Sam's sketchbook of stuff and things

[Jessibelle]

I absolutely adore how you can jump from one style to another so easily, yet they all have something that's distinctly you in there. Something to aspire to, definitely

[Abee]

Hey thanks for stopping by!

I think you've got a great ensamble of work here, pretty varied and ALOT of stuff. I saw you mentioning having problems with stiffness and thus I came up with a challenge for you.

Try not to "nail" your silhouettes so quickly, I see in alot of your progress-animations that you often make a silhouette and stick to it like one would in a coloring-book.

Staying inside the lines is one approach and it's not wrong, but I think it is what makes some of your pieces look "stiffer" than some of your other work.

Stay loose, relaxed and free in your strokes!

Best of luck,
Arvid

[viki oh]

It's really cool to see you go from extreme realism to simplistic character designs. I don't think there is anything I don't love about your work. I especially love all your process and thumbnailing!

[Jonesoda]

I like your sketchbook, Your elf up there though is fricken awesome. I'm not sure Rough is the right word, but the painting looks awesome.
Reminds me how I want to learn to paint more so like that.
I'm always going overly blended I think would be the right term. I'm curious what sort of brushes you use(d)?, I find I've used the round and I always come out to blended with it, and not very painterly looking.

Anyway, Really looking forward to more work.

[Dile_]

I just wanted to stop by and thank you so much for the crit in my sb I really really appreciate you stopping by and helping me, and it made me realize how little actual critique is flying around the forums at the moment... D: Anyways, thanks again, and very ace work in here! I spent a good hour in here since yesterday and I have to say I like where you're going with your stuff, and you sure know how to "open doors" to more diversity! Great! Will follow! *And maybe even return the favour of some critique in the future keep it up!

[Veneq]

That demoness is so cool! You kill it with every update!

[Sapphirelullaby]

Another amazing SB, goodness...everytime I go through these forums I find inspiring stuff ahahaha. I love your colors, and the variety of subjects just makes for total eye candy when flipping through the pages. All those studies will make for some insane progress, too, I bet. I would crit, but I'm coming up blank, ahah. Looking forward to seeing more!

[PeterPrime]

Hi there!
First of all, thanks for taking a look at my sketchbook~

I'm really liking your style and method of painting. Seems so natural and clean not to mention the way you render.

My little piece of advice on that demon girl would be to raise the contrast between the character and the background, so the focal point is stronger on the girl. I think she's blending a bit tad too much with the background, make the tones on her slighty darker and lower on the bg. But this is just mere nit-picking, really.

Looking forward to see more of your future works!

[BlackDelphin]

You're doing some awesome wips in parallel, great job with them. I'm interested how that
elf will turn out, the lighting and everything. Also i spent some time looking at Eideann, will
you be doing some more work on her?

Her dress has nice design, but when i look down to her boots, i feel like the shape is
distracting to much from the character, considering the pose as well. I've looked at the
character sheet design and i see there other version that aren't so distracting.

[sony]

lovely fantasy work, that bot in 387 rocks!

[blazingdimensions]

Really amazing work here, i thought page 1 was good, but looking through youve only got better and better.

[Xelar]

I really like the whole stylized realism thing you have going on!
You also have good color sense and know how to use vivid color schemes while keeping the saturation under control.
Try not to use too much black because it flattens the image if its all over rather than used sporadically.

Keep up the good work!

[kikindaface]

nice sketchbook, i really dig your style !! keep up the good stuff !

[zephyri]

@jessibelle: thank you.. I often worry I've not got a core something, with all the styles I try.

@Abee: Great pointer, thank you.. that whole speed thing is something much more of a hindrance that a help.

@viki: thank you!

@Jonesoda: Thanks.. I'm a big fan of the more painterly approach, glad to know it's working there.

@Dile: Aw, cheers, was a pleasure!

@Pierce: thank you!

