graphite & wacom from march08 to feb10

[luness]

Hey guys!

Here you'll find almost 2yrs of sketches and colored stuff I've done with love, for pleasure and joy, but also to learn, to push myself further, to reach my artistic and professional goals.

Cheers!

L.

[Hethabyr]

Wonderful stuff, Luness... very striking and distinctive style. Beautiful line, lots of imagination, and liberal sprinklings of exoticism. Can't fault any of these pieces. I like what you're doing with your peripheral areas, too. Hard to figure how you're doing it, but I like it a whole lot.

Five stars for you. They'll show up eventually.

Keep up the excellent work : )

[Suira]

Very good stuff, I love all of your creatures, it's a proof of huge imagination and good technique, 5 stars, I'll be cheking ya ;)

[Windmaker]

Woooooow... ! This is soo amazing!
Wonderful drawings! Both design and execution are great!
Post more! Also- post often!
Thank you for the inspiration!:)

[fantasyartist]

Great designs! Do you happen to be from Venezuela? Because I remember seeing the portfolio of Luness on photobucket if my memory doesn't fail me. Now post more!

[InstantIndian]

Very nice work. They are quite whimsical. You create a believable and detailed form without a lot of shading. Keep it coming.

[Coinpurse]

awesome work buddy...
keeping an eye on you :)

[JellevdVegt]

nice portfolio and nice caracters man, great pencil skills. one thing i just noticed is that the caracters in that last post dont have any value brake-ups. that could add an extra dimension to your drawings. but realllllly killer shit. keep up!

[Cam Sykes]

5 Stars from me. The ideas your conveying are solid backed up by the expert pencil work. The description of form really stands out and it's something I really admire. The concepts in these works are really interesting and all the pics seem to really hold together as parts of a whole. I am keen to see more tricks you have up your sleeve. These are definately of a professional standard and I wish you luck in landing an up-scale job.

[Keenox]

really really nice,man! great imagination and concepts. some of them are pretty disturbing, like mutants.... i also like your style. looks very spatial. wanna see more!

[Rudeone]

So deliciously weird...I love it!!! :D

[RandAlThor]

Excellent rendering and conceptual pieces. They appear very clean as if they are exactly the way you saw them in your head, without any later changes or rash decisions. Keep sharing ;-)

[TOOLED!]

this stuff looks like it would be great in a creepy kids book, lots of imagination and care went into these guys great job man.

[skorpi]

Great start. This creatures are really interesting

[Lakka]

I really like these mon! Great stuff and can't wait to see more! Good luck with your portfolio :)

Something that I'd love to see is (dont take this as a crit) a ibit more varioton with the lighting, as in higher contrast in some or just everything a bit darker, or should I call it changing the mood? I guess I shouldn't of said that since it's more like a personal preference but meh

But as I said, abnormally cool stuff, great rendering, and it's nice to see the actual animalparts put in these guys.

Be sure of this though, I'll be stalking you. (:D)

[DanielAlves]

Yours sketchs is very nice....i like yours draws and ideias.....is inpirations to me!

:ore:

Congratulations!!

[zweiDee]

damn, you a rly funky fresh pencil freak! *5 bling blings*

[Colepoopface]

Awesome designs, cant wait to see more.

Cheers

[Delmar]

inspiring stuff you've got there....lovely imagination and style.....would love to see some human characters too.

*****

[luness]

Woooow guys, you have no idea how much your words mean to me. They do a lot, mostly because it's been a self-taught process, not copying styles but trying to get the basics and start from there to get my own style of sketching, rendering, and so on; and living in a country where there is not such industries like videogames and animation, I haven't had a chance to learn from a team, put my skills on practice, etc., so it's all very inspiring and encouraging to keep working hard and follow my dreams, you know?

Thanks again everybody for your time and words. I'll save some time as well to check your threads and say hi. Peace.

Hethabyr – thank you!!! the background is an scanned old paper, then I just resized it, flipped it, or rotated it according to the drawing. I put the sketch on a different layer and then change the layer from Normal to Multiply and that's it. The thing is that I cleaned up all the original background so then they would be ready for coloring in Photoshop (for the coloring process, at the first stage, I use the drawings' silhouettes and selection tool to stay inside the lineart while adding the base colors), but then I had the idea to post them right here as sketches, but the bg was all gone and they looked like stickers or something, so I decided to use the old paper as new bg. I actually like the way they turned out.

Suira – thank you so much for your kind words and for your stars!!

Windmaker – haha, thank you! I'll post more. I think the weekends will be the best days to post anything, since it can be kinda crazy at home during the week and I barely have a chance to sit in front of my computer.

Fantasyartist – thank you!! yes, you got me, I'm from Venezuela and my old portfolio is up there at Photobucket. Good memory!

InstantIndian – thank you for the words! I used to draw without any shading or just with a bit of it, as you will see on the attached piece. I saw a clip of Marko Djurdjevic's Character Ideation DVD and it inspired me to give shading a try. Marko is one of my favourite artists ever. Check his threads and webpage. Jawdropping stuff.

Coinpurse – thanks a lot!! Feel free to check my sketchbook from time to time. Crits and comments will always be welcomed.

Teh Gosu – thanks for your tips Gosu. I'm aware of that, actually. The thing is that I tried it once, on my sketchbook, with some fantasy fish designs, and those pages turned so messy after a while. I can't find any spray to fix the lead or pencil to the paper, and if I do eventually, I'm sure it will cost me a lot (art supplies are stupidly expensive around here) so I decided to keep the shading and value process to a mid level, with enough information for the coloring process. I like my sketchbook to look kinda clean, it's a personal thing...or maybe I'm scared of the beautiful mess of a sketchbook full of ink, pencil, color, marker, etc., haha. I'm taking baby steps, so who knows? Maybe one day I'll get those value brake-ups without any worries, but in the meantime, I'll save that for the digital coloring part.

CamSyko – wow, thanks for your comments. They encourage me to keep drawing, keep trying, and improve my skills. I'll pray for those late 4 words of the last sentence to become true one day. Thanks a lot.

Keenox – haha, thanks. They could be even more disturbing, though. Check the web for Wayne Barlowe's Inferno pieces, and you will see disturbing stuff. What a great imagination he has.

Rudeone – thanks a lot! I remember while reading the descriptions of these demons I was like “what the heck? It's so weird!” but it's been challenging and fun to do. The final designs can be so different every time. You can take every description or sentence and put it on paper exactly as they come, or twist them a bit, add something or ignore a lot of the original description. It's been a great designing exercise.

RandAlThor – thank you so much for your comments. If they look clean it's because I use a lot of kneadable eraser to get rid of the first gesture lines, haha, but yeah, I didn't want to use thumbnails or spend hrs designing each creature or character this time, so I put on paper the first idea I got in my mind, with few minutes to read the descriptions, choose the photo references, do the gesture lines, saving all the energy for the rendering and shading.

TOOLED! - haha. The last character of this pack is actually based on Lamashtu, which “was a female demon, monster, malevolent goddess or demigoddess that menaced women during childbirth and, if possible, kidnapped children while they were breastfeeding...” so I guess she should be included in a book for kids...perhaps a book for spoiled kids :)
Anyways, thanks for your comments!

Skorpi – thank you! The definition of each character caught my attention right away. They are so odd looking.

Lakka – no no no. All the crits, suggestions and comments are more than welcomed, so I appreciate every single word, ok? As I said to Teh Gosu, I prefer to keep my paper sketchbook sort of clean, with just enough shading information that would guide me through the coloring process, done with Photoshop. I tried using the Dodge and Burn tools the other day to darken and lighten some areas of my scanned pencil sketches and I didn't like the result when looking closer. It was a mix of techniques that didn't go that well together. The lead pencil texture (including gradients) with some extremely smooth patches done digitally. But yeah, I'm conscious that cast shadows and lights bring some 3D quality to a drawing, they help it to pop up on the paper, so thanks again for your note.

DanielAlves – hey Daniel. Thanks for your words! I'm very glad you like them. By the way, your name seems very latin to me, so feel free to write me in Spanish whenever you want, although I recommend to keep posting comments in English. My English is also “autodidacta” or self-taught, and I can tell you that only practice and dedication will help you to improve your language skills. Espero que hayas entendido todo lo que escribi, jaja. Saludos.

ZweiDee – hahaha, thanks for your 5 bling blings!! and yeah, pencil rocks!!

Colepoopface – thank you so much. You will see more. I want to get better and improve my skills, so count on me for the postings!

Delmar – thank you! About the human characters, I don't have recent work on human characters, but you can check some at my online portfolio address (here, http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v486/luness/). This particular design package I'm working on will have creatures, characters (human, animal looking, etc), rotations, props, some vehicles, some environments, etc., but I'm trying to be organized with the development, so I'm working first with the creatures and weird looking characters, then I'll work on humans, and so on. Stop by any time, I'll do my best to keep my sketchbook thread updated.



So thanks so much again for your comments and suggestions, guys!!!
To explain myself better about leaving the cast shadows and darker shading for coloring, I'm posting this design from my old portfolio. It's not the best example but you can see that the shades, cast shadows and lights were added on the colored piece. Enjoy my dark magic fantasy slave/avenger.

See you next weekend!

[Smoke]

I cannot begin to express how awesome this work is.

Keep. Drawing.

[Lotet]

great work! those pencil pics are edited in the computer right? anyway, reaaly neat stuff! keep it up

[luness]

Smokey186 - thank you so much
Lotet - thank you! all the rendering is done with pencil but is edited on PS for presentation purposes, like the background and a bit of levels adjustment (the original paper bg is darker than this) after saving for web (which changed the original brownish color to blueish/gray/smoke sort of color they have now). I'm not thinking to use this kind of bg for every drawing posted here, it would be used just for this set, to give the idea that these drawings are part of an old sketchbook about demons and such things.

Anyways, this is a small set of characters I worked on during last week. There are still some characters left from that list I made, and then I'll move on to a different set, part of the same personal project.
The one called Sthenosh would be the third sister of that group known as Gorgons (Euryalecus and Medusaam, which are just Euryale and Medusa based characters).
Hope you like them.

[Smarty]

some really nice original work. I especially like your snake like designs and the mounts. Something you don't see much of lately.

Im interested to see some more colour work :D

[InFlame]

Hey luness,

you surely have the skills to draw and I think these works are worth it to put them in a portfolio. But you also should add other drawings, which also have other directions. Nude-/Lifedrawings for example, or various animal drawings, portrait drawings (More from life, you know!? :) )...You should show that you are flexible in your way of drawing. ;)

However, the creature designs shown here are very good! I am totally impressed! I am looking forward to see more! ***** Five little stars from me! :) *****

Rebecca

[hmanafi]

wow man,you inspire me to work hard.
i want to do something like you,teaching art and 3d modeling to myself,making a portfolio,sending to video game companies,and ... ;) .oh,i know it's not important that what i want to do,but I'm thirsty for a comment and advice from a person like you,so if it's possible take a look at my sb.
thanks man for your sketchbook.post every time that you can.

