Piha Beach in New Zealand! Pavel's Portfolio thread. Updated May 2, 2013

[Pavel Sokov]

EDIT 32

2013. Photoshop Cs5. A painting of Piha beach in New Zealand.



EDIT 31

2013. Photoshop Cs5. A Troll finds himself on his 10th cup of ale, much to the disapproval of his owl.



Updated my Davids from 2011 as well.





EDIT 30

A commissioned painting of an awesome dog called Guinness!



An elephant caught in a forest fire:



EDIT 29

Last painting of 2012. Portrait of a friend!




EDIT 28

There was a cartoony pencil sketch I did in 2010 of a cowboy. I found it again and felt the urge to do a quick paintover on him.



EDIT 27

Redid the wolf painting. Going to wipe the other one off this post now.





EDIT 26

Louis CK portrait



Marc Maron portrait. He said it is awesome!





EDIT 25

New commissioned portrait of a friend.



EDIT 23
2012. Photoshop Cs5. This is my first commission from Reddit. This couple wanted a portrait of them to be painted from scratch and loved the result. This was really fun, so I look forward to doing more stuff like this!



EDIT 22

Hey guys! I remade my website from scratch. Everything is completely new! I would love if you took a look at it:
http://www.pavelsokov.com/

"A Matter of Classe"

CLASSE is an organization of student protesters in Montreal that are embarrassing the city, causing violence, vandalizing, skipping class, not going to exams, preventing others from going to exams, all because the tuition will be raised by 300$. If they spend the time they used to be lawless gorillas to pick up a shift at work or two, they would have had weeks of full time pay already.

THEIR LOGO IS A RED SQUARE.



EDIT 21
Putin
Photoshop Cs5


Sales Office Insignia



My sales office where I work as a marketing assistant saw my artworks and requested I make them an insignia. They requested almost all the objects in the scene, except the fibre optic cables which I came up with myself as well as the orb.

I finished it within 2 weeks, with 35 hours under its belt. It was displayed on the big screen as part of the company meeting and the sales office was happy with it.

I printed this out on fine art paper and framed it in a metallic frame. Looks great on the office wall.

Photoshop Cs5
300 pixels per inch
56 inches wide, 34 inches high

EDIT 20
Made this portrait for my girlfriend for Valentine's day.
Photoshop Cs5
13,200 pixels wide by 14,100 pixels high.
300 pixels per inch.



EDIT 19:
Hey guys!
Here is an environment I completed about a month ago.
It used a character of mine from 2010.

Photoshop Cs5
300 pixels per inch
57 inches wide by 30 inches high


EDIT 18:
Hello! These portraits were done before the New Year, but I only got around to posting them now. I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year! Cheers.

A portrait I painted of a friend of mine in return for him creating my website.



A triple portrait a friend of mine commissioned as a gift to her parents. I printed it on 100 year archival paper in 24 by 36 inches and framed it. Apparently the gift was a success and everyone liked it!



EDIT 14:
Hello guys, I am back! I have been focusing on school a lot, as it is my last semester! However, it is my mom's birthday so I made this to decorate to go with the nice silver frame my mom bought.

It is a bust of Athena, the Greek Goddess of war.


"Athena and the fly"
Photoshop Cs5.
300 pixels per inch, 12000 x 12000 pixels.



EDIT 13:

"Gate of the Hopeless"
Photoshop Cs5.





EDIT 10:

A friend of mine is planning to buy a large poster of the Metro Bug, so I spent a day and a bit working out all the little issues it had since it is a year old. I fixed the perspective, fixed the lighting, added reflections, spit, smoke, shadows,etc.



Next up we have some rather quick character designs.



EDIT 9:

So I was in a street art Festival called FIMA the past week in Montreal, and I have developed a series of oils for the show. I haven't used oils since Rasputin (which was my first), but I am very happy with the process and looking to expand more on this medium. Here are 3 of 6 paintings I made. I will post the other 3 later!

"Black Skull"
12 by 12 inches.
Oil on hardboard.



