Wheeljack's Sketchbook

[David Keen]

Hey mate! I've gone interstate for Christmas for about a week, I had hoped to get a free moment to work on the Stalker entry but alas that doesn't look likely. I wasn't super enthused about the topics either, I just want to get into the habit of finishing a piece every week. Hopefully the topics this week is are little more inspiring and we can decide on one to really work on. I'll be back at home in 4 days so there should be plenty of time to finish a piece before the deadline.

How have you found playing around with Painter and Sketchpad? I really like the natural feel of the media in Painter but just quite seem to get my head around using the software for anything more than quick doodles. It doesn't help that there aren't nearly as many tutorials around for Painter as there are for Photoshop.

Everything is ridiculously expensive over here. It seemed slightly more logical before our dollar caught up with the U.S. and when considering shipping products to the other side of the world, but even steam charges $90 for digital releases of PC games. Madness!

All the best for the holidays.
Merry Christmas!

[Dark_Eyes]

5 stars! Merry christmas! *****

[Wheeljack18]

Dark_Eyes: You are a god man sir. Karma points for you!

Ebersol: Happy Holidays!
I move back and forth between painter and Photoshop all the time and some days its all about one or the other. Photoshop is way more flexible yet painter is more like traditional medium. I have a traditional background so I prefer painter for the overall finish but with some effort you can achieve a painterly result in photoshop.

Sketchpad at first I thought sucked. But, now that I've played with it some more, it is pretty good for what it is, being a sketchpad. I find mine crashes often especially if I have a large canvas and or multiple layers. The thing is it really mimics traditional media well and with a limited brush palette, you don't spend so much time noodling around with brushes.

Painter.. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think painter works better for people who already know how to paint traditionally. I find that if I apply traditional approaches to painter, I can be successful. When I try to use it like photoshop, then I meet with failure. My approach at the moment is to do most of the work in PS and polish it in painter and then go back to PS for final touches. Try using it to do charcoal drawings, I've found that to work for me to help me get familiar with the software and I've posted some samples earlier in my SB.

[Alex Eh]

Hey dude killer stuff! Nice to see someone from Calgary posting! Have a good chrismas!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Alex, I had a great Christmas, I hope you did too. Us calgarians need to stick together. Once upon a time I tried to set up a CA sketch group which failed miserably but maybe I'll do it again. Either way we should try to build some kind of community. Stay in touch.

Not much to share otherwise. I have a speed paint still shot study thingy that I put together this evening. I've always wanted to get my ass around to doing one of these and so here is my first attempt. Next time I think I'll try it in painter and or a more complex scene.
Thanks for Stopping by.

Hey Ebersol, are you down for either the chow or the cow? Neither one really gets me going but I'm thinking for the cow, a creature from Myth like a minotaur and for Xena.. Meh. Anyways, let me know.

[David Keen]

I'm back at home and ready to rock! How about we look at a little Cow this time? The Xena topic doesn't really do much for me either. I might look at doing something with more of a fantasy theme, I never spent much time drawing dragons and trolls etc.

I'm more of a traditional guy as well so I think I'll try and do the majority of this one in Painter and get to know a little more about the software.

Let's make some creatures!!

[Trixtar]

A very interesting SB with lots of great art!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Eb, We have until Jan 4th so we'll need to get on it. How about you pick the creature. I've been jonesing to do a creature out of Myth either Greek or Celtic but I could do some D and D too. The last creature I ever did was a Giant Boar and a Beholder so not those. Dragons take too much time for me so I stay away from them, otherwise, give er!
Let's see those painter works!

Trixtar: Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words, expect a visit to your sb shortly. Cheers!

[David Keen]

Alright man, I'm settling on doing a straight up fantasy dragon. Nothing crazy I'll just try and play around with Painter and use some different techniques. Have you decided on your creature yet? It'd be fun to both go D&D on this one and get our classic fantasy creatures on! If you aren't sure which one to go with you can get something completely random from this link. I've got a couple of sketches over at my SB, let me know which one you prefer. Happy new year man!

