Aug. 25th 08' UPDATED : 4 Critters + Sketch Concepts

[Mike Corriero]

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Print-Book-Promo.jpg
I felt the need to lay down some wip, sketches and some finished stuff. I really want
to focus on just throwing down unfinished ideas and bringing them to a final, instead
of posting finished work all the time. It's been too long since I've started and kept a
sketchbook up to date, so here we go with a start. Some varied subjects, mostly the
usual creature stuff which I'm really pushing to get away from. So I'm working toward
some more humanoid stuff and slowly into characters, then environments.

If you can take the time to provide paint overs or mark ups, please post them in the form of a "LINK". I would really appreciate paint overs because it's much easier to see where I can improve or what's wrong with the image. Thanks

[Mike Corriero]

A bunch of Creatures done for the weekly activities.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Hypo-Capriate.jpg
Some quick thumbnail sized sketches
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/stilt-stalker-thumbs-01.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Stilt-Stalker-Web.jpg
A black n white WIP before a color wash and details were added.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/111-wip.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/111-web.jpg
Some process steps from a pencil sketch to the digital B&W render.
I plan at some point to finish the actual color version...
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/snapper-wip-steps.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Body-Snapper-08.jpg
Another WIP before the final was refined and tightened up with color.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Loofeesh-WIP.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Loofeesh-WEB.jpg

[Mike Corriero]

A fictional dinosuar with a fictional skeleton diagram
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Beladron.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Beladron-Skel.jpg
Some rough sketchbook pages of random creatures
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/creature-page-01.jpg

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[Mike Corriero]

Some full scene paintings and speed paintings
done for COW
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Elemental-Samarium-Final.jpg
done for Advanced Photoshop Magazine ( I need to work on ID stuff )
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Abysmal-Space_Final.jpg
A speed painting for 2DArtist..
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Poised-Attack-Final.jpg

[Camara]

Sooo cool and soooo good,man!!I love your creatures!!Please,post some step by step if you can!!!

[Mike Corriero]

Animal Kingdom studies - Digital sketches with references used
Some images were created with the use of 2 or 3 photos and others were
created with just one reference image.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-01_Brachiosaurus.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-02_Lizard_Anole.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-03_Ostrich.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-04_Ghost_Crab.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-05_Wolf_Fish.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-06_Water-Buffalo_Mammal.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-07_Amphibian_Axolotl.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-08_Cicada.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-09_Spider.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-10_Mammal_Skeleton_Diagram.jpg
An example of manipulating animal anatomy to create a fictional naturalistic creature design.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Fig.-11_Manipulated_Mammal.jpg

[Mike Corriero]

Some humanoid sketches, some wip stuff, some digital and some pencil sketches.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/humanoid-01.jpg

http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/humanoid-elemental-02.jpg
Thumbnails from which you can see the Rock Jaw humanoid was created from.
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Two humanoids done in ca.org sketcher...
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/troglore-thumb.jpg
A WIP of Rock Jaw.... working on him at the moment.
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[smokenmirrors]

Love the textures and patterns that you bring with your work! Very nice!

[Madfishmonger]

I love the way you use colour, and your textures are fantastic. Great job!

[technolem]

The spaceship is cool. I never really liked prehistoric era stuff. Definitely would be nice to see some more sketches though.

[Eon]

Thanks for posting your sketches! It's always helpful to see the process behind the works, such as the perspective guidelines accompanying your characters. And creature skeletons is just killing it!

[stoph]

finally, we get to see more of your unfinished stuff! your crab and axelotyl sketches are really cute and fun, and the rock-jaw concepts are pretty nifty too. keep posting mate, it will inspire us all! :)

[hydeEthan]

Sooo cool and soooo good,man!!I love your creatures!!Please,post some step by step if you can!!!

yea I agree~!!
you should do some tutorial pieces...I'd really want to learn from you
juz love your texturing!!

[Mr.Delicious]

nice stuff! wow, instant 5 stars! :)

I cant wait to see your progress on some human designs... I imagine the costumes are gonna be pretty awesome :)

[Inkfish]

I really like the b&w animal studies, beautyful line quality.

[ArtZealot]

This whole sketchbook is really really inspirational, well done stuff. Thanks for putting it here. Cheers'

[Ashab]

lovely stuff here.. everything looks solid and grounded, you have inspired me to do some creature concepts.
If I was to say something is maybe need some more saturation in you colour work just so the creatures pop out from the back ground more.
take it easy i will be back..

[Call0ps]

theres not much to say beside complements ^^ agree with Mr.Delicious, cant wait for your human designs, cant imagine how wild will be the costumes :) keep sharing plz

[zenarion]

I am absolutely in love with the pencil sketches.

[DAVEZILLA]

I'm speechless.

So many beautiful pieces of work... you have quite the portfolio.

Just... I want to be as good as you!

