It's finally sketchbooked. Crit always wanted

[Law]

Hello all.

Its been a long time sifting these threads, and about time i started my own. The stuff here isn't really sketches but ill use this
first post to show everyone where I'm at. The sketches can come from now on!

I'm always keen for criticism and feedback, and am very keen to learn. So help me out and ill be very thankful.

First up;

An old portrait.


Portrait of my lady friend (for valentines i guess) done today, after the Sargent study.


A bunch of character designs i did for my final uni project (2006) based on The Golden Compass/Northern Lights book by Philip Pullman.


Asriel


Coulter


Serafina


Lee


Iorek


Lyra


And little roger


All of em?

Some development stuff for a couple of them









Some old life drawing (just started up again after a long break!)




centaur design


Quick landscape ref study


and some Star Wars Zodiac/Star signs (can you figure them out?)


Cheers,
Lawton

[Nibras]

yo THATS some aweasome paintings your realism is also very good and i really like your painting style nice work man keep it up

[Cavematty]

Hey man, great stuff. Cool to see it all together, and be able to browse it at will!
Glad you finally got a sketchbook too
now Get amongst it!

[thesadpencil]

very nice start here man. like your use of colors in your paintings. main crit is try pushin your darks/lights a bit more than you are now, it will help to bring out more contrast in your images.

[phiq]

Great tones; you have some real strength there.

[Law]

Thanks so much for the replies all! its always great to have some fresh feedback.

lilnebo: Thank you.

CaveMatty: cheers bro, now i just gotta live up to it and keep posting eh! hopefully this thread will keep me producing work.

thesadpencil: So much to think about when painting! tone, colour, design, shape... i think contrast is something im probabaly conscisly trying to think about. I'll definitely try and hold it up there now, thanks for pointing that out.

Phix: Cheers man.

That fat kid: Thanks for the crit. Your very right about all of that, and im aware of it too. I think painting is my weakest point. I really need to develop more of a process like your saying, i feel like ive ready so much about it, now i just have to do the mileage, and learn from experience. Cheers man.

ill try and take all this in and post some stuff soon.

[Law]

Heres something new, done as part of a vehicle challenge. The competitions finished but i'd still love to take this one a bit further, so crits are welcome.

Need to get in there with a bit of colour. I haven't coloured a black and white image before so might need some help with that.

Plus here are some embarrassing landscape studies. Posting them to scare myself into doing more. I always get so frustrated and end up giving up on them. The last couple are basically butchering M@'s brushes, trying to get my head around what he's up to. I haven't played around with so many textural brushes before, but am beginning to see the light. Just gotta sort out some of my own.

I've been reading on here about doing these often and limiting your time to 30 mins or so. But I think at the moment i need to keep at them and actually use the time to learn about painting and lighting. How would people recommend doing these sort of studies for the most effect?

Law

[metalyst]

Great studies, both figural(I think I just invented a word) and environmental.

[thesadpencil]

nice speedpaints man. its seems as though your colors have improved a lot w/ them. i also really like the pagoda mech. good stuff. keep it up.

[Mydrim]

woo, the mecha-hut is superb

[Clochette]

Your Star wars zodiacs are excellent, and your valentine's portrait too! She looks beautiful, I like the hair you've painted. Your enviro are nice too, especially the walking house and this one! http://conceptart.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1204424807
Great!

[l0stinth0ughts]

hey law, this is a pretty awesome sketchbook youve got here, i like all the paintings.
i like especially the house with the mech legs, pretty nice.
although youve got the hang of the natural stuff, i would like to see some stuff out of your imagination, like try something without reference, something new something you wouldnt see in your everyday life, now that the stuff that catches my eye.
as for your paintings you know how to apply colors and i respect you for that. just keep it up man, your doing great. i look forward to the new updates and what youve got stored in your imagination.

[Trollfar]

I really like the centaur design!

