Notes to Self

Some Assembly Required

People Lego:

Trying Out Sculptris

Been getting to know the free digital sculpting tool, Sculptris. I hope to start building digital maquettes for characters to use as ref (especially useful for comics).

Imaginary People

Still dealing with left side bias (features on the right squashed):

And here's something a while back from Tumblr I didn't post here yet:

Sometimes, Crazy Happens

Warming up with some mark-making practice. Out of the crazy, nice marks on that open hand!

EDIT: Updated with a higher res (click to zoom)

Sketchy

Wow, I have not used a pencil in a really long time.

Bad day & Better Day

Here's something a bit more revealing. It's a sketch I probably will never finish.

Some days, nothing seems work out. It speaks a lot about talent vs effort, and what happens if one approaches a painting sort of mindlessly with the expectation that things will go well without putting in any effort. At least for me this is true - even if talent exists (something I don't particularly believe in) it's better not to rely on it.

In between, I took a break and thought harder about the bad result all night. I worked over it the next day and the result was much better despite not using any reference. Just more careful thought and effort.

Photoshop Brushes, Palette Knives & Tool Presets

I get a number of requests for Photoshop pallete knives, so I thought I would put up a bunch of brushes and tool presets for the smudge tool and mixer brush. Grab them (made in CS5) here:

- Brushes
- Tool presets

Here's a bunch of examples of them in use:

Main rendering brushes

Sketching brushes

Pallete knives and textured brushes

Mixer Brush tool presets

Smudge tool presets

Value Study for a Composition

Long Study

Of vehicle type stuff. Making some good rules for myself. Again, from a NASA photo (click for larger):

Study of Rocks

From a photo of the Victoria Crater on Mars:

My current approach tends to suit characters more than natural looking landscapes. So I've been learning how to describe landscapes with it. I'm learning it has a lot more to do with focusing on the natural flow of forms, rather than trying to paint rocks as rocks.

 

Will need to do buildings too, at some point.

And More Practice

Study of the fencing going on in London (click for larger image):

For anyone interested, here's a link to the full resolution file :).

Just a bit of Practice

With reference from p155 & p81 of Fashion since 1900:

Something from Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2

Long time no post! Some of the character roughs I did has been posted on the Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 website. Here's one:

Looking for Rosie

Costume design sketch:

And after another session:

 And final for now:

Hope it was interesting seeing some progress snapshots!

Finished!

I think... click for larger:

Astronaut with Camera (after NASA). 40"x30" Oil on canvas:

Astronaut Painting

Astronaut (after NASA), 12"x12" oil on canvas:

And a detail:

 

The Clockwork Ballroom

The Clockwork Ballroom is a wonderful art collective with some awesome artists. Check it out! - http://theclockworkballroom.tumblr.com/ 

They have a Facebook group too! - http://www.facebook.com/TheClockworkBallroom

Here's my contribution to the group:

Here's Another

Previous sketch painted up:

Without reference this time and had an interesting realisation. Don't try to force details. If unsure, keep it simple rather than falsify them. To be sure, learn/remember/reference.

 

Attempt #3

This is working better. Grabbed some lighting reference this time, and let the drawing wander a bit more. Hmm... have some ideas for later!

I ♥ Scifigirl Tee

From O&B, a collab with Badger, who designed the Scifigirl graphic:

I ♥ Scifigirl

New painting for Owl&Badger:

Camel behind Fence

February's oil painting (12"x12" canvas):

A bit of a strange subject, but I learned a lot. It's making me wish I had time for a weekly instead of monthly.

Quick People Lego Sketch

Day at the Service Center

While waiting for my car to get serviced, a car on the showroom floor:

and an O&B sketch:

 Later, a digital study (from photo ref):

9999

Tumble!

Bathroom at Night

6" x 8" oil on canvas panel.

 

Planning to move on to larger paintings. 6x8s are just a little bit small for good details. Also, the canvas grain on these panels are a bit heavy. Encouraging though, getting the hang of this.

 

Here's a detail:

 

Animated Sketch

A small test getting a drawing animated. I made one main drawing, and on the following page redrew some elements so I could scan both into Photoshop and cobble together a looping animation. I staggered the elements out over more frames for a little more variation than a simple 2 frame flip.

Drawing out 3 frames would have been better. For next time!

Practice and Random Costume

Some quick gestures with various ref:

And a random costume:

A Triangle

Here's a very triangular dress!

Let's Go!

Picked up a pencil after a long while. Happy 2012 to everyone!