Cavematty Uncensored

[Cavematty]

:$

Hey guys. new to posting on here, but I arrive with a long history of peeping at Y'all, and much gusto. So I start a sketch thread with the intention of updating it Millions and Having heaps of work and learning all I can from this fantastic forum.


Please give me critical comments, I WILL update my works and take your suggestions on board.

:cheerleader: :yayca: :cheerleader:

Let the posting begin...

[Cavematty]

ok first up heres some speedystudies i did today. all about a half hour, all from photo ref, the first three on tone the last one just for fun. All i use is PS cos painter confuses me too much. Ps seems more direct.

[Cavematty]

Hey guys. Long time no update...
Heres a sketch I did today. Was watching Six Feet Under (got out the DVD of season one... I really dont watch TV so its the only way I get to see the shows that everyone says are great... I went in there to get out deadwood :bashful: )
This is painted from a pause screen of episode one. I liked the lighting.

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.
Jus got back from 2 weeks away in Australia with my girl.
Was an awesome holiday, and a very relaxing time.
Also the longest I've spent away from my computer since I bought it two years ago I think... sheesh. Its amazing how being surrounded by new sights, smells, people and experiences invigorates your very being. You become hyper sensitve to life in its full splendor, far different to your routine existence. I feel like my routine self is missing out on so many shades of grey, but is it possible to live in such a state permanently? For isnt perception relative? So without the routine there would be no awakening, wihtout drudgery there would be no cathartic release? I dont know, but if i could live that way forever I would because I had a wonderful time. Relaxing and invigorating at once. great combo.
Anyway... I got back with a newly purchased copy of ballistics concept art book (i got it in a bookshop over there - only one shop in the whole of NZ stocks their books!). I was inpsired by Mr Jones section so I started on a painting with no preconception of what it would become. It is surely influenced by my time in Sydney though, cos I loved the fruit bats!
A big shout out to Kylie, for the most generaous and warm hospitality of the entire trip. I'll try illustrator soon... I promise :)
Anyways heres the pic. about 2 hours.

[Cavematty]

[ Blog-ish post. Skip if you are looking for pictures ;) ]

Hey guys. Ok since the sydney pic Ive been holidaying some more. Around NZ this time. A night in Taupo, then a thermal park in Rotorua, and finally a couple nights with the lovely Hawkey family up in Pukehina Beach. Gorgeous place, so relaxing. A lovely hearfelt welcome from the family, and a couple nights in a tent on the edge of the beach. So beautiful. Its such a shame my digital camera broke after Aussie, but it will live on in my memory for some time to come.

Anyways.... not much drawing got done. I am back home in Welly, now living with my budding young illustrator girlfriend and I am full of thirst. Thirst for upskilling. Ive been poking around CA some and found a few great and inspiring threads.

First up theres the old *CA Academy* forum lurking in the dead zone. There is some fantastic stuff in there and I'll be returning there many times in the coming weeks to read the lectures and do the lessons. Its cool having that style of teaching cos here in NZ the art schools really are quite bad. I learnt very little at Massey unfortunately. I love being guided for how to learn SMARTER cos i already know how to work hard.

[Cavematty]

I found this thread too ---> i.was.inks thread about artcentre :
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11305
very inspiring again because of the kind of teaching there is out there.
In honor of his sheer bulk of drawings, I have started studying again.
Ill throw up some more of the cool inspiring links I've found around CA on here soon, but for now heres some studies I did after Bridgeman. Torso stuff, cos it is the core of a figure and a pose and I dont know it that well. Trying to understand the overall structure without getting too much into individual muscles.
Comments and criticisms welcome. I am going to upskill a lot this year, and I would love any help I can get. If you give me constructive criticism
I WILL CORRECT MY PICS
I really want to learn so pleese rip me apart :)

[Cavematty]

Heres a couple of portraits from my sketchbook. It had been a long time since I drew with a pencil. Embarrassing how wrapped up I was getting in my wacom huh?
One is me, the other is my little brother watching TV (even tho I made him look older!).
I know the eyes on the self portrait are whack, but I wanted to post it as a reference point. Like in the academy, or in that "drawing on the right side of the brain" book, Its a record of my current skill level, so this one is going up problems and all. I'll look back on this first page when I get discouraged :)
I'll look into some skull structure round the eyes, cos I really cant make them sit quite right at the mo :\
Thanks for looking.

[Soja]

Hey Cavematty!
Thx for ur post in my thread and the kind words!
I just look through ur sb!
u have good digital paintings!
And the last pencil ist great too!!
I also really like the Bridgeman studies!
I tried to work throuhg this book too but the print is so
bad and it hard to see the muscles.
I workin through a book of vilppu at the moment and
this is brilliant.
Also great books I can recommend are the books of
Bammes, Loomis and Hogarth!
Keep it on!

[Cavematty]

Ok so im a little later than others starting on my thunderdome entry, but here is my first sketch
I am doing the maori tale of maui taming te ra, the sun god. In the story they wait at the mouth of the cave he comes out of each morning, and throw ropes over him as he rises. then maui beats him with a jawbone axe. THe whole idea is the days are too short and they are teaching him a lesson to run across the sky slower.
heres the prelim sketch, inspired my andrew jones and m@'s past works.

[ForScience]

Thanks for posting, I think the that last painting would be drastically improved if you took what you were doing with the explosion on the red guys chest and applied that clean graphic quality to the rest of the image. Try composing the image with nothing but hard lined shapes and smooth curves and I think you will be happy with the result. Just as a minor pet peeve when you draw from an anatomy book ( Like Constructive Anatomy for example) make sure that you credit your source. Thanks again for the thread.

[Cavematty]

Forscience - Thanks for posting. I had a wee looky at your thread, awesome stuff. I took your advice on board even though I have completely changed the composition. And btw, I did credit Bridgeman :bashful:

Showed the previous pic at work, and my friend Gary McGivney of Zippitoons suggested I move the camera to this new position to include a better look at Maui and his weapon. So what you see is the new TD entry in the works :xpld:

Following Forscience remarks I've made Te Ra the sun god a lot more graphic, and I think he reads far far better for it :lineart:

Still plenty of work to do but I feel its a strong starting point.
Comments welcome.
I really will take the comments on board :hatsoff:

[PunkBoyLeech]

Awesome speed studies man, really like 'em, and the sun god two also… the change really does make it more appealing, great job.

[Cavematty]

Hey thanks punkboy.
I actually changed the composition again on my wise girlfriends advice.
To make it a vertical composition rather than horizontal, to emphasise the falling/weight movement.
I think its an improvement though I may play with their framing a bit more from here before I'm happy.

For now I'm going to get a bit more tonal work going on in the scene so my decisions will be more educated :)

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.

Ok so tonal treatment is on.
Needs a lot of refining and detailing. Needs the little guys hanging off Te Ra, and Te ra needs angry eyes, mouth and a moko.
But I'm reasonably happy how its shaping up for the stage its at.

Lots to do for the TD deadline, but hey, who doesnt work better under pressure :P

[Dreamworker]

Nice stuff! I like the rendering with pencils and the last wip is looking good.
Keep more stuff, ciao

[asoir]

that last one looks awesome, the golden silhouette kicks ass.
keep it up.

[Cavematty]

Hey guys thanks for looking.

Dreamworker - Just adding some more pencils - scans from an old sketchbook before I biff it. Needed a rest from the TD piece.
Asoir - thanks heaps man. The silhoutte is better cos forscience told me to make it more graphic. He was right on that one :)

First up a pic of my flatmate Francis sleeping infront of episodes of "heroes".
Thats right, he was so bored he fell asleep and I was so bored I drew him.
Average likeness.

[DarthNZ]

Hey there Matt

Looking good bro. A truly motivating thread, also a great motivating person. Anyway I thought I would throw in my two cents. I have already told you but thought I would document my crit. Also grabbed your work and visually showed you my ideas.

The composition is looking a lot better than your first one and gary did have some good advice. It is working well. What I was thinking was you could lower the yellow god character and make Maui bigger as if he has just flown past the camera. At a vast rate of knots. Hurtling down at the sun god. also maybe making a part of maui be cropped by the edge. Or even a different idea I just thought of was making a border around the image of black as if there is a page there and then making Maui's foot pass out of the image into the black as if he is entering the picture. Just a silly little idea I had. thinking of comic strips where they do that with bits and pieces where things break the border of a image.

Anyway that is a long winded exclamation, which is how I try and get across what I mean. Hope it helps. Oh also I threw in some little guys holding ropes for fun. I know you are going to put them in they just throw some scale into the whole piece with Maui being up really high. He is quite high in my image. He will hurt himself for sure.

Cheers

Mark

[designboot]

very nice Sp and i like the progress with fire man illustration

[Cavematty]

Almost there. Few hours left yet though aye?
Still plenty to do obviously. We'll see how far I get :)

Designbot - thanks for the comments. keeps ya going after everyone else has gone to bed :)

[Orifice]

Lookin very cool man, good job on this lastone. Studies are lookin cool too, more of those please!:) I'd skip the red tatoos on the gods face, and the red in his eyes. Id go for totally black eyes and mouth, and nothing alse. I actually prefered the smoother look that the arms had before... There would probably be more light on the ground around him too. Heh, lots of thingies there, but they're all small. The pic looks cool, nice action n all that! Pretty unique too! Keep these goodies comin man. Seya.

[Razorb]

man http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38991&stc=1&d=1161566882 kicks ass so bad :D makes me wanna go draw one the same ! what sorta brushes did u use ? if u remember that is :( heh keep it up man oh and i agree with orifice on the gods face :) keep it comin dude !

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.
First time up in TD. Here's the pic at submission time:

Its the Maori Myth of Maui taming the sun.
The tale goes that Te Ra (the sun god), moved too fast across the sky and the days were too short. Maui (a demigod) decided to teach the sun a lesson, so with his warriors they waited at the mouth of the cave the sun rose from each morning. With flax ropes his warriors held the sun down, while Maui leapt onto him and beat him with a magical jawbone axe. That is why the days are now so long.

Learnt heaps from doing it, though of course coulda used more time. But hey I'll put some more work on it in the next week or so.

Thanks heaps to everyone who helped me with critiques Gary, Mark, Andy, Tom and of course my lubbely Jojo (and anyone i missed :P). It came a long way from the initial sketch in only a few days. Ur perspective helps accelerate the process :) thanks.

[Joeslucher]

Very striking composition. Hope you fully render it out. It would make an excellent portfolio piece.

[Smoke]

Loving the shadows.

[GriNGo]

Very very good piece Cavematty. I'm being honest here, I think this one is one of the best of the bunch. And about your first sketch, I rather like it... maybe I would've worked on the sun's pose a bit. but anyway's kick ass. Your SB thread is pretty good, despite the few posts (yet!).. I'd like to see more analog stuff, the drawing of your friend is pretty well done.

greetings!
GriNGoLoCo

[animosapien]

hi matty..i liked ure sketch of that 'thing' ripping the earth and emerging ..the lava ghost..do u have a story concept for this ..?

[animosapien]

hi matty..i liked ure sketch of that 'thing' ripping the earth and emerging ..the lava ghost..do u have a story concept for this ..?

[MrHoboX87]

WOW, That's one awesome sun god! I love the lighting on it all, gives it a great sense of power. It's stuff like this like make me feel great about the art community in general. Carry on good sir, carry on!!!!!!

[Cavematty]

Hey guys. Thanks for the huge response to my TD piece!

Orifice - Thanks. The face tattoo is kinda important to the story so it had to stay, tho I made it sit a little better. Added more light, and tried the black eyes, couldnt seem to pull them off, but I was in a hurry. Maybe I'll try it for round 2.

Razorb - Thanks mate. The brushes I used for that were quite simple. FOr the grass I put down a layer of texture with th scatter brush (see pic below). For the gaps in the trees I used the opacity version of the same tip, to get a jaggedy edge to the holes. The rest was with a regular brush set to opacity. The FG stuff was soft edged to get depth of field, the midground stuff hard edged. Hope that helps at all. It was a pretty simple process. Did it very quick. I think the most important thing was a personal breakthrough on tone this day. The details are all kinda suggested but because the tone is accurate it all makes sense to your eye. The more I paint the more I realise I know so little about tone, and the more I realise tone is EVERYTHING! hehe.

[Cavematty]

Joeslucher - Thanks man! Yeah I do hope to finish it. I had a deadline not long before the TD deadline so I only spent about 2 full days on the pic. I do plan to finish it to a higher standard. Im gonna wait for a little while though, and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Smokey - thanks.

Gringoloco - cheers man, hope the judges agree with you :) yeah I wanna be more productive and post more... I'm working on it. As for analogue - its more a matter of bothering to scan them :er:

Animosapien - thanks bud. the story is in the last post with the pic. Very breifly.

