Friday, April 11, 2014

Goldstone Wood Fan Art Contest: 2014 - Second Set

CONTEST SUBMISSIONS


Ashamed Rosie

By: Kaylee S.
Colored Pencil
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



An Unlikely Friendship

By: Kristene
Acrylic Painting
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



A Younger Mousehand

By: Tori
Pencil Drawing
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Beana

By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



 

Playing on the Lake of Endless Blackness

By: Caitlyn
Photography and Stick Ships
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood


Tell Me What You Want

By: Abby C.
Pencil Drawing
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Leo

By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Monster Hunting

By: Christa W.
Watercolor
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood




 

Rose Red in the Netherworld

By: Tracey
Pencil Drawing
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Noorhitam

By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Rosie's Faerie Form

By: Kaylee S.
Colored Pencil
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Leo and Rosie, Together Again

By: Jessica M.
Watercolor
From: Veiled Rose
Book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Carrun Corgar

By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood





 Eanrin and Imraldera

By: Micailah
Clay Models
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Varvare's Choice

By: Allysa F.
Mixed Media Sculpture
Metal, Stone, Fire, Water, Feather, Rose Vines
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood
 

 

 Princess Varvare

By: Christa W.
Watercolor
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood


 Queen Bebo and Lady Hymlumé

By: Micailah
Pencil Drawing
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Queen Anahid and Varvare

By: Chloe
Lego Art
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Lady Hymlumé

By: Beka
Watercolor
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Orfhlaith

By: Micailah
Clay Model
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Castle of Arpiar

By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Ragniprava 1

By: Micailah
Colored Pencil
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Guardians of the Haven

By: Gabriella Silverstein
Photo Manipulation
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Rebirth

By: Erin Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Princess Varvare

By: Micailah
Pastel Portrait
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Night of Moonblood

By: Brenna Jones
Photo Manipulation
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Ragniprava 2

By: Micailah
Colored Pencil
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood



Hymlumé's Garden

By: Hannah W.
Acrylic and Digital Painting
From: Moonblood
Book 3 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood


Scroll down to the next post to see more fan art submissions!


12 comments:

Gwen said...

There are so many amazing pieces on every page! Everyone did such a fantastic job!

Kathleen said...

WOW great job guys!!!!!!!! You should all be so proud of your work

Hannah said...

Alright, Set two!

@Kaylee: Oh, our Rosie is indeed a goblin! Well done.

@Kristene: Wow! What a beautiful painting!!! I love the colors, and trees! Leo's outfit is so cute! This is endearing.

@Tori: A very impressive portrait! I can see Mousehand looking like this once.

@Micailah: These clay models are just too cute. Did you know that?

@Caitlyn: Nice ships! This looks like ships my brother and I used to build!

@Abby C: OOOOoo, creepy, creepy. Leo's so cute too.

Micailah: Again, cute.

@Christa: *inhales deeply* Oh my, what beautiful, vibrant colors. This is such a lovely, innocent, and determined Daylily!

@Tracey: Oh, great depiction! I love Rosie's outfit, the lantern, the cute little wood thrush.

@Brenna Jones: Okay, this is cool.LOVE IT. The peacock is awesome.

@Kaylee S: Oh, such a pretty Rosie. Very nice. :)

@Jessica: Gasp! This is lovely, so lovely! The forest looks almost real, and it's nice to see Leo when he was bearded. This is very sweet!

@Brenna Jones: *cue creepy music* Ah, this is well done and very good move to remind us all of the cryptic tower...

@Micailah: Aw, Eanrin as a kitty! And Imraldera has a flower on her dress!

@Allysa: Interesting concept! I like how the rose is dying and the flame is on the point of drowning.

@Christa W: Again, gorgeous! This colors are so eye-catching and your style of people is so beautiful!

@Micailah: Oh, look the face is in the moon! And we always thought it was a man. Ha!

@Chloe: Squee! Legos! This is so much fun! I love the roses, the cape, the unicorn, Rosie wrapped in red. Great attention to detail!

@Beka: Oh pretty! Soft colors, and lovely lady. :)

@Micailah: Wow, you must have spent a lot of time on these! This one is great!

@Brenna Jones: Very lovely, again.