[Tommoy]

I admire your work Mike, everything is so alive. Amazing how you also do these real animal studies, i guess thats one reason why your fantasie-creatures are so good.

[bumskee]

yo mike.. nice work. :D hope things are well dude..

[Matthew Forte]

Gotta love how inventive you are with creatures, great stuff! And by the way, most of your designs seem like they are done on a tablet, are they?

[Beelow]

Nice to see you start a sketchbook again Mike. Like I'd said before, I've enjoyed your work and I think your one of the best creature designers I've seen by far. That spaceship image is off the chain. Waithing for somemore works from you. Later.

[roidvoid]

very nice
what are your feelings about going straight digital vs scanning pencil lines?

im always conflicted about this in my own work

[Iridyse]

It's so great so see all your latest work posted in one place! I've been a huge huge fan for so long now, you were one of the few who really inspired me to get into creature concept drawing. I love your designs and everytime I start feeling a wee bit proud of myself when it comes to my work, I just have to check my Mike Corriero folder to remind myself how much more I need to practice.
I love the humanoid thumbnails too. I think the bigger humanoid sketches are a wee bit weak compared to your other stuff, I'd love to see them on the same level of confidence as your fantastic creatures. Some sliiight anatomy issues here and there (haha I feel like such an idiot saying this).
One thing I'd really like to see your push yourself more in is lighting. Your designs are some of the best I have ever seen but sometimes the lighting makes the whole form fall a bit flat. I'd do a paintover but I don't think I'd ever manage to get myself to post it hehe. So just some more lighting experiments (some dramatic rim, bounce light off the ground, environment contribution etc) and some more material prperties (subsurface, iridescence all that) and you'd be untouchable!

All the very best!

[Mike Corriero]

Well.. first off thanks a lot guys for all the positive feedback. I really appreciate the kind words and encouraging compliments.

Camara@- Thanks, I'll try to post as much "rough" work and work in progress stuff as I can. I did post a few step by step pieces, I guess I tend to post stuff that's already too far into the first step? Not sure if you mean you want to see more on the idea of going from rough shapes to a finished pencil sketch?

SmokenMirrors@- Thanks

Madfishmonger@- Thank you

Technolem@- Glad you liked the spaceship, I was very unsure of it. It was pushed more toward graphic shapes than an actual working design. I'll try to post as much work in progress pencil sketches and digital sketches as I can.

Eon@- Thanks, yea laying some grid lines down just helps to ground whatever you're working on... some times I'll extend it below the ground level but a cross line system just helps to keep things in perspective and symmetrical. I should do more fictional skeletons of creatures and humanoids, it helps to try to figure out how that stuff works or looks and helps show you where you're messing up.

Stoph@- Thanks, I gotta finish up that Rock Jaw humanoid.. gonna work on the fire giant and the other crypt giant. Glad you dig the animal studies.

hydeEthan@- If you go to www.youtube.com you can look up my name "Mike Corriero" and you'll find my profile with recorded time lapse videos. I've also got tutorial pieces in magazine workshops in 2dartist, advanced photoshop and imaginefx. I'll see what I can do for free stuff here in the sketchbook. I haven't had time to do a new time lapse video lately though.

Mr.Delicious@- Thanks, man so long as I don't stray from my goal.. I hope to break out some interesting characters eventually.

Infish@- Thanks

ArtZealot@- Thanks you

Ashab@- Thanks man, I appreciate the crit too. I often think "some times" I'm over-saturating hmmm.. so I'll have to work on that. I feel like a lot of my stuff is some times too colorful, I dunno.

Call0ps@- Thanks!

Zenarion@- Thank you

DAVEZILLA@- thanks man

Tommoy@- Thanks man, the studies were done as a part of a series workshop for 2dartist. It was the beginning stages to an introductory creature process. Using animal anatomy as a basis for creature concepts. I love drawing animals in general, more so than humans..so I'm gonna have to start focusing on my characters and human body structures.

Bumskee@- Thanks Min, you've been kicking ass man. I gotta stop by your sketchbook soon. See you around IRC some time

Matthew Forte@- Thanks, a lot of these are done digitally with a tablet but I do keep a pencil and pen sketchbook. I just haven't been doing a lot of traditional sketching lately.

Beelow@- Thanks man, again.. was unsure of that spaceship so I'm glad someone else mentioned that they like it. My main goal is to really push the human anatomy and characters, humanoid or other. Though after that I'll try getting into more environments and probably a bit of industrial design stuff if I have the time.

Roidvoid@- If you start out digitally things can progress quicker and smoother. Though I feel a good pencil sketch can often give off a more precise definition of what's really in your mind. What I mean by that is, for me at least, I feel drawing with a pencil and the rough look of it really shows through your technique more than a tablet drawing. Digital sketching especially line work can feel too clean, it feels like you need to push too hard to get that rough dirty sketchy feeling. That's something I really enjoy about scanned pencil sketches.

Iridyse@- You hit the nail on the head with a lot of your points. I agree and I'm working toward a lot of those areas when I have the time. Thanks for taking the time to pin point what's missing. A paint over of something would be cool but I know it's time consuming. Though for the people who aren't afraid to do so, and feel they can show me visually what to do.. I would definitely welcome a link to the paint over. Thanks again for the crit.

Some rough concepts of a similar creature/humanoid..mainly having fun with some quick rough skin textures.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/Phelasperians.jpg

Some fun little melee arm weapons and a couple other more advanced but low tech weaponry.
http://www.mikecorriero.com/images/Private/melee-arm-weapons.gif

[The Curehead]

really awesome stuff,my favorite is the newt study.really interesting creatures too.:)

[Bojee]

Really nice to see all these, thanks for posting them. :)

[Maestro Andres]

Always being a big fan of your creatures, may sound redundant but it is. Thanks for sharing your new work in this SB. Very inspiring.

[Quinn Simoes]

Hi Mike.

First off, your creature designs are extremely pro, those b&w sketches in post #6 are amazing. Although you have pointed out yourself that you need to work on your human anatomy and I would tend to agree. My only crit so far is in the first two drawings in post #7, the characters seem off balance as if they were falling backward, although I don't see any of this in the thumbnails below them, they look great!

I will be back for more inspiration, as I strive to improve my own creature designs, thanks for sharing!

Quinn

[Justin.]

Hey Mike! Great to see some of your sketches. I love your creature lines.

I do want to make a comment- it seems like you always use this "white-washy" yellow light source, and I can't quite tell because I'm on a laptop, but it looks like both your blue shadows and yellow lights are both desaturated. Maybe push one towards very heavy Saturation.. as David always says, "You have to break your fucking image to get it to work.." break your shapes, break your color, break your mood, etc... I don't have a wacom with me, but I'll see if I can do a paintover to help out later. I've noticed in certain instances in your pieces where you do push saturation, they tend to look better (to me anyways). Try doing alot of paintings from life maybe? That's gotta be one thing I never see from you, are paintings from direct observation!

Hope you keep this updated =)

[Roczniak]

I realy enjoy your work, the drawings are perfect !

[HunterKiller_]

So good to see so much of your work in one place, Sir.
Inspiring works and designs.

I would appreciate it very much if you would please entertain a question of mine.
When you're conceptualizing creatures, how do you begin the first steps of visualizing a design? Do you arrange abstract shapes and build off them? Throw creature parts together? Or perhaps see the entire image in your mind?

Thank you very much, and please keep updating! :D

[UCT]

Mikes Sketchbook.

Subscribed!

[Hive_minD]

Great inspiration and artistic style to be found here. Thank you

Chris

[BohemianChaos]

yay Mike!! I always wondered why I couldn't find a sb of yours considering how much work you pump out. Good to see you posting. I can't wait to see more. :)

Catch ya on the flip side. :wink:

Janae

[Nadiamoon]

Beautiful sketches. I give 5 stars

[shamandalie]

Wow, your character creations are awesomely awesome! Can i marry your brain? LOL.

[Pierce.]

Your work is the type of work any artist can look to for inspiration. There is so much to learn from your style and technique. Great work!

[forgeman]

Your work is awesome! It is by far one of the best I've seen. I'm just starting out dp... Your work is very inspiring. Very readable and clean line work which translates to your painted work. One of the books that helped me greatly on drawing human anatomy is Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life. I can't wait to see more of your stuff! I know it inspires me to keep on creating.

[Mike Corriero]

forgeman@- Thanks I appreciate the compliments.

Crazy Pills@- Thank you

shamandalie@- Thanks

Nadiamoon@- Thanks, I appreciate that.

BohemianChaos@- Hey thanks, good to see you stop by.. been a while, hope things are well.

Hive_minD@- Thanks man

UCT@- Hey UCT, hopefully I'll keep this updated enough to be worthy of having you subscribe. Most of my sketchbook threads tend to die off ^^

HunterKiller_@- This new update was kept with your question in mind. Though it's a humanoid and not necessarily the naturalistic animal mixing designs I usually create it shows how I begin a sketch..even at the very rough beginning steps. Before I really know what it will be aside from knowing that it will stand up right and be a small humanoid of some sort. I'll make another page or two up that goes more in depth about the mixing and matching of animal anatomy to create a creature next time.

Roczniak@- Thanks

Justin Oaksford@- Thanks for the crit, I often think at times...because people tell me this, that my work is actually perhaps a bit too saturated. Though I do agree with you about David's quote. That It's necessary to push beyond what you would "normally" do and see what happens and if it works it works, if it doesn't at least you tried something different. I think my latest images have been kept more with the white/yellow lighting. One of the things I do a lot is paint on a pure white background and I tend to focus more on the silhouette of the design and I make it hard on myself to really push the lighting. I'm working on it.... I kept your crit in mind for this work in progress I'm about to post.

