wbd's General Art Thread

[wbd]

Mindy and Tanya are both pilots with the CARU (Colonial Republic Artifacts Research Unit), and get along quite well, all things considered.



Art Notes

I decided to draw a simple picture of Mindy and Tanya dressed up for spring weather, which includes a bit of rain from time to time. Inspiration left me when it came to the background, however, so I'm leaving it as is.

Another reason that I drew this was because I wanted to finish up a non-practice picture and upload it to let people know that I'm still making progress towards a comic.

Drawn in OpenCanvas

[wbd]

A bit of training, and Mindy seems to be enjoying it. Mindy really likes flying around in big (at 6.9m, it's not quite "giant") mecha, whether for training, research or fun.

The mecha is colored in standard Colonial Republic Militia colors- primarily blues, because the durable paints that are used are cheaper in that color. The main military gets the fancier paints. In addition, blue is one of the two national flag colors (the other is red). You can see them on the "roundels" on the shoulderpads of the SCM-07, and on Mindy's helmet.

I tried adding more red to the design, but it ended up looking odd, so I've left it with two tones of blue, and some red highlighting.

As Mindy is a militia pilot who is primarily employed by the Colonial Republic Artifacts Research Unit (CARU), she wears a bright-green outfit to help with Search and Rescue. Military pilots will wear more toned down space suits.

[wbd]

Here's Tanya, Nikki and Mindy (from left to right) dressed up in my concept for futuristic swimsuits. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, the swimsuits are made of a futuristic fabric that holds when the wearer wants it to, and releases when they want to take it off. This prevents things like waves knocking the suit off, and also allows for more interesting designs that do not require straps, while still performing their jobs.

[wbd]

I wanted to do some painting, so I painted Aisaka Taiga (from Tora Dora). I normally paint backgrounds for my pictures, but I thought I'd try something different for this one. The technique is basically the same, anyways.

[wbd]

More Taiga:

[wbd]

Here's another comic practice picture- Mindy and Tanya are doing some artifact research on a largish asteroid. As members of CARU- the Colonial Republic Artifact Research Unit- they are charged with assisting in the recovery of materials like the one here.



These boxes are fairly common, and not very educational- they are sturdy and made of an alloy easily replicated by the current technologies of the Colonial Republic.

Their purpose is a mystery to the colonists of the present, but about seven hundred years ago they were brought to the system because the health and safety regulations of the time specified a certain number of stacking boxes for "radiation shelter" construction. This was despite technologies of the time rendering the concept irrelevant- the regulations specified them, so they had to be shipped in.

Well, the freighter that was carrying them encountered difficulty during the transit, and had to discard them in order to make it to the nearest station. They proceeded to drift around and strike various asteroids in the intervening period. Their rugged construction means that they survived the impacts quite well.

Now when recovered, the boxes are gathered, examined and most of the time recycled into new space station parts. A few of the better-preserved ones have gone into museums. One of the leading theories of the time is that they were parts of a planned "Dyson Sphere" that would encircle the whole system, but that theory is opposed by many scientists who assert that too few have been found for that to be true.

Because Mindy and Tanya will be working near Foruth, at the edge of known/controlled space, they use militia combat mecha for their research patrols.

[wbd]

And some more Tifa, again in a bikini:

[wbd]

In order to draw my mecha for my comic, I decided I'd paint up a Mobile Suit in the appropriate colors, and use it to check that I'm getting angles and action correct when I draw. I picked up a High Grade Universal Century Geara Doga for that purpose, as it is fairly poseable and not too expensive. I then painted it up in the appropriate colors, and took a couple pictures to give you an idea of how it looks.



Why the Geara Doga? Well, it's a pretty straightforward design, and also has some features that make it look similar to my SCM-07. I hunted through a bunch of Gundam kits before I found one that had similar design features. Well, that and I like the look of the design.

And another pic, in orbit around a gas giant:



I was fiddling with the black and white points on a photo I took when I got a neat effect, so I decided to leave it that way and upload it.

[wbd]

Here's Maki (21), Mioka (25) and Cecilia (22) (from left to right), three girls who are working to link the various lands under the Kingdom of Naemhur with magic. You'll be seeing more of them as they will be in a little comic series I'm making to help practice comic drawing. This comic will be dumb.



Okay, a thumbnail world sketch: Magic in this world is like super-electricity. It must be transmuted into a natural form before it can be used. Magic flows throughout the world, and everyone can use it to some degree. People are like antennae for magic- it flows through them and they can process it, but it cannot affect them in that form (save for healing magic). Machinery can be made that harnesses magic and uses it for other purposes, and can also be made to capture magic for storage.

The king of Naemhur wants his subjects to have access to magic, so he has appointed various teams to help with that. These three are part of one of those teams (two more characters forthcoming). The world era is age of sail, hence the costume designs.

Maki is a healer who also does the combat thing, Mioka is a half-elf who likes swordplay and machinery (comes from her elvish genes), and Cecilia does things with magical weapons tech.

I spend a lot of time watching anime, or reading manga and saying, "You know what, I think it would work better if this happened...". Or there's some series I like some aspect about, but dislike the rest. This idea came from the latter more than the former, but both influenced it.

Well, this is my chance to put some of those theories into practice. It's also an opportunity for me to draw a silly series that will allow me to practice while I work on finishing up the details to my real/main comic.

Don't expect anything particularly intelligent or accomplished about it, and you won't be disappointed.

[tHEfOOL]

wtf did you feed them, lol

[Kris@WLP]

[wbd]

Yup, lots of milk, and all that magic, does wonders for them.


And next, some more art:
Shortly after Amelia's 18th birthday, she came upon a book that she believed held the secret to reversing the chimera transformation that Zelgadis had undergone many years earlier (as he wasn't too happy with it all, and wanted to be back to normal). Eager to get started, she started to cast the spells contained therein...



Whereupon she discovered that it wasn't about turning people back from Chimeras...

On the other hand, it did solve quite a few problems for Zel and Amelia, so I guess it all works out in the end.

[wbd]

Maki, Mioka and Cecilia have arrived in the Capitol, and are ready to get started on their adventure. Let's see where it takes them and their new soon-to-be-met friends.



Right now, my goal is to just get pages done. I'll work on improvements as I go along.

[tHEfOOL]

lol i already think i like Cecilia the best

[wbd]

Hopefully I'll be able to expand on everyone's personalities.

Second page- still incoherent:

[tHEfOOL]

wow you weren't kidding about the goofy sillyness

[wbd]

It's all about fun, I figure.

Outside of drawing, I also like building models and making custom figures. I decided I wanted to make a custom figure using an MMS base, so I did a bit of design work, and this is what I came up with.



This is Brook, a Naiad type Busou Shinki (translates roughly to something like Armored Princess Goddess or the like). Naiads were water nymphs who liked flowing water like rivers or streams, so the Naiad type Shinki is an amphibious tank-type. She comes with defensive weapons like the ARENA (or similar) system, and also has a bunch of extra sensors. A couple water jets help for maneuver in the water, and some wheels help for smooth surface movement.

Once I get my extra MMS figures to work with, I can get started building. Some parts of the design will change to make it simpler for me to build it.

[wbd]

It's a near future park/garden city. Um, that's about it. Oh, and the girl is a gardener.

[wbd]

Here's some Nami:

[wbd]

Azusa objects to that:

[wbd]

And next, a Tsunderecat:

[wbd]

Some birthday related art:

[tHEfOOL]

HAPPY B-DAY

[wbd]

Thanks!

[wbd]

Some sunbathing: