Consitancy for Once

Hello and welcome to the second post made on time in a row! It's a rare event and you that I am going to cherish it and you should as well if you enjoy the blog. Today we are going to go over some of the plans for the near future ( like a week or two ), some drafts I have made and the future of my posts.With out further ado I'd like to start with the life and blood of these posts with the HP which is going to be different than the usual crude sketches on paper and instead be crude drafts on Photoshop!

Today we have three covers to go over and my plans to improve each and everyone. Please keep in mind that I did these around 10 pm to 12:30 pm after doing tons of home work and that they are just drafts. These are by no means " final copies " so they are going to change especially if they are the last one which I am most likely going to go with. As for this first one we have here, I loaded up a drawing I did of my profile goggles and planned out the background. I used a brush preset with dark orange and dark blue in order to get the textured feel and just typed out the title ( P.s. the title is going to be " Little Legends " not " The Little Legend " ). In the end it just felt too lazy of a design and didn't really stick with me.

 This next one I decided to experiment more with lighting and a different background. First, I painted unevenly ( mainly focused on the center ) with an orange brush and set the blending option to vivid light at a 50% opacity. This was done to give it a bit of a warm glow to the whole scene. Next, I drew out the horizon with a slanted line and decided that the ground would be asphalt. I did give a slight attempt to texture it but for the problems I was getting just to add that final touch to a draft didn't seem worth so I decided against doing so. Over all this is a good idea but it wasn't what I was looking for. It comes of to me as too emotional which for the comic series based around my life will have some elements of emotion most of my day to day life is more comedic and when even those rare occasions where I am emotionally down pop up, they are usually not very impactful as I don't stay sad long unless something really major happens. This is a good idea to start with for the next cover.

 This cover looks fairly simple and one would be rightfully justified to think so as the thought process took an instant but it was the hardest one to make and took the most time. I've already noted that I would add more colors to the background but the simple yet crude made letters kinda give the mood of the mostly rough around the edge yet interesting events that happen to me in my day to day life. Heck, sometimes my life has some of the most odd unfavorable events that you'd think that some of them were straight out of a cartoon yet they are not. Whether it'd be unintentionally stabbing myself, falling off roof tops or even being sent crashing into a wall by a punch these events are kinda reflected by the style of the words. Now of course this comic series isn't always going to be me just being an actor of the show Jacka** but it will entail some events that or thought that I experience that I think would be enjoyable to read with a visual aid.
Now onto the reason I worked so hard on making a cover. I've stated before that before I can work on a comic series for TFTBU or any upcoming story driven series I may start, I have to get some way to practice not only drawing but drawing constant characters in different poses, drawing settings and getting used to the general stuff of making a comic series or even animation. So to have a bit of fun, gain some audience and follow a similar path to some people I admire in the comic or even just art community I decided to do a comic series about me and just the sometimes weird and interesting stuff I go through. Of course, since I spent almost half a decade enjoying free to read sites such as Webtoons and or Tapastic, this and TTBU will be completely free to read and enjoy. Once I get the hang of things and have a few episodes of " Little Legends " out then my Patreon page will be up and ready for you guys to support me and for me to give you a bit extra.
On another note, some may think my drawing skills aren't good enough to start a comic series but I do have a grasp on things like emotions and anatomy. Also, one of my favorite artist by the name of Randowis ( LINK HERE ) started off with a little less than a grasp than me at the moment ( picture below is from one of his first comics ). That being said, he improved to the point where ( you should check out his latest work ) his art is some of the most visually stunning and filled with emotion.

That leaves us with our last topic of the week and that is the posts. You see, I have a less than great track record keeping up with posts as is without fully drawing out entire scenes and moving them to the computer to be colored and refined. This will mean that my scheduling and even energy are both going to be pushed to their limits ( maybe not so much on the energy as I just get lazy... ) so while I plan to post every week with the comic, posts here might slow down. I don't think I'll ever stop writing my blog but with additional work being done it is a given. Also I have gotten complaints that my blog entries are not too much fun and I've tried to add more humor but it is hard to do for me without a story so my blog will continue to focus on techniques and updates on all my stuff and my web comics, art, stories and someday animations will have humor/action/romance or whatever emotion is appropriate to the topic. I hope you enjoy the post and the release of my comic series " Little Legends " coming soon so until next post, I'll see ya'll later!

