Guild Wars 2 Asura sketch

I saw a sketch the other day of an Asura & it inspired me to draw this little doodle.  First thing I've drawn in years.  Think I kinda went a little overboard with the ear, but I like the way the eyes came out, ans given that it was pen/ink, not to bad.  My wife wants me to keep drawing so I can do some kind of crazy mural with all her characters in Guild Wars 2, but it's like 20+ toons!  Doing this little thing really did kinda get me back in to the creative mindset, but only the future knows if I actually want to keep doing any artwork.  I was once pretty proficient with Photoshop, so I may wind up doing something for her characters in that.  If I do, I'll post it here.

Gimme a hand!

Found this in my sketchbook and wanted to share.  What's interesting is that while it's a picture I drew of my right hand, I'm actually right-handed.  Why didn't I draw my left hand, which would have been a ton easier?  I dunno.  Ask 19 year old me.  I guess the challenge?  Or maybe I'm just lazy now.  :)

Ranma and Friends

I've always been into the show "Ranma 1/2"  Below are some original drawings I've done of the series over the years.  Unfortunately, due to a flood, some were damaged.  I've been able to restore a few, and if I'm able to restore more in the future, I'll post them on my site.

This is by far my favorite anime picture I've done.  I love the look in their eyes and the shoulder placement of Ranma, almost as if he just took her hands in his.  This is right before a much wanted kiss between the two.  Unfortunately, as you can see, there was extensive water damage to this piece, so much so, that the paper actually began to crumble and is now ripped.  I'm lucky to have had this scan, and while I want so badly to recreate it, I fear I may not capture what I see here, despite the bleeding ink.

This is my favorite pen / ink drawing of Ranma.  I love the look in his eyes and the contemplation you feel from this drawing.  I may have skimped on the ear a bit, but I enjoyed this so much, I put color to it (shown below).

While it may not look like it quite as much on this scanned version, the original crayon coloring looks much better.  The background was painstakenly blended to create a sunset 'lost in thought' picture that remains on of my favorites to date.

This was the first time I ever drew Shampoo (and really the first time I attempted to draw any anime) so I can't be too hard on myself.  I was using this as a base to test my coloring skills & it wasn't until coloring the last piece that I realized I colored her hair the wrong color!  Either way, it was my first attempt, so I'm okay with it.

The uncolored version of the picture below.  I dislike some of the oddly proportioned elements in this drawing.  As luck would have it, this survived any flood damage, so I decided to color it a bit later.  I still love the face and hair, so I do like it, but it's not my favorite.  It was one of the first Shampoo drawings I did though, so I'm happy to still have it.

Colored with crayon & blended with heat from my finger & friction :)  I think the coloring improved his piece significantly, but I still don't like the placement of appendages.

This one of Azusa had extensive water damage.  I was able to clean it up below.

I may eventually add color to this one, but since the original is so corrupt, I'll have to do it digitally for it to look alright.  If I decide to do this, I'll post the finished product here.

Because there was so much ink on this, I didn't want to try to do a restoration.  I never got to write something on his sign.  Kinda sad.  Maybe I should use it as a 404 error page...

Mr. Saotome's Panda form ink bled through onto this piece.  Damn you Genma!

The restoration turned out to be alright, but I lost a bit of detail in the hair, and I think there were a few bits in the cheek area I wasn't able to translate.  Still not a bad restoration.

If you look closely, you an see a bow in the middle of her head, I think from another Azusa drawing I lost.

This is one of my favorite shots of Shampoo.  I'm so glad I was able to restore it, given the extensive water damage in the above picture.  I may go back and colorize this one, simply because I love Shampoo's cuteness in it.  While there may be some issues with face-shape, hand placement, etc... I really love the hair and eyes.

Faye Valentine and Harley Quinn

Two of my all-time favorite female characters: Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop & Harley Quinn from Batman the Animated Series.

Pencil to paper, I really enjoy this pose and look for Faye.  I'm not too happy with the collar & neck, but the eyes and expression make up for it.  I believe this was back in 2003.

