Live Free or Draw Hard

[Alexander K]

Here's my new attempt at a sketchbook thread. I have an old one, somewhere, but it's under my old username (Alex the Red), and for the sake of easier editing, I decided to make a new one when I got a more literal username.

The first images, the environments, are a quick recap of the old thread. The face is today's speedpaint which ended up going a bit over the time limit (took me roughly two hours).

Feedback is always appreciated; the whole point of this is to practice and learn.

[darkwolfb87]

Hey Alex,

Thanks for the comments in my SB. This may be my personal preference but for the last painting I tend to avoid using the opacity setting and favor instead 100% opacity and pen pressure to build each form by hand. It's a lot more work but I think it's the best way to have total control over the subtle shifts in hue, value and chroma. That's also why I don't put textures in my brushes until the forms are all painted - I throw on textures last as a superficial layer. With low opacity it can feel like trying to paint opaque skin tones with diluted watercolors

I want to see you copy some digital paintings you admire and paint all the forms without texture. I've found that to be a great way to understand another artist's process, whether they work that way or not.

Stephen

[Alexander K]

Stephen - I've tried using opaque brushes, but I find them very difficult to use. I do plan on practicing with that option at some point, and I promise I will do some digital painting copies; I actually did a Craig Mullins study a while back (and ended up using a hard, opaque brush most of the time). Just not sure I have the time to do it now, but I'll get to it at some point.

Oh, and to totally contradict my own "I don't have time" statement, here's another face. I should be working, but I had too much fun doing the first one, so I had to do Shaun.

[Alexander K]

This one started as another portrait excersize, but I ended up making it into a damaged robot/cyborg. Super original, I know.

[Alexander K]

I'm working on a larger action piece and decided to try a new inking style inspired by Salaryman. I like the way it's turning out so I figured I'd show the progress.

[Abertrand]

awesome stuff, you're using painter right, love the shaun portrait.
and everything sounds like "use your fist and not your mouth" right now

[Alexander K]

Thanks, Abertrand! Actually, I work in PS exclusively right now. I do have a copy of Painter X sitting on my HD, but I don't have the time to learn the interface right now, so I'm using what I know. I definitely plan on messing with Painter at some point, though.