bRØk3n_sPiRiT's sketchbook

[brokk]

Hey Joan Pau, you're right, the anatomy on the last cow could (should) have been thought out more before jumping into the rendering. I'll try to plan muscular structures instead of just simple shapes beneath external things like hair from now on. Thank you for the crit and the comments, keep posting in your sketchbook!

Allright, I have slacked too damn much! I was supposed to keep this updated more frequently. God damn. Allright, I've been doing some new things and here are some, I realize I need to study much more and in shorter time spans. I'm very disperse... I try to do everything at once and if I study only a certain subject after a while I get bored and want to do something else. Well, if thats the way its going to be, then the least I can do is start doing more. And faster. Lets see if I can keep up.

A shoe sketch. I like where the rendering is going, even if its unfinished. Lines are too sketchy. Need to focus more on that.


Trying out some lighting things


sketching lines from life. The lines still look sketchy.


A charachter, snail warrior type dude. Not quite finished yet. Since he's a snail you would think he moves really slowly, which he does, though I think this design problem can be solved if the guy tucks himself within the shell and rolls around really fast, or something like that. Maybe I'll try to do some sketches of that.


Girl charachter wip


I had to do this fast, I was waiting for the bus


On the bus


From the street. I notice serious perspective problems now that I didn't quite see before, though I knew there was something off with the perspective.


Inside a building, everything is unfinished because we were on the move. Its still quite dificult to sketch fast and still nail down the proportions/perspective correctly. Thats one thing to really focus on now that I think about it, nailing the proportions/perspective the best I can as fast as I can at the same time.


Street again.


Street thumbnails. The errors, mainly perspective/proportion are evident even in the thumbs. More reason to practice what I mentioned before:


cathedral from the street


again


Trying to organize daily objects into a composition and paint it, just started with the base colors, wip


Just letting loose, some chaos. It would be cool to do this kind of thing with a really incorporated knowledge of proportions/anatomy/lighting/perspective etc etc


Character wip


the line sketch for this weeks cow, I'm not really convinced by it... but I can't really say what it is that I dont like about it. If you have any crits on this (and anything other for that matter), please share them with me.


and this weeks cow painted. Again, I dont like it, but dont know really why... I suspect there is problems with the lighting and color choices, crits would be greatly appreciated.


some characther thumnails


Focusing on daily objects and on the lines, making them less sketchy and more defined. For this, I started using a blue pencil today, for the sketch, and then using a 2B or a 3B pencil to mark the lines that I like. The blue hardly shows up when scanned so I can be more sketchy/messy with that, and do the clean lines with the 3B


More


Allright. I think I'm starting to focus in a study direction (I think, and hope). Your crits are appreciated greatly.

Until next update.

[Diego]

hola martin, lots of stuff, lots. Really cool, you've been slackin'? don't think so, i think if your head is in the right place, i mean, looking gestures in the street while you're walking, analysing the perspective of buildings, seeing the color of the sky in the afternoon, facial expressions, how the lips moves, etc. You're working, its hard to download all that to paper, but it think its good to the eye.
I really like the COW, very dark, hehe. Good stuff martin, you're doing more than great with you cows.
Cheers dude, and stop slacking. Somos pocos aca, y tenemos que poner huevo. jaja

[joiton]

Hey Martin!!
Greeeeat COW man!!!!!
Se re nota que es gigante, y me encantan los colores que usaste che!! muy copado.
Lo unico que no me gusta es que te comiste bocha del detalle del dibujo, estaria copado que le hicieras tipo una luz de rebote (sutil para que no pierda oscuridad) asi se nota todo el laburo de linea que le diste al bicho.
Keep the hard work man!!

[brokk]

Thanks Diego, for reminding me to keep sane. Yeah I know what you mean, I look a lot of what reality seems to me and try to analize that visually, but its when you try to represent that in a medium when the works starts from a different place. Or something like that.

Somos pocos aca, y tenemos que poner huevo.

Hell yeah.