[Ketka]

wow! Awesome sketchbook!

[Mihail]

Man, you rock!

[RandAlThor]

sweet update dude, give us more, i cant get enough of this ;-)

[Howie]

Wow! incredible stuff... All of these creatures/ characters have really nice silhouettes and your rendering is top notch.

[Sellis]

KEEP IT UP, amazingly imaginative stuff. I'd like to see you do more colour.

Stu.

[JFierce]

Gotta love the line quality you have in your works
These are crazy good haha

[Penumbra]

Your work makes me think of Micheal Parks...with a Lovecraft infection. It's really excellent work. There is an undercurrent of humor and all the pieces are well rendered. Please do keep it up. It's very inspiring.

[hm2k]

wow im in love with your style man. such a nice feel to each piece, is it just pencil you use? and your paper looks funky what is it? lovin it keep em coming plz!!

[George Bieber]

Great stuff! Pencils are amazing but the concepts are so unique. Very inspiring. It was a treat to view, thanks.

[fantasyartist]

Ronovesh looks really great. Nice flow on his body. It's been about 13 years since I've been in Venezuela. Do you have good art schools around there?

[Quinn Simoes]

Very nice designs! Love to see more...

Quinn

[Ramitxon]

Hey luness, grrrrrrrrrrrreat work!, I don't put so many r's usually. You have a lot of personalty on your beasts and characters. Great sketching technique. Love your style. Please do keep up posting. Buen trabajo.

[luness]

SmartKyle – thank you! Color work will come lately. Now I'm focused on finishing this group of designs (demons) on pencil, since I'm not sure yet of what color palette I should use; some of them are related design wise, but others are not, and I would like them to look as part of a whole through similar colors. I mean, not looking exactly the same, but having some colors in common.

InFlame – thanks so much for the tip. I'm aware of that, though. If you take a look at my old portfolio you'll see that it has character, creature, prop, vehicle design, and some life drawings. I even had a part with cartoony designs. Anyways, I wasn't very happy with that portfolio, mostly because I had a lack of vehicle and environment design. I suck on perspective but I'm working on it. So hopefully you'll keep visiting my thread from time to time and see updates of my new portfolio!
I'm posting some life drawings (from pictures...no life drawing sessions available around here :) ). I don't follow a particular style while doing this. It goes along with my mood and even with the kind of music I'm listening. They're usually for warming-up.

hmanafi – I haven't had any work experience (except for a lame collaboration job that lead me to frustration thanks for the lack of feedback) and pretty much all of what I know right now is due to trial and error on a self-taught basis (except for what I learned at the animation program), so, although I'm quite honored by your comments, my advice or suggestions might only give you a slight idea or vague answer about what you're looking for. I'll write more about it at your sketchbook thread, sounds good?

Ketka – thank you!!!

Mihail – haha, thanks man

RandAlThor – I'm glad you're enjoying these designs. There are still some other left, and then I'll start coloring them, which will be quite fun to do.

Howie – thanks a lot! When I'm blocked with posing, I use photo references. It helps me understand anatomy, so then I can distorted a bit when needed. And the rendering? It's what takes the most. Gathering for poses and animal reference take me few minutes, gesturing about 3 to 5min, adding details about two hrs, sometimes the whole morning, but rendering? The rest of the day...but it's pretty much because I want to get smooth gradiants and also because I'm still learning, so it's like taking small steps at a time.

Sellis – as I said to SmartKyle, color work will come after the pencil renderings. Thank you so much for stopping by!!!

JFierce - thank you!!! :)

Penumbra – haha, thanks. Michael Parks' work is amazing, very unique style. I'm getting sort of blushed with all the nice comments about my designs and technique, haha, but it's actually quite encouraging and inspiring to receive such crits, so thank you so much.

hm2k – thanks a lot! Yeah, it's pencil. I use a Staedtler mechanical pencil for 2mm leads (kinda like this one http://www.staedtler.com/Mars_technico_780_C_gb.Staedtler ) for gesture, details and dark shades, any F pencil for light to mid shades, a battery-operated eraser, and a kneadable eraser; on Canson sketchbook. The bg paper you see here it's from the web, and I just set the lineart layer to Multiply. That's why it seems that I drew on this old-looking paper.

George Bieber – thank you!!! I give a lot of credit to the written description of each design. You can play a lot with it. You can take it literally but you can also add something, or get rid off one element in particular, give it a radical twist, etc, etc. It would be fun to come back to them one day and take a different approach.

fantasyartist – ohh, Swen. You have no idea how much Venezuela has changed in the last 13yrs. So much that when I came back in 2004, after 2yrs of a 2D animation program in Vancouver, Canada, I had a cultural shock, in my own country. That bad it is, and it goes at many different levels. I'm very open and keen about living elsewhere, way out of here, and I'm actually working on it.
About art schools, I believe we used to have very good ones. Nowadays? probably not. I mean, the design institute from where I graduated as a Graphic Designer, back in 1999, has changed a lot and, I believe, in a bad way, since a friend who is in the Illustration department told me that last December most of the teachers just left the institute, mid semester, God knows why, leaving the students clueless and I'm sure, pretty frustrated. Since I came back, I decided to learn new techniques by my own, and although slow and frustrating at times, it keeps going at steady pace.

Quinn Simoes – thank you! You will see more, for sure

Ramixton – Gracias!!! I'm glad you like them.


Thank you all for posting a comment, suggestions, or just to say hi.

Anyways, another update.

1. Two new demons. ALLOCERUS was a pain to render, since the paper had been used already for a previous render I didn't like. It was hard to get smooth gradients. Not very happy with the pose but it was an entertaining character to design, thanks to the different elements to play with: “man with horned head of a lion, horse with dragon legs...”, etc, etc. DUMMASH was fun to design to. He's called the dark angel of thousand eyes, or something like that, hence the tiny eyes over his body, the sword, and above his head.

2.Another creature from the same project, the harpy, all done around January. I wanted to stay away from the typical look I've seen before (winged woman with arms) and go for the look artists in the past used to describe them (winged woman without arms, just wings...like these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpy ). I got rid off the bg, so they look like stickers on paper, but as I said before, it's for coloring purpose.

3. Some life drawings I did about two weeks ago. I used photo references. I usually do some gestures like these just to warm up before sketching, taking from 1min to 3min each.


...and that's it for today.

Peace, and thanks for watching.

[Leo Ki]

Insanely great! :) And your life drawings are really nice.
I concur with what was said already: For a portfolio more
diversity would be good. But keep digging into your preferred
direction as well!

[Azalin]

wicked, your work is really impressive. If i had a studio i would give you work right this moment ;) i also like the background texture you use in your sketches.

[phoenicorn]

Firstly the drawings look like freeks. Great job. I love your work. cant wait to see more

[Spirit]

Wow, I really like the creatures youve done! They remind me of trees in a way. Also, great life drawings, nice, clean lines :) and it's great to see you left the guidelines on which you used.

[Hive_minD]

Some dope stuff!
Love your life drawings. <3
Update more, and I'll visit more often!

Chris

[zweiDee]

Very Nice Updates. YOur pencil rendering lookz somtimes like a 3D Model. Are you draw with just one grade of pencils?
Ah and personaly I like your work more with the blue creasy paper.
The white one you cut out in photoshop or so lookz also nice, but the blue one lookz more beautyful.
And nice studies, I like the boobs, they have a natural form and lookz correct.

Keep it up, Im a fan of your art!

Cheerz

[Oatestwder]

wow thats some good art! have you just pasted in those backrounds on the sketchs?

[The Curehead]

wow your work is just insane,I can't help but be absolutely amazed.
I'd love to see some more,coloured stuff too.

[Magic Man]

awesome craziness! Love those crazy looking creations, also, beautiful line quality and rendering.

I'd be honoured if you popped round to my sb and gave me any feedback..

Darren

[Nibras]

Wow, nice sutff verry veryy creative can't say much but keep it up

[FedDark]

very very cool!!!!!

[Marko Djurdjevic]

I'm really amazed by how unique most of these designs are. It's a rarity these days to see someone doing it the way you do it...
THis thread put a big smile on my face today....

Cheers

M

[Maerrick]

oh jesus! your style is so crazy! marko is right, this type of style is something you don't see every day and that it is a rarity. I'm enjoying your line weight. I'm enjoying the subtleties you have like 2-5% lines to some thick lines near the knees, 100% black near the folds to completely untouched 5-10% tones in certain areas. i absolutely admire the way you sketch, keep it up!

[Nettle_Mountain]

Damned nice, what can i say? i really cannot critique here, saying that in your pictures there are large areas of midtone gray opposed to white highlight and dark shadows is propably a conscious choose that is your style.

more like i wish for more stuff

[InFlame]

hey luness,

sorry, I didn't see that you have already done more! I only watched this SB and therefore I said that about the life- and figuredrawings. ;)

NOW I can see, that you really have special skills! You HAVE to create a portfolio and show the world what you can do with a pencil! The winged creature series is great, my favourites are the first and the last one. You have an incredible imagination! Strong drawings with little lines, they seem simple and yet enormous! Fantastic, can't wait to see more!! :D

Oh, thanks alot, that you stopped by my SB! For my own drawings, I can say: Thank you for your notes but most of them are quite old! I did figure drawing for about 6 years now and I haven't had the time to scan everything. (It is sooo much!) :^^;:
After my diploma, I will also show more of my figure drawings, digitals and children's book projects.

And I agree with you too: Music is absolutely essential in order to let creativity flow! :rocker:

Rebecca

[luness]

Hey guys! Thanks for stopping by and writing such nice comments.

Leo – thank you! My goal is to have a portfolio containing different genres like fantasy, horror, sci-fi, etc. It may seem that I'll just have a portfolio with demons and creatures, but the truth is that I was going according to a plan, which btw, I decided to modify. Instead of working on one genre, I'll work on two, perhaps three at the same time, like one daily, so then in a few months, I'd have something to show out there. Same thing with the subject. Instead of working first on characters and creatures and then the rest, I'll work on different subjects everyday. I did something similar while at the animation school and it worked out well.

Arkos – haha, very kind of you. Thanks a lot!

phoenicorn – Thank you!

Spirit – haha, nice. About the life drawings, I would like to do more than just for warm up exercises. It would help me to understand anatomy and proportions much better than what I actually do, which is good enough but not great.

