Unholy Paladin Studios: New DevilSaint character, Charon!

Hey everyone!

 Those who've been following the story development for DevilSaint may've seen this one coming; but here's finally a finished illustration of the river Styx ferryman and part-time familiar for Phobos, Charon.

That glorious craggy bastard.

 Check out the SUPER-HIGH-RES version on my DA page!

 Character description and other stuff after the jump!

Portraity things, part 2!

Hello again!

 Sorry for the delays in posting; just been super-busy lately... and I hate to waste a post just to provide a smidgeon of content.  Go big or not at all!  So anyhow, here's another batch of sketch portraits for your viewing pleasure!

Not bad looking for nearly a million years old.

What's on my desk: 9/24/13

Hello!  It's about time I did another one of these, so here's a look at the sketches that're on my desk at this moment.

Totally convincing as a priest there, Adrian.

What's on my desk: 9/4/13

Hello!

 It's time I share some of the stuff I've been working on lately!  Though I haven't had much time to do completed illustrations, a good buddy of mine, Craig Scott, has been doing this "one sketch a day" thing and well, darn if it's not an awesome idea.  So, I figure I'd do the same.

 Content after the jump!

What's on my desk, MOE EDITION: 8/16/13

Hello all!

 Sorry for the slow updates; just been pretty busy in real-life stuff the past few days.  Anyways, here are some updates on stuff I've been working on!

What's on my desk: 7/9/13

 In between layers of drying watercolor on the recently-posted Richter Mitchell and Phobos illustration, I've been starting on the sketchwork for the next piece, one of his younger brother and later main character, Justin Mitchell, with his Deity, Deimos.

Unholy Paladin Studios Tutorials: How to build a picture with a light table

Huge drawing is huuuuuuge.

 So, you want to build up a very complex illustration, and you want to make sure that everything, both foreground and background, is absolutely perfect before committing them to the same piece of paper?  Or you're just not wanting to mess up one element of the picture while working on another?  Or perhaps, the final project is simply going to be on a larger piece of paper than what you're sketching on?

 Today, I'll be covering a technique using one of the most useful tools in a traditional artist's arsenal, the light table, in order to accomplish all the above.

DevilSaint parody comic #1: Sexy Beach

Some newer sketches

Hello!

I've got some newer sketches done recently, to try out a slightly more realistic and detailed style than what I'm accustomed to doing. The thing I had begun to realize about my art is that, while the coloring and finish are generally good, the underlying drawings sometimes tend to be somewhat lacking. And so, I practice. With the larger sketchbook I had gotten for this purpose, it tends to be somewhat difficult to get the entire picture onto the scanner; and so there are parts which had to be left out... and there are also the occasional shadows caused by the paper being pulled away from the scanner's surface.



The first picture is of the first main character of my DevilSaint series, Richter Mitchell. I really wanted to show the details of his mechanical arm, as well as the type of expression he should be making as a somewhat serious, but well-humoured character.



The second one is of the co-star of the series, Heather Dawes. In this one, I wanted to experiment with expressing varying levels of "softness" as well as practicing curves a bit. I also detailed up the armor on her left arm and made some minor adjustments to things which were bothering me.



Finally, the last one is of Adrian Kadmon, the series's titular character. The effect I was going for here was that of a tremendously powerful, sweeping slash; portraying him as using his body weight to counter-balance the sword. There are a few directional movements which still look a bit odd, but overall I feel pretty good about this one.

SUCCESS! A good drawing!

Here is what I've accomplished as the result of my new outlook on drawing:

It is a new picture of Ares; I figured I'd draw him since he's one of the major characters in DevilSaint and I haven't drawn him in a while...

I think this one turned out pretty well. I was able to properly portray a sense of "mass" on him, which had always been difficult for me to do.

Main character, EGA-style

Hello! I'm working on a new experimental project right now, of drawing each of my main characters in different types of fashion, the first of which being Justin Mitchell in EGA (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat) style.

I'm pretty happy with how this sketch came out, as it is quite a departure from my usual style.

Apollo WIP

I went ahead and just scanned the inked linework into my computer so I can try my hand at this Photoshooping thing... I've been meaning to make the switch to digital coloring for quite some time now, but haven't done so yet for three reasons:
1- My computer's processor is crap for graphics programs. But I guess I'll have to deal with the jerkiness of the pointer trying to catch up with itself in the process of trying to improve my art.
2- I didn't know how to separate the lineart to set it into the foreground without redrawing everything. Now that I've finally gotten ahold of a tutorial, I no longer have an excuse.
3- I suck at digital art. But, after getting a tablet and putting in plenty of practice on 4chan's /i/ board (For those who don't know what it is, it has a built-in art program in the forum), I might be able to produce something halfway worthwhile.


