March To The Beat Of A Different Dump Thread 2008

Weekend month breaks make for late threads!

The general idea here is to show your colorations of non-recent strips and other fanart type things that you don't want to start a thread for. We won't hold anybody to that though, if you want to create a thread for your stuff you absolutely may do that.

Stuff done with current strips still goes in the corresponding "mtcgac" tagged thread.

In the interests of playing nice with bandwidth, we ask that you do not quote full images.

Have fun!

Previous dumps: June&July'07 Aug'07 Sept'07 Oct'07 Nov'07 Dec'07 Jan'08 Feb'08

It's Yuki!

She reminds me of Valentine's Day.

Background, I had so much fun with it <3

I know this has been worked on a lot already, but I wanted to add my own version. I haven't touched Fred's stuff in a while either! Here's my inks for his Wisp study. I'm pretty happy with the top half.

And I liked it enough to CG it. I have two versions: One with the only background I could find that looked even remotely nice, and one without.

They look wonderful! I really like the version with the background. Thanks for taking the time to color it.

a quick one, minimal shading done on purpose

Kinda_Mayvelle: The shading of the green clothes and the hair is really pretty, the hair is so shiny and fluid-looking and the clothes are really neat, I particularly like her waist. Your color choices are good too, they match nicely.

Jana, thank you so much for the inked version, I really really like it ^^



I was watching my first cg's the other day, and I feel like I've lost some... mmm.. personal touch of the way I color. I'm trying to get it back, to use less super shiny colors, as something new, but at the same time try to blend everything less and be more daring with contrasts. I've been working on skin lot too, for quite some time. Lately I just feel like I've made everything slower and harder to color, but so much plain to look at, like the kind of flat, blended colors you see everyday, and not the interesting way it used to be. I'm working hard on the blended issue, and backgrounds too, I think I'm getting better at those.

Wow! Nice start to the month!!

@lidia1232 - very nice - love the rich colors and overall sweetness.

@Janna - Whoa! Really excellent line art! You have a nice hand.

@Kinda_Mayvelle - I really like the one with the background. Beautiful work!

@Arence - Oh my God! I see what you mean about your earlier style. I think you've got it back with a vengence! That is just lovely! The lighter colors overall and the impressionist forest background make for a stunning image. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks to all of you for the great work. These dump threads are still my favs!

arence, that looks lovely! I know you're trying to get away from super shiny, but I really like the shine you added on her hair and eye. Great color scheme too! Thank you for coloring it.

I already sent this to StupendousMan for perusal, but I wanted to show it here anyway. First panel for strip 0842:

Actually, I only did this comic because a while ago somebody had an MTCGAC thread for it, but I think only one CG?
Anyway, the WIP was lying around forever and I brought it back up because stupendousman mentioned incomplete strips in his database. Heh, well it's still a WIP. But to be honest the hardest part is coloring Kimiko and Miho, not the backgrounds. I'm getting lazy, so I'm going to finish later. I just wanted to show off what I have so far. :3



It started off much lighter, (Earlier in the day. A bit darker than Kimiko's body, right now.) but when I started doing the shadows in Kimiko's face, it started looking like it was later in the day. So I went back and made the previous panels darker, instead of changing skin tones which I hate. But then I got to add lights, and those are always fun. (Glowing police mechs!) Last 2 panels still need some work, obviously. And I need to figure out where I was going with those colored word squares....

Any crit so far?

@kinda_Mayvelle: Oh boy! That's so bright! Pure yellow, and pure white on Piro, looks very un-natural. It looks a little flat, try adding more tones into Piro's hair. (Blond hair is really annoying, but just the slightest touch of brown will help.) You can see it if you google.

@Arence: (Janna one) Looking good, I just wanted to comment on the lines. Colored lines work sometimes, but yours just completely distract from the picture... Maybe if they weren't so pixelated? If you have PS you can try this tutorial it tells you how you can seperate lines from a white background. Making it super easy to color the lines in afterwards, without getting all messed up. I like that you're trying to not be as contrasty, trying different things is important. The think I don't really see in your work is shadows! The subtle shadows on the face are beautiful, but everywhere else they just look flat and dull. Expieriment with contrast in a different way, shadows/highlights. Get some refrence of a night time scene, one light source, you'll see.

