Art Archive The art of Cheveyo - fan art: UPDATE 4/10 - originals comparison

Hi everyone. I've begun this new thread in the hopes of actually keeping it alive and going. That means I have to post new stuff, doesn't it.

Let's begin with a showcase of some old favorites. Many of these have been retouched (because I'm a perfectionist to a fault--or as my boss says: "I'm a little too meticulous") in Paint Shop Pro, but I'm happy with the results. I hope you are too.

I suppose, since this is acting as my archive, that we should begin in chronological order, with my first SW artworks:

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/bhunter1.jpg]
"Terminal Injury" (haha, get it?) This was my first Star Wars RPG character illustration, for my character, Kryss, a bounty hunter. He was drawn in markers and Prismacolor pencils, with a graphite background.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/bhunter2.jpg]
Originally called "Guarding the Bounty", and now simply, "The Smuggler", This was my friends character in the RPG game we played. She was drawn in the same process as "Terminal Injury", and it should be noted that these two have managed to evade any post-production re-touch. That says something, considering they were both drawn in 1997.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/devery.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/devery.jpg]
This was my first Jedi, he became my alter ego on every SW site I played on. He was originally drawn in the same manner as the first two, markers and oil-based colored pencils, but he (or more to the point, his lightsaber) was one reason I began looking into digital art and painting. Originally drawn in 1998 (I think), he has gone through several digital touch-ups, the latest being just this year (in January) with new painting techniques learned while painting "Jacen Solo - Betrayal" (see below).

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/kyle.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/kyle.jpg]
Admittedly, this drawing was what put me over the top in looking for painting software. The red blade just didn't go down well in colored pencil. This is Kyle, another SW RPG character. He was the last Star Wars character (unofficially*) to be drawn with markers/colored pencils. He was also very recently retouched in the face.

This marks the end of one serious, if I were to break them up into media and style, so this is a logical place to end the post before it gets too terribly long. I'll post the next batch in a bit.

* There was one other character I did for a friend, but I have since repainted her to be just a girl.

 

My next series could be not-so-jokingly labeled "office doodles", because they each were drawn during slow periods at the office in 2001-2002.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/prryo.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/prryo.jpg]
My first in this batch seriously began as a curious graphite sketch of how I imagined my cat would look if he were a Jedi in the Star Wars universe. He was also the first to be drawn entirely in graphite, and then (some time later, after I'd bought Photoshop) digitally painted. This is his final draft, having been retouched several times and ultimately entirely repainted. And no, my cat has neither blue fur nor hooves.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/kaatje.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/kaatje.jpg]
"Kaatje Tolwyn" was my favorite for the longest time. Another office graphite sketch turned digital paint job, I quite accidentally captured what I still think is the best lightsaber highlighting (off her forward calf) I've ever done. Like "Prryo" the quasi-cat Jedi above, she has been retouched, and was twice repainted. The last time was in Paint Shop Pro, which replaced my by then antiquated Photoshop version.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/tinrael.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/tinrael.jpg]
The Ithorian Jedi Master "Tin Rael", drawn in the same method (graphite on paper, then scanned and painted), has probably gone through the most revisions. This FINAL final version is even different than the original final version used in the Fan Art Banner at top left. Go figure.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/betrayed.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/betrayed.jpg]
The last drawing in this series was the last I was able to start and complete at work. This was also the first piece I'd completed in a very long time that showed an interaction (of sorts?) between characters. Until this point, I had focused much of my attention (obviously - see above) on single characters on a page.

More to come...

 

WOW, those are just lovely. Great poses and characters all of them. And with digital art you can change the pictures just as easy as with old fashioned oilpaint.

 

Easier! You don't have to wait for the paint to dry.

 

Absolutely beautiful stuff Fantastic to see you start this thread, and hopefully yes, more new stuff? All your old stuff is so fabulous that with your improvements it will be ... awesome !

(though my favorite is still your Jacen kyaaaaa so beautiful, I put it on my wall !)

I know what you mean, wanting to get details perfect, I have to force myself to leave it alone lol

By the way, I'm intruiged... what's a Founding Father?
And please forgive me being really stupid, but that means you're male? I only ask because your Jacen Solo was so beautiful and had so much attention to detail - a labour of love obviously - that I thought you might be female

eagerly waiting for more ^___^

 

*nudge, nudge*

But I LOVE to wait for the paint to dry, because then I can do other things just as do the flat, taking care of my husband, preparing lessons, catching up with university deadlines, try to keep our social life going...

Waiting for paint to dry is like the advert break doing a movie on TV or during a TV series... you have time for something totally different...

Anyway, thanks for posting in this thread again and showing us what for great things can be achieved.

 

That's quite all right. It's very easy to lose your gender identity in a web forum, especially on websites where you use outlandish user names.

The Founding Fathers is an organization dedicated to ending domestic violence against women and children. You can learn more about it at www.founding-fathers.org. I also did a write up on it back in 2006 on my blog.

