Drakenhart Studios

Jazza Challenge: Silly Walk Animation

draken_art — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 19:45:50 GMT

So I'm doing a bit of research for the silly walk. Looking at what others may be doing for the challenge. Trying to get a feel for the intent and wondering how much to challenge myself.

Jazza's Original Challenge Video:

Animation Tutorials: (for those of you who are intrested in trying this out)

Jazza Walk Cycle Tutorials

Walk Cycle Tutorial by Alan Becker

Research:

Original Sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus: Ministry of Funny Walks - YouTube

Traffic Sign Makes people do a Silly Walk- YouTube - NRK

Silly Walkers Event in Brno 2013 - YouTube - KoKosVideo

Silly Walkers Brno - 2014 - YouTube -KoKosVideo

Thoughts:

Trying to decide if I want to do human, animal, creature from myth, or a monster from my mind...... I considered doing a "cat with tape" sort of walk cycle as that is kind of silly looking. But I wasn't sure if that really fit the theme.

I went looking to see what some others may have posted so far to see which direction they were going in, and found a beginner self-taught animator who out classed me by and far. The saying goes "draw every day to get better" and I've been doing anything but animating lately.

Which brings to mind, a thought - which category do I enter into? Beginner or Open? Most of my professional, paid work has been in the Grpahic Design and Web Design fields and most of my portfolio is full of that sort of stuff. I have a degree in Animation, but I have very little from college anymore to show for it. It's not an easy choice.

(One of the reasons I'm doing this is to motivate me to create more work for my portfolios)

Art Update

draken_art — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:21:44 GMT

I grabbed space on Behance and love the ability to track projects in progress. It's an interesting form of "Portfolio site" with a twist. Go check it out!

I've set aside space for my Western Zodiac Project - which I've taken back up again after a bit of a creative hiatus. I may go back an digitally correct Aries later, but for now I need to get the other signs researched and worked up.

So far the "solid" designs are Aries (done), Taurus, and Aquarius. Gemini is close to completion as far as research and direction goes. The composition, figure interaction, and background for Gemini still eludes me.

Taurus will be a young bull with more human features (a bit Minotaur-like), like human-esque hands, arms, upper torso, upper legs/waist region. It will have a bull's head with more human eyes, a tail, and hoofed feet. In the background will be a forest (still in works) with a homestead of some kind perhaps. It will be based loosely in the medieval period (think Robin Hood). I'm tossing around the idea of having a young calf clinging to his leg, looking out toward the audience as if hiding behind the young bull. The color pallet will be a lot of greens and browns, but I may make the bull a white bull with black/brown points in green/brown garb.

Hrmmn...

Aquarius will be depicted as a waterbear carrying a water pitcher or an amphorall. The background will be a simple landscape, I'll need to go digging for some nice "Greek" landscapes. Maybe something with vineyards?

General News

draken_art — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:53:40 GMT

Lots of stress in my life at the moment. With baby on the way this makes it more so. However I'm going to use the time I have and get something better for myself set up.

However, working a full time job (non-career related due to the economic needs and situation I'm in right now) taxes me to the point where I have little to no energy. I've been far too lax in finalizing and coding my website design. This has to do with a lot about the levels of responsibility and stress I deal with in my day to day life. I have very little time that is useful to me, and I find myself farting around on facebook wasting what little time I have due to lack of brain-engagement. Seriously, I feel like a zombie most days.

I had to shut down my Fiverr Gigs due to inability to get them done. I got tired of fighting with the family for time, especially with the S.O. /complaining/ about how much time I spend on these things and how little they pay out. He's over-stressed due to our money situation, I can understand that, but his attitude is not helpful.

Gyphie-butt came over today with bunny rabbit carcass. Hrmmn. Stew time. We chated about various things and played a little bit of catch up. She showed me a couple pieces she'd worked on and I am throughly impressed by her artistic improvement. In fact I'm downright jealous of her "people art skills". ;) She tackled a difficult pose with two difficult animals' (hippogriff) parts. I hope the work we did on figuring out how to place parts and the perspective works out. It was a difficult piece, but when she can get it done it'll be so worth it!

Made Lasagne tonight with the kids, can't wait to dig into it!

I hope to have some more of my art finalized and cleaned up for display. I really need a better paying, career-related job. To do that I need a killer potfolio of work. Wish me luck.

Update: General Update w/Art

draken_art — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:50:40 GMT

I've been doing a few Fiverr Gigs and it's been a learning expereince. When other more experienced artists and such tell you to "price something for what it's actually worth" one doesn't "get it" until one is more aware of what the worth of their work is really all about.

I have several offers up on Fiverr, but the only one that kept getting tagged (at all) with a regularity was the "four web banners for 5 USD". I did some decent work, but they really didn't give me a good ROI. I've had to buy stock photos that I may never be able to use again? *shrugs* Etc.

However, the side bonus is that I'm producing professional work for my portfolio - even if it's ONLY web banners.

Honestly, I'd rather do more motion graphics work or Flash animation work to strengthen that side of things, but THAT takes a lot more time and is worth more then 5 USD by and far.

I still need money though, and am also hoping that my Illustrative Emergency Comissions pick up more... I have a few, and some good paying ones, but it's not quite enough.

Flynn-sis has even offered to sell one of her pieces, which is very nice of her.
I've linked to my Sketchfest sale page as well.
Not to mention that I do have some prints available through DA.

But very little in the way of takers. See my previous entry for more information.

