sketchbook (10th Feb 2007) 365 design challenge

**Farvus** · April 6th, 2006, 03:20 PM

Great stuff. I dig old aircraft desings and the girl with gun. You could easily illustrate some sci-fi RPG rulebook

.
Cheers

**machzero** · April 29th, 2006, 02:06 PM

sorry, been busy for a bit... crunch time at work, and it normally doesn't let up til the end of the year. Been doodling but it's a bit tedious to crop/resize/upload/edit/post... heheh...

replies first...

yo Onir! I plan to do more cars in the future also. Gotta get rid of that "pastel" look though. Must remember to put in mor specular highlights. Dug up some other old stuff too. Actual 3D stuff. Will post them later.

hey hpslashluvr, got a whole bunch more of those diagrams. May post them later, but will shrink them down. Afterwall, they're quite boring pics... heh. Erm... colour choice... erm... wouldn't know colour choice if it hit me with a 2x4.

kosh dude~!!! already wrote a reply in your thread, but looks like spyke could be heading home in a bit. Too bad your schedules never meet.

thanks Farvus! Would love to illustrate a scifi-rpg rulebook actually. Any takers? I work cheap... heheh. Most of the fantasy related stuff in this thread is sorta of linked to a traditional pen/paper rpg a few friends and I (koshime is one of them) were cooking up last time. We were discussing stuff, then thought "We need art!". Then thought, "we'll learn how to do art!".

anyway, got tons of stuff in the folders, but again they don't mean anything to anyone except myself. As an example, tons of designs that look like this...

aka as WTF is that!?!?

five mins later, they look a little better but still...

but is enough for me to continue on it after a long break cause most of the scribbles make sense. But another 30mins-1 hour....

needs rain... lotsa it. Particularly like the little car on the left. Was trying to pull a syd mead. It's simple 2 point perspective but with about 5-7 different vanishing points.

a little old, but a quick design for a DSG

later cleaned up with variants, will redo the wheels later, still not happy with them. Realistically, there are major flaws in its design (!@$!@ FWD with minimal load bearing axles!@%!@$) but will probably make up excuses later.

another quick DSG... but about 2-3 hours. Like the background, not that keen on the suit and equipment. Will redesign them if continuing on the pic. Some perspective distortion going on the leg to the right.

quick costume design, didn't think about the pose. Should have... however, gave me some alternate ideas on the clothes and equipment. Good as a reference pic.

colour study for another pic. Worked too small again, realised I didn't upscale the working resolution. Shown real size.

playing around... minimal planning... spot colours... insert dude with big gun...

**Onir** · April 30th, 2006, 11:58 AM

love your updates man, always so much good stuff to look at

that perspective drawing you've done is looking really nice; nice to see the initial sketches as well, shows your thought processes a bit (which is always cool to see hehe). As always your vehicles are extremely well done, love how clean you always make em. Must say these characters are looking really good! I like the pose on the girl in the red costume, and I really like the expression on the bottom middle one. post up that last one when ya finish it would be cool to see how it turns out

nice stuff once again man.

**Farvus** · May 1st, 2006, 08:19 PM

Hey. Nice to see you posting some new concepts.
I don't heve any Sci-fi rulebooks in mind. I'm writing my own RPG which is conversion from computer to pen&paper game (so it's less creativity and more of recreating world). However I stopped few months ago beacause I burned out and have no ideas. Hopefully, some day I'll finish this personal project.

My favourite piece from your last update is the enviroment concept. Quite simple composition which works well. The mood is fantastic

.

**glikster** · May 2nd, 2006, 10:36 AM

Wow... big update.... I really like the expressions in the last two faces! And that progression from random smudges to a city scene is crazy... i fyou were to go back and just see the smudges a month later, would you know what it is?

**machzero** · May 8th, 2006, 12:16 PM

yo Onir!

My thought process is always sometimes FUBAR... heheheh. I'm also missing big chunks of anatomy knowledge to finish up the centre pics. But got an idea of what I want to put into the pic. Maybe omit big dude with gun.

However, if you got question about how I do a certain pic, ask away. Might help me organised my "thought process". heh.

hey Farvus!

I know what you mean by creating or "expanding" a world. Got tons of those little projects myself or rather rotten ideas in my head. One day I'll sort out all these pics into their respective "worlds" or storylines and create proper gallery pages.

BTW, thanks again for you links to those online references!

hey glikster~!

hmm... lemme think. I think the original smudges are just placeholders. I'm already thinking, "3 buildings in the background... car to the left... figure climbing stairs in the foreground." Those are the blobs you see. But there's always some step between maybe stages 2-3 where "stuff happens". There, I'm working on autopilot to remember to do much "snapshots".

two very quick DSGs...

