Sketchtober Update - Yes, This Is The Last One

Like I said last time, the XBox 360 was the point where I started to get worn out.  It's probably reflected in the drawings. If the PS2 drawings went the best of any console, the 360's were. . . less successful.

Day 31, The Saboteur. This part of the drawing - Sean calmly lighting a cigarette - went very well. There was supposed to be this whole chaotic tableau behind him, or overturned Nazi trucks and watchtowers, stuff burning, dead Nazis. The aftermath of Sean's efforts. But I didn't seem to have the energy to make it turn out well, so eventually I just erased it all and this is what we're left with.

In a re-do, I'd probably have the explosions be happening in the background, and have Sean closer than he should be so I didn't have to draw as much stuff. A few shockwaves, some smoke and flame, part of a truck rising in the air, a section of Nazi being consumed by the explosion. Gotta learn to work smarter.

Day 32, Dishonored. Pretty straightforward idea: Show Corvo using the Blink technique to repeatedly advance towards the viewer, starting from the top of the water tower. Unfortunately, that meant drawing a lot of buildings, and incorporating proper perspective. Not my forte, as you can see in some of the windows. I'm wondering if I should have drawn something to show the little flashes are meant to be connected, Corvo zipping from one spot to the next. I thought that would clutter things up, but as it is, I'm not sure it's clear what I was going for.

Ambition outstripping skill again. Or I just needed more time to plan it out, redesign it. I think it's a cool idea, just didn't carry it off.

Day 33, Tales of Vesperia. I really struggled to come up with an idea for this one, but I remembered Zagi, who encounters Yuri early in the game and becomes obsessed with killing him, to Yuri's annoyance.

I wanted to try and open things up more in my facial expressions. My style as a whole is, "fussy" is the word that comes to mind. A lot of small, light lines, which I think works OK for quiet emotions, peaceful looks, but is lacking when you want someone to be enraged or look kind of crazy. If I could draw in a style similar to Skottie Young's I'd be friggin' ecstatic. But normally when I try to do that, I think it makes the faces look weird. So I tried to go against that with Zagi, at least. I think he certainly looks nuts, if maybe not crazy angry, necessarily. Still, I'm a little encouraged.

Day 35, Alice: Madness Returns. Singularity was Day 34, total disaster, so it gets skipped. Alice has a Dodge move, where she turns into a cloud of butterflies. Like Blink with Dishonored, it's probably my favorite thing in this game. So having her Dodge an attack an move to a position of advantage seemed a natural idea.

Probably should have drawn some scenery, a floor at least, but my energy was pretty low by this point. I was ready to just be done. Trying to get the pommel of her weapon right for that angle took several tries, but yeah, I'm pretty satisfied.

Lack of energy was the biggest issue this last set. Even when I had a good idea, I didn't feel I was bringing my best effort to it. Like, crap, I don't want to draw all these buildings/wreckage/dead Nazis. Anyway, that's that.