Print

[Startear]

When you say black and white, does that include penwork too?

[Mirror]

I'm with you, Afke.  I put eye-shapes in early, but often refine them very late in the process; and don't fill in pupils until close to the end of the sketching stage.  And yeah, eyebrows are really important to me.  

It's really fascinating to learn how you guys work.

When I'm working digitally, I tend to start drawing and defining the eyes quite early - including pupils and highlights.
If I'm working traditionally, though, I usually do like you, Eregyrn - filling in the pupils at a much later point. This applies especially when I'm doing a pencil portrait (something I hardly do anymore ) It's a special feeling when you realize that your drawing is suddenly "looking" at you.

On a calendar-note.... I just finished Rillfisher!!! FINALLY! I've been struggeling with her for months. Literally.

[Foxeye]

I haaaate drawing eyes. I leave them till the very last, and even then usually rush them. 

[Mirror]

I haaaate drawing eyes. I leave them till the very last, and even then usually rush them.  

  Well, it doesn't show!

Come to think of it, that's actually what I do with hands and feet

[jaRf]

I haaaate drawing eyes. I leave them till the very last, and even then usually rush them. 

For me eyes are probably the simplest part on a face. Okay, the look at you and they can be the mysterious "windows to the soul" but compared to mouth and especially noses they are the part I like to do about a face.
Also hands and feet are - depending on perspective - a horror for me.

Skimback is in very good progress I guess he can soon considered to be done. Rayek is partially in good shape but then the other 2 3rds of the image are still to be done.

[Treefox]

I haaaate drawing eyes. I leave them till the very last, and even then usually rush them.  Baghead

I agree that it doesn't show!

I do eyes last as well. Not only do eyes tend to distract me once they're fully painted, but I also like the effect to see how the picture is suddenly filled with more life once the eyes are there.

Apart from that, Suntoucher is progressing well! So far I am happy with him. Need to finish his portrait then ink all three pictures and color them. The crazy drawing devil inside of me is trying desperately to find a way to squeeze in wing or Windkin...

Edit: I do like my "pinup" of Suntoucher, but man does he look Egyptian...

[Maggie]

Hmm, interesting that almost everyone does the eyes last. That is what I start with first, I think the whole spirit of the drawing is in the eyes and if I don't get them the way I'd like right off I usually scrap the drawing.

I just finished Spine, now on to Leetah and Krill.

[Tevokkia]

Hmmm, I always do the eyes first ... it gives me a little sense of accomplishment.



... in calendar-related news, I had a little computer crash a couple days ago and lost the coloring on the pieces I was doing for the grids ... I'm going to have to just send the lines in, I think, as I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow evening and have too much to do between now and then to not only start over, but finish completely.

[jaRf]

Dare I say that I finally (about) finished Skimback? Like 99,5%? Phew.
(Like signature and license missing ;-) )

[Foxeye]

Just wanted to give everyone a head's up...Windrider is juggling some heavy, and unanticipated, demands on her time and energies right now.  The 2012 calendar will still most likely be available before the end of 2011, but the dates may slip. 

And I'm sure she'd appreciate any positive energies you wanted to send her way through the ether.

[Treefox]

Gee, poor Windrider... juggling real life interference and this humongous calendar at the same time is hard. She definitely has my sympathies.

[jaRf]

Ah. life can sometimes be a little pest.
*etherizes positive energies and send through the network*
Calendar 2013/14 aren't such a hurry, are they?

Yeah, I can imagine. Here I am having a horrible end-of-year-stress with lots of things/people to take care of. That sucks energy a lot and as every year there will suddenly be Christmas with no preparation time. No cookies made, no pre-Christmas time enjoyed, all the thing you had as a child.
The best thing might be still to come, a talk with the chieftess. She's somewhat overloading people with tasks and then she complains how slow certain things happen.

On calendar things: If there is no complaint about Skimback he's finished and I am focused now (when I have the time, but atm. I even work partially on weekends) on Rayek. Some parts I already like, but there is still a lot to do. I hope to have some more free time between Christmas and new year.

[Mirror]

Yeah, my sympaties go out to Windrider, too.  I'd never find the time to put in all the extra work that is needed to organize the calendar, least of all in December. Add life's stressful surprises to that...  So, hang in there and take your time, Windrider!

As for me, my computer decided to have a major crash this weekend.
Not the one I'm using now, but the one I've used for drawing the last couple of months. It's been behaving weirdly for some time, but thickheaded as I am, I didn't even make backup-copies. As a result, I might have lost the entries of Willowgreen and Leetah.

    :'(   

[Tevokkia]

Oh no! I hope you didn't lose them- have you tried to retrieve the data from your hard drive?

My computer had a mini-crash about two weeks ago and I lost a good chunk of the coloring on my Willowgreen, but I had backed up recently (which is a new thing for me, after my husband lost his entire hard drive last month).

[jaRf]

As for me, my computer decided to have a major crash this weekend.

Hmm, remote diagnosis isn't something I like to do but do can you tell what happened? Which OS is it, does the HD still spin up? I mean, there is often a nice solution by using a Linux LiveCD. mounting drives, copying your important data to a USB media and there you are. Maybe repair the faulty OS later.
If the filesystem is hurt, well, still chances to rescue things, but if the HDD itself is broken then it's time to find a recent backup. If it is some other hardware error, no worries that can be exchanged or repaired. The HDD is the most important part of your computer.

