Fursuit Ref: Literal Tatoba

After I'm done making Biyomon, this is the next costume I'll be making.  I want to have it done in time for Midwest Furfest and granted I get everything done in time I should be able to make this one for that.  I'd hope I could have the OOO Driver by then too but not having great communication so far with the person I need to commission in order get a modified driver.

In the end I hope the leg padding won't be really awkward.  The way I planned this out, the only body padding will be on the backside and the front of the leg.  It isn't really "digitigrade padding" because he doesn't stand digitigrade unless he's running or walking...as a non-anthro,  Anthro form he stands more plantigrade.  The most similar thing I could relate it to (other than a grasshopper...who's legs are actually backwards) would probably be a kangaroo.

Anyways, had to simplify the stripes because my body is short and "stubby".  Plus to sew as many stripes as I had on the original version just...no that's not gonna work.  So less stripes but same feel to it.  That nice wavy look.  Even on the tail the stripes are simplified but I think it gives the same sort of feel and you won't mistake the character for someone else's.  Stripes are just one of those things that it's hard to keep even.  If I were to commission someone for their version of him, I'd probably just tell them that they can do whatever with his stripes so long as they keep the same basic flow of colors (especially from the yellow to the green).  But for now, this is how I'm gonna make him.

I think the hardest part other than keeping the spots even (in actuality the body suit might be the easiest part to make), would probably be the feet/legs and the head.  I need to figure out how I'm adding in those feelers.  And the "spikes" on the back of his legs.

Anyways, I still need to make a ref for his arms and that's about it.  His markings are symmetrical so I don't really need a full...everything view.  I can figure out the rest fairly easily.

Biyomon Foam Work (99% Done)

Well as complete as it will be for now.  There still needs to be a little bit of tweeking (mostly on the inside of the mouth so the fleece will fit smoothly).  Maybe minor tweeks on the outside of the beak too to smooth out bumps.   But the full structure is now done.  Aside from the feather on her forehead which will have wire as the main structure so I can get the curl.

Next step is putting together the structure for the body suit while I save for the material to fill this out (the fur and fleece).

Biyomon Head WIPs

Spent some time today trying to fix up previous details such as the eyes and beak as well as add in more details to this.

I'd had the head shaped out for a few weeks now and hadn't touch this much because I felt a little stuck.  Especially with how to do Biyomon's largest feathers on her head.  Finally I figured out how I could do them so I tried it out.  Took a bit of pinning at first, but once I got it all in place and glued it down it actually looked decent. 

Also took some time and rounded out her cheeks.  Since she has a static jaw, I can do a lot with her expression so eventually I'm gonna go back, add in more foam and shape it so she has a bit of a smile at least.  Biyomon's such a cute character that it probably wouldn't be right if she didn't have a smile.

The beak still needs quite a bit of work anyways.  At least on the left side of it.  The right side is much smoother and looks better than the left.  But aside from that and the smile, the next part is smoothing out the top of the head, fixing parts of the eyes (still) and adding in the four other feathers.  Also still smoothing the inside of the beak and making sure the foam there is tightly glued together.

Sketches n' WIP's

As we can tell...I have fun drawing literal Tatoba.  And each time I draw him he seems to get toonier.  But that's a good thing I think.  He looks really good toony.

The top WIP started out as a bit of vent art.  I was feeling (and still feel to a degree) very stressed with the change from being in college to being thrust into the real world.  So I drew my optimistic fursona (L. Tatoba) consoling Sombra.  There was something I liked about the look of the shaded characters in this flat looking universe so I saved a WIP that looked like this.  I've painted up the background a little more since then but it still needs to some more work.

Second is a plan for a future fursuit.  I knew I wanted to make a fursuit based on my literal Ratoratah design.  But I didn't want to make a male Ratoratah.  Yeah, making the mane might be fun but I wanted to make a more female version of the design for me.  So I cut the mane back into a mohawk.  Unlike most of the anthropomorphic animals that I draw, I decided I didn't want to add any body padding to this.  So she has plantigrade legs instead of digitigrade ones.  And I want to make the feet fairly small since I want the suit to be pretty form fitting.  And yes, I want that tail to be dragging on the floor like that.

