Gear Adrift

[Asier]

Some really interesting stuff you got here Ex Nihilo.Love the thumb designs and that last charcoal piece and some of the pencil studies specially.
keep it up.

[N A Johnson]

Jason- Thanks, man! Yeah, seems I'm usually listening to music while I sketch.

Thanks, Asier!

From life:



From my mind:


(Adding facial expressions to the long list of things I need to study..)

[N A Johnson]

More life:


From photos, mostly:


From my mind:

[staticpen]

Ah, you're becoming a beast! Awesome pencil work. Really well done hands, especially. And yeah... facial expression are tough! It's so easy to just draw things the way we learned them from proportion images.

[N A Johnson]

Many thanks, Jason.

Figure from photo:


Life/mind sketches:



Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres study for class:


Chickadee sketch for my girlfriend:


Thumbnails. I started painting on a couple of them; I'll post my progress later...:

[staticpen]

Ah, you beast! Glad to have you posting again. Thumbs look legit! Really solid designs there. The sketches you posted also look really nice. Super job on the chickadee.
Figure painting looks solid as well, mate. The proportions and pose all look well done. Only thing that gets me is the value distribution. Those darkest darks aren't really that much darker than the mid tones. Gives it a pastel look, which I do dig, though. I'm not one of those people that only likes life-like art, so if you intended it to look the way it came out, way to go man. Looks great.

Cheers!

[orthodox87]

Chickadee sketch is fantastic! And, I like your womanfigurestudy and guns drawing.

[N A Johnson]

orthodox87- YAARR! Thank you.

Jason- Thanks a bunch. Your post reminds me that I need to think more in terms of values. I never seem to do that when I work directly with color; I really need to. Glad you like it.


The computer I normally post from is dead at the moment and awaiting parts... so no digitals for now.

[psantha]

Fantastic SB! My favourite is the "Markers and pens" sketch. That is crazy good!

[N A Johnson]

Thanks, psantha!

Here's a few more sketches.

Experiment with watercolor and digital:

Quick experiment with oils and digital:

Wips from thumbs:

[sevarenge]

nice berd hehe im a berd fan i haw drawed som berds too you sod shek them=) ^^ and i licke the creatures under the berd nice done!
kip on rocking

my sb:http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...=149972&page=4

[cout<mecha]

Hey Nihilo, I can see you've been doing some serious and involved sketchwork. You figures could use a bit more roundness/depth but the effort is there. Have you ever looked at Alex Toth's work?

[N A Johnson]

sevarange- Thanks! Birds are kinda fun to draw.

cout<mecha- Thanks for the advice! I know who Alex Toth is, but I guess I haven't spent much time looking at his work. I can see how he could be a helpful influence. Thanks for the tip!
Some of the faces are from movie stills:



I went here last summer, I think I may go back sometime. Beautiful place... just ignore the ugly tent

[Jamie Romoser]

we need some updates
have a good one
-Jamie

[ajtabril]

subscribed!!!!

[Nateman742]

Man, to be honest, if you fleshed out that bird with all those mouths coming out of it I'd totally buy a poster. There is some seriously awesome stuff in here!

[ariel_medel]

Ex Nihilo, very nice, I love your sketches

[N A Johnson]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the lack of updates; I don't have a good excuse, really...

These are all fairly recent.

[N A Johnson]

Mostly oils this time.

A couple of compositional sketches in terra rosa (6x8 inches):



Made these two with a palette knife (6x8 in) :



I'm making a painting based on one of the earlier sketches. I decided to begin with a warm underpainting (22x28 in) :


A digital study from a photo I took in Hawaii:


Another study in terra rosa:

[N A Johnson]

A few more...

[N A Johnson]

I need to start drawing more.

[N A Johnson]

[N A Johnson]

There are things I like about this, and things I'm not too happy with, but it's time to move on. Maybe I'll pick up on it later.

[HAJiME]

I love your sketches and the way you shade, such amazing control. The digital environments are wonderful too.

[Sushy]

I love that chickadee drawing, such a cute bird
your environment studies look very well too. (I did not know works with a palette knife could become this awesome)

[Rain Walker]

ur charecter sketchs are mind blowing... just!! wow... amazing.. like the old man in ur sketchbook.. to u its a sketch to me its like final painting lol

[mass87]

thx for stoping by my SB! nice stuff uv done here, nice pencil sketches, love the little chickadee

[N A Johnson]

Thank you all for the replies.

Sushy: painting with knives is loads of fun. You should give it a try sometime

Rainwalker: I probably have more time into that old man than what you would suspect.

[N A Johnson]

Almost done:

[N A Johnson]

This creature gets around by hopping, climbing and gliding. The basic idea is that it produces a light gas in its body and stores it in a bladder that lines its thoracic cavity and most of its abdominal cavity-- this helps to slow her descent when she's in the air looking for goats to feed on...



I'd like to take this idea further--and maybe, eventually, paint a few more versions.