bRØk3n_sPiRiT's sketchbook

[brokk]

EDITED: Ugh... I realize I had to edit this first post because I'm such a fucking dumbass... You see, I have a tendency to repeat things several times when I speak, people have brought this to my attention
So heres for a less-repetitive rant:

Some rants first
Short and simple, I want to be able to be working. In order for that to happen, I'm focusing my efforts in learning what can I do to prepare portfolios that contain samples that are relevant and up to presentation standard. That means a lot of practice and a lot of studying, which means a lot of actually doing. Even if its bad, doesn't matter, I think the important thing is to do something, and then try to learn how to improve it. Critic is important here, but I can't critic what I don't know, so please take the time to help out!
As mentioned before, my main goal is to produce a decent portfolio. But of what? Well, I want to work in illustration and concept art mostly (surprise!) so I would like to prepare a portfolio that has relevant samples to both. I realize there are many subdivisions in each. Mostly, I want to do illustration for trading card games, but I want to be able to resolve different situations as well, like book interiors, covers, etc.
So the idea is to learn the craft at least enough to prepare a portfolio and start working.
Got a long road ahead of me! Lets get started.

P.S: Besides my main efforts geared towards producing images for a working portfolio, I'll probably include a lot of doodles and non relevant stuff to what I stated before here too, just for fun.

First some old stuff. I made this sketch and wanted to make a less sketchy version


And this is how it turned out. I dont like it very much. I notice it has some anatomy issues. Also there is no tonal arrangement. Everything looks flat. I like the sketch better.


A dragon head


Some dinosaur skulls


Two versions of a necromancer. Seeing what happens by being more loose or controling. That being said they have some errors I should work on. I need to study more anatomy, and use more reference for certain things. Note taken.



A sketch for a big ape. Just a fan art/redesing of Blizzard from Primal Rage. I wanted to make the head smaller and the body more massive. Still working on it.


Here I made a very small painting, to see how it would fit on a trading card


I made a search on google for a red magic card, and pasted it on it and made this dummy to see how it would look. Don't mind the text, I just pasted the image before on an existing card:


A dummy for a comic cover


A creature of the week that I never finished


this one is older. I don't think the colors are working. I kinda like it though. Don't know why.
EDIT: The moon in the background is just a photo taken from google, thought I should clarify.


some tribal designs. Trying to make themed pages.


wip


Ok. Need to make some new stuff now.

[Diego]

Hey, Martin glad you've started a sketchbook, nice to see i'm not alone showing my stuff.
I'm seeing diversity in your work, that's great, some characters and creatures. If you wanna get into concept design, that's the way to go.
As you said, some of your characters are loose, yes, but i think it should be the start of the concept, to get proportions and such,then refinement will come. Not just keeping the first lines.
Try some structure drawings first to feel confortable with the forms, maybe then you can start doodling loose.
Anyways, great start, keep it up, don't let this without update. Perhaps you can show me some of your loomis' studies.
Un abrazo, nos estamos viendo.

[winjer]

Find some other artists that do dragons and see how they handle the scales textures. The way you do it now looks like not so good. Its like a quilt or something. Its draws too much attention to itself and just screams HEY LOOK SCALES I MADE SOME SCALES CHECK IT OUT HERES SOME MORE SCALES THIS WHOLE THING HAS SCALES ALL OVER IT. Most people will just suggest sections of scale.

[brokk]

Diego, I've been thinking about what you said, about not keeping the first lines. I totally agree, though I didn't really think about it before. I usually start very chaotic and if looks very messy I copy the lines I like over to a clean page, but always trying to keep some of the originals or as much as I can. But I'm gonna try what you suggested.
Here's some things, some are from loomis, others are from other anatomy sources.

legs


some bones


lighting


ams


more arms


more legs




and more arms




heads


I have one of those art manikins, and I've been sketching some poses from it. I'll upload those later, but what I really wanna do is sketch the poses and try to build on the anatomy on it.

winjer, you're right, plus making those damn scales is killer. I have some old sketches of crocodiles and other reptiles where I tried not to get too caught up with the details, like this one:

But it looks too sketchy. I'm still trying to find a good way to move from sketch to something more finished without overworking details, but at the same time trying to make something more consistent.
This is another head a bit old where I tried to keep the scales or texture more suggested:

Those white lines were made by the scanner I think.

