Pegasidian Trooper

I felt really inspired after reading a few books from design studio press and decided to re-design the suit of this alien race I like to draw. I also see that a lot of artists like to add some noise over their digital art so I created a grey layer, hit add noise and reduced the opacity to 15%.

character updates

I have been doing some photoshop work of a few character turn-arounds, I thought I would go ahead and post what I got so far. I am really proud of how fast Frank's design improved since the last time I drew him in march. Io, however, has been a pesky character to design for me, her simplicity is acting as a curse.

Sketchbook

I scanned I few sections of two of my sketchbooks, mostly focusing on the more refined blue sketches. I love blue and red pencil when it comes to forming ideas, far superior in my opinion to just pencil because when it comes to sketching, I usually have three levels: rough red, refined blue, and digital adjustment. The digital adjustment is after I scan the work into Photoshop, flip it and rework any symmetry flaws it might have.

tree study

I didnt feel too confident in my ability to do flora so I thought I would bang out a quick drawing of a tree just to experiment with textures and leaf brushes. I once used to throw a texture on the surface and warp it but after some input from instructors I discovered painting the texture by hand does indeed make the form pop out more.

Props

Some props I did for character design. The perspective is approximated so there are definitely some things off.

Violent violet

I wanted to mess around with some muscle studies so I did by working on a very muscular and exaggerated creature. Something about top heavy builds with big, heavy arms I find fun to draw.

Cityscape speedpaint progress

A little update, I started added clouds and a refection of the sky in the water. Clouds may need work in the future.

Cityscape speedpaint progress

Blocked out a little more. I really am itching to do a version that is completely tightened up, but I need to do this and go through with it or else I wont learn anything and thus build up the confidence to finish a full cityscape perspective and all. Confidence is key with me. I always admire those who can constantly finish picture after picture, those who are settled into a nice comfortable style of drawing.

I am definitely going to tone down some of the window lights and create a focal point using dark silouetes of buildings closer to the viewer. The bridge and highway area will be needing more details to make it more interesting, I thing I may be on to something with the road signs(just realized I forgot the signs facing the other traffic) with the metal support structure having an underglow, going to try and take that a bit further...Also, the sky, yeah, it needs more. The reference photo has a bluish overcast, but I never really developed a good method to clouds yet. I may need to download some more brushes. I am going to keep the sky behind the clouds a subtle blue...when I tried a color similar to the one in the photo it came out loud and distracting. Ew.

Cityscape speedpaint

Trying to loosen up a little and get some systems down for drawing cities quickly. Here's the start of a city at night I've been working on based off a reference photo. I have an app that gives me daily quotes from the Buddha, and as I was doubting my ability to finish works and get a decent portfolio going I read this one quote "He is able who thinks he is able"

Cities and structures

I got really depressed yesterday because I came to the realization I don't really have a lot to show other than practice works. Nothing completed. Not that practice is a bad thing, its just that I lack the know-how to achieve what I want to draw. Namely a cityscape, whether at night or during the day...they are just such a pain. All those perspective lines and geometric tricks to get them to be accurate. Maybe I am over thinking them. Maybe they aren't so complicated.

I want to scrap outlines period and focus entirely on values and shading to build forms, and through an experiment with a close-up shot of some apartment buildings near the Art Institute I realized I can achieve this, only now I am hung up on color. I think I am a horrible colorist. I am theorizing that my problem may be that I find a neat new trick and I stick with it, for going back to using an older method would break my kaizen mindset. For example I discovered photo-filters through a friend on DeviantArt, I instantly fell in love with their ability to simulate sunlight so nicely while acting like a mask. So much that to color using any other method felt...obsolete, even though I know for a fact that it isn't. Got to break these habits.

Here are some rock experimentation I did. Rocks were tricky at first but once I did them in marker they got real easy. Real life references work best.

This isnt the final design for her body, I am still messing around with her body type. Some drawings she is too fat and others just awkward. I am liking the idea of giving her digitigrade legs. Oh my god I tried to fit her into the bottom of of one of these pics and her ass came out HUGE. My teacher thought it was funny. I do want her to be bottom heavy in contrast with the other characters' top heaviness.

