Midorisa's art thread

[Midorisa]

So here it is at last, I'm starting this art thread I've thought starting for a long time. Thanks belongs to LoonyBob and a couple of other nice people who suggested I did this!
I'll be posting mainly Final Fantasy related fan art, at least for now. Let see how things get going :). For my history as an artist, I briefly could say that I have always liked to draw but it really got me hooked again for real about two years ago. The more I do it the more serious I've come to be with it, and I'm striving to be always better, technically and in all ways.

I'll start by posting the paintings I have right now on my deviantart site as well, and I'll try and update this as often as I update my gallery in devianart.

Here's the first one, going from oldest to the newest:
63021 So its Ruby from FFIX :).

Second:

63022 Some more action with this, Vincent from FFVII.


That's that for now, I'll post more soon, I just wanted to get this thing started. I appreciate all the feedback and support :blush:.

[Vyk]

If there was a "Like" button, I'd currently be spamming it for you :P

[Pete for President]

Those are both really awesome!

[Midorisa]

If there was a "Like" button, I'd currently be spamming it for you :P


Hahha :D. Thank you!

[Midorisa]

Those are both really awesome!

Thank you! I do my best :D

[Midorisa]

This time with traditional media with inks and watercolors, done in early winter/fall 2014:

63065

And this is from the Xmast holidays 2014 I spent in the countryside (in the middle of nowhere).
63066

Right now I'm trying to work myself out of a little art block I've been suffering of for some time now. It's would be great to get all my unfinished FF pieces done, as when I've been counting that there are at least 5 or more of them at the moment, some of them almost done. But anyways, thank you for interest!:blush:

[Fynn]

This is all jaw-grippingly gorgeous!

[Midorisa]

This is all jaw-grippingly gorgeous!

Thank you very much!:blush:

[Freya]

Holy moley! You're awesome. I really like how you captured the art of IX with the ruby picture. Awesome job!

[Loony BoB]

This is all rubbish and horrible, Midorisa, if that is your real name.

;)

jkjk I <3 your art as ever :D And yay, you made a thread! :D

[Yew-Yevon]

Damn! Your Vincent looks like Alucard. Awesome :D

[Midorisa]

This is all rubbish and horrible, Midorisa, if that is your real name.

;)

jkjk I <3 your art as ever :D And yay, you made a thread! :D

You had my heart jump for a tiny moment there xD. I suppose that would have been one kind of feedback also, so yeah :lol:

[Midorisa]

Damn! Your Vincent looks like Alucard. Awesome :D

Yeah well in some ways it kinda does, as those characters have quite the same design, the black/read colors and a gun as a weapon etc :D. And I've watched Hellsing but it has been really many years ago :D. Alucard is quite badass tho :cool:

[Midorisa]

Holy moley! You're awesome. I really like how you captured the art of IX with the ruby picture. Awesome job!

Thank you! I really like the more stylized characters in FFIX, the art style is not realistic but it fits the game so well and looks good :). The art is one of my favorite things in that game, as it really is nice that they made it look really different from the more realistically proportioned characters in FFVIII for example. :)

[Midorisa]

63137

This is one of the works that I had for ages on my Pc. As I had some bad art block eating my inspiration, I had been more inactive for a couple of months or so. I'm still not over it completely, but I've no longer difficulties that much with it. I'm still searching my own style in a sense, the way that feels it's mine somewhat. I really want to bring more colors into my work, build the sense of depth and develop my pieces as a whole, with composition, color theory and balance and finding the style that fits me the best. The wish for more colors is showing here, as in some point I just got tired of it being so plain and somewhat stiff and dull, so i just started to put some really rough brush strokes and putting in complimentary colors.:)

[Vyk]

Still fantastic :} I'm gonna take a shot in the dark that either Kuja is one of your favorite characters, or he's one of your favorite to do art with. But with all the feathers and flair, there is definitely a lot of room for the experimentation you're looking for

[Egami]

That's some really nice work Midorisa! The one of Ruby looks great, really...just what was Zidane thinking when he went with Garnet? Oh wait...he wasn't! :p

[Midorisa]

Still fantastic :} I'm gonna take a shot in the dark that either Kuja is one of your favorite characters, or he's one of your favorite to do art with. But with all the feathers and flair, there is definitely a lot of room for the experimentation you're looking for

Thank you! Well I think he is one of the many, one reason I have many drawings of him is that I started many at the same time and thought I just experiment and won't publish any of them. So it's partly coincidence too. I Like his design, colors and the shapes and clothing. I also like the androgynous aspects in characters in general, so it's one of the reasons. I like feathers also, so his design include many things I like :D.

[Midorisa]

That's some really nice work Midorisa! The one of Ruby looks great, really...just what was Zidane thinking when he went with Garnet? Oh wait...he wasn't! :p

Thank you so much! I know right? :D Both are beautiful in a very different way. Maybe it was her quite unusual, artistic personality :D. I happen to like Rybys clothes and her colors a tiny bit more, and personally I liked Amanos design for Dagger more than the simplified(still a good one though), they used in the game. It's because I like details, and jewelry. But despite that Dagger is one of my favorite female characters, she isn't annoyingly girlish in a way I suppose, even if she is a princess and all.

[Midorisa]

So, speaking of Dagger, here's some new art from FFIX again:
http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65370&stc=1

It's been a while I drew a female and I wanted to try and do a proper portrait of her. Next I try and to finish Tifa/Coud Nibelheim group FFVII portrait, and some traditional sketches also. I also wanted to be quite faithful to the original art style of the game with this. Thank you all for the interest!:)

[Egami]

That is quite beautiful Midorisa! Now I can't wait to see your rendition of Cloud and Tifa :D

Just wondering about this particualr one...the eyes...did you make them that way (looking rather innocent) for some particular reason? I ask because the look Dagger gives Zidane during the scene has this "mischevous" thing going on...

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ohi7SHCb1r8sq0so1_500.gif

[Midorisa]

That is quite beautiful Midorisa! Now I can't wait to see your rendition of Cloud and Tifa :D

Just wondering about this particualr one...the eyes...did you make them that way (looking rather innocent) for some particular reason? I ask because the look Dagger gives Zidane during the scene has this "mischevous" thing going on...

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ohi7SHCb1r8sq0so1_500.gif


Thank you! Well, the reason is that this isn't from that particular cinematic moment exactly, at least I didn't though about like doing it looking exactly the same. Maybe next time I do it from a certain moment, and put some more emotion to her expression like in the actual video. This started from the idea that I liked her outfit, the white mage robe she is wearing in those scenes. But you're right, It would be nice to make her have that playful look in her eyes next time.

[Yellow_Magic]

I want to make love to your mad skills

[Midorisa]

I want to make love to your mad skills

Well no one has ever said that to me before xD. Thanks!:jess:

[Quindiana Jones]

Absolutely love that Vincent. Great great great great great. :)

[Fynn]

I want to make love to your mad skills

Well no one has ever said that to me before xD. Thanks!:jess:

I think everyone here has a boner for your skills :3:

[Midorisa]

Absolutely love that Vincent. Great great great great great. :)

Thank you, I'm so happy to hear that!:)

[Midorisa]

I want to make love to your mad skills

Well no one has ever said that to me before xD. Thanks!:jess:

I think everyone here has a boner for your skills :3:

Yeah I know! infact I do too! No.. just.. wait.. :D

[Rocket Edge]

I like your art so much. It's inspiring. I love the watercolours and the technique you used to do on the piece above, simply beautiful! I can't wait to see more. :spin:

[Midorisa]

I like your art so much. It's inspiring. I love the watercolours and the technique you used to do on the piece above, simply beautiful! I can't wait to see more. :spin:

Thank you, it's so nice to hear that my art can also can inspire other people :). I'm working on several pieces at this very moment, so more pics will soon surely follow:nod: Also, I finally managed to save up enough money for the new drawing tablet, so I'm quite exited about that as well, as it's very likely that it will boost up my workflow/speed quite a bit. Yay!:hyper:

[Midorisa]

I was talking about traditional pencil sketches so here's one, presenting characters from FFVIII this time:

63544Kiros, Laguna and Ward and their weapons.

I always somewhat liked Team Laguna's characters a slightly bit more than the main characters of the game itself. Not to mentions that the battle music 'Man with the machine gun' is great and I always remember being so exited that I got to listen to it again while fighting when the party went to the dream world http://e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/biggrin.gif. I also liked that they were past the teenage already, even thought when first playing it in late nineties I was just a kiddo myself. Also while doing this I realized that this must be the very first fan art I have ever made of this game since I was just 8-9 or so and first thought that it would be so cool to draw Laguna's team.. but well it didn't turn out that great as I recall it. I've never really drawn much from this game. So I wanted to do that now.

I always was a bit confused by the fact that in some pictures and angles they made Ward look so old, even too much so, seeming a way past his age (25) when he actually is quite young. It's quite hilarious, as if when you get past 20 or so in games world you become this really wrinkly and uninteresting older person over one night http://e.deviantart.net/emoticons/b/biggrin.gif. It's nice to notice that they include some older badass characters in the new games too, (as the older and now wrinkly fans obviously need some characters they can relate to). Nah, it just nice to have all ages showing a bit more, not just teenagers.

Next I'll try and finish one digital painting, so I get some variation. Thank you for interest guys, it means a lot to me!:chocobo:

[Loony BoB]

Very nice. Kiros and Ward get way too little credit for how cool they are.

[Midorisa]

Very nice. Kiros and Ward get way too little credit for how cool they are.

That is so true, I always liked the group dynamism they had as a trio. I found the dream world parts to be very funny when it comes to dialog and over all mood. So these three are my favorite characters/part from the game :).

[Pete for President]

That is an amazing drawing!

[Midorisa]

That is an amazing drawing!

Thank you very much!:)

[Midorisa]

This more like my version of Vincent, I wanted to make a (semi) realistic render of him, but rather that taking reference from the movie and newer games, I wanted to try and make a realistic render the original design in my mind, but of course in a very different style that is more realistic. So this is more like the way I would see him. I hope you guys like it and thank you so much for your interest this far!

63621 really have been thinking about making all the characters of this game for a long time. Sort of in the style of little inventory images but the way I experienced and imagined them to be. Also, I've wanted to do all of them in s style that is quite faithful to the original, nostalgic designs. After all, I liked those very much then (and I still do, nostalgic!) and the art in these games really made me all exited about art as kid. I wanted to be able to create beauty too and draw characters that sort of had this story and soul in them. I've always liked to draw, but finding Japanese cartoons and games really was "thing" for me, even though I didn't know that all the things I liked the most were what you would call anime or JRPG games etc. I just happened to like them always more.

[Loony BoB]

Wow, Midorisa, that's really amazingly good.

[Midorisa]

Wow, Midorisa, that's really amazingly good.

Thank you! I'm really trying to kind of break my way to the next level, after having art block for many months.

[black orb]

63021 So its Ruby from FFIX :).
>>> I love this one. great artwork..:luca:

[Midorisa]

63021 So its Ruby from FFIX :).
>>> I love this one. great artwork..:luca:

Thank you very much!:)

[Midorisa]

Again, it's more fanart from FFVII. I'm working on a few other characters from the game. I got a bit tired of one bigger painting, so decided I shouldn't force it and so I just thought that I should paint something completely new always when I feel stuck for too long. I noticed that by doing that, I actually get more art done instead of forcing myself to finish one piece completely before moving to the next one. So yeah, one should always follow your heart and how you feel. If you feel like you don't actually want to do what you're doing, it's not gonna work and it'll become painful. Also, about the artwork itself, I really try to improve painting different materials and getting better and faster with the overall process.