I'll make a better, turn around reference for her when I get closer to starting this project.  I've got about 2 or 3 ahead of this one.  She's kinda on the back burner for other costumes (depending on what I want for the conventions I'm going to).

Progress Shots- Putotyra Possessed Literal Tatoba

I wanted to draw myself an icon to use for Halloween. This ended up happening instead.

I'd wanted to draw another picture of my Literal Tatoba anyways and this picture was sitting in the back of my mind. There's a scene near the end of Kamen Rider OOO where Eiji is completely overtaken by the Putotyra (Ptera/Pterodactyl, Torikera/Triceratops, Tyranno/Tyrannosaurus) medals. In this state, he blindly changes into the Tatoba combo and instead of that combo having the bright green eyes it usually has, the eyes have turned purple as a result of the influence that Putotyra's having on him.

While I'm designing each of these literal interpretations to be its own being, perhaps the Literal Putotyra (which I still need to design) could have the ability to put others under its control. Or maybe I can just be drawing this for the heck of it. There doesn't really need to be continuity anywhere...but it's more interesting to think about.

Anyways I used a reference for the pose/expression found here.

Basically, this is all the progress done on it today. The sketch, the base layer (blocking out the colors, shading, and lighting), and then the detail layer (smoothing out everything from the base layer). I'm sure there's gonna be one more layer to add small final details that sharpen details here and there, but for the most part I'm just working with those three layers (not counting the two in the background for the border and the black).

MLP Contest Entry- Flat Color

All the flat colors minus their cutie marks (well the ones where their cutie marks are gonna show). From that angle, Rainbow Dash's tail's a bit awkward but I think it looks okay. I still have to say that Pinkie Pie looks the best here. She's my least favorite character 'cause she's insanely annoying, but she's the one who has the best emotions to draw since she's so happy and hyper.

Tomorrow I'll probably get the rest done. Or most of it. I'll at least get some of the shading done tomorrow. I still don't know how I'm detailing the sky-ish background. Leaving it as the gradient is probably a bit...boring.

More WIPs

Progress on a image for a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic t-shirt contest. Did my best to fit all 7 of the main characters together. I like how it looks. It's not traditional MLP style. Admittedly, I'm not a giant fan of the art style of the series, but I do like some of the character designs. Particularly Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Then again...I do like brightly colored characters. Applejack's design is wonderful too. I hope people will like it when it's all colored up and submitted. If so, that's great. If not, at least I tried. ^^;



I'm sure this design is probably null and void right now. If the class doesn't want to use it anymore then I suppose I'll keep it and then sell him off or discard him if no one else wants him. Apparently he needs to be more "funny" (whatever that means). I did sketch up a more "humorous" version of him but in all honesty, it's just really stupid. The new one I sketched up that is...I personally like him looking threatening but my opinion counts for nothing.

If anything this class has taught me I will never do art for a job unless I can go by my own rules. So probably selling cosplay parts and props at conventions or something like that. Otherwise I'll just be selfish with my art. It'll be for me and me alone...

Images Currently in Progress

More progress on a request for DaggerLeonelli of her character Akio. No the shading will not end up being this dark. Once I'm done smoothing everything out, I'll change the opacity on the shading layers so that it's at a decent level. I feel bad for taking so long on this picture. It should've been done well before now. But because it's so close to being done plus I love the character and I like how this is turning out, I'll finish it up when I find the time to do so.



I needed to attempt to design some background creatures for my APS class and so since I knew that owls and dogs were animals that hung around the Mayan god Ah Puch, I made a skull dog. But the class wants some more humanoid designs, so this one'll most likely be scrapped. I probably won't even use it for anything. As much as I like animal skulls and animal skull headed creatures, I have no use for a Saluki-skull headed character.