@spoonifur: Yeah, that was the main issue I had with it -- Piro's hair. I've learned to hate doing it; it's bothersome. I had originally put some brown in there, but where it went, I don't know; I'll have to make sure I don't accidently go over it the next time I CG him.

Spoonifur,

It looks as if the final panel of your strip will show strong light coming from the right-hand side, right? If so, please don't forget to give the background characters, and the background itself, the same lighting. There's a big building in the background to the right of Kimiko's head; make sure that the contrast between the side of the building facing right, and the side facing out towards the viewer, is at least mildly consistent with the contrast of the surfaces of Kimiko's face. Yes, the building is in the background, so you'll possibly want to de-emphasize it, but there should still some sort of contrast.

There's another good spot for adding that lighting effect in the upper-left corner of the panel, just below the word balloon. In that area, there are sections of buildings which face right and sections which face the viewer; putting some strong shadows/lighting on these areas will make the entire scene consistent.

Good luck! Strong lighting conditions look great, but they can be tricky. It looks good so far!

Wow, spoonifur. That's just incredible. It looks so wintery and surreal... exactly fitting the script. The whole thing seems like a scene out of some kind of creepy story.

And Kimiko and Miho in the last panel are beautiful. I can totally understand why Miho is wearing such a fluffy jacket -- you made it look very very windy and cold.

*is sorta blown away*

What she said.

Really stunning job on the full strip, Spoonifur! Great ambiance and tone. Definitely impressed! Thanks so much for the work and for sharing it!

I'm not sure what pushed me to do this, but I did it. I'm currently doing a series of character avatars, and here's what I have so far:






I'm not really fond of the Miho one; I'm thinking of redo-ing it with a different image.

Oooh! Quality work, m'lady! Thanks for posting them! Here's hoping you do the entire cast with equal expertise.

[And, speaking as a Miho-thrall, I hope you do an additional image of her. NOT saying I don't like the one you've done - I do very much. But I would welcome a variety, but that's me. ;-) ]



This post has been edited by Rudbeck on Mar 15 2008, 10:53 PM

Re-did the Miho one, and it looks much better now:

That second Miho is lovely! I really like her hair. Which strip is that from? It looks like one of the ones where she's walking on something (ie a telephone line or a wall).

You should definitely do them all! ...I mean, if you have time

Don't forget the consciences! Asmodeus never gets enough love

I intend to do almost every character I can find that's recurring (maybe even some of the NPCs; and definitely the consciences and the Sonodas) but that will have to wait until tomorrow. For now:



That one's for you, Rudbeck.

Edit to add: And the second Miho avatar is from strip 942; and yes, she's walking along the telephone wire.

This post has been edited by Kinda_Mayvelle on Mar 16 2008, 12:54 AM

^________^ I like your version.

This post has been edited by wordwarrior on Mar 16 2008, 11:45 AM

Have the first of the Yukis done:

Yay! Yuki and Miho! Add Junko to the mix, and you have the trifecta!

One small crit though, and it's not your fault. But the line Fred drew for shading on Yuki's face (her left, our right) combined with your shading results in what looks to my eye like a scar. Might consider erasing the line art there.

Because StupendousMan asked so nicely:

Fire makes backgrounds fun!

Thanks for the advice, Sareth, and it's fine. Ironically enough, I was about to start working on the Junko one.

Edit to add: Better?



This post has been edited by Kinda_Mayvelle on Mar 16 2008, 02:00 PM

Ooh! Much better, yes! Thank you!

The third Miho is my favorite so far... and the edited Yuki is very nice.

*begins countdown til consciences show up * Yay Kinda_Mayville!

Arigatou!!

You rock! That's actually one of my favorite Miho poses! How'd j00 know?!

This series is off to a great start! Thanks again!



Edited to add: Very nice Yuki, too!

This post has been edited by Rudbeck on Mar 16 2008, 06:02 PM

I figured it out because it's one of her cuter poses.

All that's left for the Junko one is the skin and the background. Had to take a break for a few hours to get some other work done, but I'll be starting on the consciences before the night's out.

Edit to add: Junko gave me problems. Her hair didn't look right with the hatching, so I doffed it. I might make another version with the hatching, though:



Edit to add [again]: With hatching.



This post has been edited by Kinda_Mayvelle on Mar 16 2008, 06:50 PM

Very good job. I agree that the hair looks better without hatching. Is it really that light, though?

