If the answer is infinite light, why do we sleep in the dark?

[f1x]

I love how your posses are always dinamic, thats not easy to do, even tho you seem struggling with anathomy and proportion but its a fight you'll win eventually!

[Hai]

zou: Thank you. That's a great advice about the shadow. Not sure if we'll have time to implement it, but I'll try.
Angela: That's a good point about the portfolio. I am doing a lot of race/character design these days (of which that drawing is a part), and I am planning to take some of it further than the pencil/sketch stage.
f1x: Thanks for dropping by I'm not sure my sketches are very dynamic, but I am conscious about it and try to inject at least some sense of motion or tension into them.

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I am in the starting phase of designing some races for a long-term game project these days. Here's a bunch of sketches. I don't have my usual scanner available at the moment, so the scans are a bit shit.

The "orcish" race is so far quite obviously inspired by cryptcrawler/Brad Rigney's piece "A hostile takeover"

[Hai]

Oh, and here's something for the character selection screen in our xbox game.

[Angel Intheuk]

Nice sketches Hai, I love the last two costume designs so much, very unique!

[zou]

nice characters

[BlackDelphin]

Those characters look like a lot to work on, awesome job! It must be a nice feeling, seeing them run around at the end of the day heh.
Nice pencil stuff, i really like the details you've added.

[Anthis]

Looks like a fun project, and great to see your designs in action directly.

Love the exploration on those orcs. Especially how you're also paying attention to eyebrows and such. Front and side views are nice for exploration but you really get to know your own designs if you throw in a 3/4 view. So keep doing those as well! I can see the pelvises are trouble sometimes, but there's improvement. Don't place the legs together too closely, gets uncomfortable in some occasions. If the shoulder width on girls is larger than hip width, you know something may be wrong!

Nice characters in that last post. Very recognizable and characteristic.

[Hai]

Thank you Angela, zou
BlackDelphin: Thank you. It's very satisfying to see your designs in motion
Anthis: All good points. Thank you. I really need to do pelvis studies. They annoy me to no end.

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This scanner really butchers the lines, I think.

[zou]

these lines strokes are much better than usual

[Hai]

You think so zou? they looked pretty bad after scanning, so I adjusted them quite a lot in PS.

---

Shoddy anatomy incoming:

[zou]

of course mate, i mean the looseness of lines weither it's 'clean' from scratch or not

keep posting mate, we really need re activate the group.

waiting for antomy studies

[chuck18mp]

Nice updates you have here! My 2 cents would probably be about your nose. Maybe practice a bit more on these?

Good work, keep it up!

[BlackDelphin]

Your figures are handsome as usual. And i like your designs.
Hope you'll be updating again soon!

[Hai]

zou: Yeah man, sorry for being not being more active - I'm just real busy with other stuff at the moment.
chuck18mp: Thanks. Yeah I think I need anatomy studies all 'round. Haven't been drawing that frequently lately, and I think it's noticeable.
Delphie: Thank you. Here's an update for ya

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I have to paint really quickly, or I'll get bored with the picture before it's done.

[zou]

hey nice to see you post

the first is propably the coolest, i like her shoulder armor shape , the skin of the face seems very pale compared to body, is it intended ?

nice pencils too, the clothes are always nice
are u a fashion fan or something like that ?

[Angel Intheuk]

Great costumes as always! You have a good eye for fashion. I'm the same with painting, I get bored and want to do it in one sitting but then I think that helps keeps things looking fresh, for example I really like the effect you got going on with the first post in #554 on her shoulder pads, her face in contrast seems a little overworked, one thing I've noticed with loose painting is the focal point is tightened up but still looks quite loosely painted, only the eyes and mouth are painted in the greatest detail. Does that make sense?

Keep up the good work

[Anthis]

The last post with character designs is really clean and elaborate. I like how you're pushing the designs, and you don't scare away from using a wealth of different materials and shapes. Some of the last characters are turning out to be well-rounded characters and costumes. (as opposed to just having a myriad of different bits and things slapped on to them)

Don't let your guard down though, I'm seeing some recurring pitfalls. All your female figures have very simple 'high heels' boots, which seems to become a shortcut. Don't let that happen! The receding foreheads are getting uncomfortable in some cases.

Wonderful stuff! Inspiring.

[Hai]

Thanks guys!

zou: Yes, the pale skin was intended. I was gonna make the rest of the body as pale as the face/chest, but I never made it that far.

Angela: Yes, that makes sense. I really want to be loose when painting, but I always end up all zoomed in and fidgeting. Then I catch myself doing it and try to be loose again, but then I'm trapped, not wanting to ruin whatever I did while fidgeting. It's all mental - maybe I need to see an art-therapist. There should be such a thing.

On Fashion: Huh, I guess I am a fashion fan, in a way. I've never really thought about it before. I've never cared for or about "haute couture". Most of the time I'm far too lazy to put much thought into what I'm wearing, and I hate shopping for clothes and only force myself to do it if I really need a specific item (like if I'm running low on something).

But I am a fan of aesthetically pleasing things; colours, contrast, shapes. And there's nothing I like more than designing characters, and trying to convey the personality of the character through its design. And clothing, or fashion, is sort of like wearable art. It's all shapes and contrast and colour, just like in a painting.

