- Bnoch -

[MacTire]

Awesome work Bnoch! That masquerade faun is excellent. You really have a knack for knowing just where to render and where to leave it loose.

[Bnoch]

Wow, as usual, I appreciate the awesome feedback.

I was looking at a portfolio a couple days ago and had a bit of a personal revelation. I usually look at work and consider the fact that I have to assume what the intent was when producing it. Sometimes it's easy to see what the message is, other times its clear that the artist was relying on a good painting to impress the viewer.

While a well executed painting is nice to look at, it simply falls flat when there is no soul. So I thought; "what it was that gives a painting soul?"

So often I see artists do work that relies on the expected. In concept art, when one needs to paint the future, there is a certain expectation of bevels, lasers, and future technology that drives the look. When one needs to paint the past, they rely on valid sources of reference like architecture, culture, and clothing style which gives their images credibility. All of the reference in the world will not make an image more interesting, but may in fact limit it's range. So what really gives an image soul?

Like a drunken Buddhist monk making beer in the misty mountains I had the enlightening moment. Andrew Wyeth said "Some artists think every work they do is a work of art, I say keep working and you may produce a work of art".

So the thing that gives an image soul is... DEFEAT!

I enjoy and produce my best work when I think I suck. I notice that most artists do their best work in moments of self hatred, or times of distress. Songwriters bask in the ideals of love and loss, and it's usually a direct reflection of their own experiences.

Moral of this long post...

"hate your own work as often as you can, you can only get better in return" - BNOCH!

[MeteorCat]

I absolutely love seeing the details in your work. I see on the character's banjo you have carved some sort of sentence that reads "....LET DIE" or something of that sort. I just love stumbling upon things like this in a piece of art.

Both pieces are spectacular. My favourite things about them is the sense of texture and brush strokes. Just wonderful!

[MacTire]

Man I really love the characters you come up with, great ideas and as mentioned before great execution!

[Flame_Unquenchable]

I absolutely love seeing the details in your work. I see on the character's banjo you have carved some sort of sentence that reads "....LET DIE" or something of that sort. I just love stumbling upon things like this in a piece of art.

Both pieces are spectacular. My favourite things about them is the sense of texture and brush strokes. Just wonderful!

It's probably "Live and Let Die." A song by the Beatles that was covered by Guns N Roses among others. Great song that adds some flavor to the piece if you can hear it in your head while looking at it.

Bnoch, man always impressed, I really cannot wait for that lapse or some sort of stream video! I love how you can present distant things with clarity and make them seem far away still. I have such a hard time with distance and clarity. Normally if I try to represent something far away it's blurry.

Anyway, keep rockin man, everytime I get the email and see you've updated your SB I jump and run to come check it out. Thanks for all the great stuff.

[sony]

Gorgeousness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Voting for you

[Pete Hidalgo]

Aha haha ha. I havent been to the thread in a bit But is that for ChOw desert bard? That looks awesome!!

[liquorbleu]

hey Bnoch, thanks for existing man.

[Satu]

Awesome stuff here!

[Yor]

i love you damn bro..

[Alexandr Pascenko]

thanks for sharing this greatness! inspiring works and lots to learn from.

[Aaron_]

Oh man, that banjo guy kicks ass. Your work is just so beautiful it realy just makes me want to pick up a pencil and draw because it shows what we can achieve with digital paintings.

Very interesting passage about being an artist too. Not that I quite agree though. Those of my images that I think are unique are generally done when I'm in a "flow" sorta, not really caring or getting frustrated about its flaws and just painting away. Altough most of what came out are quite fucking weird(I blame the Commie fluorite water I drank when I was a kid), but they do reflect my personality. When I am getting frustrated though, most of the stuff ended up quite generic because I'm just trying to get a way out.
Aside from the fact that whenver I'm frustrated, it's mostly likely I'm just doing crappy work, and the frustration just makes it quite difficult to work.

Maybe just different personalities though >_______>

[IsaacEs]

Im just loving this sketchbook man its a visual pleasure! and an inspiration as well!

