86 replies to this topic

[Minami Kaori]

Hi Everyone!

I decided to open a new art thread, because the old one got very cluttered and full of non-art related posts.

Now that we know a lot more about GW2 and the looks of everything, I'll be concentrating all my Guild Wars related art stuff on GW2, and stopping anything GW1.

I'll still post the occasional off-topic, non-GW related picture, since I like to do that and I've gotten some really nice feedback on those as well.

To start things off, I'll put some of my pictures here in the opening thread, starting with my latest, and going backwards. I'm also gonna group the pics according to what they are: GW2, GW1, and Miscellaneous.

My tools of trade are:

3D: Sculptris, ZBrush, DAZ Studio
Digital Drawing: Photoshop CS5E, Easy Paint Tool SAI
Sketching: Sketch Club app for iPad

Drawing tablet: Wacom Intuos 4 M

I'm also gonna create some headers for this thread eventually, try to make it look a bit prettier.

If you want to see any of the pics bigger, click on them.

On this note, here are some of my artworks:

GUILD WARS 2
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Damn, this took me all day O_o
I will NOT draw another golem anytime soon, this one took ages xD

The background is a screenshot of the game with a ridiculous amount of filters applied. I couldn't be bothered ti draw a background, that's a whole other issue I need to tackle someday.

My Asura's clothes were a pain, I had to go back and forth a LOT between my reference shot and my drawing because of the pattern on the coat.

Unfortunately I am noticing that I'm gravitating back towards smoothness and blending things as close to 3D as I can. Not good! But it's difficult to draw such a tiny Asura and such intricate lines on a golem with broad strokes.

In any case, I hope you enjoy!

Next up will be my Sylvari again, but this time, no glow. :3



My female Charr Warrior.

Worked many hours on my Charr today. I started the Sylvari guy last night, so I had a lot of time to devote to her. I kind of like that I don't have to get every line perfectly in place. WHat a liberty! xD Still, difficult not to get bogged down on details, but I'm getting better at it.
I didn't want to draw the starter armor, it looks weird on my girl. Looking forward to drawing the race specific armors eventually!
Can you see that she's a girl?



My Sylvari Elementalist, just completed this one today.
I am currently trying to get away from the perfect smoothness of 3D renders, because it doesn't translate well to digital drawing in my style. Instead, I'm trying to make myself accept rougher lines, visible brush strokes, and imperfect blending.

Here is the below Sylvari in glowy action (bear with me, my very first attempt at any kind of animation)



Non-glowy Sylvari pic here:

Two old models I did a while ago, this is how I imagined the Asura

WORK IN PROGRESS
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Steampunk Engineer

GUILD WARS 1
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Commission: Alacrity Deathpixie

Commission: Hailfall

2010 Halloween Art Contest Entry
Minami and Razah: The Secret

2009 Wintersday Art Contest
The Gift

COSPLAY
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I did a Snow and Winter themed Guild Wars Ritualist cosplay for the 2010 Wintersday Art Contest

3D & Miscellaneous Arts
--------------------------------------------------------

Picture of me singing at the Sweden Rock Festival, 2012.

Edited by Minami Kaori, 30 July 2012 - 04:41 AM.

[Brian_uatas]

Very nice! what programs do you use. photoshop I presume? corel painter?

[Minami Kaori]

Oh I should update the main topic with that info
I use several programs.

For 3D I use Sculptris, ZBrush, DAZ Studio.
For digital drawing I use Photoshop CS5E, Easy Paint Tool SAI
For sketching I use Sketch Club app for iPad.

I use a Wacom Intuos 4 M tablet


I totally forgot to /reserve/ a post here in case I hit the post length limit. So I'll do that here

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So most of my Miscellaneous section got snipped off

Here it is!

This image was on the short list for Expose 10, putting me in the top 1000 best digital artists in the world *is proud*

I like doing Fractals too

Random sad plushie toy picture

Artsy photo of one of kitties, Benji

Photo of our other kitty, Hans.
He has this "What are you bothering me for?" look

Kind of old scenery picture in 3D. I quite like this, render time was insane

Really old 3D portrait, "Masquerade".

Chibi time! Milk & Cookies collab

Edited by Minami Kaori, 28 July 2012 - 05:20 AM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Minami Kaori, on 28 July 2012 - 02:49 AM, said:

stopping anything GW1.

Noooooooooo!


