Daedelus Workshop Study Group

[Wheeljack18]

Looks good Eelis. Keep Posting your studies!

Eb, Any more progress?

Still swamped boys, I'll probably be back to normal in a week or so.

Cheers.

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Thanks wheel, I'll try to get some more underway in the weekend.

I've had barely time to draw now that I am working in the evening shifts. Real hard stuff to inject some free time between working and sleeping, but it all counts towards the move in august.

[Wheeljack18]

Don't feel bad about not posting much Eelis. Eb hasn't posted anything! Ha ha Eb. I just burned you!

I just wrapped up a hectic patch. The life of a freelancer I guess but it has been a successful month career wise. I completed 4 paintings in 3 days, 150 video game assets and a presentation board for a Mark's commercial in just over a week. Now I have to switch gears and focus on Rocket punch because we have a giant comic con next weekend and I still have to get promotional materials made and create prosthetic appliances and foam grenades. And I still a have a sketch card assignment and a private commission to wrap up. Sometimes, I can barely catch my breath or take a break while other times, I have nothing to do.
Sorry for the personal tirade but it feels good to wrap up last week and I just wanted to share. Hopefully I'll get permission to post up my work sooner rather than later and you guys crit the hell out of it for me.

On a side note, if you re looking to get promotional materials made, I used a company called vista print and got 1000 business card, full color double sided with a glossy finish plus a 6x 2.5' banner for $160.00! That's super cheap and the cards turned out great ad the banner is a little pixelated but that is my fault. If I went to a local print shop, it would have cost me double just for the banner. Food for thought.

TTYL

Mike

[David Keen]

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of posts it's been a really crazy couple of weeks. I started yet another new job at my local art shop which has been awesome but also resulted in me spending all my earnings on supplies. I'm tossing up at the moment whether I should go to this workshop in sydney in a few months. I'm only familiar with Kekai Kotaki and Robin Eley but they're both so insanely good that I'd go just for them. Your thoughts guys?

@wheels: I'm feeling the burn Sounds like everything is cranked all the way up to madness stations at the moment, push through mate!

@Eelis: I'll do a bit of crit on your last post later today, looks good though!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Glad to hear your business is rolling fine mike, so many paintings in so few days ain't an easy task. Freelancing sure sounds like hectic stuff! Don't worry about writing up some personal goings here, it is good to know how you chaps are enduring. Not to mention it is informative to get a sneak peek into the lifestyle I am pursuing, so no worries! I am sure Eb agrees too.

Whoa! That's real cheap. Just checked a few local places around, and all of em offer that many for atleast x1.5 higher price. Mind posting a scan of your card here? Would love to see how personal yours is.

@eb: Woo, an art shop? That's great! Atleast beats my job ten to one. Mm, use the chance, I say. Both of em are great artists, that trip could yeild alot of great info.

I just rounded up more than a dozen of thumbs. I didn't have any particular subject in mind, since I was just trying out new technique for coming up with thumbs. (and man, it really worked out nicely). Would love to hear which ones you like, I'll probably take one of these to a finished stage at some point. Will just do a few studies and speedpaints first.

EDIT: Now that I look at them a few hours afterwards I notice one fancy prob. I forgot to contrast the top ones again. Ain't such a problem though, the premise is laid and if I take one of them forwards it is easy to add up the black.

[Wheeljack18]

Hey guys,

Eb your right, madness stations at maximum! Sleep, coffee and takeout = Check. rinse and repeat.

For that workshop, if you can afford it and have the time, why not go? I would if I was in the neighborhood. Didn't you already sign up for the CA thing at the end of may too? If you do go, take lots of pics and film the lectures if you can and share with Eelis and I. Hint hint. I've always wanted to work at an art supply store just for the discount but be careful about buying a ton of crap that you may never use. I once bought a really fancy sketchbook of hand pressed watercolor paper and It's so precious that I have never even opened it. What a waste!

Eelis: The business card is pretty much a photograph of a zombie makeup on one side, full color and glossy and on the backside is our logo and contact info. Plain and simple, full color through out. Like I said, it' super cheap but, you have to be aware that because you are outsourcing, you might not get perfect color and you need to triple check your proofs before you give your approval. Once you send something off either to a publisher or a printer, it's pretty much out of your hands. There are so many factors that come into play, I could probably write a whole essay just on the subject, do's and dont's etc.

I like the thumbnails but there are too many and they are not labelled for easy discussion. Pro tip: Always label your work. Number or letter each thumbnail so your client can easily identify them and facilitate discussion. Trying to explain I like thumbnail at the bottom 5th row 2nd from the left is confusing. Your left or my left? But if they were numbered, the client could say, I like 4,29,3 and 17. Work up those. The idea is to make it as simple and easy for the client as possible. Also, you don't want to to give them too many choices. It confuses things and extends the process which eats into your time budget. Maybe narrow it down to your top 3-5 (odd numbers work best) and let them decide. That is from an illustration POV. Anyways, its something to think about. What is this new technique that you are exploring? Why not share your methods as I'm always looking to add to my bag of tricks.


Cheers!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Yeah, sorry, I forgot to number em. Will get the fix'd one up in a few hours. If it had been a real client case, I would've limited the choices to 2 or 3 of course, but this would've been the preliminary stage for myself. The tip you gave is spot on nonetheless, thanks!

I really found myself digging this new tech out. I have sometimes hard time to come up with unique thumbnails, so this really helped out. Basically, you have the grid on seperate layer and below it a toned background of your liking. The trick is that you whip up a new layer between those two, choose up some real random brush that makes fancy marks and just paint below all the grid pieces. Then keep on honing the details and such, seeing the concepts in the random marks. This video sums it up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTLn...73zs-0LwUL1Jk=

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Here's the numbered update!

[David Keen]

I reckon I will go along to the workshop, it's a lot of money including the flights to Sydney and accommodation but should be totally worth it. I'll make sure to grab as much video as I can, sharing is caring! I do indeed also have the greenlight summit coming up, it's going to be a hectic time for uni and all the workshops. Working at the art shop has been great! After doing hospitality work for the last 4 years it's a nice change to be in quiet little shop learning a heap about all kinds of materials. It's been so quiet during the university holidays that a few days they just let me sit out the back and read my novel, ridiculous!!

@Eelis, massive batch of thumbs there mate! There are some really fantastic looking ones in that batch but like the Wheelman says there are a couple too many. I had a look at the link for creating the thumbnails which was really cool, I hadn't heard of alchemy before and it is a lot of fun to play around with. Although I like that way of just putting down random shapes and developing an image out of that I think it's still useful to have some idea of what you're trying to depict before hand. Just going crazy is really fun and some artists seem to be able to pull something amazing out of that process but the thumbnails can end up looking a bit similar. So far my favourites are 13, 16, 17, 18 & 29, they could be developed into really cool pieces. Great stuff dude, I really like the direction that you're heading!!

@Wheelio: Your week was so huge! I'm so impressed that you managed to get all that done in such a short time. The feast or famine rule is in full effect.

I've got some more thumbnails for those Awakening of Evarun paintings. The first page is pretty samey looking which I'd like to work on. At this point I'm leaning towards #7 but I'd like to redraw it will some really extreme perspective looking up at the floating figure and to give him the reaching pose from the cut off #10 thumbnail. The background is meant to be of an enormous field of tombs and graves which I'd like to show as a crowded mass that grows up the sides of the ravine. I'll work on making that communicate more clearly in the next iteration.

The second page is the final round of thumbs for the first painting. At this point I'm pretty set on using the #5 composition but I'd like to work on the background a little bit and make it more interesting. So far the placement of the characters and their lighting is just about where I'd like it to be though.

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Just a quick update here before going to sleep, eb, I'll look into your post tomorrow! This is a real WIP, so most of the problems you see are most probably just wip-things.

Sorry for posting sooo much stuff lately, just feels good to get something done finaly.

[David Keen]

Here's the update on the second painting composition. I'm much happier with the way it's starting to come together now but I'll still tinker with the poses a little bit and make them more dramatic.

@Eelis: Great sketch so far mate, I really like the way you've placed the values in this piece. Keep chipping away at it and please keep posting stuff, I love having more to look at every day!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Alright!

Thanks for the notion Eb, I'll try to get a new version up as soon as possible. Could you explain the story behind this illustration in a nutshell? I haven't got much experience with characters, but I think you can also lean towards dramatic ways by making the background more dramatic. It also depends on the story I guess, but for example if the rising creature is somekind of a god fella some real nice, upheaved clouds should do some fancy tricks.

[Wheeljack18]

Eelis: I like compositions 1,2,4,13,17,23,24,25,33. For the WIP, I like it. I like it a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing you take it further. Sorry that I don't have more to add.

Eb: Lots of work here and it's good to see you are taking your time to work out your image. So there are 2 images here so I'll deal with each of them separately.