@Sapphire: gotta love conceptart for that random art find in sketchbooks.

@PeterPrime: Advice noted, will defintely be tweaking values and edge contrast in updates to come.

@Black Delphin: Yeah, I flit between different works to stop me getting too bogged down with any one. I'll have a play with her boots... I like the weight they gave her bottom half, but might be they don't work with that pose.

@Sony: thanks!

@Blazing dimensions: Hehe always good to hear, thank you.

@Xelar: Yeah I have a nasty habit of defaulting to black, which is weirdly something I'd never do with traditional media.

@kikindaface: Thanks!

Here's a couple more. Flitty flitty. I have art ADD.

Finished this in a couple of days. Quite pleased with how it turned out. Had a stock reference from deviantart to work from.



Randomly trying to create portrait from my head starting with big blurry brushes and adding sharper details as I go, to see what kinda edge control I can get. Very much inspired by the colours and style of Ruan Jia and his ilk.



And a bit of destressing warcraft fanart.

[kidult]

nice pics!

[Somelar]

simply great!

[Kambei Shimada]

That last head and shoulder portrait is really nice. (like the blur)

and the head and shoulder studies on post #366 are awesome.

[Sapphirelullaby]

Your newest illustration turned out lovely, I love the colors and the rendering and the lighting and aahhh all of it. My only crit is that there seems to be something just the slightest bit off about her left eye; I think it needs to be moved up a little bit and to the right. Just a tiny bit. I think the effect is made a little more obvious by her headband which also doesn't seem to quite follow the line of her forehead. But besides that it looks fantastic! I'm also enjoying the blurry-to-hard study ahaha. I recently played with that myself and learned quite a few things doing it. Ruan Jia....ah.....if only I could color like that artist can! keep it up!

[Nele Klumpe]

Nice to see you updating again! Always loved your illustrations!
Looking forward to more!

[zephyri]

kidult: thank you!

Somelar: thanks!

Kambei: Cheers!

Sapphire: ooh, good call with the eye.. I think it might be placed too far forward in the skull too. The headband was supposed to be draped across at a diagonal rather than laying dead centre. The ornament in her hair will be holding it a little forward of the hair just to the left too.. should be clearer with drop shadows.

Nele: thank you!

Here's an update on the head and a quickie 40 min lunchtime sketch.

[zephyri]

A couple of couple images. I love dark and light/contrast of personality images. And some sketchy characters from a while ago that I've not posted anywhere else!

[hanshotfirst]

Wow, fantastic stuff. Some mindblowing artists on here.

[zephyri]

more on CHOW and another contest wip, a redo of this image

[- nat -]

Your sketchbook is very inspiring! So much variety, I especially like your pencil works, the lines are clean and smooth.

[Betty86]

great SB! so motivating. really like your CHOW work

[ja1307]

really great sketchbook really enjoy the mix of traditional and digital work and the way your work seems to be influenced by so many different culteral backgrounds. Are you working professionally as an artist? Great work

[zephyri]

first overdue update of 2013! I'm so rubbish.























The following are preparatory ideation for a project i'm doing as part of Chris Oatley's online course, to redesign a film set the the ordinary world, into something more extraordinary. I've chosen Silence of the Lambs, but reimagining Clarice Starling as an HQ-bound priestess new to an Order of Demon Hunters (the sort who stays and researches and interacts with demons once they're caught) and Lecter as the demon whose head she has to get inside. Very early days yet, as I'm still debating over where to push my style to. I'd also like to bring my own touch of something brom-esque to the designs too, so if she seems sexy for Starling, that's a deliberate choice.

[vices]

What a crazy awesome idea, going from blurry to sharp! Too cool, your stuff is all fantastic

[NickyBeats]

pffft yea dude. total rubbish. . . . whatchoo talkin bout willis?! these are awesome!! dig em all!

[vayne108]

Wow, your work is absolutely inspirational ! I can't wait to see more .