As for me - good news. Currently working on my first commissioned illustration job. An 8 page story for a school journal to be published in the USA and Canada :) Woop!
2 weeks left and millions of work to go, so look forward to that post. Till then the updates might be a bit sporadic.

Thanks for looking everyone :)

[cgoz]

excellent style! post 4 and post 23 are great.btw shouldn't there be no shadow under the arms of the sun god?
great job anyway

[AK86]

Cool stuff man and a interesting use of different brushes.

I really like the sun god peice. Nice compostion! How ever the way that some of the trees connect to the ground looks a bit strange. I dont know wether it is the angle or the size of the tree that is doing it. Maybe try and some slight texture at the point where the trees connect to the ground and add a little shape to the texture.

Just a suggestion

Awesome pencil rendering skills man!

Keep it up!

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.

AK86 - thanks for your comments
cgoz - yeh the shadow was a dumb idea. I knew it was wrong when i put it in but still wanted to do it!

Here's the updated version for round two. Changed a lot. Not so cartoony now. Hope its an improvement though :P
Thanks to Trevor for the personal crit that motivated me to go back to this piece. Hope ur doing good Trev.

Not much else to add. Thanks for looking guys :)

[Solon]

Excellent work . Cool pic. Is that a grid I see in overlay? I dont know digital im wondering if its a usual tool.

[Cavematty]

Hey solon, cheers. It is kinda a grid I guess. Its just a pattern stamp tool that is included in the brushes mv has for download in his exclusive sketchbook. It was there faintly in the previous version and everyone said to turn it up. Its meant to be the suns rays and make the whole thing more dynamic. Hope its working ;)

[Cavematty]

Ok we got an extra day so here's where I ended up:

Dont worry I will post something other than this real soon :) PROMISE

[Fishspawn]

Very nice start to your book, lots of improvement already - great job on that last one, i like it a lot :)

[Cavematty]

Ok in fairness, most of this thread so far is my TD entry! So I thought I'd throw something else up now....

So this is a character design sheet I did for an illustration job. This was never to be printed, almost like a proof of concept stage so they have faith in you to do the job. An annoying part of the process sometimes, but this time I found it incredibly helpful :) All the kids are meant to be around mid teen, and the setting is an aircraft crash in the mountains (basically like the movie "alive" but they get rescued before the cannibalism :P). That is why one kid has a wound on his head :)

Obvioulsy I spent more time on some kids than others, this is relative to their importance in the story. Even over 8 pages of illustrations, some of the kids only manage midground and background cameos like an extra.

[piratesvscowboys]

it was cool to come in late and watch the sun god piece take shape, i like where it's going...i think you could make the sun god's crater more dynamic and broken up looking, it looks a little too gradual a slope , it could be big jutting pieces of earth and debris around him maybe....nice lighting and detail though

[Cavematty]

Here's some sketches of a friends dog being lazy. From a while ago, just cleaning up the studio :)

[TheBeast]

hey man, no stars yet? you should have some! *thickletick*
i like the move of the giantwork, its powerfull and smart colored....just nice! but the black of the mouth and the eyes did not fit whit his burning ligth strukture, i think a dark red works better, maybe u could add some smoke,if he burns out of the earth?
thumbs up!
*wave*
da Beast

SB:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1244096#post1244096

[HunterKiller_]

Are you from New Zealand? The Maori sun god business.

Really love this piece. Such great mood.
http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=38991&stc=1&d=1161566882

[Arne S.]

good work, i like the moods on top of this thread!
5 stars!

[Art_Addict]

Some cool stuff in here. Challenging comp on that yellow giant illustration.
Be carefull no to lose color though. A lot of it is grayed down. Maybe some light
from below could still shine through in parts of the clouds.
Also, to make your values pop out more, up the contrast and make the image less bright
just a bit. That way you lose some detail on the giant but you make him seem
radiating light more. I think that would enhance the dramatic feel.

[Anurizm]

great stuff, I am wanting to improve greatly this year too on my figure drawing, maybe we can feed off of each other :)

[Spyplane]

Awesome stuff! As for the wip, I would blur the figure in the foreground a little bit. For such a dynamic pose it kinda looks static, or maybe its just me. Maybe blur the edges of the feet or some areas to suggest movement. See what happens. Best of luck to you. Peace

[Cavematty]

piratesvscowboys - Thanks for the advice. I know you are right. Thats about the only thing that hasnt changed much since the original composition. Which is a sign I havn't put enough thought into it :P

TheBeast - Thanks man. Yeah I'll try the red in the mouth and eyes - real good idea actually :) thanks

HunterKiller - Thanks man. Yessir. I'm a wellingtonian, tho originally from Chch, but I got out :P

Arne S - Thanks man! I got stars. Woop. It was a good day for my skketchbook :D

Art_Addict - Thanks man. I'll try out your suggestions. Had a few playarounds with the levels when I was working on it the day TD closed, but its hard to be objective when you've been working on it for hours straight.

Anurizm - Thanks man. Ill drop by your stuff and see if I can help any. Otherwise just keep working and have fun with it :)

Spyplane - Thanks man, I'll try out your suggestions too, so check back

Well cheers for all the comments. CA rules :yayca:

Here's a sketch I did last night in the style of Vyle. Everyone seems to like my looser stuff (like the mood pieces up the top) so I'm trying to explore that direction a little more. The sun god piece is a bit too tight, verging on static despite the composition. And im painfully aware of that fact. Gotta get my brushwork and texture in on the action :)
This one isnt great but thought I'd share it with y'all anyways :)

[DARAF]

Thes are sweet. I like the studies of the different people and the dog sketches. Keep at it.

[Cavematty]

Daraf - Thanks man. I will keep at it dont you worry :)

Here's a couple more pics. First up an old drawing of my girlfriend. Don't worry, she doesnt look that manly in real life. I'm not ΦΦΦΦΦ or nothing.

Secondly, more experimentation on the Vyle style. Im using Barontieri brushset for these, cos the Vyle set that came on the IFX disc is for CS2 and wont work on my lowly CS1 :'( waaaaaaaaah I had the 'black queen' topic in my head from cow and i might go back and finish this yet cos I like it as a starting point.

Havnt got around to trying everyone's suggestions on Maui yet, but I will.

[hurricane]

nice stuff, keep on painting and drawing!
You should draw/paint more though if you ask me.

more more more

[Kronos]

hey man, the Maui piece completely kicks ass! i didn't even realize you were from nz till i saw that and recognized the story instantly :D

i have to say some of the perspective isn't quite right in a few parts. The two figures closest to the fissure thing should be seen more from the top i believe. and the fire coming of Maui's hand is not very convincing at the moment, thats a tricky one.

nice stuff! i have to agree with hurricane though, MORE MORE MORE!

[TheGnoll]

hey man, i know you're eager to hear crits and suggestions, but i really have no idea of what to tell ya.

Only suggestion is keep workin' hard as you are doing.That TD piece blew me apart, its my favourite of the whole bunch.Excellent work ;)

keep sharing, i'll be back for more!

ciao

[kinnas]

there's this rather enjoyable ambient feel in your paintings. the first ones have it of course most obviously but the same soft feeling eminates from the rest of your stuff, really interesting.

[ChaoticKnight]

I agree with kinnas. You have a great aesthetic feel when it comes to the atmosphere of your paintings, especially your first few. I love the vyle piece, are you going to continue it?

[Cavematty]

Hurricane - Thanks man! Awesome to get a comment from a CA legend like yourself. Love your work. I'm very subscribed to your thread :P And yeh, bad time to respond to your comment - its been a long while since updates. But Ive been busy with work. Some illus stuff I'll post soon, but some animation too - that wont be in this thread :P

Kronos - thanks for the tips man. I've lost the enthusiasm to touch up the maui just now. Too much work on. Maybe on the weekend, but I do want to go back. That will eventually become a portfolio piece, when I can finally leave it alone :P

TheGnoll- Thanks heaps man! Yeh i'll keep pushing :)

Kinnas - thanks bro. Its funny, i think, that some emerging artists (i consider myself emergin cos I still have so far to go...) get annoyed at the very things that make their work distinct. I think what many regard as my "style" are things i often dislike, because I cant do them realistic yet. They still have my ineptitude stamped all over them (that make sense?). So it is very reassuring when someone compliments on that very fact. So thankyou for your kind words, hitting me in a meaningful spot :)

Chaotic Knight - Thanks for agreeing :) As for the vyle piece - no real plans to carry it on, tho I do plan to do plenty more in the same style over time....

Small update today. I will post up my illustrations this week. That'll give ya'll something to looky at :) in the meantime, just some studies ive been doing :)
The figure studies inspired by Bumskee (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=200&t=396907&page=2&pp=15). Check out his stuff if you have a few mins. His stuff is great.

[Cavematty]

Ok so the figure studies didnt want to show up on here in the last post so I'll try posting again...

Btw... LAWTON / NIC / KIM / GUIDO if you are here looking around, thanks heaps for stopping by. Its always inspiring to hear positive comments or constructive criticisms. Helps with the drive on days when it really isnt going well and you gotta tough it through. You guys really should sign up tho and have your own sketchbooks. We could klan up and have links to each others in our sigs... :) geeky but be a good way to learn. And see who is slacking off! And then you could whack your comments right here in my thread too :)

anyway, enough pep talking... here's the pics
the two-tone ones are an excercise from "painting people in watercolor" by Alex powers. The idea being you use two tones, and instead of trying to shade in shadow areas, you use the tones to seperate froms in space. So the contrast shows receding forms rather than light direction. Its an interesting excercise because it makes you think wuite differently. the book is quite good - a design approach to planning a picture rather than just painting blindly.
I put my favourite one in at full size. Its amazing how simply you can indicate form. I need to get better at being loose :)
the last ones are jus some studies. i never draw girls, thats why half these look uber manly :( ill get better tho :)

[Cavematty]

Ok so here's a bit of work stuff.
These are 2 of 4 spreads I did as what was really my first illustration commission for print.
A frustrating job, because I really wanted to do an amazing job, but then the timelines were all messed up. Due to a prolonged feedback loop with an overseas client, I ended up only getting days at a time to do large parts of the work. So it is far from my best which annoys me, but I thought Id throw it up here for y'all to see.
If anyone spots any consistent/glaring flaws in my style/approach PLEEEESE TELL ME! While asspats are always a pleasant, tingly sensation they help me far less in the long run than a slap across the face a good tip.

The layouts were by Leon Mackie, an in house graphic designer for the client.
I removed the text cos the story aint mine, but its a story for a kids school journal. So there would be writing in the big blank spaces, u dig?

[Cavematty]

Started doing some fundamentals studies.
This is the thread where you will find the excercises and heaps of information:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76955
It is run by idiot apathy who is a talented artist and a giver among the community.
If you feel like brushing up on some fundamentals, go take a look :)

Here's my images from what is actually excercise 2 (oops!)
Its an excercise in tone, the colour is just there to confuse you (and it does).
Good lessons learned tho :)

http://cavematty.com/Sketchbook/peerproject/PeerProject_Spheres_colour.jpg

http://cavematty.com/Sketchbook/peerproject/PeerProject_Spheres_mono.jpg

[Cavematty]

Made it to lifedrawing last night. The first time in a while, despite Lawtons constant urging (keep it up mate!).

Here's some scans.
Planning to keep it up and get into the groove :)

[Cavematty]

Loomis Studies

Cos a friend of mine, Paul Tobin sat beside me at life drawing the other day, and he dominates Life drawing! And he had loomis beside him. Ive always liked loomis, but that was the reason to have it out yest. :P

Edit: WOOP WOOP! Page 2! Yeah boiy! Nowim pro! :P

[matejkovacic]

Keep posting more photo studies and more lifedrawings. They're nice and they're gonna be even better! I like your sketchbook. Good luck!

[Cavematty]

matejkovacic - thanks mate! Had a wee pooky at your sketchbook, great dedication man! Ill jump in and post something more helpful than offhand compliments later on...

For now... I noticed I got to page 2 with cheeky little posts of lifedrawings etc.
So I thought Id do another speed study.
This one is of wild bill from Deadwood. Im now watching season one, but only up to episode 2. Its good watching tho - im sure ill make it through the lot :)

Anyways, this wouldve been 20-30 mins with the episode paused on the other screen in media player.
Its not great (his head is pretty big :P), but Ive got a show to get to. Me and the GF are off to "Maui" tonight. A stage show full of aerials. Considering half my sketchbook so far is maui, i thought Id better go along :)

[Leo Ki]

I just browsed your whole thread - I like how you compose colors, and your two-tones speeds are beautiful, especially the one you put in bigger size. I'd like to see more imaginary paintings by you, be they speed paintings or more elaborate ones. Things of the kind of the bat swarm or the walk in the bush. :teeth:
EDIT: The walk in the bush wasn't imaginary, but I like the ambience anyway.