Out of boredom, I wanted to try my hand at making an MLP character retain some of it's cartoony characteristics while making it look more like a pony. While I don't care for the show (I find it no different than a generic children's show), I'll admit that I do like the color palettes used for a lot of the characters and I like their markings/design. Rainbow Dash for one...I do like her colors and markings. So I tried to draw her. It's a different style for me so it's a bit out of my comfort zone. Just a bit. I'm not always used to working in such a cartoony style but it's fun every now and then.



As for something closer to my regular style, I've been trying to figure out which literal OOO combo I wanted to draw next. While I tried to draw Putotyra, I still can't figure out how to mix those three together well (Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus). So it was between Ratoratah and Tajador. Peacock tail feathers throw me off a bit so I might draw that one next. So this is gonna end up being a Literal Ratoratah (Lion, Tiger, Cheetah).



Last but not least is what I've been working on today. A model sheet for my APS's project of the death god loosely based on descriptions of the Mayan death god, Ah Puch. This is really my first model sheet that I think is fairly successful. The side view is all inked. Then I have to do the front and back. And on a separate sheet close ups of his hands and close up views of his face for my friend who's gonna be modeling him.

Nyan Cat WIP 1

Okay...while I did put a bit more color on this after I did this tiny bit, I didn't feel like saving another WIP so I just left it at this.

While I doubt I'll finish it in time for Attack of the Show's art contest, I needed an excuse to draw Nyan Cat. Just because. It's not my favorite meme, but it's a cute character. And an interesting one to try to make semi-realistic. Cat with a pop-tart body? Sure...I'll try it out. So just got a little bit of the colors marked out and of course that trademark rainbow. Can't have Nyan Cat without the rainbow, you know?

Akio WIP- Inks and "Blocking"

His hair in human form killed me! Figuratively speaking of course or else I wouldn't be writing this. While I need practice on drawing nice flowing hair that won't take forever and a day to ink purely due to it's length...and the flowing. I expect that the shading will also take quite a bit of time. But hopefully not nearly as long as actually fixing with those lines.

So far so good though. I wished I got more done on this than just this little bit here but it's better than no progress.

Akio WIP- Sketch

Progress of a request for DaggerLeonelli/Majime of her Shiba Inu character, Akio. I just wanted to draw him in both humanoid form and Shiba Inu form. 'Cause his humanoid form is very pretty. That and I don't draw people nearly enough.

Wanna see how much of this I can get done today. This is almost gonna be double the work of any of my last few pictures 'cause this is separated out into the dog Akio layers and the human Akio layers. Each part is almost gonna be like it's own separate entity in a way. I should be able to at the least get through the lines for both parts. Lines and shading always take me the longest so I'll see how much time this takes up before I get tired.

Tatoba WIP 2- Flat Colors Finished

Those tiger stripes are such a pain but turned out much more gorgeous than I thought they would. And really helped blending the three colors together much better than I thought it would. Red, yellow, and, green...I didn't know how well I could get them to work together, but as it is, I actually like it a lot. Granted it also reads "Jamaican" a little bit.

Just gotta add in the shading detail for the eyes and it should be done. Hopefully that'll be done in a few hours...hopefully. ^^; I'm sure it won't take as long as drawing all those stripes did.

Kyuubimon- 90% Finished

Well I got it up to 95% finished by time for Acen.

My fursuit mask for my Kyuubimon cosplay. I strived to have at least a 3/4 partial in time for Anime Central this year, but that plan didn't go like I wanted it to. However I did have the hand paws, mask and 9 tails ready for the con. My plan is to finish the 3/4 partial in time for MFF this November. Which consists of finishing the digitigrade legs, the feet, and the ribbon-bell deal that goes around her neck.

I do have some touch ups that I'd like to do on the head. Maybe sculpt some teeth to go in her mouth. And also to add some white fur to the inside of the ears just to cover up the rough yellow fabric edges. For other parts of the costume, I'd like to fix up the hand paws a bit. Possibly by shaving down the fur a bit so it's much shorter as well as adding in pawpads and sculpted claws.

Once I get the costume done in full, I'll post a picture of that.

Suri Umech Poster- WIP 2

Hopefully I'll be done with this before anime club. No, I will be done with this before anime club.

