Christmas!!!!!!

A little early for this buuuuuuuuut I wanted to wish the readers on here a Merry Christmas!!!!!
This was fun to make. I have been looking into artwork made for animation a bit recently which influenced the look of this piece. Before starting this I was wondering how I wanted the rendering to be done, whether to let the drawing do the work or the painting. In the end I decided to keep a prominent drawing and so the paint work would have to sit back a bit, so the form and contrasts are a little more washed out. Trying to go for a tight render with all that outline from the drawing will conflict with the form you try to convey with painting so I let that stay simple here.
You may have wondered where I have been with the updates... well one of the excuses is the new Zelda game, Skyward Sword! Its an early Christmas present hehe and its been fantastic so far! I feel like a little boy again :P

Left Handed

Left handed drawing done for the AIB Jumble blog. Started off in the program 'Alchemy' before tidying it up in Photoshop with the lasso and gradient tools. Rather than fight the messy nature of drawing with the wrong hand I decided to go for a technique that would be all about the chaotic shapes.

Siren

Today I have been off sick... damn rainy days during Bonfire night! But I tried to keep myself productive and entertained whilst on the mend. Again I have been experimenting with a different style. I have been surrounding myself with concept art and digital paintings that I have slightly gone tired of the same techniques and subjects, or I just need to take a break and refresh myself. That led me to looking into other creative avenues for my art. I have been looking into illustrations more these days and recently the work of McBess has had an impact on me. You can probably see his influence in this piece. There is something pleasing about these character's proportions and wavy limbs. They borrow a look from rubber hose animation but add something different to it that makes it a little bit eerie. Coupling our nostalgia for old cartoons with surrealism sure does make a juxtaposition that sticks with us. McBess' evolved rubber hose animation style is one reason why I think artist studies are useful. You copy someone else's style, take whats useful and discard what is not and make it your own.
Oh and I just want to dedicate this piece to my buddy Luis Migel who is all the way in Portugal far from his art buddies but is still keeping up his practices and kicking ass! Thanks for kicking me up the ass too and pestering me to post something. It worked \m/
Annnd in other news... I have been selected into my forth Ballistic Publishing book. This time I will be in the d'Artiste book series. This volume is 'fashion design' which will feature that painting I did with the lady dressed like a bird. If I was allowed to design clothes for people to wear thats what Id do :P