[Cavematty]

Leo. this one is for you. Thanks heaps for the advice, cos this piece helped my confidence no end. I know its rough but its completely unreferenced and came out quite quick and easily.
I know I will look back on it soon and cringe at the anatomy, but I cant remember having the balls to draw a figure unreferenced in ages.

I am definately going to make imagination drawings a far more regular part of my sketchbook.

Thanks again Leo. :)

[Kman.]

Amazing work, inspiring :)

The arms are a bit long on the last one.

I definitely agree with making imaginative work part of your schedule. Besides its fun :D

Keep up the great work

[Leo Ki]

Hey Matty

This one expresses power more firmly than any supermegagun-fisted warrior, and resoluteness, and liberation. There is indeed some anatomical weirdness which you will easily spot on the second look but this is not what matters most in this case. I hope you will let your imagination run free in many more ways. Speed painting is a great terrain for that.

I'm glad my words spurred you to create. This board exists for this purpose I guess. :)

[Cavematty]

Ksama - Thanks for stopping by, and for the kind words. And yes, those arms are pretty long :P

Leo - Awesome man, thanks. Yeh I see the anatomy problems :P But it was fun :) Ill keep at those imaginary drawings tho... youll see.

But not today - this is another speedy from a still frame - this time of Heroes.
Enjoi :)

[Cavematty]

Oh and lifedrawings from Tues night. I think Im showing gradual improvement... :)
woop!

[matejkovacic]

Very nice posts! Good figure studies! Lines are varying and expressing very well.
Shadings could maybe tell a bit more about the volume if you put them in various
directions following the volume of body parts.
Keep up the good work!

[Cavematty]

matejkovacic - thanks man. Yeah ur right about the directional shading. I was thinking that when i was scanning them in. will endeavour to work on it :)

Went to see Pirates 3 last night. I was very disappointed, but i think its mainly cos i expected so much. I loved the other two -especially the first one :P
But I still love the world and the characters enough that I did a peedy today from a still of the second one.

[Cavematty]

Hey all. Made it to lifedrawing again tonight. I really enjoyed myself for once, having fun with shading rather than trying to learn structure. Think I did a bit better with the directional shading too...
Let me know what you think. Any tips greatly appreciated :)

[Anurizm]

great updates, your speedpaints are looking good!

[Cavematty]

Anurizm - thanks man! appreciate the encouragement :)

Another night of lifedrawing. I really enjoyed tonight.
Gonna try and keep up this kind of attendance too. I know it all helps :)

Was particularly happy with the seated one here, though i know there are a couple of proportion problems :P

[Cavematty]

Ok so another night at lifedrawing and another post.
The real wiggly one was a blind contour. Did a few of these at the suggestion of my good friend Lawton's. Apparently it was in IFX as the top way to improve your drawing. So I thought I'd give it a whirl. This was the only one that came out looking cool tho :P
And in the one in the second post where she is leaning on the chair - she looks a bit too buff. The woman was actually quite overweight and late middleaged, so she had a lot of jiggly curves. I didnt quite make them soft enough :P

[Cavematty]

Bit of an imagination drawing again.
Guess its a marine who got woked up while he was a sleepin. Now he gots to kick some heads with nothing on but his boots and dog tags!

Again there are some holes in my anatomical knowledge :P
Will revisit this one, add colour and work on the tone a bit more, but so far I am reasonably happy (as I draw very little from my head like this).
So far about an hour :)

[hurricane]

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=135811&stc=1&d=1178674877
that is very cool, you could make that into a cool painting for sure!

keep on studying anatomy, proportions and poses. I know it's boring but it'll help you in the end. You could easely combine it with imaginative drawings.

cheerS!

[Leo Ki]

Hey Cavematty! :)

Long time...

I like the sketch made with loose strokes on post 75. The other ones are technically finer of course, but this one is more lively.

About the latest imagination speed painting: it talks to me less than the previous one, the energy seems kept inside instead of freed out in spite of the kick, but maybe this is intentional and I didn't get the purpose.

So, what if I challenge you to produce something from imagination a bit along the line of your splendid picture on post 48? :teeth: :^^;: ;)

[Jorge Gecov]

Cool anatomy studies, nice speedpaintings!

[Law]

Gimme some more dude!

[Cavematty]

Long time no post!
Yup, I've been uber busy, with multiple contracts. Some good fun, some to pay the bills. But now I have a bit of spare time on my hands again. So heres a couple of studies to get back into the swing of things. Two from photos, and one from a Phil Hale pic :)

[enthombed]

hey bro. nice stuff here, some cool colors and a lot of natomy, great thread dude, keep posting i will be back soon.

Cheers

[Cavematty]

Enthombed - cheers for the words of encouragement. You keep up the anatomy studies too mate :) We'll get there :) Surely :)

Hey guys,

Sorry for being an absentee for so long!
I'll start updating with some of the stuff I've done while I've been absent. Unfortunately of what little there is, much of it has been work related so I wont be able to post yet. But back on the drawing buzz now :) So get ready for updates :)

First up a piece I'm working on for an online challenge at a different forum (but that doesnt mean you cant help me with it!). I got a great response to my process pics for the Maui piece, and some great help from some peeps. SO thought it was definately worth posting on here for this one :)

If you cant tell whats going on its a funeral, and the coffin is being carried by the pallbearers - and BOOM! out busts the dearly departed in full zombie/vamp/demon/animated state! SHIT! WTF man, I mean HOLY SHIT! Didnt expect that to happen :P
The bright dots around the edges of the image will be flowers scattered from the boquet on top of the coffin.
Not sure what time of day funerals normally are (late morning / early arvo?)? But the lighting situation here might be a bit dark and moody to make it believeable? Let me know your thoughts on that at least. Crits, paint-overs and advice all welcome.

[Thanathos]

Cool sketches!! yeah!:) keep posting !!

[destinyapocalypse]

nice dravs and cool painting
my work http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=87447


take care man

[enthombed]

hey man, thnks for share your sutff and your skills, you have a great thread here, humm a lot of good stuff.

keep posting my friend and i will be back soon.


Cheers

[Cavematty]

Thanks for the replies guys. I took your advice and decided to keep posting :)

After a long break from it, I finally made it back to lifedrawing at Vincents, tho a bit rusty for the absenteeism. Here's the best. The first few were pure shockers, so I did the negative space one to try and get myself observing again. It really helped and my drawings were better after that. I still felt a bit clumsy with proportions and form, not having my process spring to mind immediately...
But I'll go again tomorrow night and slowly but surely level up :)

Matty

[Cavematty]

HEEELP!

A question for you all, in my previous post, can you see the image? or is it there as a link you can click on? or is it not there at all?

Never had posting problems before, but now i just feel like a NOOB!

[Law]

Cant see it buddy! Hope your gonna finish off that zombie one for us all.

[Thaw Naing]

gday' looks like its gona be an honor being in the same lifedrawing class as ya.

[Jeff Lai]

hiya, been lookin through your thread, i reckon you've improved alot since u first posted! your recent lifedrawings are great!
i was sitting next to thaw in lifedrawing :)

[Cavematty]

Hey guys!
Thanks for the kind words.
Jeff - Don't think we've properly met :) I'll catch you at vincents sometime soon.
Thaw - Stuff looked great at exhibition! Loved the wide composition with all the characters! Didnt get a chance to browse your book though - so many people about! I'll be back in there tomorrow probably. Need to have a proper look around :)

Here's a little study I did tonight. Hopefully this one posts ok...

[paperX]

hey man, great stuff u got here...keep working hard! :)

[Thaw Naing]

hey matt do u remember that ureka moment you had about tone a while back...yeah..i just got hit with it...followed by...hey! massey didnt teach us the basics!

[Cavematty]

Haha. No Thaw, they did not. You should have a crack at writing up the eureka moment you had. Explaining it to others really cements it. I wrote a little tut about my moment which i will whack on my website as soon as I get around to adding some pics that illustrate it. Id be real keen to hear ur perception shift too, us under-previledged, massey schooled illustrators gotta help each other out :P Stoked for you though, its a great feeling aye :) Not quite Edison or Archimedes, but feels pretty great nonetheless!

Here's a bit of an update. An illustration for a challenge entitled simpy "behemoth". I will upload process pics and a description if anyone is interested. I also had a couple of eureka moments on this one just in terms of mindset, which really helped a lot. I'm planning to start a thread just about that but will discuss that along with the process if anyone is interested :)

Matty

[daveskogstad]

hey cavematty some really great stuff in here really like the study a couple of posts back. was just wanting some info if poss ive just finished my first year at massey and was wondering what 2nd year papers u recommend?

[Jakers]

Your studies are definately improving and the shading is getting stronger. I started to paint from life things involving movies and the like but need to do more, thanks for un-intentionally reminding me :)

The last picture is GREAT. I like the differently captured personalities and reactions...and the water bottle haha. Did you paint the condensation?

[Leo Ki]

Wow! The Behemoth's amused face is awesome! And all the details - squeezed nose, breath vapor, contour lighting... It comes stunningly alive into the gloomy reality of the office.

[Shod]

Oh dude, is that perspiration on the glass?! Mad, wicked take on the composition and an overall great drawing!

[gunnarsson]

haha, oh my lord! this last post is freaking funky! really nicely executed, with the moist and drips on the glass. I have been wanting to do something similar for some time, though my ideas have been in a restaurant and in the 30's or 40's. alot of round glasses, hats and mustaches... though i see now that this works great aswell!;) good development from the first page. there is something that is hard to put my finger on that bugs me about your digital renderings... i think it is something in the realms of a bit to low contrast and a bit to few variations in colortones. skintones etc. i might be a bit of, but i think its something there.
anywho, keep up the great improving-curve, very good stuff!:) cheers!

[Thaw Naing]

hey matt, sweet work!
i think i will write it up my ureka aye, ive got it all written down in my notebook-ill just translate it into an essay format and post it on my webby.
if u dont mind ive added ur site to my links.
thanks for ur comments on my thread. u wont see too many works from me too soon, im still studying away on the basics of illustration, sculpting and scriptwriting. taking this down time to practice the basics theories and craft. all the explorations ill post under progressive on my webby.
peace out man. seriously nice work dude, keeps me motivated!

[Cavematty]

Geezus! Long time away huh?
Here's some studies from today. Inspired by Tom's new productivity, and Guido's commitment to the art - best of luck bud, but I know u'll pwn it :)

A mucha inspired drawing from a Farmers brochure, and a photo study to practise discipline in my process. Also to zero in on tone. Succesful in those two areas? to some extent yes!

Also a sphere study ala Idiot Apathy and the Peer Project. Playing with my edges Elwell style (thanks for the link Tom).

[Spade]

cool stuff man. I liked that behemoth pic, particularly the one guy on the right who is just looking at at the other dude screaming
keep it up

[Earendil]

Great behemoth picture! :yum:

The girl steals the show though. :)

That's a good idea to incorporate Elwell's edges with a sphere study. I'll have to try that.

[tsimps]

Hey man
Stoked to hear you found that tut as interesting as I did- I'd never really given any thought to edges as a design element in constructing images before. I wish I'd stumbled across that thread a long time ago!
Nice sketches by the way, esp. like the linework in the first one.
See you at life drawing yo!

[Shod]

Hey man. I was at Vincents tonight standing next to Thaw as you guys left, shouldve said hi. But anyway, till next time!
Great drawings by the way, looking good!

[Cavematty]

Heya Shod!
Thanks matey :) Make sure you say hi next time - I don't bite. And I'm pretty rusty at life drawing so ...

Here's a speedy from today. Just trying to get my head back into painting. I'm looking like having some time off pretty soon - as early as next week, so wana get a running start on the upskill!

About 1.5 hours, from ref. Trying to get some ok colour without colour picking

Peace

EDIT: another 30 mins with Law's suggestions. Thanks Law, you're the man! Go here to check out his cool shit! : LAW (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118280)

[Tim_Gibson]

Cool man, nice colours, the snow in the shadow of the front mountain is perfect.

The brush work is a bit wild, kinda looks like a photo taken with a slower shutter speed and some camera shake. also the rendering techniques on the clouds are a little to far away from the strokes on the rest of the image. I know they're fluffy lil' buggers, but I think you've pushed it a tad too much there.

rock on, looking good mate!

[Cavematty]

Hey Tim.
Thanks for the comments. Spot on. Both things I knew, but was too lazy to fix (or too in love with the sketch to risk re-doing anything). Sarah, Jo, Law - they all said the same stuff.
Might fix it at some point, but it was just a warmup sketch.

Here's the start of some designing. Mostly outta my head. Gonna do a render of each character I want to design to try and get my head around it, then will go into the iterative process with silhouettes etc.
But at the mo need to fill my head with some more specific images first :)
Updates aplenty coming :)

Matty

[starzik]

Really awesome sketchbook! I especially like that last mountain environment - 1.5 hours!? Amazing! Very inspiring. ^_^

[Cavematty]

Starzik - Thanks mate. 2 hours with the feedback and a bit of a rework. Things just went right for once. Not always so fast. Far from it.

