2014 Recap

2014 has been a surprisingly really good year for me. I've been accomplishing a lot more things than I did in my previous years, and have really been experimenting a lot more and taking more risks. I've slowly been gaining more confidence because of these risks I've taken and decisions I've made, so overall things have been moving in a positive direction for me. Honestly, I think it's safe to say that 2014 was the best year I've had so far (both artistically and life experiences in general).

Summary of 2014! It was hard to choose just one from each month, haha.

This summary of the years is always fun to look at a visual representation of my improvement.

I look forward to what 2015 brings for me!

Half of it is still completely unknown, since I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing, but I'm excited (and a little scared) for what is to come. 

I've been trying to draw as much as I can, and my New Years resolution is to basically keep drawing and try to draw even more than I have been, and improve even more than I have. Also another little New Years resolution for myself is to surround myself with more positivity, since I noticed that's been improving my performance a lot more when I do. 

I hope 2015 can be as good of a year as 2014 was (or even better!)

Nays with Lighting

Still continuing on with using more brushes and lighting techniques on these daily characters. It's been a lot of fun to really play around with different techniques. I've been more satisfied with how these are coming out (for the most part), so that's a plus.

Kali is a mysterious demon girl, though she does reveal her occupation to all of The Nays when they first meet her: she is a professional assassin. Although she never admits her true goal of which one of The Nays she was sent to kill until much later; she ended up passing The Nays exam to become one of The Nays, and sent all of her opponents to the emergency room besides one. Kali has a sneaky nature and is able to hide her presence easily at nighttime. One of her greatest abilities is the ability to control time; she can freeze time for short periods, and is able to hide herself in the shadows with great skill. She will talk to pretty much anyone, but she is closest friends with Piko and Shaw.

Arashi is the daughter of Harukame who watches over the area outside the Party Place in Party Sanctuary World. She is also very active in Beddy Bye World, since she is the one who warns The Nays when there is a Stormazark warning; which is where her nickname "Ms. Storm Warner" originates from. Arashi lives on her own for the most part and she is always moving around from place to place. Arashi is rarely found at one location for a long period of time, and is always watching over to make sure that everyone in Party Sanctuary World is safe. Arashi also is in charge of making sure that foreigners to Party Sanctuary World are thoroughly checked before entering and she makes sure that they are not dangerous.

Back to the Sketchbook!

So I realized it's been almost a MONTH (at least 20 days) since I've drawn in my sketchbook! I've been drawing traditionally, it's just that I've been using printer paper instead. But anyway, I've been doing some new Eventures for The Nays, so I wanted to draw some of the characters that appear or are mentioned, so I have a mental image of them while I make up more for the story.

Experimenting with Nays

With my daily character drawings, I've been experimenting with some various brushes and trying to find some that I enjoy using, so that I can add some rendering into my pieces, so they are less flat.

Z is one of the most powerful creatures in all of The Worlds. He is The Guy Who Talks Like This' master and has great power over him. If something does not go the way that Z has planned, he "fixes" it and destroys anything in his path. He has a grudge against The Nays and will do just about anything to destroy them all. Z always has a very calm front and is very confident in his powerful abilities.

Piko is a serious man who is close friends with Gair. He never opens up about the negative parts of his past, but he still knows how to have fun with his friends. Piko loves to play piano and often plays for his friends at the Hikers Association, outside of the Party Place in Party Sanctuary World. He trains a lot in his spare time, since he always wants to be stronger. He uses water to his advantage in battle.

Forgotten Memories

So for the past week, I have been working on this short animated teaser, that I created for my brother for Christmas.

This was done mostly as a teaser to one of our existing stories. As you can probably tell, a lot of inside jokes are included in there, since this was a gift. Although, I thought since it was a fun project that came out fairly well (considering I only spent about ten hours total on it), so I thought I would share it here as well. Oh and Speedvore is another alias I go by, as NimbU is his.

With this project, I wanted to experiment with some effects in Premiere and just a whole new style of animating in Photoshop, and in a more painterly style (inspired by the Dam Keeper). It was really fun and surprisingly went a lot faster than I thought it would. The paintings took less time than my usual cleaned up lines, because I was using tied down roughs over top the paintings. This short is not particularly fully animated, but the few sequences that were animated more did not take as long either. I feel like this is just as, or even more, visually appealing than my usual animations, so it is something I would like to consider looking into for my future projects.

