AztcFireflower's Figures 'n' Stuff

[poise]

Beautiful figures and portraits. Very inspireing work. Makes me want to go back to school. And you have a poll quessing if you or a guy or a girl, My vote I think your a woman. I won't tell you how I know, but I'm pretty possitive that I'm right, haha. Keep up the awesome work. Really really great stuff.
4th Page, Congrats!

[Orifice]

Oh my god, you are the king! or the queen perhaps. Anywho, great great stuff, The hairy robotic hound of awesome fits my liking, real frightening. Though that lion-warrior or whatever looks incredible, no words. except incredible....? Thats it, great stuff, illo pencil show offs.

[oma]

hmm, that are great update's you are doing in here.

love to see more. -> http://conceptart.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1167689950

that just wow.
keep going like this!

[seth1]

AWesome to see you in the coloring bookl.... Keep up on the good work..

[Chance.]

So you've got a head start. Heh heh. If you think that will save you you are sorely mistaken [Deep creepy voice]

Oh, You're gonna sic it on me huh? I didn't expect that coming from you. Going to despret measures to stay ahead. I see how it is. I'll just have to design an attack dog to take care of your demented kitty. See if I don't.

I'm not understanding what you mean by cutouts for the digi figs. Did you paint over photos? or does that mean you just didn't do a background. Either way, they look great to me. Somehow the first one looks like you could have blended and refined it a bit more, but I don't even know how to do that, so who am I to talk.

I love the pallette you use for your creature designs. It's quite unique, I've never seen anyone else get the effect you are. Nice work.

[Wheeljack18]

Beautiful figure drawing.

I'm looking into signing up for some sessions b/c of YOU!

[AztcFireFlower]

Hey poise, Thanks for coming by! Really nice words. I appreciate them. You'll have to tell me how you knew. That is if you didn't find the direct clues in my SB.
Orifice Still incubating more ideas that haven't been put on paper yet. Soon. Thanks for your words.
oma Thanks. Trying to balance my energies, and reserve a bigger portion for my creative outlet.
Hey Q-Caddlewick Cutouts are referring to no BG. Always work from reference, but I don't (sputter, cough!) trace them. Not for figure gesture practice, anyway. Always want to train the eye as much as possible freehand, rough site-size like. Yeah, 1st digi was a rough play with brushes and blending. Eventually want to get as refined as possible with digipaint. Thanks for the support.
Will be watching out for your runty lil attack mutt. I hope I don't step on it
Wheeljack Thanks for visiting. Well. I'm glad I inspired you to head into a studiofor some life studies. It's the best part of my art experience to be working from life. Can't live too happy without it.


Well, Poll is over and 45 of you got it right. I was wondering if people judge by the drawings or the words in a thread as to who they are interacting with. Just curious, as some were surprised I was femme.
for the winners I have some stuff that may be of interest, some of my more finished oil paint studies.
These were done in one of my favorite teacher's workshops; Sean Cheetham, awesome, sweet guy, amazing artist. For the losers, didn't "flower" tip ya guys off? jk. There'll be another update just for youse.

[bhanu]

dammint was right , I was like this is a gal aztecfireflower the username said it . heck I even thought you might look hot. I know you do . Lets have a poll for that. ah well beautiful girly update. Really stunningly beautiful start to the new page. I so wish I could do painting like this, ah well nice.
And orifice call her the queen you idiot. hehe, take care.

[clay.o]

One of the most inspiring sketchbooks I've layed eyes on. So inspiring that I had to register Can't wait to see more, the conceptual stuff is amazing as well!

[Fureatenshi]

Haha, I love your drawings but they make me depressed. If you don't mind me asking.. What type of charcoal pencil do you use for your figures? Conte 3b?

[maxetormer]

AH shit, your good, damet, your sooooooooo dam good

[Chris Bennett]

Great sense of tonal 'pitch' in those heads Aztc. Not only that; the brushmark statements really convey your 'sense' or 'physical' awareness and response to the forms. There is only one thing I would like to mention and that is the treatment of the sibsuduary forms - the necks in particular. There is a tendency in all of them to forego your strong grasp of structure at this point and paint the neck as little more than a backdrop whereas you could really get hold of it as form in it's own right that carried the head. This would give the heads an even greater sense of poise. Having seen your other work I know you can do this so am bringing it up just in case you were unaware of it.
Thinking of the 'poise' thing regarding heads or portraits, I find that it is a good idea to be quite conscious of how the head and the forms around it relate to the edges of the canvas rectangle - the way this is done is another expressive tool in your 'painting as communication' armoury that is just as powerful in a different way as facial expression.
Keep posting because regardless of my comments your work is always marvelous to look at!

[koala.one]

These new paintings are stunning. Especialy love the clown one.

I knew you were a chick, the fact that you were even asking gave it away for me

[enthombed]

Nice oils dude, really impressive this stuff... yous have big skills to do this.