I am using volumetric shading....I need to get into the habit of not relying so much on lines to distinguish forms and values. Tomorrow I am going to try and use some of my library of photo references to do some more environment studies.

Frank

This is a character I have had in mind for almost almost half of my life. I recently got a chance to redraw him through my character design class, it feels awesome to have a professional review him. I am feeling very tired but I really need to continue getting a portfolio of sketches I have been doing to get into a track in my degree program. I'm still very torn between environment design track (which I have been told I am strong in) or Previsualization track (which I feel a bit more passionate towards) I just dont feel strong in environments yet...I love drawing them, but I feel lacking in certain areas, namely composition. I feel more towards vehicles and characters and machinery than just backgrounds alone. Why fight where my strength lies though? It is not that I dislike designing environments in settings. Anyways, I wrote a back story behind him, which I had fun writing by the way:

Frank's Background
Frank Allen Nancoe was born in Clifford Forge, VA, to a family of 25. Frank's parents were somewhat un-affectionate and kept to their own business more than raising him or his other siblings. His father worked at a rapidly depleting coal mine, creating to a lack of support towards his offspring and forcing Frank to adjust quickly to relying on himself. After a childhood of fighting with his several same-age brothers and sisters, he developed an apathetic attitude towards the struggles of everyday life. His bumbling social awkwardness lead to many misunderstandings between him and his teachers and later bosses and co-workers. This furthered his view that working hard usually amounted to nothing. His grades were mediocre and his performance at work was nothing noticeable oftentimes referring to his jobs and bosses as "forgettable pocket-jobs run by wage-slaves who had to settle for whatever was convenient." This made him a job-hopper, seeking out work that required little thought, and as soon as more responsibilities were laid upon him, he either quit or got fired.

Despite this grim outlook and uneventful teen years, Frank did have his dreams. He has a passion for cars and anything mechanical, holding to the belief that "machines have and will continue free us from many of the stresses and responsibilities that plagued society years ago." He loves anything that makes life easy and dreams of living in Florida on a beach with "No one and their stupid mouths asking me to do s***" Eventually Frank did move from Clifford Forge to Washington D.C. to attend Capital Technical Institute where he met his best friend and all time worst influence, Mark "Rusty" Redington in his student housing. After graduation, Rusty convinced Frank to move with him to Southhampton, VA, a bustling southeastern Virginia city, where Rusty claimed the job market was better.

Unfortunately for the both of them the economy hit a recession the day they moved into an apartment with Rusty's parents. After a long unsuccessful job hunt Frank was able to land a job as a room server at a local hotel downtown and Rusty at coffee shop in the lobby of the same hotel. This was where a fateful evening would occur when several employees went absent due to a bad case of food poisoning as a result of Rusty's intoxicated misuse of an espresso machine. The manager was focusing all his frustration at Frank and a few pet peeves later Frank threw his now former manager in a dumpster. Rusty then vomited in said dumpster, ending both of their employment.

As he was walking out of the back of hotel Frank noticed a broken down car in the back alley with someone frantically working on it, this individual was alone and being approached by a group of armed men. Frank then rushed to his side, repairing the car and driving away from the situation. The man turned out to be William Wyoming, owner of WyomingTech Services. Impressed by Frank's skill and knowledge, Wyoming hired him on the spot as his lead Technician. Rusty managed to get a job at a local smoke shop, where the management were usually less sober than him. Rusty and Frank moved in together as roomates in a two bedroom aging apartment, where Frank's anti-social laziness and Rusty's outgoing, womanizing, anything goes lifestyle often clash.

Inspired

Well...here we go!
I close friend inspired me to start building a portfolio....so yeah. I will use this to post my quick marker renderings and hopefully some good finished photoshop work, with the hopes of attracting future employers.

A quick visit to Gearbox Software's headquarters was enough to inspire me and give me a good kick in the rear!