Mock: 10/4 Thumbnails and WIP progress shots, pg. 21.

[Mock]

Stuff goes here.

[OmenSpirits]

Love the fluid line work. :D

[aldous_huxley]

dude this stuff is totally rad (Y)

[Mock]

These are my first attempts at ever drawing portraits from real life pictures, done during my lunch break today. XD They went alright, but hopefully next update I will have something a bit more dynamic for you guys

3 minute anatomy sketches, also. I'll do some hour or so anatomy pictures tomorrow on my day off. =)

[loveandasandwich]

i reeeeally like your first two sketches! theyre interesting and look like something i havent really seen before. :D keep postin!

[Deon]

Very nice stuff! I love the two full-figure drawings and your lines are beautiful!
I would like to see that guy with the chain-weapon with finished feet, though:)

[Gloominati]

I think this is the beginning of a great sketchbook, show us some more stuff, I really dig your style!!

[Eva K]

looking really good, see a lot of potential. Please keep posting :)

[fetchlight]

I love how fluid your drawings look, it's wonderful

[brentlow17]

im impressed. i love the expressiveness of the faces. five stars!

[a_a]

Beautiful line work and so so incredible style.. I really love it! ;)

[destinyapocalypse]

u have nice characters :D

[LECO]

Cool sketches bro, keep em coming ;-)

[Mock]

Thank you so much for all of the support and encouragement, guys. CA has been such a nice change of pace from DA, and I look forward to posting mroe stuff here as I progress.

Though I'd put this up since I have it lying about in photobucket. Detail shot of the face at actual painting size.

Hopefully will have some environment paintings and more anatomy work done tomorrow once I get Vista to submit to my will and accept my scanner drivers.

[BANDD]

love your style, real fluid and expresive, i see this to be a nice sb to come :D hopping to see more

[Mock]

Thank you <3 I updated the first post with WIPs of some of the more recent work for my Atelier portfolio. Will be uploading more soon!

I'm sketching like a madwoman over here =P

[SEVANS]

Love the cave pic, and the last pencil drawings are cool - very delicate, but sure looking linework. minimal effort to describe the forms. Nicely done.

[Mock]

Thankya. I've been playing around with different sketching methods, and I found that one to be the fastest for when I'm trying to get things down quickly.

[thrilafrommanila]

this is a great sb! my favorite it the underground cave, they textures and colors are beautiful! hope to see more ;)

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

quite nice, the stuff you have here. I like the first one the most though, as the colours are more dynamic, and the lack of that is what is killing that other woman a bit. Also, the proportions are a bit of, so you might wanna consider trying to flip the canvas from time to time to have a look from a different perspective:)

-E

[Mock]

Yeah, I think I need to scrap the red woman entirely and start her over. XD Do something more dynamic.

WIP design sheet!

http://i35.tinypic.com/339hg0y.jpg

[darkenuf]

im no goin to lie i honesly think i hate you your 3 minue anatomy sketches are awsome

[Mock]

Darkenuf: Haha, thanks! Anatomy is something I've always needed more work on, so I've been doing lots of that lately.

Aaaand now here's more of it. Trying some quick (4-5 minute) full body poses.

[Mock]

More sketchy stuff

[Mock]

I'm going to attempt one of those 100-theme challenge things. First theme is "Introduction".

Just sort of going with whatever pops into my head first, since I need to get better at conveying the images that are in my head rather than dumbing them down into something easier to draw.

Thumbnail sketch for the idea, mostly just to get the colors/atmosphere down.

[Mock]

WIPs from this week. School has been ridiculously busy, leaving me very little time. =( Still, drawing as much as I can!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/L2.png

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/introthumbnai8.jpg

[Dahami]

Nice atmospheric environments and shapely females. You can't go wrong with that.

[Mock]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/face2.jpg

Working on trying to keep things loose with these 30 minute portrait sketches. I tend to over render way too early, so this is just an exercise to help me stop that. XD

[Mock]

Wow it's been a while. I will have to compile all of the works in progress from the past few weeks, but here's what I'm working on for the EoW this week:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/moors2-3.png

[Mock]

Just boring eye practices. Trying varying levels of line weights

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/eye1copy.png

[Mock]

Been reading a lot of stuff lately about value and portraits and decided to play around. I'm going to try to ultimately make this a super-rendered portrait.

