Dark Crystal Sketches - urRu Mystic

Here's the deal: This is the last of my first batch of Dark Crystal Sketches. I have, as of Wednesday, October 12, 2005, drawn a new batch of sketches. These I'm not too giggly about. Especially the Garthim (a potential spelling error that no spellcheck will help me with). However, I'm going to tweak them a bit and have at least one of them up on Saturday.

Tomorrow, however, I'm putting up two full figures I'm rather proud of. They're sort of "Chibi"... it's hard to explain... but I think they're really rather neat and I'd like to show 'em off.

And now, without further ado, my favorite of the first batch, the urRu Mystic.

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As a kid, I used to have the Dark Crystal novelisation (as well as the cool-as-hell board game). So I have no excuse for not knowing that the Mystics were called the urRu. And yet, for most of my life I've thought of them as just the Mystics.

This particular urRu is, I believe, Jen's Master. He is not what I based my picture on. Mine is just a generic character.

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This is the initial sketch. Looking at the "source", it looks like a lot of the lines on his face were carved in, like ritualistic tattoos. I have them as wrinkles. Oh well.

Also, do you see any ears on that bad boy's picture? Me neither. Wonder where that idea came from?

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Here we have a partially completed picture. He hasn't gone grey yet, it seems.

Note that I've cut down on the image a tad towards the back. The hump wasn't looking right to me. When in doubt, cut it out. Especially when working on the computer. It can always go back later.

Speaking of missing things, take a gander around the base of the head, near the neck. Whoops! Our urRu friend here has no neck. That will never do.

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So I fixed it. As well as a few minor adjustments here and there. The ear offended me so I cut it out. I wanted to differentiate the foreground hair from the background hair, so I shaded it. I shaded a bit more of the face on top of that so that the background hair would look right.

It's not the greatest job, I should have done something with the clothes, the exposed hair could use a bit of shiny, la la la, wah wah wah, negative negative negative.

I like it. I looks like it's inching towards a professional job.

Note to Cullen

Dear Main Cullen

Y'know, Cull, I know this is the internet. I know that standards are looser here. I know that "Close enough for government work" is your motto. But I think that maybe, just maybe, you should learn to use spellcheck. It might be nice, what with your claiming to be a writer and all.

Just a thought. Maybe you like looking like an illiterate.

Yer pal,
Troll Cullen.

Dark Crystal Sketches - Jen

I want to tell you, that final Aughra image is really growing on me. Too bad all of my Jasc enhanced works don't do that.

Speaking of which...

Here, for the approval or mockery of the masses, is another sketch inspired by the movie the Dark Crystal. This one is of Jen, the Gelfling hero.

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Jen has to be one of my favorite heroes in Fantasy. Too often in my youth I would watch a television show or a movie and the lead male is some arrogant, know-it-all jerk. Not Jen. Humble, frightened, bright Jen journeys through his world as best he can, as kindly as he can. What he encounters in his travels might not make sense to him, but he gamely keeps trying.

Still, it's a wonder he didn't get killed the moment he stepped out of his hidden valley...

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This is the initial sketch.

I am extremely fond of this one. I could list some of the flaws I see now, but why be petty? They're all minor stuff, especially when compared to how the Aughra sketch turned out. He has his boyish innocence, and while the nose isn't spot on, it's close enough for government work. This is a sketch to be proud of, I think.

Of course, that didn't stop me from fiddling with it on Jasc...

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I submit this image as an example of what I refer to as "inking" on Jasc. I tend to use that particular shade of green because it's so vibrant in comparison to the greys around it. When I need to make adjustments to the line (which happens more often than I like to admit) I do so with a bright red. However, I don't do any of the main inking with red. It draws the eye and makes corrections a bit harder. At least for me

One other note on the process: I enlarge the original to 400%. This helps with some of the detail work as well as with the lines in general.

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Here is the final image, and you know what? While I like it, I don't think it's as good as the original sketch. I lost something in translation. Looks a bit too... I dunno. Lacking in personality.

Oh well. That happens sometimes. It's a good picture, I think. Just not what it could have been. As I still have the original, I can try again at a later date.

Course, this one might grow on me like the Aughra one did. One can't tell sometimes...

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Next time: A Mystic.

Dark Crystal Sketches - Aughra

Here is the first Dark Crystal sketch, that of the Seeress Aughra, as well as an image of the lovely subject for comparison. Bear in mind with this sketch, as well as the others, that I did it without references, as well as having not seen the movie in a few months.

