Saturday 28 December 2013

Squad!


http://www.theworldofwalibi.com/

His eye scar and chip out of his ear is on the wrong side. Whoops. Don't like it flipped the other way though.

Tried to think about the shading on this, using tones found elsewhere for shadows and highlights. Some areas turned out really nice.

Life was hectic on the run up to Christmas working two jobs along with the usual Christmas crap! So this is kind of old now... Was drawn for a friend's birthday.

Monday 9 December 2013

Progress on the dragon. :) Coming along quite nice. I need to stop working into it though and figure out how it's sat in the environment, because currently it's a bit ambiguously flat down there.


Thursday 5 December 2013

Friend asked me to draw Fox from Starfox Adventures.



His clothing is surprisingly complicated. But it came out pretty good. :)

Except for the staff  has a kink in it conveniently hidden by his hand. That part really sucks. His eyes are a bit squiffy too actually.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Was sketching a dragon and I had this neat lightning idea.


Whether I'll actually take this anywhere though is another matter... I still have that dragon painting I started back in October to finish. Looking at it now though it's so full of horrid mistakes.

Friday 29 November 2013

Mikey the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!


Wanted to try drawing one of the TMNT for a while. They're not easy. so much going on. But here's my first attempt! Turned out nice.

The finished Vegeta from my last post. :)

Saturday 16 November 2013

More DBZ fanart... Ops.


This is Vegeta taking a selfie! Haha. I'm into Instagram at the moment, though I don't exactly use it how most people do. I post in progress art pics and interesting stuff, like, er... pictures of my garden. Not my face. My face isn't very interesting. So anyway, I posted this on Instagram.

Now I have to go and do something meaningful with my day.

Friday 15 November 2013

I had quite a lot of free time this week and decided I needed place on the web dedicated to my themed work. My existing portfolio is so varied that it's probably difficult for anyone interested in a specific subject, medium or context to find what they want to look at. But it seems a shame to hide all the variety and depth. It's a struggle that's been with me for a while and this seems to be the only real solution. It will also hopefully make my themed design work easier to find for potential clients Googling...

So, here's that site for the time being. http://jfellstheming.blogspot.com


I decided I wanted some kind of graphic for my main site (josephfells.co.uk) to direct visitors to that mini site. A light of some kind made sense, so I went with a medieval style lantern mostly because wood is so fun to paint.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Wanted to draw an interesting pose. I quite liked this until I drew the face and now it looks wrong all over. Though that foot is quite nice...


Supposed to be from when Vegeta's training under stupidly high gravity levels.

I usually make my canvas grey because it helps me cope with visual stress, I forgot to turn off that layer here. Sorry. EDIT: Or apparently not? Blogger was just being weird.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Walibi and Haaz head sketches!


These characters are mascots from the Walibi theme parks in Europe. theworldofwalibi.com

Monday 11 November 2013

Dragon Falls (a log flume) retheme sketch. (Check out this earlier post for an explanation.) Just felt I should explore some of my other ideas before the official designs come out.


An oriental temple of some kind atop a waterfall, that's the idea I was going with.

Sunday 10 November 2013

Saturday 9 November 2013

I painted this guy on Thursday. I wanted to make some unique Christmas cards. He's acrylic, watercolour and watercolour pencil on stretched paper.


I was going to print at home, but I turned the printer on and it gurgled and spat at me. I pulled the plug out and decided to get them professionally done.


My first port of call whenever I buy online is Quidco. It's a cash-back and deals site where you get some money back when you buy online (so basically, a delayed discount). They have a deal with Moo.com where you receive £5 cashback on your first order, so I rolled with it, having heard good things about Moo in the past. Moo print business cards, postcards, cards, etc. The best thing about Moo is that you can use as many designs as you like for no extra cost. So whether you get 100 cards all the same, or 2 styles with 50 each or 8 different styles with, er... roughly 12 each, then that's cool with Moo! Ended up costing about £20 for 25 cards inc. postage, which I thought was decent? They're nice quality and you can customise them 100%. I have a logo on the back of mine and they're blank inside, but I could have put whatever I wanted inside. Also, gosh they're speedy! I ordered late Thursday eve and they came Saturday! Will definitely use them again.

So yeah, if you're in the UK and not already using Quidco, I suggest you start! If you use my refferal link by clicking here, you'll get £1 to start you off, completely for free!

Friday 8 November 2013

Sorry for the quiet. Infrequently been working on the dragon from the previous post in very short bursts.


Really like how the fire is looking. Better than the dragon...

Thursday 31 October 2013

Here's a few dragons!


Like this one's face... Doesn't fit it's body though, in typical me style.

This guy though...


Might actually become a painting. Wings are confusing. I drew some scribbles on it to try and work out where the highlights were and what colours would be cool. I also think I'd be wise to do a background whilst working on the creature, instead of leaving it till last then getting bored with it.

