Zebz's Sketchbook: One more update for the road... 1/8/09

[guggemmaneuver]

thanks for keep The Zebz Free in the Free World

it's cool to hear that you are making some headway on the digital painting front...keep at it, you know, trudge through that shit and you'll be the champion speedpainter before you know it. With trophies to prove it. that's right--trophies, not just sucky old ribbons. nice to see the life studies -- try to post more when you can.

all your zebz, they are belong to us
joel

[brokk]

Zebz,

First of thank you for the tutorial on values! I'm stuck with that subject so I'll be making some value practice and paying attention to your notes. Cheers!

On color,
I'm really not very versed on this to be able to give much input, you'd be better off with the chapter on color in "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis.
Still, I'll see if I can recomend a few things that have worked for me.

In photoshop, lower the saturation until you have a grayscale image, but the mode in RGB. Create a new layer, or set the brush to "color". Now paint away. The color mode adds the color you chose without altering the values. I think this is a good way to see if your values are correct. A lot of times you'll think that the color is off, but in reality, its the value that is off. Think of color as value. Color has properties that value doesnt, however, like variation of hues. Use and introduce different hues into the same subject.

If the values are well established, then you have a good base for the color, and using the color mode in PS is a good way to check that for me. Of course a lot of people paint strait into the image, but at least its a nice way of checking stuff.

Allright, I've become mentally blocked now, I guess thats all I can contribute this momment Hope it helps for something.

Cheers

[skvv]

the values and hatching are aces bro!!! you really got a knack for filling the page.

soaking this up as inspiration, thx!

[dCepT]

Cool stuff! I especially like the lifedrawing! The Phil Hale-like thing had a very long torso it seems... I like the face though! Could use some more seperation of the masses as well.. like the right (our right) bicep and the pectoral is a little... fuzzy.

Keep 'em coming!

d-C

[Qxzi]

Hey,

the life drawing and cartoons are great. I like the tree on the colour cartoon, cant wait to see all of it! With the life drawing, looks nice! Oh and don't throw them away! Keep them in a smart folder or something, and anyway, theres no point throwing them away!! With the portfolio thing, well I'm not an expert on them but here goes. Maybe you could include lots of stuff. EG. Life drawings, cartoons, concepts.etc. And put lots of different mediums in there.eg. paintings you have done, quick sketch's, pen drawings. Hope i have helped you out a little little bit, sorry if you have already done this. Wish i could of helped you more

Keep on drawing and posting dude!

Qxzi

[vigostar]

i really like the sketch of the dude in the tree but, i think your coloring is getting the best of you right now. i wish I had some pointers but Im a big newb when it comes to digi coloring. glad that your keeping up with the joneses!

[eXplosiveLimes]

Dude, I love the originality and goofiness of your characters. Awesome shading. This is something that I really need to work on too but, you seem to stick with light to mid range pencils. You should try playing with softer lead and work in some really dark values too. The only time I sketch with dark values is when I use ink. I really need to pick up a good 6B sometime and go at it. Anyway, awesome stuff, keep it up!

[madplanet]

Hey Zeb, I like the digital piece so far (although, I think that I like the sketch better!). My eyes are really drawn to his face, that cluster of features is done really nicely. I like how the eyes, eyebrows, and nose take up this small little space and below is this huge mouth grinning away. Keep up the great work.

[cburt]

ooooh yea...ok, yea, you called me on it, i apologize for the delayed response. you know, last semester and all, who'da thought it'd be a busy one? heheh, doesnt really help that my computer is in the shop as well right now. i hope the digipainting is going well, you've got a good start going, though i'd suggest taking a look at the color relations that are going on and bringing some of that green into the yellows and browns of the character. the drawings on page 6 are looking nice but not as resolute as some of the ones you've got on page 5...some of these cartoony-er character designs are coming along really nicely too, esp. the kind of bigfoot looking guy on page 5. promise, promise, i'll post some stuff soon...been working in the ol' sketchbook a bit lately so we'll see where that goes. glad to see you're doin well man, keep it coming.

-cburt

[Orozc0]

Nice life drawings! Keep it up! I want more updates!

