Pre vs. Post Tablet

So... I've been looking a lot at the pieces I completed using a mouse (pre-Tablet), and the pieces I've designed after I got my lovely-wonderful-amazing-fantabulistic Wacom Tablet (<3 my Tablet!).  I knew that the pieces post-Tablet were much better (because it's frankly a lot easier to draw with a pen than with a mouse, simple as), but I didn't know to what extent.  Curious, I decided to try to redraw a pre-Tablet banner I did for Kishin with my Wacom Tablet.  I managed to surprise even myself.

This is the best I could do pre-Tablet.  At the time, I was really happy with it.

This is what I was able to achieve with the Tablet:

I find the difference shocking.  It's amazing how much difference a simple tool can make.

New Beginnings: New Eden Ink

With a splash of color and a dash of ink, I've decided to repaint this blog into one with a more artistic outlet.  Art has long been a favorite hobby of mine, which I pursued all the way through college (I even contemplated an art major at one point in time).  Although my preferred medium is usually oils and pastels, I started dabbling in computer art when Kishin Hattori first asked me to design him a new banner for his blog.  Since then, I've started doodling more and more, and recently I've purchased a Wacom Tablet to aid in the design (drawing with a mouse on Paint is frustrating enough to make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, lol). <3 my Tablet!  The look is still hand-drawn and rough - nothing too fancy here - but that's a feel I personally really like in art. 

This blog is now being separated into sections.  This home page will contain my latests pieces, but to see a complete portfolio of my works, you can link to the "gallery page."

I'm happy to take commissions (signatures, banners, etc), but I'm also happy to just hear an idea you might have for me.  Pulling original ideas are always the most difficult part of the design, I think, and I have found that I prefer designing pictures others would like to see rather than constructs just for myself.  Feedback is always great, and criticism is appreciated as well (it's how we improve after all). =)

The first two pieces I've designed with my Tablet are this blog banner and the image below, which is just a rendering of Bonni3 and Kishin Hattori post-incursion.  I hope to get another piece done by next week, although I'm still racking my brain for ideas at the moment.  Again, any thoughts and ideas are most welcome!