Moai's Sketchbook

[Lander]

Hey man. Your work and energy is an inspiration as always. I really liked your SP. No need to look at my SB since it havn't been updated in decades

-c

[Quike Garcia]

I like this last concept.. Just one thing.. I think weapons should be (or look like ) able to surpass their body armour. Maybe something a bit heavier?

Great works

[jackpot_anjr90]

Great update! I like the notes you put down and how everything has a purpose...that's something I should work on. Keep it up!

[Moai]

Lander- Thanks! How are you doing, man?
Quickenboi- Thanks! Making the weapons heavier is a great idea. I was actually thinking of giving him a big old wooden pole with a metal mace at the end.
jackpot_anjr90- Thanks!

Here's some more team ChoW stuff.

The first character is a seagull-themed human. He's a summoner, and he's probably my favorite of the characters I've designed yet. Those are severed seagull wings hanging from his arms, not large feathers.
The first character is a mantis-themed elfin female. She's a very light and nimble characer, but still, if I elaborate on this idea I'll probably have to give her some armor.
Next up, a molerat-themed dwarf with stone armor!

[Lander]

Everything is great but the fact that I don't take the time I need to paint. And there is so much I want to do. I'm still running Planet 11 but after 11 years I'm starting to to feel a bit fed up. I'll need to push myself into new arenas.
So I guess there is a post in here somewhere saying why you are moving to Seattle.
If you meet up with David make sure to give the man a hug from me

[MGLDyson]

Good looking stuff, man. The pink monster on the past couple of pages is pretty tight. The textured brush work is nice.

Seattle, is tha' shit, btw. Make sure you eat at Brouwer's Cafe in Fremont. If you love beer, it's the place for you. They also have some pretty amazing Flemish style food. If you're into either of those things...

[KingAcer]

Hey you got awesome stuff here too, very cool

[TheGnoll]

aaaa would have loved to be into this with you man, loving your designs! can't wait see the next updates for the CHOW!

talk to you soon i hope!

ciao

[Moai]

Lander- I'm moving to Seattle to be closer to family and because of the art community and education/work opportunities. If I see Dave, I'll definitely do that.
MGLDyson- Thanks! I've heard some good things about Fremont, so if I find myself in that general area, I'll be sure to go to that place. I do love beer, and I'll find out if I like Flemish food.
KingAcer- You again?? Haha, thanks!
TheGnoll- Man, we need to team up together for the next round. Keep an eye out for some more peeps to join us!

So, here's an Oni design and a dwarf design for team ChoW. Going in a more East Asian direction. Oni are the ogres of Japanese mythology, more or less. Here is the source for the dwarf's costume: right here. I was searching for a way to effectively combine a cloth robe type of form with armor, and when I saw that image, with Asian culture already included, I knew that I'd scored. It's always a special feeling when you find the perfect reference image.

[Moai]

Nothing really to post right now, but I do have an exciting announcement.

My freelance career has officially begun!

I'm creating an illustration for a feature article in a small role-playing game publication. The contracts have been signed. A couple pages of thumbnails have been drawn. I'm currently working out the poses, anatomy, and designs for the figures and playing with the compositions for my main ideas. I can't show the work now, of course--that'll have to wait until October--but I'm too excited not to share the news.

Edit: Actually, yeah, I do have a few designs to post!
These are the evil and good versions of the character I'm going to do for Team ChoW.

[TheGnoll]

as i already told you, congrats!
lookig forward to seeing what you're working on and rrrrrrock on!
Diggin the recent character work!

ciao!

[Camara]

Congratulations,Moai!!!!Can´t wait to see what you will do for that role playing game!!
I love the evil version of that demon!!!

[Quike Garcia]

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS man!! is a great notice

Apart from that, love the oni, and the bakemono The dwarf looks really solid too But maybe some bigger helmet, or a Happuri would reinforce the idea

Again, wonderful notice man

[HunterKiller_]

Ashamedly, I don't think I've posted in your SB before.

Needless to say, great work. Love your creature designs.

[markexih]

WOW, Weird... I've not entered CA.org after a while, and after watching the pages of my favorite sketchbook, I've noticed that today is your birthday, So...
Happy Birthday man!!

Well.. after that funny and kind of disturbing coincidence... let's start with the Comments & Critics!!

First of all, is very cool to see that your line work in general has become a lot of more defined and sharper,
I took for example the Swan Dragon you did for a C.O.W. entry, I love how you rendered the muscle details, and integrated the light and shadows.
You have to finish this one, you have a strong portfolio piece here.

