1st Update of the New Year

[Celtic_Emperor]

First off, this is my first official picture for the new year. Yay for me. ^__^

Second, this is the first picture I've colored with my brand new prismacolor markers which I got for Christmas. They're simply awesome! Yay again. ^__^

Third, this is Haruka Urashima from Love Hina. Yes, I'm drawing her again, I just love this character, and thats enough incentive for me to draw her.

Here we have Haruka taking a moment to go down memory lane. Thinking of her past, and her adventures with Noriyasu Seta (her near boyfriend, though she'll deny it and plays hard to get for most of the series leaving their mysterious relationship ambiguous to us and the rest of the Hinata residents.) And speaking of the Hinata Appartments (aka Hinata Sou), its the background. ^^

I feel the expression on Haruka's face captures the moment quite well, with her raised eyebrows, her cheeks blushing, and her eyes gazing up into the sky.

For my first use of the markers I decided to go with an almost watercolor style, one which I think turned out for the better. I'm pretty proud of the end result.

This one is called "Memories".

Enjoy! o^___^o

Artwork © Damien Jones
Haruka Urashima and Love Hina © Ken Akamatsu

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

This piece the second time I've used my new prismacolor markers, and again I've opted for a watercolor-esque style. I quite like it. I can barely wait to see what it looks like when I use different colors and with different characters as well. ^^

I call this one "For The Sake Of Art".

Here, again, we have Love Hina's Haruka Urashima allowing someone to draw her as she takes a break and lies down from working at her teashop.

I like her relucant expression and embarassement, as she's allowing this truely JUST for the sake of art and nothing more. 😛

The only question is, whose drawing her? We know Keitaro draws well, but we know Shinobu can draw as well. But for all we know it could be Seta, which would make the situation all the more embarassing for Haruka.

Who is it? You may never know. I think its better kept a mystery as it preserves the picture. ^^

Enjoy! o^___^o

Artwork © Damien Jones
Haruka Urashima & Love Hina © Ken Akamatsu

 

[His Divine Shadow]

The only question is, whose drawing her? We know Keitaro draws well, but we know Shinobu can draw as well. But for all we know it could be Seta, which would make the situation all the more embarassing for Haruka.

If it were Seta, she'd probably punch him (Depending on how far into the story this incident was).

THe backround of the first is fantastic (Not that the rest of the picture isn't). The first one really is true to the series, IMHO. The sig, and her expression appear just as they would in Love Hina.

Congratulations on the new markers, and well done. :happy:

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Good point, Controdicto! Suppose it was him, punching him would have ruined the picture. Unless of course it happened immediately after, which it wouldn't since he'd be layed out like a codfish BEFORE he even started drawing. LOL

So I guess process of elimination does call Seta being the artist into question, now doesn't it? 😛

For some reason its even funnier when Haruka lays the smackdown than Naru. Probably because its not so often. One of the funnier times is when Shinobu gets Keitaro with the frying pan, as its now becoming a conditioned reaction after seeing Naru attack him so many times. Then theres that one time she kicks him in the nards. That was funny.

 

[nessonite1]

hmmmm...maybe its just me but I think she looks more worried in the first pic.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Well, if thats the impression you got, its not wrong. As there were/are things to worry about when it comes to Seta. I'm not sure how far into the manga you are, but Haruka isn't sure about Seta completely, not until he makes a particular revelation.

Can I take it that you like the pictures though? Lately you've been ambiguous and its been hard to read your reactions.

 

[nessonite1]

I'm looking for book 10. Bookstore never seems to have it. Im reading Ranma 1/2 and DiGi Charat while Im waiting for it to show up.

Can I take it that you like the pictures though? Lately you've been ambiguous and its been hard to read your reactions.

Do I like them? Well...not my favorites but I admire the effort. I know it takes a while to color stuff by hand.
And Normie...dont provoke.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Norm, if it really is you, I'm going to delete or edit your posts here until you sober up or get off of whatever it is that is causing you to act this way. Because I know that I have done nothing to you, and of all the people you could single out, you single out me, one of your friends.

Hopefully by tomorrow you will have recovered. Be safe.

Please do not respond to this messege.


@ Ness- Book 10 you say? Theres 14 in all, and if I remember correctly things should start to get really interesting.

