Rev needs to draw more. Posting daily!

[Mhugo]

Great sketchbook, you really have some lovely works here.
Love your environments, they have beautiful color and atmosphere!!

[littlebones]

Gorgeous stuff, you make me regret not going to Sheridan. And thank you for posting your resources as you go, it's extremely helpful!

[Revidescent]

glaudarien - Thanks! You're totally right about the silhouettes, it seems really obvious in retrospect. I went from the rough to the final without taking time to step back and refine the structure in between.

Mhugo - Thanks, can't really take much credit for the colours and the like in the environments, they're all just photo studies thus far. Still very new to that sorta thing!

littlebones Thanks! I loved Sheridan, but honestly, most of the technical type stuff I'm doing here didn't come from that program. What it was good for was teaching things like composition, concepts, how to think and generate ideas, business sense, design... lots of fantastic skills, but not a lot of emphasis on the technical.

So this was basically a studies weekend. Mixed feelings about that... on one hand, I've been missing out on this kind of stuff for a while, and I had fun. On the other hand, this to-do list isn't getting any shorter. =|

Went down to the antique market today, and drew this:


...Then came home, and tried to add some colour from memory/imagination. Certainly, this wasn't quite the lighting condition I was working from; it was a very overcast day. Didn't feel like taking this too far, very weak composition, but a fun exercise nonetheless.


Another environment photo study (Ref):


Aaaand a Bouguereau head study:

[Object]

Wow, your art is quite awesome, i particular like the gif showing how you developed the image.

[Revidescent]

Object - Thanks, I'll try to post more process stuff in the future.

Gotta finish this Supernatural fanart in time for Fan Expo. Here's a Sam Winchester. I had a much easier time on his face than on the others, and I'm guessing it's because his facial features play into so many of my bad habits - broad face, big nose...



I am in no way endorsing painting a finished face while the rest of the body is a barely-realized sketch. It is NOT A GOOD IDEA. I just tend to do weird, experimental things when I'm in fanart mode, and the process regularly goes stupid places.

[Revidescent]

Every day, I go "Today, I will finish this!" Every day, it takes much, much longer than expected.

Welp, I have to get it done tomorrow. So... yeah. Let's hope.



(Gogo deep symbolic fanart of a fundamentally derpy show.)

[rumpenstiltzkin]

wow love your sketchbook, gorgeous stuff really! love your photostudies and use of color
also the latest looks really good!

[n1frit]

Nice works keep it uP!

[Voodoo_Mama]

Awesome Sketchbook!
Your paintings are looking really good!
Your drawings and silhouetes are amazing as well.
Fanexpo is coming up pretty soon, so I hope you can finish your illustration on time.

[Strato]

I really like what you did with the antique market. Can you tell me what your process was with that piece? I'm guessing you started with gestures and then went from there?

[Revidescent]

rumpenstiltzkin - Thanks! I appreciate the comment on my use of colour; I've been studying that stuff a lot lately.

n1frit - Thanks =)

Voodoo_Mama - Thanks a lot! Yep, got everything done in time for Fan Expo. Such a crazy weekend. (Not even weekend, it's a whole four days now, aigh)

Strato - I actually started with the end of one of the tables - Just left of centre, there's a sort of trapezoid shape, an upside-down bin with some stuff on it. That's the first thing I drew, and I worked outwards from there. When I hit any area that people were regularly moving through (i.e. next to the tables) I grabbed a gesture of one who stood still for a few seconds, and often kept my eyes on them as they wandered away to fill in clothes, hair, etc. The woman in front of the chair was the easiest, since she held that pose for minutes at a time. After the main cluster of people, I just started filling in background bits, and didn't go back with the grey markers 'til the end. (I actually think it looked better in straight ballpoint pen, but since I was planning to do the colour thing when I got home, I wanted to put in at least a little indication of relative tone to jog my memory.)

-----

Guess who survived Fan Expo? HINT, IT'S ME. If anybody's honestly curious about it, I have a blogpost on the topic.

Yes, I finished that Supernatural fanart, and I'm really pleased with it - and as an experiment in likeness, I learned an awful lot. (I also learned that I need to spend more time studying painting hands, instead of just drawing them. Soon as I've got to get them in 3D, they look completely wrong.)



