Imren Character Sheet for Marie

First off - Welcome, new viewers! Thanks for taking the time to visit my art blog, I quite appreciate it.

Above is the third in a set of three character reference sheets commissioned by the lovely Marie.This fellow, Imren, a character belonging to Marie's husband, was a particularly fun one to do, as his skin and hair colors are unusually pale - it was a nice challenge, actually, getting them right where they needed to be to be true to the character. (And any challenge I can get artistically = instant field-day! I love it.) It was also great to be  able to be able to draw three characters with such varied clothing types - Tyra in her more Frazetta-style slinky fantasy female garb, Marthin in full, billowy robes, and Imren above here in full leather and steel armor instead. Thank you, Marie, for the commission work, as well as providing such lovely characters to illustrate!

As always, I am currently open for multiple different types of commissions, including these basic full-color character reference sheets. Detailed commission information can be viewed here. Folks interested in commissioning me are welcome to contact me at melmillerartATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!

Cheers,
♥Mel

MST3K Meme (Part 2)

Onward with the MST3k Meme! I'll likely continue to post these in pairs as I complete them during my break-time, as that's been working out quite dandy so far... and has been ridiculously fun. A huge plus to this exercise beyond stress relief (and getting to geek out over something I so enjoy) is the fact that I'm getting to play with color - I'm making various attempts to see what I can do with coloring in a manner that is both quite fast and visually appealing. So far, I'm digging the results.

"So, you're an MST3k fan? Prove it by drawing us your favorite episode!"

*...Personally, I think it's next to impossible to pick *one* definitive favorite episode  - there are too many great shows to narrow it down, so, consider "Space Mutiny" more of *a* favorite as opposed to *the* favorite, less we forget the pure levels of awesome seen in episodes like "Pod People," "Manos, The Hands Of Fate," or "The Final Sacrifice." Also - my first shot at drawing Mike. :)

"Ok, I believe you. So, how old were you when you started watching the show?"

*... ok, admittedly, this question doesn't exist in the original survey. It's more of a filler-attempt, given that question #14 is literally, "We're almost done!" (aka, a complete non-question.) Consider this shiny new addition my replacement-14, and an attempt to infuse a bit more substance into these 15 little ditties. That said though, I was indeed a wee pup when I started watching MST3K, drew a whole host of terrible little-kid fan art (Including the above paper bag hand-puppets. I was that nerdy, folks.) One thing I loved about the show is that it can be viewed by all sorts of age groups and still be completely fun for all - the humor is varied and clever enough to pull it off with ease. Kudos.

More of the Meme: 
Part 1

More to come,

Mel

Prop Design

Another thing I quite enjoy doing is creating designs for the props that pop up in my own concepts and animation, as well as for various other projects, professional and personal alike. Above are examples of this, including a closer look at the Bogey Family Caravan, as I like the layout a bit better then what the confines of an 8 1/2 x 11 page allowed me to create. :) Thank you for viewing.


More soon,
Mel

Environments & Characters

For those interested, here's a current incarnation of my character and environment design print portfolio, sans a page of work that is still under a NDA. Cheers!

-Mel

MST3K Meme (Part 1)

I needed something completely random, goofy-fun and utterly un-work-related to piddle with amidst my work madness for the sheer sake of giggles and much-needed stress relief. So, I found a random silly Mystery Science Theater 3000-related art meme on DA and decided to dig in. It's already unwound me tremendously - way fun! There'll (hopefully) be 15 quick n' fun little illustrated bits for it in the end - here's the first two!

 "Free drawing space below!"

*...Why yes, I totally did include the Giant Mutant Uterus as the Feature Presentation.

"Hello, I don't think we've met... Just who are you?"

*... Space background was a pre-existing digital fiddle, admittedly. But hey, I wasn't using it for anything else, so what the heck.

Blatant nerd-humor at your service,
Mel

Marthin Character Sheet for Marie

Hi everyone! This blog seems to have gained a couple of new followers in the past week - Just wanted to note a huge thank you to everyone for taking the time to check out my humble little art-spot on the net. I quite appreciate it :)

And now, onto the art! :) Amidst my endless job search and various other projects, I'm also having a great time cranking away at various commissions. Above is a second of three character sheet commissions for Marie, this time of her dashing fellow, brother Marthin Mephtes. Next in to be created line is Marthin and Tyra's accompanying compadre, Imren - I'm looking forward to that one indeed.

As always, I am currently open for multiple different types of commissions, including these basic full-color character reference sheets. Detailed commission information can be viewed here. Folks interested in commissioning me are welcome to contact me at melmillerartATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!

Cheers,
♥Mel

Tyra Model Sheet for Marie

A commission for Marie of her lovely original character, Tyra. I had a blast working on this, I must say. Thank you, Marie! Below is an example of the process these commissions go through. The first sketch, the roughest first pass is typically for my initial reference only. Both images with a "WIP" stamp are the phases at which the commissioner has the opportunity to request revisions - first to the drawing itself, and second to what colors are used and where. Commissioners who have requested color pieces also receive a crisp scan of the line art to their pieces as well.

I am currently open for multiple different types of commissions, including these basic full-color character reference sheets. Detailed commission information can be viewed here. Folks interested in commissioning me are welcome to contact me at melmillerartATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers,
♥Mel

MelMillerArt.com is Live!

