Legacy LD5

Hi folks, RipRoarRex here with the fifth picture of my new batch of artwork.


Anyone following my work for the past few years might have noticed that a New Years Eve submission almost seems to be a tradition for me. Perhaps it's because I like having a piece of work with which to sign off the year, or perhaps it's because I like having a convenient annual marker for how my art has developed over the preceding twelve months. In any case, in a bit of a change of pace, back in December I decided to ring in 2011 with something that warms the heart.

I very rarely tend to do pictures like this. True, my work is usually primarily centred on satisfying libido, hence I seldom create a picture which does not seek this end. However, as a picture with which to finish off the year, it seemed an ideal time to try something different.

Due to the content of much of my gallery, I guess most people see Rexar as a cruel, sadistic beast. Sure, that persona works for the fetish stuff, but these days, that is not actually how I imagine him most of the time. I much prefer to imagine him as a sweet and gentle lover; a protective, reassuring presence. I've tended to explore this side in a sexual capacity in my previous work with Rexar and Mike, but I've also tried to offer glimpses of what is, deep down, a simple and innocent love between them. That idea is what I wanted to try and get across with this picture - and at the same time, try pushing some new artistic boundaries of my own.

I wouldn't say it's really the best piece of work I've done - it's been a long time since I tried the whole lineless, photorealistic look, and I don't really feel I've pulled it off that well with this one compared to some previous efforts. Admittedly, I've always felt that I colour far better than I draw - I can colour something as realistically as I like, but its realism is always hampered by crude, cartoonish linework. But that wasn't my priority here - I was striving to make the characters more believable, to make their interaction and their warmth seem tangible. I'm not sure I achieved it, but hopefully others will interpret it in the way I had intended.


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"Okay, Mike. You win. Just one more hour."





RRRex

Very nice, but is it me, or does the white highlighting on Rexar's scales look a little too...chalky? Like he's been powdered.

Dunno about the 'chalky' look, although there is some inconsistency in the lightness of the scales. I had a bit of trouble with my texturing in places - my tablet has a bit of a habit of skipping occasionally when I'm holding a brush down, and whenever it did so, it would leave a heavy splodge wherever it started again. Annoying, but not worth undoing loads of work to fix.

Thanks anyway, Dino!

"Sweet and gentle lover."

Riiiiiight. Your artwork is sound, your logic is not. It's not your fault, though. Invoking these specific feelings through true mature artwork (emotionally, not sexually) is the hardest. It would take much more than this to retcon the years spent drawing Rexar as fierce and ruthless.

What's this problem you're encountering?

If it jitters, you can go into the tablet properties, double click the tablet icon, and choose standard mode/recognition data--whichever one you haven't chosen. That should fix it.

Doesn't look as 'chalky' on my home monitor. Seems to be more an effect on my laputopu...

Heh - well that's probably where I differ to everyone else. I've had the benefit of imagining Rexar like this most of the time, unlike other people who only see the stomplusty evil side that I have depicted most often in the past. Probably just as well that I don't think anyone will see him in quite the same way I do.






I'm not sure what model of tablet you must be referring to? I have a Wacom Bamboo and I can't locate any settings or dialog like that?

In any case, I'm not sure it's jitters - I think it's more that my old PC (which I did this on) was so slow that it wasn't processing it properly, so I wouldn't actually see the realtime results of what I was drawing/brushing; it would keep skipping instead.

Hopefully not a problem I will suffer from hereon...




Might be a contrast thing, but I wouldn't say anyone's monitor configuration is right or wrong, or how anyone interprets the picture. Seems okay to me, but it might look weird to others.