Acyl Art (Update: C.Flame, Space/Marcus)

[Acyl]

There was a manga, comics, toy and collectables convention downtown. I'd forgotten about it, really - I was in the city for something else, and walking to
the train station when I passed a poster. And I'm like, hey, wait, that's down the street.

So. I feared I'd leave with my wallet somewhat lighter, but I went anyway. As it turns out, I was right, I did spend enough money to blow my budget for
nonessential entertainment items for the next, well, few months. The thing is...

...I spent my money at the Wacom booth.

I am no longer an artistic Luddite. I have a drawing tablet. And here's my first attempt at an entirely digital piece of work:



The actual base drawing isn't my best, but I was still feeling my way through the whole 'sketching with a tablet' thing when I did the initial
linework. But by the time I got to the colours and shading, it was a breeze. The chest symbol's pretty crap, admittedly - I really can't draw stars,
can I? But I had to take a stab at it for the costume. Ah well.

All in all, I think I've leveled up my capacity to produce neat things.
-- Acyl

[Rev Dark]

That is incredible! Well done!

[His Lovely Wife]

Oooo! /em clap

Can we start sending you requests? :-D

[Morganite]

"And that's how Acyl stopped having free time."

^_-

I don't see what's wrong with the star. It looks... starlike. '.'

-Morgan.

[Bob Schroeck]

It all looks fine, Acyl, including the star. Strong anime influence, I'd say, but I'll bet that's intentional. Hell, around here it's probably assumed.

My only cavil would be that it looks a little static. But hey, it's a first work. Once you get more used to the tools, that'll change.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Wiregeek]

I love her expression "I'm thrilled to be here. Really. Stop staring at my bits. Haven't you ever seen spandex before?"
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sofaspud]

"Stop staring at my bits.", oh dear god the laughter HURTS.

Acyl: very nice! And I second Lovely... do you do requests?

Oh, and, on edit: what the hell's wrong with the star? It looks great to me... *honestly baffled*

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Foxboy]

It's a little flat and doesn't follow her curves.

Little things like that are enough to send artists spare. Especially if it's their own work.

*prays for some lottery luck so he can spend more time goofing off...*
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Sweno]

I shall add my praise to the growing pile.

Very cool.

Is there going to be more any time soon?
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Acyl]

Well, yeah...I'll be doing more pieces, definitely. Heck, I've just edited the thread title to something more generic. Anyway, major thanks for the kind feedback. It's been a while since I've tried drawing stuff in a big way, and I'm still feeling my way through this new technology, quite literally.

But seriously, this tablet's really great fun to work with. Pushes me to experiment with new techniques and other things.

As for the star thing, yeah, Fox has it. The chest emblem's just tacked on - it was the very last thing I did, because I realised I'd flat out forgotten to include it. You'll notice it's also the only thing in that image which isn't really shaded. It is shaded, but in a very cursory halfassed way.

Here's something else I just did. Hope you don't mind me borrowing Lora'Lai, Mister Darklighter. This one was a lot rougher and quicker than the Space piece, but I was trying to see if I could do a full figure, head to toe.


Next, I'll probably experiment with more complex facial expressions. Intense glare and pout is easy, anything else needs more precise lines...
-- Acyl

[Matrix Dragon]

As someone that can barely draw a circle without trouble, I have to say... Oooohhhh, I like.

[Niteflier]

Ooooh, We likes, we do....

Even if you don't accept requests, Acyl, please keep posting your work here for us to admire!

[Acyl]

Oh! Well, I'm glad folks like it.
I think at this point I will take requests. I'll start a separate thread for that, but the short version is...if you want me to draw a character, I'll probably need screenshots. Also, please don't have overly high expectations. I'm new at this.
For the moment, a couple more I did today:-

Bloodwalker, my broadsword scrapper - and also the guy from the rolling fanfic thing I need to finish sometime this week. I swear. Mostly an exercise in minimalist shading - I don't think I got the trenchcoat entirely right. I'm happy with the basic lineart though.

And my second attempt at Space Mage. Similarly minimally shaded, though in this case due to the lighting effect. Bob was correct; the first picture I did was too static. That's a problem I tend to have regardless of medium, though. I'm trying to correct it. I think this one turned out a lot better.
-- Acyl

[Wiregeek]

I like Bloodwalker..

I'll be submitting a request as soon as I get my FTP access back >.< this may be never
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

Neat!

in regards to the trenchcoat: I think most coats of that style have much more of a collar. But that is just my observation.

The star in the second Space Mage pic seems to fit much better here, despite the fact that it doesn't have any shading, I think because It's actually
been outlined.

I won't ask for a pic of clank (far too much fiddly detail) but a pic of Gamma would make my day. I'll try and get you some pics shortly.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Acyl]

Most trenchcoat-type garments do, and also have fiddly bits about the shoulders and waist. And for that matter, visible buttons and other things. But I
don't particularly like those detail elements for this character design, and with regards to the specific drawing, I didn't want to focus attention on
the coat anyway.

It should be stated as a caveat that I do this as a matter of deliberate stylistic choice; if there's a clash between accuracy and appearance, I'll go
with what's more graphic. My style's also pretty simplistic and detail-light, partially because I lack precision and patience, mostly because I've
got a somewhat unhealthy fixtation on using really thick black lines. =D
-- Acyl

[Wiregeek]

I'm cursing my brain here, because it's captioning your second Space Mage pic "Look at my Harbls. LOOK AT THEM."

