Alex's sketchbook (update 3/31/10)

[Cookiedemon]

You have some awesome stuff here. My favorites are your ship and mech designs, they're creative while still looking functional. I have issues with doing that sort of thing.
Some of your digital paintings lose me in the detail though. Perhaps you can use that detail to help create a strong focal point and ease up on the rest of the image to help lead the eye.
Oh, I like Frankenbeefy by the way.

[taeyoungchoi]

So many inspring sketches and paintings here, you make me want to draw more!

[Alex Baer]

Cookiedemon: thanks man, heheh i'm glad you liked the creature. i will definitely spend more time on detail in photoshop now that i'm starting to feel more comfortable with the program

taeyoungchoi: thank you sir, however your work is much more inspiring than mine

here's a space alien with a rocketpack... i might try to work more color in later but right now i kinda like the simple monochromatic palate.

... oh, and this new smilie is awesome

[Alex Baer]

my next post will have women... i promise.

[Troll Skelking]

Its a great thing, how much attention you pay to small details. Thus your designs grow in depth. Hope you are going to update the mercenaries SB soon.
Cheers , Troll

[lennon]

Well you are very free with those designs, they sure rock. The colors look really great on them, you should paint more, those machines in #133 look too good to be true. I would like to see several of this items (or others) put together in a bigger composition.
Great work, dude.

[Alex Baer]

Troll Skelking: thanks man.. i'm not going to be updating the mercenary sb anymore, there's really no need to have 2 SBs at once.. so all of my sketches go here

lennon: thank you sir

all of these are from photo reference.

[Alex Baer]

here's a space merc in some type of bio-suit

[Alex Baer]

ok here's some more studies and some other sketches, i pussied out on the hands, feet, and faces but next time i will give them more attention.

[DanielC]

Nice work on the bots, but the human figures need more attention.
Try not to outline too much the face and play more with value, or else the depth will be effed up.
Something else i'd do is staying organized when shading. Doing too much hatching (especially if it's at the same value) will just destroy your shape.
Remember just to keep one (or two to three, depending on the light setting) layer of hatching. Less is more !!
And if you want to achieve a nice volume when shading, try to get the coutour lines very light so that when you shade they'll just get erased by the contrast (darker value over light lines..)
I hope that was understandable, but keep in mind that that's my suggestion, keep it or leave it, that's up to you :]

[dadushin]

interesting tech stuff i like but i do agree with what danielC said.
watch your proportions and values, so they don't become to tonal
keep it up though, i'm sure you'll get better in no time!

[TheGnoll]

very nice stuff man, really.I dig that girl space suit design, and you've got some really cool looking designs n here (like the spider alien in post 138, or the franken beefy (torso, arms and head looks really great)

and that small sketch of the dragon in a volcanic setting would deserve some paint, very cool atmosphere and skecth

excellent work, much respect

ciao

[jedininjaman]

Nice work here I have been out for like 2 months but now I am back with a huge update it would be awesome if you would check i t out But ya nice work I dig the clean line and neat sketches you have. the colored stuff is crisp to nice work But try to work on your rendering a tad cleaner a little bit...
-jedininja

[Matsign]

It's always awesome to see you updating. That bio-suit is the bomb. I love the girl studies with guns. You're my hero haha. I just drew something very similar to that biosuit girl but it pales in comparision.

[MeTaL-Mike]

nice man, i like the figures. watch the proportions though

[Alex Baer]

DanielC: thank you for the crit, i'll definately keep what you say in mind

dadushin: thanks man i will!

TheGnoll: the respect is mutual buddy

jedininjaman: i'll head on over dude, heh.. sounds like i need to work on quite a few things.

Matsign: hehe, thanks man! i'll have to check it out

MeTaL-Mike: thanks man, will do

this sketch i spent a lot more time on because i've been working too quickly and impatiently on many of my sketches. i think it turned out alright, though i think the left leg looks a little short... hope you dig

[Alex Baer]

here are some behemoth creatures that spread plague and other flying demon creatures from their bodies wherever they travel. i'll have to figure out what those little swarm critters look like

[Alex Baer]

some more behemoths and some orc-like creatures heads

[DeKal]

yo awwwwsome work man. any advice on how to draw monsters and creatures so well without reference? and mechs...

