*@*@*@*@ Colin Sullivan's Journey to 10,000 hrs and BEYOOOOOOND!!! *@*@*@*@*

[Dark_Eyes]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO TO THE LAST PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Bleep bloop

[Dark_Eyes]

HEY HEY! I made day two... barely...I'm scrambling to get ready to leave for revelations. I CAN'T WAIT! Although, I must admit I'm a bit intimidated by the talent that's attending. Looking forward to making some new friends, new mentors and new apprentices. ONWARD!!! [looking forward to evolving with you.]
Just some goo from my head...

[Press X To Draw]

draw more and post em here

[elpez]

I like your resolution. Maybe it´s hard the fact of keep posting everyday, but I hope you don´t quit. The progress will be awesome!
I like the colors and design of the robotic arm of your first post, and that sketches are really fine.
But you want it rough so, I would keep an eye on the hand and the way it´s holding the pipe. It doesn´t seem very natural. Also the ear seems a bit too large and out of place. I would place it between the imaginary lines comming from the eyes and the nose.
Nice wok and keep on it, one day one post!

[Dark_Eyes]

tired, jet lagged, gotta sleep. Here's a crappy sketch of the space needle.

[yoitisi]

Good luck on the daily update thing, I'm on the same track so it is motivating seeing other do it :) That last sketch is cool, it suggests a lot with a minimum of brushstrokes which is great. It's very black though (which probably is my screen), I think there could've been a bit more color in the background.

As for the first post with the mechanical arms, the second is far better than the first as it is much more defined. The first arm could've used more defenition, especially in places where forms and parts connect, as this tells a lot about how the arm is able to move and what the shapes look like. For example, the connection between the top horizontal part and the vertical part of the arm doesn't show it can turn at all. The whole relies on the knowledge of the viewer, as most of us are able to recognize the robotic arm and know how these things move. If it was a totally new design, it wouldn't have been clear what freedom of movement this arm has as you didn't elaborate on the joint.

Wish I was at the workshop :( Better next time I guess. Have fun.

[chrishly]

the pencils looks niice

[MrHoboX87]

Great job on the pencils. Only thing that feels kinda off is the ear like elpez said and something doesn't feel quite right about the standing figure's leg... Maybe its just me. Do post more and have a sweet trip.

[Dark_Eyes]

Thanks for all the comments guys. (yoitisi you're one of my personal heroes at the moment :hugsmile:, love your stuff man) I hope to post some more tonight (barely made it last night). I'm off to my first day of revelations! YIPPIE!!!

[Dark_Eyes]

WOW guys. These workshops are worth EVERY penny. I only wish I had been more prepared. I felt possessed drawing today. Strangely I did a LOT of sketching in my sketchbook today, the only digital I did is the following rough that I did during Coro's monster tutorial. BAD ASS STUFF CORO. Tomorrow, I'll focus on digital, I'll try to add color to this one too. For now I'm off to party at the SPACE NEEDLE!!! YEE HAW!!!!...(i'll post pictures) O and shout out to Nick Constantine, hell of a guy and BEAUTIFUL environments man. Peace...

[yoitisi]

Sounds like you've got a lot of fun over there :) Keep it up, and I expect a huge upload when the workshop is over.

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey Hey! Here's a little stab at speedpainting. The image lacks focus, and the concept is kinda weak, but I'm still getting used to this, so... Also, I'm kinda struggling with painter, it's getting better, but I'm not used to this program, (on a mac that is...) Anyways, good to see you're checking in Yoitisi. It's good to have people of your skill level keeping me honest. I'll have a lot more to post later. Night...

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey kids! Another awe-inspiring day amongst the best of the best. Here's an unfinished pose that I came in late on. I think they're gonna' finish the pose tomorrow. Manley and Android's lecture on color really helped me a lot. WHY didn't they teach me this stuff in art school WHY!!!!!!?????

[Dark_Eyes]

Alright... so sue me... I missed a day... HOWEVER!!!.. my hotel's internet account ran out of time and all I had was 35$ on hand for my taxi to the airport, so... ya' know. s*&t happens. Soooo... now that I'm home...
I would like to thank all the instructors for this life changing event. Never before has a fire lit under my ass felt sooo warm and toasty. Seriously guys, this workshop blew my mind. (I WILL attend again). So now the tough part begins. How to take it to the next level.. the level of MASTERY. (do I look like I'm joking?) I think I'm going to start recording my paintings, and study my process, refine refine and re-refine. Industrial Design, definitely need to take some classes. GETTING OUT THERE. The most important thing I've learned from this workshop is, if you want to learn quick find somebody better than you. Any mentors out there? I hope so. Nuff' said.
Heres some unfinished stuff from the workshop.

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey Hey. here be some sketches from the werkshop'... ya heard. Wow what a wierdo....

[Lotet]

nice work, keep it up, really like the birdy thingy =P

[yoitisi]

Those last pencil sketches are a step up from the ones in your earlier posts :)

Can't really say much usefull here as I'm not an expert on anatomy, but some of those faces look a bit off. I think the page on top right in your last post are best, especially the female on the bottom left.

[Hilbruks]

I really like where this is headed. You should study some more anatomy, but that'll come to you. I myself have a long way to go there, and I have zero of the skills you have in digital painting. Any tips?
Your style of drawing is real nice rough but sophisticated. I'm really looking forward to see more :)

[Dark_Eyes]

Thanks to everybody for helping me grow here.
yoitisi: yeah man, I agree. You know its funny, I studied anatomy in college, I even copied an entire anatomy book, a BIG one too (took me a while), and I STILL struggle with anatomy. Maybe I'll trade my anatomy skills for your ID skills!:D
Hilbruks: As far as digital painting goes, the way I've been doing it is nearly identical to analog painting. I basically just use a round brush. However, now that I've learned a thing or 2 from the workshop, I can tell you, don't be afraid to use all the shortcuts and bag of tricks that digital programs offer. (check out Sparth's stuff, I think he has a dvd.) A caveat though, remember that the foundations of art are THE MOST important aspect of creating an image. Learn about color theory, (value, temperature, saturation, hue), anatomy, composition, ect. My advice to you, jump right in. I don't believe there is any one route to creating a good image, it's the end result that matters. That being said, one must have the flexibility and the knowledge of HOW to make a good image. (I have a long way to go there too). Believe me, the foundations are key here. By the way I saw your sketchbook, nice stuff... and I love Mignola too, man he's one of my favs...
So...blah blah blah... here are some more heads to make up for the crappy ones. eh.. they're still kinda' crappy, but I'm getting there.

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey, tightened up this work today. It's my version of a dream devourer (topic of this years thunderdome.) Don't know how much more I'll work on this one. Had some other sketches today, I'll post later, don't feel like scanning.

[monsi]

really admire your resolution.. I really hope you keep it going and don't quit!

I like what i'm seeing so far. show me more!

[Dark_Eyes]

Spent a lot of time today fixing color calibration issues. I'm on a macbook pro here and it seems they recommend switching to gamma 2.2 at 6500 k for web, (seeing how that's closest to 90% of pc monitors out there). I think that's why my images were coming out too dark... Let me know if this looks wonky to you, my images are still coming out a little desaturated on pcs. Heres a speedportrait from a fabulous nation geographic book, about 1 1/2 hours (Trying to get faster.)

[yoitisi]

She's indeed looking a bit desaturated and dark still. I think it has also to do with some contrast in the image itself as the eyes and beads on her head stand out, but her nose for example could use some stronger highlights. Also, I'm not a big fan of all those different brushes going on in her face. The green and black shadows (possibly part of the problem you mentioned, but still :)) are maybe a bit too much, try to blend them a bit more with her skin color.

