This is a video of some of the art made at Anime Boston.

Anime Boston

Well, the con was loads of fun. Lots of people stopped by, some I've been seeing for years, others were new, and everyone was excited to see us. Here are some pictures of all the happy artists!

Cleanup with GIMP

One of the best things about working with Copic is how easy it is to use with digital editing and printing. Because the markers use an alcohol based ink, they don't smear toner lines, which means you can print or copy your images onto different papers instead of using your original or redrawing by hand.

There are several different editing programs, I happen to like working with GIMP. It has a nice user interface, a very nice online support system, and better yet, it's free.

First we scan the image onto the computer and and then instead of just opening the picture, choose to "edit with gimp". This will open a new window in gimp and we can start working on the file.


The toolbox on the left had many different symbols for different tools but first we need to cut the image down to what we are working on. The little knife blade will crop the image. Select part of your image and if you need to, drag the corner boxes or sides to get the lightened area where you want it. Then click in one of the corners. This will remove all of the darkend area leaving only the lightened image.


Just like this.


Next, we need to turn it around. Click on Image, then in the drop down menu, click on transform, and from that menu, choose one of the flips or rotations.

Depending on the image and how detailed it is, you may want to make it bigger so it's easier to work on. There are two ways to do this.

Option one; select the magnifying glass from the toolbox on the left then click on the image where you want to zoom in.

Option two; at the bottom of the image window is a box with a percentage. Click the drop arrow, and select a different percentage.

Now you are ready to edit the image. For this project, I just needed to clean up some of the lines and some of the shadows that were created when I scanned. Using the earaser, it's easy to take out a few lines. By adjusting the size of that eraser, it's also easy to clean up large sections shadow that shouldn't be there.

Wishful Thinking

This was a book inspired by a friend. It's a concertina style book. The spine is a narrow folded paper, the folds are only about an inch deep. The inside of the spine is decorated with pastels, rubber stamps, and different colored inks. The pages are added in with double stick tape. The covers are made with book board and covered with book cloth which I decorated with a leaf stamp (black ink and bleach).

The string on the left side is attached to the inside of the cover and pushed out through a hole to the front side. It is tied together across the back of the book and is used to keep the spine together so the book doesn't fall all the way open and risk tearing. It's mostly decorative but does have a functional purpose.







I found a fantastic picture of a Gerber Daisy by Jon Sullivan. I wanted to make the book as if you were pulling petals off the flower, but I didn't want to redraw the picture over and over.

I like using GIMP which is a free photo work shopping program. I absolutely love this thing, the set up is great.

So I opened the original photo in GIMP and took out the color and made it into a line drawing.



After, I erased one petal at a time and saved a copy. Finally, I set up the pages in Word and printed them off on Aquabee Marker Paper.



I taped the "He loves me" pages to the colored side of the center fold spine and the "He loves me not" to the blank sides.

I colored in the stems throughout first using YG45 and then on the left side, YG67 for some shadow. Then I added the yellow centers with Y06.

After, I went through and colored the petals with R22. Then I added RV25 in the centers of each petal and went over with a little of the blender for highlights.





Lets skip down a few pages...





I think you get the idea...





And the last page is printed on velum with the listing of materials, credits, etc.

Finished Images

Here is the picture of the dragon after it was scanned and edited together.



Just click on the image.

Warning: It's a long picture.

Dragons

The assignment was to create a folded book. In other words, folded paper that is adhered to board covers and decorated we saw fit. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to use more Copic.

After sketching out the basic dragon outline, I inked it in and started drawing scales. Once that was finished, I covered the design with frisk film. This covers everything I don't want colored in and keeps my white space white. After, I pulled out the airbrush and went over the image with several different shades of green.






You can see the different shades of green. A darker for the bottom and a lighter for the top. This adds a little definition and depth, making the tail seem more round.



The shiny at the top here is the frisk film. It's a life saver when you don't want to tape off an area that is too large. Just lay it down over the image and use an x-acto knife to gently cut along the inside edge of the image. Some overlap helps blend the airbrush with the image.



The head, feet, and paws were done by flattening the superbrush tip against the paper, giving me a slight teardrop shape. Layered on top of each other, those shapes in different colors came together to create a scaled look. I felt it would have taken too long to cover the entire dragon on those little scales however.



By going over the parts of the body that are shadowed by the leg in a darker/more olive green, I can add a little more dimension.



Here in the arm you can see the finished effect.




And in the tail, since the tip coils and overlaps the rest of the tail, we have more shadows.



The head took a bit of time, as I said it's all done in little splotches of color.



This is a shot of the whole piece spread out.



Overall, it's 11 ft long total. The dragon from head to tail is about 7ft long.



All in all, it took about 2 weeks of work to finish. Oh, and it got an A.

I'll post later as to which materials I used and if I can get it to work, a complete picture from the scanner. Now, it's time for the next project.

Card for Grams

I just finished a card for my grams. It's just a simple stamped image but then grams isn't much into flashy stuff the way I am.

Sometimes an image just speaks to you. Other times, it's hard to find the right colors. It's always helpful to stamp a copy and test the colors first. I tried several different colors for this as you can see. I knew which basic colors I wanted the flowers, but not specifics. The background was more troubling. I really wanted to a light purple, but Gram hates purple with a firey passion, so no purple.

In the end I settled on the BG05, Holiday Blue. I really like the dark blue personally, but it just wasn't quite right for this piece.

The Spica glitter pens are perfect for adding those little finishing touches. I added some green sparkle to the centers of most of the leaves. Not only did it add oomph, but also darkened that line and added the detail.

I used the PM white paper and then the Zig 2-way glue pen to adhere it to the card front. Mostly cause my gluestick dried up and I haven't gotten to the store.

For the envelope I only inked a corner of the stamp. I tested it on scrap paper to make sure I had enough ink on the stamp, that I wasn't covering too much, too little of the image. Then I went in with the same colors I used on the card. Since the envelope is not marker paper and the colors will bleed through, I tucked a scrap piece of scrap paper in there before I colored.