Painting Nays

I've been super busy preparing for Christmas, so not too much to show, aside from my daily characters. But I have been trying out a more painted style the past weekend. I used it mostly in a Christmas gift (that I will be posting after it is given), but you can check it out in my Snull drawing below. That said, I have spent about 10 hours this past week on a Christmas gift for my brother, so look forward to that being posted in the next day or so.

Snull is a very outgoing young demon who stays by Ralphie's side and calls him "Rafie." Her past is very unknown, but from how she acts, it is quite apparent that she did not like her life back in the Demon World. Snull's unusual voice and her strong attraction to Ralphie causes Gair and JrTr to make fun of her often, so she will mostly stay by Ralphie's side, or talk to her best friend, Baw.

The Guy Who Talks Like This' (TGWTLT) World is the first World that The Nays visit as a group. At first he is someone that The Nays really like and they enjoy his fun attitude. He is always very cheerful and will do almost anything to entertain The Nays and keep them in his World. When they realize that he is actually an antagonist who plans to keep them in his World forever, they turn on him and look to him as an evil being. TGWTLT still loves The Nays except for the select few who revealed his true motives. He will always try to convince The Nays to come to his World to play games because he is so attached to them. There are times where he is even so desperate that he will take over The Nays and attack them.

Winter Commissions!

I'm opening up Winter Commissions! They will be open until mid-January.

I will draw almost anything (I have never come across a request that I had to turn down). Check out my deviantART gallery for more examples on my style and how I draw.

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I ONLY ACCEPT USD. If you pay in a different currency, the fees on Paypal will be added on to your order.

ALSO: If you would like to request a commission done with NO color, I will take off $3 per character.

-i.e. a black and white headshot with background would be $10

Additionally, if you are a returning customer, I offer a 10% discount on full body with background drawings!

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To contact me, send an email to michellerakar [at] gmail.com with the following information:

-Your name

-Type of art you are ordering (listed above in the image)

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Payment:

-Paypal Only (I will provide you with my account after the order has been established)

-I ONLY ACCEPT USD. If you pay in a different currency, the fees on Paypal will be added on to your order.

-You must pay me before I start on the commission

-I will email you your commission in high resolution (both the psd and jpeg)

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All prices are listed in the image above in the image. You can view examples of each in the above image, as well. 

Additional information is as follows:

DIGITAL SKETCH (no color)

$4 (+$2 for each additional character)

These are really quick character sketches that I do. There is no color and no background included in these sketches.

DIGITAL SKETCH (with color)

$5 (+$2 for each additional character)

These are really quick character sketches that I do. These include a simple back color, no shading. There is no background included in these sketches (aside from a possible base color).

TRADITIONAL SKETCH (no color)

$4 (+$2 for each additional character)

These are really quick character sketches that I do, traditionally on paper (usually in pen or pencil). There is no color and no background included in these sketches.

MARKER SKETCH (with color)

$5 (+$2 for each additional character)

These are character sketches that I do, traditionally on paper (starting in pencil and going over them in marker). There is no background included in these sketches.

CHARACTER HEADSHOT

$8 (+$6 for each additional character)

These are character drawings from the shoulders up, done digitally. There is no background included in these drawings (aside from a possible base color).

CHARACTER FULL BODY

$12 (+$8 for each additional character)

These are full body character drawings, done digitally. There is no background included in these drawings (aside from a possible base color).

PAINTED PORTRAIT

$15 (+$13 for each additional character)

These are digital paintings of people from the shoulders up. This can range from character paintings to actual paintings of real people, based off of photographs. These are done with much more attention to lighting and includes a more painted look than my usual graphical style. There is no background included in these drawings (aside from a possible base color or simple indication).

CHARACTER HEADSHOT (with BG)

$13 (+$10 for each additional character)

These are character drawings from the shoulders up, done digitally. A background is included in these drawings. If the request does not specify a background for these drawings, I will use my best judgement to include one that fits with the scene.