IT'S MEEE!

HELLO! and welcome back to yet again another high " quality " post of LLG ( The Little Legend Guy ) that took a year to make cause I'm a lazy piece of sugar honey ICED tea! So, what do I have in store for you lovely viewers for today?! Could there be another chapter of TFTBU ( The Fates That Bind Us ) out today?! Could I have finally achieved some sort of mastery even at the slightest for the art that I have actually committed more than a year trying to improve?! COULD I FINALLY START DOING YOUTUBE VIDEOS LIKE I PROMISED?!?! Nah this is just gonna be a post for excuses for me not achieving any of those... Well let's jump right into it!

 As per usual our first topic will be the art. For this weeks ( or month because I've been lazy on posts) HP ( Horrible Picture ) of the day is gonna include several entries. The first one is on the left of this very text and is one I drew mainly to practice character design, Hair and expressions ( very light on the last one though ). It is a drawing of the main character of the book I am writing, TFTBU, who is known as Tera. It was all sketched out and inked on paper so no digital stuff was done to the image ( other than the the Instagram filters ). Some things I'd like to note is that this is the first time I've ever drawn female hair and the third time I've drawn hair recently ( and by recent I mean in the last 7 months ). Also, I got halfway done inking the sketch when I realized that Tera is actually supposed to wear glasses so I messed that up quite a bit...

  Next up is a drawing of a secondary character of the book who is slightly based of myself ( character is Mateo). The features are based around me and many people have actually said they can tell that it's me so I'm really happy that I've managed to cartoon myself slightly although I do plan to tweak the character's features a bit. As the same with the last drawing ( the one of Tera ) I forgot the iconic " Goggles " that truly marks the character as me which made me very sad but as for the things I was practicing with this drawing such as, 3/4 view, character design, expression and hair all came together quite nicely. Lastly I did sketch and ink this one much like the other and if you are wondering why I inked so much ( I don't very often unless it is an important drawing which they are but that's not the reason.) it is because there is a way to manipulate the photo with your mobile smart phone to actually make drawings easier to see if they are inked which is why the next drawing won't look so hot...

This is what a non-inked drawing looks with my phone even with some editing... It's a bit hard to see but you can see the guides I've made for the hair and eyes but have yet to finish them. I do plan on doing the whole thing same as the other drawings as this is supposed to be the other side character Ethan. It'll focus on character design, expression, hair and the 3/4 view. Definitely will be a difficult one as the other two characters could get away with messy hair but Ethan has styled hair so yeah... Well that does it for today's HP.
On to the next topic, YouTube! Those who know me or those who have watched the short film that I did for UIL ( University Interscholastic League ) called, " It's Just a Dream " link is right HERE so check that out if you want but back to the topic! I am not camera shy so YouTube should be no problem for me right? CORRECT! problem is however ( here comes the excuse ) I am missing some sound equipment... I have the mic and some audio software ( Adobe Audition CC ) but if I don't want to have to lug my laptop to every film setting and use my phone as the connection for the mic! I have to buy a headphone and mic split jack. So yeah... Might do just a voice over video or a stationary one but IDK if my attention span can handle it so we'll just have to wait and see! Also... maybe a surprise to ya'll but I am not the most proactive person so I might also get lazy and that'll definitely cause delays...
Well to not degrade myself any longer for my laziness and procrastination let's get onto the next project I haven't worked on in awhile! TFTBU or The Fates That Bind Us ( just in case you didn't get the acronym after the time I mentioned it at the beginning ) is still on hiatus because I suck at writing, drove my story into a whole, got rid of months of work and am now thinking of how to recover. That being said, I think of the story all the time, new chapter coming soon! Also I'm working on another series so that there will be something to kinda help spread my work a bit but it's going to be very similar to TFTBU.
To end today's post, I'd like to talk a little about a school thing I did this week that really was fun! So, those who know me, and some who don't, know that I am part of the AAVTC ( Arts, Audio, Video, Technology, Class ) in my highschool. This is a program that anyone at my school can take and it can lead to specialized classes for things like Film, Graphic Design and Animation. Thing is, I've taken at least the base level for all of the things offered by this program and have been highly active doing things like school news, UIL and etc. That being said I and another student who is a classmate and friend of mine took up the opportunity to join our two teachers in charge of the program to visit the middle school to promote the program. I had a great deal of fun and the kids really loved our presentation as we were the loudest and had some pretty nice videos to show off the program and what the students in it do. It was really fun especially considering that I've taken just about everything so questions about any class was a breeze for me. That's all for today so till next post ( whenever that'll be ) I'll see ya'll later!

