The Lost Boys - class full*

[louis cypher]

Hi everybody,

this class is meant for explorations and shared critiquing in visual development. For now we are set with three members, Nick, Jason and Johannes. If you have interest in joining in and think you have something to contribute, please contact us. Topics that will be featured are:

- character designs
- creature designs
- industrial designs
- environment designs

As there is no one right way we will all be exploring our own strengths and style. This is mainly about exploring and thinking out loud. We are all students of the arts with a focus on visual development. We are former members of Carotellos mentoring thread which is unfortunately down for the moment. So for now we are the Lost Boys.

Let the games begin...


-Johannes-

[jason01]

OK, my man, I'll get on it. Right now I have to get ready for the comicon next week. But I'll post some work I've been doing soon.

[jason01]

I kind of worked in reverse . . shhhhh . . - I did a bunch of variations on my eskimo characters - but they weren't very interesting - so I made them more interesting to show my variety in shape design for one set of characters.

[jason01]

here's the final eskimo character lineup

[hmnres]

hey everybody

my name is nick...im a student in SF trying to make it to the 'big time'...zing! im stoked to be back in a mentoring thread with my friends and in a community that encourages wild sh*t drawings. some of my favorite things to draw are: zombies, cowboys, robots, creature features, and any combination thereof. check out my website steadyleft (http://www.steadyleft.com)
heres an oldie but goodie that i am finishing finally...

[hmnres]

heres another wip....all comments are welcome!

[jason01]

nick - caro's suggestion on the wip was good. didn't like it, eh? have you tried cropping it in - more portrait? or add some more characters coming forward in space? like they're viewing something awful that they can do nothing about?

[louis cypher]

intro... this is Johannes, a student of the arts from SF with big ambitions of reaching far in the conceptual art world.

Here is a piece I´ve been working on recently. Dragooon (Smaug)
Did some minor changes on it since last time. All comments and crits welcome.
More to come.

[louis cypher]

Off to a good start.

Jason - I think you´ve done a great job of exploring the shizzle out of these characters (counting all your previous sketches). You have given a lot of different possibilities and strong shapes. The simple color palette fits them. So what´s next? Environments for the same theme or move to the next set of characters?

Nick - glad you pick our grand opening for this one - its great. Love the hammer man. His costume and tattoos really say something. Textures are good, the perspective works well and I love the simple but readable spiked guys in the background. My only suggestion would be to think about the composition and lighting. Regarding composition think about where you want the focus to be. There you should make the biggest contrast in light and dark. Right now hammer man and the bright spot with the spiked guys is a little competing so my eye doesn´t know where to focus. The big black pillar on the right creates strong contrast to the light outside.
Also, where is the light coming from? Make it a little stronger and see if you can play with the shadow shapes.

As for the second one. I still feel I need to understand the shape of the beast a little better. Making vague shapes connected to the head of it will let me see its a worm. Also, is it still under water? Then add some hints. Plants swinging in the water, small fish being spotlighted by the divers light, little bubbles going up from the diver leading up to the worm... a good way to lead the eye from one to the other.

good start :bounce:

[hmnres]

:assspank:
'assspank' = amazing icon.

jo-
i like the revisions to smaug. the gold heap looks way better/reflective. the eyes under the furled(?) brow are more menacing. looks swell mate!

2) thanks for keeping me on track...i think hammerhand is going to undergo a lot of change....and the deep could stand a lot of improvement...thanks for all the suggestions.


Jason-
i like all your shapes, they are definitely fun. my two cents: you should integrate them with some environments so we can see how the world works..just like your 'harpoon comp' from class. keep up the good work and productivity! see you at comic con.

[louis cypher]

Went on a dragon exploration and here are the results from that. Played around with some textures and shapes. On the head studies I changed the textures to see how different they would look. Really wanted to see what a fat dragon would look like. So there he is.

[hmnres]

great studies man. texture variations :assspank: . comic con was alright. nothing amazing...although i did play afro samurai and its definitely one of the coolest games ive ever played. dead space also looks horrifically satisfying. i met with a guy named chuck from blur out of venice CA and one art director from EA who worked on dead space. they both gave me similar critiques: being thorough with drawings {break it down from multiple angles}, taking some paintings to an extremely high level of finish, design/functionality {mechanics should allow movement if modeled/rigged}...most of the subjects we've all been told so far. one important thing the EA guys said was to include some figure drawing in the back...i always that that screamed 'student', but apparently its a valuable element of a portfolio. anyways, its good to be back and i cant wait to get back to work. hope everyones well!

[louis cypher]

good to hear you got something out of the Comic Con. I think the critique you got is something we all should try to push in our work here.

here is another sketch I did. thought about making a series of ... futuristic fashion. just see what comes to my mind on that subject. Any comments or crits are welcome as always.

[louis cypher]

and here are some loose sketches with costume variations.

[jason01]

wow, johannes, that's fashion - looks heavy. most of the things in your thumbnails look similar to what's been done before -- the question is . . . how do you come up with something new while still getting people to go along with it.

I like the graphic read of the guy on the very bottom right.

ps - number them.

[jason01]

I painted this guy a few weeks ago because I had a bunch of extra ultramarine blue on my palette after I finished a different painting. But after Johannes' dragons, I thought I'd throw this guy in - my yeti.

I want to remind Nick to do some work in oils, too - because his paintings are top notch. it may not be typical concept art, but it makes for some legit illustrations.

