[Showcase] Way Regained

[derozio]

Updates!

I really like what I did with the Sanji tag, tbh. I haven't smudged much till now and I'm glad I'm using more stocks as opposed to renders. Plus, no c4d used = me getting a little out of my comfort zone. So that's a plus, I guess? Third icon's and the other two tag's stocks are linked. Click to see 'em.

 

[Kotone]

i love the coloring on the new avatars you just posted.
the avatar with the text bothers me, i wish the photo was more sharpened. it looks blurry to me.
the new tags are gorgeous. i love how you did something different. i like how you made the text apart of the tag like you blended the grunge into the text.
keep posting more! ;;

 

[Fairy]

Your two latest pieces are just great as always! n_n;

I'm loving the color pallet on both of them. The browns / grays are subtle and not too overbearing and the red accents really set a great mood for the characters. Also, the text is super easy to read and doesn't strain my eyes at all-- Red was a good choice! It's great that you included the stocks too. Imo, it makes it a lot easier for me or any other novice to identify exactly how much work you've put into making the tags.

I think I prefer this icon over the others, tbh. Aesthetically speaking, it just has more going for it in terms of minimalism and placement.

It's awesome that you're breaking out of your comfort zone and trying new things! Makes us old people feel like there's still somewhere you can go once you reach the top! ;p As usual Derozio, you've posted more fabulous work worthy of the title moderator of A&D! Well done! c:

 

[derozio]

@Kayla: Well, the Sanji avatar was supposed to be a little less on the sharpness side. It was supposed to have a feel of a painting and I felt not sharpening it would enhance that. :p And yes, I'm totally into finding new ways of utilizing text. My typography has sucked in the past so I'm working on it. :3

@Alex: Glad to hear that the colors are alright. And nothing besides red really fit into it so I went with it. :3 On the black and white Sanji icon - I didn't do much in it, to be quite honest. Just went and added those red and blue light spots in there. :p Anyway, you flatter me too much! XD; I'm nowhere near the top. Still a beginner, tbqh. But thank you so much for your kind words! <3;

Here are some updates, btw. Along with the stocks. Click to see em. :D

 

[derozio]

This counts as an update, right? Imma bump. ;p



Note that I've used reference for these pics. I suck at drawing without references/coming up with my original poses so yeah. ;; Also, excuse me for the crappy quality. I do not have a scanner or my camera right now. ;;

 

[Fairy]

O.O

DERO DOES TRADITIONAL ART OMG HE IS HUMAN LIKE THE REST OF US AND NOT THIS GOD-LIKE CREATURE THAT WE ALL THOUGHT HE WAS.

I'm actually very impressed with you! It takes a lot to post something that's different from your usual stuff, and I admire and applaud your initiative! Let me begin this by saying that there are no inconsistencies between your style and that of One Piece, which I'm sure is intentional. And the fact that you did this without any references is ridiculously impressive. Even I can't do that! But from what I can tell, you *do* possess the ability to visualize a piece and replicate it on paper with few changes. That is a very valuable skill, and one you probably developed by all of your graphic experience. You innately have a good eye for positioning, and that reads clearly in these drawings.

I am.. ever so slightly confused though. ;w; At first.. I thought this piece was just a mangled attempt at capturing separate parts of an image then reconstructing it digitally. Or that you were taking individual pictures of one drawing to highlight different portions of it. However, the more I look at it.. the more it reads like a comic strip. Is that deliberate? Because if so, that's actually very clever!

Now! On to some advice! Invest in some blending sticks for this, hun. Cross hatching is great for laying down the blacks and portraying where the shadow is going to fall, but in this case the harshness of those lines really takes away from the character. My eye is drawn to the darkest parts and the scratchiness make it hard to look at. Soften up the cross hatching (heck, you could even use a Q-Tip or your finger or something) and the drawing will be x10 stronger. Also, the hand is a little funky, but I think everyone has problems with hands and the fact that there are no blatantly obvious eraser marks is definitely a good sign! You also got the proportions correct, so it's easy to believe that it is actually his hand. It's not too big or too small (which is something I struggle with) so it fits nicely. That being said, the thumb is suffering from the black marring that (I believe) is supposed to be the shadow under the character's arm. I think the only reason that stands out is because the lines are going in a different direction than the shirt.