Back For The New Year!

Hello and welcome to the first post of from LLG of the new year! It has felt like an eternity since I last posted which was just under a month ago. My break went a little different then I had planned but it was still as busy as I had predicted. That being said, I'm looking forward to the new year and will continue to upload as much as I can and would like to start as always with an HP!

This is a picture of the first page of the brand new sketch book I have started using :3. It was a Christmas gift from my grandmother and while it isn't the book style sketch book I was planning on using, it is a normal sketch book with a hardcover which is really nice. Of course, I have some of my drawing warm up exercises on the tanother op left of the picture which I use to try and steady my hand and to get my coordination synced up. The next couple of drawings are all sketches that all had some sort of reference whether it be pictures or real life. I've been getting slightly better at following form and stuff for small scale anatomy with the hands and feet but still having trouble drawing legs and arms. 

Moving on, I'd like to announce something that I am very proud of. For the past couple of months, I have been part of the first students of my highschool to enter the Texas UIL competition with a live action film. It was quite the experience to work on such a project especially cause I paired up with some really motivated people. There wasn't many days were there was no arguments but it was all because everyone was taking part and had ideas which is way better than being paired with people with no ambition. It was a little disheartening that the idea I had for the film, back in August when we had yet to decide the story, was not chosen and we instead went with a completely alien concept for me ( making quite the difficulty for me to understand majority of the stuff) but it worked out in the end. If you want to watch the video I'll leave the link right HERE. Those who follow my Instagram will be able to tell that I actually play a role in the film as a side character which was really odd because I also was a camera man but I hope you do enjoy it and if - IF we make any progress in the competition ( highly unlikely ) then I'll let you guys know.

Onto another creation of mine, TFTBU is in a little bit of an awkward spot right now... It is the first story that I've formally started writing and it was going good but I messed up! Those who read the book TFTBU ( " The Fates That Bind Us " on wattpad by llgwriter ) will know that the 3 characters have already gone through their first fight and I think it went really well as I planned almost everything meticulously...ALMOST! You see, I forgot the aftermath of the fight, which because I want it to be a realistic outcome, which gave a big reveal early, traumatized 2 characters way too early and to try and make things continue to move, I had to have them recover way too easy for such trauma! In short, I need to fix it up by either editing chapters a lot or just getting rid of some. Till I can think of how to do that, I may start a new series to be a creative aid. That's a maybe for now and even if I do decide to do it, it'll take awhile to tweak the concept to be a good story as it was one I though of when I was around 8... 

To finish off the blog post for today, I'd like to say that I may finally be getting to start a vlogging thing as I got the camera's, the tripods, laptop, software and almost got all the audio stuff. Obviously  that is also a big maybe as making videos takes recording, syncing, editing and lots of planning which will take up some of the little time I have through the day and energy I have to upload this stuff. I mean, be lenient on me, I'm a highschooler with no job, busy days and writes long posts, chapters and takes photos for you to enjoy for free. I do do this cause I enjoy but I kinda go the extra mile quite a bit so going even more might even be a bit too much for me. Who knows, with that out of the way I think we are just about done with this post so till next time, I'll see ya'll later!

Making Progress ( The Fates That Bind Us )

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! Happy holidays as the air grows colder and the children get excited for their brake from school I myself have found that this winter brake is going to be quite the eventful one which is actually a step away from the norm for me. Despite the fact that I'm going to probably hang out with friends a lot and going to visit a country that I have at least a 30% chance of getting mugged ( maybe an under or over statement as I didn't check any statistics other than personal experience ) there is a for certain fact that working on my drawing skills is still going to be a high priority that I will continue to work on and chapters for TFTBU will be thought about. However, during the time I spend in El Salvador ( beautiful country but very violent...) I won't be able to post and work on anything digital as any and everything worth more than $10 is going to be staying at my house rather then go with me. As for the week I am not there, there is still the possibility that I won't find much time to work on anything too time consuming such as posts and or chapters so prepare for a large break ( p.s. I know I haven't posted awhile on the blog so those who only read the blog already have gone through a large break and I apologies but those who follow my book know that I have not been just lazing around but instead working very hard on that. ).
Before we start I also want to mention that there is going to be announced after the HP so do look forward to that.

