A sketch, a book, that's a sketchbook!

[LordBob]

More like, "finished artwork gallery" right know, but there had to be a starting point.
These are (mostly) character concepts that I've been doing over the past year or so. They're currently being used in an opensource game whose creators were kind enough to commission my work.

For starters, Mages.

[CarmenJudy]

All three are great work. I feel the third is the strongest. I admire the variety of brushes and textures you incorporated.

[Dvasklajys]

Awesome. Recently I was in a bad mood and lost all my motivation, so I decided I should check conceptart sketchbooks...
Glad I did it, you encouraged me to go on, I needed that, thnx.

To me, the 2nd and 3rd ones are cool, because the poses are more interesting and dynamic than the 1st...
( and the third one is the best, as CarmenJudy said... )

Also, in the 3rd pic front foot is looking a little bit strange to me. And the staff is almost placed on the same horizontal line as shoe's front.

Good luck. Subscribed.

[LordBob]

Dvasklajys, that's heartwarming.

Being the most recent, it's reassuring if you guys prefer the third portrait.
And speaking of it, here's a WIP of an alternate pose for the same character.

[JakehC]

great stuff! dont be afraid to push those values and

[LordBob]

Further progress. I've darkened the shadows on his robes so that his shape is better defined.
I've also fiddled with the folds, they should look better now.

[LordBob]

Aaand further progress. The rendering is finished and I've fiddled a bit with proportions. Next, I'll be tackling a quick scenery and adjusting the fancy FX.
I'll need to rework his face, though: I feel it lost some of its character in the process.

[LordBob]

Recreational activity for a break: landscape study and exploring the ArtRage oil tools. Partly from photo reference (the sky and background) and partly made up, which IMHO is horribly blatant in the tones of my grass. I definitely need to find good pictures of sunny meadows and study from them.

[LordBob]

Another study : scottish coast under the bleak sunlight of early spring.
And better greens, hopefully...

[Dirgeance]

Such vibrancy to your colors-- gives off that juicy feel...I can't help but feel some of it is lost when you're doing landscapes, but I can tell you're working on ameliorating that. You've got better control of the grass tones in the second study.

I'm looking forward to more pieces. c:

[sani*tea]

I adore your use of colours and texture, they give a real tactile sense to your work =) Only thing I could say is possibly giving the landscapes a bit more sense of distance to them, maybe just playing with the vaules to give them a greater sense of depth? Either way, don't be unmotivated as your work is wonderful ^^

[Leoz]

Love those wizards, keep it coming! Subscribed

[LordBob]

Dirgeance: you've nailed it. After spending so much time on characters alone, I've neglected backgrounds so it comes as no surprise that I'm struggling with them.
Sani*tea: you're absolutely right. I've been focusing so much on getting my colours right that I forgot about the "artifice" in "art". I'll try and improve composition/depth in future attempts.

Anyway, new study: Highlands meadows and forests on a foggy day. Not much interest as far as pictures go since I once again focused on colour alone, but another fine opportunity to practice greens.
I've alo found out that I suck at rendering distant foliage with brushstrokes alone - the result is messy and lacks character, I think. I need to find good forests depictions by impressionist masters and study how they do their foliage...

[LordBob]

Oh look, more trees!
Same area, different weather conditions; I've played a bit with composition, compared to the original picture.
I feel I'm slowly getting the hang of those greens, but texture/brushes in Artrage really feel limited; it has reached a frustrating point where I just know I could obtain a better result with Photoshop. Have to try working with both softwares...

[LordBob]

Some new stuff:
- figure studies. This one isn't as much about the art as it is about the story: I was doing a run of 30 seconds on posemaniacs - which I've had the pleasure of discovering thanks to these forums - but apparently I chose the hourly session instead of the intended 10 minutes. I was so much focused that I did like 90 poses before figuring something had gone astray...Meh.
- face construction & lights studies in preparation of an autoportrait

[LordBob]

Following on yesterday's studies, here comes the finished autoportrait. I painted it based on an autoportrait of Sargent - a really great painting that I will most likely study again in a near future - which explains a lot about the color palette and overall setting.

[LordBob]

Another landscape study : a huge moss-covered rock lying within the forest. Once again, I focused on colours alone.

[LordBob]

And another one focusing on brushwork and vivid colors, done after a great yet random still life painting that the Internet threw at me.

[LordBob]

A different kid of practice this week-end: I've realized that my understanding of perspective was somewhat lacking, which doesn't help when you're trying to conceive a large scene.
So, a series of exercises based on the Loomis books. I can now handle properly the basics, but I'm still struggling with shadow projection and repeating patterns. This is especially visible in the last picture, where the distance between the lower pillars feels off (they're meant to look as if they were evenly spaced) - and I'm still not sure what went wrong

Maybe I should modelize the scene with a 3D tool and check it out, but I can't help feeling it wouldn't reward my efforts with an actual understanding of how things work.

[LordBob]

New perspective study. The receding pillars have improved, but I'm still struggling with shadows that are projected on two perpendicular surfaces. I'll dedicate the next studies to that specific problem.

[LordBob]

And another two. At last, I think I'm getting the hang of lightsources and cast shadows in perspective.

[Azsha]

Hi, Lord Bob i could say you've done a great job with mages, very professional. Gz and keep posting!

[LordBob]

It's been a while. I'll get back to those mages soon, but in the meantime I've been working on a dark queen of sorts. The background isn't finished, but I'd like to leave some roughness in it so that it does't distract the viewer from the character. So next I'll focus on balancing polished details and rough brushstrokes between the two, and adding some atmosphere to the picture.

[Leoz]

Awesome!

[LordBob]

More landscape studies. I'm starting to feel the limits of ArtRage, and so decided it's about time I gave Painter a thorough try. I've been toying with it for a while now and was repeatedly driven off by its zillion setting panels and the confusion that arose from having so many different tools, each time reverting to Photoshop because I know it so much better. But Painter offers a feeling of authenticity in color and brushes that I fail to find in other software, so I really want to keep trying. It's gonna be hell, but here I come! ^^;

[LordBob]

Has it been a week already? The Dark Queen is done, and I'm now working on a lich character.

[twelvex]

Great studies, especially the environment ones! Wish I would be good like that One Day