Xous54

A new year, but sadly not much has changed as far as my time is concerned. Mostly just posting to say "I'm still around / semi-active." Sorry for not uploading much art lately.

 

I haven't had much time to devote to Sugimori-style art but I'm going to try to make time to do some soon. Up next should be Chesnaught to finish off the Kalos starters, and after that I'll see if I can focus on Megas or something. There's a lot I want to work on, so I'll try to pick up the pace somehow.

For now I've mostly been recoloring some of my old Generation 6 art to include their shiny versions. Gogoat, Mega Mewtwo Y, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Blastoise all have shiny art, so if you're interested check those out. If there's a specific piece of Generation 6 art (Megas and Kalos Pokémon) I've made that you'd like to have a shiny version for, post it below and I'll get around to adding it to the original art when I have the time.

Not much has changed schedule-wise for me (still working on my portfolio), but I'd just like to mention a few things now that X and Y are out and all of that glorious new Sugimori art is being released.  

 

Upcoming Art: With so many new Pokémon to draw, I'm still deciding on whether or not to draw them in-order (as they appear in the PokéDex) like I attempted to with Unova or just primarily focus on peoples' favorites again. The 'Dex being so short this generation is both a blessing and a curse - it's good because it means fewer things for me to draw but bad because more new Pokémon couldn't hurt. I'll probably get around to a few of the more popular Pokémon first then go in order.

At the time of writing this I'm working on updated artwork for the final evolutions of the starters (which will include shiny versions), I've got some Mega Ampharos artwork that's been waiting to be completed, and I'm planning on drawing "final" Sugimori-style artwork for Xerneas and Yveltal. For Xerneas it will feature Sugimori-style art of its tree form (its slumbering form from the games), its blue neutral form (the form it takes outside of battle) and of course its regular form. For Yveltal I'll be making artwork for its cocoon form and regular form.

Like I mentioned in my Charizard X piece's description, I will be going back and adding shiny versions to my artwork of the X/Y Pokémon when I have enough time. New artwork output will still be slow as I continue to work on my portfolio.

 

Extra Comments: Just wanted to clear something up - some people have been giving me Points (whatever the currency is here on deviantART). While I appreciate it, I never use them and always just end up giving them away. So if you're one of those people giving me them, it may be better to just donate them to someone else who will actually use them.

 

As usual, if you have any questions just comment here.

Over the next few months I will be working on getting my portfolio for art school ready. As I mentioned in my last journal entry this will likely mean I'll only be able to work on Pokémon / side art on very rare occasions. I know updates have already been rare, but it's going to be even more rare over the coming months.

I'll still be online almost daily (checking various sites for news and getting back to people) so I can still be contacted via Note (and to a lesser extent, profile comments). So if you need me please do not hesitate to contact me that way. I will not have the time to check comments on images (except for a day or two after I upload the image), so if you're trying to talk to me there I likely won't see it.

While I'm working on my portfolio I'm still going to try to get a few Pokémon-related pieces done if they reveal anything that really inspires me.

The announcement of Mega Evolutions was definitely awesome, but for me it just means more things to draw on top of adding an entire new region (Kalos), so it's another strain on my Sugimori-style art workload. I'm going to try to draw a few of the Mega Evolutions before starting my portfolio but it's likely I won't get many done.

If you have any questions please post them here or send them to me in a Note.

My last Journal entry was getting kinda old so I figured I should write a new one.

 

I want to apologize for the very slow rate artwork is getting completed - this is the busiest I've been in a very long time, and right now it doesn't look like it'll be getting any better for a while. Although I do have sketches done, I don't have the time to outline them (takes around 30 minutes just to outline a sketch, sometimes longer if it's very complex) so I can't even work on them bit-by-bit. With the final months before the release of X and Y versions finally here, we're (likely) going to see an explosion of new Pokémon (unless they decide to keep things mostly under wraps until the games are out). I've stated this before, but when we start getting too many new Pokémon at once is when I won't be able to draw all of the new guys in a short amount of time. This last batch of Pokémon has already proven to be too much for me to handle, so anymore than that and I'll have to just go back to picking and choosing the ones I'd like to draw (unfortunately).

 

In addition to all of that, at some point very soon I'm going to have to stop working on digital art altogether (or stop focusing on it so much) so I can go back to working on a portfolio for art schools once again. It's been a few years since my last attempt to get into art school, and it's time for me to try again. (My grades aren't the issue - rather, I can't afford it and I'm trying to see what kind of financial aid I can get this time around.) When I start to make that choice, I'll be sure to make a post about it. During that time I'll likely work one or two pieces in here or there, but digital art will be very rare.

 

For those of you who aren't following me for my Pokémon art and are wondering when I'll make some other art, I'm still sketching things here and there. My DOOM art is pretty much on standby indefinitely, though I did sketch an Arch-Vile a few months back and I still want to finish it. Evangelion art isn't going to be something I work on for a while, unless something crazy happens there with the Final film. Guilty Gear recently announced Xrd, and I've been planning to make some art of the new design for Sol Badguy, but I haven't had the time.

 

I know this is the typical kind of post I make ("super busy, everything on hold, non-Pokémon stuff even more on hold"), but I figured I should make a post rather than just leaving people uninformed.

I got tired of seeing that Hoenn Pokémon entry, so I decided to write a new one. (I do plan on doing something like that Hoenn Pokémon entry in the future, but it'll have to be after this Generation 6 stuff calms down.)

The main reason for my slow art turnout is the projects I'm working on, but with Generation 6 looming over us I've also been hesitant to start working on new art. When it hits I don't want to be in the middle of a piece of art. With the Generation 6 news coming this weekend, depending on what we get, I should have something to upload. As October draws closer we'll probably get flooded with news, leaks, and tons of Pokémon for me to draw. Like Unova, if many Pokémon are put out at once there will likely come a point where I won't be able to draw each Pokémon as it is leaked / revealed. When that happens, I'll just have to draw a few, then get to the others later.

As news is leaked and posted on the various fan sites, I'll know about it, so sending me notes about the news or posting about the news for me to see is mostly not needed (but appreciated). I check various locations in all hours of the day when possible (in the morning before work, after work, before bed) so I'm usually up-to-date with everything. For example, I'm keeping an eye on this Movie 16 "Mewtwo forme" news. If we get its Sugimori art, I can can begin making art for it. (I want to make some now, but the images we have block out too much of its body.)

Anyway, this entry is just a way to say "I'm keeping a close eye on the news and I'll be posting Gen. 6 art as fast as possible!"