My first Tablet sketch.

When I first purchased my (ultra cheap and local) drawing tablet in February, the first thing I ever did with it was to trace an image of Saber from the Fate/Hollow Ataraxia Visual Novel.

Original Wallpaper of Saber. There was a similar scene in the original "Fate/Stay Night" Novel

I used Adobe Illustrator CS 4 to do the tracing process. That time, it took me about an hour, but that time, I felt very satisfied with what I had done.

My Tracing for the above wallpaper.

However, do note that this is probably the most lousy trace you'd come across on the net. :-/ The lines are not clean and there are too many minor errors. In other words, this isn't something one would sit to seriously color. But yes, I have to admit, even tracing out many images is fun. It is hard work to do it nicely and professionally, but still, it's fun :)

The next image I traced was of a Wallpaper from "Jigoku Shoujo" (or Hell Girl).

Original Wallpaper of Enma Ai.

My (well) traced version. It's PNG. You can download and try coloring it yourself if you want ;)

In this trace, I specially tried to make sure the lines were cleanly done and that it was colorable. The complete tracing process alone took me about 3 hours, and the hairs were the toughest thing I had to tackle in this wallpaper. I even tried to color it, but then I was stumped when I had to do a background and work on highlights... -___- Copying things is turning out to be pretty hard work, I can only imagine how difficult it is going for me to make my own original creations... but I'm actually looking forward to that challenge.

The only trace that I've managed to color myself is this one. Also right now, I've traced an image of Belladandy and her two sisters (from the series Oh! My Goddess). I've already done the base coloring, but because I had some greeting cards to make for my friends upon their request, I couldn't quiet pick it up to completion. But I will complete it and post it on my blog :D

Belladandy and Her two sisters. More about them later. Color them if you want ;)

Yet another Tag

I've been again tagged... this time by ChocolateLover. Here goes another tag... :)

*My favourites*

Food: Anything Non-Veg, I don't mind Spicy food, but am more inclined to simple and bland taste.
Colour: Green and Orange
Sports: -__- errm... lets see... I did play basket ball in middle school and some cricket at a park nearby when I was in highschool.
Dessert: :D Cakes, Souffles, ice creams, Malpuas, Burfis, jelly, shakes, and what not :D :D :D I love sweets xD
Artist/Singer/Brand: I'll actually write a 100 page essay on this one day.
Pair of shoes: Anything that's comfortable
Outfit: T-Shirt/half shirt and shorts. For outside wear, I usually wear Cargo and T-Shirt/Shirts. I sometimes wear jeans too.
Accessory: Just a silver necklace with an american diamond that my mom forces me to wear as a protection charm. Sometimes my wrist watch.
Fav place: A quiet place, normally a roof or a coffee shop.
Hobbies: Playing and learning music, drawing, sketching, writing, and sometimes going over random topics in an encyclopedia.
Beauty product: Just one soap and a deodorant... and a hair shampoo... if all these count... :-/
Snacks: Hmm... I prefer something like Chaat.
Movies: Comedy, Action, Thriller.

-Q.E.D-

I am tagging:
Was I suppose to tag as well?? If you find this interesting then please help yourself to this tag and play along. :)

5 Weeks Later...

I originally wrote this as a facebook note. Here it is, in blogger where it should really be. Somehow, I don't like the Facebook notes thing. :-/ I have just copied and pasted the whole thing. Just remember while reading this, that this was originally written on May 10, 2011. This is the date that actually came 5 weeks later...

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For the past 5 or so weeks, I've been giving 15 to 20 minutes daily trying to "Cel shade" a Sketch. The sketch isn't entirely my own original creation. I was watching the opening sequence of some animated series (it was "AIR"). I came across a scene where a girl was spreading out her arms. I took a snapshot and then decided to remake this in my way...

TV Original

Yes... easier said than done... specially by a guy who still isn't comfortable with digital inking and coloring...
Nonetheless, I accepted this challenge I put myself through... and then traced out the girl and the birds... or some birds... I couldn't do all of them... using Adobe Illustrator. I finally had this.

Traced in Adobe Illustrator

Things going nicely so far. But then I realized how difficult coloring was. I had to read and learn a lot of theory (yes... UPTU grade theory) on coloring, mixing and cel shading. I tried applying it on this outline, and somehow, it worked.
Many Many days later, I finally had this.