[Wheeljack18]

All I have today is an interior environment to post up for now.

Hey Eb,
Ill probably post up some creature stuff tonight. I'm thinking a minotaur!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Eb, This is all I've got for my creature, I re-read the rules and they don't want anything humanoid so I guess he wont count. No worries though. I have a plan to do him a little differently if I can make the time to work on it.

[David Keen]

Hey Wheels, I've got a little bit done on the dragon but have been spending most of the time trying to get used to using Painter. I'll post what I've got done tomorrow, but I have a feeling it'll be pretty tight trying to get it done before the deadline. It's just been so hectic with Christmas and new years and all the social obligations that come along with that. I'm liking the rake brush background that you're building, it creates some nice variety in the image. Your environment is looking cool as well, I like the mood you're setting. Something about the perspective feels a little off to me though, but I can't quite nail down what it is. Perhaps something to do with the horizon line being so high in an interior environment? I'll see if I can work it out tomorrow. Good luck with the minotaur redesign!

[manlybrian]

I really like a lot of your drawings, especially the pencil sketches and portraits. You seem to have a knack for capturing their expressions.

[Wheeljack18]

Not much to post today, I have been playing around with the idea of an Albino Mutant Minotaur. If you've read the actual Myth. The Queen of Crete actually gives birth to the thing so I thought that I would try and cook up some sort of hybrid that is less bull man and more Island of the Dr. Moreau, genetic experiment gone wrong due to the gods wicked sense of humour. Imagine if this thing were real. The son of a queen ( therefore a prince) locked in a maze ( assuming it's underground but not necessarily) and never seeing the daylight. Fed constantly on a diet of human flesh. The sacrifices probably were drugged before being fed so he really wouldn't have had to work to feed himself. Imagine a flabby, sickly creepy cow mutant wandering endlessly in a maze consumed with hunger.

See, when I type it out is sounds great but right now, for some reason, I'm unable to get the image in my mind out onto the canvas. The following is all that I've got so far and I'm thinking about walking away from it for a while and working on something else. My Mojo has left me...


Hey E, Yeah Christmas really smoked me for time and energy and I'm only now struggling to get back into the groove so I feel your pain. Thanks for the crit and I'll give you one too when you post up next.

Manlybrian: Thanks for stopping by and checking things out. I'll return the favor soon.

Cheers!

[Jarrad]

great stuff here! Also, I really admire how thorough your thinking process is when doing a piece. That is something I need to do more.. as well as more pieces!

Cheers

[Wheeljack18]

Thanks man, I'll try to post up more process images if you think that it will be helpful.

[Wheeljack18]

Here is a revisit of an old friend, this time in digital.

[seagulls]

The motorcycle and sidecar looks really good, did you do it from ref? The speedpaints Are also great.

[Wheeljack18]

Here is an Ortho WIP of a creature Design that I've been playing with. Also A rough anamatic of one of it's eyes blasting a hapless adventurer.
Cheers!

Sorry, The Creature is a Beholder for all of you non D&D geeks.

[Wheeljack18]

Got a bit more to show today. Not sure on how I want to present the beholder yet but I have a couple of options here. I may even repaint the thing as he does look a little too much like a floating Xmas tree. This creature lives underground and I wanted to capture the moment when all of it's eyes light up when it is threatened and ready to attack. Similarly to some of those Deep water fish that light up like the one in Pixar's "Finding NEMO".

That and I also have a page of warm up sketches. Can you guess the theme?

[Wheeljack18]

Some quick color studies and stuff. Trying out a new brush set from Mike Nash.
http://www.mike-nash.com/tools/

Some of these brushes are pretty good and he is kind enough to share them on his website so give em a try.

