TAotM Voting Traditional art of the Month #3- OC

no. 3
[entry thread; votes due June 28th, 2012]
ORIGINAL CHARACTER

For the people who like to draw their own characters, this is for you. OC basically means a character you have created and you can present them however you like.


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If you are unsure of how to vote then check out this thread here, anyone is welcome to vote but entrants MUST vote.

Sebas-chan

His name is Hzveros, also known as Hizzy, also known as "That goddam idiot who can't fly straight to save his soul". He's a character from a manga I had planned on writing and submitting to Tokyopop (now defunct), and they had actually shown some interest in the storyline of said manga when I showed off a few samples pages at a con back in 2007. But real life/college caught up to me, and the comic never took off more than the few pages I did get drawn up. I still plan to continue it.

For now, he kind of serves as a channel of mine. If I want to vent, there he is. If I doodle in the margins of my meeting minutes at work, there he is. He's essentially me.

And yes, that's a bell around his neck. The story goes that he got lost on his first hunt, so the rest of the clan stuck a bell on him so they'd never lose him again. Which is funny in and of itself, since he's the only clan member with that shade of hair. The rest are all black or grey.

I'll have to make up a detailed bio for him sometime. This is the simplified version.


Love

I love the geisha culture so I did several paintings of geisha for artclass. And this one was special because it wasn't following traditional oriental art standards. This is my geisha OC, her name is Hanashi, which means flower of death and I intended her to be kinda of spooky since she haunts the forest outside of her hometown. I made her look like a more innocent version of the grudge but still grizzly with all the stitches on her face. xD

Her story starts out when she was still alive in her hometown and one of her male clients had feelings for Hanashi but Hanashi was in love with someone else. So when the client found out he killed her and now her spirit roams the forests, looking for the man who killed her and at the same time looking for her lover, whom she could never find. The reason why she is having trouble finding her lover is because soon after she died her lover became a member of the town's shrine so he shaved his head and because of this she would have a hard time trying to locate him ( thus explaining the shrine archway pictured in the painting on the right).


Luminey

This character doesn't really have a name. But she did spawn from just an outfit idea, so in the end she became a magical girl.


Jiku Neon

Took me a while. I agonized over how to combine five images. So I kinda halfassed it in the end. I'll touch this up but this is more or less the finished product. I was trying to depict the character without having to type out a synopsis but it kinda failed. Anyways, I'll describe basically what's what for you. Oh yeah, flow goes from top to bottom and right to left. I considered flopping the images but it'd get the dominant hand ****ed up and I didn't want to redraw everything again... So for the sake of temporal accuracy just look at it opposite of normal reading.
Name: Juliet Casey
Occupation: Assassin
Age: 26
Interests: Guns, explosives, money, puzzle making
Aversions: Wasting time, touching, discussing morality
Habits: Always has a gun close at hand. Sets traps at the entrance to living quarters, even in temporary housing. Wears little to nothing when working with gunpowder. Interrupts people. She's won more than a few gunfights by shooting while the other guy was talking.
History: Raised on the set of a traveling wild west show and learned pistol and shotgun from her father. Dropped out of high school after two years and took her first job assassinating a foreign diplomat. After that she worked primarily freelance for several years before joining up with a team for a particularly large job. Despite some misgivings about them as people she is comfortable working with them almost exclusively now. The main reason she took up the role of sniper was a small aim assisting machine that she was given by a particularly unscrupulous research organization to run field tests on. It uses a combination of camera, gps, weather reports, moisture sensors, thermometers and other instruments to extend the effective targeting range of any competent user. She doesn't have much of a social life as she's entirely dedicated to her hobbies and work.
Quote: "You're mistaking the valuation of human life with respect for it. I value human life quite a bit. I won't kill anyone for less than fifty grand. However, I have very little respect for human life because it's never done a thing to gain any."


