Morkai resurrects a sketchbook

[Morkai]

Hi all,

Last time I posted here was in 2005, holy cow!
Trying to give myself reasons to keep up the art hobbies when I can. I've collected a wife, two daughters, a degree, and a new job since I was last posting here, so draw time is limited pretty much to lunch breaks and naps, but I was inspired recently to stop making excuses and "just pick up the pencil and draw!"

Edited: moving art to another thread to fix thumbnail issues

[n1frit]

Hi! Cool robo and great line on portrait. Any new stuff?

[Morkai]

Thanks!

Any new stuff?

These are about as new as it gets, I scanned the bug (does look robotic, I'll have to work on that) just the other day. Plenty more to come though

Edit:
Re-pasted from original thread:

[Candra H]

Hey Morkai, thanks for stopping by my sketchbook.

You've got some nice stuff in here and I especially like the clean style of the avatar. Looking forward to seeing more stuff from you.

[Candra H]

Yikes! Double Post.

I could've sworn I only hit submit reply once...

[Morkai]

Candra: Thanks for stopping by, I'll keep plugging away!

Trying to draw at least a little every day, and fit in a batch of figure/gesture studies before work.
First batch of studies, focusing too much on detail and not on gesture/forms:


Second batch after I read up on finding the C-shaped line of action, was much happier with the ability to catch the pose:


A bit of concept work for my game, feeling out ideas for the starting/non-upgraded equipment for the female character

[Morkai]

I have more pages of studies I want to scan in soon just to add to the thread and chronicle the learning process, but in the meantime here's a work in progress of the two protagonists from post 1. Studies have already helped me a lot, much happier with their direction and style.



To those of you where it's culturally appropriate: Happy Halloween!

[Morkai]

Just a quick sketch to throw in here, I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm happy with these, given that trying to invent expressions usually looks horrible. Yay for head studies.
These are quick expression shots for the girl in the previous post, no ref.

[Morkai]

Posting this here just to track it, probably the most complicated pose/layout I've ever done for a drawing.
Yay for perspective!...?

[Morkai]

Finally got a chance to scan these from the other week, some more of the studies I've been knocking out in the morning:

And an attempt to draw my PS3 man-crush, Drake:

[vices]

Your proportions on that perspective piece look great, I love those kinds of cool shots ^^

[Morkai]

Vices: Thanks a lot, man! Hopefully it'll keep its "cool" factor as I work it over.

This is being thrown together for the current CGHub 2D jam, it's also (according to a promise I made to myself) the last new piece I'll start working on until I finish the other works-in-progress I've already posted in here. (Studies don't count, those are just good for the soul) One of my biggest faults as an artist (man, that sounds pretentious) is never "finishing" a piece. I'm not talking the last 3%, more like the last 35%.

Another fault is never using color. Blazing new territory here! Woo!

[Morkai]

Cleaned up most of the details I wanted to add in the line stage, it's just missing a nice background shipwreck. And most of the rendering...but I like that it's keeping the spirit of the original idea.

[Morkai]

Probably the furthest I've ever worked on a piece and not given up to do something else. That's got to count for something I guess. The drawing jam closes on the 12th, so hopefully it'll get done this weekend. *Crosses fingers*

[vices]

that last piece is looking sweet, love the idea of killer mermaids ^^

One thing is that it looks like you're using the burn tool for the skin, which is totally fine but it looks a little flat, try taking a look at this example of skin tones: http://navate.deviantart.com/art/SKI...rt-2-145159387

Also if you aren't using it, painterswheel or colorus are great to keep colors from looking flat

[Morkai]

Vices: Thanks for the suggestions and critique, I know I have a long way to go with color work, do you have a link for that second tool? I don't use photoshop, so I can't make use of the color wheel add-in. It's kind of sad that I ended up appearing to use the dodge/burn, since I hand-picked all my colors, but I'll admit my color theory is pretty shoddy. Lots of reading (James Gurney's books are killer) but no application until now. I tried for a limited palette with a contrasting element (the red was opposite my blues on the Sketchbook color wheel, but I think I left it too dark) I also picked highlights and shadows that were a little too monochrome, so I see where the perception of dodge/burn came from. I didn't even bother with bounce lighting, I was approaching the deadline @_@.

So anyway, here's the final, and I'm actually happy to be submitting it even though I'm not nearly as happy with the result as I'd like to be. I spent a long time learning about color, reading up on painting, etc etc, but this is the first time I sat down to actually try it. I figure it's a lot like learning to be a pastry chef, for example: they can read all they want about the best techniques, but the first cake a student chef bakes is going to be mediocre at best. But that's the first of a thousand they'll make on their path, and the next one they make benefits from the experience of the first.

So I present to my sketchbook: my first horrible cake. Next up on the docket: back to studies (color and figure).

