Tuesday, August 16, 2005

   MY SITE
ATTENTION!!!!! I have finally finished my site. Come and check it out, although its still a work in progress but I think it looks pretty good.

www.anngelik.com

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Sunday, May 29, 2005

   Drawing and Shading Tutorial
People have asked me how I can shade like that and if I can teach them how...well I'll try...I mainly use a 6B pencil but I notice that I tend to push pretty hard so the lines of my mistakes can show up rather well so to limit the chore of using photoshop and taking those indented lines I started using an HB or 2B pencil to just sketch out the image lightly, rough sketch as you can see in my gallery the pic "Determination Process". I show the rough sketch then using the 6B pencil I fill in what needs to be shaded. The thing is to not be afraid to go dark, to many people are scared to use dark shading. I also use an eraserstick...which you can get at any art store, its an eraser that looks like a pencil and has a brush at the other end to sweep away eraser shavings...I found that if you go over the black with it, the black will get darker and get a fine gloss on it...thats how its REALLY goes black....you should get one and try it, you'll see what I mean. I also use a shade stick...but hardly ever use it. If you have any other questions...let me know. Here is a pic of my tools that I use.....
DRAWING
When I do the really detailed drawings I try not to do it all in one day or at least not straight through, I learned that if you get to a frustrating part its best to leave it for a moment and come back to it later, helps refresh the creative side of the brain. And you have to know when to STOP. Sometimes its best to just say done than keep working on the project.
Try to put something as your main focus, I really like eyes because to me they are the windows to the soul, that’s why I try to portray them with depth and give the character more “life”. Plus it gives the character focus and the person viewing it something to focus on. The same concept for any part of a picture…just pick a point to focus on, what you would think as the most important part of the piece such as eyes, hands….whatever you choose..
I guess I've just learned how to understand the shapes of things. Say I look at the picture of Kagome, I try to start with the eyes and work my way out, I use them as an anchor if you know what I mean, that way I can place everything in the right spot. I also try to look at things differently than what they really are. I see the eyes or nose or whatever, not as JUST a nose, or an eye...etc. I look at it as circle, circle, and oval. THAT, is an eye, it is easier to draw more complex things that way. Its hard to draw an eye, its easy to draw 2 circles and an oval. Do you see what I'm getting at? Try to break down the hard complex objects into their most basic form, circles, triangles, ovals, squares…etc.
SHADING
I’ll try to explain my shading technique though remember that everyone has their own views and techniques. First rule of mine is DO NOT…I repeat…DO NOT be afraid to go dark or black even. So many people are afraid of shading dark….you have to think in reality shade is dark, right. When I shade I try to use the shading as the outline…like in the inuyasha “hands” drawing, I tried to use the shading to define the hands…not a harsh outline separating the hand from the clothes. I try to do that at least to a point with all of my drawings but of course sometimes I do not, just depends on the pic. I use an eraser a LOT, that’s how I really blend it together, I use a white eraser to make the areas on the pic extra bright, erasing enough pencil to show highlights. I found that if I use an eraser stick going lightly…not to hard to erase, the eraser will blend the pencil together and make it have a high gloss and make it darker because it fills in all the groves in the paper, that’s really how I get that black look with a pencil. I never use charcoal…NEVER or pen. I also use a shading stick to blend the light shading so it looks like its all flowing together, erasing just enough in the really light areas to bring those out more. Now on the concept of understanding where to shade…..before I started drawing anime, I drew portraits of celebrities and friends, real people. I decided to try and shade the anime like the character was a real person, so I take the shading from the real object and apply it to the anime, you can do that with any type of anime or part…faces, hands, bodies, clothes. Just look at the real world and think how it might look converted to anime style.

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Monday, May 9, 2005

   UPCOMING WORKS
I have had many requests for certain characters and people asking me what I'm going to do next soooo...I made a list.
Some I have done before, but I'm doing again because I didn't really like the last pics.

After doing many Fruits Basket characters in a row, I kind of got burnt out...but dont worry I am planning on doing more, I was just inspired to draw another Inuyasha Kagome pic and I had to go with it.
1. Inuyasha & Kagome - You will like this one, I gaurantee it.
2. Hatori Sohma
3. Ayame Sohma
4. Miroku & Sango - more intimate pose
I'll keep adding and subtracting to the list as each work gets finished.
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Saturday, February 5, 2005

   Nude or Hentai or Enlightenment
My thoughts on a touchy subject, now keep in mind, I am 25 years old and married. So my views maybe different from others on this site.
I feel sorry for those who have hentai thoughts when they see a "revealing" photo or image and CRITICIZE others for thinking it as well, not to be mean but you wouldn't understand unless you were a true artist, the body whether it be anime or real isn't something to criticize...do you think that the famous sculpture of David is to revealing or many other historical art pieces? This comment is more of an enlightenment to anyone who wants to be enlightened...not meant to directly offend anyone. Is it wrong to like the revealing images? Should we as human beings feel almost threatened by it? Isn't it silly to think so? Thats what free will, free choice is..isn't it?
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