It was about time I created some new artwork. This time, an anime style school girl; A design I thought might work well as on a T-shirt or Art print with appeal to fans of Japanese anime and video games. I needed an object or symbol floating between her hands in the middle to denote a video game theme. A '1-up' mushroom (an in-game asset granting 1 extra life as originally seen in the Super Mario games) was added. The piece then gained the title 'Get a Life'! To start with, here's some progress images explaining the process.

Digital Sketching

The digital sketch was created to begin with. As with other recent works, I'd use multiple colours to separate out different parts of the image. This makes its easier for me to read should the line work start getting too messy and complicated. I also sketch the clothing and hair on different layers in Photoshop just in case I decided I wanted to change the hair style or outfit to something else, but still didn't want to lose the pose information. Then the outlines were digitally inked with a thin brush. The original canvas is big- About 12,000 pixel height. this means the image should like sharp even if printed out huge.

Adding Colour

Next I added the flat tones, followed by the first layer of shadows. For a higher quality 'cel' style (using flat tones) I'll usually add at least 2 tones of shading for added depth. Sometimes I'll add another layer of highlights as per the hair in the second coloured image. As mentioned earlier, the 1UP mushroom was added in and some Kanji added to the background. Time-wise I think it took around 20 hours to complete. 15-40 hours for a single character illustration is pretty typical for me.

Now available to buy

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If you like the artwork and would like to support my artistic endeavours, I've turned it into an A3 print, available to buy on my store. It'll be hand signed and shipped internationally. Alternatively, the design is available on a T-Shirt in either Men's or Women's fit. All shirts are currently on sale in the site's shop at a reduced price. Thanks for checking it out :)

I'd recently finished binge-watching the first 4 seasons of super-hero anime 'My Hero Academia'. Despite initial reservations after the first episode, I ended up getting into it and really enjoying it. My goal was to create some All Might fan art in a similar style to the Tattooed Goku I'd created a few years back. Here's some work in progress images to show the process:

Digital Sketching

I started with a digital sketch using reference from bodybuilder Jay Cutler who reminded me of All Might. This was then refined and tidied up, adding his "I am here" catchphrase to the banner- a line he must have used a million times in the anime!
Time: 7 Hours to draw

Adding Colour

The first image on the left is probably around 60% through the colouring process. It was getting a bit dark, so brightened it up and added colourful background splatters to finish. I'm happy with how it it turned out- makes a nice little tribute piece to the series 🙂
Time: 10.5 Hours to colour – 17.5 hours total.

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If you like the artwork and would like to support my artistic endeavours, I've turned it into an A3 print, available to buy on my store. I've thought about creating and offering shirts featuring this and other designs on my store also- something to explore if there's more interest? In the mean time this design can be bought on a T-Shirt via my TeePublic store.

I wanted to create a couple of new fan art pieces for fun. This year I decided to take a crack at Bowsette and Boosette (aka Booette)- a couple of spin-off meme creations from Nintendo’s Mario game series. The goal was to go full-on kawaii manga style with these two- huge eyes and small mouths.

Digital Sketching

I started with a digital sketch. Using multiple colours helps prevent getting confused by too many messy lines all over the place. After Bowsette was finished, I used her as a template for creating Boosette.
Time: 16 Hours

Neat Outlines

Then came time to clean up the artwork by digitally inking it. I kept the line work pretty thin for this project and not using thicker, heavier lines for the outside or varying line weighs like I might do in previous images.
Time: 11.5 Hours

Flat tones

The next stage is laying down the flat tones. The process of sketch, ink, flats and then rendering the flats is a technique and workflow I’ve been using in digital artwork since the late 90s. It’s a process that works out great for being able to isolate certain colours and parts of an image, keeping the artwork looking tidy and smooth, while retaining the line art, rather than painting over it.
Time: 1.6 Hours

Colours and Shading

Then it’s time to choose colours and a light source. This time light is coming from the centre/ top left. I start with an ‘anime cel’ style to figure out how much shadow the put down and I could leave it at the cel stage by sticking with the flat tones but I’m always too tempted to start rendering and adding gradation to tones. As much as I love anime, I thing I prefer a more rendered artwork look aesthetic.

Finished Artworks

Lots of rendering time later and both are finished. They make a good pair- by having opposing colour schemes- one with red/orange and the other with purple and blue. The artwork is tight and polished, making it suitable for large scale printing with the original images each being close to 14,000 pixels high.
Total time: 56 Hours – 28 hours each.

What’s next? I love experimenting in different styles, so I’ll probably take a break from the Kawaii manga look for a while and try something else. But this project showed me if I ever want to create more artwork in this style, I know I can nail it successfully 😊

Any Ghost in the Shell fans?

I started working on a new bit of fanart a while back and thought it was about time I added some progress shots to my blog. I've been a fan of Shirow's (Creator of the Ghost in the Shell manga) work for 25 years or so. The first anime movie wasn't bad, but think they really managed to nail it with the 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' anime series. Complex is a good word for it as it's not your typical, basic 'good vs evil' plot, but something I'd recommend to older audiences who want a Sci-fi series with a little more depth and intricacy. I wanted to pay some homage to the G.I.T.S. Solid State Society series with this artwork.

[caption id="attachment_3794" align="alignnone" width="750"] I usually start sketching in blue. This time straight into Photoshop. I want to go detailed with this piece so using a lot of reference to help out. The orange fade is just to stop it looking a bit dull, but I'd work with blue onto a white canvas.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3795" align="alignnone" width="750"] Finished refining the line work for Ghost in the Shell's main male character, Batou. I'll just add, I didn't particularly like him in the GITS live action movie. I didn't really like the movie in general, but I guess worth a watch and helped introduce the mainstream to the franchise.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3796" align="alignnone" width="750"] Finished refining the line work for Ghost in the Shell's main character, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Tachicoma robot behind.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3798" align="alignnone" width="750"] Finished laying down the base colours. Some artists might leave it there but I don't like the way art looks before I start rendering and adjusting the colour pallet.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3797" align="alignnone" width="750"] Began rendering. Usually I'll work my way through rendering each colour, then I'll begin adjusting the pallet, tones and contrast afterwards. It'll be several more hours until I'm finished with this one!..[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3793" align="alignnone" width="750"] On the last stretch to finishing, making some tweaks to the Major by zooming in. Here you can see me drawing on a Wacom Cintiq 27QHD.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3541" align="alignnone" width="940"] Here is the finished Ghost in the Shell artwork. Took around 3 weeks, but finally done :)[/caption]

Thanks for following through the progress with this one. If you happen to be a Ghost in the Shell fan and would like to support the work I do, feel free to head over to the shop and make a purchase. I currently have this one for sale as a signed A3 sized gloss print. If you'd be interested in seeing any more progress blog posts, let me know with a comment. I usually post works in progress first on Instagram and social media, so you can head over there if you're interested in seeing what I'm currently getting up to :)