Love the sylvari and steampunk engineer. Makes me want to request a commission of my sylvari. (But Qvi already accepted the job so <3).

Also wow @ the sweden rock festival picture... both your looks and the outfit look absolutely amazing. o.o Much <3

[Minami Kaori]

@Konig: Thanks
Yeah I want to concentrate on GW2, and I don't really need any funds for GW1 anymore
If you want another Sylvari picture eventually, keep an eye out for when I open for commissions.
I do want to practice drawing some more, before I start taking on any.

[Konig Des Todes]

You can practice by drawing others' characters.

[Minami Kaori]

@Konig: Nah, I wouldn't feel right charging people for what I'd consider to be practice drawings LOL
Unless someone specifically wants xD

I'm trying to draw my female Charr right now. Going a bit slow.
After that, I'm gonna attempt my female Asura. We'll see how it all turns out

Oh damn, I just noticed that most of my miscellaneous pictures are gone O_o
*goes to fix*

Updated my second post with the rest of the Miscellaneous section. *grin*

EDIT: Uploaded my Charr

Edited by Minami Kaori, 28 July 2012 - 06:14 AM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Most folks do free, tips, or very cheep commissions for practice work. Depending on pricing, I wouldn't mind allowing you to practice with my characters.

[CKABEH 3BEPOB]

Very nice 3d artwork, looks professional, definitely. I also like the cosplay, as well as singing pic lol. Fellow artist/musician here
Do you have also DA account, or i have it already?

[Arava]

I love your work <3
Your Charr and Sylvari are amazing! And yes, you can tell it's a girl
If you want to do a "practice drawing" on my sylvari let me know - I would be honored and very very happy.
Either way, I'll definitely keep an eye on your thread here!

[Baktwerel]

I really love your charr warrior and sylvari elementalist, both of them look awesome Especially the colours of your sylvari *w* Gorgeous ~

[Minami Kaori]

@Konig: Ah, that makes sense! Once I feel good enough about my drawings of my own characters, I'll take on other people's for fun.

@CKABEH: Thank you :3 I've been doing 3D for about 5-6 years now. Music/singing for 10 years. I do have a dA account, it's liviazita.deviantart.com . I think I just added you to my watch list a couple of days ago actually.

@Arava: Thanks so much! Glad that you can tell she's a girl =) Tried to make her features a lot more delicate than the males, even though she's a tough warrior! I'd be glad to do a practice drawing for you, once I'm happy with how my own characters look in regards to style and feel.

@Baktwerel: Thankies This isn't my first foray into trying to draw by hand, but I always had a really tough time, because of all the 3D I do. When you start out with 3D, you get used to being able to pose easy, being able to set the lights the way you want then let the software calculate ho it's supposed to fall on everything, how nice and smooth skin looks, etc.
It's a difficult thing to get away from in terms of allowing yourself to make "mistakes", which are visible brush lines, not completely smooth character outline, flawed skin, imperfect shading/blending gradients....

Yes, I love the way my Sylvari turned out, and surprisingly, I like it more than what I could come up with for the female Sylvari.
This is the first time ever in a videogame where I'll be willingly playing a male character. =)

Today I'm working on my Asura Engineer, in my free time. I hope she will turn out as cute as I imagine her in my head. :3

Edited by Minami Kaori, 28 July 2012 - 06:10 PM.

[Arava]

Minami Kaori, on 28 July 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

@Arava: I'd be glad to do a practice drawing for you, once I'm happy with how my own characters look in regards to style and feel.

Wuhu^^
Well if you like (and are happy with your own characters ) :

[Baktwerel]

Minami Kaori, on 28 July 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

Yes, I love the way my Sylvari turned out, and surprisingly, I like it more than what I could come up with for the female Sylvari.
This is the first time ever in a videogame where I'll be willingly playing a male character. =)

I know how you feel, I usually play female characters too but in GW2 out of my 8 planned characters, 4 are males - including my main Asura necromancer ^^ Will be my first time maining a male character too :3

[TYphoon34]

For a second I was blown away because I thought this was all painted, and then I saw zbrush.

Nice work, to remove the smoothness in your 3D renders:

Download 3DS Max/Maya

Create your base mesh in 3DS Max/Maya

Transport your base mesh into zBrush

From zbrush, sculpt out a model to bake a normal map

Apply normal map into the bump slot of the texture

Render.

You can also use some specular maps, and A/O Passes if you really wanted to get crazy.

Good luck.