Anthis: Hey, so cool that you're back. The orcs (receding foreheads) are difficult. I want them to be different (both from standard humans and from other "orcish" creatures in entertainment), and at the same time beautiful or at least not off-putting for a human audience. Could you elaborate how they're uncomfortable? Or is it just that you get a generally bad reaction looking at them? Maybe the teeth, nose and thick hair is enough.

[Chris Sanders]

nice designs, would like to see more studies thrown in there.

[lemming-clone-]

Sweeet sketches! I love how you handle design and the liveliness of you figures. Keep it coming!

[Anthis]

I like your thought on the different orc morphology and I think it's fitting, I just felt the 'forehead-effect' was in some cases spreading to other characters.

I like that helmet with the little holes in your last post. Makes it somewhat darker than the other costumes. Think you're doing well with these; you're practising a lot of different things at the same time. Your figures are getting better as well.

[Angel Intheuk]

Hi Hai You know I considered going into Art Therapy as a career haha, that's more about helping people to deal with trauma through craft and art, but yeah there should be therapists specialising in talking to us wierdo artists lol I'm always a sucker for zooming in on details too soon, I did a few practices at working at a smaller size and with a bigger sized pencil or pastel and that seemed to help me focus on shape and tones more.

Oh I really love the sketch of the elf woman with the hockey mask on , I'm a big fan of that pin-up style.

[RaphaelLuebke]

porcupine tree fan by any chance?

good sketchbook, great amoutn of work and experimental work with the characters - looks coool so far, dont get lazy and work youre arse off, your work is promising!

[Hai]

dog-faced, lemming-clone-: Thank you
Anthis: Now I understand, I think you're right. I'll have to be careful with that! Thanks
Angel: My problem with working with thumbnails is that I keep coming up with cool details I want to put in and I'm afraid of forgetting them. Perhaps I should try to make a habit of always starting out with thumbnails when I draw, and then record any detail ideas on the side as I go. Thanks
xbert: Hehe, I've been waiting to see how long it would take for someone to notice and mention the reference Thanks for dropping by!

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Incoming venting of mild frustrations.

I'm having so much trouble making interesting clothing designs for the orcs. The idea is they evolved and have always resided in a very comfortable, temperate climate with small seasonal changes. This made clothing mostly superfluous and they never developed any strong fashion culture, relying on bodypaint and tattoos to express individual style instead. After being subjugated by the elves they've had to adopt certain cultural norms regarding clothing.

The point is to make each of the three races visually different and recognisable. Elves have flowing dresses, coats, layered clothing, lots of accessories and a generally detailed look. I want orcs to contrast with that, but not by making their clothing simple. Their clothing should reflect their adoption of elven fashion (detailed, layered), but also that they've adapted it to their own traditions.

But all I can think of are tank tops and leather jackets.

[ANtY93]

Awesome sketchbook, I love these characters!

[Anthis]

Haha, yea I can see the problem.
To get rid of the tank-top look, you could use the same approach as with the elves. Cover them up and then let the details and choice of material do the rest. Spikes, scraps, fasteners, horn or bone, fur, leather or scaled parts, whatever you associate with the 'original' orc look and could be used by them to show their cultural background. Don't start with details, but give them trousers, vests, boots (no pin heels!), mantles and such. Even heavy clothing can look feminine if you make it fit to show a good silhouette. In fact, its probably sexier than the bikini route. Personal taste perhaps.

Oh well, lots of theory. It's actually an interesting problem though, so I could give it a try myself. I agree its tough so I won't pretend I can do better .

Last couple of figures are getting some nice shapes. It's scifi, correct?

[zou]

hello hai

in your description, they don't have fashion culture but the drawing are 'fashioned'
i think no fashion for, is something like putting a clothes that do not follow body lines or anything. just pieces of clothes of random shapes put together

[Dizon]

Man, clothes are always tough to design.

When I look at them I feel that some of them are too cluttered with detail. Especially the last one. Give some space for the eye to rest. Try to find a balance.

I think you could simplify some of the areas like you could remove all that detail around her chest area. The same goes with her thigh areas. You don't need all that clutter around there.

Basically leave some space. You don't need to cover areas with so many detail.

[Hai]

ANtY93: Thanks!
zou: Yeah, you've got a good point. Usually I would probably do something along those lines. However, the idea is that they've adopted the elven fashion and modified it to fit their use, so I think there will necessarily be a bit of a "fashioned" look. I'll keep experimenting though, thanks
Dizon: Hey, thanks for stopping by again, it's been a while That's good input. For that character in particular I was trying to get very detailed in an attempt to make a sort of textured look to contrast with the smooth skin areas. It is entirely possible that I overdid it or simply couldn't pull it off. Thanks again.
Anthis: Good thoughts. Feel free to have a go if you want It is scifi, but not "interstellar-spacetravel-scifi" if you know what I mean. More like a world not too far ahead of our own, but with some better energy sources so they can do a bit more fancy things.

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[zou]

those ones seems more clothed !
coincidence ?