Showing posts with label sketches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sketches. Show all posts

Friday, June 16, 2017

Recent Arts, Animation Experiments , and Filming Early June 2017

I'm trying to produce my own animated short, which involves practicing all kinds of things, because traditional animation involves LOTS & LOTS of DRAWING! But, since it's the new millennium that means LOTS OF PROGRAMS TO LEARN, which also involved PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

It involves Qilin (Kirin or Kylin), Chinese unicorns, dragons, etc!

Here is the Main BLOG: HERE

The Facebook PAGE: HERE

The Tumblr: HERE





I STILL haven't been able to get to doing Life Drawing, per se, but lots of OTHER DRAWING.


Since I'd launched my GoFundMe campaign I have been able to purchase Adobe Creative Cloud. I've been practicing that a lot. I also NOW can contribute as an editor and graphics creator on the the independent film (The Holy Maple Tree) I've been working on since November with my very good friend whom is the Director/Producer. I'd mostly been a P.A. doing mostly audio, but also prep for opening/closing film sets. I am truly lucky to have such a good friend! I've also made a lot of new friends and connections which have been SO encouraging, positive, and helpful to my life, creativity as an artist, and so on.

I've also been able to purchase many things that I NEEDED, which I budgeted for, including a condenser microphone kit! ^_^ 

I'm also still very grateful to my video teacher at UMASS for having opened up all of these opportunities for me.

I have also re-opened my Etsy. Nothing on it right now tho'. And, I ended up getting some paid freelance work (nondisclosure) from a very good friend of mine, going way back, and I was very happy to do this work. ^_^

Unfortunately, at the moment, my financial aid got stalled, and I cannot return to UMASS unless it can be resolved. I can't do anything about that until Mr. Wang gets back from Japan/China. I believe he's in China at the moment.

Also, an elder gentleman hit our minivan about 1-2 days before Mr. Wang had to leave to go to Japan. this had been a constant frustration ever since! The elder gentleman was so upset that he hit us, and was shaking & quivering, but he'd admitted he was guilty, and set up his very good insurance coverage for us. meanwhile, auto body shops are all on vacations lately. I did manage to get EXCELLENT coverage out of the medical aspect, and now I have full paid visits to the chiropractor! I am SO GRATEFUL!

I had to monitor my visits to the chiropractor, and I was almost halfway through my yearly coverage, which isn't much.  I didn't know what I would do, because I hurt my neck really bad! Luckily, the insurance gave me medical coverage! When I got the statement for how much they decided to award me, I was happy! I just didn't know how to work that out! SO, I hobbled over to the chiropractor, and told them my situation. When they found out how much I was getting awarded, they dropped everything, started making calls, and even started either helping me with paperwork, or doing it for me!

So glad that had been taken care of! Apparently my neck had some tissue tears, and had healed wrong. I get to go 3 times a week now! ^_^

Here's the animation stuff I've been practicing:


Studio Ghibli's OpenToonz:





Notes:
I had pretty big hopes for this program. It's Studio Ghibli's open source animation program OpenToonz, which is entirely free.
Unfortunately, I found it to be SO ENTIRELY BACKWARDS which is much like how I feel trying to drive a Japanese car after growing up driving only American cars. It's just SO BACKWARDS, it often felt awkward. I was frequently lost. updates weren't making it better. It lagged when I drew. There was no precision in drawing. I constantly had to source tutorials on YouTube, but they often didn't help out.

The main thing I wanted to practice is a number of horse/equine walk cycles. It just makes logical sense. I want better quality animation, so the ONLY way to do that is to just PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!


Toon Boom's Harmony Advanced Version:


First Hair Cycle:


With 2nd Cycle started:
With both hair Cycles and tweens:

2nd Hair Animation with it's 1st Animation Cycle:


Finished Version with 2 hair cycles and a head turn at the end:


Notes:

I mostly wanted to focus MORE on the motion, movement, animation, form, and timing, and not so much on the actual perfection of drawing, because it was making me crazy. I'm not accustomed to drawing with my WACOM "Bamboo" pad, I only use it for coloring the drawings I hand drew, then scanned. I like the feeling of real pencils and paper... but, I LOVE digital coloring.