Pen and Ink, Harley Quinn is by far one of the best things to come out of the Batman the Animate Series TV show.  (Although there were alot of good things to come out of that show!)  I especially love this pose.  Harley's expression is perfect and the shading on eyeshadow vs. mask is really great, if I do say so myself.  I dislike the epaulet on the right shoulder and middle part hanging on her back as it looks really flat.  The left rib-cage also could have had a few fixes, but overall, I'm happy with the way this one turned out.  Drawn in 2002.

Original Elf

As I see this drawing after scanning, for a brief moment, I thought this was a picture of a male elf.  Then I saw that I had small protrusions on its chest.  While this was the only sketch I ever did of this original character, I can't help but think this started as a man, and changed to a woman upon finishing the piece.  This was done in 2003, and looks to have a few braided areas inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean or Star Wars padawans.  That said, I think it's an interesting enough character that I may go back and draw a few updated versions.

Drawing on a few cultural influences, this original elf drawing features braided hair, a small ear clasp and an oriental-stylized top.  I love the eyes and hair, so this very well may be a character I choose to return to.  If that happens, I'll postem here.

Deedlit Originals

The following drawings I did based on "Record of Lodoss War" anime.  The character is a high elf named Deedlit and her beauty and grace are captivating in the anime.  While an older title, it's regarded as one of the most definitive swords & sorcery anime series out there.  Definitely worth a watch!

One of my favorite pencil drawings, I believe this sketch captures her grace and beauty quite well.  I dislike the breast area of the bodice, but the shoulders and face turned out quite well.  I generally don't enjoy shading with pencil and much rather the scribbling of pen / ink, but this pencil is more than justified.  This was created in early 2000's.

Salvaged from a flood, I enjoyed drawing her excited expression and flowing gown.  I may have scribble-shaded a bit too much from the chest outward, but I'm really happy to have saved this & finally able to scan and archive for completion.  I think this was the second attempt at drawing the character, roughly around 2000. 

I regard this as the ugliest elf I've drawn.  LOL.  Comparing this to the first one in this post, you can clearly see strides in skill.  That said, this was the first I ever drew of Deedlit (maybe the first elf).  Drawing done in the late 90's.

Miscellaneous Art

Below are a few pieces of artwork I did using both colored pen / ink & pencil.  I've always been more comfortable with ink vs pencil, even though there's such a finality with it.  However, I hate to erase, so sometimes flaws in pencil stick out sorely.  While I may make those same mistakes in pen, for some reason, I'm more forgiving with myself.

Done in 2004, I'm not sure what's going on here, other than a porcelain doll giving into the corruption and chaos and the pain that comes with it.  Or maybe I was just havin fun.  ;)

Anime-stle done in Pen / Ink.  Girl trying to decide, while covering up with a blanket... or praying over someone who's covered with a sheet.  I dunno.  Done in early 2000's.

A high school art project, I intended to do something graphic to the right side of the face, but went traditionally with the darkened half.  I always thought her eyes were a bit off, but maybe that's intentional.  Honestly I can't remember, but I'm glad I was able to find this piece.  Done in 1999.

A Spider-Man inspired mask

I was playing around with a Spider-Man design which would make his mask resemble something more like a spider, rather than two large eyes.  I drew inspiration from both Spidey and Spawn and came up with something I thought would be cool.  Below are the concepts:

        

Original Mystical Drawings

A flying Pixie / Fairy.  Kinda liked the idea of a pixie having elf like ears. I think mainly I was playing around with the outstretched female form (which is why she doesn't have clothes).  This pen / ink sketch was done around 1997.

I love the wings in this original drawing.  I remember spending more time on it than I did the rump of the fairy, which is why I got a little overzealous on it.  Her feet are also somewhat smaller than I like, but I love the wing design and hair fall.  I revisited this character a few times later on a mural I did for a calendar border in high school.  Don't think I have those anymore, but if I run across it, I'll post it.  This was done around 1999.

Originally done as a nude sketch, I decided to put clothes on this "Fairy of the Lake" and submitted as a pen / ink submission for an art class project in high school.  While I don't remember what I made on the project, I remember I liked this concept so much that I kept the drawing & eventually replicated it in Bryce 3d.  Unfortunately, I lost the renders, so I always look upon this concept art with a sad tone (even more so than the picture suggests).  Upon revewing for this upload, however, I see a slight amount of sinisterness in the serene, yet windy setting.  I may have to re-visualize this soon in the future...  Done around 1999.

