trans

Flat Color Final

When I first started working on this a week ago, I had thought it would be a "quick" image. I felt I knew exactly what to do. Once I began working on it, however, I continued to find places to improve it. I think that this is my most impressive piece this year technically if nothing else.

I used a number of new techniques. I began with a blue ink layout to flesh out the image. This helped a great deal to rapidly develop the image. It reduced cleanup time magnificently. The lineart also used a new technique. Instead of black ink, I used a very dark brown for Novella. I ended up tweaking this to be even darker in my final version. The background lineart began as the same dark brown, but was changed to black for emotional effect. The difference is subtle, but I think it makes the character more lively. The flat color wasn't particularly special. It used the same fully opaque, multi-layer technique I used for earlier images. I had tweaked Novella's color scheme. In previous images she had gray eyes, and her jacket accent color was red. Now her eyes are cyan and her accent color is purple. To me, characters have a certain color that resonates with their core personality. Recent discoveries in the story prompted me to change Novella's accent color.

The above airbrushing, however, used a number of new tricks. Airbrushing largely involves the Burn and Dodge tool which manipulates the darkness or lightness of colors. The tool has three modes in GIMP: Shadow, Midtone, Highlights. (I believe Photoshop does as well.) I had always selected one based on the effects of the color and stuck with it throughout the image. I found this to be a mistake, particularly on the skin layers. A combination of modes created dramatic effects. You can see this in Novella's forehead near her hair.

Additional effects were also used for the window and the painting. The window features an internal reflection of the wood paneling. This is done as a duplicate of the paneling color later, offset, and semitransparent. I used the eraser tool to fade out the edges of the reflection. To add further depth, I added an additional layer with mold spots. This created the illusion of a dirty window. Honestly, I think it could be better, but it works for now. A semi-transparent gradient was also used on the painting to create the illusion of pane of glass. My signature is quietly in the picture's corner. The painting itself is based on a subplot of the anime series Haibane Renmei. If you have seen the series, you may grasp an additional meaning of the overall image.

The high resolution of this image turned out surprisingly well. I'm tempted to create a desktop background using the high-res version.

Prints, up to 12x18, are available at DeviantART.

My submission to the Transgender Day of Rememberence Webcomics Project for 2007.

The wings actually only took two hours, interestingly enough.

And then, 8 hours later, there was lineart. It took one MST and all of Haibane Renmei in order to complete it. The latter not only influenced my sense of interior decorating, but left me rather unsettled. There was a reason I hadn't watched that series in three years; Universe only knows why I decided to watch it today.

I still haven't a clue what the text should be. Hopefully something will come to me tomorrow.

Created while watching one MST and then the entire series of Haibane Renmei. The latter explains the odd window panes.

After a late night discussion yesterday, I realized I had to throw away my idea for this year's DOR picture.

Originally, I was planning on showing a physical assault on Novella set to her dispassionate narration. It still looks compelling in my imagination, but it presented a number of problems. First of all, the scene is difficult to draw. I do not believe my current level of skill would be good enough to render it adequately. Secondly, I would make an attempt if I had more time. I only have two days to draw, the quality would suffer. Lastly, the narration itself has problems. It could be edited, but it didn't seem to work. All of this combined led me to strike off in another direction.

This year's DOR theme is to show your character matter-of-factly describe the circumstances of their death, and how not being cisnormative played into it. How I was approaching this theme seemed wrong. It almost seemed to clash with the character of Novella herself. Instead, I decided to expand upon my Paper Angel sketch. The image to the layout of that expansion.

The masks are key to both Novella's character, and the message I intend to convey with the image. I hope that between now and tomorrow evening, I will come up with suitable narration. What that narration will be, however, I do not know. I'm operating under instinct at the moment. I'm following the image in my head, hopefully it will reveal it's meaning to me soon.

On a technical note, I am using a new sketching technique with this image. In previous images, I had drawn in black as I would have in a pencil drawing. I would "rough in" the image, refine it, and then add detail. This led to significant cleanup time. Now I draw the rough-in in blue. I refine it, then I create a new layer and draw the final lineart. It seems to lend itself to rapid development of an image compared to my previous method.

Basic layout for the Transgender Day of Rememberence Webcomic Project for 2007.

You are not forgotten.

This year I actually managed to post one before the 20th. I spent the last three days putting this together. It's perhaps the most complicated layout I've yet done. It required three separate drawing layers with digital compositing. Even then the coloring was tricky given the complexity of the piece and the interplay of the reflected layer.

The concept is that you're looking through Novella's eyes. In the glass of the frame is her reflection post Transition. She's looking at a picture of herself and her family pre-transition. When she decided to be true to herself and live as a woman, she lost her family. Even though she may be thought of as a freak by them, or in the least forgotten, she still have loved ones.

She is not forgotten.

Draw in memory of the transmen and transwomen that have been abused, violated, or murdered just for being themselves.