63767

I thank you for the interest so far!:)

[Midorisa]

So here I am again, this time with tradition stuff, Adel from FFVIII:

63785This is based on the several screenshots of the character. I wonder if his/her gender was lost in translation, as it seems that they used the word "majo" in the game, that refers for both genders as a witch, but it was translated as sorceress in English version of game. To me he appears more male than a female thought, but gender is quite interesting concept anyway and it's interesting to bend the border we sometimes think is absolute when it certainly isn't.

I really got used to the idea of Adel being a female character though when first playing the game, form all the conversations the group had about him/her. But when I actually saw the character I became a bit unsure about that. He could be a strongly featured and built female character too and that would rather neat actually, as I never really cared about more helpless and cute female characters that much. But if I were to think him as a female, I would definitely drawn the character slightly different. Never the less, I really like his design and the red long hair, and I really like thorns too. I also wanted to some traditional stuff in the middle of all the digital painting I've been doing.

I also really want to be updating more often and becoming more productive and faster, so I'm really working with all kinds of stuff.

Thank you for you interest!:)

[Midorisa]

I'm back so soon! Its a small drawing I made today with the idea that I want something finished today too:
63786More from FFVII. I really need to do smaller drawings like this more often, with the mindset that it must be finished in a day or so. That way I stay focused and excited when I actually get those ideas down on the paper when I have the mood on. Follow your instinct I say:).

Thanks for looking and interest!:)

[Rocket Edge]

Beautiful work again. Laguna & co. and Adel - I love the character designs from FFVIII. In fact I'd say they were the best from the FF's.

[Loony BoB]

This art is very pretty.

[Midorisa]

More art, this time Zidane from FFIX: 63822

Thank you for the interest!:)

[Midorisa]

Beautiful work again. Laguna & co. and Adel - I love the character designs from FFVIII. In fact I'd say they were the best from the FF's.

Thank you! I like the designs too in FFVIII. Especially the antogonist designs, with horns and body paints and dramatic makeup.

[Midorisa]

This art is very pretty.

Thank you so much!

[Midorisa]

This time it's Tifa from FFVII. This is a traditional sketchbook drawing:
63819
I wanted to be quite faithful to the original art with this, As it was one of the first ones that really inspired me when I was a child. I just recently thought about challenging myself to upload and color my traditional sketchbook drawings as well, as of before I treated them more as a personal practice that I would never show to anyone. Then again, I though that why not, and I get more practice at the same time too. My wrist is aching right now, as this past week I've drawn day after day really intensively. I must remember to stretch. Again, Thank you very much for looking and being interested!:)

[Agent Proto]

Ah! Amazing job on that! I love how you colored that picture. :D I need to use my sketchbook more often, but first I need to get a new scanner so I could scan my drawings.

[Midorisa]

Ah! Amazing job on that! I love how you colored that picture. :D I need to use my sketchbook more often, but first I need to get a new scanner so I could scan my drawings.

Thank you for commenting! I thought the same just a few weeks back, as it can a bit one dimensional sometimes if you just draw with one tool. You should totally buy that scanner and post your drawings!:)

[Midorisa]

And I'm back again. This time with a fan art from Final Fantasy VII, Aeris:
http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65321&stc=1really tro make it faithful to the first 97' character design, as those are the ones I like and though the characters looked when playing the game. I imagined this scene to be the moment when she leaves to group, appears in the dream that cloud is seeing, talks to him and then walks/runs into the sleeping forest.

Thank you for looking, and being interested!:)

[Midorisa]

And Here's some more fan art, from FFVIII:63912

I try to and post at least once a week and do new work, as sometimes I got a bit frustrated when I feel I'm just so slow doing things and getting them done. But yeah, thank you for viewing and being interested!

[Loony BoB]

I continue to really enjoy your artwork, Midorisa! Sorry I haven't posted much lately and have been absent at DA (life happened), but keep up the good work. :up:

[Midorisa]

I continue to really enjoy your artwork, Midorisa! Sorry I haven't posted much lately and have been absent at DA (life happened), but keep up the good work. :up:

Thanks you! I had actually wondered where you disappeared all of a sudden, so nice to know everything is okay! I'll keep working with my art, and always try to work to make it better, so thank you!:nod::hyper:

[Midorisa]

63993

I made it! One work at least once a week! x__x
That is sometimes hard when you have the issues I've been struggling with. Even thought you want to do your best, you still need to put out your work and not just pile up the practice images in your PC. So I think this way of thinking is a healthy for me at least for now, to teach myself to let go and move on, even thought I know I'll never be fully satisfied to it.

Anyway, I have never done that much backgrounds before with any thought, as I've always been more into characters, but I wanted there to be something more than just plain colors. So I tried to do something different with that also. I didn't take too much time really focusing to it thought, and it would be better if I had. It's more than I usually have done anyway, so maybe I'll try to do a detailed and complex ones in the future!

Anyway, thank you very much for looking these and thank you people that have been commenting so far!:)

[FFIX Choco Boy]

Well, everyone knows how I feel about Final Fantasy IX fanart... :thumb:

[Midorisa]

Well, everyone knows how I feel about Final Fantasy IX fanart... :thumb:

Great game!:moogle:

[Midorisa]

Just some chubby moogle I did for color practice today.. :D

63994

[black valentine]

That moogle is so cute! Anyways, I've been lurking at your thread sometime now and I have to say, you have such amazing illustrations! Keep up the fantastic work! Instant fan here! :)

[Midorisa]

That moogle is so cute! Anyways, I've been lurking at your thread sometime now and I have to say, you have such amazing illustrations! Keep up the fantastic work! Instant fan here! :)

Heh, thanks :D. It's nice to know that there are people lurking around, and it's not just me talking to myself here :D. I'm trying to keep it alive posting at least once a week and hopefully more if I can, so great to know some people find it interesting :). Thank you for the kind word and support, it really is important to me, and makes me want to keep pushing myself :chocobo:.

[Midorisa]

Hahaaa! I can now punch that one work in a week mentality to the face, as I'm back. Well, for now at least :D

64223

This is more rough/sketchy stuff I normally wouldn't be sharing, as this really was just a thing I started as a experiment to try a new thought I had about painting, thinking it as a thing similar to 3d sculpting in a 3d space. So this wasn't supposed to be anything to be shared:D. I have other sketch of this scene as well, showing half body and from a different angle more close to the games scenes. I feel kind of bad using these characters and just experiment with dull front view images.. :D

But anyway, I think its good to share all kind of stuff, sketches, experiments, so that you get the more whole image whats happening and whats the stuff I do that usually is never shown to anyone.

Anyway, thank you for being interested and commenting so far!:)

[Midorisa]

I'm keeping up with that one work in a week schedule. This time it's more stuff I mainly do for personal practice, and when starting I usually don't really think about submitting those online. This is based on this http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110410151924/finalfantasy/images/0/04/Laguna012.PNG design image. I started this as a practice/ warm up but I decided to paint and color it too.
64093
so it's Laguna from FFVIII. I'll maybe alter this a bit when I feel like it and have fresh pair of eyes, for now it's done.

Thank you for the interest and the comments!:)

[Midorisa]

As the title says, this has nothing to do with Final Fantasy, as It's original stuff I do to fill in my sketch books;

64407
I want to develop my eye for colors with these mainly, as I really want to improve my understanding of it and my art further.
So this is a bit of topic, but maybe it's good to show that I do original stuff too, not just fan art.
Tools: watercolor, copic markers, pen and white ink.

Thanks for looking and commenting so far :).

[Midorisa]

More original stuff:
64408

Some unfinished FF pieces are on their way too.. :D

[Wolf Kanno]

As the title says, this has nothing to do with Final Fantasy, as It's original stuff I do to fill in my sketch books;

64278
I want to develop my eye for colors with these mainly, as I really want to improve my understanding of it and my art further.
So this is a bit of topic, but maybe it's good to show that I do original stuff too, not just fan art.
Tools: watercolor, copic markers, pen and white ink.

Thanks for looking and commenting so far :).

I must say, I absolutely adore this picture. I love the colors and design of the figure. It all works together really well.

[Fynn]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Those colors look amazing!

[Depression Moon]

Oh, I've seen your stuff on deviantart before. I didn't know the artist is a member here. I like this new Laguna piece.

[Midorisa]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Those colors look amazing!

Thank you so much!

[Midorisa]

Oh, I've seen your stuff on deviantart before. I didn't know the artist is a member here. I like this new Laguna piece.

I'm happy that I was introduced to this place :). And thank you!

[Midorisa]

Some update with speed painting practice:
64768

I've been a bit busy as summer is here and I've some big decisions to make,basically I must decide if I go to university or not this autumn. If I decide that I go, I must move to a different city, and of course find a new apartment and so on.

A big part of me says that I really don't want to move. Studying of course would take an enormous amount of my time, the time I now have for doing art as well. That really is the aspect of it that really makes me doubt if it's the right choice for me. I already have one cultural degree as well, and when I think of the future I would like to be in 10 years from now, and it's doing art as a living, in a one way or another, that often does't come with degrees and papers. It's about if you're any good or not, do you have skills. Of course people are different and some need/want someone there to say how they should practice and study, but I've always liked to study on my own.

So it really makes me think if I am making the right choice that is true to my heart if I decide to go. Would I end up drawing less and processing less, because studying would take me so much time again, and most importantly, would I end up being unhappy doing something that I truly don't want to do.

it's a question that forces me to face the expectations I think the society and the "others" have for me, and what my own heart says. It feels hard as I feel that many get so exited about the word 'university' already that they don't really question if it makes any sense for that person individually.
Having a high degree from arts would sound nice, but does it make me any better drawer or a person, not maybe that much, if my heart isn't in it. Am I doing it for me, or for that gray mass of "other people" I think would keep me in higher value if I went to that school they value so highly? It's hard to walk your own path and trust that gut feeling you have inside of you.

Oh well, there are two months yet to decide.

[starlet]

As the title says, this has nothing to do with Final Fantasy, as It's original stuff I do to fill in my sketch books;

64407
I want to develop my eye for colors with these mainly, as I really want to improve my understanding of it and my art further.
So this is a bit of topic, but maybe it's good to show that I do original stuff too, not just fan art.
Tools: watercolor, copic markers, pen and white ink.

Thanks for looking and commenting so far :).

This would make an absolutely stunning wall scroll.

[Midorisa]

A piece that has been around for a loooong time. So it's time to finally call it done even though I'm never satisfied with it, I cant paint it for ever. I've been away from home so I haven't been able to upload anything, but that should be changing now though :).

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65040&stc=1

Anyway, thank you for looking and being interested! :)

[Midorisa]

As the title says, this has nothing to do with Final Fantasy, as It's original stuff I do to fill in my sketch books;

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=64407&stc=1
I want to develop my eye for colors with these mainly, as I really want to improve my understanding of it and my art further.
So this is a bit of topic, but maybe it's good to show that I do original stuff too, not just fan art.
Tools: watercolor, copic markers, pen and white ink.

Thanks for looking and commenting so far :).

This would make an absolutely stunning wall scroll.

Thank you so much! :)

[Midorisa]

So since I've been a bit silent here for various reasons, I'll upload some stuff I drew when I wasn't home and didn't have anything but my sketchbook with me. It's sometimes refreshing to just do things traditionally and just simply have a paper and a pencil, nothing more.

It's the Finnish goddess of forest and hunt, Mielikki. Shes also a skillful healer and heals the paws of the wild animals who got hurt. I decided to draw with quite free design though, but wanted her to have that gentleness and feathers around her. Well, I do like horn and feathers, so.. :D. Anyway, thanks for being interested :).

