may the fourth be with you // revenge of the fifth // star wars fanart // pen

   Hey everyone, and may the fourth be with you all! :) And... you know, if you're a Sith, the fifth is your day of revenge, I guess.

   Yes, it's fandom time. The wordplay in May is two days all for the Star Wars fandom to pull on their Wookie T-shirts and do their hair up in Rey buns. And for me, it's time for the fanart to begin.

I did this in my new (and third) sketchbook, which is a mixed media 9'' by 12''.

supplies:

white gel pen

red sharpie

thin black sharpie

thick black sharpie

black prismacolor brushpen

 red scholar (prismacolor) brushmarker

blue copic brushmarker (BG02)

Hope you all had a great May fourth and fifth, and may the force be with you all!

Sincerely,

Darrion

a star wars christmas // pen // notebook sketch // SMALL SPOILER HIDDEN INSIDE ON RED

Merry Christmas, everyone!

   I hope you're having a great Christmas Eve.

   I just finished some Star Wars fanart for you... I've been in the Star Wars mood for a while now., though I've only seen the movie twice so far, but hopefully I'll go to see it again soon.

   Willow and I had some favorite surprise characters, as we are pictured with below.

   She really loved the little perky droid, BB-8, and is getting one for Christmas. She's super excited, he's a voice activated droid. And because she loves him so much, I thought I'd draw her under the mistletoe with 'her guy' :)

   I drew inspiration from DrawingWiffWaffles, who likes to put a square of color behind the character to add focus where she wants it, and to make it pop out more. I did that here, though I'm not super happy with the lighter green around the mistletoe... but, overall, I like it pretty well anyways.

   Right, here's the part where I explain myself... this would happen after Kylo Ren (eventually..?) turns good and brings presents to the Christmas party. I did the red because it's Christmas colored, not just because of the darksidieness. He was a surprising character, which lands him on my 'highly favored' list. But dude, his face is super hard to draw... what's up with that tiny chin, man?!

Well, I hope you liked them, and that you have a great Christmas/Eve!

Merry Christmas,

Darrion

star wars: the force awakens // review // spoiler free

Not very long ago, in a theater only a mile away...

The force awoke.

How long have we been waiting for this day to come?

Just long enough.

The timing was perfect, special-effects clean and practically real. Actors just the right age and with the right attitude.

Can't get much better than this.

The whole movie was a fast paced ride, with many fun jokes and memorable sets. They slowed down just enough for the emotional scenes, and gave some great in-between dialog to keep the story going. The amazing cast really lifted the story with their chemistry, while lightsaber duels and other battles were wonderfully choreographed.

I can't say enough about the characters. I love the way they handled Finn, he's my favorite of the bunch. Ray was great too, she was a strong character, but not overbearing. Po was amazing and very funny. BB-8 was adorable, and wasn't only a simple replacement to R2, but his own character. It was really cool and nostalgic to see Han, Chewie, and Leia returning.

Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the scenes with Kylo Ren. He was a very interesting character, and I can't wait to see more of him and how his story unfolds.

The only thing I had a beef with was the ending. It could have been tied together more neatly, but it wasn't enough to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Over all, it was an amazing ride, and I loved it just as much as the old movies. In fact... I think I've found my new favorite Star Wars episode :)

Sincerely,

Darrion

P.S., please leave a comment on what YOU thought of the movie! I'd love to chat with you :) But remember... spoiler free for those who haven't seen it yet!

If fives, echo, heavy, and boil are more than just words to you... // throwback thursday

... You just might be a Clone Wars fan.

*thumbs up for you*

   Must... escape... Hobbit tears..!

   Ah, here we go! Another fandom to emotional attach myself to.

   Most of the recent posts/fanart have been Hobbit related, but this time, it's time to escape the fandom tears and fall back on a old fandom of mine.

Star Wars.

   The fandom that nearly everyone is on bored with, and my first. That of course makes it very close to my heart. I'm not so much into the movies themselves as the TV series, Star Wars: the Clone Wars.

   We (Willow and I) started watching it at about the second season, with the Geonosis episodes (you know, with Ahsoka and Barris). Immediately, we were hooked.

   My favorite characters have always been the clones, and I really wish they would have had more episodes with emphasis on the soldiers of the republic.

