Wednesday, December 12, 2012

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).

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

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:

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

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)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Sketchy

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

Monday, October 15, 2012

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.

Friday, October 5, 2012

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




Monday, September 3, 2012

Long Study

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

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

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.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

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 :).

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Just a bit of Practice

With reference from p155 & p81 of Fashion since 1900:

Thursday, July 5, 2012

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:

Friday, May 11, 2012

Looking for Rosie

Costume design sketch:
And after another session:
 And final for now:
Hope it was interesting seeing some progress snapshots!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Finished!

I think... click for larger:

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

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Astronaut Painting

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

Sunday, April 15, 2012

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:

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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.
 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

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!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

I ♥ Scifigirl Tee

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

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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):

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

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:
 

Friday, January 27, 2012

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!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Practice and Random Costume

Some quick gestures with various ref:
And a random costume:

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Let's Go!

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