Racasdorph's Sketchbook: Let the journey begin! (Please Crit) :)

[Racasdorph]

My name is Ricky Casdorph
I'm 22 and currently attend Colorado State University studying Art, striving for a degree in both Graphic Design and Painting!
This "Sketchbook" will hold both sketches and "finished" pieces! :D

I will try to update this almost daily as time permits!

Any comments and feedback is greatly appreciated as I signed up to ConceptArt.org to learn from everyone :overhere:

Thanks everyone!
Ricky

Oh and PLEASE CRIT! I want to get better!

[Racasdorph]

sketch!

[l0stinth0ughts]

work on lighter outlines, then maybe ill critique somemore.

[Racasdorph]

Self portrait using both Photoshop and Illustrator... This is what I would really like to improve on, I just ordered a Wacom 6x11. Im sick of my mouse heh

[Racasdorph]

l0stinth0ughts: Ok ill start using lighter lines, thanks! It does become a pain when I have to erase.

[JPC]

tha is a kick ass self portrait man! specially considering you used a mouse!

[Racasdorph]

JPC: Thanks! Yeah using a mouse just takes way to long and is hard on the wrist I have found, cant wait to get my tablet!

[Racasdorph]

Study of muscle and the male form... how am I doing?

[clayman101]

One thing I'm noticing, looking through this. When you do (what should I call them) motion studies, you use a simple 'rig' (lines and ovals) to get your proportions and movement set, but when you do your anatomy studies, it doesn't look like you have a structure underneath, and it shows. For example, the last figure of the head and torso, the rib cage is way out of proportion with the head. A simple rig underneath would have corrected that. I heavily recommend you get a blue pencil to build the rig, then switch to regular pencil to get your details.

Life drawing is about the toughest thing you'll have to master, so just keep drawing and you'll be surprised at your progress (in retrospect at least. with me I can never see improvement until I've put stuff away for a while then gone back through it.)

P.S Have fun with the tablet. I recently got the one you are getting (or have gotten) and I'm loving it. No more sore wrist!

[Racasdorph]

clayman101: Thank you, yeah in those larger pictures I have not been building them up really, I will definitely work on that! Yeah life drawing is incredibly hard and frustrating sometimes heh... but i guess that means I need to practice it the most!

[l0stinth0ughts]

hey dude, your progress is going well, just work on getting a very accurate contour line, then work with the details then. make sure you are drawing the same object in space, then you will know what i am talking about. Less talk more work :rocker:

[Racasdorph]

Female figure

[Racasdorph]

More sketchbook fun!

[Racasdorph]

I was trying to figure out color by painting this apple, what do you all think?

[Racasdorph]

Still working!

[Racasdorph]

Bird man!

[Racasdorph]

Trying Photoshop for the first time. I would love some criticism :)

[Racasdorph]

Concept exercise taking life and making it my own

[Racasdorph]

Dsg 1344

[Lotet]

hi there, just wanted to say hi, or something =P

keep it up n keep doing those studies, ur getting there!

[Racasdorph]

(Self Portrait 3 hours) Pastels 18x24, Experimenting with high contrast colors

[Racasdorph]

Marauders from Warhammer

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll257/racasdorph/Fearofthehighelves.jpg

[Racasdorph]

Creature concept i did... trying to get better with using textures

[Damage Ink]

i like the paintings, have a real dark feel to them. maybe a closer attention to detail wud help?

they remind me of my old boss's work, hes a tattooist, but in his spare time he paints. www.skinshock.com. under vaz

nice work man!

[2kre8]

i like your paintings, maybe you can use more direction of light, use warmer and cooler colors, add sum umff to them. Some paintings look kinda flat. the self portait has nice light to it, but add more color. keep it up, i can't believe what can be done with a mouse, nice post more

[Racasdorph]

Went along with the Whit video and tried to do my own outdoor landscape, crtis appreciated!

[Racasdorph]

Trying to figure the female body out...she got kinda violent as I went along haha

[Racasdorph]

Now that Ive done a woman, time for a man! lol

[Racasdorph]

Worked on the guy in armor more... I thought he looked to plain before.

[Racasdorph]

Watched the video with weapons and Coro...here is what happened after lol

[Racasdorph]

Well here is my first city! Tried to give it a destructed look with a small girl walking through it! I also included a walk through so anyone can tell me if im painting in the correct stages lol
Thanks,
Ricky Casdorph

[Racasdorph]

Here is a bigger shot of the city
Thanks,
Ricky Casdorph

[HFix]

Went along with the Whit video and tried to do my own outdoor landscape, crtis appreciated!

this is your stongest peice for me, i reallly love the texture on this one, post more enviroments!

[Racasdorph]

Trying to paint buildings now, with the correct perspectives! Why not a church? lol :sungod:
Thanks, Ricky Casdorph - racasdorph

[Racasdorph]

I just finished these next three pieces up, I really enjoyed doing them. I was trying to get the feel that these three scenes happened around dawn. Please feel free to crit away!
Thanks!
Ricky Casdorph - racasdorph

[Racasdorph]

Some quick figure sketches... I need to do more! :)

[Racasdorph]

Something new while I keep painting in photoshop! :steph: lol I know it sucks

[Racasdorph]

So, as you can see... I dont really like girls with lots of facial piercings haha
Trying to get better painting faces... while keeping it looking painterly :)

[Racasdorph]

Quick 10min painting I did

[Racasdorph]

A 15 minute painting of a cabin in aspen, Colorado!

[Racasdorph]

Another quick 15 min painting...trying to get the correct colors

[Racasdorph]

Quick sketch

[Racasdorph]

A few quick sketches... gotta keep drawing people. Drawing people is hard :rocker:

[Racasdorph]

Character concepts I recently did. I have not done many character concepts so I figured I should practice!

