Random-Highjinx In reply to Malleni-Stock [2014-03-12 07:34:29 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for putting up such wonderful stock!

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Random-Highjinx In reply to EveLivesey [2014-03-12 07:34:41 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for putting up such wonderful pictures! :3

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EveLivesey In reply to Random-Highjinx [2014-03-12 07:41:52 +0000 UTC]

My pleasure

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Random-Highjinx In reply to HermitCrabStock [2013-12-21 07:54:48 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome. :3

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Random-Highjinx In reply to aarondye57 [2013-11-02 14:19:28 +0000 UTC]

Awww, I'm sorry

When I moved here a couple years ago (for University) I actually wasn't sure that I would ever really like it. Everyone seemed to fall in love with it, but I was just like, "Eh..." Now that I've gotten used to it, I love it. I'll be sad when I graduate next December and head back to the states. I'm almost ready to be done though lol.

Thanks for the watch, too! :3 I appreciate it. <3

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Random-Highjinx In reply to Nanihoo [2013-10-12 01:55:27 +0000 UTC]

You are so very welcome, your style is so wonderful.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to ensombrecer [2013-10-02 08:43:52 +0000 UTC]

You are very welcome, I loved your keyboard short cuts for Adobe software. They were so lovely, but then I saw your little Death character and he won my heart lol.

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ensombrecer In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-10-02 11:20:54 +0000 UTC]

I    against technology. I'm famous   

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Random-Highjinx In reply to ensombrecer [2013-10-02 11:29:30 +0000 UTC]

Yes, yes you do. lol

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Random-Highjinx In reply to ArafelArtist [2013-09-30 02:59:09 +0000 UTC]

You are so welcome, I love it.

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ArafelArtist In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-09-30 15:40:40 +0000 UTC]

thank you

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Random-Highjinx In reply to hubert61 [2013-08-23 02:53:01 +0000 UTC]

You are welcome

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Random-Highjinx In reply to DanielleFiore [2013-07-15 11:42:58 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-12 10:06:01 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely, I really love your speed paintings and manips. They are just amazing. I was completely blown away.

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-13 00:45:54 +0000 UTC]

Thank you kindly. However, none of them are 'speed paintings' - they're usually far rougher in look & indeed, 'fast'. It's all done in Corel Painter 12 & Corel PaintShop Pro X5, which takes many hours to achieve.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-13 08:45:07 +0000 UTC]

Oh no! I feel like such a dolt!

Sorry for the mix up, I think I must have been grouping another artist in with you. Looking at your works again, previous statement remains unchanged. Your painting skills blow me away. I'm going for my BA in arts right now, but looking at your things, I definitely still have a lot to learn yet, especially for metal.

I'm a photoshop and Corel user too, though I prefer photoshop

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-13 14:42:49 +0000 UTC]

Not to worry - I sometimes get mixed up with who to thank for what, or if I have already, hahahahaha.

Thanks you kindly much obliged.

Ah, metal, yeah. Here's the trick, use a flat base colour, like copper or gold, add dark brown or even green/blue here & there to 'antique' it, maybe texture/damage to 'age' it, depending on how it should look, & then add white highlights to shine it all up in strategic areas or were light could bounce off that are still very smooth to LOOK like metal.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-14 10:49:41 +0000 UTC]

It gets a little hard to keep everyone straight sometimes. lol

You are welcome! My goodness, you have the nicest manners. That is a really lovely change of pace.

Ah, yes… highlights. Bane of my existence. Ironically, my head art Prof has been riding me lately because of my habit of actively avoiding drawing things that require high contrasty bits.

I’m going to need to remember this tip though. A friend and I are trying to make a couple of Marvel/Charlie Wen style Valkyrie for an RP. I… am a geek lol. That is actually how I found you though! I was looking for good images of Sif, Hogun, and Loki’s armor for style reference. I got distracted by your Visions of a Dark World armor lol. Unfortunately, I’m going to be going the silver/chrome metal route instead of the gold/bronze route… which will probably come back to bite me, since the gold/bronze sounds a little easier. However, her colors are going to be Dark blue and black, so silver is a better metal lol.