@Micailah: Ooog, why does he look hungry? Nice job!

@Gabriella: Very fun! I love the depictions and the glow and shading!

@Erin Jones: Cool! I love how Lady Hymlume can be seen in the moon. And great job remembering the unicorn became a star again without its horn.

@Micailah: Oh, pastels! That's a first for this fan art, I think! Very nice!

@Brenna Jones: This is quite lovely. I really enjoy your photo manipulation. :)

@Micailah: Ah, that Ragniprava. You're very good at tigers, by the way.




Melanie J. said...

And here I sit, typing the second set with a cat strewn haphazardly across my texting hand. :)

I'm going to start off by confessing that it's often very hard for me to socialize with other artists, especially if their work is incredibly intimidating, so every one of you should consider it a great compliment that I'm commenting at all, because you guys have just totally blown me away.

So anyway, I've somehow managed to muster up the courage to be a good little animation major and comment on what I find fabulous in every single one of them. If you'd like, just comment if you'd like to know any ideas I have and I'll be happy to throw out there any ideas that might help. :)

Overall I'm so ridiculously impressed and seeing so much art just warms my heart more than a cup of peppermint tea by the fire on a Saturday night. :D

@Kaylee S. (Ashamed Rosie) : Wow, the mood in this is so tragic and beautiful! You've captured it wonderfully! This feeling of loneliness and desperation is so vivid that I didn't even need to read the title to feel it. The bare branches of the trees are beautiful and I love the expression on Rosie's face. And I'm not quite sure why, but I absolutely adore her hair, I really do! You've captured it all so beautifully! :)

@Kristene (An Unlikely Friendship) : Whoaa...This. is. Awesome. I love it all! The colors, the different types of trees, the implication of motion of the little boats, the reflections, ripples, and foam on the water. And oh my gosh the textures and shading! You've truly pulled all the stops to utilize acrylics to their full potential! Fantastic job! :)

@Tori (A Younger Mousehand) : Wow, I really love this! The proportions are pretty fantastic and you concept of shading is phenomenal. The things that really sold me though are the expression and the lines of the face. They're just so fantastic. And I really love how you drew his nose, not quite sure why his nose, but I do. Either way, I've never seen any drawings of him before and this one's fantastic! :)

Melanie J. said...

Part 2!

@Micailah (Beana) : There's no escaping or denying it. This is just downright adorable. So. Adorable. Oh my gosh. The paint and modeling job are both exquisite. And oh my gosh, the ears, eyes, and nose are some of the most adorable things ever. It looks fabulous. :)

@Caitlyn (Playing on the Lake of Endless Blackness) : Oh wow, this is fantastic. The twig ships look absolutely fabulous, and I'm not sure whether it's the angle or how the pond/lake usually looks, but the water looks so incredibly dark, and it's awesome. I think one of my favorite parts though is the really strong diagonal "line" the shore makes with the water. It's really dynamic, and it looks absolutely wonderful. :)

@Abby C. (Tell Me What You Want) : I love this. I love the perspective of the bed and the pillows and I really like how you made the walls dark. I also really like the little spots of color outside that really "pop". But my favorite parts have to be the faces and their expressions, hands down. There's just so much in those expressions and how you also communicated the expressions through the poses and the hand positions, it's really brilliant. :)

@Micailah (Leo) : Leo looks so awesome! You really are a talented sculptor! I'm not sure what additional things I can say that I haven't said before, your paint job looks amazing and I absolutely love the green of his clothes in combination with his dark hair and skin. It looks fabulous. And I love the texture of the locks of his hair, though my favorite part would definitely be Bloodbiter's Wrath. It looks amazing, it's an awesome detail and the marbled look of the slightly different colors of brown make it look very realistically wooden-like. Awesome. :)

