Digital Figure Studies (update 1/30/09)

[James Kei]

As much as I love designing monsters and spaceships, there's nothing more meditative than painting the figure.
As some of you know, I teach digital figure painting at the Conceptart.org Ateleir. Here are some of the examples from my class.

I've also recorded one as a tutorial.
You can find the info here. http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123035

Thanks for looking, and as always, crits and comments are welcome.

[James Kei]

Here's one I did just yesterday.

[Robert.B]

good job man excellant values and highlight placement. the ladies knees at the top make my mouth water.

[Victor B]

these are extraordinarily exceptional , many thanks for posting and for the video

[Justin.]

Awesome James. Definitely going to snag this D/L.

[Interceptor]

Great James. THanks for showing this stuff

[Rebeccak]

Really gorgeous, especially that first one. I remember back in the day there being a cartoon by Wiley showing artists behind desktops, holding pencils up in the air. As if to say "ha, that will *never* happen!" :D Very pre-wacom. ;)

Thanks for posting.

[Benjamen Christ]

the third one from the looks a little like Mr Jason Manley............................................ .......?

[Jessica Hook]

wow, gorgeous stuff! That first one is just amazing!

the third one from the looks a little like Mr Jason Manley............................................ .......?

:nohope: no, no it doesn't. trust me.

[Atlantis]

Very Kung-Fu.

[Idiot Apathy]

Horeechit, got to get the video <3

[nicolas]

really gorgeous work James! :yayca: I like the detail and love, and mood you put into these.

[rambhat]

These are incredible, James! Just... WOW!

[emily g]

The first one is so meditative and the face is beautiful. Thanks for posting.

[Mr.Blonde]

these are fucking great man.. awesome to see them all posted here!!! solid likenesses on all this stuff, sweeeeeeeeeet!

[Hive_minD]

Big fan here. Love them all!

Chris

[Dizon]

holy molars!

[Dan Milligan]

downloading....

thanks james!!!!!!! love ya, miss ya

d

[Glenn K]

Hey James Kei

Beautiful work. You have a ton of talent and skill.

Glenn K

[Maestro Andres]

These are beautiful. Nice use of tones. Just out of curiosity, how long were these poses? Definitively, going to get this video.

[Mikael Leger]

Beautiful stuff James, very inspiring as always.

[kev ferrara]

These are great James!

[Rich Pellegrino]

excellent work James. portrait2 is really nice.

[Dougbot]

James these are awesome. In love with the second and third.

[robogabo]

Just perfect work
the anatomy, the edges
and the color man the color is awesome!

Must video for sure!

Great work James , that longpose 2 brushtrokes
is so nicely done all the reflected lights also
i'm just staring at all these thinking . . how did he painted that !!?? HOW!?

:bow: :bow: :bow:

[Matt Dixon]

Really nice stuff, James.

Last one in the first post. That little splash of saturated red in her hair. Damn tasty. Rock on.

[Diego]

wow, the first one is so amazing, thanks for making so valuable info available to us doesn't have the chance to study with a great master.
Cheers

[m@.]

kickass stuff dude! :lifedrawing:

[Layil]

awesum possum
:)

[Asatira]

Wow, amazing stuff. And right up my alley, interest wise. Definitely downloading the video.

[Android]

that's great work James. Really helpful download!! the traditional figurative principles that you cover in your download and technical photo shop tips are a power pack value of information that any digital artist of any skill level will be able to benefit from .

your tutorial will be a great service to the community !!!

[-k6]

right click > save as




awesome work

[el coro]

yay! thanks for posting. shit looks good. hawt!-c36

[TASmith]

Wow! I't amazing how these paintings look 1. real, and 2. like traditional oil paintings, yet they're neither. The first one especially. Makes me wish I could be a student of yours.

[Kan Muftić]

I'll avoid asspating and try to give tiny crits. The waist of the 1st one seems a bit off and the face of the 2nd could be wrong due to the strong shadows falling over her eyes.
But that's just me, trying to be smart.
Take care,
Khan

[RasselTassel]

inspiring. Nice to see hawt digital lifepainting... more appreciation to the artists ability and less focus on the medium.yay.

[pvrhye]

In Lifedrawing40, the glow of the skin coming through the blouse/dress/whatever is amazing.

[Lotet]

beautiful, got nothing more to say, really good job.

btw the dvd was great!

