reasons for temporary lulls in productive thinking

[D.Labruyere]

From now on I'll update one of the newer pics in this post:

a master study of a painting by dagnan bouveret: mother of sorrow.

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[D.Labruyere]

*******

[speedysam267]

cool stuff bro! tour earlier sketches look like you had some influence from wesley burt in your compositions and with the portrait. I can't paint for crap with photoshop so there isn't really any advice I can offer you there. but hay, just keep pluggin away at things keep on trying to improve and you should get better. good stuff and keep it coming!

[Niva.]

Aha, excellent start to an SB. I really like the landscape with the city on the mountain you broke down, I need to do exercises like this myself grr! I also really like this one: http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=255637&stc=1&d=1197164229

The monster is very cool, the face/mouth keeps drawing my eyes towards it. You should finish it and post a higher res image, very nice design on that piece.

[D.Labruyere]

speedysam: yea you're correct :) wesley burt has influenced me in a way.

n1va: thanks! glad you like the monster :)

ok, my scanner is being a bitch right now, so I'm putting up some oldies and 2 digitals I've started on:

[CatConvention]

oh that digital painting with the arms stretched looks so good i can't wait till it's smoothed out and more detailed.
^^

[Lad]

Love your tribute go Angus! He was a great man/artists and you pictures has some of his emotion of that :) I would like to see that in a cleaner picture as it has become distorted by the .jpg conversion.

Also more studies! Anatomy and people preferably :D

Keep 'em coming!

[D.Labruyere]

xxzxczx_me and lad, thanks! I wish I could post up a better version of that image but right now I lost the psd and can't find it :(

anatomy and people are coming lad :)

ok, here's an update again, a environment, a little progression on one of the previous drawings, my lms entry and a fast environment I did. My scanner still isn't working properly so actual drawings will have to wait.

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lms:
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[sameolesame]

very cool sketches, I like the gray monotone one with the light source in the bottom right... would be interesting to see this developed more. good job.

[gustavo desimone]

very good pictures

[D.Labruyere]

gustavo and sameolesame, thank you for your replies!

sameolesame, I have trouble finding out which picture you mean :s

My scanner is working again so time for an update!

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[D.Labruyere]

another update :)

both wip:
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don't know what I'm going to do with this yet
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[jdeegz]

this, is, a dope sketchbook. your digi skills are getting really great. keep working on them

[Vigilandus]

Do more portrait studies? Action scenes maybe? :p
I know I need to do action scenes.. Since you're studying history,
maybe something historical!

Hey keep it up mate!

-Frans

[Movenski]

fantastic stuff man, your pencils are the winners!

[D.Labruyere]

jdeegz, thanks! I will :)

Vigilandus, hmmz, portraits. That's something I need to do yes.

Movenski, thanks!

a tiny update, nothing that great, but Ill show them anyway

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[AsaB]

Hey man, welcome aboard :)

Impressive start! Your pencils are confident and well-developed, esp.the values, you're not afraid of a little contrast, I like that! Your digis are also on the right track, those environments are definitely doing you good. I like the texture you have in them. The speedies look good. I'd love to see a more finished piece from you, though, just to push yourself a bit! But overall a very nice sb :)

[D.Labruyere]

Hello AsAB, thank you for the kind words! You're right, I have never really finished something, partly because I'm lazy, and partly because I always see halfway through so many mistakes that I rather start over then continue on something. But I will try to finish something in the near future.

Ok, I found out Jens posted a link to some great environmental photographs in the mentor section! I took the liberty to take 2 of them and tried to paint them in ps myself.

Well, here is the link of Jens: (go check it out)

click this! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=116494)

and here are my poor attempts:

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Gotta do more of these :p

[Eclair]

pencil drawings are great..

and env. are cool

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=264658&stc=1&d=1198371064
wow!
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=287499&d=1201055481
smthng like - "Whata heck?!" - cool

and also funny stuff with "crap"

[Eclair]

but I want to see some finished digital stuff :)

[Karonno]

Awesome Sketches. You should really apply your digital application the same work. If many thing else, Throw your strokes as if you were painting in Oil or acrylic!

[Icedearth15876]

You have some very interesting pieces there, keep up the good work.

[deadred]

good work on the studies, they seem to be really helping in your improvement through your posts :) i dont have much to crit, other than pay attention to the lighting when you're doing painterly pieces. lighting will help you get a more dramatic and more solid look to your subjects and make painterly drawings seem less muddy. keep it up!

[Whitevillage]

You have some really nice pencil drawings there, It's straight and clean. The digital environments look promising, good luck on that. I'm looking forward to more works by you in this thread. :)

[Mat Kaminski]

Nice start for sure!
In a way I'm jealous of you for getting into that environmenting with form... if you got in that is. Form is an excellent teacher! Either way, keep it up for sure.
You have very clean lines when sketching, which is a great thing to have!

I don't know if you care to hear, but I'd say do some facial reference sketches. I've discovered that repetition works wonders for drawing... I've drawn a couple of pages of hands just recently and suprisingly, I feel a little more confident in my ability to draw them.
So I'd definitely have to say to work on repetition.
Also, your landscape work looks like it has awesome potential!
Keep working on both aspects. Both on and off of reference.
Depending on how you gauge your skill level, it might be best to start with reference if your a beginner, but if not, work with what's in your noodle! :D

I'll be watching regardless ;)

[D.Labruyere]

hello hello!

ekler, thanks! I know, I need to finish my stuff once :( it's just that well the sketch stage is so much more fun to do :P

karonno, I will try that :)

Icedearth15876, thanks!

deadred, I think you have a point there. In a way I have to find a balance between the muddyness and a solid look to my subjects. I've never been after a fully rendered tight looking piece with nothing left to geuss though. I want to let the viewer figure out as much as possible for them self without letting it become to unclear into what I am showing. Don't know if Ill ever succeed in that :P .

whitevillage, thanks! More sketches are on there way!

Malakai SinClair, thank you for your reply in my sketchbook :) Form was indeed an amazing teacher, and I enjoyed it a lot during the period I was making environments with him watching over our back. Your crit about doing some referenced sketches again is spot on. It has been way to long since I did those. The funny thing is, I mostly do things from my head. Always have done that, and I feel more comfortable drawing without ref then with ref. However I think in a way because I don't study from ref enough I've come at a point it really starts to show and affect my drawings. So thank you for saying that to me. Gives me a kick in the butt again heh

Right, Just back from the german sketchmeet, and well, just to put it in 1 word. It was AMAZING. I have learned tons of new shit, and it was great to meet all those good and talented people which you usually only see on the forum. After getting home I just didn't know where to start with drawing again, simply because there are so many things I want to try out, and do right now. It showed me how much I still have to learn to become a decent artist, and I'm really going to kick some butt to accomplish that. (which is in most cases just my own butt)

Ok, time for an update! I'm afraid the scans are really bad, but untill I've found a decent computer with photoshop on it you're gonna have to do it with this. As soon as I've found one I'll upload them again and make another scan of them.

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Oh yeah, here are also some pictures I took during the german sketchmeet (mobile phone quality, I am sorry for that)

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[Jabo]

Hey Daniel. I give that comment back, it was nice to meet you. Looks like we were both too busy getting ourself... unconscious, because I didn't know you had so many nice landscape studies in your sketchbook. Really cool, man. I had my laptop with me, thought I had shown you my digitals. Well, next time I guess ;)

I'm looking forward to see more of your work. Keep it up!