Smiler pumpkin!



The swirls were a nightmare in themselves to carve... 

The Smiler is roller coaster at Alton Towers. This is the ride's logo. :)

Thursday 24 October 2013

Here's Splat the gryphon... Chillin'!


Those legs were a nightmare. Like the one I posted a couple of days ago, I wanted to push myself a bit with a pose. This is still awkward all over the place, but its pretty good for me.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Added colour to this sketch from a while ago, that I apparently never posted here...



Kinda thought he looked too lean, but since Super Saiyan God is lean, I figured I'd chuck appropriate colours on it!

His skin is too dark and pink. But when it was lighter it looked wrong. IDOWHATIWANT.

In other news related news, my Majin Vegeta picture is now available as a print on Etsy!  I've also set up a new Twitter account for artists and illustrators who sell their work on Etsy. The aim is to gain greater exposure by mutual promotion, so check it out! https://twitter.com/etsyillustrator

My Macbook is back at the Apple store being repaired, again. It's been worse since they last took it in. I'm also super busy as of late with work. I cannot believe it's almost Halloween... Where have the last couple of months gone?

Sunday 20 October 2013

I have this weird habit of drawing human-bodied characters too elongated. So I tried to force myself not to with this. 


Also decided I was going to draw a difficult pose, that of course didn't go so swimmingly.

What makes this pose difficult? I think it's because it's a real, normal pose so it's more obvious when it's wrong? Also, crossed arms, who even knows how they work. Everyone crosses their arms slightly different too. #Excuses. And then there's the foreshortening issue with the leg that I failed at miserably.

His eyes are also a bit squiffy.

That's why he's so pissed off.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

It's Dyslexia Awareness Week.

I've been diagnosed with Dyslexia 3 times in my life. Once when I was very young, once as a teen and then again at University in order to receive various support.

Most people are surprised to learn of my Dyslexia. Dyslexia Awareness challenges the misunderstanding of what Dyslexia actually is and how it effects different people. It's a SpLD (Specific Learning Disability), so a relative of Dyspraxia, ADHD and Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The diagnosis is essentially an IQ test that shows up symptoms of all SpLDs, and sufferers have overlapping symptoms. Dyslexia in particular is characterised predominately by difficulty reading and writing, this everyone knows. But the key point is that it's a difficulty despite normal intelligence. It's about a discrepancy. So, for example, my reading and writing skills are actually within the national average (they were below as a child), but I have higher function in other areas. Through support, technology and passion, I've "overcome" Dyslexia, for the most part.

What I've always wondered is this... Where does my variation as a human mind end and Dyslexia begin? I don't know if I just have a higher awareness of my brain's inability to do certain things because I have a label, or if most people simply are pretty average at everything.

Right now, I'm battling with the glare of my monitor screen, which is scoptic sensitivity, a SpLD symptom, along with audio stress, causing irritation and extreme distraction by sounds. I also find it hard to juggle information in my head or digest information quickly enough, as if I've not enough RAM installed. My reading speed is slow and unless I am particularly interested in the content, it will not sink in no matter how many times I go through it. I tend to skim read, assume what things say and miss important details because of this, my eyes jumping back and forth along a line to try and get the general gist of a sentence. Beyond counting of amounts, maths is terrifying and feels like completely pointless stress that everyone else deems as essential to life as breathing. I subtract by adding from the smaller amount, that seems logical to me. I find it difficult to remember even essential stuff and doubt myself, double checking that I've got something like a train timetable correct multiple times. I can't retain a phone number long enough to write it down, and my brain often reads digits wrong as if it panicked and just made something up to hide that fact.

Do "normal people" really not experience any phenomena similar to this?

Despite my, what I'd call "poor" short term memory skills, I actually score only a low average. So, it gets a tonne worse than I experience. But it's about discrepancy, remember. My "perceptual organisation" skills are in the top 1% of the population. In other words, I'm really, really good at that red and white block test. A symptom usually associated with Autism. I'm so good at it, in fact, that the tester had never seen anyone do it so fast before.

Though in my head, I can't fathom how anyone would find this difficult. And this is the problem with Dyslexia Awareness. It's not a lacking awareness of Dyslexia that is the problem here, it's failure to see that we are all different, and we could all do with being a little more understanding and supportive of that fact.

I've edited this post several times to fix errors. But I'm sure there are more. Errors that I don't see for ages.
More Stellar doodles!


Surprisingly consistent, for me.
A quick Vegeta sketch.


I really need to do some observational drawings of real people.

Sunday 13 October 2013

Can't believe I had the motivation to finish this so quickly!


Super Sonic from the British Sonic the Comic was a psychotic, sadistic and dangerous creature. And is thus cooler than SEGA's portrayal. And so much more fun to draw.

Yellow is a difficult colour to shade. I feel like I cheated by using purple so heavily in this. It's like a school project.
Here's a sketch of Fleetway Super Sonic from the British Sonic the Comic that I am currently working on colours for. :)


Saturday 12 October 2013

Sketches...