Quinn Simoes@- Hey, thanks. Yea I can see that.. especially in the fire giant pose. I'll have to fix the positioning and perspective of his legs if I bring him to a finish. Thanks for the fresh eye.

Maestro Andres@- Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.

Bojee@- Hey Bojee thanks man.

The Curehead@- Yea, I think the axolotl is one of my favorites too, I think it's just the look of the animal itself and its skin texture design. I'd love to have one as a pet but I'm sure they're hard to care for. I believe in Planet Earth they have a relative of one in the caves section that is completely eyeless... pretty cool stuff.

This is a page of sketching to kind of show some of the thought process that goes into my rough sketches. It's odd for me to show this because it's done so quickly and without any pre-planning more often than not. It's strange to show steps for (sketching). At any rate, I hope this is of some help to those that asked.
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This then just shows a quick color base thrown down below the sketch which is on a multiply layer. I allow the sketch to show through for most of this stage until I start to get more comfortable with the shapes and lighting. I'm using minimal colors right now just to establish the form with two light sources. One dominant light source and the other a secondary bounce lighting to bring out the shapes in the shadow areas.
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Here you can see the image is updated though it's still considered a Work in Progress and isn't finished just yet. I've tried to keep things simple for most of this, trying to work more on defining the form and shapes. This is essentially a mark-up of me critiquing my own work. You can see all the little thoughts going on in my head about various issues and areas that need to be refined. Checking the image at a thumbnail size and flipped also helps a lot.
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Mike C -

[Mike Corriero]

I wanted to post a few of these here as well since I'll be posting Final Designs of some of this stuff when I get the time. As well as when I get permission for a few. I know they were posted once before but I just wanted a place to keep these together. I plan on continuing with this pen style whenever time allows.
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[Jonas Heirwegh]

Thanks for sharing Mike! Very cool stuff!

Do you happen to have some good ref links for animals?

[Pierce.]

That sketch process tutorial is pretty cool. I love seeing processes - especially from artists of your caliber. That reflective light on the goblin is pretty intense, but it also illustrates what you are talking about - and I suck at secondary light sources anyway.

Thanks for posting that!

[RandAlThor]

Excellent progress shots mike, it really helps to understand your process more than just looking at pretty pictures. Keep up the good work ;-)

[Mitchell]

Really great designs Mike, they feel very organic yet mechanical at the same time. Beautiful rendering in pen as well. A small note on some of your rendered peices, sometimes the lighting and transitions in value tend to be too harsh of edges flattening it quite a bit. I think softening those edges up will help quite a bit and make the form read better. Agreed with Justin, that some life work would really be helpful. Keep up the good work Mike.

[Mark Bot]

man those pen sketches are wicked. super tight lines, great job.
also, thanks for the process post you made earlier. really great to see how you put together a creature.

[Helioth]

Hey Mike Corrierierio, good stuff : D
the proknos porkru figure seems a delectable erudite chap...
similar to the creature you came up with on the multiplayer sketch page thing.
can sense the movement in the latter sketches also.

was great advice you had to give, on vent, I've been trying to get some things together to make a sketchbook but it all still sucks too much. ; )

[Intervain]

love the descriptions of the process - so helpful! Awesome sketchbook!

[Harmageddon]

Your drawings are very cool; I like the style and execution very much.
Also, thanks for explaing the process you go through when drawing. A lot of recognizable steps, and some very good ideas that I'm going to experiment with :). This book rocks!

[Juhani Jokinen]

Some really cool stuff here. Really digging those recent creature sketches.


Keep on rockin' dude

-Juhani

[yanino]

very interesting!

[Jacob Kobryn]

Wow Mike! Majorly hickup worthy stuff in here. ;)
The sketch tutorial really helped me. Thanks.

[jerry]

Those creatures in pen are just awesome. It's so fresh i can hardly comprehend what they're all about :D

Jerry

[davi]

really enjoy the design labeled 96, i like the different little textures on it

[Grizzliman]

Awesome concepts and creatures,

Perfect, like always ;)

Grizz

[towy]

wow very cool concepts, funny creatures,
good job :)

[S.C. Watson]

Oy, Mike. Some really great stuff in here as always.

All the best,
~Shane

[Coinpurse]

awesome work as usual mike,
Man I could have sworn you had an exclusive SB?

[dCepT]

Whussup? Long time since I stopped by! The development process on these are killer man! Very cool to see all the thought process you put into it!! The line quality on the sketches is really strong! Thanks for posting this stuff.. really helps to see your thoughts put on there like with the Proknos-piece!

Any exciting projects going on?

dC

[TASmith]

Your work is an inspiration. Here's a question I've been considering lately. There was a post in the lounge here on CA about Myron Barnstone, and teaching composition through the Golden Section rules. what do you think of these rules? Here's a link to Myron's article on it: http://barnstonestudios.com/articles/sargent.html

[MonkeYoakum]

I just wanted to send thanks out for showing such an awesome and explained break down of how you work the initial stages and what your thinking. It really helps to see that you dont just instantly lay down somthing awesome, but that its in a constant state of revision. Thanks man.