[ajvenema]

great work dude! quit history and go do art for a living:)

[Mat Kaminski]

I think I have to agree with ajvenema on this one ;p

[Duq]

Hey man! Was great meeting you in Germany, you are doing all the right things :D

My only crit would be, getting a better scanner ! These look so much better in real life.

[Soja]

Hey D.L.!!

Dude was really nice meeting u!! U blow away my mind with ur " stuff" hahahaha!! Wasnt really easy to draw every night!! Hope u had a nice trip home and could take lots of improvement home with u!!! Im sure u gonna be badass someday! U still so young!! Unfair i would say hahaha!! Good luck for getting a job!!! And hope to see u next time!!

[D.Labruyere]

hey all :)

jabo you didn't see those landscapes because they are mostly done by photoshop and good ol' mouse. I Look forward to seeing your digitals next time! And yeah well, next time we should draw together instead of getting wasted together. ;)

ajvenema and Malakai SinClair hahaha. Thanks, that is one of the greatest compliments I have ever had! I actually quitted my history study so that I could spend time on my arts. Still have to change the description on the first post.

However I don't think I'm quite on the 'right' level to make art for a living yet. There are far better and more talented people in the art scene then me, and the last thing I want to do is send out a not so decent portfolio to people, since people will always associate to me in the future as the "dude with amateur art work".

So first it is time to draw, draw, draw, draw and see if I'm able to get to a level which is "decent" within 2-3 years or so. (But that will probably be 7-8 years, if I have to be realistic :P )

Duq Yeah I know, my scanner sucks right now :( it was great meeting you! I heard that metal-mike and hyver were maybe planning something for in holland, so maybe I'll see you there again, or else during another dutch sketchmeet :)

Soja lol! my 'stuff' :p I actually felt more like 'the noob of the group' instead of the young talented artist to be honest! Learned tons though by simply looking at everybody's work and how they handled there drawings. It was a real eye opener for me. Hope to see you next time to again!

Well unfortunately I've been away this day and yesterday so that gave me almost no time to draw... However I do have a little sketch I've made during the train which I scanned in (still with the lousy and bad scanner :lens: still have to find a solution for that....)

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I hope I'm able to show more tomorrow or Ill never get anywhere :/

[Matthew Forte]

There's some nice stuff in here, you're pretty good with the painting, just keep at it! Your sketches are great, no criticism there!

[Rikki]

I'm really loving your digital paintings. They seem to get better and better.

[D.Labruyere]

matthew and rikki, thanks!

right, I found a lot of extra buttons in my scanner options, and I managed to make my scans better :steph: so I'm going to repost the last 2 posts and add some aditional stuff :)

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some 2 minute thumbnails:

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that was all for now, back to zu drawing board! :D

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Hello D.

I definately have to agree with some of these people on your rendering and drawing skills... I like how the contrast is helping to bring the forms out and giving your drawings that punch. Now some might have an extra kick if you add some subtle highlight with something like a white pastel pencil that is contradictory to your paper. Some of the sheets seem like they are a warmer yellow tone so something of a cool white would be interesting to see. the same could be said if the paper was a cool bluish tone, where a warm white would be useful. (you might have to experiment with different types to get something that suits you) That being said, I do like how your working with the landscape paintings... I'll have to get into it after I finish my workshop with Mentler.

Later
-Shawn

[D.Labruyere]

hello shawn, I have to try that once with a white pastel pencil. Good suggestion :) You're in a workshop with mentler? That's great! I'm sure you will learn tons of it. Sorry for not coming to your sketchbook yet, I will do that as soon as possible.

Ok, here is a little environment sketch I did. I wanted to do something a bit more 'industrial' since I normally don't do such stuff.

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yours,

daniel

[D.Labruyere]

Mooooooooooooooooooooore! :ilaekae:

I'm going to work more on the one top left.

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[enthombed]

nice updates... keep posting

cheer

[D.Labruyere]

roger enthombed! :yayca:

didn't really do much today, lazy me got caught up in a book he was reading hehe >:D But here is a little bit of progress on zu environment! I hope I can show more tomorrow.

[Soja]

Hey D!!!
The last one is really great!!! i love it! Think the mood is pretty cool!
I think the sky is still little bit to bright! but well u will work more on it i think!
so really looking forwar to see the final pic!!
Keep workin!!

[Mat Kaminski]

MAN! Nice looking environments! :D

Keep 'em coming...
Do me a quick WIP of some of those, so I can learn how to do some good environments. :D

[Mydrim]

Great stuff here, me picking this: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=303391&d=1203079317

[Whitevillage]

Hey what's up, D. How's the progress going with that last environment of yours? :)

[a la bapsi]

Veeerrrry nice job on the environments. I've always had trouble with those. D:
and the hatching on angry fat thing with a stone hammer is so neat and tidy. alkdsjf KEEP POSTING.

[D.Labruyere]

hey all!

Soja, Ill see if I can make the sky a bit less bright, have been trying some things already to accomplish that, but didn't really worked out the way I wanted.

Malakai SinClair thanks! hehe, perhaps I could post my progress and how I work step by step once, though I doubt if anyone will really benefit from it :p

Mydrim Thanks, I will visit your sketchbook asap (the group is getting biiiiiiig)

Whitevillage Still working on it ;) dropped in a robot, but I'm not showing it untill I'm a bit further on it.

ailfox thanks! I will :)

Sorry for the lack of updates past weeks. I've been rather busy, just started a new job which swallowes quite a lot of my time, but I will try to keep it daily again. GREAT news is, that I've got a wacom since today! :steph: So I don't have to mess around with my mouse anymore. Right now I'm just messing around a bit to get a bit of a feel for it, but I can say already that I'm in love with my new equipment :p

So here, are some small things I did today, I ofcourse did more past weeks, but I have to sort that out and scan it first. Will do that tomorrow!

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yours,

daniel

[a la bapsi]

Nice backpack man. [lol]
I'm loving that cup...thing on the bottom right corner asdflkjasdf i gotta paint more often. Dx

[Hive_minD]

I enjoyed looking at your pen and pencil lines. Keep drawing mate ;)

Chris

[Merlin]

Yeah! Finally you have a wacom. Works much better than a mouse right? And you made some cool stuff with it already.

[vibhas_virwani]

hey nice sketchbook man ... ur amazing at rendering traditionally ....

[D.Labruyere]

aifolx, Hive_minD and vibhas_virwani: Thanks! glad you like 'em :)

merlin, yeah, it works better. About time I got one to hehe. After what is it, 2years or something?

well, here I've got for thou some environment sketches. I want to step out of the color schemes I use normally a bit so screwing around with zu colors hehe :)

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Very nice thumbnails... I like the colors used in the last one, the contrasts make it very vibrant although I see your trying your hand at the Deep concept they have going on around here. Although I haven't dived deep in the ocean, there is a buttload of good reference...

The thumbnails with the wide width definately show great compositions... I've always wanted to do something that would be like that with a 1x4 height to width ratio.

Keep it up man, I'd like to see some of those thumbs fleshed out a bit more...
-Shawn

[Tomat]

Nice stuff, digging those 2 min thumbs, especially the first one.

