Ally Albon's Sketchbook

[letsgopangolin]

Hi there! Thanks for the comment on my sketchbook ^^

I really like your art, some of it's just so cute! I don't see much to critique, but I think some of your drawings are a little too detailed? It kind of loses depth that way. In your picture with the two wolves/dogs, for example, some parts like the tails and the mushrooms are so well-focused and clear that they're a little distracting and almost look like they float out of the picture! I like what you did with the pictures of the two girls because their hair becomes fuzzy and less focused behind their heads. It's like a camera.. the most detailed part should be the focal point!

Your coloring is lovely, though. Keep up the good work! ^^

[AllyAlbon]

@letsgo - Thank you, and I know exactly what you mean. Will try and combat this, add it to the list of things to fix! It doesn't end...

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Little monster design for a book idea : He starts out thin and sad and then eats lots of cake and becomes happy. There will be a morale to this story!

Random lifedrawing bits - referenced aside from the gal on the ground.

[asa]

love your animals sketches
and also the creature/character concepts are awesome

[AllyAlbon]

@asa - thank you very much.

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So much to draw, so little time. Torn between the fantasy, lifedrawing, portfolio... but it is all good.

A couple of older pics from when I first started experimenting, drawing more from imagination. These were done as a commission for a friend. Only finished them a few weeks ago, but already... have moved on. I was not sure I was going to post these older ones, but this sketchbook is a journey, a true record and I liked them enough to share.

The centaur is the first picture that I started experimenting with textures and had a lightbulb moment - I am trying to use texture more and more in my work now. The fairy was also an experiment with brush types, and again - really love this brush and process.

I have to get off the computer now or my eyes and hands are going to start to bleed.

[AllyAlbon]

Ee Chee Wa Ma!

Or something like that....

[AllyAlbon]

Whole bunch of naked people! All referenced. Last one is a colour study - still struggling with colour and form with human beings, but persistence will get me there.

[Revidescent]

Man, I really like your creature work and some of your colours; you've got a really nice style. For your more realistic stuff, I'd recommend drilling facial planes for a bit - you've got a lot of features that don't wrap around properly, and are migrating around the face a little.

[AllyAlbon]

@Revidescent - thanks! And yes, people are most definitely my weakest skill... time and patience and lots of drawing.

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This painting was for fun, and to explore texture experiments again. This is an oooold character by the name of Sakaath that I created ten years ago – that fact alone horrifies me. Ten years. Ten years in which I should have been drawing but it was not long after creating this character that I set down the pen in frustration and walked a different path. Stupid me, quite frankly.

I found the original drawing on an old CD and cringed! Then I felt sorry for her and decided to give her life again. A shy, secretive species; the mountain gryphon spends most of their time looking for the warmest rocks and hunting small lizards, and snapping their beaks angrily at the true gryphons wheeling in the skies above.

[AllyAlbon]

Grace and Router

Redesign of an old, old, old character (The lemur type thing) who also had a rather bad name and decided to turn him into the sidekick of a rather Calvin-esque character. Had a lot, lot, lot of fun with these two, and am planning on putting them into a series of predicaments.

I decided to set myself a challenge with this one and put a timescale on this picture - as in, what if I had a time frame of only two days to come up with these characters. So this is what I ended up with after eight hours of designing and colouring. Admittedly, Router was already "designed", (albeit rather different!) but Grace was from scratch. It was a lot of fun.

[asa]

the cartoon character designs are awesome

[SpaceJelly]

The last lot of people studies are pretty good, humans are a total bugger to get right but you seem to be getting the hang of it. You've got a good grasp of foreshortening which is one of the tricker parts to grasp. Nice work.

Router is adorable BTW, I'd take him home

[AllyAlbon]

@asa - thank you
@Spacejelly - thanks - and they are such a bugger, too right! I am rather pleased with my little Router - however, a professional has cast his eyes over him and has a couple of suggestions to make him better, so expect a revamped version in the next couple of days.

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Another slightly older picture, but one I really like. I used to keep leopard geckos and they were fun to draw – and I love to create dragons with their stature and personality – stumpy, big tailed and always slightly petulant.

