I'm New Here.

[Soma]

Forward

So after taking an extended hiatus from artwork in the year 2011 (mostly due to circumstances, lack of inspiration, soul searching, depression, and general laziness), I've been trying making up for those months of inactivity by trying to get back in the shape of things. The past few months have had me work on refining my ideas when it comes to signatures and most recently I've attempted to slowly get back into drawing now that I've managed to get my Wacom tablet working again. So for now this thread will serve as not just a gallery of some past shit I've done but also to record the progress on newer projects I've taken upon myself.

I must admit that I'm fairly rusty when it comes to sketching but I think I've slowly started to get the feel for it again after putting in a few weeks of practice.

This thread is more than welcome for tips, advice, criticism, etc. Thank you in advance.

So anyhow,

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Update 4/22















Exhibition A1 - Signatures [Recent]





















Exhibition A2 - Signatures [Past]

















Exhibition B - Alternative Game Cover Art





(reflection effect effed up on the last two >:L)

Exhibition C: Sketches















Exhibition D: Logos, Large Pieces, Misc

uh i'll get back to you on that, bro.

______

that's all for the time being. i'll try to periodically update this as much as i can.

[Kathren]

Your sketches are pretty good. Didn't know you can draw too. What program did you use, SAI?
You should keep drawing you clearly have talent.

As for the signatures part I believe I told you once how much I admire you for that.
See ya.

[Expendable]

Wow, you are quite the artist! I really like your Fading Away signature, the way you backlight her is so striking, so focusing!

And the sketches are wonderful, so natural in pose, the fit of their clothes!

*sigh*

Thank you for sharing this with us! You have a lovely talent.

^ _ ^

[Minerva]

Your signatures are definitely amazing, I love how you do text and use the c4ds <33 I love the Mami and Miki ones, especially the effects on the Miki one, I'd love to learn how you did that <3

[Zen]

I had no idea you drew as well. Color me impressed!

I'm going to focus on your newer stuff, since I've already critiqued a lot of your older things, and I'm going to stick more to GFXing because I'm no artist.

I've always admired your aesthetic in that you're great at creating that initial "wow" impact when I see your sigs. There's a lot of drama, and I've very seldom questioned your taste. You're usually very good at having the perfect balance of effects and text and other elements so the pieces aren't crowded but they feel complete but they also look like they've been worked on. I'm so sick of seeing stock images with some effects on them called signatures. The piece really needs to look worked but still complete, in my opinion.

For your most recent sig (http://i.imgur.com/rTKRM.png) I actually think you missed the mark a little bit. I love what you do with text, but in this case there's far too much text. You've had images in the pact with backgrounds full of text that didn't look crowded like this one does.

Potentially if you had more light effects it would look a little less text-heavy, but I would actually just remove a few strategic lines.

Hope that was helpful. Also, you owe me a rematch, and this time around, you get to pick the theme.

[Vivix]

Joel I love your work, I love your style, I love your technique, I love your text, I love every single one of those sigs D:

Please keep making more awesome stuff I can love <3

Besides the obvious Puella Magi ones I adore, I really like this one the best: http://i.imgur.com/hlwqQ.png.
Colors are just amazing. I really want to do stuff like this.

[Soma]

What program did you use, SAI?

I use Photoshop for drawing. It seems to get the job done pretty nicely as far as I've worked with it. I'm just sticking with what I'm familiar with at the moment so I'm not sure if there's any "superior" painting software out there.

I had no idea you drew as well. Color me impressed!

Your sketches are pretty good. Didn't know you can draw too.

I've actually been drawing ever since I was a kid but I've never really taken it seriously. I'd get comments and such (I even got voted Most Artistic in my graduating class) but I never really put in a lot of thought into it. I just sketched simply because I was bored. I took a few drawing classes in college which helped me a bit when it came to figure drawing and that's pretty much all I can do for the moment. I haven't really done it since then though... which is probably like 3 or 4 years.

I've been getting back into it since I volunteered to help out with a Visual Novel project and I'd like to hopefully work on concept art and designs. Gotta admit I missed doing it.

Proportions and facial details still kick my ass though. :/

For your most recent sig (http://i.imgur.com/rTKRM.png) I actually think you missed the mark a little bit. I love what you do with text, but in this case there's far too much text. You've had images in the pact with backgrounds full of text that didn't look crowded like this one does.

Potentially if you had more light effects it would look a little less text-heavy, but I would actually just remove a few strategic lines.

