; more mainstream, "practical" roles like medics, farmers, or caretakers; mysterious occupations like hypnotists or tarot readers; or even something futuristic like a mecha pilot or a computer hacker!
  
• The essence of "words" is a little more vague, but the general idea is to provide a phrase that evokes an image or tone that you would like me to apply to the design of your sylph. This can be just one word like "windswept," or "hemlock," a small description like "wandering mourner" or "lake of fire," lyrics from a poem or song, or even a short excerpt from a story.

The combinations I found most interesting/appealing, I illustrated, working from a basic physique for all of them and personalizing them according to the influences of the pictures and words.

This is the first one I did, more than two years ago.  This one was for my sister LC, and since it was the first, it was the only one I had the patience to render tidily.   So many anatomy and rendering hiccups with this one. @_@  I also accidentally saved it too small.

(These are all hyperlinked, so if the links are broken I apologize.  Some of the images I haven't been able to find again.)
Color -  A blue and green feather
Place - A pond
Object - A music box
Character -  A surreal image of a woman walking through rain of fire
Calling - An Elven archer
Words - "Fireflies" by Owl City
"You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep"

Then this project was shoved to the back burner for a long time and I only just recently finished the others that I liked.  These are much sketchier, but my grasp of anatomy improved drastically in the interim.

You can see the other four here:  
Let Them Dwell in Bliss
 Patines of Bright Gold
We Wear the Mask That Grins and Lies 
The Moon in the Well 

Let Them Dwell in Bliss

A continuation of the Sylph project.  This is for Ciannait Eilis.

Color - Green eye
Place - Otherworld
Object - Wand
Character - Green witch
Calling - Red mage
Words - "I have undertaken a labor, a labor out of love for the world and to comfort noble hearts: those that I hold dear, and the world to which my heart goes out. Not the common world do I mean, of those who (as I have heard) cannot bear grief and desire but to bathe in bliss. (May God then let them dwell in bliss!) Their world and manner of life my tale does not regard: its life and mine lie apart. Another world do I hold in mind, which bears together in one heart its bitter sweetness and its dear grief, its heart's delight and its pain of longing, dear life and sorrowful death, dear death and sorrowful life. In this world let me have my world, to be damned with it, or to be saved." ~ Gotthfried von Strassburg. (author of Tristan und Isolt)

Patines of Bright Gold

A continuation of the Sylph project. This is for Aki Ana:

Color - Purple and gold mask
Place - Eastern-styled mountain temple
Object - Spyglass
Character - Elderly anthropomorphic kudo man, dressed in robes
Calling - Explorer
Words -   “Look, how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings ...
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”
-Shakespeare

We Wear the Mask that Grins and Lies

A continuation of the Sylph project.  This is for psychotic_Gal.

Color - Mermaid eye
Place - A narrow street in Normandy France
Object - Glass and wire pendant
Character - Model
Calling - Enchantress
Words - "We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties."
''We Wear the Mask'' Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Moon in the Well

A continuation of the Sylph project.  This is for rimedragona.

Color - Red moon
Place - Gypsum sand desert
Object - Turquoise necklace
Character - Clive from "Wild Arms"
Calling - Cowboy
Words - "yesterday's downpour —
the moon in the well
within reach"
Carla Sari

GaiaOnline

August 2003 I joined GaiaOnline, and my addiction to the internet began.  Looking back on it, I'm not terribly proud of my involvement with the site because it was an awful time-sink, but it did spur my art, writing, original character development, and creativity in general, and for that, it's been pretty significant to my life. I've been poking around a bit lately, mostly toying with the idea of having an art contest to get rid of all the Gaia items and gold I managed to stockpile in exchange for art of Spark and Vahaadi, but I'm not sure if I even want to do that.  The site is kind of toxic to me.  There's lots of good there, but it requires sifting through lots of bad and basically just getting caught up in the petty social circles of the anime and gaming fandom to find it.  And I no longer need that kind of noise.  Back in the throes of my addiction, I never thought I'd be able to say that, but I can say it now.  And that's pretty liberating. :)

Anyway, as I mentioned, I generated a lot of art for my own use and others' on Gaia. Much of it I still kind of like, or find interesting just to show the (painfully slow) development of my art, so I've compiled it here. I've tried to arrange it in reverse chronological order, so the more recent pieces are at the front and my very oldest are at the end. Like a bad horror film on SyFy, you can watch the quality regress as you go! XD You may notice the art is signed under a handful of different usernames: "o-Raichu-o," "Inkdust," "Ink," or "IridescentInkSpell."  Signing my art with my real name is a very recent development, more or less exclusive to this blog and art that I do for people I know IRL.

Visit the GaiaOnline-inspired Art Archive! Password: inkdust

And for something Gaia-related and far more recent, here's a sketch I did for somebody today of their avatar whilst I was up to that aforementioned poking around. The avatar had really headed-lidded eyes, like he was either wearing makeup or horribly sleep-deprived.  I dunno.

Here There Be Dragons

This is a pretty old sketch (maybe as early as 2004? - EDIT: 2007 ish) that I decided to finally finish today.  It was a GaiaOnline freebie for AC.  The character is a fantasy variation on the crazy old cat lady stock character; the crazy young dragon collector. :3  The blue dragon is my creation, and the jealous green baby is a Gwee from GaiaOnline.

Cartography brushes by StarRaven
The style of the blue dragon was heavily influenced by the work of Jessica Peffer - "NeonDragon"