sketchbook (10th Feb 2007) 365 design challenge

**machzero** · January 4th, 2006, 01:25 PM

some quick 30 min sketches.... need to get back into some mechanical designs.

koshime - duuuuuude~~!!! Got some updates planned. Some older stuff first, then the new. BTW, had lunch with fahri a week ago. Dude's surprised you aren't putting people under with punches to the shoulder... heheheh. Emailed him the link to your thread.

Razorb - thanks! Don't do mechs much nowadays, haven't for years actually other than some recent CA activity. But expect some new stuff.

MattGamer - hope to give you more stuff to view. Heheheh.

**machzero** · January 10th, 2006, 12:54 PM

Another quick dump... talking to myself here... heheh. Quick wip of a coloured pic, most of which are never posted online.

Then playing around with perspective. Quick ones, sketching first, then laying in the lines for correction. Followed by a quick idea to be fleshed out later and a DSG.

**machzero** · January 23rd, 2006, 10:54 AM

another DSG dump...

**machzero** · January 23rd, 2006, 10:55 AM

quick piece for the industrial design weekly... didn't bother to work on various designs, just did a fast thumbnail and expanded on it.

**machzero** · January 23rd, 2006, 10:57 AM

working full time doesn't allow much real life sketching... so... working off photos I've taken previously...

**machzero** · January 24th, 2006, 12:32 PM

two quick thumbnails... building a library of designs for a potential future project. Both aren't related.

**machzero** · January 25th, 2006, 10:30 AM

good... bad... the suck?

switching gears again... koshime says, "do more colour and environments..."

collaboration coming soon, hopefully.

**Sunny** · January 26th, 2006, 11:46 AM

machzero. i remember when you drew a lot of these. its good to see you come around to doing some more finished and fullcolored works. you have quite the collection now I must say. You should think about creating a poster and getting one printed for yourself.

Keep it up. You have improved so much.

**Master 25 Days** · February 9th, 2006, 04:32 AM

Your environmetns are quite impressive. Do you paint them that size or did you resize them? Looking fwd to more. Enviroments aren't my forte so I can't really crit haha.
I particularly like the depressed bot and the boy who tried to be a bot. Great ideas there.

**glikster** · February 9th, 2006, 09:18 AM

Wow... I love your DSG's... they rock.

Definitely (as you've been told) anatomy is what you need to work on. Do some studies of the shoulder, shoulder girdle and upper torso...
What I've been doing is trying to draw a figure, seeing where I screw up the worst (that being a very fine distinction cuz it's all screwed up) and doing a bunch of studies of that area.

Very cool IDW, although I'm not sure how practical those pockets are...

hp · February 9th, 2006, 10:26 AM

wow so much stuff!!!!!!!!

i've been thinking about joining the dsg but so often it involves some sort of mech robot that it bothers me ^^ (really i should work on that kind of thing though)

i would say your main problem is contrast and your people seem a little short/small

**Farvus** · February 9th, 2006, 11:11 AM

Wow. This sketchbook is filled with ideas from the first post. These are the benefit's from painting for every DSG

.

I think you should be careful with using too soft brush beacause it's easy to achieve "plastic" look of some objects. For example here http://www.medievalfx.com/machzero/graphics/060118a.jpg the planet doesn't look very convincing. Too blurred.

Keep it up.

**Onir** · February 9th, 2006, 10:28 PM

Always loved your DSG paintings machzero, they always stand out among the rest. Glad to see they are here as well, shows how much inventiveness you crank out daily lol. Must say your industrial types of works stand out alot (to me at least); love they way they look and you always seem to have a really good concept with it. Only thing I'd love to see more of is more finished pieces like your weekly projects (I assume though that's probably hard to do since you said you work full time). Either way keep up they great work, wonderful things you've got in here.

**machzero** · February 9th, 2006, 11:13 PM

sunny - yo! Was playing around with your suggestion. With each pic at 320x200 pix, all 250+ still takes up a huge canvas. I might create a desktop wallpaper first, then think if it'll print nicely.

Master 25 Days - i just open up an empty template that's B4 size 150dpi (about 1200pixels across) every day and start doodling. I'll just crop it and drop the size. I don't want to kill the server the pics are on.

glikster - pouches! I'm not sure how useful those manipulators would be with small items inside pockets too. Heheh. I need to work on arms and feet too. Went on a torso sketching binge recently, then got stumped figuring how the limbs connect to the trunk.

hpslashluvr - short people, eh? haha. Some days I try 8 heads, and it seems okay. Then I draw them from waist up and forget everything about proportions. Need more practise. And yeah, DSG seems to be heavy on robots and aliens at the moment. However, I started doodling mechanical objects loooong before humans. Now trying to integrate both. Human figures still need props and a background to interact with... heheh.