Here's some life drawing from tonight. Got a few weeks to dump so expect some more :) Plz point out any areas of weakness that you notice. Law told me the other day I should learn legs. What he shoulda said was "you suck at legs!". He woulda been right.
Working on it now Buddy :)
These pages are A2 and just digi cammed them so sorry for shit quality.

[Cavematty]

Here's more from the past few weeks. Getting back into the swing of things. Starting to do a bit of reading / study on the side too so should start showing in my work (fingers crossed!).

Tomorrow.... an update on my design progress :)

[Hive_minD]

Some really dope shit here!
Man I have to come back again!

Chris

[Cavematty]

Hivemind _ chur chur. +Please do come back. And be ruthless! I crave critique like a zombie craves brains.

Hey guys.
Ok here's the beginning of the project I am working on at the moment.
It is a personal project in which I am doing concept design for this book:

http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/images/mortalengines.jpg

I intend to generate some portfolio pieces out of this, but have done very little design before (notice most of my thread is simply illustration or studies?).
Any input or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Crit away.

Quick background. The book is set in the distant future. Man has nuked himself and the planet, but we survived through it. Life has regressed in terms of technology, and the war has savaged the planet some. To cope with the limited resources, cities have been put on wheels in what Reeves magnificently calls "municipal darwinism" (love it!). They cruise around the wastelands of earth devouring mountains and each other in the hunt for resources. It is kinda post apocalyptic/steampunk, yet the societies are quite complex and structured. None of this madmax anarchy. The book is set on London as it cruises about the "hunting ground".

The first character I am designing is Thaddeus Valentine. He is not the lead, but one of the more interesting characters. Initially the lead's hero, and adventuring gentleman of London, he goes through several perception shifts in the book and his upright nature comes into question. Good guy or badguy? You decide.

I have started out with silhoette studies in small format and will work back into them from here to explore some variations :)

[Thaw Naing]

sawwweet matty. i project!!
be keen to see how it all pans out.

[Leo Ki]

It's hard to crit the silhouette studies without knowing the book description of the character, but a first impression takes me to century 19 or earlier. Is the steampunk flavor of the book pervasive? Anyway it looks like an exciting project, with the background story giving constraints and inspiration at the same time.

I love the simple-looking sketch in post #102 (the first one), and I'm impressed by your use of shadows in the sketches on post #112, they really pop the characters out of the paper.

[Cavematty]

Replies:
Leo - thanks man. I might take the time to put up some quotes about Thaddeus at some point. As for the steampunk influence - no its not too strong. It is set in London in the future, and technology has regressed somewhat. However it doesn't mean the costume has to regress with it. Your comment was what made that apparent to me so thanks matey!
Thaw - keep watching and crit me hard man :)

Here's some line drawings over some of my favourite silhouettes. Seems easier to break the mold now. Getting a little bit looser. Seems like I get a bit more creative everyday. It's a really interesting process to go through for me. Suggestions anyone?

[Thaw Naing]

im gona feed you some brains u zombie hahaha! love that quote

well, more food for thought rather than critique

first a few questions
1) are you designing this for a particular medium? im guessing film, are you taking this as a family orientated film or a gritty postmodern dystopia ala children of men.
2) what have you planned? just character work? machinery? keyart? environment designs. the mistake i took with the bonny project was i looked at everything across the board. where i should have focused on a key scene and designed everything within that scene, which was how paul did his major.
3) how closely are you following the story? and is there much description in the text about the technology and costume

just a few suggestions
1) knowledge is power - some research into fashion and the manufacture of clothing - especially english victoria would come in handy. i see that some of your thumbnails are starting to have that victorian/early industrial influence.
Not suggesting hardout research but some as you go along. im just imagining that the manufacturing of new modern clothes have been lost since the apocalpytic event, and that society has recessed to the olden method and technology of making clothes - even though they have a modern mindset.
i dont remember where, but i remember on a futuristic film, where the director based the costume designs on the lastest fashion trends, because these fashion designers were looking back at olden style clothing and applying it to modern ideals. Interesting stuff.

Im writing a story at the moment where the world has reached a new iceage due to climate changes (global warming blah blah) and the world has been forced to refer to old technology simply because the industries are destroyed. We may overlap on a lot of research, keep in touch with me, could save us both some time! haha.

2) I would suggest designing the characters simultaneously. Simply because the designs should influence one another. Eg. a simple but very effect device: such as putting all the protagonists in one colour scheme and antagonists in another. Sounds like a james bond film where the bad guys are in one color, but it does work well when done subtlely.

I learnt this tool from learning about scriptwriting where if the writer has done his job right, characters are placed at opposite ends of a moral scale, or wateva scale. For eg. Character 1 is justice, character 2 may be unfair, character 3 maybe injustice, then u may get the 4th character who is tyranic, who is at the extreme opposite of the scale. This is all necessary for a good story to provide different viewpoints about a theme. It is the concept artist’s job to analyse these traits and find a way to represent it visually.
So that’s why I suggest designing them all at the same time, so that you can start to see the visual differentiation between characters costumes/postures/facial expressions – which all tell about the character, and also the entire plot of the story.

if u wana know more, ive got this book which is absolutely amazing and have taught me everything about storytelling, ever since reading it, I don’t just explore characters visually anymore, i explore in writing a lot – then I just think how can I show this visually. This sort of approach ties in with the way iain mccaig uses storybeats – if u want, ive got his dvds as well.

Good luck man, after this current commish, I was thinking of setting aside a day to meet up with my m8s, who’ve got their own projects going. Bigg critique brain storming session. Ill tell u if that goes down.

[lennon]

Brilliant stuff!
#95 was pretty amazing (nice Sub Surface Scattering by the way). Great studies man. Perhaps you could improve palettes a little bit? cheers.

[Cavematty]

Lennon - Chur man. Yeah laboured over that one! haha. More than you would think too :P And yeah coulour is an area that really needs improving. Several people have said it to me of late. Have done some reading, and will try and improve on my next full illustration that I do :) Thanks for the visit and the comment. It reminds me to study!

Thaw - BRAINS! wohooo! What a feast too. Thanks so much for taking the time to write all that. Really really appreciate it :) Some great points in there too...
In answer to your questions:
1) Yeah I was thinking film. Its a teen fiction book so I figure yeah, family audiences. But it is still kinda dark for that audience.

2) Picking a scene is a great idea. Forgot that Paul did that. I made a list of things to design to cover all the areas. 4 of the most interesting characters. 2 vehicles. And 2-3 locations.
But if I pick a scene it'll cut the locations down at least. I'm re-reading it through again now so might pick a scene over the weekend. Great idea for focus man :)

3) In terms of following the story - it is quite a cool world so I would like to realise it as much as possible. It is maybe a bit more cutesy than I plan to do it, but the descriptions are generally quite loose so the text isn't really restrictive.

In terms of your suggestions. Yep, some research into manufacture might be helpful. The film you are talking about, was it Mary Antoinette? I thought it was a pretty average film, but the idea with the costumes was to give us the impression the fashion would have had on people in their time. So they were more brightly coloured and richly patterned than was histroically accurate, to adjust them for time. Really cool idea there I reckon :)

This book you speak of sounds great. Would love to borrow it. Have been to a couple of good talks/seminars about screenwriting. It is something that interests me too. And so many helpful rules and formulas that let you understand the anatomy of a story. But yeah I would love to borrow it. I already have McCaigs Dvd's tho. I watched them all some time ago - was re-watching the first one yesterday! Hehe.

And as for the big creative session, count me in. I'll have a yarn to you about it on tues at vincents anyways.
When is your commission due?

Thanks again bruva! woop.

[RandAlThor]

Cave, excellent idea, concepting a story... i like your thumbs already, it will be good to see how this pans out. keep at it dude ;-)

[Hive_minD]

Looking forward to seeing more of this project of yours ;)

Chris

[Thaw Naing]

haha no worries - ive been in roys classes too many times - i tend to rant

nah definetly not marie antoinette, it was a futuristic sci fi, but for the life of me i cant remember. it could have been one of the kurt wilmer flicks maybe.

my comish is meant to finish on the 24th this month. so about 12 paintings in 10 days. eeehk! im waiting on my art directors email response to confirm the roughs, so ive had the day off practically - was working on my graphic novel.

the book is robert mckee 'story'. ill get it to u when i can. if u find it anywhere though!..its seriously worth a buy for a screenwriting enthusiast. its biblical!

hopefuly i wnt be in the middle of a mad rush painting next tuesday n cya at vincents

latars

[Cavematty]

RandAlThor - thnx for the encouragement - I will keep at it don't worry! Big task tho and unfamiliar waters. Makes for a scardy matty :P

HiveMind - thnx.

Thaw - Yeah Roy is a ranter, but a genius too so its good when he rants :P As for Mckee - 'story' was mentioned in one of the talks I went to as one of the great boos to read. Among a few others. I'll keep an eye out for one. So much illustration to learn tho - story might have to be back burner for the short term. Gd luck with ur commish! You work good under pressure though right? haha.

Ok guys, quick post of an excercise from Idiot Apathy's Peer Project (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76955). It is a great thread full of foundational activities to quickly get you thinking about what you are doing. He is a huge influence on CA and has devoted a lot of time to helping the community. If you don't know his stuff you can go to his thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1686070#post1686070) and leave an asspat. Unfortunately he is so popular round here the content posts are being swamped by the (well desereved) asspats. In that case go check out his blog (http://crayonboxofdoom.blogspot.com/).

Anyways, here is the excercise and amy notes on what I was up to.

[Cavematty]

First up - the red sphere.
Ok so it is absorbing all light except the red ones which it sends to your eye. So potentially - the light side is going to be more saturated - as more light of red wavelength is coming at your eye? And then the specular is yellow/white (red increase in color temp to yellow, but the specular doesn't get absorbed - it is a direct reflection so it shows the colour of the lightsource).

Blue sphere.
Similar to the red one but tried to use the colour temperature to show brightness. I am still a bit confused by this - but made a shift towards aqua. In terms of colour temperature (degrees kelvin) this is hotter (closer to white). This is also reversing the saturation shift. If you colour pick a photo, the darks ar emore saturated. Seem scounter-intuitive but try it. This is my attempt to replicate that gradation.

White sphere. - Reflects all colours. Lighter sphere. No colour - didn't really know what else to do here.

Darker sphere - Tried making the dark a very saturated red, rather than a pure black. Then used an unsaturated colour for the light. Seems to add a little more life in that half-tone without making the sphere feel particularly red. Also I figured the specular would be just as bright as on the rest as it is just a pure reflection.

Orange sphere - I tried this one twice. On the left is a saturated shadows to unsaturated lights. On the right is Unsaturated shadows to saturated lights. Both have the Kelvin colour shift. I think the saturated shadows has more interest. I guess (solely from an aesthetic considration) maybe its because the light side already holds interest due to its definition, and ability to draw the eye. However the shadow gains more presence with the saturation. This could be inflluenced by my completely desaturated background too though. Relativity of colour makes me wonder if the second orange sphere was on a saturated bg - especially in the reddish brown family - would the desaturated shadows not also sing? I think the two would simply have differing effects, and so long as you were consistent in your lighting system throughout your painting, they would both work, and simply achieve very different moods.

50% sphere -no genius here. Between the dark one and the light one :s

[Leo Ki]

Nice line work, now they don't evoke century 19 anymore but they do suggest to me an entirely different society, and they also hint at old fabric manufacturing. Does the book describe cloth patches? Traditional clothes weren't as resistent as the good old times myths can tell, except expensive leather and some luxury stuff.

[Thaw Naing]

aw matty i know what u mean, so much painting study to do, its hard to keep anything else goin. and thats without getting into oil painting.
hence giving up games, guitar and tv.
lets b painting monks. :p

[Cavematty]

Thaw - yeah man! Shit! I gave up guitar games and TV too ! haha. Coldn't give up reading or movies though. And wednesday night poker... :P
But yeah. You gotta find the time from somewhere :'(

Leo - Hey man. Chur! Yeah I feel like I'm slowly finding the right direction. Still so far to go before I get there, but thats all good. More drawing is more upskilling :P

As per Thaw's excellent advice I had a bit of a brainstorm :ore: and decided to describe in words the things I am designing. It really did help to clarify my direction, and to discover some obvious stlye influences for some of them which I might not have pulled in otherwise. Been doing a bit of research too. Not much visual progress in this post, but here's the descriptions, and the thumbs I have done.