 *me telling the directors to put more clones in*

*them saying nope*

   Have any of you seen season six yet? I haven't seen the whole thing, just the Fives episodes. FEELS. The worst feels I've had since the Battle of the Five Armies.

*REAL TEARS, PEOPLE*

   It's so hard, because it started with them. A squad of rookie clone troopers on the Rishi outpost (Kamino's moon), impatient to see action. And yeah, they get it. Leaving only two survivors, Echo and Fives, these clones go through a lot and are in many episodes to come. Then, it's all over.

*it moved me, bob*

   Now I haven't seen the new series that's out yet (Star Wars Rebels), but I've heard some things... but I certainly wasn't satisfied with them just dropping the Clone Wars like they did. What about Ahsoka, Rex, teen Boba, etc.? Whatever happened to them? I guess we'll find out in the upcoming episodes of Rebels, but they way they're just throwing the clones away... They expect us to love them in the Clone Wars, and hate them in Rebels. Is that really fair? Every time I see them hit a stormtrooper, I'm thinking, "That could be Kix, or Jesse."

*well that got deep real fast*

   And the clones, that's another thing! It's hard for me to see Rex shooting a Jedi in the back, though all clones are sort of... 'compelled' to do so. But still...

   Also, REX. WOLFFE. GREGOR (if that is him, it's not confirmed, only speculated). Guess who ain't dead?

*hugs and kisses to the writers of Rebels*

   I don't know where they're going with Rebels, but I hope they do my favorite characters justice. I loved them so much, and they're so close to me, that... you know...

*whispers aggressively* don't mess this up

Sincerely,

Darrion

P.S., This was a little throw-back-Thursday, fandom style. Would you like another? If so, comment below :) If you're a Clone Wars (or just a Star Wars) fan, know that you aren't alone here :)

little mj // oc // digital art

   Hey guys! I've got it for you. My first finished piece of digital art yet!

   My Wacom Intuos pen and touch medium arrived on April 25th, and I've been playing around with it since then. Lots of rough sketches and unfinished pieces.

   But I really like it so far, everything is so nice and clean. The layers really help, though I do get mixed up with which one I'm on. I've had to erase a bunch because I put them on the wrong layer.

   I thought I'd do another drawing of my Star Wars OC character, MJ, when she was just a little girl.

    I used mostly cel-shading on her clothes and montrals (head-tale-things), but just regular shading of her skin/lips. The shading part was definitely my favorite, I love the clean look of cel-shading.

   Her lips were actually pretty fun, though I think they might be a little too large. Her skin was kind of hard to do, with all of the tones of red and all.

   I decided to do the background pretty simply, instead of the bunk I had pictured her sitting in at the beginning of sketching this out.

  Ugh, lineart is not my thing. I guess my hands are just too unsure of themselves, it ended up pretty shaky and I had to erase and re-do a lot of it. Also, the lineart is too thick for my liking, though it did reduce the shakiness.

   Anyway, that's my first digital piece! Watch out for more of my art, not just digitally, but traditionally too :)

Thanks for viewing, guys!

Sincerely,

Darrion

star wars oc character mj // pencil and colored pencil

Okay, sorry I've disappeared for a few days.

   I said I'd have some digital art to show you. And I do, though it's not finished yet, which is why I'm posting this instead.

   But yeah, the tablet's going great! It's not as difficult to transition from traditional to digital as I thought it would be, though you've really got to watch which layer you're on when you're drawing...

   But anyway, this alien (Togrutan, actually. You may know the species, like Ahsoka Tano or Shaak Ti?) girl is an OC (original character) of mine, nicknamed MJ (real name Magenta). I've placed her in the Star Wars galaxy, when the Empire is reigning with an iron fist. She's sweet, curious, and always wants to help, though she does have an odd line of work... she helps her 'dad' (not her real dad, but the guy who's raising her) during school break, who happens to be a professional bounty hunter. She's good with tech and a blaster, though never takes a life unless it's necessary.

    I drew this to kind of prove to myself that I could still do portraits, since I hadn't drawn something like this in a while. I also wanted to work with my colored pencils some more.

   I'm pleased with how it turned out, just like I pictured it. I have no real face reference to go off of, though I did use my own eye-shape as a reference. I used some photos of Ahsoka as a guide to her montrals (head-tale-things), which were a complete joy to color and shape.