BACKGROUND FOCUS (no characters)

$25

These are very different from the rest of the options. These pieces will only include a background, no characters. The client must provide reference images or a very detailed description of what the location looks like. The client may request a style (from the two examples in the image above) or the client may leave it up to me to decide which style to execute the drawing in.

CHARACTER FULL BODY (with SIMPLE BG)

$16 (+$13 for each additional character)

These are full body character drawings, done digitally. A background is included in these drawings, but only small simple indications (i.e. a few objects or ground surrounding the character, so that they are grounded in space). If the request does not specify a background for these drawings, I will use my best judgement to include one that fits with the scene.

CHARACTER FULL BODY (with BG)

$20 (+$10 for each additional character)

These are full body character drawings, done digitally. A background is included in these drawings. If the request does not specify a background for these drawings, I will use my best judgement to include one that fits with the scene. Usually this is the one that I am asked to do most often. These are definitely the ones that I am obligated to spend most time on (which also explains why it is the most pricey of the bunch).

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I will complete these in a first-come-first serve basis.

Provide as many details as you can, so that I will be able to execute your request as accurately as possible. :)

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! 

Daily Nays

I've been continuing my Nay-a-Day project when I can. Christmas preparations have been keeping me fairly busy though, but I'm sure once all the holidays are over, I will be back to doing a lot more art. I'll be much more rested by then, hopefully, as well.

Mikey is a weird ferret who longs to make friends. He is an orphan who only lives with other animals who cannot talk. Mikey became friends with Gojo when he first moved to North Harbor, but when reuniting with him later, Gojo was very cold to him, which broke his heart. Mikey always tries to befriend Gojo and is completely obsessed with him, even though Gojo always beats him up. In Mikey's free time, he either cries or uses Big Magic.

Valcia is a very active fox, and always seems to want to play. She loves the wilderness and enjoys being with her friends. She always wants people to notice her and hates being alone.

Drawing on Printer Paper!

I started drawing a lot more traditionally this week, since it's been taking some time to get used to using my Tablet again. So I've been doing a lot of quicker drawings. And I've actually discovered that drawing on printer paper can be a lot more fun than drawing in a sketchbook. I tried this out thanks to Heidi Smith's recommendation at CTN. I've also been redrawing old drawings a lot, just because those are always fun to see the improvement.

A bunch of sketches I did this week.

These are the sketches side-by-side with the originals.

(I think I have improved a bit)

And then I did a few beat board sketches for one of my Eventures. I was initially thinking about actually creating a few finished beat boards out of my favorite moments, but I'm not sure how happy I was with these thumbnails.

Start of Winter Break!

So I've mostly been recovering from finals this past week. I haven't been doing too much art, so that I can fully recover before diving back into any projects. I've still been trying to keep up with my daily characters though, so that I am still drawing for at least an hour a day. This'll be my slow transition back into art after those two weeks of all-nighters and working on projects for 15+ hours a day.

Shear is a wise old man who lives in Sid's laboratory in Party Sanctuary World. He has a very awkward sense of humor, but knows a vast amount of knowledge. He has the ability to go between the Realm of Magic and the normal world

Blam is Cin's pet bird who follows him everywhere he goes. He has a small body, but a big heart and will do anything he can to help out Cin and his friends.

GrowL is a very outgoing member of the CrY family. Despite his small size, he is actually very powerful and trains Punchy. He is a magic expert who is able to control various elements, and has the ability to awaken elemental abilities within others.

Rasake is a member of the Field Ravens, a resistance group against Death. She is very nice to people, especially those who join the Field Ravens. She is often conflicted in her love life, between Gair and Matoko, which causes the two to create a rivalry. She is also close friends with Trekkon and treats him as a younger brother.

Roger Hom[ey/ie] is a very inexperienced bird-in-training who uses her ears to fly. She takes Hawkin's place at one point, but does not fulfill the role well at all. She is very irresponsible and unorganized. She is a shy creature who does not do well with meeting new people. She is very clumsy and does not really make good first impressions.
(Also I did this for the Weeklies' Scribble Contest!)

Detective Ragger

So I finally finished my first prototype scene in my game! I had some video troubles, so I am unable to upload it for the time being, but I did manage to present it in class. In the meantime, you can check out my Production Packet for the Prologue section of my game (which will most likely be what is playable in the Demo, expected for May 2015).