Farvus - I feel good about most of the DSGs when I finish them at night. Then, look at them in the morning and go, "UGH". Hehehe. The contrast is terrible on the planet one too. But I do rush through them, an hour tops. There's one day which I cranked out four in two hours for fun.

**glikster** · February 10th, 2006, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by machzero

glikster - pouches! I'm not sure how useful those manipulators would be with small items inside pockets too. Heheh. I need to work on arms and feet too. Went on a torso sketching binge recently, then got stumped figuring how the limbs connect to the trunk.

Definitely do Bridgman studies. His explanation of interlocking is great. I saw E.M. Gist's tutorial he posted recently also mentions interlocking.. that's the key to how the limbs connect to the trunk.

**Hiipi** · February 10th, 2006, 09:32 AM

Sheeeeet! And a pillow!!!

Me likey very much. You have a REALLY strong design in most of your pieces, whether it be aliencostume or just a fisherman (I loved the Pelicanman!!). I really like most of the pics but THEY ARE JUST TOO DAMN SMALL! But on the other hand, if you would´ve posted all of those full scale, this viewing session would have taken twice the time. Even with the 8 Mb connection I have here...

To business, my SSG-pal:

What I see is strong design but lack of finish. You make wonderful sketches but then leave them to that. There´s only few which look finished enough for me! (alien habitation suit, dark shark, and the house lighting study (which is REALLY good) and maybe a few more) You should try to work on finishing your pieces. Especially since you seem to have a really good imagination on creating scenes or vehicles or whatever. If you make a strong design and then try to sell it with a poor rendering, it doesn´t do justice to your work. Please try to make things look STUNNING! I want to see!

There something I want to mention about the use of color in your works. You seem to work your way up with a low opacity, many brushstrokes overlapping each others. In a way a good way but it is also making your work look a bit messy. Harder edges and stronger brushstrokes in the end to define the details would do wonders miboy! Also a friend who´s sitting next to me said that your pics look a bit flat. And I agree a bit. There´s some kind of contrast missing - you should try to separate different distances, different levels in your pieces. This doesn´t apply to all, there were some which just suffered about this problem.

Anatomy, the big bogeyman, is a bit shaky. But that will improve, I am sure of that.

I think I have said enough now. I will return and will say more.

**machzero** · February 10th, 2006, 10:41 AM

Onir - missed your original post since I was writing a reply... had work to attend to, and it was almost two hours before i hit submit reply. Yeah, I do work full time (my career has nothing to do with art) and i get 1-2 hours a day to play around with photoshop. I don't even get to touch pen and inks anymore (my favourite media) cause it takes too much time to clean the pens and tidy up after the inks.

Hiipi - if i had more bandwidth, I would post some of the pics at 800x600. You're right about my rendering being messy, but I normally start with lineart first (a lot of detail is lost). The thinktank IDM piece is closer to the normal resolution. And if I stop at an hour (most of the DSGs are), you get the mess which you're seeing. Oh yeah, I have about 10 years head start drawing vehicles... before I even started drawing anatomy.

**machzero** · February 10th, 2006, 02:27 PM

glikster - don't have any bridgman books, but got some other anatomy books and will resort to mirrors or a digicam if i have to. Just need to push myself to do some more anatomy studies.

more DSGs, from two weeks ago... just didn't post them here...

Alien Wildlife/Environment: STILT-LEGGED CREATURES GRAZING ON ARRID PLAINS

another example of a rushed DSG with bad composition. Will re-use the creature design though.

GIRL W/ UMBRELLA LOOKS DOWN ON GREAT SPACE-SHIPS FROM BALCONY

first pic is just an excuse to play around with perspective. Found the end result quite boring, quickly did a second one. Much happier with the second, but left it unfinished again (got hpslashluvr syndrome... heheh).

Fantasy Scene: KINDLY, LARGE-HEADED, PACHYDERM SAVES CAT FROM FLOOD WATERS

can't do cute... no matter how hard i try...

Fantasy Scene: DEAD FIGURE, CLUTCHING CONTAINERS, FLOATS IN SMALL BONE BOAT

managed to discover "brush size - wacom sensitivity" after 3 years of owning one... doh...

Sci-Fi Scene: SCARY "TODDLER" MECH SHOOTS STREAMS OF FIRE ON CITY STREET

First one is crap... got worse the more I worked on it. Abandoned it, did the second in about fifteen mins.

Sci-Fi: THE EMPEROR'S BLACK AND TAN SHIP DESCENDS TOWARD DOCKING HANGAR

Just focussed on the ship design. Liked the top, the lower deck is completely wrong, style-wise. Will definitely re-use the design.