[Pascallo]

Hey there!
It did not hurt my eyes... but it was nice looking thru your stuff. you are on a good way and your designs and compositions look awesome so far. Especially stuff like that: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=344901&d=1207910107

So, well.. just keep it going like this - and dont kick your own ass too much, only now and then ;)
Good luck!

[D.Labruyere]

hiho :)

shawn, Yeah, I should do some reference studies before diving into the actual concept. I'm going to make quite some more of those before I start on fleshing out any of them. (atleast, that is zu plan)

Tomat, thanks! glad you like 'em.

Pascallo, hehe I always wondered if people actually liked such drawings :) thanks for coming by into my sb! And I'm glad you didn't hurt your eyes ;)

ok, I did some theapot ref study, I restricted myself to stop after 45 minutes (yea I'm slow) because I tend to go over a lot of things, and repeat myself during progress which in the end only results in that I "change" the painting instead of finishing it. I hoped that if I restricted myself to a time, I would focus more on the finishing part and actually get further with the painting.

so, progres-steps:

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and 'final' after 45 minuts:

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yours,

daniel

[D.Labruyere]

def var update.

if update = true then display art.

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[D.Labruyere]

and more:

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[D.Labruyere]

-back to the basics-

[D.Labruyere]

worked a bit on this portrait today, it is also in the critique section overhere:

link (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=127421)

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Very nicely done... Really digging the bridgman studies... His use of blocks really helps when trying to figure out how the form is supposed to be positioned in space. that and lighting can be easily adapted to blocky forms rather than spherical forms...

the portrait in the last post looks like it needs a bit of attention to the lighting... if the light is coming in from the person's front right, you might want to add a bit of highlight to where light would be reflecting from the skin... just subtle amounts though... too much and it will fall apart. you'd be suprized at how much so little could add to a work. Also just be careful of cast shadows... they can be as damaging to form as extreme white or extreme black.

[Slash]

Page 3? :D

[Duq]

BRidgman studies are awesome, foundations for life!

One thing that I did notice is that your shapes tend to stay flat, so try to sculpt more, use more contrast etc. I would say do some black and whites, I noticed for myself that they help alot.

But great progress! I love the landscape painting, and keep it up!

[D.Labruyere]

thanks Crazy Dude, I worked some more on it but I noticed I lacked in certain knowledge to finish it properly, so back to zu studies! And have a go at it again later on.

Slash woohoo! page 3, now time to get it to 4

Duq, black and whites it is then :)

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[Mat Kaminski]

You and Duq are so good at that black and white line thing... it looks so cool like that. Maybe you two should get together and concept up a comic book like that lol.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks malakai! Though in my opinion the bw's of duq are way better then mine hehe ;)

*needs to practice more*

not a very productive day:

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I decided to work on it more but I managed to make it worse instead of better, ah well :/

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[Mat Kaminski]

Hehe, it definitely looks heaps better before than after. Keep working in it. Like I said to Duq, it might be interesting to throw in one other color (monochromatic + one spot color). It will REALLY draw the eye in towards that point.
Anyway, lemme know how it goes.

[Ash888]

Cool concepts and nice painting.
I like your style.
Post more paintings soon.

[D.Labruyere]

hey malakai, that is certainly an idea, maybe I have to try some variations, one with 1 extra color added and 1 just bw but 1 extra value added here and there.

Thanks Ash888! I will :)

And thank you to the people who gave me stars! :yayca: I didn't expected that, so thanks :)

Ok, this is well... It originaly started out as a masterstudy of william bouguereau (hope I wrote it right). However since that was like 100 steps ahead of what I am able to do, I stepped away of that idea after the initial sketch and altered it into the state it is now.

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-daniel

[D.Labruyere]

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Did some extra work on this one:

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[D.Labruyere]

and more:

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[Mat Kaminski]

Oh wow, you are really getting better. Personally I think that the one above in the 'cel-shaded' comic style is the best of the new batch (on post #69). Although I do like your environments.
Anyway, keep drawing... and oh, what kind of sketchbook is that that I see everyone with (yellow paper above)?

[ditchman]

I thought there were some great ideas and compositions right though this sketchbook. I love that bandstand.

[D.Labruyere]

hey malakai, that is moleskine paper. It is a bit expensive for a sketchbook but the paper is of really nice quality and ideal for pencils and pens :)

ditchman, thanks!

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[Mat Kaminski]

Ooooh these new ones are looking great!! :D
Flesh out the vehicles above even further! :)

[a la bapsi]

hey
looking good here. ;D
I'm loving those environments you've cranked out.

[D.Labruyere]

malakai and bapsi, thanks :)

Been to hellmouth sketchmeet, had a great time, learned tons and drawn a lot, so here is an update!

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[Mat Kaminski]

OH WOW! Those new ones look like real game concepts! Looking great!!
Hope to see you succeed in the long haul! :D

[a la bapsi]

looking good here.
as always--a keen eye for perspective. I love that ship in your last post. :D

[Whitevillage]

Looks very good with the perspective indeed. I think your work in general is alright, I have a hard time to looking at it with a critical eye most of the time. Those meetings you go to, are mostly in the Netherlands right? I was thinking of going to a meeting as well sometime. Meeting new people en learning new things from them sounds like fun to me. :)

[D.Labruyere]

hey guys, I'll respond later, but I have little time right now :)

tiny update:

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[a la bapsi]

hey.
i'm in love with the mood in that last environment. <3
Keep these up, you're looking good. :D

[D.Labruyere]

hello hello!

malakai, thanks, hope to succeed as well :p

a la bapsi, thanks :)

whitevillage, yes, those meetings are usually in the Netherlands. You should come once, they are a great learning experience, and it's always fun to meet some new people.

Time for a still life :) Got to do way more of these.

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[Mat Kaminski]

Man, these two new ones are definitely good. The still life really looks real. Did you use a custom brush on it? Because it has nice texture.

That cloud one up there looks really good too...Did you use reference? Just curious.

Keep coming with more! :)

[Mydrim]

great, keep on!

[vibhas_virwani]

GREAT painting on those last ones man !!!! i see improvement !!! we are still on the pact right ?? hehe ...
keep updating ...

[D.Labruyere]

hey Malakai SinClair, no, no custom brush, but corel painter. I didn't use any ref for the landscape, but it is something I should do more often.

Mydrim, thanks!

vibhas_virwani, aye, we are still on zu pact ;)

[D.Labruyere]

Right, I found an art acamady this week where I could still apply to. I will probably be updating often with the work I make for it this week. I am a bit on a stress level right now since it actually has to be finished before monday, so any input would be very welcome and much appreciated! Since.. well my future depends on these pieces ;) (For some reason they won't just let you show you your portfolio... would have saved me a lot of time)


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[D.Labruyere]

some more:

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[Jabo]

Hey man! Nice to see you so busy. Great results lately, I really dig that strange city structure in your last post. Nice themes you got there. Keep it up!

[D.Labruyere]

hey jabo! how do you do? to bad you weren't there during hellmouth sketchmeet! hehe, maybe next time :) thanks! glad you like it.

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[D.Labruyere]

and onto page 4 :)

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[a la bapsi]

that outerspace one: incredible. O__O
well done.

[Mydrim]

Looking fine indeed, keep doing that! That space stuff reminds me of a game Hegemonia (or that something) btw- is it inspired by?

[D.Labruyere]

a la bapsi, thanks!

mydrim, never heard of that game as far as I can remember, gotta look it up.

