Hi,
This is Alena Spragg, I am an Artist, Designer, Illustrator and an animator.
I will tell you a bit about myself, my influences and inspirations.
I am an ASIFA member (Animation Film Society Association) in Atlanta. I go to animation screening, workshops and figure drawing session to keep up with my drawings ability.
My work is usually basic I always sketch first to figure out the look of my character. Is he/she going to be a warrior, young, old what sort of armor or clothing? After I finish the design of the character, then I fix the problems whether it is proportions, pose or clothing. Once I am satisfied with the piece I ink out the areas in black to bring out shading and so I’ll be able to see the image when I scan. From there I scan into Photoshop and ink it digitally, so the lines are smoother and less rough. It’s also easier to fill in the basic hues of my character that way with out showing white areas.
After digitally inking it; I add what colors I feel mesh with the character. This is my favorite part, because it’s experimenting and choosing the right colors that blend with each other. From the basic hues I start with the skin and start shading, toning and adding highlights. If the character is wearing armor or clothing I add material layers, to make it stand out a bit more.
When I’m done with the character I then start developing the background. My style is pretty abstract for backgrounds. Sometimes I find a theme and surround the character with that theme. For instance my latest character Ferias V you will see she has circular shapes around her body and in the background. From there I really like to blend color after color and sometimes it almost takes away from the character. But what I am going for is for someone to keep staring and almost slowly start to see the piece the work as a whole. I feel that is important to look and seek what stands out.
I'm influenced by Japanese animation, (Karas the Revelation) comics (Bleach, Blame, Trinity Blood) and art books (Japanese Comickers, Fusion, Fruits.)
But that isn’t the only influence, Disney, Pixar, Richard Williams.
I love study the styles, characters, poses and emotions from the creators so that I can develop.
The books that I study: Richard Williams the Animators Survival Kit, The Art of Vampire Hunter D, Bleach Illustration Book, Animals of 1914 illustrations, Ninja and Samurai Portrayed, Fusion Junction, Japanese Comickers 3 of the book series highly recommended. Spectrum Fantasy Art. Anything dealing with fashion, many of my characters clothing and materials were influenced by scanning fashion magazines.
