medium: facebook oekaki-like graffiti thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)
other comments: link

the facebook graffiti application only has a limited palette of around 200 colours, comprising solely of the very bright websafe colours, which is honestly not a lot in comparison to the approximate 16 million available.. the photograph i referenced was shot in muted hues of slate greys and nude pinks, and these duller colours are not available on the palette. i felt quite adventurous with the improvisation; the base color was chestnut and black mixed, blended with army green, olive, old rose and copper, with a dash of cream yellow. the overall colours are definitely different from the photograph but i think when the graffiti is viewed independently it should be okay.

i got a little tired of painting and didn't really feel like doing the hand with great fidelity, however; along with the ear, these two features were painted in last and look the worst... hmm, i don't know what i can do to work on my attention stamina though.

*side note: last week i made a tee design for the impending gifted education shirt. the design was executed on macromedia flash, and inspired by a talkingcock scandal. you can see it here.

medium: facebook oekaki-like graffiti thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)
other comments: link

the nose seems to be off. i think i'm still heavily linearly-based after years of drawing comics and manga, so the nose tends to be difficult as it's not strongly defined by lines at all. blending skin tones with the facebook graffiti application is very difficult, due to the limited palette and tools (only the brush and an opacity option, and even then, the sizes and settings are limited to a few stops). once again, i have a problem with proportion and the placement of the eyes. maybe i should start with the eye on my left first because it's easier to align the other eye, i think, my own right eye being more visually dominant..

medium: facebook oekaki-like graffiti thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)

again not my best haha. and there's a random alqaeda!dot.. my stylus tends to plant these/join lines/delete lines even though i'm quite sure i didn't press anything.. haha yeah i know lousy artist blame tools.
pretty bad planning too, was supposed to include her whole legs and her ponytail and the uneven bar ha

medium: facebook oekaki-like thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)

a bad drawing. i couldn't get the features right at all.. had to redraw them as seen (even though i had drawn in the sketch-grid prior)... it looks more like wanrong if anything! haha

kaiyi in cartoon version:

medium: facebook oekaki-like thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)
other comments: link

this is a drawing of an old classmate of mine, magdalene kang. the challenge in this was rendering mag's supple lips, and my anxiety of it turning out wrong can be seen by my coloring of them pre-maturely, to see if they looked alright. the mouth could have been done better, anyway, as well as the face's outline itself. my screen is pretty dark, and i just realised that the fringe on her right is not really complete (but appears black to me and well-blended due to my low contrast). oh well, i can't edit it! ):

medium: facebook oekaki-like thing
tool: wacom tablet
reference: yes (photo)

i always have problems with proportion, especially of the eyes. you can see that i drew it in last, and it is rather out of place; unfortunately, the facebook Graffiti applet does not allow for selection tools to move objects, neither does it have a basic eraser. sveta utkina looks more like lindsay lohan. i will work on it.
also, i think i should have completed the rough outlines of the figures before coloring, because revoking any mistakes would be harder once other parts have already been colored in.

jessica alba by ~bonnivin on deviantART
medium: photoshop cs
tool: razer mouse (40% speed)
reference: yes (photo)

i picked this photograph as a reference because jessica alba has pleasing features, and more importantly, the dress she wears is a relatively simple and black one. the background is the minimal and plain off-white of a photoshoot backing. these elements makes this picture a good starting point for someone rather new to digital painting.

a helpful practice is to draw big, so you can fit in more details to render a more realistic drawing. for this drawing, my canvas size was 1280px x 3550px. i started with her face, blocking in #f0c5a5. the tones and shades were paintbrushed with Soft Round and Spatter 24. i personally do not advise using these brushes (i had nothing better) and there are possibly better photoshop brushes downloadable online that simulates real paintbrushes with great fidelity. i used Soft Round to paint in the general tones, and used Spatter to give a painterly feel. later on i began to use Solid Round instead to fill in the base colors, such as for the legs.


left: base colors with Soft Round
right: blending with Spatter (see stroke detail)
the eyelashes were done with a 1-2px brush with various opacities, with the shape dynamics of the brush set to fade under the control slider. the hair was done with 3px brush set to fade as well.