The main reason why I'm wanting to make the switch to digital coloring is because it is incredibly difficult to accurately depict lighting effects (particularly colored lighting) with traditional materials. Plus, it'll be easier to create smoother gradients, fix mistakes, and get the colors to look right since I won't have to worry about the scanner not picking up colors properly.

So... hopefully this won't turn out like crap.

The blog lives on!!!

In case anyone was wondering about the lack of updates, I've been working on a lot of different things lately, and haven't had much time to post... or I've just been wasting too much time on things other than what's related to my project, and getting news und updates out to people...

Either way, it's been 20 days since I've so much as even stopped by my own blog page... and I felt that some sort of update is in order.

I've just recently begun showing off massive amounts of preview information for my comic book series "Trooper Blaze;" the write-up on the page is the same one I posted on this blog a couple of months ago. However, I've put in links to several preview images of characters and covers (no pages up yet though; I'm keeping those a well-guarded secret :D ). The Trooper Blaze Preview "homepage" can be found here on my DA account.

In news related to Unholy Paladin, I'm finally working on finishing a few of the character illustrations I've been putting on the back burner for so long... what with the whole laziness thing and all. The picture of Amanda with the Nemesis Deity *should* be finished by the end of the week, but I'm not going to make any promises (I don't have enough time for sleep as is...).

In other news, the chat room on HobbyFanatics has been much more active lately; because of this I've had the opportunity to get to know better a lot of the regular members of the board. It is great fun, though it keeps me from getting anything genuinely important done (lol).


Well, hopefully it won't be another 20 days until I post again; of course I probably will post at around that time (Valentine's day; I won't have anything to do...), but I will try to post more between now and then.

Until next time; now here's some delicious mecha design stuff to make up for reading all of that. ;)

Just something I drew this morning

This morning, I decided to start working on a painting of a transformation scene of Amanda to Avatar Nemesis. The sketch is not yet done of course, but I figured I'd take a break from it for a couple of hours, since I already spent 3 hours on it today.

Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome, and encouraged! I want to know what you think of this picture so far!

Some Deity sketches

Finally, an actual update!

Here are some sketches for the Deities Galatea and Echo.

Updates for my DA Page

I'm adding a few of my more recent sketches to my DA page... here is a preview:

...Am I mean for keeping this one from my watchers for so long?


On a side-note, the Members' Showcase section of HobbyFanatics has been a bit more active recently; be sure to check out member bhop's freaking incredible skateboard!

Finally!

Whoo... sorry for the lack of recent updates, but my P.O.S. D-Link Wireless card kept losing my internet connection (however, taking it out and throwing it against my big metal desk does seem to help it work better!).

I've finished the drawing of Justin with the Deimos Deity, and have scanned in some more sketches as well.





More on my DeviantArt page!

Some new art; just one today (laziness, etc.)

I've got a couple of drawings in the works at the moment... I've just inked the one of Justin with the Deimos Deity, and have worked on a sketch for one of my other characters, Heather.

I really like how this sketch turned out, and am looking forward to finishing it!


Sex and Rock-and-Roll always get people's attention!

The guitar she's holding (not like anyone's looking at that!) is actually my own Yamaha RGX612A, if anyone was wondering... it was bought secondhand and is not in the greatest shape (sounds terrible, even after taking it to a shop to get it looked at, the guy said I might as well get a new one)... but it does make a good drawing reference and prop for one of my characters!

Phobos

The character for today is Richter Mitchell, Justin's older brother and the original main character, and his Deity Phobos (the God of Fear). This character was meant to show the reality of what happens to the typical agressive lead character in a more realistic story; he is missing his left eye, and the arm is prosthetic; he willingly throws himself into danger, but definitely does not come out unscathed...

This guy was actually a fairly popular character among my peers, perhaps due to the fact that he really doesn't just come back each time with all of his wounds healed, but he keeps fighting for his beliefs anyway. He is younger at heart then his brother, and tends to rush in head-on instead of thinking things out thoroughly. This is the type of character that makes split-second decisions and never looks back; and may actually have too much confidence.

His Deity Phobos allows him to channel spiritual energy. This ability allows him to take a more active role in a fight, by charging up his fist and feet with energy to inflict extraordinary damage. The stronger his feelings / convictions are, the more power he can channel.

Nemesis

This character is Amanda Owens, with her partner Deity Nemesis (the Goddess of Wrath). I based her on a friend of mine who helped me out a lot at the beginning of the project, and whom this project truly wouldn't exist without. She seems to be more of a supporting character at first, but as the series goes on, she actually becomes a better protagonist and more likable character than Justin!

In the story, she is the oldest child in her family, and is a very generous soul who enjoys taking care of others. She has a part-time job volunteering at an orphanage, and sort of cheers all of the other characters on until she gains the ability to summon Nemesis, at which point she becomes a strong defensive player in battle.

In addition to being a fast attacking aerial Deity, Nemesis has a secondary ability that allows Amanda to heal others, which is an appropriate power given her peaceful demeanor and protective nature.