ART(attempt at): John and one of the boys (sleeping)

[phantomas]

I've been playing around with Painter, exploring and trying my hand at digital drawing (kinda hard, really, the feel of the paper, the smell of inks...but, the sensibility on the wacom tablet is fantastic)...and I can't say I'm really happy with the results, no-no. As a trained illustrator, I can adapt to different styles - as a painter, I do have a couple of individual quirks that make my work easily recognizable, but as an illustrator, you adapt yourself to what the drawing needs.

So, with all the proviso that I can see so many things gone wrong in this, I give you John and one of the boys (sleeping)

I drew this for disanddat and her nexus_verse - a mix of pencil/blue pen (figures), Painter(textures, gradients for the walls and floor), photoshop (putting it all together)...I did restrain myself from working further on the color scheme: not what I had in mind, but it does work in some ways for the general setting of the illo.

Let me know what you think, good and bad! :)

crossposted to nexus_verse

Comments

[beanside.livejournal.com]

I kinda love it! Mmmm...I love the way they fit together, and the coloring especially.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

Art, like writing, hardly pleases everyone (you only need to look at the comments to see how everyone points at different things)...but I'm glad you find pleasing! I know the coloring is..weird, partly for my inexperience with the tools I'm using, and partly because it suits a specific environment, the Nexus 'verse disanddat is writing, with some intrusions by yours truly ;)
That is to say, it conveys more in relation to its contest...still glad you like!!! :D

[starhawk2005.livejournal.com]

I

adore

the textures on the walls!

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

thanks!
Those took quite some time to make (there is a specific texture filter I used, but I still had to decide where and how much of it and what color, etc).

:D

[smilla02.livejournal.com]

I am the first to admit I know nothing about drawing, but I know what I like when I see it. And I love this, the nightly coloring, the intense emotion the drawing gives. How Dean, Sam? (I'm going for Dean, btw) is completely abandoned in John's arms. John's sad expression, and how his body seems to curl around his boy's body, arms and leg and chin tucked down in the crook between shoulder and neck.

I love the plays of light and shadows and that you put them in the most shadowed part of wherever they are. And the wall, crumbling in places and crusted with stains.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, you caught the atmosphere I wanted to express so well! YAY! :D

Thank you SO much. The sleeping boy is up to you ...although Sam's legs should be longer...And in fact, this being a drawing for the Nexus 'verse, the boy is actually Max Evans, from Roswell ;)

*hugs you*

[disanddat.livejournal.com]

*giggles madly*

I've got to be quick. RL stuff this morning and afternoon. Might post pics later t'night.

See... I told you. The thing with art is people can see things in it depending on their own perspectives. That's part of it's beauty.

I do very much adore you this morning. More later.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

*adores you back*

hopefully there'll be more!

[dullemarulle.livejournal.com]

I really, really like this. The colors are gorgeous and the whole thing just looks amazing.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you :D *preens*
I'm being silly, but I'm truly glad you like it...you may want to read the Nexus stories that inspired it, maybe :)

[ultraviolet9a.livejournal.com]

Love this. The colours you used, and their posture and John's wistful expression... Gives off a sense of night and disconnection from the rest of the world.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)
I worked on John's face a lot more than on all the rest, I have to confess, 'cause I'm not that good at faces :)
And yay, it came across, their solitude and alien-ness *phew*

[foxestacado.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I like the sketch itself, but I'm sort of not sure about the rest of it. It doesn't look quite uniform, with the textures and such. It doesn't blend with with the hand-sketched portion. But wow, I love your brush/pen strokes.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

I'm experimenting with a Wacom Intuos2 tablet. A friend loaned it to me, and wow, it's such a great tool, it really feels as if you're actually holding a pencil in your hand.
I know what you mean about the sketch and the ways it clashes with the surroundings - in a way, it's an effect that pleases me because it speaks of the stories it refers to. In another way, the light/shadows don't match as they should, and the brush/pen strokes clash with the digitally generated textures...I need to fool around with the new tools a lot more (Painter, Wacom Intuos2, etc) (I had to pass the image back and forth from Painter to Photoshop several times, because the layers work in diff ways in the two programs and at some point I almost lost it all!)

:D

[feed-the-rain.livejournal.com]

Oooooooo. So purdy!

I=envious of your grasp on anatomy/realism. <3

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

LOL
My grasp is fairly loose, I assure you. I've been working on this for a couple of months - not full time, obviously. The sleeping guy still needs lots of work, in my eyes, but...at a certain point, you have to let it go, and learn from your mistakes *G*

Happy you like!

[lorelei633.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhhhhh....

That's it. That's the Nexus! So empty and barren and just...wow. I love the way you've portrayed it. It's so strange to see it after only imagining it all this time. This piece has such a wonderful feel to it, a moment captured in time. John is amazing...I can see the weariness and fatigue on his face, but as always, he's awake and watching, protecting. The body language is so important and so powerful here. I really love the way the boy (I think it's Max too, although I admit, thoughts of Alex did cross my mind...I don't know, if maybe in an unguarded moment, he'd allow himself to be that vulnerable, but I can dream *g*) is curled up in his arms, so trusting and safe.

This is a gorgeous piece, Silvia. I'm absolutely blown away. You captured something very special here. :)

(p.s. sorry I am just commenting on this. getting caught up slowly!)

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

Ohhh..Alex and John...*visualizes it* and I think you're rigth, Alex might get in a headspace where he'd let himself completely in John's guard...damn. Now I want to draw that, too! And I want to draw homebase, with all the guys, and uberCallie...*sighs*

And your opinion counts a lot, because you've read the Nexus, and it works for you! YAY!
I imagined this as happening in the first days Max was decanted; John certainly already had a safe place, but they maybe went exploring and found themselves in strange, desolated, alien places...

*hugs you*

[lorelei633.livejournal.com]

Omg yes....an Alex/John piece would be incredible. Yeah, he's shown a few vulnerable moments when they're alone, especially when John imprinted him and established his dominance. I can see Alex being vulnerable like that when they're alone.

This pic totally works for me. It's John in a sort of unguarded moment, just holding Max, protecting him. It's beautiful.

[phantomas.livejournal.com]

I hope/plan on drawing as many of them as possible :)

(I haven't received many comments notifications, just finding them by chance, don't mean to ignore you!)