[Icecold]

Incredible sketchbook, the brave use of colors is what i like in particular.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Aaron I think his point was supposed to be 'Be dissatisfied with where you are, so that you never stop working to be better.' When you look at your work vs someone else's work, and you think it sucks, if it drives you to be better then you're on a good path.

I both love/hate coming to this thread, Bnoch has inspiring use of color, but it makes me look at my paltry work and want to cry. But I push to be better, study styles, light, etc. and try to visualize, and economize brush strokes, etc. There's a lot you can learn just by observing the really good sketchbooks on this site and trying to break down how they do it.

Bnoch's use of color floors me though, no idea how he does that. That and brush strokes, he seems to know right where to paint texture, or paint over texture to get a clean yet loose painting...sigh.

[snatti]

so amazing work and such true words, i also believe that the moments you think you suck the most and cant fail any worse a barrier gets realised and you can just breathe freely and produce great work

[Infinit]

great sketchbook
I rly appreciate the WIP pics you sometimes post.

I feel like I can learn a lot from the way you weight details.

[kidult]

good words!

[obier]

I dig what you said and words can´t describe how immense inspiration you are giving me.
Thanks dude!

[Tschayssen]

you sir are a god.WOW!

[Bnoch]

Good god damn, high praise from people. Thanks for all the replies.

The current CHOW is a topic based on duality. To me, there are few people more opposite in belief systems, lifestyle, and overall existence than cowboys and indians. Old school, and iconic. The dualities could be numerous; good v bad, right v wrong, past v future, but I liked guilty v innocent.

The other option was Snooki and Bill Gates.

[NickyBeats]

snookie and bill gates hahaha classic duality right there. that would be funny to see actually!

loved reading your thoughts on producing good art. i totally agree too. i still feel like my most driving time in my small blossoming career was after my father died in 2009. even though i wasnt working on anything spectacular, just doing studies mostly. but still, the effort i put into them felt much more focused and driven than the work i produce lately. i remember bobby chiu emailed me and he told me that "those who experience the greatest pains of life, are sometimes the ones who become the greatest." although it was much more articulate. but still, that really stayed with me. at a time when i could feel nothing and wanted to just sit in a corner for the rest of my life, he really opened up this well inside of me. i remember thinking nothing was impossible, and suddenly i was looking at these artists that i had previously seen as untouchable giants as mere people. but, people who had worked much harder than others. they had devoted their lives entirely to art. and it suddenly made sense, that it was not only achieveable, but it was sort of simple... work hard, as hard as you can, and youll get there. you know its possible, simply because it has been done before. why is it that we sit at home watching tv, and see a crippled man run in the olympics? because he came up against a barrier in his mind and won. we all have this barrier, but sometimes it isnt evident until it is smashed into our faces! but i digress haha, sorry for the rant, but i believe your right man, sometimes we have to face our devils and beat them into submission before we can really reach into our depths to find our own greatness.

[MeteorCat]

Incredible....

[Liberty]

Amazing!

[Belette666]

Gosh, I only discovered your thread yesterday and I've been watching it at least 20 times. It's amazing how you manage to render the materials and skin, your colors are always in harmony...
What are you working with ? A Cintiq I guess ?

[alexson]

Amazing work, man. Your chow this week is great also, gonna start stalking this thread heavily.

[Spellsword95]

Badass CHOW. Instant win.

[Jr.Molcak]

that girl... that is priceless

keep it up!

[Bnoch]

Nothing like playoff baseball. I've been playing baseball since I was a little dude, and am still fascinated with the subtleties of the sport.

Thanks for all the comments-
@Belette666- i use both a Cintiq and a pad, but prefer the pad. I like the compact movements when I'm designing.

More to come!

[p sage]

The kid with the light saber... lol... pwn3d. Nice story

Nice designs on the others as well.

Each time I see your avatar, I hear that Jay Mohr impersonation: "Hello, room. Hello MOON! Hello cow jumpin'... over da moon!"