Ninjac's Sketchbook

[Ninjac]

Bahaha he is kind of a jelly bean baby man. I'll make him leaner next time

[Ninjac]

Yay concept art

[danlambert]

Lovely shadow shapes in that one man

[Ninjac]

Thanks Dan

Here is a screen shot study from the movie Goemon. It's a pretty wicked movie even though there are lots of heavy blacks and over saturated colors added to the cinematography. Going to be practicing a lot more environmental concept art as well after studying a bit of Thomas Scholes and Feng Zhu.

[p sage]

Good work here. A few crits?

I noticed in this one that you tend to make torsos too long. (specifically, look at the male)

It's reinforced here in the female drawing.

Also... although it could be added as a joke, there's no crotch "cleft" in the abdominus rectus in the female as you've shown. The cleft is flesh only (no muscle) and it is lower than you've shown (actually it's underneath)

Keep going, it gets easier

[Ninjac]

p sage: I appreciate your crits. That cleft on the woman was a minor slip and I didn't mean to have it there. The torso is long on that specific male I'll give you that but the other figures you mention are supposed to have longer torsos. It was a class assignment to exaggerate human figures in various ways. In a sense it is my start to caricature so I'm aware of the elongated torsos.


Here is a Guild Wars concept master study. I say study cause it isn't copied 100% verbatim. Spent a little over 20 hours on it. I altered the composition slightly to fit my interests better but overall I think I got pretty close to the original. This is the level I have to hit now with my own concept illustrations now and I think I understand how to get there. Just have to show it. Going to start a personal piece to be the first.

Top is the original.

[Ninjac]

A little speed painting warm up. On to more concept art

[Benjy]

Your enviro studies are looking great, especially that last one. The skeleton studies are a great idea. I might have to do some more of those.

[Ninjac]

Benjy: Thanks man I'm really enjoying the enviro studies as well. They are becoming a favorite along with character design. The skeleton studies are fun too.

Here is another card illustration for work. About 6 hours. By far the most ridiculous subject matter I've ever drawn. "Flaming Peasant"

[Ninjac]

Some character concept thumbnails. Taking votes on the favorite 2 that anyone wants me to take to a finish

[danlambert]

5 + 8

[Ninjac]

Thanks Dan

Here is my wip and two color studies for this weeks EOW. It will be my first time participating in a community activity Glass House containing the last tree on earth. Still want to work with some of the reflections to either side of the tree and possibly the foreground.

[RBeek]

just so u know.. i wouldve chosen no.7 en 12 ..!! its a little late , but i would've!!!

these last 3 are just madnes.. i dont lry have a clue what going on.. except thats its a tree thingie with a waterfall or something.. but there arent any rly forms or good value structure to show me around in a way.. if you know what i mean

But i do like the composition like that,, maybe make it even higher so u can rly show the roof , with some windows and cables and ladders n stuff to maintain the glas sor something .. ull think of somethign, but the tree needs space dude! not just in real life,, in ur image to higher!

lookin forward to the finished product!! keep it up dude!

[Ninjac]

Its not to late Rbeek!! your vote is noted Great crit on the space. New version has some more room to breath. Yea I've been discussing my value structure with my classmates as well. Some of it was due to overlay layers but mostly I just need to balance lost and found edges with large shapes of value better.

Some EOW progress

[p sage]

Hehe .... flaming peasant or burning man?

Thanks for the chuckle.

[danlambert]

Hey man, slightly selfish reasons for this post, my Photoshop trial just expired and due to financial reasons I can only afford Painter atm (got a great deal!) was wondering if you had any tips or anything for someone who has only previously used Photoshop. I'd really like to avoid a steep learning curve if I can, got lots to do!
This is of course based on my assumption that you are a Painter user, if I am mistaken please tell me to fuck off .