I'm just smoothing out the details now. Still on the beast though. I did outline the butterfly so that will get colored up today. The fact that all the textures are smooth and the makes this a bit faster to paint than other images. That and the creature's body is fading into black.

Suri Umech Poster- WIP 1

Part of a poster design or "concept art" for my animation production studio's film. I'm not quite sure how brilliant it is to post things relating to APS on my blog. But since it's a WIP plus it's not "ruining" the film, I believe it's fine.

Only a result of an hour or so's work. I think the difficulty will come in when I have to "evenly" make the beast fade to black. So eventually the blue and orange lighting will be lightened some.

Blocking out light sources was definitely the most useful skill I've learned. And makes painting using various colors and lighting more fun.

Repeater Progress

The product of about 2 or so days work on this Repeater plus Torchwood vs. Road Cone Zombie picture. I've really just worked on the Repeater so far (and it's still not done).

So far, this is good practice for shading and lighting. And perspective (but since I just made a cut out of this part you can't really see it)

2 WIP's

1) A bit more Plants vs. Zombies fan art. A Repeater and Torchwood against a Road Cone Zombie. Repeater plus Torchwood is my favorite combination (aside from Gatling Pea plus Torchwood) and Road Cone Zombie...well...Road Cones protect his head!

There's very little "epic" fan art for this game so I thought I'd try my hand at it. At the least this gives me some good practice with lighting and perspective, two things I don't bother with nearly enough. This'll also be good texture practice. I've gotten the texture of grass and bark nearly down. Leaves, smooth textures, clothing, and fire are textures that definitely need some work.

I just hope all my light sources stay clear and done end up becoming muddled together.

2) A gijinka/humanoid version of my Girafarig pokesona (she doesn't have a name just yet). Just drew this one up recently as practice for "humans" (though she's not completely human...'tis just my little loop-hole for drawing people).

Definitely a drastically different color scheme here. I'm aiming for a sunset or sunrise sort of look.

Despite my discomfort with drawing people, I'm rather proud of how her pose turned out.

Hopefully I can finish both of these pictures within the week. I'll work on them one at a time though. I just kept going back and forth between the two because I really wanted to get some color down on both sketches.

Puppy Conan Sculpt WIP

I'm not a CG artist in the least bit. But after seeing a lot of my favorite artists playing around with a sculpting program called "Sculptris", I wanted to try it. Unfortunately it isn't compatible with Macs yet. So I downloaded a program called Blender instead. Really all I wanted to do was sculpt stuff. I don't have any interest in learning to do 3D animation (or rather I have very little interest in doing so.

So as a slight reference for a future fursuit "cosplay", I started sculpting a 3D model of what my Puppy Conan mask might look like (minus the moving jaw). So far this is what I've got minus the hair. And the hair is giving me the most trouble. Mostly because I've been working with symmetry so far and his hair is asymmetrical. But I did sculpt out the back of his hair well. We'll have to see what happens with the front of it.

"No Escape" - Progress Day 4

I'm starting to slow down in my work on this. It happens when I'm detailing fur. It looks good at first but then it sets in how much work it takes to make the fur look good. It's un-intentional, but when I start to lose interest in something, I don't want to work on it anymore. I'm at the point where I'm just forcing myself to get it done because I have to get it done. It'll look good when it's done (at least I hope so), but for now I just don't really want to work with it.

Doesn't look like I did much but I spent the majority of my time today detailing Sombra's fur instead of Yesebel. There's a little bit I did with Yesebel (blocking out her nose, adding more blood on her muzzle and starting to work on the inside of her ear). But mostly the work for today was done on Sombra's fur and thickening it up.

"No Escape" - Progress Day 3

I'm really trying to get through this.

But now I'm starting to have more tablet trouble. I tried my best to do a good amount of work today. But hand cramps and a semi-broken tablet are really starting to get to me. I have an idea about how to fix this up so only part of the picture can be used for the cover. But I'm only doing that if it's absolutely necessary. I did order a new tablet today. If I'm lucky I'll have it within the week I doubt I will but maybe I will.

I didn't work on this as long today as I did the past two days but I still think I got a good amount done.