[AllyAlbon]

Canine Tarot – King of Coins – Old English Sheepdog

[AllyAlbon]

So... sleepy....

This week’s personal painting. Progressing skills with environment and storytelling.

This one was fun and quite frankly, there are not enough Ewoks in the world. Perhaps I should do a Wookie painting to accompany it – I love drawing fur!

First time around, first couple of hours, was just.not.feeling.it. Looked terrible. I stopped, threw a tantrum, drank a cocktail and watched Game of Thrones. Came back to it the next day and deleted the work I had done. Started again and so glad I did. Learnt a lot more- particularly that it is sometimes better to just start again than try to keep overworking something that just isn't right.

[asa]

wow, very cool the new stuff

[AllyAlbon]

Thanks Asa!


Sayink Nuffynk. It had to be done. Kinda going on a Starwars kick at the moment, plus dinosaurs rock.

[AllyAlbon]

Couple of older bits I don't think I have posted but still like, while I work on a shiny new pic.

[AllyAlbon]

Happy Halloween everyone!!

[AllyAlbon]

Playing with textures, dragons and orchids. Bliss!

[AllyAlbon]

Had a surge of nostalgia and had to draw my old gal, Nagini. She was a good broad, a troll hunter who was the highest level character I played. She keeps trying to call me back to the World of Warcraft….

Somewhere by the Crossroads, Boxley, the awesome hyena of awesome awesomeness (sarcasm), had once again managed to pull 100 enemies. After the usual cursing and dispatching, Nags has to use “heal pet” on her suitably abashed minion. Good thing she loves the stinky hyena. A passing windserpent has stopped to smirk.

[AllyAlbon]

This week's COW entry!

[AllyAlbon]

Wow, this place has gone quiet since the big move. Absolute shame but - probably a good thing as more time for more art and less browsing

[Damien Levs]

Ally thanks for dropping by my thread again You have some good new stuff going on. Even though you are further along in progress than myself, I would like to suggest really pushing values and highlights in your toons. Really get them to pop. You have done this in some images. I would love to see your toons taking on more of a 3D form. Unless this is how you want their style of course. Really digging the designs of them though. Keep pumping them out. Great work!

[AllyAlbon]

@Damien - thanks Hon. Working on the "popping" part! Trying to work out how to get more of a 3d effect - all to do with lighting, another thing to study!


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Was just trying to paint a woman - working on drawing from memory, and to practice skintone. Didn't know who I was drawing until it was nearly done and I thought "Catelyn Stark!". Still a loong way to go with drawing people, but I like this one. Needs work though.

[Whirly]

Wow Very impressive life drawings!! Great painting too but I think they look a little linear. Maybe try and do some value only paint studies .. no lines just light and shadow! Might be helpful

[AllyAlbon]

@Whirly - thanks! and I am trying to work more with lighting/values, so hopefully some improvement there in the next while...


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Two gals from imagination. Features starting to get less "floaty" I feel.

[Damien Levs]

Hey these are looking good The last one is really taking some form. Looking forward to more from you. Keep at it Ally!

[AllyAlbon]

@Damien - thanks!

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Today's contribution - this has been floating around for the past couple of weeks or so, dangerously close to never being finished as I lost the "feel" of it about halfway through. It really didn't help that I decided to draw in every scale on the dragon. Lesson learnt. Decided to finish it as 1. it is part of my Tarot project and I still have 70 odd to go so didn't want to lose the hours, and also wanted to force through the "wall" and make myself finish something and feel the love for it again. Got there in the end, and I don't hate it!

[AllyAlbon]

Have recently really found an interest in caricature - can't get enough of it, and am looking at people's faces differently (I... must draw you!). This is rather a revelation for someone who six months ago hated drawing people.

I have done about eight of them in the last few days and here are the first two caricatures I have ever done. More grotesque than exaggerated - but so much fun!

[AllyAlbon]

Aaaand another couple! Hopefully, these will be fairly obvious (Including one of my favourite voices in the universe…)