The last Senshi Zodiac has finally been done, after 3 years, starting with Sailor Scorpio, in Oct. 2006. All of these works were commissioned by Ladylace (Lynette Torres), 24 total (One, Sailor Stardust, was done as a non-commissoned work in my spare time). Both of us have been through a lot, and, I was not sure if the series would get finished...

If you have enjoyed this series, and want to thank Lynette, her E-mail is ladylace31@yahoo.com. She has spent $2400 on Sailor Moon fanart, more than anyone else, and, this does not include the 15 or so Senshi Families, done previously.

This has been the centerpiece of my gallery, and, has included the best of my recent work. Most of these works are available through Podgallery [link]

I don't know what happens from here. Rebecca Heineman is the only client still commissioning Senshi fanart, on a regular basis. So, there may be only occassional Sailor Moon related commissions henceforth, if any...

Special thanks to the models Veronika Kotlajic, Diana Hold, Kasey Richards, and Adela Figueroa, from posing for the art in this series.

Color Theory Tutorial
By Alan Gutierrez
Introduction

This is a tutorial I wrote around 2005, which was never fully finished. It only will involve color theory. If there is enough interest, I’ll add one on my Photoshop techniques as well. This method was taught originally to me in the early 1980's at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, by instructor Judith Crook.

Goethe Color Method

Many artists have, over the years, asked about my approach to color. It actually took 5 years of study, (long after my graduation from ACCD) including many works, often failed, before I came to finally understand the basics of this theory. It's even more remarkable for me that, in my grade school days, I was diagnosed Red-Green color blind, and, perhaps as an attempt to overcome it, I pursued the theory to a level beyond just taking one class and doing well at it- I was delighted by Judith's statement that color blindness was not a handicap in understanding and applying the principles. In fact, in the followup elective class on her color theory (the first was a requirement at ACCD), I was one of only 2 male students there, which indicated to me that the fear was mostly one of social stigma.
Basically, the theory was originated by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832). Best known as the writer of Faust, and a philosopher, his color theory is the result of 30 years of research. It was Goethe that formulated the color wheel, based on the 3 primary colors, yellow, red, and blue.
There's a lot more to Goethe's ideas than this. He delved into the psycological and spiritual meanings of color-too much to go into here. And it was nearly a century before artist and scientists accepted this theory as fact. Even today, few artists practice the principles, though many artists do use the concepts-even at times not actually knowing it intellectually, but intuitively.
I never actually read Goethe's writing directly-they were second hand from Judith Crook. Furthermore there are several other influences here, including Albert H. Munsell (1858-1818), and Paul Klee (1879-1940). And during the 24 years since I first learned the theory, I've added some ideas of my own.
Judith taught 3 systems of color;
Red/Green
Yellow/Violet
Orange/Blue
Those are the basics, from the Goethe color wheel. Later on, I 'discovered' one more system
Yellow Green/Purple
During the classes at ACCD, we were made to paint a series of swatches of hues of each system, arranged in a pyramid shape, usually arranged in 9 triangles. Here's where it is hard to teach online, because one must see the colors to understand how the arraingement worked. Basically, the idea was to create two fully saturated colors (red and green as example) and then 'cross' from red to green in hues (which would pass into the gray realm if you can visualize the color wheel and it's workings) and have the effect of enhancing each other (red enhancing or complementing green)
The same goes for the other three, swatches of 9, with orange/blue, yellow/violet and finally yellow green/purple (the latter not done in Judith's class but basicially the same idea)
During the first years, I had not the foggiest idea what I was doing, and this after being there for weeks studying it, so I can't imagine the readers here getting it, but one thing that did happen is that it 'stuck' in the back of my mind, so, after many years of painting and wanting to 'get it'-I finally did.
It happened in 1985, 3 years after I graduated. I was contracted to do a series of toy box covers for Tonka Toys, called 'Legions of Power'. The art director, Liz Durazo, liked some colorful art I'd done, which used the theories I'd learned until then, but was happening by 'chance', like a shooter hitting a target by chance, if one aims at it long enough and hits it-that kind of thing. In fact, the first painting (of ten) was a complete flop, and showed I really didn't have the actual grasp of the Goethe color theory at all-I was on the verge of being canned. My sketches (in color) were lackluster and dull, I'm sure intimidation had something to do with it-it was by far the most expensive and high paying job I'd done before (and even since) and I was stuggling to understand the theory in practice.
Thanks to Liz Durazo's expert art direction-there's never been one better before or since-I prevailed-the second painting was successful! From that point on, I used very bright colors in very close proximity to each other. You can see the result in the Sci-Fi gallery section in the 'Legions of Power' gallery. Many do still consider this among my best work.
But what goes down well in a space environment isn't suited for realistic landscapes, or when a client wants costumes of a certain color, etc. Basically, I've tried to apply the 4 color systems in every painting.
One trick I've tried to do, is to get 2 or more systems in a single painting. I've even managed three.

Eleven new prints from PODgallery have been added, making 82 total! They include 'Red Cloak Pirotess', 'Ada Wong' 'Ganymede and Callisto', 'Sailor Nereid' 'Mars' and 'Venus' pinups, 'Barmaid Tifa', the 2 'Moonsword' paintings, plus 'Dhegabar' from H. Beam Piper's stories. Here's the link to PODgallery;

[link]

I'm hoping to get more support from Sailor Moon fans here. Sales of SM related fan art on PODgallery are poor over there, and, I've had to eliminate 3 or 4 good SM works done this past year, in favor of the better selling pinups. The Mars and Venus pinups were done to boost sales of SM prints. I hope some of you will buy these works-they are a fraction of the cost of commissions (for those unable to afford commissions) and are high quality.

My website [link] has been redesigned, and is a nice improvement over the old one, with easier navigation, and larger images!

As some of you may know, the Sailor Moon Senshi gallery here at DA is only a fraction (about 15%) of the total art I've done. There are 200+ images more, on my website, including Sailor Moon villians, pinups, Senshi Families, and other anime characters, such as Monster Rancher Pixie, Record of Lodoss War Pirotess, to name a few.

Although I've been asked by DA viewers of my gallery here, to bring more old art to this gallery, I've spent much time and money (here's where some of the commission money those of you who have commission me for, gets invested) on this project, and, it's payed off! Even the Zodiac Senshi art is better viewed there, in my opinion. Of course, I'll continue to post SM related art here in the future, but only new works.

The gallery is best viewed with Javascript. Otherwise, you may see a white background with the gallery art. But, in my old computer, the white was taken out after a couple of retrys of my browser (I'm on ancient dialup, ugh).

In any case, please visit my site, and I'm always happy to do your commissions! See my other journals for details.

Woke up this morning with a DD, of "Sailor Ganymede and Callisto"

Special thanks to for it!

Also, thanks to for the commission, based on her webcomic, "Sailor Ranko" [link] Check out her site-it's a really funny and engaging experience!

Since I have this brief surge of attention, check out my other art at [link] This here is only about 15% of my work. There's Anime, Eastern Fantasy, Astronomical, Sci-Fi, Traditional Fantasy (Mermaids, Dragons and stuff...) Contemporary, Glamour (30's style), and Pinups.

Also, this starving artist can always use some commissions-they start at $100, for a one character digital painting of 2500x3500 pixels size (print to about 8 1/2" x 11") so, write me for details! I do trad. art on masonite board too, starting at $150.