Cheers

[Bard]

Dude! Brother! MANNNN....you're so hot!

I love the cats, the first 2 looks like a mascot for Mexican olympics,
The human cat is superb! I know what you mean when you say you love the Vilppu animal book. He has a nice approach, I was surprised that almost all human bones are identical only specialized? And you sure did that here!

I finally have a crit!!! The halfcat body don't have fur! There...I found a flaw.hehe

Your paintings are awesome. Of course I'll study that....

Howzabout a process pic for the painting....?
Inspiring!

[Chance.]

Heh, I was right. It was the total combination of how you speak, your username and avatar, and your art, that decided me.

LO SIENTO!!!! (SORRY!!!)
I didn't mean to accuse you of tracing. I thought when you said you were mainly focusing on rendering, that you had done some sort of paint-over. It was a dumb question. I was right the first time.

Uh, WOW. I'm probably going to say that every time I come through. FIY. Sorry to be boring.
The portraits are stunning. I've only messed with oils once (sort of) but they seem like a lot of fun. Your knowledge of people is amazing, and I am going to continue to think of you as the greatest current figure artist until proven otherwise, so there.

"(Cough--Sputter)" Runty? RUNTY!? Ooooohh, youv'e done it now. You just wait. Grrrrrrr.

[Don-key]

my jaw is always on the floor and its YOUR FAULT!!

[seth1]

Great work miss. I love how you render out the noses they look great... On the first and secound portraits they look a little lazy eyed. You really capture the moment well. WOuld love to see some more facial expressions..

Seth

[mull77]

Holy crap! I've no idea why it's taken me so long to have a look around here, but i wish i'd done it sooner!

You're life work is absolutely brilliant, both the pencil, paint and digital .
Or at least i think they're paint - if those last few are digital i think i might have to throw my wacom out of the window as it's obviously not working.

*subscribes*

[dodus]

So good. Soooo good. Those are the nicest figs I've ever seen. And the redonkulous economy of your values is carrying over into the paintings. Keep it up! I'm dusting off my artbox and putting up a sketchbook thread too, and I hope you'll come by to explain what I need to do to get from there to here!

And btw, I'm in LA as well--now where are these secret beautiful-model-subversive-arty-drawing parties at again?

[feeesh]

Hey great last update and Im glad I voted correctly, :-) So those portraits, are those models from the "MUSE-INGS" workshop on Tuesday nights in downtown LA. I attend those pretty often and a couple of them look very familiar, especially the girl with the curly blonde (wig?) looks like sarah, and the last one too looks familiar however I dont know the model's name.

[kischi]

Wow much new great stuff in here! Your work is awesome.
The time you spent on the Leighton copy payed out -its incredible

[Brendan N]

tsssssss - hot! oils!

and I got it right! nya nya nya nya nya ha ha ha ha ha!

Totally stunning oils Aztec, I'm really inspired - thanks for sharing!
ciao!

- d.

[FactorZero]

your creature/character designs look great! and your charcoal is superb. i wish i could do charcoal...but i'm afraid to get my fingers dirty

[AztcFireFlower]

