Creative Works by Giuseppa Barresi

HTDM art trade - Franz

2011-05-07T10:04:00.003Z

My half of an art trade with =Pharan on the HowToDrawManga group at DeviantART. It's his character Franz from "Purelight" fighting an alien robot (which currently doesn't have a design so I made one up).
For his half he drew my Soulsnatchers character Alusius, which is pretty damn awesome (I was especially excited since no one else had drawn him before).

Since one of the goals of the HTDM trades is to practice drawing skills, I decided to go all out, especially since I haven't done many backgrounds/ environments as of late.

I also went for an action piece in an effort to continue improving anatomy and foreshortening with my figures.

There's definitely a lot that needs work in this piece, given the time to work on it.
I suppose the main things I've noticed are as follows.
I realise that Franz's arms look a little disjointed compared to the rest of his body, and I don't think the angled plane of the cape is helping. Trees and rock texture really need some work and I'm not terribly convinced by the sunlight effects or the cloud and foreground shadows either (they don't seem to mesh with the colouring style).

However, I definitely feel that I'm still carrying on with the improvement streak that I've had as of late and I'm certainly not as afraid to try new stuff as I was a couple of years ago. I think the weekly drawing stuff has helped a lot in that regard.

Anywho, critique away! Any helpful advice would also be very welcome. : )

DeviantART link

Convention progress!

2011-04-27T12:22:00.005Z

Since I'm not uploading much in the way of art at the moment, thought I might as well post a bit of an update on how things are going in preparation for Ayacon and the upcoming May MCM Expo.
On the arty front, I've got a few print ideas in the pipeline. I've not got the layout sketches scanned in, but here's a rough idea so far:
*Portal 2 - Chell jumping through a ceiling portal with Wheatley and a companion cube (and GLaDOS spying through the portal).
*Tron: Legacy - Sam starting up a light cycle, with the light cycle itself still in wireframe form.
*LoZ: Twilight Princess - Link battling Stallord (with a few Staltroops thrown in).

I'm hoping to at least have the Portal 2 and Tron prints ready for Expo and things seem to be heading that way at the moment, which is good. : )

Cosplay-wise, for Ayacon I'll be taking three costumes with me:
*LoZ Ocarina of Time Link (about 90% finished thanks to Kitacon at the beginning of April)
*Resident Evil 2 Claire Redfield (about 40% finished, with all the material cut out but not sewn)
*Mystery "Yami no Matsuei" cosplay (not started yet, but got all the material)

I entered the Link costume into Kita's cosplay competition, but unfortunately sudden work deadlines meant it couldn't be finished to the level I wanted and I had to use a bought pair of leggings, which probably counted against me in a big way.
The sword and shield on the other hand, I'm quite happy with save for a few touch-ups. I used coloured vinyl with adhesive mirror for the metal and it turned out really well (got quite a few compliments so must have been doing something right!).
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures taken after the competition (taken with Nert's camera by a mate who was standing in for him - ignore the twisted bit of the strap. : P):
Link photo 1
Link photo2

Not much needs to be done to it as it is, especially since I'm not going to be entering any more contests with it, but time-permitting I want to redo the hems and sleeves on the tunic and white shirt, stiffen the collar of the white shirt, make the leggings, tighten the belts and sew some backing onto the scabbard strap (hot glue does NOT work on vinyl surfaces!).

Post Ayacon, I've got tentative plans to do Luther Lansfeld, "The Creator", from Star Ocean 3. There aren't many good pictures of him floating around and there are virtually none of his spear/blade thing so I had to approximate what it would look like from some blurry Youtube video screenshots. Initial sketches look promising though so fingers crossed!

Hope everyone had a good Easter holiday!

Works in Progress

2011-02-11T12:49:00.004Z

Hi all!
Just wanted to give a quick update about a couple of projects I'm working on (one of which I'd love to get some feedback on!).