Oh jeeze, sorry for the ramble

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-14 18:46:29 +0000 UTC]

You're not rambling - I love chatting with other fans. I try to keep a good bond with them - like Tom - my own & those of Loki etc. But then again I have a lots of time to comment/reply on a daily base, ehehe.

I love high contrast work - especially the Chiaroscuro style - extreme dark/light. It's very expressive.

Any metal colour works on the same base, silver/chrome can also be 'polished' up that way. Silver is simply flat grey base colour; give it darker areas, grooves/dents maybe, for contrast, depth/texture, & then add extreme highlights or even ray-shine to bring it out. Chrome is less darkened up & mainly highlighted to nearly white & has little texture.

I don't do it that often since Loki's armour is golden, though I might have done a couple where it looks more silvery. Depends on the overall lighting & scene. Like this one: [link]

The problem most ppl have is not even to make metal look real, but they forget to shade things to give it depth, realism (even in simple manips) & get the perspective/proportions/lighting right to achieve a feel of basic photorealism.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-15 10:38:25 +0000 UTC]

Oh, that could be dangerous. Give me license to ramble, and I’ll take you at it lol. Though I’m actually a little late getting on the Loki fandom wagon (I’m more of a Captain America and Iron Man girl, though I have to say, I really do have a soft spot for charismatic and adorable villains ). I’ve been a fan of Hiddleston for a bit though, I think since ‘Ms Austin Regrets’, so I’m not totally out of the loop on him lol.

I loooove Chiaroscuro style (so long as I’m not the one trying to effect it lol), Caravaggio is one of my favorite painters. His depiction of Judith Beheading Holofernes is gorgeous if a bit morbid; it might just be one of his best paintings.

I think I understand the concept, it’s the execution that I suck at lmao. I’ve been working so long in flat colors that I’ve kind of lost the knack for real deep shading in digital media. My latest couple pictures took me quite a while to do, it has no metal bits, but just getting the shading down was a trip. I’m particularly proud of this one though [link] I’m getting back into the swing of it lol.

You should try your hand at tutorials, I bet you would be wonderful at them.

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-15 22:31:26 +0000 UTC]

I became aware of Tom first when they showed Wallander here on TV, & I thought, he looks nice, though I'm not into blondes at all. I loved his always-pestered Magnus, his magnetic voice. So I kept an eye on him & watched what else there was & interviews etc., & came to appreciate him as a precious person all the more. And then he appeared in Thor, totally changed, & I was like, oh yisss, NOW you look my type, & I absolutely adored his tormented Loki, the way he portrayed him so emotionally, so deeply, & the rest is history as they say.

I like Caravaggio's work & such masters, but oddly they are in fact not my fave artists, it's someone who never even did one painting in the Chiaroscuro style I so adore, & the other one is nowhere near it either with his macabre paintings. It's 'Gothic' master Caspar David Friedrich & Zdzisław Beksiński, I used in a couple of my manips as backgrounds.

I cannot stand flat colours, not even on my walls, it needs texture & good shading, some sort of 'pattern' to give it character, life - though it is of course the basis for all paintings, even texture.

Of course it's always a matter of execution, recreation, rather than getting the idea on 'how' to paint. This is where practice comes in, however, combined with natural talent to achieve a best skills level, based on observation & comparing actual objects in real surroundings, to recreate their natural 'look' more easily. Still-life work comes to mind, studies of simple objects & how they 'look', how they cast shadows etc.

Your painting is a good start, & the faint shading is fairly appropriate for the low-level lighting. Though I personally would have added slightly deeper shading, especially on the shoulder & neck for the hair falling over them, under the left forearm & legs, & on top of the blanket, since the overall lighting & her body are casting shadows naturally downwards.

I was asked before to do tutorials, but I don't really have the time for it, or WIPs. It's never the same process at any rate, not even the technique or style, though I generally start with the face, eyes - & go from there. It could be test & like, or try & discard, & then redo it a dozen times before I'm happy with just one 'bit'. I could never recreate all the steps. Not even if I started where I did with the same ideas on what to do. No brush two strokes are the same to make it look absolutely identical.

