Exploring more painterly styles

Many years ago in college, I used to paint and draw in a variety of styles to explore new techniques. As I became more focused on my comics (before I hurt my hand and had to go on hiatus that is), I pretty much only drew lineart heavy works. Lineart is nice and consistent for making comics so the more comics I drew, the more I got used to styles that rely on lineart. Looking at some of my more recent works, I realized how stagnant my styles have become. 

So for 2018, I've decided to practice more painterly styles for my stand alone illustrations. My comics will still remain the same lineart style for consistency, but I'm excited to explore new painting techniques again :D

One of the tests, just a character bust, but with a focus on brush strokes instead of lines.

The above is inspired by my trip to the Fushimi Inari in Kyoto Japan. I was exploring the winding paths with my SO at midnight when we came across an old man walking 3 shrine cats. The cats followed him and stopped and sat in a roll when he held up his hands. He let us take some photos :) It was truly magical, the cat whisperer!  

And my latest test with brushes, I decided to paint the Falcon Heavy Launch by Space X. There were so many amazing photos capturing the awe inspiring power of the launch that became the inspiration for this painting. I wanted to capture how much this launch inspired future generations to aspire towards space. 

And yes, I know she would be dead if she actually stood that close, this is metaphorical about inspiring the next generation, not incinerating them lol

Getting back into those cyberpunk colors

I started the webcomic Fisheye Placebo many years ago and had to stop due to hand pain. For the last few years I've been working with an amazing team of 3D artists to help me continue my comic by using 3D models as bases to quickly paint over. As we get closer to finishing preparing all the models needed for the comic, I've been excitedly testing them out. During my hiatus I did a few illustrations here and there, usually to do with nature and has some pastel colors. It's really nice to jump back into this dystopian cyberpunk world of neon lights and hidden secrets. Below are some of my test paint overs to get back into the flow of creating the Fisheye Placebo world. 

The talented Sozo Maika modeled all the characters that I used to paint over. And Aversionofreality modeled all the clothes, rigged the characters, taught me how to use Blender and countless other things. With the current ease of drawing these characters, I can't believe how I got by drawing all the previous chapters by hand.... and no wonder my hand became damaged from over working back then....  but no more! 2018 will be a new beginning :)

Designing poseable paper koi made without glue or tape

I've long been fascinated with origami, paper art, and koi. Through out college I've designed poseable koi out of wood, and folded origami koi out of a single sheet of paper.

Since Feb of 2017, I've wanted to design poseable paper koi lanterns without using glue or tape. I ran into a lot of design blocks and gave up for a year. Then late Jan of 2018 I suddenly got inspiration from diy Ikea lamps. The way the lamp pieces interlock became the bases of how the koi fish's scales interlock. 

The scales are designed to hold each other together, and yet be loose enough to bend and pose the koi. The entire build is surprisingly sturdy, and I had a lot of fun playing with the fish, bending them in all directions, and throwing them around. They hold up through all my abuse. The poses hold very well, and you can hang the fish from its mouth and it won't unbend at all. 

Below are some of the current wip designs. I make the designs in Adobe Illustrator before laser cutting them out (die cutting also works). I'm still fine tuning minor details before selling diy kits in my shop. 

Yin Yang Koi swimming around each other :) 

Below is the first prototype of a butterfly koi. Butterfly koi are a type of koi with extra long fins. I love the flowing elegance of their long fins and have always wanted one. My hand for scale on how big they are. Their current size is limited by the cheap 8.5 x 11 inch plain cardstock that I cut them from. 

My SO made some RGB led lights for me to light them up! You can see the older prototypes schooling behind the butterfly koi :)

Below are even older prototypes, 2 of the first full koi I made. 

And below is even older prototype without a head and place-holder fins. I stuck a desk light into it's headless neck to test out how well it works as a lamp. 

Future plans for the designs include adding decorative colored scales that can be easily put on the koi or removed so you can customize your own koi patterns. And also getting cool metallic paper hehe :) (right now they're made from cheap, plain cardstock) I'm excited to have a whole school of them swimming around the house and all light up. With the right programming, the entire school of fish can light up in synchronized patterns. The future is bright with koi light!