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65251&stc=1

[Loony BoB]

Congrats on being nominated for the Best Artist Ciddie, Midorisa. :) Also, omg, dat Sephiroth further up the page is amazeballs.

[Midorisa]

Congrats on being nominated for the Best Artist Ciddie, Midorisa. :) Also, omg, dat Sephiroth further up the page is amazeballs.

I feel happy to be there, and actually I didn't even realize I was there until recently O_o. And thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it really!

[Midorisa]

Edit: I got a message that attachment manager is broken so I link the images straight as well.
Link to deviantart:
1: http://img10.deviantart.net/e256/i/2015/188/4/2/dramatical_murder___koujaku_by_midorisa-d8zwpza.jpg
2: http://img00.deviantart.net/8b63/i/2015/188/3/e/forest_spirit___tellervo_by_midorisa-d907ymk.jpg

First of all, I want to thank all the people that decided to give their vote to me in the artist ciddie. Thank you so much, I appreciate it and that made me happy :).

This time its two paintings and some news. First one is an art request one of my deviantart watchers asked me to do, Koujaku from Dramatical Murder visual novel. I decided that I would do a bunch of requested art works as as practice drawing characters.

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65264&stc=1

As for the 'news' part, I was a bit surprised when I received an email from a scout a few days ago, saying that there would be a new web site opening in august, Graphicker, which is sort of a 'match making' site for the game developers and designers, and I was invited to be part of it too. After they give you your code, you can register as a member and create your portfolio for people to see.

I'm a bit nervous of this too, as I've little time and that site is solely for the purpose of people finding people to do game illustration job for them. The same time I'm excited as well, of course, to see what future brings after the site is opened in august. Of course it doesn't mean that I would get hired straight a way just like that, but at least being there rises that possibility for it in many ways.

And the second one, a personal speed paint I did for practicing color,painting and speed, presenting another forest spirit. This time it's a daughter of forest goddess Mielikki. Her name is Tellervo, and she is described and light haired and extremely beautiful forest goddess.

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65250&stc=1

That's all this time I suppose, I'll update again and thank you for being interested! :)

[Loony BoB]

Fantastic artwork, Midorisa, and congratulations on winning Best Artist, it was hot competition but you're a deserving winner! :)

[Fynn]

These are spectacular!

[Midorisa]

I remember that I already submitted this painting, but I couldn't find this anywhere. Weird, really. Anyway, I'll post it again and see if it disappears again.. :D

FFVII artwork, presenting Cloud and Tifa.

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65253&stc=1

[Fynn]

Gorgeous! Teach me your ways!

[Formalhaut]

These are SO good! I must remember to check the Artist forum more often. :D

[Freya]

Wow your digital painting skills are amazing! I particularly like the forest spirit speed painting! You do an amazing job at that!

[Midorisa]

Fantastic artwork, Midorisa, and congratulations on winning Best Artist, it was hot competition but you're a deserving winner! :)

Thank you so much! I have rarely been in any competition so I was positively surprised :)

[Midorisa]

These are spectacular!

Thank you so much!

[Midorisa]

These are SO good! I must remember to check the Artist forum more often. :D

Aaw thank you! I will try to update as often as I have something new :D

[Midorisa]

Wow your digital painting skills are amazing! I particularly like the forest spirit speed painting! You do an amazing job at that!

Thank you, I've a lot to learn and I try to improve whole time. I actually enjoyed painting that speed paint a lot as it was so much more relaxed, so I'll definitely experiment with speed paintings more. I feel that I want to learn to be more loose and relaxed and have more organic feeling with my colors, and doing those will definitely help with that.

[Midorisa]

Gorgeous! Teach me your ways!

It's hard to teach, as I could tell you the process and show it with videos, but it's still just practice you do on your own and just drawing and drawing every day. Information and experience you build up by practicing as much as you can. And I'm learning myself too, so I could say that something works for me but I can't guarantee that it would work for you and your way of holding your pencil :). And most of all I wouldn't maybe be the best teacher as I would surely sometimes be like " just feel it, you can hear how the wind blows in this image and you can see how that moves his clothes":D.

[Midorisa]

I realized that I hadn't posted this one even thought I drew this maybe half year ago. I'm a fan of Yoshitaka Amano's art, so I wanted to do a piece showing that with monochromatic colors and high contrast. Now I would change things in it as I feel I've improved in some areas, but it's still fine for me to post it despite that :).

It's based on his profile drawing of vampire hunter D.

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65263&stc=1

[Formalhaut]

I love the ghostly white face juxtaposed with the monochromatic surroundings. I also like the sharp edges you give her face and her hat. Very striking.

[Midorisa]

I love the ghostly white face juxtaposed with the monochromatic surroundings. I also like the sharp edges you give her face and her hat. Very striking.

Thank you. It's quite androgynous character, especially in Yoshitaka Amanos drawings, in anime and manga you can tell more clearly he is a man when compared to other characters. And I like androgynous aspects in characters, so tend to sometimes push that quite far so it might be hard to tell if you're not seeing nothing but the face :).

[Midorisa]

I got a bit frustrated when painting other image, and found an old sketch I did some months ago but never painted it any further. I thought that I needed to do something else, and I painted this as a quick practice. It's something like a blend of a 'cartoon like' style and semi-realism, as I wanted to have those bigger eyes. I'm a bit stressed about the portfolio thing and all, so it must be why I felt that what I do isn't enough and things come a bit too fast. Thoughts swirl in my mind saying something like "give me time, even an years and I'm at whole new level and slightly more ready!" :D I always thought that those things are a bit more relevant maybe a few years from now, when I would have built up more experience and skill. I don't know if it's true when I've heard many artist say that they took their first job even thought feeling they weren't ready for it and felt they're not good enough. That's my personal ramble again, let's move to the more interesting part of this post :P.

Fan art from Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. Thanks you all for being interested again and commenting, I appreciate the feedback! :)

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65309&stc=1

[Fynn]

This thread always makes me wanna cry.

It's just all so beautiful :G

[Midorisa]

This thread always makes me wanna cry.

It's just all so beautiful :G

Aaw thank you so much! :)

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Wow, you really do have quite a talent. I know you've worked hard to craft skills like that, so you deserve all the hard earned praise.

I personally appreciate how you stay loyal to the original game designs (particularly FFVII) versus the updated looks some of the characters have gotten. Vincent and Cloud have gotten much more emo-ish and dark over the years. It all has your style, but I think you get the difference I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to see your style applied to Katsuhito Otomo's or H.R. Giger's character designs. Also more of your own original stuff. Keep up the hard work!

[Midorisa]

Okay, just updating again with traditional stuff. A second piece to the Finnish ancient god and spirits series I decided I would try to do. It's also a good reason for me to keep my sketchbook with me as it's refreshing doing something that gives me more free hands when designing, not just fan art all the time. I went for more cartoon-like/decorative style even more than usual, as I wanted to have that soft and exaggerated face and feel. I also loved some anime series when I was little, done in the late 80's, (I remember there was just 2 poorly dubber VHS videotapes in the nearest library, and I watched them over and over again not knowing a thing about anime or manga). The style used in them and how the features were made fascinated me and charmed me like no other cartoon I had seen before that. So it's kind of paying homage to that part of my childhood.
http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65322&stc=1

It's nice to give more freedom to myself, especially with these traditional sketches. It gives me opportunity to try different styles and really bend things and have fun.
Anyway, the character: Vellamo is a gentle and good spirit of water, vedenhaltia. There's also a water spirit with a darker nature, Näkki, that lures people near water to drown and die. More about that when I have the drawing done :).

Anyway, thank you all for the positive feedback and being interested, I appreciate it truly.

[Midorisa]

Wow, you really do have quite a talent. I know you've worked hard to craft skills like that, so you deserve all the hard earned praise.

I personally appreciate how you stay loyal to the original game designs (particularly FFVII) versus the updated looks some of the characters have gotten. Vincent and Cloud have gotten much more emo-ish and dark over the years. It all has your style, but I think you get the difference I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to see your style applied to Katsuhito Otomo's or H.R. Giger's character designs. Also more of your own original stuff. Keep up the hard work!


Thank you for your insightful feedback! And yes, it isn't just that mysterious talent but like in all things, you must work hard to become better and better. You won't be "talented" if you just sit around, it's not something you just have and that's that you're awesome. I know that because I stopped drawing for few years, and I had some quite long seasons in my life when I couldn't say I was really intensively drawing, not when compared to the amount I draw now, which is everyday and many hours. I was told I was talented when I was a child, but it of course it was just in small schools and I was the only kid that liked to draw a lot. But, now I know that It just meant that I had potential to become good someday if I would really polish that skill I had in some raw form. I also believe that talent is so many things, being interested in art and colors and visual things, having good visual memory or things like that,. But, It's also a hard work if you look at the time you put in it. The things is, you like it so much that most of the time it doesn't feel like 10 hour work day at all, at least that is my case.

I personally like the original FFVII designs, as they are to me at least, the first ones and portray the characters the best, like they should be. So I try to get some of that atmosphere and 'character aura' to my drawings as well. I'm all happy and honored if I actually could capture even some of that atmosphere in a way that the viewer can sense it too.

I'll see what I can do with your suggested ideas. I like Giger's dark works and eerie faced characters, and Akira is a classic. Jenova from FFVII has some similarities to his (Giger) designs. Really interesting idea, and it would give me a change to experiment with my style :). Thank you for you comment, I'll definitely keep working hard!

[Midorisa]

More speed practice with portraits. Fullmetal Alchemist fan art, Mira Olivier Armstrong. I really appreciate how women are portrayed in the manga, not just adoring men and heroes of the story but being in important roles such as leaders, warriors and overall strong individuals.

http://home.eyesonff.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=65331&stc=1

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I like all the layers in the hair. You create some interesting textures that way.

[Midorisa]

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Another traditional one done for the ancient Finnish gods/spirits series. She isn't a god thought, but a powerful witch with the ability to shapeshift and cast powerful spells. She rules the north, Pohjola, as it's Queen. In Kalevala poems, It is written that she gave birth to three sons, named cripple, carcass and blind, witch then shot the first lumbago into man. In other poems it's said that instead of three she gave birth to 9 children, causing all different illnesses, plague and pain. Shes also a mother of wolves, and in one poem she shapeshifts herself into a big eagle and chases the men who stole her treasure. So the feathers link to that story and her ability shift shape.

Shes a strong witch and character, so even though shes described as older woman in the poems, I decided to make her ageless being.

I'll update again! :)

[Midorisa]

I like all the layers in the hair. You create some interesting textures that way.

Thank you very much! I'm still experimenting with painting styles and that's why I want to try as many things as I can.

[Midorisa]

Something from my sketchbook. She's a nature spirit that controls trees and their roots and growth. Her name is Liekkiö, and sometimes she's thought the be some kind of ghost spirit as well. Her name includes a word that means flame, liekki. It is said that you can see will-o'-wisp, virvatuli, a ghostly lights in dark places that have little population or near the water surface, and if you cause too much noise, they disappear. It's believed that they are some kind of supernatural spirits, and therefore there is a lot of myths and stories about them. In some stories Liekkiö is was also thought to be a soul of a child.

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[Fynn]

Your traditional art reminds me so much of CLAMP. In like the best way possible.

[Midorisa]

Your traditional art reminds me so much of CLAMP. In like the best way possible.

Oh that's interesting, as I haven't thought any style intentionally while drawing. Mine style is still developing, and things that I find inspiring and aesthetically pleasing sort of constantly melt to my own. The artist in Clamp are all very talented mangakas and artists, so that's a very great compliment :).

[Fynn]

Yep. There's just that attention to detail and all those pretty curves that just scream CLAMP to me. Really, amazing work!