Stellar and Fleetway's version of Super Sonic. The version I grew up with in the British Sonic the Comic. He's insane, and thus awesome. I really fancy trying out an epic picture of him. But first I need practice drawing him.

Most interesting thing to note about these sketches is that they are facing right. I never draw anything facing right. Seriously, scroll through my blog. No idea why, just doesn't feel natural.

Thursday 10 October 2013

Stellar the Jay!


 Sort of working with my buddy on a redesign of him.

Tired tonight. Had a very good day at work doing stuff I enjoy with people I like, but for some reason now I'm exhausted. The weather's finally taken a nosedive too, it was cold today.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Random magpie...


Digital painting in coral painter x, which I've not used in about 3 years. I was never good with it before and I'm probably worse now.

The thumb looks okay though so just don't click on it?

I'm in a crappy mood. The Macbook is once again buggered. Pretty sure it's Apple's fault. Pretty sure it'll get rectified for free. But it's just the burden of having to go sort it out. Any day off from work I get recently is spent sorting out BS.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Here's an unusual t-shirt commission. These flower-like creatures are supposed to be fossilised crinoids, or "feather stars". They are kinda like a brittle star/starfish on a stick. :)



Was fun to do, hope they like it! 

As always this is bleach solution painting on black fabric. I've made a gallery of my bleach painted tees in my official portfolio now, so you can view them all in one place! http://cargocollective.com/josephfells/T-Shirts Get in touch if you're interested in commissions.
Finished this!


Arrow as a Werepine, inspired by the Sonic the Werehog game. Think he works pretty well as a beast, haha. Fun, and not as scary as I thought, to work with no lines. I tried to keep it a little messy and loose, but in areas it's kinda too overworked where I struggled a bit with it. Probably could be cropped a little at the bottom but I like that shadow.

Saturday 5 October 2013

A rather serious and shocked looking Goku getting ready to Kamehameha!


This is all kinds of wrong but I still kinda like it. That arm and hand is just dreadful. It looked fine when it was scribbly... Ops.
Yay October!

Who doesn't adore October...?

And it being Halloween month means Sonic the Werehog inspired art must occur.


So here's Arrow as a Werepine. Playing about with no line digital painting. Don't really know what I'm going with this yet.

Sunday 29 September 2013

A lumbering dragon creature thing I sketched yesterday...


I imagine it's a quadruped that can rear up and walk on two legs if it wants.

Saturday 28 September 2013

I'm not going to lie, I just didn't want to draw the rest of him. So he's looming out of the darkness. But it's fitting, right? Oh and no clothes bar gloves because he went crazy and removed them all, that's the narrative I'm going with... The only reason he's even got gloves is because I liked the idea of the knuckles being worn away on them, hahaaaar... For those unfamiliar with DBZ, Vegeta is under Babidi's power here, with the Majin symbol on this forehead, hense the crazy. 

It came out quite nice I think. Though looking at it now, small in this preview, I think the lighting on the stomach might be a bit overkill. The hair is bothersome also. How do you shade a golden potentially glowing mass?

Had fun with it regardless, but sick of looking at it now.

Oh if you'd like to see the sketch I posted of this a few days ago, it's here.

EDIT: After viewing it on my Macbook, I realised it was a little lighter than I wanted. Hopefully it's better now?

Thought you might also like to see some closeups...


Desktop backgrounds can also be arranged. Get in touch with your resolution if interested.
Here's a quick sketch of Beck from Mighty No. 9, a new game by the creators of Mega Man that you can back on Kickstarter for as little as $5.


Wednesday 25 September 2013

More DBZ doodles... Here's Buu!

And a couple of Vegetas for good measure! Here's an update on a head sketch from the other day...


...I still think Vegeta's legs are really wrong in that one. 

And here's Majin Vegeta looking crazy. 



EDIT: Also apparently this is my 400th post woo?

Sunday 22 September 2013

More Dragon Ball Z scribbles... Yeah, mostly Vegeta. Because Vegeta is the best. Andtheeasiesttodraw. But also the best.



Goku's face is an actual nightmare to draw, I don't understand it. It's the "typical anime eyes that float inside the face shape" dilemma. There's no structure that signifies where they should, like, be? I get the same phenomena with Walibi compared to drawing his evil brother Squad. The angry eyebrows make Squad, Vegeta and all over "angry eyebrow" characters easier to draw. I hope that makes sense.

That last Vegeta I particularly like, I wanted to draw him crouching but I was struggling with the legs so maybe I'll come back to it later butidoubtit.

I think I may have forgotten how to draw with real pencils too so that needs to happen more. I've been working a lot recently, which of course has the reverse effect on me it does everyone else, motivation! I seem to find time for stuff that when I'm less busy I couldn't possibly fit in.