--The War Book, Working the kinks. --

[JRStagg]

Hello all, below this is a little bit of info about me, and the following pictures, how ever I recently brought a Digital tablet, and I'm trying my hand at digital art, Follow my progression if you dare, I'm well trained to cope with anything that pops up, if it's army related if it's art I'm retarded!


O.k I did have a sketch book kicking around this place some where but I can't locate it any more, and it was full of old and... lets say work I'd rather not parade.

Few details about my self, my names Josh, I serve in the British army, that's all I can say on that.

Like my drawings, I do it when I get the chance.

Below you can see some Phot's I took in Afghanistan, For security reasons I've had to edit various pieces of equipment, insignia & personnel including my self, Take a look hope you enjoy.

I'll update this with some of my digital artwork when I get home.

[JRStagg]

Size fixed.

A little info about these pictures.


Phot 1: Me, Can't tell you the location but it was working from what is now a American controlled fob, Spotted a group of 3 laying a I.E.D in what they thought was 'dead ground'. this was a river bed at the base of the second tree line from the houses(dead ground = a area that cannot be seen from a specific position at an elevated angle) or if you're American: Deffilation

Phot 2: Is me again, my roll in the Army permits that I can wear civilian clothing, but this will make you a bigger target to enemy forces, I've had to edit the antennae out, as it would be a dead give away as to what is in the bag, my weapon is also edited out. And you can see on the lower left of my hype I'm supporting a stylish H.E grenade bag, there's around x6 H.E grenades in there.

Phot 3: Is me and a friend (Steve, Funny every one in these photos who's not me is called Steve... strange) Stood out side our wmik (weapon mounted installation kit) Thou you can't see the weapon on the back it's a quick hide away weapon, A skill you learn in our branch is to not parade the fire power you are using, it incites enemy forces to come at you with a larger force, Surprises are all ways nicer when there un-expected.

Phot 4: Me, Again in the same location as Phot 1 this time there was some no goods sneaking in and out of an area they shouldn't have been, the map is edited to keep the location hidden.

Phot 5: Me again, supporting the stylish issued T-shirt from the Army, good for drying out fast if it becomes wet, also in the picture is 'The good news' (G.P.M.G) Brilliant piece of kit, heavy, durable very effective.

[village idiot]

Good stuff

[Falchion]

Wow, nice pics! You mind if I use them as reference for my own work?

[JRStagg]

Some more phots to enjoy.

Phot 1: This is me messing around with my new found way to use a shamag as a face veil, Oh yeah check my kid's body as well, 5 months of rations does that to a man.

Phot 2: This is me on one of them most illusive things called a 'Day off' crazy, still not used to saying it, I'm just doing some drawing, As for the big white dog there's a little history about him, His names AK, He was abused by the old A.N.A regime as a fighting dog, hence the big scars, after that the Taliban caught him and yet again used him for fighting and carrying kit (this dog stands over 6ft tall on its hind legs) and then we cam across him, took him in and kept him safe, it's not a violent dog, quite the opposite given the past it's had, BRILLIANT if you get it laying next to you for a little warmth.

Phot 3: Quite early in the tour, as you can see 'Steve' has got the issued tan, issued by the army for the army! brilliant. the weapon has a silencer from a previous night operation, On this tour allot of time was spent in the mountains and cutting through other peoples fobs.

Phot 4: A little sunset over the Helmand river for you people who like to draw land scape.

Phot 5: This was a area we was keen to keep eyes on, in a perfect position for the enemy to lay a ambush, this would be ideal for any one wanting to do a scene from Afghanistan, this is how their houses look, not the shanty half tin half wood huts you see in Call of duty or Medal of honour.

Phot 6: Another scene for you guys, I got a whole load of these. (it's not all about me) lol

Phot 7: Get to the choppa' lifting off after a supply run.

Phot 8: Me and yet again another 'Steve' it's all ways a good idea to not only disguise your self as the enemy to infiltrate but as a friendly to get away from the attention.