Onward, upward, and back to this drawing! This one is an unfortunate victim of circumstance. The top left image is very blurry and hard to see. ;o; Which is the biggest downfall of the whole thing. Otherwise, I still suggest that you blend out those blacks and give it a softer feel. It also seems that you went heavy-handed on the arm / hand of the guy holding the swords (I'm sorry I don't know the characters!!! u_u). It comes across as a bit messy and awkward looking-- unlike the hand of the other guy who's pointing. That one came out very well, I think! Lastly, and this could just be the angle of the picture / character's clothing, but in the top left shot the sword guy's head is way too small for his body. The pointing guy is supposed to be in the background, right? Proportionally, he his much bigger than the guy holding the sword and it just doesn't read like he's in the distance. Make sure you keep perspective in mind while drawing!

Overall Dero, this update was a real treat. I tend to assume that all artists are always "one trick ponies" and only truly excel in one medium. I mean, if I tried to do what you do, it would be the epitome of a hot mess. I could never make tags like you. However! You've proven to me that graphic artists can indeed do traditional art, break out of their comfort zones, and be pretty darn good at it! I really, really, REALLY hope you continue to post more drawings, brother. If these are just no reference, time-killing doodles, than I would love to see what you can do when you apply yourself. You should be proud! :3

Very well done! <3333333333333;

 

[derozio]

The second piece couldn't be captured with my crappy phone's camera, Alex. Had to go for that comic strip approach as a result. XD; Seriously, if my phone could've captured a decent pic without making it all blurry, I'd have posted merely the top left part. As for the strong cross-hatching in the Luffy drawing, I didn't think the dark parts would draw attention. I'd totally have used my thumb to blur it out a bit there if I did. And yes, that dark area above his thumb does look out of place now that I look at it. :c I'll try not to repeat mistakes like these again the next time I do something of the sort, I promise! :D Onto the second drawing - you're right about the swordsman's head being a little small for his body. I didn't notice it because I never really pay that much attention to proportions while drawing. XD; I'll try to keep that and appropriate perspectives in mind!

And no promises about drawings, Alex. They consume too much time - something that's not in my hand right now. But you can look forward to more stuff in the month of april-may, maybe. You can take a look at some of my old stuff here, though. :p

Anyway, some of my messy updates along with stock (click 'em):





Yeah, I know it has too many effects. Very messy stuff, indeed. :c

 

[Hikamaru]

About time I posted here to appreciate Dero's work.

Those avatars and sigs have some of the most awesome graphics I've ever seen on any tags made by a member here. The nice combination of colors, text, pictures and the fact some of them even have like a fancy effect or something shows how talented you are in digital art. I do like your current signature's graphics, has a nice splash effect on it.

Also, some of the other tags you make have less color but basically the colors fit in with what's being showcased, like there's a whole theme to it. I do like how well you alternate between multicolors and those of one or two colors. The effects you used on some sig requests (like the ones Patchisou Yutohru, TwilightBlade, Cirno and Jellicent♀) are pretty stylized and I have to try and learn how you make those graphics sometime. I may have gotten inspired by you now as a result.

I totally have to give a perfect 10 to your work, just because.

 

[derozio]

Thank you for the comment, Hikari! <3;

I swear I screw up every time I try my hand at making something with this stock. :<

 

[Zero°]

This is the tag that I've been speechlessly starring at for the past few days lol. Your most recent one is my favourite in terms of the tags you made using that stock. It's (way) less messy than the other ones and I really like the colours you used for the effects. The light blues work well in contrast to the focal, it doesn't take away from the focal and I personally love the way it turned out (I'm talking about the effects on the bottom right part) However, unlike this or some of your other tags, I feel that this one lacks some depth as well as some lighting. I could see a light source coming somewhere from the top left side of the tag and I think that would help add a bit more depth into it. I won't touch on the text since I myself suck at typography but it does look rather nice.

Really nice job with this tag, I always find myself starring at it for a while every time I see it xD

 

[derozio]

Hit the nail right on the head, Zero. I know this tag has depth issues but I couldn't do much about it. Except mess it up more. XD; As for lighting, I have used a soft brush at the top left part. Might not really be that visible but it is there. I was afraid of it becoming too strong so I reduced the opacity too much. But I guess I'll modify it the next time I open up the psd. :D

Updates:

This was a really quick theme I made up so I know it has some issues. Just tossing it out here, still.

 

[Abnegation]

Love this actually, even though not a whole lot has been done to the original stock. But sometimes, it's good to know when to stop manipulating a stock.

