.:: Still Goin' ::.

[Farvus]

I checked your portfolio. My general impression and suggestions:

- I would break it into two seperate portfolios. One with fantasy/sci-fi and other with cartoony.

- This is something I noticed in my own art too. I'm still struggling with it and it is easier said than done so take this suggestion with grain of salt. I got the impression is you seem to put more emotion into cartoony art and you enjoy it more. Maybe beacause simplified design allows you to communicate expression of characters easier. If you focused more on expression when painting realistic characters (instead of just anatomy and costume design), you could give your artwork same dose of energy and it would resonate more with the viewer.

- In the swordgirl artwork I'm not entirely sure if it's character design or illustration. You give large amount of space dedicated to background but it doesn't really add much to the whole image. If you do illustration then the character and the background work together as a whole composition and character relates to the background. In that image she is standing in the shadow of the column and catching highlights on her arm and legs at the same time which kills the illusion of being there. I tried to crop the image so that in the new composition you get more focus on what is she doing and there isn't so much unused space. I think it works a little bit better.



On the other hand if it was the typical character design then the neutral pose with no background would work better.

- If you want to do robots and mechanical stuff profesionally then I would practice that more. There are some good ideas in the mule robot but the forms look very crude like it was constructed out of carboard boxes. The hinges in it's feet doesn't make much sense.

- In the creepy creature with blades instead of arms and legs you highlihted silhouette on which there isn't much going on. On the other hand most interesting parts like face and blades are hidden in the shadow. I think it would have more impact if you revealed a little bit of more these things. Of course not in the most direct frontal way beacause that would kill the mystery and horror you were probably going for. Also bringing more color variation would make the image more alive.

- The character with obelisk on his back is very dark and has no focal point. You could try to give him spotlight with strong falloff effect. I mean by that the cone of light where it's core has much stronger intensity than the edges. Someting like this.


Also I'm not sure if the symbols are shiny or painted on top of the armour. If they are shining then going for very strong white wouldn't harm the character much.

- In general use more cast shadows. By using them you hit two birds with one stone. More realism and by casting them on some interesting surface you can show it's shape and texture at the edge of the shadow and light.

[HunterKiller_]

Farvus: Thanks so much, again. Really helpful crits.

Categorizing my portfolio is something I've thought over, but never resolved exactly which ways to categorize, which leads to the next point of the 'sword girl'.

I guess this here proves that the thought process (or lack of) of the artist really comes through in a picture. I was unsure whether I wanted this piece to be a character design or illustration.
I think the character aspect outweighs the illustration aspect so I will take your advice to make a tighter crop.

The robot was for a client and they specifically wanted the 'cardboard box' design, even so, I admit there is plenty of room for improvement. In retrospect, not a good idea to put that in my folio.

Spot-on crits about 'knife guy' and 'obelisk'. I will try to implement the changes.


I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a local oil painting workshop during the past 4 days. It was taught by Jim Auckland.

Mr. Auckland is something of a rarity in this country; someone who's had academic art training and a life time of experience.
Needless to say, it was fantastic, educational, and best of all, for the first time I was able enjoyed oil painting.

18x24 oil on canvas board

[asa]

awesome study

[Flaskpost]

the study looks awesome, brother!
sounds like a fantastic event to attend too.

[HunterKiller_]

asa: Thanks bud.

Flask: Thanks, it was great.

Boring studies... Still struggling with heads.

[HunterKiller_]

Studies.

[DennisH-Art]

I like your character designs! Nice work!

[Flaskpost]

kickass studies daug! i need to work more on drawing myself!

[Vritra]

The head studies are looking fantastic, man. Especially the one in the middle of the top row with glasses - great stuff.

Tell us more about Mr. Auckland's workshop, I'm really interested in that. What did you guys do? Any advice he gave that you might want to share with us? just, overall, the entire experience and what you took from it. So, yeah, no pressure.

[Deepinonespersona]

Oh man I dig that demon rat.

[HunterKiller_]

DennisH-Art: Thanks for droppin' by.

Flask: Thanks broski.

Vritra: Thanks, alright let's talk about the workshop.

Deepinonespersona: Hey, thanks.