The Cyclops and the Elder Alien pieces are just top-notch, Is nice to see how you use all your gained knowledge in human and animal anatomy to make believable and functional aliens and aberrations (It would be nice to see more stuff from you with the Elder ALien Style), so I suppose it was natural from you to jump now in to the Character Design, maybe you should try to design too some Inorganic (Robot) Stuff.

Some Full Creatures/Characters development with VideoGame/Movies production values would be cool too, like some orthogonal drawings for the character modelers, some illustrations suggesting the behaviour of your character, like locomotion, facial or full body expressions for the animators, and so on.


I'm very happy to see how much you have improved, and the fact that you are making your first steps in to your PRO Career are indeed very good news.

CONGRATILATIONS man!!

[Villa]

That last character for team chow really got me first time i saw it. Took me back to a LOTR animated movies feel, but much more renewed. good choice on his posture. Im really looking forward to your next posts man. I already told you at another site, but this is the one that counts so, congrats again on your new freelance gig. hope to see more stuff from you soon.

[Moai]

Hey, everybody! I'm finally settled into my place in the Seattle area and have internet on my computer, so I can finally post an update on my current situation and post some art!

Firstly, my freelance job went very well. The art director was very happy with the image I created. However, I can't post it until October, when the magazine is released. You guys who've done many freelance jobs know how that is, I'm sure. So, keep a look out for the October issue of Kobold Quarterly! You'll find some toothy, tentacled goodness by me heading one of the articles.

Secondly, the move did not go smoothly. We were shown a very nice-looking model apartment a few weeks ago, and signed some rental applications and paid a deposit and everything, and thought that we had a nice place all lined up for us. However, when we got there and actually looked at the building and apartment we were moving into, it turned out that wasn't the case. The building was filthy and stinky and disgusting, the apartment was in poor condition, and the dumpsters outside were piled high with garbage. Then, when we were talking to the rental agents, all kinds of new charges and bills and fees that we hadn't been told about started appearing. So, we said a big "No" to that apartment. We spend a few days living at Motel 6, but found a suitable apartment soon after.
Then the internet provider we signed up for kept making and breaking promises, which is why I'm only getting online now. Grrr.

But enough complaining. I started taking classes at Gage Academy last week, and it's going great. The teachers are enthusiastic, the models are attractive and professional, and the location is cool, on a hill not far from downtown Seattle.

Replies:
TheGnoll- Thanks, man! Your own character work has been an inspiration to me. It was good to be back chatting with you today.
Camara- Hey, thanks! The second image of this post will make you proud, I think.
Quike Garcia- Thank you for the comments and suggestions! I had to look up your Japanese words.
HunterKiller- Actually, I'm certain you posted here once a coupla years ago. Welcome back, and thanks!
markexih- Hey, man! I think last year you were the first CAer to wish me a happy birthday too. In some ways, that feels like just yesterday, but in other ways, it feels like a looooooong time ago. A lot has happened in this past year, that's for sure. Your suggestions, such as working on mechanical subjects and doing some full, production-quality character work, really resonate with me. Thank you.
Villa- Hey! Thanks, man! Great work you've been doing!

So, some art. Two different character WIPs of two very different characters.

The first is Mayor Swinelius Hobgoppum. I don't know exactly what he is; some sort of demihuman, I guess, like a hobbit or munchkin. The rendering on his clothing has barely begun. I have plans for another character of this same race.

The second is a female character, who is little more than a sexy nude at this point. I haven't decided what sort of character she'll be once I paint clothing over her. Based on many separate reference images.

Updates on these, and other things, coming soon.

It's good to be back.

[Carnifex]

i'll admit that second one caught me rather by surprise,because i thought it was a figure study after a life model....when it wasn't,well...

[Camara]

I am VERY VERY proud of the second image of yo update!!!Hahahahaa,great!!!!
Once again,I will be waiting till october to see what you created for that magazine!!!

Best regards,man!

[Camara]

I am VERY VERY proud of the second image of yo update!!!Hahahahaa,great!!!!
Once again,I will be waiting till october to see what you created for that magazine!!!

Best regards,man!

[luness]

Hey man! crazy updates. I really like the CHOW character on post #732 and those new ones look great so far. I can't wait to see their development!
About the question you posted on my SB about the angels' descriptions, I don't have the links anymore. Few months ago I put my computer under a deep maintance session and forgot to backup the bookmarks, so many links were gone forever, including those about mythical creatures and characters; but I kept two Word documents with some cut&paste I did with information I've been using every now and then. If you want them I could send them to you via PM.
I got most of the stuff browsing Wikipedia, clicking many links, and cutting and pasting on these word documents to keep the info better organized. If you Google you may find more information as well but I noticed that it's pretty much the same thing.
There's also a few descriptions on the Bible, somewhere in Revelations, I think?