Makes me wish I hadn't hid my head in the proverbial sand, afraid of "fame" and all the crud that come with it. I'm more uncomfortable about the crud then the reputation.... but I think I'm more afriad of developing a BAD reputation. *sighs*

Emergency Commissions!

draken_art — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:22:31 GMT

I am in need of 300 USD due to an emergeny repair. I am offering both comissioned sketches as well as originals for sale.

I have these slots for art available. Slots will reopen as needed when other artwork is finished. Shipping is free. These are heavily discounted in price.

I have certain limitations on what I draw (nothing illegal, and nothing that would get my kids taken from me by the US CPS), however I am willing to discuss offers. So do not send me money upfront until I've accepted the comission itself. I will send you my paypal or home address in PM when the comission has been accepted.

Early payment puts your piece ahead in the Que, just below due-date strict and previously pre-paid pieces.

**UPDATE**
The repair was fixed with some scrapping, but the list of commissions remains open due to pending baby birth. This leaves me OUT of work for a while, and depending on how things go may leave me out of work for longer then anticipated.

I am offering--->

Sketches:
> 1/2 Page sketches for $5
* 1 character/design per
* Very simple / textured background
* +$2 per addtional character
* Inked add $5

examples:
Pencils - Fish Necklace (2 half pages): http://bit.ly/qFOuCb
Pencils - Sushi Eating Ayeaye: http://bit.ly/ovAvUX
Inked - Dragon Under Glass: http://bit.ly/qsbT6Y

Slots:
1) Matt Vasili Stanley (Character idea set, need more details - working on thumbnails)
2) Matt Vasili Stanley (Character idea set, need more details - working on thumbnails)
3)
4)
5)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slots:
> Full Page sketches for $10
* 1 character/design per
* Very simple / textured background
* +$2 per addtional character
* Inked - Add $5

examples:
Pencils - Whale Dragon: http://bit.ly/r9etB2
Pencils - Tazzie Angel: http://bit.ly/oxgr3r
Pencils - Giraffe in Wolf's Clothing: http://bit.ly/oOn3fl
Inked - Crow Knot: http://bit.ly/qsbT6Y

Slots:
1) C. S. (PAID - Finished)
2) Christina Zonak Mitton (PAID - still waiting for more details)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sales:

Dev Art Prints:
http://halfbreed.deviantart.com/store/

SketchFest Sale Page:
* You get these orginals for the price as listed. I ship them out for no charge to you.

* Claimed ATC: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=1710
* Dragon Love Goddess Figurine: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=1709
Hungry Hearts: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=2570
Nevermore: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=2374
Cthulu Fae: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=296
Sushi Eating Ayeaye: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=49
Dragonfly-Lizard "Griffion": http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=286
Change: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=1633
Tree House: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=591
Summer Fae: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=2209
RUN!: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=1652
Mermaid & Seagul Argue: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=2571
MY LAST ONE!: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=2373
My Starfish!: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=1642
Ugly Mermaid: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestart.php?id=598

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepted forms of payment:
Preferred: Paypal
Checks: Bank Checks Preferred. I charge additional fees IF your personal check bounces!
Money Orders: US Postal Money Orders preferred, but will accept any that can be cashed in the US.

Sketch Fest Streaming!

draken_art — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:09:55 GMT

Sketch Fest is on! (http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/index.php)

See my sketch wall! (http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestartist.php?id=191) (The stuff that has the bolder image border are items for sale through the Sketch Fest site).

Come watch me stream my art! (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/doodle-daze)
(Sound track via Youtube.)

General Update

draken_art — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:55:12 GMT

Sketch Fest is today and my son also graduates from Preschool (the day care we send him to acts like a Pre School for the soon to be school-aged kids - which is awesome). :)

My back and neck are bothering me from over-extensions and over exertion from work. The doctor has said I /have/ to have a back belt - otherwise I could do more serious damage to my lower back. *sighs* At least I was wise enough to not ignore the signs my body were telling me and went to him right away.

He also took blood to check for arthritis, it does run in my family and I have been having issues with my two pinky fingers this past winter. The second joint gets very tender, and I get stabbing pains in it at certain times of the day when it's cold outside and ready to storm. I hope it's not the rheumatoid version my one gram has - as that can be severely debilitating. o.O

However, he had me stretching and bending, then said that in his estimation - "at least it doesn't look like you have a slipped disc or something else along those lines".

I am on muscle relaxers and pain meds now. Whoo! I hope that I am able to draw for Sketch Fest! :)

Writer's Block: Globetrotting

draken_art — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:12:22 GMT

Germany! Hands down and without a second thought! :)

Of course it would be a bit difficult for my family and all - there are other responsibilities that I would need to be sure were taken care of first off before leaving. I couldn't just go without making sure they were going to be okay.

However, if all the ducks were lined up, I'd go visit Germany. :)

Sketch Fest Tomorrow, and art today

draken_art — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:31:52 GMT

Tomorrow (EST 4pm) starts the 24hr Global event known as Sketch Fest as hosted by Ellen Million Graphics. I'm so excited!

I'm going to try and stream tomorrow to track my art offerings. :) Yeaness!

As of right now I'm setting up my cam to do some art, and will be streaming the artwork after dinner. :)

Deep Thoughts....

draken_art — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:13:56 GMT

The last few days I've been arting and thinking.