Recently, I've acquired Fatal Frame/ Project Zero 4 for the Wii after several months of wondering whether I could get it to work (seeing as it's a Japanese-only release). Well the good news was that it did and it also inspired me to do my first piece of PZ related artwork.
This is of one of the main characters, Misaki Asou, and Ayako Haibara, a ghost who you meet (i.e battle) early on in the game.

I've laid down some flat colours underneath a pencil sketch and am now working on a few surface textures before I finish off the shading (started on the wood for the desk and shelves and will follow it with the grime on the mannequin parts). The finished piece will be a lot darker and grungier, so hopefully there are no worries about it being too "cheerful" for now. : D

As I said, I'd love to get some feedback on it so far and if anyone's got any helpful hints, they'd be very welcome!

Second, I've decided to submit a piece for the Kitacon conbook as well. I've started work on some preliminary sketches for an illustration featuring the two convention mascots. Can't say much more about it for now, but rest assured it will be suitably geeky (based on a certain movie that was released in the last couple of months). ; )

I'll post some more updates in the coming weeks along with any new artwork. Need to start sorting stuff out for convention prints!

TTFN.

Upcoming conventions

2011-01-31T20:57:00.004Z

First post of the New Year after a bit of a hiatus!

This year is proving to be quite busy on the convention front. I have three lined up so far, with hopefully more in the pipeline.
The ones I'm definitely attending at the moment are:
Kitacon - 1st to 3rd April (Hilton Metropole, Birmingham)
MCM London Expo - 27th to 29th May (Excel Centre, London)
Ayacon - 19th to 21st August (Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry)

I'm going to be selling the "Anime Convention Survival Guide" prints and Team Fortress 2 postcards that I've had at previous cons, along with a few other works in progress which will be posted in the coming months (and hopefully Trololo Man prints since it seems to be a hit!).
Also, my Expo appearance will be alongside a table with the Midlands Comics Collective where we will be selling both anthology comics and work from individual members, so come and say hi if you're planning on going. We will also like you very much if you buy things. : D

Some new artwork is on the way and will be posted sometime this week and I'm still going to finish off the final eight Project 52 drawings as well. Even if it didn't quite work out as planned, it has most definitely helped me get back into the habit of drawing regularly, which was the big reason I set out to do it in the first place. : )

Until then!

Project 52: Weeks 37 to 44 - Vincent Cass style meme

2010-12-31T18:51:00.003Z

Happy New Year everyone! My last submission for 2010. : D

I've never tried memes before but I've seen *Goku-chan 's pop up several times and it looked quite fun to do.

Anyway I chose Vincent as he's probably the one who would vary the most with different styles (especially the manga related ones). If you've not seen him before, there's more information about him here.

I'm a little unsure about the Yoji Shinkawa one. It looks better than I hoped it would but perhaps doesn't quite match his style. Same with the Disney one as well, with the eyes probably being the most accurate part. Also, the head shape of his realistic counterpart is quite a bit different to the original (should be a bit more triangular rather than squared). Still, they felt rather refreshing as drawing exercises at least!

And yes I know I cheated a little by using Mike Krahulik for "DA artist style", but it is technically correct. : P

Until next time!

Weeks 35, 36 and 37 - The Batmen of BICS

2010-11-25T20:14:00.004Z

With special guest, Swiss Army Wolverine.

Okay so it's a month after BICS, but here are some doodles based on a few things that happened that weekend.

1 - One of my friends came back to our table and commented that she'd seen one of the four Batman cosplayers texting somebody. We reckoned this was the only thing he could possibly be doing (I think Batman would have an iPhone).
Adam West and Burt Ward Batman and Robin used for comic effect. :P

2 - On the Sunday, three of the Batmen (we think it was a comic Batman, Adam West and the Tim Burton version) stood near the table talking about utility belts. I tried to take a picture of them, but I think they're too well seasoned at it because they all posed for me before I caught them. XD

3 - When we were all out for dinner on the Saturday (eating Chinese food), most of us were using chopsticks so we were thinking of how to use the surplus cutlery. Probably not all that surprising that this was one of the uses that were mentioned.

