Euphemism's Sketchbook; Dec 16th with new art and categories. D:

[Euphemism]

Hello! Yes, I've been inspired by this place, its works, its artists, and finallly decided to join. Well, three years later after first hearing about Concept Art, but anyhoo... I'd like to post up some of my sketches and things as a starter and would greatly like to hear your feedback. So, thank you and here are my offerings!













Thanks for having a look!

[SkyTheArtist]

Wow! I really like your stuff! Especially the Samurai pic and the strawberry one. I also love how you use different colors for your other drawings. Keep it up!

[Gorgoleon]

Yes, yes i like it! You seem to have a good grasp of anatomy. Keep it up, i'l be watchin

[Euphemism]

Thank you, Sky and Gorgoleon!! I owe you guys a pot of tea as you've been the first people to drop by. Here's some more sketches, some slightly older, but hey, I'm just getting the ball rolling here!

[P]

Welcome to CA!
Great stuff going on here. I like #3 and 5 the most, so stylish. Keep uploading.
And thank you very much for advices you gave me at mine book, its useful.

[kinjura]

Thank you so much for taking a look at my sketchbook.

This stuff is amazing! I'm particularly drawn to the strawberry girl and the dog, but technically, I'm loving the fun you are having with line - it's fearless.

[Onir]

Hey Euphemism, welcome to CA! You said in my sketchbook that you are a former casualty of Animation school, eh? hehe Well I hope you don't think of it as bad, because it certainly looks like it paid off Your gesture and line quality are great, and you really know how to convey form well. this one is one of my favorites in here; great design and very legible as a character. All in all great work

If I can offer any advice it would be to really try and get some longer studies going; really start working away at giving nice levels of polish to your drawings. You might do this already, but saying it doesn't hurt, eh? Keep up the great work, I'll definitely be stopping back in!

[Fellah.]

Really nice work, man!

[suhaib]

hey.. nice work.. some cute drawings of the kids suggest that you're more inspired by the softer and pleasant things of this beautiful world.. Kids are the most beautiful things on God's Earth.. Looking forward for more!

[Euphemism]

pijus: No problem! I hope my advice helps out in the long run!

kinjura: Fearless Line!! I've never heard anyone describe it like that before! Thank you for kindly dropping by, I'm currently enjoying your gallery and hoping you'll visit here again!

Onir: Hello there. Animation College for me consisted of the tutors piling extra work (a student film as well as lip sync, jumping, running excercises) on us; the results were improved drawing techniques but no promise of job prospects. I've been doing storyboards and concept art by luckily finding work earlier this year - the work's done for free but I found what I wanted to do under my own steam. This new update has 'more rendered' drawings, and ta muchly for pointing it out!!

... Simon Fellah!? OHMIGODOHMIGODOHMIGOD!!!

suhaib: Thank you very much for stopping by! I'm glad you like my children sketches; I'm very confident in drawing children, who are very cute and impressionable, but rarely seen in concept art for fantasy or sci-fi films and media, etc. I hope to sort out this problem soon.

And now; some new stuff... I'll be using Attached thumbnails from now on, as I've been a bold girl and used Imageshack links.

[IanE]

Hey, thanks for swinging by my sketchbook and for the good crits! Much appreciated, miss. You seem to be up to good things and giving me advice you yourself are following so I'll leave you to it! Keep it up

[Gorgoleon]

Hey again Euphemism! I like the new stuff particulary the guy farthest to the left in the group shot, perhaps its the eyes but i get happy as i see him
I also like the way you've drawn and shaded the heavy set woman, its inspiring!

[Nele Ooms]

Really love the first one .. Great stuff!

[moonskittles]

Lol. I love the warrior lady! And your children are delightful! You made me smile
As mentioned before, I'd love to see more finished work.
Thank you so much for your help on the critique forums!

[Shard]

nice studies..keep it up!!

[Euphemism]

IanE - Thanks!

Gorgoleon - Yeah, I spent extra time rendering her rolls of fat... Thanks for dropping by again.

Nele - Thank you!

moonskittles - I'm delighted that I helped you finish your picture! A lot of my 'finished' work can be found at Deviantart, but hopefully I'll have more here soon.

Shardana - Thanks, I will!!

Another new batch of skecthes; I've recently bought a set of Tombow markers, which are water-soluble and have really nice brush tips. And I just recently discovered the joys of Alchemy (the sketching program )!

[Euphemism]

Some more... part Photoshop and Alchemy.

[Vimerge]

I freaking love your art!

[torstan]

Wow, those last ones are a real breath of fresh air! Nice sb.

[Euphemism]

Vimerge and Torstan - Thanks, and also ta muchly for dropping by!

Here's another while I'm here...

[torstan]

Very nice. I'd be interested to see how that style would progress further than a sketch. It has an almost vector-art/cell shading look to it.

I'll definitely keep an eye on this sketch book.

[yinteck]

Wow, u already show improvement. I like tour cartoonish character. Especially the alchemy ones. Just keep up those anatomy study, u'll be great.

[IanE]

Wow, the last image in post #16 is fantastic! Beautiful colours, simple, loose, and to the point. Wonderful.

[Lotet]

thanks for dropping by my SB, u got some great stuff here, esp the pencils

btw have u ever tried the free form pen tool in photoshop? I think u should test it, looking at that alchemy stuff I definitly think u could create some crazy stuff with the FFP tool.

