Shadowness - isissousa

Elisa - XIIIth hour at Duskland

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:08:37 -0400

This is a character from a series of short stories I am working on. The first story is ready and just gone for Beta reading. “The XIIIth Hour at Duskland” is a personal work of fiction. Painted with an oily brush “Real Round”, on Painter 12. I would like to thank immensely the great master Pierangelo Boog, for all the tips and help on the anatomy issues I had during the process of this illustration!

The Dark Van Gogh

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:06:39 -0400

When I was a child I was always afraid of looking at Van Gogh self-portraits. I saw him as a spooky man, with a strange glance in his eyes. I also notice that he looks anatomically different if we compare his self-portraits. Those distortions of his impressionist style (still) are for me like nightmarish visions and I didn’t know what was worse: sometimes I saw deep sadness in his countenance, sometimes I saw just evil. Was I imagining too much? Here is my own interpretation of one of his self-portraits, this time, in peaceful, but dark mood.

The Ziggy Elf

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:34:08 -0500

This is an elf portrait hugely inspired on David Bowie’s character/persona Ziggy Stardust. He used awesome costumes and always had great make up. I think bedsides Bowie’s geniality, Ziggy Stardust was so fabulous because of the vibrant, dreamy colors. That’s what I have tried to incorporate here, with much hard work, a lot of tweaking and corrections. All painted with Painter 12, Soft tip Airbrush and a bit of texturing with a sponge and a nervous pen. I had reference for the face/pose from myself :) Although “The Ziggy Elf” is much more beautiful and pleasant to look! This painting was created for IT’S ART PORTRAITURE CLASS “Paint a Fantasy Portrait”. Video coming soon!

A Portrait of Giuseppe Arcimboldo – IT’S ART Portraiture class

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 08:30:28 -0400

This is a paint-over the original self-portrait drawing by Giuseppe Arcimboldo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo - the same one you see in his Wikipedia page. Perhaps, on my version he looks a bit younger. It was prepared for IT’S ART next Portraiture Class “Paint a portrait with a classical feel”. There you will be able to see the whole process explained. Coming soon! One of my favorite paintings of my own gallery, so far :) Painted with Painter 12 and Fine Tip Soft Airbrush!

Moonlight Magic

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:45:13 -0400

OBS: This is not a new painting. But as I m very busy for the moment, I am uploading it here to update the gallery :) This piece was developed for the ArtOrder Challenge "Evolution". It was given a short description for a character and we artists had to come up with an original concept for that one line description. As I got to know about the Challenge very late, I hurried with my piece to meet the deadline, it was done in Low res, with Painter 12, my fav program and my old Wacom Intuos 3. I used 3 brushes: Fine soft air, oil blender and a sponge for texturing. I had reference for the posing from a book called "Comic Artist's photo reference - Women and girls" by Scalera. It was fun and an enriching experience!

A dream that never was

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 15:32:25 -0400

This is my Halloween painting this year. I thought about something beautiful and obscure. A brave young woman got locked inside her own dream. How can she ever come back to reality? I think ”IT’S Art Portraiture Classes” are pushing me forward as an artist and I judge this to be my best piece to this date. Painter 12, Wacom Intuos 3, airbrushes, sponge (to texture the cape) The leaf motion effect was done manually: I multiplied the leaves layer a couple of times and moved them a little aside the original layer (total of 3); being the first layer in 100% opacity and the other two in very low opacity. I also painted slightly around the leaves with a thick, very transparent airbrush, to help the sense of motion. It is not as good as if I have used a finished blur/motion effect in Photoshop or any other photo editing program, but I decided to do it myself and I quite liked the result!

Among Wolves

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 05:24:46 -0400

Personal work. It is inspired by my father’s passion for wolves and his strong and good heart. This piece will be in my art book (coming soon), which will also feature some older and new, unseen artwork just as good as this one. I also recorded videos of half of the process (painting the cape/hood, hair and snow –vortex-thing). These videos and other exclusive video tutorials you will see in my (interactive) book as well. Painted with Painter 12 and my old Wacom Intuos 3. I had reference for the posing/angle, a model from the book The Fantasy Figure Artist’s Reference File.

A touch of Evil

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 05:24:44 -0400

I really love painting close up portraits, but this time I decided to leave my comfort zone and paint a half-body one. Got inspired by August’s full moon, which brought a little Dark Fantasy to my mind. Both character and costume are my original concepts. I had references for the pose, the hands and the face. The most challenging part of this image was, without doubts, her expression. The second most difficult part was to make the window metal structure, because straight lines are one of my biggest weaknesses! Painted with Painter 12 and my old Wacom Intuos 3.

Harald Håfagre II

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:22:22 -0400

I have painted Harald Hårfagre a couple of years ago for the first time. It was a nice painting to be one of my first in digital technique. A year and a half has passed, and I started to think about a new version for this character/history figure. Now, half a year later (yeah, been chewing this idea for 6 months!) the new version is done! The palette is more natural and the composition is more emphatic. I also think I could give him a better expression. Find out about Harald Hårfagre (Fair hair) on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Fairhair You can also fins this illustration on the September (2012) issue of the German Metal magazine “Legacy”. It is the background of an advertisement with 5 Norwegian bands: Tomorrow’s Outlook, Antares Predator, Subliritum, Cyclophonia and Harm. Painter 12, Wacom Intuos 3, Fine Tip Soft airbrush

A Headdress from Hordaland I

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:22:19 -0400

This headdress is part of a historical costume of a region called Hordaland in Norway. I think it looks geometrical and beautiful, and it gave me inspiration for this piece. I had no specific reference for the face, all done from memory, but I had reference for the angles and inspiration for her costume, based on a “bunad” (official historical local costume). The lady and anything else on her is painted from scratch, while the background is a photo manipulation + painting mixed technique. This piece is very important to me, because it marks an improvement on my work as digital painter. From now on, I will be producing more realistic paintings, such as this one. It will also be featured on my art book, coming soon! Painted with Painter 12 + my old Wacom Intuos 3.