Design For Media Update

I've been experimenting with different color palettes for my Design for Media project. I used the Color Scheme Designer site to help me choose out some palettes. I'm not sure completely which one to go with yet, but I'm leaning more towards the top designs.

"Celia, Jibu, and Syntax Concepts"

Although I might work on some of the character shapes, I feel like I'm more satisfied with these designs, and would be a lot more open to re-designs on these if necessary. Celia and Syntax are Jibu's parents, by the way.

"Clove, Sarah, and Akuma Concepts"

I didn't really update all that much with this piece. I basically just added the color palette, and edited the colors so that they would coordinate together better.

Starting Back Up

So this was my second week back at college and I've been working on a lot of stuff for classes. This week has had its ups and downs, but I've been able to get through it so far.

Neo Obelisque Animatic from Michelle Rakar on Vimeo.

"Neo Obelisque Animatic"

This is my first finished animatic for my storyboarding class. It's about Pubby being initiated into the Dusty Dimes after confronting Lonny.

"Animating Concepts"

Some concepts for my next animation assignment. I was just planning out some punching poses.

"Ralphie Scott Concepts"

Just some concepts for my animation class. I tried to draw Ralphie and Scott more simplified.

"Bouncing Ball Animation"

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ANIMATION.

My first project for Animation class. Just a simple bouncing ball animation.

Back at College

So I'm back in college now, starting up my sophomore year. I've got a bunch of pretty cool classes this semester, so I'm excited to start back up. My blog's going to be mostly dedicated to my Design for Media class this semester, but I'll still definitely include all of the other art I do in the meantime.

Inspiration

There have been many many artists that have greatly inspired my art throughout the years. Some of my favorite artists who have inspired my style most in particular, as of recently, would include Steve Rakar, Wes Talbott, and The-Ez. Although I have so many more inspirations, those are the three that have impacted me the most.

One of the artists who I am most inspired by is my brother, Steve Rakar. Since both of us started being serious about art around the same time and grew up improving together, I've always looked up to him as a great inspiration. He always helped me to improve and would critique my art and help me out whenever I needed it. My brother and I created "The Nays" together and that has made our bond even stronger. He's definitely the person that I look up to the most and is ultimately the best friend I've ever made as well.

Wes Talbott's art is another really great inspiration to me. After watching a tutorial he did at CCAD's Animation Collective, I learned so many more amazing things about digital painting and I improved a lot overall. I continually look up to him as an artist and draw inspiration from him all the time.

Another artist that greatly inspires my current style and taught me a lot about how to draw characters is The-Ez. I watched many of her great tutorials and studied her style and gallery. Her style is one that I really admire because of the fluidity and her style of drawing characters. She's really the main one that helped me to create my own style as of recently.

"Digital Character Concepts"

Some digital concepts of characters I'm planning on developing for my Design for Media class: Clove, Sarah, and Akuma.

"Character Concept Sketches"

Some more concept sketches for the characters I'm planning on developing for my Design for Media class: Celia, Jibu, and Syntax.

"First Storyboard Thumbnails"

This was one of my first times really doing storyboards.

"Rough Storyboard Sketches"

Just some really quick concepts for my storyboards that I was thinking up.

"First Sophomore Sketches"

Just a bunch of various sketches I did over the past week. Nothing too special, just doodles mostly.

"Gesture Sketches"

I've been working on some gesture drawings whenever I'm not in the art mood, so here's what I got this week.

Countdown to Sophomore Year

So I'll be moving back into my dorm tomorrow night and I'll start my sophomore year at CCAD on Monday. I'm really excited, although I wish I could've had a little bit more time to finish things up before summer ended. I've slowly been losing time to do art because of packing, so not too much art in this update. Also since next week will be my first week of classes, don't expect too large of an update (or I may switch to updating bi-weekly if I'm too busy).

"7 Days Remain"

This is just a parody off of the video game, The World Ends With You. My friends (Blair and Jinny) and I decided to make up our own scenario based off of the game, and this was the result of our conversations.

"Birthday Squall!"

A quick little sketch I did for my favorite fictional character's birthday: Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII.