Shaak Ti from the Star Wars franchise. I've been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a kid, and Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura were always my favorites, so here she is so far.

About 15 minutes in so far. I think her eyes are super-off.. should probably fix that.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/st1.jpg

[Jaytea]

Lookin' good so far! I like your other stuff, very nice portraits. :]

[headlessAdi]

Hi!....great work....me kinda in your situation....two years into Information Technology...2 more to go....then hope to get into CA Atelier .........huh.....you by the looks of your work will get in....don't worry and keep pushing....visit my SB and critique!
-Adi

[Mock]

It's definitely an ambitious goal, but I'm hoping that a lot of work and determination will get me there eventually. I'm completely dedicated to succeeding as an artist, so I'll find a way to do it.

I guess it takes us a few years of doing something we hate to realize just how much we need to do what we love, haha.

[Mock]

Steps 2 and 3. Taking progress shots ever 15 minutes. Sooo.. 45 mins now, I think. I know it doesn't look like 45 mins worth, but I keep flipping the canvas and re-working the facial structure.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/st2.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/st3.jpg

[Mock]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/st4.jpg

[kikindaface]

Hey Chachia, Your digital paintings looks good. For the last one, values are great, and I love the lips. Maybe you've intentionnaly made that, but I find that distance between eyes is a bit big. You are working fast, or I work very slowly :), but painting that in 45 minutes, wow. Keep it up man !!

[Mock]

Yeah, I noticed that when I was doing the sides of the nose on the latest segment. I'm gonna move em around when I pick it up after dinner.

And thanks! I'm having fun exaggerating the lips, and values are something I've needed to work on quite a bit, so I'm glad I'm getting better at them.

[Mock]

Keyboard on the laptop at home crapped out due to careless coffee spilling. So future posts for a while shall be textless since I can't copy/paste entire sentences letter by letter like I can for my login/password. =P I'll respond to comments and edit in descriptions whenever I'm here at the library between posts.

[sandeepbarot]

great!

[Mock]

Nyyyyyygh. Scratch that, apparently the coffee spill got sucked up by the fan and my laptop has officially not just bitten the dust, but completely deepthroated it. Looks like I'm sticking to pencils for a while. Will be switching to weekly sketch updates on Mondays. <3

[jedininjaman]

study some facial proportions work for a bit
on your first portrait it is excellently styalized but not very accurate proportion wise
for example the nose is too long, the lips arent wide enough, ears are tiny, and the eye shape is off
neither one of those things are very bad, but all of them together make for an unrealistic portrait. I dont mean to be harsh, just sincere
your environment work is very nice and your last portrait looks much nicer over all
so keep up the good work and stop by sometime :)
-=jedi=-

[Mock]

study some facial proportions work for a bit
on your first portrait it is excellently styalized but not very accurate proportion wise
for example the nose is too long, the lips arent wide enough, ears are tiny, and the eye shape is off
neither one of those things are very bad, but all of them together make for an unrealistic portrait. I dont mean to be harsh, just sincere
your environment work is very nice and your last portrait looks much nicer over all
so keep up the good work and stop by sometime :)
-=jedi=-

Yeah, I picked up a book last night on classical portrait techniques since I'm only able to use traditional media for a few weeks (or months, who knows). Putting down the tablet and getting back to the basics for a while will be good for me.

No worries about being too harsh! When it comes to seeking improvement, there's no such thing as criticism too harsh. That fact that you took the time to actually look and notice those things, as well as comment on them, is very much appreciated.

[Mock]

Just ordered a shiny new Macbook Pro. It's my first Mac, so I'm excited. However, it won't be here til the 5th, so until then you'll have to deal with my library-scanned random studies.

Working on speed, so I tried to keep the faces under 3 minutes.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/study1.png

Will probably post more of these later today when I'm finished with my rounds of anatomy sketches.

[sodAp]

loving your stuff so far. Your story is quite similar to mine, I also studied science until I realized what I wanted was just making art, I'm 22... I'd also love to one day get to de CA Atelier, but you're quite ahead of me to be honest.

