Tom's Sketchbook - Februari 6th - SneakSneak game

[Tom van der Linden]

Some observation pages... still hustlin' wit time, lately doing mostly graphic design for some projects (logo's, layouts etc.)

[Tom van der Linden]

back to the routine!

[fantasyartist]

Updates! I have been missing you around here. Are you attending a life drawing class? Where? Those last drawings are looking good. They only lack a bit of structure and depth here and there. I think this is because you try to copy the model too much. Sometimes you have to cheat to make things clearer. Show more overlaps, especially when things are foreshortened. Simplify the tones you see to show the corners of the forms and don't put down tones that tell you absolutely nothing. When drawing the head focus more on the bony structure, even in a quick sketch. Don't rush in and put the features otherwise your heads will look like balloons with features attached on them.
This guy has good examples of what I'm talking about:
http://www.willwestonstudio.com/wws/free-downloads/
Just keep practicing I'm looking forward for more.

[mariusz]

nice studies, keep it up

[Tom van der Linden]

Fantasyartist: Thanks for the comments, dude Yeah, I go on a weekly basis to a workshop in Utrecht, called Stok. You should join me, it's a lot of fun!

The website you gave me is so helpful, it looks great and it does explain a lot!

Mariusz: Thanks dude, I'm doing this on a weekly basis, so I'm hoping to see improvement coming my way!

[fantasyartist]

I would be glad to join. When/how late is it and how much does it cost?

[Tom van der Linden]

I always go on tuesdays, from 19.30u 'till 22.30u. It costs 12 euro for one go, and it's 49 euro for 5 times Just give me a text message if you join, 0653810489 is my cellphone number. Or give me a mail, [email protected], you know the drill.

[Tom van der Linden]

Have this for a little while now... A 10-page comic called "Deathcab" I finished under a week. I found out that next time I can better focus on quality than on quantity (make less pages, foo'!). Besides that I really learned a lot during making this comic. Things about scriptwriting (thanks Bram!), character design, setting up panels, shots, etc. I really wanted to give it a more cinematic experience and feel.


Here's the comic for your viewing pleasure!

[Tom van der Linden]

Here's a female head study which I made at the workshop Enjoy!

[TheGnoll]

hey man!
took me ages to get back to you :/ you've been doing some cool studies lately, i like this last one.
About the comic, looks like you either knew what you were doing or you had some really good teachers! Did you write the script and dialogs yourself?
I think the page work, the story and storytelling works and the whole batch is overall really efficient.I undestand the time limit must have really forced you to take shortcuts, and a lot of them are really clever ones, but some of them kinda take away some life from the comic.The only things with drawing that come to m mind are really nitpicks, and i had to look hard to even notice them.Only thing that bugged me was the overall "heaviness" of the photo/special effects and textures you added, which kinda work but imho clash with the clean look of the lines.Maybe choosing one or the other would have helped (and overall, reducing some noisy textures/color at least in the baloons would have made the reading more comfortable.The clean look of the lines in in a bit too much contrast with the rest, giving the drawn part an unfinished look and the photo part a too explicit...well, "photo" look.Probably what could have been done was using the photos are either a straight away light table material, or as ref for line drawing.
Much of this might be personal taste more than anything, anyway.

Looking forward to seeing some new updates and possibly some more sequentials!

ciao!

[Tom van der Linden]

Gnoll: Wow, thanks for your lengthy comment, I really appreciate you taking time for this!

First of all, and I don't mean to brag at all, but my instructors for this seminar weren't really that good... http://www.nightmare-studio.nl/index.html check that link to see what I mean. They were all girls, heavily into fan fiction manga publishing. Not exactly my cup of tea The classes they give were very shallow and most of the time they quoted Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics."

I'm an avid reader of comics and graphic novels, so I guess that helped me quite a lot while doing this assignment. And you're right, some tricks and shortcuts are a bit filthy cheap. And the photo usage is a bit on the heavy side. I learned not to do that in the future anymore. It's easier to draw them yourself then looking for pictures with the right angle and atmosphere.