[Jacob Kobryn]

Ahhhh... So it was you painting with Andrew. I didn't know who you were. :P
Really impressive stuff. I bought the DL yesterday but I'm having a lot of download problems. It'll be REALLY helpful with some portraits I'll be doing soon for my portfolio.

[Cicinimo]

Man, these are amazing!

[strych9ine]

Goddamn you beautiful man, these are smokin. Helpful as hell, too.

In short, I love you.

[qstom]

I'm lovint it¡¡ O_O

[nonie]

<3 Awesome... I miss your class -_-

[Jedmo]

:heart: :heart: :asslick: :heart: :heart:

[monsi]

tight stuff man :)

[InvertedChalupa]

Whats even more crazy about these is how fast he burns these out. Some of these are less than 3 hours!

Way to kill it dude : )

[Cirrus]

the skin tones on the first two are simply beatiful, along with the light
charming :D

[N8 Van Dyke]

Love the blue shadows of the second one. Well done.

[cgaddict]

These look great. I really like how you emulated a traditional look with these pieces. Were these done with Painter?

[Rune Rask]

i dont know what it is... but the first image just had me captured for 25mins straight... which is rather long for me to look on anything.

apart from the usual aspects of great anatomy, tones and form, wich is great in all these images, the first one has some qualities that i cant explain... i dont know if its the pose, the subject or the composition... whatever it is, it makes me look at it again and again..

truly masterfull work..

Rune

[Sway West]

Thank you for sharing- these are gorgeous and inspiring. : )

[zanzan]

Awesome work :>love it!

[Sir Bret]

Wow, great figure work!

[James Kei]

Wow, thank you all for the kind words! :yayca:

cgaddict, these were all done in Photoshop cs3.



Here's one I did tonight. She has a very fair complexion, which made it quite the struggle.

[schlichte]

nasty must buy download irrrremediatly

[randolf]

Very good work - it looks like you painted them with the same energy and manner as if you were using oils - did you?

Thomasin
website (http://www.thomasindewhurst.com)

[aaro_n]

so oh very nice, and creamy

[Victor B]

Brilliant! love how you handled the jacket, thanks for sharing

[banhatin]

really clearly really awesome!

[Jacob Kobryn]

I may be wrong but something looks really off with the face of that last one... the cranium seems too small and the nose to big/sharp.

[nonie]

<3 nice one dude.

[gustavo desimone]

really very good

[James Kei]

Here's another longer one. I didn't get to work on it as much a the first longpose I did. Lot of fun, though.

[Mark Tarrisse]

Really really nice :) I just don't like to much the eyes, there's something that isn't right but don't know what :D

[kemo_edge]

that's Beautiful, Gr88 work

[Diego]

Those are amazing james, thanks for sharing. It's really great how you get the feel of the different materials just with a few brushstrokes.

[El Jeremie]

Nice, love the color of th skin. But i agree with Makus the barbarian about the eyes.

[Rich Pellegrino]

The lighting on the neck is beautiful.

[JustinBeckett]

Amazing work James.

Now, I must go and get myself your tutorial! I love the last one.

~JB

[James Kei]

I think your right, Markus. I didn't capture the roundness of the eyelid correctly.
Good call. Maybe I'll fix it later. Maybe not. :/

[aaro_n]

damn man San Fran has that lifedrawing on lock ;( The cast shadows on the last one are mind boggling, that foot is 'uhhhh!'

[Icon]

:) can't wait.

[Charshie]

So beautiful I don't even know what to write :) I strive to capture that kind of mood, delicacy and lighting...and anatomical wickedness in my pieces. Definitely going to download the vid. Sigh :) Reminds me of just how far I have to go looking at these. I want to see more :)

[Moikey]

Hell yeah! You are the master!

[James Kei]

I took a break from portrait painting, and got back into it this past week. Here is my first effort since then. He had on some fur vest thingy. Looked quite cro-mag.
Done in Coro's 3 hour painting class. Six 20 min. sessions, I believe.

[jabraniho]

wow! really nice work you got here james! i really like 2nd row right image alot. inspiring stuff =)

-jung

[Dished]

jeez man! love your work ! argh now all ive been using for most of my life drawing is my laptop haha. my newsprint's only got a few pages used. thanks for sharing and inspiring !

[Dan Milligan]

James!!!!!
i'm always amazed.
miss you,
dan

[MoonVisionStudio]

Gorgeous work.

[DidiHer]

Really beautifull work!

