Adam Stolterman's sketchbook / deathline 2013

[AdamStolterman]

1. By the end of the year, i will be able to fully suport myself doing art, storyboards and illustration work. Freelancing or getting hired. (it's part of my long term goal to fully be able to suport myself by doing game art).

2. Enter and finish as many online challenges as i can. (That means that i prioritise any work that i get.)

4. Take the communities and facebook and my blog seriously and use them to get to know people and stop being isolated from the rest of the creative world.

[AdamStolterman]

Yay! My first post in my sketchbook! This is awesome. This means that my studying begins this week as well. Read my goals above to understand what i'm talking about. Wish me luck!

This is the altar i designed for this weeks IDW. I call it The Elken Altar. I also added it to a story that i am writing called Betula. I am going to share more about the story later, but if you want to know a little about it now i did add a little description to the painting:

Betula is a city in northern Sweden, surrounded by a dark forrest that goes on forever. If you drive south from the city for about 20 minutes, and then step out of your car when you get close to Dry Mountain, and walk straight in to the forrest you will soon notice that you are standing at the edge of the marshes that surround the mountain. In there you will probably find more than a few remains of what people call Old Betula. No one really seems to know what exactly Old Betula was. One of these remains is The Elken Altar. At the top of a hill that seems partly built, there is an altar. Held in place by two giant moose antlers, that some stories say are real and left from a giant moose that lived when the altar was built, is a big white stone, and during moonlight is very easy to see through the darkness. It's said to have been used as maybe a light house at night to guid people through the swamp. Before, curious people could visit the altar by wading through the swamp, but now the water is higher, so now you need a boat to get there.

Any critique will be greatly appreciated!

[AdamStolterman]

This is a painting i did for a EOW challenge. But i didn't finish it in time. I really need to get faster.

[AdamStolterman]

A speed comic for the Panel of the Week. It was great! I haven't done comics for so many years. I didn't spend any time on it because i really wanted to get it done, but it was so much fun. Also i guess it's good practice. And yes it's called The Thef because i forgot an "i".

[AdamStolterman]

Gestures! It starts now.

[AdamStolterman]

A very quick selfportrait i did, and i sketched my cousin during breakfast while he was checking his email. I have actually been too busy with illustration work to do challenges or practice. It's totally awesome to have work, but it does kind of isolate me from the forums. I am not at all complaining, but i do miss you all!

[AdamStolterman]

Spring time!

[AdamStolterman]

I sketched my girlfriend between jobs.

[AdamStolterman]

A painting i did for a video game convention.

[Nemome]

Hey there and welcome to the forums!
Sad to see to one posted here yet.

So I'll do the job, huh?
You have a great start so far and setting goals is a great way to keep your motivation up.
I would suggest you to stop rushing so much.
Good paintings take their time. People usually work around 8-14 hours on a good rendered piece. Some more, some less. So it's not a shame if you work on a painting for a few days, instead of finishing it in one run.
Speed will come as you get better.

Also take care of your fundamentals.
Rules like perspective and how light and shadow behaves are important, so perhaps pick up some books that focus on it, like "James Gurney"s books. He's awesome and you probably already heard of him.

Keep it up!

Edit: Urgh, now my avatar is your sketchbook thumbnail, haha. Edit your first post and upload a painting or drawing with the attachment manager. This way the image will become your new thread thumbnail.

[AdamStolterman]

Hi! Thank you so much for the advise! I have a problem with wanting to rush everything because i want to get the job done fast, and also right now i mostly get panic jobs "Hey we need this done by yesterday", and i feel like i can't afford to turn down any jobs yet. So most of my work so far has been super stress-jobs. I guess that makes me feel like getting the job done very fast is the most important thing right now. The part that's sad about that is that most of my jobs so far has been less than perfect because i speed through them.

[AdamStolterman]

A scene from a dream i had last night. It was a pretty messed up dream! I really want to get better at using fewer strokes. I want to be able to show a scene without having to go in to a lot of detail to make it clear. Any critique is always very welcome!

[AdamStolterman]

Another scene from the same dream.

[AdamStolterman]

A sketch i did on a bus while looking out the window.