Haven't dumped anything in here in awhile. This was done as a request. The kids look like craaaaap.



Click here for the full image since it's big.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/cor...injaorigami.jpg

The origami is polka-dotted. Nice.

@aeolidkitty: I don't know. I've never seen a picture of Junko that was colored with 'official' colors, so it's hit and run with her.

Ah well. The next book will very likely have Yuki and maybe other schoolgirls on it, so Junko's colors might be revealed there Guess we'll just have to wait.

The first of the consciences: done. Her eyes gave me trouble, though, and I'm not even sure it's the right color, let alone shade.

A bit of a Work in Progress, but I need some opinions...This is only my 2nd cell shade and I'm not sure if I'm under shading or over shading anything...Halp please? Also, not sure about the colours either >.>



And yeah, the light sources are all over the place, especially on Piro

Zomg. Piro's a white-haired prettyboy? Astonishing.

Still mostly backgroundless, and the last panel is faaaar from done, but I've done most of it...*is proud*

Tried something a bit different this time: another experiment with lighting techniques I rarely use. I'm trying to figure out how to light someone from behind without making it look strange. Any suggestions?



Edit to add:

Threw together something else.



This post has been edited by Kinda_Mayvelle on Mar 18 2008, 06:50 PM

I can't believe I finished that in just 4 hours.

(Too much shine on the hair? Should I tone it down?)

@Mayvelle: I love the Kimiko one. Very smooth. Though the Miho panel looks a little... artifact-y? I'm not sure. That Seraphim avatar is awesome.

@Dispozition: My only objection is the amount of shadow in Piro's face (in panel 4) looks a little too much. Also, with cel-shading it's fine to use more than 2-3 colors. Good backgrounds, though. ^^

This post has been edited by Hellrose on Mar 18 2008, 07:14 PM

Hellrose, if I were a girl I'd want to have your babies.

Onlooker sez: But she's a girl too, so that wouldn't work.

Don't confuse me with the facts.

So before I post the new one....

@ Hellrose ZOMG THE EYE SHINE KILLS ME! HOW DO YOU DO IT?! SHARE YOUR SECRET OF AWESOME AND WIN!

A'hem. This was also done as a request. I used layers! /die
Not my usual method, but I want to do a full strip again sometime in the near furture and layers will mack the task much easier, though it does seem to take more time. This was 4 layers all together.



This post has been edited by coryrain on Mar 18 2008, 07:46 PM

^^; Its not really a secret, I just use (1) a flat layer of color (2) a 'color dodge' layer above that (3) a 'multiply layer' above that (3) a layer for the white shines above the lineart and (4) a second 'color dodge' layer below the third...

Well, here is the tutorial I mainly based it off of. With a few modifications for laziness preference.

Janna's inked lineart is made of win. Enough said. <3

Sort of quick bleh things.. sleepu time~

Those are all amazing Kaorien! I guess the two top ones are original art as well, which is beyond awesome.

You've captured Kimiko's worried expression perfectly (is she biting her lip there?) plus she's a babe ( ), and I'd love to know what is behind Yuki in her picture - she looks surprised but not frightened and I love the oil painting look and feel of the work.

Also you've lifted Fred's sketch from rough work to almost finished - and you call these "quick bleh"? The shame brought on by any of my own stuff in comparison would force me to commit seppuku if this were a battle.

So, in summary, you rock! Don't be so bashful. . .

Actually the second one is this piece, though the first is fanart from me..

It's not really bashfulness.. (though I am self critical maybe, but who isn't~), they're really just not polished pieces... or have really very much effort put into them.. But then I think it takes several hours to have a really polished piece ^^;;


I haven't been saying much lately, so some comments~

Hellrose - I love how that seems like it could be out of an artbook. What I actually really love is the shading of the folds and form on the uniform's top. I think the hair is fine, and the strands you selectively highlighted are lovely and quite fits into this style, but the space between her sleeve and the wall seems neglected..? Also a darker shadow on the wall under her would make her really pop out of it, like how her character does. But really very lovely~ <3

Kinda_Mayvelle - I also really like the Circuitry Kimiko one. I particularly like how soft the colors are and the rough but still gentle texture of her clothes... Though the Miho one seems to lack some polishedness of the other.. Hmm.. you said you wanted to light from behind right..? That would make the lightingly almost like a sihoulette, but Miho's face seems way too light for a sihoulette, so it doesn't come off at all like it's backlit. Try looking for references or exprimenting with it yourself it's really helpful. We once had this exercise in Color Dynamics class that we saw how lighting was done on a stage and it was really a helpful learning exprience for me.