I also threw together a last minute fanart of Tali from Mass Effect, an experiment with Dissolve brushes and layers in Photoshop. At full res, it looks incredibly pixellated; printed at 300 DPI, it's actually a pretty neat effect.



Oh, and here's another environment study I did during a few small breaks here and there while working on the above images. Here's the ref. I really need to start doing some of these from imagination.

[Revidescent]

Managed to grab a little time today (in between catching up on all the design work I'm SO BEHIND on) to do a couple of quick screencap studies from Doctor Who. I tend to say I'm going to do quick studies and then noodle around with details for hours on end, so I timed these both to a strict 20 minutes. The second one... could have really used some more time. That is some IFFY facial anatomy. Gotta remind myself that it's not the point, the lighting and colour is. =|

[Voodoo_Mama]

Cool screencap studies, (reminds me that I should do some of those)
The Mass Effect fanart looks really good, I love the texturing.

[Revidescent]

Voodoo_Mama - Thanks, I love playing with Dissolve textures for flatter stuff, this is the first time I've tried full-on rendering that way. It's always fun to try things in digital art that you straight-up can't do traditionally.


Anyhow, a combination of being sick and busy has not been so good for art. Here's a few random things.

This seemed like a really fun exercise for generating random ideas, so I tried it. Did 4, only liked these 2.



Some more of those 20-minute screencap studies. A harsh time limit is definitely a good way to focus on the big shapes, and still I feel like I end up noodling around in the wrong places. LEARNING. (They're still all from Doctor Who. Such a well-lit show. Uh.)







And finally a Sargent study I did this afternoon, to try and get back into Art Mode. This thing kicked my butt, but man was it fun. I can't think of anybody better to study for big colour shifts on facial planes. Beginning to end, the colours were constantly more saturated than I thought. I think it's STILL a little too dark and desaturated. Durr.

[Revidescent]

This is one of those "is it seriously 3 AM, WTF" kind of days. I did not intend to do most of this stuff today.

Some food for the motion graphics project I'm currently working on. I have no idea if I'm allowed to talk about it, but it should be up soon enough, and... it's pictures of food.



Photo study WIP. Ref is #27 on this page. I'm completely at a loss on how to do those ash clouds. I'll just keep banging my head against it 'til I figure it out, I guess.



Aaaaand a speedie thing (30 mins? 45?) that I had no intention of doing, but can be directly blamed on listening to Florence + The Machine all day. Rabbit Heart gets double blame points. Just wish it weren't so conceptually boring, OH WELL.

[lohes]

The Sargent study is gorgeous, it sounds like you learned a lot from doing it too. Well done!

[Revidescent]

lohes - Thanks, I did learn a lot! Gotta do moooore.

Anyhow, coupla things.

Another 20 minute screencap study. One of these days I'll move on to something other than Doctor Who, but TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY.



Enviro photo study thing, this is the ref.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

really nice updates, the screencap one with the portrait has some very nice colors

[Revidescent]

rumpenstiltzkin - Thanks! The Who screencaps are always a challenge, since the interesting lighting always makes colours things I absolutely don't expect.


Urgh, lifedrawing, it's been too long. Good model, though! (The first is 10 or 15 minutes, I forget. The second is half an hour.) Why are reclining poses so difficult? Is it just me? Even when there's no foreshortening, as soon as you tilt a torso 90 degrees, I forget everything I know and just struggle like crazy.





Another 20 minute screencap. I want to redo this one at some point; I think I more or less got the colour, which was the main point, but that hand is abysmal.



And finally some development sketches for a CHoW I don't think I'll actually be able to do, due to sudden ninja deadlines.

[Revidescent]

I haven't posted here in... 8000 years? Something like that.

Here's one of those 20-minute screencaps to prove I'm still alive. Gotta get back into the groove ASAP.

[Revidescent]

WIP scribble that I've been doing in between other work to keep my brain moving.

Androgynous prettyboy who... okay, honestly, he just looks like a girl. Whatever, I'm having fun.



Very... splotchy. After all these years, still feel like I don't really know what my style is yet.

[Revidescent]

Really shouldn't have two tiny posts in one day, should I? When I posted before I didn't think I'd have any more art time. And then I did!