[Thaw Naing]

hey law, a note on the 30min study approach you were talking about. i can only comment because i was doing some last week. i found that i was learning the most when: firstly i would do a painting, under a strict time limit. then the next day, i would do another quick one, but then afterwards look back to the previous days painting and work on it to a state where i am happy. i just followed that pattern. what i found useful was that i was able to compare the 30min to the 1hr or 2hr (thru saves) and see what i was doing wrong/right - or what i wanted to do, and how i could get there quicker. everyone knows about the whole work from big to detail, but i find it hard to not detail and just let the painting take shape- i think this process helped me get in that frame of mind of big shapes first.

also i did mine without an undo button and 1 layer (no exceptions)..and it really helps state in my mind that i have to think about the tone/color before slapping it on. i kind of feel that is the only real purpose to a quick study. at first i was doing them to practice tone and color palettes, but i soon realised that i have to think about those things when i paint say a 5-6hr painting anyway, so might as well practice/explore as you paint those.

anyway, those r my 2 cents. keep up the good work man, looking forward to see more work. catcha at lifed sometime.

[Duckiller]

it's all so fresh and crispy. i really like it

[Brushcommander]

I totally dig that study:
http://conceptart.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1204424815
It has an fantastic feel to it.

[Giorge]

Oh nice work man ,looks great but just one small problem ... you should use reflected colors on the character from the environment , if you jump this small details that that is one of the most important can ruin your work ... oh yes and when your character is place in a cold environment, remember to use colder tones for the skin. It intensifies the coldness . Hope you don't mind my critique , didn't want just to flash by ...leaving a useless comment . Keep working , your doing a great job.

[Delmar]

oh man ! very nice life studies and quick enviros..love'em!

I think the time limitation in studies is mostly important to concentrate on the basics and not let yourself get lost into detail....but when it comes to value and color studies time doesn't matter as long as you can learn something out of it.

I intend to get more into environmenting myself, i think its a very good way to understand values......i'll keep watching your sb and your approaches to that topic.

cheers

Andi

[MetalFingeredVillain]

Maaaan, that walking house is sweeeeet, with all the atmosphere and depth. My only gripe is some of the anatomy on those GC characters seems a bit off. Man did that movie suck, complete injustice to the books.

[Law]

Hey. Been far too slack at posting on here. Though im constantly checking out everyone else's threads.

metalyst: Thanks man. I think we can claim that as a word.
thesadpencil: Thanks for coming back man, and for the kind words, glad you enjoyed that mech.
Mydrim: Cheers dude.
Clochette: Thanks a lot, Those Zodiacs are a few years old now, but im still pretty happy with them. The hair in that portrait is actually mixed with a crazy furry cap, its pretty hard to make out from that pic, but it gives a great silhouette. I think your right about that Landscape being more interesting than the others. I thinks its the approach to painting it, i seem to be able to get to where i imagine if i start with a sketch instead of just applying paint. Dont know if this is how i want to work though. Ill have to keen practicing them both.
l0stinth0ughts: Hey man, thanks for the feedback. I imagine it would be great to get into the imaginative stuff. Ive tried to do the pencils below with out ref, etc, though they are pretty inspired some other work ive seen, or more blatantly with the frazetta tribute. I find i get lost so quickly with my own imaginative stuff. I have a sketchbook (which i cant be bothered scanning, I will when im a bit happier with it). But at the moment i reckon im getting more out of my anatomy and reference studies. I should really keep up both, seems like doing stuff from your head is much better than, copying shapes from reference. Thanks again man, sorry for the ramble, but your comments do get me thinking! Il try do some more of my own stuff to put up here.
Trollfar: thanks heaps man, I loved doing the head design for him, Im still annoyed at the front on sketch which was done digitally and looks out of place (and proportion) next to the much rougher pencil sketches.
Thaw: Thanks man. Your definitely Right about getting back into the studies on consecutive days. I Always just rush them out, get pissed off and quit, guess thats while im not happy with them, lol, and why my progress is slow. I find i only ever put more than a few hours work into commission work and never my own stuff. Gotta set some goals and start working hard! Ill give it a go over the next week, i have these other sketches here i want to finish pretty soon, so that'll be good for me. As for the the one layer no undo thing, i know where your coming from, but i feel like you could get the same out of it, while playing with what photoshop can do. Why not use layers and textures etc? I think no undo would be great for painting ability, with digital its too easy to just throw stuff out and try get it right on the 10th overpaint. Your process might be great for actually thinking about what your trying to paint. Cheers man, thats all great stuff, hope you keep coming back. Im keen as hell to improve so we should (all of us) try to push each other.
Duckiller: Thanks alot man.
Tugelbend: Cheers, thats an attempt at defiling m8's beautiful brushes.
flamable: Thanks heaps dude, those are all great points, Im here for the crit and encouragement so please keep it up, thats what keeps me going. So much to keep in mind when painting! I need to find a systematic approach to make sure i apply all that colour knowledge. Thanks again.
Delmar: Cheers, I always get so dark at the studies and never give them enough time. I think your right about how it doesn't matter how long your doing them for, so long as your getting something out of it. Thats kind of what Thaw has been saying above. It would be great to get back into any of these studies and see how i could improve with a fresh perspective.
MetalFingeredVillain: Thanks man. I've tried to do a hell of alot of anatmy study over the last year, so hopefully ill be able to correct simple mistakes like the many that are littered through my work here. Though i never want to touch those Golden Compass characters again! They're dead to me.