[Mike Corriero]

I'm busy and kind of short on time so I just wanted to share these updates with you guys.. I'll reply to everyone the next chance I get. Thanks guys

Some of this is new, some of it is a bit older but..it's work I haven't been able to show til now. Also just a few older sketches I wanted to include and keep all in one place.
The updated Final: Though I may make some adjustments based on crits given to me by Davi and a few other members on ventrilo.
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Lephauntis: For those of you who sign on IRC a lot you'll recognize the name ;)
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Some digital sketches for 2dArtist Magazine..
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A final based off of some older thumbnail sketches I did of insectoid birds and birds with elements of insect features. The Crustaci.
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Creblock was also done for 2dArtist Magazine, just a fun 4 legged critter with an upright torso (sort of an insect/alien centaur body design.) I really wanted to get away from the emotionless static pose for this one. Though the pose is still kind of static, he is at least thrusting his body forward, arms back and roaring/growling.
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Older Pigment Liner Pen sketches...
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[UnSharpened]

There must be a whole universe in your head I have to say......so many unique details. It's no doubt that you've already mastered the character design. BTW, those pen sketches are stunning, love the sexy strokes<3.
5/5!!!

[Jorge Gecov]

Killer update!
I love it!

[LYNK]

how long did these take to make???
it would take weeks or months for me to these kinds of updates...
monstrous...
great designs overall, impressive variety of well designed creatures in a believable habitat...

great work.. I hope to be almost as good one day..

[Grizzliman]

Wow that's GREAT artwork, great inspiration, thanks for sharing really awesome

[Surion]

Great work! Thanks for sharing and keep it up!

[Capital G]

Amazing designs! really great progress and idea development, I can't wait to see more

[Hybrid_75]

Wow, I like the way everything is displayed. Really clear, proffesional. Something I gotta learn. Amazing work, and so much drawing. excellent.

[silvestri99]

Wow...I love seeing all the variations on the theme. Nice coloring and design work...dammit, I'm going to go draw some more!

[AztcFireFlower]

Always loved your work and ideas. The myriad critter designs you constantly come up with is admirable. How do you keep churning out and keeping it fresh......and some of them are so cute!?

Absolutely LOVE the ink work. Very beautiful and unique style.

[xiaobao2004]

u just let me know what is proffesional.

[kelly x]

a fan of Rock Jaw... this one rocks!

[Wasker]

Funky stuff Mike. Are you entering DEEP?

[banhatin]

Dude!soooooooooooo awesome those stuff!!!
your creatures design very inspired~`

[Peetaer]

this is totally amazing. the thought behind your drawings are awesome. nice concept drawings.

[Saurus]

great stuff!!... i like our linework a lot...do you use photoshop for that? pencil tool maybe? awesome uptate! oh and btw great videos on youtube!

[Benjamen Christ]

Those digi sketches are fucking badass!

christ

[a la bapsi]

i'm liking those environments in your last post. 8D

[yoitisi]

Hey Mike, awesome stuff in here :) Some unique designs in that last update, and a wide variety at that too.

Though I love your line drawings, I think they could be enhanced a bit by introducing a couple of real focus points in them. A lot of them have the same amount of detail and contrast all over. Since they still have a lot of white in them and you don't use real 'black' in there yet, an easy way to guide the viewers eye to the important parts is to play a bit with line wheigt more at the focus points, make some shadows real black and reduce the white a bit in the rest of the drawing This way it is easier for the viewer to quickly grasp the idea behind the drawing, it makes it easier to understand front from back etc :P Guess you already know the theory, just thought I'd mention it.

[Decepticon217]

truly amazing stuff man, now i can harass u on vent for tips... =P

[HFix]

i love your line work and all the process pages/thumbnails make me drool!

[Reject-D]

awesome updates! your such a pro and a great inspiration! if you could stop by my sb and leave some comments that would be cool!

[destinyapocalypse]

no words ... there are lot of fantastic design in here

[Robert.B]

I really Enjoyed viewing your work mike. Im really gald to know such a talented artist with an imagination as ritch as yours.

[Noukah]

Finally I got some time to stumble upon your thread! :)
Cool creature designs, I like creature designs too.
Subscribed! :)
See ya around, sorry about my insaaaaanely slow respond though.

[risingfromashes]

Mike... Great work

wishing that I had joined the site in time to throw my hat in for the mentoring thing...Clearly would have been of great benefit...

[Arteater]

Always great to check out your designs. do you draw you sketches on a layer
and add color below?

[Asire]

What a gem of a thread! very inspirational, and I love your step by step breakdowns. It would be cool to see some human designs, Perhaps running from the creatures? ;)

Thanks for sharing!

