James Wolf Strehle, UPDATE! SKETCHBOOK REVIVAL!! last page!

[James Wolf]

Hey everyone! SKETCHBOOK REVIVAL, LAST PAGE!!


Hello all you wonderful people of CA. After looking through all of these amazing sketchbooks i've decided to make one of my own,
but I wanted to give it some purpose rather than putting stuff up now and then so I've decided to make it a Journal of sorts, tracking my progress through to my Goal of making it into the gaming industry! and ultimately a position at MASSIVE BLACK! which is my dream! although I realize thats pretty ambitious and I may very well end up a 70 year old man grasping onto old dreams that never were... thats sad ..um but also it will be interesting to see my skill grow over the course of this sketchbook, well I hope it will!

Anyway down to business, here are a few full fledged illustrations so you can get an idea of my current skill level: attached, and after that I will begin my entries into my SKETCHBOOK!

Thank you so much for taking a look, I will try to barrage this thread with all the artwork I can muster up, so be sure to check back!

edit: moved the images to my second post so i can change the sketchbook icon

[Ampersand]

Your finished work looks great! I look forward to seeing your sketches.

[Dreamworker]

Awesome start! this stuff is great.
Keep it up, cheers

[James Wolf]

Ok so my first lead was through TIMEGATE STUDIOS, I got in contact with them and we had a phone interview. the creative director I spoke with mentioned that they were looking for someone who can whip up mood paintings and sci-fi environments, which is something I don't have much of, so my first step is to get moving on those. so I've been checking out many artists that do that sort of work. semi relating is a quick painting i did for the gnoman labyrinth contest. it took around 8 or 9 hours which is ok but the pros seem to get similar results in 40 minutes so i must work on that. about the piece: the hero is stuck in a crossroad where he must decide his path, the path of the braves or the path of the jackals. I'm pretty happy with it but it is muddy and feels overworked, anyway here it is:

[The Dream Walker]

stunning stuff. its always great when someone can tackle figures and environments so well

[James Wolf]

Ampersand- thanks! I will get some sketches up soon.
Dreamworker- I certainly will keep it up!

here is a quick speed painting it took maybe 1.4 hours, its not very good at all and I'm sort of embarrassed but here it is anyway

[James Wolf]

and now for a creature sketch along with a color version, don't ask me what it is as I do not know lol, I just started scribbling in some ovals and it sort of made itself and i went along with it.

thats it for now. I will be back in a little bit!

[Sawa]

lol that last one is cool
oveall, great stuff. i really like the colors in your paintings.

[kuroart]

great sketchbook, man. I've seen some of your stuff on cgtalk. I like that texture you made with some of you pieces. gouache-ish maybe spray paint-ish, idk. only thing is, to me, it doesnt give the distance look that there should be. mainly on the last two enviros, but thats just me. Other than that, awesome stuff.
keep em comin.

[Envisor]

All I can say is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! More please.

[RaistlinTheDark]

awesome stuff man!

[Piranha Clan]

I'm pretty sure you're going to be working somewhere in the gaming industry before too long with work like yours. The first post is incredible, great color and mood on all three. Great start and good luck with MB!

[designboot]

nice pages!

[Zombie_dla]

Your environments look really good. I _love_ the Hateful Eye-piece! Now I want to see some more

[ChaoticKnight]

This stuff is great. Its ridiculously dificult to paint digitally to the point of that kind of realism, at least for me, so many props and much respect!

[ccsears]

cool stuff. keep up the good work.

( i agree with kuroart on the gouache texture, though )

[zeitgeist]

I won't ask you what the last one is but the first thing that comes to mind is "festering head chandelier"... which just makes me smile.

[James Wolf]

Sawa-thank you sawa, i think i need to explore color more though, i seem to always use my favorite colors lol.

kuroart-thanks, ya some of this stuff has been over at cgsociety for a while, the hateful draft piece recieved a viewers choice award, I definately agree with you about the depth problem, i think with some of them i just slap a texture over it and it flattens the whole thing, but i'll keep it in mind for the next environments.

Envisor-i've got more!

RaistlinTheDark-thankies

Piranha Clan-I hope so, i'm trying really hard!

designboot-

Zombie_dla-i'm glad you like them, i'm gona try to post more sketch work than finished pieces but i'll definitely get some bigger things up at some point.

ChaoticKnight-thank you chaoticknight, it certainly takes a while, but i think it definitely gets easier as you do more and more, thats probably obvious lol.

ccsears-i'll try something new for my next environments and see if that works a little better.

zeitgeist-o my god thats what it is! although its probably the most impractical chandeler i've ever come across as it spews out blood from the bottom.

here are some new ones I did yesterday and tonight: the first one I would consider a wip only because there was something else i was going to add to it but its fine as is i think. the other two are just quick character sketches. I had another one but it got lost when my computer restarted itself pld:

[BohemianChaos]

holy frickin cow I'd say you're a lot closer to getting where you want to be in industry than most of us who aren't there already (I'm speaking for myself as well). Speed is definitely the key though... I'm having issues with that also.