[hmnres]

thanks for the props jason

i think your blue yeti would be 'super-dope' if you chose an area on his face to really finish and model. you could leave the rest hazy and suggestive. then it may have some atmospheric mood. this could be a cool compliment to your portfolio if you hammer it out a little. hope your leg is better. :assspank:

[hmnres]

jo

rad thumbnails. to me it brings up a good conflict...whenever i make thumbnails, i am torn between the graphic shapes...and the posture/gesture of the character. i know that the costume doesnt necessarily depend on the gesture, but i feel it helps to have a concrete template to work upon. this is a hindrance to me though, because i usually take too much time to develop the gesture and sacrifice time i should be using to make the costume design. or, do you think, its better to consider them simultaneously? :asspat:

[louis cypher]

nick - I believe the gesture should never hinder you on bringing up concepts. If you feel a strong gesture would complement or bring some greater attention to it (a part of the costume - or arm perhaps?) then go ahead. If I were to be presenting these ideas to somebody I´d work on them a little more, giving them slightly more detail and more interesting gestures. Here my focus was completely on the costumes and just throwing ideas out. So I kept them rough & unrefined and didn´t consider posture at all (which shows..I know). But what this does is give you a quick way to pump out ideas and picking what strikes you.

jason - I agree with nick on the yeti. Bringing his face to a more finished level could make this to a portfolio piece.

[jason01]

I took the yeti into painter - then photoshop - and then I thought he kinda looked like a Dr. Suess character - so I gave him a really long neck - at 2am - I was just having fun with this guy. It's been a while since I did something without trying to figure out how I was going to make it part of my thesis.

[jason01]

http://www.jasonpruett.com/character/index.html

I met Stephan Martiniere at the Comic-con and he gave me some feedback on my portfolio. He said - show more sketches - that's what you'll be doing most of the time and art directors want to see how you got to where you did with the finish.

He also said if you're going to put environments in your portfolio, make sure they're as strong as your character designs - or all he'll remember is what you're weak at.

so I got together some sketches and put them on my site.

[hmnres]

nothing much. minor changes....and a newer sketch. :asspat:

[louis cypher]

Jason - nice to see you play around with that yeti. I´d even make more variations and pick one to bring to a more finished level.

Nick - looking at your hammer man I still think he could do with a more defined lighting. Try thinking of warm and cold - usually warm in front and cool in background. Bring more saturation to the guy in the front and mid-tones to the background. Cuz I likes him I want to be able to enjoy that hamma´ man more. Not sure though what the second sketch is showing?

:xpld:

[hmnres]

this guy is pretty ill

http://souvlaki.jp-ar.org/

[louis cypher]

Here is a concept for a battlesuit. Next up I might do some sketch variations.
Liked how the texture on the rusted one turned out. A little CU for detail lovas.

Yo nick, that guy is truely wicked ...and thats why I already had his website bookmarked :p

[jason01]

Johannes - seeing this guy makes me want to quit. You're so good! um . . . keep it up. it gives me ideas of what's possible.

[louis cypher]

So I´m slowly starting again on my thesis project.
Decided to go with the female version of the robot and here are my first face studies for her.
Played around with the idea if instead of having her face robotic it would just be a monitor showing a human face. That way I could make her very "human" though she is a robot. She is quite old and damaged so I played with having some of the pixels missing. Had some difficulties with this one and am still a little uncertain where to take it. Anyways these are the ideas so any comments or crits would be much appreciated!

[hmnres]

love the idea. does the pixel surface go all the way around? it would be tight if there was at some point and error message that popped on ...or some other image to replace her face.

[hmnres]

whats the name of that font underneath the mech arm? me likey :asspat:

[louis cypher]

thanks nick. still figuring out how that head works. The surface doesn´t go all the way around so I need to do a 3/4 view. But having the face display something else is a great idea. I thought she could give like a status report on malfunctions or map location. I´ll be updating something new about that soon.
can´t believe how much time went into finding cool pixels that work. gagaga

oh and dat font is my favorite from mr adrian frutiger - univers (hail to graphic design)

[jason01]

sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I've been out of town and now I'm trying to get an internship at Sparkplay. I've got a couple trial days - yesterday and tomorrow. so I need to be on my A game there. I'll post what I can from that. It's in the art department redoing textures and designing icons. I can post what I've done so far because . . . no NDA yet. That and they said this is just to see how I do with their sort of style. I'll sneak a screenshot of my guy tomorrow.

oh - Johannes - check out my other thread - there's this collage on the 1st page toward the bottom of futuristic clothing. it's absurdly great.

[louis cypher]

Here is a step by step for a landscape painting I just finished.
Landscapes really aren´t my strong side but you can only get better by practicing. Hope the steps are in any way informative and helpful.

[jason01]

Johannes - I like the environment.

the only thing I would say is distracting is the clouds - get some reference on those. and at this time of evening with the sun setting on the right it wouldn't be white sky in the distance - it would be light on the right and darker as you go left.

[jason01]

So . . it looks like I got an internship at a computer game company. they're doing kind of a cartoony World or Warcraft type thing. http://www.sparkplaymedia.com/

How I got it was . . . I was perusing the job boards here on conceptart.org and I was looking up companies that posted there. Sparkplay had been looking for someone - designer or animator, I don't remember. but they were in san francisco and had a cartoony style -- so I emailed them my stuff and asked if they needed a character design intern. They said no - they need a pixel monkey intern - but they liked my stuff and better luck somewhere else. So I wrote back and said - hey I just need a foot in the door. so - they met with me - quick interview- then I was given two days to do some "Pixel Monkey" work - apparently they do lots of it. but it's still design and a start.

so here's the tryout. they gave me an existing texture of a warpig guy and they told me to come up with something else. (very open - wanted to see what I did) - they also told me to come up with an axe icon - I did 5. the icon is 64x64 pixels and has to reduce down to 32x32. that's tiny.

this is legit - it's not anything i needed to keep secret - they just wanted to see what I would do. But apparently I start for real on Tuesday (it's Tuesdays and Thursdays). Also - they're hoping to only spend 15 minutes on an icon - start to finish. so . . . we'll see.


ps. this isn't the absolute finished version of my pig - but it's close




um ... . .turns out they don't want me showing that . . . so I had to take it down.