Fantasy: SCARY DEMON KNIGHT HAS RUSTY, COMPLEX, MULTI-LAYERED ARMOUR/HELMET

erm... rushed again. Everything's orange cause I threw an orange multiply layer on top. Liked bits of the design.

Re-used elements from the pic above. Armour needs to be more ornate, to be redesigned. Pose too stiff and static.

Got no time for a real sketchbook... so a photoshop file will have to do. Working on newspaper photos and stuff i get off my camera phone (crappy resolution but just used for reference). Did some quick and dirty anatomy studies for a pic i was working on.

**Matt Smith** · February 10th, 2006, 02:39 PM

nice sketches, they keep gettin better and better. keep up the good work.

**seba_boi** · February 10th, 2006, 02:57 PM

Holey Moley!... Great concepts... It's like your imagnination gone wild!... I think that's your best feature and your sketches definitely embodies the feeling you want to show!!!... I can't even finish seeing them all... Overwhelmed...

**Onir** · February 11th, 2006, 09:14 PM

Great ones machzero, always will amaze me how you can get out concepts and sketches in general so quickly; love how you use that atmospheric haze in your pieces, definitely helps give depth. I've noticed you do alot of your sketches in that rust color; I assume thats to get down values and such first? Either way I always liked the way they looked hehe. Keep up the great work!

**machzero** · February 11th, 2006, 09:51 PM

Matt Smith, seba_boi - Hey, thanks! More to come.

Yo Onir,

Until november last year, my monitor was an old 15". With B&W, I would lose the darkest grays, everything would turn into black. So, the red hue was the only way I could get most of the values present. I still use it, since I prefer the images a little warm rather than cool.

And yeah, also to help my values. I was getting this garish coloured images that looked terrible. Decided to drop colour and work on my values for a while. If the pics still worked well even when shrunk down that much, it's a good sign.

**Farvus** · February 12th, 2006, 07:04 AM

Your last DSGs are great. My favourite are those to with "GIRL W/ UMBRELLA LOOKS DOWN ON GREAT SPACE-SHIPS FROM BALCONY" topic. They both have interesting composition.
I suggest doing some studies in order to get better knowledge skintones. It's something I should work on too

.

Cheers.

**koshime** · February 12th, 2006, 06:06 PM

Finally, updates and a SSG to boot. Well done. Lets boost this count to the next page! Woot!

hp · February 12th, 2006, 08:35 PM

sorry for not responding earlier!!! *offers soul as apology*

i think you should do more character work personally, but that's coming from someone who refuses to draw anything inorganic ^^

also i think you should experiment with more variety of color...

**machzero** · February 12th, 2006, 09:49 PM

Farvus - more anatomy in the pipeline. You should see my humans from 1.5 years back. Stiff and outta proportion... now, they're just mostly stiff with most parts in proportion. On the other hand, my technical stuff... sadly... hasn't changed in ten years.

hpslashluvr - draw props for your characters then! Or could you do what those JP comic artists too. Hire an assistants for backgrounds and props. Heheh. I'll do the opposite... and I'm quite terrible at design too.

**glikster** · February 13th, 2006, 08:34 AM

I love the bottom right face in that last pic...and the top left!

Great DSG's... I love looking at the DSGs to see what you, Goran and a few others do with the topic...

**Darktwin** · February 13th, 2006, 01:13 PM

holy crap a lot of good digi stuff here, wow, keep em coming man, if your pictures were a little bigger you'd be on the 3rd page by now,

**machzero** · February 13th, 2006, 09:19 PM

okay... colour... figures... skintones...

hey glikster,

got the same issue as you. Work better when using a photograph I took... heh. Unfortunately, will prolly slow down on the DSGs... after 200+, the amount of cyborgs, robots, aliens, and ufos topics are recycling too much. And with about 2 hours a day to doodle, I rather be working on my own stuff (a folder as big as the DSG one, most never posted online... future art dump?).

Sci-Fi: FUTURISTIC AIRCRAFT ON THE TARMAC UNDERGOING ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

Meanwhile, latest DSG. Not that futuristic. Everytime I get too fancy, something reins me in and goes, "this won't work...".

Darktwin - if the pics were any larger, it would take min. pc requirements to load this page... heheh... it's 60 posts per page, default setting.

hp · February 14th, 2006, 03:16 AM

nice DSG...i really wish i had your talent in drawing buildings/machines etc

about the girl, nice drawing but i really wish you'd push the color even more...maybe it's just my computer but i think she is a little dull in terms of lighting and color variation in her skin.