Ok, back from my holidayz again. Went to scotland, backpacking in the wild, and I can say it was amazing!! A really beautifull country :) unfortunately I didn't got to draw as much as I wanted to but here is an update again:

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enjoy,

daniel

[Dan Valkar]

really nice stuff in here mate, i really dig that space base, great work on that one, keep it up!!!

[bakatron]

i love that space station. it totally reminds me of homeworld!

[Zeitwolf]

nice last painting!

only critique I'd mention is that the whole picture is tiltet to one side - it would have been nice to give the light a different angle than the station...

[Envisor]

Your sketchbook is coming along nicely. You've been improving. I'm really enjoying the progress you've made. It seems you're more of a machines and landscapes person. They come more naturally to you than people do. But you have made clear progress in that department since you began this sketchbook. Cant wait to see more.

[D.Labruyere]

dan valkar, thanks!

bakatron, I don't know homeworld, gonna check it out! :)

Zeitwolf, yeah you're right, and I should fix it somehow, just haven't figured out how yet.

Envisor, you're correct to say I feel more comfortable with machines and landscapes. But I think it is good to have atleast basic "skills" in drawing the human so that I can use that later on if necessary, but I still have a long way to go before I can draw one decent hehe :p

Didn't draw that much, got the news that I didn't got accepted to the art school I wanted to go to yesterday, so that kinda sucks :(

but here is a tiny update anyway:

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[D.Labruyere]

a quicky for today:

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[monotony]

aw dude, hearing about your art school sucks. but don't let that get you down. you're really good and even improving heaps. you'll get in next time, or into another one.
this is one of my favourites of yours.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=389109&d=1213211892
and you're really stepping it up with that space station. immediately reminded me of star wars. looks a bit like ewoks are building their own deathstar :D
anyway just tiny crit. easy thing to fix. my eye immediately got drawn to the planet because it's a bit eggshaped.
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anyway keep it up, man.

[Lakka]

I came here for an eye injury, and none of that here. instead theres art... ART.

What the hell kind of game are you playing here!?

Apart from that, nice speedy in #100 and the spaceship+station are looking tight in #94. The planet, as stated, is a bit eggshaped, and it it's not quite on par with the spaceship+station.

Next time I come here I'd better find myself with an eye injury, or someones getting his house burnt down...

;)

[Trashy]

^What that guy said above me:)

The space station really is a great piece of work. You're improving heaps a well
with those drawings.

[JustinBeckett]

Nice SB, your progress is moving along nicely. I especially like your pencil work, and that last finished space station.

~JB

[D.Labruyere]

hello monotony, thank you for your kind words! I had no intentions to quit now I didn't got accepted, this only gives me an extra goal to proof that they made a mistake not accepting me :P I will fix it! Thanks for the crit.

Lakka, I'm sorry you dont have the eye injury :( I can still come to you and give you one if you want to :D hehe, thanks for the liking of #100 and #94.

Trashy, thanks!

JustinBeckett, thanks. I do my best :)

great! Time for zu morning doodles. I worked some more on that one in post 100 and did 2 more speed paintings:

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[Verehin]

very nice landscapes...good feeling of the colour and tone

[D.Labruyere]

Verehin, thanks!

some more;

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and some photo's I took in scotland: (that country is just absolutely amazing!)

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used this one as ref for one of the landscapes above. Forgot to mention that one was reffed. Sorry for that.

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-daniel

[D.Labruyere]

bridgman study's :

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[ditchman]

studies are looking good, nice photo's too (you are right about Scotland, I took a holiday on the Isle of Skye once... AMAZING). that shot of the buildings being lit by the early morning/late evening light looks great.

[Jens]

hey man, i've read about the art school thing. I really think they DID made a mistake not accepting you, I can't really understand why, mayby you should try St.Lucas here in Antwerp, I think they're still a possibility to do the entrance exams, I'm sure they'd let you in here :) But of course, it's not a concept art orientated school, so you might encouter problems with that and you have to find a different way of working for school, like I did (including having to redo a year). Still I think because I had to deal with these problems it made me a better artist, more versatile in different styles. Also, you have acces to model drawing every day if you want, as you can easily sit in the sessions of other classes. I do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the school, but in the end they did accept that I did my internship as a concept artist for a game design company.

This is the site if you're interested, it has some very artsy stuff, but you'll see figuraaive works also, you just have to remember it's an illustration school, and illustration is more than Magic card illustrations :)
http://www.sintlucasantwerpen.be/ateliers/illustratieve-vormgeving

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Hello D.

Things are coming together nicely here, it sucks that the school denied your application. Sometimes it is best to think of it not as a disapointment, but as an opportunity.

[D.Labruyere]

ditchman, thanks!

Jens, that was actually my original plan 1-2 months ago. It turns out you have to have a "vwo" to be able to study at any art school in belgium, and all I have is a "havo" which is enough here in holland. Now if I'm correct you can also do a 21 test in belgium to get accepted just like in holland, but well... you have to be 21 hehe and I won't be that untill April. Thank you very much for the info and the help though! Didn't know you went to St.Lucas :)

The Crazy Dude SRD, it sucks, but they will have had there reasons, and maybe it is indeed for the best :)

no reply without an update:

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[D.Labruyere]

both WIP:

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[D.Labruyere]

an update on the character:

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[a la bapsi]

nice character painting in your last post. :]
I love the attire.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks a la bapsi! glad you like it :)


another update on it:

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[vibhas_virwani]

man , i love your chow entry this time !!! great use of colors , but watch out , im gonna give you some competition on the next one :P u up for it ??

[D.Labruyere]

hehe, bring it on vibhas :yayca: it's butt-kicking time ;)

had some fun with... a pen this weekend! most of it was random crap but here are some of them:

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[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

some progres on this one:

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beginning of pow:

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[Phil_Osirus]

Really cool seeing all that progress, it's getting exponential!:)

[D.Labruyere]

thanks phil! :)

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[Sebastian Gromann]

your getting there, good work ! 4*s

[D.Labruyere]

snobbyoo, danke zehr! :)

some more work on this one:

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Nicely done so far, I like how you've been keeping your paintings loose yet adding focus to specific points, and the colors and tones are very nice. Keep things going down this road and you'll find yourself going far.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks crazy dude, what I'm trying to do with my paintings is finding a balance into keeping the paintings 'painterly' and tightening them up in a such a way that they don't look like unfinished scribbles. This basicaly forced me to rethink my whole process to painting from point 1. What I used to do was simply start at a point and continue untill the canvas was filled, which didn't quite work :P so doing my best to divide everything into 'parts' now. This also gives me a better idea to when I can call something finished or not, since I know exactly what I still have to do and what not. Atleast, that is the idea behind it, but I don't think I'm quite there yet hehe :)

anyways, a few steps further with this one:

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[D.Labruyere]

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wip;
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[vibhas_virwani]

hey man , nice updates !! im going to start competing with you now :P , mainly coz ur more regular than i am and better :S

[D.Labruyere]

lol, well let's compete then! The suggestion to do both a chow/eow/cow you gave on msn was a fine plan which I think we really should pull through. That will be fun! :D

ok, I did a lot more but I still have to scan it etc. so that will come later but for now an update on the castle picture in the previous post:

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still wip.

[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

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the text says translated in english: "even the bird found this tree not good enough anymore"

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[Nubb]

You were good, now you rock and soon You'll be a kick-ass! Great to see how Your style and skill evolve. Keep pushing!

[Feil Magnus]

Hi
just a critic concerning the perspective mistakes in the last environment sketch,
the roof looks as if it was falling back, maybe you should have drawn lines of perspective before drawing the full building.
It's strange it's a mistake that's only on the last sketch, your colored enviro are good otherwise.

[zelda_geek]

The environments are looking great, just some extra details and they would be perfect.

[Earendil]

Glad to see an old environment classmate doing well with his enviros! Particularly the colors and values, you're really progressing well in this area.

[Mat Kaminski]

Your environments are still goregous as they were... keep workin' on your anatomy and you'll be well-rounded in no time :)

[thesadpencil]

hey nice sb you got here i like your pencils a lot, you've got some good linework. i think your digis are looking good as well however i believe you should try enhancing you light tonal values just slightly (can be done by adding simple highlights). other than that just keep on doing what you're doing.

[HAJiME]

Nice (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=470807&d=1222095364).

The guy with the hole in his belly scares me so much. I feel like he's going to put the brush in there to clean it out and that makes me feel really sick! Haha.

I like your forms when you block in images roughly. Especially landscapish things. What brushes do you use? Your own, or?

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Really digging the recent works dude, The characters' looking top notch and well thought out. Be careful though, the lower process of the fibula is set lower than the Tibula just slightly...

I'd like to see that speed painting evolve a bit more though!

-Shawn

[D.Labruyere]

Nubb, thanks! That coming from you means a lot to me. :) I've been a silent fan of you hehe

Feil Magnus, you are most fully correct! The reason I usually don't use perspective lines (I don't use them with my digitals aswell) is because it slows down the progress of painting the actual thing and I want to have as much 'freedom' as possible when forming the shapes/colors/composition with the first 10-20 minutes of my paintings. In photoshop I can simply correct it afterwards if it happens to go wrong but with pencil I ofcourse don't have that luxery.

zelda_geek, you aren't the first one to say so, so more details on there way!

Earendil, hey! :) yea, I'm still loving the environments. I do miss the classes with form though, they really gave you something to push towards to.

Matte_Art, thanks! I will.

thesadpencil, thank you very much for the critic. I think this one goes in the same line as the one from zelda_geek. I'm still missing the part that makes the focal points actual focal points. I'll try to work on that.

HaJime, These are the brushes I use, and yes I indeed use my own:

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1. This is the simple hard brush which well, everybody uses. It's the only brush that you already have when you install photoshop.
2. I use this brush to quickly block in my shapes, I've added some texture to it, so that it gives some extra details while using it.
3. The soft brush. The reason that I don't use the one that comes with photoshop, is because I can now decide how soft I want the brush to actually be.
4. 'round' brush with some textures. A simple round brush with textures, to give a less smooth 'look'.
5. A round brush with wet edges for just... well no particular reason. :p
6. Another brush to block in shapes, the difference with the other one is that this one doesn't containt any textures so it gives a bit sharper look.

I usually also make one or more brushes which are totally random before every painting which simply do a lot of crazy stuff you usually don't want to happen. Mainly because I work better on a messy canvas then on a white canvas. I also switch a lot between painter and photoshop.

hope this helped you a bit :)

The Crazy Dude SRD, thanks for notifying! I didn't know that :)

A little update:

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[Mischeviouslittleelf]

doing some real strong stuff here man! My eyes may be a little sure, but I can handle it;)

Nah just kiddin' but keep up the effort and you'll just keep improving!

-E

[D.Labruyere]

Thanks for the kind words! Sorry about getting your eyes sore. You know what I have to deal with, looking at my drawings each and every day! :D :P

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[D.Labruyere]

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[a la bapsi]

whoa. serious progression.
that first page of you pow is giving me chills.
incredible

[D.Labruyere]

thanks! I still want to finish it once :)

morning doodle, from ref:

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[D.Labruyere]

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blegh ;/ not my day :s

[Kfeeras]

I find the Girl from Post 144 very interesting. Its like half cartoon painting, half adventure pixel sprite from "day of tentacle" ;-)

are you still working on the castle ruin image? i hope so, it needs a nice storytelling element in the foreground.

great stuff all around, pencil rendering is superb!!

cheers

-antonio

[hp]

you have some fun little creepies in here. i would watch how many white speech bubbles you put in stuff, it's fun and works most of the time but sometimes i think maybe in the castle painting i liked it before ^^

[D.Labruyere]

hey kfeeras and hp, thank you for the replies, they are much appreciated!

Ok, no update right now, but I'm just anouncing that I will go slow on the updates for a while. This because since a few days my drawing hand started to hurt, and keeps hurting ever since. So to prevent it from getting worse I'm taking a little break, before I really injure myself :/

[Whitevillage]

It's too bad to read about your hand. Have you've been to the doctor with it and/or did you get a treatment? Your last speedpaintings breath a lot of atmosphere, although why don't you try to colour your pencil work? It might give a nice effect then only painting from scratch.

[kelly x]

these are so cute, I like the scrubber dude and the kid with the messed up mouth and those teeth, very sweet and kind work!!!

[D.Labruyere]

hey Whitevillage, no in the end I haven't been to the doctor. Someone on irc mentioned that it maybe could be a neck-problem instead of a hand-problem. So I moved with some furniture, and now my computer-screen is straight before me and I must say that this helps a lot!

kelly x, thanks for the reply! but are those 2 cute... o_O I must admit that I went for a different look :p

Right, it's been a while since an update, and I haven't really a lot to show, but here are 4 wips I'm currently working on:

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[Mat Kaminski]

I'm really digging your stylistic approach to this whole art thing. Keep working for sure on figures and you'll really have something here in time (your environments are getting to be pretty kick ass!) SO PROPS! :D

[Reject-D]

nice ideas keep them comming

[D.Labruyere]

Matte_Art and Reject-D, thanks for the kind words! They keep me going :)

okay, something a bit more experimental this time, and as usual still wip hehe (I have to many wips and to few finished pieces by now :/ )

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[Mat Kaminski]

Heh, don't worry much about finishing everything...

This one definitely has a strangeness to it :D

Keep going with it, let's see where it goes!

[hp]

the last painting is really cool. looks like something that would go into a dave mckean type movie or something.

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Damn, definitly a beautiful progression... really diggin the recent batch of paintings; more speciffically the helmet, the most recent one (oooh I see so much potential from this... especially if you mix and merge the bone forms underneath as well as the fleshy forms.), and the multi-panel one before...

About the concept of a 'finished' drawing, there is truly no such thing... Drawings/paintings are worked until they are abandoned for further projects. It is mostly about what your trying to learn and practice from them in order to try to elevate your work. The chalenge rather than the finished product. The more 'finished' a work seems, in my eyes, is the result of the amalgamation of recent works/knowledge/experience that have brought you to that point.

Sorry bout the long post here... But to emphisise, You are definately going the right direction.

[sinneart]

I'm really intrigued by that last one - how cool! I do hope you keep pushing it farther... do it do it;)

[Senira]

Oh, fun! I like the WIP with what appears to be a woman and a ghost in post #133. You've done a good job of focusing attention on the ghost with your composition (assuming that that's what you wanted to do), and the rubble is convincing.

I like the style you're developing; it's whimsical without being too cartoony. Keep it up!