Anyway, keep them coming :)

[Luz]

your stuff is looking really nice, keep it up :D

[Dark_Eyes]

yoitisi: Thanks for the pointers. Man this color management thing sucks.. hopefully I can work it out. The image I'm painting from is rather desaturated (maybe not the best choice for my technical issues) but I loved her expression and the mood of the picture. The big brush strokes were a quick way of showing a smeary green paint on her face. I think that reads a little better now, I hand painted in some of the texture. (probably a quicker way..) Anyways fixed the features in the face (god bless flip canvas), added some more detail, I knocked back the bright values. I think the value range of the image is more upper-middle to dark, but I think I popped the middles out a bit much with saturation. Maybe I'll post some drawings later.

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey guys... I recently was introduced to the book "The Skillful Huntsman". I guess I'm the last guy to find out about this book, but man is it incredible. I was so blown away by the whole lost line technique thing... amazing how much information can be conveyed in just a few seconds. Soooo... I decided to play...I did about 10 pages of these, having fun using a Tombo brush tip pen and a Micron. I stuck a few of my favorites together, and ended up using the top left as direction for the following drawing. I was looking at a lot of Peruvian costumes... really colorful with unique shapes. I guess I was shooting for a Peruvian bounty hunter... til' tomorrow.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a crappy desert spaceport speedpainting. I'll try to fix it up later.

[yoitisi]

That last one looks promising, but don't forget to take the shape of the planet into account. The crater looks to be on a sort of hill because the lightest spot is the yellow part between the crater and the horizon. I suggest you play around a bit more with saturation and values, as towards the horizon colors tend to reflect the sky more and become lighter.

[funfetus]

Great stuff! I love the concept designs and the environments. The one area where I think you're lagging behind is facial anatomy -- brush up, and get more awesome!

[Dark_Eyes]

I flattened out the landscape a little, desaturated the background, reads a little better now, thanks yoitisi. Still a little frustrated by the image tho', I sometimes feel like I'm overworking these for nothing, but hey... I'm learning. I got some more stuff here, but once again don't feel like scanning, I'll do a big dump soon.

[Dark_Eyes]

]There's a lot wrong with this, (even though it is just a sketch), but it was good for me. I like ballpoint pen, it forces me to make decisions.
Just can't give up on this one.... added some details and tightened things up a bit...meh...

[Dark_Eyes]

just some quick thumbs tonight, for a possible entry in this week's idw.

[yoitisi]

Heya you better finish that last one :) Some interesting sketches so far, already know which one to go for?

As for the spacport thing, you might want to draw some guidelines for yourself to see the curvature of the sphere/planet. Since the horizon is so obviously curved, some of those straight lines wouldn't appear to be straight but follow the curvature of the planet instead.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here are some heads n' stuff... seem to get a lot of requests for fixing anatomy, and I agree... I feel a bit like I'm speed reading a book the second time around... I'm not taking it all in yet, but it's coming a lot faster than last time... definitely helping. Hey Yo' any tips for getting faster at tech stuff, (like industrial design I mean...) I just feel so slow and handicapped when I try to do stuff like this... (here's hoping i get this weeks IDW finished:sungod:) I've been practicing ellipses, circles, straight lines and boxes, ( you know the basics...) but I feel like my speed and accuracy improve slowly. I end up running out of brain juice..(almost like I'm over doing the construction in my head or on the paper...)
Anywho....

[Dark_Eyes]

Well, I didn't get my IDW finished.. my brother visited unexpectedly from out of town. I PROMISE to do the next one... Here's a quick unfinished doodle I squeezed in today.. DARN.. (I mean YAY!) need to draw more heads hands and feet... and legs....(GET to colin.. get to...)285102

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a speed landscape from today... It's not quite finished Crits appreciated...

[Dark_Eyes]

Man I always get stuck at hands... backs are tricky too... grrrrr.....

[yoitisi]

Some hand-studies might be useful then :) That landscape above looks quite good, but you might want to experiment with colors a bit more, it looks a bit monochromatic at the moment. Some highlights on the castle would really punch it out. Also, the grassy/tree brush up front left makes the castle looks much smaller than you intended it I think, as it looks more like grass on the hill than real trees at the moment. Or you intended it to be grass and to be up close, in which case the slope of the hill connecting that foreground element to the castle messes with the distances in your image.

[berf]

nice I like the digital stuff a lot. and your sketches are looking good too.

[Dark_Eyes]

changed a little here and there, took your advice Yo'.

[Dark_Eyes]

Well, I couldn't get onto the site last night for some reason, so I didn't post. I'll post twice today. Me and my bro' were having a conversation about what happened to the cast of the movie Masters of the Universe... why I don't know.. (Me and my brother are veritable treasure-troves of useless pop culture knowledge.) Anyways, it inspired me to do a version of skeletor. I tried to make his sword look like sharpened bone. I kinda' like it, it has a traditional feel, like it came from the original cartoon or something... This took about 2

[Dark_Eyes]

Man I can't take it when conceptart.org goes offline for maintenance... It's like withdrawal or something. Here's a sargent study I'm having fun with.. Jesus he was a genius. This is all round brush on one layer.

[strybjorn]

your speed landscapes are great man - have you considered developing one of them into a completely finished piece? and your industrial thumbs are cool - again have you developed any into finished pieces?

also you skeletor is a really nice impressive piece, the pose and concept are solid, bit the rendering may require a little extra contrast to reinforce the forms a bit more...

if you havent already i would recommend going to somewhere you can do some life drawing - it really is so much better than drawing from photo ref and youll get a hell of a lot more from it...

[Dark_Eyes]

strybjorn: thx man, I appreciate the comments. Yeah... I have a problem with finishing pieces, I need to work on that.. I get bored easily I guess, feel the need to move on. Currently I'm spending a lot of time learning industrial design techniques and theory. I have entire sketch pads full of vomitous studies.. I really don't feel like it's worth posting, but some good is coming of it, and I'm confident that someday I'll master this stuff. Yeah, I plan on doing some more life painting as now I have a laptop and wacom. I hope you keep checking in.. I guess part of what keeps me going here is that maybe, someday, this thread will serve as an inspiration to others of how far you can progress in a year...

[Dark_Eyes]

Been doing a lot of crappy little ballpoints like this one... Anybody else have this problem: I seem like I can draw a pretty straight line, a pretty good curve, and a pretty good ellipse when I'm practicing (or warming up) but when it comes to actual sketching.. I choke up, and my linework gets sloppy. Any exercises out there that can help you to loosen up and not care so much.. (I mean besides the obvious...) I kinda' struggle with finding that line between caring and not caring about the work as I see both attitudes can serve you in different ways at different times.. (if you know what I mean..?) o well...

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a rough, 1.5 hour in, shot of a potential chow entry. I put a lot of time so far into the faces as they will probably be the focus. Hmmm...needs a ton of work. This one should be fun... I want to do IDOW this week too though....:oneye:

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's where I'm at with this one... Not quite done... I want this one to be utterly ridiculous...I guess I'm succeeding so far. Need to unify some elements and finish up some details..any crits would help out.:^^:

[Nettle_Mountain]

I have few technical suggestion, how soft pensils do you use when doing pensil sketches? you seem to have same problem as me that lines are pretty vague when scanning... i have to try to use softer like B or B2 in future, right now i use photoshop levels tool for punching up the lines, might work for you too.