[Ricardo Robles]

Hi wheeljack, i love what i see here! very solid and dynamic linework from page1 man. The figure work is getting really good. Maybe I miss a bit more elaborated color treatment in some of your drawings, it normally has a scratchy look, but then I see the latest commander CHOW and i have to say you did very good on it. You could try to do more environment practice though..
Excellent work overall, keep posting.

[David Keen]

Great updates since I last visited dude! I especially like the beholder page, it's nice to see that the D&D inspiration is still going strong. The little landscape inn #231 is looking interesting as well, I'd love to see that one finished off a little more. The rendering on your motorcycle and side car is fantastic! I'm so impressed by your patience! I think I will do the Chow this week are you in? Let's get another one finished!

[CassandraJ]

That Beholder is so adorable! Having faced one a few times in battle, the things are damn scary. Yours looks so cute though!

[Voodoo_Mama]

Your drawings are really good! You have a really solid understanding of anatomy.
The minotaurs are looking really good.
My only crit would be to work a bit more on the colors. The shadows look like they have too much black in them.
Keep up the awesome work!

[Wheeljack18]

Hey Guys, Today I have a bundle to share. Actually some of it you have seen before but not in it's entirety. To make a long story short, I gave myself a challenge and that was to update my portfolio by creating a body of work relating to one subject that included a bit of everything that I can do related to Entertainment production. I chose to use the Solomon Kane story "Rattle of Bones" by Robert E. Howard. Over the course of a couple of months I have produced Character Designs, Storyboards, a Story Board Animatic, Environments, Props and Weapons. I've posted links to the work on my blog and my updated website but I will also post them here to share with the CA community.

Anyways, Take a look and let me know what you think as well as any suggestions for additions and improvements would be welcome.
Cheers!

The Entire Story board Sequence can be downloaded from my blog Here ( There is a .pdf link to the file at the bottom)

You can view the Animatic on my YouTube Channel Here.

Ricardo Robles: Thanks for stopping by and offering your observations. I appreciate it and I intend on doing more Environments soon. So stay tuned.

Ebersol: Thanks Eb! The MTB didn't take as long as you might think ( thankfully) but I'm glad that you appreciated it. Technical rendering is one of those hit or miss things for me. Either it really works or it doesn't at all. This time it worked. That Environment is just the tip of the iceberg as I intend to do a lot more soon. I'm waffling on the Ch0w. When I first read it, I thought crazy Voodoo mama with skulls and grass skirts but when I re-read the description she sounds all lovey touchy feely and blaugh! I going to think about it. In the meantime, I'm inspired by the IDW challenge.

CassandraJ: You faced a beholder and lived to tell the tale!?! I'm glad you like my interpretation of the nasty beastie.

Voodoo_Mama: Thanks mama! Those Minotaurs you saw are just roughs and I'll attend to the dark sports when / if I ever get around to wrapping that design up. Thanks for the observations

[David Keen]

You crazy person! So much awesome work showing up at such a blistering pace! I've been keeping an eye on your blog posts so had a bit of a preview but it's great to see everything up here. I really like sc.36 the expression on Gaston's face is spot on and you've captured the movement of the character well. The story board exteriors are good as well, quite a different style to the way you usually appear to put images together, I like the textured, sketchy feel.

Are you going to go ahead with the IDW challenge? It's a cool topic but I'm up to my elbows in Chow at the moment and will need some more time to finish it off. Great to see the new splash page on your site! I think putting your character work up was a good move, it looks very slick.

Looking forward to the next sketch dump! Keep well.

[blindshot]

Excellent work! I LOVE your Metal Gear fanart. Your ink work is great as well. Keep it up!

[GEB]

Nice work. Love your studies and that rattle of bones stuff is looking great

[Clur]

phiouefjnkjsdbjhfsa, I'm just blown away by your Solomon Kane work! I get a real sense of creepiness and tension from your storyboards, even though they're just thumbnails. Your character designs are amazing as well.

I've been meaning to get into Solomon Kane for a while now, after seeing this I'm even more interested to read the stories!