[Zebz]

Well, I've been due for a long time so I figured I'd better get my arse in gear and update this with something. I'll start with the replies as usual.

Hazmataz: Thanks! Most exciting?! Heh. Hopefully we'll get there. Glad you liked the thread.

Rodrigo: Agreed. I was still really in the begining but I think somehow it lost some its charm, y'know? I'll revisit this and see what I can do about it. Hope you're doin' well. You gonna come along to the Montreal workshop? It'd be cool to actually meet you for once.

Max1975: Thanks for all those critz, Max! Much appreciated, man. Yea, that drawing was mostly just random stuff happening. I opted not to flesh it out so I won't be doing anything with it. I definately see my weekness of not working in a 3D plane more. By that I mean, I don't really create an environment for any of my characters or make them truely interact correctly with other things in space. This is something I'm trying to work on. I have a page in this updates of some rough things, trying to simplify the body more and make it easier for me to do this. Thanks for the push in the right direction. Loads of great stuff! And yea, you're right about the color one, it needs work too. See my post to Rodrigo. I'm startin' over on it. Thanks again, man.

Mr.Blonde: Thanks for your reply! I completely agree. I notice that when I start thinking about the skull more the facial stuff seems to take care of itself somewhat. But I seldom do that. Thanks for pointing it out to me again. I'll see if I can creep it in!

KingCoyote: Yea, I'm gonna redo it. It has lost something. I haven't revisited it yet but I will. Lemme see what I can conjour up this next go round. Thanks!

Odds: Thanks!

Guggen: There's my Doom Crue mate! Make sure your in GreenSocks room! Anyhow, yea, this digi stuff is rough go but I think I'm gettin' the hang of it. I just need to understand color more. And think more when I'm workin' on stuff. Errr... Can't wait for that freakin' trophy!

Bokr3kenSpirit: Thanks for all the critz, man. You and Max really came thru for me! I need to visit your SB's asap and offer some actual good advice for once! I'm a poor sketchbook group member. Sorry, bro. I hope things are going good for you! I'll definately be relookin' at those critz to help with me color probz. Thanks again!

skivvy: Thanks! They're my fav thing to do.

DCept: Yea, I was still workin' on those renders but I'm not gonna bother with it now. I was trying to elongate and make the proportions streched and strange. Using my illustrators license a bit. Heh. The face did come out surprisingly nice! Glad you like it.

Qxzi: Ok I won't throw 'em away. They'll just sit somewhere for year and years and I'll wait for the paper to yellow! Heh. Thanks for the helps!

vigostar: Thanks, man. I'll keep at it.

exPlosiveLimes: Thanks. Yea, I try to get pretty dark but sometimes these scan pretty light. But you're right. I don't get those smudgy B's in my work too often. Usually just build up. But I think if you'd see these originals you'd see they're pretty dark. I'll take that advice and heed it tho. I was just thinking that if might be night to actually use something softer the other day.

cburt: Like a freakin' ghost visiting my thread! I can't wait for your updates and you better get your ass to Montreal, man. Anyhow, yea, the toony stuff seems to be the strongest but I think my renders are getting stronger because of my practice on that style. Loads of hatches and stuff. I hope this update helps gives some more dignity and style to page 6. I hope you make it around to get back here again! Take it easy, man.

Orozco: Thanks! Well, here ya go!

ALRIGHT! Time for the update. This semester is still kickin' the ever lovin' crap outta me but I'm trying my best to get some sketchin' done. I have a lot of big assignments I'm workin' on as well as trying to get things in order for my Senior show. Senior semester is supposed to be strain free! Not for me apprently. They've got me taking a couple classes that are really just bearin' down on my patience. Plus I'm workin'. So Sorry for the lack of updates. Now I can't blame all of my lack of productivity on school and work. CA.org has been a great source of lack of productivity as well. Ha! Especially with that new 3.0 trying to come to life! I've been playin' alot over there rather than drawing. Grr. Also, I'm officially going to the MONTREAL WORKSHOP!!! WHAT?!! I'm so excited about it. So that's really ate a lot of free time too, chatting with people, thinking about it, reliving the old ones through pictures, I'm just psyched. I hope everyone of you plan on going!! I wanna meet ya'll! So post and lemme know and hollar at me if you're there! Ok. Enough talky. Here's my crap of an update. Much apologies. Hope it suits ya'll for now.