Progress on the guy. Looking a little more male now? He's still meant to be pretty rather than handsome. His nose is messed up and the far eye is a pit of nothingness, but I think it's close to done-ish. Trying to decide if I want to do more with the hair. It's very rough at the moment, but I kind of like it that way.



And another 20-minute screencap study. This is the 9th; after the 10th one I may try to find a new source. Maybe go for the popular ones, Blade Runner or LOTR.

[Revidescent]

Aaaand done, I think. Might sit on it for a day or two before posting anywhere else to see if I notice any other problems. It was mostly just an exercise in what I could manage from imagination, after doing a bunch of studies... not bad, but back to the studies I think.



One more 20-minute Doctor Who study. Maybe the next one will be a different show/movie? This one had loads of tiny details... not really sure how to do this detail density in 20 mins...

[wasabi89]

Damnn, man
liked a lot your studies. The supernatural stuff is awesome !

[KDillon]

Thanks for stopping by my sketchbook =) Your figure studies are awesome, but my favorites are the environments. Would love to see how you'd do environments from imagination based on the practice you've done. I also really like the Bouguereau study!

[Revidescent]

wasabi89 - Thanks, those were fun!

KDillon - Thank you! You're right, I really need to do some enviro stuff from imagination... it's just kind of a leap I'm nervous to take. I don't feel like I have the mental library to do that sort of thing yet, which is silly, I should just jump right in and practice. =)




Oh geez, I really haven't posted since October? Oh man.

I was super busy with a design-type project that, unfortunately, left illustration by the wayside for a bit. But I am finally, FINALLY back in the game. Here's just some study-ish stuff:

Some man-eyes, all reffed from portrait-photos.org. (Despite the fact I know full well it isn't, I keep seeing that second one as Justin Beiber.)



20-minute screencap studies. I've finally moved on from Doctor Who; these are from Alien! (Rewatched it a couple of nights ago, and was struck by how beautifully the whole thing was lit.)





A photo study, ref here. Not feeling too good about this one, because the only really challenging part was the water, and I kind of botched it. (JUST realized now I forgot all the little orange highlights, OH WELL.)



Aaaaand a random... face... thing, maybe 30 minutes. Just an attempt to REMEMBER HOW TO DRAW after doing very little art for over a month. (Which, considering I still consider myself an illustrator, is WAY TOO LONG.) The facial structure here is godawful; I was just trying to get my hand moving.



Next goal: get my portfolio together, find some ILLUSTRATION WORK.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

great updates, good studies, but really do like the last portrait the most!

[Revidescent]

rumpenstiltzkin - Thanks! Interesting, I really wasn't happy with the portrait... or rather, I was happy with it for what it was, a doodle to get my brain working, but less so on its own merits. XD


More 20-minute studies from Alien! Super happy with the first one, much less so with the second. (BEARD.)





And here's the very, very early stages of a commission for a friend, of a bunch of her roleplaying characters playing poker. Not a lot of wiggle room for the composition/design/etc, but it should be fun trying to do this many characters in one shot. =D

[rumpenstiltzkin]

haha well i think sometimes the things we dont spend to much time on or think to much on is some of the better, studies can get a bit to stiff, and i just like the things from the mind more sometimes
again nice screencap studies, also the pokertable one will be interesting to see finished! i still fear of doing anything with more characters in it D:

[Revidescent]

rumpenstiltzkin - Yeah, most of the stuff I've done with lots of characters has been commissions for friends, and it's always really interesting because it's not something I'd generally think of doing myself. Challenges are fun! =D



More 20-minute film things. I might go back to Alien, but these are from Hellboy II which... look, I'm not gonna lie, this is one of my favourite movies. The plot is OKAY, but the lighting and art direction and colour and character design and everything else are just utterly perfect. Also, I love that elf man. (I might do some longer studies from this film, some of the scenery is so visually dense, but so, so gorgeous.)









Some more progress on the poker picture, in which you can see how haphazardly it's developing. I have no attention span.



Finally, uh... the D&D 4th-ed character builder now allows custom character portraits, which of course meant I had to DROP EVERYTHING and draw my RP characters, because PRIORITIES.

Finished:



In progress: