Some inspiration

I've been very inspired by Mary Blair's work. No words needed to describe how wonderful her works are. She is, no doubt, a legend in the animation world and have influenced so many contemporary illustrators of today :) this is mainly an inspiration post for myself as I have been saving some of her works on my desktop. Im planning to collect some of her illustrated books and study more vintage illustrations (golden collection books sure brings back some good ol' childhood memories).

Before spring break started, I promised myself I will start designing characters and hopefully, finish another character line up in a completely different style. Im thinking of doing a set for each style; iconic, simple, broad, and realistic...but god knows how long that will take me. Im probably going to base my designs on a story because I don't want to waste time writing a completely new story. A few I have in mind are Pinocchio, Little Mermaid, Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland...and the one im most excited about, Journey to the West! Journey to the West is definitely a story I grew up with. I think it would be extremely fun to design a series of characters in a game-art/realistic style. Im still in search for other stories cause some of the ones I listed above are a bit too common.

Just a quick sketch to ease my guilt because I've been lazing around the entire week since break started. Playing around with shapes, size, and proportions...left was first attempt, right was improved version.

Progress shot (lips and nose still needs to be colored as well).

Honestly...I don't know where this piece is headed. I've never done this kind of digital painting and im trying hard to not rely on references. Im struggling a lot with this piece, but I know this is just the first step. I have to keep reminding myself that I can't expect everything to turn on perfect on the first try. I struggled with the skin tone the most and im still not satisfied with it (but ignore the neck color cause I still need to work on it). I accepted the challenge earlier, so I will continue working in this style until I master it (...someday...some year...some lifetime)

Its not a big difference (actually it is if you look closely), but I fixed my lighting a bit right before I had to turn it in. For some reason, I couldn't get the shadow under the toolbox wheels =/ ...no idea.

I have a folder full of toys and other cute junks I've been saving to blog. Im lazy to resize and upload everything ...so maybe later. I kind of miss blogging about toys and posting random useless pictures...thinking about it, I only have one week until spring break is over :( time sure flies.