Sketches and Studies #2

Worked on some more stuff today. I did quite a bit of drawing from Bridgman - which I'd post for the hell of it if I had a camera - as well as attempting some figure painting studies... I'm actually stealing this idea of painting MMA fighters from a very inspiring artist that I found (here). This guys studies worked for him, so I'm hoping they help me too!

I will note that it was contour traced (outside of figure only) and color sampled - I'm not trying to fool ya. I think the purpose of these will be to give me more knowledge of skin tones, lighting, and most importantly, attempt to make sense out of Bridgman's crazy drawings.

Sketches and Studies #1

As I mentioned in my last post, I have decided to go back to learning from reference and books for a while. I realized my ventures in painting from my imagination were helping me find a technique and style, which is great, but I wasn't advancing my knowledge in anatomy, perspective, color, or lighting very much. That is my new goal for the next couple of months.

I've just barely been able to tap the books and review torso anatomy, but heres sketch #1 - I think its some kind of American Gladiator / super hero?

Landscapes

One more for now. I think I am going to switch gears and hit the books for a while...


Today I decided to do some 30 minute paintings to see how far I could get... Primarily I found out that it isn't quite enough time (currently) to find the composition, color and concept. I was usually done figuring out the general composition at 10 minutes, color by 20, and sketched for the last 10... They aren't much to look at, but speed is key and worth working towards. I did end up liking the middle one though. Perhaps I'll do this again tomorrow.


This really isn't a landscape, but I liked the thumbnail.


I decided to do some thumbnails today instead of anything real big - though you might be able to tell that I got carried away with one of them. I was so pleased with a brush I made 100% myself that I spent the last 2 spots (E and F) showing it off. You see the brush in F, and what it will do in a couple seconds of painting in E. I used it to block in all of those - I really like the shapes it gives me, and the texture to start a painting.




Small update for now - I've been real busy the last few days with wedding stuff for my friends Keith and Tina (congrats again!!). It's back to work on this stuff for me though.


As it turns out, I may be setting the Dominance War mini challenge off to the side and working on some landscape paintings instead. But we'll see, keep checking the post below this one for updates as I'll just edit the post rather than make another one entirely.

Anyways, here is the first of probably many landscape paintings I will be doing this week and maybe next week. I'm pretty happy with how this first one turned out. I jumped into it head first with a basic value sketch and went from there. Tomorrow I'll do some thumbnails to nail down more unique ideas (hopefully!).

Dominance War IV mini challenge

Following the main challenge, a new mini challenge has been posted for Dominance war. The subject is War General Pets... This is a take-off of the mini challenge that preceded the main event which was War General Portraits. Take a look at this main competition graphic though, notice anything? (I've circled it to make it easier) hah!

Anyways this is a short 9 day thing which I will try to finish. First up just some thumbnails I did last night and a painting I started today.

Dominance War IV final entry

The gameartisans server finally accepted my entry so I'm all finished up! Overall I'd say that this was a totally worth while experience. I learned quite a lot about concept design and painting along the way - I should be starting another project real soon to put what I learned to use.

Dominance War IV entry:

Finally working on the color illustration...


The above image is me dropping the sketch onto the old value comp, plus working it up a lot more. Something was lost though and I'm not sure what the composition is lacking now... I may paint back in those ribbons but I don't think that will be the full answer - more to come.

Working on a better drawing of the character to place in the scene. I'm hoping this is more proportionate than she is in the color comp. I'm also hoping her leg isn't broken haha... seems reasonable to me :P

//last edit



First attempt at a color comp for my final illustration, as well as a new value composition. I will probably end up sticking with the new composition. More to come.




Still looking for a composition with a good feel to it... Some of these are getting there. I think 3F could be good with a more clear background (but it is a thumbnail afterall). I'll probably try some landscape ideas - that might work better for me.



Not sure about these compositions, but I always had the idea that this character would be in more of a peaceful looking and forested environment. This is a war, but the character is named Serene for a reason. Shes the one that can restore peace to the world. I want the demons to be frozen/turned to stone, or bound somehow, and be represented as ornaments in this area. I'm not really sure how to do that yet, but this was an ok first step... If anyone is actually reading this, comments/feedback would be most appreciated!



Working on a new comp. This idea started from the first thumbnail on the page - it's as if a HUGE demon ripped through the dimensional wall (provided story) and acted as a carrier for the invasion forces. This large demon would probably be torn to pieces or scathed as a result of moving between dimensions... I have to make it kind of horrible, they are the bad guys! :P


This was fun, but not exactly how I was expecting to use the lower space... I needed the foreground elements to add to the sense of depth but these guys don't do a very good job of that. They do, however, show off her ability more clearly than it is currently on the larger guy. In any case, time for a new composition!

An earlier version (below):


-------------
Hey guys, I officially joined the war today :D I'll keep this post updated as I go along, although you will also be able to see my work being posted at this thread...

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7834

If you want to learn more about this challenge, check my last post. It began on Sunday and will go till May 11th... that means you can still join and have plenty of time to participate!

So the War is pretty open ended. My job is to create a character that is either a norm (pretty much any human or anthropomorphic being) that is either a warrior, cleric of sorts, or spell caster. In their possession they must have an item of great magical power. Pretty typical fantasy stuff really, but that's not a bad thing. The other races that could be chosen are Machines or Demons. All would be really cool - I'm tempted to go the Demon route so I can really produce something bizarre, but I need the practice concepting human characters...

My character will essentially be a bard, though for the rules of the comp its considered a "clericon" I want to develop a clothing style that is similar to the Art Deco fashion, but with a futuristic - post apocalyptic feel to it. That's the goal anyhow, and I'm far from it. Heres the beginning.



The head in G came out pretty funny in this thumb, so I rendered it a little bit more to show people what I saw...


(I really like the drawing B on this page, but it's not quite my character...)




Random sketch:

Alchemy and the Dominance War challenge...

I discovered a pretty interesting painting program called Alchemy recently. It's a fairly bare bones program, nothing like Photoshop (I don't even think it has undo), but it has some neat tricks - it looks like it is designed for concept artists. Consider it an alternative to fancy photoshop brushes for the design phase, though photoshop is a great second step. You can find it here:

http://al.chemy.org/download/

Also, there is a huge online game art challenge starting tomorrow, unless it gets pushed back again. I can't believe I hadn't heard of this before, but its called the Dominance War. It pits the largest online art communities against each other (cgsociety, cgtalk, polycount etc). It sounds really awesome! The challenge will have its fair share of industry professionals kicking everyone elses butt, yet at the same time they will be offering great feedback to the rest of us. Sure there are prizes, but a portfolio piece and loads of beneficial critiques are gauranteed - not to mention it could be a great way to get noticed. I'm doing it, let me know if anyone else is - I want to keep track of my friends as the challenge goes on... which by the way, might be a long time! I'm getting the impression it might be a month+ long challenge to allow people the time to participate.

http://www.dominancewar.com/

Heres a warmup I did today, which began in Alchemy and was "finished" in photoshop. (the sig is pretty much temporary)