Rakugaki (FEB 2ND) 14:54

[Undertow]

I've been getting hassled to start a DSB for a while now.. I've been putting it off for quite some time because I told myself I wouldn't do it unless I could keep up with it. Well, I've decided that I can keep up with it so here's my introductory images to give everyone a feel for the kind of work that I do. Either way, thx for taking a look
-Mike

[Phuzion]

yeah Mike! rockin' it. Great work man. The only crit I have is to maybe work on faces a little more, but it's all looking mui excellante! I'm keeping an eye on you. Peace

-Daniel

[Plagu£]

Great work, it looks like it just gets better and better. You should draw more action shots, realy like the guy doing the back flip. Also good work on the creatures, the detail is top notch.

Keep on postin, looks good

[Undertow]

Daniel: Thanks for the compliment Your stuff rocks all over the place, hopefully keeping up with a DSB will have my work improving by leaps in bounds over the next few months. Regarding faces, I'll try to work on them more.. I have a bad tendancy of just drawing in a face as filler and not caring much about how it looks.

Plague: thanks for the compliments.. especially on the creatures I hadn't even started drawing things like mecha, creatures, or tech work until the past year. I'm really starting to develop a style of my own right now so there are going to be allot of inconsistancies in my work for this DSB. I'm hoping that when someone sees something that they like out of my sketchbook that I can start bringing out more of what I did in that piece and start incorporating it into the rest of my work. My biggest problem is that I'm having trouble seeing what I'm doing right so I keep changing things. Hopefully more people will be harder on me through here than they are in person.

Anyhow.. back to work

[Sok N. Wett]

HAAAADOOOOKEEEENNNN!!!!! Excellent stuff Mike, finally you started one of these badboys, definately one to keep an eye on. Can't wait to go to the SF workshop.

[jetpack42]

yeah man, good to see you in the mix. this stuff is great, i'm totally digging it already.

its about time.

[Bojee]

Yeah bro, keep them coming.

[Undertow]

Sok: Hey dude, thx for the compliments.. it's always nice to hear good things about the my work. In seriousness though, feel free to be hard on me, I could use the constructive criticism, lord knows I don't know as much as I should.
Mike: Thx for giving me a hard time about doing this, I know that I need to produce more and because I've been so out of practice this forces me to draw constantly which will only improve my artwork almost daily. As per what I said to Sok, rip me a new one whenever you feel it's necessary too. I haven't really produced anything that could be considered "It's finally done" worthy material yet so this will be my stepping stone.
Alan: Happy belated birthday! Thx for the support man. I've missed so many sketch nights.. really wish I lived farther south. Kekai was mentioning us maybe having one a little further north as a field trip of sorts. That'd be sweet. So when were you supposed to start MICA, was it spring or winter semester?
Anyhow, here's my update for Monday.


And something from back in 99 that I found a crappy photo copy of that was stuffed in a sketch book. The image was cropped incorrectly and I had planne on throwing it out.. the original is in VA with my portfolio otherwise I'd scan it up. It doesn't suck, but it gives you a good idea of the work I used to produce.

[skrubbles]

Its about time you got off your ass and posted some stuff Awesome stuff man. Wish you would post more from your sketchbook cause that stuff is kickin... well, that's if you're allowed to that is.

KEEP IT UP

[jetpack42]

even though ive seen these, i still think they're great. same goes for you buddy, anytime you see something in my work you think sucks, fire away. good to see you posting...its only upward from here! can't wait to see whats coming!

[xia]

Sweet shits! Post more Bro!

[Undertow]

As promised the individual responses.. and there will be sketch book updates every night.

Lou: What do you think half of this stuff is? Technically I shouldn't be showing most of these sketches because they are covered in my NDA.. shit all of my work is property of WildFire, as long as I'm not giving away the important stuff that's o.k. After all, this is concept art, not the finished pieces, and the images are all copywritten. BTW, we're on for Thursday.

Mike: sorry about the weak update... and the pizza

Xia: and thank you. Diggin your sketch book as well, remind me to give you props in your thread

Auden: thx man, greatly appreciated. I promise to do an update a night. My biggest problem is keeping it loose right now. Once I figure that out, I'll be o.k. I keep focussing on tight line work from back in my comic penciller wannabe days.

Plague: Thx for the compliment The reason why most of these are static poses is due to the fact that I have a list of 40+ items that I have to supply concept sketches for by the end of the month. WIth that being said I don't have a hell of allot of time to be able to do dynamic poses showing the figures in motion without obscuring the details of the design, hence the 3/4 character angle for each of them. I would love to be able to break each figure down into a hyper dynamic, force perspective pose but I'll save that for the interior illos. Being that I only have about 2 hrs. of free time every night in between art direction and business management work to draw I have to keep it simple for speed purposes. On the whole Tool front.. yup, that's where I got my name, been using it since 97. There's even more history behind it than that though.. maybe I'll go into it later

Sanby: thx!