I'll have an update on the way soon, finishing up the first part of this semester at school!

[Tom van der Linden]

Doodling, getting back into my groove

[cgaddict]

Very good linework. Can I ask what program you do your doodles in?

Keep it up!

[Tom van der Linden]

Cgaddict: thanks man! I work in Scribbles, a very small sketchprogram for the Mac. I work with a tilted calligraphy brush, one which can easily be reproduced in Photoshop.

[Tom van der Linden]

Hands off and feet on the ground!

[fantasyartist]

Looks like you're updating everyday! Good job on those hands and feet. I did a lot of feet studies last week because they can be quite a pain to draw. Now I want to see some environments and vehicles!!! Keep up the great work.

[Tom van der Linden]

Oi, thanks dude! Pfff, dont get me started on those darn things as hands and feet.... and you're right, more variety! And, how is your character design going? Im curious!

[Tom van der Linden]

A school assignment, I had to redesign Link in Fable 2 style. Super fun and really informative assignment!

[TheGnoll]

haha, i know what kind of people you mean i have some of them in my school too-girls, heavily into fan fiction manga publishing...those are terrifying hehe (unless they're hot, then its ok-but they usually aren't)-

about your counter-reply, i hope you didn't understand me saying photo ref is bad, cause its absolutely not-especially cause it helps you get down those details we cannot possibily remember from imagination (even really obvious things).All i'm saying is that it would have a more cohesive, uniform look if you drew over them, or copied them instead of just pasting them-and possibly, this is something i thinkshould be done only after you're put down on paper everything you can, and resort to it for last, i guess.

that last assignment looks like a fun one, and turned out well!

i second what fantasyartist wrote and request something different, like animals/vehicles/enviroments or anything you might think of.Only cause what i see is already looking good!

ciao!

[Phade01]

Hey man, awesome sketchbook you have here! Tons of improvement from the beginning, i really like the style that you've developed! That Zelda style switch assignment turned out awesome How about doing a still life?

[Tom van der Linden]

Some quick sketches I made for an assignment for school.

[Tom van der Linden]

Got some extreme bodybuilder mag from a friend of mine. First laughed at it because of the grotesque figures in it, then found out it is awesome ref!

[kevinwueste]

Doodling, getting back into my groove

love these! and the portrait head study of the woman and your comic work ! cool stuff!!

[Tom van der Linden]

Thanks man! I just checked your SB, and it rox! Keep it up!

[Tom van der Linden]

No real goal here, but to move my focus from people to animals/creatures... wonderful creatures I've been neglecting all these years! And yeah, should really invest in buying a freakin' scanner... this is ridiculous!

[Wilko]

Some really excellent work here. The many moods of Francis Drayton is great - really got the character down! Drawing a character from multiple angles with multiple expressions while retaining the likeness is really tough (something Im still trying to get down) so nice work.

[Tom van der Linden]

Hey there! Here's something I made for a school assignment, given to me by Floris Didden (search it, it's awesome!). We had to design two sides in a 2d sidescrolling shooter.

The big learning point here was contrast, because we had to design to battling sides. I tried to stay of the beaten path and decided to pitch little kids against monsters under their bed. I think the contrast is a bit cookie cutter, but I still like it It was a lot of work... jeezz..

ps. = the quality is a bit sheit, but it is a big pic as you can see. 4100 px wide! I mean, wow!

[Tom van der Linden]

Wilko: Thanks dude! Well, after a while you get grip of the character, and you really know how he or she acts and stuff. I really liked that, you really get into i

[Tom van der Linden]

Here are some scraps, observations, scribbles... My new dummy is a combination of a journal, a scrapbook and sketchbook. It's confusing sometimes, but I still prefer thinking visually on paper!

[TheGnoll]

he he it does look confusing, but awesome too!
The assignements you post all look varied and interesting, and damn, you've been improving like crazy.Love the pencil work in the animal/bodybuilder studies, and its great to see you're tackling new subjects!