Falling back in love with ink

[project_razor]

Some digital experiments, I'd love any feedback, tips or ideas. I'm looking to improve my skills and get up to the standard of some of the amazing guys on this site.

[project_razor]

Some biro sketches done at work.

[James Thomas]

some Interesting pictures, im also an matuer, i think you are off to a good start

some good advice, is getting more variety of sketches, becuase i too have the problem of sketching in a similar approach so to speak each time. try random as angles, various inspiration- but keep it original.

Goodluck,
Providence.

[project_razor]

Built this painting up without using layers which turned out to make things a lot harder to edit.

[project_razor]

Worked over a biro sketch

Trying to produce an entire scene, I always end up just doing figures so maybe a few environments will push me. If anybody has any tip for showing light bouncing off the flames I'd love to hear them.

[project_razor]

Worked on a few colour studies from photos and screenshots. I found it really helpful to get my head around colour and reflecting light.

[gothicspork]

It's nice to see that you're also working on bigger compositions. The creatures in your previous post show some problem with shading and textures. But I think the studies in your last post put you in the right direction for studying shading. Keep it up! I like that tiger.

[project_razor]

Trying to spread my time between doing practice with colour and shade, and then having some fun with characters and creatures. Using the wacom is starting to feel more natural, hopefully soon it's going to be as comfortable as a trusty biro.

[project_razor]

Robot concepts

[Jamie Romoser]

You have some cool designs going here man
one thing id work on is your color and brush economy
studying more from life would help i think
keep it up looking forward to seeing more
-Jamie

[project_razor]

Environments are my biggest weakness (along with vehicles), so I'm going to give them some time. Also trying to work some characters into a background. More ambitious than some of the stuff I usually work on but nothing worth doing is easy.

[project_razor]

A couple of practise things from photo's and a drawing of my cat.

[project_razor]

A couple of figures, one from reference and one from imagination/memory. I plan to develop the soldier further.

[project_razor]

Sharpened up the drawing and added some colour, I'm not sure where to go with it next. Thinking about putting a background in.

[Acki]

The soldier looks great! Did you use reference?

[ladyknowles]

I really like your work, that last soldier looks great!

[project_razor]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I did use reference for the soldier, thought I'd upload the photo to show it. My plan is not to follow the reference I use as closely in the future, perhaps not looking at it after the initial blocking in stages. Trying to split my drawing between using reference and using imagination.

[project_razor]

Developed the little blue devil beastie a bit more, adding more contrast and some variation in the tones.
Also a quick sketch of my cat as a pirate, I'm thinking about doing a childrens story with her. It not easy getting her pose, she won't sit still.

[project_razor]

A few little things i worked on over the weekend.
I'm feeling extra motivated after getting a response to a painting i posted on Simon Bisley's Facebook page from the man himself. It was the devil picture from my recent posts, he called it "TOAD-DEVIL." He was truly my hero when I was younger, changed my outlook on image making.

[project_razor]

Played around with this robot/monster/thing, not to sure what direction to take it in. I'm thinking about getting rid of all the armour and building it up again.

[project_razor]

Think I'm done with the fat robot now, not that it's finished, more bored of looking at it.
Tried one of these screen grab speed painting's, they seem good for learning atmospheric lighting. Finishing up with a Frazetta copy, I love his colours and the way he leaves bare canvas and brushstrokes.

[project_razor]

My new frog/owl/crab monster. Really enjoying this one, I seem to be finding a work flow that suits me. Starting with a pressure sensitive brush to make a loose sketch, then filling the shape with grey and starting to add highlights and shadow. Next I'm going to get more detail in and get some colour into it, the head is going to be metallic and the body amphibian colours and textures.
I find it difficult to keep thing loose at the start, my natural reaction is to get straight into details. Hopefully seeing the benefit of going against old habits.

[Acki]

Second picture post 21. The perspective is wrong. The robot is placed wrong. Keep an eye on that. Just fix the feet and it should be ok.

[Cyberman]

good job studying, I like that frazetta piece as well.

[Lhune]

Some pretty good studies; for your animals though, try looking up skeletons and studying their structure and proportions. You can only learn so much from a photograph.

[project_razor]

Acki: You're right about the perspective, I should have got that right before getting into the detail. I painted the background in as an afterthought, it make the perspective look even more wrong. Getting the feet right is my achilles heel.

Lhune: I'll try looking at some animal skeletons next time, I know human anatomy pretty well but i guess all animals vary enormously.

Thanks Sean, Frazetta is the boss.

I overlaid some frog and toad textures over my new creature. The lobster arm was to break the symmetry up and also I think green and red look good together. Any tips on where to improve this piece would be reallly helpful.

[pixelherder]

you dropped by my sketchbook the other day, so thanks for that - some nice work in yours too, some great studies alongside the imaginative stuff. Keep it up!

[project_razor]

Up in Scotland on Holiday visiting family so not much chance to get work done what with all the drinking. A couple of sketches from imagination and one of those "need to get better at environments" works.
Thanks for the feedback pixelherder, really motivating.

[James Thomas]

I think your designs and colour theory is strong and i like your consistancy in your works.
for a bit of a crit- maybe experiment with your line thickness (i notice u like thick lines)
and also how your character/creature is implemented into the backround, sometimes i get confused what i should be focusing on, so maybe simplyfy or sharpen the backround using different line weights - of course im just being picky cause i think your work is good! keep it up! :]

[project_razor]

I made a mess and then tried to build something out of it. Probably going to redraw most of the figure and then concentrate on refining the form.