Ravine of Graves:
Ok so you're set on this vertical composition so what is next? Reference! You should not do anything else on this until you've done some research and shot some reference. Let the reference lead you and inspire you to take it to the next level and add those little details. Grab a camera and get photos of a guy on a stool posing as the floaty man. Try as best you can to recreate the composition.
Figures: Currently they are pretty stiff and I have some concerns about their gestures. Floating guy has both of his hand over his junk in a phallic gesture. Is he supposed to be holding something or giving something to the other guy? Take reference shots of this pose and experiment with the pose as much as you can until you find something you like. The character in the foreground looks like he is looking at the floating guys junk! Erm. What kind of " Fantasy" is this Eb? Again, reference this pose. Maybe put his left hand holding the sword by the hilt and his right hand is reaching out or shielding him. Even the gesture of the right hand can be expressive and indicate to the audience what is going on. Maybe crouch him over a little. Is he startled? Is he happy? Currently he looks very casual. Like " Hey What's up".
The Halo on the head is very symbolic image ( think 2000 years of religious images) so you have to be careful. Either work it and maximize its impact or lose it. Look up some Christian paintings of Jesus and saints to get some ideas and inspiration.
Vanishing point. Currently, the VP is right smack dab in the middle where the ghost is holding his dong ( sorry, I couldn't resist pointing that out) So, uhm. That could be a problem. What is the focus of the illustration? Think about it and how you want your viewers eye to move about the picture plane. You have a vertical composition with few horizontal or vertical lines, perhaps you might throw in some more curves?
Ref mausoleums and creepy places like New Orleans etc.

Discovery composition:
I need more info but right now it looks like a discovery/ gotcha moment. I did a quick paint over and the main points are I tilted the horizon line a little, Tweaked the foreground characters pose to show more movement and separated is arms from his body. There are a couple of questions that need to be resolved for me like, where is the victim looking?, which direction is the knife shaped object supposed to be pointing and whether or not the dark shape in the bottom left corner is needed. Another tighter sketch is needed but so far so good?

Question: Are these images going to be printed? Are they meant as book covers or interiors? It's something for you to think about as that might affect your compositional choices too.

For me, I can post some of the AEG work I did last week but I can't say what it is for and I had to omit some elements until the product is released, so if you have beef with the negative spaces, there is a reason. These illustrations will all be going on cards so they are meant to be printed at around 2 x3" or less. Otherwise, I'll post up some other stuff as the permissions come in.
Thanks boys and keep up the good work!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Thanks both of you! Let's see how this turns out, this is the current state of it:



I'll probably add some life into it, just figuring out what. Also, needs more dark values on the front. Add up anything that springs into your mind.

Anyhoo, wheel, those AEG's illustrations are awesome! How did you construct the symbol's pattern? I always seem to have problems with that kind of repeating stuff. For some reason I instantly tought of Lembas when I saw the last picture. Heh, too much LOTR soundtrack for me.

On a personal note, I am having fun trying to search for dog-friendly apartment in Vancouver. I really, really hope I'll get lucky with this one, but I still have plenty of time left so no worries!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Eelis,

The piece looks good and I would call it almost done. Definitely Do Not add more dark to the image. If anything add some light to the foreground area and spend a little more time on the hill in the right foreground. This will give it some more depth and POP. Go back to your Bob Ross and see how he does it. That and maybe some more light on the mountain tops. That way you will have some light lights and dark darks to get the full range of value. Remember that the snow on the white mountain tops is closest to the sun so they will be reflecting the most light.

Thanks for the feedback on the the AEG stuff. The bread is called Elven way bread so it is pretty similar to Lotr stuff so you got the right reaction, which means I did my job correctly. What problems do you have with symbols? That image is purely a graphic design exercise so I focused on balance and symetry. I just cobbled together some shapes into a flat graphic and the runes were a free brush download. All of the effects were added as blending modes in photoshop and the background was another rock texture. I could put together a tutorial if you think it will be useful.

Good luck with finding a dog friendly place. Not many people want to deal with pets because they are hard on property. Them and kids. Just keep plugging away until you find something or you can check into some sort of Dorm situation with the university.

I've got two tips for you guys today.

#1: Don't print your work out on a laser printer. It comes out dark and shitty. pay the extra money and go to a real print shop and don't waste your time and money.