[hmnres]

awesome dude! congratulations. what a great way to train yourself with time constraints. good luck!

[louis cypher]

congrats Jason. and thanks for the comments. I didn´t like the coloring so I´m gonna re-work it a little.

[louis cypher]

reworked the colors a little and changed some details.

[hmnres]

jo

looks like the bottom half of the space ship is catching more light than the top...i think those spires are an excellent place to pop some highlights....unless its so huge that the spires rise into the atmosphere.:asspat:

[louis cypher]

nick - ur right. so many things wrong with that piece.:ore: anyway, I´ll take a second (third) look at it. In the mean time some more face studies for my robot female. Next I´ll do the 3/4 view of the head and body.

- tried some facial expressions
- tried different functions for the face monitor (text or image display)

[lightfingers]

Thanks for Jo and Nick inviting me over here...
hope to learn alot from you guys...
-Sung

[jason01]

I'm Jason. I'm also at AAU. and I didn't feel like getting my tablet from the other computer so . . . I just did this real quick with a mouse -- some suggestions with your illustration.

first of all - I like your style. and your guy's gun arm and neck armor. And sweet hand.

now - it feels like your guy is falling. - the ground plane is sloping too much. and if he is falling . . . why? why the red poncho thing - but only the front? it looks like you're trying to cover a mistake or not design part of the guy - the cloth isn't flowing naturally. - also the shadow from the cloth tip - I would have thought it would be not so far out. And your guy looks like he doesn't have a neck. and the heads a little small.

If the guy's being surprise attacked - and is falling to defend himself and shoot - his body language is active - but his face is unmoving. If he's like Clint Eastwood - his body wouldn't be that active but the face is right. If he's more interesting to look at the body's active and the face needs more expression.

also - as Iain McCaig says - extend your canvas if you need to. don't limit yourself to the paper size you start with

[jason01]

then I was looking at it - and I realized you need to have the arm - which is sweet pop out of the background. and maybe increase the peril by having him backed up against a desert wall. he's getting shot at at sunset. it's intense. you can have some weird alien rock texture.

oh yeah - I also warmed it up a bit.

[lightfingers]

Awesome review and it fired me up!!
thanks a lot for your time giving me these valuable suggestions!!
I work it up and show again
I know Ian rocks!! cool point there


Thanx million!!

Sung-

[hmnres]

yo playboy, here are my two cents:

perspective- develop some kind of back and fore ground within realistic perspective...nothing too gnarly, but i think it would lend believability. the background is suggested, which i have absolutely no problem with...but in this context maybe hammer it a bit more.
....
to develop that space more and simultaneously pop the character, lessen the contrast of the background elements. work some atmospheric perspective.

light source- establish that direction to....
define form- i know the arm is dope-tastic, but i cant really see the design, which is the juiciest part. also the drapery could be more defined.

i think his stance is off balance, unless he is on the move backward. take pictures of yourself in the stance to get it just right....its fun!

also colors could be split up warm/cold. i find working on this first helps rather than pushing color at the end.

and everything jason said and drew is fantastic input!

good work man, glad to have you here and cant wait to see more.
:oneye:

[lightfingers]

Cool suggestions
let me fiddle with it and bring it back here!!

later

[jason01]

I liked the pose - so I want to yoink that. I think a 40's spot light type thing would be interesting - with the shadow doing something other than the guy.

[hmnres]

something im starting to paint.

[jason01]

Nick - I like the guy.

um - I just wanted to show the beginning of the painting I'm doing. doesn't look nearly as cool - but the concept is there. it's what I'm turning the guy Sung did into. any suggestions before I get too far?

[hmnres]

if the guy is falling backward...he should be getting hit with a bat or something...the shadow's pose looks too much like hes holding a knife up...my suggestion is to make either the shadow swinging a weapon...or make the guy taking a step back rather than flying backward.:asspat:

[jason01]

if the guy is falling backward...he should be getting hit with a bat or something...the shadow's pose looks too much like hes holding a knife up...my suggestion is to make either the shadow swinging a weapon...or make the guy taking a step back rather than flying backward.:asspat:


well - maybe it's not as clear as I hoped - but the shadow has grabbed him around the mouth and is yanking him backward. I didn't think about the bat direction . . hmmm.

[jason01]

ok - so - the knife - maybe not working - how about if the guy was getting pulled into the wall? either being made a shadow or just going thru it?

this isn't intended to be sequential. they're separate ideas for a single illustration

[hmnres]

jason, i really like those thumbs and they could all work ...maybe in sequence. but single image impact....readability goes to no.1 and 2. 2 being my fav. tight dude! maybe you could imply more details from the story....like, 'who is shining the light?' 'is this guy a cop or robber?' 'why is the wall brick and not some other fantastical surface?' ....i would try to shape the idea now on who these people are...that would answer some questions. but for a thumb/idea, its really cool man.:assspank:

[louis cypher]

yo playaz,

and welcome Sung. Just got back recently so wanted to give you guys a holler. See you have been doing some good stuff. keep it up!
Don´t know how much I´ll be posting during the fall semester but we´ll just see. Did one environment before I left that I didn´t have time to upload so here goes.

[hmnres]

jo

nice work buddy. i feel if you take this further and develop the holographic signs it could be a solid atmospheric piece. hope your trip was a blast!:assspank:

[jason01]

Nick - I like what you've got going on here. I took it into photoshop and added a few suggestions -- moved the thing over to be less vertical with us and more in line with him. not necessary, but it adds perspective. Also added some foreground creatures for interest and increased peril.