"Floating"
12 by 12 inches.
Oil on hardboard.
Based on DartGarry's sketch! http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/20..._DartGarry.jpg



"Black Heart"
12 by 12 inches.
Oil on hardboard.



EDIT 7:

Portrait of my grandfather. Pencil sketch with photoshop values.


This here is the Big Bad Wolf I did for a CHOW a month ago. I forgot to post it here it seems.



Edit 6: DOMINANCE WAR 5!
Vote here:http://www.gameartisans.org/contests...ociety_2d.html

That is the link to Cg Society's voting. Make sure to vote for all the forums leaders!

Here is my dominance war entry:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests..._2d_40684.html











EDIT 2: New image, February 28th. Portrait of Missile, a Ca forum member. Reference from his photo in the "what does everyone look like" thread.



EDIT: New image, February 14th. God Bound To the Throne. It is a character design for a special project.



First up, a World War 2 painting I made in 2 days as a New Year gift for my dad.

"Through the eyes of a dying soldier"

[Giacomo]

These are looking good...you are getting better! Onward!

[Mah ' Crub]

Pavel...I see a good style for you in the WWII painting. I love the rough suggustive imagery. It's so cool and loose...a good look for you I think. All your other stuff is very good as well, but mostly your Specter of Death is absolutly bad assed, I loved it, and the other monster as well. You have come a long way this year. Now I want you to sculpt that Death dude and post it in our forum. That would go over very big there.
Good luck buddy and don't slow down.

Mah ' Crub

[Quigleyer]

Hey Pavel, great to see your work again!

I feel like your rendering is getting stronger- slicker also . At this point it looks like you've gotten the gist of the body down- I'd urge you to begin to take more dedicated study to the specifics now. Work on, say, arms for a little while. Learn all you can about arms, draw them in different positions and have a lot of fun with references of different kinds of arms. work on foreshortening of arms, the planes of arms, etc. etc. Then go to legs. Then work on the knee. Then work on the head, etc. etc.

Your work shows nothing but promise and I'd really urge you to take your studying further. Looking great man, I hope to see you keep going with this.

[SandManConservation]

I really like the character in the gas mask. Does he have a name? It jumps out at me for some reason, is that a crushed velvet jacket he has on? if so, definitely my favorite.

[Pavel Sokov]

Hey thanks everyone, I appreciate your comments and critiques!

Giacomo
Thank you for always finding and replying to any thread of mine. I can always count on you for some feedback, and I appreciate it!

Mah Crub
Thanks man! I am thinking of trying more paintings in that style! Who are you calling the death dude? Are you talking about the grim reaper/ snake ghost with long arms?

Quigleyer
Hey, great advice! I bought CA's anatomy class for 12$ and have watched it a long time ago. I focused on arm anatomy for example in the design of the purple guy with 6 arms. I hope the arms came out convincing!
And don't you worry, I will definitely keep at it.

SandmanConservation
Yes, the jacket is supposed to be rasberry velvet haha. He comes with different masks actualy, a gimp one, a doll one,etc as well as different color jacket; purple, white, grey, black. I just found it too reduntant to post that, as the thread is already full of pictures.

I am finishing up my favourite design for the special project, I will post it some day soon in this thread hopefully!

[wooblood]

Sup Pavel! I think this is some great and promising stuff, and I can tell that each one of them has been a learning experience for you for improvement. Each one shows some flashes of brilliance as well as some weak points, so it's just a matter of continually improving and honing in on those weaknesses to create some really awesome works.
I really like the mood and ambience you created in the Dying Soldier one and think you should try to develop that further in future images. Also, keep working on your portraits and your hands to bring their quality up.
Looking forward to seeing more from you this year!

[Lotet]

I like the first one. It has great potential and I really like the simpicity of it. in your other stuff I get the feeling your overworking your details. And studying rendering and portraits is great, but dont forget the rest to. In my opinion ur weakest point now is the lower part of the body, hips, legs and wieght transfering. Start doing some whole figure studies of people standing and walking n stuff like that.

have a great day and keep painting man!

