Magus sketches

[Uboa]

I've been enjoying a new sketchbook in the midst of work and school stress.  I've also found myself sketching Magus a lot lately, so I thought I'd share some of the work/works-in-progress.  Don't know what I'm going to do with these yet.  I'm terrible with finishing/colorizing on photoshop or gimp, but I might want to try to make something better out of some of these.

http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac89/uboacc/uboacc1.jpg

This one is ridiculously rough (very lacking in detail), and tiny.  But, I think it can go somewhere.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac89/uboacc/uboacc2.jpg
I'm basing a larger, more detailed one off of it.  I'll probably scan a portion of the larger one here in a second.

[ZaichikArky]

Oh cool, I didn't know you were an artist! I really hope that you keep working on these and make them even spiffier. I really like them!

[Uboa]

Thanks!  I'm hoping to get some feedback here as to what to do with what.  I'll probably amass quite a collection here if nothing else.

Here's a scan of the larger sketch based off the second one.  Can you tell it's based off the second one?  Believe it or not, it is!  I can never draw the same picture twice, especially with people, unless I make one of those picture transfer grids that I learned to use in high school art class.
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac89/uboacc/uboacc3.jpg

Anyway, the premise for both pictures is that he's supposed to be concentrating on a circle with various symbols and runes in it.  I'll get to that (the circle) when I get to that...

edit:  Runes?  Ruins?  Apparently lack of sleep makes me homonymally challenged.

[Zephira]

Uboa you rock.
I'm not sure why, but the top one makes me think of a fish... Something about his nose/smile. Still, pretty nice. I like the sketchy style!

[Uboa]

A fish?  I kind of see what you're getting at, with the strange perspective.  I was trying to get a dramatic angle on the face and also trying to employ more contrasting shading.

I'm still working on dramatic angles; that's part of the reason I started doing these kinds of character studies.

[mav]

Awesome style. I really like the third one you posted. He looks almost brutish. It does him good.

[FaustWolf]

That's some good Magus action! Look ma, only one hand!

[Uboa]

Or it's... distraction?  I was hoping to imply that if he snapped his fingers all hell might break loose. 

[GenesisOne]

Very nice drawings of Magus, Uboa.

Still, I thought he would he look more awesome if he parried with his scythe (which of course doesn't make sense when you consider that you can only parry with a spear and oh boy I'm rambling again).

Have you given any thought to upgrading to ink and pen in your drawings?

[Uboa]

I was actually thinking about that last night.  I have some good sakura pens and watercolor pencils.  If I get a watercolor tablet I might transfer some drawings and employ some ink and color.

[ZaichikArky]

I was actually thinking about that last night.  I have some good sakura pens and watercolor pencils.  If I get a watercolor tablet I might transfer some drawings and employ some ink and color.

Yeah you should definitely do that. It can be hard to decide what to do with a sketch because if you're bad at coloring or don't employ the right technique, your finished product can look worse than the sketch. I think a light tone would go well with these sketches so I'm happy that you seem to be leaning on the water color pencils. I would also stick with doing something like that rather than employing some kind of CG effect on the computer. If you start out on the paper, I often think it's better to just finish everything on the paper and not even bother to use any kind of program with coloring the drawing... That's just me, though. I actually prefer the look of hand-drawn art.

[Zephira]

Or, you could scan it into photoshop. Trace over your lines with the brush or pen tools, colour inside, dodge and burn or use transparent brushes for shading, and have the original sketch on a low transparency multiply or overlay layer. In fact, most paper sketches do get scanned and finished up in photoshop.

Hand-drawn art doesn't necessarily mean it's drawn on paper. I use a tablet, so everything of mine is still hand drawn.

Though if you want to try watercolour, go for it! His skin tone is a bit confusing, so good luck with that.

[Uboa]

Heh, just for the skin-tone aspect, among other things, my first choice for creating a finished piece would actually be Crayola tempera.  It's the best for difficult tones and also for applying numerous cosmetic touch-ups, which I'll likely want to do.  I am going to produce some kind of finished product.  I've been working on the third sketch, battling horrendous perspective and proportion flaws (it's been so long since I've done this I'm essentially having to re-teach myself), and, yeah, trying to decide on a final medium.

[Uboa]

Remember that part in FFIV where Tellah suddenly remembers all of his old spells?  Well, that just happened to me, except with drawing techniques.  This is the first picture where proportions didn't kill me, because I remembered all of the steps you're supposed to take when proportioning out a human, and actually successfully wire-framed this really well before the final soft pencil outline.

He's supposed to be invoking... something. 
http://i888.photobucket.com/albums/ac89/uboacc/uboacc4.jpg

[GenesisOne]

Hmm...

I like the character composition, don't get me wrong on that.  I just... think there's something missing.

A-ha!  That something... is juxtaposition.

Don't just settle for your character standing alone and posing.  Put him in a thought-provoking environment and use scaling to your advantage.

Magus drawing?  A.  Magus drawing with awesome landscape to match?  A++++!!