The Early Crunch

      Well then, I have been just slammed with schoolwork the last couple weeks.  While I am managing to keep up with my classes (something I'm both glad for and proud of) the artwork that I do for myself and for others has been suffering as a result.  But enough of my complaints.  You're here for artwork (what little there is this week).

      Have you ever had one of those ideas that ends up with you saying to yourself "This is so incredibly stupid, that I must make it happen"?  Because I've had one of those ideas, and this is it:

      This is the Balldam, and I am going to make a model of it.  Or rather, I'll be making a model of it when I have the time to.  It is for the most part the legendary RX-78-2 Gundam, except that the space where its chest and head should be is now filled with the chassis of an RB-79 Ball, frequently considered to be the most useless thing in all of Gundam.

      In other news, as should come as no surprise to regular viewers, I'm still having trouble figuring out the thigh plates on Reina's armor.  I like all of the individual components, but I just can't quite seem to make them fit together properly.

I should have some more substantial offerings in next week's post.

Cheers,
Geoff

Egads, I Missed a Post!

      Well then, it seems I missed my weekly update yesterday.  In fairness, I've got very little to show for this last week art-wise.  I've been kept quite busy with papers and lab write-ups and and the first of several midterm tests.

      Most of what time I haven't spent on school-related things has been spent revisiting Dragon's Dogma, one of my all-time favorite fantasy RPGs.  Playing it has called to mind the fact that a few months back, my brother was considering organizing a weekly session with friends to play Dungeons and Dragons, and it occurs to me that I'd love to do designs for people's characters and help them to paint their miniatures.  I'll have to see if he'd still be interested in doing something similar over the summer.

      At any rate, it got me thinking about how I'd portray Reina (at this point sort of my default character archetype) in a Western fantasy setting:

      It's a rough sketch, clearly.  I've tried to portray her as a sort of Rogue-Ranger character, someone who spends most of their time out in the wilds.  Stylistically I've drawn inspiration from both Dragon's Dogma and the Monster Hunter series to try to affect a sort of cobbled-together look to her garb and equipment.

      Fair warning- this next week's post may be a bit sparse as well, as I've still got several large assignments ongoing.

Cheers,
Geoff

V-Day 2014

Happy Valentine's day, everyone!

In addition to that silliness, I spent the last couple days marathonning all of Attack on Titan season 1.  It really captures the imagination.

I'm inclined to think that Reina would do well with 3D Maneuver Gear:

Cheers!

Geoff

Testing, Testing. (Part 2)

      I've had a lot of long days on campus this week, so most of what I've done is doing further work on the image that I'd posted as in-progress lineart last week:

      I'm quite happy with how the base colors came out.  I'm not quite sold on the shading, I'm still getting practice.  It occurs to me now that the musculature of the torso doesn't quite match the lines.  Ah well.  It can be corrected.

      It also occurred to me recently that I didn't do an updated reference sheet for Reina last year, so I'm getting a jump on that earlier in the new year than usual.  A new reference sheet is needed now more than ever, too, as she's undergone some significant changes since the 2012 reference.  This new reference is based on the reworking of her design that first showed up last Summer, when I started working on simplifying my existing designs.
      Her boots in this image lack the clamped shin-guards that they've sported for the last few years.  I'm still working on exactly how I want those to fit in, as where they are relative to the cargo pants has been rather inconsistent in my illustrations.

      I seem to be stuck on Reina at the moment.  I ought to see about giving my other characters some love.

Cheers,
Geoff