Game Art Student- Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · January 31st, 2005, 12:24 PM

Hello all,
Just wanted to say I love this site and i'm just now getting the courage to post here. I'm in my second quarter at the Art institute of Fort Lauderdale so were just doing traditional stuff right now. Crits always welcome.

Color reference was used for both of these, prolly should have used a black and white ref tho ><. I used 6h,2b,and 6b graphite pencils for this and eraser for highlights. This was homework for school so i'll keep posting as I get em done.
~Daniel~

**zao75231** · January 31st, 2005, 02:45 PM

yo, nice pics, i curious what your underdrawings look like because it seems that you just go straight to the lines, adjust and then add in the values...other than that the pictures look great, excellent values...i would just make nato's ears a little bit better...post more yo. I go to AI as well, but in dallas, got 3 more quarters to go, yeehaw!

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · January 31st, 2005, 06:50 PM

Yo Zao thanks alot for the crits I defintely gotta keep trying to layer and build my drawings instead of doing hard lines. It sucks I dont have any underdrawings to show but i'll keep some now for future posts. AI is a cool school but there really going to rape me on those loans once I graduate... *cries*

**bunthius** · January 31st, 2005, 10:36 PM

hey, i recognize the photo you did that portman portrait from. I did a study of that photo in highschool. I'm just trying to help you out here man, but you need to practice your observation. You are skipping over way too much information. I'm not proud of my drawing below but it shows you at least what you should shoot for. all talent is, is knowing when it sucks. then, having the work ethic to change it is what keeps the paychecks coming.

first you need to establish the structure of your drawing with guidlines. see how your portraits seems to warp. it almost looks like pitt's lower part of his face is melting off.

next seperate light and shadow. one tone for shadow, one for light. at this point your subject should be easily recognizable. alot of studies actually end here because of this.

now you can put in the dark highs and the light lows... pardon me its been a while since i've taken a class so im using the words that pop in my head while drawing. remember: 'the darkest high is higher than the highest darks" if that makes sense then you should be good to go.... for example: look at the image below. tile A and tile B are the exact same tone. test in photoshop if you want.

sorry about the shit quality... owell... no scanner here :T...

anyway hope this helps.

**blankslatejoe** · January 31st, 2005, 10:44 PM

Not that I didn't believe you... but I had to check anyway.

amazing!

Nice minitut man.... very helpful for this passerby at least.

**Jesus Food** · February 1st, 2005, 12:12 AM

looks like brad pit is wearing sleep glasses

**bunthius** · February 1st, 2005, 01:26 AM

Originally Posted by blankslatejoe

Nice minitut man.... very helpful for this passerby at least.

my pleasure, yeah that image is a trip...

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · February 1st, 2005, 12:36 PM

-Bunthius- First off, thanks a ton for the help you have provided me. I was having some trouble with Natalie with darks and lights but you helped alot.Another thing i shouldnt have done is use Bristol Paper!! once I put a hard line down it engraves the paper Permantely!! ahhh and umm your portrait is much better than mine but one question did you smudge at all or just layer your pencils?

-Jesus Food- I had some issues with the glasses when I was drawing Brad Pitt (Tyler Durden). Its the scene where hes making soap and about to burn the shit outta Edward Norton

**bunthius** · February 1st, 2005, 12:59 PM

you know i don't recall, its been a while my approach changes a lot... usually when i make a decision like that it just depends on the mood im in and how naturally the graphite takes to the paper. it looks like i smudged on that one.

the point of development that you are at right now, do not get too caught up in rendering techniques. focus on how you can punch volume and really make it look 3d, early on in the drawing.

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · February 1st, 2005, 01:32 PM

-Bunthius- Volume is being a ho for me lately but I can't thank you enough for the help. But I prolly wont be posting for a day or so gotta work on this idea thats been cosuming my brain for awhile. Futuristic scene girl on bad ass bike skidding towards a broken down bridge. I'm going to try my hand at photoshop for my first time. Its going to be bad ass buahahahaah.Lata

**DigitalShade** · February 1st, 2005, 03:34 PM

The faces are skewed, watch your structure. It's important to start with a solid structure. If the features of the face are not anchored where they should be it will give you an odd distorted look or change the expression. For example I rotated the eyes of the Natalie pic so you can see the eyes need to be anchored in thier sockets and all the other features to line up properly with them. Hope that helps

**metalgearrace** · February 2nd, 2005, 07:06 PM

gah you made her look jewish! id say the faces are close enough to look like the actual person, but on both the proportions are a bit off.