Spaceships! Wanted some utilitarian looking ships. Nothing too fancy, pure function. Will post the other designs another time.

Haven't cleaned up the lines yet, but it's enough to get the design down. Semi visible are the red guide lines have vanished into the orange and jpeg compression, but I laid out an initial rough box and extrapolated the remaining cargo containers (like that tutorial I posted much earlier).

interior detail. Quick 1 point perspective. Again, sketch was made to look right first before laying in the perspective lines.

**adummai** · May 8th, 2006, 12:27 PM

hey, man. Nice stuffs. You are definitely a great concept designer. I see a lot of cool ideas here and you are very inspiring (making me want to draw like 24 hrs a day). Vehicles and aircrafts, I think, are your strongest point.

**MattGamer** · May 8th, 2006, 02:04 PM

the first DSG design is sweet... i want one of those riders!!
i like the interior details pic... reminds me of Aliens concept art.... and i still remember back in the day on the DSG when you helped me with, i believe, a helicopter design and i think something about exaust from a space craft. thank you again for that help.

**glikster** · May 8th, 2006, 05:04 PM

very cool... thanks for the breakdown... nice gritty feel on the space truck....

**koshime** · May 9th, 2006, 05:38 AM

good updates sen. by the way, I think its time to totally do a overhaul of medievalfx and make it purely a digital tutorials website. Currently almost finsihed my template for koshime.com ....not sure whether to leave scrolling on or off. have it off for the moment

**Onir** · May 9th, 2006, 03:19 PM

nice updates man, those dsgs look really nice; always impressed how you come up with vehicles so well, that bike looks hardcore

spaceship you posted looks really nice, definitely utilitarian feel to it, and that interior view is great.

**Farvus** · May 14th, 2006, 08:53 PM

I dig the interior detail of this "space truck". It all looks totally natural.
Keep it up.

hp · May 18th, 2006, 10:03 AM

i love the design of the city!!! and i agree, it's amazing how you can clean up your sketches and make them look so professional.

as for the girls just make sure not to emphasize the "smile" lines, the lines that go from the edge of the nose around the mouth. they make the girl more masculine and also ages her.

**machzero** · June 15th, 2006, 10:03 AM

gotta clear the cobwebs outta here.

sorry about not updating. I don't have FTP at the second office, been to the main office twice in a month. Internet at home's been spotty for a long time til I realised the neighbours set their gawdamn wifi routers on the same channel as mine (my desk closer to their routers than my own at the other side of the house).

adummai- thanks! but certainly hope to work on my weak points. Unfortunately this update will almost be 100% vehicles.

MattGamer - you're welcomed~! If you have any more questions regarding vehicles whatever i'm doing, fire away.

oi glikster, for better worse, more space truck this update. Wanted to do some more "conceptual" stuff.

koshime dude~! nice updates to the website. Hope you still update the new gallery along with adding tutorials. BTW, spyke was back for about two weeks... took leave and did some sketches with him. It's mostly rubbish... but got new concepts to develop from.

hey Onir! I think I got a little library of vehicles in the head. Could be regurgitating them for all I know. But working on a little personal project atm, which involves tons of mechanical designs.

Farvus, thanks! Working on some stuff... sort of similiar to the RPG project you mentioned you were working on personally last time. Create a little world and fill it up designs/concepts.

yo hpslashluvr, trust you to hand out useful advice when it comes to my characters... heh Will keep those comments in mind.

hp · June 15th, 2006, 01:16 PM

i can't really ever crit on these since i'm not very familiar with the stuff...i would say either take out that light green or the purple on the front of the first object.

**glikster** · June 15th, 2006, 01:51 PM

these are great! I love the schematic quality to you mech drawings...

**koshime** · June 15th, 2006, 02:04 PM

Machzero > dude. good perspective and concept renderings on yrou recent spaceship designs. Yeah. I'm going to update the new website every 2 weeks as i have wireless broadband 3G/ HSDPA now.
If you like i'll start designign the MFX website in teh same vein as koshime.com and when you've got a few pieces, lets stick an enviro/space ship gallery or something on with tuts...

**machzero** · June 16th, 2006, 01:27 PM

hey hpslashluvr~! wanted some neon-like markings... a little too garish? heh. Still on my mechanical design run though, chars will be up next when I'm done with a few more designs.

yo glikster! going technical cause i want to crank out a bunch of designs that can be converted to 3D models. Bu the schematic was quite challenging to pull off though. Collaborating with an old buddy atm, our last effort almost ten years ago resulted in a pretty neat video clip.

koshime dude~!!! eagerly awaiting your updates. Latest stuff is collab between spyke and me. He'll prolly handle the 3D modelling cause I'm way rusty or we might swap roles halfway.