[yoitisi]

Liking the CHOW piece already :) The anatomy on the big dudes arms is a bit on the edge as well as the place of his knee on the left leg, but the poses are great. Just keep pushing the rendering. For a little improvement on the composition you could expand the canvas a bit on the right and bottom, as the mouse is a major focus point here but almost falls of the page.

That ID sketch looks good but has some issues with the shape and definition of it I think. Since part of the top is visible in this perspective, part of the outlet up front at the other side of the nose would probably be visible. Doing organic shapes like this still needs a lot of construction to make it look symetric. I'm also not a big fan of cast shadows right beneath the object like Scott Robertson does (although he has a valid reason for doing so). Shadows with a light directon that doesn't come from directly above tell just as much plus something extra about the height and shapes on top of the floorplan.

[Dark_Eyes]

Nettle: I've been using f lead lately because it doesn't smudge. (that was advice from Wes Burt i guess that's what he works with primarily.) I've been using levels in photoshop to punch the lines, but honestly, I think I just haven't put the right amount of contrast in my drawings.. something to work on! Thanks for the heads up.
Yoitisi: Thanks a ton for the continued presence here.. it really means a lot... took your advice...:) :) :)
ehhhhh.... allmost there...I'll finish it tomorrow.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here it is, though i may tweak a few things before i post it tomorrow. I'm going to do some life drawing tomorrow.

[Dark_Eyes]

Finished up this experiment at the bar this evening. M2@*#$& Definitely a twisted witch of some kind... weird

[Dark_Eyes]

O My God the Giants won the super bowl! That was the best game ever...and I should have been drawing...>:| O well... quick ninja 30 mins or so, unfinished.

[Dark_Eyes]

Was thinking about ideas for power boots (IDOW). I was thinking what it would be like to have boots that would function as hands.

[Maria David]

I love the idea of those hand-boots. :) Would make climbing so much easier. :D

[Dark_Eyes]

Didn't quite finish this one for this weeks IDOW. I plan on finishing it though, I like the idea. I think I'll call them monkey boots.

[Dark_Eyes]

ARRRRGHHH HERE BE A SPEEDSCAPE' FER' YER' BRAIN... bout' 45 min.

[Dark_Eyes]

I need more visitors:sadcheerleader: ... I did these today, got burnt out on em' but I learned a lot. Also a quickn'ugly speedpaint.

[Dark_Eyes]

YAAAAWWWN... did these today, sorry, i'm still getting used to sketching on a tablet. I time these suckers with a little alarm clock on my computer... 3 min each...
Quickie sketch, Ameratsu emerging from her cave? meh?

[Dark_Eyes]

was out of town today... got back and read a lot about color theory... I'm surprised how much I have to learn. I'm using lab color on this so far, I kinda' like it, though I'm not exactly sure how to use it yet... I'll finish this one tomorrow, trick it out nice and neat.. snarf... (if you draw it, they will come....)

[Dark_Eyes]

Well, I figured I'd post this here as well... a lot better than posting all the hogarth studies I did today.... BOORRRIINGG!!! HAHA o' well ,I like doing them and I learn a lot, Would like to do the same with animals... or even dinosaurs :)

[Dark_Eyes]

meh meh.... hey colin how are you, stuffs lookin' good... yeah...

[Victor B]

Its a bit late, or early rather but i just ran into your skbk and had to leave a comment love what I see so far nice landscapes and anatomy studies do keep it up , cheers.

[Dark_Eyes]

Anybody else here ever get the feeling like.. "Damn... I better get good quick or else..."

[Dark_Eyes]

here's where my version of lady shallot is going, though really rough (this weeks chow). It's really ambitious for me, but I should learn a lot along the way. :) I still need to fit the loom in somehow, i did a little research.. Well, I'll knock in the values tomorrow and maybe start in on some color. just so ya' know, I've been drawing a butt load in my sketchbooks, but I just hate scanning so much...someday I'll do it all digitally.
'

[Victor B]

good looking collinsully, one small crit , right now she looks a little off balance ,cant wait to see the final

[Dark_Eyes]

well, I think I need to be a little more determined when finishing pieces, because i find myself wasting a lot of time with studies, research, jumping around between other pieces ect. I know I'm faster than this, and I want to be able to show more finished pieces to people. Here's where my values are so far, I'm really gonna attack this one tomorrow, AND JUST THIS ONE! Took a look at some vermeer paintings before I started this.. I really love the way he paints light, it seems to flow around like water... I want that feeling in this painting
Victor: thanks for dropping in, and thanks for the comment, I think your right, I thought I wanted her pose to be reacting, almost falling backwards, but it wasn't working, I think I still need to nudge the pose abit...

[Dark_Eyes]

gonna have to book it to make the deadline, but I'm confident I'll get there.

[kidult]

Good start on the values here man. Head looks a tad small for the body or it might be the shoulders that seem a bit off! Definite Vermeer feel to it though.

[Peter Berkovski]

nice thread so far,good sketches and color stuff,keep em coming mate.
Cheers!

[Dark_Eyes]

kidult: thanks mate! I think the shoulders were a bit off, here's the final, I need to learn how to loosen' up a bit I think.
Atlantik: thanks for stopping' by! I appreciate the cheerleadin'!

[yoitisi]

Nice to see the improvements in your work here :) Don't worry too much about improving as quick as you can (the 'gulp' rabbit :P), just keep the fun in the process.

As for your last piece, the thing that bothers me a bit is the mirror. The huge blanc space between the mirror and the lady, and the fact the the mirror is on the far left while the main focus point, the character, is on the far right, makes the image fall apart quite a bit. This piece could've been much stronger if you'd placed the mirror partly behind the lady instead of so far away from her I think. Also, cracks in glass/mirrors tend to catch and reflect more light instead of getting darker :P

[kidult]

Nice Final here man just some crits:

How much did U study Vermeer? Maybe take another look, his colour and composition is very good to learn from (Just got a book on him myself!) The colour in your piece is a bit dull - try some Vermeer colours. Also read up on his technique (if U haven't already) and the Dutch masters - I know your work is digital but U can still apply it.
Vermeer had interesting compositions with figures looking out of windows or reading letters but balanced them to keep the viewer in the picture plane.
Your girl is looking out to the right and just leads your eye out of the image. The black / dark edge brings U back but only to the girl. The mirror on the left gets very little attention.

[Dark_Eyes]

damn guys, you're right.. this image sucks... BLECH! I don't even want to look at it anymore! What the hell was I thinking?:wtf:

[Dark_Eyes]

Yoitisi: you know what, you're right man, I need to slow down and enjoy the process more. I've been too hard on myself lately, and I'm missing the whole point. I'm really motivated to improve but I tend to let my ego cloud my judgement, and in the end I think it can slow us down. Work hard, but work smart... I decided to let go with this speed painting, just an hour quicky I think. It was suprisingly relaxing, and the results aren't bad, not great, but different..

[Dark_Eyes]

after my craptacular' last CHOW entry, I figured I want the next one to be a little more dynamic of a composition. Here's where I'm aiming, went through several other thumbs, this one works a little better. Real rough.

[Dark_Eyes]

Ok... a far cry from cute little penguins, but I don't know what came over me... (sorry mom :bashful: ) just a doodle.

[yoitisi]

Liking them updates :) The landscape quicky looks cool, I like the colors.

The penguin is indeed more dynamic, but take care that tilting the horizon alone doesn't make for a real dynamic pose. You might want to play around a bit with the canvas to see where the main character fits best. The last one is cool too, only the foreshortening on her right arm doesn't really work yet; the shoulder is just as wide as the elbow and wrist.