[hmnres]

thanks man. definitely looks more dynamic. i like the 1 on 1 of the original...but prefer your suggestion of the foreground element on the right. i think ill try some close up detail of a tentacle ...ha. what a great job, right?

[louis cypher]

yo nick, like this piece a lot but it just needs a little more. Below you can see my tribute to it (hope you don´t mind). As I previously mentioned i think it could do with some more elements of it being under water. For me also the connection of the worm body and head was somehow missing. Here i put it very loose in there. the only other thing i did was skew the angle a tiny bit just to put a little tension in there. I however like the subtle mood in it so i try to keep that. When you are working a piece from the basic stage like composition etc it helps to keep the file size small and just play around with thumbs. It helps me at least to be more unafraid of doing changes and playing around until i find the right elements and angles.

[jason01]

oh - that swoopy thing in front of the diver is the wurm body? I had no idea. might need some texture on that - maybe some lights that go all the way up - so they're all that show thru in the dark connecting to the head. I don't know. Johannes -- nice touches of bubbles and fish - really help the underwaterness and visual interest.

[hmnres]

whoa. right on guys! great suggestions ill keep in mind for the future.

[jason01]

so I've been doing small woodland creatures. I like 'em - don't judge me.

[jason01]

I went back in and added more texture - looking at a picture of a snail - trying to get that more like it

[louis cypher]

jason - looking good. don´t know what he´s so panicking about but i´d say he´s done. look forward to seeing more of these critters.

[jason01]

I thought you guys might like this artist

http://benmauro.blogspot.com/

[hmnres]

looking great man...professional level of finish. lets see more!

[hmnres]

yowza, hes good.

[jason01]

remember these guys? #1 - well - I've never been increasingly displeased with them - especially the texture on the wetsuits. I'm ashamed I ever used that airbrush tool. . . . well - I went back to fix it - but I really didn't care for the silhouettes. So I've been trying to change those. I like #2 best. any ideas?

[jason01]

Hey guys - see you in class tomorrow. . . . . do you know if there's anything specific we need to bring? - probably just paper for notes, or something, eh? well - I'm stoked.

[hmnres]

im just bringing some drawing materials and my portfolio...im super stoked!:asspat:

[jason01]

here they are Nick - out of many pages, I've chosen these as my better ones. I want to keep doing more 'cause they keep getting better - but I've gotta get moving.

[jason01]

here's a little more -

I discovered when I chose the thumbnails I liked, they all had pretty much the same composition. So I began to rework some of them.

[jason01]

here's the next step. a little more finished. I took the earlier ones, printed them out, worked through some things on tracing paper, scanned them back in and worked on them in photoshop

I think they're in a good position to refine, now

[hmnres]

those look pretty good man. i really like no.3. yeah, im also drawing thumbnails that look pretty similar...gotta push some new shapes and sizes

[hmnres]

my dudes, please feed me back your opinion.

[louis cypher]

yo nick - mid level 1, eye level 4 and low level 1 or 2. Basically the ones where the size difference of the characters give your composition more depth. keep pushin it bro.

jason - look forward to seeing them more refined. good job.

[jason01]

I agree with Johannes - the size differences are what make the depth - those are stongest.

for Mid-Level - you #2 in the "Low Level" is really a Mid-Level. - the mid-level seems like a perfect chance (it being a classic western shot) to do your M-Naut guy

I modified some of these to show how I would make them stronger - just pushing it a little.

[louis cypher]

yo guyz, here are my first humble thumbs. kinda ends up as very...stereotypical but oh well.
in nr. 9. the samurai just killed a guy whos lying and the dead guys kid just picked up his fathers sword...plus birds flying over the scene.
in 10. its reversed. the father won the fight and just put his sword back while the kid looks in awe at the dying samurai.

[hmnres]

jo

i think 1.3.11 are strong and 2 is hilarious. 1 is the most exciting for me...with 11 a close second. i think its because again the depth is enhanced by dramatic fore and backgrounds. good composition too. in 11 the figure with shield counters the direction of the arrows and makes the focal point. in 1, the swords funnel the eye down to the man in foreground. 1 and 11 need the first frame in the set and they would make a great series. its definitely hard to invent something here...or maybe i havent done enough thumbs.

[jason01]

here is the next step in my process

[jason01]

Johannes - you thumbs all have depth, and I like #1, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 11. . . but they're not that dynamic. And I don't think samurai had shields - not that you need accuracy (you could have a guy sheilding himself with a dead guy in #11). They could be more dynamic - is it just me, or do things seem to get less dynamic as you flesh them out (you know - giving them more realistic proportions, etc). - so I guess really push things in the thumbs and you'll end up with something good instead of not so pushed and end up with something boring (I did some of these)

Also another thing I've found is that when making a drawing more finished, you have to keep adding more things to make it interesting and not empty.

[louis cypher]

Jason - good point. i found an article that mentioned about the unique culture that they didn´t use any shields at all. weird if you think about it. so maybe i´ll have him use a body like you suggested.
As for the actual illustration losing sth I can see what you mean. But still, that´s just the power of strong contrast and simple shapes..the more you put in, the more it waters down the strength of the composition.

[jason01]

so . . I know there's always more I can do . . . but gotta leave room for improvement, right?

so .. for the first class . . what do you think of these ones? anything I should fix?

[louis cypher]

went on to play a little more. tried having the guy with the shield use a body to shield instead (thx jason 4 that suggestion) and think I´ll be going with that one...it´s nasty enough to work. then i threw a dragon in there...why not.

[louis cypher]

jason - i think they are sweet. well, you have the time to play with details if you want. only thing that i have to say is more of an observation. to me the first one is quite more realistic while the other two go for a more cartoony style. but thats not a critique. of the three the top one is my fav. good job.