I drew this to inspire me when writing a piece of fiction for school.  Originally, I intended the middle section to be a silhouette of the character's overbearing father looking down on her as a child.  This was meant to be what she sees when she looks at the sword.  I outlined the edges and eventually went back with WAY TOO BROAD marker, which really changed this from being a sword to something else.  Either way, I really liked the pen / ink stuff in the middle & I'm glad I had a chance to scan it.

This was intended to be the character from the above piece.  It actually turned out to be something more and the elven character displayed here actually wound up inspiring me to write a piece of fan-fiction in Everquest (PC MMO) back in 1998.
Her name was Alexiya Raziel.

Original Photo to Pencil

Below are a couple of drawings I did from photos in 1994 and 2002.

The first is a girl I drew from a Freshmen art class. Kinda all over the place with this one.  Hand size, eye placement, etc.. But I noticed I changed a few things from the picture, I believe to make it a bit different than the original, so I don't think I was going for complete realism.  Either way, it's not a bad effort, especially for an art project around 1994.

Below is from a magazine I decided to draw (and for some reason to make an elf?!?)  This was drawn in 2002.  The differences from the above submission to this one are quite noticeable.  While not 100% my best work, I think it shows promise and not a bad job with shading.  I know the cheekbones and eyes are a bit exaggerated, but I actually think that's what I like the most.

Anime-Style self-portrait

In the early 90's in junior high school, I sketched an anime-style picture which I was roughly basing on myself.  A sorta anime-inspired exaggerated stylized selfie (before there was even such a word!).

I had a rough draft sketch of this idea before I did a full page with pen & ink, below.

While it turned out okay, I always wanted to perfect the head shape and keep drawin this dude.  Maybe with a few more changes I could have had conceptualized a decent anime guy.  I generally draw women more, so I think it would have been fun for a change with him.  Never did another one though, so this guy's potential is lost.

Green Notebook - Original Doodles

So here's a group of doodles I did back in the 90's.  These are just some quick, one-offs I did on a green note spiral (most with a shiny blue ink I was playing with).  I just wanted to group these together since they were all done as quick sketches on the same day back in Jr. High.

I think I may have been doing an Anime-style self-portrait.  Kinda looks like me in Jr. high.

Was working out some different wing shapes, I think.

 Um, I dunno.  Lips of various design for some reason.

Probably X-Files or Half-Life inspired.

TMNT, obviously.

Why the cat eyes?  Why not! 

Katy Perry - Dark Horse [Remix by SpiderMitch]

So for a while I've been toying around with the idea of doing a hybrid mix-mashup of the song Dark Horse by Katy Perry.  I think the original song's got a good hook and some nice bass, but I can't stand the Juicy J crap in the middle.  I really don't understand why she keeps getting the most annoying rappers with the worst lyrics to step into her songs.  /EndofRant

So, here you have my remix of Dark Horse, sans rap & added some Dubstep-style samples.  Enjoy!

Click play below or View on my Youtube channel

Copyright this!

Okay, so I've dedicated this site to posting projects of mine. Some are originals: compositions I've created for certain projects.  Some for school, some for friends, and some for fun.  These originals are fun to create and I appreciate artists that can sit and completely create something new...

...but I really like editing.  Taking the source material and remixing it to create something new... Something that someone will look at and appreciate the amount of effort it took to manipulate what they're used to in a different vision / style than the original.  It's also challenging to work on something to produce the desired effect, and do so in a fluid unassuming way.  To show someone your vision and have them enjoy it, commenting that it's professional and maybe even better than the original; creating a cohesive narrative from film that tells a different story; or writing something that is a tangent of the original story is really enjoyable for me.

The ability to edit is a talent...  And it's a talent that can't be shown in most media forums due to copyright infringement.  I'm not a lawyer.  I'm not someone who likes to read through technical jargon trying to find loop-holes.  I'm simply someone that enjoys expressing themselves through said talent, and I wish to share that content for my own enjoyment.  Not because I want you to download a free movie / song / picture / whatever, but I'm simply expressing my creativity!  Unfortunately due to the content owners, my creativity is often shunted.  I'm not someone who tries to find ways around copyright laws so I can get my content uploaded and bypass content matching algorithms.  I've posted music videos I've created where I say, "It's a tribute... Go buy the original artist's album / song!  It's terrific and inspired me to do this!"  I've never once claimed, "I created this!" or "Buy this from me, it's my original work!"  Yet, to take the original and change it to express yourself is considered 'wrong' in the eyes of copyright laws.  I ask you: How can someone that enjoys editing or altering film / pictures / songs ever be able to enjoy doing what they love if they can't get any feedback (positive or negative) about their work, because they aren't allowed to post it?

