Pavel Sokov's Sketchbook

[zephyri]

Hey Pavel, thought I'd throw some thoughts in on your cartooning... Thus far given you've not done this kinda thing, you're off to a steady start! The animals all have a certain sort of charm, but I really think you could push their poses, their personality and their setting more to tell a story. I always get the feeling from looking at the works of companies like Pixar and dreamworks that even their simplest sketches set out to tell you something unique about their characters, and when it comes to their more polished illustrations, nothing is left to chance... the last detail of body language and shape all contributes towards giving the viewer a real sense of who the character is. And I kind of feel like this is what's missing from your work thus far... The wolf bear and owl are cool but they're all in fairly standard poses with fairly tame expressions (the owl is pushing this more than the other two). I'd say think on how you can get certain features to push the personality of the creature, make them a little more human so people can relate to them more. Take the owl for example... what if you made his eyes much smaller, or gave him huge bottle-thick glasses. Push his squint so it's even more caricatured than it already is. Right now he feels more like he's just seen a friend flying through a murky night and he's keeping an eye out to see if he passes by again, rather than is really straining to see anything at all. Maybe a different camera angle would allow you to show off the craning of the neck better?

I'd say before you go into fully coloured pieces, try just sketching the same character numerous times on a page... get a feel for the shapes of him, of what kind of personality he has, then give him a story, an interesting snippet in time. The owl might be blind, but what if he were just on the bottom branch of a tree barely off the ground? Or if he were sitting on the horn of a deer, mistaking it for a branch?

I've done you a paintover of the bear to try and illustrate what I mean... By tweaking his pose to be sitting down it suggests he's been waiting by the hive for a while. I've rounded things off to give him a dumpier, goofier feel, and fleshed out his cheeks a little - all things that might add to illusion he's probably a greedy beggar. I've tilted his head, made his smile more obvious and added dark patches around his eyes. I made the whites of his eyes more grey and reapplied the highlight to give them more life (the pure white was killing it), and I've given him very subtle eyebrows just above to suggest a slightly expectant expression. Adding the teeny bee and lifting his paw off the ground suggests he might just paw either the bee or the hive in a second. - there's a number of possible stories going on in the image, up to the viewer to decide what kind of guy this bear is, within the personality the shapes and expression have given him already.

Also:
* simplified the background and painted out more of the lines to give the image consistency.
* Added more of a rim light to the bear to pop him out
* added cast shadows from the trees
* darkened the foliage a lot

[Pavel Sokov]

Wow! I just saw this on my phone and had to comment right away.

This is the sort of stuff I love conceptart for. Paintovers are amazing teaching tools, at least for me. I feel like they should be used in art school consistently. They show exactly what the teacher had in mind and instead of ambiguous ideas the student can see the real world applications to HIS work. This opens up new opportunities for the piece and opens your eyes on what the painting can be.

I love it, and agree with every thing you said and painted. The poses really are un-ambitious on my part, especially for a cartoon.

I also love the smooth tones of the background making it much easier to look at.

I can't wait to fix my image up to your standard!

Cheers and thank you so much!

[zephyri]

You're welcome Pavel Look forward to seeing what you do with it! There's a nifty blog from a dreamworks storyboarder here, about line and shape and how it relates to human form, but there's a lot that will translate to any kind of cartoon too! Hope it's of some help.

http://radhowto.blogspot.co.uk/

[Pavel Sokov]

So I worked a bit on the posture of the Wolf to give him more.. swag? Also I re-composed the scene, and while painting I strived to get rid of the blacks in the shadows that I had painted earlier. I should really control my value range better.



Better crop and yellowy lighting from the moon. Better I find.


Added some snow:


Maybe the stars are better then snow?

[Pavel Sokov]

Here is a major update. I changed up the atmosphere a lot as well.

I am closing in to the finish line with this piece. Any last minute crits? I think I need to put the tail down because wolves may not be capable of having their tail up.

[Pavel Sokov]

I might be done. I put the tail down, finished the background, and added the mountains.

All 3 mountains are on different layers. Is the composition good with all 3?

I might also remove the sharp tips of the trees, my mom hates them.



EDIT:
Fixed the tree tops, and added a lake. Should I remove the falling snow? How is the lake? Can you see the reflection?

[DinaCardillo]

I think you have a nice thing going on!

I really like how you rendered the fur on his body, but his head looks like it's made of plastic right now. Except for the head, this picture looks lovely.

Maybe it would look better if he was looking at us? Or howling? I think the head looks weird as it is.

By the way, very nice atmosphere! And... what lake?

[Lhune]

I don't know why people practically remove animals' calves in cartoons, it seems quite a common thing but it makes little sense if you think about it. Also the tail is part of the spine.



Not sure about the lighting in this one, particularly on the face as DinaCardillo pointed out. Think logically about where the light is coming from and how it would affect the face in this position and perspective.

[Pavel Sokov]

Dina,

The lake is on the left of the hill he is standing on. It has the slight reflection of the mountain.

You are right, the head's rim light does make it look kind of plasticky. Will fix that.