[Dark_Eyes]

those damn penguins are drivin' me nuts... didn't even post the crap... I might just start from scratch, I need to buckle down and start mixing some real paint, really learn about palettes, paint from life ya' know...
Yoitisi: thanks again buddy, with an eye like yours you're bound to make great work.;)
nother' last minute crapadoodle.

[donalfall]

Like the last two 'crapadoodles' - great word - but I really like the layout for your penguin piece. It looked pretty damn dynamic to me, with everything pointing up and right like that. It would be a shame to start from scratch, but if you have to... any chance of seeing where you went with that one tho? :)

[Dark_Eyes]

well donalfall, I decided to give it another go, took yo's advice and shifted the canvas. Heres the rough color scheme I imagine, I want it to seem like early morning on the high seas, or somethin'..

[Dark_Eyes]

GOD I was lazy today...I think the weather has got me feelin' in the dumps...snow up to my asshhh... There really isn't a more horrible feeling than going to bed knowing you wasted a day... TOTAL CLOD!!! Heh..oh well, I'll make up for it tomorrow.:sungod:

[Dark_Eyes]

Professor Peggins I Presume

[Dark_Eyes]

couldn't get on the site last night for some reason, here's a crap-a-doodle for an idea for a flier project...some kind of intergalactic rodeo... meh arm is wierd, hat's too small... pose is still a little chinky...I'll fix it though

[Dark_Eyes]

I gotta HAND it to you...(hardy har)I like Loomis:mittenbop:??? these were timed 2-5 min I thunk...My hands are starting to feel a lot lighter on the stylus..It's weird... like I felt to heavy-handed on it before... know what i mean?:

[Dark_Eyes]

Sorry for the anatomy studies, but I need them so bad, and I really think they're helping.. Here's where my intergalactic rodeo piece is going, trying out new brushes in painter, I think I've been fighting myself with my usual brushes so my new ones are a lot looser, and allow for mixing more...I like where this one is going..

[Dark_Eyes]

lost a crap ton of work when painter crashed, had to repaint alot.. (always remember to iterative save every once and a while kids...) It's getting there, arm and device need some retooling, anatomy on the beast need clarification...should finish tomorrow.

[donalfall]

That last batch of hands are great for quick pieces! Hands are a bitch. I'm liking where the "Intergalactic Rodeo" is going, but I'll have to wait and see. I'm going to go and check the CHOW for the penguin in a few minutes to see how you did, but I really like the final version of "Professor Peggins". I think it looks great, really dynamic. (Did I say that earlier? Probably. )

Nice work!

[Dark_Eyes]

Donalfal: Thanks! yeah, I liked that piece too, but I could probably push it more...

here's this one, it's kinda' cheezee but... eh. had fun.. need to work on animal anatomy BIG TIME, I think the Loomis studies are helping, and I like doing them.. timing myself is really helping me to push. (came up with this idea in a bowling alley for some reason... why I don't know, cause' I

[Dark_Eyes]

First look at a chow quickie? Meh..I'm still uncomfortable with male anatomy...need to study more

[yoitisi]

Been a while :) Nice to see some updates. Not much to say that you didn't already spot yourself though. I like how the penguin turned out by the way.

The creature does indeed need some more anatomy studies to really work, but what I was wondering about more was where the two are standing on/how they relate to each other. It seems a little random at the moment.

[Dark_Eyes]

yoitisi: thanx man! Yeah that piece ended up with some text on it, so I had to leave the open space in the top right...my original idea had a rodeo fence in the background to place the figures in an arena setting, maybe some dirt flying.. didn't put it in as it interfered with the text, maybe I'll add it in and fix some of the animals anatomy...

Why was this so much fun and yet so pointless...????

[Dark_Eyes]

I'm reallly enjoying doing these studies,... I've found my old book how to draw animals... I think I'll zip through that book (timed of course) and I'm also thinking about thumbnailing all the photographic reference in a book I got from the library called, "film directing - shot by shot: visualizing from concept to screen". I'm interested in storyboarding and i'm hoping to absorb a little.

[Dark_Eyes]

oooo... I wanna do the IDOW this week... looove drawing spaceships...here are some quick thumbs.

[Dark_Eyes]

should've worked on my IDOW more today, but I got caught up in my new sketchbook my sister gave me. She brought it back from italy, :sungod: it's leather bound, niiiiice paper... makes you want to put only good sketches inside....
here's WIP

[Dark_Eyes]

wip so far...

[Dark_Eyes]

ok got stuck at an airport.. (car troubles) so i didn't finish, but i keep coming back... this is fun, it's like i'm designing one of those old school g.i.joe toys I grew up with...

[Dark_Eyes]

ok, so these aren't very interesting.. or very pretty... but i like doing them.. These are from the book film directing shot by shot by steven katz, good book. the max cut off for each one of these was 4 min, but each took about 2 or 3.

[Dark_Eyes]

ANIMALS!!!!! HOLY CRAP ANIMALS!!!! 2-4 min each...

[Dark_Eyes]

more animal stuff, these are helping me get comfortable sketching on a tablet.

[Dark_Eyes]

I trust my unconscious is getting all this.... sorry, I get obsessed with topics I don't know enough about.... yet....

[Dark_Eyes]

HELLO!? HELLo...HELlo...HEllo...Hello.... hello.....

[Victor B]

wow man quick drop in to say Dont Stop all these studies are looking great I especially enjoy the shot by shot and animal studies. Don't get discouraged keep posting

[Farin]

wow.. these animalstudies r amazing. like your drawing style, your lines...
the penguin professor made me laugh. great picture!

keep posting!

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: Thankx man, yeah I'm still here...It's been tough posting every day, I figure I owe about 5 posts to make up for the one's I've missed. Hey, are you coming out of Chi-town? ,cause' i spend some time up there, and I could use a sketch buddy, maybe hit up the museums..

Farin: Thanks friend! I visited your blog, nice sketches! It's good to see someone else is drawing in the pubs... seems to be a new favorite for me now (lots of female reference:bashful:)

Here's a little dump, the drawing of the girl is out of my head, although I'm sure the dancing women in the bar had something to do with it (unconsciously of course). Her feet are a little weird, (I need to draw feet like I need to draw hands.) The other is just a bunch of quick gestures from a party and some animal stuff. I have to admit that Android Jones has totally inspired me to do some live digital painting.. (love that guy) I have a band interested in allowing me to experiment for a show.. hmmmmm.... we'll see....:confident

[Draniel]

nice analysis of the animals features, it's interesting to compare them and that will help to remember them well too, i should do it now :P

[Dark_Eyes]

Draniel: Thanx mate! Yeah, I think that the brain generalizes best when it is forced to move quickly, (in fact, I would argue that you can ONLY learn things quickly. The real trick is actually finding the information that you don't yet know.) The more I do studies like this, the more clear my mental images become. I really think it's a great way to warm up at least...

[Victor B]

Collinsully- nice stuff, unfortunately I'm not from Chicago more central Illinois, however I do have friends who still live up there so I'm up occasionally, Maybe we could jam the art museum some time this summer.

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: cool man, drop me a line when you swing through, i should be there quite a bit this summer as my brother lives there.

Here are some cat's and stuff, MEEEOWWW

[Dark_Eyes]

more kitty kats...:meow:

[mysteryofalbesila]

cool sketches! I see you are studing Andrew Loomis book, keep it up!

[yoitisi]

Hey mate :) Been a while.

Cool studies, the anatomy looks quite well. One thing though, you might want to be a bit more carefull with the hatching and shading as it defines the form as much as the linework, and in some of these it seems a bit sloppy.

