Weird Times...time to stream!

Well, its been a super strange time has it not. 2020 is shaping up to be a very crazy year and we’re only three months in. I will admit, i found myself getting distracted with everything. However, now I am here in my house with everything (including my work) shut down. There are no more distractions other than my own personal anxieties about the world at large. So, I’ve decided to update on some pieces of work I’ve been working on as well as make the announcement that I will be streaming myself doing some art from 11am to 12pm today (March 19th). Calling it an announcement sounds super important. I’m just going to give streaming a try. I don’t know if anyone will watch, but it is something to pass the time and maybe get a little positivity out there in a time that sorely needs it.

That will be available here.

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I have also made a few pieces of art in the past few days of “social distancing”. I feel good enough about them to share. One is of my Destiny 2 character. If you have followed this blog for a while, you will see that I am a huge Destiny fan and I often use my Hunter as the subject for quite a bit of my art. She is sassy and fantastic. The second piece of art is fan art for Critical Role. Specifically, its based on their Doom Eternal one shot that they just aired a few nights ago. They all played demons and I was particularly impressed with Jasmine Bhullar as The Revenant “Reva Mashantear”. Absolutely fantastic.

Syl Hivebane

First off, here is Syl, my Destiny 2 Hunter that I’ve always used as a muse of sorts when it comes to my drawing. Once again, if you have followed this blog for any length of time you will see this character pop up in no small number. In fact, she is a great landmark to see my overall progress. I think I have even posted a couple of “progress photos” with her as the subject. I really liked how it turned out. I’ve been playing around with different blending modes when is comes to coloring. It’s been an interesting journey and I am still getting the hang of it.

For those curious, the coloring technique I’m using right now is soft light. That’s what I’m calling it at least, but I’m sure there’s an official name for it. It involves doing all of the shading in greyscale (black and white). You have the background grey and the highlights a lighter shade of grey and the shading a darker shade of grey. They you add flat color, which means one shade of blue, on shade of red, etc. Then you change the blend mode​ (the way the colors interact with other colors) of the shading to “soft light”. It mixes the greys in with the flat colors to create a natural tone. I’m still working on it as it requires you to color without seeing the final product up front.

I’m sure other digital artists who read this will say I butchered that description of the process...

Anyway, here is Syl Hivebane in all her glory.

Here is The Revenant. I thought she was fantastic in the Doom Eternal one shot. All of the characters in that game were super memorable. I laughed a lot during it. As I was watching it I was inspired to draw the Revenant but as the person player her. So rather than being a skeleton with rocket launchers on it back, I decided to mash up the player with the Revenant gear on. I hope that I do her justice. I guess only Jasmine Bhullar can tell me that or not.

I used the same lighting and coloring effects as I did with the the drawing of Syl. It turned out extremely different in feel. I think this worked out in favor of this drawing though. Whereas the drawing of Syl look somewhat clean, The Revenant as a little more of a grittier look. This is great as it fits in with the Doom aesthetic. Still I think there are ways to make it look even grittier. I want ash and brimstone. Though this look rougher than the Hunter, it could actually stand to be a bit rougher.

Eagle eyed readers might also notice that I am taking to signing my work now. I’m signing then Poofypuma as that is the name I go by in other social apps. I’ve considered changing the name of this website to the same thing in order to “unify the brand”. I may still do that, but I think I need an actual audience first before considering those things. It’s a lot of hassle to get a domain and change the domain of a website and all that stuff. Anyone who does web development is probably shaking their head because it actually isn’t that much of a hassle.

Anyway, I hope this post reaches you all in good health. Stay safe and stay strong. These weird times will pass and it’ll be on to the next super weird thing. Remember social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation. Pick up the phone and call a loved one, reach out to old friends, play some multiplayer games online. Talk on Skype, FaceTime, or other video chat apps of choice. Create something! The only way to get through hardship is together. Take care.

One more thing. If you want to watch the stream here, you totally can. I will embed the stream here, but you can also watch it at twitch.tv/cmcoursey.

Watch live video from cmcoursey on www.twitch.tv