Now off to really make myself scarce ~ Need catch up on schoolwork~

This post has been edited by Kaorien on Mar 19 2008, 10:57 AM

Thanks for the advice, Kaorien, and I LOVE Yuki! She looks like an honest to goodness Japanese girl, and it's amazing!

It's a drawing of Kimiko, with Yuki colors, who looks like Junko. She's quite adorable.

Ara, but I did forget add Kotomi's shadow on the wall. ^^;; I'll fix that later tonight.

That's Kimiko? Wow. She honestly does look like Yuki to me. O_O

Well, the lineart Kao linked is labeled 'Kimikoscratch', and Yuki's bangs don't part like that. It definitely looks like her though.

I think love just struck me like a supernova~

Particle Physics-tan is just so... adorable.

I wanna find a Sad Genius Girl in Library to hug now...

Ahaha problem is I just copied the from site so I didn't see the label. Oh well~ super hybrid ::dies::

Ganbare~ Now for me to really go.. >.>;;

Yay Mayville! Seraphim's evil sister?


Kaorien, your original Kimi is so lovely and soft... and I especially like the way that she is sorta realistic-looking and less fredstyle. It's a way of drawign the characters that we don't often see and you do it really nicely.

a quick one, I had some troubles with the light on her corset, but I think it's okay overall

as for the only red light, I presumed it was before the club was opened and thus some people are checking the lights and all, red being the one at that moment

@EvilDeath
I like what you've done there but I think you've made her breasts too large (and too squashed). If she let those puppies out on the lawn they'd be bigger than Ping's (and she's inflatable). From other images of her she's more like this. Umm - that's NSFW unless you can claim you are shopping for your wife, BTW. I guess you can see it here and in this fanservice strip.

The light is fantastic - especially the way the red shines off her purple hair but some of the highlights seem a little random. Mind you - club lighting can be that way so perhaps just make the highlights smaller and more intense - from spotlights, you know?

I love this color scheme, I completely stole it, but I love it anyway. The shadows on her sweater? They make no sense, I have to practice more, and her skin is still boring.

Kinda_Mayvelle: Your icons are really pretty, the patterns are very neat and the highlight, particularly the hair of all of them, looks really good. Junko is probably my favorite <3

coryrain: The purple background kind of kills my eyes, but your lighting is good, shadows are well places, I think it's a good practice.

Hellrose: her eeeeyes! They are so shiny and pretty <3 I love the folds of the clothes, the shading it's amazing and ...whoa.. just amazing

tigger89: Veeeery plain, your color scheme is really neat, but more shading would make it a whole lot better. The ones you have are well placed, but more would be interesting.

Kaorien: Oh wow, the kimiko/yuki mix is really nice. Her lips are really pretty, I just don't know how you do this <3

EvilDeath: Personally, I don't really like the red lighting, but that is just me, it looks nice on her hair, maybe it's the grey background, that doesn't seem to agree with the general dark feeling I think you had.


Aaaaand that's all! It has been a while since I commented here, I really love this threads <3<3

Well...Now that it's the school holidays for two weeks, and I have a stupid amount of excess time, I'm going to be trying to get a cg a day done...God knows if I'll actually be able to, but I've gotten one done so far...Wish me luck!...maybe <.<



arence: Love the hair and the pattern on the jumper, and I don't see what you're talking about with the shading, looks ok to me...

Nice job, but who's that? One of the Sonozaki sisters? C.C. ? Random Green-haired-tan ?

Erika with green hair and purple eyes. Odd, but pulled off well.

EcureuilMatrix: I suppose it does look kinda like Mion or Shion...Not what I intended though. I was just randomly CGing and wanted do to green hair

Skorpion: Yeah, like I said, just randomly doing it, I wanted the colours to be odd

And now for more crazy random hair colour CGs!!!...Well, one, anyway...

About the green: Ah, I see.

About the latest CG: L33thal K0mbat Megatokyo?

I've never played Mortal Combat <.<...I was thinking more Kill Bill with the background, and I just wanted to do more crazy coloured hair v.v

Edit: Or if I read correctly the first time...Lethal Combat...Or...Now I'm confused...