[Dark_Eyes]

mysteryofalbesila: Thankx! Hey are you guys looking for some free concept work, cause' I'd love to participate.
yoitisi: thankx man, you're right, i have been getting a little sloppy, concentrating on speed too much perhaps... maybe a sign I should back away from animals for a second, i do tend to get a little obsessive.

Happy Easter! sorry for the lame-o posts lately, I've been learning how to use Sketch-up the past couple days to incorporate some kind of knowledge about 3d programs...It's fun and easy to use, but so much to learn. Here is a nasty sketch from the bar the other night, watching my friends band... I drew this in really poor lighting, very dark with occasional strobe lights of color.. an interesting exercise in trusting your instincts. (scary i know)330491

[Matsign]

sup collin! I'll glad subscribe your thread and throw some crits your way. I enjoyed flipping through your sketchbook. I like how you are doing your studies digitally. That seems like a great way to get comfortable with a tablet. What size do you use?

How many times do you go out to the bar and sketch? It sounds very appealing to me...

[UnSharpened]

I was amazed by the weight of line you perform in those animal studies, sweet:P. Your B&W work and ID stuff impress me most, I love the fluid in them, did you do it with Painter? Hope you don't mind if someone has asked:P.

Keep it up!!

[Dark_Eyes]

Matsign: Thanks brotha'! I use a wide canvas 3000 or 4000 px wide and work around 50% with small size either scratchboard tool, hard square chalk, or pastels in painter. I like to work with a lot of room on the canvas.Drawing at the bar is good for building confidence I think... (I don't really drink alot...maybe a beer here and there.) There is also an energy from the crowd that I feed off of... Android has totally inspired me to do live digital painting, I've got a gig doin' it at a nightclub in a month... should be a fun experiment!:confident I try to draw in as many different situations as I can, to build flexibility mainly, but also in a way of "living" my art if you know what i mean..

Unsharpened: Thankee Do! How bout' you? Yeah I use painter and photoshop, but I feel a bit' more comfortable in painter I think... at least for sketching. Photoshop is fun too though...

EEEEWWWW!!! somebody needs to clean their scanner... This is a work in progress for this weeks CHOW, I'm not yet sure what he will be carrying, some kind of hover board maybe, hook swords need work too. eh' too much typing not enough drawing.332265

[mysteryofalbesila]

lots of great sketches, keep it up

[Dark_Eyes]

Just a few kitty kats tonight, i'm pooped... I really want to design all 4 characters for the chow this week... something about telling stories for children appeals to me... i guess i associate back into all of those childhood flights of fancy that started me down this crazy trail. I'll post the sketches later..

[Dark_Eyes]

Been busy hunting down some freelance work... here are some quick studies of my friend colleen's baby, as well as some other random stuff... she's a cutie:D. I want to incorporate some of her features into the female character in this weeks chow.

[yoitisi]

Keep 'em coming :) Love the expression on the lower left face on that last one.

Nothing much to say, just that you might want to experiment a bit more with shading etc. The pages look still very white overall (might be the scan, but still).

[Dark_Eyes]

yoitisi: thanks mate, I think I'm going to switch to a darker lead, I used B lead on this and I think I can get a better value range, still not great though... I think I'm going to do some pure value studies to work on shading, maybe even break out some black and white oils... (something I've been longing to do!)

Just picked up last years Spectrum 14, can't wait for the next one, kinda' want the whole set... Highly recommended if you want your socks rocked!

[Dark_Eyes]

Back on those animals! Can't seem to give up on em'

[Dark_Eyes]

posemaniacs.com has a 30 second pose drawing feature, it ROCKS! I've been using it quite a bit, but I figure I'd spare you the endless pages of gestures for now (too much scanning). I've decided lately, looking at other sketchbooks, that I want to start posting more interesting stuff... just need to start pushing myself more... here are a few doo-dads for now...

[Dark_Eyes]

Just a quickie here, playing with photo texture, no ref, no idea, just went at it... 1.5 hrs

[Flesheater]

Cool sketchbook!

[Dark_Eyes]

Flesheater: Thanks! Glad to have you here, feel free to critique!

Unfinished Orc stuff... haven't pushed the darks in yet... kinda' morbid.. thats what you get for listening to NIN.. check out Year Zero, Reznor's opus for sure...

[Dark_Eyes]

Couple quicky landscapes... these were fun! About 1.5 hours each, no ref, no idea... playing with photos again... I'm doing some life painting lately, but i still feel like i rely on too many "happy mistakes" to make my color decisions... am learning to plan out my colors by actually saying to myself (in my head or out loud) this is such and such value, reddish orange, more/less saturated, ect...

[Victor B]

hey colin really enjoying your landscapes keep it up man

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: Thanks mate... here's another for ya..

went a bit over board here, but it was fun.. kinda made me think of those old school sci-fi book covers... wanted to try to really push myself with just a round brush, but I ended up using some custom brushes in the end.. eh... BUCK ROGERS...:[

[Dark_Eyes]

ERRRK... ummm yeah... sorry guys I've been busy the past couple days, but I'm back on the wagon.. 1.5 hr quickie here..

[UnSharpened]

I burst out of laughter when I saw you talking your use of colour as "happy mistakes" in #127:P. I am doing more or less the same thing all the time, that's why I feel it's really a nice description. I am not sure whether you've sorted it out, but those colour in your painting looks great to me!! There is nothing wrong with trial and error I guess. What I usually do is giving a major colour theme my image should have, the rest is making like what you said "mistakes".
BTW, your recent posts are awesome, stunning improvement:D!!

[Dark_Eyes]

unsharpened: thanks m8! I feel like i am starting to understand color a little better... I still have a long way to go though... so humbled around her man.. so humbled... gotta' have a ferocious tenacity to push through your weaknesses and grow.. errmmmmm here's a wierd one..

[Dark_Eyes]

Pushed this one through a little... might polish it up for the EOW... hmmmm...

[Victor B]

looking good Colin, the lightning could use some work, keep it up. Btw I just updated my skbk if you've got a moment

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: thanks man, I'm still tweaking this one.. have mixed feelings about it. Still needs a lot of work though.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a go at chow, about 2 hrs in middle values no darks or light. Also, some hairstyles from ref, 60 sec each timed...kinda' trickier than i thought

[mentler]

Strong Works
And Good
Skill Sets

!5 BONES!

[Arteater]

I have never seen so many great sketches consecutively. Great work, vary inspirational

[Dreln]

Good job on all the hair styles. Good practice for sure.

Your Chow pic is starting off nicely too. I would shorten his right thigh though as it's pretty long right now.

Good stuffs!

[Delmar]

very nice progress! Really like your last eow entry.

Keep em comin.

Cheers

Andi

[Dark_Eyes]

Mentler: Thanks friend! I could sure use the bones!:yum:
Arteater: Wow thanks! After seeing the other sketchbooks around here, I find that hard to believe but.. haha thanks for the encouragement, and I hope to inspire!
Dreln: Thanks, I have really learned to enjoy studying.. whenever my creative juices poop out, i just shift gears into study mode, whatever ref i can find... animals, props, faces, costumes, whatever... just to keep the hands moving and the brain moving. Nice eye, I'll definitely fix that thigh... Cheers!
Delmar: Thanks m8, I hope to be ten times better in half the time, so feel free to crit! ;)
Here's a muddy little speedpaint, about 1.5 hrs... meh... would love some tips on color and atmosphere...

[Dark_Eyes]

didn't finish this in time... still have a bitch of a time figuring out how to use color mode layers on b&w values... everything just gets all confused

[anjin]

what a good sketchbook! I like it, there are a lot of different things and I found the global level very high! :)
I'll keep chcking it. :)

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: Cool! I'm glad you like, feel free to crit!

