Metabi's Sketchbook

[Metatabi]

Hello, this is my first post on this account though not my first time around Crimson Daggers. My old account is here

I'm displayed on the livestream app when streaming and you can also find me on Deviant Art at http://metatabi.deviantart.com

I've decided to migrate accounts in order to change usernames and in order to get a fresh new start and motivation to keep my sketchbook constantly updated from the beginning.

I plan on updating this sketchbook every Tuesday with finished works and the week's sketch/WIP highlights - so if Tuesday comes around and there's no updates you have every right to complain to me about it :p




Downloaded inkscape -a free vectoring software - and decided to experiment around with it by and make self-portraits. The first version is flat-colored, the second is colored with inkscape's features, and the third has added textures in photoshop. I'm also showcasing here the "beta" version of my logo. I'll probably have to vectorize it soon but enjoy how it's looking so far.




My sense of time is not the best but I believe it was 1 or 2 weeks ago I was going through a creative block and saw Wolkenfels doing studies for his bloodsports entry about Snow White and Rose Red and came up with designs for the same story (hope you don't mind I went with my own version of the idea, I can take these down if you so wish). The rose and the snowflake are patterns for the lace in the jackets in order to play along with the characters' names. The main point here was more about showing a concept than about execution.


And here for this week's sketch highlights!!


This one is a sketch inspired by Alphonse Mucha's style done around 1-2 months ago but I'm currently making a digital painting of it. You can see some shots of the painting process here .


A pin-up I did from imagination the other day.


A more stylized sketch I'm linearting, first time I do something as stylized as this and also first time doing clean lineart on the computer and drawing a rifle, though I'm going to need references for the rifle.


Ninjas about to attack a village? Don't really have a story for this one but really liking the sketch and might come around to make it into an illustration, also experimenting with replicating the stylization on the previous image. Don't know if I'll keep this style but for now it sure is fun experimenting with it.

[missimoinsane]

Loving the new sketchbook hun :) <3

[Metatabi]

@Imogen: Thank you! Glad you enjoy my work :D



Hello! And it's not Tuesday.... Things came up this week and I wasn't able to update on time but I've got tons of art to show this week!


Here is the finished piece from my last post. I did tons of experimenting in this one and am thinking of doing a step-by-step for it.




I also have tons of WIPs and sketches! Just going to show the ones I like most or am most serious about actually polishing:









And here's a couple pieces related to a comic I want to make happen though I'm still early in script writing and trying to figure out the art style:

(Gotta fix her arm when I lineart it)

[Metatabi]

Weekly update: I have a lot of stuff to show for this week!


I did polished flats for a sketch I really liked!


Here's the progress I've done this week on other polished pieces I'm working on:



Sorry for the odd length in this one. It's a piece related to a comic I want to make happen. I'm doing 3 different versions of it, one in detailed color and 2 simpler for experimentation on how I might render comic pages. So far I've only worked on the color version. Still don't know whether to go realistic or stylized for this comic but I may be leaning a bit more towards stylized because I can play more with emotions and facial expressions. (All my concept and design drawings are still realistic style though... XD ) I have some more drawing of this IP but don't really want to spam this sketchbook too much - and I'm also letting some things be surprises...




Another piece I'm working on, the first version shown is the rough colors and the second is part of a process experiment I'm doing where flat colors are laid all in one layer so that I just have to wand select at the time of painting and not need to worry about edges - that way painting is done in only one layer over the under-painting; this I also find a lot better than layer masks since whenever I do use them I always get lost searching through layers and painting on the wrong ones... I'm almost done with the flats and will get to start painting this week.

The setting for the above piece is based on my designs for a temple belonging to an old character of mine. I did a quick pencil sketch and mouse color of the character on a day I wanted to paint but was too tired to process anything too complex:



And here are the week's sketches!



I'm currently re-watching Eureka Seven because it's been a really long time since I first watched it and I didn't really watch it properly. There's a character named Anemone that has eyes that are both cute and disturbing and intriguing and I tried to see if I could pull off something similar so I sketched this during the commercial break. Not a style I'm sticking with but it was fun to do and I actually like how it came out.



Profile portrait sketch from imagination... she actually sort of looks like my cousin's girlfriend... might send her the sketch.



I saw Gorgon paintings from Warmics and John Silva this week and might as well jump the band-wagon. I also challenged myself to not use the eraser for this one.



Just some little warm-up sketches but I really liked the one at the bottom, sort of reminds me of Hatsune Miku's "The World Is Mine" artwork by Redjuice.
The proportions for the girl sitting down are not working and the stylized girl standing up has a really wonky arm but oh well -


I also have loads of old stuff (2-3 months) I never finished or posted but sorta like, it's a lot to put in only one post but I'm thinking maybe I could do a section of my sketchbook dedicated to: "Rescues From WIP Purgatory"!

I was aiming to be pretty ambitious with this one but then things happened and I wasn't able to work on it. Too much time is past though and I see too many errors and have lost interest in the piece. This was done around... late February or early March 2014.

[Metatabi]

Weekly update time!

