Ano Hana Menma

"Ano Hi Mita Hana No Namae O Bokutachi Wa Mada Shiranai"

When I first come to see this I thought its just an ordinary Japanese phrase, but I'm wrong in the end. Its an anime, a very noticeable series in Japan. Well the storyline made lots of people drop tears. I'm embarrass to say that I've just started to watch it and still nothing like tear drops happened to me yet... lol. The story revolves around childhood friends of Menma, who are getting apart from each other after Menma died. She seems to be resurrected to bring them back together but apparently only Jintan is able to see her, thus making the disbelievers think that Jintan is still traumatized by the incident that cause Menma's death.

Lol.. synopsis, yeah. Its getting interesting as I watch the series and because of that I decided to draw Menma （＾＿－）☆ Oh and the shorter name of this series is only "Ano Hana", much... simpler I think.

I need them!

A thing that always passed through my mind when drawing, is DPI. Yes DPI or dot-per-inch. Technically its the amount of color dots over an inch length (another term: color density) which is useful when printing. Higher dpi means that your print will become clearer. 

"Okay, so what is the connection with you?"

Lol... well working with high dpi canvas really stretched my composition-evaluating capabilities. With a small screen, I can only see certain part at a time when in 100% view. Its a pain actually BUT I rather see it as a challenge. Once you have finished it, you can clearly see how much detailed you can put in higher dpi canvas. So higher dpi is definitely a need for me although its not for printing mostly.

"Them?, what else that you wished for?"

^ ^ O dear God, if its good for me please give me "Moe" style. How do I defined Moe style? One of them is the eye. See the image above. Moe eye style has irregular oval shape. It sounds simple, just draw it then. XD... its not that easy actually, especially when matching with your composition. This kind of matter really rely on practices but here comes another problem, style switching. Moving to another style of your interest can become hard if you have mastered your old style. That's why if its possible, I wish the magic can do the trick..

Resolution

So far, I really like how my illustration turns out. I mean when I want it to be like this, I manage to draw it exactly like I want. It saves a lot of my time, besides I also learned that composition matters than actual anatomy. Its an art, so why do you need to be so accurate?. Good composition can deliver your idea better. This is the first part...

Now the second one is how I paint my works. Usually I did these typical steps:

1. Sketch... (Rawwwrr! I was always messy with this LOL, but it feels good　＾ー＾) 

2. Outline... (Yeah I know, double the work)

3. Paint... (This part is always the same, similar shading and highlights)

Over the time I realize that these stereotype steps really makes my work looks ughhh... unsatisfying. Take a look at my previous work, heavy bold outlines ruined everything!

I rework my steps and eliminate step 2. Sketch nicely and paint it on the fly!. It takes time to perfect, but it also saves a lot of time once you master it. Outline can be done later, with of course much better control on how you want it to be.

My previous work DPI was always at 72 dpi, its a standard dpi for web preview. This however isn't very standard when you are painting. I'm sure most of you that paint anime illustration will zoom in into the eye part a couple of times when working with 72 dpi canvas, and what do you get is mosaic pixel. At this stage, no matter how small your brush is, it doesn't do the magic at detailing the eye deco.

Above is my image working with 300 dpi canvas. I began to realize how useful high dpi is. Notice the detail in the eye?. It was done simply at 100% zoom, without hurting your eye just to make another eye.. lol 

These are truly educational for me, so I thought to share it with those who like painting just like I do. 

"There's a soldier in all of us"

Hi and welcome to another post from Moe. Lol... actually its the second one since this blog was established.

Yeah about the video, I encounter this when I was looking about "Sandman MW3" on internet. It says something about MW3 so I went to check it out. Its Coool! XD... Noob and Vet duo, different style, different humor..but I don't know much about the actors in it so I'm sorry for that.. ^ ^ I know its already late to post this but the content is still fresh for those who like MW3. Gimme that ACR rifle! Lol

A little video for those who visit my blog... ^ ^

Moved On...

Finding blog service that suits you can become a real challenge, especially if your interest really really different from others. Most Malaysian use Blogger for blogging and it serves its purpose very well. Its a good host honestly. Page function is what I like the most since I depend pretty much on it. I seldom have the time to update blog posts and illustration needs a gallery to sit, so it suits me pretty well. Before I forgot, moe's worx youkoso! :D