"Zandra Saku Clothes"

A project I started a long while back. This is meant to show the different clothes that my characters wear throughout the series. This one is Zandra, one of my main characters.

"Gair Saku Clothes"

The same project as above, but this one is for my main character, Gair. Some of these I drew a really long time ago, so I just basically added on some more clothes options that he wears during the series.

"Hand Practice"

So I've been working on trying to learn how to draw hands better as of recently. Thanks to some tutorials and help from friends, I think I've improved a bit in short time.

Nearing the End

So one week from today I'll be moving back into my dorm at College. It's crazy how fast summer went by! I hoped to get a lot more done than I did, but hey, isn't that what happens every summer? I've been trying to work a lot more digitally as of recently so that I can get ready for all of my animation classes. Well I've only got one week left, so I'd might as well make the best of it!

"True Betrayal"

This was a re-drawing of one of my old pieces from 2010. My characters have gone through a lot of re-designing since then; my artistic talents have improved a lot since then.

"Time Fabric Island Sketches"

Concepts for the twins: Karse and Len. This was my first time really doing quick digital sketches, pretty much... at least in this kind of style.

"T-O-A-D Doodles"

A bunch of concept sketches for characters from my T-O-A-D World Eventure.

"Arcobaleno Infant Quicklings"

Some quick Reborn fanart of the Arcobaleno infants.

"Digital Gesture Doodles"

Just some gesture doodles I did when I really wasn't in a drawing mood. Lots of proportion issues here.

"Nays Sketchings"

A bunch of sketches, mostly from The Nays. I was re-designing characters and trying to draw in various styles here.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have been so busy lately that it's been hard to find enough time to do all this art I have planned for myself! I have a bunch of stuff planned to get done before I go back to school, but I've only got a couple of weeks to do it!

"Rotle: A Name Long Forgotten"

One of my favorite digital pieces so far. This is Rotle, or now known as R, leader of the R Nays.

"Mother's Love"

Some Mother 3 fanart I did of Klaus, Hinawa, and Lucas.

"Akuma Re-designs"

Recently I've been really in the mood for the part of The Nays where The Nays are in Beddy Bye World, the Land of the Clouds, and the Demon World. So I decided I wanted to re-design Akuma a bit, as well as the uniform that all of Death's elite warriors wear. I haven't decided which of these I'm actually going to use yet though.

"Planet Timer Faces"

Some more portraits I did for my game; these are Sorcerer, Guard, Veetoff, Det, and Nekae.

"007: Squirtle"

A quick digital piece of Squirtle that I did.

"Random Sketches"

Just a bunch of various sketches, some for digital pieces I plan on working on soon. So basically this sheet includes: Phantasy Star II sketches, sketches of my Pokemon Platinum team, some Akuma re-design ideas, and some sketches of Squall.

Time is Running Away

So I'm getting to that time where I feel like I have a million things to do and like no time to do all of them! Only about two or three more weeks until I go back to school, and I'm in the middle of way too many projects! Also, this week my relatives are in town so I'm going to be pretty occupied hanging out with family instead of working on art. Sorry about the late update, but that's my reason.

"Concert Finale"

Here's a piece I did of Yuka Parase, one of my characters. I haven't drawn her in awhile plus I felt like experimenting with some dramatic lighting, so here's what I came up with.

"Failed as a Detective"

About a week or two ago I completely caught up with the Gravity Falls episodes that are out so far. So I figured I had to draw some fanart for the series.

"Nays Portraits"

Just some more portraits for my RPGmaker games. These are Refinto and Kai.

"006: Charizard"

Just a quick digital sketch of Charizard. I've been playing Pokemon recently so I decided to revive an old project I was doing to try and draw all of the Pokemon in this kind of a style.

"Nays Figures & Portraits"

A variety of sketches in this sheet. Some figures drawings of my characters, portrait drawings, practicing drawing hands, a sketch of a Mother 3 piece I plan to digitalize, a sketch of Bunny Rabbot from Sonic that I might digitalize, and then some Gundam Wing sketches that I might fix up and digitalize. I've got lots of drawings planned, so I'm sketching out all my concepts like crazy; I'm just gonna blitz the last week or two before school starts and try to whip out a digital piece a day or something crazy.