Phot 9: Chopper mid supply drop, one of the guys taking cover from debris (this isn't afghan hence the greenery, again location can't be given) bit action packed.

[Velocity Kendall]

Amazing stuff. I think the words Im looking for are "thank you for putting your life on the line."
I want AK.
PS the two guys I work with are also both called Steve. Theres no escaping them.

[JRStagg]

Some of you have P.M'd me about the bottle in the sock, This is a good technique to keep your drinks cool in the summer, get two socks, soak them both, and wrap them around your sock, it will keep it cool for that little bit longer, not to mention if you're a sniper it keeps it camouflaged.

[JRStagg]

Just me trying out my new Wacom Cintiq doodled a eye. Crits welcom.

[Falchion]

Well, I'd recommend using hard brushes instead of the softer fuzzier brushes. Looks good so far, though.

[village idiot]

I can recommend the smudge tool set about 70%. Paint at full opacity. But the smudge tool is genius, saves so much rendering, takes a bit of time to get comfy with but you will end up with more polished results. Great for merges of colour you wouldn't initially consider.

[JRStagg]

Cheers for the tips guys, got to get back into the swing of digital stuff, Got PScs5 the other day, Lots of good things to use, I'll take it on board and test it all out when I have time.

[SR-5]

Hey!

First of all, thanks for commenting on my sketchbook!

The pictures you took in Afghanistan are very capturing because even if you edited faces out, it tells us a lot about what you and your comrades are doing there. Thank you.

As for painting, it looks like you're off to a solid start. You've got the concept of form right. In order to improve on painting, I suggest to start off with 100% hard brush not only because it gives you sharp details but you also can use light pressure to shade lightly. That's what I learned and so far, my results look quite sharp.

Also, don't use black for shading - it kind of kills the colors. For example, if you want to shade the green eye where it's dark at, use the darker green to shade in that area. If you use darker tones of the same color, you can notice the difference.

Most important of all, just keep playing around with different brushes and colors.

Keep it up! Would like to see more of your painting sketches. =}


SR-5.

[JRStagg]

So I was doodling for about 20 minutes and came up with this, can you guys give me pointers please?

Sorry about the scribble on it, I brought Fallout new Vegas and had to remember what not to sell, and the link is for crimbo shopping lol,.. I didn't have a pen or paper to hand... well i did, Digitally but not literally.

[JRStagg]

Another doodle.

[JRStagg]

Update.

[hücumkedi]

yea i love the photos...

[village idiot]

What happened to the pic you were doing of the SAS with the devil in the background? I thought that had a lot of potential.
I think the problem with these pics is that they don't convey form or build up tonal values.
You could get this effect with crosshatching,like you are drawing a contour line to build up the shape. If you look at sketches of sculptors like Giacometti for instance, it might not be your cup of tea but you can see his understanding of a shape in 3d space is almost like looking at a 3d mesh




I don't know if I am making any real sense here...basically keep working at it. You just need patience and stubborn-ness and just keep at things.

Anatomy wise they are pretty much spot on.......although there is a suspicious lack of hands!

[JRStagg]

Hey Villageidiot,.. Thanks for the reply, I'm still working on it, I've updated the WIP.

As for your suggestion on 3d, I fully understand it, I got a piece I'm playing about with now, where its basically contoured like a map, I found a few old anatomy books I'm looking over when i have time, Thank you

[JRStagg]

A quicky, eventually it will look like a sculpture of hellboy on the dvd extras, not much more to do travelling to another country bar watch dvd's and prep weapons. lol

[JRStagg]

So it's a wip, kind of, just messing around with her hair now, doing crash courses in everything, anatomy, shading/lighting/shape/construction/hair, you name it i cram it in when I have a chance..


Brangelina.


Also a fluid motion memory i had, watching one of the lads,.. Most of the military work I do will be real situations from memory, the M.O.D aren't keen on me showing certain phot's, No rules about me sharing memories via the form of Art..