Furthermore, why does my edited content get copyright take-downs when I can do a search and find someone else posting the ORIGINAL UNALTERED content (such as a movie) which has more than 3 million views?  I once posted a music video containing Michael Jackson's Earth Song and scenes from Avatar, which was taken down after 235 views due to copyright infringement.  I did a search and found another video that had another song with scenes from Avatar that had 18,000 views and another that had more than 9 million views!  (Both of these music videos are still up!)  Furthermore, I tried to repost my video using the exact same tags / youtube license claim / description and it was taken down again after about 100 views.  For a long while I was so discouraged, I didn't post anything else.

I just finished creating a remix of a song.  I uploaded to soundcloud, which has grown significantly since I joined (a few accounts ago, granted).  Now it seems they're also shunting creativity by employing harsher copyright restrictions as well.  I put the remix of my song on my soundcloud page and it was immediately disabled do to copyright claim.  This is, of course, after I had +1ed and facebook-shared my latest little project, so users trying to access the song suddenly saw 'not found' & 'no longer available' errors.  I tried another service claiming to allow mixes and DJ remixes.  After uploading, I received an email saying the same thing.  After searching their site, I come across many... MANY songs that are not even edited.  They are the FULL VERSIONS of the songs uploaded, so other users may pirate them.

I totally understand that companies have to protect their investments.  They must earn money because that's what companies do.  But rather than taking down someone who is remixing / altering / fan-editing your content because they love it so much (and mostly tell people to go buy your stuff because it's great) why, then, does all this media exist where they are the original songs / films?  And those posts are CLEARLY aimed at people who want to AVOID giving you money, and getting said content for free?

In all my time editing, remixing, and fan-editing, I seem to always have my works taken down.  It's discouraging, to say the least.  If I upload to my own (free) hosting service, I run the risk of bandwidth limit breach and my site suspended.  If I upload to other sites and embed within this blog, I'm running the risk of it being taken down due to copyright claims.  Honestly, I just wanna have fun & manipulating / editing / altering stuff is fun for me, it's just annoying that I can't share my projects easily on any media outlet.  Apparently editors must produce their own content also.  Editors can't edit...  Copyright holders gunna copyright claims... Haters gunna hate.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Hooked on a Feeling [Remix by SpiderMitch]

This is a remix I created in tribute to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.  The trailer had a mix I really got into from Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede.  I created this as a full version of that mix, without voice-overs, base and extra samples added.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Click play below or View on my Youtube channel

Swamp Rangers

Found this when I was rummaging through my digital clutter.  It's a flash animation I did for a friend for a school project.  I'm not sure why I kept it all these years, but I even still had the source files.  The ending credits won't be posted since they involve real names, but there's a little "The End" thing I rendered which I've included in this.

Like I said, this was done a long time ago, and I only post it here for nostalgia :)  It's silly, but it's pretty impressive knowing flash animation and techniques were still in their infancy.

Click the post heading or "Read More" link below to see the video.  It's got music, so I didn't want it to start immediately.

Play-Doh Rose

So instead of getting us raises, our boss bought us Play-Doh. LOL. Not really; in actuality, he went to some management seminar that said the smell of Play-Doh would help employees de-stress. Something about bringing us back to our childhood memories or something. Anyway, I made this & thought I'd post'em up here. If I make more things, I'll try to stick them up here too. The way I see it, is the boss can't get angry at me for playing with it, since he's the one that bought it for us. I'm just utilizing the resources provided, right? :)

Since I only had Red, I made the rose first, then made a red stem.  Later, I gathered more colors to finish the look.

 So, I decided to beg others for colors to complete the stem & thorns.  Below is the final result.

So, all-in-all, I think it turned out pretty good.  Several co-workers told me to leave it out and let is harden, but then I wouldn't have any more Play-Doh to play with, so in the end, I wound up destroying it.