[Racasdorph]

A quick eye study and some faces... quick sketches :sungod:

[Racasdorph]

A self portrait I started yesterday and a quick sketch! I want to start doing more self portraits... oh and thats my girlfriend in the back brushing her teeth

(Crtis always welcome!) *hint hint* :yayca:

[BubbaGump]

The city boards at the top of the page are epic win!

[Racasdorph]

Great pictures! My 'new' favorite is the one of you/Jamie looking in the mirror, brushing her teeth... nice!

[Maidith]

Great paintings :) I especially love your environments :D

[Racasdorph]

DSG 1393: Sci-Fi • SLEEK WHITE PARAMEDIC HOVER-BOT - I love the DSG! haha I need to do more of them!

[algenpfleger]

Oho! You put quite an amount of detail in your painting. Keep tackling the foundations though, and do more life paintings too. Helps a lot with light and color :)

[Racasdorph]

BubbaGump: Thank you for the comment about the cityscape I tried.
Maidith: Yes, alot of people say they like my environments best, I need to work on anatomy and people more I guess. :)
algenpfleger: Thank you for the advice about life paintings and foundations. I know I need to do more! maybe I should change my major from graphic design to painting since this is what I wish to do when I'm older.

Here are some oil paintings I have done awhile back...

[Racasdorph]

Another oil painting

[Racasdorph]

Character concept I did for a friend

[Racasdorph]

Here is a character sheet for the chic above...I have never done a full 360 character so I took a wack at it.

[Racasdorph]

Two sketches I did from things around my room! :D

[Racasdorph]

love the painting Francisco Goya did, Saturn Devouring His Children so I took it upon myself to try and paint it myself based of Goya's original. Here she is! The first is Goya's and the last one is mine :)

[Racasdorph]

DSG 1416: Sci-Fi • WEIRD JET HALFWAY THROUGH ITS MECH-ORGANI-GROWTH-CYCLE IN HUGE VAT (Around an hour)

[Wixxi]

Hey i was on the daily sketch group yesterday and saw ur painting, i really like it, very moody piece.
Went trough ur sketchbook, and man i LOVE those apple studies, those are absolutly impressively detailed. keep it up man, very nice work! :^^:

[Racasdorph]

WIXXI: Thank you for those kind words Wixxi! When I get home I wanna check out your sketchbook. Yeah you would think painting apples would be boring but I actually really enjoyed that haha

[Jakers]

Hey dude, I wish you got more comments in here because you update it a lot...I will definately be back.

Overall, you have some strong paintings that really show nice form. The church and a few of the more finished envrionments were kick ass...overall, your figures come off as weak (like mine as well!) and it tends to stand out. If you want to do more character work, I would really dig into nailing your human proportions and the rest of the tricky stuff that comes along with em.

Take the piece above for example...its instantly interesting, however the overly simplistic tank (perhaps not quite in perspective) and the figure in front drag it down..works well for scale reference, though I think it could be stronger. Oh and disturbing image above that one ;)

Apples, city piece, and the landscape and weapons inspired by the videos are strong.

Ok in summary from my visit! You have a good start painting and rendering, but you need to pump up your drawing, which will benifit everything else :)

[pen-paper-renegade]

I really like some of your digital painting...your sketches are also good...but clearly they are experiments as they do not aproach the quality of your digipainting...not even in anatomy

the only stuff i didnt like was the squared buttocks chick xD yeah she had a squared ass

and the ones i really loved were the montain painting and the warrior craving the sword on the ground...really quality art pieces those 2

the rest is in a general basis pretty high quality works

keep going bro...i will be comenting so keep updating ^^

[Racasdorph]

Jakers: Thanks so much for the comment on my drawing and how I need to improve that, im going to start going back to the basics for sure! I really want to improve so after I get my silly MidTerms done in school...back to drawing 101 with the human form! Thanks alot man!

pen-paper-renegade: Haha the squared butt chick eh? LOL sorry man, I dont know what happened with her :) Thank you for everything you said and taking the time to comment, I just want to get better so I need to get to drawing! Also on the sketches maybe I should spend more time on them? Im not quite sure...

[Leo Ki]

What strikes me most in your sketchbook is the care you often put in
drawing face expressions. It makes very lively scenes.
And the concepts, too, such as the piercing girl.
And that scene with the beast on the roof is really frightening because
it's set in such an everyday setting. I hope the axe is a solid one.

[Racasdorph]

Just got painterX and watched the Andrew Jones fine art video. Gave it a quick shot...trying the pattern brushes and everything. Its fun! Ill try to do something a bit bigger and longer next time!

[Leo Ki]

Wished to add something about your glacier painting (post #26):
You did a great job with the textures and atmosphere but it looks a bit flat.
I understand light is diffuse and the contrasts are damped down,
but maybe a few variations in the mist and lights would help.
My 2 cents :)

[Racasdorph]

Another sketch using the Pattern Brush in PainterX :D Its alot of fun!

[Jakers]

You know what, I find some good eye movement in the last image, you really follow what feels to be a figure becuase of its strong colors! I think you did, however, make it overly complex - once you look it up and down a bit, there is too much for your to comprehend...it is very chaotic and there isnt a lot of secondary focal points for your eye to rest on because its not sure where to go past the figure! thats how I feel anyways. More controlled rythem and flow to the details you add would help.

Have you done any drawings? :)

[Racasdorph]

A book cover I did for my graphic design class! Completely inspired by andrew jones haha i love his work!

[Racasdorph]

close up

[Nkristian]

I really like you're apple studies!! I think if you will always gather up references and incorporate them to you're drawings you will create better results!! :D anyways keep up the good work!!

[Jamie Romoser]

seeing some nice progression here.
keep it up -Omerta