Crisis for the Planet

"Crisis for the Planet"
(Final Fantasy VII)
 
This is a redo of a much older piece. I had it in mind to go back to this one for quite a while, however, the original had a lot of motifs I feel are now rather cliche of me, so I wanted to find a way to make it fresher.
Firstly, I changed the poses held by the two characters, putting Aerith in a prayer stance (which doubles as covering herself, lol), and placed Sephiroth in a powerful outstretched arms pose. It's minor, but adds more dynamics and personality to their presence. I also ditched the Advent Children-esque look for somewhat more classic-faithful models, which I also tried to replicate in the coloring style, mixing markers with colored pencils for a recreation of texture found in Nomura's character illustrations.
Losing the yin/yang motif, I moved the Materias to the sides, being "cupped" by the ends of the central glyph, which to keen eyes is recognized as the symbol used on the title card and opening credits. For the background colors, I wanted the base colors of the materia to start around their locations and swirl into a mix as they approach the opposite, invoking a sort of color wheel look.
As a final touch, I put my signature at both ends so there's no "real" top or bottom to this piece.


March 30, 2018
Micron Pen, Sakura Pigma pens, Prismacolor Markers, colored pencils, and gel pens
on 8.5x11" cardstock 
Paper texture added digitally via Photoshop Elements 7.0

Those Chosen by the Planet - Set 1

"Those Chosen by the Planet" (Set 1)
(Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII)
 
A project I thought up a bit back to make illustrations of the FF7 cast in art styles reminiscent of their in-game field models, but didn't really have a complete execution in mind. I just decided to do individual character pics, with roughly 3 per sheet.

Since these three are arguably the main characters within the protagonists, I did them first. While I started them based on those blocky, Popeye-armed renders, I decided to give them some visual aesthetic to make them more pleasing.

I'm in progress of doing the rest of the main cast, and am hoping to sell these as individual prints, later down the line, probably as 5x7's.

June 7, 2015
Micron pens, Sakura Pigma pens, ballpoint pen, Prismacolor Markers, charchol pencil, and gel pens
on 8.5x11" cardstock.

Just a Puppet

"Just a Puppet"
(Sephiroth and Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII)

Probably the most risque picture I've done (publicly ^_^;), but wanted to show how much I could get away with without showing really anything. I gave this one a similar visual style like I did Seventh Heaven, despite the large time gap between the two pieces. I don't really have a lot to say about this piece as I don't really recall too much around it. All I know is it gives all my friends nosebleeds.

February 20, 2008
Ink pens, PainterClassic and Photoshop 7.0
1283x2000 pixels

Cetracal Balance

"Cetracal Balance"
(Sephiroth and Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII)

Originally designed to be a back tattoo piece, I love images that compliment itself with its own contrasting elements. Light and dark, male and female, top and bottom. A lot about asymmetry can actually work to create a balance, which is what I aimed for in the execution of this piece.
There's a lot I would change about this, now, however, since my understanding of human anatomy has improved greatly in the last 7 years...

August 12, 2005
Ink pens and PainterClassic
1005x1500 pixels