justira ([personal profile] justira) wrote2007-02-27 03:04 pm

[Art] FFVII - Let's Get Romantic >=) (Cloud/Tifa)

Title: Let's Get Romantic >=)
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII. Um. I guess AC?
Characters/Pairings: CLOUD/TIFA LAWL
Rating: Uh. G?
Feedback: Yes please! Crit welcome =D
Notes: This be GIFT ART for [livejournal.com profile] delladella. Della, I heard a couple of weeks ago that you were feeling down, so I sent my evil minons SOMEONE I'M NOT NAMING CAUSE YOU TOTALLY DON'T KNOW WHO IT WAS to find out what you might like, all stealthy ninja-style. I was told BARRET/SEPHIROTH OTP 4EVA that Cloud/Tifa was nice, but romance was not. Well, my idea of romance involves Tifa picking Cloud up bodily with her SEXAY strong arms and hauling him in for a close-up. I hope this is a kind of romance you can stand. Look! No flowers or bunnies! I also hope you approve of picking AC gear -- you seemed to like the character designs, so I look those but kept Tifa's hair.

Anyway, I intended to give this to you like two weeks ago, but I'm dumb and got busy and now it seems you are feeling better without my much-needed help. I hope you enjoy your gift anyway! If you'd like a high-res version, I've got one =)

PS: Della, can you let me know if it's okay to crosspost this? It's for you, so it's yours and you can do whatever you want with it, but I was hoping I could put it up in my DA gallery and maybe a couple LJ comms?

I've never drawn either of these characters before. I'll likely be colouring this but DEAR GOD NOT RIGHT NOW. I have like 10 million pieces of gift art to do, plus [livejournal.com profile] ff_exchange .______.

PLEASE NOTE that I haven't played any FFVII game nor seen FFVII:AC -- I just wanted to make some gift art for an awesome person -- so please don't spoil me ^^;

I R ARTEEST-style gripes below.















A/N:I worked really hard on this piece and I'm really proud of myself for trying interesting poses and dynamics like this. My perpetual arch-nemesis, fabric, seems to have been somewhat subdued. Their evil sidekick, Long Flowy Lines, kicked my ass, though. I have a very unsteady hand, and I was dumb enough to go for AC outfits, which are MADE of long flowy lines. I tried, though! I think the anatomy turned out okay and again, I'm proud of myself for not screwing up fabrics too badly. I still couldn't get anybody's feet to look right, though, and Tifa's hair bothers me for some reason =(


OMAKE



xpost: [livejournal.com profile] adventchildren_, [livejournal.com profile] ac_pairings, [livejournal.com profile] finalfantasyart, my journal

[identity profile] muggy-mountain.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I like how all of the prominent lines draw the eye to Tifa's face. Her expression, I think, is the best thing about this piece. Lovely. I ENVY YR CLEAN LINEDNESS!

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh lord, I worried SO MUCH about the faces, and Tifa's especially. I still don't have a style of my own within which to play around with facial plasticity, so I constantly worry that my expressions are too stiff and that characters look off-model. So thank you so much for saying you like the expression ._.

As for clean lines! UH. THEY DON'T COME NATURAL, I ASSURE YOU. I can show you an in-progress draft of this, if you want, and you will see that clean lines only happen because I'm ridiculously anal and willing to work on them one at a time for hours >.>

OVERALL THOUGH: THANK YOU MUCH!

[identity profile] muggy-mountain.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
THEY DON'T COME NATURAL, I ASSURE YOU.

The more I hear this the closer I come to believing it. I am so close, but!

I'd love to see an in-progress sketch, if you don't mind. I like to see how it all develop.

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 11:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I tend to feel awkward showing in-progress sketches when there's no finished product to distract with ("See? See? IT'S NOT THAT BAD! It was just in-progress; I don't suck that much!") but since you've already seen the finished piece, I feel fine showing you the progression =)

I start all my drawings with figure maquettes. I don't save anything in the first stages while I figure out posing and such, but once I've settled on a pose, I make my official maquette drawing: Nekkid people (http://sherkhan.dreamhost.com/fan/art/FF7-Romantic-00-rough.png).