This is my first time drawing any version of Batman or Wolverine, so comic geeks please be gentle!

DeviantArt link

A Beginner's Guide to Photography

2010-10-14T01:23:00.006Z

Today we have moving pictures!
My MA project was to produce a set of animated shorts that explained some of the basics of photography (in this case, aperture, shutterspeed, ISO and exposure) to first year BA Photography students at my university. So after a year of being an ex-student, I'm finally posting the videos for aperture, shutterspeed and ISO here. :D

Enjoy!
There is also a video for exposure (linking the three aspects together) and a short introduction in the works, so hopefully I can finish them and put them up soon.
The model for the main character is photographer Shaun Joyce and the voice talent is freelance journalist Matt Kamen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These videos were developed for Birmingham City University and are for educational/ non-profit use only. Feel free to share the link to this blog post, but please ask permission if you wish to show them elsewhere.

Weeks 33 and 34 - Soulsnatchers pages for BICS

2010-09-29T20:02:00.002Z

Continuing with comic work for the MC² BICS banner, I redid the first two pages from a Soulsnatchers oneshot that I'd entered for Tokyopop's RSOM contest a few years back (never bothered with the contest after that either!).

My drawing ability and technique have come a long way since then (I'm a lot better with anatomy and perspective for a start). I also ditched the greyscale shading it originally had because I think black and white suits it much better.
I'd be very grateful to receive input from others so I can improve it further when I eventually start the story properly.

Deviantart link DeviantArt link

If you're really curious, here are the original pages for comparison. :B
Page 1
Page 2
I changed the scenery on the first page because I wanted it to look more like a rundown part of town than a city scape.

Weeks 31 and 32 - Preparing for BICS

2010-09-26T11:24:00.005Z

Been a couple of weeks at least since I last uploaded anything. I've been preparing stuff for the British Internation Comic Show next month, including artwork for the Midlands Comics Collective exhibition banner and free sampler comic that we'll be handing out at our table.

First up is the brief bio and cartoon portrait for the sampler:
(I'm not that bad with cats, but they are distracting bundles of cute (mostly!) : P )
DeviantArt link

And second is a new drawing of Alusius to go on the MC2 banner:

DeviantArt link

There's more BICS/ comic related artwork to come in the run up to the show, but I should be back to regularly scheduled uploading within a week or so. : )

Project 52 - Weeks 29 and 30: Requests and daft things

2010-09-01T21:28:00.005Z

Another two-fer this week!
First up is character request my friend made while at Amecon (drawing his character in my style). I've been trying out some more dynamic poses recently and I think I'm getting better at them. : )DeviantArt link

Second is some Professor Layton/ Futurama inspired silliness:

For some odd reason, whenever Don Paolo escapes I always imagine him running away like Dr Zoidberg. : P

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Weeks 26, 27, 28 - More Amecon arts

2010-08-21T13:01:00.005Z

Been a while! I had intended to upload these before leaving for Amecon but didn't have enough time to. So here are the rest of the characters for the poster I took with me:

No it's not "the" Box Gundam guy, but it felt appropriate all the same. I've not seen much of Gundam outside Wing yet, so please bear in mind that a lot of fandom comments will probably go over my head!

DeviantArt link

Pretty self-explanatory really. Rabid fangirls, they do exist outside the internet!
Just in case it's not known to some of you, a glomp is basically an incredibly enthusiatic, flying hug that can result in injuring the glompee. Yaoi... I'll leave you to find that one out.

DeviantArt link

Last one from the Amecon series and the most terrifying con-goer of all, the non-showering, smelly guy. And yes, there were a few at Ame. : P

DeviantArt link

During the next week or so, I'll be putting up the final poster and the full versions of the "Conwatch" comics. I'll also be carrying on with the weekly drawings as usual, as well as planning for my entry to next years Ayacon conbook. Until then!