**Chris Beatrice** · February 3rd, 2005, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by bunthius

the point of development that you are at right now, do not get too caught up in rendering techniques. focus on how you can punch volume and really make it look 3d, early on in the drawing.

And for that, I recommend tossing away the reference. Learn what makes the illusion of 3d in 2d, then learn how to exploit it. Photos don't do this for you.

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · February 3rd, 2005, 07:03 PM

-Digital shade- I can't see that pic but thanks anyway^^
-Chris Beatrice- Yeah those were just for life drawing class and we have one due every week, next one will prolly be a old guy or something. I'm trying to not use photos for reference as much anymore and use real people for reference...its just hard when your doing a portrait of a celebrity^^. Thanks again.

**Wes Mordine** · February 17th, 2005, 07:09 PM

Hi! I stumbled on this thread and thought I'd share my attempt at NAtalie Portman, Since she is such a beautiful muse!

So here it is. Hope you like it.

Keep up the good work.

**zao75231** · February 17th, 2005, 07:37 PM

nice pic wes, my only crit is the clavical and neck area and her left breast...over all, great picture.

-Rob

**maverick cajun** · February 17th, 2005, 09:58 PM

hey i am enrolled in an AI aswell, i start at san fran in october. fun fun

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · February 17th, 2005, 10:32 PM

Yo sweet pic wes! very nice rendering only crit i noticed was to not use hardlines for the clothing but i'm not sure how your ref looked so im not sure. Great stuff!

**Strang** · February 17th, 2005, 11:15 PM

Hey Daniel

great start. i think you just need to work more on proportions. and placement.
although its recognizable. its not enough likeness.

btw..

game art at AiFL?

i am at AiFL. this year is my 3rd year

-Steven

**klinesmoker** · February 17th, 2005, 11:28 PM

I have one important critique to offer here. Look to your Natalie Portman pic for this. The hair that is seemingly passing over her jawline isn't working the way I think you want. You left a "dead zone" between the hair and the intitial shading on the lower jaw. This serves to make her jaw appear to be protruding from the rest of her face, perhaps even about to overlap the hair. It makes her appear... alien. The way the hair lines along the curvature of the jaw near the neck... there's a term for this.... I can't recall. Basically what it is is simple. try to avoid parallels between two unrelated objects, ie: two objects should not run on the same line. Does that make sense? I hope it does, because in retrospect it sounds confusing!
I do think that you have a truckload of talent, though. You have a very strong grasp of shades, something I can't wait to see improve.

**zao75231** · February 17th, 2005, 11:47 PM

i think you mean the condyle Mr. klinesmoker, i don't know if that's what you were referring.

**Redder** · February 18th, 2005, 01:31 AM

I didn't do it but cool nonetheless.

**bunthius** · February 18th, 2005, 04:11 AM

you know i used to be really into natalie portman before i saw this pic. and found out she dated jimmy fallon. i thought she was a classy broad, damn queen amidala messed with my head.

ill probably be banned for posting this, owell scroo it... why does everyone have to be so official all the time... artists have good senses of humor right?

sorry to be off topic, owell.. fuck it...

**Wes Mordine** · February 18th, 2005, 12:11 PM

About the next to last pic... My God thats good! I think it can't get much better than that. Very inspirational!

The opposite could be said about the last pic.

**Daniel Bragg, Jr.** · February 18th, 2005, 02:39 PM

*begins to burn all of natalie portman pics*

i thought she was classy..sheesh

**bRyaN** · February 18th, 2005, 05:56 PM

don't mean to hijack or anything...but if you had paparazzi chasing you everywhere, you'd be surprised on what they catch you doing...picking a wedgy is no big deal...

IN regards to the pic, good try
you should work on the defining the planes a bit more...
check out gaboartpage's sketch thread where he does it quite often...really helpful...

**bunthius** · February 18th, 2005, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by bRyaN

if you had paparazzi chasing you everywhere, you'd be surprised on what they catch you doing...picking a wedgy is no big deal...

yeah on some level in my mind i know hot chicks are human, i just don't like to visit that frame of mind, like ever. i've been with my g/f for 2 years and im still not sure if she actually takes a dump, and i like it like that.

since that pic, if i ever try to fap to natalie portman, i cant get this out of my head.

(total thread hi-jack, sorry but i said my part anyway, its the natural evolution of the thread, lighten up)