[Midorisa]

Yep. There's just that attention to detail and all those pretty curves that just scream CLAMP to me. Really, amazing work!

I really like organic, flowing lines and shapes. Detailed and decorative illustrations have always been ones that I've found most enchanting, so I want to try and bring all the things I love into my work. I'm so happy to get positive feedback, it's so inspiring, thank you!

[Fynn]

You're welcome ;)

While your digital drawings are magical as well, I have to say I really prefer what you do with traditional media. Hope to see more from you!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Wow, you really do have quite a talent. I know you've worked hard to craft skills like that, so you deserve all the hard earned praise.

I personally appreciate how you stay loyal to the original game designs (particularly FFVII) versus the updated looks some of the characters have gotten. Vincent and Cloud have gotten much more emo-ish and dark over the years. It all has your style, but I think you get the difference I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to see your style applied to Katsuhito Otomo's or H.R. Giger's character designs. Also more of your own original stuff. Keep up the hard work!


Thank you for your insightful feedback! And yes, it isn't just that mysterious talent but like in all things, you must work hard to become better and better. You won't be "talented" if you just sit around, it's not something you just have and that's that you're awesome. I know that because I stopped drawing for few years, and I had some quite long seasons in my life when I couldn't say I was really intensively drawing, not when compared to the amount I draw now, which is everyday and many hours. I was told I was talented when I was a child, but it of course it was just in small schools and I was the only kid that liked to draw a lot. But, now I know that It just meant that I had potential to become good someday if I would really polish that skill I had in some raw form. I also believe that talent is so many things, being interested in art and colors and visual things, having good visual memory or things like that,. But, It's also a hard work if you look at the time you put in it. The things is, you like it so much that most of the time it doesn't feel like 10 hour work day at all, at least that is my case.

I personally like the original FFVII designs, as they are to me at least, the first ones and portray the characters the best, like they should be. So I try to get some of that atmosphere and 'character aura' to my drawings as well. I'm all happy and honored if I actually could capture even some of that atmosphere in a way that the viewer can sense it too.

I'll see what I can do with your suggested ideas. I like Giger's dark works and eerie faced characters, and Akira is a classic. Jenova from FFVII has some similarities to his (Giger) designs. Really interesting idea, and it would give me a change to experiment with my style :). Thank you for you comment, I'll definitely keep working hard!

Y'know, I hadn't thought about it like that, but a piece that uses an homage of Giger's style to create Jenova might be really interesting. Jenova done in the style of the Xenomorph queen. That could be reeeaaally cool.

Not that I'm trying to brush off your own style, as it's obviously very strong. Just an interesting thought.

[Midorisa]

You're welcome ;)

While your digital drawings are magical as well, I have to say I really prefer what you do with traditional media. Hope to see more from you!

That's interesting, as I've had a thought for some time now that things I like doing traditionally don't show in my digital work as I would like it to show, it lacks the organic aspect I love while drawing with pencil. So I've thought that I want to merge them together and go towards the same feeling I've traditionally with digital painting as well. Took me few years to realize thought, to be more certain of my style and it's direction. Next digital paintings will be more in style of things I do traditionally, and that's intentional change I want to make.

I noticed that drawing digitally started to feel too much "digital" and not that organic, so I want to enjoy drawing digitally as much as I enjoy drawing traditionally and have the same feeling with both. I must have been afraid of what people might say about this new direction I took, so I kept doing things that I no longer felt as enjoyable as I would have if I was doing it just straight from my heart. I realized that I don't really want to try replicating video game graphics 100% and lose the feeling of drawing and painting. We'll see what comes when I try to be more honest to my tastes to digital painting as well and get it more organic. Great that someone agrees with me, it makes the decision to do this experimentation a bit easier :D.

[Midorisa]

Wow, you really do have quite a talent. I know you've worked hard to craft skills like that, so you deserve all the hard earned praise.

I personally appreciate how you stay loyal to the original game designs (particularly FFVII) versus the updated looks some of the characters have gotten. Vincent and Cloud have gotten much more emo-ish and dark over the years. It all has your style, but I think you get the difference I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to see your style applied to Katsuhito Otomo's or H.R. Giger's character designs. Also more of your own original stuff. Keep up the hard work!


Thank you for your insightful feedback! And yes, it isn't just that mysterious talent but like in all things, you must work hard to become better and better. You won't be "talented" if you just sit around, it's not something you just have and that's that you're awesome. I know that because I stopped drawing for few years, and I had some quite long seasons in my life when I couldn't say I was really intensively drawing, not when compared to the amount I draw now, which is everyday and many hours. I was told I was talented when I was a child, but it of course it was just in small schools and I was the only kid that liked to draw a lot. But, now I know that It just meant that I had potential to become good someday if I would really polish that skill I had in some raw form. I also believe that talent is so many things, being interested in art and colors and visual things, having good visual memory or things like that,. But, It's also a hard work if you look at the time you put in it. The things is, you like it so much that most of the time it doesn't feel like 10 hour work day at all, at least that is my case.

I personally like the original FFVII designs, as they are to me at least, the first ones and portray the characters the best, like they should be. So I try to get some of that atmosphere and 'character aura' to my drawings as well. I'm all happy and honored if I actually could capture even some of that atmosphere in a way that the viewer can sense it too.

I'll see what I can do with your suggested ideas. I like Giger's dark works and eerie faced characters, and Akira is a classic. Jenova from FFVII has some similarities to his (Giger) designs. Really interesting idea, and it would give me a change to experiment with my style :). Thank you for you comment, I'll definitely keep working hard!

Y'know, I hadn't thought about it like that, but a piece that uses an homage of Giger's style to create Jenova might be really interesting. Jenova done in the style of the Xenomorph queen. That could be reeeaaally cool.

Not that I'm trying to brush off your own style, as it's obviously very strong. Just an interesting thought.


That's surely is inspiring thought. I've wanted to paint Jenova for a long time properly. And you can learn from doing a bit different styles a lot, they can make yours even better so there's no harm in experimenting with those.

[Midorisa]

When I was very little, my parent often told me that I should never go near the river bank on my own when playing outside. They told that in the river there lived a monster that lured people into water and then ate them. I was so afraid of that monster and never went near the river on my own, and that was quite common way to prevent children from drowning and not swimming too deep. I was afraid that if my legs wouldn't reach to the bottom anymore, Näkki would pull me under the water surface.


The monster they told me about is known in many cultures, but with different names. In Finland, the monster living in rivers and lakes is called Näkki, and it could take either female or male form, depending of who it was trying to lure into water with it's beauty and singing and playing. It's similar creature to sirens, mermaids and the like.

It's said that it could also be guardian of wells and bridges that reached over rivers. It's true from varies from being portrayed as a giant mass of water plants and moss or a frog/lizard like creature. It was also said that you could drive Näkki away by throwing a rock into the water, because it would cause a strong kinahmi water whirl ( or kurimus). Inside kurimus lived a great dragon that Näkki was afraid of.

65440

I wanted to draw him with his unfortunate victims. Anyways, thank you for looking! :)

[Midorisa]

Just some quick painting practice, with a similar plant and nature theme I've had in my sketches. To get me past the little art slump I've experienced some days now, and get going again. I try to 'loosen up' my painting and shift a bit more organic and flowing. Lets see if I can do better with next ones :).

65459



Thank you for being interested! :)

[sharkythesharkdogg]

That's a cool story behind the first piece. Both of these look great! Good luck with the slump.

[Fynn]

Looks amazing, as usual ;)

And the difference is noticeable. This one is much more similar to your traditional work. I like it a lot! :up:

[Midorisa]

That's a cool story behind the first piece. Both of these look great! Good luck with the slump.

Thank you for you feedback! I'll do my best, usually it's just a sign that I need to alter something in the way I'm working. So it's core purpose is positive :).

[Midorisa]

Looks amazing, as usual ;)

And the difference is noticeable. This one is much more similar to your traditional work. I like it a lot! :up:

Thank you very much! I'll keep experimenting with my style :).

[Formalhaut]

I do find it hilarious how your 'practice' work still looks incredible. :p

[Midorisa]

I do find it hilarious how your 'practice' work still looks incredible. :p

Thank you! Of course there went time to this as well, but I thought it more like style practice work and chose fairly simple composition. And well, in one sense all I do is practice work, as I'm learning and teaching myself all the time with my paintings :D

[Midorisa]

This time it's more original stuff. I wanted to paint with complimentary colors and practice more with my style and try to keep it more organic . I had an idea of a character that had some mechanical body parts mixed with organic shapes inspired by insects.

67886

I wanted to relax but also do something different. I wanted to try and get a bit cinematic feeling to this. I always find I interesting and also important imagining the characters as living beings, moving and breathing. Sometimes you can have this feeling that the character itself is telling you how it must look. Or then I'm just spending a way too much time painting, staring painted characters and thinking those as my imaginary friends and.. yeah :D. Just kidding.

Okay but seriously talking, thank you for the inspiring feedback this far and being interested! :)

[Midorisa]

65784

FFX fan art, to continue the FF fan art series after a short brake. Yuna was one of the requests I received when I made a poll about which characters I should draw. proportions Inspired by the inventory picture of her. Thank for being interested! :)

Tools: sai, some photoshop.

[Midorisa]

Some character head sketches, practicing style. I find it quite relaxing to have a workflow where I can switch between digital paintings and traditional sketches/illustrations. My comfort zone lays quite much in drawing flowing shapes and faces if I want to just relax. So That's what I tend to draw when I just pick a pencil and draw freely what feels good.

Thanks for being interested! :)
65576

[Midorisa]

This is a pencil sketch I did one night, and it's a bit more personal that my usual drawings. You can read the story behind it here on Devianart :
http://midorisa.deviantart.com/art/Life-Duality-562318581

65599

Anyways, thanks for being interested!:)

[FFIX Choco Boy]

I know I haven't posted in here in a while, but I just wanted to say that I'm still following the thread and enjoying all the artwork. I'm just not really one to comment on it. Looking forward to any additional pieces. :thumb:

[Midorisa]

I know I haven't posted in here in a while, but I just wanted to say that I'm still following the thread and enjoying all the artwork. I'm just not really one to comment on it. Looking forward to any additional pieces. :thumb:

Thank you for commenting :D. I do know what you mean, as I sometimes tend to do that myself as well, following someones work but not commenting. I've been trying to change that as I know how much I appreciate feedback from people. I'll keep this thread alive by posting as I draw, both sketches and digital painting. I'll always try to improve, so thank for the support! :)

Also, if you guys had any suggestions what you would like to see, characters or themes. I'm willing to listen :). I already got Jenova on the list, and I've been thinking about that as I've wanted to do something more dark. So, feel free to suggest things, all of you :).

[Fynn]

Can you do Fran from FFXII? :D

[FFIX Choco Boy]

Garnet from FFIX. My absolute favorite game fanart is all of Garnet. As far as just general art goes, though, I don't have a whole lot of preference. I'll really look at anything.

[Midorisa]

I'll remember those characters mentioned above, thank you for the suggestion! :)

[Loony BoB]

I'd love to see Red XIII done in the style you used for Sephiroth and Kuja.

[Midorisa]

I'd love to see Red XIII done in the style you used for Sephiroth and Kuja.


You mean traditionally with pencils and ink? I like Red XIII, but as I rarely have done any animals It's definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, but I want to develop in that area as well, drawing creatures and plants as well. I even ordered a new G-pen as my old one is a bit suffered and not holding it's ink so well anymore, so It could be a good change top try it out as well :). Thank you for bringing this idea up!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

These are still looking great!