Characters:

- Engineers
- White rubber overalls. Aggressive shapes. Functional. Uninviting. Shun physical contact and emotion. Empiricists to the point of losing their compassion, their empathy.
De-humanising costumes. Obscuring individuality. Bald heads. Sameness. Lack of flair. Bigger builds. Like labourers.
- Historians
- Bookish. Robes, long and flowing, less functional. Much more room for individuality. Beards, long hair. Glasses. Eccentricities. Necklaces. Ornamentation. Overwieght or slight of
build. Richer materials. Wools, warmer? Softer forms, friendlier. Yet tied in tradition, resistant to change. Dated/archaic? Are they champions of the past?
- Thaddeus Valentine
- Pilot of the 13th Floor Elevator. Right hand man of the questionable mayor. Does his errands outside of the city, though they may infact be dirty deeds.
But they are adventures nonetheless. Walks his own path. Defies convention. Is a free spirit, and acts rashly. Is morally conflicted.
Has done some horrible things for grey reasons. Is largely thought of as heroic however. Cowboy influence? Knight? Crusader? Samurai? Individualist.
Must have ties to Historian outfit, but more adventure. sportier. Strong blacks, and red accents?
- Anna Fang (the Red Woman).
- Pilot of the Jenny Hanniver.
Similar to Valentine, so some echoes here would be good - maybe the red colouring will be enough? Dangerous character but comes across very motherly one-on-one.
A champion of her cause she is inventive, smart, a bit older than Valentine I think. Sharp lines again but not as aggresive. Maybe softened with intricate oriental patterns.
Her intentions are well hidden for a start, so maybe a concealing outfit, large sleeves, yet bare neck and face, to imply openness, while hiding the potential threat?
- Shrike vs new stalkers
- Shrike is the only original stalker (re-animated people without memories. A rediscovered technology from the great war. Think zombie terminators.) Shrike is still functioning, yet he has been studied and repaired by London engineers. His technology should be a jarring combination of sleek super
futuristic parts, and clumsy retro-futuristic parts.
- Hester Shaw
- Wanders the wastes, dusty and dirty. Like a giant desert at times. Is consumed with hatred, revenge, vengeance. Is without a home, family. Is willing to give her life to achieve her cause (the assassination of Valentine - her parents murderer). Classic Jihadist. Middle eastern influences.

[Cavematty]

Ok. Posting on here is helping me keep track of my momentum. So I thought I'd throw this one up, even though it is still in its early stages. It's my first concept for "Batmunkh Gompa" - the shield wall.
In the story it is the line of division from the massive hunting grounds of Europe, where traction cities reign, to the static settlements past the mountains.
The wall is enourmous, and has a city built into the back of it. It also has ruined cities attached to the front, to improve its defense.

Still a ways to go. Just a progress pic. Will update soon.

[Leo Ki]

You know, your sketches intrigue me to the point that I now want
to read the book. The texts helped a bit too but the pictures are
strong enough by themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think
this means they are successful! :madchef:

PS: Found a very different cover on one of the French editions of
the book, in case it interests you:
http://www.amazon.fr/Mécaniques-fatales-P-Reeve/dp/2012008259

[Cavematty]

Heya Leo - thanks for the kind words again :) I would definitely recommend the book, it is a really fun read and hard to put down. I wouldn't be designing from it if I didn't quite enjoy it :)
And that french cover is quite quirky huh? Not quite where I want to head with my designs... but great to see. Thanks for digging it up :)

Here's some drawings of "Anna Fang"

She is a rogue aviatrix known as the "Red Woman". She is similar to Valentine in that she is an adventurer, pilot, warrior - and at times in the story her loyalty is questioned. Will post more of a description soon.

Design is very preliminary. She needs a more asian feel to her design, and needs to be a bit older and less vivacious. I just really wanted to spend a bit longer on a piece. Really enjoyed doing it :) Feel like I'm getting better at doing people without exact reference too.

If anyone wants to be inspired, go look at Hurri's latest dump of amazing work: (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=121966). It'll blow your face off!

Give me more crits..... :ilaekae: :lifedrawing:

btw, wtf is the about? ... : :harbl:

[Thaw Naing]

looking good dude, yeh i thought id have a good morning till i saw hurri's work. man thats a fairy tale achievement if i ever saw one (with him taking his opportunity by the horns and nailing it, kinda like an australian cricketer lol)
anyway, i have a few thoughts about Anna Fang. just a thought really..

335437

one thumb i latched on to was this, mainly because of the shoulders, it was reminescent of the ridiculous sihouettes pilot jackets made. so thats what i tried to do with it. i dont know what vehicle Anna flys, but i thought flying most steampunk contraptions would require tight fitting pants, wouldnt want to get tangled up in any gears! so also gloves, boots and of course aviators! i was really just drooling at this point
so anyway..I went in the way of a formula one driver..keeping the asian thing around the waste as part of the jacket. subconsciously i made her into a bumble bee! i went with an almost oren oshii hair, definetly tied at the back - im not sure about putting in the actual hair pin pieces..
i am personally against capes in most cases (spawn should be the only one with one) however it could look amazing if shes flying off on a motorbike or something. this was all food for thought really, u know what youre going for, so feel free to disregard anything i say. i wont be offended.

also remember back a weebit i said id post my findings after reading JSS/Mullins yadeyada...i ended up taking heaps of notes and began to collate them. its kinda grown to 13,000 (not a typo) words very quickly as i churned through heaps more books.
ive attached the contents, the rest of it is slightly all over the place, but once i have finished going through my booklist ill circulate it around and see what people can add to it. sweet, my rant is over. off to finish my dreaded job so laters

[Warforce17]

Good stuff in your sketchbook.
I don´t know why but i fell in love with the picture with the giant ir huge man pressing his nose against the window.
Keep posting ;)

[Cavematty]

Warforce17 - Thanks man. Yeah i laboured over that one :P Planning to do a full repaint sometime soon - focus more on the characters, and better colour on the interior. Will keep you posted :)

Thaw - That doc sounds awesome man. I didn't realise for a start u'd only sent me the contents, and I was poking around in it going "where are the 13,000 words?". haha. Would be real keen to have a read. And would surely have a few quotes to add :)
As for your comments on the design - great input man. Like the ideas, and that is more the way I should be thinking :)
Will work back into her some more. Thanks for repeatedly taking the time to actually write critiques. They are invaluable and less common than you'd think on these forums :S
Now go get that job done so you can be posting some paints too :) Woopah!

Quick post. A few studies of Anna Fang costume ideas (got a bit involved in the rendering tho :P ), some face studies for valentine, and a quick paint from photo ref. Into it :)

[Thaw Naing]

no worries. just trying to keep ur momentum going.
no doubt about finishing my comish, which is like a couple of days away! then ill spiral into one of those oh crap ive got nuthing to do moments. think ill be developing my story while delving into anatomy/paint studies, try putting into practice all the things ive learnt last month.
catcha at lifed. keep up the gud work!

[Cavematty]

Yup Thaw, momentum is keeping up. Though I keep getting little jobs here and there that are mighty distracting, if somewhat calming to my cash flow concerns :) haha. It's just taking so long to get the hang of it all. Wish I could learn as fast as I can browse Hurri's thread :P haha.

Here's some sketchbook posts, and some more thumbs. While kinda on subject, these ones were more about me figuring out a method / rendering level to work at, and practicing some costume variations based in reality. The first one started as a copy of one of Bumskee's drawings - tho I changed it up a little :P. BIt of fandom there min ;)

And Guido, that jumping woman reminds me of the way you draw.
Well... the way you used to... it's been so long since I saw anything you did.... haha. nudge nudge. lunch? smells good. Hope you're out getting us some lammingtons right now.

[Shod]

Fantastic development going on there man. Im envious as I am trying to do the same for my own short story. Mind if I steal your technique - the black silouette and white details? (gunna do it anyway :P) In fact, your thread recently has been nothing but inspiration so I have nothing but asspats for you. Though maybe some closeups of her face to get a better sense of character would be satisfying. Churrs!

[Giorge]

Damn ... awesome sb man , you should try to play with some chroma combinations see what you get. The one with the fire demon came out tight!

[Thaw Naing]

hey dude, is there any you are liking?
im responding to 2nd row, number 2 and 3. especially 3.
reasons:im responding to the Y shape, simple, but strong, its complimentary to the lines at the shoulders which is reminiscent of pilot jackets. i like the turtle neck as it is like asian dresses, but its not unfuctional like the last 2 on that row. that scarf will look great in the wind, once again reminds me of ww1 pilots.
it has a modern look, a functionality that makes the others look quite ornamental.
just throwing in my vote

also my m8 asked me if ud like to join this
http://justaddsmokeeffects.blogspot.com/
i told him to just move it on to concept art, because im not a fan of blogspots. but i think hes scared of posting here...gota go :ninja:

[L0g@nV!ll3]

Yo dude nice anatomy studies. it reminded me of rubens work.

[Green-eyed demon]

I like your second Anna Fang costume idea

[Matthew Forte]

I like to see each step of your creative process, very nice!

[Cavematty]

Hey guys, sorry for the absence. Had an urgent pitch come through. Had to bust out 10 illustrations quick smart!

Shod - Cheers man! Of course you can steal the technique. It's hardly mine. I stole it from Bumskee, but its a common technique. Dunno if I ever posted in your thread, but great drawings man. I'll drop by again soon :)

flamable - thnx man. Colour will come soon!

Thaw - Thanks for the thoughtful crits again man. Yeah I like the same ones the best. I think its because they are the most sensibly designed ones. The others are either too realistic - nothing new. Or else they're purely fantasy - no basis on something existing so they lose their functionality. Its a good thing to keep in mind for future I think.
As for the scarf, coming to design another character, I realised that her scarf is her most iconic feature, so Fang is probably going to have to lose it, or shrink it down a lot.
As for that blog - yeah sounds cool! I might crank something out speedy this week. Though I think you're right. You'll get more views and comments if it was on here. But thats cool.
I just got 'Story' out of the library yesterday. Could be a lot of lounge time over the weekend to get into it. It's bigger than I expected. But should be a great read.

L0g@nV!ll3 - I wish I was Rubens :P Thanks tho.

Green-eyed demon - Thanks man. Its a bit off char for the book, but thats probably my favourite drawing too. Damn design :P Thanks for stopping by.

Matthew Forte - Sweet man. Glad ur enjoying. It'll keep on coming :)

Ok so new stuff for today... Have been working on a new character - Hester Shaw (tho i have been thinking of her before in some thumbs...). She is a teenage girl hideously scarred by Valentine - or so she claims at least. She hides behind a big scarf/turban, lives in the wild, and has a life's purpose of mortal revenge on Mr. Valentine.
Here are her newest studies. I think its coming a bit easier to me now...

First up her facial scar. A quick study. I think it's far too mild for the books description, but she has to be able to be appealing too right? I do like the idea that she could cover her scarred half with her ratty hair, showing a pretty side...

[Cavematty]

And cos that post was getting so massive, here are the costumes in a seperate post.
Theory/rationale:
In the book it describes her scarf as "a piece of cloth wrapped around her head like the turban of a desert nomad".
Also because she comes from the east, wanders the wild, and has dedicated her life to killing Valentine
(preferrably at the expense of her life) she is somewhat like a jihadist (is that a word?).
However, she has still been living, and getting by in the west for some time, chasing London,
so her costume cannot be wholly eastern. So for that reason I thought a Moorish influence
might be nice for her clothes, which is where I found the hood design for B4+5. It also kinda
reminds me of the imperial guard from starwars - cool visor shape.

B1 - maybe a bit too ninja? Would be cool coupled with a big tatty coat. Might try that soon...
B2 - seems kinda 90's. somehow reminds me of 90210 and winona ryder. random.
B3 - a bit too wholly arabic?
The coat is meant to be a very british overcoat she has torn the sleeves off of for functionality,
but doesn't really come out in the render. Also the gaiters make it more western - and suit her needs...
B4 - Maybs a tiny bit slick, and I have to decide if I am using that diagonal hemline for Anna or not...
Liking the long sleeves overlapping the gloves. Homeless layers...
B5 - Could be nice... kinda pirate-y. She is meant to be pretty slummy...
Does the full face mask kill her femininity though? (is it there in any of these? you tell me!).

Thanks guys

[Thaw Naing]

dude its so great knowing my thoughts are well received! i feel really creative atm (post massey ifeel), glad to help.
i usually try not to give compliments as colloquial highfives, but im gona: that scar looks f*cking real mean, especially over the lip. i can almost feel it, ive had stitches on my face b4 (from fightclubbing) brings it all back to me, in a gud way, well, gud way for u.

man i was having a think about hester, and was finding it difficult. at first i was thinking of a veil that splits down the middle, as one side is scarred and the other isnt, but then it doesnt quite work as a whole piece of scarf (let alone the disavantage of a blindspot in a fight) what uve done is far more appropriate than anything i can think of, espc the moorish influence.
so i guess ill just reaffirm ur direction as a second opinion: B3 is a clique turban where as B4-5 is different from what is expected, and it does look a lot more sinister assassin. in terms of the clothes, the only suggestion i can think of is..if hester is on a hellbent jihadist revenge mode, she must obsess over how she will kill valentine, what weapons she might use, and how she might attack. this may effect what clothing she wears, in terms of where could she conceal weapons. thats why i think sleeves, boots, a jacket that opens up easily to draw weapons from. or if shes gun-ho n carries a weapon openly, shes always ready for a fight, so everything is tucked in, and things like canteens are placed on the chest where they wont get in the way of a melee fight.

forget the blogspot for now, ill convince jez to bring it here. certainly dont spend heaps of time on it. hav a gud wekend, n enjoy reading 'story' aka bible no.3

[Law]

Heya man.