[Morkai]

Had more work to do this morning than I expected, almost didn't get any draw time today, but got in a little time to tweak this some, pushed the perspective of "floor guy" and tried to make his expression louder. If that's a term, I dunno. Anyway, here's more. My favorite part of this is the arrow above her head (which I threw in to remind me where gravity was pointing while drawing her hair since the horizon is tilted in-frame).

[Morkai]

Sketched from photo ref for study/warmup. ~10 minutes.

[Evxyza92]

Would I be right in saying there is a definite comic book and anime style with your faces and eyes? Anyway I like the stuff. I'd definitely like to see that perspective piece finished dude. I'd clear up what the left hand is doing though. i can't seem to figure out what hes trying do , signal for help, or if its just flailing around. Keep it up though man

[Morkai]

Evxyza92: Yea, I suppose so. I just aim for "simplified realism" and get a smattering of styles, mostly because I haven't really reached a consistent style point. I'd love to say that everything comes out exactly like I plan it to, but then I'd be lying. It'll settle out with time. And I'm with you: I have no idea what his hand is up to, it'll probably get changed before I finalize the linework. My workflow is very messy. Also, thanks for stopping by!

[Morkai]

Started another painting, sticking with grayscale this time just to work on the values first. A portrait for my little brother.
He's an accountant (or something, there's money involved), but, accountant, Imperial Inquisitor...meh, "6 of one..."

Cthulu, as requested by a DeviantArt passerby, in progress

And some fanart I wrapped up. Really highlighted for me some areas to study, I NEED to do hand/foot studies and find a decent reference on inking. My lines were a little more dynamic in this one, which I was happy with, but it has a long way to go.

[Morkai]

Here's where I ended up calling "done" on the character in post #7. I feel like the airbrush tool is too much of a crutch: useful at some points, but gives it a cheesy quality that's not quite near enough to western comic-book coloring to be good as-is, and not enough like concept-art painting that I idolize from sites like here and cghub. I just gotta get busy painting.

Oh well, I like the color scheme in the flats, and it's concept work for my own reference, so I'm happy enough to have another finished piece.

[vices]

Hey thanks for your comment! What you said is pretty funny because when I saw your post #21 a few days ago with the line art I was really impressed and got a burst of motivation

Your last piece here with the colors is looking awesome.

Here's a video explaining about the difference between color pickers and why a triangle is helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yK5iLHogI
One key note is also changing the hue (both slightly and greatly) is important, especially for skin.

Here's a link to a basic free one. It has a memory leak on my computer or something so every 20 min I have to close the extension and open it again, no big deal. Oh well get what you pay for http://www.moddb.com/downloads/painters-wheel-for-cs6

[sgj88]

Hey, I really like the bug grunt WIP. Nice Job!

[Morkai]

Here's a video explaining about the difference between color pickers and why a triangle is helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yK5iLHogI
One key note is also changing the hue (both slightly and greatly) is important, especially for skin.

Here's a link to a basic free one. It has a memory leak on my computer or something so every 20 min I have to close the extension and open it again, no big deal. Oh well get what you pay for http://www.moddb.com/downloads/painters-wheel-for-cs6

Thanks for the links! I'll make sure to check them out tonight

[jondawo]

Hi,

you've got some nice linework going on and you're trying to tackle colors early on which good, however I think it would be beneficial to learn how deal with values before you jump into colors. Values are simply the lights and darks in an image. An image has to work in black and white before it can work in colour. You can improve your values by doing black and white studies. Once the values are correct you can always colorize them later.

I did a paintover to help explain my point. I hope you understand what I mean (it's my first paintover so.. :p)


It's also important to keep your lightsource in mind when painting and make sure the shadows follow the form of the body. It may seem like a lot but you'll get there in time and with practice.

[Morkai]

jondawo: That's awesome, thank you so much for taking the time to put that together! Seriously, I'm really flattered you'd bother. While value is one of those things I've kept in the back of my head thinking "yes, of course, make sure to push value otherwise it'll be washed-out" it really makes an impact when I see how far I could be taking it. I'll definitely play in monochrome for a while to get a better hang of lighting and value range.

Thanks again!

[Cojac]

I like your drawings. It is interesting how you go through imagination and drawing. I just can't do imagination stuff. I'm really attached to reality. I like doing observational drawing using models and so. If you study using someone of your family as model it will give more reality to your figures. It is just an opinion. Your figures are good. Keep improving. You are on the right place.

[Morkai]

sgj88: Thanks!
Cojac: Thanks for the words of encouragement! If I had a family member willing to sit still long enough for studies, that would be awesome, but with a baby and a toddler running around the house I'm pretty much stuck with photo reference for now

Something I'm still plugging away at. I'm finding one of my biggest areas of "study" is finishing what I start. I think I struggle more with that than any topic I could be studying.
At any rate, I owe this in its finished form to a requester from DeviantArt, so I'm trying to stay off my butt and finish it up.

Oh, and happy end of the world, courtesy of the Mayans. So far feels like any other non-world-ending Friday here.