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[badass]

this is a portfolio website i am working on. i just uploaded it to the web, but its still (and always will be) a WIP. Obviously i need to improve a crap load before i even need a site, but its cool regardless. Any suggestions or crits on the site would be appreciated! thanks

Here is my WEBSITE!

[cdejong]

Hey snow lion. The website is interesting, although you might want to go for something that looks a little more professional eventually. Clean and easy to navigate is always good. One thing on the website that confused me... that you should probably fix, is that when you click on an image, it takes a few seconds to load. That was confusing, because I clicked on images and it appeared nothing was happening, so I kept clicking around on different ones, too fast for the image to appear. Then I clicked out. I finally realized it when I click and waited, because I remembered something about web design back from when I was interested in it.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix for this. Load all of the images when the entire page loads. I don't know how to do that in flash since I've never used it, I only know some HTML and javascript. But I know that in javascript, there was a way to preload images so that when you rolled over them, they appeared immediately from the cache. You should try looking up documentation to do that, I'm sure it's possible.

[badass]

thanks cdejong! your such a helpful sktechgoup buddy. i cant figure out how to do the preloading, but i agree that would be much better. ill try to figure out how to do it.

as for a more professional looking site, your right. i kinda made a uselessly wacky site. but i need to get way better before thats even a concern. but still a good point

since im at school and rather bored, i decided to upload some random tool studies i just did for a class. we were suppose to use various techniques the teacher showed us. these are just the coolest ones, each took 5-15 minutes.

[badass]

here us a knife. 40 minutes.

here is also a wip. its a character painting for a graphic novel my friend and i are planning for when im a digital painting badass. so... near yet distant future. any crits would be helpful. its going to be in color but since im still working on my values., i am working grayscale first

[a la bapsi]

nice updates man. 8D
As for your most recent greyscale illustration I suggest you do a little less scribbling for the time being. first concentrate on the statement you plan to make with your brush, and then make it.

[danlucas]

Hey there snow lion, I really like the energy in your drawings. keep it up. Pce

[Jamie Romoser]

keep up the studys looking forward to seeing how you progress.
have a good one dude
-Jamie

[badass]

a la bapsi: thanks. ill work on my intention>execution

danlucas: thanks! i jsut need to learn how to controll it...

OmertA: thanks for the encouragement!


hers a 1hr sp with 15 min random color in...

[north pole]

nice colouring snow lion.. (: keep up.

[cdejong]

Cool

Color was just kinda messing around I can see... it's best to not go into color using overlay/color layers unless it's really tight, otherwise it can look bad.

I notice a thing with your values... you seem to be hitting darks really fast, so that it's hurting your piece. Try and keep your values closer together, and group your shadows all with one shade. Remember, you can't put black down if you can see your skin or any detail on your skin at all, because black is the absence of light. Be sensitive with your blacks and use them very sparingly... If you check those Zhang Lu videos, he actually never hits blacks.

Keep working, you're doing well Love that wrench a few posts up, really awesome. Did you map that out in perspective? How did you do that?

[badass]

cdejong: thanks for the crit on values. very helpful. with the wrench i just eyeballed it (i loosley sketched lines heading towards 2 points as i went) but it jsut worked out well. but i really like how it turned out so mathematically accurate looking for jsut being a sketch

north pole: thanks man. i kinda dislike it but it was fun haha

so today i did several life drawings, working on using everyones advice and feedback. I am really pleased with how they all came out, i actually feel like ive had a breakthrough. i like to think of drawing skill as an attribute in the RPG of life. And i just leveled up!

the two female faces were actually done last week. they are not so awesome. same for the close up of the guy. but the last one is definitely my favorite drawing ive done in a while

o and there is one random creature i did as a warm up. i thought it was sweet

[badass]

this took an hour or something. i have no clue really. are these studies the best way to improve my values? i hope im on the right track in that department

[badass]

here is a sweet portrait i did this morning. it took about 3.5 to 4 hours. i started with a sketch, then used these values at 100%, then blended at 50 and 70% opacity, then went in and touched it up. is this technique a good way to practice values or is it kind of a crutch?

[ashess]

hey, nice models. be careful to draw what you see, not what you know. the chest in the reclining male with his feet towards us doesnt add up b/c I feel you've drawn in what you know- but not quite in the right spot. knees and elbows too sometimes feel like you've drawn them from knowledge, not from sight.

[badass]

ashess: thanks for the crit. im working on that. that drawing was finished after model was one, so i had to do some estimating to "finish" it

i added an epic battle scar today. the lighting was too dramatic for me not to...

it was about 1hr 40 minutes i think

[badass]

these are a couple quick random paintings from imagination. the guy with the pistol was about 10 or 15 and the creature was more like 2 hours

[AlexEh]

Nice sketchbook keep it up, do lots of studies. I suggest ou begin to go straight into the color. Color is hard so many hue and saturation shifts to worry about on top of value!!! But it gets easier.