Hive_minD – thank you! I'm trying to update every week, or whenever I have enough to post. Not a big fan of posting just one or two drawings at a time, but keep visiting! I'll stop by yours and say hello.

zweiDee – I'm glad you like them! I use B lead for the 2mm mechanical pencil and any F regular pencil for shading. I guess I like to keep it simple when it's about tools...although, hehe, it's because these are the ones I've learned to use so far, so. About the bg, it's a technique that I've seen before and it turned out nice and I like it a lot, but I might try different alternatives for bg once I decide to assemble my portfolio, who knows. Thanks for your comments!

Oatestwder – thank you! Yeah, just for presentation purposes.

Curehead – thanks a lot! As I've said previously, color stuff will come once I'm done with this pack of designs I'm working on. I'll color each of them.

Magic Man – thanks a lot for your comments. Of course I'll check your sketchbook, sometime next week. I'll be honored to do that as well.

lilnebo – thank you! I will

FedDark – thank you!

Marko – wow. I've been an admirer of your creations since I checked your artwork for the first time, when I was at the animation program, so it's quite an honour to have got your attention and also got some words from you. Thanks a lot man, your post made my day even nicer!!

Maerrick – thank you! I'd like to try digital sketching as well, for the convenience it represents on different aspects of concept design, but I'll never leave the pencil behind. It just rocks, and it's eternal, in a poetic way :)

Nettle_Mountain – thank you!

InFlame – Thank you for the kind comments. I'm glad you liked the harpies. They were quite fun to do.

OK, another update.

For this project I'm using a lot of symbolism and descriptions around religion, cults, and other sources related to them; trying not to offend anybody, including myself. There are common elements like wings and snakes, but also the use of certain animals to symbolize different virtues or vices.
In one hand I have a list of the evil characters (demons and creatures), like the ones I have posted; and in the other hand, the good ones. These are part of the good ones, capiche? done some time ago.
NOTE: the griffin is on juvenile stage, that's why the shorter wings. I'm working on the adult one now.

Anyways, all this started as a design exercise but it turned out to be so much fun and challenging that I decided to make it a full concept, with all the subjects it should have, like characters, creatures, props, vehicles, environments. Still a long way to go but what a ride.

I'm almost done with the demons, and then I'll choose the color palette for them and start coloring, yeeeeha!

Love and hugs.

[Rico Rodriguez]

Just Amazing!!!! I'm stared till now!!!! I LOVE ALL!!!

[RandAlThor]

Wow, these are truly inspiring... you manage so much with so little, keep it up dude, and perhaps post a process... ;-)

[ShaunLey]

this is a trippy sb, everything is outhere and it rocks, more I must see more.

[Xerotin]

Wow this is really impressive, cant wait to see more! :D

[Idiot Apathy]

sooooo uniqueee! Both in content and exectution <3

[charle]

hey guys. nice work~!

[jMarkus]

wow i have just added you to my top artists folders, absolutely LOVVVEE your artwork, style, and imagination... truely some greatdesigns and I have nothing to crit, all I can do is gawk at this work. definetly inspiring me to do some crazy demon stuff now! thanksalot!!! +5 stars, CHEERS

[luness]

Hello again!

Rico Rodriguez – haha, cool, I'm glad you like them!

RandAlThor – as long as they inspire you good things, it's all good ;) . Thanks for the kind comments and yes, I'm posting a process for you. I hope you understand the mess.

ShaunLey – thank you!

Xerotin – thanks for stopping by!

Idiot Apathy – thanks for your comments!

Charle – hi there, thanks!

jMarkus – it's very encouraging to get comments like yours (and the 5stars!), so thank you so much!


So, these last two weeks were kinda busy at home. Some fun family reunions, guests, food, desserts, wine, scotch, beer, plenty of good times. Not too much time to follow my new portfolio schedule, or sketch, pencil render or coloring, neither to check sketchbooks and say hi to the fellow artists who have posted some kind comments on my sketchbook nor all the good stuff recently posted on the forum. Before going to bed, I decided to post whatever I've got done and catch up with my regular schedule tomorrow.
RandAlThor requested to post a process and I tried my best doing it. For this design I was so distracted watching some LOST episode. I lost the track of the show so I couldn't understand what was going on, at all, so I would do three lines and whatch the tv, and again, until the show ended. This is not the way I sketch. I just run any of my music playlists on foobar2000 (great music player, btw) and let the ideas flow.

The description of this demon, Bune (I called him Bunerus), talks about some human and dragon elements so I decided to show those elements everywhere without using the typical wings, fangs, dragon face, etc.
Halphasicus was incredibly fun to design. According to his description, he looks like a stork and builds towers and fills them with guns and ammo, hence the bunch of guns and ammo coming out of his body

I'm also posting a pic of my tools (mechanical pencil for 2mm B leads, F pencil, kneadable eraser, battery-op eraser, etc) and the list of different descriptions I have to start designing. I draw on a CANSON 11x14 Universal Recycled sketchbook. I love the size of the sketchbook, except for scanning which, most of the times, has to be on two or three steps.
Anyways, a tiny update I hope you enjoy.

Love and hugs.

[Jamesy]

Thanks for sharing your process! I've been looking at this thread since you started it and always wondered how you go about your work. Awesome stuff!!

[Setherial]

what an amazing sketchbook, really cool stuff mate!

[RandAlThor]

Luness, thankyou for that, it really helps clarify things a bit. I would love to see some light ink washes applied to them, but i think i would be scared of ruining such a nice pci... keep posting dude :-)

[dannyboy91]

I just logged in to say that you are my favourite artist on these forums, i find your work imaginative and really inspiring for a younger artist as myself. Take wannabe off the thread title because you don't need it.

I'd love to see a video of you creating one of your sketches.

[Quinn Simoes]

Thanks for the process shots, Really like the Halphasicus design!

[humanNature6115]

This stuff is crazy.
The only thing you need now are more dynamic poses.


=================================
:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop: Sketchbook:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=120761

[Peter Konig]

Wow...fantastic work. Finally something unique and idiosyncratic...great inventive stuff!! Love the consistency and presentation too.

[Dan_Grr]

What is there to say? You have a great imagination, I will try to keep an eye on this thread.

[UCT]

fantastic work here. Really hits that imaginative zone, very well drawn aswell, obviously.

Share more. Love it.

[luness]

Hello,

Although there are still a bunch left to do on pencil, I started coloring the designs I have posted on my SB. It's been slow because I'm also writing down all the specs and descriptions of an old cartoon I would like to re-design, so I've been watching dvds and not too much drawing or coloring.

Jamesy – you're welcome!!

Setherial – thanks a lot man!

RandAlThor – I'm considering the light ink washes for them, but yeah, since it's a technique I have never used before, I'm truly scared to make a mess, so I will try doing that but in Photoshop, which at the end is another tool. Cheers

dannyboy91 – haha, wow, I'm flattered. The wannabe is not about me, although I'm very conscious I'm still learning and I'm miles away to be called pro; it's about my upcoming portfolio. I might or not include some of the pieces I will be posting here, it's about the making of my portfolio, not a definitive thing, hence the wannabe title. About the video? I'll see what I can do, but please, be extremely patience :)

Quinn Simoes – it was kinda weird to stop drawing and scan from time to time, but I'm glad it gives an idea of how do I work.

humanNature6115 – thank you!

Peter Konig – I'm so glad to have you on my sketchbook. What an honour. To get words like “fantastic”, “unique”, “inventive” from a veteran and talented artist like you it's truly encouraging and inspiring. Thank you so much for stopping by!!!

Dan_Grr – thank you!!!

UCT – thanks a lot!! I'll do my best to post every weekend or so.


So yeah, my first colored demon. I still call it a WIP because I want to do some more detailing here and there, but it's almost done. Abadoom is based on Abaddon, who is described as king of the locust, which makes me think about deserts, sandstorms, and a giant cloud of locusts flying around him. He's a giant, and I put a little human to show its scale but it looked quite ridiculous, so I'll find another way to show it. In the meantime, here you have what I've done so far:

[Bojee]

Great Drawings! Great work. :)

[Grimey]

that looks awesome colored!

[Dorkthrone]

Those pictures look amazing. Moar plz.

[Suira]

You should be working on a computer game company or something with that level and huge imagination you got man it's really impressive i love that "blue feeling" you got on those creations and knowing that it's self teaching process makes it even more amazing, keep it up friend!

[luness]

Bojee – thank you!

stonercurly – I'm glad you like it! it's the first colored piece of the group

ninjacat11 – I've been away from the sketchbook and computer for a while but I'm back, so yes, more will come

Suira – wow, thank you for your kind words, I hope someone out there read them too :)


Anyways, the past two weeks were quite annoying for all the continuous blackouts, due to the heavy rain and lack of maintenance of the power lines, etc, etc. I'm so glad I got a UPS for my computer but still, I had little chance to color my pieces on a steady pace. However, I did have a chance to design and pencil render the last pieces of the “demons” group. Starting next week, I'll be working on a different genre (sci-fi) alongside this one, and spending more time learning other sketching techniques. My goal is to get pro quality pieces and concepts but also speed up a bit more the way I work, following a tight imaginary schedule. It is possible to do.

Alright, I was thinking to have simple colored bgs, all different for each demon and, after having three bg designed, I noticed they looked as single designs or ideas, not as part of the same project, so I decided to keep the original paper bg for them to look as part of a group and I totally love the way they look.

So, here you have Abadoom, King of Locust; and Ammeeticus, based on Ammit. The Petraas are supposed to be demons afflicted with insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object, but they have limited capacity to satisfy their appetite, thanks to their small mouths, thin esophagus and tiny hands. Well deserved.

As long as we stop experiencing those annoying blackouts, I'll keep posting, hopefully more often than usual.

Love and hugs.

PS: listening suggestions about ink washes to my pencil renders, I tried it digitally and didn't like the result that much. I have no idea how to make an ink wash so it did it in Photoshop, but it stopped looking traditional and started looking like something else. I'll keep trying because I did like how some highlights here and there added extra value to the final pieces. We'll see

[AmontilladoAg]

Wow. :xpld: You got uber-skillz, sir. :bow: Thanks for the little tutorial, btw; cool stuff!

Can't wait to see more!!!

[iatriki]

wow, dude! this is amazing. really inspiring !

[luness]

Hey guys, thank you so much for the kind comments!

So, when I was about to start with a new genre, besides to my demons/angels work, this DEEP stuff came around and I really want to participate so, I stopped working on what I was doing and start sketching and coloring for the DEEP utopia thing. Once we reach the deadline by the end of June, I’ll catch up with my design schedule.

