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{ A Rising Filmmaker | Archive | After the turkey's gone. }
Our First Featured Artist: Andrew-sama | mrsmiley { November 21, 2005 }
There really is one thing that keeps people coming back to the Halo Babies community again and again, and that is GOOD ART! But as we all know, the art that gets posted in our forums doesn't draw itself! There are countless talented individuals that continuously wow us with their fantastic art contributions. Here is one of those artists, in the first of many artist features!
*article contains many images*
Username: Andrew-Sama
Real Name: Andrew Minniear
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Location: Allendale, Michigan
Personal Site(s)/Galleries: art-minion-andrew0.deviantart.com/
Favorite Sites: www.homestarrunner.com, www.megatokyo.com, www.penny-arcade.com, www.chugworth.com, www.vgcats.com, www.ctrlaltdel-online.com, halo.bungie.org
Every new artist feature will contain an interview. If you have furthur questions for the artist, leave them as comments, and if the artist responds, I will update the interview with your question! (pretty cool, huh?)
So what's up with your username?
My user name is just a reference and nod to Japanese anime / manga that has been an influence in my work. Basically, it just translates to Mr. Andrew.
Thank god it has nothing to do with Osama... er, so what brings you to HaloBabies?
I stumbled upon Halobabies.net while exploring the fan comics section of halo.bungie.org. Having a penchant for webcomics, I was delighted that someone had created an entire strip about the Halo universe.
How long has art been your hobby?
Ive been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil the right way. So its been a major part of my life for nearly 18 years.
O RLY? *counts on his fingers and toes* Woah, you have been drawing since 1?! Hmm, in that case, I've been doing web design since I was 7 (first time I touched a mouse R0LF). =P Well have you had any training of any sort in those 18 years?
Ive mostly been self taught, and since most high-school art classes are more arts-and-crafts style, most of my art education has only occurred recently in college. These classes, especially my drawing classes have already exponentially improved many of my artistic skills.
What draws you to create gaming art?
What can I say, I draw what I know. Ive always been a gamer, and since its such a major part of my life, its incorporated itself into my art as well. Plus, there will always be a fan base of fellow gamers who will appreciate the work I create.
What do you use to create your art pieces?
I use a mixture of different tools and techniques when creating my artwork. I sketch out my pictures with my favorite 0.5 Clear Point mechanical pencil, then ink the drawing in with Pilot Precise V7 ink pens. After that, I scan the picture to my computer and use both Microsoft Paint, and Adobe Photoshop to color and shade them.
Haha it seems MSP is actually used by more than a few people nowadays. What is your preferred method of creating art?
I like my current technique of the digital manipulation of traditionally created works. But recently (after being forced to use them throughout my college drawing classes) Ive become fond of using charcoal for other more serious projects.
What is your art style based on? (or, who or what influences your art style?)
More recently, my style has been drawn from Japanese anime and manga. In the past, I was influenced by my dreams and especially my nightmares. Some of my older works, which Ive just recently posted on my deviantart page give a sense of this type of inspiration.
Who is (are) your favorite artist(s)?
The legendary H. R. Giger is my all-time favorite artist. His work has deeply influenced my own. Along with the visual styles of Tim Burton, Stan Winston, Jhonen Vasquez (J.T.H.M.), Fred Gallegher (Megatokyo), Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun), and Kouta Hirano (Hellsing) to name a few.
So, you have any future plans relating to projects/art stuff?
Ive been asked to help illustrate a book of legendary creatures for an upcoming project. I dont have many details yet
Anything else? In short, Id like to thank everyone at Halobabies.net for their support, as well as Mr. Smiley for giving me the honor of being the first artist to receive this tribute. I look forward to many years of posting on HBN.
As do I! =)
Every artist has at least a few works that they are particularly proud of. With every new feature, the artist gets to choose some his/her select works and have them displayed right here! You can view each masterpiece, and read a bit into the mind of the artist who made it!
- click for larger image -
PWNAGE: Definitely on the top of my list, it was the first of my real serious Halo works (the previous submissions had been chibi-covenant characters). This gave me the chance to really explore the material I had available to make as accurate of a drawing as I could. This was also the first time I drew the chiefs armor, so of course that took awhile. An Elites armor, by comparison, was far easier, being more organic and far less complicated. Also, the coloring job took the longest of most of my pieces, as I was still in the process of learning Photoshop, this became a very experimental piece.
Chibi Ecliptz: Another of my favorites, I had just finished the PH34R T3H GRLZ picture and had really approved of the sketchy quality of the style. This was my second and slightly more finessed attempt, and I really like the results.
Red Raptor: This was a very challenging piece. I knew what I was looking for from the piece, but that didnt make the conversion of the Chiefs armor from human-based to saurian-based anatomy any easier. I think it ahs a great sci-fi, primitive meets technological feel to it.
28: Hands down, the most COMPLICATED vector Ive ever done. Working straight off of an early screenshot, almost every full shape is a separate layer. (Layers which had to be arranged over and over again until they fit together properly) I like the results, but the process was incredibly frustrating.
A note from Andrew-sama: The unreleased works shown here are exclusive to this feature.
The Elite is an older drawing, done several months before the release of Halo 2. I had it tucked away in a folder, and just recently unearthed it for this feature.
The Chibi Jackle was the final of my chibi Covenant series, which was drawn, but never colored and posted until now.
- click for larger image -
Likewise, the Jhonen Vasquez-Style Elite, which had been drawn right after the J.V. Master Chief, but had never been colored and posted either.