Colored version 1

But I realized the hair was too flat. On comparing with the Original, I find that I haven't outlined the hairs properly... :-/ It's an ultimate proof of either my carelessness or laziness... oh well... I draw the outlines in photoshop itself (instead of Illustrator) My untidy and unstable work is evident now...

Colored version with messy hair outlines...

Upto this point, I was coaxing myself for not being good enough with coloring and sketching. I told myself that cel shading is difficult and needs hard work... But what I found really really difficult and time consuming was the background. It's not easy to paint clouds realistically and above all - Beautifully. I had a lot of problems doing the clouds. I mostly copied the pattern of the original image. But this drove me nuts... Still I was able to make something.

My Final Version with these... umm... clouds.

I've done even a more lousy job with the background. The colors are out of control... the "Glare" effect is done badly... and the clouds look so... so... errmm... I don't even have the proper word to describe it's incompleteness or unrealism.

To conclude this note, I think I've learnt many new things in Photoshop and Illustrator alike, but above all... I realized I've a long way to go before I even dream of becoming a pro in digital arts... :-/
5 Weeks later... I feel morbidly discouraged... T__T

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And thus, this concludes what I posted on facebook a long time ago. Well, this was my first attempt at coloring a complete frame myself. It was hard work...

P.S. - Yes, despite my negative post on Facebook, I did receive a lot of encouragement. Thus, I'm now in lookout for some more interesting frames that i can remake... :D

Tags

I so wanted to brag about my Drawing Pad and the stuff I draw with it... but it seems I've been tagged by Ayu... so for now, I'll play along with this one.

RULES:

• Each tagged person must post ten things about themselves
• You have to choose and tag ten people
• Go to their blogs and tell them you tagged them
• No tags back
• Have fun

Ten Things About Me

1. I don't spend too much time grooming myself. Thus I always have a sloppy looking face.
2. I like sweets. Lots of them. Can't live without them.
3. That said, I also like to eat... good food. I go to restaurants, dhabas, stalls, malls, etc from time to time just to satisfy my taste buds with some new taste each time.

4. I'm mostly a cool minded guy, I don't get angry too easily. However 5 to 6 years ago, I was short tempered... very short tempered.
5. I'm brutally honest. This is to my disadvantage mostly.
6. I like to jot down my dreams in my diary from time to time
7. I'm addicted to anime. Much better than people addicted to cigarettes and alcohol and what not...
8. Absentminded.
9. I do suffer from periodic hits of inferiority complex... but that's just me. Thanks to the students living next to my flat, I get over with it soon enough. :)
10. My mind is more Creative than Analytical... and I have a bad Memory. :/

Ten People I Wanna Tag

Now, I don't have 10 people to tag... I don't follow that many blogs (partially due to my laziness and partially due to the amount of time)

I'll still tag as many as I can... Alphabetically :)

1)  @$|-| (Ash... or however he writes it)
2) Arjit
3) Azeron
4) Chocolate Lover
5) Kyo
6) Samadrita (Also tagged by Ayu)
7) Tharangi (Also tagged by Ayu)

P.S - Hmm... I guess the habit of adding a P.S at the end of each blog post has now become a dangerous habit...

The Painter and The Photographer

Here is a render of what might look like sunrise on mars. Even though I added this as my status on Facebook 2 months ago, but what I didn't put on Facebook (mostly because of the public that would fail to comprehend) was a story behind this picture. Well, all my graphic or musical creations have a story with them.

A sunrise on "The God of War"

It was pretty silent. The darkness outside wasn't uplifting him either. However, he waited because he needed to burn the image of sunrise into his head. Unlike his partner who would do the same on his Camera. It annoyed him. He looked by his side. All his painting kit was intact.

About 1 hour later, the color of the sky started changing. His brother kicked him, "Get Ready!" and then prepared his Camera. He too jumped up from his seat and started rubbing his eyes hoping to clear of the slumber he was in a few seconds ago. As the colors brightened outside, the painter had already drawn the outlines of his scene. The Photographer was further ahead making strange poses. The painter wondered to himself... 'these Camera guys lack imagination.' The clouds started covering the horizon, much to the painter's annoyance and to the Camera man's delight.

But what was amazing was when they looked at each others results in the afternoon. The Painter thought the pictures turned out better than his painting. And the Camera man thought that his painting had more depth than his pictures. Being egoistic pigs that they were, neither accepted this fact openly but kept their secret admiration to the other's work within themselves.

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P.S - Ah... well... or so was the story. I imagined myself as the painter though :P And I've put the so called "Painting" up now...