Daestwen's Sketchbook (Update 03/31/10)

[daestwen]

Mark: Thanks so much!

Aly: Thanks! And I totally agree about the hand studies... unfortunately i am a bad person and haven't gotten around to doing them yet. >_<

Quike: Thanks so much :]

miycko: Thank you!

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Not a lot of an update i'm afraid. I've been working my butt off for a freelance project but can't show any of it. So you'll just be seeing scraps from the last month, unfortunately...

sketch for the chow 'seasons' - winter:



A wedding dress design:



the famous nibru:



self portrait for the chow masquerade...




and a bunch of designs for chow.

[Quike Garcia]

Really nice scraps

I like the idea for winter I'll just add some furs in some points, like in the hood or a muff..

Lovely masquerade drawing

[daestwen]

I couldn't sleep tonight, so instead i drew this.

[daestwen]

Another steampunk style wedding dress...

[Aly Fell]

[Quike Garcia]

Looks really lovely

[daestwen]

Thanks guys!

Today is international portrait day... ... ...

[LORD M]

Ooo! These are lovely! I really like those steam punk wedding dresses. It looks a bit Western Cowboy time inspired.

[BlightedArt]

Goes without saying but: You've improved a lot since page 1 of your sketchbook. Sometimes people don't notice that But yeah, just pitching it: "you've improved a lot"

Keep it up!

[daestwen]

Lord M: Thanks! And yeah, though mostly late victorian inspired... but that's when the cowboys were, so! ;]

BlightedArt: Thanks so much! Yeah that's why I like this sketchbook... If i go back to the first few pages I can feel good about my work for a few minutes.

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Aaaand I totally forgot to post over the last month. Time is just flashing by so fast!!

Here's some stuff I've done in the meantime...

Here's a further along version of winter... I never did finish it, I got bored.



A chow from a couple weeks ago, the Steampunk Harem Boy...



And here's the chow I'm currently working on, the Morrigan.



Two versions of a Life Drawing portrait I did over two sittings... the First from the first week, and the second a continuation the next week (he changed shirts!)

[Nemome]

Great works!
Your great with clothing!
What programm do you use for your paintings?
Did you have any books for learning?

Greetings, silwynar

[zimfin]

I like the second shirt better anyway. Keep up the good work.

[jcpahl]

The characters look really good; your costume-designs are great (and something I envy); Winged-Steampunk-Harem-Boy is especially cool. Great improvement through this book, as well.

I think one thing that might improve your work even more would be to really emphasize the lighting, with more strong directional lights and hard-edged cast shadows; most of your paintings right now are very diffused; I think you could add a lot of drama and realism by playing with some trickier lighting.

And on a couple of your pieces, I think the brush-strokes are getting a bit scratchy, which is detracting from the coherency of the piece. The solution to that, obviously, is to always use the biggest brush possible (Sargent's advice).

[daestwen]

Silwynar: Hiya! Thank you! I paint in photoshop usually. To be honest, it's been a while since I've bought drawing books... I find video / classes help me better because I can watch while it's being done. CA has some really good videos... have you seen them yet?

zimfin: Thanks!

jcpahl: Thanks so much! Hehe, yeah, i struggle with lighting a lot, which is what I was trying to push myself with when it came to the steampunk harem painting. I'll keep at it! I agree with the brush strokes too... If you can't tell I haven't developed a method of painting yet... I kind of do it differently every time! Lately i've been trying to do it a lot looser and rely less on my line art but it's hard. Bigger brushes would probably help. :]

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In the meantime, from Portrait painting today... It's not totally done, will be finishing it at next week's session.

[daestwen]

Okay, it's been a while since I updated this. Woops.

Here's some stuff!



The finished version of Morrigan, for chow.



Two versions of a dress design.



Steampunk clothing design.



And another two week portrait.

[MrParker]

I really like those dress designs and mannequin like people. They make me think fashion illustration, while I have little interest in fashion itself, I find the style and illustrations quite engaging.

[ASVogel]

These are looking more and more polished as you go!

[daestwen]

MrParker: Thanks! So do I, it was definitely what I was going for.

AikidoAl: thanks :]


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And a (slightly edited) version of the pin-up I did for last weeks chow, Round 190 :: Kitsune

[yoitisi]

Hot stuff!

[Quike Garcia]

Woo, sexy...

[daestwen]

Quike and Yoi: Thanks!

Couple of things I've been working on...

[Quike Garcia]

The second one is based on Cleopatra story? Nice

[Ardescoere]

Love the cleopatra. Your digital rendering skills are getting better and better the more you go!

Let's see more updates

[daestwen]

Quike Garcia: Yep! I'm not totally happy with it though. I'll have to start over with it...

Ardescoere: Thank you! And yes ma'am! ;]

[daestwen]

Couple of things!

First is a touch-up of one of the steampunk wedding dresses I did.

Second is a sketch for a dress that I'm working on. :]

[Verehin]

Very nice!

[FraserMcT]

Steampunk wedding dress is awesome. If I was a woman, then I would have no shame wearing that, only pride!
Thanks for the twitter post saying that updated your sketchbook. Really helpful

[daestwen]

Trying to pull something together for this : http://thelastunicornartshow.blogspot.com/

Really could use some critiques. :/

Here's the sketch and the colouring so far....

There are things totally off that I can see kind of but not well enough to know how to fix them. Fresh eyes would be a huge help.

[Molly]

I hope you dont mind, I made a few adjustments to her eyes, shoulder and boobs, but not too much, I think you are spot on, just needed nudging.. Mx

[Quike Garcia]

Man, how I like that film...