You did Yuna justice with your piece. Once again, it's a different style while clearly keeping the original character in mind. I think you could trust yourself with Red XIII, if you were feeling adventurous.

[Midorisa]

These are still looking great!

You did Yuna justice with your piece. Once again, it's a different style while clearly keeping the original character in mind. I think you could trust yourself with Red XIII, if you were feeling adventurous.

Thank you very much! I'll see if I'll do traditional ink drawings after I manage to finish a couple of digital painting I've been painting. I want to have those done before starting anything new. But then, it could be a drawing I would keep beside my bed or sofa, and would draw it before going to sleep.

[Loony BoB]

I'd love to see Red XIII done in the style you used for Sephiroth and Kuja.


You mean traditionally with pencils and ink? I like Red XIII, but as I rarely have done any animals It's definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, but I want to develop in that area as well, drawing creatures and plants as well. I even ordered a new G-pen as my old one is a bit suffered and not holding it's ink so well anymore, so It could be a good change top try it out as well :). Thank you for bringing this idea up!

Like these! :D


This time with traditional media with inks and watercolors, done in early winter/fall 2014:

63065

And this is from the Xmast holidays 2014 I spent in the countryside (in the middle of nowhere).
63066

Right now I'm trying to work myself out of a little art block I've been suffering of for some time now. It's would be great to get all my unfinished FF pieces done, as when I've been counting that there are at least 5 or more of them at the moment, some of them almost done. But anyways, thank you for interest!:blush:

So I guess something like what you said, because I am an idiot and don't know nothin'. xD

But yeah, imagining a Red XIII one in autumn colours... just seems right :D

[Midorisa]

I'd love to see Red XIII done in the style you used for Sephiroth and Kuja.


You mean traditionally with pencils and ink? I like Red XIII, but as I rarely have done any animals It's definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, but I want to develop in that area as well, drawing creatures and plants as well. I even ordered a new G-pen as my old one is a bit suffered and not holding it's ink so well anymore, so It could be a good change top try it out as well :). Thank you for bringing this idea up!

Like these! :D


This time with traditional media with inks and watercolors, done in early winter/fall 2014:

63065

And this is from the Xmast holidays 2014 I spent in the countryside (in the middle of nowhere).
63066

Right now I'm trying to work myself out of a little art block I've been suffering of for some time now. It's would be great to get all my unfinished FF pieces done, as when I've been counting that there are at least 5 or more of them at the moment, some of them almost done. But anyways, thank you for interest!:blush:

So I guess something like what you said, because I am an idiot and don't know nothin'. xD

But yeah, imagining a Red XIII one in autumn colours... just seems right :D

You're not an idiot :D I got what you mean, and I got the pens I ordered so maybe I'll give it a try this evening. Let see how many eyes and ears poor red XIII will end up having.. xD

[Rocket Edge]

Beautiful as always. Like checking back in and out of this thread every now again and be amazed!

[Midorisa]

Beautiful as always. Like checking back in and out of this thread every now again and be amazed!

Thank you! It's nice to know that this thread is interesting so many people. I do work hard to improve and make more art, both digital and traditional. As suggested, I've started the Red XIII one, and I'm thinking about doing Fran from XII. I like her facial structure, so it would be something different to try :).

[Midorisa]

So, after some brake, i'm back with some fanart work from the FF series. This time though, it's a guardian force creature I especially like, Shiva from FFVIII.
I like her stylized alien like hair style especially. Of course there are many great summon monsters through the series, but Shiva is one the summons that is quite classical and is always portrayed as a human like ice creature. I also like the flowing animation they used.

I wanted to try and challenge myself with her pose and I tried to improve in the overall composition and how the image flows. Practice and more practice, over and over again. Thanks for being interested this far and I hope you guys are happy to get some FF stuff again! :)
65688

[Midorisa]

65832

New fan art once again. Hellsing was one of the first shows I watched that wasn't as clearly directed to a child/very young teen audience back then. One of the best things in the first anime adaption was definitely the Yasushi Ishii's soundtrack, for me at least, such a fitting mood. I blended a bit both styles in this, both ova's and the series before that style. I'm also thinking about doing Seras or Integra. Anyway, since it's a vampire themed piece, I want to wish all of you happy Halloween with this piece! ( even though i'm a bit late ).

Tools: Sai, little photosop cs.

[Midorisa]

67887

Some personal stuff this time. This is done for the contest held by Celsys, Clip/manga studio paint. The theme for the contest was to give anthropomorphic shape to an electronic device/thing found in home, and paint it with Clip studio paint. So my idea was a multimedia center with audio, games, internet, cloud and video menu. I decided to give it a go as I seldom have taken part to any contest, winning or not. So this is kind of my debut in that area too. There are some really good people participating, so I'm not sure If I have a super big change to win anything, but trying is always better than not participating at all :).

Anyway, thank you for being interested this far. Now that this contest is done, I'll see what I can do about those requests I've received :).

[Midorisa]

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This is one piece again for the series I'm making about ancient Finnish creatures, gods and spirits. In the Finnish folk tales and lore, Maanväki or maahiset are little creatures of the earth, troll or fairy-like beings. In Scandinavia quite similar nature spirits are called Vitter. The word "maahinen" contains a word for earth "maa", when "maanväki" literally translates to "folk of the earth".

Maahiset live in their own world underground. Their world was thought to be the opposite of our own, kind of it's reflection that could even be upside down. Sometimes they could rise from the depths and visit the human world, and there were stories that they could swap peoples babies with their own. When living on their own world, it was said that they were peaceful, tidy and well behaved spirits. They could also make people ill if offended and disrespected. Fore example, a person falling to the ground could offend them and they could infect you with a disease called the rage of earth, maanviha. They could also lure and mesmerize people to stay with them in their would by offering you gifts, drink and food.

Thanks for looking :).

Tools: Inks (black and white), pencil and copics.

[Formalhaut]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

[Midorisa]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

Thank you! :) And well, of course there's my inspirations sources that partly come from the games, but if we think that the characters with long hair and long bangs all look/are like Sephiroth there would be quite a few of them. But, it's in the same time done for the different faces practice purposes so I drew there things that liked, and being a fan of the games I of course like the art style as well.

[Formalhaut]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

Thank you! :) And well, of course there's my inspirations sources that partly come from the games, but if we think that the characters with long hair and long bangs all look/are like Sephiroth there would be quite a few of them. But, it's in the same time done for the different faces practice purposes so I drew there things that liked, and being a fan of the games I of course like the art style as well.

Yeah, it is hard to get away from the long hair and bangs look. :p

[Midorisa]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

Thank you! :) And well, of course there's my inspirations sources that partly come from the games, but if we think that the characters with long hair and long bangs all look/are like Sephiroth there would be quite a few of them. But, it's in the same time done for the different faces practice purposes so I drew there things that liked, and being a fan of the games I of course like the art style as well.

Yeah, it is hard to get away from the long hair and bangs look. :p

Yeah, it's sometimes hard to design something new when you realize that with all characters designs, there's always tons of similar characters around, having similar color palettes etc. For example I've seen a lot of artworks presenting a character with a long turquoise hair receive messages like "this is a Hatsune Miku rip-off!". That trait is so strongly associated with the popular character that sometimes even a hint of similarity brings it to your mind. In that sense, the character designer has really succeeded in creating a good and memorable character.

So, it's a bit like when composing music, you have to design the 'old ideas' and ingredients over and over again and mix things up to make them feel fresh. And if you you have just a few sources that you're pulling ideas from, it can easily damage your art by making it too similar to it's inspiration sources. There's no absolute originality in anything, as all is based on things we have seen and 'consumed' in our lifetime. What makes the difference is our mind and we ourselves, how we see those things and filter the experience which then continues to take form in our own drawings.The only part being somewhat original, is our brain/mind that is never just 100% like anyone elses :).

[Formalhaut]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

Thank you! :) And well, of course there's my inspirations sources that partly come from the games, but if we think that the characters with long hair and long bangs all look/are like Sephiroth there would be quite a few of them. But, it's in the same time done for the different faces practice purposes so I drew there things that liked, and being a fan of the games I of course like the art style as well.

Yeah, it is hard to get away from the long hair and bangs look. :p

Yeah, it's sometimes hard to design something new when you realize that with all characters designs, there's always tons of similar characters around, having similar color palettes etc. For example I've seen a lot of artworks presenting a character with a long turquoise hair receive messages like "this is a Hatsune Miku rip-off!". That trait is so strongly associated with the popular character that sometimes even a hint of similarity brings it to your mind. In that sense, the character designer has really succeeded in creating a good and memorable character.

So, it's a bit like when composing music, you have to design the 'old ideas' and ingredients over and over again and mix things up to make them feel fresh. And if you you have just a few sources that you're pulling ideas from, it can easily damage your art by making it too similar to it's inspiration sources. There's no absolute originality in anything, as all is based on things we have seen and 'consumed' in our lifetime. What makes the difference is our mind and we ourselves, how we see those things and filter the experience which then continues to take form in our own drawings.The only part being somewhat original, is our brain/mind that is never just 100% like anyone elses :).

Oh, I agree entirely, and it does run into that argument of 'well, what is original'? New work is always inspired or referential of other works.

[Midorisa]

This is a gift painting, presenting an OC character of my watcher in deviantart. The characters name is Skyla, and she's an elf character with horns/antlers.

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Next ones will be some FF stuff again, going back to the FFVI. I'm also drawing the traditional FFVII red XIII piece as well :).

[Midorisa]

Looks great! I didn't know Sephiroth was a Finnish deity.

Thank you! :) And well, of course there's my inspirations sources that partly come from the games, but if we think that the characters with long hair and long bangs all look/are like Sephiroth there would be quite a few of them. But, it's in the same time done for the different faces practice purposes so I drew there things that liked, and being a fan of the games I of course like the art style as well.

Yeah, it is hard to get away from the long hair and bangs look. :p

Yeah, it's sometimes hard to design something new when you realize that with all characters designs, there's always tons of similar characters around, having similar color palettes etc. For example I've seen a lot of artworks presenting a character with a long turquoise hair receive messages like "this is a Hatsune Miku rip-off!". That trait is so strongly associated with the popular character that sometimes even a hint of similarity brings it to your mind. In that sense, the character designer has really succeeded in creating a good and memorable character.

So, it's a bit like when composing music, you have to design the 'old ideas' and ingredients over and over again and mix things up to make them feel fresh. And if you you have just a few sources that you're pulling ideas from, it can easily damage your art by making it too similar to it's inspiration sources. There's no absolute originality in anything, as all is based on things we have seen and 'consumed' in our lifetime. What makes the difference is our mind and we ourselves, how we see those things and filter the experience which then continues to take form in our own drawings.The only part being somewhat original, is our brain/mind that is never just 100% like anyone elses :).

Oh, I agree entirely, and it does run into that argument of 'well, what is original'? New work is always inspired or referential of other works.

Yeah, that's exactly it. Its quite important to watch what other people do in the field of art and 'consume' all kinds of art yourself, even if you hear the saying that people that do the art for games/ a lot of it have no time to play those themselves. I find it always inspiring to to watch some series, or sometimes play a game. It's after all the reason why I am doing this myself. Of course I don't spend that much time on those as I did in the past, but still it's important for your inspiration.

[Midorisa]

I was requested to draw a traditional fanart of Red XIII/Nanaki by LoonyBob, so here it is :). Arriving to Cosmo Canyn was one of the favorite moments in the game for me, with its soothing music and a touching sidestory that deepened the Reds character. I really loved how it approached the topics like pride and honor, sorrow and also sacrifice. I wanted to draw in some of the important moments/characters that were involved in his story, Bugenhagen, Seto and also professor Hojo. I'm moving into a new flat this weekend, but it try to update soon :).
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[Loony BoB]

This is just the best. :heart:

[Formalhaut]

I too think Cosmo Canyon is the best sequence in the game. Great work as always Midorisa!

