[Drawing] Gusto's Drawings and Paintings

That is Serin! She is a Changeling and in her natural form has gray skin, white hair, and blank eyes with dark circles.

She is Doom's character in our DnD game. :)
 

Cajungal

Staff member
I remember her!!! Man I should listen in on another game soon. I miss my character--the mute halfling who stands there and doesn't do anything.
 
At least you're not dead. ;)

Actually the girl in the other two drawings is my character for Julie's games.

It just got to the point where I had done enough little sketches of DnD characters that I was like "Hey I bet I have a locked art thread somewhere I could update."
 
Because Amy demanded it, here are some of my shitty sketches.

This is me trying to get used to using a tablet, in Paint Shop Pro 8. I think I need to legally obtain a copy of Photoshop again...

Anyway, starting with a reference image to trace, Kurtz-style!


Trying to get it down to a basic form:


And applying my character's details:
 
So tonight I finished a painting!

The interesting thing about this one is that I kept switching between focusing on the top and bottom, and even sometimes the side edges, and as such, I kept rotating the canvas on the easel. As a result, I can't tell whether it looks better in portrait or landscape, or which side should be on top, or anything!

So here's the picture I took. One of them has the flash on to get a better idea of the colours, but it's clearly still wet and reflective. The other doesn't have the flash so the colours look a little more washed out, but it gives a better idea of the actual brushstrokes. I'll take a better OFFICIAL picture when it's dry.



 
.... :(

So after not getting much or any feedback on this painting on the forum, and getting disappointing reactions IRL, I've decided it's probably not "done"... I feel like a failure.

We'll see...
 
the top one that has the flash looks better in portrait. But I think the bottom one looks better for landscape. So I think it would depend on the amount of light that would be on the picture.
 
Thanks for the input, fellas, but I think it's gonna end up with the alignment I've posted above, plus a foreground that I'm developing/drawing now.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
I like it. It's hard to make out in some areas because of the flash, I guess, but I like the colors and the flame-looking shapes.
 
Alright so I drew a foreground, scanned it, gave it a quick Paintshop colour, and overlaid it to see what the finished product MIGHT look like.

Thoughts?

 

Cajungal

Staff member
I think that's pretty sweet. One thing I didn't mention is that I prefer the orientation you have it in now, not landscape. The top is this calm, peaceful bluish/white, and the bottom is hotter colors. I think that's interesting, especially considering the direction she seems to be moving in.

:thumbsup: I think it's shaping up to be a very beautiful and interesting piece.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
Sweet. It looks like she's moving from a peaceful period in her life to a rebellious period that's full of conflict and passion. But you could have been going for something totally different. I bullshit a lot. :p
 
Sweet. It looks like she's moving from a peaceful period in her life to a rebellious period that's full of conflict and passion. But you could have been going for something totally different. I bullshit a lot. :p
I like it! And this is the alchemy between creator and audience that I want to encourage. :D
 
The one thing I would suggest is I think the piece would benefit from some darker hues, and maybe the judicious application of some complementary colors (local to the top and bottom half). I think that would give it a lot of depth and a subtle oomph, whereas right now the painting seems a little flat (although that may just be my monitor). Of course if you do that, it would push the wavy lines to the foreground, which might visually compete with the lady, and I'm not sure if you want to do that? Anyway, that's my two bits.
 

Cajungal

Staff member
^_^ Glad to help. Cannot wait to see more. I hope to one day discuss your work in an intimate gallery drinking wine and eating cheese. ;D
 
The one thing I would suggest is I think the piece would benefit from some darker hues, and maybe the judicious application of some complementary colors (local to the top and bottom half). I think that would give it a lot of depth and a subtle oomph, whereas right now the painting seems a little flat (although that may just be my monitor). Of course if you do that, it would push the wavy lines to the foreground, which might visually compete with the lady, and I'm not sure if you want to do that? Anyway, that's my two bits.
I had considered the same thing actually!

Most of my swirly abstract paintings have very bold contrasts between two or more colours which produces a very intense piece with no real need for a foreground. Having tried to create a more subdued piece this time around, I decided to forgo lots of contrasting colours, which made the painting look flat. A lot of people I showed it to said that it looked incomplete or less interesting than my other work.

My options now are to

a) put in a lot of bold colours to create a fuller-looking painting; or
b) create a non-abstract foreground, like the young lady in my example.

I'm deciding to go with the lady rather than a lot of other strokes because I DO still want this to be a complete painting but different from ones I've made before.
 
Last night I drew the image on the foreground of my dry canvas, and this morning I went to the local art store to get more mineral spirits, canvases, and a couple tubes of paint. :)

Tuesday or Wednesday will be foreground painting day, and [probably] Friday will be re-inking/detailing day.

Then I can start a NEW one. ;)
 
Than what are you doing here posting? Get back to painting ya slacker!
:slap:

I'm leaving painting the foreground til tomorrow night at least because I work all day today and tomorrow and I'm otherwise busy tonight. Wednesday I'm off so I have the time and space to do it properly, so that's probably when it'll get done.
 
You and Amy are gonna make me cry.

;)

Either pay me to paint something for you or accept that work comes first.
 
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