[Verehin]

Кул! Нигга особенно =)

[Pavel Sokov]

Hey guys, I just posted a new image, please let me know how it is!

wooblood
Thanks man, I will keep trying to progress. I definitely learned a lot in terms of atmosphere while making the World War 2 piece. Hopefully the new piece I just posted is strong on mood as well.

Lotet
Thanks man! You are right, weight transfer isnt something I have ever thought about. Definitely room for improvement in that sense.

Verehin
Spasibo zemlyak

[J Love]

Pavel,

I think there are a lot of good things going on in your artwork, and while I can't really talk about how you are making the artwork (I only use digital for finishing touches) I think there are a few things that I can suggest.

A lot of the posing of the characters looks forced and sometimes generic. Focus on the silhouette - does it tell a story, does it communicate the character? Act it out yourself, feel the strain on your muscles, where your weight goes, and then put that into your drawing - tell a story with your silhouettes, even if the story is just "evil demon lord."

I think Quigley is right about the general - you are getting the general shapes down, now you have to make them specific. One instance is the horse head - the shape is there, but there are opportunities to add a small detail that will make it read much better. I think you would benefit from adding to your visual vocabulary by drawing from life a lot. Just sit down with a sketchbook and draw everything you can that's around you - don't look for "cool" things to draw, draw the everyday things around you. I draw my morning cup of coffee, my evening beer or bottle of wine, my girlfriend taking a nap, my studio mates, cars in the street - anything and everything will add to your visual vocabulary and you will then bring that knowledge into your imaginative work.

Another thing that the first two pictures could benefit from is some more time spent on the thumbnail and composition stage. The first one (God Bound to the Throne) could be cropped in a lot to make it a stronger composition. You could even change the viewpoint to have God looming above the figure on the outcrop of rock, make it much more menacing. This piece would also benefit a lot from some photo reference as well I think, find some chain and wrap it around a friend and have them strain against it, see where it tenses and pulls - in your piece it hangs loosely, which doesn't tell the story of him being bound, it just seems like part of his costume.

These are just my first impressions - hopefully they are helpful. Keep working and thinking and you'll get where you want to go - best of luck!

J

[Verehin]

Отлична! Нравится новая работа. В следующий раз, внимательнее думай над тем откуда идёт свет и как он кастует тени

[patrick j jones]

Hi Pavel,

Pretty good advice already from the other guys, I would advise to keep up with the anatomy study above all else as the other stuff will slot into place with time. I know lots of professional artists with poor anatomy skills, polishing bad work and wishing they hadn't skipped the foundation ground work to begin with. Just keep drawing...

Best wishes,
Patrick.
www.pjartworks.com

[Pavel Sokov]

JLove

Thank you very much for your in-depth comment!
I appreciate it, and It shed a light on my ignorance of poses as well as muscle strain and all that. These are some things I don't think about, especially the weight distribution of my poses. The more I learn, the more I find out just how weak my artworks and understanding of art is. I am learning just how much thought goes into making a scene, more thought then I ever knew!

Based on your advice I am giving lots of thought on trying to sketch in my new sketchbook I bought. Possibly starting a sketchbook thread as well, that will motive me to sketch more often.

I don't even do thumbnails, so that is definitely something I should get into. I just kinda jump in head first and hope my initial composition will turn out well...

Great advice on the chain's and their strain, definitely not something I gave adequate attention to. So much to think about!

Thank you!

Verehin

Spasibo moy drug! Ya dumal pro svet kogda ya delal etu kartinu, u menya vserovno ne poluchilos korektniy svet? Mojesh obyasnit bolshe shtobi ya uvideal svoyi oshibki I ne delal ih v budushem?

Patrick Jones

Thanks so much Patrick!
I am worried to a certain extend though, because I was mindfull of anatomy throughout all these paintings. I watched Ca's anatomy streaming class and used Ruben's anatomy diagrams throughout the painting of these pieces. It is worrisome that I still managed to raise red flags when it comes to anatomy.
But oh well, practice makes perfect, maybe next time I will implement my anatomy references with greater success!

Thank you all!

I will Edit this post with a new sketch once I get around to scanning it.

[Pavel Sokov]

New image February 28.
Portrait of Missile, a board member from Ca.org. Reference used from the "what does everybody look like" thread.

