Bubblegum is a solution to everything

[Ranarh]

My old sketchbook thread was too old (and a little embarrassing) so 'm starting a new one, hopefully well filled with daily studies.

I'm a self-taught artist. I admire concept art works, but I also try to get better at working realistically because I love surrealism, and this, imho, benefits from appearing as real as possible.

The corrupted Dryad
I had this in mind for a long time and finally realized it will never make it to a full painting, but I wanted to sketch it in colour nonetheless. I used lots of wood photos as textures (textures are great, but I often forget about them while working).

[Ranarh]

Face study 1
Stock taken from deviantart ( http://visual-graffiti.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d7bjzd ). Brush: Basic Round from Tinting in Painter. I hate doing noses.

[Ranarh]

Face study 2
Stock from deviantart ( http://kindledeath-stock.deviantart....21186929&qo=72 ). The picture is a closeup of an already small photo. I learned about saturation in shadows.

[Yeti Ball]

I don't understand how your other sketchbook could have been "old" seeing as how you've only posted 33 times on this website, but okay then. How long would you say each of those portraits took you, just out of curiosity.

[Ranarh]

"Old Sketchbook" as in: "I'm a young artist and developed far too fast to not find my stuff from last year embarrassing." *blush*

The studies took me about half an hour each.

[Yeti Ball]

"Old Sketchbook" as in: "I'm a young artist and developed far too fast to not find my stuff from last year embarrassing." *blush*

The studies took me about half an hour each.

Okay. Thats impressive. I am terrible when it comes to speed painting. I try to push myself to work fast, but I have bad habits of noodling details too long I guess. And somehow time just flies when I'm drawing... I need to work harder on speed and agility!

Keep up the good work, just don't develop too fast or else you'll need to start all over again with a new sketchbook thread from scratch again!

[ColorExcursion]

very nice studies keep em comin! i like the concept on your first post :]

[Ranarh]

Thank you ColorExcursion!

I often get marooned by my muse. This picture had been intended for a contest, but I was unhappy with the not-so-ethereal quality of the ethereal lady and never solved it. She's a Rrelvane, dryad-like spirits who steal their victim's essence. They're not really kissing, but that's much more poetic, isn't it?

Maybe I'll still finish it someday, because I liked the general idea.

[Ranarh]

I draw a lot from fashion catalogues, like here. The idea with the tattoo becoming alive isn't particularly original (I actually got it from Benita Winckler's Io), but I thought it might be worth the effort. Then my muse marooned me in the Bay of Not Knowing about Skin Colours. Damn.

[Ranarh]

So, I've been commissioned to do several illustrations of cities and buildings. Now, making buildings is easy, but where do I start with a city? The streets? But they're not seen in the final picture. The main buildings? I need some help here.
Is it just helpful or necessary to create a 3D model?

The sketches were done while looking at photos and illustrations, none are an exact match. I just tried to get a feeling for the subject.

[vanaga]

Nice start! I like those colored pieces. 30 min?! Damn, for me it would take ages

[Ranarh]

I'll admit, there's a wee bit of Amidala in it. But the face is one of the best proportioned I managed lately, so have a look.
I went a little crazy with strange hairdos recently (I blame it on the cool ad illustrations here on conceptart ).

[Ranarh]

Behold - the... LASER 3000!!
Excuse the inside joke. "Laser" is a German (?) electronics brand for kitchen machines and hairdriers and the like. It's not very fast, though. I had been fooling around with my fiancé about the hairdress looking a little like a vacuum cleaner handle.
Just playing with colour a little.

[Ranarh]

I'm doing character drawings for this rpg forum; this is from there. I did the anatmoy without reference and would like some opinions.
Time taken was - uff - a little under an hour?

[Ranarh]

So I decided to make the arabian city commission I was given in Blender. My previous experiences with 3D involved mostly architectural software, which is in fact easier to handle than the powerful 3D-thingies. But, I made Gus the gingerbreadman (and crashed his data so I never made him walk , maybe later).



To get started on the city of Temphis, I made a small house. The final render will be completely painted over, so I can stay rough here.

[Ranarh]

Some armour sketches I did today - I wanted to draw a character with a looted dark elven armour.

