Second Acrobaleno

Here's Skull, the second Acrobaleno. The outline still bothers me though. Really need to figure out what's the best way to do outline in Illustrator.

First Attempt at Illustrator CS4

I kind of see how Illustrator works now. But I still need to figure out how to control the strokes better...Sometimes it just smooths way too much. And when I erase certain parts of a line, it some how erases more than I want or it automatically makes my line thinner. But here's the colored version of Colonello, which after all other Acrobalenos, I will put it into my Tsuna background picture. it'll be a big project because just outlining and coloring took pretty much all day today. I need to do this more often to get efficient at it.

Drawing it...

Ok, I actually ended up just drawing the Acrobaleno instead of using Illustrator (since I don't know how to use it yet). Now i'm facing the decision to either do it watercolor style, or leave it as a sketch but with the corresponding color of the Acrobaleno.

Note to self: Import sketch, use Adjustments -> Color Balance.

Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn Project

For my next project, I plan to do Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn, but I haven't decided how I want to approach this. Do I want to learn Illustrator and do my Acrobaleno's using Ai? Or do I want to just draw it like always? BTW, this background was semi-traced using a scene in the ending song of the anime as reference. It's used to save time and since I had planned to use it as a light colored background, I didn't want to spend time to do an all-up sketch. But I also tested the lightings and lens flare effects in Photoshop though.

Echizen Ryoma Completed

Another drawing done. This one is of Echizen Ryoma from The Prince of Tennis. Reference used was Shining Clear Card Vol. 5 card. I changed the clothings a little bit because his checkered shirt was too much for me to handle in drawing it. I'm still having trouble with line thickness as it's quite obvious with the right arm sleeve. Practice practice practice!!! I really wish I can learn Illustrator for vector illustration.

Next Project: Ryoma Echizen

Here's my next project: Ryoma Echizen from The Prince of Tennis. I have this really small "Rare" card that I'm using as reference. I've never drawn this style of anime character before so it'll be a first. It can't always be Dragonball. :) I started with very rough sketch of head shape, and body. Then I added a layer and started just really drawing the facial features and hair. I only drew the head so far.

First Anime Illustration Complete!

Here's the final version of my Dragonball illustration. I decided not to do an actual background as I'm not good enough yet. Maybe in the future as I have the background as a separate layer!

Outline Complete, Coloring Started

So I finally finished outlining my sketch. Man...I need to get used to the tablet. Some lines are thicker, some are skinnier. Maybe I shouldn't use "pencil" and should use a "pen" that has fixed size or something. And I wonder how some people make such perfectly smooth lines. Maybe because of Illustrator? I really should check that thing out to see how people use it.

UPDATE: After staring at it for a while, I think I shouldn't be lazy and should just redo the tail. Lines are too thick, and the tail is too straight.

Shakey Hands, But Progress Made

Darn. My hands are still so shakey when drawing lines. Plus, lines are inconsistent and barely straight or the way I want it. I basically have to redraw a line multiple times until I got it the way I want. Here's my progress on my Dragonball drawing. I think my next drawing project will be from either Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn, Naruto, Prince of Tennis, Bleach, or Full Metal Alchemist. Actually I kind of want to draw Hayao Miyazaki anime. But I'll determine that later.

Back to Anime it is...

Back to anime illustrations for practice first. It really does take some getting used to as I'm having trouble drawing certain lines the way I want without undoing it and redrawing it many times. And after drafting with the pen for an hour, my pinky bothers me. It may have something to do with clenching my fist while holding the pen or maybe I'm not holding the pen right. I'll try to add an outline and then some color on my next iteration. Something just still doesn't look right on Goku...might be the eyes...

First Failed Attempt at Landscape

I think I need to find my style first. Very ugly first attempt with the Intuos4. Maybe I should practice with some anime characters first.