Lane's Sketchbook

[sony]

last one is soo good

[MrBigCheese]

I fucking love your style ahh marry me. All your pieces have such a nice, dynamic flow to them and you manage to create the perfect atmosphere in each, I love it.

[insane lemur]

awesome Lane! each post shows improvement and i love your sense of style. If i could crit you on one thing i would suggest simplifying to bigger shapes at the end (especially in shadows). you seem to have a big to small approach, but some of the samey strokes are hurting the sense of light- for example in the breastplate piece i see strokes in the shadows similar to ones in the light, and its killing that contrast. same in alot of the strokes in the crossbow woman's costume. I don't see these weaknesses in your reffed pictures (that turtle and tree are awesome), so probably would help getting more analytical about effects of lighting in your imaginary pics, and how you can push the differences between different areas of lighting through differences in your brushwork (ha that reads weird).

[Lane.]

insane lemur- That is just the sort of critique and feedback I yearn for! I've known to reduce detail in shadow, but I've never considered a contrast in brush strokes. I will certainly try to utilize that in the future. Much appreciated!


here's another study:

[Siadream]

I really like the sense of movement and painting textures..

[llex_paul]

nice real paint like images! you have some good end results! i think you cold pop out even more with some vivid colors, i think its suitable for your style! anyway, keep the good work going man!

[CountBlackula]

That owl is vibrant and gorgeous.

[will123will]

amazing work

[Kambei Shimada]

This sketchbook is beautiful man,

Im loving 'RED' #263. - out of interest Photoshop or painter?


The turtle study is awesome too.

[Lane.]

Thanks all!
Kambei- i use photoshop
...


Antithesis

The colony needs every ant, but it has no more desire for you!

[Likes2doodle]

Lighting on the apple (core) is sick

[Likes2doodle]

Also really like the hopper mech! Would love to see a more detailed version

[Grey_Rift]

dude that some really nice shit

[Lane.]

Fiona
Cover for C.A Hope's Novel: New Lanark: Spinning New Lives

The brief for this commission was to illustrate "a young Scottish girl in the 1780's fearfully looking back as a fire is burning down a mill off picture." The mill was her home.

I like painting simple scenes like this because it allows me to focus entirely on the emotion of character rather than secondary details. Though, one small requirement was that her shell bracelet be visible. This somewhat dictated the placement of her arm, but I think it works well in this case.

Below is the "sketch" I submitted for approval. When working digital, I've started going full color and paint for these sketches. It really doesn't take much longer than a b/w drawing would, and I rather solve most of the problems at this stage so that after the sketch is approved it's just a matter of making it look good.



And a close-up:

[ashanti-j]

Your work is very inspirational! Thank you so much for putting up your studies and your fantasy/concept work

[NickyBeats]

awesome updates Lane, really cool techniques and use of textures! great work !!

[evoart]

lovely textures

[I-Bomb]

nice use of brush strokes and textures

[Fallenangel]

As others already said, great work and great use of textures and brush stokes!

Fallen.

[Xcarbon]

i like your art style ... and your paint skills are Awesome!!

[Lightship69]

Hi matey

Love the last set of updates, but the ants and the fly made me laugh and wonder what goes on inside your head!!

The girl with the sawl on her shoulders is great, the anatomy is good and the expression and gesture of the figure is spot on matey, get some prints done and sell them, make millions!

all the best matey and thanks for posting it was good to see them.

[kuumehike]

Aaaaahhh god damn you're good, helluva inspiration surge i got just now...i say no more

[IsaacEs]

wow just wow this sb is just amazing your sense of color is seriously just phenomenal! may i ask what kind of studies you were doing to achieve such a great sense of color? anyways sorry i dont have much productive to say im just drooling at your sb!

[Lane.]

IsaacEs- thanks! You can do all sorts of studies to gain a better sense of color. I would study master works to learn technique, and study from life to observe the mechanics of color/light. Both are important.

...
Here's a couple of master copies/studies:

Ilya Repin. Focusing on the light/shadow contrast on the face. Also trying to capture the course texture.



William Bouguereau. Observing the subtle value/color/temperature shifts within the skin tones. The bright reflection on the shoulders is particularly interesting.

[Greenhouse]

Beautiful!!!!!

[wutangclam]

man you're so efficient with your strokes and colour its amazing! i have a question however, what do you find are the advantages of starting a painting with block colours versus starting one from greyscale?

[Lane.]

man you're so efficient with your strokes and colour its amazing! i have a question however, what do you find are the advantages of starting a painting with block colours versus starting one from greyscale?

Hey, thanks for asking!

I find it easier to start with color, usually a monochrome with just slight variations. Mostly I begin with a brown-red scheme because I like to draw with warmer tones. Color is often a large factor towards evoking a particular mood. Because all other details should also work towards expressing the mood of an image, I want to establish that as early as possible. Especially when painting, it's all about revealing objects and surfaces by painting the light hitting the object, rather than painting the object itself. It's more difficult for me to portray 3D volume without the use of color. I often rely on shifts in color temperature (cool to warm) to turn a form rather than just value transitions.

While there are many ways to color a b/w image, its difficult to emulate natural lighting. Without a lot of extra layering, the result can seem dull or flat.

Really it's personal preference. I like to pack as much information in a single stroke as I can, that hopefully will not change much in the completed image. Others like to make gradual adjustments with lots of glazing/layering.

[MrFrenik]

Would you say that painting in a "traditional" manner is how you've gotten such great results with painting digitally? My trouble with painting digitally is that my colors always seem "washed-out" and lack a vibrancy that I see in your work. Great stuff.

[DarkArchitect]

Awesome work Lane, keep fighting the good fight man!

[Lane.]

Would you say that painting in a "traditional" manner is how you've gotten such great results with painting digitally? My trouble with painting digitally is that my colors always seem "washed-out" and lack a vibrancy that I see in your work. Great stuff.

Yeah, I've sort of gravitated to a painterly technique. It's not all that intentional, as I hardly have a definite or consistent process. Getting good color is more a matter of understanding light though, it's independent of process. You've got to be very considerate of transitions in color temperature.

These were a great help to me:
Gnomon DvD on color theory
Gurney's Color & Light book