**koshime** · June 16th, 2006, 02:05 PM

he should be able to crank out the 3D stuff out now decently. no?

**machzero** · June 17th, 2006, 02:45 AM

yo,

no idea... i haven't seen any of his new stuff. A lot of it is probably under NDA, didn't ask him much about them.

**Farvus** · June 18th, 2006, 08:16 PM

Nice updates.
http://www.medievalfx.com/machzero/graphics/060520a.jpg - this one reminds me a bit of some small interplanetary cargo transporter from old computer game called Elite II: Frontier. It used to be really addictive for me

http://www.medievalfx.com/machzero/graphics/060613a.jpg - I dig this aircraft. It has very big hull so it might have enough space for carrying bombs of some sort.

Keep it up.

**machzero** · June 19th, 2006, 11:37 AM

hey farvus~! You got it! heh. When my friend and I sat down to sketch or write down our ideas, elite was the main inspiration (and some of the later space trading games like privateer). I recall most of the ships were mainly wireframe triangles back then. Saw it on an old appleII? and played the later versions on my old pc.

you're pretty much dead-on on the ship's function too. My emphasis was function over form for most of the designs.

anyway, time for designs arse backwards... 3D view first, followed by the extrapolated 2D (which means there are tons of perspective mistakes in the earlier ones). Doing the designs to make process of 3D modelling easier.

**glikster** · June 19th, 2006, 11:39 AM

cool new ships...

**Onir** · June 20th, 2006, 01:23 AM

whoa I missed a bunch here; I apologize for that. great updates though, your ships just keep getting better and better! I really liked this one http://www.medievalfx.com/machzero/graphics/060616a.jpg ; just has a really nice design to it imo. this most recent one looks really cool as well, 3d view definitely came out well. also has a nice cleanliness to it.. great work man always love seeing what you put out

hp · June 24th, 2006, 03:07 PM

nice....maybe use harder brushes so your ships come out cleaner? they still have a soft look to the edges...although this is just a unworthy opinion of mine >.<

**machzero** · July 6th, 2006, 01:01 PM

sorry, been too busy/lazy to upload pics. Plus nasty couple of weeks at work (management related). Trying to fight off an onset of a flu too... pulled a 20 hour work day recently with only 2 hours of sleep in-between.

hey glikster! i'm still on my spaceship binge... but won't post too many of them this time around. Also, still full of rotten ideas... gotta put them down on paper.

yo Onir! Thanks! Good to see everyone seems to have their favourite designs, means I keeping the designs diverse a bit (planning for various manufacturers/factions).

hey hpslashluvr, i'm using a 50% opacity brush with pressure sensity off... so i can simply use shift-click. Use to do stuff like this before I got a wacom. Soooo... the lines are pretty weak as you've mentioned. But trying to churn out concepts plus various views so I can pass them to a friend for the 3D stuff.

bunch of practise attempts, off photos and references

playing around with some shortcuts in photoshop... not sure about the results. Will be used as referenced for later pics if not finished.

haven't touched a pencil in a loooong time! but wanted to put a lot of ideas down on paper fast... more space concepts

costume designs?

**glikster** · July 6th, 2006, 01:13 PM

yay! Finally some pencils! I love the way you sketch the ships on paper...
also the 2nd girl in color is really good!

**koshime** · July 6th, 2006, 01:50 PM

good updates mate. like the new ship designs

**Onir** · July 8th, 2006, 01:20 AM

hey man great stuff as always; ships are lookin great and the digital portraits are really nice as well. those pencils though... NICE! lol seriously man you've got such a great pencil style, everything looks very well thought out and very intentful. great work man, post more pencils! lol

**machzero** · July 11th, 2006, 09:47 AM

yo glikster, onir~!

to be honest, I don't like pencils, other than to put quick ideas down (which is a good idea! heheh). These many years of doodling, and I still can't put down a good decent line. And I always smudge when using an eraser (even with kneadable putty erasers).

the ship designs won't make much sense, since i'm not posting the write-ups and data sheets, but they're all part of a "bigger picture". The rest of the doodles are also for "props" for this world concept.

koshime duuude~~!! hope to show you some of the 3D models spyke is prepping based on these sketches soon. He's done some low-poly stuff so far. But I guess work is keeping him busy.

anyway, quick 15 min pencil sketch for today's DSG... haven't practise much to be any good at rendering with a pencil but can doodle fast.

opened a little pocket sketchbook and started referencing of it into photoshop... another very quick work, just fast lines to get the perspective right.