EDIT: Are you painting directly on the renders in photoshop? You should UV map your models and paint the UVs, then apply the psd (as a jpeg) in the texture.

Edited by TYphoon34, 28 July 2012 - 10:08 PM.

[Minami Kaori]

@Baktwerel: Yay! Then you know how I feel :3 I'm all "Squeeeee, finally!"

@TYphoon34: I do use separate bump maps and sometimes even displacement maps when bump is not strong enough, but that's not really what I mean by renders being too smooth. I mean the blending of colors being too smooth. There is no organic feel, you can't see a single brush stroke anywhere. You know what I mean?

I have texture maps for the models, I don't paint directly onto them in PS. I think there's a LOT to improve on 3D model painting in Photoshop. At least in CS5 anyways

I find texture making for humans or something with a complicated pattern a pain in the ass, because of the seam fits. I hate seams LOL. I'm more than happy to use pre-made textures whenever I can

Edited by Minami Kaori, 28 July 2012 - 11:18 PM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Well Minami, when you're feeling up to practicing with others' characters, let me know. I am lacking art on my human, sylvari, and asura at the moment (having 2 for my norn and 3 for my charr )

[follymetric]

GOD DAMN.

I was thinking you modeled everything in maya/3dsMax and it all turned out fabulous...looked at daz studio...I might get daz studio now.

I have so many questions:
What percentage of textures do you make/get online?
For the Steampunk Engineer WIP, did you model any of those things? (mad props if you did, but if you didn't I wouldn't blame you.)
How is sculptris? is it pretty much zbrush?
That environment pic with the water in the 2nd post....what programs?

All your stuff is pretty awesome, keep posting!

[Minami Kaori]

@Konig: I'll keep that in mind

@follymetric: Hehe thank you Daz Studio is mostly a scene setup and render program, you can't model in it. That said, it's really awesome to use for rendering and setting up your scenarios. It uses the 3Delight to render. It's super easy to tweak all the settings for materials/textures, etc.

I get most of my texture bases from cgtextures.com , then make them tileable or do whatever is necessary to make them fit.
It's a really nice texture base, and it's completely free to use.

The steampunk picture was made with using existing 3D models. I don't have the patience to do something like that from complete scratch :3 The things used in it are mostly from the Apteromata Finery pack on daz3d.com, with Arien's textures.
I am still not happy or done with that picture, lots to do!

I like Sculptris a lot, that's what I used to make the little Asura WIP model (up in my first post, just under the Sylvari drawing).
I especially like that it's so easy to start making things in there, the only problem is that it screws with your topology something fierce LOL. What I lie to do is start a very rough model in Sculptris, then import my model over to ZBrush for further sculpting, and then retopologize (is that even a legit word? ) it if I want to.

The environment picture was made with Carrara 8 Pro (I'm not sure what edition they're on right now, I made it with 8). Render time was around a day or so, if I remember correctly.

EDIT: Updated main post with my Asura

Edited by Minami Kaori, 29 July 2012 - 06:22 PM.

[CKABEH 3BEPOB]

Minami Kaori, on 28 July 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

@CKABEH: Thank you :3 I've been doing 3D for about 5-6 years now. Music/singing for 10 years. I do have a dA account, it's liviazita.deviantart.com . I think I just added you to my watch list a couple of days ago actually.

Ah, its so perfect timing Watched and followed, i would love to see more work! Nice to meet you!

[Minami Kaori]

@CKABEH: Thanks! Nice to meet you as well


I realized that I should probably make a new post when I upload a new pic *grin*

So here's my Asura pic with the same description as above

Damn, this took me all day O_o
I will NOT draw another golem anytime soon, this one took ages xD

The background is a screenshot of the game with a ridiculous amount of filters applied. I couldn't be bothered ti draw a background, that's a whole other issue I need to tackle someday.

My Asura's clothes were a pain, I had to go back and forth a LOT between my reference shot and my drawing because of the pattern on the coat.

Unfortunately I am noticing that I'm gravitating back towards smoothness and blending things as close to 3D as I can. Not good! But it's difficult to draw such a tiny Asura and such intricate lines on a golem with broad strokes.

In any case, I hope you enjoy!

Next up will be my Sylvari again, but this time, no glow. :3

As always, please click for full size and details =)

[Doctor Overlord]

Hooray! The 3D Master is back.  Good to see you posting again in the Library Minami!  