And I started this today thinking about your crit, trying to suggest the scales rather than accentuate everything. Its still work in progress, I just started working on one side of the face/horn. As soon as I finish it I'll upload the finished version:


A sketch of a dragon eye


Here are some heads I attempted to build on simple geometric forms to see what would happen


a small head doodle, but I kinda like it


some head doodles


some perspective stuff






some quick ideas on Cossacks, kids and a man. They look very sloppy and with tons of erros. I usually try to work the errors as I go but I'm thinking it may be better to try and resolve everything in the lines, before any sort of rendering. I'm gonna start trying that.






I think studying anatomy from books and copying the examples is good because you start to remember the structures and the bones and muscles, but I think its important to put that into practice in your own images. Here is an attempt at that:


more cleaned up


fixed a few things and starting to value


here are some works in progress. I'm gonna try to fix the errors and finish them in ps or painter, and see what happens.




Guys thanks for helping out! Till next update.

[slo-burn]

Good post, I especially like the anatomy studies

[Diego]

Good job on these loomis' studies.
Seriously, you've been working hard with loomis, now you have to start applying what you learned about anatomy, proportions, lightning, and perspective.
If you can, check some of Kevin Chen's demos, to see how he builds the human shapes with simple forms. It will help you a lot, i'm sure.
Cheers martin, keep this up.
Un abrazo

[brokk]

slo-burn, I dont like how some of them are looking... I tried adjusting the contrast but I dont like how they ended up looking like. I wanna make more anatomy studies too, and using the art manikin mostly. Thanks : P

Diego, I downloaded Kevin Chen's demos, they are totally awesome. I found it really cool how he plants the figure and establishes the perspective when placing the feet correctly on the ground plane. Also how he build the figure with simple shapes.

I've been using an art manikin to try and build figures using simple shapes and see how the feet are placed and the figure afected by perspective like Kevin Chen demonstrates in his demos, also it was good to use a directional light as well to study lighting on it too.

Here are my studies so far:



I tried to think in terms of a mass of shadow as opposed to a mass of light at first, like suggested in the lighting chapter of Figure Drawing for All its Worth.


more


and the values




This was a good exercise, trying to light it from another angle, I find it very hard to fake lighting and making it look believable if you don't have a certain understanding of how it works in principle, which I really don't, but I hope I'm beggining to learn.


An attempt to keep the lines more clean and less sketchy


painting the manikin. It sucks... and I didn't finish it. But I want to make more of these exercises : P


Another paintin excersise, and another wip, this time using Painter. Need to push the values more, maybe.


A tree trunk doodle from life. I should have pushed the values more, especially on the shadows, an maybe put in some more pronounced reflected light.


Doodle from life again


Necromancer version 3. Here is an atempt to use of the manikin studies for a character. Still a work in progress, I dont know if I'm gonna finish this. I should fix the proportion/anatomy errors, but I'm at least happier about the lighting, at least more than the previous two.


And here is my C.O.W. wip so far


Yeah lighting from below really got to me this week : P


Need to make more lighting studies and of... well, a lot of stuff.

work, work, work.

back to work! I hope to update this soon. I slack too much : S

[Diego]

Yo martin! it seems you're working pretty hard.
The manekin studies looks good so far, i never had the chance to draw from it so i can't give you a very detailed crit but keep at doing them, try fast gestures, sit it on an angle, be creative.
I really love how you render the wheel in the car sketch, very loose lines,
Buenisimo lo tuyo loco, segui asi, se nota que le pones garra.
Un saludo, and keep it up.

[brokk]

I got that art manikin for 25 pesos, I couldn't find any that were cheaper. You should really consider getting one, its one of the best investments you can make, and its a great tool for studying.

Some stuff I did last year as sample images for a logo for a butchers or meat restaurant or something.