Just a few dino-doodles here... check out the gnarly one in the top right... nature sure has some weird designs... could really get lost learning about these...

[Dark_Eyes]

oops... read the wrong deadline or something so i still have time for this one... crits appreciated...needs a lot of work still

[Dark_Eyes]

on top of all that, I forgot to read the brief right... go figure... I forgot to put a dog in the composition, so i did some studies and tried to fit one in.

[UnSharpened]

Look nice man:D. He fits the brief of Chow nicely I think, the only thing I am considering is the colour. The background seems too bright to me, and occupies the focal point of the character. Of course you might haven't finished it yet:P, just thinking that making the background darker to give depth would be an idea.

Cheers

[Dark_Eyes]

Unsharpened: thanks man, I think you were right about the background, it does help add focus to the main character. Still have some work to do here though (definitely not finished) :D

[Dark_Eyes]

ok...pretty soon i'm gonna dump all of these drawings done in these seedy bars.. .here is my chow entry which was rejected for some reason ??? even though half of the accepted entries didn't even follow the brief (no thumbs):wtf: o well... was still fun. Also, here's a quickie for CGtalk daily sketch, my "war kitten" about 2 hrs... trying new techniques.

[Dark_Eyes]

jkklk

[Dark_Eyes]

here's a little experiment, kinda' turneresque... need to learn to work with greys better. 1 hr.

[yoitisi]

Hey collinsully, been a while since I was in here. Great to see your still at it :)

First off, I really like that dog and robot thingy on the previous page. The dog is nicely done, and the technique you used on the robot worked pretty well too I think (just watch the pose).

However, I think the African Warlord piece for Chow is a bit messy with the lighting and tone of it all. The shading started out a bit scratchy, and though the end result looks neater it still shows you started without defining it all enough. It could use some more work in contrast and color as well to make it more readable. And the chrome, though it works, should reflect more of the surroundings I think. The desert/blue sky you often see is a trick often used to convey chrome because it makes the reflections easy.

The landscapes are cool as well, although some stronger than others. Take care not only with greys and saturation but also with light/dark and contrast.

Btw, you're going to like the next Chow I think :P keep an eye out.

[Dark_Eyes]

Yoitisi: good to hear from ya' friend! Your insight always gives me a useful course correction. I think you're right that I'm not blocking things in early enough in my pieces.. I find myself wasting a lot of time and it hurts the piece. I've done some studies from ref', practicing with big brushes at high opacity and working zoomed out.. I think I'm learning alot from these, will probably do a lot more...I still have to fight the urge to jump into detail (a sign that I don't concentrate enough on the big forms), I think I'll start timing them to say 15-20 min and really try to make them read with as broad of strokes as possible. Thanks for the input, and can't wait for the next CHOW! :wip:

[Dark_Eyes]

some more of these studies... maybe i'm captain obvious, but i'm amazed at how many color decisions i have to make, even within a relatively monochromatic image. :dur: o well.. I am learning a lot about color here! I think i've finally realized that you can't just guess with color.. you have to check and double check... double dur.. :dur: :dur:

[Dark_Eyes]

More More More More More!!!

[Mihail]

Very nice color studies! Keep it up man.

[Dark_Eyes]

mihail: thanks man! I need the encouragement! color is my weakness..

[anjin]

wow... your feet skeches are great!!!

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: thanks man.. I wish they looked as good as the stuff from my head, but.. heh... I guess I'll get there soon enough..

I'm wondering what people out there think about cintiq wacom tablets, (or even tablet pc's) I just can't help but think that this would all be a lot more efficient and clean if I could actually see where i'm drawing... O well.. make due with what you got for now i guess.

[Dark_Eyes]

Just some brainstormin'.

[anjin]

nice update! the girl on #159 seems to have a little of short legs... You put on her a sexy dress, so maybe a long legs are better then short ones. ;) keep posting, my friend!

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: thanks man! I like long legs too! Got some "deep" stuff coming soon, will post later.
[

[Victor B]

looking good Colin, especially that last one, I was going to ask you if you had some deep stuff coming, can't wait to see what you get

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: Sup' man, yeah I think i finally can zero in on deep, got some things out of the way. Hopefully I'll hop on ventrillo tomorrow, that is.. if i can find a microphone...:[.

Here's a piece inspired by android jones.. I used all the techniques I learned from him at revelations this year... kinda funky, first approach using dover clip art... fun though...

[anjin]

I don't know if everybody you superposter don't work out of the illustration or if I am really too slow... how is possible to post so often?! grrrr Well, I like a lot your update for yesterday: with the environment and the flying ship.. and also I find interesting the experiment of today... :)

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: thx man.. takes a lot of work, but I have a long way to go. Getting there is the fun part. You from Italy? I went to Rome last summer for the first time.. bellisimo! Must have been really inspiring to grow up there.

Here are some sea creature doodles, I should be on ventrillo tonight, want to talk about storyboards...not a lot of experience but it sounds like a blast.

[anjin]

Anjin: thx man.. takes a lot of work, but I have a long way to go. Getting there is the fun part. You from Italy? I went to Rome last summer for the first time.. bellisimo! Must have been really inspiring to grow up there.

Here are some sea creature doodles, I should be on ventrillo tonight, want to talk about storyboards...not a lot of experience but it sounds like a blast.

Rome is the best city in the world! :D Just to visit, 'cause to live in is a little to unorganized... Anyway, I am living in Madrid now, but I often go to Rome to visit friends and family.

Your sketches: good! Very good, just the one on the right seems more an insect then a sea creature... or not?

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: thankx m8! Yeah these thumbs are pretty raw, I haven't really pushed any of them yet... lots of work to be done.

Here is a character sketch for an idea i have for "deep" This is rough, haven't finished the values, (sorry for crappy scan) might just jump into painting it. I want her to swim within' a comb jelly type creature that will protect her from Jupiter's radiation... (takes place in the oceans of Europa.) This will be far future, with exotic technology that will allow the inhabitants to breath.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here are some doodads of ideas, i think for the interest of time, I'll do a bunch of variations of these, just as linework with no value, and paint them rough in photoshop.. that way i'll have some diversity to pick from... Yeah yeah.. so these are kinda hackneyed... I think as i develop a clear idea for the story, the designs will start to lock into place and get more interesting... the good thing is i can do tons of these really quick. :)

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey guys.. sorry.. I've been busy getting ready for my first live digital painting gig. I'm really looking forward to doing something outrageous like this.. (my art always mutates when I push myself into unfamiliar territory.) The show is gonna' be REALLY big... so I'm kinda' nervous, but.. in a good way... :) Much love to Android Jones for paving the way and inspiring us all... Anyways... I have been doing "deep" stuff but it's all pencil and I haven't scanned yet. :( I've decided to nail down some storyboards first, since I have the least experience with them, and would like the extra time to refine. For me, having a back story really helps expedite the design process.

Here's something recent.. I'll probably paint this one and try to make the lighting more interesting. (P.S. Always keep a mirror handy for checking mistakes... I get so used to the flip canvas function sometimes that i forget to check my stuff in the real world.) :)

[anjin]

:) cut off the right eyes and give to her just the head eyes! :) It'd be more interesting! :) Keep posting!

[Dark_Eyes]

Still working on this one... still struggling with color...

[Dark_Eyes]

woooah boy.. got sucked into this one HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHa!!!!

[anjin]

you are a big! :)
Your finished artwork is great! I'd buy if not into art too :) Keep posting, you are surely on the right way!

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: Thx man! hopefully I'll have some prints for sale sometime soon..