@Tracey (Rose Red in the Underworld) : Wow, good heavens I really love this! Oh gosh, the sparse background has quite the impact, Rose Red looks absolutely fabulous; the folds of the fabric, the position of her hand, and her pose, all so wonderful! You attention to detail is amazing, I adore the wood thrush perched on the lantern (which looks super pretty) with his speckled breast, he looks absolutely amazing (great job on the perspective of the lantern and the grave, by the way!). My favorite parts have to be Rose Red's eyes and the shading of the whole thing. Her eyes are so emotional, even though that's all you see of her face, so bravo! And, good heavens the shading! The shading looks absolutely fantastic. I love it. The shading on her figure and the gradual shading of the background going into the distance. And, as promised, I do have a thought or two. :) There's this thing they call the Rule of Thirds, it says something always looks more interesting if it's placed a third of the way from one edge of the paper/frame/document/whatever (left, right, top, or bottom), but what they don't always tell ya is that a piece can communicate different things depending on where you put the "subject" (aka Rose Red). For instance, you've placed her near the top third, which, because we can see more of the ground and less of the sky, it gives a feeling of being trapped or confined. Whereas if you put her near the bottom third and give us a greater view of the sky, it would give a larger, vaster feel. In this case, it would probably give off a feeling of loneliness and smallness in a vast wasteland. Either way of doing it is PERFECTLY fine, it just all depends on what kind of feel you're going for. Basically, where you put your subject communicates different feelings to the viewer. I could go on, but you can Google Rule of Thirds and they'll probably be able to tell you better than I can. Your piece is beautiful. Keep drawing! I really really wanna see more of your work! :)

Melanie J. said...

Part 3!

@Brenna (Noorhitam) : Wow so beautiful! It actually took me a while to figure out what photos this puppy was made of! Bravo! The hall looks amazing and you've blended the two really well! And the feathers' "eyes" look really really cool and the gold and green color scheme works perfectly! By far, my favorite part is how the "leading lines" of the feathers lead the viewer's eye straight to the middle of the photo and match the photo's "one point perspective" just fantastically! The lines make the perspective look so dynamic, and it looks amazing. :)

@Kaylee S. (Rosie's Faerie Form) : I'm very impressed! Wow, mirrors and reflections are so hard to do, and you did great making Rosie and her reflection look super consistent! I love the decorations around the edges of the mirror and I really love Rosie's hair and how you shaded the background really dark. My favorite parts are the reflections and the subtle shadowed silhouette in the background. Very awesome. :)

@Jessica M. (Leo and Rosie, Together Again) : Whoa, this is amazing. Leo and Rosie's reunion looks so bittersweet, it's wonderful. I love Leo and Rosie's poses, and Leo's beard is awesome. The trees look absolutely amazing, and I really like how you have Rosie's back to the viewer, it gives an air of mystery to it. I'm having a really hard time choosing a favorite part. The shading and texture of the grass/ground is fantabulous, the little trees and fallen branches make the wood really dynamic, and the way you faded the background, making it lighter the further back it goes, that's so realistic and I love it. :)

@Brenna (Carrun Corgar) : The mood of this piece is so phenomenal. You've blended the photos really well and the rough texture of the "castle" in contrast with the softer shading of the clouds is really striking. The super subtle orange "overlay" is also a really nice touch. I think my favorite part is the lighting. The dark, brooding, intimidating lighting and monochromatic style really makes the mood and creates a splendid dark atmosphere.

@Micailah (Eanrin and Imraldera) : And the splendidness of your sculptures continues! Both are equally fantastic, Eanrin's color and whiskers and the slight curve of his fluffy tail are amazing. And I really really love Imraldera's color scheme! The starflower on her dress is a wonderful touch and I love the contrast of her skin and hair. I really really love the beautiful periwinkle color of her dress, it's such a beautiful, calm, sweet, cool color. Great job again! :)

@Allysa F. (Varvare's Choice) : Whoa. As a drawing-based artist who loves drawing characters, I absolutely DESPISE trying to draw still-lifes, so take it as a humongous compliment when I say I actually want to draw this. Like, seriously. This is super awesomely pretty. Did you actually weld the metal part of that sculpture? It looks so very awesome, and the velvet backdrop just tops it off. I think my favorite part is the contrast between all the different textures and parts of the sculpture. Like, the man-made look of metal intertwined with the wild organic feel of the rose branch, the feather and the water. And is that a lit candle floating in the water? That's genius! Did you melt the wax and form it into a "boat" and let it dry? Seriously, how'd you do that? Yes, I do believe the underlying concept of the man-made things and the organic things all intertwined together are most definitely my favorite part. :)

Melanie J. said...

Part 4!