   To distingish her from the popular jedi padawan of Masker Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, I've colored her more red than Ahsoka's orange. Her montrals have different markings also. I've tried different facial markings, but ended up with a simple (and rather similar) eyebrows, cheek defining markings, and an arrow shaped going down her forehead. I'm not quite settled on those, I'm still experimenting with different looks. I also added green eyes, compared to Ahsoka's bright blue ones.

   Anyway, I hope you like this portrait, you'll probably be seeing more art of this OC in the future. I'm working on my digital art, I'll try and have something to show you by the next time I post.

Sincerely,

Darrion

Commander Ponds // pencil and colored pencil // notebook sketch

Hey guys!

   Yes, another notebook sketch. Yes, it's a clone again.

   This time, it's Commander Ponds. He served under Jedi General Windu during the Clone Wars, until he had a little run-in with Boba Fett. Awful ending of a great character. Really wish he could've at least had a more honorable death.

   His hands are probably too small, but other than that, I'm quite happy with how he turned out. The shading was fun, and using the tinted graphite and colored pencils added some color.

   'Cause I love photography close-ups... here's a bonus one :)

Sincerely,

Darrion

Commander Jet // pencil and colored pencil // notebook

Hey everyone!

   Yes, another Star Wars fanart notebook sketch for you. You might not recognize this clone, since he's only in a few episodes of the Clone Wars. He's ranked under General Ki Adi Mundi for a time while in the second battle of Geonosis.

   His armor is different than most of the troops, painted to camouflage with the Geonosis greenery (*cough cough* or the lack of *cough cough*). I think his visor is a bit off, but oh well :) I used my led colored pencils for his armor, and regular pencil for everything else.

   I've got one more clone sketch in my notebook coming soon, so watch out for that :) Thanks for viewing guys!

Sincerely,

Darrion

Commander Gree // pencil and colored pencil // notebook

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!

   I hope you had a good time of... celebrating... whatever is suppose to be celebrated today...

   Anyway, I've got a green fanart drawing for you!

   He's the Commander of the Green Company, a young man interested in alien cultures and warfare, and eventually got stabbed in the chest by a little green guy.

   Any guesses?

   Yep, you guessed it: clone Commander Gree of the 41st. Elite Corps (the last hint did it for you, huh?). Though I actually don't know that much about him (since his character wasn't fleshed out much in the Star Wars movies or the Clone Wars TV show), I'd like to. He has an interesting angle to his character.

   I did this one in my smaller notebook (the same one I did my Rex sketch in), and took a while refining it. I used the led colored pencils and regular Prismacolor type to bring out more color, since the led ones are more earthy and toned down, and used regular pencils for everything else.

There's more of these clone notebook sketches to come!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!

Sincerely,

Darrion

making of a teen clone // pencil

Okay. Here we go.

   My first step by step (or making of) a drawing.

   This is a teenaged clone from the Clone Wars, a child produced and raised on the planet Kamino to fight and die in a war that hasn't even begun yet. One of the thousands of genetically identical clone of Jango Fett, the Mandalorian (actually he's from Concord Dawn, but that's another story) bounty hunter.

   Oddly enough, I've had a curiosity about clone since we saw the Star Wars film Attack of the Clones, and even more from our fist episode of the Clone Wars TV series. I've wondered how they grew up, if they received any parental love at all as boys.

   I can totally picture teenaged clones making friendly competitions with their brothers, and doing their best to stand straight and tall in their awkward stage of life, like real, fully grown troopers.

   Anyway, that's sort of what prompted me to do this. Also, I thought it'd be fun to show you how my process of drawing works.

Here we go!

Though we did get to see teen Boba Fett in the Clone Wars episode Bounty, other than that there aren't many references. Because of that, I made (a rather poor quality) print of a digital art drawing that jasjuliet on deviantart did of what she thinks a teen clone would look like (check out the original here! It looks really great). Though it isn't exactly how Boba looked in the episode, I like this one better because... well... Boba kind of looked like a little punk. Annoying, thinking he's so professional... tell me I'm not the only one who thinks he would have a more matured voice by then.