#2: Mike's secret weapon for color theory. http://colorschemedesigner.com/#
If you need a little help or are in a rush, this site is excellent for helping you put together a palette for your images. I usually, pick my primary and then start playing with hue and color schemes. It saves time and helps you to shake up your sorry old palette and use different colors. Give it a try and you can download the scheme of choice right into photoshop as well. Great tool!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Hoi, sorry for being silent again! Work work work to no end over here!

I'll be posting an update and reply to you wheel in a few hours! Stay tuned.

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Alright, here's the current iteration. Some way to go still!



Thanks alot for the alert about the darks mike, I don't know what I was thinking when I considered doing that! I'll probably enlighten the foreground even more and figure out some neat details to the right to balance it a bit. Not too much though, something real subtle. I'll also keep on refining the mountain's structure and compose some brighter highlights to the tops and key positions via various ways. I really really really want to add some life too, something real desatured! Trying to figure it up as I go.

Hey, glad to hear that was indeed the approach you were going for with the bread. As for the symbol, I have real hard probs with the pattern and it's consistency, for example in circular graphical element like this. With concept art of halls et cetera you can often play it safe with those certain tricks. Thanks for the information, I should really take more advantage of the photoshop's tools in the situations like that.

Yeippis, finding a suitable apartment that accepts dogs is hell. My best bet is to find a roommate and rent one of those a bit costier places. They generally have less restrictions about pets. And darn, I'll do whatever I can to get to live in the west end close to the stanley park!

But I am vigilant!

Heh, laser printers. I actually had to use one for the last three years because it was the only one school had. Way to show the digital stuff to already cautious teacher! Duh.

EDIT: Ey! Got nice suggestion from a fb group: A few goats and a herder.

[David Keen]

Sorry to have fallen off the earth again guys, some more hectic days. Mike, thank you so much for the very detailed crit, it was a huge help and I am reworking the composition at the moment. Your most recent pieces for AEG are looking great! I'm very impressed mate. Eelis, your mountain painting is looking awesome. I especially like the work you've done on the clouds, and rendering out the snow capped mountain. I'll be back tomorrow with a more detailed reply about both of your work, I just wanted to touch base and let you know I've been checking the thread and am grateful for the feedback. Cheers lads!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Fellas,

Just wrapped up a big convention yesterday and hopefully things will settle a bit and I can get back to more daedelus work. Tip for working Conventions. I pads work great for showing off your work so if you got it, flaunt it. Tip #2, don't take no for an answer. Don't be a dick or pushy but if the guy who you should be talking to is not in his booth ( pee break or whatever) don't just say thanks and walk off. Get his name, his card if possible, find out if/when he is coming back. Chat up the guy who is talking to you. What's your role? What can you tell me about the company? etc and take it from there. Be polite and professional. If the guy is in the booth, get his card and give him yours and Always follow up to remind him. You never know....

Eelis: What do you mean about more desaturated Life? that seems like a contradiction my man. To be honest, you have a lot of contrast in the image and for a piece of concept art, I'd say you are done. Don't spend forever fiddling with an image as it will slow you down.Move onto the next one. But as a concept, add whatever you want and do multiples and play around but again, you must be fast and decisive.
If this is more of a fine art piece, then I wouldn't add the goat herders after the fact. In that instance you should always plan your illustration first and think about what you are trying to say. Is is a story about the herders? If so, then why figure them out last if they are the focal point? Maybe you would have come to better conclusions compositionaly in order to work them in. If they are not he focus, then why are they there? How do they serve the story/image? It's always best to plan these things out first, or at least have a good idea before you get too deep into a painting.

Regarding symbols etc: If you get a chance, take some graphic design courses or at least hang out with the graphic design dept people. Try to get as much info on anything and everything related to our trade. I know that by doing that, it has helped my career and allowed me to be diverse enough to handle almost any job that comes my way. Although I hate graphic design gigs.

Good luck with finding that apartment. Vancouver is a really big place and it is not easy to get around so try to get as close to school as possible. BC is super expensive so you don't want to have to pay for transportation if you don't have to. Otherwise, stanley park is nice. It's really Big too and you should be able to find something within walking distance.

Eb: No worries Mate! Thanks for the feedback on the AEG work and I'm looking forward to your next post.

That's it for me tonight fellas.

Over and Out.

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Ops, I was quite vague with "desatured". Meant more along the lines "interesting eye candy which does not pop out too much" or "something to make comparisons with". Yeps, I am done now. Got a good advice from a peep who told me to scribble up a few fuzzy details to the dark areas too. Looks alot better now, here's the finished image:



It is fun to compare it to an image I did just about 2 years back:



Also mountains, I promise the next image won't be about mountains.

But let's come down to a brief. I haven't given enough attention to the "meaning"-side of art. In this case, stories behind the pieces. I've just focused on the technical stuff, so in the future I'll try to keep em stories better in mind. As for this piece, I had figured I would do some characters to the foreground. Ended up with a hiker of sorts, it fit in quite well imho.

More on the good news: There seems to be fairly big annual convention in Vancouver, http://anomaly.cgmovement.com/
The art order recommended it, so I guess it is good.

Thanks for the good luck wishesh with the apartment, I'll need it.

[David Keen]

Guys, I'm back from outer space! (sorry I couldn't resist that one) How is everyone? I'm so sorry that I haven't had the chance to dedicate some more time to Daedelus work, things have been pretty hectic. It's been great to keep coming back to the thread in my spare moments and have a look at all the great work everyone has been doing.

@Mike: Those AEG pieces are absolutely killer mate. Your rendering is becoming more and more consistent with each piece completed which is very impressive. I'll write a little comment on each piece to summarise my thoughts. Please disregard any criticism that conflicts with the areas you've had to block out, it may be that with those elements my points would be invalid.

Entish Fellow: I quite like the composition of this piece, that tilt trick you mentioned to me certainly does a good job at adding some drama to the image. I imagine you had pretty limited choice in the actual design of the creature, but to me having a more irregular trunk could have helped make him more natural and a bit less symmetrical. As things are his arms and the other tree limbs all sprout from around the same place on either side and make him look more designed than grown. The placement of the light sources works very well and I feel my eyes roving all around the images but focusing on the face and moving out from there. The extra detailing around the eyes has paid off, creating lots of visual interest in that area. My only other criticism would be that the colour palette could possibly use another element to accent the greens and browns. The leafy background is all a pretty consistant hue and could have been a space to explore a few more colour choices.

Sword Maiden: I love the lighting and effects in this piece. The energy crackling around the sword looks very convincing and seems to be a stumbling point for a lot of artists. The only thing that really jumps out to me about this image is that the drapery shapes look a little bit too regular in some spots which I always see in my work when I'm making it up from memory. Did you manage to get a reference for the clothing of this pose? Not really a deal breaker at all and it may be that the folds were falling that way but I've found that they're rarely very consistent with each other. The hands are looking excellent, a job well done with some pretty tricky foreshortening.

Ward: As Eelis said the graphic design side of this piece is very impressive! Creating patterns like this are something I find very difficult and you've done a great job making something that looks convincing.

Elven Bread: Nothing negative to say, it looks good enough to eat! Instantly made me think of Lembas bread as well.

Some good points about convention going. Unfortunately there really aren't many conventions run in my city but it's a side of the business that is very interesting to hear about. It's lucky there are so many good resources out there now concerning networking and building professional relationships.

Anything in the works for Daedelus at the moment? Seems like we need to pick up another assignment!

@Eelis: I'm not sure about the addition of the figure to your landscape mate. I find that it detracts a bit from the beauty of the scene and is demanding too much of my attention, preventing me from exploring the rest of the image. If you're deadset on having a figure in the piece for scale I'd be interested to see what you could do with a silhouette of a character on the far right side on top of the peak in the foreground. That way he'd be out of the main action of the focal point but would still provide extra detail for the viewer to discover. As Wheels said it's pretty dangerous adding extra elements at this stage of a painting, especially to one that is looking so good. I'd only add it if you think the composition really needs it.

It's pretty inspiring to look back at all the old work and see how far things have come. You've got me hankering to go through my archives now, although I'm pretty scared to discover what's in there.. That convention looks awesome! You northern hemisphere lads are lucky with all the talent that roving around up there. I'm jealous!

I've got a bit of an update on how things are going with the paintings. I've moved off of the computer and started working on the drawings to go beneath the final oil paintings. I've taken a couple of photos showing where the first two drawings are up to, the bend of the paper made it a bit tricky to take clear photo's though. I've noticed a few inconsistencies with the images after taking the photo's and being about to flip the images in photoshop. My first port of call will be fixing the skewed face on the figure the first image. By the weekend I will hopefully have finished the under drawings and bound the paper onto the masonite ready for oil paint!!

[Wheeljack18]

Wow Best Pieces of work so far EB! great improvement! See what all that extra reference and study does to help aid a piece? How does it feel to switch back to real media instead of digital? Good no?

Ok so for a crit let's see...

Discovery piece: This is the one with the guy laying down in it. Great improvement! Good Job and I like it. I'm only going to crit it because I know you want some feedback so I'm going to be picky.

Foreground character: There is something that seems off about his posture. Is he sitting? I ask this because of the oval shape to the front of his left elbow suggests that. Additionally, his spine and shoulders don't quite seem lined up right, it is as though his left shoulder is pushing forward which is weird because it is closest to the viewer. Lastly, the sharp point on his elbow is very distracting and I suggest you correct the forms there when you take it to the next stage.

Hero with the knife: Looks good. Just be careful when rendering the cloak and his hair because you don't want them to look unnatural. At this stage you might want to pay more attention to his left hand and right foot to fully realize them. It's easier to work these things out now than once the paint is on the canvas.

Laying figure. What's his story? He looks like he got hit with a stun ray as he is very stiff and looking straight up. If that is what you are going for then you nailed it. Otherwise, you might want to adjust his pose a little. His arm is at a right angle which almost never happens in real life ( I'm a first aid instructor) when you fall down. It's a powerful pose and I'd like to know more about his story so I an give more helpful feedback. Again with the left leg, you should completely resolve it prior to painting.

Background:
Very interesting combo bombed out cellar and glowing doorway. At this stage it is hard to make out the details and it might be worth your while to put some more time into the setting as well. What kind of room is it or was it? What materials was it made out of? How old is it?


Floating guy:
Again Great improvement!

I like how you resolved the foreground character and his cloak. His right arm seems off. If you look at it, his forearm is longer than his upper arm which is not correct, that and his hand is as big or bigger than his face. I see that there is a little bit of foreshortening going on but it doesn't quite look right. Maybe with his hand you could splay his fingers more to emphasize the gesture of surprise.

Floating guy. Like Norman Rockwell said, " If you get the head and hands right, they will forgive you for anything else". So with that, those two points are critical to this image and I'm not convinced that you can't do better. I'm not saying this to be a dick, I'm just trying to push you to work up those elements further and really try to capture the emotion and character of this interaction. It's got to be important or else you would not be illustrating it so really throw all you got at it. Lastly his shoulders are off and too small. I'd widen them and raise them up. Is he a ghost or a spirit? Will he be semi transparent?

Background:
Not much to say yet but already it reads better than in the last comp.

Great work Eb once again. I know you are eager to get to painting but remember your Loomis " If it is worth painting, it is worth planning". Take your time, work it through and I suggest that you take a few more pics of the final image and so some digital color comps before you go into paint. That way you will be able to tackle the final pieces with confidence and vigor and end up with the best results possible. How big are these going to be in the end?

Eelis:

Great job on the painting but I agree with eb about the figure, he doesn't make the piece stronger. If you must keep him, you might want to scale him down much more. When you think about it, he looks like an add on and has much less detail put into him than the mountains which doesn't make sense if he is in the foreground. He's not the focus of the image, the mountain is so why is he there? Sometimes, painting can be a logical exercise too. You've come a long way from that earlier piece you posted. Its good to be able to look back and see improvement eh?

I just found out about Anomaly too! I couldn't go as I was at the Calgary Comic Expo but maybe next year. I might also go to the GDC type event in Montreal in November as well as anything else I can find between now and then. It really depends on scheduling.


Response to Eb's Crits of my work:

Woodguard/ Ent: I totally hear you about the design but I really didn't want to go with the LOTR Ent look or vibe ( I HATE their tree beard, BAH!) To be perfectly honest, the turnaround on this piece was so quick that I didn't get to put much time into the design and I instead focused on graphic shapes and I liked the straight trunk because it gives the image force and character which was what the AD wanted. Regarding color, I try to follow the KISS ( Keep It Simple Stupid) principle when it comes to color. Too much can muddy up a piece real quick and I had to consider the practical application of the illustration ahead of the artistic interpretation. The image will be on a card which will only print at less than 2" x 3" so it has to read graphically. It needed to be colorful and POP and to be honest, I suspect that much of the detail will not translate into the final product. I kept zooming out and squinting my eyes. Altogether I like this one the best out of the series. It was way more fun and I think that enjoyment translated into the final image.

Sword Maiden: Your are right about the drapery. I worked it as best I could with the ref I had and I think I just ran out of Gas. It doesn't look terrible but the next time I'll do better. Regarding the hands, they were a pain in the butt. Luckily they turned out and all of the details and imperfections that bothered me were eliminated by the glow effects which worked out great. I like the sword too, I did that almost right away and it turned out really good.