@Christa W. (Princess Varvare) : Oh heavens! More of your wonderful watercolor! So vibrant! I love the way you draw faces and hair. I really do, so beautiful. And her wavy hair is shaded so wonderfully! And your color schemes! Oh goodness your color schemes! That's probably my favorite part of this piece. The red of her dress, her lips, the rose in her hair (which looks absolutely stunning by the way), and the rose petal in her hand contrast against her golden skin and beautiful dark hair so awesomely! It's truly gorgeous! :)

@Micailah (Queen Bebo and Lady Hymlume) : This is very very beautiful. It feels like something Parumvir or Southlands might embroider on their tapestries. I love the texture of Bebo's hair and the cliff, and Hymlume's subtle expression. My favorite part, though, I think would be the composition. The placement of everything is simply beautiful and leads the viewer's eye across the whole picture, and it's very natural movement of the eye, so the viewer can absorb the whole picture smoothly and easily without their eyes feeling jarred by anything. The line of the cliff on the left leads to Bebo, whose gaze leads our eyes to Hymlume, then the downwards line of the cliff leads us off the page. Basically, the composition of this piece is fabulous and I love it. :)

@Chloe (Queen Anaheim and Varvare) : Can I just say this is genius? Absolutely genius. The composition is super fantastic, the construction of the characters, especially Anahid's heart-wrenching expression, is so so great. And the roses and the unicorn in the background? Amazing! I didn't even notice until the second time I looked, so sneaky! My favorite part is probably how you chose to showcase it, the perspective and depth of field of the photo are absolutely phenomenal. How you positioned Anahid and how you placed her and Varvare in relation to the unicorn and the angle you chose to take the photograph...amazing. And the small depth of field you used to focus on Anahid and leave the background, and especially the unicorn, blurry, looks ridiculously awesome. Fantastic job! :)

@Beka (Lady Hymlume) : Wow, this is gorgeous! I've never seen anyone do a close shot of Hymlume as a woman before, and she's really beautiful! I adore the idea of her sitting on a crescent moon, and her expression, the color, shape, and shading of her dress, and her hair are all beautiful! And is that a pendant of Lume around her neck? Squeak! So adorable!! Now color me strange, but my favorite parts are her feet and her hands. Feet are among the hardest things to draw, equal only to hands, in my opinion, and you've done them both so well! The position of her feet I absolutely adore...so yes! Think me odd, but you've done an excellent job! :)

@Micailah (Orfhlaith): My goodness, every time I think you've finished stunning me with one of your sculptures, I scroll down and find another one! How in the haybeans do you find the time to make all these beauties? And what a beauty it is! The colors are absolutely exquisite! And the texture of the mane and tail is really gorgeous. A love how you posed her in a more dynamic pose, rather than just standing straight up. The head and the eyes are adorable, and the body shape looks really nice. One part I really like is the way you did the legs. The way you did where the legs connect to the body, it looks like the muscles of the shoulders and hindquarters. But my favorite part is the paint job, it's just so beautiful...and shiny. :)

@Brenna (The Castle of Arpiar) : This is so beautiful. The way you combine the photos is super awesome! I love how there are two different photos of roses in the foreground, and the pink and the red are a really nice dynamic. My favorite part is definitely the castle. The way you turned down the opacity and blended it so you can just see it, as if it's just visible through a thick veil of fog ("veil", haha, see what I did there? -laughs dumbly-). Anyway, wonderful job, it looks beautiful! :)

Melanie J. said...

Part 5!

@Micailah (Ragniprava 1) : Oh my gosh! I think this is one of my favorite drawings of yours so far! He looks amazing! The proportions, the eyes, the stripes, the careful attention to the markings on the face and neck, the whiskers, the ears, the shape of the nose, the color and shading of the face, the implication of jungle and greenery around him. Super awesome! I think my favorite parts are the eyes, nose and whiskers. They're just crafted so well together, it looks really nice!