Case in point, some weeks back I did a Thor Loki & wasn't happy with the eyes at all, & wanted to come back to it fix them after I did a few other pieces. But when looked for it, I had lost it on a corrupt file along with thousands of other pictures. I was more pissed at the loss of my 'one' imperfect work though than the rest, I luckily had as copies of in contrast, so no real loss there. So I redid it recently, & suddenly the eyes were perfect first time & posted in on DA. It's never the same outcome either.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-16 10:56:25 +0000 UTC]

Oh yes, tell me about it. I like him as he is, crazy curly blonde hair and all… but the black hair really does it for me too lol. I totally know what you mean about his voice though, it was the reason I sat through a show he narrated as Darwin. Good heavens, that man. There’s a lot of praise to pass around for him lol.

Just so you know, I read through this message and was so fricken happy. You made my inner art history nerd totally overjoyed! Art History is my minor. I’m going for my BA of Arts with a minor is Art History. I have a AS in Graphic Design, which is why I’m more illustratorly than painterly, but I think you get the picture. Friedrich is lovely, but I seriously I did a little happy dance when you mentioned Beksiński, I did a paper on him for 19-21st century Realism. I have a big poster print of his painting of the person carrying a lamp and walking down the long corridor made up of hooded skeletons. My poor mum, of all the pictures in my room back in the states, it’s her least favorite lmao.

I’m trying to find better representations of my shading, but my art gallery is pitifully lacking in my traditional media works. I am marginally better in that respect. All the works I have in here now are very old, from my first degree. I fell off the face of DA until recently, and in the down time only sporadically popped back on to check on my favorite artists.

I think part of my problem with the under-shading is that I’m worried of ruining something by over-shading… if you understand my meaning. Also, it might just be that I don’t like the way it looks when I do it, which is just counterproductive considering that means I don’t practice it as much as I should *terrible art student!*

Oh, I take it back. That sounds WAY too much like me lmao. I have no patience for tutorials simply because I’m very much a tweak-as-I-go kind of person. I’ll begin laying the line work for something over a sketch, get it sorted out, then start inking. Three-fourths the way through I will realize a line isn’t really how I wanted it. ‘Fix it’ , end up ‘fixing’ other lines, re-ink… then realize I should have left the lines how they originally were. At which point, you just kind of lay your head on your desk and laugh at your own idiocy. It’s horrible lol.

Corrupted files… that should be an obscenity. I feel your pain. I’ve shed tears over corrupted files. It’s traumatizing! Severely traumatizing, I say! Embarrassingly, when my hard drive died after my Graphic Arts core classes I cried harder than when I had broken up with my boyfriend. It's ridiculous how much energy and emotion can go into a work. Even digital ones, actually, especially digital ones. With traditional media, you have a template to try and salvage with, but with digital you are left with the idea and not a whole lot else. I think I would have had a coronary if I'd lost thousands of pictures lol

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-17 04:14:12 +0000 UTC]

Hahaha, so funny, I'm sure many watched Darwin's journey just because of Tom's voice. I did, though I do like documentaries. The Red Necklace takes the cake in that respect. So many different 'voices' of Tom's in that one! 

Not many like, or even know of Beksisnki's work - it's too 'specialised'. I love it, it has a certain macabre aesthetic thats' very beautiful. Neat the details about your paper about him. What are the chances.  

I actually trained as graphic designer & studied art among other things, though I never really worked in the fields, & went into other media instead, traditional at first & now I only create in digital. 

Don't worry about over-shading, the under-shading is what makes images look unrealistic. Indeed, the process of creation is never the same, even with the same piece. I love doing shading. 

Corrupted files are a nightmare & I lost plenty stuff over the years, & the best part was, the other files on there were fine, just not the ones I NEEDED. Indeed, if you drew something on paper, chances are it will not be lost in cyberspace, but can just as well be destroyed as any other non-physical piece. That's why I have not only one copy of things these days, NOT to get a[nother] coronary for sure! 