Anyways, nice to come back and check the goodness of your sketchbook!

Cheers!

[Quike Garcia]

Ya!! you're back and really nailing it I like the feeling on the first one.. kind of reminded me of The Wall from Pink Floyd..

The second one is lovely looks alive

[lord_regenschirm]

haha ... these tits are HUGE! xD
I'm working my ass off hope I can post most of the stuff soon (depends on when our browsergame goes online ... O_o Should be happening this fall).

Cheers and thanks for caring

[Lumens]

What can i say? It's aways an inspiration to look through your sketchbook.
Drawing creatures has always been kinda out of my comfort zone,
but i hope to be even half a good as you one day.
I also dug your teamchow works.

keep on rocking.

[Moai]

Carnifex- Haha, thanks man!
Camara- Thanks, man!
Luness- Thank you, man! I'll look up those angels and mythical beings. They sound like good sources of inspiration.
Quike Garcia- Thanks! He does look a bit like the lawyer in the final animated sequence, doesn't he?
lord_regenschirm- Lookin' forward to that update, man!
Glaedr- Thank you. Study biology, animal anatomy, and the fossil record, and combine that with a knowledge of shape and gesture. That's the basis of creature design, for me.

So, here's what I did last night. Creature Spot (check the link in my signature!) is doing monthly topics, and the topic for September was to draw a creature from Strange Tales, an old pulp sci-fi comic book. Here is a link to a bunch of small images of those creatures: link. Now, I know it's not September anymore, but I needed something to paint last night, and that's what jumped out at me. I chose to do a redesign of a creature called "The Monster in the Cellar," from the story of the same name. The image on which I based my design is the first image below. A little bit ago, I decided to do some research and see what the creature actually looked like in the comic book, and this is what I found. The image I was working from is completely inaccurate!

Anyway, what made this image really fun was the fact that I did it in front of an audience! I have an account on Livestream.com, so I streamed my painting process live. Check it out here. Click on "On Demand" to watch a recording of it. Disregard the first four or so recordings; they were made when I was trying to figure out how to stream video, and I actually wasn't aware that I my screen was being recorded at the time. I'm trying to find out how to delete those. The last two segments show the majority of the painting.
Beware, though, that the video has some amount of dead time. I spend a bit of time chatting with my friends and watchers while this was happening, and the chat window is invisible in the video. This is especially true towards the end, when most of my audience had gone to sleep, and I spent most of the time just chatting with the few people who were left.
I haven't yet worked out how to notify people when I'm starting to stream, especially since I probably won't be planning these very long ahead of time.

[Cam Sykes]

AH you're doing livestream? That's great, I'll have to check it out. I keep missing other peopel's livestreams because I'm in Oz so when they mention the time it's on I get confused and don't know when it actually is.

haha the mayor's face look's like it's going to fall off

[Moai]

Cam Sykes- Yeah, that was a problem for some buddies of mine, too. It's hard to coordinate everyone when you have friends in every hemisphere!
As for the mayor's face, do you say that just because his face is really lumpy and saggy, or for some other reason?
Thanks for the comment!

So, I took home all of the paintings that I've done at Gage Academy so far (at least, the ones that have dried). I'll post my portrait paintings in this post, and my figure paintings in the next post.
The models in the portrait class seem to alternate between attractive young females and characterful older men. This is only a once a week class, so I have only a few images to post just yet.

The first image was just a very rough value block in. The next two are focusing on value and temperature, and not necessarily getting the actual hues of the skin tones correct. The second one was very tough--facial hair complicates things--but I'm very happy with how the third one turned out.

[Moai]

And now, for my figure paintings.

I'd only ever attempted to paint the figure from life using traditional media once before, about two years ago. I was much less experienced then (I hadn't even learned my anatomy, for Pete's sake), and the teacher refused to use any sort of lighting that would create strong lights and shadows. Therefore, the paintings I produced were muddy gray pieces of crap.
I'm much happier with these, particularly the second and fourth ones.

[Quike Garcia]

Love the oils!! The portraits specially

I really like the first one even if it's only a value study, has strength

Figures are also nice too

[Avesy]

Sweet stuff! I really love how you render and shade things. It's neat seeing a sketchbook initiated 3 years ago, you can really see how the artist has progressed.