Al Rio Does Ana Ishikawa. Pretty well.

[QuinnJonLee]

Al Rio is a great penciler. I have his book, it's probably high in my top 5 list of talented pencilers doing books from SQP publishing. #1 is easily art of arantza. Man can that woman draw.

Anyway. Check out Al's Ana Pencil art. She Looks Gorgeous to me. As always.

OK I moved it a few posts lower. It must have been too mutch for Al's bandwidth.  :)

[jsniderfamily]

Is that the ART of AL RIO book?  I could not see the picture.

[kikuchiyo]

I think Al Rio is a talented illustrator. The problem that I have with his pictures though, is that he always finds a way to make each pic a soft porn sort of image.  Such as in this pic, the way he shows Shis' lower butt cheeks. Well drawn in my opinion, but definately not needed. I understand there is a need sometimes in order to sell artwork, that hints of nudity or eroticism is needed, but I get so offended when he portrays Shi in this way. I mean, does he ever draw her "skirt" just hanging straight down, or does the wind always blow when Shis around? lol
In pictures of Shi that I draw, I use artistic freedom in the skirt, by making it somewhat of a sheer material. It definately covers her up, but at the same time allows a glimpse of what lies under. I will try to post an example that I am working on.

[QuinnJonLee]

Is that the ART of AL RIO book?  I could not see the picture.

No it's a new page he drew that is for sale. I spotted it this morning at his website.

I do have his book (along with almost all the SQP books) though. It's really good! You should get it. It's worth it.

[kikuchiyo]

Though this is not one of my best, I will post anyway.

[QuinnJonLee]

I think Al Rio is a talented illustrator. The problem that I have with his pictures though, is that he always finds a way to make each pic a soft porn sort of image.  Such as in this pic, the way he shows Shis' lower butt cheeks. Well drawn in my opinion, but definately not needed. I understand there is a need sometimes in order to sell artwork, that hints of nudity or eroticism is needed, but I get so offended when he portrays Shi in this way. I mean, does he ever draw her "skirt" just hanging straight down, or does the wind always blow when Shis around? lol
In pictures of Shi that I draw, I use artistic freedom in the skirt, by making it somewhat of a sheer material. It definately covers her up, but at the same time allows a glimpse of what lies under. I will try to post an example that I am working on.

I really don't see anything explicit in the drawing that is unnatural. Drawing cloth, and folds isn't easy for me. I draw it only by the using the 7 laws of folds. Adding wind is to art nothing short of art, but personally I think its easier to get correct form, and function from the cloth using wind. All the leg, and other musculature of the bottox seem correct.  
I think he may have some of the same problems drawing cloth that I do, and he isn't intentionally doing it for sexploitation. If he set out to have the cloth blowing forward in the beginning of his sketching of her - her hair would match it. Well mine would. Hers doesn't seem to. I think he had a problem with the cloth and went back, and re-did it. That's just my guess, but there is really no wind blowing her hair forward. I would have had it coming around left shoulder blowing had I started it that way.

[QuinnJonLee]

I guess you wouldn't understand my last post because you have her hair blowing, but you forgot there is also wind it her knees.

[kikuchiyo]

Thats exactly what I mean. He finds ways to show areas in the way I described. I am not knocking his ability in any way as it is obvious he is a talented penciller, I actually frequent his site to see what he has added, as I enjoy looking at his work. If you were to visit his site, or I believe, look at his book, you would see many instances where he uses gratuitous boob or crotch shots, to be vague.

[kikuchiyo]

The wind is from a fan. lol

[QuinnJonLee]

Now that I take a better look at al's piece it looks more like a gust, which would still blow some more of her hair foreword, but probably not like a heavy wind with her hair wrapping around, and over her left shoulder as I described.

[QuinnJonLee]

Thats exactly what I mean. He finds ways to show areas in the way I described. I am not knocking his ability in any way as it is obvious he is a talented penciller, I actually frequent his site to see what he has added, as I enjoy looking at his work. If you were to visit his site, or I believe, look at his book, you would see many instances where he uses gratuitous boob or crotch shots, to be vague.

Most guy's that draw women have a collection of of their own of good girls drawn as "Bad Girls". SQP's books are all like that. Most everybody's sketchbooks are like that. Even Adam Hughes does it in his sketchbooks, (I have all of them) and he is known for Good Girl art.