I've been thinking about loss a lot lately. Loss of a loved one can make people do weird and often non-sensible things. Sometimes loss can trigger arguments between otherwise sensible people. In some cases loss can even shut down empathy, compassion, understanding, consideration, and caring for others very quickly.

In other cases, loss can trigger deep and abiding depression that some folks can never get over. They pine until they themselves pass away.

A person that I like to think of as a friend, and a fellow artist as well, has recently lost her partner of 10yrs. They had a house together, and were living more or less as a married couple. They just didn't have the document that said they were married (legally). He past, and she is now coping the best she can with her own loss as well as all the repercussions of that loss.

It gets me to thinking how fast this world has become. That there is no real time for grieving anymore. That this world is so money oriented, and so impersonal, that people outside of the loss don't seem to have empathy for the ones who have lost. The banks don't care. The debt-owed don't care. Sometimes even some blood-related family members don't care except to see to it the financial side of things are taken care of - and worse then vultures over a carcass.

I wish there was more I could do, but she lives so far away. I don't have spare money of my own to donate, nor do I have anything worth real value to send her so she could hock it. yada yada yada. So I post to my network of contacts to see if I can drum up some community-related help.

Someone already is accusing me of fraud. Just because he doesn't know me AND due to the fact that there are so many seriously messed up people in the world who WOULD scam others with such heart-rending tales. I'm not mad at him, honestly. He was just looking out for someone he cares about, ya know? But wow. Just wow.

Could the world really be that messed up?

It's a lot to think about.

Art:

Broken Hearts WIP by ~halfbreed on deviantART

Art Jobs

draken_art — Tue, 31 May 2011 00:22:20 GMT

Why are all the good art jobs out in places like CA?! arrgh!

Fetal ATCs / ACEOs Commissions Open

draken_art — Fri, 27 May 2011 14:09:20 GMT

ATCs, ACEOs, are small, fast, easy to create pieces of artwork. Much like pumping out con badges, I can make these things even on my lunch break at work.

They will be shipped out in groups, so some may take a little longer, once completed, to be sent out then others. This is due to time constraints (working over night and sleeping when the post office is actually open), as well as transportation requirements (either by bus, or by the car which I have to share with my S.O.).

I'm taking them, thusly, in groups of 15 at a time. Any slot not filled prior to the cut off point will be filled with random art of fetal creatures in snow-globe like contraptions. The slots will re-open once I've completed the last one and have mailed them out to their new owners!

~~~~~~~~

The primary theme is "fetal creatures in snowglobe-like housings". See some of my examples below for a better idea of what I mean. This means certain things are severely limited. For example -

* none of the creatures will boast obvious sexual characteristics,
* fetal biology of the creature type will be taken into consideration, (ie mammals will have umbilical cords and a placenta, birds may have a umbilical-like cord w/ a possible "yolk", marsupials won't have such things, etc.... )
* fetuses don't do much (per say) other then float and look "cute",
* rare to none are "twins" so character interaction is limited (reads: cost more)
* the contraption must house the fetus in fluid of some kind (thus the "globe" like ideal) but can be nearly anything (like a light bulb, or a space ship w/ a dome),
* different creatures cannot be in the same housing (if "twins" / more then one character),
* multiple character limit is two (space considerations).

You get to pick the creature and housing types. This can be of your personal character, although this has a special consideration due to copyright and reproduction issues. I automatically assume the artistic rights to reproduce these pieces once they are completed, at my whim. However, personal characters put me into a gray area of legality issues that I would rather avoid if I can. Thusly any personal characters I am requested to use, well we will need to talk. A lot.

* NO TRADEMARKED or COPY-WRITTEN CHARACTERS!

You may choose the housing type (within reason). The housing itself can be themed (say alien-tech, or steam-punk, or fantasy, etc). Or you can leave it up to me to match something to the creature type.

* NO Trademarked or copy-written housing types! Suggestions for an idea is fine, but certain things just won't be kosher (like a creature inside a crystal Giger Alien head).

~~~~~~~~

/Artists/ can get ATCs for ATCs (ie in trade) as that is the base nature of an ATC. However those slots are also limited (money needs) to 1 per every two sold slots. Artist ATCs take up a slot of their own in the Que.

Everyone else who commissions me will receive an ACEO Original, which I retain rights to make limited edition and unlimited edition ACEO prints to sell. The commissioner gets the original, unless otherwise negotiated (like say the Original goes to auction for a good cause, etc).

The ACEO reproductions may be bought w/out requiring a slot. (store front tba: or check my DevArt Gallery for ACEO sized art being sold in unlimited, unsigned editions).

Prices vary (see below) due to the nature of the artwork in question.

Examples of ATCs:
Dragon Goddess Figurine: http://halfbreed.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3a1foq
BAAAAAAAA! http://halfbreed.deviantart.com/art/BAAAAAAA-186559497
Claimed: http://halfbreed.deviantart.com/#/d3a2y7m

Examples of Theme:
Trapped in Crystal: http://halfbreed.deviantart.com/#/d3hc6jg
(more tb uploaded)

Explanations and clarifications:

ATC = Artist Trading card. Normally there is only one. This is in fact an /original/ piece of artwork. There is only one made unless the artist physically makes a duplicate by hand (not prints).
(See:
http://www.art-cards.org/history.html
http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/making.html)

ACEO = Art Card, Editions and Originals. These are normally editions (limited or otherwise) reproductions of the original. They can be just the Original (like an ATC), but may be labeled an ACEO due to copies that were made (or due to an artist labeling it as such). Generally these are reproductions, prints, etc.
(See: http://www.art-cards.org/)

What are both: They are baseball card sized, (now generally standardized to 3.5 by 2.5) and can fit into a trading card album cover (given they aren't thick due to added bits like flower petals, or thick pieces of paper ala collage). They are made of various kinds of paper with various kinds of mediums, depending on what the artist wants to create.