Project 52: Week 25 - Japanophiles

2010-07-31T12:10:00.004Z

Moar Amecon artz.

I'll add the accompanying text when it goes on the poster. Been rather busy lately (and will be for the next two weeks), so thought I'd at least put up the drawing so as to not miss another week.

Not sure if I like this one as much as the others, perhaps it's a bit too busy and obvious for now. Any input would be welcome. : )

(Also, I'm getting worried that doing these is making me a bit too unkind!)

Deviantart link

Project 52: Week 24 - "The Cosplay Pernicket"

2010-07-22T13:20:00.003Z

Too mean? : p
Thankfully I've not come across any in person, but I definitely know they exist (and have witnessed them on certain forums).

Part 4 of the Amecon poster.
Sorry, I've been a bit behind lately through preparing for the convention but I'll have plenty of time to catch up when that's
over. : )

Also, "Excuuuse me Princess" proved far too tempting.

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 23 - Frazzled Fursuit

2010-07-06T10:37:00.003Z

Part 3 of my Amecon bestiary comic.

Seriously, I just don't know how they manage to do it. I think they store water. : D

(BTW, the speech below the Pikachu head is supposed to say "kiiiilll... meee...", but doesn't seem to have come out too well. I'll patch it up a bit later.)

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Weeks 21 and 22 - The beginnings of an Amecon comic print

2010-06-23T17:30:00.008Z

For Amecon this year, I've decided to follow on from my conbook submission by doing another comic page to sell as a print, this time a convention "bestiary" of sorts. Just picture everything said in David Attenborough's voice and that's the basic idea. : D

So until then, I'm uploading ideas one by one. Numero uno:

If you've been to a convention at all, it's likely that there will have been at least one group of people sitting in a dark corner with their DSes and PSPs (and not doing much else for the duration).

Second for today:
'Nuff said really!

(anyone not familiar with Japanese rock bands, check out visual kei for majorly androgynous dudes that make anime hairstyles look easy)

The final thing will be in colour, once I've sorted out which ideas I want to keep.

Week 19 and 20 - Amecon conbook: "Conwatch" previews

2010-06-07T13:50:00.004Z

Just to show that I actually have been drawing stuff for the last couple of weeks. : p

These are previews of the comic pages I submitted to this year's Amecon conbook. I'll put up the full comics once the convention's over, don't want to be posting spoilers now!

Page 1 preview:

Page 2 preview:

Project 52 : Week 18 - Oh you rascal...

2010-05-20T19:25:00.002Z

Every time there's a new Berlusconi scandal in the news, I picture him doing this. : D

(hey I'm half-Italian, I can stereotype if I want to : P)

Project 52 : Week 17 - RJD

2010-05-18T14:10:00.002Z

Ronnie James Dio 1942 - 2010
RIP dude, every \m/ will be in your honour.

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 16 - Dargor the Shadowlord

2010-05-12T09:07:00.003Z

Still catching up! Only two to go now...

The new Rhapsody of Fire album (The Frozen Tears of Angels) was released at the end of April, so I decided to draw my version of Dargor the Shadowlord from the Emerald Sword and Dark Secret sagas to celebrate.

Some of you will have seen this design before from my final BA project which was to develop a mock trailer for a film based on the RoF albums. Inspiration for his design included your typical black knight, the judges from Final Fantasy XII and Nathan Explosion. : D
Been a long time since he last saw the light of day though and I didn't remember how much I liked drawing the characters until now. : )

Sometime soon I'd like to finish it off properly as I ran out of time to give it some polish.

(Yes I often like cheese with my music thanks!)

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 15 - Caught

2010-04-28T19:04:00.002Z

Too bad for Vincent that Lu's no so easy to get rid of!