I spent some days organizing my thoughts and decided to have like a storyline to follow so, briefly, it’s about a small group of marine biologist that get stranded for a while and end up in an unknown location similar to the Bermuda Triangle and once it’s calmed and safer after the storm, they decide to dive into the deep waters looking for an explanation of some strange lights and silhouettes coming from the bottom of the ocean. It’s then when they discover new creatures (those I’m posting) and, after some different immersions here and there, the utopian society living deep underwater. I still have to work on some details but it’s pretty much the main idea. My goal is, besides working on the writing part, to show in the final DEEP post like a sort of notes, photographs and illustrations that were found on a wreckage, which would be the scientist’s ship. Like a documentary thing. Nobody knows where they are and what happened to them, but the notes, the drawings and the images might speak for them.

So, these are some of the creatures they caught in their nets and capture units, preserved in fairly good conditions, and one “photo” taken with an underwater camera. I might do more of these but now I’m working on the scientists, the utopian city inhabitants, etc. I’m thrilled.

Anyways, I hope you like what you see. Remember that these are WIPs but they’re almost done and that I will post the final designs on the DEEP final thread. Crits and comments always welcomed.

Cheers.

[Nintendo_zombie]

Wow, killer artwork!
Seriously, superb stuff.

[CruShTinbOX]

Wow! I am completely blown away by these. Awesome stuff.

[El Jeremie]

You're talented, no doubt about that.

[Nubb]

All of that stuff here... those are one of the best, craziest, most courageous and wonderful imaginative designs I've ever seen! Uber great!

[Iridyse]

Wow, such fantastic, crazy designs! Very very inspiring, thank you so much for sharing!

[Hybrid_75]

Wicked!

[Ash888]

Amazing work. You have such a wonderful imagination. Thank you for posting your progress shots.

[Quinn Simoes]

Really nice designs luness! I look forward to seeing more of your Deep concepts.

Thanks for sharing,
Quinn

[InFlame]

Hey Luness,

those DEEP concepts are...uhm...ah...I...got no words...! Great, you are my personal winner. ;)

But I have to tell you, I like the b/w pencil drawings of the demons more than the coloured ones. Mh, yes, the coloured pieces are great but there is more "life" in the pencils. I think, they are stronger. The others are too "perfect" in a way, for me, there is nothing more to imagine. Haha, I hope you understand, what I mean!? The b/w works have this mystic touch to me, I can see whole worlds in them...a feeling like flying away! But that's just my tiny little opinion. ;)

Nevertheless, great stuff, looking forward for more!!

[luness]

Some head designs I did last night/this morning. I think the idea of a deep underwater utopia also implies that whatever the similarities and differences among the inhabitants of this underwater world, they co-exist in harmony, in peace. So these would be some of the different species that live underwater, part of the illustrated registry the stranded scientists had on their books before their disappearance.
I’ll do more of these today. Quite fun to do.

I’ll stop by your SB to say hi, some time this weekend, but in the meantime:

Nintendo_zombie - thank you!

Brumfield - I’m glad you like them

spookybabydoll – and still there’s so much to learn. Thanks for the kind words.

Nubb – wow man, such words made me blush, haha. Very kind of you, thanks a lot.

Iridyse – thank you! I’ll keep posting, so stop by whenever you can

Hybrid_75 – haha, thanks

Ash888 – you’re welcomed about the progress shots. I think it’s cool to see how people approach their designs, so I wanted to share mine as well. Thanks for your visit!

Quinn Simoes – hey man, thank you! See you at the final DEEP post!

InFlame - hey Rebecca, it’s ok if you like the b/w drawings. The idea of having a sketchbook with some WIPs is to get feedback and suggestions from other artists, regardless their style or favourite genre. So far I’ve wrote down about trying some ink washes, more dynamic posing, and few others suggestions, so I do consider every comment and suggestion on my thread; good to know that you prefer the b/w over the colored pieces, and I like you explained why you like them. Thanks a lot girl!


OK, back to sketching!

[Camara]

Great SB,man!!Fantastic pencil stuff!

[krossj]

excellent ideas! some awesome designs

cheers

[JustinBeckett]

Your book is out of this world. Amazing. Great work!

~JB

[Miles_]

Totally inspiring work man, its amazing to see such originality, can't wait for the future updates:D

[Flaskpost]

very inspiring creature head designs! very unique!

[Nibras]

dude awesome
just realy awesome
very original and really nice
Just keep at it
can't wait to see future updates

[CGMonkey]

You are an amazing artist, an extraordinary visionary.. Your stuff is breath taking, beyond anything I've ever experienced before. Your stuff takes me to a place I've never seen before.

You sir, is truly unique.. In every sense of the word.

[Mydrim]

Thanks for commenting in my sb! Then, thanks for sharing- that first page I felt like I can't eat that much awesomnes. Your pencil rendering is like, and I am so happy I figured this out, - like the sponge paste my mom cook with! Exactly. Now to be a critic- maybe put some more love or what into faces (example: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=366767&stc=1&d=1210550223 ). And then, it's really strange but as I am totally in awe with most of your designs, some elements are just bleh. Maybe it's just me, of course, but I can't get through this one: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=366772&stc=1&d=1210550309

Especially the sword and the spikes on it. But as I said, that's the minority and I am totally inspired anyways.

btw you wrote you live in country where is not such industries etc, where is that? (sounds like neighbour)

[jim.antonopoulos]

Beautiful work man - really nice. You have a wonderful imagination.
What media do you use?
What paper do you use?
Do you use reference when drawing?

Love it - can't wait to see more!

[Devere]

wow, got some really nice unique creature designs there with a very destinct style. can't wait to see more.

[SanXavier]

Really unique character designs. I also like your line work!

[MVN]

Man oh man!! This is magnificent stuff! You are absolutely incredible!!! Honestly, I'm in awe~ I love your creature designs!!

[Trashy]

*Bashes the subscribe button*

I'm not kidding when I say you have some of the coolest, unique and some of the best creature designs I have seen in a very very long time. Wow...you just gave me some really good inspiration. Just beautiful and amazing work. Man...when are coming out with a book?

Jaw dropping work!!!

[luness]

Hey guys. Here’s another group of head designs for the deep sea inhabitants. I would like to make time and complete some of these designs, adding the rest of the body, but I also want to try more creatures (this time rough sketches), some vehicle, prop and environment design, so we’ll see.
I’m sure all the sci-fi movie fans know how sad this week started. Goodbye, Mr. Winston. We’ll remember you.

I have a lot to thank to you guys but ’m gonna be cheap tonight. 2am. Time to go to bed. I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, so:

Everybody, thank you so much for the kind words. They mean a lot to me, in a very inspiring way.
For those with specific questions:

Mydrim – I don’t get the sponge paste thing but if that makes you happy, yay! I do put love on my drawings, and particularly with the last series of characters, they’re all demons, not human so, for the one you're talking about, I wanted her face to look somewhat flat, simple lines and almost embedded on her neck, so do not look for full human look here because you won’t find it on her, if that’s what you’re talking about. For the other character, well, it’s all about personal preferences and taste and that’s cool. Most of the times, everything you see on my designs (including this one with the sword) has a why and a purpose. If you had suggested what to add instead, could have been fun to try it later on though. Thanks for the comments and notes man! I’ll keep checking your SB for sure!

jim.antonopoulos – thank you! I use 2mm leads on CANSON sketchbook (check post #63 for a photograph of my tools). I use photo reference but mostly when coloring. For drawing I have a reference folder with lots of poses that I use to check the anatomy or to get better ideas for posing than the ones I have in mind for that character or creature.

Trashy – I’m glad you like my designs that much, really, what a bunch of nice words about my work but, wow, a book!!!?? Not yet, haha, although I have an idea in mind that, once I’m done with some more designs, I would love to make it possible.



See ya!

[InFlame]

Aw, fantastic Luness! Here are the worlds I talked about. ;) Every creature head tells a story. That is, what I feel, when I look at them. They are looking like taken from a history or biology book.
Here are many great artists, but you are the only one, who brings that feeling to me. I can see the love, you put in your pieces, I am very impressed! Top!
But there is something, that I am interested in. How much time did you spend on each creature head? Or your other works? The most are looking, like you move easily your hand over the paper and "bang!" there is a cool little guy on it. :D I'm just curious. *smile*

Okay, enough talking! ;) Keep the great work, I'm coming back!!

Rebecca

[living_for_cg]

wow... where the hell these creactures come to your mind.!?
these are all new and fantastic designs. i like the style you combine defferent things.
wish the best with the rest.

[JPC]

Wow! You are an amazing artist.
Your sketches speak volumes to me man.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Subscribed for sure.

[xXxSnObUnNii]

Wow, these are so beautiful. I love your style - Everything is so clean and detailed. It's really nice and your creatures are amazing. AnDrash is my favorite.

[MonkeYoakum]

I love those color jobs a few posts back, but the drop shadow totaly kills all depth of form. Unless the fish things are cut down the midial line, stuck on toothpicks, and elevated at an equal level off the page. But Im not buying it. *edit* oh damn I just saw the first two pages. Those are really awesome, I'd love to see some of those sketches colored up. I bow to you

[Quinn Simoes]

The Deep character head designs are great! Very original.

Quinn

[Lord Sharpie]

Outstanding character development. Good drawing AND good design. The subtlety of the expressions in the characters' faces is fantastic.

[luness]

Hi there. I decided to go back to those head designs and work on their bodies, and put aside for a bit the DEEP industrial design I’m working on. I also want to try different rough color schemes for each character, so hopefully I’ll get some time to do that.
As you might notice, I drew the faces just like in the original drawings and started the posing from there. It’s easier to tell what character I developed. Right now I’m doing the second page of bodies but I wanted to take a break and do some posting to keep my SB alive. I'm drawing smaller so then I have more time to work on most of the characters. These designs go from 3 to 5 inches tall. It was fun and somewhat challenging to add details and such things.

InFlame – oh my, such kind words. Thank you so much. About the time I spent on each character head, let’s say from 10min to 30min, maybe? I don’t know, to be honest. I tend to focus on getting a good design rather than creating a bunch of poor/medium/good quality ones at good speed, since I believe speed will come eventually, through constant practice, but getting good at designing take some time and needs special attention and dedication, no rush.
Same thing with my other stuff. With the demons series, from one day to two, depending on the level of detail and amount of rendering. For the colored pieces, a day and a half or even three days, working about 5hrs every time, perhaps more. Although with the colored pieces I like to stop working on them for a while and then, the next day or the day after, come back to them with a clear mind, refreshed, just to check the cast shadows, volume, if I want to add something new, etc.
Thanks again for your lines, girl.

living_for_cg – haha, well, I did some research before designing, looking over my photo reference folder for fish and other sea creatures, and then I got inspired, forcing myself to stay away from cliches or if not, to give them a twist. Thank you!!!

JPC – haha, I’m glad you like them. Thank you!!

xXxSnObUnNii – thank you! Andrash was quite fun to design.