 This first picture ( I know! Two pics today! ) is one where I was doing some basic practice with poses and anatomy using several images of people. It is worth noting that these pictures I used were not sketches but actual people which is a slight indicator to my growth. The ones inked are the ones from pictures while the other were one of two things. Either drawings I did of live subjects, top left, of just practice of anatomy off the top of my head, bottom.

This next one was actually one I did that was to practice getting form down. I actually used a very popular painting as my guide in order to get the pose. While I got the majority of the direction and form down pretty ok-ish, the hands suffered quite a bit...

Image I used.
Make sure to check very bottom of post.



And with that, today's HP comes to a close. It may have been a bit short and unorganized but it was really hard to get everything I needed for finals set up and then get this post together. Let's move onto the announcements though. First off I'd like to announce that very soon I will be working on my first comic series which will be a ginormous step forward from where we started a little over a year ago. Many fans of TFTBU would know that I want to turn that into a comic series and that I've actually worked on some concept art ( here ) but, for me to make that a comic series that would fit my vision for it will have to have me with some experience and much better at art then I am at the moment as the series is designed to be a very visually focused series ( kinda why it is so hard to try and make it a written novel...). So, for my first comic series I am actually going to follow in the footsteps of one of my favorite artist, https://randowis.deviantart.com/, who wanted to make an original story comic but first did just cartoon renditions of events that he experienced in his life. Being a huge influence on me and also me having quite the interesting life stories, I thought about doing the exactly that. For a title I have thought a lot longer than I did when I made TFTBU with something kinda like, "Slightly Uncommon " or something along those lines. I am planning to post any comics on webtoons most likely but I'll make sure to explain clearly if I do or not.  If you have any other ideas I would be glad to hear them so do make sure to contact me with any of the listed contact options I have listed here.
Speaking of contact info, it is worth noting that I have added two new ways to get in touch with me. The new ways you can contact me is through the game chat service of Discord which I have actually made a sever for already and through Line. As for future options to look for, I have begun to work on a Patreon account once I get final products of concept arts and profiles for TFTBU done so make sure to look for that although I will announce when it comes out. That's all for today so till next post, I'll see ya'll later.

Improvements

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! Today's might be a bit different from the usual posts as normally don't talk much about my personal life other than band but this post will have some personal life stuff.  So first things first, I'm actually trying to get my first job! I've had " jobs " before such as working with my dad or family friends but never anything like working at a commercial store. It's a really big step in my life and I really hope that I can use the money from said job to buy more things I need like art supplies, cameras, and I think that's really it for the things I need...
 Anyways moving onto the next topic, my current sketch book ( much like my last ) is falling apart. Those who know me know that I am not a very gentle person... So since my drawings are... Tear-able ( sorry) I decided to buy another sketch book. Usually this wouldn't be something I would bring up but, usually I have had a history of buying cheaper stuff as I feel that one who is in the process of getting better at a certain skill. They should not buy the fanciest stuff. It's not an ideal I push to others but that is the ideal I go with. Anyways back on topic, as today's HP will show I have improved a little. So once I finish all the pages of my current $1 Wal-mart sketchbook I will graduate to my brand new $5, hard cover, Artist Loft sketchbook! Still pretty cheap but it will most definitely be an upgrade for me!
I think that is a good point to stop personal life stuff and move on to the HP.

