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Zap's iPad Art (Entering the Tall Grass)

ZappitZappit Registered User regular
edited September 2013 in Artist's Corner
Hi, folks, I'm Zappit, a colorblind amateur cartoonist who recently made the switch to digital art. Lacking funding for a nice professional setup, I decided to explore the cartooning limits of the iPad. I dove in with Artstudio, and started practicing with Pokemon. They're pretty basic, leaving room to add in details and try to figure out color. I started posting them around, and it led to a stint as an artist for Smogon.

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I'd love some feedback, and if anyone else has experience working on an iPad, I'd greatly appreciate some tips. I'm still discovering new tricks and techniques.

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Zappit on

Posts

  • TeshaelTeshael Lover of Birds TesasRegistered User regular
    o -o I have never worked on an ipad, nor did I know it was capable of artwork such as this.

    You have a great grasp on your lineart, btw, along with a good sense of movement in your art. The poses are great and stand out from the standard standing images that many see today.

    I dont know the limitations of the ipad's art, but if I could say your backgrounds seem a little flat, and could use more depth of color and environment. They are well executed right now, but could use a bit more. While I know that you are probably focusing on your pokemon as the center of the piece's it could do well to draw backgrounds 100% and then draw your pokemon. Sometimes it helps the piece to do the background first, and then the character added into it gives it more realistic feel.

  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    Do you have some of your traditional art photographed? I would love to see it!

    I wouldn't recommend the ipad, but You are doing pretty well with it. Do you have a stylus? I feel like wrestling the limitations of that platform is probably the worst way to start painting digitally. I know tablet/photoshop/computer is not a cheap combo, but I would work towards it if digital is something you really want to be into.

    Also, how bad is your colorblindness? Because while the colors aren't awful, they are pretty saturated and primary. I'm not sure how to coach a person with colorblindness on the use of color, so knowing a bit more about it would be interesting.

    Also, While I agree with Teshael about the flatness, I have to disagree about the remedy. You want to plan out your images as illustrations on the whole. heres a great video for you


    and a blog http://muddycolors.blogspot.com/2012/01/forest-troll-part-v-bungling-it.html

    These both lean to narrative illustration, and right now these are a little more design oriented in simplicity, which I don't have as many resources off hand to point you at.

    So what kind of goals do you have as an artist? What areas would you most like to improve?

  • inkboneinkbone Registered User new member
    I love your style!

  • ZappitZappit Registered User regular
    It's pretty bad, Iruka. I can barely see any shad of yellow on white, I have tons of trouble with red and green, and problems with blue and green.

    Traditional art? I can post some of that.

    Couple stipple jobs.

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    Zombie caricature.

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  • ZappitZappit Registered User regular
    Some more digital stuff.

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    Some comics...

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    These are from my current comic, Supervillainous.

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  • ZappitZappit Registered User regular
    Back with some fresh art, sticking it out with the iPad. First up, a few more pieces I did for Smogon.

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    Plus, a few more strips from my webcomic, Supervillainous. These are from the recent supervillain convention storyline.

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  • AlexSmithAlexSmith Registered User regular
    I really dig that dragon piece and the stippling pieces, you've got a very good sense of shape. I really like the curve and posture of the dragon's head, it makes the picture feel much more dynamic.

    WEBCOMIC

    PORTFOLIO

    PM FOR COMMISSIONS
  • ZappitZappit Registered User regular
    LONG overdue update.

    I'm getting interviewed over at Smogon, so I'm going to update my avatar for that.

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    Another piece

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    Azumarill is a popular Smogon contender now, so I got to do a piece for that.

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    Tied to do a bit of digital painting for this one.

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    I'm toying with the idea of starting a fantasy comedy webcomic, and this might be my protagonist.

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    This was fun. I colored a Deadpool piece by Khoi Pham, and he loved it! It's pretty damn cool getting that kind of feedback from a pro.

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  • NightDragonNightDragon 6th Grade Username Registered User regular
    Welcome back! I was wondering if you had any thoughts on where you'd like to improve, or if you have any goals you're aiming towards?

    It seems like you focus all your energy on the characters, and the backgrounds end up feeling a bit like filler - it might be nice to try spending some time developing the backgrounds further so that they compliment the characters and don't look so rushed.

  • ZappitZappit Registered User regular
    Yeah, that's been my biggest weakness. Most of that just comes down to time. I update my webcomic twice a week, and my side art can only get so much time before I get bored with it, forget about it, etc... Been trying to work on that.

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  • NightDragonNightDragon 6th Grade Username Registered User regular
    Zappit wrote: »
    Yeah, that's been my biggest weakness. Most of that just comes down to time. I update my webcomic twice a week, and my side art can only get so much time before I get bored with it, forget about it, etc... Been trying to work on that.

    Would it make more sense to focus on your webcomic art, then? Rather than spending your spare time doing purely "side art", you could spend a good chunk of that time doing studies and such to improve the art for your webcomic, if that's your main focus. Studies of hands might be a good place to start - you draw a lot of hands in your comic, so it seems like a good, straightforward place to focus your efforts for now.

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