Anyway, I printed it out and used it as a reference for my re-draw (don't know why my colored pencils are in this photo, I don't use them in this drawing).

I'm imagining this is teen Cody, btw.

I didn't get photos of my first steps, since this is a making of an not a tutorial. These photos are pretty spaced out from each other.

I started with a circle (as usual), then refined it with his basic face-shape, using a lightly drawn cross to line up the facial features. Here I'm at the beginning of shading is face. 

Oh, and here's a tip for people who are just starting out with drawing: it starts out looking very not good (see above). You'll get frustrated at why it doesn't look like the real thing. But you've just got to keep at it, keep working it 'till the whole face is filled in. You'll get there, and don't be afraid of the shadows. The darkness is your friend.

A lesson that took me a while to learn, at first. But that's a story for another post.

Now I've filled in his face and started on his hair.

His face still isn't where I want it to be, the shadows and his eyes aren't dark enough yet.

When I draw, usually I do the entire figure roughly first off (or in a portrait I do the shoulders), then move immediately to the face. Once that has been refined, I move on to the rest. Some people think it's better to bounce around and not do too much in one place, and I get that. I guess it's personal preference.

Now I've basically finished his face, neck, and hair. I've also done a little bit of shading around where his collar will be.

With his hair, I kind of didn't know how to draw it, since in the animated version it's just sort of... flat on the top. And hair doesn't really do that. Also, from the reference I was using, his hair was completely black, so there wasn't much to go off of. I sort of winged it, which didn't turn out too well. I have no idea what his hair is doing in the front. It looks kind of like Tintin's hair flip up. Either way, this is not my finest hair moment.

His face was less detailed than I normally like it, and I'm not sure what kind of expression that is. Determined with a slight smile? Also, his right eye is too big.

After I was done shading his face, I sat back and immediately thought he looked too old. Too grown up. This is suppose to be slightly after the awkward-stage teenage boy, not grown up soldier-man. It took a few minutes for me to figure out what was wrong, but I finally found that if I erased some of the finer details (dark smile creases, sharp cheekbones, defined jaw and chin) he looked younger. See, the older you get, the more defined features you have. The younger you are, the smoother (and less defined) your skin is. The photo above was taken after I fixed all that and youngafied him.

Filled in the shirt and sleeves...

I had to think a minute about the shade of his shirt (which is a light blue) and his skin. Which would be darker in black and white? And shading a light shirt like that without over powering it took a few tries (and my kneadable eraser got lots of use). Also, his red undershirt had to be pretty dark.

The finished product! Whew, that was a mouthful. It took me a few hours to finish it, and I drew it back in January.

   Well, I hope you enjoyed that little (forget little, that was pretty long!) walk through of how I draw profiles. If there's a trick you think I'd like to know, pop a comment down bellow :)

Thanks for reading, guys!

Sincerely,
Darrion

Captain Rex // pencil and colored pencil // notebook sketch

Hey guys!

   It's me again :) I've finally got another fandom drawing to share with you, and not one of the Hobbit, which most of my fanart is of so far.

   Star Wars! Who doesn't like it, right? I've been in this fandom for a while now, and was really attached to the TV show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

   My favorite characters have always been the clones, and one of my most loved clones is Captain Rex of the 501st.

   Aw, the memories. It hasn't been that long since they ended the Clone Wars, but it feels like it's been gone for so long now.

   He was my clone. My type of soldier. A great character, and a good man. Especially after seeing the Umbara episodes, that heartbreaking arc really showed us the man of Captain Rex. His men respect him, his General and Commander trust him. And they have a good reason to.

   I got these new pencils, they're tinted graphite. Normal colored pencils are made of mostly wax, but the tinted graphite is just a normal graphite pencil (2B, 6B, 2H, you know) tinted with some kind of color pigment (I assume). Kind of an odd idea, but easier to work with, since it erases much better and has a more natural tone and color. I used mostly blue for this one (with some purple for shading), and did the rest with a normal pencil.

    I have a new pocket sized (well, maybe not that small, but it's not exactly normal sized) sketchbook that I'm doing some drawings in, and I've got a few clones done. Rex was the first I finished, and is therefor first to be posted.

   There's more to come, a few more clones, and one last Hobbit fanart, so keep your eyes out for that!

Sincerely, Darrion