I'm in the process of trying out scenes that I want in the story so sorry if it looks a bit rushed and bare. These things will be more detailed once they're finalised into finished comic panels.
This scene was originally drawn for a Tokyopop entry, but now it's going to be involved in the main story rather than a one-shot.

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 14 - "This won't hurt..."

2010-04-28T18:56:00.003Z

"...too much."

Doc doesn't care much for eavesdroppers.
Eric's first encounter with the SS crew. It's becoming a bit more dressed up than the original comic, where instead of being sedated he was just whacked from behind with a steel pipe. : P

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 13 - Trololo

2010-04-14T20:08:00.006Z

Because he's awesome : D

(Youtube video on the off chance you've not seen Eduard Khil/ Trololo Man)

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 12 - Bang bang...

2010-04-12T15:22:00.002Z

...I shot you down...

I quite liked using watercolour pencils and marker when I did my hunter drawing so I thought I'd have another go.
I don't really think it worked as well as last time (mostly to do with folds and over-shading with the marker where it shouldn't have been, plus the colouring's a bit scruffy) , but I'm going to keep at it and see where I get.

DeviantArt link

Project 52 Week 11 - Bike Plane! (WIP)

2010-03-30T14:42:00.002Z

BIKE-PLANE YEEEEEAH!

Idea for this came from a conversation about dentistry, in which the words "bite plane" were misheard.
Just a work-in-progress sketch for now, later on I'm going to clean it up and colour and ink it properly as a DeviantArt ID.

I also need new pens, the one I was using just about made it through the sketch!
Also, sorry if the quality isn't so good. I had to take a photo and alter the B/W levels since I'm currently without a scanner.

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 10: Inspector Cass

2010-03-17T19:48:00.004Z

Another tentative Soulsnatchers design.

Detective Inspector Vincent Cass, leading the investigation about the worryingly increasing number of people going missing, courtesy of Alusius and co.
I can't say much about his character without spoiling the plot, but for his design I was going for a guy in his late forties/ early fifties and very slightly scruffy (also not terribly worried about staying in shape).
I've had him almost as long as Alusius (about 4 years now) and originally his face was loosely based on Kim Coates.
As with everyone else, his design will probably be subject to change as I work more on the story.

C&C appreciated.

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 9: "What's so special about that kid..."

2010-03-13T15:02:00.001Z

"... that you're willing to risk your body for him?"
"Just keep doing your job and leave me to do mine."

Or something to that effect.
A quick scene test between "Doc" and Alusius. Apologies in advance for the roughness!

I know these tests are usually in the form of very rough pencilled thumbs, but I wanted to at least ink it up a bit so it'd be good enough as my week 9 (and so people could make more sense of it!).

No dialogue or proper backgrounds yet since they're still undecided, so I just concentrated on the characters and interaction for now.

Personally I think it'll still need fixing up quite a lot as far as body language goes since they're not as expressive, fluid or "shapely" as I'd like (Doc's body for instance was to have much more of a curve to it to highlight his body shape and habit of looming over people).
I'm not too keen on a lot of things to do with Alusius either, mainly to do with his arms and legs being out of perspective (bigger than thy should appear), but also the trouser folds between his legs.

I'd be very grateful for any critique and suggestions!

DeviantArt link

Week 7 - The Doc

2010-03-03T17:27:00.002Z

Another week, another SS rough character sketch.
This guy is the group's medic. I haven't got a suitable name for him yet, so "The Doc" will be his working title for now.
As well as patching everyone up, he is also in charge of the creation of various formulas for use on the job (including a cell regenerator for Alusius). Despite the crazy-looking eyes, he's actually rather sane. Just a bit... high strung I suppose.
The original inspiration for him actually came from a dream I had years ago (Meg too), so I'm glad my subconscious actually has some use. : D
I'd like to work on his costume a bit since it's rather generic at the moment. Not something terribly elaborate but still a bit more distinctive.

More to come soon!
C&C welcome as usual.

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 7: Good eeeevening...