Hesteen

Info:This little dragon hides amongst the shrubberies within the forest. It has a great curiosity for human kind but prefers to remain hidden from sight. It is said that if you encounter this dragon, it will bring you luck and happiness. Unlike its many dragon cousins, it prefers to hoard toys rather than treasure, reflecting its playful nature.
Natural habitat: The Forest but may also be found in thriving gardens
Size: fits inside the palm of your hand
Lifespan: Unknown, due to its elusive nature


phoenixkh93

Here is my OC. Her name is Realtha. She was the first OC I ever created and I'm still fairly fond of her. Although her design has been altered many times over the years she is still essentially the same character. To explain the picture I must first explain some of the background from the universe her story is set in. In that world, you have the organ, your heart that pumps blood around your body, but you are also born with your Heart in the form of a glowing jewel. This is your being and self, it contains your emotions and personality. This heart can't be forced from you, it can only be freely given. Originally, the Heart of every person corresponded with a star in the sky, hence the idea behind the background. She is clutching her Heart because in the big story I had written for her, there is someone who is trying their hardest to make her give up her Heart to him, but for his own selfish purposes...

I used colour and watercolour pencils to draw this, and then created the background and finished the details digitally.


Harley Quinn

The girl is Maria Isabelle Nicole Thompson who is a European-Asian beauty with a spunky personality and an optimistic outlook in life. She was diagnosed with cancer at a young age but since the cancer was noticed and treated at an early stage - she had been cleared by experts since she was seven (she is 18 to date). The boy is Andrew James Pierce who went through a tough child hood with a mother who passed when he was only eight years old (he is currently 19). It didn't help when his father completely lost it and turned to many vices - especially alcohol. He has a younger brother who he cares for deeply and feels as if he were the only family he truly had left because he feels like he lost his father when his mother died as well.

They are Mint and Drew, for short and they are lovers - but more so, the best of friends. Drew met Mint in 6th grade and they became close friends very quickly. They spent plenty of time together - in school with projects and home works and more so outside of school. Together, they went through a number of hard times (such as Drew's serious and hurtful dilemmas with his family) and also the most memorable moments (including the everyday video game or film marathon at Mint's house or a picnic in the park). During the summer after Sophomore Year of High School, the two began dating. And as if it weren't possible, they became even more inseparable. Usually, it would be Drew who went over to Mint's house because Drew's family wasn't exactly the best and Mint's family fully welcomed Drew into their home with open arms and approval. Escaping the reality of what his life really was (with a terrible father who gave him little freedom and a life he literally needed to work for himself), Mint meant absolutely everything to him. She was his life - She was everything that made him feel any sort of happiness. It was the same for Mint to Drew, as well.

Sadly, the happy ending that this was leading up to never came true. Mint was re-diagnosed with cancer at the start of senior year- and it wasn't looking any good. A couple more weeks after the terrible news, Mint had to be confined into the local Hospital. She spent every waking and sleeping hour in a hospital bed - with Drew by her side. Nothing stopped them from being together. Drew went to school, retrieved homework both of them would do together (sometimes only he would do) and even skipped school on some (or most) days just to be with Mint. Though, he didn't mind at all - he just wanted to stay with her. The school complained little since his grades never really have suffered and neither has Mint's and the hospital never complained either with having a gothic teenager visit so often and spend most of the nights there. The hospital even allowed Drew to lightly decorate Mint's room during the night of their prom. He got dressed into a suit and Mint's mother brought in a dress for Mint to wear - and together, in the hospital, the two spent a magical prom night especially for them and them alone. As for graduation, Drew dragged himself up to the ceremony and retrieved both his and Mint's diplomas then quickly abandoning the event and sprinting back to the hospital.

Two days after their Graduation day, when she was only 17, Mint took her last breath. Drew was at her side, holding a copy of Lewis Carol's Alice In Wonderland and choking up on the lines from the Lobster Quadrille as tears flowed down from his eyes. It was the feeling that Drew never wanted to feel again - the feeling of loosing that person who so easily just turned the whole world around even when everything insisted to stay upside down.

Now, Mint and Drew are completely normal people. However, here I drew them in Fantasy clothing with the hopes of creating more of an impact between these two. I wanted to try and express how and what Drew was for Mint. He was her guardian angel. He was her knight in shining armour. He never ever left her side and would give up the whole world just to save her. He was always there for her no matter what.

For her, He was and always will be fighting.