Toon Boom Harmony (Advanced Version)

So, I gotta tell ya, I have ALWAYS loved TOON BOOM, and I HATE Flash! HATED IT! I remember when in was Macromedia, and I also remember Macromedia had this GREAT program called Director, which was pixel based and I LOVED IT. I could even do scripting/coding like it was breathing! I ONLY liked working in Flash, honestly, whenever my friend Kyle was with me, because he's like MAGIC. But, when he wasn't there, the magic vanished...

The kicker is this: I SO WANTED to actually BUY this program. I figured the Advanced version (since it comes in 3 versions now) would suffice.... BUT, none of the versions EXCEPT the Premium version do audio! WTF! I can't do the monthly subscription, because my spouse is a control freak, and would veto that, and I can't guarantee I can have enough income each month to pay it, so I prefer the bulk 1-year payment of programs, which are a better deal. The problem is the Premium version is almost $900! WTF! So, not going to happen.

Anyways, I already have Adobe CC now... which has their NEW version of what USED TO BE Flash...  Heidi says she thinks it's more like Toon Boom.... I hope that's true. *pouty face*


Fixing up my Vintage Animation from UARTS Phila and AIPH in Adobe Premiere Pro CC:


Some Other Creative Stuffs:

I FINALLY STARTED AND FINISHED THIS!:

DREAMCATCHER




Qilin Character Designs:

I have done SOOOOOOOOOO MANY sketches of new Qilin sketches! I'm NOT even gonna post them all here. You can catch them ALL in my GALLERY! Or a DIRECT LINK to the Gallery's Blog POST.





LIVE Photoshop Qilin Sketch Coloring:


It was suggested to me, a number of times to try LIVE STREAMING myself sketching, drawing, or coloring. At the moment, my ability to do this was rather limited. Live streaming on YouTube isn't always free anymore, and you need to download a private party client/application.

Also, my ability to stream content outward is capped by my ISP broadband (Verizon) even tho' I've been using them since GW Bush was president.


Regardless, a lot of my coloring process is up on YouTube right now. I can ONLY get it to recognize the old vintage Photoshop 6.0 tho'. Almost no programs can be viewed in the live stream.


So far, this sort of thing wasn't going very well for me.... so, I might not continue with it. I will, however, continue coloring the Qilin, so don't worry.


Other Stuffs:

I may, or may not, have been looking into a certain potential position out West... possibly doing a portfolio of that. I was inquiring to a close friend of mine in Burbank, about their thoughts on it, and it was pretty honest, and encouraging. I have pretty bad anxieties over it... but, I had been suggested to this certain thing (potentially) regarding me reaching out and submitting some sort of a portfolio. I had previously been rather depressed (and this goes back to at least 2015) so I just wasn't open to the idea, and had a very bad attitude towards it. But, I had been suggested this by multiple persons, a number of times, and even this year. I had been on my mind a lot.

I'd stumbled into it, yet again, recently because the specific thing is a sequel of sorts to a well known film from the 1980s, which I absolutely loved which is whimsical, fantasy, but also dark, and very in line with the type of things I would LOVE to work on. Even my daughter got wind of this suggestion, when I was talking to someone about it, and was like: Mom! That is so perfect for you! You should at least try it!   

I am also doing some graphics for the film I'm working on. We're often on this '90s stint. So, we wanted cheesey 90s looking graphics. We we actually shooting stuff at BTV, and going back again.

A post shared by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

A post shared by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

A post shared by Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman 任思麒 (@blackunigryphon) on

There's an actress on the film, Sissy, whom you may recognize from some major mainstream films, but much of the acting talent is pretty good, and some are quite established.

This film is SO MUCH FUN! I gotta tell ya! But, after an entire day of shooting, I'm so drained. It's kinda like when you were kid and played all day at a Theme Park... except we were doing serious film making... serious for sure. But, it's SO FUN!

We've shot in several locations, including Rhode Island, all over Massachusetts, and even at the Director's house. We did stunt car scenes, lumber jacks, 90s party scenes, Heaven & Hell, and love scenes.

I'd also done some spontaneous acting. I'm NOT AN ACTOR, per se.
So, the Director was like: Kandice, you wanna be a nurse today?

If I'd known I'd have lines, I'd be like: NO!

But, next thing i knew, I had 1 line, then 3, then, a whole part.

No idea how I pulled that off!