Oh sure, if you want to actually get anything else done. Pffft.

 

Not always waiting for the paint to get dry. Wet paint is usable too, getting the nice colours and layers in my paintings.

 

"...office doodles...?!" **shakes head in disbelief** If I could doodle like that, I'd have a professional art gig someplace! lol!

Welcome back to the forum, Cheveyo, my friend! **Wookiee-hugs** It's absolutely the best kind of surprise, to see your work here again (I had been reduced to going back and prowling through your old thread to see your stuff from time to time!). I can't believe you managed to "doodle" the most recent stuff--man, it's every bit as good as your earlier work: all the terrific details, figures, light and shadowing, drapery... **sighs jealously** "Guarding the Bounty" is still such a great piece--such great costuming, pose and composition...but then, ALL of your work boasts those qualities! I love all of it, and am just so delighted to see you posting again! Warmest of "welcome-back!"

FF

 

Your work on cloth-folds and lighting is as superb as always.

 

Amazing!!! I love all of them. You have a fantastic way with folds of clothing.

- Serena

 

QFT

All of these are amazing, but I especially love your cat-Jedi. I don't know where the hooves came from, but they really work for the character. Can't wait to see more.

 

Well, "doodles" in that I started with a blank piece of paper and had no idea what I was going to have until it was pretty well finished, and that it began as something to keep my hands busy while at work (at the time I worked in a call center, and we had some slow periods back then). Great to see you again, and thanks for the warm [re]welcome!

Soits and Serena, thank you. Fabric lay and shading was one of the few things I got out of college art courses. We did entire week-long studies on bedsheets tacked to the wall.

Tarsier, I have no idea why the hooves appeared, but they had something to do with designing the reverse-articulated legs. I think maybe when I started drawing the legs, I got the image of a goat in my head. hehe

My next series is kind of an "in-between" group. These are drawings I did both at work and home, but they're kind of a hodge-podge of subjects and styles.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/laren.jpg]
"Laren" was the last Jedi I drew for a little while, using the same techniques as before. I flubbed the graphite drawing pretty badly, and had to use Paint Shop Pro to fix.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/intruder.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/intruder.jpg]
"Intruder" was the first non-Jedi Star Wars art I'd done in a while. I drafted it for the sequel to one of my fat fictions, but never used it (and never finished the story).

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/awingIntercept.jpg]
"A-Wing Intercept" began as another doodle. Years later, I decided to do something with it and digitally "inked" it. Like the others, it was drawn in graphite first.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/jedibendu.jpg]
I wanted to draw another Jedi, but -- having read all of the original Knights of the Old Republic comics (the story of Ulic Qel Droma and Exar Kun), I wanted to draw how I envisioned the first Jedi Knights; the so-called Bendu Monks. This is that rendition.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/sage.jpg]
And rounding out this series is an acrylic painting I did in 2002 of how I saw the character Devery (Cheveyo) years later. He's a little more sage-like, less demonstrative and brash.

 

Ooooo, very nice ^____^
I love your idea of what the founders of the Jedi would look like, he looks egyptain ^^ It fits with them being very "religious" and maybe looking at the Force as a sort of God.

Can't wait to see some more !

 

Thank you, Kiyuuchan. It was tough trying to come up with an "pre-ancient" look for a monk of that era. I have more ideas (different than that one) that I would love to flesh out one day.

Thanks, HS! Hopefully in this next batch I'll be showing a couple you haven't seen... then again maybe not. lol

And speaking of which... On to the next series. This will be the last "batch" post.

[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/espionage.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/espionage.jpg] Ha! Gotcha!!
We'll start with this graphite drawing called "Espionage". I must add the caveat that this may not be complete. I've begun digitally painting it a couple of times, but always abandon it in favor of the original. My current thoughts are leading me down a more monochromatic Star Wars Noir style. What that would look like, exactly... I have no clue yet.

[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/portrait1.jpg]
This was one of my first all-digital paintings, derived (as you can tell) from a marketing photo of Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan from Episode 3. This was done in Paint Shop Pro 9 (PSP9), using the oil paintbrush tool. While I enjoyed the look and feel of the tool, I've since abandoned it...for now.

[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/vaderborn.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/vaderborn.jpg]
This was a graphite drawing I did for one of this forum's Art Challenges. It took a couple years to get around to it, but I finally painted it in PSP9. A fun fact: in the original drawing, nothing behind Vader existed. That was all painted digitally.

[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/jediVsith01.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/jediVsith01.jpg] (this is the original digital painting done in an oil style.)
This is another all-digital paint job I did, using a screen capture from the game Jedi Knight as a reference. It was originally painted (again in PSP9 with the oil brush tool) a year or so ago, and the result was a pretty messy....uh...well, mess. With that tool I couldn't get teh detail I wanted, even though I captured some great color blends. I went back a couple months ago and repainted it using the same technique I'd unearthed while painting Jacen (see below), and this is teh end result.