Hi all! After much hard work, especially on the part of my good buddy Kate N.Y, my official website is now up and running! I absolutely could not be happier with the results. Please feel free to give it a test drive, and let us know if there are any glitches that need tweaking. Apart from the Commissions and Contact pages, which are still being coded, it should be smooth sailing, gallery and all.

Here are some banners for the site, if you'd like to link to it:

And now... back to commissions for me!
Cheers,
♥Mel

Colors for Kongou

Kongou the Mountain

Another contribution for ARMSmaster's concept art. Mike recently requested that I have a go at coloring his fantastic line-art of Kongou: I love the character, and was thrilled to have a go with it. Above is the final results. To check out Mike's original colors for the line art, wander over yonder.

♥Mel

Ketrina de Lioncourt and a DD.

Ketrina de Lioncourt - Model Sheet

Here's the completed Detailed Character Sheet commission for my dear buddy Kat or her swashbuckling original character, Ketrina de Lioncourt. I had a brilliant time with this, allowed to design the character basically from scratch from the original description of a blond-haired, green eyed lady pirate with a Victorian lion tattoo. Thank you. Kat, for giving me the opportunity to draw such a lovely character!

For anyone interested, I am open for Detailed Character Model Sheet commissions, among many others. For pricing, the process and what types of commissions are available, check out my commission info page.

In other news, I was rather surprised today that after tinkering around on DeviantART for the past 7 years for the sheer fun of it, I was given a "Daily Deviation" for my "TKP Leading Ladies: Colored" piece. I honestly couldn't be happier that the piece that was chosen is of characters that have been near and dear to me for so many years now, as well - making this DD quite the gift indeed. I wanted to say a tremendous thank you to ^mintyy for suggesting the piece, and ^Atramina for being so kind as to feature it. You guys are awesome!

Cheers,
Mel

Ketrina DeLioncourt - LineArt.

While some of my recently completed commissions are under non-disclosure agreements and therefore cannot see the light of day online - I'm excited to be able to share those which are not. Here's linework for the character sheet commission I'm currently working on for my buddy Kat, of her main pirate character. This will be one of the full-color detailed character sheets I offer for commissions, and will also include a head shot of Ket here, close-ups of some of her more important attributes, as well as text descriptions in a professional, cohesive layout. I'm just particularly fond of the way the line art for the orthographic poses turned out - I've been familiar with this particular character for years - can't help but love her. While the chracter is Kat's, the outfit itself was of my own devises... which I have to tell you, was ridiculously fun to do. There's just something about pirates...

♥Mel

Web Site In-Progress

The Future Home of Mel Miller Art Dot Com

After many years without, a profound need for, and the gracious offering of time and web-coding talent from my good buddy Kate NY, I'm on my way to having an official webspace on the 'net. I'm incredibly excited to be able to get this web presence underway to, with any luck, help aid my ability to find work, both now and in the future. Above is the mock-up created for the home page by myself - layout conceptualized by Kate herself, as derived by the concept image I did of Trias during my time at CCS. Thank you, again, Kate!

♥Mel

ARMSmasters Second Edit Complete!

ARMSmasters Second Edit - Complete from Michael Winn on Vimeo.

And we're soaring right along! Here's the second compilation of the ARMmaster's trailer currently in production. My roles in the above this far have been copious amounts of clean-up animation as well as a wee bit of color. I also got my first glimpse of the Pitch Bible today for the first time, and let me tell you, that thing looks stellar. I literally got chills seeing it, it's so exciting and ridiculously cool. What a pleasure it's been to be a part of this project - I'm looking forward to anywhere and everywhere it may take us.

Here's a word from our fearless leader, mister Mike Winn, on the above video and the current state of the Project as a whole:

And here we have the ARMSmasters second edit!

This edit features heavy duty After Effects post-production work by Niles Bontrager - and it is awesome.

I would say more here but I'm actually utterly exhausted and declaring that to the world. Those with access to the production blog will get a full play by play of events because I'm just detailed like that :)

More seriously, I'm incredibly proud of the work that our production partners and fellow artists have produced for the development of this property. From the second clean up passes to the treatment in After Effects and even the brainstorming and creative sessions of developing the world into something that has a true life of its own, I am truly, sincerely blessed by this effort and the contributions of everyone's talents and support.

The Pitch Bible is done as well and we're moving ahead. The /Third/ edit of this trailer will involve the addition of the light and shadows and finished clean up and at the same time we'll be moving ahead towards finishing the longer trailer and getting the missing animation in and having a more complete 'Demo'. Still a lot of work to do but I'm thrilled to have hit this milestone - on time!

-Mel

Colette, Sekaida and the Bounty Hunter

Here's some design work stemming from ARMSmasters over the past 2 days. The top image is my design for a member of the main character line-up, Colette. The second is an OC I've been pitching the idea of for a potential secondary character for the series - a female Sky Pirate captain by the name of Sekaida. Last but not least is my clean-up lineart and color flats of my buddy Patrick Stannard's lovely rough drawing of a character design of his for a bounty hunter for the series.

Colette.

Sekaida.

The Bounty Hunter.

♥Mel

Mia in Motion and Commissions

Mia in Motion

I'm currently working on cobbling together animation and storyboard portfolios to go along with my illustration portfolio. Thought I'd share what may very well become a part of the prior - Caravan's Mia Talbert, from shot 6 of the film.

Also, I will begin taking commissions soon, for anyone interested. I'll likely open for them this upcoming week, and start them the week following, once everything is in order. More info on that soon!

♥Mel