The workshop.
Jim starts off by giving us a run down on colour theory, colour temperature in particular. He emphasizes the importance of choosing this before starting to paint.
Whether it's a warm painting with cool accents or vice versa, you must make up your mind about this, otherwise the result will suffer.

I know on the internet this kind of stuff is somewhat common knowledge, however, having a good teacher telling you in real-time along with with examples makes a world of difference.
I understood at this point why it's strongly recommended to actually be taught (by good teachers).

He then gives us a demo on planning using thumbnails, using them to choose the palette and composition, here emphasizing the importance of composition.
Painting a lone nude figure isn't that interesting, only a good composition will save you here.

Use compositional devices like slight abstractions of the figure and identifying repeating elements within the scene and building upon them, e.g. similar angles within the figure and throughout the background.
He showed us a lot of examples of this in paintings, Leyendecker in particular.

We start our own thumbnails, and from here he would approach each of us individually to give critiques and advice.


On day 2, he starts with a demo on painting the face. I learned much just watching Jim pick and mix his oils.
Here I discovered that I'd been making an embarrassing mistake all my life in regards to drawing faces. When dividing face measurements, I would always halve the face with the eye line in the center, then divide from there to the chin to mark the point of the nose, and divide again to mark the center of the lips.

WRONG

The correct method revealed by Jim.
The center line is more often the position of the brow.
The division after that is not the point of the nose but the base, i.e. below the nostrils.
The division for the lips does not mark the center but the bottom of the bottom lip.

From there we went back to our paintings with Jim's continued critiques and advice.


Just so I don't violate sacred scripture, here's a picture.

Something a friend requested.

[Vritra]

Wow, that was... really great. Loved the corrections regarding the ideal human face. There are two things, however, that I would love you to discuss more.

1. Tell us more about what you learnt about handling temperatures. I think a lot of people in this forum, including me, will benefit a lot from learning to handle temperatures.

2. Tell us a bit about composing a picture. You said that a nude painting can literally be transformed by good composition. Again, how to compose well is information which is not really easily available on the internet.

[Sepulverture]

I like the amount of gestural and postural studies that you do. It reminds me that I need to do more, and pay more attention to line weight as well.

[HunterKiller_]

Vritra: Hey, I'm glad that it's helpful.
Hmm, handling temperatures... Well, Jim basically says to keep it simple.
Choose the predominate temperature, warm, cool or neutral, and choose another for the focal point.
Generally you want to stay away from having equal amounts of both temperatures, otherwise you might loose the focal point, and it's less dynamic.

About composition. As mentioned before, a great composition device is to identify repeating angles, lines, shapes, and emphasize them.
Use them to create interesting aesthetics and/or to lead the viewer's eyes.

Of course, don't forget the basics, like not putting focal point in the center of the picture, using the rule of thirds, using overlap when possible.
During the workshop, only me and one other student were positioned where we got extreme foreshortening on the figure, as a result, we had more interesting compositions due to the many overlapping forms.

Personally, I think there are two different schools of composition.
One is 'cinematic' composition, where the layout has to adhere to real-world physics, and the camera/viewing angle is integral.
The other is what I'll call 'illustrative' composition, where the arrangement can
go into the realm of abstraction and graphic design (think movie posters).

Many good compositions have an overlap of these two approaches, but I've found it helpful to break down the thought process into these parts.

Sepulverture: Thanks, man.



Been insanely busy and stressful for the past week. Out of nowhere, I was offered a teaching job at the animation school I had attended 4 years ago.

The position is part-time tutoring animation in Adobe Flash, I accepted of course, and spent two frantic days putting together a short demo reel in Flash.
The job 'interview' involved me preparing a lesson and delivering it to a class.
If all this weren't stressful enough, I was competing against an ex-colleague who's also a friend.

And... apparently my performance was good enough to land me the position.

I will refrain from getting into moral self criticism about why I don't believe I should be teaching and how I've become a hypocrite by doing so. For now.

This is the reel. The animations are pretty dumb... but the intention was more about show that I can use Flash than animation. ^.^'

[Vritra]

Thanks a lot of taking out the time and sharing all those inputs man, I really appreciate it. And the animation's not bad, my friend, quite on the contrary. Especially like the way you took the final one to the finish. It looked quite solid, at least compared to some of the animation that's on air right now.