Just a silhouette


Thanks for stopping by.

[joiton]

Hi man!!!
Good to see your last work; there are rally cool stuff !
And the improvement is notable; i love the manikin colors, the one painted on acrilics.

Keep posting!
Some day i'll give you a call

[brokk]

Joiton!! What a surprise beibe!! : P
Como andas Joan? When are you gonna update your sketchbook man?, come on, I know you have one ; P
Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate them : )

Hey Diego, thanks for the comments and taking the time to drop some suggestions, I've been trying to do some fast gestures and from angles. Its not much but its something at least. They have tons of errors but I'm working on it, here goes:

Without looking at the manikin




Looking at the manikin




I plan on doing more and keep working on them, maybe adding new things, trying to make characters or something.

Finished my cow entry for this week.

EDIT: I included the description
CC Evil Supply Creature
The basic supply unit for the Evil Faction is large and slow moving. The creature has four additional arms on its back, which it uses to grab and carry on its back trees, masonry, and other supplies. It can also carry prisoners.
These arms are also the primary melee weapon of the supply unit, it can strike multiple adjacent enemies at the same time.
I figured that at the start of the game, to protect against early rushes, some kind of defense mechanism is necessary. For the Evil Faction, a few supply units would be protection enough since they would be the only supply units to strike multiple targets (and also deal a moderate amount of damage). Since they are slow moving this prevents them from being used as regular troops, but for defence purposes, the main structure could give them a speed bonus for a short time, that way they can move quickly enough through the base to repel invaders. The speed bonus would have a cooldown time before it can be used again, and its effects last for a certain amount of time (enough time to defend the base).


Thanks for the comments guys, keep up the good work, I'll see you guys later!

[Zebz]

Nice stuff, man. I can see that you're puttin' in some real effort with those anatomy studies and such. Keep that crap up! It really comes in handy as you're already seein' I'm sure. If you want one thing that'll start taking your work to the next level it's that and drawing from life as often as possible. Loose accurate gestures are a must. Try and nail some of that down if you can. Then get back to rendering. A lot of the time your renders are as crisp as they could be. Tighten somethings up but still try to keep that loose quality of the line. You've got some great experiments goin' on and you're progressing. Just try and study artists you like and take aspects of their work that you're drawn to technically and try to figure out why you like it and what it is their doing. Apply to your own stuff as you like.

AS for the latest COW effort, that's a nice concept, man! Although, I'd add a big like thing on his back like a holding area for supplies and crap that he can pull resources from. I think he looks like a fun creation to sketch around with! Maybe I'll see if I can push and pull with that design if that's ok! Keep that stuff comin', man!

[brokk]

ZebzFree, here I tried some loose sketches, some are from today, some are more older. I try to sketch quick but its pretty hard for me to get the proportions down correctly at the same time, so a lot of features end up looking off : S
Really need to practice more on that.

In front of a mirror


What the hell happened to my face here? I dont like these. I like the one before better.


a quick value sketch, I had to cranck up the brightness and contrast in photoshop because I made them too difuse in the sketch. Its not finished, I got lazy, but still I really didn't like how it was turning out. I'm definatly going to do a potrait with a lot more hours and effort now.


And these are kinda old, from life


This one too


These are from a magazine. If I keep the lines more sketchy and chaotic it takes less time, but if I try to keep them more clean and defined its more time consuming. I guess its trying to find a sort of a balance you feel kinda good about.


Some more chaotic sketching from life, trying to blend stuff together


And this one


And this one too


Some crazy stuff


An quick painting sketch. I like the light part, but not too much, but I dont like the shadow. I wanna make more experiments like this one, I should take my time more for the next one.


