Backgrounds Limited, TM

Creating backgrounds(BGs) is definitely different on how you create sprites or cutscenes. Furthermore, you can reuse them on your future projects or at least render them. There's a lot in the internet that you can possibly use (remember to credit the one who made it) though sometimes it just doesn't fit the style of the overall theme of your visual novel. The following are great sites to rummage through:

• deviantART
• pixiv
• zerochan

Below is an outline from a real picture and given base colors:

Principal's Office in Animus Rush

Now off to giving it shade and lighting! (Look forward to seeing the final image in my devArt page soon.)

Free Comic Book Day 2013 - Setting the Record

Big thanks to Castle Geek, National Bookstore and Neutral Grounds for throwing it at this year's Worldwide Free Comic Book Day. There were actually three other stores that participated in the Philippines but I decided to go here since my favorite indie artists are here.


Below are the comic books I'm itching to read: 

 

(Yes, I couldn't get my hands on them in Summer Komikon but now they're mine!)

Couldn't get a signature from either Budjette Tan or KaJo Baldisimo of Trese since they were only scheduled to appear in the afternoon. Sigh, it had to be the same day as Ragnarok Online Regionals.

Sketchy Business

Just figured to post at least some of my sketches here before they were colored digitally. The whole concept of the image changes as it turns into digital media. 
(Sorry for the lame pun.)

Ryse - Fanart of an OC

Alice - Animus Rush Protagonist

Han - Animus Rush Romanceable

Jiro - Animus Rush Romanceable

Kaoru - Animus Rush Romanceable

Rita - Animus Rush Best friend

As you can see, the above images also show the character designs of the cast of our VN, Animus Rush. Their respective character descriptions would be at a later date though but I'll keep you posted.

Summer Komikon 2013

Yes, it is pretty late but I just have to post it somewhere lest I might forget the awesome titles I've encountered there. Something to keep me fueled up until the next Komikon!

Animus Rush

Here's the much awaited synopsis of our first VN project, Animus Rush:

Alice is the ace of Ogure Highschool's Volleyball Club that goes to the Nationals every year. She usually stays in the court to practice and stays there to be out of everyone's way. But this year it's different. The school decided to hold a campaign to advertise its standing and chose Alice and two others to be the representatives. The active and cheerful Alice turned into something fearful when she discovered that one of the two is her ex-boyfriend. Will she be able to just focus on her goal to win the Championship or will she finally exact revenge? 

deviantART

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART] is the world's largest online art community where artists and art enthusiasts can share their work.

I decided to just post my progress in digital arts here in my deviantART page. Feel free to check it out and if you liked something, don't forget to add it to your favorites. Oh, here's one I haven't submitted yet: 

Miss Universe 2007 - Philippines costume

This sketch was a request from a friend of mine. I may try to outline it in the future.

Not Another Hair Technique on Gimp for Beginners by a Beginner

Okay, so basically I just started learning digital arts and encountered a lot of different tutorials on howto's and whatnot's. I did learn their techniques, but it just isn't working for me. I do get confused and sometimes even irritable when it's taking me too long to get the shades right. I was never really fond of a lot of layers. With my blood, sweat, and tears on the line, I'm going to post it here so that I won't forget.

The most common technique (and easiest to understand) is probably the two-layer technique where there is the base color then the shadow or light color. I choose shadow. 

And here's what's confusing: What is the best shade to use? I don't think that there is a best shade, since it really depends on your preference. There are a lot of techniques on the net, you can just search it right now. But I prefer the fewer clicks the better, so I suggest using the burn tool... clicking on the base color 3-4 times then use the color picker tool and get the darker shade. Undo the burn and fill the shadow layer with the shade that you just got.

I place the shadow layer on top and from here on it's basically the same thing. With the shadow layer, use the path tool or pen tool and run through the hair. Always remember the Selection from path and hit delete. Do this for all the layers you'd want your hair to have. 

When you're done, duplicate the base layer. Then go to Colors > Hue-Saturation and go for a higher level of Lightness. Use the color picker to get the lighter shade. Delete the duplicate layer. Use the spray tool to draw a curve throughout the base layer. The output is as shown below:

Note: 
1. Do remember that this shading may or may not be the best option for your coloring scheme.
2. Base layer > Shadow layer may be interchangeable to Light layer > Base layer. 
3. There is a total of 2 techniques used in choosing shades used, either one may be favored.

Once I get a new coloring technique that works for me, I'll post it here.