[jason01]

I like the dragon idea. -- use one you've already created and you've got yourself some concept development! that's thinkin'.

anywho . . . I thought you guys might like this guy - first of all, his name is Rowan . . 2nd of all, his work is awesome. . . get down to his graphic novel stuff - it's pretty sweet.

http://rowandodds.blogspot.com/

[hmnres]

yeah jason, i would say the stylization is different between each thumb...they look good. i like the first one best...i think his hand should be smaller or his wrist should be thicker...

jo

like the body shield...8 is a good one for the dragon shot..if we're having fun, why not make some zombies in there. zombie vs. dragon?! or maybe a donkey jumping out of fire!:mod:

[louis cypher]

here is the first image in process...

[jason01]

nice work, Johannes. I dig that guy in the foreground. good job. I was going to put a bunch of dead guys in mine, too - but I got lazy - and didn't think to do that sort of pose (I was just going to do a bunch of limbs scattered around) . . . anyway . . .

I've changed one of my things around. In the reference material from Joko, I read that many a samurai was killed while he was cutting the head off a vanquished foe (while the battle was still going on . .. yeah - they were rewarded for heads they collected . . .crazy)

[louis cypher]

uuu.. sick. i like.

[hmnres]

low/level.phase->x!

[hmnres]

jo. dope.

[louis cypher]

nick - nice start! a few things: my eye is directed to the guy on the right, making the left guy a second read. If you wanted him to stand out more then I´d part him from the foreground guy (now his shadow joins the foreground guys) and push him a tiny to the left. the other thing was that the foreground guy seems not very...prepared. either hes so cool he doesn´t need to or he´s panicking and about to run. you might want to have him in a little more "cmere!" pose.

[louis cypher]

nick - just had an idea of how to do that...let him hold the sword with both hands to the right. by the way, love the rendering on the guy on the right. great shapes.

[hmnres]

thanks man...ill definitely integrate those ideas in the next stage.

[louis cypher]

realized i´m way to slow. gonna be a long night i guess. heres elaboration on the second illustration. trying to work all three together in stead of finishing one after the other. might crop it a little, we´ll see.

[jason01]

Johannes - looks sweet! the only thing I would say to work on is the archer on the far right. Looks like you're trying to keep him in the page and so he's awkwardly posed - not very dynamic, anyway. oh - and that arrow flying doesn't come from his bow - it comes from some guy infront of him . . follow the line - maybe he's getting ready to shoot. why not.

[hmnres]

his arms could have dropped since the arrow was released. i think seeing his leg(s) would ground him a little bit. maybe add some shadows cast by the fire. composition is sound. keep rollin'

[hmnres]

eyelevel.zzzbrt"2'

[hmnres]

sans background. im so excited to draw someone's head chopped off!?

[hmnres]

good luck jo...crashin

[jason01]

Nick - I know how you wanted to see my heads . . . or I think you did . . . so here they are . . .first two heads from the head painting class with Zhao Ming Wu

[jason01]

here are my thumbs for the geisha piece. not that interesting, action wise - but nice compositionally, I think. one looks like a movie poster and one looks like a Japanese print. . . . at least that's what I was going for

[jason01]

ok. so here's the next step . . it's starting to look more Japanese. I changed #2 from 1 geisha and 3 samurai to 3 geisha. it worked better with their wigs. Also . . . I'm drawing birds as geisha

[jason01]

a little more refined

[jason01]

ok - so here's the geisha's all done. I don't know that I'll go back and work on these - unless you see anything glaringly wrong.

[louis cypher]

Jason - nice. don´t think I´ve seen bird, geishas before. I don´t see anything wrong and I really like the patterns. If I had to say something then I don´t see so much narrative, especially in the first one but then again some of those old japanese pieces were more like decorations.

[hmnres]

jason

really nice! number two has such great line work that i think the patterns distract the viewer from your craftsmanship. maybe knock those down in value. super cool style though...you should make a few geisha/samurai animal characters like this. word.

[jason01]

nick - you're right - knocking those values back really helped.

[louis cypher]

A little late but here are some thumbs.
1.-2. a geisha witnesses a ninja attack behind the paper wall. In 1 the blood sprays on the paper wall. In 2 the guy doesn´t notice the ninja sneaking up on him.
3. is guy distracted with geisha as a ninja comes climbing down the roof.
4. geisha walking in the rain having stalkers behind her
6.-7. ninjas stalking their victim that is walking with a geisha.

[hmnres]

i like 4 and 6. in 6, the character in black on the ground plane looks to be the focus of the rooftop ninja. i think this is because he looks positioned in alignment with the ninjas head level. maybe slide the geisha up or move the black shadow on the ground plane a little further down toward the geisha. i also like the rain effect.

[louis cypher]

So here I refined that idea from previous image 4. Want to do image 6. from previous one and then this one as my second piece. There will be rain in both and I´m going for mood. Stalkers behind the geisha is the story and I cropped the guys so you don´t see heads or faces.

[hmnres]

strong. sick!

[jason01]

Good job, Johannes. These are good. my favorites are #2 and #6 from the first one, #1 from the second set

[jason01]

I made a few changes to last weeks' things

#1 is last week. #2 is the change.

[jason01]

so . . had the plein air event. paint for two days and turn in two canvases. these are the two I did (I only painted one other study, I'll be honest -- but I took lots of pictures and make lots of sketches in my notebook with pencil trying to get the composition right).

[hmnres]

just want to congratulate my dudes on posting so much artwork. stay at it!

[jason01]

here's a concept environment demo - thought you guys would find it interesting.

http://marcobucci.blogspot.com/2008/09/demo.html

[jason01]

here are my ideas for the noah's ark thing. #1 is a guy on a barrel and someone tied to it - that's drowned now. and other dead people and fish - maybe I'll put a cow in the background. and in the distance, on the horizon, is the ark.