That first piece of the girl with the flies in her eyes is my favorite... how long do you think you spent on it?

You've come into the forum with a very strong start... I'll definitely be checking back to see what else you post. If you haven't been to one already, you should attend one of the MB workshops for sure... they're fantastic. Good luck!

~Boho

[IndieWise]

Fantastic stuff, you really have a great eye for placement. I like seeing your sketches next to more polished versions. I hope to see more of your sketching process as more posts come up.

The only critique I have is on the girl sitting on the rock. Her weight appears to be too far back. If she really was holding that sword she would be having to be counterbalancing it with keeping her bodyweight shifted forward. Right now it looks like she is about to fall backwards. This could be fixed with moving her upper back/shoulders or her arm that is holding the sword forward more.

Other than that I have nothing but good things to say about your work. Keep it up!

-Addison

[fooxoo]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1183914016 - great design, but much harder to read in the colour version. I d think more of light and where you choose to put detail to make it read more!

great stuff you have here though!

cheers and keep going!

[Henchman 21]

really dig yer environments, man. especially that sweet gazeebo tower in the woods. very nice colors as well.

[HunterKiller_]

This is hardcore start for sure.

may very well end up a 70 year old man grasping onto old dreams that never were

Don't ever that! Don't even think it! If you want to do it, believe it, do it.
Your works here are obviously already of high quality, just keep at it!

I like that large sword design, nice combination of traditional and hi-tech aesthetics. The next monster is rockin' too.

[3d3n]

truly some incredible work here, that first one blows my mind.

[loveandasandwich]

Your very first piece you posted is definitely my favorite. Such fantastic colors & details. You could definitely get a job at Massive Black I think if you keep pumpin out stuff like that first one.

[MrArmadillo]

these are all awesome! i like how you aren't afraid to show the sketches; it really helps me out, because for a while i've been trying to avoid lines, but i see it is possible to sketch out the basics and then render with paint so that the lines disappear completely.

i particularly like the oval heads merged thing... quite an imagination!

[James Wolf]

BohemianChaos- thanks, I think I'm definitely getting faster, to answer your question about the time spent with the hateful draft piece, I couldn't say exactly but it actually didn't take nearly as long as some of my older pieces. also it was an on and off piece. till it got revived by a client wanting it for a comic book cover. I would absolutely Love to go to a MB workshops, unfortunately at least to my knowledge they are only on the west coast and I am as far to the east as possible in Boston. I'll make my way over somehow though.

IndieWise-thanks I appreciate the comment. about the girl on the rock, Yea i know what your saying, that actually Y its unfinished, originally I was planning on having the ogres ghost helping her hold the sword which is why it looks as though its light as a feather. I should finish it as I really liked my original concept.

fooxoo-Yea I'm gona try working on cleaning up my colors.

Henchman 21-thanks!

HunterKiller_-thanks for the words of inspiration, I will keep at it although I may get knocked down many times

3d3n- seems a lot of people like that one.

28chelseaslater-your words excite me! i'm constantly admiring all the work that comes out of MBs artists, certainly can't get my hopes up though.

MrArmadillo- i'm glad it helps you, sometimes i just paint right over the lines while other times i'll create a multiply sketch layer over everything as a template and get rid of it once its no longer needed.

It has been a long stretch of work but I finally have some time to put a few things up. I've been working like a madman for clients. My most recent job lead was with Cryptic studios on the marvel MMo, I had an interview with the recruiter and she gave me their art test which was super fun. I'd post it but I don't think it would be right to give away the test or if i'm aloud to... also I just contacted a few people that are in the industry to ask a few questions. most were fairly typical answers and understandably a few didn't have time, but that helped a bit. I have a few more possible interviews coming up but I'll let you know what that happens. on to some work:
the ink was sort of a test, I was so amazed and inspired by Kieran Yanners ink drawing that I thought I'd try it out. It was very fun but obviously mine was not as successful, I'll definitely be trying it out some more though.

I have many more, I'll post them in a bit, unfortunately I have many pieces that i have signed non disclosure agreements with as well. but I'll be back!

[Dan Valkar]

wow, a very cool sb bro...nice character design...and rockin' colors ..that creature u dunno what it is ...its one of my fav..keep sharin' man..u r obligated now hahahaha

[James Wolf]

heh heh, I will, actually here's two more I just found, the first crystal one is very old, I created it over a year ago and never finished it but I'll post it anyway or else it will eventually disappear. The original concept is that the crystal is a living creature that travels blindly throughout the land and its wealth memorizes the greedy who mindlessly follow it to there death, leaving only there ghost left to pick up what its left behind for all eternity. A bit silly but i was into the idea at the time.
the other one is a creature concept of a predator haunted by its victims.

[BohemianChaos]

Boston isn't too far away... I'm only a tad closer, being in Florida.

Great update, btw... and why don't you have any stars yet? Blingage for you.