Has Kanako made her appearance yet?

 

[nessonite1]

Kanako? Is that Motoko's sister? If I recall she did briefly earlier (when Kietaro and Motoko were almost wed) but not recently.
I am almost done watching the anime. Have to say I am not very impressed with it.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

No, Tsuruko is Motoko's sister (the woman in the episode you're discribing). They don't refer to her by her first name in the manga however, they call her "big sister", unless of course theres been a change.

I was refering to the manga specifically. Kanako doesn't show up until Love Hina Again. But in the manga she appears much earlier.

As for the anime......ehhhh....I agree. But its almost always that way with anime and manga. I expected much more out of the anime, but alot of things were backwards, some things never happened, and some things that did happen didn't happen that way in the manga, or vice-versa.

To someone trying to follow the series completely, this may confuse them since there are entire characters that appear in one or the other but do not in both.

I give the manga a 10 whereas I would give the anime a 7 or a 6. I give the voice actors an 8. They got some good talent to do Love Hina, both japanese and english.

I didn't care for the ending in the anime, it felt forced and cut off. But the rest was forgivable.

 

[nessonite1]

There are some things I like about the anime but in general I think it would do much better to be longer and truer to the manga.
I do like the Kentaro character, I think he was a good addition.
I agree that the voice actors were well chosen. Of course I don't speak Japanese so I wouldn't recognize mistakes in inflection, etc, but the voices themselves were very good. I liked Haruka's especially. I really like her in the anime where she doesn't get nearly enough face time in the manga.
The art is...well...bad though. It's unpolished, uncute, and the animation isn't especially good though the action scenes are reasonably good.
Also I just can't forgive the episode where they're all pop stars. Too many flashbacks of last season Brady Bunch episodes. And the bits where Su "transformed" into an adult were handled much better in the manga. In the anime it was treated as being too real..an actual physical transformation which they had to save her from left it damage her body. I thought that brought it too far out of the scope of reality and made it sci-fi. I just didnt like that.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Jane Allan (Haruka's english actress) and Megumi Hayashibara (very famous voice actress and singer) were both very good decisions for the voices, which would have otherwise left a hole in the diversity of the voices, I think.

Everything else you said I totally agree with too. It was either forced and contrived, or it was overdone or corny.

Damnit Ness....now you have me rethinking my entire opinion on this beloved series. 😛

The manga however is near perfect, so I won't be dissing that.

Another thing that should be very obvious to fans- The manga was far more perverted and raunchy than the anime ever would be allowed to be! They even replaced dialogue that mentioned "beer" with "ice tea".

Kitsune is a drinker, not a drunk, but a drinker. They editted out the color of the sake, and it looks like water. They still refer to it as sake, but it looks like water. Yet when Naru says "excuse me, another ice tea please!" she has a slur in her voice implying that she's buzzed, because in the manga she is because it really is sake. If they're drinking tea, how the hell can she be buzzed?

I swear, if they're going to edit something out because they have to legally or they'll get in trouble, thats fine. But they can at least cover up their own mistakes.

Its ok for Kitsune to drink sake that looks like water and get buzzed and drunk and passed out, yet its not ok for Naru to drink sake that looks like sake but is explained to be ice tea?

One more zinger for you-

"Remember last night when you drank all that TEA and you just kept on drinking and you got drunk? lol?!"- Keitaro

Since when can you get drunk off of iced tea? Really happy and energetic maybe but not drunk! LOL! ^____^

 

[nessonite1]

Yet when Naru says "excuse me, another ice tea please!" she has a slur in her voice implying that she's buzzed, because in the manga she is because it really is sake. If they're drinking tea, how the hell can she be buzzed?

I THINK I know the place you are referring to. Didnt she say something like "Long Island Iced Tea"? which is alcoholic? I was just watching a fansub though so I dont know for sure.

One episode of the anime I did like a lot was one I watched recetnly where Shinobu is on a quest to find out what a kiss tastes like. I thought it was incredibly well done and emotionally charges without being as corny as the rest of the series has been. Oddly enough we can have preteen girls kissing eachother but we need to water down the sake....

 

[alchemy1]

Hey Drac! Cool pics man...great expressions! So you like the prisma colors huh? Yeah, they are awesome aren't they. Maybe I'll invest in the markers as well...I'm more of a pencil person though. Rock On!