#2 is what happens when you're stuck on a boat for too long - you organize a fight to see who'd win between a tiger and a bear. Noah's in the back, trying to say "stop"

[jason01]

so . . here's the next step.

[louis cypher]

jason - nice plain air paintings and great ideas for noah´s ark. On #1 I´d say don´t put so many fish, put the girl closer to us just showing a part of her and further in the distance more floating bodies (it´s supposed to be all humans who get drowned right..so theres a lot).
In #2 I´d make the tiger and bear a little smaller showing more of the tiger but keeping the balance of size to the bear if you get me. If you make both smaller you can show more of the background which now I feel gets a little lost.

[jason01]

so I went to try out the bear and tiger - only I ran out of room for people - I guess I've crammed them in there, now.

I also put a quick sketch of carnivores eating a unicorn.

[jason01]

so. . . he's one of 'em

[jason01]

so . . here's my other one.

[jason01]

so I reworked the drowning one

[hmnres]

which crop works best....is this a total sinking ship from which i should jump?

[louis cypher]

Yo nick - this piece has improved so much since i last saw it. dude, its the most beautiful crucifixion ive ever seen :p
but lets get down to business: Left crop works better for on me. I guess there is a need for a counter balance of that wall on the left. I would however add a few things like a few silhouettes of spiked men in the background - or shapes of building or sth. It needs something in the back. Then id give the hammer man a little movement. His arms and body are all aligned plus next to the post which makes him look static.
I took the liberty of demonstrating these suggestions. As you can see i tilted him a little (could be even more) to give him movement.

This is an awesome one nick and should be a center piece in your portfolio.

[hmnres]

thanks man...great suggestions about the movement of the character...and the background..those would be bring it to a finish im comfortable with. !!

[hmnres]

jason,

really like the reworked no 2 piece. the character to the right is better with a lighter value. the only thing is that the boat is not very readable as a boat, or noah's arc. i think it needs some other indication that this is the biblical flooding rather than just people drowning. overall strong composition and refinement of values!

[hmnres]

jason

for the animal wrestling match...i know the intention because you told us in the thumbnails...but to make this evident as a 'wrestling match' i think there should be something that calls out WWF or something. like outfits, or lucha libre masks or something...you know? i like the comp and everything, but now i feel like 'why is the bear standing up like a human?' maybe some torches, or tiers where more animals are sitting or cheering in a human fashion...maybe with a banner that says "BEAR KILL!" all mispelled or something. know what im saying brother?

[hmnres]

maybe the tiger could be bearing (ha) his fangs

[louis cypher]

hey jason - I like the improvements. Now you tie those areas together using the red tone but I like you didn´t overdo it and kept it subtle like that. Id say its done.

[jason01]

I like the mood - but the beast ogre (who is awesome) is definitley a second read. The sun is the focal point - highest contrast- where as, the ogre kind of blends in with the pillars - kind of. but if that's your intention - then . . awesome - you nailed it.

you could just tone the sun down - or play up the direction of the rays - I like your composition. there's something sad and "turn-your-back-on-the-situation" about it.

I just noticed that the light of then environment and the lighting on the ogre don't match. the ogre's front would be much more in shadow.

[jason01]

I decided to go half and half. one picture from little red - the other from noah's ark

#2 is noah surrounded by animals

[louis cypher]

Jason - so far so good. but whats up on nr 1?

did some color studies for my character illustration. after painting this one ill hopefully be done with her and move on to the next one.
So which one u like?

[hmnres]

jo

these look great! looks like a new painting style for you....super stoked on it. i like them all, but the warm colors are the focal point for me...so putting on the leg makes me look there first....i would put more warmth on the front and face areas and cool on the back and secondary parts. super sick!

[jason01]

Johannes - I like the 3rd one over - the warm light on bottom and the cool light on top (from face) - looks so good.

in other news . . here's my next step of the 3 point. #1 is little red talking to wolf in bed and #2 is noah surrounded by animals (and tons are bunnies) in the dark hull of the ship

[jason01]

http://www.leventep.com/tutorials.html

check out the knight one - he talks through his process a bit - it's really interesting - good ideas

[louis cypher]

jason - like both of your pieces. with no 2 id play with the highlights on the animals to create interesting shapes leading you around the image. noah is such a strong focal point so id just try to make that second read.

the tutorial was interesting but honestly its not something suited for myself. i would perhaps use this way to create textures but i like to know what im painting. for me "looking" for a subject while painting is frustrating...dont know why but it is.

[jason01]

Johannes - I agree about the video - but it was interesting to see ideas for places to get textures, colors, create brushes and shortcuts.

and thanks for the idea of creating interesting highlight shapes - I wsa just going to try to make it look like an animal face - I'll see what I can do.

[jason01]

so ... here it is.

[louis cypher]

here are my first sketches. the first one (pencil-sketch) is a scene where the two main characters find the Breeding Room: inside tubes limbless/headless female bodies that are carrying babies.
the second one with the variations is the main character chased by machines jumping down to this water. On most of them hes kicking a machine down with him and on some another falling machine is scratching the wall on the way down leaving sparks. The water falling down the sides help to show the perspective and explain the water at the bottom.

[louis cypher]

jason - both pieces are solid. just as a suggestion of how to add interest to the second piece why not make some of the animals patterned...zebra, tiger, leopard...anything with interesting patterns. im only saying this because i feel there could be something to break up the otherwise very strong direction of lines towards the candle. plus, im only saying this so you have something to do until saturday :)

[jason01]

Johannes - thanks :) as far as yours - I like pattern on the wall of #2, the guys dropping, staggered, in #5 and the plain jump of #6.

with #5, it seems like all the characters are bunched to the left side of the page - so if you had him kicking the robot onto the other side, it would disperse the characters a bit more. (it's not a problem with #6)

[hmnres]

cityscape using photoshop only. big deal for me, usually im only on painter. holler.

