Monk Rests by Stupa

Well I’m pretty much done with this, thanks to everyone who gave crits on gameartisans and on this blog.  I have mixed feelings about the heavy inking.  In some cases it seems to really work but when colored it seems to lose something.  That could say more about my lack of skill in coloring, or choosing the right kind of style to work with heavy inks.  Or it could be a scene specific kind of thing, where the heavy inks would work well in a moodier scene, rather than this one of a monk taking a breather.

Regardless, I did learn quite a bit creating this piece and it’s one of the few times I haven’t had to think too hard about what I’d like to draw which is definitely refreshing for me.

Monk Inks

Now I usually go straight to coloring after finishing the line art, but I decided to try something different today and play with inking in this particular piece.  It’s a little liberating because I’ve always been afraid of using dark shadows or colors in my work, for fear that I might overdo things, but I usually end up with colors or shadows that are too close together and lack a sense of  ”hardness” to them.  I like how this has turned out, and it was fun using the shadows to create texture as well, though I think I still need to work on that some.

If you look at the previous entry you might notice on the lower left corner there are squiggles that have magically disappeared.  I was thinking of drawing a buddhist lion statue there but ultimately decided it would be too distracting from the composition (aka I got lazy).

Monk Line Art

I really liked the monk sketch I did yesterday and thought it deserved to be brought to life as a finished product.  I’ve always held  fascination for art that mixes genres, eras, etc., because I love how two seemingly incompatible things can work together harmoniously.  In this artwork, I’m mixing what is essentially a Japanese Buddhist monk (taking many artistic liberties) with Stupas from Borobudur, imagining that this monk is fulfilling his obligatory pilgrimage through (insert mythological country here).  I’ve also added technological components to the artwork, such as a radio/mp3 player integrated into the monk’s hat (where he presumably listens to mantras or waves crashing on the seashore) as well as a GPS unit built into the stupa so that the monks can record their journey and check their emails.

Just about finished the line art and I’ll hopefully be adding more detail and coloring it in over the week.