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

@ Ness-

In the official english adaptation it was simply "ice tea". I too was going to question whether it really was an alcholic iced tea beverage. That would explain everything, BUT in the manga and to my knowledge in the japanese dialogue its "sake".

I'm going to pretend it was a Long Island LOL.

As for that episode with Shinobu, yes, that was one of the better ones. I liked that one, any of the Motoko episodes (especially the one with her sister), and the festival one where they dress up in yukatas.

The kissing one is pretty funny though.

@ alchemy-

Thank you. 🙂

Yeah, they're awesome and theres so many different coloring styles you can achieve with them. And it makes coloring easier than any other traditional medium that I know of. PrismaColor markers are engineered in such a way that previous markers have not been. I know alot of people may be wary of using markers for whatever reason, but I assure them you won't get that with PrismaColor markers!

Man...now I feel like a salesman! LOL ^^

But yes, you should definitely try them out. They come in sets of 12, 24, 48, 72, 114, and 128. There are of course 128 colors in total. You don't need them all if you know some tricks with shading and blending and how much pressure to apply to the paper. Also, depending on how well you take care of them, they last a long time. A friend of mine says she still has the original markers from her set and they still give out good color. And she's had them for a couple years now.

I do caution you however, these are pretty pricey. Its definitely an investment, and I'd make sure its something you're willing to commit to before the purchase. 🙂

 

[nessonite1]

I am really not much into Motoko. In the manga I like her but in the anime her character is too inconsistent...I can't much think of her as an independant minded badass after seeing her singing like a pop tart.
I feel Mutsumi especially, who is my favorite charcater in the manga, has been rather badly butchered in the anime.
And that makes Nessie sad. 🙁
The only character who's integrity did not suffer too greatly seems to Su. I'd say Shinobu as well if she hadn't been hit with a mysterious case of puberty (and been aged a year) between manga and anime. 😛

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

With Shinobu, they had the actress give her a more mousey voice. It wasn't always that way. I think her voice was better the first time. Theres only so many things you can to do make to make a character that is already cute cuter.

 

[nessonite1]

Well Sarah for some reason had a voice 3 octaves lower than anyone else which was rather disconcerting 😛

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Julie Magdalena, I believer thats her name, the voice actress for Sarah that is. Anyways, yeah, her voice is oddly lower than the others. Maybe its because she's a child and not a teen that it seems weird. I've heard this actress in other roles though, and she doesn't sound like a child. Maybe it was difficult for her to do this role, who knows.

They've released the "Love Hina Perfect Collection" recently. It has the entire series plus the three movies all in one boxset. I almost feel duped.

 

[AphroditeRabbit]

Those prisma colors are EXPENSIVE as hell. What's the spanish equivilent? An eye out of my head? Something. I want to get the full set, but that'll put me back a good 300, and I just spent 200 on art supplies and another 100 on books, so for now I have to wait!

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Yeah. But you don't have to have every color as I've said. They do sell them individually as well. For anime type artwork the color palette of options doesn't require all the colors in the prismacolor line. I would however buy them for the sake of having the ability to make different mixtures and for my non-anime work.

But if you just bought $200 dollars worth of supplies, maybe you should just stick with those and see if those work out. Markers aren't for everyone or suit everyone. It may just happen that what you have now will work better for you than these markers would.

 

[AphroditeRabbit]

I am taking a class in every basic area of art for graphic design purposes and being well rounded. I have already used greyscale chalks, chacoals, graphites, etc for one class. For another I have done hands on plaster molds, wood cutting and drilling (etc), site based projects, and all that jazz that includes a 3d basis. For another I have been doing pastel (dry and oil), watercolor, and things of that nature. For another is a more 2d based class of mixing paints, cutting out pieces to fit exactly to create a piece that fits together like a puzzle (hard to describe). I have yet however needed markers, but I plan on taking a class in the future that I know I will need them for. I just wish they weren't so expensive....My friend has the whole set but I don't wanna depend on her, I want to own my own.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

They are expensive, but they are worth it. They are arguably the best professional colored markers available, and they are the industry standard.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to depend on a friend either for this sort of thing. I wouldn't want to use up their inks. I'd rather have my own.