And my entry for this week's Creature of the Week. I thought I'd include the description as well. I edited the post before and included the description for the past c.o.w. too. Dam mouse, I want a tablet : S

Methacephalion
Swampland dwellers, these creatures have developed a unique digestive system, they feed on shit. For this they utilize their frontal appendages that resemble tentacles. They have no skeleton whatsoever and are very flexible, but sluggish in movement. These creatures absorb pretty much the same nutrients many plants and fungi do, presenting the dilema of wether these "animals" should be regarded as being more related to the other kingdomes. Once the "food" is consumed, they store it in their abdominal sacs, waiting to be digested. Once that process is complete, the nutrients are separated, and the rest is used to form methane, or natural gas, which they store in their expandable heads. Bloating up their heads with methane like a balloon allows these creatures to actually take off the ground and float around, reaching higher areas or escaping from predators. They can exhale the methane through their mouths to descend again. The fact that they store methane in their heads has given them their propper name Methacephalions, but in a less taxonomic jargon, they are comonly nicknamed as "Shit Heads".

Thanks for you comments man, I really need to put in the hours and practice more, you're suggestions are really helpful.
Hey, cool that you liked the last cow! : ) Yeah you're right, some straps and and a holding crate sort of thing could have been interesting, also some symbols and stuff. Thanks again.

Well, till next update!

[Zebz]

Kudos again on that new COW effort. You really come up with some interesting creatures, man! Keep that crap up, for real! The life drawings are nice and whether you see it or not, they have much more life than the others. My only suggestion would be "no grass." And what I mean by that is don't draw your lines like you're drawing grass with a crayon. Be confident in your line. Think about where you want to put it and put it. Maybe do a few long lines lightly until you find the exact one you want. Look around at other people's gestures on the board and you'll see what I mean. Right now it just looks like your scratchin' the image there. Which could work if you continued to delve deeper into it by creating tones and such. Nice work thus far. I'll be lookin' fer more!

[Diego]

Hey martin, how is it going?
You're getting more control over your line, i can see that. The fast gestures are very cool, it will help you to loose your hand more, and get more relaxed sketches.
I see your picture in another thread, so i see some of you in these SP, but it seems you were pretty rushed to reach to rendering. I can see very general shapes, like the oval shapes, but not planes, to describe form. Try looking at loomis and then look it into your face.
Very sweet and creative COW entries, i never tried to do it, so i will in the next round.
The best luck and keep the hard work.
CHeers

-Diego

[brokk]

Thank you guys, really.
Zebz, you hit the nail on the head, making a confident line is my most problematic... mm.. problem. Its sincerely the hardest thing for me to do, thats why I tend to sketch very chaotic and "scratch" the image in like you said. I have actually thought about and tried to include tones and model the forms, after I scratch in something I gently erase it so it looks very light, and then I go over the lines I like, and then try to model.
EDIT: Here is an example, the drawing for the last cow:


For practical purposes, its a methond that I feel it can be pulled of if you clean the chaotic lines a lot and render in a clean way, but you are definatly right, I need more confident line practice, its one of my biggest issues, and its something that I'm definatly going to practice for the next update. Cheers man, thanks for responding and for the help!
Diego, things are good, working but should be working harder : )
Honestly... I dont know what kind of line I want, and I dont really worry about it in those terms... making controled and defined lines like I was saying to Zebz is something that I find pretty dificult, maybe because I've never really given it propper study and atention. I kind of like the way of sketching that I have, but I would like to lay down the proportions/perspective/anatomy better, and all that stuff. Also sometimes it looks too messy and I wish I could resolve things with less lines or more simply, stating and accenting the important aspects. Its something I'm definatly going to practice, lets see how it turns out.
You are totally right on the portrait, I did rush to the rendering, and it looks flat. Next time I'll do more portraits or studies and try to consider the planes more, something which I find also hard, but worth studying. I will check back on Loomis.
Hey, glad you guys liked the cows, and I'm glad to hear Diego you're gonna try it out! You too Zebz, check it out. Its a very fun activity : )

The best of luck to you guys back and keep up the work yourselves, and have fun! Thank you again for commenting and helping out.

Cheers.

[Diego]

very detailed reply martin.
The cow sketch looks very cool, very defined values.
Keep working hard.
Saludos

[masterpug]

Wow, you have gotten eons better! I have very few words...wow. I don't think I can CC at the moment, just to astounded by your progression. Maybe I'll drop by later when my tongue is firmly back in my mouth.