[Chuck,mate.]

my my... what a post.
thanks for sharing these with us.
gorgeous studies, each and every one.



Pat.

[Chate Noire]

These studies are so beautiful.
You capture the color and life of your subjects so well...the skintones are fantastic.

[poise]

I met you briefly at Carl's show in the city a few weeks a ago. I'm Christine's studio mate. Thought I would pop in and say Hi! and beautiful figure paintings. The first one is especially gorgeous. :)
Cheers,
-Tiffany

[RaWIII]

wow sir, you are fearless. The structure in these are incredible, and these are well composed might i add.

[aaro_n]

when you mention 'six 20 min' is that constituting 20 min, break. 20 min, break. and so on?

[SamBrown36]

You crushed it last portrait session. Damn man, really awesome.

[Jorge Gecov]

Super!!!

[Victor B]

loves it! thanks for sharing James Kei.

[Dile_]

wow, beautiful work... I showed your work to a friend who was trying to understand edges...and she went "aha! so thats what it is!" hehe
masterful edge control :) especially like the first one!

[Sway West]

Gorgeous! Please keep sharin'.

[Jason Manley]

i would love to see a little more optical color that you are so good at showing up in the digital life stuff. just opinion...nothing more...especially in the flesh.

[csteingart]

Dope. more (please)

[Dark_Eyes]

beautiful stuff, doesn't even feel that digital to me...

[LogicINK]

very nicely done sir! Excellent work with the lighting!

[bonedog]

You really nailed some subtle forms and colors on that last one, James. It's rare to see that in digital unless it's someone slavishly copying a photo. Great job! :)

[carnal]

those are awesome, what disciplined technique... I’d be so geeked to have that caliber work in my portfolio…. I going to go look for your tute right now baby

[James Kei]

Hey guys, here's another long pose study. Well, not as long as the first one I did. This one was done in 5 sessions at 3 hours each plus breaks. Though I really wish I could have spent more time on this one. The models hair was amazing! :)
I'm learning so much doing these. I cant wait for the next pose.

BTW, painting the figure under natural light is a real bitch. The forms and temperature shifts are super subtle. :/

[Mr.Blonde]

sweeeeet dood! looks super solid... glad to see you posted it:) hope your break's going well!

[riceface]

jesus frakin christ those are way too good, i suck so i can't say nothing

[Barts]

holy shit that is bloody awesome. :)

[Victor B]

Glad to hear the models hair was amazing cause my eyes went right to it, you handled it fantastically! Thanks for sharing its always a pleasure.

[D@niel]

O_o HOLY.....!

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Love that latest one, James, the whole thing looks so delicately handled o.O!

[mariusz]

This thread is awsome! Your works blow my mind!
5 stars!

[Robert.B]

You always capture the most intricate subtleties James. Your a very honest draftsman!

[cbonura]

I caught a quick glimpse of this in class last week. Really sweet study man.

Chris-

[Dile_]

woah, niceeee man, I think you did a great job with the skin and light!!

[FranciscoShreds]

Man... These are amazing... Just brilliant.

[kev ferrara]

I love the integrity in these... the subtle shifts of color and value. And especially that you are capturing an ineffable "tone" in each one of these pictures... a synthesis of the pose, the person, and you... which is something that can't be taught.

You sir, are an artist! Thanks for sharing!

kev

[InvertedChalupa]

beautiful! Love that last one homie. Merry christmas!

[Mr.Punch]

Amazing stuff. Its very inspiring to see how easy you make it look. Figure drawing is the ultimate source of visual knowledge!

[willkrinpetry]

I like your worck. Very good.


Bogdan Petry

[selfu]

great paintings, your style is impressive..also your colors ! damn - happy new year in 2009!

[super skoda]

The most recent nude is stunning! I can't wait to see more, more more!

[nonie]

That last one is great, I especially love the legs and knees. One crit, you should feed your models :P

[Marko Djurdjevic]

Man, I've seen that last chick all over the place lately. She some kind of celebrity or what :P
Haha.
No dude, it rocks. But you know it. Mutherfucker. You're so badass.

[GimpPainter]

Hey

Thats really nice didnt find with what you do this it rather looks to me not as a paintes picture but as a 3D Render.

Greetings Lhiya

[James Kei]

Wow, thanks all for the generous coments.
This one is from today's sesh.

[archipelago]

excellent man! i dig the slight stylisation. works very well. anyway, i really enjoyed meeting and talking to you at the wellington workshop!

keep it up!