[Euphemism]

Torstan, yintack & IanE - Thanks for the feedback.

Hi, Lotet - I've been practising a lot recently with Alchemy as it has a great balance of tight control and loose rendering, as well as being incredibly crisp and simple. It's keeping me occupied until I get round to 'Shop's Pen Tool. (I hate using the bevels on the regular pen tool, it puts me off and slows me down....) But still, I ought to get round to using it someday.

Here's some more little bits and pieces; these are artworks I'm providing for a Manga workshop I'm hosting this Saturday, and at least one is part of a step-by-step in completing a manga page (Inking).

[Onir]

Hey Euphemism, great updates. The more rendered work looks really nice; you've got a very strong grasp of form (as I probably said before, but hey it shows ). Must say this stuck out to me alot. Is that top drawing a long pan shot? It looks amazing either way, love the variance in line weight and tones.

I keep seeing alchemy being used and I'm getting more and more interested in it each time I see it (I do have it downloaded just haven't tried it yet for whatever reason). It looks like you're able to create an image out of something a bit more abstract, which is great for coming up with unique ideas. Bleh, I'm just kinda babbling lol; great work all around. In terms of advice, I'd just say keep doing studies and life drawing and all that; nothing seems to be standing out to me that is in need of work, but it never hurts right? hehe Keep up the good work!

[Euphemism]

Hey, Onir - I wanted to get some background designs and layouts in my repetwah , so that first drawing is of the contents on my kitchen counter. Since I've cracked using line balance when inking drawings, comics, etc. it's been a pretty good result. The others are other bg studies, just trying to block out shapes for good silhouettes and playing around. Alchemy is great for playing around with, but it's used as a 'base drawing' tool rather than for making really detailed drawings. However, I like adding smaller details to further loosen up the picture too, even though I should be using it for roughing out details. But who says I can't? I've thrown in some studies in this update too, to keep you happy.

It's kind of a mixed bag this time: after seeing a really great segment on CA, I've done some sketches of myself to create an android self-portrait. As I've heard that the latest i-am-8bit gallery was held over a week ago in Los Angeles (I would've LOVED to go!!! ), I got inspired by the artists' renditions of famous game characters. There are a few doodles of Terra from Final Fantasy 6 (I'm entering a realated compo soon and still coming up with ideas...), and a Gunstar Heroes Ode Gone Mad. D: As well as some anatomy studies from memory, I've done some figures following a Line of Action (drawn first, and figures interpreted later). While waiting around the hotel where I was hosting a workshop, I drew the teapots and things there - and getting my money's worth for a €4 cup of tea for myself.

[Euphemism]

I don't know if anyone's really noticed this before, but does it seem to me there are a lot of boring (finished) concept art featuring really ornate and passive women, wearing floaty robes and odd hairstyles/jewellery/etc? It just brings my p**s to a boil whenever I see a female character in an elaborate outfit and doing nothing, except for wearing some spritual / seductive / droopy Supermodel look on her face and throwing her robes around to show composition / 'meaning' / use of a billion custom brushes and textures to make it look hyper-realistic. And much of this is coughed up by professionals - who are PAID for spreading this dull feminine bile in workshops through magazines, conventions, etc...

Can I ask the Guilty this: is there any way you can show a bit of action and culture in these passive pin-ups? Even Boris Vallejo had advanced to giving women more active roles in his fantasy art a long time ago; he used to paint them as victims in peril or as helpless sex kittens with a Fabio-clone to protect them. I think, if I was to give a female character a dress of bubbles, feathers, tentacles, etc, that I would also provide an illustrative setting to explain WHY she's wearing these - does she or do her people hunt large birds to decorate their clothes? Do they trade these feathers with neighbouring countries for small jewels and other goods? (Note that the PICTURE has to explain this, not just a pin-up and an explaination.) If she's wearing the cogs, corsets and goggles of steampunk, does this make her a factory worker or inventor in this scenario? Have her work in a steampunk factory then! If she doesn't really DO anything, what in the hell did you create her for then?

I can't stand these passive and pretty Marie Antoinettes of fantasy and sci-fi art; the only avenue artists could just get away with this is in a model shoot - the fashion world easily reproduces said clothes and drab neutral poses (esp. in contests in shows like America's Next Top Model). Sure, you can paint pretty, glowing skin on your subject matter, now how about painting some pretty, glowing ideas for a scenario? I'm sick of being force-fed technical brilliance instead of creative brilliance. I'm not a feminist, but I'm sick of artists using female subjects to drape the contents of their Magical Digital Art Prop Box on, without pushing their ideas further of what to do with the subject herself. Call me paranoid, but isn't that just a really bad example of this art form that encourages evolution, and not repetition?

Has anyone else noticed this, or only until I brought this up now? What do you think? If you're a male artist, who do you do to make your female subjects look less like tepid models and Playboy pinups and more like active and cultured characters? (I never called you a Chavinist, I'm asking you an honest question about your artistic approach. ) If you're a female artist, would you agree or disagree with my statements? I'm not posting up certain artists' work to prove my point - in case I start a War! - but since you've seen enough of it, I don't think I need to...

[mohd al mahdi]

yes ! . The more rendered work looks really nice

[Euphemism]

Thanks, Mohd!

I drew these a few months ago - these are the (rejected!) manga-style versions of the main characters from a famous movie... can you guess what it is yet?