Heres a few more environment studies, and a couple of sketch that i want to take through to painting. The cat girl, is for my brother who was after a very frazetta'ish imagin for something he's working on. Should be fun to paint. The other one is the very beginning of something. Ill try get her clothed and doing something cool. Any idea on what era/theme i should put her in?

Cheers guys.

[Kyro]

I really enjoyed your work here man.
What would you suggest on uploading some pictures? I have tons but im not sure what to do with them.

[shamandalie]

I totally dig the northern light paintings.

[Bojee]

Fun stuff here, I really like "The Golden Compass" development pages.

[UCT]

I like it, the enviros are very simple but discriptive. Nice working here.

[Coinpurse]

digging these last enviros
keep going! :d

[Johan_79]

Nice stuff u got there!
Really like your studies and the portrait of your ladyfriend is awsome!!





http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=124030

[ch1xx0r]

awesome environments

[Law]

5 Stars!!! thats maddness, i dont know whether i deserve it, or if it'll stick around long, but thanks so much! Makes it all feel a bit more worth it, and gives me a shiet load of motivation to keep it up.

Kyro: Thanks alot, I've only recently started posting after years of just browsing these forums. Its definatly worth chucking some stuff up, crit and ass pats are both pretty motivating. Im sure that these can be even more helpful if you were to start throwing up WIP's for people to comment on. Im gonna start doing this alot more over the next few weeks.

shamandalie: Cheers man, much appreciate it.

Bojee: Thanks man, I need to get back into doing some of that design stuff. Where to start???

UCT: Thanks man.

Coinpurse: Thanks heaps dude.

Johan_79: Cheers man, really need to do alot more of those portraits. Maybe in real paint sometime soon!?

ch1xx0r: Thank you. I cant really claim any credit for photo studies, but they definitely help in a lot of ways.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Ill try check out everyones sketchbooks and return the favor and see if i can offer some good crit, or ideas.

Heres something ive been working for a friend of mine. Trading a business card design for some personal training with him. (my legs are so sore right now!). I'd love any crit, or will make out with anyone who gives me a paint over about any anatomy issues. Obviously is still WIP, but i think ill try keep it similair to how the upper body is looking.

[Ignominious]

amazing studies! can't nothing stop you? it looks like your conquered environmetns, animals, AND people! we're gonna run out of thing for you to draw...

[wholecar]

Nice figure studying.
Keep it !