Strathmore (http://www.strathmoreartist.com/), an artist paper supply company, is now making these "cards" out of various blank sheets of various kinds of paper (http://www.strathmoreartist.com/cards-atc.html) at a decent price in mini packs. They also make mini envelopes and mini frames to go with them, as well as ATC plastic sleeves.

So why am I offering these?

1) I need to keep sharp as an artist, so these are actually "practice runs" and keeps me drawing on a daily basis.
2) Like many of us I need money. ;) I'd like to be a self- selling artist and not have to work a day job at a place like Wally World or Kiddie Mart even again. It's soul sucking. This will help get me started.
3) I LOVE ATCs and ACEOs! I can be as creative with them as is reasonable! Even go as far as add "bits" to them (like flat bits of paper, or stickers, etc).
4) It allows me to experiment with mediums that I might otherwise not attempt.

Why fetal?

*grins* Because this was something that I started at an AC years ago during a sketchbook party. I made a fetal dolphin in a steam-punk-ish contraption. This first one spawned a joy, and the next year I swapped sketch books with other artists and "fetalized" their characters. It's just a little creepy, with a touch of "cute". It's different, I don't know of anyone else who does it (aside from those who I've "infected" with the idea). ;)

I have a series of them I'm currently working on, however the originals were done on one paper and accidentally crossed the cut lines. So I have to do something different with them now. I used to do them on a single sheet of paper, measured out the size, and cut them out by hand. Now I buy them pre-cut.

Prices:

ACEO Originals (Pencil) - $10
ACEO Originals (Inked) - $10
ACEO Original (Full Color) - $25
ACEO Original (Collage) - $30
ACEO Prints (limited / unlimited) - $5 (unless bought through Dev Art - see those prices there)
ATCs (for trade Only)

Framed - add $2 per
* Sets (This means I do them all on one sheet, then cut them out when they are done. This can have nifty "puzzle like" quality to the full color ones) - per cost above per image requested.

** I will NOT sell commission slots for trademarked characters.
** If I am using your personal character, either I must be given permission, in writing, and signed (I will send you the form ) so that I may make copies to sell. OR You can add an additional $10 per image and I will never make copies of that particular piece to sell.

Slots:
(Cut off date: July 2nd 2011)
* Sets fill up multiple slots. So a 2-image set will take 2 slots.
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
12:
13:
14:
15:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FAUnited

draken_art — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:23:28 GMT

(x-posted to FA and DA journals)

FAUnited had it's ups and downs both, but the ups to me outweighed the downs by far. Part of it was seeing people I haven't seen or spoken to for years. The other parts that were awesome, were some of the gimmicks/ideas that were just brilliant. Special, personalized bottle caps we could trade to the bar for free booze - one cap per drink? HOLY FLYING MONKEY BUTTS! Talk about saving me some dough! A drink can range from a few bucks (for a cheap bear at a hotel) to 8 or 10 dollars (for top shelf mixed drinks). The range varies.

I collected a bunch of these bottle caps just to have them (they are SO COOL!), as the themes on them made me giggle. I'll have to upload a picture of them at a later date.

Now the downside was that there wasn't a lot of events, panels, or "classes". But to be honest at other cons I've been to the worst part of con going is my socializing getting in the way of hitting classes I wanted to see! I never wanted to give up either the social aspect of things OR the events, and choosing one over the other always made my head hurt! ha! So in a way the lack of events/panels actually worked better for me.

Yet, I was glad to have helped out as well, giving some of my time to a panel that was very popular. I figured due to my lack of "name" I wouldn't get any real pull. But the class subject did all the pull! I was amazed that even late as heck (about a half an hour) I got so many! I'm not sure if I am more happy about the pull, or the fact that people were intrigued enough to stay for a (little) over an hour... OR that there were som many "light bulbs" going off and I was able to help quite a few "get it". I even got apologies from folks who had to duck out due to other time considerations. Like Wow! Thank YOU guys for showing up!

IMO a Panel is not half so successful unless it has participants! SO yes, thank you folks for being there!

Black UniGryph offered me some of her tutorial prints, and I made handouts (with Fen's, who was the event staffer this year, and the hotel's help) to share. I asked for a selection of pages to be made into 10 duplicates and ran out of my original print outs too! I grabbed a few others, from other artists here on DevArt, for my own personal notes (as I tangent badly!) - but because I didn't get their permissions I /did not/ make duplicates to hand out (distribution even of tutorials w/out permissions is a NO NO). I DID, however, tell people to go check my tutorial gallery for my tutorial collection - so if even a few of these folks find me and my collection, that means I get to /share the love/ and that makes me even happier.

So even though the other events/panels were fewer and had empty spaces in between, the content of the ones I did manage to get to were too cool for words. The Webcomic panel was very informative! *bows* Thank you for that. I also went to the live apocalyptic figure drawing and semi-helped out (actual life drawing class experience came in awfully handy, and Shy was very glad to have the experience of it), stood as a model for some 30 second quick sketches (crokies, krokies, croquies? GAH), helped explain some of the ideas and points, and got several really good sketches in myself as well.

