Recovered

Remember that Twilight meets 30 Days of Night painting I never finished? Well, I finished it after I finally remembered why I stopped working on it. Those stupid reasons hav ceased to matter, so here it is, WIPs and all!

Just floating heads and a hand that isn't really attached to anything. Charming!

Here's where I left off...

...and here's where I picked it up again. Added background, more hair and a jacket.
Fixed some minor anatomical/perspective/compositional issues as well.

Beard!

And done! Refined things here and there, and worked on his hand and their hair.
Hands and hair are some of the most difficult things to paint. Good references and decent tutorials are key!
More on this laterz.

Tattersail, signing off.

Lost No.: 2

This one is not so much lost as completly neglected...For years! I remember spending quite a lot of time on this drawing, pouring over all the little mechanical details, looking at countless references, consulting with a book I'd just bought in New York, entitled How to Draw Robots or some such. I never draw mechanical stuff, mostly because I have little to no understanding of how things actually work, and because I can't draw a straight line to save my life! So why I decided on this particular theme for a drawing, is beyond me. It might have been after watching I, Robot...Also, I had to use my newly purchased book for something. Otherwise it would just be money wasted. I still think the concept is pretty cool, though. But I think it needs more mechanical stuff...yes, MOAR! Cog wheels, pulleys, hamster-powered lazurs and whatnot.

Anywho.

What's this? I see feet!

 - Tattersail, signing off.

Step-by-Step No. 1

This is a painting I've returned to three times, and each time I've painted it differently. There's just something about it that won't let go of me. I can already feel it calling to me, willing me to return a fourth time and paint it again. I suspect I shall succumb to this particular siren's call. Hey, what can I say? I'm only a weak fleshling.

So, to the painting in question. This is the first version from somewhere back in 2005. Notice the almost total lack of digital tampering. This is what most of my stuff looked like back then...In my n00b years. I hadn't yet procured my trusty Wacom Intuos 3, nor did I have Photoshop at that time. Also, I was in love with the Smudge-tool.

Couldn't draw feet properly, so I just gave her paws instead.
I do that, A LOT.

In 2008 I returned to the drawing and re-did it in my style at the time. Obviously, I was a big fan of purple back then. The painting is basically the same as the original drawing, with some minor alterations to the buildings in the background. her hair and wings. The pose, the dress, the clouds are all the same. The major difference is, of course, the palette and the amount of digital work put in it. As far as I recall, this was one hundred per cent Photoshop.

Still couldn't get the feet right.

Then in 2010 I re-returned. Mainly because of a contest at Deviantart, where you were supposed to re-do the first submission to your gallery. This was mine. But I'd been itchin' to go back to it for awhile, so the contest suited me fine. Didn't win, though. Didn't even place. You get used to that after a while. No matter how good you are, there will always be someone out there who's better than you.

The third time I decided to start completely from scratch, and only use the original as an inspiration for the new painting. The basic idea and composition is still very much the same.

Initial sketch! I like to use blue on a darker background for this.
All my digital sketches look more or less like this.

Blocking in basic colours. I keep everything
relatively loose at this stage, as I might change my mind
and scrap the palette.

Shading, yay! One of my favourite things with a painting;
seeing how things gain a shape, simply by adding lighter and darker colours
here and there.

The dress is starting to come along.
Can't have her running around naked!

And now the dress isn't seethrough anymore either!
But those white eyes are creepy...

You might have noticed by now, my shadows are quite colourful.
I never use just a darker version of the midtone (or gods forbid! grey or black) to shade, not after having
been taught better by the likes of Martha Dhalig and Lauren K. Cannon.

And voila, done! I kept most of the clouds
and colour scheme from the original drawing,
because I felt it worked, and because I love pink, fluffy clouds.

The original inspiration for this painting was the new Peter Pan movie, and a perfume commercial, I think. Stay tuned for version 4!


  -Tattersail, signing off.

Holy Ambition, Batman!

This is a painting I'm currently working. A collab between me and a friend, whose name for now is Corporal Nobbs. You can see his stuff here http://luktarig.deviantart.com/.

The whole thing started off so simple and easy. We decided to do a collab (we've done one before and it was a HUGE success. More on that later.), and chose a scene from a book called Dust of Dreams, which is the ninth book in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen-series (google it, as I'll be mentioning him A LOT!). Oh, how quickly things spiralled out of control. Well, let me just show you what I mean.

This is the intitial sketch. Doesn't seem so bad, right?

Oh, things just a got a little more complex, didn't they?

Expanded the canvas and added more people. The painting needed more people in it.
Some seem to have disappeared, though.

What's this? More things?! The flying things are wyvals,
and the big lizards are K'Chain Nahruk. Vicious and highly intelligent beasts.
White squiggly lines and brown blotches are humans. You'll see :P

Yes, definitely more things. And we now have an exploding
head. SWEET!

Holy Crap, this is really starting to look like something! The Corporal
has really worked his derriere off lately. Hats off to him! Also, 98 characters
so far, in the painting. 98!!

So far we've spent countless months painting stuff, sending the painting back and forth, removing things, adding things, discussing, procrastinating and furiously jotting down lines and blocking in colours whenever Inspirtaion or Time has been our friend. I daresay there's still many more months left before it is finished. I shall keep you posted.


  -Tattersail, signing off.

Lost No.: 1

I must admit, somewhat shamefully, that I was bitten by the Twilight-bug. And, inspired by the story of eternal love between human and vampire I started a painting. But instead of Blankface Stewart and Sparklyboy Pattinson, I chose a Norwegian actress named Maria Bonnevie, and the Stranger from 30 Days of Night. Don't know why I never finished it. I just let it lie for a while, and then never returned. I was probably distracted by something shiny.

Well, hello there. I don't believe I've seen you around these parts before.

I believe some introductions are in order. I'm Tattersail. If you've read any Steven Erikson you'll recognize the name. No relation, or resemblance to, however. And you are? Ah, lovely. I'm sure making your acquaintance will be an absolute delight!

 I'm a sorta artist and an aspring writer. I draw and paint, mostly digitally and mostly Malazan Book of the Fallen-related stuff, which is awesome, btw. I also write, but I haven't been published yet. I'm working on two separate trilogies, and inbetween I write short-stories and godawful poetry. You think Vogon poetry is bad? Bah! Stay tuned.

Most of the artz wind up in my gallery at Deviantart, which you may peruse at your own peril:
http://tattersail.deviantart.com/gallery/

But the road to my gallery is long and perilous, and many paintings and drawings are lost along the way. Most of them are discarded because I simply lose interest, or inspiration, and some are abandoned because my skills do not match my ambitions (oh, how grand they are!). I decided to dedicate a space to these brave paintings and drawings (and stories and poems...oh noes!), so that someday someone might see them...I think they'd like that.

Ah, yes. The road to a finished piece is indeed long, longer than you might think. Fortunately for you, I like to document my progress, from early sketches to completed works. I'll be putting them all in here. It'll be fun, and interesting, I promise!
This way I'll get to showcase some paintings I'm currently working on, that may never see the light of day otherwise.
You see, Time and Inspiration are fickle friends, who never want to hang out at the same time. I dunno why, maybe Time tried to poach Inspiration's boyfriend or something...who knows? Could be they both wore the same outfit at the same time. Nobody likes that.

Inbetween previous failures and possible failures-to-be, there'll be visits form Inspiration, and her friends Reference and Tutorial... oh, and cupcakes. And quite possibly a sloth or two. Gotta love those sloths!

So, stick around. Maybe you'll learn something... Probably how not to do things.


 - Tattersail, signing off.