[Midorisa]

This is just the best. :heart:
Thank you, and also thank you for bringing op the idea to me :).

[Midorisa]

I too think Cosmo Canyon is the best sequence in the game. Great work as always Midorisa!

Thank you very much! Yeah, I like how the story is opened more with the observatory scene and it really starts to take shape,and the overall mood is just great with the music.

[Midorisa]

As my digital tools were packed inside the moving boxes for some days I sketched traditionally for some days.
This time it turned out to be a FMA sketching, with Alphonse and Edward. Anyways, I'm more settled in now and have my digital tools out of the boxes so, phew, all back to normal! Anyway, thanks for being interested again, I'll update again soon :).

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[Loony BoB]

I've been watching Fullmetal Alchemist (the 2003 version) lately. :) Nearly finished. It's good! I plan to watch Brotherhood later on.

Nice art, as always! :D

[Midorisa]

I've been watching Fullmetal Alchemist (the 2003 version) lately. :) Nearly finished. It's good! I plan to watch Brotherhood later on.

Nice art, as always! :D

Thank you ! It's a great story. I watched the 2003 version years ago, and I've read the manga but I haven't watched the whole brotherhood anime yet. I wanted to have some space in between reading the manga and watching the Brotherhood show. Maybe I'll start watching it soon too, and then there will be more fanart as I know I'll get all inspired when I watch any show :D

[Midorisa]

Hi all!

Just updating with an original sketch and continuing my Finnish gods and creatures series. I've had some delays on digital painting and with my equipment but I want to keep posting stuff, so it's more traditional work for now.

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It's a spirit that is guarding places called "aarnihauta". 'Aarni' is the name of the spirit and 'hauta' means grave. They were often thought to be near the mass graves were people would bury valuable items inside.
Done with a pencil, ink and golden ink. Anyway, thank you for being interested so far!

As a side note, I've started the Fran piece that Fynn requested by the way, so it's on it's way :).

[Midgar Mist]

Hi there. I'm new to this site and your art. Its very good :-)

[Midorisa]

Hi there. I'm new to this site and your art. Its very good :-)

Hi to you too and welcome to the site, hope you're enjoying your time here :). I'm happy that you like the art, I'll keep posting more :).

[Midorisa]

Hi all! I'm back to upload new fanart, this time some FFVI stuff. The beginning of this game is just magical and never stops to give me goosebumps when playing it. From the very first moments you play the game, you're deeply drawn into it's world. Terra's theme playing on the background when they march towards the mining town of Narche, just magical.

I merged elements from both Amanos design and in game one, personally I've always imagined her to have light green hair like she has in the inventory photo.

Thank you for being interested, I'll upload again! :)

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[Loony BoB]

Fantastic! I don't even like Terra but your artwork is, as always, superb. I particularly like the attention you have clearly given to the hair.

[Formalhaut]

I love how almost alien she looks. Fantastic again!

[Midorisa]

Fantastic! I don't even like Terra but your artwork is, as always, superb. I particularly like the attention you have clearly given to the hair.

Thank you Loony BoB! I like her design, red and green contrast each other beautifully :). I'm trying new ways to paint to find a style that I like the most, and even thought it takes time to paint little details, I like the more 'organic effect' it gives to the artwork.

[Midorisa]

I love how almost alien she looks. Fantastic again!

Thank you! Well, I did try to bring some features from Yoshitaka Amanos art into this, so it might look a bit alien or weird when features are pushed and represented in '3d' painting style. Of course that was not my intention. Maybe I try this style again and try to improve my stylization skills, as sometimes you get a bit blind to your own work when you look it too much.

[black orb]

>>> Wow, this is crazy. Do you have a deviantart account? I need to add you in my watcher`s list :ohdear: :luca:

[Midorisa]

>>> Wow, this is crazy. Do you have a deviantart account? I need to add you in my watcher`s list :ohdear: :luca:

Thank you! I have an account there, I use same account name there as well. Here's the link to my site on da: http://midorisa.deviantart.com/

I sometimes don't post all stuff here that I post on deviantart, and of course I sometimes write journals and also create polls
where people can vote for stuff for me to draw etc :).

[Formalhaut]

I sometimes don't post all stuff here that I post on deviantart,

Favouritism!

No, only joking. My brother used to be a deviant artist, he sorta stopped after his electronic tablet broke. Shame.

Which artists would you say you are most inspired by, Mido? You mentioned Amano; any others?

[Midorisa]

I sometimes don't post all stuff here that I post on deviantart,

Favouritism!

No, only joking. My brother used to be a deviant artist, he sorta stopped after his electronic tablet broke. Shame.

Which artists would you say you are most inspired by, Mido? You mentioned Amano; any others?



Favouritism indeed :P. No, it's just easier to keep your art in one or two art communities/sites and consider those your main galleries.
I still keep Da my main gallery even though there are other sites as well like artstation and even drawcrowd, paigeeview and graphicker, tumblr, twitter and then facebook. It's just that I've been on da the longest even thought it has it's flaws. What a shame what happened to your brother, I hope he can get things sorted and post his stuff online again.

I have many favorite artist, and of course FF games and the art in them is one obvious influence. How ever it's bad to have just a few sources for your inspiration so I try to avoid showing that love so much that it becomes a burden for my own stuff. So here it goes, prepare for serious art rant :D.

What I like about Amanos style is his organic, flowing lines and the way he uses color, I also adore the traditional painting style and faces he draws for his characters and the eyes. I'm especially noting his clothing design, colors and a rich use of accessories and jewelry that he often uses when designing characters. In Tetsuya Nomuras style I especially like the clean shape language ( I'm really into shapes that read well and are interesting) and sharp, clear, edgy style. Nice details but simplified in some areas. It's really all about good and clear shape language. It's a fun style where you can exaggerate the proportions and really have fun with shapes. I would like to merge some of that into my own style as I really like it.

Then there are artist like Alfons Maria mucha and art nouveau poster art style. Again what interest me is the clear shapes and organic, flowing lines and just like in Amanos style, you can find a lot of different nature elements that I like, like leaves, plants and flowers. Harmonic, earthly color palettes.

Then there are people that I follow in Artstation and whose art I look up to, especially their color usage/lighting and understanding shape and a sense of volume as I want to get better at those myself. I've noticed that I really like some Korean and Chinese painters and their use of color.

Some Examples, prepare to be amazed as these people are top notch and experienced professionals:
https://www.artstation.com/artist/rupid79 (clear and sharp shapes, armor/metal detailing)
https://www.artstation.com/artist/ruanjia (desaturated colors that pop up with brighter accent colors, using color to replace strong lines to sculpt shapes, sharp shapes that really pop out of the canvas)

https://www.artstation.com/artist/pan (Again, the sharp, clear shapes and awesome coloring)
https://www.artstation.com/artist/ming (composition, masterful use of color and framing shapes with it)

https://www.artstation.com/artist/bluezima (more stylized, great style, bright colors)
https://www.artstation.com/artist/lokken (great coloring and textures, especially when painting rock, metal, horns)

As I've painted digitally 3 years now, I look up to these experienced people and many more. I didn't link all the artists and paintings that I like as that list would easily grow to be ridiculously long. After I started to follow online art forums and sites my influences and also my goals as an artist have become much wider and higher. But as the FF games are among my first influences, the art in them always has it's special place in my heart. FF7, being the first game from the series that I played as a child, had a huge impact on me. I just got this crazy strong urge to be able to create something similar and become good at drawing so that I could portray characters and worlds the way they deserved to be portrayed. Sadly I lost my 'faith' when I got older and didn't think it was possible to make it with art and I lost many years when it comes to drawing. I took me quite long to realize that this is what I always loved to do and I should have listened to that more carefully.

Anyway, when it comes to developing my own style, I would like to merge the sharp, clear shape language and great coloring into a semi-realistic style (that might shift into being sometimes even more stylized for example when doing the eyes and faces). So I constantly try to be aware of what works for me in someone else's style and what I would like to change in it so that I liked it even more. Still a long journey to go, when it comes to skill and developing my style but it's very interesting and rewarding journey. It's truly true that there are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

Hope my answer wasn't too long, as I really enjoyed thinking this and why I particularly like any of these styles and which part especially and why. When it comes to art my answers seems to grow long.. :D

[Midorisa]

Just some update with practice portrait work. I've had some health problems so I had to take little brake a while ago, but now I'm doing fine again :).
It's an original design just for fun, I wanted to paint an image with strong contrasting moon and blue moonlight.

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[Freya]

Wow your coloring skills are great. I'm very lacking in digitally painting but I don't do it enough. Any tips? That blue moon contrast looks great!

[Formalhaut]

I love the moon contrasted against the deep reds of the woman's hair.

Great work Midorisa, as always!

[Midorisa]

Wow your coloring skills are great. I'm very lacking in digitally painting but I don't do it enough. Any tips? That blue moon contrast looks great!

Thank you! I suggest that you look out tutorials about painting and color theory. Pay close attention to the artwork of people you admire and really analyze what is it that makes their work so appealing and colors good. And try to replicate and understand that in your own works. I study and do that all the time. One tip that is important is to realize that all colors are related to each other. A color that is very desaturated and gray on it's own might seem cold and uninteresting, but when it's surrounded by darker and contrasting warm tones, it suddenly looks like an another color more towards green rather than gray and perfectly fits the skin tones in a certain lighting scene, for example. The color that surround the color will affect how it looks.

So always treat you painting as 'a single unit' while choosing colors and deciding composition. Picking colors not thinking about the big picture will possibly result to ugly colors instead of color harmony. A green shade of a characters trousers isn't the bright green but much more gray green in one painting and dark brown can be a colors of gold in one painting even though you might think the gold is brighter yellow. But the colors still seems lively and beautiful as a part of the whole painting because of color contrast. Decide what is being promoted and build your image and all the aspects in it to make your main theme as strong and interesting as possible. Color is one of the hardest things to master I think. I don't think that anyone can even master that in their life time completely, as there's always something new to discover. Also, don't shade with black and white, do it only if you really understand color as sometimes, rarely, it does work. Study real life and photos as well. It's all about studying and practicing :).

[Midorisa]

I love the moon contrasted against the deep reds of the woman's hair.

Great work Midorisa, as always!


Thank you! I wanted to try having strong front/background contrast that draws the attention strongly to the face :).

[Midorisa]

I'm back with some new fanart, this time from FFVIII. One of my followers on deviantart requested me to paint Rinoa. I wanted to paint the iconic flower field where she awaits for Squall. This is a bit simpler drawing, as I wanted to take some time off from my other bigger paintings so I started to doodle around and this was the result.
Thank you for being interested, I'll post again! :)

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(I noticed that the image tends to pixelate and sharpen the whites oddly in small size.You can see the real quality when you click the image or see it on deviantart.)

Tools: Paint Tool Sai and some PS CS6.

[Loony BoB]

Holy crap those colours. x_x Damned gorgeous! You are amazing.

[Midorisa]

Holy crap those colours. x_x Damned gorgeous! You are amazing.

Thank you, I wanted to make the colors vibrant and bright, so that they really enhance her personality :).

[Formalhaut]

I love the detail to the hair. I always find hair so tricky, as there's so many layers and textures to it. I mean, I make it sound as if I'm an artist; I can only imagine hair being tricky.

[Midorisa]

I love the detail to the hair. I always find hair so tricky, as there's so many layers and textures to it. I mean, I make it sound as if I'm an artist; I can only imagine hair being tricky.

