Ladies and Gentlemen—we are down to the final six of the Alphabooks characters! Are you ready? Well here we go!And in case you don't know what Alphabooks is, here’s the lowdown: Alphabooks is a blog in which all artists are welcome to draw a book character corresponding to the letter of the week. For instance, A for Aslan, B for Bilbo Baggins, etc. Feel free to check it out and participate! :)U is for Lady UnaStardust by Neil Gaiman
So I didn’t realize this before, but apparently Stardust the movie was based off of Stardust the book (by Neil Gaiman). I admit that I haven’t read the book, but definitely am putting it on my to-read list! If you’ve never seen the movie, you really should—it’s a wonderful story of adventure, romance, and everything you wish to find in good story. Plus, it’s a fun blend of medieval fantasy and steampunk—and you cannot go wrong with either! :)This is actually one of my most favorite pieces that I have done for Alphabooks. It was done in watercolor and ink (the scanner as usual messed up some of its colors, but it’s really not too far off from the original.) I tried to go for an art nouveau effect with minimal shading and bold outlines—in the same style as Alphonse Mucha. Also, one of the biggest things I learned from this piece was how to ink with a brush. And I’m glad that I tried using a brush, since a croquil pen can give a rough and scratchy appearance, whereas I wanted smooth vector-like lines (thank you Doug Tennapel for the helpful and fun tutorial!) I’m just really pleased with how it turned out! I want to do more pieces like this in similar design. I’m definitely going to make prints of her, and I’m contemplating selling the original, but I don’t know if I will be able to part with her. We’ll see. :) (8 hours)V is for Jean ValjeanLes Misérables by Victor Hugo
It isn’t unknown that I am one of the slowest readers in existence (especially compared to my book-loving friend Erin, who has practically read an entire library in her life), but at least I can still boast that I read the complete unabridged version of Les Misérables in tenth grade. And if you prefer classical literature to contemporary or fantasy, then I dearly hope that you have enjoyed this fantastic novel by Victor Hugo, which was also adapted into a musical and will soon be released in film.So the choice was plain for the letter V--Jean Valjean, the main character (in my opinion) and protagonist of the story. He is just so noble, and his story is about redemption and overcoming odds. I decided to keep it simple like the pen-and-ink illustrations in older literature—as well as to lack of time—and completed it in pencils. It was also good practice to draw an aging man’s face—narrower eyes followed by bags, a creased and weathered forehead, wispy greying hair, etc. One of the best pieces of advice I can give other artists is to try drawing out of your comfort zone—from time to time, draw things that you normally wouldn’t—it’ll really open your eyes and keep you sharp! (45 minutes).W is for Bruce WayneBatman comics by DC Comics
The last character for this batch is none other that Danananananananananana BATMAAAAN!!!!:D(And for those of you who don’t know, Bruce Wayne is the man behind the mask.)Okay, yes….so it is more inspired off of Batman Begins, the movie. Regardless, I can use all the practice I can to draw male faces because, well…I’ve really sucked in the past drawing them. And I can say with confidence that I am getting better.Biggest takeaway: Man…. it is SO hard to nail a specific person’s “look”. So this Bruce Wayne is based off of Christian Bale, the actor who played Wayne in Batman Begins. It’s incredible how it only takes one line out of place to make him look like someone completely different. For instance, the hair. If not done properly, I quickly discovered that Bruce Wayne can first look like Elvis Presley, then again like Bill Clinton—it wasn’t until I added some very minor tweaks to the hair on his forehead that WHAMMO!—Bruce finally appeared! (Which is funny, because it wasn’t until later that I realized he now looked a bit like Nicolas Cage. …..whatevs).Bottom line: Lighting es muy importante, hairstyle is key, and if you draw his lips too round, he’ll look more like a Calvin Klein model than the Caped Crusader.Fin. (4 hours)
R - T Alphabooks
Alright, time for the long overdue R through T submission. If you like fantasy, then I think you’ll enjoy this grouping!And in case you don't know what Alphabooks is, here’s the lowdown: Alphabooks is a blog in which all artists are welcome to draw a book character corresponding to the letter of the week. For instance, A for Aslan, B for Bilbo Baggins, etc. Feel free to check it out and participate! :)R is for RichardSword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