I know this comment wont help you at all, but anyway... :P

[Doudou]

Una Parola puo descrivere tuo stilo: ELEGANTE, le tue ligne sono molto elegante, i colori sono morbidi e armoniosi... Keep it up! Ur gonna impress everyone oneday, not just Mr. Dobsky.:) Ciao ciao
Plz visit me thread n give me ur crit i'd really appreciate it!

[Mock]

Just a few doodles done this morning while I'm on a break from school and have access to a scanner. Graduation is in 2 weeks, so once finals are over I can really crack down and focus on art and getting a good portfolio together to finally submit to the CA Atelier.

Please forgive the scan quality.

[Mock]

Doudou: Grazie! I can only hope I live up to that, haha. I will do my best.

SodAp: At least we've both realized it at last!

[stoph]

dude youve improved a heckovvalot since you started this SB, and in such short a time, too! you had some funky proportion/placement issues when it came to faces, but it looks like youve sorted that out with your latest offerings. all the best with getting into the atelier!

[Mock]

Thanks, stoph! I follow your sketchbook pretty regularly, so I'm happy to see you comment here. It's always great to get feedback from artists I admire.

I'll hopefully be able to submit a decent portfolio in a couple of months. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed til then.

[revenebo]

You are improving quite fast indeed. I especially like post #21 and the bw face, the distance between the eyes is a bit over the average but not enough to make her looking weird (on the contrary sometime this creates a peculiar visage that makes a woman beautiful).
Have you attended art school or are you self-taught?


P.S. Are you Italian? Come to the Italian Local Artist Thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25308&page=2)! There is quite nothing actually but that's a place to exchange info about (few) news and events in Italy...

[Mock]

Thank you, reve! I'm self taught. I didn't take much of an interest in art until late in high school, so when it came time to pick a college, my parents were of the, "Pre-med science degree or pay for it yourself" mentality. So after four years and a Biochem degree (graduating in two weeks, whoohoo), I'm finally biting the bullet and pursuing art anyways.

I just bookmarked the thread! Thanks for linking me, I didn't know there was an Italian artists thread.

[Mock]

Also added the compiled version of what I got done of Shaak Ti into a step-by-step and added it to the first post. I will try to finish it whenever I get a harddrive enclosure and can get the file onto this computer.

[shamandalie]

Colors! i love your colors! <3

MOARR MOARRRR!!!

[Mock]

Thank you! I'll do more color studies and such as soon as I get back home and back to my tablet. Right now I'm chained to my sketchbook; not necessarily a bad thing.

[Eclair]

that is fast improvement! the only thing i can say is "keep going"!

[Unbreakable]

Your figures seem to be missing the hands and feet. draw them it will help you more than you think.

[Mock]

Unbreakable: Yeah, I have been doing a lot of timed anatomy drawings so I tend to skimp on the hands and feet. That or I draw them, get aggravated, and then erase them. XD I will make sure to put hands and feet in some of them from now on.

Ekler: Thanks! I will definitely keep pushing myself.

[aph]

Nice stuff, I've been meaning to draw some vagina too.

I like your lines but I would only say that you could think a little about line widths and where to pull the form forwards and back using that line weight.

Bio Chem too? damn.. =D

[Mock]

Aph: Can never draw too much vagina, man. The reference sites are just full of it.

The Biochem major is just a diversion from what I'm really suppose to be doing. Hopefully after a while it won't be something I have to think about anymore. But it's good for a day job for saving money so I can one day move out to Cali.

I will try to experiment with line weights more. I hadn't even really thought about it, thanks for mentioning it!

[a la bapsi]

nice new name. <3

[Mock]

Fuck You Davi. Fuck You So Hard.

[rubicante]

You should be thanking him, that's one cool nick. And now at least you'll have a story to tell your grandchildren. :P Or your fans, once you're famous.

And as an afterthought: nice sketchbook, keep it up. :D

[revenebo]

Ex-Chachia/Mock sorry if I keep on haunting your SB but I just discovered something interesting. Android Jones and Marko Djurdjevic will be in Bologna soon (as Android wrote here (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=142862)). I just thought you could find it interesting (if you're not like the major part of Italians on CA who live abroad...).

P.S. What's the problem with Mock? And what's the problem with Davi? I missed something...

[Mock]

Rubicante: Haha, sorry. I didn't leave an explanation. I asked Davi to switch it from Chachia to Mock while we were all hanging out on Vent, and he had some fun antagonizing me.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/Picture1-2.png

So when I was said, "Awesome, now when I have portfolio questions for Carl he will definitely notice the PM."

