Topcross' Sketchbook

[Topcross]

Hi everyone,

I'm a student digital arts and entertainment.
I've been drawing for quite a while as a hobby but decided to step it up a nodge.

All comments and tips are most appreciated.

[Topcross]

Some quick aircraft sketches:

[Topcross]

Attempt at some fighting poses:

[will123will]

I like the first digital piece, only thing is there seems to be something about the blending, not sure what it is maybe it needs to be smoother.

[Topcross]

Yea, I'm still working on my blending in photoshop, it isn't always quite as smooth and clean as I'd want it to be. It tends to get messy and I spend a long time just to get one gradient clean, but I guess that something that comes with doing it more often? any tips appreciated

Some quick color/enviroment studies, some from ref, others from imagination:

[WRappiii]

good start, man. nice colors on those last two landscapes

[Topcross]

Thanks

here's another one:

[will123will]

I'm linking the first environment in number 5

[Passhunate]

You're doing pretty well. I would do some still lifes in with photoshop. That might help you become more confident in your coloring. You should also focus a little anatomy since it one of the hardest things to understand. Try to polish your studies a little more. You should also join the crimson daggers. Its a awesome group. Here are some sites that I use that help me.

http://enliighten.com/

http://www.ctrlpaint.com/

http://scottssketchbook.blogspot.com/

[Topcross]

Thanks for the advice. Also nice links, much appreciated

Stupid question maybe, but what are the Crimson Daggers?

Some studies off anatomy I did after old masters:

[Kino_PuA]

Good start! Subscribed! Can't wait to see more of your progress

[Topcross]

Thanks.

Anatomy study. More coming soon, there alot of fun:

[blindshot]

Good work! The thing I'm noticing about your figures is that they lack a distinct waist. The edge of the body tapers inward after the ribcage and then back out as it reaches the hips. This "hourglass" shape is less prominent in males than females, but it still exists. The figure to the far right in your most recent post has a particularly straight waist. If you bring those sides in it will look a lot better and also serve to separate the lower body from the upper body.

[Topcross]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind on my next studies.

[will123will]

Figure studies are looking better, what I would suggest though is going for the inner details rather than just the outline and I also noticed some of the proportions such as the neck seems to be slightly small. By the way, I think I realised what was wrong with the blending in your first piece, your midtone transitions are running into your core shadows, rather than being a transition solely on the midtone area, it's something I have realised that i have been doing in my digital painting and I'm now trying to correct it, I could be wrong though but you should take a look at how midtones curve on a plane though and come up with your own opinion.

[Topcross]

By the way, I think I realised what was wrong with the blending in your first piece, your midtone transitions are running into your core shadows, rather than being a transition solely on the midtone area, it's something I have realised that i have been doing in my digital painting and I'm now trying to correct it, I could be wrong though but you should take a look at how midtones curve on a plane though and come up with your own opinion.

Not quite sure what you mean by this.

EDIT: looking at the painting again, it seems that the midtones are going too far into the left side of the painting, where it should be shadows, do you mean this?

[Topcross]

The first one is a work in progress for a school assigment.

Assigment: design a submarine that cleans the oceanfloor. Use the same design elements as an old camera.

The second one is a quick environment.

[will123will]

yep thats what I meant about the shadows, and I really like that new submarine post, looks really good.

[WRappiii]

that submarine kicks ass, man

[danuese]

The Submarine looks really good, I like how you incorporated the camera designs into the submarine.

The environment picture has a few perspective issues with the bridge that extends from the stairway, but the colourwork is really nice.

[Topcross]

Thanks.

yup the perspective is awefully off there, not sure how I missed that one while drawing it ah well, it's from the stupid mistakes we learn the most.

Didn't have much time today to draw, had a math test, managed to do a quick color study with the good old pencils:

[will123will]

This is just a small thing, but I think with your sketches you should try sharpening your pencils more often or getting a mechanical one. Don't know whether it might be your scanners fault though. Oh and i like your last piece.

[Topcross]

Yea ever since I started drawing (way back when I was a kid), I kinda got into the bad habit of not making very clean drawings, sharpening my pencil not often enough, applying to much pressure and smudging the entire page. Trying to lose that terrible habit now, my sketches are already alot cleaner than they used to be but still a long way to go.

One major thing that I noticed since I started scanning them is that the lineweight is sometimes awefully off, what looks good on a piece of paper looks terrible as soon as I scan it because there lines are not equally dark where they should be.

Anyways, update on the submarine, applies some rough textures, still needs alot of work, mainly cleaning up and working out some details better :

[will123will]

It's looking good.

[blindshot]

Whoa! Really loving the submarine! And thanks for visiting the sketchbook again. Next figure study I'll post in progress stuff with a commentary to explain what I'm doing!

[Topcross]

A quick study of a skull, some practise in shading, and I thought I'd upload my some renders of my exam 3D that I turned in today as well.

[WRappiii]

That 3d stuff is awesome, man. what programs were used?

[Topcross]

Thanks. 3Ds max and then photoshop ofcourse for the textures.

[Topcross]

Another update on the submarine, I'm wondering if I'm overdoing the rust or not. (According to the assigment the submarine already operates for 40 year)

[WRappiii]

I wouldn't say that you're overdoing the rust. I think it depends largely on what kind of style you're going for. the original looks more polished, kind of steam punkish, while the new one looks more realistic. Like it's underwater, maybe even abandoned. (which may be what your going for?)
The amount of texture on the new one is an improvement in my opinion.