Thank you. It's easier to paint by layering and having clear stages to follow. Just basically paint from the big forms and base shades towards middle shades and forms and continue adding details until you're satisfied and the image has the depth you want it to have. But hair can be a bit tricky if you wish it to have semi-realistic look. I usually spend much time painting hair, and I wish to become better at it still as my process isn't as clear as I would like it to be.

[Midorisa]

I found an old sketch lately, so I decided to use it as a base for this. The making steps were a bit different this time, as I blocked really roughly all the colors in and then started to refine the shapes and details. Usually I've some kind of a lineart/sketch as base which I then paint over with colors. Anyhow, it was good exercise and I wanted to paint some wings and make them really colorful :).

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[Loony BoB]

Beautiful! I'm running outta words to describe your art pieces. :D

[Midorisa]

Beautiful! I'm running outta words to describe your art pieces. :D

Thank you Bob! I'm always happy when people take their time to express their thoughts :).

[Midorisa]

Just some traditional sketching for the gods/creatures themed series I'm making. Finally got myself into traditional drawing as I've been painting digitally most of the time for some time now. The character is a water spirit, vetehinen. Those art requests I received take me far more time that they should, really. Still intending to finish them though.

Thanks for looking :D.

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[Midorisa]

At last I managed to finish the Fran fanart piece Fynn requested ages ago. This was one of those on/off artworks, that seem to stay unfinished for ages.
But I'm happy I decided to call it done for now. I was inspired by the Salikawood atmosphere, I remember it was nice to just run around in the forest and look at the beautiful trees, sunlight and plants. Also, it's been some time I've uploaded any FF related art here :).
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[Freya]

oooooo those colors! That's great!

[Midorisa]

oooooo those colors! That's great!

Thanks Freya! I actually had some trouble coming up with colors that I liked. Eventually I ended up with these and decided to call it done, being quite exhausted :D

[Lyndis Highwind]

I just want to say that your artwork is amazing! It gives me the motivation to become a better artist myself.

[Midorisa]

I just want to say that your artwork is amazing! It gives me the motivation to become a better artist myself.

Thank you so much, that is so nice to hear! It's so cool that the cycle of inspiration kind of continues to grow as people get inspired, share art and inspire others again :).

[sharkythesharkdogg]

I haven't checked in this thread in a while, but your work is still really impressive. Sorry to hear you had some health issues, but I hope it's all mostly clearing up!

[Midorisa]

I haven't checked in this thread in a while, but your work is still really impressive. Sorry to hear you had some health issues, but I hope it's all mostly clearing up!

Thank you! I've been a bit inactive lately myself, but now I try to get back in the saddle so to speak. I had some pain problems with my hand and wrist, but now I'm doing fine and I haven't experienced any pain there anymore. I'm happy I can draw everyday again, but it was a good reminder that it's important to take care of yourself and not to overdo it.

[Formalhaut]

That's an amazing piece there Midorisa! You captured Fran's expression rather well, I think!

[Midorisa]

That's an amazing piece there Midorisa! You captured Fran's expression rather well, I think!

Thank you Formalhaut! I tried to capture her essence, but there's quite a few good quality photos of her out there. Her face is shaped a bit differently as well, as they clearly wanted to show some rabbit-like features on her face, so it was challenging to try and capture some of that.

[Fynn]

Just hopping in to jump on the bandwagon and say that I'm very happy that you're back and your art continues to be jaw-droppingly gorgeous!

I do like that Fran, your technique is just phenomenal, but once again I find myself more emotionally captivated by that traditional drawing of the vetehinen. There's just something so flowy about it that makes me feel all inspired and stuff.

[Midorisa]

Just hopping in to jump on the bandwagon and say that I'm very happy that you're back and your art continues to be jaw-droppingly gorgeous!

I do like that Fran, your technique is just phenomenal, but once again I find myself more emotionally captivated by that traditional drawing of the vetehinen. There's just something so flowy about it that makes me feel all inspired and stuff.


Thank you Fynn! I have noticed that sometimes I tend to approach digital art somewhat differently than doing traditional. It's a bit irritating to notice that I seem to think much more 'technically' when doing digital art, whilst when doing traditional it feels much more loose and and I sort of just follow my own hand. I also place really high expectations and demands for myself. With simple line drawings you kind of preserve the life of your drawing from the start to finish, and you just think about the beauty of lines and shapes. In digital full color painting you have to manage a bigger and complex stuff all at the same time, you have color, values, shape language etc, and you don't have visible lines. On the other hand, I've learned so much when doing digital that transfers to my traditional and vice versa.

Sometimes it's quite overwhelming to try to merge all the information you've learned into your art fluently though. I've thought that maybe these are partly the reasons why I sometimes tend to kill the life out of my digital colored works by over-rendering some stuff. I'm still not experienced and confident enough. At least I feel that way sometimes when looking more loose artworks. I have a hard time to try and treat the digital pieces just like drawing traditionally, because I've this odd thought sometimes, that if I can render something more realistic, that's automatically somewhat "better" than the more expressive and painterly stuff I could also be painting. And of course that's not the case. I love that kind of artwork, with some rough brushstrokes and organic feeling to them, but I just have a hard time giving myself 'a permission' to explore it without falling into a hole of over polishing and rendering.

Then again, I'm still developing my style and haven't quite found 'that something' yet. I'm sort of searching for that constantly when I'm painting so that I could become more confident and expressive with my art. It's hard, when there's some many stuff you could be doing. Maybe I should really try to challenge myself to do digital piece that clearly doesn't try to be any realistic that much, but expressive, flowy and colorful. Even at the risk that people will be responding badly to it or think it's not my "style". I should try not to think any of that and just paint for myself, thinking what I'd love to paint.

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it!

[Midorisa]

Just thought to update some art not related to Final Fantasy if people are interested to see it :).

First one is Fanart from Inuyasha's Sesshomaru I made some months ago.
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The second one is a traditional sketch fanart from Ghibli's Mononoke, presenting San and forest creatures.

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Thanks for looking! :D

[Lyndis Highwind]

Wow, they're both amazing! I really like the Princess Mononoke one though. Keep it up! :)

[Midorisa]

Wow, they're both amazing! I really like the Princess Mononoke one though. Keep it up! :)

Thank you, I will! :) I've thought about doing a digital piece in style that I use a lot in my traditional drawings. They are sometimes more 'poster-like style' when it comes to composition. It would be interesting to see how that style would look done in full digital color.

[Midorisa]

I thought about painting each element and portray them as characters. This is the first, as I wanted to paint something to do with water and got the idea of doing all the elements.
So it'll be a fun 'mini series', I've already started wind and fire, which will be male characters. I wanted to include some oranges and yellows for the contrast.

More original work, hope you guys like! :D
As usual, done in SAI and some photoshop.

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[qwertysaur]

Just wanted to say I love your art.

[Midorisa]

Just wanted to say I love your art.

Thank you, glad to hear that :)

[Freya]

Ooo yeah I like the contrasting colors. Also the freckles!

[Midorisa]

Ooo yeah I like the contrasting colors. Also the freckles!

Thank you! I wanted to try and give her face more personality and thought freckles would be a nice touch :).

[Midorisa]

Okay, I'm taking part to the Inktober challenge this year and I decided to do one ink drawing once a week for this month. I wanted to draw a strong female warrior, as too often you see women wearing bikini armor and all that stuff. It gets quite annoying really, as sometimes when browsing sites like huaban or even pinterest almost every concept art illustration portraying women is like that. But yeah, I wanted to draw something else here, as it's been in my mind lately :).

Done with ink pens, black ink and white ink.

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[Midorisa]

Some fan art from VHD, as I've been reading the manga again. I wanted to try and make him look more like he's drawn in the manga, rather than the anime art version of him. I also tried a bit darker and desaturated color scheme with this.

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[Bubba]

Oooh, I love the colour on this one!

[Midorisa]

Oooh, I love the colour on this one!

Thanks Bubba, happy you like it! :)

[Midorisa]

My second drawing for inktober. Inspired by Finnish mythology again, this time I wanted to draw the forest god, Tapio.
He's also often referred as king of the forest as well, and he takes care of animals and plants with other spirits.

This challenge has been really refreshing somehow. I sort of remembered how much I like drawing with ink :D.
It got me thinking that I should make this a permanent habit, maybe one or two ink drawings a month.
It would be great to be more organized with digital painting as well.

It's also nice to have a clear deadline to aim for, it's a challenge but it feels great when you get your work done in time :).

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[Formalhaut]

I really love ink drawings, and I loved your strong female warrior.

Question, are you going to take part in the Halloween art competition?

[Midorisa]

I really love ink drawings, and I loved your strong female warrior.

Question, are you going to take part in the Halloween art competition?

Thank you, happy you liked it! I checked it out and it sound fun, but I'm not sure if I have enough time to draw something for that as well.
I'm a bit slow and also meticulous when it comes to drawing.. it would be handy to have extra pair of hands sometimes :D.
But I'll keep that in mind if it seems I can finish the inktober stuff faster than I thought.

[Freya]

Damn your inktober is so amazing. Maybe one day I'll get that good!

[ttokkii]

Your talent.. i'm so envious! Your colouring is especially strong.

[Midorisa]

Damn your inktober is so amazing. Maybe one day I'll get that good!

Thanks Freya, happy you like them! Drawing and art is a 'never ending journey' really, you just need to take one step at a time and you'll get far and surely continue to improve. I used to think that "I don't have what it takes and can't get any better than I am now" but it's just about practicing a lot and determination to improve and having goals as well. Surely I still sometimes feel like that, but it often passes after a short brake.

Just as long as we keep drawing, we'll get better and eventually maybe achieve a certain skill level/quality we only dreamed of as a child or starting out, only the sky is the limit! :D
That's what I think at least, when I practice :).

[Midorisa]

Your talent.. i'm so envious! Your colouring is especially strong.

Thanks! :D Happy you think so, as I've especially worked to improve my coloring. Still got a lot to learn tough :).

[Midorisa]

Okay, just like it says above, I wanted to paint some Mulan fanart. It's one of my favorite Disney films :).

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[Midorisa]

The last inktober piece I did before my hand got sore and I had to take a brake :D

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Some original digital stuff again, wanted to paint a white- haired character and water lilies:

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Traditional pencil/ink markers sketch, light sepia color added with coffee, was inspired by VHD as I started this when I
was painting the digital portrait of D:

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Thanks for looking ^^

[Midorisa]

I didn't upload for some time as I didn't have any FF related stuff to show, but well.. I've felt a bit uninspired and blue recently, so I've tried to find new sources for inspiration to keep myself going and to push my skills further.

Here is another original traditional sketchbook drawing though, again tools were pencil, markers and coffee:

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And since it has been an year since I drew my last Terra/Tina fan art, I did an another one.
I particularly took inspiration from the games opening movie scenes for this piece.

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Thanks for looking! ^^

[Scruffington]

Sorry to hear you've been feeling down lately. Things will be better soon. I hope you can keep finding motivation to continue your work. :)

I really like the level of detail in both the armor and hair of the first drawing. Everything looks really neat and polished. I also think you're really good at drawing faces. A lot of people tend to have problems with those, but you seem both confident and skilled at them.

[Midorisa]

Sorry to hear you've been feeling down lately. Things will be better soon. I hope you can keep finding motivation to continue your work. :)

I really like the level of detail in both the armor and hair of the first drawing. Everything looks really neat and polished. I also think you're really good at drawing faces. A lot of people tend to have problems with those, but you seem both confident and skilled at them.

I hope so too :). I'm working on it, and I've been searching for new good series to start watching for inspiration. If anyone has a good series in mind, please feel free to recommend it.