So it changed to: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/Picture2.png

And upon my last post: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/Picture4.png

Finally it became Mock. =P Silly Davi.

Revenebo: Awww! That makes me sad. I'm in the US for university.

[Mock]

Quick anatomy studies done last week that I forgot about. Ignore the effed up placeholder face.

On the plus side I got a hard drive enclosure so I'll be able to finish my Shaak Ti picture after finals. =D

[Mock]

I'm an idiot and I get excited about totally insignificant things. This is the first time I tried that whole "use an overlay to add colors after establishing values" thing" that Jason Chan used in his video.

NYGHHHHHH COLORS.

Needs more vodka.

[forgeman]

Thanks for showing your process... Very nice, stuff! Can't wait to see more

[nana_iro_miso]

i really like the digital stuff you've posted. And the linework from your sketches is great! can't wait to see more =]

[maeshanne]

nice work, like your paintings

[kelly x]

Hi and this work is great, nice start!! Your Avatar is awesome too, that's what drove me to look. I want to add some very small crit about the front on face's your chin region is a little off, but, maybe it's a style thing? if so cool, if not the chin's are a bit off in symmetry and draws attention away from the perfection of the rest of the piece. Such nice work and I love the environment as well... So nice and cool!!! K

[Medieve]

Just curious about the December 1st updates. Were they direct observation? And how long did you give yourself to do them?

[Clochette]

Good job! :D Your characters are sexy, I like those thin faces you do.

[SamC]

Really inspiring stuff :D

[Robert.B]

Keep up the solid work!

[Chaotica]

Your color applying techniques drives me crazy...i want to see u do some mechA art...some funky ass droids..u kno wot i mean? keep it going ...and do visit my page to leave some feedbacks..i wud like to hear frm you

[a la bapsi]

vagina

[sjuskadur]

amazing stuff you got here mate! just inspiring!

keep it upp ill drop by on regular basis :)

[kidult]

Good job on the face so far!

[Mock]

kidult: Thanks! I will be finishing it up hopefully over Christmas break.

sjuskadur: Thanks man. I'm hoping that after around the 18th (when I move) I will be flooding this thing on a daily basis once I settle down into trying to put together a portfolio for the Atelier.

bapsi: penispenispenis

chaotica: I was actually looking at some of ruanjiajia's mech stuff and thinking, "Damn, I want to do that!" So that's on the list.

Robert B: Thanks! <3 Hopefully I'll be back to vent soon. Finals are stealing all of my time.

SamC: I'm glad you like it.

Clochette: XD I use to try and not make faces so thin, but I can't help it. I love them that way.

Medieve: They were all from photos on characterdesigns.com, and with the exception of the girl sitting, they were 3-4 minutes each. The girl sitting was somewhere around 10 minutes, I think.

kelly x: Oh wow, I didn't even notice. Nope, not a style thing at all, just me being unobservant. Thanks for letting me know so I can fix it!

maeshanne: Thanks!

nana_iro_miso: Hopefully I'll have more digital stuff to post after graduation is over. And thanks for commenting!

forgeman: No problema. I use to always want to see progress shots from other artists. The CHOW threads have some really awesome progress shots from algenpfleger and some other amazing entrants. You should check it out.

Holy shnockers. I'm not use to having comments to reply to. XD You guys flatter me. I haven't done much this week since it's finals week and I'm graduating saturday (hooray for not having to pursue a non-art related career path any further).

The only thing I've had time to do is a slightly prolonged anatomy study. Will be adding in hands, feet, face details, etc etc etc. I want to make it at least a 4-5 hour study so I can get into the habit of detailing. I know, I know. Type less, draw more.

45 minutes so far, in Painter X. Practicing drawing things with stringer lighting than what I'm accustomed to.

[spaztastic]

Ah....you must crap AWESOME! seriously 45min. damn one of the things I am working on took me at least an hour and I am still blocking the dang thing in. could you please crit it for me.I have it posted in the critiquing area titled "rip it a new one please!".
I too am self taught, however I haven't had enough time of late to do as many practices as I ought to. I just had a bebe in march and apparently they take up a s*&t load of time, or so I have just noticed with the lack of skills in my art. so anyhoo, love your art.