 The HP may be a smaller one than usual with only two drawings but it does have an interesting revelation to it. The drawing on the left was one I basically copied off of Pinterest as it was made to be a practice. However, the smaller drawing on the right is much different. It is less basic shapes and more silhouetted and that was not a sketch that I saw online. That was a pose, which I'll post below, of an actual person. I started with whats called, " lines of actions " which is basically stick figures that one uses to be their base. From there, I used some reference from the picture to the anatomy in order to piece it together. Lastly I inked most of it with a pen only leaving out parts I want to improve. This step up from straight up having to copy or trace a sketch is a huge step for me as in a drawing I haven't posted but may someday. I came across a problem where I could get the head shape quite right so I got my camera, set the timer and posed. For the first time I can actually just use a photography of a person in order to get basic poses down. Very soon I might be able to start working on the comic series that I am currently writing as a book which you can read on the link on the face -> 0-0.
Speaking about my series, I want to make a different title and cover so suggestions are highly appreciated. Not only that but I have published an entirely new chapter so it's worth checking it out! For those who haven't read it yet, I'd highly recommend you to check it out and to remember that as a new novelist I am open to critic just as I am with my artwork. That's all I have for today. I hope you enjoyed the post and till next time, I'll see ya'll later!

Picture I used for drawing :3.

Totally not late

Hello and welcome to another post of LLG! I know that I posted a bit late this week and I'm sorry... I hope that it isn't too much of a problem but I'm sure you guys will be ok with it. This weekend I got caught up in having fun at six flags so yeah...

On this page I focused a lot on using references. I'm pretty glad that the page got such good results and it something I thoroughly enjoyed making it. Also, I was told that going into depth of the steps I took was a little boring so I'll skip that or at least try to condense it for future post.  

Onto my trip to Six Flags this weekend I made sure to not only have fun with friends but I also took so nice pictures that'll I'll post right here so enjoy!  

Tile mosaic 

Swing ride

Candy shop.

Thats all I have for last week. A really short post but I hope you enjoyed. See ya'll next post.

3rd Times a Charm

Hello and welcome to another brand new post of LLG! This post just so happens to be my 3rd post in a row since my period of uncertainty. It feel pretty good to finally be getting back to a more stable schedule. But today we have a lot to cover so let's get started!

For the H.P. of the day I have this ok-ish page in my sketch book. First of I'd like to note the full pencil drawings other than the face in the middle. These are drawings of bits or whole parts of people or things that I saw. for instance, the horrible sketch of a sink was done during my physics class. As you can tell it did not go very well... On a slightly better path, The sketch on the top right of a person in a chair was one I quickly sketched out in about a few minutes ( since people usually move ) and I was pretty proud of it. During the process of it, I tried to utilize the practice of using simple lines and shapes in order to get the basic shape of the body ( most prevalent in the neck downward ),  but then tossed that when doing majority of the head. Moving on to the eye ( which may look familiar to some) which was me trying out for the first time a tutorial on Deviant Art right here! I am going to try this multiple times so do make sure to try and keep track on it. Lastly, the multiple drawings of the heads were done so that I could try and nail head shapes in all angles as much as possible. It is also worthy to note on the pen drawings that the blue is used on the guiding lines while the black is used on the actual shape. As far as HP of today we are done so lets head onto the next thing.
Those of you who check my " Contact Me " page would know that I recently up-ed my social media presence. I added not only a Instagram ( here ), I also added my YouTube channel ( here  only one video though at the moment), and a snap chat ( just check the page.). I am going to try and make sure to use these mediums in order to better spread the blog and also connect better with you guys. This brings me to the fact that no matter how hard I try that I can only get so far which is why I ask you guys to share this blog with anyone you think would enjoy it. I work very hard on it and would really appreciate it! That's enough of self advertising.
Any of you guys who follow my Instagram would know that I have opened a new contest for you guys to participate in! I've been working on a book series, as many of you know, and I've found out that the tittle and cover are not the best. This is why I decided to work on the cover and ask you guys if you have any ideas for a tittle. The link to the story will be located right ( here ) so that you can read it to get a better idea of what it is about. Not only can you do that, but you can also give me some tips for improvement as it is my first series and it is thought out to be very visual rather than wordy so it is going to have many flaws that you can help me with. The only insensitive at the moment to do these things is from the goodness from your heart since I don't have much to give but I can make a shout out if that is what you want or maybe at some point I could even make prints from my shop as prizes. That last one is just an idea at the moment so let me know what you think of it so I can work on it.
The last thing I would like to bring up is the fact that as of the Friday that just passed, I have only 1 or 2 more football games to attend as a band member.

 
This means that post will have near to none interruptions so the likely hood of me missing a post is very unlikely. That's all I have for you guys for today. I hope you enjoyed it and till next post, I'll see ya'll later!






Make sure to check out my Print Shop ( here )!