That's what my lines look like naturally. I'm a very sketchy person!

Then I block in the clothes -- REALLY BADLY. I seriously am no good at fabric -- it comes to me the lease naturally and my first attempt is almost always completely wrong. But at least I know roughly where things go >.> LAWL FABRIC (http://sherkhan.dreamhost.com/fan/art/FF7-Romantic-00-clean.png)

Then I go over it again and put in details and take an actual stab at getting the fabric right. Between stages, I merge all the layers from the previous stage together, lower their opacity, and then draw over them in a new layer. It keeps me on track. Anyway, here is what my lines look like naturally. Beyond this point, I have to sit down and agonize over each line individually: First rough (http://sherkhan.dreamhost.com/fan/art/FF7-Romantic-01-rough.png).

Then I go through a bunch of little steps fixing mistakes. For example, Tifa's shoes are WAY off and too small, Cloud's hands aren't positioned correctly and are inproportionate, and Tifa's hands are too small and incorrectly braced. Also, Cloud's entire... wrap-thing is off-center -- I made it face too far to our right, when it's actually supposed to wrap much farther around behind him on our left.

After a lot of WOE WOE WOE, I produce my first "clean lines" draft. Second rough (http://sherkhan.dreamhost.com/fan/art/FF7-Romantic-05.png).

At this point everything is where it should be, but the lines are still a little messy. You can see it best in Cloud's legs and wrap. The final step is to go over everything once more WITH AGONIZING SLOWNESS and clean it up as much as possible, and make a few last minor corrections and add a couple little details. The result is the finished product you saw above =D

Well! I hope that was informative and showed you what a messy sketcher I actually am XD

You can see lots of squiggles in random places around the pics -- that's me testing the pen, marking layers, etc. Tablet has SPOILED me because it lets me keep all my messes separate and then delete them at the touch of a button. It's gotten pretty bad! I need to get back into traditional media >.>

[identity profile] muggy-mountain.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! You're not a bad sketcher, but I think you actually know that. I'm glad you kept a bit of each stage --I really appreciate seeing the process.

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Honestly I tend to like many of my sketches more than my finished/polished pieces. They feel freer, looser, more dynamic and expressive. When I try to clean up my naturally messy sketches, I always feel they lose something.

And, well! I think I am an okay sketcher. I'll admit that I have some talent, but I've seen too many other artists who from the moment they set pencil to paper produce sheer awesome. A friend of mine once pinned it down in a way I really liked. She said that compared to a lot of artists I only had a medium amount of talent, but because I care so much and work so hard at it, I can often produce something better than more talented people to whom it comes much more naturally. And I think she's right -- I'm not incredibly talented, but I'm willing to work to supplement what I have with acquired skills.

!

[identity profile] delladella.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Guh and WHUT, but completely. WHO COULD THIS NEFARIOUS GO-BETWEEN BE? I MUST CONFESS I HAVE NO IDEA—but! This’s so sweet, [livejournal.com profile] justira; I’m touched! ALSO, MINION AS YET UNNAMED: your deceptions have served a noble purpose, indeed, by which I totally mean me, me, me.

This is so cool. I have nothing to say except—WIN. WIN WIN WINNINGEST. God, and there’s even BARRET/SEPHIROTH, my brain-destroying OTP because fandom told me I had to have one, and I decided I’d make them sorry! I mean, do people really know me this well? I feel like I should apologize for inflicting my crack-addled thought processes on unsuspecting people or something!

If you'd like a high-res version, I've got one =)

HOKAY.

PS: Della, can you let me know if it's okay to crosspost this?

Um! How couldn’t I? Do you want this linked to ff_press today? Because I would do it maybe just maybe a thousand times if I could.

[...] so please don't spoil me ^^;

CLOUD’S A HERMAPHRODITE WITH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX OH SNAP sorry sorry.

In sum, Iloveyouhavemyanatomicallyimpossiblebabies.

Re: !