Also, thank you for your kind words, they cheered me up! Faces are my comfort zone basically, as I've always liked to draw faces the most. The face is a hard subject though, as is the whole human body really and sometimes it's super frustrating when you draw one thing over and over again and you're still not satisfied with it. Your own quality standards just continue to rise and you try to keep up with them but you are never quite there. Eventually it can start to eat your confidence if you don't snap out of it somehow.

But it is also rewarding to see your own development through the years. I should try to remember that and just keep on going :). And remember to take a brake from time to time as well.

[Bubba]

Both of these pieces are outstanding, Midorisa :D

[Midorisa]

Both of these pieces are outstanding, Midorisa :D

Thank you Bubba, happy you think so! ^^

[Midorisa]

As I started the 'elements series', I thought about doing the personifications of day and night as well.

This is the night part of the two, it came out really blue:
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I was asked by this one art company if they could publish this on their site, so I was really happy as it's my first time to get on any 'official' page. Hurray! :D

And I did another elements drawing as well, the earth:
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This took me longer than I expected as I got carried away, painted the birds and changed her outfit a few times.
I love barn owls, they have such beautiful faces. Well, I really like birds I general ^^

Both done in paint tool SAI and some finishing adjustments in photoshop

Thanks for looking again :).

[Bubba]

They are both absolutely stunning. I love the colour on the first one but they are both equally amazing.

Good job!

[Freya]

Ooo yeah those are gorgeous! I love your coloring! I'm very impressed. I really like the blue hues with the skintone on the Night picture. It gives them a kind of Vampy look.

[Midorisa]

They are both absolutely stunning. I love the colour on the first one but they are both equally amazing.

Good job!

Thank you Bubba! I like the bluish and violet colors as well, and I seem be drawn to pick those more often than reds or greens. Now I'm painting the fire
element and it's a bit harder color scheme for me, as it is important not to over saturate the red colors but find other ways to keep it balanced and to have a nice contrast. Doing these element artworks has already taught me some important lessons about limiting your color palette and also about design. I just need to practice more ^^

[Midorisa]

Ooo yeah those are gorgeous! I love your coloring! I'm very impressed. I really like the blue hues with the skintone on the Night picture. It gives them a kind of Vampy look.



Thank you Freya, glad you like them! I was going for something like the with the night picture, so that even his skintone would be rather cold and bluish just like night.

[Midorisa]

The third piece for the elements series is finally done! It's the air element and because of that I finally got a good reason to paint a winged, angel-like character :). I know this took very long time, but there's a good reason for that as this truly was a work full of obstacles.

It just happened that SAI decided to corrupt the whole file and turn it into one-layered, red pixelated mess just before I was about to call it done. I had to start painting again from one of the earlier versions that I (thankfully) had saved, but I still had lost most of the work I had done.

After all that I'm happy that still I finished this and didn't just leave it unfinished, and I'm more than happy to start something completely different :D.

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[Lyndis Highwind]

Oooo it's so gorgeous! I love the colors and the wings are so pretty.

[Fynn]

Amazing as always, Midorisa :D

[Freya]

Oh wow! I like that one a lot.

How did the feather thing go? I know some people struggle with details like feathers or fur. Did you have an issue with that?

[Midorisa]

Oooo it's so gorgeous! I love the colors and the wings are so pretty.

Thank you! I actually was a bit unsure if I should make it just blues mainly, or should I add more warmer tones as well to balance it out, maybe add a noon/sunset sky with a hints of yellow/orange/violet. But I left it like this, as I wanted to stop working on this already :D. Glad you like it!

[Midorisa]

Amazing as always, Midorisa :D

Thank you! ^^

[Midorisa]

Oh wow! I like that one a lot.

How did the feather thing go? I know some people struggle with details like feathers or fur. Did you have an issue with that?

Thank you! Well I didn't have a big issue with it, but I did paint over some parts up to 2-3 times as I wasn't satisfied with them. But that also applies to some other parts of this painting as well, and I changed and deleted her whole upper outfit once and did her eyes and lips over for the same reason.

Reference always helps and is crucial to use if you're not that familiar with your subject. I looked at some pictures of different bird wings and general bird anatomy and then thought how I would like to stylize them for my painting. I also looked how other artists had stylized feathers and wings for reference.

[Midorisa]

I finally got myself to do some more traditional ink art. I have a new, adjustable desk now so that is a huge improvement to my drawing posture.
I hope it will help to get rid off those annoying neck pains while doing traditional work.

This is loosely based on finnish mythology story where the world tree is being cut down and its magical powers are spread across the whole world.
People prosper but some parts of the tree are found by dark creatures who then make weapons out of them. Laplands hound ironfang is described to be one of them.

So yeah, I wanted to try and illustrate my own version of the character, here it is ^^.
It's been a while since my last ink drawing so my hand felt a bit shaky :D

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[Freya]

Oh wow! That detail with ink! I'm very impressed. I struggle with ink. I tend to be a needed Ctrl+Z or eraser artists so I am always very impressed with people who can work with ink well.

[Midorisa]

Oh wow! That detail with ink! I'm very impressed. I struggle with ink. I tend to be a needed Ctrl+Z or eraser artists so I am always very impressed with people who can work with ink well.

Thank you Freya! Ink is hard for sure, sometimes I have to remind myself when I ink that I can't press ctrl +z :D. White ink can fix tiny errors but you still have to be very careful. But, it's also very good to do ink drawings for that same reason, you learn to become more accurate and eventually your technique will improve and your lines become better. So I try to keep doing traditional stuff as well and not just digital art.

[Lyndis Highwind]

Awesome! It reminds me of Yoshitaka Amano's art.

[Fynn]

Very nice, as usual! :D I can confirm the Amano resemblence.

[>_<]

Gorgeous stuff here. I'm really taken by your traditional sketches. :love:

[Midorisa]

Awesome! It reminds me of Yoshitaka Amano's art.

Thanks! Well his art is and has been definitely one of my influences so I suppose that shows even when I'm not doing it intentionally ^^''.

[Midorisa]

Very nice, as usual! :D I can confirm the Amano resemblence.

Thanks Fynn! Still developing my own solid style,so I sort of explore all my influences in my drawings to find the right balance and mixture so to speak ^^.

[Midorisa]

Gorgeous stuff here. I'm really taken by your traditional sketches. :love:

Thanks, glad you like my stuff! I'll be sure to keep posting more traditional work, it's nice to have people interested in seeing both mediums here ^^.

[Midorisa]

I've been doing so much originals lately that I really felt like finishing some of the fanart pieces that have been laying around. This was one of those.
I started this more like an exercise, trying to emulate the FFX game art style quite closely, using screenshots as a reference. It was hard to find a good/clear enough reference for his tattoos though. Anyhow I decided to finish this as I though it would be fun to have some villains painted and finished as well.
Hope you guys like it and thanks for looking! ^^

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[Lyndis Highwind]

Wow that's so amazing Midorisa! I seriously thought it was a screenshot from the game!

[Midorisa]

Wow that's so amazing Midorisa! I seriously thought it was a screenshot from the game!

Thank you so much Lyndis! Your words truly warm my heart, as sticking close to the original art style was my intention. Happy that I got it close! ^^

[Midorisa]

Uploading new art after silence, I've been busy with my life as I've moved to another town and into new apartment as well. I'm going to start my art studies here this coming autumn ^^.

Anyhow, long ago one of my followers on DA suggested for me to draw Undertaker from kurotroutsuji/black butler. Because I like white-haired characters and his design, I decided to give it a go and finish the old sketch that I had started ages ago. I also spent quite much time on the gothic window showing in the background, I can't believe it myself heh.

Programs: SAI (main painting) Photoshop (after effects and adjustments)
Thanks for looking! ^^

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[Midorisa]

Hi! it has been awhile since I last posted artwork here, as I've been busy with personal life stuff.
I just wanted to update all the work I've been painting since then, so here it goes.
First and the oldest is a fanart of San from the mononoke movie.

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Second is the last element for the element series, fire. I had already started my studies
at the university while painting this, so it was really challenging to find energy and time to
paint as much as I would have liked to. Happy I got to finish the series though!

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The last one is the first part of the new original series I decided to start after finishing the elements series.
I picked seasons to be the theme for this, and portray those through male portraits for a change. This is the autumn one.
It will be a challenge to paint the seasons often associated with much brighter and lighter color themes I think, but that is
one of the reasons why I didn't want to take the "easy" road and do it with females all over again. Let see how it goes ^^
I also got a lot of comments that the character looked a lot/ a bit like Squall from the FFVIII game. I certainly see where
those comments are coming from. I tried to paint a character with shorter hair style as I haven't done those with males.
I need to improve my skill coming up with different hair styles for males, and overall clothing design as well.

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On a side note related to the FF games, I've started painting FFVII character portraits and I would like to do all of them, sort of as a homage to
the game. So there will be FF fanart updates coming as well as soon as I finish them ^^.

[Fynn]

Great to see more work from you again, Midorisa! Stunning as always! The fire one actually reminds me a bit of Triss (http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/2/27/Triss-TW3-new-render.png/revision/latest?cb=20160402173701) from the Witcher series!

Also, can't wait for the FF fanart :D

[Midorisa]

Great to see more work from you again, Midorisa! Stunning as always! The fire one actually reminds me a bit of Triss (http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/2/27/Triss-TW3-new-render.png/revision/latest?cb=20160402173701) from the Witcher series!

Also, can't wait for the FF fanart :D


Thanks Fynn! I actually had some problems with the fire painting, as I started to become too red, so I added greenish complementary colors. As those are often used in art by so many artists, it's not surprising an existing character had them in their design as well. I do see your point though, it's hard to be completely original in art ^^'. Her hair was blonde at one stage and spiky as well, but I decided it had to go as I didn't like the style on this character.

I though I would do the FF portraits in the style of the game, and almost use the same face angles as well. I have had this idea a long time, but I never started it as I felt my skills weren't polished enough. Still not sure if I am able to make justice to the characters that they deserve, but I will sure try my best.

[Fynn]

Oh, don't get me wrong - I never intended to say that it reminding me of the character makes it unoriginal, far from it! It's still a very nice picture and the similarity actually made it resonate for me more, even though I knew any association I had between those two images was probably completely arbitrary ;)

[Midorisa]

Oh, don't get me wrong - I never intended to say that it reminding me of the character makes it unoriginal, far from it! It's still a very nice picture and the similarity actually made it resonate for me more, even though I knew any association I had between those two images was probably completely arbitrary ;)


Oh I see, I did try to come up with a design that I hadn't seen myself ^^. The originality stuff is just something that I try to develop, as it sometimes feels
like everything has been done and you can't be that original. When I got the squall comments, I took that as a constructive feedback that I need to widen my style and character design abilities. It's not good when stuff that inspires you shows too well in your own art, then you're just 'watered down' version of that style really.

[Midorisa]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to update this thread with some art I haven't shown here. These are some months old already,
but I have had so much stuff demanding my time that I forgot to post these ^^;
This one I painted for Halloween last year, (not completely satisfied with it, as I was so tired keeping up with my studies and trying to
keep drawing at the same time, but I still kept drawing and that's the main thing)

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As I had long holidays I was able to finish this Aerith painting during Xmas. Her hairstyle is flipped on purpose,
as I somewhat felt that I liked her gazing to the right side rather than to the left. I wanted to paint her surrounded
by flowers. I also tried to be quite faithful to the original art style of the game.

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That's it for now ^^;

[Rocket Edge]

Those are so impressive! What's the first about? It kinda looks like a dark Yuna to me or something. Great job with the colouring too.