Keep updating, it was great getting to know a bit of what you got from attending the workshop.

[BludHund]

"I will refrain from getting into moral self criticism about why I don't believe I should be
teaching and how I've become a hypocrite by doing so. For now."



Teaching isn't about having all the answers. We are all teachers to each other, by example
if by nothing else. You can and definitely should be doing it. You have a good eye, you can
give constructive criticism, and most importantly, you know slightly more about the subject
matter than some of the students

Just treat your students honestly and fairly and I'm sure you'll be fine.

and congratulations.

[HunterKiller_]

Vritra: Glad to be of help.

Blud: Thanks man.

Just a small poo.
Listening to Dune (audiobook) for the first time. I love sci-fi that's a mishmash of low-tech and hi-tech.
This is along the lines of how I picture the cool dudes from Atriedes.

[Pigeonkill]

Nice landscape and face studies. I like the animation demo. My only comment is when it gets to the part when the robot picks up the pony. It could have a slight squish and retraction. (Not sure of the proper term) Just a personal preference.

Congrats on getting the teaching position. I think you'll do fine

It maybe stressful at first applying to the same job as your friend. Keep in mind the job has to go to someone and be happy it is either you or your friend. When your plate is full, pass those extra gigs to your friends and they will do the same for you.

[HunterKiller_]

PK: Thanks, dude. I like your suggestion on squashing the pony.

Studies after Rune Bennicke. He's pretty much a god.

[BludHund]

ZOMG! Dune is so awesome. I personally think that Frank Herbert is a genius and that Dune
should be required reading in high school. So many great ideas about ecology and society
and human nature, and a truly unique sci-fi universe. The audiobook is also one the highest
quality audiobook productions, with a full cast.

This Bennicke guy seems pretty cool. You know I've been thinking, ever since you said that
you went to school for animation...we really haven't seen very much animation-type stuff
from you, mostly fine art type studies and concept designs. How about some character
sheets? Or some dynamic sketches? Be good to get the lead out.

Also have you read Mattesi's Force? I still have to go back to that never finished it
even though I have a bunch of notes.

Anyway man, keep rockin'

[HunterKiller_]

Blud: Dune is totally amazing, yes.

About animation stuff. Firstly, many of the greats in animation had their roots in fine art, and/or were trained academically.

Secondly, style. You already know about my utter disorientation/perturbation/turmoil about style, and unlike illustration or concept, style is a necessity in animation.
You can't draw a cartoon without style and you certainly don't want to animate a realistic figure.
So, that's why I don't do it.

EDIT: 'Force'. I've heard it's good, but haven't read any of it yet.

Also, bikes are hard to draw.

[HunterKiller_]

Things and Stuff

[Flaskpost]

dang man, love the things, and the stuff kicks ass
congrats on the flash animation job dude! well done!

[miycko]

incredible studies dude, and the fact that you do them in so many mediums makes me less scared to do more varied studies Keep them coming

[Farvus]

Hey. Cool studies. Good job. I recognize the sitting model from the Bammes book .

[HunterKiller_]

Flask: Cheers, bud.

miycko: Thanks.

Farvus: Thanks, mang. It's Bammes indeed.


Haven't been on the forums much because the site only works half the time for me. Not sure whether it's my connection or the supposed work being done on the CA servers.

Anyway, been kinda slack. Gotta kick it up a notch, or a few.

[HunterKiller_]

So just finished the indie game 'Bastion' the other day. Beautiful.

A tribute (WIP)

[kevin_]

love your traditional work and your studies are great!

[kikindaface]

hi dude, your studies on post 678 are wonderful !! great expressions ! Now, for the rest of your sketchbook, i think your main weakness is your ability to represent the volumes of what you're drawing, and i see you're working hard on it, so keep it up !! maybe try to do more observational exercises like drawing your hands, which is great for learning volumes and foreshortenings, and selfportraits for structure and facial features ! Keep it up dude !

[HunterKiller_]

Kevin: Thanks.

kikindaface: Thanks. Always good to be reminded of the foundations.

Some attempts at caricature... Pretty hard, but more fun than regular portraits.