Monday, February 25, 2013

The Complete Portfolio of Belly Dancers Artwork (Digitally Colored) By "Black UniGryphon" 2003-2011

Here is the COMPLETE List/Portfolio of Black UniGryphon's Belly Dancers & Exotic Maidens
(The finished Digitally Colored Versions)
(All Colored in Adobe Photoshop 6.0) 

They are original hand drawn pencil sketches which are cleaned. these are ONLY the Digitally colored/finished works:







Artwork by
"Black UniGryphon" 烏獨角獸
Kandice Kathleen Zimbleman-Wang 任思麒












 Sketched in 2005-2006:
(Colored in 2006- 2008)












































































2008:


































































































2009:
































































































2010:











































2011:











































Misc. Other:

Drawn in 1996, Colored in 2000:









































2003 Furry:










































For larger resolution versions & prints of artwork by "Black UniGryphon" (Kandice K. Zimbleman) visit the gallery on Deviant Art.<----->

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Yet to be finished Tribal Fusion Bellydancer Sketches

Yet to be finished Tribal Fusion Bellydancer Sketches

I was actually surprised at how much response I got over these, from the belly dance communities.

Altho', I DO have a gripe about 1/2 of the responses, since number of Bellydancers expect to be paid to dance, and make money doing so. However, those SAME dancers expected to just be able to USE my artwork FREE OF CHARGE or DEMAND me to:

A.) Do more for them FOR FREE, JUST BECAUSE THE LIKED IT.

B.) DO WHOLE ANIMATIONS FOR THEM FOR FREE, JUST BECAUSE THEY LIKED IT.

Drawing is NOT the SAME as dancing, let alone animation, FYI. It takes, practice, skills, and talent, especially if you like mine, that that would refer to MINE of the aforementioned.

Funny how YOU want to be paid, but REFUSE to pay for ME.

Since I was also depressed, I couldn't make myself finish them yet. But, also, because I am afraid of people stealing my artwork, AND MAKING MONEY OFF OF IT!

So, yes, I have mixed feelings, especially when the bellydance communities are usually very Hippy-ish, peace, love, community, helping each other out, looking out for the lil' guy, etc.

So, for this reason, I am forever more STICKING with my watermarks, logos, and GIANT CHINESE NAME STAMPS.

I understand that the whole concept of Chinese name stamps is a hard one to understand, even for me, because it's not based in Western logic, It's Chinese/Taoist stuff. They often use use HUGE stamps, often several, and it might not make any sense to a Westerner, in fact they don;t even need to fit with the layout of the picture. I've asked SOOOOOO many Chinese art Teachers, and Masters in China, and no one can explain it, they just say, it's a Chinese way, or it;s just Chinese stuff.





This was a popular Tribal Fusion costuming style a few years ago:



S Tribal Fusion Belly Dance 01 by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART

By 2011 the long hair, like Cabaret belly dance started to become popular, and bled through into the costuming fashion, where as before it was usually up-doos.


Sketch Belly Dance Floorwork R by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


As Cabaret styles began seeping into Tribal Fusion Bellydance, things became very whimsical, and fantasy-like. So, I came up with this/these:



Whimsical Unicorn Tribal CS 01 by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Whimsical Unicorn Tribal CS 02 by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


I have seen SO many creative costumes ever since.

If you like this blog post, please check the rest of my blog for similar artwork.

Thank you.

Belly Dancer & Exotic Oriental Themed Artwork

 Belly Dancer & Exotic Oriental Themed Artwork

I haven't published my art here for quite a while, so I will share some tonight.

I've done MANY MANY belly dancer, oriental, exotic themed artwork over the past few years. I also VERY MUCH LOVE bellydance.



Exotic Beauty by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Exotic Beauty CU by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


Turkish Bellydancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Turkish Belly Dancer Close Up by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


Gypsy Skirt Belly Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
G Skirt Belly Dancer Close Up by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART



Tribal Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


My Muse's Belly Dancer 01 by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Muses Belly Dancer 1 close up by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


Glorious Belly Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Glorious Belly Dancer Close Up by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


Festival Stage Belly Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Festival Stage Belly dancer CU by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART


Night Club Belly Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART
Night Club Belly Dancer CU by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART



Veil Dancer by *BlackUniGryphon on deviantART