[Ranarh]

This mornings' sketches. Done by reference in Painter.
Attachment 1075792

My figures' balance is often in trouble, so I did these thumbs to get a better grasp of it. No reference used.
Attachment 1075793

[vayne108]

Hello !!!!! remember me from DA?? http://toshema.deviantart.com/ . Anyways, I'm to find your sketch here on CA !!!! Well, I hope to seer you around !!

[Ranarh]

Hello !!!!! remember me from DA?? http://toshema.deviantart.com/ . Anyways, I'm to find your sketch here on CA !!!! Well, I hope to seer you around !!

Of course I remember! I've seen you're really active the last time with all kinds of different media - I'm starting to be jealous that you find the time Which art school are you attending?
And you've been here much longer than I thought (seriously, you are still young, aren't you?). We'll keep in touch then

[Ranarh]

My entry into the chow #217. The turquoise flame is burning copper. When I researched for different flame colours than reddish orange, I learned that metals burn in all kinds of beautiful colours.

[vayne108]

Of course I remember! I've seen you're really active the last time with all kinds of different media - I'm starting to be jealous that you find the time Which art school are you attending?
And you've been here much longer than I thought (seriously, you are still young, aren't you?). We'll keep in touch then

I guess I found time because art is my life's passion (Well religion is very important to me too !!!!) and I can't help myself. As for the school I'm attending The college for creative studies in Detroit. A great school, a few of our alumni's work at pixar, disney, worked on half-life, and so forth. One reason I choose the school. the only downside is the cost. And yes, I'm still young I'm 22 ^_^ !!!!! Also I like the way you put texture in your digital paintings. do you overlay textures and then paint them in or do you use textured brushes?

[Ranarh]

I guess I found time because art is my life's passion (Well religion is very important to me too !!!!) and I can't help myself. As for the school I'm attending The college for creative studies in Detroit. A great school, a few of our alumni's work at pixar, disney, worked on half-life, and so forth. One reason I choose the school. the only downside is the cost. And yes, I'm still young I'm 22 ^_^ !!!!! Also I like the way you put texture in your digital paintings. do you overlay textures and then paint them in or do you use textured brushes?

Both, actually. After setting uop the first colours, I often throw in a few textures to have it less sterile and boring, even if I already use textured brushes for it. Then, I continue with - well, non-smooth brushes, and switch between them and strongly textured brushes. I also slap on more textures when I painted over very much, and if it would take forever to paint by hand. Like shrubs, loose dirt, dry leaves and stuff. Because I work in Painter, I also use textures as papers to tie the piece together, like I did with the ChoW pictures.
Some of my most successful textured brushes:

[Ranarh]

In some spare time yesterday evening, I imagined the grim reaper. I guessed his scythe had to be a magic weapon - far too heavy just to carry around for fanciness.
Time: about 45 minutes.

[cgaddict]

Nice work here, really enjoy your colors and lighting in particular.

My only problem is the title of your sketchbook; It's common knowledge the solution to everything is tobacco, and not bubblegum

[Ranarh]

Nice work here, really enjoy your colors and lighting in particular.

My only problem is the title of your sketchbook; It's common knowledge the solution to everything is tobacco, and not bubblegum

Thanks!

Oh, no - the only (commonly) known substitute to the omnipotence of bubblegum is coffee!

[Ranarh]

I really like putting additional body parts on creatures. I normally prefer eyes, but this hare has more ears. I made this partly as a preparation to sculpt this bunny, but I'm stuck with figuring out how to do fluffy plushy bunny fur with clay.

[Ranarh]

No wonder noses are so easy to get wrong - when you look closely, they're all knobby and knotty and have faaar more details to take care of than you think.
Done in Painter with references of model shots.

[Ranarh]

Wordplay with "alley". I wanted a noir feeling and that great hat, and a gray rainy evening not set off with red (I don't normally use pink, but it was perfect here).

[Ranarh]

This hairdo gave me some trouble with the far side back curl. Just a scribble with weird hair; took about one and a half hour total.

[Ranarh]

Some doodles I came up with lately. The portraits were done from the portrait book by Barrington Barber - I tried to get a better pencil style. The cloudy-tree-and-circus-tent-swarmed-by-sailships is a felt pen drawing. I used to hate them, but I'm slowly getting used to felt pens for sketches, and I think that's a good thing (yeah I know that girl's arm's too long, it's just a doodle ).

Coming to think of it, it's only in the last few weeks that I started to doodle in the sense of the word. I used to sit down and come up with an idea to draw, and never just put a pen to the paper and went.