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MGMags — Snapshot
Published: 2008-11-12 03:17:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 6842; Favourites: 168; Downloads: 55
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Description
Here's an illustration I did for Illmatar (then best friend, now wife) way back in 1997 before the Rochester BotCon. It's the main characters from her "Maelstrom" fanfic. It's dark and gritty and enthralling.If you're interested, you can check out her story and artwork at her own DA page. [link]
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Comments: 70
Wow, this is really good. Though it looks like Optimus is about to fall asleep.
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It's more like he's embarrassed.
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Sorry for the late reply. Thank you.
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No worries. It's all cool. And you're welcome.
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Oh wow, the colouring and expressions look really great! Awesome pic!
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Thanks again for the comments and 
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Oh, you're very welcome. I liked the pic very much^^ It certainly deserved the
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Forgot to ask, what medium did you use? *squints trying to see* I'm probably wrong but it looks like marker and pencil shading for the background.
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I've had a few people think it's markers but the whole thing is actually pencil color in several layers. The only marker used was for the black outline.
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I thought so - but it's so solid - that must have taken you... well quite awhile. I heart heart heart colored pencils. It's one of the only mediums that I'm on the way to mastering
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I worked really fast on it to get it done in time for our road trip to BotCon. The night before we left on the trip I was up all night finishing it - I slept in the car. 
As for pencil colors... I love them. It was one of the first mediums I ever worked with. I'm not anywhere as good as I'd like to be and I haven't done something in pencil colors in a LONG time... Photoshop has taken over - plus I NEED my drawing/drafting desk to work with them and it's in our office which lacks a tv at the moment... I must work with background noise on.
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Well I always want to be better at colored pencils but compared to where I was with them (white showing in the middle - eck!) to "Tortured Magnus" - it's great ^^!
All night o.o;; woah. Yeah colored pencils was my first too. Are you any good with black and white? While I find ease with colored pencils, I find absolute frustration with B/W. As my Drawing I professor put "this looks like chicken scratches." 
As for Photoshop... I'm still trying to figure that out. I just don't get how you blend the colors - when I do it, it looks like blotches of color. *grumble* Someone in college told me I have to do layers.... thanks for the tip that is SO very help (heavy sarcasm).
Anyhow... here I go, yammering your "ear" off. I shall return to my scanning duties.
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I love working in B/W. (check out the drawing folders in my gallery) I got a lot better at B/W after I started using graphite pencils (they rock!) and then my figure drawing professor got me to brave compressed charcoal.
As for Photoshop questions send me or notes when you have questions and we can try to help you. i'll send you a note in a moment.
No worries about "talking my ear off."
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Isn't graphite pencils a lot of using your finger? Kinda like pastels?
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Oh no... some people can do effects that way but you don't have to. No, graphite pencils are lead pencils but the lead has different degrees of softness - from 8B or 6B (the softest therefore the easiest to get great dark lines or shading) to 8H or 6H (the hardest grade of lead and makes light marks easier). School pencils are 2B. You can buy a set in a box, they aren't expensive, look in the drawing section at craft stores if there aren't art supply stores nearby.
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um... derrrrrrrr....
That's what I use yes. I still have the box that I used in Drawing I and Drawing II. But like I said, I get very frustrated because it just NEVER comes out the way I wanted to
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LOL! Really? I found them easy to use but it took a while to get used to switching pencils.
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You know that could be my problem. I was never taught to use different pencils, I just use one. I was basically told "if you want it lighter, use a H - the higher the H number the lighter it is. If you want it darker, use a B." That's good info, but doesn't really tell me when I should switch. Is it just personal preference? *glowers at my useless college*
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Well, kind of is personal preference. My professor said basically if you're trying to achieve a certain range start with your lightest grade graphite. When you start trying to work on a darker part and the pencil you have is no longer "getting there" without you putting additional pressure on the pencil with your own hand, switch to the next immediate grade. (In other words the pressure you exert on the pencil should always be your normal drawing pressure.) Keep switching grades that way and build your drawing up slowly. As you practice this you'll start to get a feel for the different grades and what you need to switch to for each drawing.
Hope that helps.
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Oh wow, that does help a lot. See that's a simple instruction - you shouldn't have to press hard on your pencil. So it IS kinda like colored pencils with the changing pencils. I'll have to try that. Thanks again Mr. Art teacher
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LOL! I'm not the art teacher. That's
In general, any art tool that functions as pencils do will follow this similar premise. Really, as I'm thinking about it the only tools I can think of that requires changes in hand pressure are charcoal and maybe pastels.