bhanu Yer funny. Maybe the soul at the other end of this keyboard is a 300 lb. Orc. That'd end that poll real quick. Ya never know. Maybe I'll get a SP in one day.
Thanks always for coming by. Painting is all a matter of study, and immense obsessive application. Anyone can do it. Just mileage.
clay.o Aaawww, thank you so much for the props. I've been just as amazed by so many artists here as well. Hope to continue to improve with all the folks help and encouragment, here.
Fureatenshi Don't get sad, get mad and OCD about drawing. S'all it takes. I use Primos and Ritmos-Art Alternatives on smooth newsprint. Have used Contes, but my eraser is basically a part of my anatomy, so I look for material that lifts up a little easier than Conte's.
Hey Max Thank you again for dropping by and your much appreciated support. Took 3 years to get to the point I'm at now. And trying to keep from back-sliding as I figure out a new schedule for geting into a studio for art guidance again.
Chris You leave me such well thought out responces. I really appreciate your time in giving me a crit. Absolutely. The necks need major attention in all my studies. I will hope you don't see this as a big excuse, but I always run outta time when I get to the neck and other "extraneous" elements. Actually, either I'm so enamored of the facial features and don't want to leave, or I can't get figure out my colors and shapes quick enough. Most of them were 5 hours. Still learning to handle color and edges and I haven't pulled back in with enough confidence of creating a good piece that I stay on what I am familiar with the most. What you mention are things in a long list of points to tackle in my efforts.
Thank you for your nice, encouraging comment, in any case. I'm glad that you stop by and visit these pages with your critical eye.
koala.one Thank you for your comment and checking out my SB. LOL Well.............some still don't believe I'm a dudette.
enthombed Thank you. I appreciate your support. Just trying to keep the work and learnings fresh.
Bard LOL Thank you for appreciating my work. I like design for it's own sake and anatomy taking a back seat, sometimes. These critters were fun to do, don't do of enough of them. Hey, well, yeah, you know....... the kitty half has a fine fur, like a baby horse. Hehe. Just thought of that when you mentioned it.
I've, so, not got a good technique or flow and a process would only confuse everybody. It'd be like..." 1st you do this and then, no wait, erase that, okay, then you paint this edge and...crap! The color is all wrong.....uh, ya need to turpentine that & start all over......" You'd want to kill me.
Q-Caddlewwick No worries. I was joking, my young friend. Not boring. I realize that people are taking time out to say something and I appreciate every single visit and comment that lands in this sketchbook. Ahhh, here's a couple of amazing artists I alluded to. Please check them out. These are what I aspire to:
Assaels pencils are AMAZING. http://www.stevenassael.com/index.html
He taught Sean who is one of my teachers.http://www.seancheetham.com/index2.html
Dan Thompson is another incredible draughtsman. I've not taken any classes with him, but admire his precision and handling of value.http://www.danthompsonart.com/portfolio.php?category=4 Some Chinese masters:
Yim Mau Kim http://www.yimaukun.com/english/index2.html
And last but, certainly not least, my first drawing teacher that mattered.:
Glen Orbik.http://www.orbikart.com/
These are the guys you should check out for incredible experience and aesthetic understanding of anatomy.
Re: Miniscule attack rat, I mean dog. Figured you really didn't need a push to motivate your studies, but thought If ya want a challenge to push you furthur than you've reached before, your on. DO IT, Q!
Hey Don-Key Love your style and creature designs. Am waiting for you to fill up them SB pages.
Hello seth1 Thank you. Studying noses was quite a process. The planes are not always clear in some faces, yet they all have the same structure. Once you remember the planes and shapes, they are so much pleasure to depict. Here, I highly, highly recommend Vanderpoel.
mull77 Thanks for making it here in any case. Glad you came by. I've always liked your interesting creature designs and thought I'd try my hand at a render. Hope you found it amusing. Thanks for your kind support. Yeah, the last batch are oil studies. Haven't ventured this far into digital yet. My experience into land of improvement continues.
dodus Thank so much. Let me know when your SB goes up. I'd love to stop in. The models I've painted have always been at Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art. They have excellent models for all the classes. All types and many beautiful male and females get to grace our canvases. It's a treat. I think feeesh below has more info on the midnight model parties. I've never attended.
feeesh Yes that is Sarah with the beautiful eyes. Heard much about but never been to Musings. I know that LAAFA has themed workshops where some of the models that organize the other set-up model in groups at the school. Great atmosphere and fun to paint.
Hi kischi Thank you for the comment. The digital MC was enormously educational, in terms of useing Photoshop and for the traditional value of seeing how the master handled the image. Will definitely do more as time permits.
Brendan LOL So glad you enjoyed guessing in the poll. Even if I did say in the 1st page I was female. Thank you for coming by, B. I look forward to your visits and comments. Be critical. There's a prime example to tear up in post #207.
FactorZero Thank you. Not as bad as one thinks. I only use charcoal pencils because so much easier to control line and value. Was taught to use it as a brush with a fine point. It really isn't too messy.


For the losers of the poll I'm posting my crappier work. All mixed time periods. From 2 years, to 5 months ago. All small studies done within 2 - 3 hours. Most, I used a limited palette: 4 colors yllw ochre, cad. red., titan, white and ivory black. I included prussian blue or ultramarine in the 2nd, 5th, 6th study. In the 8th study had a wider range: ind. yllw, ultrmarine, alizarin as well as initial 4. All those after are the 4 color "Zorn" limited palette mentioned above. The last 2 are more than 4, but I don't remember what exactly I used.

[Burning Eyes]

this is some amazing work, how did i not see it before! plus+ 5 star from me

[AztcFireFlower]

Thank you Burning Eyes, Definitely appreciate the support and rating .

Here's a not very well executed digipaint over mull77's lines for the coloring book thread. Not where I wanted to go with it, too clunky, thick and bulby, but it is more practice with PS digibrushing. Don't mind the critical eye. Please indulge.

[bhanu]

damn thats your shitty stuff ,
Its when guys... I mean girls like you say that what you just posted is crap , then I just feel like leaving drawing altogether. Mileage . thats whats keeps us going.
and yeah check this out , http://rackham.artpassions.net/ cool art knocked me over.
the digi seems to a bit lagging though. the textures comic through could def. be better.
take care you orc(I hope not) .

[seth1]

Awesome Ill have to research him up a bit.. Diggen the oils good work,,

Seth

[vigostar]

You have such an amazing range of work... Your oils are quite beautiful.. Thanks for saying those kind words in my SB...