My first Macross Frontier Fan Art

[the white drew carey]

OK, so I just finished Macross Frontier (the last year and a half was very busy for me and I got waaay behind). Of course, now I must do fan art!

I'm thinking of a piece with the usual three: Alto, Sheryl, and Ranka. As part of my "I haven't been drawing enough for the past few years and it's time to get back in the groove, as well as learn new techniques" regime, I am doing something a little different than what you may be used to this time around.

Gone are the heavy-handed lines and ink shading. I want this one to look as much like an animation cel as a I can. With that in mind, the inked drawings for the initial design will be very basic, and I am going to relearn and practice new coloring techniques in Photoshop (as soon as my iMac shows up from the states, Photoshop keeps crashing with big files on my old Dell Inspiron 710m laptop). I am also going to work on some more dramatic poses. After looking at my Macross art over the past several years, I realize that my characters seem pretty flat.

However, I like to share and I know that you guys like to look. With that being said, I present to you the first part (very, very basic): Ranka Lee

Edited November 3, 2009 by the white drew carey

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Great start!!!!

Will you go for a watercolor approach?

[David Hingtgen]

I like the look better than most M:F fan-art.

Now do some Grace stuff! (seriously, do you take requests/commissions?)

[the white drew carey]

I like the look better than most M:F fan-art.

Now do some Grace stuff! (seriously, do you take requests/commissions?)

I do have a Grace idea, but it is truly only at a conceptual stage. I'll keep you informed.

[the white drew carey]

OK, so I've got Sheryl and Alto done. First, we'll take a look at Sheryl. While Ranka is cute and innocent, I wanted Sheryl to really be slurmting it up. In the show, it seems that she's not happy unless she's showing off her assets and trying to be as sexy as possible (kind of like real divas). With that in mind, she's really thrusting out her chest and she has that smug look of confidence from the early part of the series.

[the white drew carey]

And now Alto. I had a hard time with him, because he's just so droll. I finally decided that I wanted him to be be the most static part of the image and yet I'm still not sure if I like how he turned out, or if I will redraw him. I definitely wanted him to have the paper airplane in hand, though.

[the white drew carey]

Upon reflection, I think I am going to redo Sheryl and Alto. I think I have a much better idea.

[grapetang]

I like the Ranka drawing. Dynamic pose w/ nice curves!

Looking forward to more!

[the white drew carey]

OK, so here is Sheryl version 2. I kept her kind of saucy, but I think this pose is a lot more realistic. If I color it right, her knockers will just POP OUT at you!

OK, and here's the VF-25 with Super packs. I know I probably got some of the details wrong but, hopefully, after coloring no will notice (or care too much)

Still working on Alto v2...

[the white drew carey]

OK, so I didn't get much done this weekend, but I have been hemming and hawing over Sheryl 2 since I finished it. After some soul-searching, I decided to go in and digitally manipulate some of the inkwork and move things around a bit. Essentially, I lengthened her right arm and, even though it still looks a bit wonky, I'm hoping that color and shading will clarify what's going on with what. I also brought her right breast out over her right arm and rounded it out a bit, as well as bringing in the left breast just a bit so that they look a bit better. Finally I brought down her right shoulder. They are minor changes, but I think it improves te overall image.

[ruskiiVFaussie]

Great skills, i'm impressed!