MonkeYoakum – I agree with you in some part because those are not finished pieces but still work in progress. I put a quick drop shadow to help myself get a better idea of how it would look if I kept working with the concept of captured-fish-on-the-lab-table instead of picture them alive and swimming, and I think I managed to get closer to that effect on the final pieces, so you’re invited to take a look at them at the final DEEP thread, after the 30th; but hey, thanks a lot for the note. I’m quite conscious that my self-taught tuition doesn’t guarantee that I will excel on every technique by my own, so I embrace feedback from other artist. It will let me progress and develop a better technique. Thank you!

Quinn Simoes – Thank you man. Thanks again for stopping by and for the nice comments.

Lord Sharpie – wow man, thank you. Very kind words.


Anyways, I hope you like these designs and don't forget checking the final DEEP threads. There are lots of crazy good designs out there from a bunch of talented artist.

[Iridyse]

Your designs are by far the best I've seen, you're definitely my fav for the contest! I love the latest head studies and the full figures. Great job on the variation in the designs. Colour please!

[Nubb]

Watching Your works is like a glimpse of far away magical worlds. I'm so impressed :)

[William b. Hand]

Greeeaaaat drawings!

Wow, this is the sort of thing that reminds me to appreciate the conduit of the pencil. Kickass conceptualizing, mate!
I'm with Iridyse... Bring some light coloured washes into these drawings!!!

[Mitchell]

very original and wonderful designs!

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

Hi

I just had to register to ask you some questions your work is stunning
i like the sketches and the ones with the blue background its so nice

What i want to know is do you use pictures of humans or animals
when u draw to see how a body part looks or u just create everything
just right out of your head?

What i would like to see is some mechanical creature or some kind of vehicle
or just a human character in your style that would be great to see wich
ideas you come up with to make that character special.

your work is great keep up the good work.

[DoomSketcher]

I love your method! That line quality is super delicious. MMMMMMMMMMM

[InFlame]

Thank you, Luness, for taking time on answering my questions so detailed. ;) But I thought that this would be the answer. Art needs time! ;)

Cool DEEP designs! keep this way, good direction! :) Looking forward for more!

[Moai]

This is one of the more inspiring sketchbooks I've visited in quite a while. Your sketches have loads of inspiration and originality, with a wonderful sense of shape and movement.
Your pencil work is full of life, but your digital painting needs some work, in my opinion. The outside edges of all your digitally colored characters are uniformly sharp and smooth, which flattens the image. I'm also not getting a great sense of lighting and form in many of these paintings. Lastly, in many of these paintings, the colors really don't work together. The painting of your character Abadoom is a good example of this; the orange/yellow/purplish color scheme isn't working for me at all in that one. Some things to work on.
I love your DEEP concepts!:rendered:

[Giorge]

Man those fish-men look really good , are you going to add some color , it wold be really nice to see how it comes out , cheers

[Profes]

You are truly awesome! This is a great step toward conceptual art I need to take in my own work.

www.500lines.com

[Enemy_Within]

Amazing sketchbook Luness!
Your designs are without doubt some of the best designs i have EVER seen!
Im very impressed, and jealous.........but mostly impressed.

So warped, so good.

[Ash888]

Great concepts for the deep,
Beautiful flow to the portraits, and full figures.
I want to see how this develops, post again soon

[BigPapaRaels]

some amazing works in this sketchbook. i love the style. where do you come up with some of this stuff. hands down the best pencil works ive seen thus far

[Mr.Blonde]

hey man... this is some cool stuff... glad to see it... looking forward to more!

[JtJ]

Very 'fresh' work! Thanks so much for sharing these!

-Joshua

[Niels23]

Amazing SB! Thank you for sharing!

[fantasyartist]

Hey man I really like those last sketches. Very original stuff! Keep it up mate.

[Erik]

Stunning. O_o

[luness]

Lala! I’m back.


Iridyse – I wanted to color them for the final DEEP post but I decided to keep designing and working on my sketches. I know some will prefer colored pieces over pencil but for the CHOW I wanted to focus on design and sketching and squeeze my brain to get as much designs the time left allowed me to.

Nubb – thanks a lot man!! That’s the idea, I guess, haha

William b. Hand – thank you so much for the comments and for stopping by!!! I’m sorry if I dissapointed anybody with no colored pieces on my final DEEP characters’ post. I favored more new sketches instead of coloring the ones I already had

Mitchell – thank you!

`ej – thanks a lot! About your question about using human photo ref, yes I do, but mostly to get ideas for posing or just to check anatomy. I use animal photos for texture ideas. I will start designing more human characters and vehicles and such things, it’s just I got into this DEEP thing so I postponed what I planned to do few months ago.

DoomSketcher – hahaha, thank you!

InFlame – thank you!!!

Moai – thanks for the kind words! About the color palette I use for my work, it’s a personal choice and taste. They will work for some and not for others, and that’s ok.

flamable – oh man, I couldn’t find time to color them but I might do that later on and post them right here.

Profes – wow, thank you!

Enemy_Within – haha, thank you! But hey, don’t be jealous, everything takes some time, is not like I woke up yesterday and suddenly I knew how to draw some stuff

Ash888 – thank you man, I hope you like what’s on my final DEEP post

BigPapaRaels – thank you so much!

Mr.Blonde – wow, Mr. Blonde indeed. Thanks a lot for stopping by!!! I love your work man

JtJ – wow again!!! Joshua The James, welcome!!! And thanks for the words!

Ulver – I’m glad you like them, thank you!

fantasyartist – hi there and thank you! I haven’t checked your SB in ages. I’ll pass by and say hi. I’m sure there’s a lot of good new stuff in there

Erik – haha, sweet!



Anyways, thanks again for checking out my stuff.
Here’s my version of Smaug, which I’ll be posting on the Chow 117 as well. If I don’t find the time to color him for the CHOW, I’ll do it anyways and post it here.
My design is based on what I found about Smaug:
Described as reddish-gold + bare patch on his left breast + pale underbelly crusted in gems and gold, which rendered him almost invulnerable + his tail is described as having the power of a battering-ram wielded by giants + exceptional eyesight, and also an acute sense of smell + power of hypnosis using his eyes + dry, if cruel, sense of humour + intelligent and cunning and was able to speak the Common Speech

I didn’t want him to look like the typical dragon, so I use photo references of gorillas and Galapagos iguanas for a twist; so, for the purists out there, I’m sorry :teeth: I hope you like it.
Btw, he's looking at Esgaroth from a far distance.
Peace.

[destinyapocalypse]

fantastic stuff in here your designs are cool i love this job


http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=346988&stc=1&d=1208151562

it is nice design and informative

thanks

[-Godot-]

ok...i throw my pancils throught the window....amazing work

[Howie]

Amazing designs, i love all the detail you put into the textures as well. Great stuff keep posting

[Kaffinated]

Again and again. Damn impressive in the originality department imo. When is your latest post going to get some paint applied to it?

[Sulpher]

Absolutely fantastic concepts here :) I love them, every single one. I can't crit any of this work, as I'm just starting here on CA. Your work is inspiring. It's hard to come by originality these days.

[Iridyse]

The iguana-ishness of Smaug is awesome! I love your pencilwork and I love your concepts even more. And with everyone else I chime in, please treat us to a coloured version, pretty pretty please.
You're an inspiration. I am a stalker ;)

[Trashy]

^ what he said...and I'm a stalker also :D

Awesome new take on Smaug...but dying to see those colors. Always amazing eye-candy and ideas luness.

[G.Y.Lee]

I love your concepts ～、that`s cool~

[luness]

So, I couldn’t make it for the CHOW #117, but I finally had a chance to add some color to Smaug. I had few chances to sit in front of the computer during the past two weeks until just few days ago, and I’m happy my normal portfolio schedule is up and running again.

destinyapocalypse – I’m glad you like the step-by-step I did. Kinda difficult to stop working from time to time to scan what I’ve done and then get back on track, and also watching tv; but it was fun anyways, and I’m very happy to see that some of you found it helpful.

-Godot- - hahahaha, please don’t

Howie – thank you!! Adding details is the part I enjoy the most!

Kaffinated – thanks so much for the words, man. Here I’m posting the colored version (kinda WIP, but almost done)

Sulpher – my chest just got inflated of happiness while reading your kind comments. Thank you so much!!!

Iridyse – hahaha, alright girl, here you have some colors. I hope you like them

Trashy – thank you so much for the words, my other stalker, haha. I hope you like the progress of the colored version

G.Y.Lee – thank you!


So, here’s my version of Smaug, almost done. I still want to add some details here and here, fix some stuff (perhaps correcting the levels on Photoshop), make the canvas a bit bigger and add an artsy frame, but I would like to keep that work-in-progress look, with the threes and the mountain barely colored, and also showing the lineart underneath all that color. Just experimenting with different ways of showing my work.
He just landed at the top of the mountain, hence the dirt clouds and the little birds flying away, all scared.
I hope you like it!

I want to spend the weekend checking sketchbooks (sooo many), and take a look around CA, saying hello, voting and all that so, see you around.

Love and hugs.

[Kaffinated]

Ooooo that is sexy stuff! Question, wouldnt it be more fitting for the illistration to have him on a horde of loot? I know its a wip but, dont you think it could use a lil more tonal range/ darker reds in the skin/scale tone?

[Nubb]

Lovely, getle color work on last piece. Design is fabulous as always, but You really feel the color tones :D. Bravo!

[krossj]

really cool design man, the coloured version looks great! cheers

[artiphats]

first you got my vote for DEEP : COW, then you went and got it for DEEP : CHOW, which was even better. Then I saw your Smaug sketch and now this!!!

All I can say is that your pencils are very inspiring, and I must admit I am a bit jealous. But it's good, your work motivates me to push forward, thank you for that.

-Ray

[Quinn Simoes]

Love your version of Smaug, very original design, the colors are awesome!

Quinn

[luness]

Hi there.
Here I am posting some gesture drawings from ref I did two nights ago. I was sleepy, they turned out kinda crappy but still quite fun to do.
I’m coloring the demon series but also working on a parallel personal portfolio project, which will be my version of an old anime TV show I loved to watch (and still do), called Space Adventure Cobra. I was thinking Thundercats or Mazinga Z but Cobra has a wider set of different subjects to work on, so.
I’m not going to follow the anime style, just the main idea around the characters, creatures, vehicles, etc.. It’s going to be challenging but surely quite fun to do.

Below the naked girls you’ll see some thumbnails I did the other day. I wanted to try digital thumbnailing but there was a blackout so I went to the balcony for good natural light and started to sketch a la mechanical pencil. His name is Ben and is supposed to look friendly. He is Cobra’s domestic bot.

Anyways, some greetings for you:

Kaffinated – I’ve never read The Hobbit, but the thing about the cave and the loot is that it is the common setting to illustrate Smaug, at least is what I could see in most of the illustrations I checked online. Then I read a bit about Smaug going to the Lonely Mountain and that’s when I got the idea of him at the top of it, with clouds around, etc. I might have hurt some loyal Hobbit fans but it was all done for the sake of trying something new (it’s my second dragon design ever, I think). And with the skin/scale tone, I agree 100% with you. Good call. I will go a bit further and add more detail for sure. Thanks a lot for the suggestion!!

Nubb – weeehaaa, thank you man!

krossj – thank you!

artiphats – haha, oh wow, thank you so much for your words, and thanks again for your DEEP votes!!!

Quinn Simoes – thank you man, I’m glad you like it



Peace.

[jenzi]

Can I just say AWESOME, I come here far to seldom but I always get blown away, I love the level of detail you put into your pieces and I love the style! Just keep em coming!^^ Also I love your sense of gravity, its really nice!

[IanE]

This is some of the most beautiful work I have ever seen...

Your creature design is absolutely stunning, presentation and rendering are so simple yet perfectly matched.

I've found new inspiration in here... amazing stuff man, 5 stars and subscribed for sure. Thanks for sharing so much with us, please continue to.

[JellevdVegt]

thanks for your post luness. nice updates. post 141 is cool, nice you decided to do that in color, but maybe it could use more shadows, more contrast in light/shadow?

for your sketches, i really like that drawing style yur after, as i told you before. as for a crit, really, maybe you could push the contrast more... maybe you could do a piece with only blacks and whites? would be cool man! cya!!!

[Kaffinated]

With the horde o loot to illustrate him standing on. I only mentioned cuse knowing your work you can take the common and turn it into some nice eye candy.

On the mountain top just a quick question. Wouldn't it be better to desaturate the colors on the mountain to better convey the lonely mountain?

Good work on the figure drawing. On the robot design tumbnails I think you could push it a bit further.

Keep up the great work!

[SkyTheArtist]

You have got to have some of the most unique art I have ever seen! Wow, I'm definitely impressed. Keep up the amazing work!

[MeTaL-Mike]

man these are some sick creatures man!!! awesome sb, can you maybe show your process of designing/ drawing them?

[RandAlThor]

Long time since i was last here and i must say your still inspiring... a process piece would be nice to see. ;-)

[Nallen]

Wow, so that's how it is done...

You have impressed the hell out of me!

...now I'm going to have to really work to get it back again,

thanks for sharing your stuff.

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

nice updates luness

keep posting more :)

[Darjan Jurincic]

u blow me away everytime i take a look at this SB..
amazing body of work
cheers to you
D

[americanheadcharge]

Very cool. :sungod:

[marioucci]

sooper dooper creative concepts man. Your characters should be in some features. No place else for them:)

[me_art_and_animation]

exxxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent drawings just superb and highly impressive. wow your work is mind blowing. i think your work has an extraordinary level of creativity. your work is a source of inspiration to all here and specially to me. every thing is different from everything in someway or the other. keep it up and keep on posting more and more.

[Jho]

Awesome amout of detail. Just beautiful!

[Kaffinated]

Updates!

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Wow, man! These designs are just flabergasting. I don't know what to say or what to do or how on EARTH you do this, but this incredible! I love the estethics and how you make even your most wacked out designs look absolutely natural in it's own setting.

How you do all these sperlative pencil sketches I can only imagine, and I am amazed. So keep rocking and keep making stuff so we can drool some more:D

-E

[Nibras]

Mr. you have just earned a sport in my list of fav artist
For the 3rd time wow......
Every time i look at these i learn morre, its soooooooo sweet because well you've got such a unqiue style and you yourself said you just got it by studying and trying to get your own thing.
Thank you for that processs its amazingly helpful seeing how other artist work :D
I was wondering if you had any time if you could give me some advice about lines am trying to get my lines to a good level right now :)
Looking at your portfolio and in here i added a alot of these drawings into my fav file in my computer and thats where i look to just get motivated and learn alot from my fav artist, i hope thats ok with you?
And your portfolio is woazdghaahk121g,gj!!!! really sweet all the diversity!
Creatures, character, building, weapons and vehicles your kidding me mofo! haha
You rock, and it's amazing just because your so original you get a fanbase from day 1 :P
keep it up and keep updating!

[BigPapaRaels]

post some more pleeeeeeeeeeez

[Verehin]

Im happy! luness you do this so, how not do no one else! its great! 5 stars!

[luness]

Hi there. I had some serious problems with my computer few weeks ago, they caught me by surprise, hence the lack of updates. I did some processor, RAM and hard drive updates and it seems that everything is back to normal. I also spent some good time doing backups and organizing my files. Somewhat boring and time consuming but necessary.

So,

jenzi – thank you! I think I’ve said it before but anyways, adding details is my favorite part, because once you have the gesture you can take different directions and play a lot with the elements you would like to include in the final piece. I love your work too! Cheers

IanE – It is so encouraging to know that my work inspire other artists. Thank you so much for the kind words

Teh Gosu – I’ll keep the rendering style for the group of designs that already have it that way, but I want to try different levels of contrast on my future pieces, from minimum contrast to full black and white pieces. Just give me some time. My head is full of ideas and of stuff I want to do. Peace!!

Kaffinated – you’re right, I will desaturate the colors of the mountain. The problems I had with my computer messed up my portfolio schedule, so it’s been tricky to catch up with the stuff I was working on previously. I want to design a sort of frame for it, find a good font for his name and fix the tones and lightning. About the robot thumbnails, I’ll be redesigning most of the characters, creatures, props, etc., of Space Cobra (an anime TV show from the 80’s), as a design exercise. I want to keep the simplicity and the most important elements and characteristics of the original designs but adding a personal touch, so that’s why I won’t push that much further. I want them to look as personal version of the old designs, and not 100% original ones, if you know what I mean. Thanks a lot for the tips and ideas!

SkyTheArtist – thank you!

MeTaL-Mike + RandAlThor – thank you guys!! There’s a piece back there on the first pages of my SB that gives you an idea of how do I work but I guess you’re asking for a new one, haha. I’ll do my best and try to post a process piece again, but this time as an animated gif or something, sounds good?

Nallen + `ej + Darjan Jurincic + americanheadcharge – thank you guys!!!

marioucci – wow, that would make me soooo happy!!!

me_art_and_animation – thanks so much for the super kind words.

Jho – thank you!!

Mischeviouslittleelf – hahaha, thank you!!! I had to check on the dictionary for flabbergasting though. My English skills are good but not that much.

lilnebo – first of all, I’m almost speechless. When someone says that your work is inspiring, a soothing and warm sensation comes to you, because it means that you might be on the right track, getting better as an artist, even getting closer to reach your goals. Thank you so much for the kind words about my work. Now, I studied classical animation and we had to do a looooot of clean-up to our designs, using a light table and tracing back with clean lines over the rough ones of the original sketch. I guess that it worked as a training exercise to get better lineart. You might want to try it. Just take one of your sketches (or one of mine, no problem at all; or any other you find useful for your learning process) and place a clean sheet of paper on top of it. If you can’t improvise or have any access to a light table, then use a tracing paper. Trace back, but taking care of doing it with clean single lines, avoiding nervous, sketchy and tiny ones to make a large one, if you know what I mean. It takes some time, but I believe it will help you to find your best pencil grip and feel more confident about every trace and stroke you make. When I’m cleaning up my rough drawings I go over the rough lines with a clean one, remembering how I did it at the animation school. I hope it works for you. Cheers!!!

BigPapaRaels – hahaha, alright!

Verehin – thank you!!!



So, updates.
1. Ben’s rough linearts, developed from previous thumbnails. Rubber, metal, buttoms, led screens and all that fun stuff. Since it's a redesign, I had to keep some of the original elements, like: 5 buttoms on his face, an antenna on the left side of his head, and most important, friendly and playful look. With time and dedication (because I suck at it) I will take my favorite and SketchUp or 3dMax it, set the different views and add color and textures on Photoshop.
2. + 3. My brother wants a series of fairies for his apartment, but only in pencil. He will get the originals and frame them. It will be an honor to draw for my dear bro. I’ve got some inspiration from super badass Alphonse Mucha’s work, since I love everything related to art noveau. I’ll play with the thick and thin of the different lines, some gentle rendering for volume and some medium to high contrast to add depth. We’ll see how it works. I’ll scan and keep them on my hard drive in case I want to add some color later on.
This one is an exercise I'm having fun with, since it’s the first time I draw fairies, and I want to do it right. Just studying elements I could include, like the tropical flowers, branches, style of wings, etc. This is just a start, so nothing definitive yet.
4. I got Coro’s weapon design downloadable tutorial. Awesome stuff. This is my first try, based on a Colt King cobra .357 revolver and some competition guns. I checked the handle and trigger location of the original revolver before going nuts with the different thumbnails, to be sure it was accurate enough. I still have to model my favorite on 3D and follow the tips of the 2nd part of the tutorial, but so far, I can tell you it’s incredibly fun to do!


Anyways, thanks a lot for the kind words, comments, and suggestions. I love you all.

Cheers!

[BigPapaRaels]

those are some sick gun designs and one again i love your sketches amazing style and nice lines

[Kfeeras]

you're a design monster

[smuckers]

Hello friend, I am so impressed particularly by the rhythm and beautiful quality to your particle and smoke effects
( see pheonix http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=336213&stc=1&d=1206930632)

its fucking sublime, an big kick of inspiration for me

and of course every other aspect of your drawings- but i had to point out my attraction to this quality particularly in your work

thanks, looking forward to seeing more

[xobgob]

hello great work. big fan. How many years have you been drawing? thanks

[zweiDee]

fresh gun designz!

[FrozZT]

Hey man! :)
Wow, very nice.. And inspiring! I like your drawings, the figures are exagerated and crazy yet balanced with their feet(or whatever :) ) on the ground. Your under water inspired stuff is very nice, there is so much interesting stuff down there, a great source.

Im gonna try to think of some crits and directions.. hmm..

Well as your figures, the design and shape is very interesting and well done they hold quite well with only that, though i dont see you work very much with light in your images. Of course they are not intirely without any thought on lightning, but the light doesnt hold near as much quality as you figures, their design and shape. I think if you would do some experimentation also(i see you do loads of experimentation with form and shape, BUT) with your work flow and maybe put some focus on other elements of imagery, such as lightning, or maybe start of with colors instead of lines, or whatever. You could also try start working in photoshop directly.

In your transfer from sketch to photoshop i think you loose alot of sharp textures and everything gets smoothed out a bit, maybe work too keep some of those nice hard texture shapes/surfaces from you drawings.

I can totaly see if you are comfy with the way you are working since your results speak for themselfes, but maybe you could do even more awesome stuff if you experiment some more with your workflow..

This is all just my personal oppinion, your work already hold an amazing quality.