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Random-Highjinx In reply to AdmiralDeMoy [2013-07-17 14:21:51 +0000 UTC]

I seriously wouldn't doubt it. I had to find it on my own, I had only heard a clip during class. I had that, "I know that voice!" momment lol. Found it later and watched the whole thing. I do love documentaries too, though I'm more of a ancient Iron Age history to Victorian period documentary kind of girl. I have a deep love for different races and just soak up all that cultural stuff. If Temple had a campus in Denmark, I might be there versus Japan, because that is where my family hails from and I love everything to do with my Scandinavian roots. One of the reasons why I adore the asguardians, I'm big on norse mythology

 Beksisnki has really gotten the shaft, I think. His work is incredible and his personal history even more so. That was the part that really drew me to him and made me deeply appreciate his art. I love when you can look at something through your own mind and see one thing, then, you try to put yourself in the artists mind... And the works turn into something completely different. They take on new meaning and life in a way you could never appreciate from your own personal experiences. As artists, I think with the emotion we put into our own works, the love and time, we understand different unconventional art better than the average person. We access levels of creativity and intuition that give us the unique ability to really feel through other people's art and Beksinki really gives us something to feel. 

As for the chances that we like (apparently a lot) of the same things? Very small world and great luck? Lol

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do now? You have all this talent talent and seem lovely and grounded, so I'm imagining that you have some wonderful job and do fantastic things aside from the things you show here. (I'm a romantic optimist. Can you tell? Lol) 

I think, during this next break, before fall semester starts up, I'm going to make a concentrated effort to really work on shading. I have a list of commissions to work through and a lot of personal art I want to get done. So I should have plenty of opportunities to practice Lol. Line work is my favorite part. There is just something about sketching out a picture and creating solid imagery that is like meditating for me. I hyper focus on it and everything else just goes away. It's nice sometimes.

I really learned my lesson over that hard drive with my core work on it. I now back up everything three fold. 2 hard drives and a private online storage for the really vital things. 

I hope I'm not boring you lol. You are so fun to talk with :3

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Random-Highjinx In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-18 13:23:56 +0000 UTC]

It amazes me how much we seem to have in common. It is really rare but a totally lovely and welcome surprise.

When I said I was a romantic optimist, I meant that I am inclined to hope for the best from people. I didn’t mean to imply that I was picking you apart through your art. It is something that I think comes from apparently another thing we have in common, bad health.

I am not going to say that I know how you feel. I absolutely hate it when people say that to me. The majority of people don’t really know what it is like to live with daily pain. I have an autoimmune disorder, rheumatoid arthritis. I’ve had it since I was 3. I’m 27 now and have the joints of someone well into their late thirties. Pardon my language, but it is a really fucking awful deal to have your body give out and fail you.

I am in Japan in part because of that reason. Others have the luxury of saying ‘Someday I will…’ but I don’t. My body is already giving out on me, by the time I get to retire I won’t be able to do anything with the time and freedom that comes with it. It’s why I write and draw all the time. I think there is an interview or panel somewhere, maybe comic-con, that Hiddleston told the audience that acting is getting the privilege of living someone else’s life for a short period of time. That is what art is for me, it is story making. So, I don’t think my style reflects me as yours does you. If mine reflected anything about me, it might be confusion. My style is erratic at best lol.

On a happier note and possibly a little creepy on my part, but hey, it’s only 10 PM and my day isn’t complete until I make someone a little uncomfortable. I could seriously read messages from you forever Reading you write about yourself is pretty close to reading poetry.  You have a nice way of turning a phrase. Also, I knew you weren’t my age. I saw the picture of you with Brent Spiner, which turned me a little green with jealousy. My dad is a Star Trek fan, so I grew up with it. I’m dying to know how you got that jacket. Also… your name. AdmiralDeMoy? Is there any meaning/story behind it?

Am I at least entertaining you? Lol

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AdmiralDeMoy In reply to Random-Highjinx [2013-07-18 05:53:48 +0000 UTC]

I love watching history docs in general, arts & culture shows. My fave re mythology is in fact Norse too, & of that, Loki, long before Tom-Loki ever graced us with his presence & Marvel changed it all around. I love oriental studies, mostly Chinese, its ancient culture/arts, & Gothic/neogothic Victorian eras & art. Not sure where my roots originate, but they might just lie in the Far East before they planted seeds over here & sprouted arabesque wings of Gothic ornamentations. 