[Sir_E_Pent]

Who were you at that party? You drew my face all wrong. And tell me, where do I have those pants?

Why am I always late?!?!?!? Oh yeah, My assistant has bean lagging on me. At least she hasn't quit. I'm still paying the insurance.

[Gavage]

The Heston Blumenthal portrait really stands out here. I like where you're going with the style of your darker work but with some pieces (for example the cloaked serpent guy) the palette is a little too dark and murky and it can be difficult to see the details clearly as a result of it. It could work well to try playing around with a lighter range of colours - it wouldn't detract from the tone of the piece. The rust and metal texture on the mecha/robot is great, it'd be interesting to see stuff like a suit of armour rendered in your style.

[Pavel Sokov]

Thanks so much Missile!

I find it surprising that you enjoy Heston as I have gotten some very negative feedback on him over in the CC section. I am glad that to think he might not be so bad afterall!

As for the darkness of my pallete, you are absolutely right, I actualy had to raise to brightness on the robot design when I was finished as it was one big dark turd.


I posted a new Rick Ross portrait. I was really having no luck with the background.

[Pavel Sokov]

New Oil painting. This is the first time I touched oils in my life. Also the first time I touched paints since I was 12-13 years old.
I enjoyed the experience, I see myself using oils in the future!.

Rasputin:


No frame:

[Gavage]

Very impressive considering this was the first use of oils in a long time. Nice work around the eyes. I'd only suggest doing something a bit more with the background if you make another portrait like this, the streaks in the paint are slightly distracting.

[A78]

Very good stuff!

"Ken Dryden" and "priceless" are in my opinion your best pieces.

In general I would like to see more dissection of light
how fill lights , secondary lights reflected lights behave different than main direct sources of light not only in intensity and color but also on the shading.

Working on that subject will help you to bring more credibility to the shapes, will become more '3D and less flat.

[Pavel Sokov]

Missile,
I am glad to tell you that in real life the background is a lot more inform. As I messed with the settings to nail the face down, it made the background rather contrasty and streaky looking. I am glad you liked the work on the eyes.
And I am definitely hoping to make more portraits!

A78,
Oh wow, I am surprised that you liked Ken Dryden. It definitely shows me that effort doesn't equal success always.
I am glad to hear you mention light because it is my current focus. I have bought the color theory streaming class, as well as have a very in depth colour theory website in my favs, that I found in the helpfull material section of this forum. Really looking forward to becoming better in this domain!


I am going to Russia now until the 30th, so I might not be able to check back in case somebody else replies in the next week.

I wish everyone well, and thanks to all those that have commented and simply checked out my thread as well!

[Pavel Sokov]

(Next piece I'm posting after this one is going to be my DW piece!)

Here is a piece I did for Character Of the Week last month. I just adjusted it slightly.


Russian Criminal:

[Pavel Sokov]

DOMINANCE WAR 5!
Vote here:http://www.gameartisans.org/contests...ociety_2d.html

That is the link to Cg Society's voting. Make sure to vote for all the forums leaders!

Here is my dominance war entry:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests..._2d_40684.html

[Anubisuk]

I absolutely love the piece God Bound To The Throne! What a fantastic idea for a picture and executed incredibly well!! Top marks!

[Pavel Sokov]

Anubisuk:
Thank you so much!
What did you think of my DW5 entry?

And please check out the new update as well! Cheers

[DartGarry]

hi!
i tvoi raboty posmotrel. vcelom simpatichno
odnako, pozvol ya dam small soviet - - dobavlyai vozdushnosti (airness & planovosti, uvodya dalniy i uvelichivaya i fakture perednyi. will be the better best)!

particularly enjoyed working with loshadmmi!
and dominance war

[Pavel Sokov]

Thanks so much Dark Garry!
I will try my best to add more of an airy feel to my paintings in the future. I know what you are talking about, and it makes the paintings look more real

[Pavel Sokov]

Posted a series of oils!

[Grey_Rift]

i like your style but i think that your perpective is wrong in a couple of your paint the robot for example