I don't have any finished/polished pieces to show this week but I made a process compilation for a piece I did a couple weeks ago if you're interested: http://fav.me/d7lvge1


Here are the week's WIPs:



Something based on punk subculture, still need to do the staircase she's sitting on.




Decided to make something out of this sketch, finished the lineart and laying out the basic colors for the piece. Still need to mask the different sections and polish the painting and details but the hardest work is already done.



This one's coming along nicely though I need to make an alternate file and flatten things out since the file is too big...


And here are some sketches:


Drew a cool guy sitting in a throne with his pet dragon though wasn't too happy about the dragon's face.

Drew a couple more pages of dragons after that. I liked this happy one sitting down.



Wanted to draw a character approaching an imposing background but didn't know what kind of imposing background I wanted so I just ended up drawing a character in front of a stairwell and a random symmetrical pattern.... I can see many directions this could go, an entrance to some sort of tower or building, or spellcasting, or some altar, or throne...... don't know if I'll revisit this.


For a successful background however here's a concept for a house for a comic I'm writing. I also have many more sketches but I'm torn about them because I want to show them but I also want to keep them a surprise...

[Metatabi]

It's weekly update time!

I finished 2 images this week:






And I also made a sheet with all the versions for this image. The first is the actual painting without editing and includes a lamp I decided not to include in the finished painting. I have several quick versions I blocked out to experiment with possible ways of coloring a comic and then the finished painting and some edits to change the lighting/darkness.




Here are a couple WIPs I've been working on this week:





Random sketches and warm-ups:





Found a neat way to increase page mileage for those times I can't concentrate too much or just don't know what to do, don't like the sketches on this page but that's bound to happen with some sketches.


A very quick background warm-up but I like the mood.

Monster Hunter Challenge: I wanted to join the challenge but once I finally summoned up the courage there were only 2 days left and it's not possible for me at my current skill-level to finish anything worthwhile within that time but I did do planning/design sketches and thumbnailing. I'm thinking however of doing 2 illustrations more focused on the storytelling of the hunter challenging the monster and then a shot with the victor walking away, feels like a good story-telling exercise.


Monster and notes, it's hard for me to focus on things like monsters and landscapes unless I have some sort of story or background information about them.


Really rough hunter concepts but they do the job.... the rough composition thumbnails didn't scan well.

[Metatabi]

Update time!!!! And... it's not Tuesday.... This will be my last update in a while as I'll be going to visit family for a month and will be unable to update. I pushed back this week's update so that I could upload some pieces once they were all finished.







This one is not finished but I got tired of it and it just wasn't working for me so that's as far as it goes:


I filled a whole entire sketchbook in less than a week :D But I haven't had time to scan it in - which I'm pretty sure will be a pain... - so I'll mostly just show digital sketches ~


This one is an oldie I'd scanned but forgotten to upload earlier and I still like the concept :D






This one is a fan art sketch after re-watching Patlabor movies; the writing on that first movie is really clever. Also, with this sketch I came up with a new sketching technique I really enjoyed and will definitely be implementing more: the process is fun, it's fast, the result is decent, and can also become a really solid base for painting over.


These are 2 characters of a comic I'm writing: one in trouble and the other not caring :P


Hopefully I'll be back and able to update by early August ~ [and then... there'll probably be another hiatus soon while I settle into college...]

[Metatabi]

I'm... kinda but not back from my hiatus? I'm back from visiting family but will only be able to be here for a week before moving off to college. Don't know when I'll be able to update again.

While away, learned how to set up solid foundations at a greater speed by painting on my phone and started teaching myself animation in my DSi (flipnote studio), need to look up an SD card so I can upload my animations. I just found out how exciting and fun doing animation is! Will definitely be trying to see if I can animate in photoshop~

Also finished 2 sketchbooks while away but too much to upload so I'll just update with digital stuff I've been working on in the last couple of days.


A piece started with paint blobs instead of a sketch... Flipped the image and found out too many mistakes to the point where it'd be much better to start from scratch so it will just be left unfinished.


Super quick/rough mouse sketch done while procrastinating on filling out paperwork.... I really liked the colors. Don't know if I'll take it further but I do know my palette sure is happy~


Trying to experiment and see if I could use brushes and photoshop patterns to bring out a traditional look akin to that of traditional Japanese watercolors. (done with mouse and colors taken from the previous sketch...)


A rendering experiment, pretty rough (took a little over an hour from initial sketch to finish). The process is pretty complicated to explain but it works really well for me, definitely going to apply it from here on.


Thinking of rendering this but not at the top of my priorities right now... Going to try and make the fox look like graffiti in a wall and add more graffiti.


A piece inspired by Ophelia from Hamlet. Never read Hamlet but am familiar with the story and seen a lot of depictions and allusions to the character and I find her fascinating... I really should go out and read the play.


Finally, left the best for last <3 After a month hiatus still love this piece and am very excited to keep on working on it~

PD: Also, while typing out this post got sidetracked and started animating in photoshop.... with my mouse... Man! I'm definitely becoming the master of procrastinating with mouse drawings! Don't know how to feel about this, should probably be ashamed but.... actually... I'm... I'm actually proud of myself >.<

Would upload rough animation I've got so far but first I have to figure out how to export it......