An Asher Update

This gallery contains 5 photos.

…boy it’s been a while since I had a chance to update this. Last semester I was supposed to be able to work on Asher for a project, but then I was made project manager for an animation project on … Continue reading →

Plaid Pigeon

Plaid Pigeon (etsy) makes these really clever little succulent planters. They come in a variety of colors, and creatures–dinosaurs, safari animals, that sort of thing. I ended up painting Winston the elephant because the gift recipient prefers realistic colors. He started out as a vibrant turquoise. Anyway, it was worth the wait. Hopefully they’ll catch up to orders, soon. I’m tempted to buy a T-rex from them. :)

Asher Project Progress

Three down, four maquettes to go. Definitely going to pre-bake eyes next time to give the characters a bit more life-like qualities, and maybe try using a skin-toned clay or adding hair. At least uploading sketches with the maquettes in action will help give you an idea of how they’re used.

Asher Progress:

• Writing: 100%
• Polish: 80%
  (10,500 words of mostly-dialogue and counting)
• Voice Acting: Approx 60%
• Visuals: 15%
  3/7 maquettes

Polymer Sculpts WIP

Here’s a set. I love carving rocks and painting moss. Making tiny polymer glass eyes? Not as fun. At least, there’s less leeway when you mess up or get a big ol’ fingerprint stamped on there. Anyway, I’m hoping to make a Tetriin sculpt, or something related to Asher, but we’ll see…

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Process for Woman of Constantinople

Woman of Constantinople was painted with only three colors, or a triad (hansa yellow, ultramarine and English red, in this case). Below is my workspace. I use Yarka watercolors, and the empty spaces are for pigments that I learned were very toxic (chrome, for instance). The less toxic colors serve me just fine, thanks. Anyway, I typically just use one or two brushes (the one in the watercolor waste water is golden fleece brand, and the thing is older than I am, so they’re pretty good brushes). One has a chiseled end, and one has a point. The golden fleece holds a lot of water.

A Maiden with Two Swords

I took quite a few photographs for my last project in my Materials Studies class. It’s basically a mixed media class. The theme was Japan because of the recent tragedy, so the final piece is hung up with a couple of symbolic imagery. Anyway, it’s made of sculpey on a wire armature, the hair is made of embroidery thread and horse hair (next time I’ll use black, unspun wool), the fabric from kimonomono and hand-sewn into a kimono (sort of) by yours truly with embroidery thread. The sculpture was primed, then painted with acrylic paint. Well, well over 40 hours of work.

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Kalevel Maquette WIP

Kalevel’s maquette is in progress, this time the polymer clay is a bit greyer, so there is more of a range in value.

Set back in the script a bit by school, but catching up.

Thanks for reading,
S

Asher Act I: Progress

• Writing: 100%
  Polish: 20%
• Voice Acting: Scenes 2/17
  Give or take a few lines.
• Visuals: 10%
  Maquettes: 2/7 finished

Music is still Royalty-Free stuff from the web. May add sound effects and music after visuals/recorded dialogue is finished.

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Asher, Act I: Cast

Asher, Act I, now has a cast. Thank you to all of the wonderful and talented actors and actresses who auditioned. I must add that Kelkethe (pictured on the right) was the hardest to cast, because I had the most auditions for him and many talented actors.

On the left in the image is a maquette of Tetriin. The maquettes are used for drawing reference, to keep the characters to the model sheet. Her little draped turban thing is to cover up where the coils in the toaster oven scorched her scalp. Ouch. But yes… Tetriin has many soft shadows on her face, where Kelkethe has lots of sharp angles. This is another problem that the maquettes solve–drawing characters that look wildly different from one another!

All right, but I digress. The cast list (using the names initially given to me, not as they will appear in the credits) is as follows:

Karen……………………………………..TETRIIN REICHE, an unfortunate student
Jacob Browning………………………DEVNE REICHE, her brother, a bootlegger
Tomoyo Ichijouji…………………….ROSEMARY DAED, her friend, an actress
Kage-Ichihashi……………………….KALEVEL VENHE, the guttersnipe queen
U-1…………………………………………KELKETHE, an unsung Rogue
Syphoned……………………………….JULIUS RAMSII, an opportunist
Tomoyo Ichijouji…………………….AYA GAVIAL, his accomplice

Asher, Act II will follow Asher, Act I, so if you’re interested in being considered for those roles, please send me an email saying that you’d like to be a part, and I’ll email you when auditions are again open. My email is kieskita (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Maquettes

Usually, if I want a three-dimensional reference, I’ll whip one up in Blender 3D. However, this is for a character that plays a leading role in Asher, so having a real-life model that I can draw from is pretty helpful. And don’t we need more excuses to get away from the computer these days? At least, I do.

Fimo polymer clay work in progress.