Good luck and keep it up!

-Niklas

[Hive_minD]

Amazing stuff mate. Gun designs are awesome. Like you sketches allot too!

Chris

[naRai]

wow youre drawings are awesome, your creatures actually scare me, fantastic job on those!

[ForScience]

your shapes just flow so perfectly. I love how your new paintings preserve that quality from your drawings

[luness]

Tiny update, but first:

BigPapaRaels – thank you!

Kfeeras – no man, not yet, haha. I would like to get much more assorted designs done by the end of the day, every day, in both traditional and digital. Thank you!

smuckers – I really enjoyed working on that smoke and flames. I got some inspiration watching Akira and Ghost in the Shell. I love how did they work the explosions and fire. Thank you for stopping by!!!

xobgob – thank you! well, kinda complicated question that would require a long answer but, briefly, let’s say that I’ve been drawing whenever possible since just few years ago, after graduating from the 2D animation program. Last year was kinda hard for me to go through for different reasons, I literally stopped drawing, I lost motivation, will, hope, everything; so I like to think that I was sort of born again this year, “square one” kind of thing, and that I’ve been drawing just since I started this SB, haha

zweiDee – hi there! Thank you!

FrozZT – thank you for such nice feedback and suggestions!!! Not too long ago I wanted to start sketching and rendering in color, directly in PS, but I kept having problems with my computer so I decided to postpone my plans and fix it first. It seems ok now so I will start doing that soon.

Hive_minD – Thank you man!!

naRai – hahaha, cool!

ForScience – thank you so much! I’m learning how to render in PS, it’s hard but I’m very happy with the results



Two nights ago, I was about to go to bed but I decided to take a new sketchbook and use it for random designs and sketches, not necessarily full rendered pieces or a particular subject, just design exercises to keep my creativity sharp and also expand the number of subjects and themes I could include on my portfolio. I doodled some shapes thinking about airships in a fantasy world, leaving apart any technical and mechanical geekiness, and focus only on cool factor, and then added more details the next morning. I enjoyed so much adding tiny stuff here and there (the designs go from 3inches to 5inches max.) that it took me a whole day and part of this one to finish them all. Plus, at the same time, I was checking some SB and also checking two sites for references and ideas (http://www.darkroastedblend.com/ and http://listverse.com/).
They could have be done faster, but I was so distracted. Next time, no distraction, and I’ll save web surfing for the weekend.

I hope you like them. First time I do airships! Enjoy the tiny pilots too!

Bye bye and thanks again.

[Nightblue]

Holy cow, these airships are completely badass. There are some awesome shapes going on. Any process shots? I'm really curious as of where you started.

[luness]

Hey Nightblue, thank you for the nice words! I didn't have any process shots by the time I read your note, so I decided to design a couple of airships and show you how I did it.
They're really easy to do, and kinda fast to get them done. The most important thing is to have some reference in mind while doing them, like airplanes, submarines, boats, etc; so then you can use your imagination and play with them.

Sorry for my English, I'm so sleepy right now.

Anyways, I hope this post gives you a better idea of how I designed the two sets of airships.

Cheers!

[Nubb]

Thanks so much for showing the way You work. Your mind is an artistic highway man, I can hardy follow ;) Keep that great work flowing :D

[monsi]

wow. I LOVE this stuff!! thank you for the steps on the air ships I really enjoy seeing things like that. Also love the design style you've got on those airships. inspiring :)

[Quinn Simoes]

Very cool luness! great airship designs. Love the gun designs as well.

Q

[InFlame]

hey luness!

great updates, I love the robot designs on page 6. they nearly seem organic. :) and the weapon designs are really cool too!

cheers,
rebecca

[luness]

Nubb – it’s an honor to have you around my SB, man. Thank you so much for the kind words. I try to do my best every time :teeth:

monsi – thank you! I’ll do more for sure

Quinn Simoes – hey man, I’m glad you like them! I quick checked your SB the other day, great stuff!!! I’ll pass by and say hello

InFlame – thank you!!


I’ll be using a new sketchbook for random designs, mostly quick roughs, and here you have the first two pieces I did two nights ago. Some awful anatomy for the archer, my mistake.

I’ve been struggling a bit learning 3D on my own, but I’ll get there. It will be another tool to work on props, environments, and vehicles, which are my weakest areas of design.

There’s nothing that annoys me more than a blackout. Yesterday there was a nationwide power shortage, for almost three hrs. I kept saying the F word over and over again for the first hr until I decided to do some doodles. They turned out to be some “cute” baby creatures and, since they made me feel happier, I did some more until we got power again. Honestly, they made me smile all the way while working on them.

Peace.

[DARAF]

Love these last creatures. Actually I Like all of it. Rock on.

[Flaskpost]

daaaaaaang! super slick creature designs! love your linework!

[Rico Rodriguez]

Hey brother! I love all your stuff...Specially The study of womens the fairy and the guns! I put all on my refs! Best regards!

[Grimey]

those last creatures are adorable!
(the air ships are pretty fantastic too)

[Nibras]

Wow
cheers for the advice
Your work is supereb and more supereb :P
When i finish updating my sketchbook i'll add you to my sig :P
because you rock!

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

haha you are so good
thx for showing your process its very interesting

beautifull work

[mentler]

!Wonderful!

[BigPapaRaels]

damn yet again another amazing update shit man i love this stuff hopefully i learn something at AAU

[Nubb]

Muahah! Those baby-monster designs are monster-cool! That parrot thing kills me :D

[Fireflights]

hahaha oh man, those creatures are fabulous...and your lines are so clean! *envious*. Very nice stuff, man. Keep it up!

[Joce]

great great great value man. ur sic. very inspiring.

[luness]

A bit of more fun with baby creatures, but first:

DARAF + Flaskpost + Rico Rodriguez + stonercurly – thank you!!!

lilnebo – haha, very nice from you. Thank you

`ej – thank you!!

mentler – wow sir, what an honor. A true master among us, cheers!!

BigPapaRaels – thank you for passing by. Don’t limit yourself to what they will teach you at AAU, keep learning from other sources as well, like online or DVD tutorials, books, etc. Have fun!

Nubb – hahaha, thank you man!

Fireflights + Joce – thank you!!!


So, I was sketching some characters and then I realized that I could use the space left between them for some tiny baby creature sketching. I remember once that I wanted to make an educational book for kids, full of cute or just weird creatures. I guess I’m into that sort of mood again.

[Nibras]

That stuff is sweet
you should make an educational book for me just subtracte 10 years out of my age and i would count as a 4 yo old right? lmfao'
Sweet sketches though
your ideas are crazy!
Keep posting more!

[Max Martelli]

This stuff is amazing, I'm blown away. I love your style and I look forward to seeing more. You are definitely an inspiration.

Edit: the only thing I can think of for you to work on involves your digital reworking and coloring. In my opinion, if you want to overlay the colored figure over the old paper background you should incorporate more digital stuff in the background. I guess what I mean is the look of the first colored piece, the giant with the sword, looks alot better than the one under it. It looks like the picture is more unified. The only reason I say this is because the digital media has such a distinct look and feel to it that it contrasts with the paper. If there is more digital "paint" spread throughout the image it will look more unified. Hope this is helpful, not that you need it anyway, your stuff is incredible.

[MeTaL-Mike]

man talking about diversity!!! awesome creatures man :D

[luness]

Hello again!

lilnebo - hahaha, cute

Max Martelli - I feel confident about my pencil work but I'm conscious that my digital stuff needs more work, so thanks for the tip, man! I'll keep that in mind.

MeTaL-Mike - haha. It keeps my design muscle working, regardless the strange results :^^:



So, these are colored pieces I've been working on every now and then. I'm learning to render in PS so I tend to leave the pieces for a while and then come back to them so then it's easier to catch the flaws.
Still WIP, but I'm very happy with the results so far. When I see my colored pieces from a year or two years ago, I can see a huge difference, in a good way.
Anyways, each design is based on a demon, and each demon has its own characteristics, powers, etc; so I'll add some elements within the smoke that would give a clue of what the powers are all about. They might seem almost done but there's still a lot of work to do.
They're part of a gigantic personal project I've had in mind for a long time, so more designs will come for sure.


See you guys later, cheers!

[Mischa rewrite]

Wow man, your stuff is great! I've lurked your thread before and I love your pencil work, but wow! You bring a whole psychedelic edge to your ps coloring. Can't wait to see more from yah. :D

[kidult]

Dman those colour so sweeeet! And the pencils keep rocking - and not to ass pat completely - maybe try some darker shadows on some of the pencils

[exposse]

great work m8. looking forward to see more.

[BigPapaRaels]

holy shit those are just insane when colored. the lightning guy is my favorite

[Robojon]

Just browsed the whole thread and I'm astonished! You have great skill with pencils and a good mind for design it seems. Thanks for sharing your processes too. No real crits from me just looking forward to seeing more. :D

[luness]

Oops, I forgot to post this group of sketches. Fantasy bugs. Some predators, some prey, some mimicry…just playing with shapes and some elements here and there.

Mischa rewrite – haha, thank you. I’m glad you like them

kidult – thank you! About the darker shadows, I want to keep the originals this way and do the darker shadows and perhaps some more midtones and white washes digitally

exposse – thank you!!

BigPapaRaels – hahaha. And hey, that’s my favorite too! Is more sinister and weird than the others

Robojon – thanks so much for the kind words and for visiting my SB


Anyways, some bugs for the thread:

[BigPapaRaels]

man i just want to know how you come up with these creatures their so unique ive never seen any thing like them. great work as always.

[Bones Weep Tedium]

can we see the coloured in airships from page 6?

[Iridyse]

Hiya Luness,kickin' ass as always! :)
I love those bugs, mmmmmmm.

[Moai]

I love these pages of multiple designs that you post. You bring knowledge, personality, and good design to each sketch. It's the kind of stuff that makes me want to whip out my pencil and draw.

[Delmar]

Hey Luness...man i'm always impressed looking at your stuff....you get the feeling and the technique.....great stuff!!!:drinkup:

Can't wait to see more

Cheers

Andi

[monsi]

you have a wonderfully unique and distinctive quality of line and rendering in your drawings. Your designs are also brilliantly bizarre.

I really enjoy this stuff! keep posting!

[luness]

Not as productive as I would love to be but anyways, whenever I have some time I try some 3D learning, or some sketching, or I just work on the color rendering of some of my personal pieces, learning a lot, trying new stuff and now I have another four to show (I’ll be posting the whole group on the finally finished section, pretty soon). I hope you like them!

BigPapaRaels – haha, well, they’re actually based on creatures I’ve seen on TV and on my photo reference folder, then I just take different elements and combine them, twist them, having some fun, you know? Thanks for stopping by!