2010-02-24T15:15:00.006Z

... weee are reprrresenting... the Hubba... Gubba... Tea Company... of Tibet.

Would you like some teeea?

Some informations in the event of a WTF emergency : D
Gong (the band)
The Outer Temple (song and lyrics)
The Flying Teapot
Costume photos
(not mine of course, but he has the best I've seen of this costume).

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 6: Valentine's, er... "special"

2010-02-17T18:39:00.002Z

A belated Valentine's entry - Videogame Romance

Apologies to all the Mario x Peach shippers, but the Gameboy original canon gave me more ideas than the main console games (yeah, yeah there's no "your princess is in another [X]" in Super Mario Land). : p

And what is it about L4D fan art that just gets you hooked once you start doing it?

Oh well, until next time!

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 5

2010-02-10T21:50:00.002Z

A bit late with this submission. Last week was rather hectic
and I spent the free time I usually have catching up with work. : O

Another "Soulsnatchers" character in the pipeline.
This is Meg, named after Megara the Fury from whom she is descended.
Her job is mainly to track down those who have been marked by the Soulsnatchers team. She does this with the use of her left eye (a kind-of "eye of judgment"), which when activated can pick up the individual energy patterns of each of their targets. It can also pick up negative or corrupted energy patterns, so not only can she weed out the worst of mankind, she cannot be lied to.

The third eye is an enhancement for supernatural energy, for instance if the team are after a rogue demon. This can't be used for too long though as it is far more physically draining.

It's also rumoured she and Lu may have had a thing for each other at one point.

I'm still working on trying to make sense of her character so it's very likely that some details will be changed (some significantly) to work better with the story and the mythology (a cross between Greco-roman and the Christian view of hell).

As for the drawing, I only realised after I'd inked everything that I'd kind of messed up her hands and legs (the most obvious flaw being that the left hand and leg on the full figure are too big). I'm still tweaking some of the character designs and others still need to be done at all, so when I've got them roughly how I want them, I'm going to draw up some proper character sheets.

Anyway, I promise this week's drawing will be up on time! : D

DeviantArt link

2010-01-31T22:00:00.003Z

GrrrrrRRRRYYYYYEAAAAAAARGH!

Happy week 4 everyone, have a hunter.

Drawn with a 2B pencil, inked with a rollerball and brush pen, coloured with watercolour pencils.
I'm trying some more dynamic poses at the moment and this has turned out quite a bit better than I'd hoped.
Changed the red levels to give the colours a bit of a boost, but they still seem a bit murky and areas like the left hand don't stand out as well as I needed them to. Also the silhouette isn't too strong as the hand crosses over his right leg.

I want to turn this into a full colour piece with background at some point so I'm going to keep working into it with the pencils. Hopefully continuing to build up the colour in the shaded areas will give it a lot more vibrancy and depth when I wash over it.
As usual, if anyone has any critiques or tips I'm all ears (or eyes in this case).

Also, I apologise for any mistakes in the design. I didn't have any references to hand when I'd passed the initial sketching stage!

Hunter and Left 4 Dead © Valve

DeviantArt link.

Project 52 challenge - Weeks 1, 2 and 3

2010-01-25T13:20:00.005Z

My first entry is actually a three-in-one since I started the challenge a couple of weeks into January. For those who are members of DeviantArt, I'll also be including the DA gallery links.

First up are two characters from my comic Soulsnatchers.

DA Link

A brief introduction:
Eric Killian has been searching for clues to the whereabouts of his brother, who disappeared mysteriously four years ago.
During his search, he gets caught up in the "Soulsnatchers" [pending name change] organisation, a sort-of black market branch of hell that specialises in trading human souls for what they most desire (without their consent naturally).

Eric, the main character, is the dude to the left. I've not posted him to DA before but he's changed quite significantly since I first designed him. He was originally supposed to be a dishevelled cop, but I didn't like the way it was working out so I made him a (slightly scruffy) university student. Bright but his curiosity often gets the better of him.

