scribbles 'n things (traditional & digital)

[iven]

WOW you really kinda strike me like an artist who works for
a children book publisher. Its maybe all the skeletons. If you ever
come to Toronto go to the ROM museum, I am sure they need
to drag you out !! I love the hand studies they are kick ass.
And the GIs on page7 #208 look great too, I also like that you
post photos from your life.

Lots of pages,......good stuff !

[Harmageddon]

Iven: Lol, thanks for the suggestion. I'm actually in the process of illustrating a
children's book written by a good friend of mine...we hope to get it published sometime this year.
I had a look at ROM museum, if I'm ever in the vicinity of Toronto again, I'll definately pay it a visit!

Resolution for this year: increase the production of everything compared to last year.
Which is, I hope to become a better painter, illustrator, I hope to be able to become a concept artist one day
and to make awesome clay figurines....and at some point in life I want to make a cartoon/comic.
But first things first: I noticed that a good portion of fundamentals (perspective, lighting) is missing from my skillset.
So I really need to tackle those in the coming year if I ever hope to break through to the next level.

But for now, this year's first, giganotosaurus

[iven]

Hey man this dino looks KICK ass man, aren't you already a conceptartist.
I have seen you CLAY stuff it looks amazing would love to see more of that.
Your advice hits the spot thanks for feedback *CLICK*

You have a own style in the way you draw it looks interesting and for sure fits
to a children book, now that I have you on my SB I will POP in here sometimes.

[Harmageddon]

iven: hey dude, thanks! Glad the advice helps. It's the same stuff I try to tell myself occasionally
No, I'm not a concept artist yet.
Actually I've started a small company that produces..well, everything you see here, lol.
I'm very busy trying to find people that might want to hire me to paint, draw, sculpt.
Don't really know where to start looking though.
And I have this feeling that I'm not good enough to be a professional concept artist yet, so I gotta keep pushing it!
And illustrating children's books may also happen in the future. I don't know, I'll let myself be surprised
Oh and there's more clay stuff on the way. Talk to you later, take care.


On to the stuffs.. a final dino skeleton for a while I think. But this is spinosaurus.



and a bunch of sketches...






and a sculpt I'm working on...started out a some demonic thing but slowly progresses towards more of a dragon.
Ah well. Hope you guys and gals like it.

[angieb.]

Wow - that sculpture is wonderful! How long does it take you to do something like that?

[Harmageddon]

Wow - that sculpture is wonderful! How long does it take you to do something like that?

angieb.: thanks It takes me between 1 and 2 full weeks I think to do something like that.
However, the process is still quite chaotic and has large intervals of painting and drawing in between.

[Harmageddon]

A few more minor tweaks and then I'm calling this one done.

[Harmageddon]

.. and some updates on the 2 seadrakes and the map we'll be using in a D&D game
all are still wippety wips. Them seadrakes are acrylics on paper, har!
And the map is inks.

[Rhubix]

I'm loving all the dinosaur skeletons. I live a stone's throw from a big museum and I've never gone there and drawn them before- now I'm thinking that I should....

Love the dragon sculpt too- all that bone study payed off

[Harmageddon]

Rhubix: thanks! Glad you like 'em. And you should go to that museum! Run!
Maybe you can meet up with Iven sometime, he's near the ROM museum, if that's the same one you're near
(see top post on this page)

Here's another dragonsculpt I've recently started working further on.. started this thing in august 2012 I think...
Only recently decided to take it to the finish line. Here's where it's at now.
The round hole in the middle is for a candle.

[Rhubix]

lol, yep - the ROM is the one! Me and Iven go way back in concept art land. I troll all the cartoonists sketchbooks.

Your sculpt is looking good- It's one of those things I've always wanted to do more of, but I never have the time. That's why I'm always sketching- you can do it anywhere .

happy sculpting

[Aqualeot]

Thanks for commenting in my sketchbook!