@Gabriella (Guardians of the Haven) : Oh ma gersh, Gabriella, honey, how am I supposed to pick a favorite of yours if they're all so stinking pretty? It's terribly cruel to the dreadfully indecisive! So, riddle me this, how did our impressions of Eanrin's man form get so ridiculously similar, yet to my knowledge we've never spoken? I find it frankly pretty stinking awesome. This looks amazing. The color schemes are awesome, the texture on Imraldera's headscarf is brilliant, and the proportions are fabulous. And once again, I love your style. My favorite part by far is the lighting. Your lighting is so fantastic. I can see where it's coming from, and it gives a wonderful glow to the characters, creating a very warm feel, and yet the shadows give a somewhat melancholy mood. Fantastic! :)

@Erin (Rebirth) : Awww this is so pretty! The quote you chose is absolutely beautiful, and the subtle background color with the texture "frame" is a great touch. The edges aren't rough at all on the photo of the white horse and it's blended really well! I love the planets/moons and their placement, they look really really nice. The subtle lines overlay looks really nice as well. But by far my favorite part is how you did the woman's photo. It's so subtle, so natural and so beautiful, and the photo fits perfectly inside the planet/moon. Her pose and the gaze of her eyes lead the viewer's eye in a circular direction around the rest of the piece, and it works wonderfully. :)

@Micailah (Princess Varvare) : Wow this is beautiful! And in pastels? Bravo! I've always found pastels to be an extraordinary pain in the rear end. So to be able to finish one so beautifully, I'm very impressed! You're truly talented in many different mediums! Her hair and her face are so beautiful, and her vibrant blue eyes look so sad. The colors are fantastic and I absolutely adore the shading, colors, and waves you used in her hair. My favorite part is the roses. The color and texture you used for those is absolutely amazing. :)

@Brenna (Night of Moonblood) : Wow, this is really beautiful! The stars, the moon, the color of the sky drifting in a beautiful gradient from midnight blue to green and yellow sunset/sunrise. And the clouds make a beautiful overlay on the rose. Speaking of, my favorite part. The rose. The way you blended it is simply gorgeous. Undeniably gorgeous. The way the colors of the sunset/sunrise and the stars show on the petals makes it so incredibly beautiful. :)

Melanie J. said...

Part 6!

@Macailah (Ragniprava 2) : Wow another one of Ragniprava! And this one's awesome too! I love his expression and how he's looking upwards, it looks really nice! And I love how all the colored pencil is drawn in the same direction, it's very consistent. It, along with Ragniprava's position, create this very dynamic diagonal that looks really fantastic. My favorite part is his markings; you have a really strong feel for what parts should be what color and what direction the stripes go, it's very realistic, bravo! :)

@Hannah (Hymlume's Garden) : Excuse me while I gather my jaw from the floor and place it back on my face. I adore this thing. The composition is absolutely fantastic, the curve of the unicorn's body in the upper left leads the viewer's eye down and around, and the moon and the paintbrush strokes leads the eye upwards towards the other unicorn, whose body and horn lead the eye back towards the unicorn in the upper left in a big circle, and it's totally awesome. I don't think you could have better composition than this. And the color, the detail, and the shading? Well stuff me with loose screws and call me mad! It's wonderful! The colors are so vivid, and the color scheme is absolutely fantastic. The "cool" colors set the mood amazingly, and the marbled colors of the sky look wonderful. The details are gorgeous; the depth of the unicorns' eyes are so striking, the dappled coats, cloven hooves and feathers on the fetlocks (sorry for the horse nerdity) are horrendously amazing, and the stars and flowery trim look awesome. Oh my gosh the shading. The shading is awesome. The way you shaded the unicorns with blue is genius. I really really love the implied flowing movement of their manes, it's beautiful, and your proportions are fantastic. Now, there's this painting technique I've learned, it's really super awesome and I'll try to see if I can explain it. Basically, you take the paintbrush (some kinds of paintbrushes probably work better than others, you may have to research or test it out) and dip it in the paint, then you take the bristles in your fingers and bend them back, then release the bristles a little bit at a time. The paint shoots against the canvas in little sprayed dots, and the result is this beautiful spattered look. A lot of times painters use this for ocean spray, but it might also work beautifully for a "stardust" texture, especially if you use it as an accent, places here and there to make it really pop! Also, I'd advise everyone who loves painting to look up the incredibly odd tricks people use to create additional texture in their paintings, everything from salt to sand to sponges and far beyond! As far as this piece is concerned, I think it's most incredibly awesome the way it is, whether you choose to do anything else is your decision, but I'd definitely at least put that puppy on the wall if I were you. :)

IMPORTANT: You guys have totally amazed me, you guys were so great! So whatever you do, keep artisting! And don't be like me and get discouraged by looking at other people's stuff! You are all the most amazing creations, created to turn around and be like our Lord by bringing creations to life ourselves with our the creativity that He's given each and every one of us INDIVIDUALLY, so take heart in the spirit of creativity He's given you, and feed it and let it grow by CONTINUING to create. The only way we can get worse is if we give up (and I'm saying this to me just as much as I am to you).