This is a photo and it's taken at a bad angle but I wanted to try and give you an idea of this piece I'm working on for my Senior show. Still sort of at the start and that 2H pencil isn't showin' up too well in the light areas. I also have another one to show the entire piece (can you make out that light line on the right? lol) and another to show my workspace ATM to give you an idea of how big. This is called "The Day of Pentecost".



The next one is me working out my ideas and compositional stuff in my SB. Might help you understand where I'm going. Just really rough ballpoint here.

My Egyptian CHOW try that I'll never finish...

Random sketch that I kind of like... may finish the renders on this and actually work the dorg out in the corner... again, these are all cuttin' off areas due to my scanner. Same ol' problem!

Some sketches trying to make characters interact and trying to make myself simplify the human forms a great deal more. I really want to get a hang on this so you'll see more of this. I also want to start creating more enviroments. We'll see. Just trying to make it simple on myself here.

And here's a dwarf that I'm going to finish as I get time. I kinda like 'em. I started drawing this when I was watching LOTR, surprise, surprise.

And a detail...


There ya go. More to come in the days to come... till then... take it easy, guys! Thanks again for the comments and critz! Bring on s'more! BTW, also thanks for the stars! I'm pushin' 4.09 right now! ALRIGHT! Ha! I've topped teh 4 mark! Something for me to be proud of 'eh? Thanks a lot, guys.

- Ryan

[Flaskpost]

aaaaaaaaaaah man! fucking sweet! so damn awesome progress since i last checked your pencil stuff! wich wasnt that long ago, either!
my jaw dropped when i saw that last one, the dwarf fella!
you´ve taken your stuff to a new level, dude.
keep up the good work!

and btw, got no crits. im too impressed!

/flask

[Zord]

Hey man, digging this update like a paleontologist. The loose pen sketches are neat, I always like seeing those in people's sb's the best. Keep the hard work up son!

[bumskee]

hey!, you have an awsome desk.. tiday as well, well compared to some I have seen. How you doing anyways? hope it's all good. Very nice pencil work.. and love the chow wish u had finished it, making a very nice progress with your rendering and ideas. Keep scribbling! and hav fun at montreal, guess it's still a fair bit away. cheers

[SirGreenSock]

Hey zebz, hardcore update!
The senior project looks awesome so far, judging from the ballpoint sketch, looks like its gonna kick some major ass when its done!
Love the dwarf guy too, except for his toothpick-handle axe, seems a bit brittle.
Keep churning out the updates, its one of the few things keeping me sane until june. O_O

[kingcoyote]

hey Zebs!

The pentacost piece is looking totally rad, man! I haven't really got anything productive to say today... Sorry!

It looks like I wont make it to Montreal... I was gonna try, but then life got in the way (Damn bills!), so any way... there it is, and there's always next time, right? In the mean time, I know you're hella busy and all, but we should get together sometime... It seems a shame to live so close, and never hang out innit?

Senior year is rough, but it's totally worth it... you're almost there, keep up the good work!

It's always cool to see other peoples workspace too. Cool
stuff!

Later.
KC

[Azrael]

Pretty cool stuff man. I like the dwarf.

[IanE]

The drawf is lookin' good! Reminds me of the art in the Warcraft2 player's guide.... awesome.

[HEROIC]

LOVE ur sketches.Love u, ( if u dont do ne harm >__________>)


D00d, the lsat 2 upadtes are awesum, steam comin outta my head. this is the kindda style i want to have / those poses with glasses, specialy O__o that one are my fav/
AWEsum, my dream has come true, i always wanted to kill one of the superheros -__- . nehow, thats what i like about ur work, varirty. and its not typical. ur ideas are unique

cant wait to see u drwaing, LIVE. o_________o .