Seems like youve moved on from Fang a bit but im really drawn to this one. Gives pretty simple silhouette, but the square shapes give it a slightly military, strong shape, but youve also kept it feminine. more more.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh186/lawsdale/Picture2.png

As for Hester. I respond most to image 4, but think it still need to go a lot further. Get rid of the diagonal cut coat, it makes her look too trendy or sophisticated. We Talked a bout it briefly but you can make the clothes feel old with out giving it those rough edges, look at Hogarths drappery book. If your in your clothes long enough they will get so full of oil and grime that it'll become stiff and take on a lot more of your body shape, plus have deeper, more permanent folds.

Try opening up here clothes a bit to reveal more of the layers underneath. You cold almost have her in sneaky underclothes; singlet, jeans, knife, and have a bigger coat on top, giving a different effect, maybe one of blending into a crowd when she needs to. Maybe another layer in there again?. Try making the head piece feel more like a scarf, wrap it round her neck then bring it up into that eastern shape, again, a bit of both worlds.

keep it up man. ill be checking back here soon.

[MorbidCurios]

Wow, that is the best Maui picture ever, I haven't seen anyone ever do a good drawing from those stories,

[Cavematty]

Thaw - Ha. Definitely well recieved :) And if story is bible #2. What are 1+2?? (I could hazard a guess that one is creative illustration?).

Law - Thanks heaps man. Though we do talk about it - I find peoples comments far more helpful written down. I don't get a chance to interrupt you or forget. Also it's harder to misinterpret when I've got it there to refer back to.
I liked the shapes in that one too - tho it is a bit mundane at the moment. Will need a bit more added flair for her I think. Will start to work back on her and Valentine soon :) Thanks for the headsup?

Morbid Curious - thanks man. Yeah I've never seen anyone do any particularly cool drawings from them either. Thats why I thought it would be a cool one to tackle :)

Little update. Few more costume variations for hester, And some gesture studies for Valentine (or anna fang... but more valentine ).

[Cavematty]

Just a wee post today, a sketch of how I saw the streets of london.
I picture this as Tier 6, or maybe 5. I think there would be a strong class system based around the tiers. Top tier is obviously the borgoise and aristocrats, down to tier 7 (the gut) where I think the ceiling would only be a bare two stories away, and there would be harsh argon lights everywhere...

Those carraiges going up the cable are 2 story elevator cars. :)
Crits welcome

[Thaw Naing]

hahaha loomis does come close, but no1 bible is still alan lee's lotr sketchbook, no2 is a tie between apesos' anatomy for artists and faigin's facial expression, only because i refer to it constantly. no3 story, no 4 is kentwilliams' the fountain, and no5 would b revolution/the art of jon foster
i reckon if i can get a copy of phil hale limited edition of goad....it will knock alan lee of his high high perch...does it make me sound like a complete geek to list my favourite art books? :geekg:

[Cavematty]

Yes thaw, yes yes it does :P But this whole forum is a big old Geek fest and I'm proud to be part of it :P
Haha. We all have our fave's. I am addicted to buying art books. I have lots of them. They're so damn expensive too... but want so many more....

Anywhoo, here's a wee update on London. The next teir down, lower ceiling. Needs some more buildings in behind... will work on that.

EDIT: Ooooh! page 6? Awesome!:steph:
Added some Wilppu studies (you can see I'm a bit confused) and last nights life drawing. Figured that one pic was too little to start a whole new page eh?

[Thaw Naing]

ahh yess, i just rememberd y i came here, i saw ur gestural poses for fencing, ive got these two little books (published from the 15/16th century i believe) its a manual for fencing and swordfighting. i noticed its quite different from sport fencing when i did my piratething, anyway its kickass fun to learn. think theyre small enough to send via email. either wise u can grab it off me when i see u next at vincents

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.
Thaw - book sounds great, send it thru brutha!

Long time no post. My computer is down for now. Working on the GF's mac...
Some getting used to hotkeys :P

Here are my concepts for 'the shrike'.
He is a stalker from 'Mortal Engines', which were fallen soldiers re-animated and memories erased. Recommissioned, loyal, fearless warriors. They are old tech, and shrike is one that has somehow survived from the great war. He may have been repaired over the years, by himself or others, so he can easily be a mixture of steam punk and high tech machinery.

I've never really drawn robots before so this has been a HUGE learning curve :P

More to come :) and soon... something in COLOUR! haha. its easier to design with that taken out of the equation :P

[Law]

Awesome stuff dude. Great to see your still charging. Those last head studies are great, still loving that hint of a month. Though that eye is looking slightly like a speaker, you could almost shrink that down and fit it into his eye cavity, or cut away the skull to make it fit.

I always imagined him as quite clean looking,a kind of a military flavour (think evangelion). Seems like he came from the peak of human engineering before the wars, these dudes were the best that they could make. I feel like your designs are a little too bitsy at the moment. you could try that layered costume thing again and have this stuff hinting through under a larger breast plate, i reckon these large pieces could bring the whole together.

Did the stalkers start out as a complete person, with robot enhancements, or do they just keep the guts and brain etc? seems like most unnecessary flesh would almost be gone with age and battles, or at least battered to hell.

I also think some symmetry in his design could go along way. but you could break this silhouette in some places with areas of self repair he's had to do over the centuries, this could be where you bring in the newer (steampunk/clunky) elements. Also think about what caused the damage? could give you some cool back story elements.

hope something in there gets you thinking, keep it up man, look forward to seeing some more stuff tonight.
Law

[Cavematty]

Hey Law, thanks for your thoughtful comments.
Im not sure about making the shrike tooo evangelion. I think he might look funny in this world if he's too high tech. Also, look at the newest tanks out, they dont look sleek cos theyre new, still very functional. I think shrike would be functional rather than anime robot. Also for his relationship with Hester he needs to be quite human still. Horrific, scary, and robotic, but we still need to see the human in him. That said, I think ur right about getting larger shapes into his design, and i could def tech him up some, without hitting evangelion level.

Here are a couple of studies, cos my thread needed some colour. First up a bust study from an unknown source on flickr, second, a Malcolm Liepke study. That guys stuff is amazing!

[humanNature6115]

Bridgmans my homeboy


=================================
:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop: Sketchbook:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=120761

[Law]

Ha! i dont think imagined that either actually! lol. But they have that freaky silhouette i imagined. Though you may have taken that a little to literally. If anything i imagine that mixed with a lot of the grittier robot aesthetic. Though these concepts from weta (http://www.wetaworkshop.co.nz/projects/filmography/film/neon_genesis) are more what i was imagining when i mentioned it. Particularly 10 and 21. With more of the human influence.

Great studies too bro. Im gonna do some!!!! ill post soon. unless they turn out shit. Keep cranking it man.

[Thaw Naing]

i dont have too long, but its great to see ur still rocking on as usual.
None of this is anything about design, but thoughts that may come in handy, and u may have already thot of them.

i began starting to think about if were a cyborg, what parts of the human body would I replace, especially as a soldier: what advantages could robotics bring, and what parts are best left human. so here are my thoughts...

eye – addition of different forms of vision that humans cannot see, to aid in battle. perhaps not necessarily a cybernetic eye, as the human eye still performs a great job in detecting light, but more so a robotic lens/googles that modern soldiers have to provide infrared/nightvision. the reason im against robotic eyes is that it takes alot of processing power to judge depth perception while humans can do it in a split second. (have a look at how retarded the most technologically advanced robots being made in japan are, they need like a billion sensors just to reach for a cup 2 feet away), which brings me to my next part, the brain/skull - i would keep a human brain for seer processing power, and morality/decision making is perhaps what defines us as having humanity. I would replace our human skull with steel though.
Ears – having two ears is still more effective than having one speaker, as to judge direction, but perhaps a hit of an extra sonar sensor to detect vibrations. Nose – what do u need a nose for!? When you’re a cyborg, you probably don’t eat much, so point smelling food. Theres no point in smell as an advantage because in battle, you wouldn’t be sniffing to see where the gunpowder came from...if I was a cyborg however, I would have some sort of machine for breathing, to suck in more oxygen and expel co2 wastes, and also a filter system to get rid of toxins.
Im undecided about the heart, I think blood is required for muscles (unless u can just fire electrons to contract them) so I guess id have to keep one, but like the brain, I would actually get rid of my skeletal ribs and replace them with a metal chassis.

Arms – I would be tempted to replace arms to be made of metal as bones break too easily. Human arms/hands will give more dexterity, but I guess a soldier robot only needs to be able to hold a rifle, hmm maybe I would have one of each! :p might look stupid as a design though
Legs/lowerbody would be where the biggest changes id make are, were useless if a leg got torn off. The problem with human leg muscles is quick muscle burn, with the thigh being the muscle that requires the most energy, making it robotic would be sweet, meaning long distance running, and quicker sprinting because of the extended gait. I would not get rid of the Achilles tendon as the articulation of the foot is what gives us quick maneuverable feet and therefore superior balance, but I would protect it with a metal case show how. I would put an extra piston/mechanics in the calf so I can jump 20 feet in the air hahah. Anyway I know this is going all scientific, which I would throw away a little in order to get a better design, but u mentioned functionality and just providing some starting points, it was fun thinking about being a cyborg n all haha.

Btw have u seen skip aka Malcolm lipeke’s portrait of bob Dylan? I swear it’s the best portrait in the world. Its unbelievable. You wont find it on the net I don’t think, ive got a shitty colour photocopy on my wall, been trying to track down a print for years but cant find one. It seems it must have been a personal commission for mr Dylan.

[Cavematty]

Hey thanks guys.

Law - yeah my bad. Taking ur shit too literally! And yeah, that silhouette is cool - I had already stolen a similar one from brom, but it was a bit more organic! ha. But yeah, helps looking through that stuff, as a new influence style wise. thanks :)

Thaw - As always - a massive, thought out and helpful post. You should be applying to the US military, not weta for work :P All good rationales for the design, will think on it a bit more. Today I was going to make my focus the idea that they are resurrected after their death - and their memories erased. So it is kinda unwilling, they become empty slaves to the machine, emotions removed. So I want to try and get that enslaved, trapped feeling across in the design. But your logic really does help, even to change my thinking a bit on how to make decisions about parts.

And thanks for those reference books, they will definitely come in handy.
I'm going back to Valentine for a bit soon, maybe tomorrow, so will be looking at them then :)

So here's todays Shrike drawings:

[Cavematty]

Thaw - got your email bro! Love that Dylan pick. Used to have a colour photocopy of it on my wall too! It was from an illustration annual or communication arts magazine that I got it. But a mate of mine has a massive book full of portraits done for rolling stone magazine. Pretty sure this is scan from there - recognise the type and everything.
I was actually real stoked to find that Liepke folder in the image library you gave Law, cos I had lost track of the artist. But then I came upon him again serendipitously. Stoked :)
Thanks for the hi res tho :) and yup, it is my desktop :) eeee

Snuck a little study in tonight too.
Bet you can't guess who the original was by. Mine is humbled by his, but it was a lot of fun.

[Cavematty]

Another shrike study. Trying to make the machine feel like it envelops the original man. Also - a silhouette of it, to show what would grab your eye when confronting it. Those lights would be like big sinister eyes. I'm thinking you wouldn't look too much at the human face and arms unless he was talking...

[Cavematty]

I cannot believe the next CA workshop is in Wellington. I am so excited I feel anxious. Panic attack coming on... AAAAAGH!

Variation on the last one. bit of a quickie :)

[Cavematty]

Hey guys.
Got a bit carried away with this one. It's Batmunkh Ghompa again (that spelling probably isnt even close :P).

Thats a ruined traction city in the fg, oh and in the mg, oh and two more pulled up against the wall. Thats why its called the 'shield wall'. :)

[HunterKiller_]

Epic painting!

Great life drawings.

Look forward to meeting you at the workshop. :D

[Cavematty]

Yeah Boi! New Zealand in the house!

Still so excited. Ima get me all the massive black cock that I can :)
Ima stay up all night and roll around in it! Haha!

Awesome. Thanks for stopping by man :P

[Cavematty]

Yup, going back through the characters. Time to make some decisions, and do some refining of designs.