JadeDragon: Thank you for the compliments they are greatly appreciated Almost all of the work you see here is actually concept sketches for a table top RPG that I'm the art lead on. I'll make sure to show some of the more finished illustrations once I'm done all these damn sketches. Unfortunately it's my night job so I don't get to dedicate nearly as much time to it as I'd like BTW, nice work over at Top Cow are you still working for them or are you strictly freelance right now?

PHATandy: Thx bro! That dude is me, the briefcase is actually my portfolio, and yes, it does have a Tool sticker on it. That piece was part of my concept art portfolio submission for the Microsoft X-Box team back in 2000 when I was looking for work. They liked my work allot, they just didn't have anything available for me at the time.. I ended up getting sick of waiting by the phone so I joined the Navy.

Daniel: Thanks bro.. it's too bad you're not going to be at the SF workshop. I owe you a beer for all the praise you're giving me.. gotta bribe you somehow right? That marker sketch is 5 years old I can't wait until I'm done all these damn sketches so I can start doing more finished work for a change Nothing drives me more insane than showing half assed sketch book material and giving the impression that that's all that I'm capable of.. or at least, some might believe.. I'm not pointing any fingers at any particular CA member from Seattle or anything.. *cough*

[Undertow]

I'm taking the night off to let my brain melt. (a.k.a.) drinkin' 40's and playing Halo 2 with a friend of mine since the wife is out of town. So here's a weak update, something old, something new, something borrowed, and nothing blue.
-Mike

[Sanby]

First words that came to my head : "O man, that fucking rocks!"

The figure poses are great, and the robot...wow.

Time for me to go back to the drawing board

Sanby

[JoshuaTheJames]

Cool stuff dude...


-Joshua James

[Sok N. Wett]

GAWD ZOGZ I love that last one, it's so compelling to see that one in your sketchbook remember when I was stating about the whole Travis Charest influence, man I see it, and I love it.

[Undertow]

Some life drawing from this weekend.

[Undertow]

Jokisalo: will do.
Sok: thx for the encouragement. I'm no master of mecha, with time I will be better.
Jade: I used to be a Travis clone back in the day. It took quite some time to get rid of that influence and start changing things up. With regards to the Prostate stuff, yeah I dig Kekai's creature designs. The current project we're doing requires me to do allot more than I've ever done before. Like I told Sok, I had never drawn mechs, monsters, or vehicles before this current project so I'm branching out quite a bit. I'll post more finished work later once I start working on the interior illos and the updated cover artwork for the book. If it isn't obvious I put allot more into my finished work than I do in my sketchbook. I'm a perfectionist with my print work so cover art/illustration takes quite a bit of time for me to get it where I'm somewhat satisfied.

an piece that's a year and half old or so that I never finished and ended up throwing in the scrap pile


To whomever voted me down, I would at least appreciate an explanation as to why you voted me down. Constructive criticism helps more than just doing a hit and run.

-Mike

[gasmask]

hey dude, i really like the black and white costume above of the space suit type dude, thats cool you should do more in that style, def something nice about it. i wouldnt worry about the stars rating, they are lame and pretty much most the sketchbooks here are over-rated. i mean everyone getting 5 stars for updating shouldnt justify 5 stars, you got to compare a sketchbook to someone like ryan church's sketch book so i would say most sketch books here are about a 3 if you want to compare to the best. just my thoughts

[eliWolff]

I really like that space suit concept you just posted also. very tight looking. I like all your mech designs alot too.. it's amazing you hadn't drawn them before, you're a natural at it! Hope you can make it down to another sketch meet or zoo trip some time!

[Undertow]

gasmask: what up Chris? Thx for the compliment on the space suit dude. It's an engel pilot uniform for CTech actually. It still has to undergo some refinement, I'm not digging the little metal stretch bands around the arms and the legs. My costume design influences are heavily inspired by Range Murata. If you're not familiar with his work I recommend checking it out. I'm actually more proud of the casual clothes with the warm up/dress pants and especially the jacket. Regarding the stars, I wont be comparing myself to Ryan Church anytime in the near future so I'm not worried about it I was just a little annoyed that someone would vote me down and give me to common courtesy of a critique to improve my artwork instead of just thread crapping and essentially saying behind my back, "Your work is not worthy of your rating" and not explaining why.