[Alex Baer]

DeKal: that's a good question. most creatures i work on (that aren't humanoid) have some kind of reference from various creatures. basically i try to search for interesting and unusual creatures, sometimes i will just combine some parts, and other times i will take certain elements, characteristics, proportions, shapes, or texture and try to form some basic idea off of that. other ways i come up with these creatures can be from looking random shapes that have an organic quality, and that can spark some idea for a creature design. many times I'm just playing around... but sometimes, on rare occasions, i'll already have what i want in my head, in which case i'll try to grab as much of what i see in my mind (which is pretty goddamned difficult, especially if you haven't been practicing anatomy). it's hard to develop something that "could be" real, that isn't, without getting something. i suppose if you're looking for a creature that's meant to be humorous, then you don't necessarily have to make it look "realistic," you exaggerate certain parts to make them look ridiculous. the trick is finding the nature, characteristics, and purpose of it if you want to give it some sort of believability. As for my sci-fi mercenary soldiers and vehicles... i try to play around with organic and geometric shapes. i have only in the past 6 months started to take sci-fi seriously so i still don't really know what i want to do with my designs and figuring out what i like or not. i think it always helps to base your ideas on reality and i'm sure many other people feel the same, but yes i have many reference books on soldiers, vehicles, architecture, landscapes, and so forth. i hope that helps man

alright... it's been a while since i've posted. i have a few creature sketches and then i'll show you some stuff i was working on for CHOW 100. it was very difficult for me to figure out what i liked,and was unsure of what direction i wanted to take the medusa character. i'll post the sketches of the last designs that i enjoyed before i tried to take it to a final... unfortunately i didn't have enough time to work on the piece, and i've been so out of practice with painting that i wouldn't have been able to make a finished piece in time for the deadline, so i just stopped rather than busting out a mediocre piece that i would be happy with. so that's my pathetic excuse for not making a final .

[walnut]

Those demon monster are damn good, but they do remind me of a design from a BPRD album (the Black Flame, if you're wondering). Could be just coincidence mind you.

[lord_regenschirm]

Hey Alex, awesome stuff (you'll know cause everybody's telling you )!
But don't you have the possibility to get on to a special school for becoming (concept-) artists? I'm visiting the Games Academy in Berlin doing the art & animation-course but want to get into the biz as a concepter ... allthough I don't know if I'm having a chance against this bee-like-active competitors like you are one ... (and I would have to do way more studies to be on your level in one year that I become 22 ... ^^)

[Alex Baer]

walnut: thanks man, but i have never seen much of those comics... do you have an image you could post of the creature your talking about?

lord_regenschirm: thank you! right now i don't have the money to go back to school but who knows... maybe in the future i'll head back for some classes, although i am sure i will learn much on this site

here's some new sketches, a few of which might become a painting, and my CHOW 107 element dragon, and a detail of it.

[Yautja892]

Hey alex been awhile since I visited your book. Nice updates since I last visited. Really liked your loose paintings you posted earlier. Nice creature sketches as well. Its great your exploring many different areas. keep up the good work. Cheers.

[Jorge Gecov]

You have a awesome stuff, strong pencils and creatures.
Congrats!

[MRPLOT]

hey man!! really cool stuff--i really like your avatar picture..lovely...
maybe we can make a illustration together..
keep posting is good inspiration to me



http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...ghlight=mrplot

[DeKal]

awesome response to my last post man..much apprecited and understandable...i love the new update..your creatures are sick..im jealous!
and thanks for that comment in my SB...CA was down for a couple days but i could still access the home page and the topic only said evil genie...i always do girls so the one time i do a male character, i wasnt supposed to..whatever right...so i just finished it cause i really liked where it was going...the Expose6 submission deadline is coming up so im probly gonna submit it to that..anyway...thanks again man...talk to ya later..

[walnut]

Nice new batch of monsters. They're all incredibly lifelike, you have a real talent for creatures. In my last post, i was referring to this thing (though i'm thinking the comparison's a bit stretched now. Great comic btw.) :

[Alex Baer]

Yautja892: thanks man!

Jorge Gecov: thanks!

MRPLOT: hey thanks, i've never done a collaboration piece before and i'm willing to give it a go, let me know what you had in mind and perhaps we'll work something out

DeKal: hey no prob man glad i could help

walnut: whoah.. i do see some comparison.. damn that's a cool design, thanks for posting that, dude.

alright so the oil paint for the sea-dragon finally dried and i was ably to scan it, and it is much clearer that the crappy photo i have above, and the colors are much more accurate to the actual piece than they were before.

[kischi]

Wow awesome sketchbook!!! Really cool designs and drawings. I dig your style.
The last oil painting "crazy" keep up the good work dude.
Some stars and sub.