I forgot to post this, its not really something great and it can be done in a few minutes, its just a ball in photoshop. I'm posting it anyways, because I'm doing a lot of these excersises to try and render things, a lot of them basic shapes, in photoshop and painter.



Good luck.

EDIT: Thanks joiton! You're right, a lot of detail is not there because of the shadowy parts, I'm reading a crit right now over at the cow activity that says use a light to define some stuff too, maybe moonlight. I'm gonna try, dont know if I will make it to the deadline or if it will give good results but at least as an excersise to see what happens. Thanks again.

[thief]

hey nice sketches, keep up! :] those leg studys look good.I like that ball monster
i think light from that house does not come that high on monsters surface,cause its round, lited area should be narrower.And if that light reaches the monster why it can not reach some bushes around or something else (more depth) Yeah, upper part could be lited by moon, also eyes could be shinin in the DARK ..

[brokk]

Thanks thief, yeah I have to try the lighting on the cow.

Organizing life objects into a composition. Should be less sketchy.

[BAKI]

love the COW designs, bad ass stuff

[Diego]

Really good martin, very good sense of perspective there, very good. Really like it. You can do these excercises 'til you feel confortable with lines and there start to use values, and makin some interestin' compostions based on lightinin' and stuff.
Try to do as much of these as you can, it's tedious at first, but you'll see some improvement in your lines, that's for sure.

Anyways, nos vemos martin, segui dandole duro.
Saludos

[brokk]

Thanks BAKI, I'm working on it

EDIT: Thank you Diego, yeah I plan on making many more, they are tedious at first but they get less tedious the more I do. I want to make some with the lighting as well.

Here is an illustration excersize half way... I feel a bit stuck on this one. Its inspired by the deep sea c.o.w.
I posted it in Sketches and Works in Progress to get crits, if you can spare the time please crit it there or here.

[bumskee]

Hey! some nice stuff here, your COW entries are very nice. solid studies, all looking good from here. keep it going!

[brokk]

bumskee, thank you : ) C.O.W. is a great activity, and a great learning experience. I'm going to try and join the other two community activites as well.

Organizing daily objects into a composition again


And now, instead of organizing them, looking for compositions around:


More


If anybody has any tips, pointers, suggestions or comments to improve on this kind of studies, please share your thoughts. Your insight and your crits are appreciated.

[brokk]

Ok, I tried to follow the crits on this weeks c.o.w. entry, added a secondary moonlight kind of thing, a little color to the sky and brighten up the stars a bit. I don't know if this is working better, or is worse. What do you think?

C.O.W #26 - Massive Black


Starhide Nightjaws
The countryside of the lands of Arathza are a beautiful and tranquile place to spend vacations. Forests, rivers and lakes, mountains... nature. A popular activity is star gazing on warm summer nights.
Though there is only one danger in this peaceful paradise. Sometimes its not the stars the visitors are gazing, but the shinning, scaly hide of an enourmous, triple-jawed monster! Indeed, the Starhide Nightjaws, as the local bestiarists have named it, creeps around with its worm like body through the night, feeding on dozens of the largest animals it can find. Ocasionally, the visitors who come to rest make for a good snack.

[scumgrinder]

ha i never noticed your location and i saw that other dude writing in spanish and i was like wtf. I like your character designs, lots of detail in them.

About the cow, i noticed you added highlights at the back, just one comment. The candle looks pretty dim but it's somehow making big areas of the creature visible. However, little or no texture of the creature is revealed by it. So i'd try to fix those two things. Making the highlighted areas at the front coherent with the size of your lightsource, and the creature's skin's texture at the front., you don't have to show a lot but it has to be coherent with the other areas that are highlighted (gums, teeth).

[Zebz]

Lovely line drawings and gestures! Everything just keeps getting beter and better with you! You're gonna be a ConceptArt.Org Star in no time at all, man! You work so freakin' hard it's ridiculous! You make me feel like such a slacker!! Keep it up! Man, I love those lines a lot. So clean! Are you usually hitting that line you want right away or is it a struggle? Great, updates. The COW entries are top notch as well. The last one is pretty dark tho. Maybe define areas with hint of light? Nice tho.