Joshua 1:9

And with that, darlings, I'm going to crash into the pillows now. I'll start on the 3rd Section tomorrow. Again! Let me know if you want any additional tips/opinions or whatnot!

Blessings and Prayers! You guys are so awesome!
--Melanie J.

P.S. Again, if I've forgotten anyone, misspelled or misgrammared anything I'm super duper sorry, keeping track of all this type is really hard on a phone.

Hannah said...

@Melaine: Thank you! The time you have spent studying and complimenting each of this pictures is a true and tremendous blessings.

I'm glad you enjoy my illustrations so much.=D Oh yes, the spattering technique! I've heard about that, but really haven't used it before. It probably would have gone well on this piece! I'll keep it in mind for future projects.

I might have asked this before, but I'll ask again: what sort of programs do you use for your art? The lines and coloring are just so flawless. You're an animator, right? Last year's piece, "Always Come Back For You", is still one of my very favorites.

Anonymous said...

@Hannah: Thanks for the compliment! I just realized now that you did Hymlume's Garden... WOW. Gorgeous work!

@Melanie J: Aww, thank you! I was tickled pink to read such a big huge chunk of... of encouragement and critique rolled into one. :) I really appreciate it. I have heard of the Rule of Thirds, but for some reason my mind applied it to photography and neglected to realize that it goes for art as well... :P So thank you! That was enlightening. I hadn't thought about certain placements resulting in a trapped or open feeling before. Oh, and my sister (Chloe) was also pleased to read your comments on her Lego picture!
-Tracey

Melanie J. said...

@Hannah : Most happy to help!! So incredibly glad I could be even a little blessing!

I do! I've seen much of your work, and I've seen your massive growth as an artist over the past two years or so! To be honest I haven't used the technique yet myself, but it's in my repertoire. ;)

Awww thank you so much, my dear! And yes, I am an animator. Right now I mostly use Adobe products, especially Photoshop. Adobe Flash and Toonboom are ideal for animation, though you CAN use photoshop for animation, I don't advise it. I also know artists who use Corel Painter and a lot of people who use Painttool SAI, I haven't had a chance to get it yet, but that one's definitely on my list. GIMP and Krita are both free, supposedly GIMP is a bare-bones version of Photoshop and I have no experience with Krita. Adobe AfterEffects and Premiere are two good video editing programs if you need them. I prefer AfterEffects. That's about all I can think of at the moment. I'll be sure to let you in on some of my animation tricks on my review for "Eanrin Names Imraldera". ;)

Oh! And very important. Drawing tablets. Bamboo drawing tablets will save your life. You can get them at Best Buy and they may be a little expensive, depending on how big you want it. I generally go for the medium sized ones, they run about $200 and my first one lasted me 5 years until the cord got fried. My new one's cord is removable and it's a common kind of USB plug usually used for cell phones, so easy to find if one stops working. The drawing tips/"nibs" do need to be replaced every so often so you'll eventually need to buy more. For all I know you could totally have one of these already and I could be preaching to the choir. ;)

And thank you so much for the kind words, Always Come Back For You was a real labor of love and it's still one of my favorite pieces of mine, so it's such a blessing to hear you like it! :)

@Tracey : Awww yay! I'm so glad! You're most welcome! Yep, Rule of Thirds applies to everything from art to photography to even movies! Pretty much anything visual. ;) You can thank my professors for that one! They really drilled all kinds of stuff into our heads, implications of composition (aka like the "trapped" or "open" feel I was talking about) among them. :) You've done a wonderful job! I hope to see more of your work in the future!

Aww tell her she did a fantastic job and deserves every word of my review!!


Blessings dearies!
-Melanie