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 11:37 pm (UTC)(link)
NEFARIOUS GO-BETWEEN: I'm not telling, but they're free to show up and reveal themselves XD

BARRET/SEPHIROTH OTP: Wait, fandom says you must have an OTP?! Well! I guess they don't want me! I'm so equal-opportunity it's kind of ridiculous. I APPROVE OF YOUR CRACK, THOUGH XD

Hi-res: Sure, I'll upload it and you can have it. Would you like to keep it ALL TO YOURSELF? I can email the link to you, then. If you don't mind sharing, though, I'll just post it right here =)

Xpost/FF Press: ACTUALLY, part of the NEFARIOUS PLOT was to post this on a Tuesday so that you'd see it for sure. That's part of why it's so late -- I kept missing Tuesdays! But sure, please include it in [livejournal.com profile] ff_press. I'll xpost it in a couple of other places, but I'd like this post to be the one that goes in the newsletter, please =)

CLOUD'S A HERMAPHRODITE: Dammit, Della! You gone done spoiled me! D=<

Overall though, I hope you like it. I'm sorry it never actually served its intended purpose of cheering you up those couple weeks ago, but hopefully it brightened your day a little ^^;

Re: !

[identity profile] delladella.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
1) GEE I HAVE NO IDEA

2) Barret/Sephiroth is true love! I just haven’t, uh, figured out how it works yet. BUT IT WILL.

3) Everybody share and share alike. Fine by me!

4) You guys really are sneaky. And I’ll post it, but let me know if you want me to link to the hi-res one instead.

5) FOOLED YOU HAHAHA

And I do like it—lots! Though I wasn’t, uh, aware I wasn’t cheery! IT’S A MYSTERY. Not like I’m arguing, though. In fact, I think I’ll be upset ALL THE TIME.

PEE ESS: OKAY

Re: !

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
1) I KNOW IT'S A TOTAL MYSTERY =O

2) Oh lord, let me know when you figure it out XDDDD

3) Okay, I'll upload it tomorrow. It's on another computer ^^;

4) NINJA. And no, go ahead and just link to this post. The hi-res one is nothing special, just bigger, the original size I worked at. You can see aaaaalll the flaws much better XD

5) ;___________;

And I'd just heard the general impression that you were having a tough time with your editing and life was kind of not made of rainbows for a while. I, um. Don't actually know you very well, but my instinctual impulse when someone is feeling down is to make them art >.>

Re: !

[identity profile] delladella.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
3) I guess I can wait. I guess!

99348903) ILUIRASRSLY

Re: !

[identity profile] first-seventhe.livejournal.com 2007-02-28 02:47 am (UTC)(link)
Re: Barret/Sephiroth: Um. Sephiroth comes to Corel to inspect the ShinRa building/committee there. Barret is looking to impress ShinRa. LOVE ENSUES FROM THERE WITH HAPPY, UH, FLOWERS. AND STUFF.

i should just turn my brain off

Re: !

[identity profile] delladella.livejournal.com 2007-03-01 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
never turn your brain off clearly things made of win come from it also: rite moar plz

Seriously, though? That’s all kinds of wrong. Uh! NUDGE, NUDGE. I, too, have devised a premise for this abomination of a pairing. MAYBE ONE DAY. I like hurting fandom

Re: !

[identity profile] first-seventhe.livejournal.com 2007-03-01 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
It is something like my fandom revenge. May all the happy FFVII-crazy-fangirls weep in pain enjoy my gift to their greatness. Or something.

i am ashamed to encourage you. BUT I AM

Re: !

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
PS: you can call me just... Ira XD

[identity profile] wheatear.livejournal.com 2007-03-01 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, Cloud and Tifa! I love the pose here. :) And yes, strong Tifa is sexy!

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-03-01 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I love strong women XD

And yikes, I had so much fun PAIN ...adventure getting the poses to work! Thank you! ^^;

[identity profile] thebaconfat.livejournal.com 2007-03-02 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, oh man, awesome. Love their expressions, and the body language between the two of them's fantastic. And the hair! Totally awesome. Tifa's hip, there, and her fists in his collar, too! Thank you so much for sharing.

[identity profile] justira.livejournal.com 2007-03-02 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
... oh my god I love your icon so much XDDD

And thank you! It took me so long to get her hands to look right up there, and I always worry about faces and expression and body language ^^;