Hope that was helpful. Also, you owe me a rematch, and this time around, you get to pick the theme.

Yeah I gotta admit this new one was a bit of a gamble. I had a set idea in mind, but I'm not sure if I'm happy with the result. I couldn't really convey the sense of depth that I wanted either. I've been neglecting working on typography art for a while so I wanted to do something different this time. I wanted to avoid lighting effects, c4d, smudging, etc. and give myself a bit of a challenge. In hindsight this might have worked a lot better as a larger piece than a signature since there's only so much space to work with.

I might actually do something like that one day.


And yeah, I'll be getting to that eventually~


Thanks for the replies, guys!

[Zen]

If you don't mind my asking, what font(s) did you use?

[Soma]

That would be Helvetica, or more specifically Helvetica Neue.

There are different varieties and weights to it but it's essentially the same type-face.

<3 helvetica

[Anni]

Hello new guy,
I can't say much as i think i already state how much i admire your graphic talent, i just can say the first one is impressive as the Vagabond one as well (not to mention all the others old or new)
About your sketches you have talent, i do really like your style and your fluid mark (hope it makes sense), how many layers do you use to get a clean sketch?
Other than that i'm really happy to see you active again, it is great!
Hope to see more and more, i'l make a proper comment about your sketches when i'm less fuzzy (about your signature i can't say anything at all, sorry.....)
keep this thread alive for the sake of us!

[Nethack]

YAY Soma!! i really like all of your work ^_^

your drawings remind me of a friend of mine, she draws in the same style, and you are really good with that.

if i was to ask some one to make a sig for me, so far i would ask you lol

[Soma]

how many layers do you use to get a clean sketch?

Uhhh it depends. Usually around 6-7 maybe more. I always lose track of which layer is for what though. :/


Anyhow, Update Time

So I made five signatures yesterday. |:











I've been on a big Fate/Zero hype lately so I decided to make a sig for each servant from the anime. I'm missing Saber and Archer, but I'll get to those later most likely. The one that I'm probably not happy with is Caster since i couldn't find a decent enough artwork that I wanted to work with.

Ah well.

Anyhow since it was a bit of a theme, I decided to keep the same text for each one so that they all sort of corresponded with eachother.

I'll probably work on the last two when I'm not working on other stuff/being lazy.

[Shane]

This one is so epic I can't even, I love the effects and how it's simple but it's not empty, the focus is clear enough to hold your attention. Maybe it's just that I'm a sucker for these kinda pieces but still, I can't stop eyeing the focus up and down like it's Katrina Law or something v.v I don't really have anything negative to say about it, love your other pieces too but I'm way too tired to cnc em, it's always good to see new stuff from you so keep it up.

[Vivix]

This one is the most orgasmic out of all right now. I get the feeling you used the same image for the background as one of your previous pieces, but the effects it gives this one is just amazing. The lighting is just perfect.

[Zen]

You bastard and your tons of new, cool sigs.

I just made something earlier today that I was so proud of... right up until I saw your new five sigs that you churned out all 'yeah, five new ones and they're all awesome; we swaggin', no biggie.'

On a serious note, I like them. They're still your style but you're incorporating some new things.

As Vivix pointed out, this piece (http://i.imgur.com/TxSPx.png) and this piece (http://i.imgur.com/EjgR6.png) have the same thing in the background, and I would like very much to know what exactly that thing is. It's unusual looking but in a good way.

This is the one that I consider the best, though the one Vivix picked is definitely the second:



I like this one because you don't often play around with your text. I know that sounds insane to say because you're so known for the way you play with text, but I mean that a lot of your sigs have those serif fonts in different sizes, and that's about it. This one has what appears to be a clipping mask and different color choices. I like it. I also really like whatever vine brush you used. Is it a brush or an illy shape? Oh, and the little orbs of light in this are incredible. I really like them.

I do not like the splatters, though. It's one element too many, doesn't go with the feel of the piece, and is generally messy.

I'll talk about the one you weren't happy with next.



This is the one I like the least, but it's not bad by any means. You managed to take some splatter brushes and create a helluva lotta depth. The text on this one isn't as strong as some of your other pieces, but I don't mind it. The red streak of light on him seems... like it doesn't belong. I would have picked something stronger. You picked a very emotional stock, and I don't think you quite played up the drama and energy of that facial expression as much as you could have. I would change the style of this sig from a splatter-grunge to a bubble-lights-and-effects one for more energy and atmosphere.

Great work, bro. I'm envious as always. And still waiting on that rematch.