I'll get some of those scanned/photographed and put them up.

Sadly, I missed a few people. My lack of cell phone made it difficult to call others (sorry Tri ). For some reason I just couldn't put myself up to the task of asking to borrow a cell phone for personal, non-emergency reasons. I felt really awkward, and it's a lame excuse. However, now that I know that there is a number of folks of my old crew, and new folks of the artist variety so close by I feel.... Happier. It is as if there is some weight that I no longer carry around. Goodness knows it could come back, this sensation of dour weight - however I'm in such high spirits that I don't loathe going to work tonight.

THAT is an accomplishment!

I also got a lecture from a totally random artist who just seemed to know the weight I was carrying around. He said that I looked sad, and wasn't trying to pry - but I think he saw something in my that he recognized in himself. Both him and his lady gave me the hairy eyeball and told me I need to take time more for myself and my art. He hit home in such a way that I can't even begin to describe it. A /totally random/ artist dealer in the den pinned me emotionally to a proverbial wall with a major wake up call. What he and his said, they were totally right on the money and I know it. It's advice I've given to others. It's wisdom I KNOW but stopped following after becoming a mom. Such a wake up call to be sure. Thanks guys!

What makes original artwork?

draken_art — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:48:57 GMT

There has come to my attention, yet again, of an artist (and I use the term gentlemanly here for the sake of keeping neutral) that has breached both ethical, and somewhat legal points in their pursuit of their art.

This individual seems to have taken images directly from photographs, animated movies, and other's artwork, traced portions of them (or photoshop-edited them together), in such a way as to create a new piece of artwork. Generally speaking many people may see this as a breach of more then ethical standards, and they would be right. But there is more here then meets the eye.

Some folks might argue that this piece is a totally new and totally different "creature" then the parts that made it. They may quote the "10% rule", stating that the piece is in fact an original or at least a different piece of artwork. Some may say that by putting them together in such a "Frankenstien's Monsters" sort of way makes it into a new piece of "original artwork".

Well it's not. It is, at least by US law, considered either a derivative or related to the pieces that were copied - because they were direct copies.

So, what comes to mind is a conversation I've had with a fellow DevArtist about references, referenced artwork and photographer's rights, as well as some of the nitty gritty of copyright laws. I need to get a hold of her again and ask her to better explain it, as she understands the intricacies of it more then I do.

Generally, the gist of it is this. Because the items were directly referenced (ie copied), regardless of the work put into them, they are still covered by the original copyright of the original owner. In other words, he cannot legally claim the art as "his own", or call it "his own original artwork" because by US copyright law definitions - it isn't.

However, allow me to explain why this isn't entirely "out of hand". Yes, totally illegal in this particular case, but something that is much more commonplace then many artists know.

There is a technique (read: dirty little secret) among professional graphic artists that makes the process of creating images quick and simple. This is a technique actually taught in schools, and shared among professionals. It is faster then working from scratch, more often then not. So when it comes to the professional field of Graphic Design, and high-stress due dates, this technique is awfully useful and more often used then many people may know or comprehend.

Now, understand that though this technique is a "short cut" in doing the work, it does take some amount of actual skill to do it correctly, and make the pieces "meld" properly. This artist I spoke of before does not have these skills, though he does put a lot of time and effort into the shading and blending aspect of things.

However it is what it is.... Tracing. Yes. Tracing.

Let me show you and example of my own "tracing" work. "Wolf in the woods".

(I wish I had retained the information so that I can give credit where credit is due, but back then I didn't understand the intricacies of copyright law and I no longer have the original image. So for now I can only admit that this was a tracing and not my own artwork.)

This was taken from a calander. We were told to gather a group of photos, of high quality and sharp images. Nothing blurry or faded was allowed. I grabbed some nice wolf images from a calendar I had retained from the previous year. We took a sheet of semi-translucent acetate (it had a toothed texture on one side and was smoothly shiny on the other), laid the image beneath it on a larger illustration board, taped it down, and inked it. A direct trace.

We spent the whole class period (about 4 hours) working on the details of this piece to get it "just right". It was later explained to us that professionals use this technique to create quick graphic images. They will take a collection of images, build a collage, then trace or copy the whole "new" artwork. Next they take this "skeleton" and fill it in, refine it, blend it, and make a totally new piece of artwork.

However, they have to do it in such a way as to make the individual pieces of this artwork unrecognizable. This is due to what I spoke of earlier, copyright law. If part of their piece is recognized for what it really is, then the artist and/or the company they work for could be easily sued for copyright infringement.

The artist that did a lot of the Vampire The Masquerade book covers also used photographs in a near direct tracing of the photo - However the difference is, this artist was ALSO the photographer, with properly documented Model releases. So they could use this person's image (model release) in a direct or near direct tracing of the original photo - because they were both the artist AND Photographer, and thus no additional permission was needed.

See the difference? No? A Photograph, piece of artwork, or image has a copyright to it's creator (sans certain exceptions). Companies like Disney copyright /every single frame of every movie/ in order to protect their works. So if someone traces the image, spices it up a bit, but generally leaves it recognizable as the original image... they could get legally sued.

Note, I said recognizable.

This is where the "copy artist" has to have l33t skills and where the "technique" becomes a tool rather then a weakness of the artist. This Graphic Design technique /requires/ one to make a mash-up of pieces, editing it in such a way as to make the parts meld seamlessly and be utterly unrecognizable as having been a part of something else. This way the "original artwork" that is nothing but spiced up tracings of different things, can be considered an original artwork.