[brokk]

lol scumgrinder : P Yeah I'm from Argentina, I lived in Seattle when I was younger though, and picked up some english on the way.
I'm really pleased you like the charachter designs, its something I wanted to do for a long time, and now I feel I have the confidence to start doing : )

You're totally right on the crits for the c.o.w. entry. I made some corrections (hopefully) and posted them below. The thing is, I exaggerated the light on the front area on purpose, because otherwise it looks too dark. But, this gives an unrealistic effect. So I'm puzzled. Maybe I should through this damn thing in the trash haha.

Ok, this is what I think the light would look if it wasn't exaggerated. The problem is just that, a lot of the creature gets lost in the shadows.


Here I tried lowering a little the opacity on those shadows, so the texture shows a bit. Its still dark, but its the best middle ground I could manage to reach between realistic lighting, and showing the creature.


Ok, this is going to be the final version I think, because the deadline is tomorrow and I need some sleep right now (real bad, but first... nocturnal snack. Like my cow. Muahaha. Dam I should be sleeping )
Still feel like throwing this to the trash.. but what the hell. Its a learning experience (plus you wont see me posting the same image over and over again ; P )

Hey Zebz, how's it going? I'm looking at your sketchbook right now and commenting there. I work hard? I was going to say the same thing about you! Every time I look at your sketchbook I feel like gearing up and start doing stuff, no shit. You have a very broad production and you're fast, even if you say you're slow. Keep that stuff up.
Lol, conceptart star? haha, thats crazy talk. I'll be a star when I see some greens baby! $$!! (I really should be sleeping...)

Well, on the lines I'm cheating actually. I'm making a quick sketch with a blue pencil first, and then going over the lines with a 3B trying to keep those clean. The blue pencil hardly shows when scanned, so I can be more sketchy with that. Still, I try to make more defined lines from the start, its a struggle, but I get more used to it the more I do (I hope). You're right on the cow entry, I tried to correct the lighting problems, it has destroyed my brain : P

Thank you guys for stopping by and commenting, as well as taking the time to crit. Take care!

[Nutter]

good to see you trooping on with the COW activity, this one has a similar bearing to your deep sea COW. They are both massive so I guess that's understandable. Great sketchbook.

cheers.

[Danomight]

That last one is so cool, I feel like something like that is always gonna come outta the trees whenever I'm driving in the country late at night. Greak work man.

[brokk]

Thanks guys.

Nutter, yeah... I'm addicted... I hope to be addicted to c.h.o.w. and e.o.w. too, and learning more : ) You keep posting as well.

Danomight, thanks! Thats the effect I was going for, so your comment was really flattering! : )

Cheers.

[brokk]

Just a small update for now. I finally got a tablet and I've been messing around with it, but its made me realize just how much I should be practicing traditional media and the basics (perspective, proportions, anatomy, lifedrawings, comp, design, etc). Call me an idiot, but if anything, its a mouse with pressure sensitivity and a different way of holding it. Its faster and much more versatile, but its another tool, not some magic aid. I need to put more focus on the basics.

life


life


charachter of the week lines


and the values. Looks too blurry... its pretty unifinished... I didn't manage my times well : S
Well, a lesson learned.


Enviornment of the week round 2 image. Again, same case as the charachter of the week, its unfinished. I need to learn to manage my times better, and not wait for the last moment to do everything.


Hopefully more soon. Again, your crits are more than welcome.

[Diego]

hey martin, really cool update, i see a lot of things happening.
Love the stairs and perspective, in my building i have the same kind, thought about drawing it but never did it.
Glad you have a wacom, as you said it's just a tool, so keep drawing and drawing.

[brokk]

Hey Diego, thanks man. I'm trying.
Well... I guess I can just say one thing about the stairs of your building: go draw them
You're going to have a wacom soon too my friend, just don't loose sight of what you want. Steal it if you have to. But I don't think the tool is what matters most...

Just a small update, manekin sketch


Thanks for stopping by.