[Kian]

i really like this latest one

[D.Labruyere]

Matte_Art yeah you are probably right, I shouldn't be to concerned with finishing stuff :) I'll most deffinetaly keep working on the last one!

hp thanks! Had to look up who dave mckean was, but I see what you mean.

The Crazy Dude SRD haha, don't worry about the long posts! They don't bother me at all ;)

I have to agree with you that there is no such thing as a finished drawing, and a drawing is as finished as I'm capable off. However, I have the feeling that I can push my drawings even a lot further, but just don't do it/manage to do it. Fozzybar already mentioned it 1-2 years ago during a cow I was working on, that I'm simply to hasty and should spend more time on my drawings, and I think that crit still stands hehe.

sinneart thanks! I will.

Senira I had to look up the word 'whimsical' to know what it meant. So thank you for the kind reply and helping me to learn new english words! It is indeed a woman and a ghost. It is a little bit of an inside joke between my friends, since the ghost has the exact same contours of one of the drawings I made long ago (which is also in this sb thread if I'm correct) and that again was a charicature of myself. So, glad you like it! :)

Kian Thanks!

Alright! to much typing and to little art, so here is an update:

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I have to try and scan it again another time since it's looking baaaaaad right now.
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yours,

daniel

[Fraz]

Need moar anatomy studies! Nice stuff, but remember to always go back and do more anatomy studies, it doesn't do any harm.

[Texahol]

fun updates man :)
u should be working harder tho
...slacker :)
your strongest stuff is when you are really conscious of breaking up the big planes of the forms...remember to think through the form so u can render like a queen...

[D.Labruyere]

you're correct Fraz, I'm slacking on the anatomy studies! Will pay more attention to that.



hehe, thanks tex, will work harder! :yayca:

(but not today harhar!)

Haven't really done much besides this little fun doodle:

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-daniel

[Mat Kaminski]

I'm actually REALLY REALLY loving your environment thumbs up there.

The one on the bottom right looks friggin incredible from this distance ;)

I'd like to see that one blown up!
Keep working, your improving fast. Of course I can say that anatomy needs work, but who can't that one be said about really? :P

[D.Labruyere]

Matte_Art, thanks! hehe, there is a reason why it is so small ;) I will post a larger one later, but I don't have the file right now :)

some more doodlestuff:

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[Vulgar`]

Kool-Aid apple!

[Texahol]

next time i stop by, i expect to see some studies :)

[D.Labruyere]

Vulgar` haha, I see what you mean :)

Texahol, usually I do my studies on a bit bigger paper, so I have to go through some trouble to scan them, but I will scan some this week! :)

more stuff!

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[Jorn]

ha, found your sketchbook, excellent!

Like i said at the meeting, great stuff, like some people said, very moody.
In detail, the band-design looks pretty cool, but i don't see the face anymore?

[D.Labruyere]

thanks Jorn! you.re correct, the face did fade away a little, tho I'm not certain if I should keep it that way or not. Geuss I have to play a bit with that.

right, at a friends place now, but here is a late night doodle :)

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[a la bapsi]

HEY I'D LIKE TO SEE SOME STUDIES TOO

but the stuff you've put up recently is very lovely. :]

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

(continues on with the same rant)

I'll have to concur with Bapsi here dude. WHERE ARE THE STUDIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeEEEEEEEEEE....



EEES....



s



ok, I made myself seem like an ass online... Check that one off the list of things to do... ;)

But all and all I have to say that your color progress is wonderful but some, like the 'Plant lady'(second version w/brown shirt and skirt), her clothes are blurring in with the background and is need of some dire separation... Just something to make it so that they come to the foreground and the mountains remain in the back.

Anyways... Merry Christmas, Happy Quanza, or whatever you celebrate!
-Shawn





...ssssss.... studies...... studies.... (sorry I can't help sometimes trying to be funny... If it turns out that I am being a complete pompous ass, I give you full right to come into my house and slap me with a bass or a fish of equal or lesser size, good til January 5th 2007)

[D.Labruyere]

haha, you two are absolutely right! Been slacking on the study part, so time to give myself a little kick in the ass. From now on I will try to update each and every day with atleast 1 study :) isn't much, but atleast it is a start :P

so it is:

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and ofcourse the regular stuff, first one is a crappy speed paint and the other one you can also find in zu critique section atm :)

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[D.Labruyere]

alright!

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[mariusz]

This one is preatty strongdrawing:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=546554&d=1229984925

I wanna see more like this when I come back to your sketchbook next time :)

[D.Labruyere]

haha, so do I mariusz :p

right, absolutely no time today so just some fast shit to hold myself to my own promise

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[D.Labruyere]

so, x-mas is over, so it is time for the updates again :) I hope everybody had some nice days!

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this was a masterstudy of da vinci, but I totally screwed it up =/
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[D.Labruyere]

todays stuff:

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[D.Labruyere]

got more, but to lazy to scan it right now.

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Been hard at it I take it.

Just be sure to not only observe how something looks but also how something works. All of natures' function dictates the form that life takes. This is a way that we can understand the form in order to be able to better relay that 'illusion of form' on a 2-d piece of paper....

I need to get back to leo again... It's been a while and I wanna see what thoughts I can pry from his cold 'dead' skull...

[sxxin]

great stuff ^^

like the anatomy studies and whish I could draw them as u do hehe ^^*

keep it up your improving!

[D.Labruyere]

The Crazy Dude SRD, yes, function is definately important, and is absolutely on my list. But I thought it would be handy to first have a bit of an idea of where the muscles were, instead of trying to figure out what they do. Thanks for the crit!

sxxin, thanks! was fun talking to you. :)

since it is the last day of the year Ill won't do any anatomy studies, anyways;

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[D.Labruyere]

sorry for the long break right now, but I'm having it terribly busy right now, hope to get this thing regular again after next week, anyways just to show I'm still alive here is a small update:

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-daniel

[D.Labruyere]

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

I was wondering where you went. Awesome update and reworks. I still don't wanna be around that 'clean freak.' Seems like he would scrub too hard...

Really liking the tilted angle in the last one, definately gives it more drama and energy.

[kidult]

Nice enviro! like the values

[jdeegz]

man, i posted back on the first page, to keep workin on your digi beacuse you were getting awesome...... look what happened.... :D

[D.Labruyere]

The Crazy Dude SRD, hehe the reason I was gone was because of two things I had in january, the first was a tiny exposition I had during the performance of a band, and the other was a small performance (alongside other performances) of ten minutes, for the official opening of an art hall in Rotterdam, this was a mixture of poetry and me drawing on a big screen.
I had to produce 6 drawings in that amount of time, so basicaly spend my time figuring out what to draw, how to draw it, how to put it in the amount of time I had, and learning almost every single brushstroke out of my head because you can't afford much mistakes when there is a audience watching. Was fun tho!

kidult, thanks!

jdeegz, hehe I do hope I improved over time. Ha! Didn't even had a wacom back then and did things by mouse :P I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore.

Right, I am going to start with my anatomy studies again somewhere through the week, but I'm going to make a little 'plan' on how to approach it and try to stick to it. Basicaly just writing down what I already know, what I want to learn, and what has priority.

Anyways, here is a small wip, I was already a bit further with it, but I decided that instead of the usual 1-points perspective I'd try something different and go for 5-points perspective. Which is basicaly 1-points perspective but curvi-lineair. It isn't 100% correct yet, mostly because I first had to figure out how it worked exactly (and with that find out the magical path option in photoshop), but it has been challenging and fun untill now :)

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yours,

Daniel

[Texahol]

show me some sugar babeeeeeeee

general crit:

remember properly lighting your big forms before thinking about details!

