Sold my TV to focus on design & art [some nudity]

[Genius_Malignus]

Hi I'm new around here, and even though I have been skulking around on this site for some time now, I haven't registered until now.

I thought that I would start out by opening up a sketchbook, and hopefully get some constructive critique, from all you amazingly skilled people.
So don't be fooled; even though my user name has 'Genius' in it, I am not a pretentious fart, but rather a mediocre artist at best, and constantly looking for ways to get better.

Critique is highly appreciated.

[Dan Valkar]

nice character..mmm...naybe the arms could be ...dunno, ...more mutated-man too like his head...but thats my opinion(and who cares about it).....reminds me a lot of a jedi knight ....keep it up!

[Genius_Malignus]

Dan: Thanks for your advice. I'll take it into consideration, when I start working on this character some more.

Meanwhile here's some older stuff:

[Delmar]

first one is nice, especially the head. Maybe more value variation (more contrast) in your overall design and be carefull with your shading strokes...sometimes they appear to flatten the object more than give dimension.

Keep it up

[Ngraver]

Not bad. I'm interested in the characters in your latest piece; I'd like to see more of them (nice job on the most lower left one).

[Genius_Malignus]

@ Delmar: You are absolutely right. Those are some of my biggest issues - I tend to be 'afraid' of putting down too much value/contrast, and I have a really hard time giving things dimension.
I have tried taking your advice into consideration in my most recent sketch (below).

@Ngraver: Those character sketches are early drafts for a game project, that I worked on this May. The end result ended up looking completely different, and I'm not particularly happy with it. I may expand on those some day though

I wanted to work some more on the Squid-head guy above, and this is my next step:

[sbn..]

Hi there!

That last one has definitely moved out of George Lucas' territory into Lovecraft's. I like the direction.

Shading getting better too, with it maybe being a bit too flat inside the sleeve, and too undefined on the back tentacles. The challenge with this one, if you work some more on it, would be getting the head / back lump and the torso to really mesh - right now they look like separate objects. If his head is central (where a human's would be), it needs to be attached nearer his shoulder, closer to the viewer (follow the line of the spine around to see what I mean - that line should hit the middle of his neck).

I had a teacher once who for life drawing had us use charcoal. In stead of starting with a blank board, we prepared it with a good rubbing of charcoal, and worked with both charcoal and eraser. That way, we started with a middle tone and had to work to get both the shadows and highlights. great exercise, because sometimes it's just too difficult starting with your lightest value all over and shading everything you dont want to be a highlight. You have been doing something similar with the digital character (no. 2).

Another fun thing to do, for life drawing at least, is to do it in negative. That way, you have to consciously invert everything, and thus have to run it through the logical thinking part of your mind. Good for breaking habits.

I'll show you monday if you'd like (yes, it's me).

[Genius_Malignus]

Hey man, thanks for your advice.
I would definitely like you to show me.
I'll be at school from 10 o clock, in the digital lair.

see you there.

[Genius_Malignus]

A few sketches/studies for this weeks ChOW.

[Genius_Malignus]

Ideas for my current project at school. Its supposed to end up in a kind of Victorian Era/ Steampunk inspired museum/exhibition space...
Im happy that I can still remember a little of the isometric drawing course I had...

[Genius_Malignus]

Studies/Ideas for Chow#99

[gkrit]

NICE building work ... i havent seen too much of that around and its nice to see something different but also somethign that appeals to me also. maybe make them more unusual/unrealistic but still look good and make sense .... if THAT made sense lol.
liek the second version of the squid also... but the arms as dan valkar pointed out. go more hardcore lol. coz to me they seem a lil too skinnywhen u campare it to the head mass. (heads awesome )

photoshop char head look good even with the roughness of strokes for some reason when i do my stuff i tend to blend that out lol even though i like that style
nice job .. post more

[Genius_Malignus]

I have just finished a sketchbook, that I started a little over a year ago.
(and now I can finally switch to my snazzy new Moleskine)

Below I have posted every page from the book. Comments more than welcome.

[Genius_Malignus]

WIP of a redesign of another persons char. Im trying to do her as 'the Countess in Red', in a renaissance/classisistic inspired painting style.

[Genius_Malignus]

The finished model/character sheet for Captain Skinner, for chow #111. Cleaning it up took such a long time, that I wasn't able to paint it, in time for the deadline.

[Genius_Malignus]

Heres a work a little further on the countess.

[Saraiva]

Wow, awesome style! I really like it!

Firstly, Id like to say thanks for the comment on my sketchbook.

I love your detail and shading! Crosshatching shading (correct me with I am wrong..) is awesome, but I was never able to do a successful drawing using it..
Anyways, keep it up! I really like it, and I want to see more. Now! (jk, but Id really would love if you posted more)

Cya

[Dan Valkar]

hey man! keep workin' on that countess...really good work!

[Genius_Malignus]

@ Alternative & Dan Valkar: Thanks both of you, words of encouragement are alwys welcomed. I would really like to finish the countess, and I am gonna have time for it, once my exams are over...

heres a sketch I did today, during the project evaluation meeting. Supposed to be a kind of robot.

[Aexys]

Hey ho there.... here are some very nice pieces.....
The sahding on some of them is realy good!
What I think, where you have to improve is the facial emotion....
They are good as they are but theres not that much emotion to me....
just some opinions, maybe they help you to improve your art!

Greetings Aexys

[Genius_Malignus]

@ Aexys: Your post made me go back and look at my sketches - and I can see you are right. I never really thought about it, but now I will definitely work on expression a lot more.
Thanks for the crit.

Some thumbnails for the current CHOW:

[Genius_Malignus]

I haven't updated this sketchbook in a while now, as all my attention has been focused on the 'A Sketch A Day' collaboration, so I have decided to post some of my more succesful stuff, from that thread here (in near chronological order):

[Genius_Malignus]

Part 2:

[Genius_Malignus]

Part 3: (Im cutting down to 1 pic per post now, to try and get to page 2. The download time for this page is getting ridiculous.)

[Genius_Malignus]

One more...

[Genius_Malignus]

*bump*

[Genius_Malignus]

waaaaaa

[Genius_Malignus]

blablabla

[Genius_Malignus]

Unko-Zuwari!

[Genius_Malignus]

Omuraisu