Eli: Regarding mechs.. there was nothing "Natural" about those designs.. it was like pulling teeth to get them to look like that even as sketches.. but thanks Regarding the sketch meet and Zoo time, yeah dude, it was a blast, we've got to do that again after all these deadlines wind down. Mid December sound good?

[eliWolff]

as for another zoo trip, right now I'm thinking of going on Saturday, Dec 11th.. life drawing in the morning, then zoo, then sketch group.. just like last time. I'll be posting this in the local group thread also to see if we can more folks to join us.. Good luck nailing your deadlines!!

[clogik]

awesome works,, i just discovered your thread today...will be back for more.

cheers!

[van]

Wow! Awesome stuff!

[Sok N. Wett]

Cool as ice Mike, just yesterday i was attempting to color my pieces, and then i just got frustrated at trying to get it to look right, but good to be looking at your post again.

[Undertow]

updates will come soon.. my scanner died a horrible death flying back from deployment in Japan. The way we handle baggage in the Navy flying on military transport (C-5 Galaxy last minute flight arrangement) is even more brutal than commercial airlines. (yes, it is possible) I packed it in my luggage and the glass broke all over the damn place. I recently found a new scanner by Canon that is a suitable replacement, I just have to purchase it. Onto reply's.

Red: Dave, thanks for the advice, as always your input means allot and helps me find clarity when I'm at a loss. I appologize for not going to sketch group the past month, I miss you guys, and I miss art. My dad had a stroke (about 3 weeks after his heart attack), my grandpa has about 6 months left on earth, the wife and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the 11th and we're now dealing with the issue of financial chastity due to the holidays. Rachael and I are going to SF for Christmas to spend time with the in laws and we dropped a little over $500 on presents today down in Lynwood and will be buying plane tickets in the next week or so. I have been ordered by the wife that if I want to go to Seattle I have to stay with a friend and can't spend any money other than on food. I haven't been drawing very much lately either.. work is sucking the life out of me. On a positive note, there are some interresting events in the world of WildFire and we will be gearing up to put out a game around 1st 1/4 2006, and Eli H. will more than likely be the lead artist on it.. more details to follow. At least I'll be getting a mental/logistics work out with art direction with this project, and have time to work on painting and portfolio stuff on the side. As a final excuse for lack of updates, my scanner is still dead and I need to buy a new one. Once I do, I'll have at least 6 pages to scan up and a few digital experiments to add as well.

Azrael: Thanks for very kind compliment, it's always good to hear that I'm doing something right! Please drop by when you can.. I'm hoping to update soon.

Van: wow, thanks! Most of the time I don't feel that I'm remotely worthy of that compliment. I will continue to try to earn that compliment, thanks!

Sok: sup slacker? Where the hell you been?

[van]

Van: wow, thanks! Most of the time I don't feel that I'm remotely worthy of that compliment. I will continue to try to earn that compliment, thanks!

Bah!

Post more!

[Diego]

Very good stuff man.
Keep it up

[KevinP]

Right on Mike! You've been busy. Alot more loose and relaxed than before, must've been the sake eh? I'm diggin your style as usual. I'll return your email, I promise
- Nice Sam Cham BTW

[Undertow]

First of all, I appologize for the delayed response. I've been trying to relax and readjust to being home after being away for 4 months. I was pretty damn rusty as I wasn't able to draw over the last 3 weeks that I was deployed but I was able to break through the rust after 2 frustrating days of drawing. I've gotten my groove back after this past Fridays sketch group and I have about 4 decent pages to scan from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have to run over to my friends place to get them scanned. I'm sure there that by the time I get over there, there will be another 4 or 5 pages of sketches to add as well! Now the individual responses.

Oregano: It's good to be back brother. Thanks for the cleanliness comment, I've actually been working more on economy of line and simplified my construction process allot. I'm able to construct a figure now without doing too much erasing.

Capprotti: Mike! I was down stairs when you messaged me. You should give me a call so we can catch up

Clogik: Thank you for visiting and for the compliment. Keep checking back for updates. They'll be a little slower than usual because of my busted scanner but they will be weekly.

Diego: Thanks for dropping by and for the kudos, they're greatly appreciated. Hope to see more of you in here

KevinP: Promises promises. I wont cross my fingers on the e-mail, I'm sure you're probably very busy. W/regards to my loose work and sake.. no, not sake, vodka. I've always been a big vodka drinker, I just started taking my sketch book with me to the bars and having a few drinks helped me loosen up a bit. There's actually 3 pages of work in my sketch book that go through 3 glasses of booze, it's funny seeing me go from being somewhat clean to sloppy marker to childlike skribbling after the 3rd. When I say glasses, I'm talking about approx 4 to 5 shots per glass, one of my friends was a bar tender out there and I rarely paid for drinks

More to come later this week!

-Mike V