I really like your sculpted dragon and your animal studies, specially the lizards on page 3. I looked at every page of your sketchbook, and tried to come up with something useful to say here

One theme I see is that I can't tell where the light is coming from. Even in the dinosaur skeletons, which are otherwise quite solid looking, I have a hard time discerning the direction of the light. I think the only way to study this well (as I am learning too) is to make studies from objects IRL, not photo reference imo. This way, you have to really study the tones of the objects and backgrounds, and not have those problems already solved like in a picture. Like a previous poster mentioned, get any simple objects you have around and do tonal studies. I am taking my own advice here too

The other theme I see is an overabundance of color and imo a greater focus on color as individual elements and details somewhat jumbled together to make the picture, rather than as a way to present a theme or mood in an more unified presentation. The exception to this is the rose on page 8, which I think is quite lovely. Maybe it would be helpful to scale back on the use of colors, and only use a very limited palette for practice.

As you know I am a beginner, so please take what you find helpful of this and use it as you see fit and kindly ignore the rest. And know that as I write this to you, I am seeing in your art things I need to work on myself. And the color observations comes from what I have learned about in theory from James Gurney's "Color and Light." Now time for me to go and practice

[Harmageddon]

Rhubix: haha lol, whaddaya know? Small world, huh. Say hi to Iven for me if you will
For me, and maybe for you too, just buy some supersculpey or other stuff and play around in a weekend with it. See what happens.

Aqualeot: thanks for your critique to make light a point of attention.
It's been said before and I first thought general anatomy was my weakest point, but now it seems lighting conditions are actually my weakest point.
I've already been trying to paint with limited pallettes (the two seadrakes are painted only with cadmium yellow light, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson red and titanium white)
but still I manage to throw light all over the place. I did get my hands on Gurney's book and it's really fascinating stuff ... but practice is somewhat more resistant than theory.

I figured I should make a to do list, based on all the critiques I've recieved over the past couple of years, to see if I can tackle them all this year.
So here we go:

1) more work on anatomy would help
2) draw from life: observe real light and how it interacts with objects
3) forms look flat: light direction is absent or just wrong in my work
5) when drawing with pencils, try and push those values and don't get stuck in those middle greys (again: dark versus light)
6) take some sketches to the finished ink line drawing and beyond
7) simplify: first lay in only big shapes, using only a few values
8) do value studies
9) the stage before I finish (basically the rough start) has more magic to it than the finished work
10) the eyes of a lot of my animals look flat
11) pay attention to reference: it's there, why not use it?

Ok I think that's it. Not in any particular order of what is the most important, although
light seems to be a big issue as well as not paying enough attention to the buildup phase and
racing into details instead. Without the solid foundation in the build-up phase, it's not going to work.
Let's see if I can tackle these issues this year.

[Satu]

I really really love these sculpted dragons of yours. Great details in them!
I feel like there's something missing on these painted dragons, even though they look good also. I think they are lacking some depth and variation in values as
Aqualeot mentioned also. This list of yours is really good! Many things in there that I should concentrate this year also!
Keep up studies based on the list and I'm sure you'll levelup a lot this year!

[Lumens]

Man i'm a sucker for those dragon sculpts, love em!
If you are having problems with lighting, have you considered using the sculpts as a basic model to understand the forms when painting creatures?
James Gurney's imaginitive realism covers alot of ways to utilise props and sculptures for setting up a convincing lighting scenario.
That list is looking good..nothing that can't be solved with lots of observational practise.

[Harmageddon]

Satu: thanks, glad you like the dragon sculpts, I can't seem to not make them
Yep. Everyone's right about the lack of proper lighting conditions in my works.
Really got to tackle that if I'm ever to grow out of this phase I'm in.
I figured the list might help to get things straight in my head. I'll work hard and try not to disappoint!

Lumens: thanks, that makes 2 of us
I did consider making props and such; also I really have to do life studies, I've put it off for too long now.
Gurney's imaginative realism is definately on my wishlist, I'll get it as soon as I can.

update on the dragon sculpt: now with paint!
I decided to go for a rusty red look, with a pattern. Still some work to do, this is the 1st layer of paint.



And a detailshot of the head:

[Harmageddon]

some other stuff I'm working on.. paintings, acrylics on canvas (tower) or paper (skull and dragon)
all wips (works in progress) obviously...




Oh and I figured to improve those 2 seadrakes I'll first test some stuff in photoshop before I continue painting them.

[Harmageddon]

Update: today's work
I played around in photoshop with one of the seadrakes, I think this is better.
Then I had some fun coloring a sketch from a few posts back.

[element1988]

Loving the dino stuff.. Looks hard to do, might try it some time. Anyway keep up the good work.