The Red Master Chief along with the Warthog were both eventually going to turn into a large, Halo wallpaper (Detail), but since I was only being paid 99 cents for the work, I deemed it a waste of time, and have since stopped working on it Oddly, Id never thought of posting it until now
49 comments so far (leave your own)
1 | lord of the doubt says:
Dammit! I was going to do one with a thin limbed elite! I bet you guys are getting tired of this. I guess Andrew finally got the credit he deserves, even though it's not monetary. I'm glad your still with us after all these years.
2 | Ripper 714 says:
WOW!
Ok Smiley, post more of these, dangit! I really love the red spartan and warthog.
Ripper
3 | Turialim says:
cool!
Way to go!
4 | Necromas says:
Way cool man, way cool!
5 | squeak117 says:
You really deserve this privelage. Congratulations on being first featured.
6 | xan says:
5th!!!! nice stuff guyz
7 | The_Eliminator says:
Oh man, this is the coolest idea ever!! Congradulations to Andrew for being the first featured artist, I can't wait for the next one!
8 | Benny says:
Reaaly nice artwork..
gonna go up on my desktop :)
9 | ash says:
awesome totaly awesome
10 | Sheikurl says:
kool, good luk andrew. mrsmiley, wen r we gona get sum actual art? cos u sed we wer guna get an art update each week
11 | mrsmiley says:
well first off i never said each week. the art updates are planned for each MONTH. and i would have had one friday, but i left half the evaluation list at work! sux. since i'm at work now, i'm gonna e-mail it to myself, and hopefully get part 2 of the update ASAP! =)
12 | Loknar64 says:
*whistle noise* Wow, congrats! I really like the JV Elite!
13 | MaDsNiPz says:
great job dude, awesome
14 | Dead Rabb1ts says:
Good art work. I like the many different styles.
15 | Lord_Halo99 says:
What i'd give to have art skills like that.
16 | Lord Quagga says:
Hey Andrew, great job, I've always liked your art. Good work!
17 | RedRaptor says:
Psst. My raptor spartan, mb, mb? It was one of his first artworks at HBN...
18 | RedRaptor says:
Oops, nevermind. Broken link on my screen. Hehe. >_>
19 | Queen Of Blades says:
Very, very nice. I admire your creativity. No matter how hard I try, somebody is always going to be better than me.
20 | Sieneko says:
Congrats on the feature, Andrew! You deserve it, your art totally rocks. :)
21 | the great pie says:
You. Are. Amazing. Good work dude; release a book!
22 | Spartan-055 Pete says:
*Drools* Red Spartan Red Spartan.
Whoo I love Red Spartans!. Like my Live armor just Red. It owns.
Really cool pictures dude, your work is great.
23 | Krayt'heili says:
OMG I wish I could draw like that! I only draw anime though, and I think I suck at it >_< but this stuff is amazing!!
24 | dead fire says:
WOW! i soooo wish i could draw like that but unfortunatly i suck at drawing :(
25 | aidurandal says:
Well, first of all, ditto on what the guy before me said.
Secondly, one of the only problems I saw was that the rear wheel on the warthog seemed a little small in comparison to the front and a little cockeyed.
But I'm no artist, so don't take my word for it.
26 | zero says:
Congrats.
27 | red snow says:
Andrew, congrats! seriously though, all of your works have inspired me to keep drawing trying harder then befor (not just saying this) in hope of being a good as you in art,
sicerly Caleb Stout
28 | Morpheus says:
Strangely cool.
29 | icewagon3000 says:
you are a great artist. HBN is LUCKY
30 | the grunt that doesnt wanna die says:
YEA! I LOVE THAT CHIBI ELITE! IT RULES! MAKE MORE! :P
31 | edfw says:
ujokj
32 | Zyrra da Phirra says:
What can I say? Wow... you have great taste in imagery BTW *winks*
33 | HaloFighter92 says:
Sweet!
34 | brenden says:
dude this $#!t is AWSOME!!!!
35 | spartan001 says:
dude awesome job you do deserve this your art totally owns man good job and being me i wish i had a complaint but i dont your art rox good job
spartan001
36 | sparkie says:
DAHR! You gota do a Jhonen style MC next.
Butt biscuits ROTF! <--- JTHM reference for those who read.
37 | braxton says:
there real good im in 10th grade trying to become a good artist
38 | spartan's_girl says:
Your work is amazing, ive been drawing characters from games for a while now but you have the skill and accuracy that some of my images lack. good work
39 | THIS ISNT GREAT! says:
this isnt good sept fro jhonens version
40 | sebastian says:
halo the best game of the world
41 | master chief says:
give me concept art of original halo 2
my e-mail is:
42 | tj jones says:
i really like these there really cool!
43 | james doc says:
I stumbled across this while looking for jhonen vasquez.. I hope you dont take this the wrong way but your drawing is very poor. Dis regard what the others have said it seems that no one knows or has the courage to tell you how poor your stuff is.
Your work is not without potential but I'd say those drawings are at the level of a decent 12 or 13 year old. You need to learn anatomy, learn to understand the human form, learn about depth of line, about shading - you basically need to start from scratch. Youve already developed lazy form and bad habits. Go to life drawing classes and draw from life around you. Get your anatomy to the point where you can draw a figure in any pose from any angle, then worry about the rendering. Im not trying to bring you down, just giving you a reality check. I hope you can see this as constructive criticism and apply it to your work rather than dismiss it off hand. Good luck with your career.
44 | mitch fraz says:
dude these are AWESOME the one where the elite is getting stabbed is BAD!! please make more. can i request something please? if you dont mind, please email me and i will tell you what i would like you to draw.!! rock on!!
45 | wiidragon says:
these are amazing also how do I post my own stuff
46 | nicole says:
yo
i love these
47 | jeremy says:
omfg i wish i could draw that good .lol
48 | alex says:
your drawings are so good.i finally found what i can practice drawing
49 | hadyn bull says:
halo3 is rad.