Sry, this isn't a complete scene... more to come... I think I'll jump back into digital for these, it will be faster to manipulate..

[monotony]

Hey collinsully, awesome body of work you showing here. I specially anjoy your recent studies and all the sketches you did for deep.
you plan on entering all categories? thats great. love the creature doodles and the idea for the woman in some kind of jellyfish. can't wait to see the results.
very promising

[Dark_Eyes]

monotony: Thanks man... hope to submit in all categories, but we'll see.. I saw your sketchbook.. I like the movie frame studies you've done! The reference thread has some cool links to sites with movie captures if you haven't already found them...been meaning to do the same...

Here are a couple more quick and dirty pages for that scene.. I have to admit I like doing these.. (even though i've never done them before.. HAHAHAHA!) I'm not sure, I think these are a little TOO loose... but it's really good practice to let go of technique for a while and think quick... It's teaching me that it's damn important to have at least SOMETHING visualized in your head before you start drawing, no matter how crude...

[Dark_Eyes]

I'll have to add some value to these later..is for another idea i have that is more of an action sequence for deep... more to come kids :D

[Dark_Eyes]

VALUESS I SAY VALLLUUEEEESSSS you gotta' have em'.

[Dark_Eyes]

some weirdness here... just a warmup fer' my show tomorrow... GONNA BE FUN YALL'!!!!

[Dark_Eyes]

Hey guys... my first live digital painting show was a blast! The turnout was pretty damn good, considering the crappy weather. People loved it! They don't see stuff like this EVER! (at least in the midwest :)). We're already planning another show! Android Jones was a real help to me with his advice and inspiration, YOU ROCK BROTHER! Anyways, I definitely recommend trying this.. it really humbles you.. puts you in the moment and forces you to use your intuition. I've definitely learned some important lessons about creativity, like just f$#kin' going for it, you know? Now I'm hooked! Need to book more gigs and PLOW THROUGH!!!
Here it is, my first live painting... I still need to stream line my process, my rendering side gets the better of me and i find myself getting stuck in areas when i should just jump in and trust my gut. About 5 hrs total with a break in there somewhere.. O.. and some color thumbs for some deep creatures.

[Dark_Eyes]

sorry... testing my new signature
*EDIT* SHAZBLAM! IT WORKS!

[Dark_Eyes]

Some more boards.. kinda gross... will make more sense when i get the text on there.

[Dark_Eyes]

More of these to come... going to the beach soon for a VA CA.. :sungod: should have some fun doing some deep stuff. Also have some master studies and industrial design studies that i'll post soon... lates...

[Dark_Eyes]

Sry... me no post long time.. me feel better though...... :sungod: been doing lots of traditional, getting back to basics... same old same old.. couple doodles...

[Dark_Eyes]

crappy pose, crappy render ehh

[Dark_Eyes]

tinkering with some thumbs...

[Dark_Eyes]

Geesh.. drawing from your head sure takes a lot of energy out of ya'.. i have to go into deep trance states just to stay focused... it keeps getting easier though.. here's one sitting about 1.5 hours.

[Dark_Eyes]

speedpaint from reference.. working on getting big areas down first, optimizing use of custom brushes.. 415694

[Dark_Eyes]

some crappy doodles... have ds colors now :) should start using it to make up for posts missed... quick and dirty.. (i will make 365 so help me god...)

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a little chicky' from my head that I did on DsColors! :) So much fun! Although it really makes me wanna' get a cintiq! :D

[anjin]

the last one digital painting (the girl) is very cool. Are you thinking about continue it with the wacom on the normal pc? You should...

[Victor B]

Hey "dark eyes " I just wanted to drop in and say nice work, I'm in agreement with anjin your last post looks great. Keep posting as you can

[Brun]

Great stuff in here, that ds sketch is lovely, I'm still wondering if i should get one, i really dunno, (altough i'm getting a wacom cintiq wx 12 anytime soon, which will cost me allot of money, but its worth it)

keep on rocking, really inspiring sketchbook

[Dark_Eyes]

Anjin: thx friend.. How are things in Madrid? Good? maybe i'll polish her up.. i'll probably do alot more though.

Victor: Thx m8, dark eyes is a rough translation of the gaelic origin of my last name.. "people of dark eyes".. o and it sounds cooler too! :)

Brun: thanks man.. I love the stuff in your sketchbook/blog. Keep it up! DS is pretty cool, but if you get a cintiq, i can't imagine wanting to play with any other toy. :)

The journey continues... here's an icky unfinished sketch from my head.. CHEERS!

[Dark_Eyes]

some weirdness from my sketchbook today...meh..

[RandAlThor]

Nice variety and good techniques. Story boards are coming along nicely... Looking forward to more ;-)

[Dark_Eyes]

RandAlThor: Thanks friend keep checkin' in! Some nice progress in your skchbook too, keep it up!

Here, (on the right) is a "Christopher Nolan" version of Harley Quinn for this weeks chow... I will turn it into a painting... maybe with a strong top light dark background ... although I'd like to throw in some authentic Chicago architecture or something. hurm hurm hurm.... :party:

[Dark_Eyes]

I just saw dark knight IMAX style.. DEAMMMNNNNN!!! Love this movie.. anywho... Heres a quick color pass on this one.. didn't get too far with it, still messy with lots to fix..

[Dark_Eyes]

here's my chow.. i feel my process for characters tightening up some, so i think i'll start posting progress shots to help others out, and of course to get some honest critiques...which i luuuuvvvvv :) peace

[Dark_Eyes]

I'm still cleaning this one up.. Kinda' want to make the suit look like it's layered in aerogel... should be an interesting material painting challenge.. we'll see.

[Dark_Eyes]

eewww feeling sick today.. I do so many of these damn studies.. here's a sample.. I just try as many different types of races, expressions, positions, as i can.. all from my head.. I think i study things to death sometimes... I know it's worth it, but I forget sometimes to just trust myself and pull the trigger, ya' heard?

[Dark_Eyes]

Well... finished another live digital painting show at spin nightclub.. I highly recommend doing this if you are seeking immediate feedback on your work.. I really appreciate everyone who gave me comments throughout the night. People have an amazing awareness of the issues you are missing, and keeping them on their toes mean you better damn well get skippy'. Interesting how this time felt more like a chess match to me... (i know weird). Even the drunk hecklers, (and yes you will have them), dropped information, (albeit in a beligerent and inane manner). One of them kept screaming MAKE IT A DEVIL! so.. i obliged.. aaaaandddd...

[Dark_Eyes]

well took me all damn day to learn how to do this, but i used a soap bubble skin ruby text in google sketchup to create this wing shape... It's getting easier, I hope to start incorporating some models into my work flow. It's a cool program, you should check it out!

[Dark_Eyes]

here's an unfinished red sonja sketch... I'm liking all the comic book CHOW's lately, taking me back to my roots... woot

[Dark_Eyes]

quicky in colors! maybe 20 min i thunk.

[Dark_Eyes]

Not finished, but i will.. i like where it's going. just a first pass of values.

[Dark_Eyes]

My playlist just jumped from Nas (rap) to The Louvin' Brothers (country/western) to Grieg - Il mattino (classical).. it's a metaphor for what's going on in my head i guess. :D some more colors! funz... peace

[Dark_Eyes]

I've neglected this piece in favor of doing some studies, but it's coming, i'll finish it off tomorrow.

[yoitisi]

Hey man, nice to see you're still improving :) I like your CHOW piece for the Batman villain challenge, though it seems a lot of people went for the scarred Harlequin.