[Mike Corriero]

Epias; I just look up whatever I need at the current moment on google images or websites I find. I have a book " The Smithsonian Institution - ANIMAL" book which is great.

Crazy Pills; Thanks, yea I need to find the time to finish that goblin with the strong light source. I need to go back, revisit it and flesh out some focal points and flesh out where that light source is coming from to make a bit more sense of it.

RandAlThor; Thanks man

Mitchell; Thanks man, yea. I agree that I tend to tighten things too much especially in an equal amount throughout a concept which isn't exactly a good thing. I always think of myself as more of a line artist or sketcher than a painter but I'm still working on these issues. I appreciate the crit.

GusTheRobot; Thanks, np about the progress shots. If people enjoy seeing that and ask for it I'll do my best to provide if it helps.

Helioth; Hey, thanks. Yea, I don't mind giving verbal crits..less typing is always better ;) (I'm usually on there almost every day now).

Intervain; Thanks and glad my process shots could help a bit.

Harmageddon; Thanks, again, glad people found these process shots and steps to be helpful.

Anthriel; Thanks

yanino; Thanks

Jake Kobrin; Thanks Jake, glad you enjoyed the progress steps etc.

jerry; Thanks, there was a lot..and when I say a lot I mean a hell of a lot of background reference as to their biological make up and design. Most of them were based on an imaginary but also realistic perspective concerning what may be possible life on an imaginary world that would be very similar to Jupiter's moon Europa.

davi; Thanks bro, good luck in Louisiana. I know you'll impress the hell of the guys down there.

Grizzliman; Thanks

Towarlock; Thanks

Oregano; Thanks for stopping by here bro, hope all is well with you Shane.

Coinpurse; Thanks, yea I had an Exclusive sketchbook but I didn't like the singled out Exposure, and I felt not as many people were really checking those out as the amount of people checking out the regular sketchbooks.

dCepT; Thanks bro, glad you enjoyed all those steps, process shots and info.
"Any exciting projects going on?" I've just been doing workshops for various magazines mostly and a few game design assets.

TASmith; Thanks. Concerning the question, I don't really think much about "Rules" to designing. I'm sure to an extend I kind of just "do certain things" you can consider golden rules concerning composition, lighting etc. However I feel that you shouldn't really take what one artist says too strongly. Though I'm also not saying it can't help.

MonkeYoakum; No problem, glad you found that information helpful. It can help if you yourself do the same thing. Writing down what it is your thinking when looking at your own piece and critique it as an outside viewer.

UnSharpened; Thanks for the compliments. I wouldn't say I've mastered anything let alone characters ;) those are one of my biggest issues.

Jorge Gecov; Thanks

LYNK; Thanks, I couldn't really say how long it took to produce all the work in certain updates. Some of the colored creatures can range between 3 hours to 8 hours, it all depends.

Grizzliman; Thanks

Surion; Thanks

Capital G; Thanks man

Hybrid_75; Thank you

silvestri99; Thanks

AztcFireFlower; Thanks. Just keep watching animal shows, researching info about animal anatomy and reference material. In the end you take a look at how many real life animals there are, ranging from the smallest organism, insect and rodent to the largest of dinosaurs. Take all the information as far as bone structure, anatomy, diet, skin textures etc and throw that into a random generator and you'll have an infinite amount of designs.

xiaobao2004; Thanks

kelly x; Thanks

Wasker; Thanks man, a bit of a late response so it's obvious but no I didn't enter deep. ;)

banhatin; Thanks, I really enjoy checking out your creature work as well.

Peetaer; Thanks man

Saurus; Some of the line work is done with a mechanical pencil, some with pigment liner art pens and some are digitally sketches in photoshop.

Benjamen Christ; Thanks

a la bapsi; Thanks Ducky ;)

yoitisi; Thanks. Yea man I feel what you're saying. I guess most of the time I sketch, I just sketch to work an idea out without really looking at it as a finished rendering or something that would be used for another viewer to completely understand. I know that sounds like a cop out but I generally sketch extremely light, but I'll definitely work on what you mentioned. Thanks for the crit and kick in the ass..definitely needed that.

Decepticon217; If you ever sign on vent and let me know..yea I usually take the time to answer art related questions or freelancing questions to the best of my ability.

HFix; Thank you

Reject-D; Thanks. I haven't had a lot of time these days to do much of anything other than try to keep a constant work flow.

destinyapocalypse; Thanks!

Robert.B; Hey bro, thanks..glad you stopped by and I appreciate the kind words. I could say the same about you and your work. Now go to bed ;) lol

Noukah; Hey, nice to see you on here. Took me a second to recognize you from facebook but glad you stopped by. Thanks

risingfromashes; You can still follow along. I was only accepting 3 people out of about 60 who responded and more are still responding even though I closed the sign up thread and don't plan to take on a second group, at least not any time soon. Now I'm only helping 2 artist but it's still proving to be a lot of work, more than was expected.