[joiton]

Hey Martin!
Congratulations for your wacom!
Cool update, great manekin study, it's all wacom?
Ohh, and from breast critic to brest critic :
The chow breasts are too close to the neck, and look more like big pectorals, remember that breasts usually are a little lower than the pects.

Well, i better go back to my chow #2 sketches...

Saludos, keep posting!!

[JTumburus]

Estuve viendo el thread y realmente se nota un progreso interesante del primero al último post, seguí así!!
Por cierto, veo que se armó una pequeña congregación de argentinos

[Diego]

very good painting, keep doing studies with your wacom...don't be lazy.
Nos vemos.

[brokk]

Thanks guys : )

joiton: you are right! I'm looking at the image right now. I hope to be doing some anatomy studies this week.

JTumburus: gracias, si, creo q somos los unicos que vi hasta ahora, junto con alguien mas q se llama Carlos Cabrera, se pone Negrotuerto de nick. Creo q somos los unicos 4 argentinos que vi hasta ahora : P

Diego: thank you. I appreciate your encouragement a lot man, really. I'm keeping track of your sketchbook too : )

Ok, just a few things for now, trying to get a grip on the wacom, and practice some drawings trying to keep the lines clean, but this time imaginative subjects.

C.O.W entry for this week, Messenger of Death. I really don't like how it turned out:


So I tried changing it a little, it ended up worse
Oh well... I'll try something different next time.


Lines for the Enviornment of the Week, the Tavern in the Trees


And the final version. Again, I don't like how it turned out.


DSG 918 - Animal version of the terminator skeleton


Lines for the Charachter of the Week, Human Merchant.


Starting with the values


More


And the final version. I think its lacking something, but I'm happier with this one than with the other things I've been doing.


Need to study and practice more.
Again, your crits and insight are appreciated. Thanks again!
Cheers.

[brokk]

OK, I corrected a few things in the charachter above, thanks to Madster in the Critique Center for pointing out the anatomy issues.

Some changes done, with the measurements


Without them


I wanna do more anatomy/proportions studies. Especially in perspective, and then trying to incorporate them into compositions. And after that character interactions. Whew, going way over my head here! Its gonna take some time, but its on schedule ;P

For now, I've started the hands chapter of Drawing the Head and Hands by Andrew Loomis. I plan on doing the rest of the chapter before the weekend (hopefully).









Here, after finishing the construction page, I attempted some hand construction from my mind, and then looking at my own hands as reference. I want to do more of that too.


Ok. Need to gear up. Hope to see you soon (which means, update) : P

[brokk]

Super quicky
DSG 923 - Horror Fun: Girl possessed by demons plays teatime with exorcist and friends

[brokk]

I looked out my window and the light was comming from behind some bushes... so I decided to paint it quickly. Dam, natural light changes really fast at some parts of the day, I could see it change and light up the sky as I was painting



Oh well morning's here and I haven't slept. Hmm... big breakfast, and more Loomis. I'll sleep when I'm dead (which is around lunch time, usually : P )

[Diego]

hey martin, really nice update, a lot of studies.
The loomis' studies are coming along really nicely, i wanna do some loomis' as well, but i wanna get them printed before.
Really like how clean your drawings are, and these hands are looking sweet. Try to do more looking your own hand and looking for the simple form that loomis describes or look them for your own, also look where the line gets darker and add more weight to the line to indicate deep or volume.
Anyways keep up the good work.
Nos vemos.

[brokk]

Thanks Diego. Printing the Loomis books killed my ink supply. Twice. But its worth it... Besides, you only need to print them once, and if you take care of them, they'll last you hopefully for a lifetime (cd backups can't hurt either : P )
Yes, you know, lately its like I'm trying to understand how forms are... how they occupy space in 3D, and drawing the part that is visible to me, but keeping in mind the 3D nature of the form. It sounds more coherent in my head, I assure you
Yes, well just now I arrived at the part in the chapter where it says to draw your own hands, so I'll be doing that in the next update hopefully, and I'm going to try to vary the line weight as well. Thanks for stopping by and for the comments and crits Diego, I really appreciate them, as I do with your encouragement

So, up to the drawing your own hands, haven't started on that yet.