~Acy_XIII~

I have to say that this character doesn't really have a name yet, I temporary called her Prayer since it's the title I gave to the first drawing of her I've done. She was meant to be a priestess,but I wanted to draw her with more casual clothes than her original design. I first came out with it with the motifs, then the clothes and finally the person even though she didn't had a face yet. As anyone can notice on the OD, I did it during classes... As for the background story, there's none yet, but I had a few ideas in mind after doing this entry.


Llave de Espada

Her name is Kseniya Braeburn, a mixture of a Russian Female name and the Braeburn breed of apple. I have a general approach of making most characters and settings in a Russian perspective of sorts, near the 1800s but I'm still working on that.

Anywho, Seni (For short I reckon), is a 16 year old girl who has a rambunctious and playful personality, whilst maintaining some seriousness and shyness towards people she doesn't know. Her pinnacle of personality is her love of apples. She reveres them and gets rather cutesy when she has one.

She is a companion character to the main character (who is also female), and from what I thought up thus far, has a smarty farty relationship with her. The other companion character, who I drew rough sketches here, is about 17, and Seni and him kinda click. (I'm thinking of naming him Indigo.) It's kind of a flirty, brother/sister relationship. She takes it upon herself to adorably call him Starshego Brata (Big Brother in Romanized Russian. Brata for short.), and he likes the adorable attention, yet tries to hide it.

As far as the weapons and such, I tried to make a steampunk/Japanese versions of Russian Sabers. Her style would lean towards more of the flexible acrobatic, rather than brute force.

(I want to huggle her)​

 

Triple L's this time 'round!

1) Llave - Anatomy is just love, and so is Ms. Kseniya~ Yeow! This girl looks really nice. I like her character design and her character. I love how she looks really tough but also really elegant - that's kind of the vibe I get off of her. I also love her clothes and the pattern on her bandana. But what I really love is what I mentioned first, I really love how you've drawn her anatomy it's really, really great. I love how it looks very real. I think a little more 3-dimensional effects show have been adapted to her piercings (which I love too oh my) so they look more legitimate.

2) Love - I adore the composition of this painting and it's so beautiful. I wish that you had something better to upload it though, the quality isn't too great - uploading wise! 'Cause gurl, the painting is just gorgeous. I love it~

3) Luminey - I'm kind of really in love with how you've drawn her body. I don't know what exactly draws me to it but when I look at her body I just think it's so beautiful. Also, I love what you've done with her clothes - the ruffles on her skirt are outstanding. Great job, you should colour this one n __ n

 

1) Harley Quinn
Your characters are just so amazing. I'm impressed by the armor and wings, but the coloring is by far the most impressive thing on this piece.

2) Llave
The design for this is simple yet effective. The crotch area kinda throws my off but the anatomy of this makes me feel all tingly inside anyways.

3) Love
The geisha look is very appealing to me. Not to mention the colors you used, and is that all done in watercolor? For me that takes some series skill to get the shading right.

 

Oh wow this was a very tough choice. Let me first say that I am extremely impressed with the number of incredibly talented people here, and I would vote for each and every single one of you if I could. I want to congratulate everyone on such beautiful pieces of art and say it has actually taken days for me to decide these three, but here we go.

1)Harley Quinn. Just Beautiful. The story, the characters and the actual art. Everything about it is just so rich and detailed. The colours, all perfect, the anatomy, perfect, the background, perfect. Needless to say I love it. A couple of thongs that struck me were the lovingly intricate backgrounds to the characters. These are far more than just 2D fictional characters, you can really feel they are living, breathing entities with thoughts and emotions. This is of course shown wonderfully in their expressions and poses in the artwork itself. Can I also ask what medium it was done in? (Apologies if this has already been mentioned somewhere). But I just think the way the colours blend but stay so sharply defined is just amazing, especially with the streaks of colour in the hair. A Masterpiece!

2)Hesteen. I love this little guy! At first I was a little dubious about the character aspect of him, but he really grew on me. The whole piece is beautiful in it's simplicity, but it speaks volumes all the same. Not to meantion the whole thing has a certain clearness about the lines and colours that I can't really explain, but it might be best to say that this is the main one that stuck in my head, the whole composition exactly as it was, all the time I was trying to decide. Maybe 'iconic' is what I'm looking to say. Anyway, I love it! Charming, sweet, simple yet effective.

