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Thread: Xero's Design Logs

  1. #21
    ModeratorCascade UserBoulder UserSS Veteran
    Xerodragon12's Avatar
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    Walkthrough Picture Retrospective: Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

    First post of 2017, and already we're closing off the series. Not that we had much of a choice, there's not much left for me to talk about since this is the last picture I drew for Eyan's walkthroughs, or at least the one I started before I lost contact with Eyan. I intended to write this up in the closing days of 2016, but I got so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and having guests over that I simply forgot. Anyways, without further ado, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.


    DeviantArt Link

    If any of you were around before the release of OR/AS, you probably saw this picture already, or at least the pencil line art for it. I noticed that the picture I drew for the remake (FireRed/LeafGreen) did not follow the same convention as the previous mainline Pokemon games, so I decided to stick to that rule for this set of remakes. Originally, the characters (Brandon and May) were not supposed to be in the picture, but I stuck them in front of the Greek letters because it felt empty otherwise. The picture is pretty much split into two parts: The main picture, and that little bottom part with the starter Pokemon, like in some of the other Pokemon pictures. However, instead of the starters themselves, I drew the faces of the final evolutions. I don't remember what I was trying to go for with that, but it's there. The main picture is split into a 2x2 box. On opposing corners, I had the Greek Letters (Omega and Alpha), and on the remaining boxes (also opposing), I had the primal Legendaries. In the background of Primal Groudon, I had an erupting volcano, and in the background of Primal Kyogre, I had a surging Tidal Wave. I had the curvature of the wave and the volcano meet in the middle, and the backgrounds and foregrounds kind of overlapped into each other over the middle line; Kyogre's head overlaps the line, and the smoke and smog from the volcano flows into the background of the Alpha side. This was unintentional, of course. I didn't particularly intend for the middle line to be there, but it felt awkward without the line, or some kind of transition between the two sides. If I were more skilled with my coloring, I guess there would be some kind of white blur or some better transition than the bold black line.

    The coloring for this picture is also significantly different from my other pictures. This picture was drawn on 50 lb 9"x12" sketch paper rather than 20 lb 8.5"x11" printer paper like the other pictures, mainly because I wanted to try watercolors again (For my purposes, printer paper generally works for these walkthrough pictures because I'm usually working with cheap colored pencils and markers). This time, I think it came out rather nice. The colors are much bolder and brighter than my previous attempts, and the addition of the bold outline (in Sharpie, no less) really brings attention to the foreground. The Legendary Pokemon are more on-model than my previous drawings, and instead of trying to ape someone else's style, I drew Brandon and May as I would other human characters in my own style. As a result, I have a picture that is more cohesive in a single style, and one that I am particularly proud of.

    If I had to choose a picture to represent everything that I learned and achieved during my time as Eyan's artist, this would be it. It is the culmination of all the skills I acquired and design decisions I made between 2011 and 2014, between becoming more confident in coloring (hence the bolder watercolors than my previous attempts) and the decision to simply use my style instead of mimicking other people's. I have a lot to learn as an artist, but I would not have gotten to where I am now without Eyan or the prospect of having my pictures on display to hundreds of thousands of people. Even with college being as disruptive to my art skills as it was, I was able to experiment with techniques I never would have even considered as an amateur artist, and even now, I progress towards newer styles and newer ways of drawing in a never-ending pursuit, and I have never had more fun chasing it.

    I intend for this post to be my last "planned" post on this forums, mainly because I have more important things to concern myself with. I'll drop by every now and again to lurk and clean up bots, but I probably won't post unless it's a topic that interests me. If you want to follow my progress and my latest endeavors, artistic or otherwise, you can follow me on twitter, @anthonylin129. You can follow my DeviantArt, drgn12.deviantart.com
    or my Pixiv, XeroD. If there's any picture in my Twitter feed or DeviantArt gallery that I drew and you want to see me discuss and dissect it, let me know on Twitter, and maybe I'll make another post or something in this log. Anyways, I'll see you guys around on the internet somewhere!
    Last edited by Xerodragon12; 01-29-2017 at 04:44 PM.

    -Insert quote about dragons here-
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  2. #22
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    The History of Comic Shenanigans: A Retrospective View on the Forum Comics

    I didn't really expect to write another retrospective on the forums, but I just recently finished up a bunch of retrospectives on each era of forum comics on my tumblr, which you can visit here, so I decided to port them over to the forums, since you guys would probably appreciate it more. The retrospective that you read here is edited from the tumblr posts, cutting out most of the explanation of what was going on with the forums. The retrospective is broken up into various parts, each correlating to a set of comics. Buckle your seatbelts, everyone. This is a long one!

    The Classic Era
    Spoiler!


    The Reboot Era
    Spoiler!


    Final Thoughts

    I had a lot of fun drawing these comics and reading the feedback from the forum goers, and these comics taught me a lot about setting up and delivering a punchline, not just with text, but also with visual imagery. Some of these comics, in retrospect, have very botched deliveries, or are heavily dependent on one's knowledge of specific games or media, which is probably why these jokes didn't go so well. In the Reboot, however, I definitely saw an uptick in comments within the thread often praising or laughing at the joke told within the week's comic.

    My experience with Comic Shenanigans also led me to start experimenting with other comic styles and comic themes. If you follow me on social media, you would know I'm starting a webcomic of my own, called Shadewalkers. It's not a comedic four-panel comic, like Comic Shenanigans and its predecessors, but I think you guys might enjoy it nonetheless. It's more of an episodic adventure with an overarching plot dealing with mysterious creatures and the people who fight them, and while the comic itself will be more on the serious side, there are comedic moments and timing that I learned from my time working on Comic Shenanigans.

    If you guys want to see me do Comic Shenanigans Season 3, either on tumblr or twitter, let me know, and I'll start coming up with more material and drawing it, asap. As always, you can follow me on twitter, @xerodragon12, or on tumblr, xerod12, and check out my webcomic, Shadewalkers!
    Last edited by Xerodragon12; 06-17-2017 at 10:49 PM.

    -Insert quote about dragons here-
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  3. #23
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    ShadowMr.L's Avatar
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    too soggy 2/10

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