Arcane Circle: The shapes are all simple graphic elements that I composited together into one symbol. The trick is to keep them balanced and simple. It's really easy to over crowd a design. Less is more when it comes to graphic design. If I had more time or was to do it again. I would have painted in more aging and cracks on the circle to emphasize wear and age.

Waybread: Sounds like I nailed it! NICE...

I don't' have any Daedelus work to show nor will I have any anytime soon. I'm actually procrastinating by writing this response. I got another 90 game assets, 25 sketch cards, 1 private commission, and 2 art tests to do already this month and hopefully another character piece, storyboard revisions and I'm meeting with an AD in a few days to discuss some product work and it's only the 3rd! I want to finish the Sethlan character and I will and I think we should tackle the D & D challenges too. I looked at some of the early submissions and I think we can do better and it will be a better exercise for you too. Let me know if you guys want me to give you an assignment.

That's it from me.
Cheers!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Sorry for loooong silence peeps, I'll try to answer yar crits tomorrow, thanks a lot for 'em!

Trying to get some new work up soonish too.

[Wheeljack18]

No Worries Eelis. It's strange to see the thread so quite and I feel like garbage for not posting more to contribute to it but I gotta pay the bills first! Speaking of which, I got a line on a really cool gig and I need you guys to send me some positive vibes to hep me get it. I can't talk about it due to an NDA but send me the positive vibes none the less.

Thanks Boys,

Keep posting and I'll keep chiming in. Eventually, I want to finish the Sethlan concept and / or do some D and D Art Test material.

Cheers!

[Eelis Kyttänen]

Ya, don't worry either wheel, work before leisure! Hopefully you'll get time to finish the sethlan or D & D project when the work permits.

/Sends auras full of positive budda vibas to mike!

Can't wait to hear about that one.

Onto your crits then peeps! So, yeah, I agree. Implantation of that character was risky stuff. I , however, felt that the picture was missing some sort of thing to actually look at. Just the scene was a tad bit boring. I got the same message from plenty of other peeps too, so I felt it was really the best decision. Now that I look back at it, I think you are about right, I should have put it into another spot. I'll keep this in mind for the next time: Plan more ahead even if the painting began as a speedy!

@Ebersol: Real good stuff with that traditional stuff eb. Looking forward to see more. Wheel gave some great crits, and I am inclined to agree.

Onwards! After I finished with that Hiker picture, I felt it was time for some harsh study triplet. First I came about with this bierstadt masterstudy....



Then a batch of thumbnails (for compositional practices, not to some invidual project):



And finaly, a fancy still life:



I'll tackle into a big environment piece now. I switched from oils back to acrylics for a while, and will be going to the nature to do some plain airs very soon. Trying to nail out some med-distance paintings, so I could finally do some bigger environment piece that doesn't have an escaping horizon, but instead a secluded forest cabin for example.

But ya, hoping to be able to get some beginnings here tomorrow!

Over and out.

[David Keen]

My friends! Sorry for the radio silence again, it has been one of those weeks. I've been feeling incredibly guilty about not dedicating the time to Daedelus stuff, I'm getting so many positive things from my relationships with you guys and it seems unfair to neglect them. I got a little bit of free time today and after reading "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss I decided to do a little mock cover for the book. It was nice to just play around with the figure and pose for a bit with no real expectations. The hands and cloak shapes have been referenced but the main pose was imagined and therefore probably has some issues but catharsis of drawing was paramount today.

Wheels: Great crit as always mate. I haven't gone back to the drawings yet but I hope to revisit them tomorrow and I will try and address the issues that you pointed out. Just quickly though the laying figure is just a body that the cloaked guy has stumbled across. I agree that at the moment he looks too carefully laid out and needs a little more action in his pose. I'm glad to know that I can nail the stunned mullet look though You made some solid points about the floating figure in the second painting and they will be a top priority tomorrow.

I imagined that the small flaws in your AEG pieces were primarily due to the time constraints, late nights and a huge pile of work are tough weights to carry. Your work is feeling much more consistant to me at the moment and I'm looking forward to seeing the next round if you're allowed to show it.

@Eelis: Nice round of recent work mate. I've found master studies to be a great exercise, hopefully a little piece of their understanding sticks each time we do one and they're also a great way to warm up.

This round of thumbs is your best one yet! The images feel more complete to me and it's easy to identify the planes within each. The still life looks to have been a good exercise, I was just curious if you used a soft edged brush much in this painting though? Some of those transitions of light to dark can be made much easier using the soft brushes and they're something that I neglect to use far too often.