3)Love. I was very torn but decided on this in the end because of just how beautifully it is painted and in a very tricky medium too. The character and background are so detailed and clear, I especially for some reason love the silhouetted black and grey trees, I just kept thinking how cleverly painted and effective they are. I also enjoyed the characters story, obviously lots of love and care gone into all the details.

Once again, well done to everyone for the beautiful art, I have really enjoyed this :)

 

D i n n y - As always, you're execution is wonderful. The clouds in the background are a little oddly colored. Like they don't really seem to pay compliment to anything. The characters themselves and the rest of the background are very well designed and executed. Though, I feel like there could be more expression in their faces. I feel like you have conveyed your point sort of, but I don't necessarily get undying forever love or any of that, from looking at it. I feel like a character portrait should be able to reveal a character's quirks, emotional state, personality and overall demeanor. Your skill puts you far and away the best of us here. Just thought I'd let you know that I just have come to expect far more of you than just good.

Luminey - This doesn't quite look finished. Maybe it's 'cause most people went ahead and colored too. I dunno. Either way, I'm a fan of the fact that you showed kind of more or less who this person was in the image. Clothing, posture, facial expression. All adding up to a character. I could guess at who she was from looking and I like that in a character portrait. Props on the correct execution of frills. Body structure and depth need work though. Like you should seriously partake in some model drawing or something to help get that worked out, because you're not getting it here.

Llave - I"m a huge, huge, huge, fan of this from the knees down. Like those shoes are absolutely gorgeous. From the knees up is where we start seeing some problems. Those pants are bad. The ca/tg/irl in me is screaming over how those are basically just there to look nice and are functionally inferior to regular pants in every way. The swords look rushed and almost sloppy. The belt and gear set is wonderful. The shirt matches the theme. The torso and arms look incredibly stiff and need to look less awkward. It's like something straight out of ps2 in game graphics. Good foreshortening on the arm and good job on the gloves. Again the ca/tg/irl rears her head when I look at the face. Facial piercings are a pretty big inconvenience when living outside of a more or less pristine city environ and a huge liability in a fight and I personally dislike the self mutilation aspect of the whole process. Bandanna looks sweet, hair looks sloppy. Overall, you've got everything I want in a character portrait because you get a feeling for the character and all, but I don't like many of the specific design choices and some of the execution doesn't keep up. You did a good job, but I see more potential than product right now.

 

1. Harley Quinn - The story's just brilliant, you can almost feel just how much the two meant to each other, right up until Mint's last day. And the artwork helps me see just how important they were to one another, what they truly meant to each other. I'm also curious as to the medium used, it looks so lovely (and I'd love to try it myself sometime).

2. phoenixkh93 - I love the colors in this. Realtha's story got my attention, and if you ever get around to writing it I'd love to read it. I like the world you've created for her, I'd love to learn more about it.

3. Love- Watercolor's a very tricky thing to use, but it looks like you've got a great hold on it. The only thing I wish you did was find a better way to upload your painting, it's so pretty but the scan doesn't seem to do it much justice. Which is a shame, because it's absolutely stunning.

 

Why do you all make it so hard to choose?! O.o

1) Hesteen- I have always loved dragons but I also liked how yours was an animal and not a humanoid, it was somethnig different. I also like the backstory, it's just simple and sweet. The drawing of him is very simple which goes well with the story and I just love the fact that he gathers toys showing that he isn't gaudy or greedy or malevolent.

2) Jiku Neon- I really like the fact you have tried to get her character across through just a few panels and I think it works nicely. I don't know why, it just always stood out to me when I perused all these pieces and although it isn't super detailed you still get a good feel for her life. Also, I quite like the smudging used to blend them together although I feel this could have been a bit smoother.

3) Llave- This was so hard to decide, I was going between this one and Dinny's but the thing I love about this one is she is the sort of character I make up in my head so she just resonated with me more. I love the design of her clothes and the the details about her love of apples. It took me a while before I realised that the dots on her lip were piercings but I just loved the bandana- you've really given it a silky texture. Well done.

I just loved them all if I'm honest and it's taken me a while to decide. Gahh!

 

Well, the winner this month is Harley Quinn! Congratulations! :D

~Thank you everyone for your amazing support and creativity, it's always a pleasure to see!