Lhune,

You are absolutely right on the anatomy of the leg and the tail. Will fix that.

So I did a quick rough test of fixing the wolf up a bit, prior to reading your comments, would he look better this way?

[gfxtwin]

It looks like your work was done by a variety of different artists which is really interesting to me.

[Pavel Sokov]

Thanks! What did you think of the quick test I did for redesigning the wolf above?

I have switched gears and worked hard on the Owl. It is finished I think.




I am also working on redesigning the wolf. I redid his legs, and really played around with his torso/head/hide. Now I need a way to make his facial expression looks a lot friendlier! Is this heading in a better direction?

[Toland]

I liked the wolf better with the tail up. I think the composition was stronger that way. I also liked your pointy trees. Sometimes our parents hate the best parts.

The owl is adorable, but the shading on the trunk of the tree is really flat and kind of distracting.

[Pavel Sokov]

Really? Both your wolf comments are surprising I find. When I look back at the pointy trees, they look ridiculous and break up the composition a lot with their strong lines. Also, I am afraid wolves aren't capable of raising their tail, so I must keep it as is.

[Artimatum]

Actually, they are capable of doing so.

/smart ass

[TinyBird]

Also, I am afraid wolves aren't capable of raising their tail, so I must keep it as is.

I yeah I have to also wonder where on earth did you get this idea? Wolves communicate with their tail, as do dogs and all dogs can raise their tail (excluding ones that have curly tails) and so can wolves (they can also bend it in an angle which looks really strange).
http://www.everythingwolf.com/galler...GalleryID=2321
Also what really bothers me with the wolf is that it's head in in profile, which looks awkward seeing how the horizon is way below it.

And I have to admit I liked the pointy trees too. They created contrast to the round shaped wolf.

[Pavel Sokov]

Well, my dad told me and I believed him for some reason. Looks like they can point their tails up!

So here is an update based on 3-4 days work on a portrait that I haven't worked on in a long time.

[TinyBird]

Well, my dad told me and I believed him for some reason. Looks like they can point their tails up!

Are you sure your dad is not the same as Calvin's dad?

[Pavel Sokov]

Haha, well he is actually usually right, so I will have fun correcting him later.

So I worked more on the portrait by re-arranging some features to look like my friend more.



Then I came up with a more intense background, how is this? More lively I find.

[Pavel Sokov]

Here is an update on the wolf piece. I really re arranged his face, raised his tail, and some other stuff.

The purpose was to make him look more kind. Did it work?

[Pavel Sokov]

I did a lot of work on this, and I might be finished unless you guys have some suggestions.



Photo:

[Velocity Kendall]

Another exquisitely detailed portrait of a stubbly guy in a dark room.
Really well rendered but the subject is sooo uninspiring. Cant wait to see what you do when you let rip on something with some actual beauty and interest to it. A Repin study or something.

[Pavel Sokov]

I am glad you like the rendering. But I am no photographer, so taking a more interesting photo of him would of been pretty challenging.

But I am being told left and right to paint more interesting stuff. I have to say a lot of my stuff lately is commissioned so I do what I do. But I could put a greater effort into making things more artistic.

Anyways, something is bothering me about his background.

How is the likeness?

Also, how was the wolf re-design I posted most recently? He must not be sinister looking, which is my main struggle with him.

[Pavel Sokov]

I was told by a person at Ea Games Montreal that I need more commercial work in my portfolio, so I designed this guy. I imagined I was working for Rage or Borderlands.

"Petachok". Petachok means piglet from Vinnie the Pooh in Russian.

[Pavel Sokov]

Hey guys, still need your help.

I am working on this moon. It is supposed to be a wise powerful moon, that is currently in a state of disappointment (never angry). However my gf said it looks like Garey Busey and no one likes it much.

[Pavel Sokov]

Progress on Louis CK. I forgot all about him, but some people on Reddit wanted prints and I promised to finish this work. I am close to done I think?

Anyways, PLEASE help me with the above moon painting, I am struggling.

[Pavel Sokov]

Finished Louis CK

[Whirly]

Amazing works in here both the render stuff and the line drawings. Portraits are amazing and so is the cartoon stuff.

Really like this SB

[Pavel Sokov]

Thanks so much Whirly!

What about this blue version of Louis? Is it better then the original?



I also adjusted this portraits head shape because the top right of the forehead (HIS left) seemed to be ballooning out strangely. I warped it back in.

[Danilo]

http://gyazo.com/4207d435e08e9ef4a5a301d66a239b6a

i think you need to practice more the geometric approach.

seems that on your paintings dominate detail on the whole composition. On the color side check the midtones. Try to darken with the color not with black. Look at the edges. Some are too sharp. Choose the center of the image, and give focus to it.

edit: sorry, didnt see last 4 pages, I think you did much progress

[sone_one]

hey man,

good work so far. just a few points...

compared to the rest of the body the head is really tiny.. these are some massive upper and lower arms (the hand is within reason).

the ear is too far back on the head.

his left eye is too far from the nose and his right is too close. you need to take into account that the bridge of the nose is protruding from this plane.

heres a quick op to illustrate what i mean and hope it helps.