Ninjac's Sketchbook

[Ninjac]

yochanan: Thank you very much

Here is an in progress shot of another portrait for a friend. Lighting still feels off somehow. Gonna let it rest then find some reference before going into color.

[Ninjac]

In memory of my friend Jennifer Poe.

[Ninjac]

More thumbnail practice, 10 - 20 minuets each. I've had some people asking about my process so I included a step by step. I like to use a few different processes but here is an example of the one I use the most.

Step 1: Find an interesting silhouette. I just go crazy with the brush and eraser to find interesting shapes.

Step 2: This is a combination of creating a new layer with a clipping mask and using the same energy throwing down random marks within the silhouette.

Step 3: Refine my design and clean up the silhouette.

Step 4: Post effects, and done.

[Ninjac]

Some style exploration for a class assignment, and a color thumbnail for a Diablo 3 illustration.

[Ninjac]

Random sketching.

[Ninjac]

Some progress on my orc shaman DnD concept.

[Ninjac]

An update on some personal character concepts and their color thumbs. I'm leaning towards #3.

[ezekrialase]

Very nice work, the progression of your sketchbook is one that I will enjoy watching!

[jama]

Nice studies Josh!

keep it up

[Ninjac]

ezekrialase: Thanks! I'll keep working hard to progress

Jama: Having you leave a comment in my sb is super inspiring man. I'll keep pushing!

Big updates. More character thumbs, sketching, and studies. A book cover illustration I recently finished and a Diablo 3 self promo illustration!

[Ninjac]

My final for the Orc Shamman from the recent DnD art test.

[Ninjac]

Figure study from class today.

[Ninjac]

Some color thumbnails in isometric form for a class assignment and a sketch for my next illustration. Little Big Planet.

[Ninjac]

I've been working on some more studies. Time of day / light studies from photo ref and a rendering study also from photo ref. I came to the conclusion after doing these light studies that color is another part of any image that you have to design as well. I't never occurred to me to really think to design my color in the way nature has designed color. I would just pick colors I thought looked nice or just think warms and cools. I hope to be able to apply what I've learned with these to feel more informed about my color choices.

[Ninjac]

More render practice from photo ref for class.

[sin eater]

Awesome suff. Those light studies look great. Your figures are getting better and better. Those muscle mapping excercises are awesome. Seems like a good excercise. Keep them coming. More anatomy studies!

[Duplicitious]

Wow the thumbnails are looking great and I'm loving the texture in one of the studies up top with the skin

Great idea with the lighting practice too, I think I'll try that one too my self sometime

A suggestion I'd make is that some of you color choices seem a bit flat, like for the colored orc I feel like a lot of shading is done with darker values of the same colors, especially in the skin it's noticeable. I'd suggest that you try incorporating more colours into your shadows and highlights such as perhaps tilt the shadows on the orc's skin to a purple or a blue and tilt the highlights to a yellow. This way, the colors will pop more, but again of course it all depends on environmental lighting.

Carry on !

[JustinBeckett]

Lots of progress in here man! keep going!!!

[Ninjac]

sin eater: Thank you sin! I'll keep em coming

Duplicitious: Thank you very much That's a great crit on the orc. I cooled down the shadows cast on the ground but didn't change the hues throughout the character. I'll go back over it and make some adjustments.

JustinBeckett: Thanks man! I'll keep working hard

Here are some character concepts for class. They are inspired by Takashi Okasaki who was the concept artist for the anime Afro Samurai. Oh yes and I stumbled upon this tumbler collection of hair styles. Its awesome!!

http://fuckyeah-hair.tumblr.com/

[Mat Kaminski]

Ten-thousand levels of improvement from beginning to here.

You're in TAD?

I'll crit more next update.

[f1x]

Hello Ninjac

First of all, thanks for your advices, they will come in very handy ) I'm gonna practice with spheres as soon as I get some free time, thinking of a more painterly approach to it but its definitely necessary to get the feel of how to paint different materials / light reflections etc

on the other hand you have very nice stuff, the battle scene with the mage at the end of #490 looks superb
also a lot of helpful stuff, those muscle mapping images is something I'm gonna grab aswell, to perfect on anathomy

[Ninjac]

Mat Kaminski: Thank you so much Mat! Yep I'm a full time TAD student. One more semester left until graduation.

F1X: Always happy to help. I'm glad my TAD studies are giving people the opportunity to practice in different ways that they might have gotten to on their own.

Here is a progress update on my LBP illustration. Also I was contacted by EFG Magazine recently and asked if they could use a piece of mine on the cover of their next issue. I jumped at the opportunity. Here is the what they produced. My first cover illustration and I'm super stoked . Here is a link to the mag as well.

http://issuu.com/efgmagazine/docs/efg_newsmag_1.3/3

[Mr.Pryminista]

Thanks for dropping by! Nice work here. Loads of progress! I like your pop icon work (amongst other posts). That assignment turned out to be one of my favourites.

That portrait you did of your friend at the top of the page really stands out. It has a different quality to it than your other pieces. I can tell that you have a connection with this person. Good work on that one.

Keep pushing!

[cgaddict]

Very nice updates here. I'm impressed with the variety of your studies, seems you're tackling a bit of everything and it's definitely paying off. Keep it going!

[Ninjac]

Mr.Pryminista: Thank you sir! Yea she is a dear friend and will be missed. I did what I could to help her family through art.

cgaddict: Thanks man! Yea I feel like studying lots is giving me a more well rounded approach. Then hopefully it will all help to push my character design.

It's been awhile since my last update. Was working on school finals and then took a brief family vacation for some R&R. I've been trying some new approaches with my sketching. The second to last is a wip for a character portrait series. Last one is an illustration for the game Little Big Planet I did for class. I hope you all enjoy

[Ninjac]

A set of thumbnails for a new client piece. My gursh I love drawing pretty gurrls

[Ninjac]

Here is the final pinup illustration of: http://thrintagecats.tumblr.com/

Thumbnails for a set of weapons for a sci fi game. Fun fun

[danlambert]

Lovely stuff as always my friend. That pin ups stands out as a step forward, at least in terms of your naturalistic work, the colours and proportions are great, and it's oozing attitude, really impressive. Loving those Tesla gadget thumbs as well, keep up the hard work!

[Ninjac]

Dan: Thank you my friend. The pinup was a fun illustration to work on. Gotta draw a pretty girl every now and then I think I'll put a bit more work into those gadget thumbs to make them more informed.

I want to push my sci fi design. So here is my attempt at a mech suit. Crits welcome

[Ninjac]

Did some screenshot studies from the 2011 movie Conan the Barbarian. It has some stellar shots to study from. Then decided to use similar color palettes for a personal environment.