Some of you may have seen Alusius before if you know me from DeviantArt. He's the head of his team of soulsnatchers and before Eric joins, is unique in the fact that he used to be (and possibly still is) human. The first outfit is him in his uniform (worn so as not to draw too much attention to themselves on the surface) and the second is his casual outfit, much more comfortable since it's less restrictive to what lies beneath his bandages.
I've also given him a slight design change, giving him a high coat collar, different boots and baggier trousers.
Here are some of the original drawings I did of him for comparison:
Alusius original design 1
Alusius orginal design 2

The comic style itself is getting a makeover too. Less loose with more varied line weights.
A couple of pages from the original comic:
Page 1
Page 2
I'm hoping to post up more SS stuff in the near future, more characters and also environments which will also have an overhaul from the previous version.

These were both sketched in pencil then inked with a Copic brush marker. Rather missed it, it's been a long time since I've done non-digital inking!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next is just a quick digital drawing of Eric suiting up for his first day on the job:
DA Link

I'm thinking I should have made the line weight difference between Alusius and Eric greater to help distinguish between their jackets (or perhaps made the colour shades slightly different?). Also, does this inking style still work for the refined character designs?
Any ideas at this stage are more than welcome.

Critiques are more than welcome of course! : )

- Ryuuza

Project 52 challenge - the drawing edition!

2010-01-14T16:06:00.003Z

DeviantArt is currently hosting a photography contest called the Project 52 photography challenge, in which users submit one photo per week to their gallery (on the theme of "progression") throughout 2010.
I thought this was a really neat idea, not just as a contest, but as a challenge to one's self.
So what I'm going to get myself to do is a similar thing with my drawing. At least one piece (not job related) a week throughout 2010 which will be posted both to here and to my DA gallery.
I'm going to use this challenge as a way to boost my drawing skills and confidence as well as a means of getting my comic story "Soulsnatchers" off the ground.
It'd also be very cool if anyone else wants to take up the challenge themselves! : D

I do realise I haven't used this blog in an extremely long time as I hadn't really felt like I had much to contribute, so this is going to be its long awaited revival.

Hope everyone's having a good 2010 so far, all the best!
- Ryuuza

...and we have lip-syncage

2007-04-19T18:19:00.000Z

Today I totally made a dude look like he's saying things. It felt awesome : )

That was Dargor by the way (the guy in the armour from the last video).
This was my first try with lip synching in Anime Studio and thanks to being able to use switch layers, he took all of five minutes to set up. Just wish it had been this easy in After Effects : <

EDIT:
Here's Tharish as well :D

What is this "outside" you speak of?!

2007-04-15T20:41:00.000Z

Been feeling a bit out-of-sorts for the last few days. I haven't really had anyone to talk to and I'm seriously missing my friends, most of whom aren't even in Birmingham at the moment. I've never liked long holidays for that reason. It's been quite a struggle to get on with work too, since boredom has almost completely destroyed any enthusiasm I had for it. I just hope things pick up in the next week.
: (

Last test for now, since I'm starting the groundwork for the next part tomorrow. A bit rough around the edges, but I want to get the bulk of the animation work done before I start the fine-tuning (otherwise it'll get to the end of the holiday and I'll be nowhere near close to finishing it). Pacing's a little off and I still want to tweak the movements in the first and last shots, but I'm quite pleased with how it's progressing, which makes a change. I'll be adding the rain later on.

Computers are awesome!

2007-04-11T00:20:00.000Z

No wait, what's the opposite? Oh yeah, complete bastards.
Seriously, what is it with computers that makes them think "Hey this project's going entirely too well for my liking. What can I do to fuck it up for you?"? For every thing that goes right, there will be at least three that go wrong. In the last week, as well as my laptop dying, I've lost my phone (suddenly decided not to switch on anymore), half a printer and my external HD takes forever to be recognised when I plug it in. Just this evening I wasted about 2 hours trying to get After Effects to reinstall properly after it decided that it wasn't going to open anymore (something to do with duplicated plug-ins even though it was fine yesterday).
And I swear to God, if anyone says it's because I'm using a PC, I will brain them.