That piece isn't going into a SHI comic book that I know of. That is a character test, and he had a little fun with it, but it's still a serious piece of work. You can't deny his abilities. Not that you were, but if you look at what he does in comics, and out of comics there is a line drawn besides the bust line.  

[QuinnJonLee]

The wind is from a fan. lol

LOL. ;)

[Nishiko]

In the Al Rio sketch, she's wearing low-cut panties, which is not what she normally wears. See the old picture of Ana below for what I mean.



I also noted that he drew Ana below the waist with a lot more flesh and a lot less muscle tone than a woman of her fitness level normally has.

[QuinnJonLee]

In the Al Rio sketch, she's wearing low-cut panties, which is not what she normally wears. See the old picture of Ana below for what I mean.

Yes but what she was wearing in the picture your showing is not current, and hardly fashionable. I mean come on. Those look like todays grandma panties from target. I hope she wouldn't be wearing those girdle panties today.

I also noted that he drew Ana below the waist with a lot more flesh and a lot less muscle tone than a woman of her fitness level normally has.

Yea, but again look at your reference. I see not a tremendous amount of muscle tone. If Billy wasn't using female sexuality consciously, or unconsciously back in the day your fooling your self. Seriously. Ask him. Sex sells, and if it didn't he should have used a guy. Because a Female Samurai warrior? Yeah... I see those every day.  ;)

In Al's defense I doubt he was given a profile of do's, and don'ts for drawing a piece for fun.

[QuinnJonLee]

In the Al Rio sketch, she's wearing low-cut panties, which is not what she normally wears. See the old picture of Ana below for what I mean.

I also noted that he drew Ana below the waist with a lot more flesh and a lot less muscle tone than a woman of her fitness level normally has.

Looking at it again I'd say your right. Even though Billy used to draw Ana at about 9 heads which is pretty unrealistic unless she is about 6'2" or taller. AL's looks like she would be about 5'6" at best, and I think Ana is supposed to be 5'9" although I could be wrong.  

[kikuchiyo]

After looking at Al's drawing again, I have a few comments to make. For something he drew "for fun", how come he is charging so much for the piece? Billy draws Shi for "fun" or commission and charges half the amount. Also, I think he kind of cheesed out with hislack of shading on the upper garment. There is no shading there, though there is on her lower half and also on her body, but not on her face. What is the circle on her forhead for? The sword in her left hand has less detail on the wrap than the other. Also, the blade doesnt follow the angle of the tang either. Also, the bikini bottom doesnt sit on her body correctly either.  Another thing is the collar. It should not go completely around her neck as it looks like it is doing.
Don't get me wrong, I really like this pic alot, and actually saw it the day it was put on e-bay, but for the amount of money he is asking for it, I would expect a more complete job.

[Delvie]

I thought Ana was 5'10" or 5'11"


I like a lot of Al's art. I especially like his abilities. But, to be frank. These are not studies. These were made for one purpose, to sell.

When it comes to clothing & appearance, Al is just like the 100s of other artists out there who draw Ana because they think she looks cool & not because they've read the story & understand the significance of the clothing choice. The most amusing is Al's last 3 drawings w/ the dot on the forehead. As most of you might have noticed, Al likes drawing women w/ a bit of softness on the tail.

Lastly, soft porn? Comments like that get thrown around a lot here & I always laugh & try to imagine you guys @ a beach. I can only imagine curled up in the fetal position clutching your bibles in a death grip. While the clothes aren't Billy's intended outfit for Ana, they are far from soft porn.

Oh yeah. That art isn't for sale any more. It was the last of 3 sold on ebay a week or 2 ago & the info hasn't been updated yet.

[QuinnJonLee]

I thought Ana was 5'10" or 5'11"

I was wondering about that.  Has it ever been said exactly how tall Ana was? I'm sure Billy has thrown it out there at some point, but did he have her height figured in at the beginning? Now that the subject has been touched - I think there should be a complete Ana Profile page somewhere at this site with a few newer photos attached for visual reference. Not like there isn't photos, but it's nice to have them attached.

And after all the discussion yesterday I looked and noticed one thing that stood out, and is probably one of the reasons I've always loved Billy's pencils above all.  

Billy remembers the wind.

[Delvie]

I think it says somewhere what her stats are. Either it is in the back of a comic or on the back of a card.