This is a dirty little secret of the Graphic Design world, and most people would deny it outright. Why? BECAUSE IT"S STILL ILLEGAL.

Copying someone else's stuff and claiming it as yours is illegal. Period.

Using a reference from a photographer without their permission is illegal.

Now if I use the reference to /understand/ something as an artist, that is slightly different. That is educating oneself. Example: a steam punk woman with goggles. I'm doing a steam punk themed picture and need a forward facing female with goggles to understand how light reflects off the goggles. I'm not /using/ the picture in any form other then for educational understanding of a lighting effect.

BUT if I /use/ that photo in say a painting, or a portion of it in a graphic, I would then be violating copyright law.

So does it make it an original piece of artwork? Hard to judge when it is a skilled Graphic Artist, because it is an actual /technique/ and a tool of the professional world. But it is, so I believe, much more easily judged when it's someone who merely mashes pieces of artwork together, re-sizes them to make it fit, and shades/colors them without the more intricate, skilled, blending.

I won't name names, because as Type O Negative once said - Even negative attention (the tearing down of the reputation) is /free advertising/. I know far too many "hack" artists and posers who have gotten their following due to negative attention that spawned curious fans to "find out more" and then later be duped. *sighs*

However, if you want to know more, look up my Sisser, BlackUnigryphon. One of her commissioned pieces was "borrowed from" in a direct and prove-able trace. This artist also stole from Walt Disney's Brother Bear, The Jungle Book (I do believe), and may have taken from other artists that I don't recognize. He even admits that he searches the internet for photographs and such things.

It makes my head hurt, this conflicted understanding I have of this situation.

I feel saddened that someone with such potential, and older gentleman too, would forget to give credit where credit is due. In this day and age that is such a no-brainer - to admit where your sources are derived.

New Webcam and More!

draken_art — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:58:39 GMT

I got a new webcam this past Thursday morning. I've wanted to do some online tutorials and such things for a while now. Hopefully I can get some live sketch time in as well. I want to record my sketch fest (www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/index.php) attempts as well. Ustream has an option of live-streaming videos too which offers the potential for live art-jams.

:) Yeaness.

Also, I updated my twitter background, and my youtube background (testing to see how it looks). I've also snagged drakenhart studios on youtube as well so I might be able to post these tutorials a little more professionally (more or less). :)

Also, I'll be at FAUinted (theme is Apocalypse) and hosting an art panel on hands and feet. This will touch on the importance of hands and feet, how they can effect the body language of a character (same body pose, different hand and feet postures), as well as various techniques to drawing them. If this is successful I may do more in the future. I really do like sharing my information and skills in a way that benefits others.

I would go to some of the other conventions, but for money and time. Being a parent restricts both by a lot. Hopefully I get to see people this year at FAUnited, though I won't be there for the whole event. I get Friday and Saturday, and MAYBE some of Sunday morning. However I worked out a deal with the S.O. so he can go to SCA fighter practice Sunday late morning/afternoon.

FAUnited is fairly local to me (half an hour + drive to get to), and a convention I've known about since it's inception but haven't been able to attend until now! Hopefully I can get my chickens in a line, and maybe start hitting cons like FurFright, Anthrocon, Origins, Balticon, Dragoncon, etc more often. I'm really excited about this Panel and hope it goes off without a hitch!

However, Sketchfest is being held the same week. So I'm hoping to get some WiFi access or something in order to do some sketching. Had I known about it earlier I may have been able to work out something with the folks who run the Con, because there are a TON of artists that go to these things and would enjoy a giant art jam. So I believe. :)

Seriously, how awesome would that be? A Sketchfest location at a con, open to everyone that wanted even just a few minutes to draw. :) It makes me giggle with joy at the thought of it. A room party styled event would be nice and help with the 24 hour nature of sketchfest I'm sure! However only so many people can fit into a hotel room after all. ;)

I'm clearing out my harddrive so that I can do more editing. Right now my HD is nearly to capacity and a lot of my programs are slowing down due to lack of cache space. :P foo. What I really need is a new computer. *sighs* But THAT is a cost that will have to wait until I some how get more fund into my account. Meh.

I may work on some of my art sketches, to test out the settings. I wish I had more money for a nicer webcam, as this one has a limited resolution (640x480), but it has a MIC embedded into it that works beautifully! So it's a nice balance. :)

Brewing. The art of alcohol production.

draken_art — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 17:58:26 GMT

I have a Brew Kit! I've been experimenting with certain faucets of brewing for a while now, on and off again. Mostly trying my hand at what works and why, with no real seriousness involved. Mostly this is due to getting a feel of how the process works, what is going on with the yeast, and what aspects effect the flavor and final outcome.

I'm also still learning about the tasting aspect of things. I know what I like, but what I like and /how/ something is /supposed/ to taste are two very different things. I've found a few links to help with this, but a lot of it is training my sense of taste. I wish I had the money for the taste-bud test to see how many taste buds I have. Apparently "super tasters" are more sensitive to bitter and I've always been able to pick up the bitter notes in a lot of things. However, without the test to be sure, I don't know.

http://winearomawheel.com/
http://bit.ly/ggA7Sc

So I'm going to try a very small batch (I didn't get enough honey to start - duh me) and see what happens. This will be a start into the more serious brewing.