Bones Weep Tedium – sorry, I put some color washes on them but didn’t like the result, so I just moved on

Iridyse – hey girl! thank you!!!

Moai – wow man, such nice words. I have a silly smile on my face now, haha. Thank you for the kind comments about my work

Delmar – hey man! Nice to have you around! Thank you so much!

monsi – thank you so much for the kind words!


The sketches are about alien/humanoid hand to hand fighters (barely rendered; I was sick, in bed, so not too much detail and muscle definition) aaand some abandoned barns. I hope you like them too!!

Cheers!

[monotony]

wow, man your creatures are a big inspiration. some crazyass ideas and your pencilrendering is different to what you usually see. but everything high quality.
and the barns in look awesome! always looking forward to your updates.

[BigPapaRaels]

yea ive been working on a reference file but your just insanely creative with your combinations of creatures

[Geir]

Been browsing your skeetchbook now, and just love it. Your designs are just up my alley. Love your linework. I was wandering, what program do you use to color your drawings?

[Pseudocognition]

Your recent creatures are so fleshy and strange, I have never seen ANYTHING like them before. Frankly I have no idea what to make of them, haha. Flipping back though, I see a lot of variety and interesting shapes. Your pencil work is gorgeous.

Keep it up, good sir :D And thank you for refueling my inspiration!

[carlosranna]

Holly macarroni! What a thread!!!! What a sketchbook! Very inventive and original designs! I love it!

[Max Martelli]

Looking real good. Your digital painting looks like it's getting better. I'm loving them.

A question. How did you get the textured paper background? did you find a picture somewhere? did you scan in some old torn up paper? it's really cool and I'm just curious.

Keep it up, I can't wait to see whats coming next.

[JellevdVegt]

i really like the creature designs, mostly those 'cute' creatures, super cool man, love it!!!

[luness]

Some updates for my CA sketchbook. I hope you like them. I kinda do.

monotony – thank you for the comments. Those barns are coming in color now!

BigPapaRaels – haha, thank you.

Dozeren – hey man, just checked your site and you have pretty crazy good stuff in there! About what software I use to color my drawings, it’s Photoshop, mostly with the round hard brush (opacity from 10 to 50%), the chalk and some cloud/dust brushes as well. Thanks for stopping by!

Pseudocognition – wow girl, that’s the kind of feedback that leaves me with such a big smile on my face. Thank you so much for the kind words

carlosranna – hahaha, thank you!

Max Martelli – thank you!! The paper bg is a cropped section of a page of one of those old books available online (public domain PDFs) and then set as multiply layer so then the lineart and colors pass through and end up looking that you are working directly on the paper, not pasting stuff on it

Teh Gosu – haha, yeah, those cute ones are fun to do.



Anyways, for those who liked the colored demons, I posted all the ones I have on the FINALLY FINISHED section, but much bigger and with some color adjustments. HERE (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=139658)
I’m also done coloring the barns, using the same palette for all of them, rendering somewhat fast, trying to get a loose but clean look, if you know what I mean.
Since I haven’t done too much character/creature pencil work, I decided to do some very random rough designs, without any pre-conceived idea in mind, just throwing shapes and improvising a lot. Good warm up to awake my design muscles.

I’m doing my best to reply on your SB and other threads, but my computer and internet connection are not helping that much. I’m having tough times with technology and hardware. Sigh

Cheers!

[Niels23]

Awesome update, thank you! Totally inspired by your creatures. Nice colors!

[Giorge]

Sick, concepts man Sick!

cheers

G.

[luness]

Ulver - I'm glad you like them, thank you!

flamable - thank youuuu!


So, these are my very first digital sketches/thumbnails ever (I'm mostly traditional). I'm happy with the results. I know there are some perspective problems here and there, but these archers (wearing combat suits for cold and/or windy weather) came out relatively quick, so it's nice to feel comfortable with this new tool I'm embracing.

Bye!

[Nubb]

Those last sketches are good reference for further designs. A strong base cause they're all are believable and related to the same universe. Good that You've came up with em' quite quickly. A ability to work fast in first stage concepting is a virtue and a big plus :)
And those cottage sketches are a monster-kickass-killer-motherlovers :D:D:D

Keep on the good job.

[ashess]

lunus, your monsters are wonderfull and diverse in designs. the only thing that strikes me as a shame is they almost always stand on a flat plane. even if you use a high angle of view,the perspective is almost animorphic. use that debth for greater dramatic effect!

[merl1n]

this sketchbook is truly worth it... :)

cheers.. :)

[luness]

Nubb – thanks a lot for having such kind words about my work every time you visit my SB.

ashess – Thanks a lot for the comments and suggestion. I really appreciate them!

merl1n – thanks!

Well, about a week ago I got inspired by some anime and the flat render they use sometimes, so I started to sketch with the tablet, giving it another try. I miss the feedback of the paper and I find it hard to get smooth lines for some reason, but it’s been a great experience and a tool I will consider to use for more portfolio and study pieces.
I wanted to share the design process of each piece and I hope any of you find it helpful:
-Starts with a quick sketch
-Trace cleaner lines on a new layer
-Get rid of most of the initial gesture lines
-Set the line-art layer as multiply and start rendering on a new one with flat shades of gray

The idea was to get clean rough designs, with enough rendering information to add volume and texture. Lots of rubberish fabric, plastic-look and metal plates. Anyways, have a good month, whatever you decide to celebrate.

Cheers!

[andyhunt]

I am REALLY pissed I didn't find your sketchbook sooner. You've got some incredible ideas going on in here, and a fantastic sketching style. I'll be coming back here as often as I can!

[retardedmonkey]

Really nice stuff luness!

The characters are tight, and I those barns look a few posts up look perty!

[nellement]

You have fantastic designs keep posting!!!

[Moai]

I really like this last batch of character designs. There's some really nice shapes and movements going on there, and each one has your own unique stamp on it. Great job giving them unique and interesting props, as well.
I have a hard time getting clean lines on my tablet as well.

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

love the updates!!

you stunn me everytime!

[ashess]

hah, wow. ye great char designs. love the buildup you show; still, on one plain :p

[hunchback]

really like your style of work and the way ou create your charracters
i would suggesst playing with the textures on the finished characters.
adding a little noise would make them even more interesting xD

happy holidays xD

[grenappels]

on all of these, i feel like the second to last stage is better than the last stage... something is taken away from your lines when you half shade like that. other than that really creative designs!

[MeTaL-Mike]

ahhh men these designs are awesome man. love your style and process :D

[DeKal]

yo luness, love your stuff man. i have a question i think i already know the answer to but ill ask anyway. you bite the bullet and go ahead and perfectly select out your figures before painting right? and you probly do the same off your scanned sketch to get them on the white photoshop document? thanks bro. could you maybe drop by my sketchbook with your reply?

[iatriki]

very creative drawing!

[vlad74]

Your sketchbook is truly impressive. And I really mean it.

[Liam Harvey]

those last ones? they are top notch impressive stuff.

[voraz]

Hi Luness fantastic work you've been posting.
Keep it up.
cheers

[Moai]

Happy holidays!

[Redlynar]

Nice characters, it cool to see someone using a lot of different angles and views, it adds a lot of depth to the characters. Over all the pieces really work as a body, and that should be encouraging if you are applying for positions. One question though is what you think about your work in conjunction with Aaron St. Goddard's work. There are some striking similarities between you and him in regards to creature design, but I'm sure you're aware of his stuff. Again, nice views, and best of luck on the portfolio preparations(very exhausting and anxiety inducing).

[Adrian Wilkins]

okay, I've just saved a bunch of your stuff on my hard disk, thi is just fucktarded rad...I love your sense for design!

[UsagiYokai]

Let me just say I'm extremely picky about pieces I like but all of your work absolutely fascinates me!!! I really adore your style, something about it just jingles my bell. Keep up the awesome work and I hope to see more!

[mosavar]

very good!

[farscry]

Awesome work Luness...I saw your stuff in ImagineFX and then came to check this out - its fantastic, incredibly inspiring.

But guys, this isn't all - check out Luness' link to Photobucket - there is just so much more of his amazing work there too...

Keep posting Luness.

[luness]

Hello Hello!

My computer wouldn’t end 2008 without giving me a final major headache. I had enough with that so I got brand new components. Now I’m able to post some stuff I’ve done during the past two weeks.

andyhunt – haha, thanks man! Come by anytime

retardedmonkey – thank you! I will do more architectural props, perhaps with some SketchUp

nellement – thanks a lot!

Moai – thank you man! I’ll keep trying to refine my digital line art

`ej – thank you! I’m glad you like them

ashess – thank you! For me it’s ok if the character/creature is standing on a ¾ pose on a flat ground. Right now, I focus more on design instead of composition. I’m saving more posing, functionality, mouth charts, detailed props, etc for later, once I chose which designs to include on my final portfolio. For the moment it’s all about the design with some stationary or dynamic pose with a easy-to-read silhouette. I’m glad you enjoyed the buildup of the characters!

hunchbackmagee – I wanted to stop on that flat look on purpose, but it’s a good idea I'll keep in mind! Thank you!

grenappels – thank you!

MeTaL-Mike – haha, thanks man! Cheers!

DeKal – I’m glad you enjoy my stuff. Thank you for passing by!

iatriki – thank you!

vlad74 – thank you for the kind words

Gerbil Fetus – thank you!

voraz – thanks a lot!

Redlynar – thanks for stopping by and for the encouraging words! About Aaron St. Goddard's work, I checked his site and honestly, I couldn’t find “striking” similarities within our creature designs. Perhaps we make a similar interpretation of the different inspiration sources we could have, which in my case is music, horror movies, documentaries, Wikipedia, sites about oddities and curiosities of our society, nature, among many other; so then it might be possible to find similar elements in our designs. Anyways, it is somewhat a compliment because he is a talented artist, so thank you!

Hygami – hahaha. Thank you!

UsagiYokai – it feels great when someone says things like the ones you said about my work. Thanks so much.

mosavar – thank you!

farscry – thank you! I’m still trying to process the ImagineFX feature thing because honestly, it caught me by surprise. What an honour. What a great way to start this year. I haven’t checked the magazine yet (my copy is still on transit) but I’m very happy and excited and inspired anyways! And thanks for advertising my Photobucket account, haha, it has such a low rate of visitors.


So, posting time.
Some WIP of birdy diplomats, then some line art of desert creatures partially inspired on the star-nosed mole, and finally, after a long time of no pencil sketching, three character/creature designs I did last weekend, based on folklore and mythology around the world. Descriptions will come with the final rendered pieces. I hope you like them.

Anyways, have a great year everybody, starting today!

[meticulous]

Daaaamn - very very impressive stuff - Really enjoyed staring at your characters. Great imagination (and thanks for showing some of your process!)
Keep em coming!