Chris' Book of Doodles and Things

**chriskot** · October 5th, 2009, 11:38 PM

Moai: Thanks! Glad you like the portrait. I actually saw yours when I was going through your sketchbook right after I finished it. Really well done!

luness: Thank you very much! It's very encouraging to receive positive comments from such an inspirational artist as yourself.

Legacy Flame: "Indeed" indeed. Thanks for checking in again!

Jack Nugget: Thanks! I mostly use Blender for any 3D stuff, Photoshop CS3 for most digital painting, and sometimes Alchemy for the linework. It's not really what Alchemy was designed for, but I find it more comfortable for linework than Photoshop when I'm using a mouse. Ultimately, I still prefer pencil whenever I can scan it in.

Alright! Today I have a few more ultra-simple aliens, another pseudo-retro Mario (because if multiple people considered the first one worth commenting on, it was worth putting some actual effort into a better one), and a really trippy image I created simply because I felt like going nuts in Photoshop for a bit. It felt good. For the little aliens, I don't really have any ideas in mind when I begin. I just create a few little vaguely-organic shapes and build off of them in ways that feel somewhat plausible to me. It's pretty fun and I have about another half-dozen in progress.

**Legacy Flame** · October 7th, 2009, 11:18 PM

Awesome classic Mario with highlights and shadow tones hehe.

**Jizu** · October 8th, 2009, 01:56 AM

nice monsters and great ideas

... some of em reminds me to final fantasy

! keep the nice shading!!! it look awesome ^^

**chriskot** · October 12th, 2009, 02:47 AM

Legacy Flame: Glad you like it!

Jizu: Thanks! I haven't actually played any Final Fantasy games after FF3 (or 6, depending on where you're from), but I really like some of the designs in the newer games.

Here's another floating island. It's still a work-in-progress.

**chriskot** · October 13th, 2009, 12:43 AM

Updated.

**chriskot** · October 14th, 2009, 11:51 PM

Made a thing in Blender.

**chriskot** · October 17th, 2009, 06:25 PM

I made a Nibru.

**chriskot** · October 23rd, 2009, 05:33 AM

500TH POST!

Here is a quick and very simplistic landscape. Nothing special, unfortunately, except for the fact that it is the first picture in my sketchbook to be done with a tablet. A small Wacom Graphire, to be precise.

**chriskot** · October 24th, 2009, 04:10 AM

I plan on doing a bunch of quick portraits to get used to drawing with a tablet and get some quick face-drawing practice in before International Self-Portrait Day (which you should all participate in, by the way). Here are the first two, Che Guevara and Alice Cooper:

**chriskot** · October 24th, 2009, 10:22 PM

Today I made a Christopher Lee and a Grace Kelly.

I like how Grace Kelly turned out in the sketch, but it only got worse whenever I tried to finish it. Maybe I'll try again later.

**chriskot** · October 25th, 2009, 09:47 PM

Charlie Chaplin was today's subject. I sunk a bit more time into this one.

**chriskot** · October 28th, 2009, 04:14 AM

Another environment. Not too sure whether I like the composition.

**Joce** · October 28th, 2009, 05:29 AM

nice start

**chriskot** · October 28th, 2009, 07:50 PM

Thanks Joce!

Sixth up: Barack Obama. Not exactly the best likeness yet, but it could be worse.

**chriskot** · November 2nd, 2009, 12:28 AM

HOLY CRAP! FOUR STARS!? Thanks a bunch guys!

I just finished my entry for Self-Portrait Day 2009, and I'm relatively pleased by the result.

EDIT: Slightly improved as of November 30, 2009. The earlier version is here.

**chriskot** · November 30th, 2009, 12:49 AM

Not going to let this thread go an entire month without an update. Here's a less-than-spectacular picture of my current surroundings. Yes, I do most of my drawing while sitting on the living room couch.

Inspiration isn't a problem, but I've been having a really hard time visually expressing my ideas lately. Hopefully it won't take anywhere close to another month for my next update.

**JoshDArtist** · November 30th, 2009, 12:55 AM

doin' good man... awesome attention to light and color...

**chriskot** · November 30th, 2009, 10:17 PM

Thanks Josh!

Today I just did a couple of quick little pics from life. Computer accessories. I also touched up the SP a few posts above this one.

**MoKhi** · December 1st, 2009, 12:03 AM

Wow, you've got great colors. Keep posting please!

**chriskot** · December 1st, 2009, 10:29 PM

Thanks MoKhi!

More quick little still life today. A pen cap, a clementine, an iPod Touch, and a copper valve. The lighting in this room isn't really that bright and tints everything slightly yellowish. I'll have to try doing this somewhere else later.

**chriskot** · December 2nd, 2009, 10:21 PM

More still life. I like labeling things.

**chriskot** · December 5th, 2009, 01:11 AM

Tried to work a bit faster this time. A pen, a coaster, and a staple remover.

I haven't stopped drawing from imagination by any stretch, but none of those pictures seem to be getting done. Maybe I'll do a big "unfinished stuff" dump soon.

**Legacy Flame** · December 5th, 2009, 09:25 AM

I like whats going on here Chriskot. Lots of great portraits, something I need to get myself into. The still life is also looking good. I also really like that simplistic landscape. Must be the tones used.

**chriskot** · December 9th, 2009, 01:20 AM

Thanks again Legacy!

Here are some more little things I've been doing from imagination recently. It's a bit cartoonier this time around. Some quick creature I just made, the head of a monster that never got completed, and "MysteriousMarvelousMustacheMen.png".

**chriskot** · December 11th, 2009, 11:33 PM

Some quick hands. Posing with my left while drawing with my right.

**chriskot** · December 14th, 2009, 05:12 PM

A quick toaster, an aimless doodle that I think ended up looking pretty cool, and an expansion on my set of little red pixel tanks.

**FightingSeraph** · December 14th, 2009, 08:24 PM

I see that your digital painting skills have increased signifigantly since I last posted here.

**chriskot** · December 15th, 2009, 08:52 PM

FightingSeraph: Glad to hear that my improvement is so noticeable. Thanks for stopping by again!

Here are some nuts.

**chriskot** · December 19th, 2009, 05:55 PM

Drawing eyes from photos recently. Mostly celebrities and pictures from the news, with a few friends mixed in. Here are the first eleven.

**chriskot** · January 6th, 2010, 04:06 AM

Once again, I've been working primarily through traditional media and don't have any of that scanned to show off. In fact, I recently reformatted my computer and haven't even gotten around to reinstalling Photoshop yet, so all I have to post right now are a few more quick little pictures done with the lite version of "Colors" for the iPod Touch. They're not that great, but I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of the program.

The first image was done on a train on New Year's Eve. The lack of features in "Colors" can be mildly frustrating sometimes, but I very much enjoy its portability.