[jason01]

nick - other than a few things pointing to the exact middle of a blank space on your page, it's really, really good. Kind of Sparth-like - but I suppose that's a compliment.

[louis cypher]

nick - good job. its a great piece to get down the feeling you are looking for. if you however want to do an environment piece of the city id get a little more specific about planes, physical spaces etc. i love the mood of the piece but feel lost in the definition of what is what. oh - and welcome to the photoshop club ;)


here are more thumbs. don´t know what i can finish for tomorrow. doing thumbs has become more fun though partly because im working on my thesis. oh and if you are wondering - first one is same scene as described in previous post and second one is my main character caught & being fed to the grinder machine.

[jason01]

#3 - it feels more personal than if eve is there- the focus is on his personal connection with where he came from

and I like the lighting on #5 - but I like the action of the one where he's pulling at his shoe - or whatever he's doing. there's peril - but it seems like there's some hope. . . maybe.

[jason01]

thought you guys might like this girl's art - her sketchbook is amazing!
http://virginiacritchfield.blogspot.com/

Johannes - take a look at the scenes on the right - looks like your thing, right? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YbXH05jlDiA/SK2lqpEQo7I/AAAAAAAAAOY/tzKuEl_NaTk/s1600-h/sketchbook46.jpg kind of

[hmnres]

http://autodestruct.com/

[jason01]

that guy's good

here are some thumbs for this week - #1 is noah telling dinosaurs there's no room on the ark and #2 is a male bird noticing that the new hatchlings are all different species and confronts his wife.

#3-7 are variation on these two

[jason01]

here's the next step

[jason01]

apparently this project takes a lot of reworking - but I think I've got it.

[jason01]

so . . . here's what I've got . . I'm not gonna do any more until I get some feed back - from you or Joko

[louis cypher]

Busy as a bee Jason - good work. Like the bird one, good comp and funny as hell. For the first one I´d try another perspective on the same story setting - having Noah turn towards the dinos with his back facing us (flipping the camera angle). We can still see on the dinos faces what Noah is explaining that the news aint good. Also I´d shrink him to make the size comparison more drastic. I know we are looking from a low perspective but still...they are dinos.

[louis cypher]

just a quick new idea...if you take the same comp of noah you have now but shrink it a little and have it viewed between the legs of a huge dino...the legs could frame it or break it up a little depending on how you place them.

[jason01]

I appreciate the feedback - it's just not going to happen for saturday. I'm going painting tomorrow out on Mt. Diablo. But next week . . maybe.

[louis cypher]

Last minute-man. Here are some thumbs of what Im working on.
I will try to flesh out nr. 1 and 4 a little more for tomorrow.

[hmnres]

jo

all really strong. good choices on which to develop...no 4 looks like hes really close to the splashing water....which depreciates the drama...if the camera were flipped behind the person standing and looking down into the fall, i think it would be more dramatic.....but thats a lot of work. they all are super sick and i particularly like the water effect from underneath. cool....also on number 4, that beam looks a little static with nothing under or above it. some lights maybe?

i havent used this icon yet:drinkup:

[hmnres]

jason

your compositions are really strong man...supported by your use of value. really good. the first, i would reduce the value of the mountain/arc in the back...its too close to noah's value. plus that will give some depth/atmosphere. i think you could make some solid color comps with this one. the second is really strong too, though i dont get what the story is about. the pig in the sky is darker value than the bird in the background...doesnt really matter...but i would put some warm light on the pig to show hes up in the sky ...plus hes the focal point...maybe a little warm rim lighting or something. good mang!:yum:

[louis cypher]

muchos gracias hombre. dig all your suggestions. see you in class!

[louis cypher]

Aight - spent too much time on #1. Made two versions of which I like both but prefer the yellow and blue one.

[hmnres]

sweet dude. i actually like the red one better...the red seems more intense. and i like the little beams of light coming off the robot heads.

[jason01]

halloween sequence - at the end - the person at the door is holding up an apple - very scary for people wanting candy

[jason01]

here are some possible mountains for a cartoon crazy old man to live on

[louis cypher]

jason - of your halloween story I find the second image the strongest. The first one I've seen a couple of times but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
Of the mountains I like 4., 5., and 7. though if he's crazy then living on a volcano might be the most fitting. Try to think of crazy and mountain at the same time... maybe its shape can be pushed even further.

[jason01]

Egypt!

these are my finals - the ones I'm turning in - that doesn't mean I can't go back and change them, though. I needed some color keys in my portfolio . . . so . . .

[hmnres]

i like them man, good storytelling. i think if you added more modeling with some softer brushes, these could be good finishes!

[hmnres]

peep em

[louis cypher]

nick - strong thumbs. dig the colors on the last one! 1st, 2nd and 5th I like comp wise. Like the 7th one (rendering of arab guy) but not sure whats goin on on the left. If you add a dark shape (for example hes standing right next to his camel...which that shape maybe is?) then i think the comp will be much stronger. Right now hes smack in the middle the darkest shape. watch the perspective on the pyramid on the 3rd one. GO WITH THE NAKED CHICK!

[hmnres]

this guy worked on prince of egypt...hes pretty amazing...from art center pasadena.

http://nathanfowkes.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html

[louis cypher]

heres my first of hopefully three..