Arteater; Thanks. I work differently depending on how I feel or what I'm doing the work for. I've worked before by laying color over a black and white rendering on a color layer and overlay/screen layers. Which at one point then I'll start painting on a normal layer above that to finish it up. Generally though I'll use a multiply layer to get the base colors down and some general variation of value and light, then work on a normal layer when I begin to detail and really paint the final.

Asire; Thanks, yea it's taking me forever to get around to character concepts but I'll get there eventually.

[Mike Corriero]

Advanced Photoshop Magazine issue 046
Creature workshop tutorial and a bunch of small color thumbnail creatures for 2DArtist Magazine from a 6 part workshop series.

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I'm going to try and update this more regularly, so "less" work per posts, but hopefully I'll post more often.

[young paddy1]

Saw this a coupla weeks ago, new it was yours without checking the biog, you've definitely got your very own style.

cheerio

[IanE]

Amazing stuff, Mike! Ran into one of your videos on Youtube, it was on the front page!! Ended up watching a ton of em. Thanks for posting them up, dude. You should link em in here!! Keep it up, man.

[Mike Corriero]

young paddy1; Thanks man, I guess it's a good thing to have someone recognize my work without needing to read my name. I wasn't quite sure I had a recognizable style.

IanE; Thanks, glad you enjoyed the youtube videos. I wish I had the time to create more but it's a bit of a pain recording as you paint, especially a fully finished painting like the Samarium Dragon. I would post them here, but last time I posted those videos in a thread on conceptart.org I was insulted by someone on the forums, which lead to some very immature crap.

My Daily contribution: Just a page of sketches, some rather rough little critters where I'm kind of feeling out shapes and ideas but nothing much came of them and then one sketch that was a bit more fleshed out. I may take some of the smaller ones and develop them further digitally and in color perhaps.
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[a la bapsi]

loving the crisp pencil work.
the long legged one closest to the biggest creature's arm is my favorite. :]

[Abee]

Well..
Thanks for all the tips etc, I reckon it's just good custom that I post something around here.. The only thing I can think of I guess is...
WOW!! that's all!

Love the last piece aswell :)
abee

[Mike Corriero]

a la bapsi; Thanks Ducky, yea it's a bit of a hermit crab-esque doodle.

Abee; Thanks man. no prob about the crits/tips etc.

Todays contribution, again one sketch that :started: to get fleshed out a bit and a bunch of unfinished doodles, just feeling out shapes and design. I may take some of those smaller ones and further explore them in digital form.
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[Mike Corriero]

Today's update...
Some faces of humanoid creatures and stuff..
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[Cohen]

your imagination and colors are brilliant!

you have amazing talent. if i had to critique i would say that a lot of your work consists of just a creature standing looking at us and i would like to see you maybe do a scene that tells a story with multiple characters interacting.

just a thought. keep up the great work!

[Vorace]

Great stuff Mike!!

I especially like these last monster heads

[Nightblue]

This is one hell of a SB. Really really like your pencil stuff!

[coldrum]

Woohoo! great creatures Mike! Nasty :D

[CUBICcube]

Damn Mike those are some nice creature creations, I remember seeing your tutorial in Imagine FX, cool to see your stuff here.

[bakatron]

i could hump your work!

[Manuel Poehlau]

One my favourite sketchbooks here. Really nice creatures and animals.

[benu]

Thank you for sharing all this, it's very inspiring. Really nice colors, and the humanoid heads are awesome.

[Verehin]

This fuc$#%@king awesome! Only 5!

[a la bapsi]

loving the details in those heads. gosh. *_*b

[Mike Corriero]

Cohen; Thanks. I'm not much for telling stories, but yea you're completely right. Most if not all the work I do is pretty much just about "design" and I tend to lack motion, emotion, action and that also affects the amount of character shown through these concepts. I'll try working on that.

Vorace; Hey Vorance, thanks dude.

Nightblue; Thanks

coldrum; Thanks bro.. I appreciate it, glad ya dig.

CUBICcube; Thanks, not sure which workshop in IFX you're referring to. The Bioluminescent Alien creature one perhaps?

bakatron; and you're more than welcome to ;)

Manuel Poehlau; Thanks, I appreciate it.

benu; Thanks man

Verehin; Thanks for the compliment and stars

a la bapsi; Thanks Ducky, I appreciate the compliment.

Todays page of randomness... I'm happy with how the two profile heads came out (on the right side).
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[BadGeometry]

Man, I love your line work, dude.
How big are these? I know they're from your sketchbook and stuff.

[HunterKiller_]

Great to see more sketches. Excellent pencils.

[Mike Corriero]

BadGeometry; Thanks man, the pages of sketches are generally posted a bit larger than their actual size. The sketchbook I work in is 8 1/2 x 11 inches and I usually keep the sketches at least half an inch away from the edge of the page.

