Aspiring BD artist needs your C&C's!

[Kerro Perro]

Hi guys,

i've lurking on here for a long time but decided to try and get some feedback!

A little something about me:

i'm 34, been doodling all my life, loooove comic books and animation in a pathological way and am working on making an animation all by myself.

I also have a lifelong dream of drawing my own comics plus for an animator being able to draw storyboards and paint concepts is incredibly valuable!

I was already getting quite serious about my 3d stuff for a while but recently i attended a talk by the living legend Roger Dean who talked about the dedication it takes to be an artist so i decided to start practicing every day, right now i'm working on one of my major weaknesses - drawing humans in correct proportions:

EDIT: pics moved to get a good thumbnail - they're below

The inked & colored one of Paz Vega is pretty bad, i still need to experiment and get comfortable with inking and coloring digitally - any tips are very welcome!
The stick figures are an attempt to internalize these proportions in the hope of drawing posed characters without ref, the crouching girl is a first weak attempt at that...

Also i take a life drawing class every year, these are some drawings from this year:

EDIT: pics moved to get a good thumbnail - they're below


Ok that's all far now, btw i have posted all of these on DeviantArt (check to see older works and some stuff from my animation if you want: http://kerroperro.deviantart.com/) and Crimson Daggers as well but am still a little hungry for some advice and direction, particularly from comic book artists - hence this sketchbook here.

Excelsior!

EDIT: whoohoo got the thumbnail working! I made that gif especially for CA: Beatrix Kiddo punching her way out of her coffin symbolises the persistance needed to become a real artist - or something

[CountBlackula]

I dig your stuff so far. Do you do gesture drawings as well?

[Kerro Perro]

Thanks! Well i only recently heard of gesture drawing - haven't really gotten my head round it yet. Gonna have to watch some videos on it as the lady who teaches my life drawing class has no idea what it is...
She basically adheres to the "drawing on the right side of the brain" stuff, lots of time spent on doing stuff like drawing continuous outlines without looking at the paper.... never quite sure if that stuff works..

[AriyaLothiriell]

Thanks for stopping by at my sketchbook!

Nice start here. Especially like the red lined figures in the first post. Hope to see more of your drawings.

[Kerro Perro]

Thanks Ariya!

Well i have done very little the past two weeks due to a vicious stomach bug - been sick for 10 days and shivering with fever today, it's really slowed me down!

Anyhoo i did some practice copying some line work i liked, it's a few angry faces by Juan Giminez in Metabarons and some from an old Fantastic Four wich didn't explicitly state who drew what, it's either Lobdell, Davis or Farmer... A fun exercise at any rate and maybe good loosening up in the future.



This other one i spent more time on, a fun little pin-up, a little more satisfied with the inking wich i did in Manga Studio - something about the way the brush behaves pleases me more than other programs i've tried, can't really explain why. Kinda phoned in the background though - just got too sick and impatient and just wanted to post something again!



Well i've also watched a really cool Ryan Church tutorial about Painter so as soon as i get well i might give that a try to break out from usual sketch>ink>color workflow.
Ok room's starting to spin so i'm crawling back to bed to watch more Simpsons!

[Joe777k7]

Great work so far!!!Keep Pushing it to the limit!!!!!!!

[Kerro Perro]

Thanks Joe!!

Damn long time no update. Two reasons (aka miserable excuses!): 1-I was real sick for a while, that sucked. 2- i also have been spending a lot of time modelling the assets for my short, here's on that is finished (not fully textured yet though):


But here's the only pic i've done any serious work on:

I intended to color the grayscale but it turned into a big mess, not the technique for me, straight to color next time - plus i worked so long on it i got really sick of it and want to move on!

I also got myself an ipad just in case i'm ever bed-bound for a long period again (that's my excuse at least!) and took it to life drawing class, much to the confusion of some of the older people: the pen is thick but the line is thin??

[Skill3ss]

Thanks for visiting my sketchbook. I like your life drawings in red up top. I think varying your line weight and trying to describe the form would improve them.
The 3d model is looking v refined.

Keep at it!

[Kerro Perro]

Thanks Skill3ss, i tried the line weights on my self portrait.

Ok here we go i wanted to post the most of these a while back but it was the first day the whole malware crap was on. I would like about 5 mins alone with whoever was responsible for that...

Life drawings done on the Ipad:



Doodling on the Ipad over the holidays, i've really been loving this thing, i read comics on it and doodle like i'm a kid a again!



Ok here is something shamefull: i created this 3d model as drawing reference, then decided just to trace it.. Just felt wrong!
But at least i did come up with a good use for my models: as lighting reference! Anyhoo i abandoned this one after a bit because i liked all the bits i had actually drawn and the traced bits were just dead.

'

Self portrait done ipad in front of mirror:



Ok this one is part of a learning process, been a fan of the awesome Juan Gimenez for years and have always wanted to approach his awesome style. He uses watercolors so i've been studying up in the technique with the help of a friend of mine who is a traditional painter and am trying to transfer that to Photoshop. This excellent free plugin helped a lot although i needed to mod some of the brushes.



(btw bonus points to me and you if you can name this stippled lady )

Had a lot of trouble with the colors so i just ordered a book my friend recommended me (he's always quoting from it): Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. So next post expect beautyfull paintings with great lighting and color!

Edit: i just noticed her head looks swollen up top... Like her brain is about to explode or something... I think its because i did it on a titled screen, if i look at it from below it looks right - might fiddle with a skew in ps later...

[tsabu]

You have a really good observation skills. And your Andria 3dModel is just fantastic!

To me it seems like there is only 1 thing that slows you down, and it is the outlines.

I think that using a bit more "fluid" lines, and using it also "inside" of your characters could really help you improve.

Here's a academic example of what i am saying about. Hope it helps!

[Kerro Perro]

Hi tsabu,

i think i understand, you mean in preliminary stage right? I'm gonna try it, am already trying to loosen up my lines a little.. (trouble is i keep going over them again..)

Small update, i decided to switch from working in Softimage for my 3d to 3ds Max - it's taking me a lot of time to unlearn my old workflow and make a new and better one. I think it will be worth it in the long run, i'm really digging all the awesome tools it has. Can't wait to do some animation but that's still a long way of...

Anyhoo here's some ipad doodles done with symmetry on:



Trying some pixelovely sessions, at the end i switched to a pencil brush i made in PS using this tut. I think from now on my ipad stuff will still be "red pen" and my pc stuff will be "pencil". (yup no traditional, decided to be all digital )



And a wip, want to finish this in color - it's another tv show freeze frame, this time from the Borgia's. Love that show!

[karta tajba]

your drawings feel energetic to me, too.

[Kerro Perro]

Hi guys, haven't posted in a while but have been getting down to some practice:

(been watching this David Finch tut to learn to draw heads with little or no ref: http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/819 I recommend it, i find it very helpfull to see someone draw and explain - i have trouble with the usual recommmended books - probably because i'm lazy and a bit thick ;) )



Also did a typical birthday present portrait for a friend, am pleased with getting the marker look more right this time but it still lacks contrast:



Ok back to practice! Must strive ever onward! ;)

[chevy28360]

Nice work! It looks like you are definitely on the right track with all those studies. Keep it up!