Edit2: You know, I've given up on colour coordination



This post has been edited by Dispozition on Mar 24 2008, 04:56 PM

I LOVE all of the random colorations! Reminds me of the Ming and Piho (Miho and Ping with opposite color schemes) bit that dancer6390 did ages ago.

Haha wonderful, everyone

Edit: Took out the two WIPS, anddd...here's the finished product!



I couldn't find a better background. >_< Though I'll probably go back and change that later.

Edit, again: Another version with a different background:



This post has been edited by Kinda_Mayvelle on Mar 26 2008, 05:00 PM

AAAAAAAH PIRO IS SO CUTE!!!!

...even if he looks like Link....

Yeah, I wanted him to look like Link, so I made the hat green.

Ooh, I like the blue background, Mayvelle.

But I'm going to take a moment to draw attention to the color choices. (As awesome as Link is) you have alot of bright green and blue on the right, and alot of dull, warm browns and reds on the left. Kimiko's almost monochromatic. I kinda feel it splits the picture up too much; the couple doesn't look very together. (Though, you might be trying to make that point, and I might be an idiot ^^;;)

Yes, I was sort of trying to make that point -- not because I don't think Kimiko and Piro together is cute, it is, a bit -- but rather to try and individualize them as separate people with different tastes and, despite sharing some characteristics, have different personalities.

Still, thanks for your post, Hellrose; and I like the blue background too, though I like the purple better.

Mayville, I have decided that if Fred ever makes a figurine of Piro, I want it to be based on the color of this artwork

Been working on cell-shading:

C&C much appreciated

sc

I love her hair! It's so pretty.

I'm no good at cell-shading myself, so instead I'll pick at the colors. The green and brown together doesn't look too bad, but that bright shade of red sort of clashes with the green. It's still, overall, a very good CG in my book, just not the colors I would go with.

suchcrazyness, that'd damn good...A few nitpicks though. The shading on the ponytail looks off to me, too much like a bad gradient, I'm not sure how you could fix that up though. The shading on her skin is too harsh sometimes, like at the back of her face, it goes from light to very dark far to suddenly...The rest however, looks excellent

Also, don't take my opinion totally seriously, I'm not that good a cell shader, or even a slightly good one....

This post has been edited by Dispozition on Mar 27 2008, 03:04 PM

Oh hey, I finally finished. (2 weeks later) Sort of, it still seems a bit off.

Oh, spoonifur... your megatokyo looks so bleak. (That is a compliment, btb.) And your shading is so soft and gentle.

Suchcrazyness, that girl looks like she walked right out of an anime

And personally, I kinda like the way the dark red meshes with the brown and the green. But maybe a less-Christmas-y color scheme would fit it better *shrug*. Either way, I love it.

@ suchcrazyness:
It's a matter of opinion, but I love love LOVE your color choices. Some small things to consider, though. The shapes of your shadows are quite strange in certain places, particularly around her sleeves and in her hair, which does seem to have a gradient thing going on. I'm afraid the extra medium peach skin tone doesn't make sense to me, either. I believe it would look very good in a blended style, but it stands out because you're using it on some parts (arms) and not others (back of her face).
PS: You forgot the shadows that the ribbon would cast.

That was a lot of hours... Here's a Miho:



It's part of a much larger pic that I might finish in the next few weeks.

*Is stricken speechless by the hair.*

What's wrong with it? Aside from being a lil' bit messier than Miho's usual.

Wow, I need to pop in here more often. Great work, everyone! I really like peoples' take on non-canon colors.

suchcrazyness: That's BEAUTIFUL. I really like your skintones and how you colored her clothes. I don't think the colors are distracting. They actually add warmth to the picture. As for improvement, I think you could make the ponytail have a bit more dimension by placing the shadows differently. Instead of making the gradient into solid shapes, you may want to try and make smaller, separated shapes. You have the right idea though...going from light on the outside to dark in the inside. Hmm, not sure if that was helpful... Great job overall though! I like the crispness of your cel-style.

@Domus: Nothing's wrong with it. That's why I'm so speechless.

Domus, that's fantastic. She really reminds me of Death from Sandman. So lovely.... wow.

Has anyone ever thought of doing a MT/Endless crossover?

the concept is both joy and hurt...

but agree that she does look like Death -but Death in Sandman is kind -whereas Miho is... well, she always has motivations other than what we expect...