Jamming to German Industiral/metal

draken_art — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 07:30:13 GMT

The funny part is, the owner of this website would so appreciate it and find it amusing. Why? I'm listening to Rammstein where her favorite band is Blumchen. XD Such a difference and yet we both have this love of things German (although I would think mine is a bit more obsessive. ;) *giggles*)

One of these days I'll learn to speak the language dang it!

Here is a look at what I've managed. At this point, with the help of two fellow dragons/coders ( ;) ), now it's all mostly down hill and detail work. *hugs to them both*

KKZ Website Progress

draken_art — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:41:40 GMT

Okay after considering my options, I figured I'll stick to what I know and keep the code as clean and simple as possible. Thus when time comes to update it to HTML5, I'll be able to do it without too much fuss.

That decision made, I've been working with a modified 960 layout set up... well okay I used the 960 layout for the design and snipped some code from it (clear, clearfix, etc...). Over all I'm just doing this my way, and that means a LOT of absolute and relative positions of elements within a wrapper. Not as nice or ... eh..., what's the word.. elegant? But it is functional and so far is working. As I work I find that a lot of what I knew is coming back to me with some help from my books and from the various wonders that is google search.

Now two issues I've run into already.

1) It's not flush with the top of the browser page.
2) I can't seem to find a way to style the text inside the search box. Which means I may have to find a work around to get it "pixel perfect" to my design idea. Seem that the only way so far that I've found is to make an image, underlay that beneath the text field and make the input field invisible. Then use Javascript to "fade" the text image out. I would so prefer to just be able to style the text itself inside the form field.

Oh. the black outline on the wrapper is for my viewing needs only. It will be removed once the site is completed.

So far this has NOT been tested in any other browser. I'll do that soon enough.

Writer's Block: You're my best friend

draken_art — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:32:52 GMT

Dragon? Does that count? When I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, wherein he pull a mini-dragon out of the bag during his trial vs the Dragon, I fell in love. I suppose this is what it's like to be someone who adores those annoying small dogs (tea cup sized dogs).

At least my biggest issue with the small canines wouldn't come into play with the mini-dragon. 1)It would not likely be found on the floor. 2) If I did kick at it accidentally because I didn't see it, it's remind me with a vicious singe that it was there, if not leave tooth or claw marks in my toes. 3) Dragons in general tend to be smarter creatures in my estimation, and it wouldn't be a "pet". It would rather be a companion, and likely understand that it's miniture size versus my larger one would be an issue... and /stay out from under foot/ - or maybe some how alert me to it's presence.

:)

Ala:
Dragon Charm by Layla Lawlor

Although I wouldn't keep mine on such a leash unless it was a less then intelligent creature that "needed" one.

The image link above is an artist who shared this past Sketch Fest, and her piece is currently for sale to help promote further updates and advances to the Sketch Fest community site. I think it's adorable!

Ponderings....

draken_art — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:02:02 GMT

To use html5 or not use html5. Hrmmn. It's out, many browsers support most of it's features. It'd be good practice. But it's not fully supported and still under discussion.

KKZ Site Broken Down

draken_art — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 15:56:55 GMT

Okay, this is the rough mock up. The "banner for more art" in the bottom of the thumbnails I'm getting rid of. It just didn't work the way I had wanted it to work. Feh.

So what I have here are two columns which do not match up to even rows across. Normally in a two column layout, the rows across typically match up (as div tags), even if the paragraph tag, header tags, or other element tags are moved around within the div tag. This gives the illusion of off-set design, generally speaking.

Now one /can/ push and pull the design elements in a 960 design to give an offset feeling. However, and maybe I'm over complicating this for myself, the nav bar on the right just won't fit into even rows as far as I can tell.

Now a few ideas come to mind, as I look at this.

First, maybe I can convert a <ul> (Unorder list) for the nav bar section, and add divs into the <li> (list items) as some folks can add images (for icon lists). However that seems a bit bulky and over complicated. I'm not sure how that'd work, even if it worked at all.

What I /need/ is a site wrapper div to vertically center the whole site, with the top edge just slightly past the cut off point at the top (per the design).

The boxes, to cut down on site dl time, /should be/ all divs. But I may not be able to do this. So I might have to revert to the old standby and just /make/ the boxes as images in a <ul>. I want to stay away from that if I can, but I won't chuck it out as an option - if all else fails.

The text I would like to have a css-fx, but the font type may not allow for that. It's a very artsy font, and not, as far as I know, a web standard font. To simplfy this (rather the step up to the challenge of web typography - which is a fascinating subject in and of itself) I might just make them images as well. This way they fit the design, don't change shape between browsers and computers, and retain the look I want.

The thumbs and image gallery set up i need to find a non-php way of running it. KKZ's free space is on ArtDragon's server. I don't know if they allow php scripts, as it's mostly for storing artwork. I know she does NOT have database access. So this site has to run totally client side as much as possible. So I may have to look into JQuery and such other languages. hrmmn..

I'd like to have a light-box style gallery for her, and have the thumbnails and the featured art update on their own. I'd maybe see if there was a way to aggregate images from say Dev Art.... but I'd rather give her her own personally gallery she controls herself.

Now the design itself is a hybrid to satisfy some elements for both American as well as Asain (specifically Chinese) audiences, as she has followers in both. I've asked her help in getting the Chinese words and made them into images for the backgrounds of the boxes. :)

So the list:

2 columns. The first a container div for the "art side" (left side) of the screen. The second for the navigation section.

