Holy crap I've gotten better since my first post. Thanks CA!

[iambanana]

Currently painting live, and I'd really appreciate it if someone could pop in and give me some live crits! http://www.livestream.com/iambanana

[iambanana]

A little something before bed. Not quite happy with it yet, but I might post it in the crit section and try to get some feedback to make it pop. Partially referenced.

[TinyBird]

Decided to drop a line too, and after looking through your sketchbook I might drop these for you as I think looking into these as a book and practice would be helpful for you:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=227076
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=107217

[iambanana]

Thanks Tiny. I did exactly what you said and did a couple of quick studies, using that thread as a guide.

[Hexokinase]

Great studies so far - Keep them up!

For your studies, try to pay careful attention to the edges - not only the outlines of your major objects but the edges of each individual brush stroke as well. Some edges are harder than others, and this can help to describe form and texture.

Some of your brush strokes look a little petted. The edge of the mug's shadow is especially culprit. It's generally recommended to try to use the largest brush you can get away with, as it leads to a cleaner look with superior brush economy. I noticed that the petted strokes are also low opacity. I prefer to use as opaque a brush as possible for all the initial blobs, then using lower opacity brushes if necessary during the blending stage.

There are a few helpful links in my sig that you should check out if you haven't seen them already - as there's some useful and more comprehensive info inside. http://www.huevaluechroma.com/ is a bit technical, but also very eye opening for understanding color.

[iambanana]

Here is a small handfull of random sketches. Most are school related, but some are just for my own enjoyment. Also, there's a rendering of a salt shaker I'm 3D-printing as I type.

I've ordered a few Loomis books. If I'm fast, I might be done attaching these before they arrive.

As a safety precaution I'll do this in two bulks.

Here's number one.

[iambanana]

Second bunch.

[Jarrad]

your ID stuff and (imagination?) sketches sketches are quite nice! that last painting of the females is really flat though.. especially in their faces. Do you think about their facial features as three dimensional shapes as you paint? Feeling the forms and how they wrap around the face and protrude and go "inwards" on the face will all help a lot me thinks. nice stuff!

[iambanana]

Thanks for your comment Jarrad.

You're absolutely right about those two girls. I hate that piece. They look retarded, the both of them. And as you said, I'm not thinking about facial features in the same way I think about ID-stuff, as three-dimensional objects. I realize this is one of my greatest flaws, but I just enrolled in an anatomy course that should at least put me on the right path. Thanks again!

[Jarrad]

no problem. One thing that you must realize is that you have to do the work to make it happen. Of course classes are great (especially when the teachers are great) but theres no need to wait until then to work on this weakness. Find your weaknesses and destroy them. You shall become excellent once you do that enough. It takes some courage to work on a lot of things that you suck at and continue to do it over and over! I've made the mistake of relying on external sources for my improvement many times. only you can prevent forest fires

[iambanana]

Made a self portrait today. I'm really happy with it, and I can definetely feel the studies paying off. Never been able to hop straight into colour like this before.

[iambanana]

This was a fun little exercise. I painted different sections of my face separately, to see if there would be an interesting shift of style throughout the SP.

[jedininjaman]

Looks like your picking up on the "CA hatch" for your traditional work. The top right eye on the bottom portrait is substantially better than anything you have posted yet. Nice work

[Reaping]

Heisann! Takk for at du stoppet innom skisseboken min og ga meg noen veiledere! Skikkelig mye bra å se på her, han typen du har i avataren din fikk meg til å trekke på smilebåndet Gratulerer med tv-serie gigen.

For øyeblikket interesserer jeg meg ikke særlig for karakterer, mennesker, skapninger og det som generelt angår organismer. Da jeg begynte med dette i November(2011) var jeg mest interessert i karakterer og monstre. Etter hvert har jeg funnet ut hvor mye jeg setter pris på et flott landskap, så jeg skal satse på det fremover. Akvarellmaling egner seg jo også veldig godt til landskap.

Akkurat det med å lære seg anatomi, gestures med mer, gjorde jeg en del av i begynnelsen og utover. Den greia der falt ikke akkurat i smak, og jeg føler landskap er mer håndgripelig og interessant for meg.

Hyggelig å hilse på en norsk medborger

PS: Legger ut noen akvarellmalinger fra i dag/går, så stikk gjerne innom hvis du vil se.

[iambanana]

Some stuff from school. I just love the freeform pen tool. Can't believe I hadn't heard of it before now.

[iambanana]

There's an ongoing drawing challenge for the ID classes at my school. A new one every week. This week's topic was "Moving Castle". It's due wednesday. Painted this live on livestream. About two hours I think.

I realize I should have made more thumbs of the creature itself. The anatomy is all wonky. I'm quite happy with the composition and the feeling of scale though.

[iambanana]

Oh, by the way, if anyone would be interested in seeing the process for the latest painting, it can be found here: http://www.livestream.com/iambanana/...c-e8575922ffad

I make such retarded faces while drawing.

[jeremygordon89]

Really nice work man, keep at it!

[iambanana]

Some progress on the latest piece. Think I'll call it finished for now. I realize the closest leg still look fucked up, but what the hey.

EDIT: Holy crap, those colours are bright! Does anyone know why the picture looks different from my cintiq, to photoshop, to finder preview, to here? Well I get the cintiq part but I'd still like to know about the rest.