[Harmageddon]

element1988: Thanks dude! Mmm if they look hard to do I'm doing something wrong.
I read somewhere that good art should look like it was made effortless.

Ok some painting I'm working on in between the other paintings. Another dragon.
Yeah I should do different subjects too, I know. But yeah.
Oh, and it's acyrlics on paper, 40x50cm

[PNate]

Dude! Your sculpts are awesome o_o I want a life size one to put next to my front door

[Harmageddon]

PNate: thanks dude! Actually I'm thinking of making a bigger one, like 2 or 3 meters in size.
But that plan is still in the early concept stage. First I need to get my finances straight.
When I go ahead, I'll let you know

Ok finished the 2nd of the seaserpents, still working on the first one.
Also a small update on the dragon on the purple mountain.
Both are acrylics on paper, 40x50cm

[Harmageddon]

Still struggling with the digital stuff, and I really should start working on those things I put in my to do list in post #283
But here's some stuff, digital this time. Wips.
Thanks for watching

Lolth, demon queen of spiders (was a COW from a while back)


Some pit fiend/demon thing

[iven]

I am very much impressed by your sculptures, I also like the drawings. We both don't like
digital stuff so much, I am more a hands on person too I like to craft. The animal studies
look good 4 me. I wish I could take some photos of your Dragon model, you can do so
much with photos too. I took photos too from my Puppets, but I didn't use flash, it
flatens the hole photo, the pix are on my page. GOOD STUFF !

[Harmageddon]

iven: thanks I'm definately going to do more sculpts in the future. Loads of fun.
Well I'm beginning to grasp some digital stuff although there still is a long way to go.
I think we're both more familiar with traditional stuff, so we're naturally better at it.
And of course, the smells of paint, of pencilshavings and such, that's just not there when working digitally.
And I do like that when you work traditionally you have a product at the end. Not just a bunch of 0's and 1's.
Then again I think digital work can certainly help to learn how to paint. How colors work. What compositions might work.
And digital is just so much faster. In the end it's just another tool to help you create your artistic visions

If you're ever around feel free to come over and take pictures of the sculpts Maybe I'll put some more up here later.
Where are these pictures you're referring to?

Finally finished these two paintings.
Both are acrylics on canvas, 40x50cm

[Harmageddon]

Hey guys, I hope everyone is doing fine.
I've not been as productive as I would like, but here's some stuff.
Some sketches, some wips of paintings and a collab owl eyes piece.

[BlackDelphin]

You do lovely work traditionally! At this point your digital is your week point, from my point of view, so keep practicing it!
I like your ideas and that dragon you sculpted, lots of details.

As for the digital, I think you should study colour scheme more, the values and perhaps work a bit in grayscale to see more clearly
the value mistakes. As for colours, I consider very important the cool-worm concept. If your dark values are cool, the bright ones
worm. And if the dark ones are saturated, the brighter ones more desaturated.

Good luck, and hope my comment is of any use to you

[Harmageddon]

BlackDelphin: thank you! And I agree
I'm actually on the verge of understanding something about colors, or it feels that way anyway.
It seems I used way too saturated colors in my paintings for example, and photoshop is still somewhat
of a mystery to me, but I'll get there. I practice way too little in photoshop atm, so much stuff to do.
But I want to know it, to be good at it, so I will get there.

....and now, time for something completely different

[Harmageddon]

Well that's been a while. Busy with stuff, did not draw and paint as efficiently as I would like,
but hey, I'm still having fun. Apparently the rough wheather over here at CA is now mostly over,
hope we'll see a bright future for all involved. Over here in the Netherlands, spring is totally confused
and behaving like winter. Although flowers don't seem to give a sh*t and just do whatever they do.
Them sexy little bastards

I still find it hard to finish things, but here's an update on the stuff I've been producing lately.

Some paintings, a large (180x80cm) abstract that I made with a friend of mine, and now graces a client's wall,
and some sketches. Thanks for watching, keep on drawing and have fun!

[Satu]

Cool new stuff! The boy's portrait is looking very good. Very realistic. Like them other sketches too.
We're kind of still waiting for the spring to begin here too. It's starting to be more sunny and somehow it feels like a spring but then again there have been some pretty cold days and especially nights too lately. I'm hoping that the warmer days are here to stay soon. :)