Current WIP

Lately I've been feeling a bit drained with just sketching and doodling. While I enjoy doing rough sketches and doodling whatever I please, I haven't had the same sense of fulfillment that I get from my finished pieces. I don't think I've done a finished piece in quite some time (not since the portrait of my friend, Asia, I think), so I was itching to do something that would take much more time and effort. 

However, when I would look up reference, I'd find stuff that would blow me away, but then lose it's charm whenever I tried to incorporate it into a piece. It was then that I realized I needed to get my juices flowing by actually seeing reference up close in personal, and gather my own reference rather than relying on the internet.

So yesterday I went to the Samurai Exhibit at the Frazier Historical Arms Museum. 

It. Was. Amazing.

After than trip, I felt so accomplished and inspired--I gathered so much reference, I ended up draining the battery on my camera, forcing me to use my mom's iPhone to take pictures. The stuff that was on display was gorgeous. In fact, I think I might just have to dedicate an entire post on the trip (and post some of the pictures that I took). Anyway, long story short, the trip inspired me to draw a portrait of some sort of monster/samurai creature (the samurai would try to make themselves as intimidating as possible; sometimes by incorporating animals into their armor). Below is the WIP.

Rough Sketch

Developed Sketch

Tighter Sketch

Feel free to critque, especially if there's something obvious that needs fixin'.

Ciao for now!