I think you could benefit from a nice dose of some Loomis and Bridgman. Dont forget to draw from your head too

[badass]

Dy.laneA: Thanks! Im working on some Loomis studies tonight. Also ill try some color stuff asap. (maybe the portrait tonight)

i just spent all weekend doing this (just turned it in to school). 3D is interesting but digital painting is so much better... im going to go home now and try to do a portrait, but i just thought id post this to show what im doing at school.

[cdejong]

Yup that looks like a good technique for your values! It's not a crutch, don't worry. But be careful, I can see that you used some of the same values in the shadow as you did in the light. That is a big no no. Never ever will the darkest value in the light area be darker or the same value as the lightest value in the shadow area. This is VERY important to remember, it's a big rule in separating your shadow and light shapes.

You know though, I think you should set values and painting on the back burner a bit. Right now you really need to concentrate on line. How about doing these self portraits in pencil? Pencil really is the best way to teach yourself good drawing. And good drawing starts with lines. Even bougereau can't make bad draftsmanship look good with his rendering. Pencil will force yourself to erase and correct mistakes, which will teach you a lot more than in digital, since that undo button and non-destructive editing makes things oh so easy to fix. The whole process of erasing and redrawing, erasing and redrawing, will burn the right proportions and ideas into your brain.

This doesn't mean to stop doing digital of course, but just pick up that pencil and get working! Use digital for a break, or for life studies to focus on value.

Also, imagination stuff is lots of fun, and it's important to draw and paint a good mix of imagination work and study work, but balance is the keyword. Too much either way and you won't be learning at your optimum pace. This is something I learned the hard way... you can waste months of your time if you don't balance it out! Keep the range always within 60-40, but 50-50 is really the best. It's better to lean 60 percent study, and 40 percent imagination than it is the other way around.

Other than that, the 3d kitchen looks cool . It's definitely useful to have knowledge of 3d in concept art, when the time comes that you start drawing for production work.

Keep going!

[badass]

cdejong: thanks! heres an attempt at pencil. sorry my webcam is super crappy... but it was good practice.

thanks again for being so helpful

this was like 45 minutes... and meh.

[cdejong]

Wow cool! Keep doing them in pencil, and just from seeing this sketch, I have a feeling that you'll be progressing quickly . Even for 45 minutes, it looks as good maybe better than a 1.5 hour sketch on digital.

Mission 1: I want you to spend lots of time on the eyes. Get those shapes down! Really really observe, I want it to look like you traced your eye right off the mirror (even though that's impossible ). Don't be lazy and just run a line through a whole lid. Pay attention to each and every little raise and turn of your eyelids, of your pupil and iris and eyeball and the skin folds around the eye! It's all important! And pay attention to line weight. Don't use the same thickness of line everywhere. Take as much time as you need to make it look perfect! You won't regret it, because from then on you'll always retain some of that information, so you will have made immediate improvement in knowing your eye shape. GO GO GO

Keep up the good work!

[badass]

cdejong: thanks again for the great input and motivation. heres another try... the eyes are better but everything else was a disaster.

its another 45. really depressing haha... definitely stretched vertically. i didnt realize how much i was relying on the tools of photoshop for correcting mistakes as i went...

[badass]

so i thought before i try a color portrait id do some bananas. this time i just used the colors and painted over a super loose sketch of the bananas (the tomato above thats in color was a color layer

[badass]

random imagination stuff. kind of lame. the guy looks like a gears of war character. but way less badass.

[FraserMcT]

Hey man. Thanks for dropping by my sketchbook.
Loving some of your stuff in here. I like the scribbly look that you get with your pens, however I don't think it works quite as well when doing digital painting. I would suggest using a huge brush to start, then work down very slowly. This will help get your paintings to look better in my opinion. But I don't want to break your style, as I like it.
Oh well, apart from that, keep it up!

[badass]

i was in arush this morning. 25 min. better but slightly skewed

thanks fraserMCT. i really need to stop scribbling so much. its like a disease.

[badass]

heres a 30 minute portrait. im a little satisfied with this one. and theres a character sketch

[Nutella]

It's funny because the self portrait that you were least satisfied with was the one that most satisfied me. That's just how it is I guess... I'd really like to see more self portraits, eventually working out of pencil and paper and maybe working up to charcoal, pastel, paint, and so on!

I'm diggin' post #21. That emphasis on form is wonderful, especially since it relies so heavily on line and color. But then again, I have an affair with line all the time... so I guess I'm a bit bias.
Post #43 shows your understanding of form.. That simple style is just so beautiful and wondrous. #54 is magnificent, and I completely relate with that compulsion to just scribble lines everywhere. I mean c'mon... It's art, and we're here to communicate to our viewers, right? I guess a little disciple don't hurt nobody!

In post #63, I love the technique you used for shadow. It's really compelling and hard to grasp without an explanation. Could you grace me with such a request?

[Jamesy]

Dude I just noticed something....you made Paula's face look EXACTLY LIKE YOUR FACE!! It's hysterically awesome, lol. The shaping of the eyes look better in the last sp dood.

[badass]

im absurdly sleepy but had to do a quick scribbly thing before sleeping. ill respond to your comments tomorrow. thanks guys