14 February 2010

Concept Art (Wow, more?)



I made a picture, as you can see, of the Marshes (see here for the map -->http://noriagray.blogspot.com/2009/10/map-of-hourgalss-kingdom.html). While I don't much like the picture itself, I really do love the effect.

Time: about 1 hour Medium: all in Photoshop CS4

11 February 2010

Headpriestess Vala Art


Make a wild guess as to who this is. Vala will be appearing (briefly) in the main storyline. She is the Headpriestess (no, really?) of the Marsh Chursh, Eastern Temple. She is wise and accepting, but a lot more stable than most other Headpriestesses. Notice that her ceremonial robes (all are custom-made) are composed mostly of straight lines and icy colors-- her water jiiaii's default form is a little ice sprite. She could also develop an earth jiiaii, but she's never really seen it as a priority so she wouldn't be able to just call it up in one try, and if she did, it would likely be very weak.
Admire her while you can, guys and gals, because I will not be drawing her in full regalia for a long time. My hand will fall off now. Until next time!
Time: way way way too long (about 8 hours altogether) Medium: sketch with Sharpie on paper, final in Photoshop.

01 February 2010

PainPic Final (Maybe)


I just cannot get over how Noria can do all these awesome pictures in, like, one and a half hours. Geez.


Okay, so this is probably my final picture of Pain...hope you like it.


Katerina Concept Art 2 (Lotsa pictures today, huh?)


Here is a better picture of Katerina for you to enjoy. It's basically a remake. Marvel at my amazing Photoshop skillz! Ah well, I'll get better with time.
In case you were wondering (which I doubt), that black bit at the bottom is her always-present obsidian necklace. Actually it's probably whatchamacallit-- those black magnetic stones you get at most of the 'Pay $5 for a baggie of stones' kiosks at tourist places? Those. Obsidian = verr verr sharp.
Time: about 1.5 hours, Medium: All in Photoshop (CS3)

Fail at Pain


Hi...this is the second-to-last Pain picture and WOW, I failed. Faaaiiilll, Hanzy. Just so you know, my nickname is Hanzy. My penname is H.E.You. But it's a mouthful to say.


Third Pain Picture


Hi people, feel free to comment...so far I've heard that the posts are too long...oh well, not this one.

I know, I know, Noria, I bet I did it wrong. Well, phooey.


Second-stage color, un-blurred, un-edited Pain picture. :P








To Our Followers

Wow, our amount of followers jumped from four to nine in one night. I'm impressed. Thanks everybody, I just noticed the "Followers" bar on my blog last night (whoops). Anyway, in case you don't know, on this blog you should probably start reading from way back in...what, April? Of last year, because this is (supposed to be) a story, not a series of random events.

The concept art, of course, we just started adding in, and Noria is an awesome artist. In case you're wondering about the names, yes, they are pennames. H.E.You (that's moi, which is overrated in the English language) is derived from my initials, which - yes, for those of you who have trouble making deductions - are H, E, and Y, but no, my last name is not You. "Hey You" just seems like an awesome penname, especially since, again, they do come from my initials. Although I'd prefer the vast majority of you who didn't know who I was not to call me a stalker. :) Noria, on the other hand, is what we've been calling my collaborator/bff for ages, and we spent...what, an hour or so?...in badminton practice making our awesome slams and trying to come up with the best last name for "Noria". "Noria Rose" and "Noria Dove" were obviously cancelled out from the beginning..."Noria Hearth" we considered, as we did "Noria Johannsen" and other last names. But we didn't want something average; we were aiming for something that represented her, like a word from a favorite book, or one made up from something she likes to do, etc. But "Noria Art" is kind of stupid for obvious reasons, and "Noria Crivens" (Noria enjoys the Terry Pratchett books)...well, what can I say? In the end/locker room, we decided on Noria Gray, and there it remains.

The word "Jiaii" came from one of our earliest mutual favorite activities, making random letters on whiteboards by erasing bits of previous words. I don't recall what "Jiaii" actually came from - it was something for football, and I vaguely remember something about "butt"something, but it's a very unfocused memory. Anyhow, we classified "Jia" as "world" and "ai" as spirit, and the rest of the words came from there.

Our actual graphic novel series (only the text, concept art, outlines, and ideas will be posted on this blog), which is about the Hourglass Kingdom and its elemental spirits (you know what, just read the introduction, the very first post, can't miss it) originally came from the fact that Noria is an AMAZING artist, and she was doodling all these intriguing, practically perfect pictures and saying "Well I don't know" whenever I asked her what was happening here or how this bit came to be or who that thing was, which drove me nuts. So she gave me permission to make up explanations, and, well...go look at the second post.

Anyway, this blog is usually not as boring as this long explanation post, and the next step of the pain picture, along with hopefully another Man with the Shard chapter, is coming up when I finish my homework...so, see you all soon!