And finally:
[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/jacensolo_betrayal.jpg]... and the original: [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/jacensolo.jpg]
This piece took me back to the method I have grown to love the most, drawing first in graphite, then painting in PSP9. This time, though, I used a more paint-like method over my previous inking method. Essentially, I used the graphite drawing as a model, and then painted the color and shades just as you would with true paint. The only different was that I did not use the actual paint tools. In case you hadn't already guessed (or read in the Art Challenge thread), this is Jacen Solo, circa "Legacy of the Jedi: Betrayal"

This catches you all up on my Star Wars fan art. I have several drawings and sketches scanned in to play with, including a second Jedi vs Sith piece and a female Zeltron Jedi . Also, I have rough sketches lined up for four EU Characters from the book Betrayed: The human Jedi Nelani Dinn, the Bothan Jedi Kolir Hu'lya, and the Falleen Jedi Thann Mithric. Oh yes... and Ben Skywalker.

I'll post them as I have them...

 

You know--I'm totally with HanSolo29 on how fresh your work still looks, even though I've seen some of them previously--I think a lot of it has to do with how much detail, dramatic lighting and texture you lavish on your drawings/paintings: there's so much to each and every one, and each has a palpable mood and feel to it--like we're viewing a snippet from a fantastic movie, or an illustration from a gripping novel (...of course, some ARE novel/book/narrative illos!)... I'm so happy to see this wonderful gallery again, and especially all the new work; I'm rabid (and I mean that, too!) to see your interpretation of Ben Skywalker, and of the other EU-era Jedi...Nelani is one that's going to generate a LOT of buzz, I can guarantee you that! Wonderful work, my friend (that one of Obi Wan is great! )--the older, and the new... **drools on the Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus piece some more**

FF

 

Thanks, FF. I hope I can live up to your expectations! lol

I thought I'd show you all a few of Star Wars "sneak peeks" from my W.I.P. file:

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/WIP/falleenJedi.jpg]
Here is the incredibly rough rough draft of Thann Mithric, the Falleen Jedi. Picture him more... well... more.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/WIP/zeltron_jedi_apprentice.jpg]
Then we have little more refined detail her on this Zeltron Jedi Apprentice.

[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/WIP/jediVsith02.jpg]
And last, we have the beginning color work on the second Jedi vs Sith piece, colored and shaded entirely in PSP.

As I'm looking at these images, I'm wondering, would any of you be interested in seeing the graphite drawings of my gallery images above? If so, I can add them beside each of the finals for you to compare.

 

wow! all of your pieces are truly amazing. I especially like the Vader and the Jacen Solo pieces.

 

You've acquired another fan.

These drawings are fantastic! Great work on all of them.

 

Whoah, I'm so glad I found your art! I just LOVE your use of colour and contrast--it's really well done! Your paintings literally pop off the screen, and they're so energetic as well! Huge respect--along with a little bit of envy--to you! I'll definitely keep an eye on your thread, looking forward to the new pieces!

 

Dear Cheveyo, I feel like Han waking up from his forced hibernation in Karbonite. A couple of busy school days and I miss great art pieces like

[image=http://www.brettanilsson.com/art/vaderborn.jpg]

FF is right and Han, too, when they praise you for your use of light, dark and colour. It's a perfect mixture and gives all a very deep emotional dimension.

 

QueenMother_LK: Thank you, I think those are some of my favorites, too. Vader, especially.

Ceillean: hehe, thanks! It means a lot that you like my work. As a self-proclaimed fan, you do realize it's your job now to critique so that I don't start slipping!

Iverna: I credit the digital side of the process for the "pop". Without it, I couldn't make these as dramatic as I see them in my head. That tells me I have lots of room for improvement, too. That's ALWAYS a good thing. Thank you for watching!

AzureAngel2: Thank you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I seem to have starte da trend in my work of using darker and darker backgrounds. By the time I did Jacen, it was just all black. I think that helps me bring out the most dramatic contrasts. It's also the best way to highlight a lightsaber!

---

I just loaded some of the [b]original drawings/versions[/b] next to the final pieces to compare/contrast. Now that you've all seen the finals, I think it's important to point out how they began.

Also, I realized that I had passed up one of my favorite OC Jedi:
[image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/maandahChehn.jpg]... [b][color=red] and the original:[/color][/b] [image=http://brettanilsson.com/art/originals/maandahChehn.jpg]
Ma'andah Chen was drawn about the same time I did "Intruder" (see above). As you can see from the original, she was drawn in graphite before getting a digital work-up. Fun fact: Before Jacen, I think this was the only Jedi I had drawn without her saber lit.

 

You are a real master in graphite and digital art.

Lovely all of them and Vader tinkering with his mask was stunning

 

Astounding. Just...astounding. Great work.