And the poor girl doesn't deserve that kind of abuse.

-WG, ashamed and unawake yet.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Bob Schroeck]

But it does have a better dynamic than the first. All of it's good work, Acyl, but you're getting better as you go along.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Morganite]

Wiredgeek wrote:

---

I'm cursing my brain here, because it's captioning your second Space Mage pic "Look at my Harbls. LOOK AT THEM."

... What the nani?

-Morgan.

[Acyl]

As requested by Niteflier in the other thread:-
Brahela

Note, I'm not actually sure if that's what you meant by 'ice spear', but I figured it'd have to be longer than the ice sword actually depicted in-game. I couldn't quite make out her chest emblem in the screenshot, either - my best guess is an infinity symbol...if it's wrong, er, well. Whoops.
-- Acyl

[Niteflier]

'Scuse me whilst I pick up my jaw. It fell somewhere around here.

Aside, though, Acyl. Quite nicely done and a fine 'Holy Shit'! I especially like the fractal of the spear, but the whole picture turned out amazing!

As for her spear, meta answer is: Variable length, and yes, it is the Infinity, which I use pretty much exclusively for my characters.

Once again, Thank you Acyl! Thank you!

[Logan Darklighter]

Oh wow! Nice stuff there, Acyl, and Lora'Lai! Sweet!

[Acyl]

Heh, thanks. I really like Lora'lai's costume design, so I figured it'd be an interesting (if ambitious) thing for my second attempt.
Niteflier, I'm glad my guesses were right. I sorta vaguely remembered the infinity chest symbol was a trademark of yours, but wasn't entirely sure. The ice pattern's a Photoshop filter slapped over an incredibly messy colouring job - I'd actually intended to use a different render effect, but that one turned out so nice I had to keep it.
The Brahela picture...her left leg was originally supposed to be kneeling, and it worked reasonably well in lineart, but I couldn't really shade it right to get the extreme contours - necessary because I'd already done high contrast definition for 3D effect on the rest of her leotard. So, uh, I cheated.
Next up, Yukiyo, as requested by Hunterminator in the other thread:-

This one is not entirely 'show-accurate' - there's no subtle slash patterning on the cape, and the flames on her legs are simplified. I tried both, but it sort of conflicted with the lineart and overall colour balance. This one also has the distinction of being the most complex layering job I've done so far - even more than Brahela's ice spear - mostly because of the leg pattern and visor. It's not as good as it could be - I wish the cape were better - but otherwise I think it's the best I've done so far.
-- Acyl

[The Hunterminator]

Wow, I absolutely LOVE it Acyl, thank you so much. The facial expression is great, the way you've drawn the coat and belly shirt is beautiful and the legs
are simply sublime. I see nothing wrong with the simplifications you've done, those were just fiddly little details I put in for the heck of it.

And now, my opinion in detail, starting from the top, the hair looks properly gravity defying even while being a simple ponytail made out of (very slightly)
reddish brown hair. The glasses are very well done, and I like the result so much that I'll probably look to see if it's possible to make the visor
transparent in-game too. The facial expression is pure Yukiyo and you've made a superb job of bringing out the fact that she's pretty young.

The jacket and the belly shirt are both perfectly drawn, and the muscle definition is a very neat detail that I like a lot. The belt and and cape are well
done, nothing to write home about, but they're not really necessary to the overall outfit anyway. As for those legs, my god, those legs are so well drawn.
The pose, the colours, the knees poking out a bit and that shading to give them depth... I simply love the way you've drawn them.

In other words, I really like it, and I'm very glad that I now have a picture of Yukiyo in her 'Heroing' outfit to show off. If you don't mind,
I'd really like to make another request later.

[Acyl]

Glad you like it, Hunt. Yukiyo was fun to draw - the proportions, the pose, the expression, pretty much everything there was great to work on. The fact the costume's all shades of brown drove me nuts when colouring..but I think the final result works.
Next up, as requested by Sofaspud...
It's Emerald Blast. I'm very pleased with how this turned out. There's still room for improvement - the face could be a heckova lot better, and towards the end I thought of a few better and more effective ways to achieve some of the effects (ie. can i has blending?! need moar layers) ... but I'm pleased.

Higher Res Version also available. I've just realised I've been reading Photobucket's image/size constraints wrong. I may upload larger versions of the earlier completed images, due to this.
Sofaspud, sorry if the colours aren't quite right for her hair and skin
tone, or for that matter, Mr. Whiskers' fur. The provided screenshots
were kinda dark (Tiki Lounge lighting is freaky) so I had to
extrapolate. Anyway, this was done in a different style. Still anime-type, but more realistic proportions and higher detail on things like hair shading and eyes.
I've not drawn in this fashion for a few years, so it was nice to revisit this. It tires me out a lot more, and I need more references for shading and anatomy details, but I felt it was necessary for the subject. Inspired by Sofaspud's mention of 'portrait-style'...well, here's a portrait for you.
(I swear, Mr. Whiskers is the real main subject of the drawing...)
-- Acyl