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

oooo.... snap! The art hall sounded fun.... About perspective, if you really look into some of the ol' masters stuff, you can find some very interesting things with their perspective. they understood that there is limits and because of that, they made several different perspective points and horrizon lines. It's all a matter of making the image read well, right?

Anywho, Keep up the good work dude!
-Shawn

[Kiera]

really cool, professional digital stuff
it's really encouraging for me because we go to the same school (found you here over the forum search)

[vibhas_virwani]

sweet stuff man !! great updates !! i can definitely see improvement !! and i would suggest that you keep up those anatomy studies !! i have started anatomy studies as well , but just havent been forcing myself enough to continue :P and sorry for not being around for a while , had been really busy with exams and such :S
cheers !!
-v

[D.Labruyere]

hey guys, thanks for all the cool comments! I will reply within a few days, but right now I'm in germany, and don't really have much time. Just giving a little update to show I'm still alive :)

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oh yeah, if they come out really dark or really light or with funky colors etc, please tell. I have a new laptop but haven't really figured out how to get the colors on the screen right yet.

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

I'd have to say that #2 has some serious dark issues... #3 could be a tad bit brighter also. But for the most part all still good quick drawings... I can't really help with the adjustments though..

[D.Labruyere]

thanks crazy dude! :)
I will have to first find a second monitor or something before I make my next update then, this won't be a huge problem tho'. I have the feeling that it is mainly a darkness problem then (didn't have the chance to look on another monitor yet), so it is hopefully only tweaking the lightness a little.

[D.Labruyere]

The Crazy Dude SRD, yeah I know, it basicaly is when you've got a thing on another 'level' the horizon line changes to, a good example is when you are making a landscape with mountains on the distance on which you put stuff again.

Kiera, thanks! but do we really go to the same school? since I've looked at your thread and I had the idea you went to an art school, well I'm studying informatica/media design rigt now.

vib, yeah, I should start kracking them studies out again. thanks for reminding ;)

right, a work in progress:

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[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

something experimental:

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[D.Labruyere]

a masterstudy, still wip

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[D.Labruyere]

fast morning doodle and some other stuff:

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oh, and a repost of this one but lighter:

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[D.Labruyere]

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edit: forgot this one:
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[D.Labruyere]

burp.

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[D.Labruyere]

I stepped away a bit of the original rembrandt. Not because I think I can do a better job or anything at what he did, but just because it didn't look like that one. So I'm going to start all over with it, and just finish this picture more for fun.

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Awesome job so far, enjoying the experimentation... Rembrandt is definately a good painting master to study from...

keep pressing on... them ol' masters don't give their secrets out easily!
-Shawn

[wilkerson]

wow some really cool stuff in here. You have interesting variety of subject matter.
I get the feeling that in many of these paintings you could push further.

[Mat Kaminski]

Oh wow! It's been awhile... just wanted to throw in a quick "YOUR DOING AWESOME!" :D

[D.Labruyere]

The Crazy Dude SRD, hehe yes, everytime I start one of those it becomes really showable how little I know. Which is good ofcourse :D

Matte_Art, thanks! I'm happy to see you in my sb once again ;)

wilkerson, yeah you are correct, I don't push myself far enough sometimes. It's funny, but your question made me think a bit about how I see art, and what I see as important etc for my own art. Something which I actually wrote down and will post in my little sketchbook :)

So, for people who are easily bored, I'd suggest you skip this loooooong read. For those who are reading it, I have to apologise for the many spelling errors, and I'm probably going from one point to another in a very unclear way.

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I like to see art (In this case meaning an artwork) divided in 3 things; we’ve got the concept-part of art, the technical-part of art, and the process-part of art. Each having their own importance’s in creating an artwork and the artwork itself. You do however always see them in whatever you make. As soon as you put a line on a piece of paper, it is telling a story, it will be looked at it with the eye, meaning you will immediately witness things like colour theory in action. Also it will develop from some point to the other so you are making a process. (The last one, process I think is a bit difficult to see, since it usually only shows itself through the other points, or multiple works) These 3 points are however seen different for every person. A beginner might find I have quite a big portion of technical knowledge, though I suppose that most on CA will agree I don’t. This brings me to another for me important point, and that is that you can never see an artwork as an island floating alone. It always has a certain connection or relationship with people that look at it and experience it.

I believe there are 4/5 different types of relationships when it comes to art. The first is between the artwork and the viewer. The second is between the artist and the artwork. The third between the artist and the public and number 4/5 is the relationship with the artwork, and the previous artworks the artist created + the previous artworks in general that have been created.
When we do studies like anatomy, composition, colour theory etc. we are usually working on mostly the first relationship, and maybe a little on the second. Our goal is to make an appealing (this of course doesn’t mean just making something that only looks nice, but creating something that interests the viewer) image for the viewer of that artwork. I think you can also say people mostly work on that here on conceptart.org.
The second one is a bit different for every person. I used to draw a lot of things I thought other people would find fun/nice to watch and with that neglecting what I really want to draw. Something I suppose you see a lot, when you start with the mindset; “I want to draw an awesome picture!” which usually means “I want to draw a picture that other people find awesome!” That is something that can only fail because there are as many different tastes as there are people and you never fully stand behind what you are drawing anyway meaning you lose the connection with your art. And if that is not the case you fall in the gap that you expect that what you find awesome, other people will find awesome as well.
From the other hand, if you do plan to be more than an amateur you always have to keep in mind that your art is for the public and not just for yourself. You plan to show it to a lot of people, so the artwork has to be appealing to a lot of people. This sometimes can get in the way of what you want to do and what you ought to do. Finding a good balance between the two I think is a very important aspect of the whole art process.
I suppose that a popular thought these days is that once you show your artwork to the public it somehow gets disconnected with the artist, since they decide what you can see in the art. I however don’t fully agree with that, because an artist and his artwork always, how minimal this may look has a certain connection with his public. You will immediately look different at an artwork when you know or don’t know the artist, or have read about him, or have seen his process or anything. Just as you will look different at an artwork of an artist of which you have seen previous work. You might find it experimental compared to his previous work, or a big step forward technique wise, or rushed when compared to his other artwork. And lastly there is a relationship between artworks in the same genre. You will immediately compare an artwork you see with similar artworks and draw some conclusions out of it.

Finding a good balance between all these points, and finding a way to progress on all these points is something I still struggle with daily.

(I’d want to add a little note. I used the words progress and process sometimes, and I think it isn’t always clear how I use one or the other. With progress I mean working on one point and improve on that particular point. With process I mean, starting at a certain point and ending at a totally other one. So to say, you can make progress without process, but you can’t make a process without making progress. To give a little example; working on anatomy and getting better at it is progress, but the shift from going from realistic to abstract is process)
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Anyway, I hope I didn’t bore you people too much with this. It is time for art!

I’ve started doing hands, and you will most probably see way more hands in the near future. I’ve also, inspired by mentler’s thread, started to write down my notes/thoughts or notes/thoughts I’ve read on paper. I don’t know if they are of any use for any of you, or if they are even readable, but I’d like to note out that IF you read them to be aware that what I say isn't always correct.

