Sketches and Studies #4

Heres another study/photograph copy.

Sketches and Studies #3

Well this went a bit outside the bounds of being a quick sketch but heres another post at least. I would like to start working on a more subtle use of color... I think I get really carried away sometimes.


Just for fun, heres the drawing that sparked the image.

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.