Anyway, onto your latest piece. I actually seen this in someone's signature and knew it was either a Dero style rip or yours haha. Get out of your comfort zone! In saying that, this one is slightly different for you, and I like it. I like the macabre feel to it. You need to stop using these boxes though, behind text, they completely kill flow. It works in some cases, but eh, I've stopped doing it recently because I know how much of a cop out it is haha. Anyway, I'm not going to keep going on about your text in every post I make. You should keep trying different kinds of stocks, they're way more powerful than anime/manga/gaming stocks. Try more stock photography, it's a lot more challenging and certainly brings you into a more artistic era when it comes to art and tagging.

Also your colour schemes, you've made your trademark red and blue pretty clear, so I'd recommend trying something new. Glad to see you improving with the use of textures, but I'd love to see some experimentation from you buddy!

 

[Zebra Thunderhead]

I like your stuff but you don't really seem to stray from one style too often. which is like "busy busy busy busy ahhhh colors ahhhhhh three lines of type". it's cool once in a while but that's all I'm really seeing here.

 

[derozio]

You're right, CME. I've been trying to go for different styles in my works for a while now but I just end up doing stuff that's in my comfort zone. But okay. Won't post here till I make something totally different from my normal stuff.

And thanks for the comment, Gav. I know how the box didn't fit and I plan to modify that tag a bit and rid it of the box so I hope the result will be a little better. :p As for the first tag you linked...yeah, I didn't really know what to go for in there. So I took a minimalistic approach. :D

 

[Maxresh]

Very nice display of talent there Derozio. Many artists feel the text placement and font choices very difficult task, but in your case you have done them very nicely. It goes really well in all your tags and looks beautiful. I also liked the varieties in your work. Well balanced, nice depth, cool effects, nice sense of colour combining and I must say indeed Sssensationaal!! ;) Kiu!!

 

[derozio]

Time for an update, people!

Been holding back since I promised I won't update till I'm in possession of something good. But I can't hold back anymore. :p
Thank you for the comment, by the way, Max!

Nick's theme
[with stocks]

These are for nick's theme. The first tag is a little different from what I usually do, I believe. It might be lacking in some departments but I've tried new stuff, namely - pentool and advanced blending of textures. Yes, I haven't used them before. :p Click on them to see the stocks, btw.

Then there are these: (without stock links)

Icons

Tags/Gif(s)

^ had some color adjustments. So yeah, listing it among my 'works'.

Really loving this one, to be honest. Maybe because it has bewbs? Idk. :p Middle one has slight change in orientation, by the way. The one on the right is just a text-less version of the first (my fave).

Video Editing - Something different

And I've been trying my hand at video editing for a while. I'm no good right now but I've managed to make one-two trailers/amvs/openings people liked. I consider video editing an art too so I'm gonna post them in here as well.


^ my best video as of yet.


^ don't pay attention to the fact that the lyrics don't match with the footage. I went with the flow and worked on it according to the 'music' and not the vocals. :p



Then there's my most watched video. Dunno why people liked it more than the others, honestly. Maybe because it has 'dubstep' in it?

 

[Nick]

WHAAAAA DEROZIO THIS IS THE FIRST NON-ARTISTIC COMMENT IN YOUR THREAD AND YOU'RE SO WONDERFUL AND TALENTED AND GREAT AND SPECTACULAR I AM FOREVER IN YOUR DEPT IT'S SOOOO BEAUTIFUL THEME OF THE YEAR 10/10!!!

 

[derozio]

No major updates this time. Unless you count my first ever sprite tag as a major update.

Stock - Took from a site called Logical Bends

If anyone reads this - Sorry I'm being a selfish prick by merely updating my gallery and kinda avoiding commenting in others' galleries, people. Life's a little busy and posting CnC takes some effort. You could say I can leave small comments but I dislike posting when I know my post don't really mean much. So yeah, I'll post when I feel I can provide some real critique and when I have the time to do so. :c

 

[derozio]

Tiny updates, peoplez.

Original vs Current

^ Something I did for Mac. o/

Siggeh image.

Edit: moar updates:

Some Original vs Final product stuff:

 

[derozio]

The lack of love in dis thread ;___;

icons

Don't ask about the last one, lol.

tag

Something I'm not really happy with. I totally think I could've done better with the stock if it weren't for me being a little sleep deprived. lol

Edit: V2