[Mock]

Spazz: If I crap awesome, I must be having a major streak of constipation. I'll go check out the crit thread in a bit and comment.

In the middle of graduation and moving, but I though I would post this before I pack up my computer and tablet. Just messing around with character designs in my head.

[kikindaface]

It's been a while that I didn't come ! Love your figure drawing, and the last one done digitaly looks nice ! Keep it up

[I'A CTHULHU]

nice girls! :-) i like the colors they're so natural!
br

[Mock]

Walid: Nice to see you again, man. And thanks!

Cthulu: Haha, I really need to draw more guys. Thanks for commenting.

Still in the middle of hauling my ass across the country for the next step of the long, long path to becoming a pro artist. Haven't had more than a couple of hours at the computer.

My (forever) unfinished CHOW entry and some random shit done to get an idea out of my head.

[Mock]

While my friend is in the bathroom trying to shave a long-haired cat so that she has short hair and furry booties on her paws, I thought I'd post this.

15 minute skintone practice with shape blob hat nyyyyyyyyygh

[localfatheaded]

I think the studies are starting to pay off, just keep going, it's ooking good!

[Mock]

WIP sketch for this weeks CHOW

[Mock]

Update~

[hunchback]

nice works mock
your studys are certainly helping you
just keep doing more xD

bye bye

[Mock]

Update before bed. Lots to do. Ignore sketchy placeholder lines. Just needed to get an idea of size while I set down some messy BG colors.

Nananananananananacrap.

[a la bapsi]

holy shit that's epic.
can't wait to see christmas present
with his good buddies ignorance and want

[SamC]

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come looks epic! Look forward to seeing the other characters put in :D

[spaztastic]

Update before bed. Lots to do. Ignore sketchy placeholder lines. Just needed to get an idea of size while I set down some messy BG colors.

Nananananananananacrap.

YAY your not constipated anymore..... A good CHOW will do that for you. I am loving the lighting in this Mock just gorgeous.

[Lyno]

Ouch man Mock, I love your characters, you got me inspired to do some more faces :).

Bookmarked!

[voraz]

Very nice stuff Mock.
keep it up.

[kidult]

Definately a step-up with this chow! keep at it!

[Φ]

It thin you deserve 5* not 4!
licking your avatar painting! Wonderful SB!

sorry for non-crit-comment…just don´t feel that I could help you!
keep posting
cheers

[Mock]

Starting 2009 off with a crazy move across the country to Arizona, signing up for figure drawing sessions that actually involve real models, and trying to get everything unpacked so that I can get back to drawing.

Thanks to everyone who has commented and critiqued over my first few months here at CA. You guys keep me motivated.

I plan on making 2009 an amazing year which will end with me considerably advanced on the path to becoming a pro concept artist and (with a little luck and a lot of work) will find me in San Francisco by the end of the year.

Updated CHoW WIP. Hopefully will have this finished tomorrow or the day after, providing I can find my tablet mini display adapter.

[Mock]

Just a quick face doodle before hitting the gym. Trying to get use to painting faces without references.

[Evxyza92]

I can't wait to see that three ghosts finished, such a great play. I like how your taking The third ghost, he easily is the best to be creative with , well in my opinion anyway! Keep it up , love the stuff you got here!

[MJ_Alcazar]

Loving your CHOW Mock, can't wait to see it finished.

[Jonish]

Hello Mock,
your portfolio is really stunning, although that king in green looks gay so far, I'm sure that it's caused by contrast with dark tough guy on other side. Also, are you going to add more space above her head?

Another thing, your unfinished chow, post #85 made me ask, if you think enough about purpose of things, armors. It definitely looks cool, but her helmet makes her look prepared for battle but that armor / cloth on her chest with large hole on her belly makes it useful hardly for somebody else than Judean People's Front crack suicide squad from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Anyway, I really love your style, keep going, I hope to see more work from you. Good luck with CA atelier!

[Mock]

Jonish: Haha, thanks. I'll need it. =P I was originally going to add more space, but I don't have time to push it any further due to impending social interactions (aka; alcohol and poker). And yeah, the armor is completely impractical, haha. But I just pass it off as saying she's a magic user or something and thus only has to wear armor for its stylish appearance... or that I just felt like painting skin.