Much love, and thanks for the post in my sb, appreciate it man.
Take it easy,

Dan

[Ninjac]

P Sage: Glad I could make you chuckle

Dan: Yea I actually started digital with painter for about 2 years then switched over to PS this last January. The brushes that are good to work with are the chalk brushes, oil pastel, and acrylic brushes. The sumi ink brushes are some nice hard edged ones. If you search for Davi Blight's painter brush set it shouldn't be too hard to find. He has a great set for starting off. The chalk brush is also the brush you want to use with the paper sets if you choose to try those out. Always happy to help

Progress update on this weeks EOW

[Ninjac]

Some more EOW progress. Have to make sure all my forms read as the light is hitting them and paint it all to a finish.

[Ninjac]

Today's environment warm up

[Ninjac]

Today's concept sketch warm up. I'm pretty happy with how this one is progressing. I'm strongly considering taking it to a finish. Some cool abstract shapes in the background that could turn out to be some interesting buildings.

[Ninjac]

Portrait for a friend Tinka Lovelocks

[Zolerit]

Pretty ) And those petals fits well.

[Ninjac]

Zolerit: Thanks! She was a blast to paint

I have decided that I'm going to stop updating just for the sake of updating. So the amount of posts will go down but the quality of art, sketches, studies will go up. I think its time to start the next chapter and really push myself to the limits.

Head studies about 1.5 to 2.5 hours each from photo ref.

[danlambert]

Those portraits are great man, but I think a few harder edges or straight lines to focus the eye would really help them out.
Good job on the focussing as well, it should always be quality over quantity, although I never looked at your work and thought you were updating for the sake of it

[Ninjac]

Dan: Thanks man, I updated the last post with a few more hard edges and lines to bounce the eye around more, but I also like the idea of tipping the balance to one side or the other of the spectrum.

I think what I was feeling was a lack of exploration. I am exploring somewhat but I feel like I'm exploring concept design inefficiently somehow. Like I'm making better images and pushing my level of finish but need more constant idea generation. Going to be doing more speed paintings of enviros and characters to explore and expand my imagination. I'll post the best ones or all of them if people want to see more. Otherwise study study study

This discussion of edges brought me to pose a question about edge play and its limitations. One of my class mates sent me this link to an awesome breakdown of edges here on CA. http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913


Here is another concept illustration for work "Thunderbird"

Oh yea and I went skydiving for the first time this past Saturday. Wow it was amazing to say the least.

[tehmeh]

Some great recent environments but the portrait in #351 has some really beautiful colours

[Ninjac]

Thanks Tehmeh I appreciate you stopping by.


If you haven't checked out Tehmeh's sketchbook you must stop by and see his progress. Pretty stellar work.
Here are today's speed paintings. About 30 min each working on ideation and getting as much information onto the page as I can.

[Ninjac]

Today's concept study of Simon Weaner's work. This is one of his speed paintings on the left. My 4 hours of study on the right

Check out more of his work at http://majora28.carbonmade.com/

[Ninjac]

My EOW final "Glass House"

Flavor Text: The last tree on Earth is contained within a sacred glass house high within the city skyline. Triple layered carbon-filament woven glass protects the tree from the massive amounts of pollution and radiation that have blanketed the planet over the past centuries. Large gun ships patrol the surrounding area day and night. One docking bay allows supplies to enter and samples of micro organisms to leave through a highly sophisticated decontamination chamber. Trained at an early age in biochemistry and dendrology (study of trees), only the Priestesses of Gaia are allowed to enter into the glass house. Once in they are a permanent resident, becoming one with their new home. They care for and cultivate the environment with the assistance of the most advanced filtration technologies, until death. It is one of the highest planetary honors and only a select few are chosen amongst the millions of women who compete for the position.

[danlambert]

Came together nicely mate, one crit from me is that on some of those roots I'm not feelin' the treeishness (new word! TRADEMARKED!), they look almost like tentacles. But great atmosphere and I like the colours. Also, naked priestesses are a nice touch