[Justyna]

Hey,
thank you for posting those photos, they are really interesting.

I think you should focus more on anatomy, for example that last girl has too small eyes. There are some good books available for free on the Internet e.g. A. Loomis "Drawing Head and Hands", you can learn a lot from that one.

That soldier is pretty good though, keep it up!

[CesarNostradamus]

Must be nice coming from a Rich Nation and having to go play call of duty in poor ass- afghanistan eh?

Judging by these photos, And all these planeted fields and harvest. Without a single Tractor insight.
hmm.. I wonder what they could manage with a John deere tractor. Hmm...
Ever think about that Mr. Soldier Soldier/

[JRStagg]

Must be nice coming from a Rich Nation and having to go play call of duty in poor ass- afghanistan eh?

Judging by these photos, And all these planeted fields and harvest. Without a single Tractor insight.
hmm.. I wonder what they could manage with a John deere tractor. Hmm...
Ever think about that Mr. Soldier Soldier/

the Afghan nation does in fact have tractors, and in the more wealthy areas, combine harvesters and work hands, all paid for by the British governments to win hearts and minds, not many people see it.

I spent most of my 9 month tour in the mountains doing counter weapon operations, Not your standard soldiering but I aint' a standard soldier, Being down there was a luxury, talking to the children and folks and seeing what they thought of us.

Call of duty, It's good, never as good as the real thing.

[Falchion]

Wow, nice progress on your work. Looking better and better!

[JRStagg]

Self defence 101.

This is the fist'i' cuff......... meh actually this is the Fist'i'f*ck.

As seen bellow,.. It's a WIP, I'll be doing a few of these for fun, got the idea from teaching self defence techniques to Close protection units/civilian fitness instructors.

As seen bellow the process with sarcasm is as follows. (A few steps missed out so you all don't go out fu*king people up.)

1. The stance to take is a arched back, hands at cheek height, dominant leg to the fore and the other to the rear on toes (to keep balance, and give a good firm base to fall back on, or spring a 'jab' from)

2. This is tricky, Dodging the first jab, If this doesn't work first time, when fatigue sets in you will eventually acquire a firm hold, Obviously this will change according to dominant legs/hands i.e Leftie and Rightie.

2.A Brace right fore arm vertical, Clenched fist to give a good rigid hold

2.B Left arm moves up the side of the pectoral and the hand firmly grasps the back of the opponents neck

2.C Bracing your chest out right (not fully, this will become apparent in the penultimate ass kickery move.) and pulling back with your left hand will cause the opponents upper torso to naturally fall backward

3. Moving the left hand, to the most upper muscles of the stomach will give you a good bracing point for the next move (The ultimate move)

4. Pushing your left shoulder into the rear of the opponents right shoulder

4.A Kneeing the opponent in the small of the back will aid in the whole move

4.B Pulling back your right four arm back as hard as possible

4.C Pushing your chest out as fare as possible

THE SATISFYING POP NOISE!

Or if done correctly

THE SATISFYING BREAK NOISE!

5. Kick him away, pose for a photo, and then review the photos your mate took of you kicking ass because a good mate caries his camera for such occasions.

[JRStagg]

Some what of a self portrait, just a quick mess over before going to work! tell me what you think.

Crits welcome on anything and everything in here

[Falchion]

Nicely done with the portrait, although you could probably do with cranking up the values a bit. And what brush did you use for the piece?

[Cyberman]

Hey good to see your getting art done with your spare time!, I suggest
you use just black white and greys, until you master light and form and use as big a brush as the area your working on can allow
Cheers and have fun drawing!

[JRStagg]

Falchion: Thank you mate, Yeah I have troubles with colours ect, any tips? it's a custom brush.

Sean mclain: Thanks for the reply, I do usually use BnW but I all ways loose track of the form, and with a big brush

[JRStagg]

Update, quick 20min sketch up of me