[iambanana]

the girl with the sun in her hair

[Star Eater]

This is indeed a fine sketchbook.

[iambanana]

One more from school. I've had enough of disposable cutlery to last me a fucking lifetime.

[Axelga2112]

Mye bra her, jeg kan hjelpe deg litt med det jeg føler at jeg kan best selv: Proposjonene i hodene og ansiktene dine er ikke helt riktige, særlig hos personene de finner på selv. Jeg legger spesielt merke til at ørene i blyanttegningene sitter alt for høyt oppe på hodet. Du kan kjenne på ditt eget ansikt hvor kort avstand det faktisk er fra der kjeven slutter til bunnen av øret begynner. Jeg tror du hadde tjent mye på å gjøre noen flere studier med reference. se på hvordan ting egentlig ser ut, ikke bare hvordan man tror og synes man husker at tingene ser ut.

Jeg er imponert over produktdesignkonseptene dine. Jeg antar at du går på en høyskole for industridesign eller noe lignende? Hvilken? ..og får dere låne cintiqer? ..eller har du solgt noen indre organer og anskaffet en på egenhånd? :p Jeg må selv søke på videre utdanning ganske snart og har egentlig ikke helt peiling på hva jeg skal gjøre. :s Noen tips?

Angående fargeforskjeller i digitale arbeider har jeg lagt merke til at bilder man maler i Photoshop er betydelig lysere i finder preview. Spesielt de helt svarte fargene som blir gråe. Kanskje bedre å bruke et annet program for bildefremvisning.

[will123will]

Love your style, especially the sketches

[Aaron_]

I like all these paintings, they have a very nice graphic read to them, great storytelling too. The freeform pen tool seems interesting, gonna give it a shot.

[shockowaffel]

Hi there,
your product sketches look really great.
I dont quite get how the corn holder works. Dont you need a second one to first keep the corn in place so that you can stick the first one into the side ?

The digital sketches look a little less solid, in my opinion. Especially anatomy look sometimes good and other times a little messy.
That patchwork portrait is really nice though.
The pupil in the right eye looks a lot smaller than the left one, but it doesnt look that bad after all.
Keep it up.

[iambanana]

Axelga2112: Takk skal du ha! Nå som jeg så over de siste skissene igjen ser jeg at du har helt rett. Ørene mine er rett og slett for subtile.
Du har helt rett. Jeg studerer Industridesign på Arkitektur -og Designhøgskolen i Oslo. Det er ganske stive opptaksprøver, men jeg tror ikke en med dine ferdigheter ville hatt noen problemer med å komme inn, om det er produktdesign du er interessert i. Ellers har du jo for eksempel Kunsthøgskolen, som ligger bokstavelig talt 50 meter unna skolen min. Der kan jeg tenke meg at du ville passet godt inn på for eksempel visuell kommunikasjon. Hold meg oppdatert!
Angående cintiqen min, så er den faktisk kjøpt og betalt av meg selv. Skolen har ingen tegnebrett til utlån. Men den koster jo ikke mer enn 7000 spenn. Med studielån, deltidsjobb og diverse illustrasjonsoppdrag så går det ganske greit.

will123will: Thanks man, appreciate the kind words.

continue: Thank you very much. Definetely give the freeform pen a try! Loads of messy fun.

shockowaffel: I will elaborate on the corn holder in this post. Thanks.

Okay, so here is the finished corn holder.
I had to ditch the dual-spike designs. As it turns out, corn cobs have this extremely hard and inpenetrable outer wall right inside where the corn sits. Therefore, using a dual-spike design forced the corn holder to sit awkwardly. It looked great by itself, but when inserted into a cob it just looked messy. Using Rapid-Prototyping machines we were able go sift through a good 7-8 generations of them to see if we could make them work. We couldn't. I had to kill my darling and go down a completely different path.
With a centered spike-design, the corn feels well balanced when gripped by the handles. The insertion is also alot easier. This design reflects both the texture of the corn as well as the organic nature of corn, while at the same time being durable as hell. I tried breaking one with my hands, and I just couldn't do it. Which is something that would need to be improved upon should it be put into production. This is disposable cutlery and as such, should be somewhat flimsy, so the user can throw it in the trash with a clear conscience. Right now it's too strong and rigid, and would be better suited for a permanent, washable solution.
I also like the cartoony, flintstone-esque aestethics when paired with a cob. It kinda looks like a hunk of meat, 'cept it's a vegetable.

In conclusion, this is probably a bit too engineery for my taste. I like to work with aesthetics instead of mechanics and strength calculations. However, the task at hand dictated a sober and somewhat non-artistic approach, so this is where I ended. I'm not unhappy with the result. It works like an absolute charm, but may not look flashy enough for a good portfolio piece.

[Derra]

Great updates iambanana. Did you try other patterns for the ribs on the cob holders? Hexagon patterning like honeycomb is strong and could have a relief to them like the corn. Cool SB.

[iambanana]

Derra: Thanks. I did in fact contemplate other patterns, but most of them made it difficult to injection mold the part, which was part of the assignment.

Todays photo study.

[Hauxe]

Hey just came to say nice sketchbook. It's great to see someone whose come so far art-wise. Hopefully I can improve as much some day. Your self-portraits are my favorites. Anyway, concerning critiques I can see you really enjoy drawing the boobs . I'd try to fully render a couple naked chaps just for practice. Carry on!