[Zebz]

Such a hard worker... how about an update?! BTW, did you notice I drew a COW the same week you did? Not as nice as yours but oh well. You did quite well tho! I'm lookin' for s'more updates tho. Give me somethin' to chew on.

[brokk]

Hey Diego, thanks. When are you going to join the COW? ; )

masterplug, you're crazy man, and you're too kind : ) I don't think I've progressed as much as you say... (otherwise I'd have a job at this, haha) I think I'm gradually learning more and more stuff, its just trying to put the stuff you learn into practice.. err.. or something like that. Thanks for the comments and stopping by, I'm checking your sketchbook right now.

Zebz, it feels like I'm slacking more than working lately : S The lack of more frequent updates is a testament of that. I've been doing some other stuff, going camping and hanging out, I've neglected studies a bit... but I've been trying to put into practice some things and I'm reading some chapters from Creative Illustration, I'm going to try and put into practice a lot of what it says later on. I did notice you're cow entry, I even commented in your sketchbook : P but you gotta keep up the continuity! Where's your deep sea creature? ; P hehe. This week the topic is Artic Carnivore, everyone reading this, jump in and join the Creature of the Week activity!

Ok, update time.

I've been trying to put into practice mostly making less lines that look like grass made with a crayon. I find it harder when what I'm trying to draw is moving, but I'm trying to cut back on the grass still.

had to do this kinda fast, looks a bit sketchy though, I tried not to make it look -too- sketchy.


this was moving, I got the shapes wrong, but I tried not to make something too chaotic


And here I lost it... not much of a controlled line, but he was moving a lot. Still I tried not to make it look like grass with a crayon that much.


An inanimate object. This one wasn't moving at least : P
I gotta do more of these.


Trying to make a charachter from the manikin, altering the proportions somewhat, to practice some anatomy, pose, lighting, and character in one exercise.

altered manikin


anatomy


Lines. Trying not to make it look like grass : P


Local tones, or whatever they are called.


working on it


And here's were I'm at right now


And the creature of the week. I tried doing a different approach than the last two previous cows, tried to focus more on colors and an illustration approach, two things I really need to work at. I don't like too much how it turned out, because I wanted to make something really detailed and rendered, but I ended up covering most of it in shadows : S
It got some positive feedback though, so I guess it kinda works in a way, just not how I originally intended or expected.

C.O.W. #24 - Huge Deep Sea Creature

Depth Titan
An enourmous deep-sea creature, the Depth Titans can be found on some of the most profound regions of the Pacific Ocean. They are slow swimming, and have relatively small mouths in relation to their huge bodies, which are spherically shaped and end in a long, thin tail. Near the mouth are dozens of bioluminiscent lights that are used to lure its prey for easy consumption. Many of the observed individuals present scars on their bodies in unusual markings that resemble jaw wounds, suggesting the posibility of even larger deep-sea predators, to which the Depth Titans would be basic food.

Thanks again guys for stopping by and commenting, till next update.

[Azeira]

i like that huge deep sea creature. really, i dont have anything to crit about. look forward to seeing more.

Woodruff

[Diego]

Good work martin, keep the spirit high and keep drawing, the character evolution is really cool, to see how you developed from the manekin to the finished character is very cool.
I really like The lamp drawing, very clean lines and perspective.
Keep drawing man. I'll join the cow this week or the next.
Cheers

[brokk]

Thanks Azeira, I'll try to update soon and not slack too much.

Diego, while I was doing the lamp I remembered your life studies and how you keep clean lines, and I tried to do it too : P
I think the perspective is a bit off now that I look at it, the ellipse of the base looks a bit wrong, and the vertical thing looks a bit tilted to the left.

You know, at first it was a really frustrating exercise to do, I tried to get every line right and it took me forever, and I didnt get them exactly either. But then I tried to look for the general shapes, sketch those lightly, erase them a little, and make the lines on top. It was faster and much less frustrating, though I'm not sure its the way I'm supposed to be doing it. I really hate jumping in to the lines without any drawing or sketch beneath, but maybe its necessary for study. Any thoughts?

