Endlings | End for most recent!!

[Nickodemus]

Another set of value studies from this morning, in the style of James Paick.

[Charmer]

hey man! I love your environments very, very much!
They look really promising!

Keep that up,
Flo

[Nickodemus]

Thanks for taking the time to look, I appreciate it.

[Nickodemus]

A lunchtime speed paint...

[Ill-Conceived]

Awesome stuff as usual Chris. I'm really digging the environments, seems like you have a knack for them. Keep working hard.

[Nickodemus]

Thanks Ill. I'm trying to practice as much as I can. We really need 36 hour days.

A front view of a robot design I'm trying to work out. I should have done more iterations before I got locked into this one, but it's been a learning experience, which is good...

[jskotte]

I'll second the 36 hours a day
I like those values thumbs, great atmosphere in such a few brush strokes. Also very nice texture on the robot, but he does look at bit flat.

[Trailblazer]

Hey thanks for stopping my by sketchbook, its much appreciated. I really love your environments especially this one

http://conceptart.org/forums/showpos...4&postcount=36

The colours are so eye catching, I just want to climb inside and walk around, see more of what the world has to offer.

[Nickodemus]

JS - Thanks for stopping back! I hear what you mean about the robot. I did a level adjustment to bring out the mid tones and lost my deeper blacks. I'm going to readjust. Your updates to your SB are awesome man. I'll check in again.

Trail - Thank you sir. Your book is coming along. As well, I believe it was you who pushed me to my first five star rating, or any rating for that matter which gives me a big warm and fuzzy. Much love man.

A quick sketch at the end of the work day.

[Nickodemus]

Some quick figure studies...

[Charmer]

Those studies look good! Which anatomy books have you ever used? Or videos etc.?
Do you have some tips for me, I wanna start building up good basics for my environments and you do SO good environments, don't know why but I love them more then most others I've seen here so far. I think I like your style

[Klaus Reinbach III]

I second the 36 h day too!
Your sketchbook is great! I love the shapes and what you do with them like the landscapes! Surely I will come back here often to learn from you.

[Nickodemus]

Tasser - Thanks for stopping back man. I swear by this book for figure drawing: http://www.amazon.com/Force-Dynamic-.../dp/0240808452
So much energy and life in every example in this book.

As far as tips for environments go, I compare it to looking at clouds. I lay in shapes and colors that I like, and kind of let my brain just "see" the environment. As soon as I have an image in my head, I start to flesh it out in that direction. I usually have some idea of what I'm going ahead of time, but have never been one to paint on a tight sketch or anything like that. I hope that helps.

Klaus - Thanks for the kind words. 36 has been one I've been meaning to flesh out more. As soon as time allows, I post a couple updates. Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Cheers.

[witek]

wow, your brushwork is amazing

[Nickodemus]

Thanks witek. I like to keep it as painterly as possible.

This week has left so very little time to practice, because of work. Hopefully the weekend will yield better results.

Some figures from the other night.

[equilerex]

hehe, your figures look a lot like mine when scribbling in public.

liking the value studies- very inspirational, made me want to try it out when i get a few minutes free so thanks for that!

Any finished paintings or more complete speed paintings coming out soon?

[schumak]

Hey man, thanks for dropping by my sketchbook. I like your rough look to the paintings. Very nice!

[Nickodemus]

Thanks for dropping by folks.

Yeah, I've been swamped with work, so it has been more quick sketches than anything else lately, but I plan on posting some finished work soon.

Quick one from the end of the work day.

[Charmer]

Awesome! I wished that my environment skills would be as good as yours. You almost got it I think. Have you heard of the book "Bold Visions"? I find it's maybe interesting and I'm not sure if I should risk a buy or not because if it's only "okay" about 20 bucks are too much for me. Because I am a student, I can use my money only to buy the "important stuff". Anyway, you know what I mean, I don't know it in a better english.

Keep it up dude, your studies look good!
Greets,
Flo

[Nickodemus]

A quick one from tonight. It turned into kind of a mud bath, but it was fun! Inspired by a similar piece by Whit Brachna, which can be seen in the video on http://www.sixmorevodka.com/ and anything from Frederic Edwin Church.

[Nickodemus]

I hadn't heard of Bold Visions, but I know Gary Tonge's work for sure. Amazing environments! In my opinion, the internet has always been able to provide me with the examples I need to learn. That is not to say that having a tangible document that you can flip through for reference wouldn't be helpful, I just don't think it's absolutely necessary.

I'm glad you like my environments, and appreciate your support. I am getting faster and faster and building up an image of bank of how to paint things. I think fully finished, fully rendered environments are coming soon, which is super exciting for me, as I don't have a ton of finished work.

Again, thanks for checking back man!

Some REALLY rough thumbs from earlier this week. I've been reading a lot of H.P. Lovecraft lately, and am going to do some sort of sea monster type scene.

[Charmer]

Well okay, I noticed to do more environmental stuff in the next few days. More stuff coming soon, maybe I'll do some stuff traditional with ink or pencils and some directly in PS. I want to become good without erasing or over-painting for a thousand times you know. So I think ink is maybe a good thing. We'll see. Anyway thanks for your help mate!

edit: I especially like pieces like that one Bold Visions

[NickyBeats]

awesome stuff dude!! the figures are coming along nicely, and your enviros are insane. love em. oh and ps. james paick is the man!

[Charmer]

Hey Lunarsis!
Thank you very, very much for the comment! I LOVE the cotopaxi piece. Tried to find the biggest one in the net and what I've found is about 1600x900. I wanna see that in a bigger size and I see, it's unbelievable how much details are in there.

Your book tip was good though, but it's pretty much too expensive for now. Maybe I have some money to buy it in the next few months.

Thanks anyway, you helped me a lot! Keep your own stuff up man, because we all love it

Flow

[Nickodemus]

Yeah, I had forgot how expensive it was. I actually never owned it myself. On the recommendation of a professor of mine, I checked it out from our public library and racked up many late fees while studying it. Talking about it reminds me that I need to check it out again. Try your public or school library, and you might be able to avoid spending much at all!

[Windmaker]

Pretty cool stuff you have here
I love the thumbnails! I want to do thumbnails now... but have to work instead... Damn! Also, pretty cool gesture drawings!
Keep up the good work and keep having fun!

[Nickodemus]

Windmaker - Thanks for dropping by

A quick one from tonight. Completely borrowed the technique from Jama. Make sure to check out his passes, plus the rest of his amazing book.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...158524&page=25

He pulls it off so much better than I can, but I'm pretty happy for my first attempt. My spaceship gets completely lost, and isn't really fleshed out at all. Nothing a few hours can't fix though...

[ryan a.]

Lunarsis, you did a sweet job on that last one using jamas style. you really nailed the colors, light, and the sense of speed. the shapes are maybe a little too all over the place though for it to really have that feel of a solid ship.
your backgrounds are looking awesome as always. keep pushing that brushwork into it. thats one of those things ive never been able to figure out how to do digitally.

[Nickodemus]

A little bit of an update. It's been almost completely lasso tool, motion blurs and gradients up until this. Going to lay some paint on it later today and start detailing...

[Nickodemus]

Here is an early concept for a friend's feature film he'll be shooting towards the end of this year. More info soon.