Any comments welcome. Will be working on him again tomorrow I think :)

[Thaw Naing]

watup
just a quickie, Batmunkh Ghompa looks fantastic,but theres a few things i would quickly work on, which is to go over the man-made structures (buildings/wall) and straighten up the lines/edges, maybe even with the shift button. the shadow side of the buildings in the front need a little bit of reflected light and hint at structure. it maybe the export of jpeg that has gotten rid of some detail. remember i still have a crappy screen and i tend to see things quite dark.
small things. rest is all gud, cant wait to see it all come together.

had a wicked time at the foo fighters, did get a chance to clear my head, and im gona start a concept art project right after i do 1 last painting. ive got it mapped out in my head, so ill be writing it up soon. would be wickd if u n law keep me on track once i get it started.

n whhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaa workshop in nz?

[Cavematty]

Thaw - Yeah man, workshop in NZ :) yup. its real. I already pinched myself A LOT of times :) Ur project sounds great, if ambitious, but that sums you up to a tee :) Glad foos was awesome. Was jealous, but dont care now that the workshop is coming :P WOOP!
Thanks for ur crits on that last enviro painting, I will take ur comments on board, but not working on it again today... couple days away from touching that one again :)

Heres some historian gown variations. Just posting for my own sake - keeping it all together :P More soon :)

[Tim_Gibson]

Nice dude, coming along :) I think you could throw some of the cloth over their shoulders - break up the current 'shell' look.

[Cavematty]

Hey guys, long time no post. Been working on a job the last couple weeks. Been doing a bit of drawing, but not as much. Will be updating again this week :)

Here are a couple of portraits I did of my gf, and flatmate. Likenesses are both horrible - way too manly. But enjoyed them. Then a bunch of gesture studies, ending with some from my imagination. Trying to get better at that. Will take some serious practise I can tell. And at the end a wee landscape study.

[Leo Ki]

Hey Matty, looks like you made all the tiny water ripples by hand over a colored layer?
The second portrait conveys good feelings. Will you paint it later?
I still haven't read the book (all my free time spent stuck on the tablet) but your project looks like rolling well and keeps being intriguing. Will you also sketch a few particular scenes of the story as a study of the characters in situation?

[Cavematty]

Leo - hey man, thanks for always checking in :) Ripple by hand? Hell no! Its just a soft edged round brush, but I flattened the tip, then put some scatter on it. Then you can just brush in colours and it looks like water ripples. Real cheap but looks ok. As for characters in environments - Yeah I do plan to do that eventually. Just the design phase is taking me oh such a long time!

Here's some updates from the last few days:
First up, a shrike update. Tried to make my favourite robot design a bit scarier, more aggresive. He still needs roughing up a bit. Rust marks, blood stains etc. And his legs need some serious designing still!

[Cavematty]

Here's some new development on Valentine. I think I prefer the second from the left in the lineup. The rendered up one isn't necessarily my final choice. just a render excercise.

[Cavematty]

A bit of weapon design for the same book. some gun sihlouettes.
Any favourites?

[Chally]

I like the loading of the 9th gun (third row, far right). Assuming that's what the tubes are for. I like the junkyard/steampunk look the weapons seem to have. Good job!

[Twisted Synapses]

Great concepts, love the costumes!

[Thaw Naing]

heybud, gud to see ya crankin on. those guns are pretty sweetas. my two cents, some of them i can see have an influence from modern guns, colts/carbines/usp/steyr - know my guns too well. but theres also many that look really unique. i like the 5th row down, 1st one. those mechanical handles/switches are very intersting. i dont know much about steampunk, but it looks part of the world.
i got a new imac! im now broke! :lounge: haha

[Neolight]

Cavematty, your tonal pieces in the beginning of the SB are particularly awesome.

I also really like your character design thumbs. Whats the process with those? Silhouettes and then breaking up shapes from there?

[Cavematty]

Hey guys, Bit of an update on the project. Here are the finals at the level I got them to under my time constraint. Will put some more work on that project, but maybe not this week. Be a bit busy with some paid work ;P

The guns were done according to Coro's process on his downloadable tut, which was quite good btw :)

Chally - Cheers matey. Glad you got that feel from the guns. That's what I was going for :) Sorry I didn't run with your favourite :P had to cut a few I liked.

Twisted Synapses - thanks buddi.
Thaw - Awesome! did you get the 24? Guido just got one of those - was using it today. The screens are AMAZING! peuw! Want one :) My comp has been giving me trouble, so might look at starting a savings account for one of them :P
Neolight - Thanks mate. Yeah, I've had a really positive response from those tonal ones. Probably get mentioned more than anything else in the whole thread - even though they were really quick. I think I'm going to look into doing more in that direction / exploring the style more :P
As for the silhouettes, yeah just make a shape and carve back into it. It's a really fast way of trying ideas. I kinda stole it from Bumskee - the first Anna Fang thumbnail is actually basically a copy of one of his pics. So if you wanna try the style I'd go do a search for his thread and have a nose around in there :)

[Thaw Naing]

sweet. i get to b the first to say those are fucking awesume man. especially the rendering on shrike; the cyborg, n the palette of the cityshots
yes! paid work! gudshit. big fan.

[Eytan]

cool stuff man, love those landscape studies! can't wait to see more

[Hybrid_75]

you gotta great sketch book going on here. too much for me to go through right now. will check it all out though. Nice enviroments.

[CeeJay]

New Zealand represent :P nice mate. You have a pretty decent work ethic i must say. Lovin that mass of work. HAve you found work as a concept artist? If you dont mind me asking ><

[Cavematty]

Thaw - chur CHUR! ha. thanks for the enthusiasm. Sorry to mess u around with the programs. Hope ur new mrs doesn't get too neglected now u've got em :P

Quick_Sketch - thanks man... here comes the more :)

Hybrid - thanks yo. It's funny about the environments. People seem to be split between thinking they are my strongest and my weakest works. haha.

CeeJay - Nz Fo shizzle! You know we're getting the next CA workshop in Wellywood aye?! As for work, I am actually starting a trial on monday. Hoping I can hold onto it, but I'll try my darndest :)

As I said last time, tied up with proper work. Gotta pay those billz
Here's a minor update: Some lifedrawing, and my first shot at painting a traction city! woah its big :P

[CeeJay]

nice nice. Good update.It'd be wicked to see that from a persons perspective, it mammoth, and snap! good luck with that job man. As for the wellyworkshopzomgonebigwordforonecoolevent yeah man i hope to go and bring some of the CPIT possy with me as well. Im thinking about buying a laptop specially for it but im not sure if its needed >< may just rent one.

[Hybrid_75]

that last one is great, good sense of scale. awesome.

[D.O.Jones]

Really nice stuff in the last couple of posts. That traction city is excellent!

[Leo Ki]

Traction city is kickass!
The old deep tracks add to the realism, very smart touch.

Thanks for the tip about the waves.
I don't have photoshop but it's good to know.

[destinyapocalypse]

cool designs and i love your last post it fantastic design

[Cavematty]

CeeJay - Yep. Workshop will be amazing. Tickets on sale today apparently. I'll be getting mine this weekend :) I posted a render of the city from a persons POV for ya. Its not painted up though. Think I'm gonna let that project rest for a little while.
Hybrid_75 - thanx man
D.O.Jones - thanks yous!
Leo Ki - oh sorry dude! Just figured you had it :( Keep on truckin!
destinyapocalypse - thanks man :)

Been very busy with work lately, but here are some lifedrawings. Felt I needd to update. Oh and the POV render for CJ

[Cavematty]

Just forcing myself to keep this thread ticking over or else I'll give up. Sorry for the lame update! Best of my digi gesture studies tonight. 90 secs

Better stuff soon :) Starting on some bargues this week :)

[Kian]

I like what youve got going on here mate. Love traction city.

[RandAlThor]

That city is sweet... you could make a whole story to this too. keep posting ;-)

[Verehin]

Very imagine pieces!

[Cavematty]

IM ALLLLLIIIIIIIVVVVVEEEEEE!
haha. just a wee photo study to get started again.
Workshop soon woooooooooooooooo!
thanks for comments guys!

[towy]

ow i think you have great talent, continue it's really interesting!

[Cavematty]

Thanks Towarlock :)

Here's a new photo study

[Leo Ki]

Man, was high time, your sketchbook was about to turn moldy :)
Nice warm lighting on these studies, and you let me wondering
about your picking the right texturing while on speed mode.
Is your book adaptation on standby?

[abaker]

some very nice work 'ere matty! i know i sit but a few cubes away from ya... but hey... really enjoyed the pose studies! great work!

[Cavematty]

Hey Leo, thanks for staying loyal despite my neglect! Book adaptation has basically been canned. I was doing it as a portfolio and it got me the work I wanted (which is what also silenced my sketchbook). I am still drawing heaps though, just can't share much of it. Getting back into the personal stuff more this year though.

abaker - chur my cube brother :) Your stuff is poppin! Great to see you on here finally :)

Here are some watercolour sketches. I bought a little travel watercolour set before the summer break, and endeavour to keep up the sketches on a regular basis. They are all A5, done on site. New adventure for me but I already feel it improving my ability to visualise what I am going to do before I do it. Digital is too forgiving to teach you to plan a brushstroke, or even an image at times. Anyways, here are the first few :)

[Cavematty]

WIP illus.

[Duq]

Great that you started posting again. Looking good man!

[Hive_minD]

love the pencils and figures. Truly beautiful!

[paperX]

loving the watercolours man, composition looks pretty sweet on the illustration so far, keep it up!

[Cavematty]

Hey guys, thanks for the support.
Here's a quick imagination drawing. Happy how it came out. I know it's cliche'd but if you look back through my thread it wasn't long ago I couldn't draw anything without accurate reference. This I knocked out quick and painlessly on a whim. All the hard work is gradually paying off :P
Might work into it more, but here it is for now.

[Jakers]

the watercolors are definately nice! done over a rough sketch? congrats on getting some use out of the set you purchased. I agree and think there are many lessons to be learned from traditional mediums.

The last sketch is neat! i really like the mechanical parts of the arm, it looks quite functional. It reminds me a quite a bit of Predators. To make the action more dynamic, I would suggest rotating the hand down or up so its not parallel with the wrist.

[Hybrid_75]

Hey man, I like the watercolours very nice. and that latest wip is looking great. Cool seeing you the other day as well. I was a bit overwhelmed at the time as I'm sure you'll understand :) Well good stuff, good to see you posting I gotta get my A into gear on this again too.

[JailHouseRock2]

CCCCooooooollll stuff man, haven't been here in a while, and your improving heaps.

Love the life drawings and studies and great line work in all.
traction city is awesome too.

keep it up mate,
matt

[Lyno]

Great sketchbook Cavematty, keep it up!

[paperX]

fucking ace man! really digging that sketch, the arm is really well designed :) i reckon just give the hues a bit more oomph and sharpen some of the edges for a bit more contrast? good job man, can't wait till the next update!

[Ricardo Robles]

The traction city is an awesome idea, great impact! and your watercolors are so good, I love them. so much creativity here!
keep it uP

[tsimps]

Hey man!! I haven't checked your sb in way too long so thought I'd swing by- must say I like what you've done with the place. Loving the gesture studies- the ones from imagination are just as strong as the others. Shot bro. Also there was some traction city stuff I haven't seen before- did you do this after finishing your portfolio??
See you soon cousin

[Thaw Naing]

hey matty, its wicked to see uve kept on keeping on! nice stuff. i just got picked up for a concept art job in welly,. im stoked. chances are we're working on the same project! get excited!

[Cavematty]

Mr Thaw Dogg - Yeah keeping at it a little. Work takes up my time though :P Stoekd about the job. I'll track you down and find out more :)

Poppa Simpson - Thanks buddi! the traction city stuff was after i finished my folio and hand landed a job, but before I had started said job. Was just keeping the skills up while finishing up some contract work. Hows the illus going? Hope ur not TOO chained to that desk?

Ricardo - You're right, traction cities are an AMAZING idea, but alas I cannot take the credit. It's from 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve. Great book - you should read it if you have the time. Awesome scope. The design on that one is pretty preliminary :P not too refined. Ha. but thanks :)

PaperX - Thanks mang! The arm is interesting, but in terms of design parts dont really work.... but hey, I won't point out the problems, just roll aroudn in the praise! Thanks buddi! Great to see the momentum you kicked up this year!

Lyno - Churs man, I'll be along to yours for a wee looky promptly!

Jailhouserock - thanks man. Repeat visitor? Awesome! I'm hitting my demographic! Ha. I'll stop in on you this arvo buddi. Replies are a coming!

Dr Fearnaux - Nope, can't spell your name for ballz. Thanks for the kind words man. You've seemed a bit less nervous lately - and deservedly so. Your work is sharp. Keep it cranking buddi. Still gotta buy you that beer!