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[Mat Kaminski]

Well spoken! Those are some serious words of wisdom.
It's a gem of words like this that make me continue to check up on everyone that I happen to have known beforehand. Even though it would be awesome to have known some of you guys in the real world, at least I have the pleasure of having known something about you in the virtual world.

These are some beautiful words of wisdom above! And the hands are very great!

I have to ask, did you just start drawing hands over hands in the pieces above? Or did you intend to do them all stacked like that? I suppose that's something that I would be hard-pressed to do myself since I have a couple of problems with depth in that aspect.

Keep up the good work D. I'm glad that you haven't ever stopped your arting.

These studies above look very reminscent of the old master's studies, which I have a feeling you were trying to mimic. Continue on good sir, continue on.

[Brun]

i love those hand studies

MOOOORE

[D.Labruyere]

hey Matte_Art, thank you for kind words. It wasn't intentional to make them look like old master studies, but when I had scanned them, they were quite difficult to see, so I did some photoshop trickery, and put some colors behind it. And well, just started drawing with one hand in the middle, and did one behind it untill the page was filled :)

Brun, thanks! more to come!

A small update, this is what my 'studio' looks like :p

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[Mat Kaminski]

HAHAHA!! That picture is awesome! Make it big enough to fit a desktop, that would be a sweet background for one ;D

[D.Labruyere]

thanks matte! I could put up a bigger version if you want.

burp, mooooooooooooooooooooooore!

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[D.Labruyere]

last drawing for today;

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[hp]

nice elephant! really great hatchin

love the brushstrokes on the last two updates too.

[D.Labruyere]

hp, thanks!

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[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Friend, you have definately reached a level up, congratulations... Keep pressing on, there are tougher challenges ahead ;)

I did a infinite loop drawing like that once, it involved my hand drawing my hand drawing my sketchbook where I was drawing my brother's dog laying on a glass table when he was a pup. I thought it extremely fun.

The saddened lady in white is actually one of your best pieces so far. It's definately one you should be proud of, you have conveyed powerful emotion elegantly and with simplicity.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks for your kind words! I always like those infinite drawings aswell, they are just difficult to draw hehe, or atleast usually they are, because with this one I cheated :P

right, time to destroy those tougher challenges! rawr!

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[D.Labruyere]

more! :yayca:
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[BubbaGump]

Those digitals are excellent. Keep it up!

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

nice sketchbook!!

your sketches are amazing and i love that character from your avatar!

great use of colors aswell!

[D.Labruyere]

bubbagump and 'ej, thanks!

just some quick character sketches for the team chow. To check out all the stuff from our team go here. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154515)
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and also a fast environment
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[Ahim]

you utilize your brushstrokes very well, keep at it, this is a fine fine sketchbook

[Radost]

Leuke dinges en goede studies. Ook een paar erg sterke afbeeldingen in je portfolio. Ben benieuwd wat je Team CHOw design gaat worden.

** In english: praise, blablabla, ceep it up ;)

[D.Labruyere]

Ahim, thank you for your kind words! :)

Dag Radost, bedankt! Ik ben zelf ook wel benieuwd naar hoe de team chow zal gaan. Ikzelf doe dat soort dingen niet zo vaak, dus ben benieuwd wat er uit gaat komen.

wip
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2 quicky's

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[D.Labruyere]

right, I haven't got a lot to show, this is because I'm right now moving to another house and that is taking up most of my time, but here is a little update:

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[DStraX]

love the oilpainty stuff :D

[vibhas_virwani]

dude you got some great updates man !! i really like ur environment thumbnails !! keep updating :)

[D.Labruyere]

hey guys, thanks for the kind words :) I'm sorry for slacking a bit with the updates but I'm terribly busy at the moment. After the 5th of june I should have more time again, and try and update on a more regular basis again.

but anyways, to show I'm still alive:

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[Soja]

DUDE!!
I LIKE WHAT I SEE!!
LOVE last pic in ur last post! Damn! Nice colors and all!!
Keep it up!!

[Verehin]

Love how you use textures..great!

[D.Labruyere]

soja and verehin, thanks :)

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[D.Labruyere]

I just realise that I've never posted my final for the team chow in here :x

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I know... he's got some real anatomy issues, but I'm not going to fix them anymore.

[maeshanne]

cool sketchbook, the character from your avatar look great as well as your brushwork.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks maeshanne!

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[DStraX]

cool updates:) still love the oil like stuff

[Rob!T]

ooh post 234 is awesome. I love the colours in the first one.

also post 228 is great, I can't tell fully, but she is meant to be pretty large right? (the trees look like they are growing on her. If so, and you make that a little more obvious, that would be such a cool image.)

[D.Labruyere]

DStraX, thanks!

Rob!T, hehe, I haven't really got a clue with that painting myself, I wanted to have her dress blent in with the rest of the environment. I don't think I've succeeded :p

a master study of a painting by dagnan bouveret: mother of sorrow.

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[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

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[D.Labruyere]

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[ditchman]

i like those two surreal type ones (huge bird sculpture, and the on with a small headless figure and a big sideways face) pretty weird:oneye:

on the last one the knight's lance is broken behind the hand, you should try sketching all the elements in there entirety, even parts that are obscured and you will not see in the final piece.

[D.Labruyere]

thanks ditchman, I will fix that later today, there are some more errors I noticed so was planning on spending some extra time on it anyway :)

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[Mat Kaminski]

Woohoo keep rockin! :D

[D.Labruyere]

Thank you for your kind words matte_art! :)

Right, I just got back from pretending to be in the 19th century among people like Renoir and Monet (that is to say, to make a big trip through Europe), and went all the way from Innsbruck back to the little frog-country I life in (Holland) today, by train... (which isn't the most advicable thing to do, atleast not in one day) so I'm not going to make this update to long.
It seems that the eyes at this time rather are closed then open. BUT! I've seen so amazingly much it was absolutely worth the little 'pain' I had to endure this last day. I can advice everybody to buy a train ticket and just travel through Europe for 3+ weeks (5-6 weeks in my case), and go and see city's like Florence/Firenze and Rome/Roma. Even though I didn't manage to do "Vedi Napoli e muore." in the end, you can pretty much say you will almost see everything in those 2 city's alone and it is probably a must for every artist. It is just indescribable to see a statue of Michelangelo, or a painting of Da Vinci, or to see the designs Galilei did for the Basilica of St. John Lateran (etc.) for real. It is something that just can't be captured on a picture.

Anyways, to much to say, and I'm probably just writing down a lot of nonsence right now, so Ill just do a tiny update, sleep and update more tomorrow, and get this little bastard on the track again. (I've quickly read some awesome things in the lounge! So there are even less reasons to not participate on ca frequently, if there were any in the first place)

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I'm sorry if the picture comes out to dark or anything, I've made it on my laptop and haven't connected it to a monitor to re-check them yet. (If you in any way feel offended by my laziness don't hestitate to grab a pitch-fork and say something about it)

greetings and good night,

Daniel

[D.Labruyere]

Here are some sketches out of my sketchbook. I will update some more probably later today, but first I have to clean a bit of the mess around here. Also I'm going to have to 'clean' some of the drawings, since a lot of the graphite of one page got on the other, creating a lot of distortion when trying to scan them.

More to come!

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[kidult]

Nice sketches and colours!

[D.Labruyere]

Thanks kidult :)

Something I'm currently working on and a fast sketch I did:

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