I'll try to get back to the Sethlan project soon so we can have something to work on together, but until then I look forward to seeing more of everyones work!

[David Keen]

Guys, I just wanted to drop a quick note that I am going to that workshop in July that Kekai is a part of. I'm riding a bit of a spending high at the moment after burning through almost $1,300.00 is five minutes. Looking forward to seeing some more updates soon!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey guys, great to see all the work that you have been posting. I'll get around posting something soon I hope.

Eelis: Thanks for the positive vibes! nice studies and it's good to see you branching out a bit from landscapes. next time, can you post the original so that we have something to compare it too? It would be helpful for us in order to provide you with detailed feedback. Other wise, great work and keep it up.

Ebersol: 1300 bucks! I hope it is worth it for you. Since you paid big bucks, don't be afraid to get in there and talk and network and ask lots of questions. It's real easy to just sit in the Background and just listen but just make sure you get your money's worth. Bring some work to show around or at the least a sketchbook and if you have them, cards. I found and Ipad with some images on it to be very useful at my last con. What about the Green light summit. Did you sign up for that too? I didn't because I couldn't commit to attending it because of work and family commitments. So for the last book cover comp, have you ever looked at the work of Robert Mcginnis or Mitchel Hooks? They were well known paper back artist's from the 60's and 70's. Their work might give you some inspiration on how you can continue to resolve this piece. I think with a little tinkering with the design and adding some background elements you could have a successful illustration. There are defineitly some issues with the pose but you can resolve that with reference. Good start.

Anways fellas, that's it from me for today.

Cheers!

[David Keen]

Hey guys, I've been hard at work on the drawing for the third painting. So far I'm reasonably pleased with the way things are progressing but as always I'm very interested to hear your thoughts. I'm apologise for the rubbish image quality taking photos on my phone never turns out well.

@Mike: I should have clarified in my last post that the workshop was $1000 and my flights there are $300, but still quite the investment on my student income. I'll be trying my hardest to take advantage of the time with the artists and get some feedback on my work. Thankfully I'll have a little break from uni between now and then so I can get some more resolved pieces in my portfolio, at the moment there are a lot of sketches and not much else. I'll have my laptop with me for the sessions so showing them my work shouldn't be a problem, but an iPad does seem like a very elegant portfolio viewer. I did indeed sign up for the Green Light Summit, it should be kicking off very soon. It's a tricky time for participating in it with uni work coming to a head at the moment but it's all being archived and will be good viewing for when I have more time.

Thanks for the feedback on the Name of the Wind sketch, the artists you mentioned were very inspirational. I'm familiar with McGinnis' work but hadn't heard of Mitchell Hooks before and I'm now looking forward to exploring his back catalogue. McGinnis has some seriously amazing pieces though, I love the style from that period.

How's your work going at the moment mate? Still keeping busy with lots of commissions?

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Eb,

I got your email. Sorry for the delay but I have a lot going on right now. I've only got a couple of minutes so I'll be brief like you asked.

Center Character: Front left leg ( His right) is out of perspective with his body. It's too far forward and to the left. Go to your loomis and there is an exercise in the first chapter or two demonstrating how to correct this. Its in Creative Illustrations. He looks like you drew him from photo ref but did not correct the image from the lens distortion from the camera lens. Lecture on that in loomis too in Figure drawing for all its worth. His elbows seem akward and stiff and his helmet needs more body. Make it look less like it is a second skin and more like it is sitting on top of his head.

Helmet guy in the left: Not mush to say. He looks a little stiff and his head is too small. Consider how much more body a helmet adds to ones head when you put it on. A real battle helmet makes one's head look a good 3rd bigger at least.

Figure on the right. No issues for now. Looks like a lepur wrapped in rags to me as there are no discerning features.

Re: The wisps of fog. Be careful with that effect. You should either use it as an effect that slightly fogs over the BG( which means you should figure out your background and figure ground relations ships) or you should use it as a design element. In the second case don't be afraid to push it and be bold!

Through out the image don't forget to think it all through and ask the 5 W's and try to incorporate all of that into the final image. Just try to stay true to the spirit of the story. Right now I'm getting a Dragon Lance Chronicles circa 1985-86 vibe from the 3 figure composition. Google Larry Elmore and Dragon Lance to see what I mean.

Anyways, that's it for me. Now I'm off to the Dentist. I'm sorry for the brief crit this time.
Cheers.