I'm still fiddling around with DAZ but I end up with half complete stuff all the time.   Maybe I get inspired by your stuff and eventually finish

Cool new artwork.  And great kitty pics, those are beautiful felines.

I didn't know you sing too

Edited by Doctor Overlord, 29 July 2012 - 08:20 PM.

[Minami Kaori]

@Overlord: Thanks! 3D master, HA! I'm not THAT good xD
It's a lot easier to stay inspired by GW2 now when it's actually really for sure coming out xD So I probably won't go all AWOL on everyone again

Post some stuff that you make in DAZ, it'd be cool to see!

Thanks for the compliment on the kitties, they are super awesome boys. Love em to pieces

Yep I sing too, that's my main "job". =) I love it too, it's a lot of fun and very interesting too.
Hrmph, I should post a couple of YouTube links maybe.





That's it, if anyone wants know more, look it up. xD I come here for drawy arts and GW2 xD

EDIT (just cause I know this will add this to my last post) :
Updated first post with an "animated glow" Sylvari. Put the non-glowy Sylvari under a spoiler tab.
My first try at animating anything, so excuse it :3

Edited by Minami Kaori, 30 July 2012 - 04:42 AM.

[Konig Des Todes]

Holy... Hell... That voice... beautiful.

Minami, you're a talent hoarder, aren't you? Good looks, good voice, good fashion, good art. Is there something you're not good at? At this point, I'm finding it unlikely. :I

[Minami Kaori]

@Koenig:  Haha thanks *grin* I really like doing artsy things, and I share my attention among a lot of things. There are several things I want to try in the near future, among them is polymer clay mini-scultping (think of those teeny-tiny cake slices, for instance), and Acrylic Painting are the ones I want to do soonest.

Right now I'm also doing embroidery on a pair of pants, with traditional Hungarian "Kalocsai" pattern.

Anyone wants a photo of that?


EDIT: Gah I forgot to put the glowy Sylvari into a post again -.-
I have to get used to this LOL

EDIT2: I'm putting this under a spoil tab, because of it slowing down my thread loading. *grin*

Edited by Minami Kaori, 30 July 2012 - 09:09 PM.

[Lumi]

*o* wow, I can't believe those aren't screenshots!

Very nice work, Minami.

[Minami Kaori]

Lumi, on 30 July 2012 - 09:00 PM, said:

*o* wow, I can't believe those aren't screenshots!

Very nice work, Minami.

Thank you

I did use screenshot references, and followed it very closely (not a tracing though). I don't feel like I'm good enough to get all proportions right without a reference. Another "curse" of being a 3D artist, too often I just rely on the anatomical accuracy of the model I use, and don't pay attention to any of it because it is not necessary in that case.

I'm hoping to get better and better at it, and eventually be able to draw without having to rely so closely on a reference screenshot.

[Doctor Overlord]

Konig Des Todes, on 30 July 2012 - 01:00 AM, said:

Holy... Hell... That voice... beautiful.

Minami, you're a talent hoarder, aren't you? Good looks, good voice, good fashion, good art. Is there something you're not good at? At this point, I'm finding it unlikely. :I

She's probably an awesome PvPer too

[Minami Kaori]

Doctor Overlord, on 30 July 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

She's probably an awesome PvPer too

I like to think I'm pretty good at PvP, but I like to play PvE quite a bit more.

[Thalador]

...


Sorry, it took me this long to collect the shattered pieces of my jaw and fput them back together...

So yeah, I'd probably say the very same stuff (OMG, gorgeous, fantastic, etc.) the others have already said, thus just a couple of notes:

- The glowing sylvari pic = wonderful. I remember how psyched I was when I found out during this beta that they glow in dark. Wish they glowed in dark caverns and underground places, too.

- All the 3D pics: I really hope I'll get enough gold to have one of my characters done in that style.

- Cats! <3

- The Ritualist costume & the Swedish rock concert: breathtaking O_O

- The 2 songs: believe it or not, for a moment I thought you were the real songstress from Nightwish and you were just too humble of not outright saying, lol. Epic tracks, btw.

- I still have no art of any of my characters (not even the GW1 ones). Guy who I comissioned disappeared and hadn't been online for a month now. So... I'm also "volunteering" them for your practicing.

- Really interested in the Kalocsai-style pants you are doing. Not my style at all (and couldn't really spot the difference between it and other embroidery of different counties here), but being Hungarian it's funny when foreign people know so much about such small things.