The Red Sonja piece suffers a bit from the weird pose though. With the hand brushing back her hair (?) it looks as if she's wondering about what the hell to do next instead of looking like the barbarian warrior that she is. Also, designwise I think her clothes might look a bit more 'rich' then they do now, though that is maybe just my own vision of her.

[Dark_Eyes]

Yoitisi: THANKS brother.. you are the other half of my brain, i swear... wish more people would leave critiques like you! :D

I've got another live digital painting gig coming here... should be pretty big... it's a festival in indy called fringefest... this time I'm performing for a whole city crowd, instead of a bunch of screaming drunks... should be interesting! Will finish this piece though i swear:mod:

[Dark_Eyes]

ick doodle alert

[Dark_Eyes]

I decided to make someone with girly powers... heh...

[Victor B]

Hey "dark eyes" just wanted to say thanks for stopping by the ol' skbk even thou' I haven't upd't in a while ( might start a new one ) I appreciate the links I'll look into it. You're showing nice progress, keep pushing , the red Sonja piece looks very promising push to "completion" Anywho keep up the good work , cheers!

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: no problem brother.. I'm gonna try and leave more comments from now on, you know.. the more you make the more you take kinda' thing.. :)
Here's sumpin' i'm workin on, still rough..

[Dark_Eyes]

here's where this one went, pretty monochromatic, but i couldn't really get any other color to work for me.. o well... I'm realizing lately that i've become completely obsessed with improving my character skills.. even though i'm making great strides, it's time for me to hop into some enviro's or maybe some ID stuff. I'm doing a whole weekend of live digital painting too, three nights in a row at indy fringe fest... so i'll probably end up doing more characters anyway.. HA! a few notes to self.. -work on more dynamic poses, -study expressions, -study legs, hands, feet (as always), -study ethnic groups for variations in structure and skin tones.. hmm.. there's always more...

[Victor B]

I was going to give you a quick crit on that last figure, because I think its really good, but I got to lazy so I just did a quick paintover , hope you don't mind. Also I literally just woke up so, and did it in a min. so apologies, but just wanted to show you some possible ajustements. Watch the size of your figures heads and the distance from the body I shrunk head pushed it closer to body and rotated it slightly so it was so straight up the rest is just a touch of color using the "overlay" layer on ps. On that note if you havent gotten All the Jason Chan Massive black downloads then I Highly recoommend them. Hope your weekend goes well cheers!

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: thanks for the suggestions man, the changes really help i think.

[Dark_Eyes]

couple dirty color studies.. geesh i need to study from life more

[darkenuf]

im gonna learn a few things from you
if its the last thing i do

[Dark_Eyes]

Darkenuf: (nice name :) ) Hey man, they say the best way to learn is to know how to teach, so if you have any questions, just let me know! Considering the amazing level of talent around here, there are probably others better suited to answer your questions, but I'll do my best. Keep faith, work hard and you will improve, I promise! Lord knows I have a long way to go, but the journey is fun and worth it!

Here are some dirty little colors! pics, ironically the color in colors! never comes out right, but it may be ideal for creating little black and white thumbs like the one here.

[Dark_Eyes]

Here's a WIP of a literal interpretation of this weeks EOW.. Still kinda' ugly, I want to add in some figures on the left (hence the void). I'm heavily referencing this one though, so hopefully it will come out interesting.. crit's as usual encouraged and appreciated

[Victor B]

hey Darkeyes, no time for any in deph c&c but i wanted to say I love t he enviornment studies from the 30th the simplification reminds me of Gabo's great way to learn keep it up!

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: Thanks buddy! You called it.. Gabriel is my new hero! I think I was looking at his sketchbook that day, I love his use of color, trying to emulate a bit ;)

Here's where the Eow is, starting to come together, but man was i making it hard on myself with the facade.. it's teaching me about effective ways to detail... Also some quick color studies inspired by robo...

[Dark_Eyes]

Definitely having robogabo babies... what an affair... color studies are fun:hugsmile:

[darkenuf]

glad u like the name
well i can possibly learn a few thing from u
take a look at my sb and give some advice
id give u some advice but i dont see many errors

[Dark_Eyes]

hmm.. getting close here, would love some crits'...

[Dark_Eyes]

playing with values more in this unfinished doodle, starting to develop a flow to this, hurm....

[Dark_Eyes]

some hand studies

[Dark_Eyes]

here's my entry for this weeks eow... need critiques... really, come on and tear me open...I'll put it back 2gether

[lunarman]

Only today did I realize your SB existed. Awesome SB Dark Eyes!

[revenebo]

This sb rocks! Love your environment studies and your EoW entry.

[Dark_Eyes]

Lunarman: Thanks! I think sketchbooks like mine get relegated to the 4 star grave yard :( and people look past..It's a shame, cause' i need the critiques.

Revenebo: Tkx man! From the looks of your sketchbook, you could probably help me out with my enviros', feel free to critique.

nother' crapadoodle

[Dark_Eyes]

using a new way of sketching digitally, with a canvas texture layer on overlay on top of the one i'm drawing on.. using a square brush instead of a round brush... handles more like charcoal and is a bit more forgiving. Here are some studies as well as a potential rough for this weeks chow.

[kidult]

Nice look to the linework! On the last one is her arm going backwards towards the dude? Seems a weird position to be in

[Dark_Eyes]

kidult: thnks man, yeah i did that one when i was dead tired, looks like sh8t, appreciate the crit.

some blah blahs from today... need to start drawing vehicles again, been slackin

[Victor B]

Hey darkeyes, nice updates, the vehicle looks perdy good and the digital"sketching" feels looser, keep it up, love the foot studies.

[Robojon]

Your anatomy is most impressive. I also really like the confidence of some of your lines. Looking forward to more :)

[Dark_Eyes]

victor: cheers! good to see your sticking with the same sketchbook, i love to see the continuity as someone progresses from beginning to end.

robojon: thanks! thats good to know, i've struggled alot with my linework, and have a lot to learn...

just got back from chicago, the weather is s2$T! It feels like the whole damn country is underwater... some quick color studies, 20 min each, give or take

[Dark_Eyes]

painting robots is new to me.. this one took about 2 hrs... can you tell i've been looking at robogabo's stuff? HA! awesomeness

[Victor B]

Looking good, especially for a preliminary try, only slight crit it looks slightly off-balance, if its supposed to be walking it doesn't really convey it well enough, well keep it up! cheers

[Victor B]

sorry bout the double post, the page kept timing out instead of posting my comment

[Dark_Eyes]

Victor: couldn't agree more, I seem to always have problems with posing and balancing the forms i'm creating, something for further study...

well here we go, back into robots... I don't have a lot of experience with mechs and such, this is wonky and unfinished, but i'm learning a lot... still need to work on perspective (as always)..

[mentler]

Strong
Update

[Victor B]

ditto to mentler, strong update

[wilkerson]

Just popped in to your thread. Lots of good stuff in here. I don't know what to critique so I'll just say keep on doing what you're doing.

[Dark_Eyes]

mentler: YAY! BONES! thank you sir!

Victor: Snap! thanks friend.

Wilkerson: Thnks! Any comments you can make help out!

Here are some pencil doodles from today...

[Dark_Eyes]

experimenting with ways to quickly convey complex visual information, such as in architecture, using photo textures and brushes... couple hours, but i was experimenting alot, think i could do the same in an hour with a little practice.

[Dark_Eyes]

hmm.. having fun here, just messing around really... heh it was a robot up until the last 20 min when i flipped it and decided to make it some kind of space ship... go figure.. it helps to stay random sometimes..

[Dark_Eyes]

sum crazy warrior wizard chick heh..