[Mirror]

Hmm, remote diagnosis isn't something I like to do but do can you tell what happened? Which OS is it, does the HD still spin up? I mean, there is often a nice solution by using a Linux LiveCD. mounting drives, copying your important data to a USB media and there you are. Maybe repair the faulty OS later.
If the filesystem is hurt, well, still chances to rescue things, but if the HDD itself is broken then it's time to find a recent backup. If it is some other hardware error, no worries that can be exchanged or repaired. The HDD is the most important part of your computer.

Thank you so much for your willingness to help, jaRF! This morning, my uncle actually managed to save most of my picture files to a USB key! (Yup, I'm such a noob I had to turn to my soon 70-y.o uncle to save the day ) I have no idea how he managed to do this, since I haven't even been able to switch it on properly for two days.

The computer will be handed in for (possible) repair, and in the meantime I'll be using the computer I'm on now. Crossing my fingers!

[Czarine]

Whoa! My sympathies go to both Windrider and Mirror. That reminds me, gotta make a backup of my files too...

As for myself, I was gonna post some bonus art for the calendar, but I had some sudden changes in my schedule (read: boss canceled my day off), so had to drop the idea.  Oh well, gotta draw something nice later when all this real-life-hassle is over.

[Tevokkia]

Back to coloring: all I have left is the clothing on Willowgreen's action pose, and the greenery on that and the pinup.  Shouldn't take too much longer.  I had forgotten I could overlap some of the poses, so she'll be able to be a full page after all.


... is it silly of me to stupidly excited to look at my post information and find that I am no longer a zwoot?

[branchscamper]

Oh goodness I hope everyone is doing well!  I have no time literally for anything it's stressing me out 

I only need a few more hours on Tyleet and I shall be done.  I'm having trouble with colouring and shading the skin because it just doesn't look right to me, but I think that's just my opinion.  I've been studying a lot about techniques for this picture and I've been mostly happy with the results. 

Happy Holidays to everyone if I don't get on before then =D 

[Windrider]

Okay everyone, I'm back on my feet (more or less) after a rough couple weeks.  There was a death in the family and on top of that I got bronchitis - I only get ill about once a year, but why is it always December and on top of a difficult time!?

But anyway, back to work on the calendar.  2012 is coming together, just a little later than planned (we were shooting for having it for sale by Christmas, but it looks like we'll have to settle for New Years).  Foxeye did a lovely layout for the cover and the inside is filling up with wonderful art.

Those of you still working on pinups for 2013 and 2014, try to get them to me by January 1st.  I'll be doing a large amount of formatting between Christmas and New Years, but I can save slots as long as I know it is coming.  It may be that I can give you even more time for 2014, but check with me first.  My spreadsheet with pinup assignments for each week of each year is getting very locked in.  I am trying to juggle having both artists and characters spread evenly between all three calendars.  It isn't going to work if an artist is really late with all three or four of their entries and they all have to go in 2014!

Bonus/grid art: if you have something in your gallery you think will work, just drop me a PM saying I am free to use it.  You can also create a single pose specifically for the calendar grid (should be either a portrait or fairly vertical figure pose).  I would especially appreciate artists doing that for characters with little existing fan art.

[silentleaf]

I could bash out a special pic  or something. do you have a char you need ?

[Foxeye]

May I just say, having now seen a few examples of the formatted spreads, that this looks absolutely faaaaaaabulous! Windrider is doing an amazing job. Which she always does. If the printers do good quality work, then these "planners" are going to cherished for a long time.

Now we just need a convention so we can all sign each other's artwork pages. 

*ponder that*...hah, yeah, my new project for the next 10 years...travel the world, and while I'm doing it, stalk other fan artists so I can get their autographs for my set. ^_^  It's like an artist scavenger hunt.

[Treefox]

I'm glad you're doing better, Windrider. Usually I am also ill in December, but  this year it hit me already in October. And I am still suffering from the cough. :/
For me seeing the calendar on January 1st, as usual, would also be great. However, ordering the planners before the new year would have some advantages. Anyway, I am still so much looking forward to this!

If the printers do good quality work, then these "planners" are going to cherished for a long time.

I hope they will do a good job! I had my compositions printed out and was quite disappointed by the colors. But I have hope that the printer you discovered will do a better job.

*ponder that*...hah, yeah, my new project for the next 10 years...travel the world, and while I'm doing it, stalk other fan artists so I can get their autographs for my set. ^_^  It's like an artist scavenger hunt.

That would be soooo awesome! I'd love to meet everybody and get their sign on their entries.
As far as I have heard on Facebook, Kitt is actually trying to organize an Elfquest convention. Should that work out I would actually try to come to the USA for that.

[Windrider]

I got through formatting about 1/3 of 2012 yesteday and expect to plow through the other 2/3 today and tomorrow.  But I have found that these characters have NO fan art I can use for the bonus art opposite the pinups.  

There will likely be more for the other two years, but right now, this is a call to any artist who isn't busy these next two days.  Please search your art or create a new sketch for:

Longfin
Sust
Spine
Sandsparkle
Murrel
Greywolf
Jink
Lehrigen

[Startear]

I think that Paper Ghost has a art piece of Valloa/Murrel in her gallery. Not sure if you can use it, since it is a piece with Timmorn as well. But that's all I know. Can't make anything the next two days I'm afraid, I'm at my hut, and while I have Internet access, I don't have a scanner.