Oh Richard. Where do I even start? Well, if you never have heard of the by Terry Goodkind, you are seriously missing out. And no, I’m not talking about the television series Legend of the Seeker (the television series that completely botched up the books.) The Sword of Truth series are filled with epic adventure, romance, tension, struggles and everything you want to find in high fantasy. Plus, Richard is the kind of protagonist that you just can’t help falling in love with. He’s so real, sincere, and totally kicks butt.Although I could go on forever about the books, I’ll instead segue into the artwork. I’ve been trying really hard to better my photoshopping skills and decided that this would be a good piece to devote time in doing so (although take note that I did the lines in pencil, scanned that in, and then digitally colored it). I’m alright with how it turned out. I feel as though I’m slowly getting better with coloring in Sai, but it still has that Photoshop airbrushy feeling to it (something about the purity of the colors). I also feel as though I didn’t completely capture the Richard essence. But, ya know, I guess those kind of things take practice. I’ll no doubt do more fan art of him in the future and have a second shot at it. (8.75 hours)S is for SaphiraEragon by Christopher Paolini
I love me some dragons, and it was about time to draw a dragon for Alphabooks. Like with Richard, I still feel I didn’t completely capture the essence of Saphira. In fact, Saphira still looks different in my head (but oh well). I love using watercolor for my dragon pieces—it’s a very tactile and organic medium that compliments the earthy and wild dragon. I guess I should also mention that I have used acrylics in this piece as well since it allows me to layer (like watercolors) with less chance of muddying the watercolors, therefore creating deeper and richer tones. (4ish hours?)T is for ThorinThe Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
I hadn’t drawn a lot of men’s faces that were not youthful and smooth—and what better way to accomplish that then with drawing a dwarf? I actually have been finding it fun to draw this facial type, as I don’t have to worry about making sure it looks perfect, because after all dwarves have tough, leathery and beards that fill in most of their face. Let’s just face it, there’s not a whole lot of beauty on those mugs, but there’s certainly a lot of character! It sure seems to me that Thorin thoroughly enjoys a good tankard of ale. Or two…or three…And if you haven’t read The Hobbit, you should stop what you’re doing (which is reading my blog) and go do that RIGHT NOW.And yes, that is a Smaug mug. :3(2 hours)
P - Q Alphabooks
Happy Thursday! (or Wednesday for you state-side folks).After my last batch of Alphabook characters, I decided to take a bit of a break from drawing humans and decided to go for a more children’s literature look for the P and Q submissions. They’re not my best, but who care—they were still fun to do. :)And in case you don’t know what Alphabooks is, here’s the lowdown: Alphabooks is a blog in which all artists are welcome to draw a book character corresponding to the letter of the week. For instance, A for Aslan, B for Bilbo Baggins, etc. Feel free to check it out and participate!P is for Peter RabbitThe Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
For whatever reason, it was extremely difficult to figure out to do for the letter P. I ended up settling for Peter Rabbit. I honestly needed a break from all the human characters and wanted to do something more simplistic and whimsical. I also wanted to see if I could mimic more of a watercolor affect using digital methods. Alas, I wasn’t very successful. I probably wasn’t using the right brushes and the colors are far too saturated and unvaried. Whatever. He still is kinda cute. ^^ (1.5ish hours)Q is for the Queen of CatsIt’s a Secret! by John Burningham
If I thought finding a character for the letter P was difficult, then I didn’t know what I was in for when Q rolled around. And apparently other people on Alphabooks were having difficulties as well—there were a ton of the Queen of Hearts and Quasimodos with little else. Can any of you think of book characters starting with the letter Q? It’s hard!I ended up very randomly stumbling across a children’s book title called It’s a Secret! By John Burningham. I had never heard of it before, but I knew I struck gold when I saw that his book featured a character called the “Queen of Cats”. I haven’t read the story, but what it appears to be (in a nutshell) is the story of a girl who uncovers what her cat does when he goes out every night—he gets dressed up and goes out to parties with the rest of the cat kingdom! She begs to go along, and he agrees—and so they go off and have wonderful adventures and get to meet the rest of the cat kingdom as well as the queen of cats. Simple and cute, and especially since I still wanted a break from drawing humans, what better subject for me to draw than cats! :DI decided to keep her simple and decided to use watercolors, since it had been a while. Nothing fancy, nothing innovative—just a sweet kitty with a queenly disposition. And even though my scanner messed up the colors, that’s alright—I’m just relieved that I figured out a fun character for the letter Q. ^^ (1.5ish hours)