I fully agree on your Beksinski paragraph. He is an acquired taste to be sure, & I do love his unique art, it has a certain macabre beauty to it, not everyone can appreciate, 'feel'. He's the best example of how someone can create a certain style within a genre, & is nothing remotely 'like' it, a mistake most ppl make when looking at artwork. He was nowhere near any dark & gloomy skeleton-obsessed soul. His end is tragically fitting the subject matter, though. Artists in general are reflected in their work, somehow, their inner worlds, tastes are exposed, no matter the genre, expressed in a certain style, or subject matter, but then again might have nothing remotely in common with any of it. See Beksinski. 

Which brings me to your next thought, of course when an outsider regards an artwork, s/he sees it from their POV, mostly subjectively, based on their life, taste, dislikes etc., being artistically skilled or not - though another artist might appreciate more the process & technique rather than finished work objectively, understand it better indeed, 'feel' it - & when ppl or even artists try to see if though the other artist's eyes, it indeed would seldom be identical even within the same genre. And then again there are artists who just create & leave it to the beholder how to 'see', interpret it, without 'telling' them, 'what' to see. And each of them again in turn would see something entirely different. 

So let us spin this further, re myself. My work has a certain style, be it completely without any fancy colouring & extra highlights, or added lashes/hair & extreme contrast/shine, it's uniquely 'me'. Which for one might give away what I 'like', not only the subject matter, but long lashes/hair, strong colours/shine. That could be considered as a reflection of my inner world, however you might want to interpret it, project a certain 'me', which in your mind is someone who has a 'wonderful job' & does 'fantastic things'. So you have constructed a 'me' based on my work as seen, interpreted from your POV. Others might naturally come up with someone entirely different despite seeing the same, even interpreting it the same. 

Now, technically the high dark/light contrast style should belie a 'shiny colourful' life, & I should rather be painting dark Gothic Friedrich landscapes filled with pained skeletal Beksinski creatures. For one, not only because I mentioned them as my most fave artists, when in fact all I do is 'shiny portraiture' of beautiful men with long locks, but for two, & this is where it all falls flat, I'm early retired (due to health reasons & far older than what most ppl would expect) & don't do anything 'fantastic' other than paint & spend most of my time online or with friends, not even a current partner. In that case my 'romantic' art utterly fooled you - reflected something not at all 'part' of me, but merely reflecting my 'likes', as a symbolic expression that is utterly detached from my physical existence.

I don't do line work at all, never sketch out anything. My 'meditation' is sitting at my computer for many hours on end till I might fall asleep over it in even greater pain, & start at the most important part, the face & eyes, & go from there. I basically torture myself for my art in literal terms sometimes & could do so for days one end without ever leaving my house, or at times even eating. But it's all good, I don't 'suffer' it, or I'd stop doing it. But I love doing it, I need doing it, & could never not do it. I'd wither. It's not a drug, it's my way of life I deliberately chose & am very happy with. Give or take the daily pain I cannot escape. So in that case my art indeed is a projection of 'myself' to a degree, the high contrast - physical pain - & highlights/colours - mental state. The dark/light, Yin & Yang, to balance both out. 

And no, you're not boring me - I'm never bored. 

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Random-Highjinx In reply to SanityTheory [2013-04-12 06:30:54 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome! <3

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Random-Highjinx In reply to RobShields [2013-02-08 08:50:08 +0000 UTC]

You are very welcome, your work is so beautiful.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to Wincey [2013-01-13 05:51:32 +0000 UTC]

You are most welcome, I enjoy your pictures

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Random-Highjinx In reply to INVIV0 [2013-01-08 22:19:43 +0000 UTC]

You are welcome, your pictures are beautiful.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to SARETTA1 [2012-09-26 03:51:31 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome

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Random-Highjinx In reply to boldfrontiers [2012-04-05 11:05:21 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely, I love your photos. They are stunning.

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Random-Highjinx In reply to SuSu-Chii [2012-01-16 09:38:22 +0000 UTC]

Not too bad, busyish. How about you?

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