Jakers - Thanks man. Yeah watercolours usually over a rough sketch. Cos watercolour is so unforgiving for a wrong mark, I always tend to map it out a bit first. Might try to get away from that eventually, but still getting used to it again. Great advice on that pic. It was just a sketch, so i never intended to re-visit it, but I might make this change, I think you're right - it will surely help :)

Thanks for the kindness of replies despite my slow updates! Here are some lifedrawings from Dr Sketchy's premier in wellington. It was a very fun event, though from a lifedrawing standpoint - a bit frustrating. The models were happy and playful, and created a great ambience. But they covered their anatomy with wigs and feather boas, and the second model would come last at operation cos she sat about as still as a metronome (and if you are wondering about my drawings the second model was an acclaimed drag queen, and not a petite one!). The longest pose of the whole thing was about 10 mins. That said I really enjoyed the day, and drawing clothed models is a fresh change. The models were Eva Strangelove, and Ruby Rouge I believe. Will go along next time, but for real study I'll stay loyal to Vincents xD This seemed more like pandering to what the general public THINK life drawing is about.
Each page is A3

[Frank Gressie]

good life-drawings! is that pencil or charcoal? One thing i'm told, especially in a 10 min range, is not pay to much attention to detail...only the 'block in' part, so don't waste time drawing a face or fingers, try to capture the gesture and such. But that will come in time i guess.. haha!
You're doing great, so keep this up!

frank

[Cavematty]

Frank G - Thanks man! Yeah I know I need to be more disciplined and work on my structure and block in more :P Here are some lifedrawings I did on thursday night. I've been studying Villpu and trying to think more in terms of form etc. These ones were short poses except for the last which was 40 mins (but didn't get that much further :P But yeah, after your comment I thought I would post them - as I agree with you completely and am trying to move in the direction you are talking of.

Materials - its a Nero lead - which I think is a charcoal graphite blend. It comes in these sticks that you use in a holder, much like a clutch pencil, except the lead is as thick as compressed charcoal - 6mm ish. So you can get really varied thick and thin lines, and they're easy to sharpen. Would definitely reccommend :) Lets you work large-ish too if you want.

[Cavematty]

Hey guys,
Bought a moleskin ages ago. Was very hesitant to start in it - those little suckas are SPENDY! But finally made a go of it. The preciousness has made me slow down and take a bit more time with the drawings I do in it - a great lesson in and of itself. First drawing is from photo ref. Second pic [the spread] is on the left, a study of a James Jean pencil. Secondly a portrait of my girlfriend [which came out far more manly than she actually looks!] - done while she was drawing, so she was tilting her head every which way. Hard angle to draw without her fidgeting!
Also had the bright idea of pasting a bargue drawing on a facing page so I could do my first bargue copy. Pasted it in on a spread at the centre of a fold, so that it is one page opened flat that I am actually drawing on. This reduces the moleskins tendancy to pull closed/distort my perspective on the reference page. So far so good (tho I have plenty more work to do). The idea is I'll be able to prod at it on lunchbreaks now that its more portable than the big wood mounted one I started a while ago :)

[Hybrid_75]

I'm still nervous as f#&k but I'll get over it. These latest sketches are really lookin great. The drawings of the male figure are really nice. Looks like a good model too. I did some life drawing for the first time in a long time, real crap compared to your stuff. keep it comming dude.

[Frank Gressie]

haha, yeah i have that 'problem' too, those expensive moleskines. If i see someone in the SB area that are just scribling away with some lousy unfinished studies/sketches or something, makes me wonder why don't do that on regular copy paper...i only do studies and finished drawings in them, or else its a waste :P
Your lifedrawings are getting better by the update! Lovely lines in the moleskine too, keep it going mate!

frank

[kinjura]

This is a fabulous sketchbook. Your studies are a real inspiration and I love your approach to your moleskin (I'm totally stealing that!).

How are you liking the Vilpuu approach to the figure? I discovered him while I was in school and was lucky enough to grab a bite to eat with him and let him draw in my sketchbook; the guy is incredible and he's so kind and gentle. It's very difficult to be frustrated around him!

Congrats on the job and best of luck!

[MacTire]

Really nice work CaveMatt! Really liking the gun designs, especially the use of those machine parts (a brush I presume?). Also loving those cityshots and character costme variations!

Keep up the good work!

[domo arigato]

Yo dude, wow! what sweet sketchbook you have going here. 5 stars from me. Such kick ass variety..you're really showing off how versatile you are. Really digging the life drawings as well. I need to start some bargue drawings of my own. And yeah those little fuckers (moleskine) can get expensive. Haha, I too am terrified to draw in them. BUt oh man they're so nice. Anyway, keep it up. You're improving every post and I think its awesome.

-Andrew

[JailHouseRock2]

Really nice shit man, great to see you updating again!

Fantastic life drawings dude!

cheers
matt.

[Thaw Naing]

very nice progress matty- everytime i get going with any barque, life gets in the way and ive had to stop mid way on two still lifes! had a read of 'cast drawing' (sightsize) and its amazing, borrow it off me when u can. the films been put in limbo, so im doing my own thing for now n kickin it on conceptart as much as possible. so ill catch ya around here

[Cavematty]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words!

Hybrid - Thanks brutha! I really gotta buy you that beer aye? Long overdue...

Frank - Thanks matey! Yeah, it makes me wonder too. Those dudes are earning too much! Its a wee lesson in itself for me. And the moleskin is going to take me about a year to fill up at this rate! But the drawings are staying sold so that's key :)

Kinjura - Thanks mate. Yeah I'm digging Villpu's approach. Havnt managed to keep the studies up on a regular basis so I feel it slipping again... but definitely has merit. I would love to be able to draw figures from my imagination well. I'm sure I'll get there eventually. Stoked you got to meet him, what was he like? Sounds like he's pretty cool and mellow if you got him to draw in your book over lunch. I feel pretty isloated over here in NZ sometimes. Not many people of that calibre teaching down here. Though I have been very lucky lately.

MacTire - yep, i made a few brushes for those guns. Its the smart way to go. Still had to trim some fat in terms of the shitty silhouettes though. There were plenty of them :P

Domo Arigato - Thanks Buddy! 5 stars? Generous! Ty.Big fan of your stuff, so the kind words mean a lot :)

Jailhouse - Thanks duder.

Thaw - that sucks man. Well I am positive it is only temporary limbo, but you never know how long that could be.... sometimes long long times.... You should keep in touch with him and flick him new work maybe. Great guy to know. I'll post an update of the bargue soon too. It's getting there :)


Onto the Update.... Some illustrations I did for a company in wellington called Locales. They are a bit rough, as I had to do 13 or so pics in one weekend to make a deadline. But it was good fun. The style and compositions were art directed by a great artist and friend Stephen Crowe (http://www.stephencrowe.net/). Unfortunately his site is under construction, but you can see from the teaser that his stuff is shit-hot!

The images were done in various resolutions so that they could be animated in after effects, so the texture varies due to the amount of zoom it has to accomodate. Style has restricted saturation and a certain roughness to the linework to reference a historical period of illustration. These and the others I didn't post are now part of an installation at the Stonestore (http://kerikeri.co.nz/feature.cfm?WPID=2323) in Keri Keri. The Stonestore is NZ's oldest stone building (I think) yet is only 170 years old. Very telling about our history as a nation, and so much interesting history associated with it.

[JailHouseRock2]

Great set of illustrations mate, some better than others but all great work!

Really love the one with them silhouetted against the sky (great colours in the sky and great angle!) and the lighting in the one with the boy staring out the window.

Cool work, and I'm still amazed by your life drawings!

P.S, and yeah, I'm pretty sure the Stonestore our oldest building.

Cheers bro,
matt

[Cavematty]

Jailhouse - Ha, you gotta be subscribed to reply that fast! Thanks buddi. Yeah they are very up and down. There's a couple of bad ones I didnt post. 13 illustrations in two days is a tall order for me. Couldn't quite keep the quality up. But it was a lot of fun, and trying out the style, quite different to the way I usually work, was very satisfying (on some at least). I can't take too much credit for them - Stephen, the art director, had a very clear plan for the whole thing. Otherwise I still woulda been floundering come sunday night! ha. But thanks for the kind words :)

Update : Don't know if you'd go so far as to call this fanart. Was trying out the style of an illustrator I love. It's close, in places, but overall misses the mark a bit. Design is a bit screwy too... wasn't really paying much attention to that while I was working :P
Can anyone guess the artist?

Had heaps of fun and figured out some new working methods on this one. haha. The detail is just to show the texture I got in there. If you're interested.

Matty

[Cavematty]

Here's the detail:

[juicy]

im drooling over your moleskin pages man!
they look so fresh :)

this last tank is awesome as well. keep up the good work

Jack

[Cavematty]

Hey Juicy, thanks man, Here's a couple more for ya!
Mostly drawn in a Borders bookstore cafe, with my good friend Andy Shaw (http://andyshaw.co.nz)

[willmunny]

Your moleskine work is really great! I had that problem with not wanting to "ruin" it too. I just force myself to use it, with the promise that I'd do more "finished" sketches/studies. I use another el-cheapo book for rough stuff like gestures or testing out pens, or drawing things that I'm really not confident about.

Would you mind enlightening me as to how you did that fine hatching/rendering on the last post (230)? It's beautiful.

[Shadow Stalker]

Hey man... I really enjoy the moleskin sketches. Nice work man.

[Shadow Stalker]

Love the gun silhouettes.

[jackpot_anjr90]

Nice work! I don't know why but I'm in love with the last figure drawing of post 216. The way you captured the rhythm in the second picture of that same post is great too! Looking forward to more :)

[Dent]

Heya Matty, it's Claire - I finally joined, heh heh..! Now, to post stuff... though I guess I ought to stop freaking out a bit first D:
Beautiful Moleskin work... hmm... I think I know what to get Paul as a pressie XD

[paperX]

sorry I haven't dropped by in ages man, once uni started all that momentum just went out the door haha :(

loving all the updates i missed tho! the moleskine bargue drawing idea is brilliant! mind if I steal it? :P

The illustrations look great too but I really like the painting in post 227, really captured the traditional look, I'm guessing its inspired by ashley wood?

It's 2010 now so I hope you update with more arts! :)

[Cavematty]

ok... so it's been a few years. No bombshell to drop in here or anything. Just slinking back in with some sketches. Hoping this SB will help keep me honest again :P

Quick studies today:

[Cavematty]

Another lil head study. Internet is hooked up at our apartment now too :)

[Cavematty]

Some more photo studies. Practise grouping tones, especially on the left one. Of course the ref made it easy.

[Mane]

that en plein air study is great dude.

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Cavematty I've really enjoyed looking through your sketchbook. You are making great progress and I really like your fluid lines in your life drawings. Also love your summer vacation sketchbook, I'm always trying to do the same but the weather seems to always put paid to my efforts! Great to see what you can do though. :)

[Cavematty]

Just a bit of a jam tonight. Gotta keep at it :)

Edit: Hmm. Soon as you post, you see the weirdness... something weird with the way he's holding the bow, Like it intersects his raised knee. And his front arm is holding it wrong. Either that or the bowstring is caught in his armpit. Ha. Fail. Will have to keep at this one... but here it is anyway, in all it's gammy-ness. It was good fun.

[Tim_Gibson]

Sup Matty. Maybe the arm holding the bow is a bit long?

[Cavematty]

Hey Tim!
Random to see you on here again!
Yeah that arm is long :) thanks for the input.

Here's a little scribble, based on a cool little everyday composition I saw when out running a few days ago. Colour to come.

[Cavematty]

Lil painting of the view. Was facing into the sun, so I had to put on a black tee and hunch over the laptop the whole time. Made use of the early start though :)

[Law]

Hey man! So good to see you on here. I left a rant about it after your bow dude, then mistakenly convinced myself it was a post from 2006 (your joining date) and deleted it.

So good to see you still cranking, love it.

MORE!

[Cavematty]

WOOP! Heya Law.
Still checking your subs? Or just random coincidence :)
Yeah, thought it would be good to put the sketchy stuff out somewheres again. Only put more finished-ey stuff on the blog and webby these days. This just makes me think more about going somewhere with my sketches.

Here are some watercolours I did during a recent trip through Asia. Didn't do nearly as much drawing and painting as I hoped. Took a million photos and kept a good written journal though. So will do some 'inspired-by' pics at some point.

[Cavematty]

The above are (in the order they appear):

View from Peng Chau Island in Hong Kong;

Temple in Tongli, near Shanghai, China;

Karst in Halong Bay, Vietnam;

'The Outside Inn', near Yanghsuo, Guilin, Southern China;

and finally a quick sketch of the river near the base of Huangshan, Anhui, China.

Only have digital snaps and the lappy screen to work from at the moment, so not sure how accurate these colours are, but will have to do for now :)

[Marian Rowling]

Hey Cavematty I really love the Asia watercolours. Especially the first one where you have managed to control the watercolours to create the crest of the waves. Looks really good. :)

[Cavematty]

Just jamming tonight. Day was busy but needed to draw :)