HunterKiller_; Thanks

A warrior sketch (Just Random late night insomnia) I need to start referencing armor and anatomy...
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Some thumbnails for paintings I'll want to get around to eventually, most likely all but the one with the dragon in it.. too generic and boring. Though not quite intentional the top right robot with fish sketch was subconsciously inspired by Brian Despain aka. Imphead's work. It will be above water, so (floating fish) but I'm still figuring out what will be in the glass head.
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[BohemianChaos]

hey, loving the updates... I thought I had subscribed, but I guess not... I've missed a lot.

I really REALLY love all your loose pencil sketch work... sometimes it feels like some of the personality of the rough lines is lost when you switch to digital to color and render everything... it's beautiful stuff.

thanks for popping by my sb, too... it's been rather neglected over the summer... I hate my day job and scraping by to pay bills. :(

Good to see you're doing well! :wink:

[Quinn Simoes]

Great pencil sketches and thumbs Mike! Love the humanoid creature heads.

Thanks for sharing!

Quinn

[Eerin]

Gorgeous stuff! :) I adore your linework and color choice.

I really like the fourth sketch in the last batch. Maybe you can make a painting out of that one too? :)

[a la bapsi]

PUT A DUCKIE IN THE GLASS THING

and make it a tribute to me ;D


;D

[Mike Corriero]

BohemianChaos@- Thanks. Yea I agree and I tend to feel the same way about pencil sketches in general for most artists. When rendering or finishing a concept things get tightened up and refined but in the loose sketches they are more raw and have more energy and character. I'll keep trying to see how I can push to keep those initial lines within a finalized image.

Quinn Simoes@- Hey thanks man, I appreciate it.

Eerin@- Thanks, I plan to.

a la bapsi@- Thanks Ducky haha, it's a possibility. ;)

Some of the previous little doodles I had said I would bring to a more finalized state in color. Playing around a bit..
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[Dile_]

Nice sketchbook mike! great stuff

[Mike Corriero]

Dile@- Thanks

Just took some time to scan in 2 sketchbook pages. I'll post more when I can.

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[DeKal]

this sb is INSANE man. phenominal designs. and i really dont see too much repeating either. everything is very unique. any incite on that?

[Iridyse]

Beautiful designs Mike! Always a pleasure to see an update from you!

[Simeonov]

great creatures and the animal are amazing well done

[a la bapsi]

smarmy the owl

[Duman]

Im standing outside your window with a boom box over my head playing a love song. Ha!
Seriously, does it ever get boring being praised like an artistic demigod? I would think not. But all that praise is clearly deserved, nothing talent here. Its been said before, but I'll say it again
Fan-freaking-tastic work, much love.

[Nao]

that's stunning all.
I wish I can draw like you.

[kingkostas]

You are the master of creatures :D.Full understanding and knowledge.Keep making those lovely creatures :D, very inspiring!!!

[a la bapsi]

i'm gonna miss seeing you on ca, dude.

[John T]

Really diggin' these last few creature pages Mike, such great designs.

[sve]

You are a good guy, Mike. You are loved and respected. Keep on making a great art.

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Oh my, some realy prestene stuff here. I am really a sucker for your drawings, both the lineart and the shading are extremely good, but still leave room for improvement, that is the mark of a great artist.

You colours are also very good and as concepts go you really do your work well. The last update was ingenious, and I really liked the baboon creature.

Before I get caught up to much in asskissing here I just wanna say thanks for the inspiration! Keep posting and keep sharing.

Cheers!

-E

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Uhm... why does Mike have his name changed to "banned user"? I can't find anything but helpful and polite posts from him so I figure it's a joke or something...

[yoitisi]

Studio Colrouphobia: There's a thread about him in the lounge: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135664

I suppose this thread should be locked too...

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Studio Colrouphobia: There's a thread about him in the lounge: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135664

I suppose this thread should be locked too...

Thank you for directing me there.
From the point of me not knowing all of this, that topic makes it look more like a show of whom has the biggest ****, i.e. a personal dispute rather then anything else. Then again, I _don't_ have the full picture. So I trust it is handled with care from the powers...

Just strikes me as odd that a person who I have yet to see a single harsh wording from, or any form of bad behaviour, suddenly does something that makes him banworthy...


Sad day. Few have done so much for this comunity without actually being a part of MB...

[lewiston]

Great pencil drawings, man! I almost get a bit of a moebius feeling here and there...
Very inspiring work - thanks for that!

[sandeepbarot]

amazing

[Hellfire]

Great stuff banned! Definitely a 5 star sketchbook.
Cheers.

[surus]

thanks for sharing your creature ideas!

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

super nice sb!

[Parsakoira]

do you do those drawings with ink? looks like ink! Great stuff, really something to admire!

[Beelow]

Hey para, I don't think you will get an answer from Mike here. Something went down a while ago and I don't think he posts here because of it. We miss you Mike.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

more?! :yum: