Ang's Sketchbook of Demons and Delights

[AngelaSasser]

Other places you can find me:
On DeviantART – http://angelasasser.deviantart.com
On Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/AngelicShadesStudio
On Tumblr - http://artbyangelasasser.tumblr.com
On Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/angelicshades

Starting out my sketchbook thread with a current project that's been in my personal files for awhile!

Last November, I finally participated in National Novel Writing Month and ended up starting a novel I had been gestating on for years (the morbidly curious can read the NaNoWriMo excerpts here). It made me realize there's such a wealth of narrative and imagery to be mined from my own characters that I'd be a fool not to bring these ideas to fruition for my own purposes.

I'm hoping to go the way of Dan Luvisi with my own novel/art book featuring my creations. Right now, I'm just in the redesign phase of dusting off these old ideas with a new layer of polish. Also taking the opportunity to delve into the character design process and teach myself more techniques related to concept art, which I am highly interested in.

First up, Melakim Fahré.

Setting: "Song of Exile", high fantasy setting, medieval level tech.

Brief: Melakim is a Hunter specializing in monsters who are closest to humans and human behavior (vampires, "Rot"/zombies, werewolves, possessed, hauntings, etc.). Wife, mother, former street kid. Every time she makes a kill, she adds a notch to her tattoos. The more notches you have, the higher your respect is amongst other Hunters. However, respect is a double-edged sword, as other Hunters might want to make a name for themselves by challenging you to a Hunter's Duel in order to prove their mettle by defeating you.

You can see a step by step of the redesign process with more detailed notes at her wipnation thread.

The final base:


Next up, gotta design this gal's gear!

Exploring some of the clothing for Melakim. Still many more iterations to go, but I feel I've gotten somewhere promising by the end of this first row!


More to come!

[AngelaSasser]

One more for the sketchbook today! I'm also working on a project to redesign my favorite fantasy book covers for portfolio fodder to present to publishers like Tor.

The first cover on my list is for Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey. The original cover by John Jude Palencar is here:


I've done quite a lot of thumbnailing for this redesign, which you can see here.

For the moment, I've narrowed it down to these three and have chosen the middle one. I plan to finish the bottom one as a wallpaper to use on my Kushiel blog where I'm collecting all the Kushiel themed work I'm doing.

[AngelaSasser]

Some color studies for the Kushiel's Dart book cover redesign. I really liked the top thumbnail, even though my gut chose the middle one. I decided to work them both up to color study level to see if that'd help me make my decision.

Even still, the winner is the closer crop of the character because it's just so much more readable than the aerial shot. However, I'm sure the other might return as a fan art piece later on! There's something about it I really love.

[Ursula Dorada]

Welcome girl! Nice start :D

[AngelaSasser]

Thanks for the welcome, Sula! Now I'm feeling even more pressure to practice and study and that's a good thing!:)

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Dropping some of my favorite life drawing studies here! Occasionally I'll get out to the local Bohemian cafe that hosts life drawing sessions every Monday OR when that doesn't happen, I'll rely on the very awesome Pixelovely online life drawing tool.

And just so the guys don't feel left out...


Quote from the Model: "If I get an erection, I apologize. If I don't get an erection, I apologize."

(Funny story for that life drawing session. We were all told a Burlesque troupe was coming that day. Little did we notice the date was April Fool's. They got us good with this robust Drew Carey-esque model showing up instead! He was actually a wonderful, articulate model, very fun to draw, and with a GREAT sense of humor!)

[AngelaSasser]

I recently finished a master copy of John William Godward's painting, Offering to Venus. This was my first ever attempt at copying a masterwork and it's proven to be a most enlightening experience!



I've written an in-depth post about what I learned here: What I Learned from Master Copying - Offering to Venus