I don't believe that this site will need to "expand", so there is no real need for fluidity. The site should not have to scroll much either, except to get to the copyright/bottom row of thumbnails. So I may not need to make the nav sections "static" (non-moving) while the rest of the site scrolls. However that might be a neat effect to add in.

The design is meant to look like a set of "wall scrolls". So maybe I won't make the nav and body content areas scroll differently.

The Header Banner will ink to the index page.

The search feature will use maybe Google's search option to find things on her site. (Not sure how to get that to work yet). More research needed.

The featured art will be at her choice, and have info on the image as listed, with sell links as call to actions.

The thumbnails will be based on "most recent uploaded" unless she wants something different.

The twitter box will show her most recent twitter posts (blue box w/gryphon head).

Artist Photo box, I'd like to have as "dynamic" if I can manage that w/out a database and w/out bogging down the page load time. So she can have more then one picture of herself that changes every now and again (per page load?).

Contact form is going to be tricky.

CSS headache!

draken_art — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:41:38 GMT

I have been working on BlackUniGryphon's website design and hit a major snag I had forgotten about. CSS, especially the 960 grid work design, does not work well in vertical.

The design I have for her is a fairly straight forward 2 column layout. Each column has it's own boxes of content/navigation/etc. However the 960 style of layout is horizontal, with matching boxes that line up horizontally. Which means the design I have won't work that way. Now I have to find a way to make it work that won't have me busting my tail for several days. I have a 4 yr old to entertain while I'm at home, and he needs attention too. Hopefully I'll find something that works.

I need to rethink this a bit.

Life Update

draken_art — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:37:00 GMT

So. I got really sick the weekend leading up to Valentine's Day. I had been having issues with my allergies at work, and was not getting the sleep I needed to function properly. Working full time, overnight with a young son to take care of is very difficult, especially when you don't have anyone to watch him.

Add to that i ran out of my normal support steroids that help to control my asthma. Add it all together, along with working in a dusty environment, and you get a set up for a cold going bad. I ended up in the ER due to my asthma flaring up really bad, complicating mild Pneumonia.

I haven't had Pneumonia since I was in grade school.

So I stayed at the hospital for 3 days, getting breathing treatments, steroids supplements, antibiotics and more. Suffice to say my creative streak died for most of that week. I had to go on an extended personal leave to heal up, so that i can go back to work.

BUT! This had a wonderful side effect. That Friday was Sketch Fest, and I completed two pieces of artwork (2 ATC's) in two days. Sure they are small but they are both full color, and /done/. This is a major accomplishment for me since I hit a bad bit of artist block several years ago (before giving birth).

This has also motivated me into finishing websites as well... and I realize just how much information one can loose when one doesn't use it! I have to re-educate myself in CSS all over again! (It doesn't help that they've since updated CSS to CSS2). I sat in front of my code editor and stared blankly at it for a while, trying to force my brain into working. Nothing. Blank slate. I am appalled at myself, to be sure.

So I had to hit up some of my favorite tutorial sites, go back to the 960 site (I love that layout design!) and jog my brain back into action! It's all slowly coming back, and even as it comes back I'm forcing myself to keep up on the changes to make things compliant to the current code structure.

Whoo!

I hope to have at least one site coded and done before I go back to work and loose out on this "spare time" I have once more to do this kind of thing. People don't seem to realize just how much work and effort goes into not only designing a website (making the basic mock up), but also into the coding of the design (so it matches the mock up) and then coding the functionality (a totally different job then the design coding!). Holy Hotdogs, this is time consuming.

:) But I feel good!

Art Update

draken_art — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:19:21 GMT

Wedding Rings Under Glass by ~halfbreed on deviantART

Wow I'm on a roll. Finally got this one done. Second /finished/ piece in two days time. I'm not sure what's going on, but I seem very inspired. This was from January's Sketch Fest (found here: Wedding Rings Under Glass.)

Both items are ATC sized and are experiments in their own right as I am not very skilled when it comes to such mediums. I've been learning as I go, and some mistakes are happy mistakes to be sure. :)

I think I'll try to scan a better versions after the card is flattened out more. I didn't realize until after I uploaded it to DevArt that it's.. blurry. During scanning, apparently, it was warped on the scan bed, so the center is blurry. I think I may need new glasses. This and the Dragon Love Goddess ATC have been made into prints on DevArt. You can get a copy of the ACEO.

Also got a note in my box this evening from the #Pagan-Arts group that my Empress Bunny Tarot card was picked to be in the weekly top four! Like Holy cow.. errr rabbit! I really do need to complete both that and the Zodiac sets.

I would love to do more, but it's late, and even though the art bug is kicking around inside my head right now, I think I'll sleep.

Dragon Love Goddes Figurine

draken_art — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:12:49 GMT

Dragon Love Goddess Figurine by ~halfbreed on deviant ART

I'm not 100% when it comes to many of the color mediums, and often end up getting counter productive out of fear of messing my nice pencils up. Below is the series of steps from drawing to finished piece. I kick myself for not scanning the color process step by step. Ah well.

The final piece is for sale on DevArt as ACEO's, mugs, magnets, and small prints. All sales to this will got to me getting a webcam for art-sharing purposes!

Dragon Love Goddess Inks by ~halfbreed on deviantART

Dragon Love Goddess Sketch by ~halfbreed on deviantART