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I knooow - But you're teaching me art, so I'm calling you art teacher
Charcoal is for sure about the pressure. I love pastels ^_^
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I've never had a real chance to explore pastels. I've only used them like twice.
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well funny story about that. I was annoyed that neither drawing professor or anyone else every showed me pastels. So I was watching the high school students, during my student teaching, use pastels. I said - wow this is kinda like colored pencils only more messy and you can blend them. So I said, enough, I'm going to try. So I took a pastel paper and started drawing a banana, it came out so well, I started doing grapes. Well I ended up doing a whole picnic scene myself.
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heh, I remember them being messy... last time I tried them was... 7-8 yrs ago? LONG time....
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It's even better up close! I can see all the humans now! Wow, that is just so cool, I love Mag's pose and smirk. This reminds of those anime group poses that the whole bunch of characters of the anime come together to pose for the picture even though they all hate each other lol.
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Ah! Thought so ^^ And that definitely is coming across well. It explains why Opti is "pressing the bridge of his nose irritably." Hehe.
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^_^ It's good to have one of those pics around. When I'm in a bad mood I pop in "Coming to America" to get a smile on. "Imagine a country so free one can throw trash on the street!" LoL!
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I need to see one of those movies. There are references everywhere online. Never seen any of them.
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Oh they are a HOOT! See them!
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I love the human on Magnus's shoulder, pretty much mimicking his pose. And Elita and the bunny ears, with Prime's whole "Oh Primus" reaction has me in stitches, lol!
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Thanks.
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The perfect counterpart to the noble, quiet Optimus Prime
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Let me guess...Optimus has his hand over his face 'cause Elita is giving Rodimus rabbit ears! I just about died laughing when I saw that that was what she was doing! She's all straight faced, like she's not doing anything but standing there! This is a great drawing! The shading is excellent! You make that colored pencil look almost digital, it's so good! No wonder people were offering to buy it at Botcon.
I take it the human on Magnus's shoulder is Marissa Fairborne...Who is the one on Jazz's shoulder (she looks like she's laughing at Roddi)? And the one in front of Roddi's leg...Is that Lancer?
Excellent stuff!
Oh, and I'm from Florida too. I am amazed at how many FL residents I run into on this site, and, subsequently, fanfiction.net. Must be the hurricanes driving us mad enough to post crazy stuff...Hmmm...hurricanes...
--
"I said I wanted forever, Ironhide, not for you to take forever!" Chromia in 'What Time We Have Left' by Hearts of Eternity on fanfiction.net (ThornQueen on dA)
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Thanks for the compliments! Pencil work and pencil colors were the first mediums I ever worked with so that's where my comfort level is.
Yeah, Op is mostly reacting to Elita but also the group is being silly in general. You got Marissa and Lancer right. The other human us K.C., she is Perceptor's lab assistant.
Another Floridian, huh? Native Floridian? (An rare sort 
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Ah...K.C.
My husband is native Floridian. I am actually from Alabama...but Gulf Shores, AL...I mean, seriously, can one truly call that Alabama? It's all the same beach... Of course, there are many Floridians who like to say that the panhandle is simply an extension of Alabama, so I guess it depends on the perspective. As an Archaeologist, I like to say it was ALL part of Florida at one point in time
EEKS, Andrew!
I like hurricanes too, actually
Eh, I have fun with hurricanes, keeping a healthy respect for them. This year I had waaaaay too much fun taking pictures of an Ironhide toy from the 2007 Transformers movie out on the beach during both Gustav and Ivan...*snort*
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LOL. Perspective is everything. I was just reading the comments on illmatar's journal (about the space shuttle launch) and I got the impression your husband is in the military. Are you guys near Pensacola? We drove through there this summer (and through AL & LA & MS & TX...) on our way to Arizona. I thought the panhandle was beautiful! I had never been to that part of Florida before.
Hurricane David is the first one I can recall. There were a few others but then there was Andrew - we spent 3 hours bracing against a glass sliding door to keep it from popping off it's track. Not a fun night. I still remember the anxiety from watching the radar images and still not being able to look away. Mother Nature's power is fascinating. Luckily no one in my family got hurt or lost anything. I volunteered on the supply caravans down to Homestead AFB and I couldn't believe the devastation. It was very surreal...
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