[jason01]

wow you guys - these are looking really good - I guess I'm just kind of surprised you did Egypt . . . and HOW!!! they look sweet!

nick - your #1 has really good movement! my eye is lead around the composition nicely - from awning to awning to guy on camel to line of people, up the building and back to the awnings - really nice! well done.

johannes - I feel like your world is tipping over - either put something big on the right to keep me from sliding off - or try tilting it less. Alaso - it's a pretty calm subject - no real reason for the dutch angle, that I see. But I love your colors and lighting.

these sketches below are ideas for what the crazy old mountain man would have for a house.

[louis cypher]

jason - dig the last two houses. But still id try to push it. make it crazy.

here is a color of the last piece that i was to lazy to print and bring to class.

[jason01]

this week's stuff

[jason01]

the horizon line one needs some love

[louis cypher]

jason - these all look good so far. feel that the first two need something, some life? what about a guy who's washing the windows hanging on a rope like you see sometimes. on the looking down one you need to put something in the left top corner or my eye goes out of the composition. (plop! - that was my eye)

[hmnres]

check out this atmosphere...

http://mv.cgcommunity.com/


...heres one of my pieces from last week that didnt make it in.

[jason01]

room - here it is

[louis cypher]

jason - looking good. very nice attention to detail.

[jason01]

I took a picture of a wolf into PS and used the liquify tool. it's pretty sweet - quick way to get variations.

[yaniv]

hii i see great works , i'd like to join and share some of my training with you
what are the rules ?
everybody is juust trhowing what they feel like ? no specific topic ?

[jason01]

sorry yaniv. class is full. That's the official policy - hey nick and Johannes, what do you think?

[jason01]

I'm rendering this lineup

[louis cypher]

jason - characters look great. only suggestion i would make is possibly giving the right hand of the crazy man a little more expression. you can tell a story with hand gestures although his face is very strong it could just add to it.

[hmnres]

jason

great man...you have come a good distance with rendering your characters!:asspat:

i would agree with jo...when all else fails..... -the claw-

[hmnres]

also....pressing the big red button on his belt...hilarious.

try some bright white reflection on the glass...maybe some other reflections.

i usually go to heavy on the contrast..but i feel you could pop more areas on them. grandpa's helmet and back, glass, metal collar around glass helmets....definitely dark under their feet..thats where the light with have the least reflected light bouncing back in...also it will help plant them on the ground


maybe put a slightly toned background ...since the characters are in white, it might help their silhouettes ..maybe.

[hmnres]

yaniz

thanks so much for the interest. unfortunately we did all agree at the start that it would only be the three of us 'attending' class. i did look at your work and its good. it reminds me people are working hard to get better, and that i must do the same!

best of luck

[jason01]

I think the hands now suggest more a more offering attitude

[louis cypher]

jason - like the creepy gesture with his hands. I would keep the white background tho. If you want to go with a toned background I would add some brighter reflection on the glass helmets.

[louis cypher]

long time no real post. my first of three. gonna be a long night.

[louis cypher]

ma second shiaat.

[hmnres]

nasty man. its really great value wise...my suggestion token would be spent on the father's arm....it kind of creeps out from behind like a small t-rex arm.:assspank:

[hmnres]

maybe if there was one place symmetrically on the opposite side it would answer where is coming from

[jason01]

here is where I'm at on my 5 scenes

[jason01]

even after all the designing before, I just wasn't happy with the character - so I took the hood off and had to draw what was under the cape to make sure it was all good

[jason01]

finished? these are where I'm at

[louis cypher]

jason - regarding red: i like 3. but would add the ears of nr.8
regarding the illustrations I would tone down the textures. they are taking over the image and stand out strongly against the painted wolf and mouse. also, the warm yellow brown in the most dramatic moment when red is about to be devoured by the wolf seems misplaced. to me that coloring says warm, comfortable or even romantic...but not danger or fear.

[jason01]

so - I've been working on this - it's alright - I'm not in love with it - maybe I've been looking at it too long

[louis cypher]

this one would be the first in the row to tell the story of how the hero was first enslaved with the rest of humanity. I call this one "unnatural selection" as in contrast to darwins natural selection ;)

[hmnres]

jo

like it a lot. the 'grabber-bot' is really creeped out. keep workin away

[jason01]

here's "cooking" - I thought this was funny - complete with 70's style girl cutting out a coupon for pizza

[hmnres]

jason...thats really creepy.

[louis cypher]

Hey guys. Here's my first post of my last semester. First off thanks both of you for last semester. This thread was helpful and fun. I will probably continue posting here this semester if you are willing to comment as before. Otherwise my blog should have all the new shit.

So, this is my first environment piece for my thesis and I had a lot of fun with it. For some reason I've stayed away from environments but that's what I'm tackling this semester. As always, any crits or ideas are more than welcome.

Theme: the city of old, after the machines took over the human cities decayed while the machines built new enormous structures spreading all over the lands.

[jason01]

wow! that's amazing! the colors, the depth, the book cover feel. The only thing that I would say is the buildings and street look like they're supposed to be really old and in need of repair and moss covered - you could push it a bit. but - looks amazing

[louis cypher]

thanks jason! I agree. maybe I'll add something more growth or damage in there. 2nd piece should be up soon.

[louis cypher]

so heres the second one. as always, critz more than welcome.

[jason01]

that's sick, son! amazing!

I didn't notice there were people on there, at first. maybe a touch small - but the light definitely works to show them.

some of the pipes look flat or like they're floating - you could do this up in google sketchup or something like that - then just rust it up - or get a little piece of pipe, a cinderblock and see how the reflections work and stuff. - that would just take it to the next level.

this is an ambitious piece. you are the man. can't wait to see what else you got.

[louis cypher]

cool idea! I will have to take a look at that sketchup program now that I am doing all these machines, buildings, pipes etc. I'm sure it can help. thx jason