cara's sketchbook - 9/22

[Cacodaemonia]

Man, that sucks. I'm really sorry to hear about your situation. A few years ago I found out about some shithead using one of my pieces on cigarette cases and selling them on eBay. I got the stuff removed from the site, but you know he'll just go and make another account or sell them elsewhere. :/ Keep us updated anyway.

[carakhan]

Thanks for the support guys, I'm still not sure where I'm going with this case. I want to try another lawyer, but it sort of seems hopeless.
So! I decided to start work on another project based on my animatic, Matsu. Promised the boyfriend I'd get back into 3d- little does he know how much prep it requires, muahaha! I think I have some earlier sketches from the project on the earlier pages. But the designs are old and I want something fresh. So here are some concepts for the fish:

[Cacodaemonia]

Hah, I like the designs. The fins still look very organic, though.

[carakhan]

Cacodaemonia: Yea I'm still trying to work out how I want to do that. In the old design the entire thing was metal, but I was thinking maybe it could be patched cloth or something. But I'm not sure I want them to look
handmade. I'll figure something out.

So I had a few hours on this yesterday, and worked on it all day today, saving several times. Yet, when I restarted my computer it had not saved shit. :le sigh: Trying not to be angry about it, but damn it was a lot of progress.
So sorry I couldnt bring it to more fruition than this. I will be putting it into color soon though.

[Cacodaemonia]

The atmosphere looks really good in this piece. Are you sure you didn't accidentally save it to a different folder? I've done that before.

[carakhan]

I draw a lot more often than this, really. I just have a problem showing unfinished work. Like people are going to point out shit I already know. But I need to do it right? So here we go:
Casshern Study, I thought it was a good example of saturated shadows and unsaturated lights.

[carakhan]

Landscape Study: This one I tried to do a red underpainting, which just turned out to be a bad idea.

[carakhan]

Trying to learn how to paint more subtly, so I went with a foggy study. Done on my tabletpc, which I'm now learning has crap pressure sensitivity. It's just so convenient!

[carakhan]

These two are bleh, so I'll just put them together. A scooter sketch, was just trying something new without worrying about colors. The belly dancer was supposed to be an exercise in lighting, but I got bored. Her skirt looks kinda cool though.


How can I make myself finish more work? I'll paint for an hour or two, but if I ever take a break from it (overnight) I never go back! It's a pain in the ass.

[Dahami]

More landscapes and stuff please! This is great.

[carakhan]

Thanks Dahami, I'll definitely be posting more- I don't do nearly enough studies.

Not a landscape, I was just doodling from a random palette on colour lovers. Kind of interesting, though I got stuck on rendering the tail, I wanted it to be more iridescent, but I got stuck and its late.

[Cacodaemonia]

Nice studies recently! I like the foggy one the best. Just watch the direction of the brush strokes in the water - some of them were starting to curve and make the surface of the water look curved as well.

The lighting n the red dancer piece looks pretty awesome! Despite your tendency to not finish stuff, I demand you finish this one! It needs awesome details and polish to go along with the lighting. Maybe you could try setting aside a weekend day to paint, and that way you would have longer to work before going to bed?

[carakhan]

Caco- got it, I'll keep an eye on my strokes. I'm migrating back to my wacom tablet vs. the laptop tablet- I want to see if theres a difference.
As for the belly dancer challenge, I think I'll take it! Hopefully I won't lose the only thing I like about it (texture and movement). It will be good practice for me.

Here's a lame portrait, I've had creepy jesters on the brain ever since I got a Brom book for my birthday.

[carakhan]

Cacodaemonia: Here you go! I'm glad you pushed me to take a crack at finishing an old sketch, this came out better than I expected!

I dont want to overdo this one, so I'm going to consider this finished. But if anyone has crits on the color or perhaps the lighting I'd be very appreciative!

Two days, I feel like I should be quicker than this by now, but whatcha gonna do:

[carakhan]

Thought it might be fun to do some zombie portraits. I started from reference,
then let it run. Somehow ended up looking like Thirteen or Megan Fox.

[LtPlissken]

Excellent work. I will learn someday to do things like you do. Keep posting.

[carakhan]

Thanks, I have very far to go. Just never stop, drawing is a religion in itself. I feel guilty when i'm not drawing

A new sketch for a new zombie portrait:

[carakhan]

Some stuff, I've been really failing at art lately, hopefully I'll get my groove back soon.

[carakhan]

Tryin to draw as much as possible tonight!

[carakhan]

A couple of sketchings, plus a 45 minute portrait from reference:

[carakhan]

Hopefully will be sketching like mad this weekend!
Some warmups for the day:

[carakhan]

Was doing some shitty environments, I don't want to show them, so I'll show these instead. Some heads from my mind. I'm feeling pretty low about my skills lately. I'm updating as often as possible, but how hard is it to get some constructive criticism up in this piece?

[carakhan]

Practicing figure painting, really trying to teach my eye to see the proper color and value. I think I'm going to stick with doing these for the weekend, lots of learning to do.

[carakhan]

I was impressed with myself for this one over the weekend, but I'm over it now I hate everything I draw... at least I did this one without reference.

[carakhan]

Just trying to draw anything these days, I've been a bit distracted by Christmas! I am really working on my values, so I've been doing more actual sketches, I'll scan them soon.

[carakhan]

Lets try this again....
It's been over a year since I updated! But that doesn't mean I haven't been drawing
Here's whats been going on the past year. Actual sketchbook update later, all of that is on my home comp. Various studies, some cghub challenges.

[Shad-]

I saw those last pictures and was going to say something like "Oh crap ! You just improved sooooo much since your last post! "
Then I saw the date of your last post, and realized it was more "normal".
BUT !
This is still awesome ! I don't know what piece of advice I could give you haha ! I just want to see more of your stuff ( and I want to see some dirty doodles in sketchbooks soooo bad ! )
(And those greyscale Star Wars portraits are just great ! )
(Ho yes, I can give you a piece of advice : I thinks the planet in the picture straight after Leïa is a bit... "made-in photoshop", see what I mean ? It would be great to paint it properly, this illustration deserves it ! )

[carakhan]

It's funny you say that Shad-, because it's actually a stock photo from NASA
I have thought about giving that picture a once over again though, there are a couple of things that bug me about it.
Thanks! I'll definitely put up some sketches asap ::rummages around desk::

[carakhan]

I did find a couple of concept sketches that I uploaded already. Will be posting some studies when I get home.

[carakhan]

Heres some more, did a lot of hand practice over the weekend. I still suck at the basics so its time to get back to them: