Under a night sky

Copyrights, Selenium Glow :) (This image is the intro image.)

Do you believe in fantasies?
Do you believe that your dreams are a part of your own soul?
Do you believe that your dreams are a display of what your soul desires?
Do you believe that your dreams are a fallacy of god, an error that enables you to see through the fabric of space and time surrounding us?
Do you believe?
Or are you the kind that can never believe... not even themselves.

It is execptionally dark. Usually in cities, no corner escapes the bright night life of the civilization that is at it's peak.
But, just like a cloud with a silver lining, a city too has it's dark spots.
It's execptionally dark. She breaths the cold winter air. It's so cold that she wouldn\'t have inhaled it if she had an option.
But she had no option. She had to inhale. She had to breath the air to live. But why did she want to live? The only answer she could think was...

"Because I have no other option eh?"

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Or so what I wrote on the intro of the VN I was programming. That has now come to a hold as I now have to take my job training seriously... -__-;

The moonlit sky image is what I made using that clouds brushes that I posted about last time. The Moon is taken from a photograph that my brother took of the night sky some time back. :)

I'll have less and less due to training and what not (miss my manga/anime T__T ) time but I'll try to keep posting here.

P.S - Oh. Yes, I liked the new draft.blogger page. It's very new and refreshing. :) Did you fellow blogger like it as well?

Clouds n Stuff

Well, long long time ago, I tried to make clouds using Photoshop. I thought it would be hard, so I tried to make some using 3D software. Not an easy task either. So?

So, I give up temporarily and decide to do some outdoor observation. After quiet a lot of sky gazing, I downloaded some tutorials on how to make clouds. I also downloaded some plugin for my 3D software which would allow me to make clouds. I tried the 3D software first. and the results weren't something I was happy with. :-/  Well, these two were what I came out with. Later, I would realize that the technique I used to make the clouds wasn't the best, and the actual technique I needed to used meant that I had to wait 20 minutes for one frame to render into an image that you see below. Ah! I realize I need a faster computer...

The first trial to make Clouds in 3D software. That obelisk is just to add some subject to the image...

This is the second trial. This time I tried playing the the position of the sun and some color effects for the obelisk.

Well, then I downloaded some tutorials to make clouds on Photoshop. Once again not an easy task if you lack patience. I tried to follow the tutorial and finally came up with this image.

Made using the original tutorial. No shortcuts used while making this one. It's completely from scratch.

But I realized that patience is something that few people have. Sadly, I'm not in that few... -__-;;
So, I Google, and find that there are some preset cloud brushes/textures available for download, that can be used with Photoshop to make some quick but good looking clouds. So, I download all that I could, and then create a new image. My first trial (without using layers or effects) at using these presets gave me this image.

Created in under 7 minutes using Photoshop.

Well, looks very impressive ne? Even if there isn't any bit of realism, even than it's very pleasant looking to my eyes. As long as something looks good, people will rarely question the amount of realism in it. As I wrote this blog, I created a night scene (again unrealistic) with lots of stars and stuff and a full moon. But I made that image while programming a visual novel... so I'll post that later.

Until then, Ciao. :)

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Photoshop brushes used in the last image are credited to the following.

1) leboef.deviantart.com
2) Milinda Design - www.milinda.eu

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

Hiatus?

Long long time ago, I said I will never rant about any of my personal problems in my blog.

Today, I won't rant as well :P

Well. I haven't posted anything on my blog since December (which I don't know is a long time or not... ) but the only reason (and it's valid as well) was because my final semester kept me more preoccupied than I thought it would. Well, now all that is over, and once again in 5 years I'm at a cross road in my life. Even though I have decided which path I want to finally take, there is always this insecurity about oneself that make you look back at the other turns of life and wonder... "Is this the right way?"

For starters, let me tell you what I've been doing these last 6 months...

1) Learning - Lots of Graphics Software. From 3D modelling and animation suits to (so called simple) stuff like Photoshop and Illustrator.
2) Planning - My way ahead in life... It kinda sucks when you realize you still have an year of two of studies left...
3) Discovering - Myself. This was probably the toughest thing I did in these 6 months. I realized that though I had potential for Electronics and stuff... I really didn't enjoy it. So, that one road of the cross road I won't take.
4) Writing - A diary. I took out that diary after some 5 or 6 years. When I read what I had written in the past, I was amazed how depressed I used to be. Sometimes I still am, but no to that level. Anyways, that diary was once again filled with some of my most negative emotions. And now that I think about it, I kinda understand why do I feel so insecure in the first place about my future... :-/
5) Drawing Pads - This time, for my birthday, I requested a Stylus/Drawing Pad that I could use for cell shading and sketching directly to my computer. IT'S FUN :D :D :D

Well, that sums up. I haven't really given up or dropped my music domain yet. But it's true I'm not making too many tunes now... I'm now more focussed on my Graphic Skill, something that I've genuinely begun to enjoy doing now :)
I hope to make wonderful things that I can post in this blog... but for now, I'll only be able to post my trials, experiments and mistakes... :-/

P.S - Ah. I forgot to mention. The new background in my Blog is the fruit of my new skills in Photoshop :) This (Unnamed) Blue Planet has been made from scratch thanks to a wonderful tutorial available on the internet.