Of the three sketches I'll show here, I like Aughra's the least. It really didn't turn out as well as I could have hoped and in the end... Well, let me get to that.

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At left is the original. I forgot quite a few details when doing this sketch. Mainly the wrinkles. Endless wrinkles.

On this is the exact parting of the hair and the bump in the middle of the head... So on, so forth.

But what I came up with is...

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This.

Seriously lopsided, but not without character. The essence is there, I think. Just in simplified form.

I originally wanted to have her holding her eye in her hand... but that fell through. Hands and I don't exactly mix.

Anyways, I photographed the image, opened up Jasc Paint Shop Pro and did a little inking on the computer. With the addition of color, as well as a bit of cropping, I had...

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This.

Which, why with faults, isn't that bad a sketch. (Sitting here, by itself, without looking at the other Dark Crystal stuff.) I was perfectly happy to give it a day when Troll Cullen happened to stumble towards the front of my mind.

"You're not showing that are you?" he whispered

"Shut up, you. It's fine. You're just a nasty know-nothing who wants to spoil my fun.."

"That might well be true," he said as he was leaving for wherever he waits. "But at least I'm not posting crappy pictures."

I hate him.

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This is the finished version, brought about by a bunch of cutting and pasting. It is very, very good, I think, and I wish I had drawn it first. Nice symmetry

One of the glories of Jasc is how well you can fix things up. It's also one of the problems: no matter how nice the picture ends up I always feel like I've cheated. All of the lines are mine, the style is mine... and yet it really isn't completely mine

Oh well

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Tomorrow, Gelfling Jen!

Goofy

As I try to regain my footing writing-wise, I decided to cut myself a little slack and post a bit of art that I've doodled. At left is our first subject, that of the Disney Character Goofy. Unlike a lot of the pictures I've posted up here, I've done very little to it by way of Jasc. A little cleaning up of the lines, but that's it. My fear was, I do more than that and it would look like it was from a Disney caliber artist, and I'm really not there yet. Though the thought that I'm heading that way does make me a little giddy.

I hated the hat while I drew it, but with a little distance I can see it's the best thing about the picture. Nailed it, by God. Everything else is a touch off. Specifically the eyes and the ears, but the whole thing is a wee bit wrong.

Having said that I must confess that I ADORE this picture. Part of it was because of how I could "see" the various shapes I would need, but more because later the same night I did a second sketch of similar quality. I don't do that often enough, as far as I'm concerned.

The next few days, we will look at some more Cullenish works. Specifically my sketches of three characters from the movie the Dark Crystal, as well as one or two of my own devising.

Ugh

I'm back. Regular posting will resume from here out.

I was going to talk about the whole mess, but right now I'm just too close to it for anything like reasonable analysis. The whole thing was, more often than not, hampered by massive ineptness, and I wish to God I could blame someone other than myself. Sadly, this is not the case.

From what my brothers and I have gathered, I might have bad mouthed Viewpoint when Viewpoint was not at fault. It is entirely possible it came on my computer by legitamite means, and the update I mistook for intrusion. The additional problems (i.e. the lack or Add or Remove) might have been a part of an earlier problem (back towards the end of June.)

I don't know.

What I do know is that my computer is much better now, I have no Viewpoint anywhere on the silly thing, and I feel incredibly dumb. Which is typical, when it comes to computer thingy mabobs.

I'd like to thank hbrennan for his offer of help. Unfortunately by that point I had gone through my first reformatting. (Again, don't want to go there right now.)

I also want to thank beckoningchasm for the advice and good will.

Now back to work.

going to need a couple of books on computers... not computers for dummies... maybe compters for absolute idiots... nah, too advanced...

A Very Special Update

I might be away for a wee bit. See, somehow my computer has been infected with a nasty little progam. It calls itself Viewpoint and alleges that it can help me with my computer needs. This I doubt for two reasons:

1. It downloaded itself on my computer without my asking it, which makes it a virus as far as I am concerned, and
2. It's helpfully taken out my add/remove program function. Insuring I can't uninstall it or, really, anything else.

I am going to reformat my computer, as soon as I can find all of my disks. Until then, I plan to make myself scarce on the internet front. I will be back when I'm back and not before.

This is, of course, when I start getting massive hits and threaten to become famous, only to have it all slip away because I'm gone so long.

So be it.

See you all soon.