AMi

[fooxoo]

Greaaat new updates. Realllly like the big drawing you re doing, looks very promising!
Wish I could go to the Montreal workshop .... How can one get there anyway? Cost much??

[guggemmaneuver]

we're going to have to frame some of these for the Hallowed hallways of the citadel of doom... very freaking nice!

[Zulle]

Hi ZebzFree
you got some very funny stuff in here =) your comic style is awesome
your rendering technique is cool but time consuming i guess - i wouldnt have the patience
that ballpoint pen scetch is my favorite of that latest update - very loose i luv it
ahm keep it up !

[pennington]

hey major props to you sir. i finally got around to looking in here cause of all the ref's about you around here. i guess i'm biased to your avatar, even though i like the guy and his show. it just bugged me a bit hahaha.

[rodrigo!]

awesome stuff man, a huge improvement! the rendered one with all the faces is great!!! really top stuff! although the horned guys eyes look a bit far apart. Really cool style there as well.
keep up the good work and good luck with finishing the course

[max1975]

http://ryanbowlin.com/Sketchbook/sb136.gif: Looking good, not much else to say...they're still just standing there though zippermouth does have a cool sideways slouch goin' on...

Dwarf is excellent...very stout...great work on the arm positions...the head is maybe ever-so-slightly off-center, but don't worry about it, it's very subtle and minor and completely not worth messing with...fantastic nose again, and I'm gonna study those eyes, the interaction of the upper lid and socket is very well done, I've been completely missing that...

The guy with the pick has a nice hunch...your figures are getting better with regard to that body language storytelling i yammered about a while back. Great subtle work on the facial expression too, even though I can't quite figure out what the eyes are doing at this point.

I don't know about the cartoony guys...they should get better as you do them more but I guess I don't see the simplification as accomplishing much. I guess the poses are a bit more dynamic, but you could rough them out even more simply to get that energy, and then finish them off with in your usual fashion, which would look pretty awesome. I guess I'm just not seeing what you hope to accomplish with these, so maybe I'll just shut up about 'em for now

Hey, next time you're bored and feeling altruistic, it'd be fantastic if you could post a tutorial type thing on your process for constructing/designing faces...I think you do the richest character faces around here, and that's no small thing.

[Dutton]

Hey man, digging this update like a paleontologist.

Haha! Nice one Zord.

Zebz, isn't it funny how LotR makes you wanna sketch and paint every living moment you have left? The shot in the extended features where Alan Lee and John Howe are sketching enviros for the Shire gets me every single time. That said, your dwarf is looking very very cool, and definitely a bit of Mr. Lee showing through.
It looks like we're both in the same boat about how and where we're trying to push our art. I like the direction you're taking so far and I'd love to see the finish on that piece you're doing for the senior show.
I'll answer your question over in my SB in some more detail along with a couple image shots since I actually hold my paintbrush and charcoal the same way. And as far as tips on getting your ideas down on paper as fast as you come up with them, I can only wish there were 48 hours to a day. :/

[Qxzi]

Hey,

great update! Like the cartoons. Nothing esle to say

Qxzi

[cburt]

yo zebz, its a nice update, the big drawings lookin pretty good so far, but like we've talked about before, i think it'd be awesome to preserve some of that gesture thats in the sketches. the page of sketches of the guy with the glasses and sewn lips is probably my favorite, its super loose and has a lot of life. its pulling in some of the style and gestural elements that exist in your cartoonier work without sacrificing the more "formal" character design qualities. somethin that i gotta work on too, keeping yourself brief. the dwarf guy's comin along but looks like he could use some more contrast, more dark shapes specifically. keep em coming, lets get this sketch group started, i'm excited.

-cburt

[neoknocker]

HEY!!!!
You've improved lots man! I'll try and go for 2 days (for sat. and sun.) to the WS (Mostly due to money trouble). If I cant attend on the weekend, I'll go make a small trip to MTL, to meet you guys and have a beer or two.

[Mikko Voipio]

Almost everyday I go through your thread and find out that you haven't updated. Huge disappointment. Shame on you. Sketch you lazy ass monkey boy. Btw. Im quite jealous of your drawing table. Could you send it me?