Anyway, I finally got it to work (amid numerous four-letter expletives) and spent the rest of the day making this:

A few kinks to smooth out with this one, mainly down to the way the character's hair, cloak and shadow move (gave them a bone structure in Anime Studio rather than doing it frame by frame). All of them require a few more keyframes and could also do with slowing down.
I also want to make the ripples in the lake smaller and if I have some time to spare, get some birds flying overhead.
I quite like the perspective in this one though, which I actually thought would be the most difficult part to get right.

In other news, my Joshua Radin CD came today, which made me happy. Go and check out his site if you like really mellow acoustic stuff. You can stream some clips from the "We Were Here" album in the music section (he's had quite a few songs featured in Scrubs if anyone's a fan).

I'm hoping the next three scenes will be easier to tackle, especially since I'll be dealing with silhouettes. Right now though, it's late, I'm tired and I'd rather not end up falling asleep at 4.00 am again : P

TTFN

Here be dragons!

2007-04-10T01:11:00.000Z

Okay so I lied, there's only one :P
Had a few setbacks before the holiday (including losing my laptop... again), so this past week I've been up until the small hours of the morning doing as much as I possibly can.
Two more videos, the first is one third of the finalised animatic complete with Mr Lee's marvellous voice and the second is a rough animation of the first scene.

The sound ends rather abruptly, which I'll be fixing when I have the animation finished. Also I want to beef it up to give the final blow more of an impact.
Eventually it'll lead into the scene which was illustrated in the animatic that I posted before (which has also been given an upgrade since then).

For the animation, I want to make the wings curve upwards when they're raised and this is proving rather difficult to achieve in 3D space. So far the only solutions I've found are expensive plug-ins for After Effects, or have an insanely detailed knowledge of how the bone rigging system works in Anime Studio, of which I currently have neither. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them!
Also, as my good friend Richard pointed out, it might be an idea to have the dragon fly upwards slightly before the dive to give it a more fluid look.

As a parting gift, two "in progress" images of the next part of the animation, which should hopefully be finished by tomorrow evening. I know I said I'd post character designs, but I'm just mean like that ; ) :

And one really silly one that took all of ten minutes. The fluffy cat's mine, the black one sitting outside is her arch nemesis (10 points to the first one to point out the reference) :D

Time for precious sleep ;_ ;

I like elves

2007-03-12T23:15:00.000Z

Okay, so for my final project at university (I'm on an art course in case any of you weren't paying attention), I'm aiming to create a short, animated sequence based around the last two albums from one of my favourite bands Rhapsody *cough*OfFire*cough* that will resemble something like a film trailer.

For those that haven't heard Rhapsody before or don't know much about them, they're a power metal band whose entire discography is based on one continuous story. Very high-fantasy, very symphonic and often very cheesey. Also Christopher Lee now does the narration for them, which is of course, awesome.

As part of my preparation work, I've put together an animatic for one of the scenes I'd potentially like to use in the finished piece, part of the song "The Mystic Prophecy Of The Demonknight". A bit sketchy, but it basically does the job. Click on the screenshot to view it (or "right-click/save-as").

Should be uploading some concept art for the characters in the near future. Until then, enjoy!

Aaaaaargh!

2007-03-12T22:14:00.000Z

Hi there, I'm Ryuuza and I draw stuff and things, some of which I shall be posting here for your perusal.

To those who don't know me, it's probably for the best. To those that do and still want to know more, well quite frankly you people terrify me to my very soul : )

To summarise, I like music (any kind), drawing, games, films, animation, pointlessly silly things, Scrubs, tea and stripey socks. I'm pretty sure I dislike things that aren't good.

Anywho, enough of that for now. To ze artz!