[joiton]

Copaaaado!!!!!
Estas dando saltos che!!
The orc character is really great, cool details. I MUST to see it finished
I love the COW too dude; great colors and lighting. Would be nice to see some more definition on it, mostly on the tail that is missing a bit.

Congratulations!!!!

[gibsini]

some really interestin characters on this thread, luv the six arm creature its wicked. Keep it up

[WARHEAD]

Hey br0ken, really like some stuff you got goin' on here, especially your creature stuff and the last COW
(I voted for your deep sea COW by the way ) let's see some more stuff !

[masterpug]

Still think you have amazing progression, but anyway, I think you might try messing with some more textures for skin. I think some of your characters look a little soft skinned when they might be better off with a leathery texture or the like. You have some really good lighting studies in here. I think when you do some of the anatomy drawings you might want to try drawing a character (out of mind) and then figureing out where the muscles should go. Or, get a photo of someone and do the same thing. It will help tons. Also should work on your digital coloring skills (which reminds me I should too). See you later!

[hurricane]

you have some awesome designs in here...cool stuff!


cheers

[brokk]

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by. Just a really small update this time... I'm working on some other stuff and reading up on Creative Illustration. Its been a while since I practiced traditional paint and I'm trying to do a little of that too. I hope to finish some stuff this week and update soon.

joiton: hey joan pau, thank you : ) but its a goblin, not an orc : P
Thanks for the comments on the cow, you're right, the tail / lower part of the picture is the part that fails to convince me the most, I'll try not to cover things up in shadows too much.

gibsini: thanks : ) you have a rocking sketchbook by the way!

WARHEAD: hey War, thank you, yeah I know you placed your vote on my sorry ass creature, and I had thanked you for it ; ) I'll try to update with more stuff soon, I really need to be practicing much more, more charachter stuff, more interactions...
Hey, didn't we participate in a mod proyect a few years back? Your nickname strikes me familiar, the black dragon mod if I remember. Well I didn't participate much... didnt really have the ability to produce the concepts they required, plus I was starting studies at another city at that time (if you are reading this and are thinking "huh?" forget what I said, I could have confused you for someone else : P )

masterpug: you hit the nail on the head! I hadn't really thought about it either... the soft skin and skin texture thing... but you are totally right! I'm gonna do some studies and upload them hopefully this week. I need more lighting studies also, and anatomy is a major thing I need to be focusing on as well, especially from memory and placing the anatomy on previously set up poses. Digital color too, speaking of which, I'm practicing that with the cow activities, and now with the new enviornment of the week activity, I hope I can finish it. But more than digital painting, I should and wanna be practicing traditional painting! Hopefully more of that later. Thanks for the comments and stopping by!

hurricane: Thank you, you know I really like your stuff!

So, small update, this weeks cow. Hope to update this with more stuff soon. I'd really love crits on this if anyone takes the time.



Polar Knifelimb Stabber
These huge arctic creatures are of the few carnivores who attack prey larger than themselves, usually King Mamoths and Megabisons. They have eight limbs, four of them are quadruped legs, and the other ones are specialized horned limbs with some degree of mobility. The frontal horned limbs possess little mobility, these are for ramming them into their prey when charging at full speed. The back horned limbs are more mobile, and once at close distance, they are used for repeated stabbing, from above. The thumbs on the front feet are large and razor like, these are also used for stabbing, but from below, aiming at the stomach and throat. The have horns at the sides of their heads, as well as on top and under the chin. These function as a means of defense as well as offense when fighting, but they are also used for eating by ripping into bone and tearing flesh. Heavy fur protects the creature from the weather, isolating the cold and keeping them warm underneath.

Till next update.

[joiton]

Martin,

(I'm feeling lazy, so i'll be writing en español)

Che esta bueno el COW, me gustan los colores, aunque tengo una critica, el backhorn, la base de el, donde se engancha en el cuerpo esta rara, parece como puesto, no parece haber una estructura muscular solida abajo. Estaria que hagas por lo menos un boceto del equeleto y la musculatura para ver las formas basicas, asi queda mas solido.

Postea mas!!