Alcazar: Thanks! I had much grander plans for it, but with the move and holidays there just wasn't as much time as I had hoped. Yours is looking kick ass as well. I love how you use colors.

Exy: Yeah, the third ghost definitely has the most room for interpretation it seems. That one was my favorite to paint.


Aaand the finished Chow: Ghosts of Christmas. My first full image done digitally from scratch with no refs.

[selfu]

when it goes about last picture...i think u should give another skintone for the man on our left..while actual is to pink PINK for me :P fellow in our right should b a little bit bigger...imo ;) ( he's that christmas ghost right?)
woman should have a uncovered face..but that's all my opinion about composition and colors man ;)

keep posting!

cheers!

[Mock]

Selfu: Yeah. I can definitely see how that would make it better. I crapped out at the end and rushed so much of it. I think I may go back and repaint the entire thing for practice later on.

Playing around with painting with a ton of transparent layers and rich colors after looking at a lot of ruanjia's work. So far I'm enjoying it. Might try doing a full image this way later on.

[Mock]

Bridgman studies and doodles done while on the hunt for a new dayjob.

[DanielC]

Nice studies madame ! More more more !

[cdejong]

Your work looks really really nice man, I'm digging the brigdman studies, and you're digital paintings are looking better and better. However, there are a couple of things I see with the painting that I'm not sure about, mostly concerning the king in the left bottom. His skin tone looks a little too cheerful, but that's not a big problem. What is important is the composition of the piece. Even though the king is in the bottom part, he attracts a lot of attention because of his green cloak, which complements the red around him and makes him stand out a lot more than the girl, which I would think is your main focus in this work. Also to comment on the story in the piece. Who are these people, what are they doing there... what is their relation. Technically, the piece is really nice, but compositionally and story-wise, it's a bit lacking. Very nice work though, and I might just be reading too far into a piece of concept art, but I thought I should point that out.

Keep up the awesome work man!

[ashess]

hey there Mock!
into bridgman too huh? great work here. and great progress!
I love the way you shade, espec your model drawing. its very soft, but always retains that 3rd dimention. I think sometimes, like in the last post, your faces get a little big for the bodies. but its pretty good anat wise as far as I can tell. I think you shoulda just gone with the right figure for the CHow though- hes so much more awesome then the rest.

[sheetghost]

Hi Mock! I've been looking around here and I really like your style in your pencil drawings.

Your 'ghosts of Christmas' chow, I like the third ghost is the best. The other two just seem out of place, the colors look too bright.

[Vehkt]

I like the cleanliness of your studies, it's what I (at least attempt to) go for too, though I guess I should spend more time just getting the positions and shapes right before worrying about clean line work :P.

[revenebo]

Awsome improvement, you're leaping onward.
Post #82 and those arm studies rock.

[Mock]

Revenebo: Thanks! Taking it step by tiny step, lol.

Vehkt: Thanks. The clean line work comes from doing all of the shapes and finding the anatomy in really light strokes, and then going back over it with darker lines after I've figured out what is suppose to go where.

Sheetghost: Thank you! Yeah, looking back on it I definitely should have balanced things out a lot more.

Ashess: I think almost every aspiring artist is into Bridgman, lol. Or should be. He makes remembering anatomy much, much easier.

Sebbonaparte: Thank you so much for the in depth critique. I will probably revisit the painting later and try to re-do it, so that will come in very handy.

DanielC: Grazie, my friend!


A few more pages of Bridgman studies, and my very first figure drawing done from a model last night at the Dr. Sketchys in Phoenix. If you have a Dr. Sketchys event near you (there's a thread with all of their locations in the Art Discussion forum), please go. It really is an entirely different experience drawing from such a great model.

Thing I learned from my first life drawing experience:

1. Do not just bring a .5 lead pencil.
2. Don't forget you kneaded eraser.
3. Don't draw the models entire head at 3/4 of an inch tall.

[cdejong]

Hey man.

Awesome Bridgman studies, gotta love em.

That's a terrific job for your first live figure drawing, I just did my first today as well, it was thrilling. Your's looks very nice, and to be honest it took me a while to come up with anything to crit. I found it in the foot. The feet have to be one of the hardest parts of the body to nail just right. In this case you were doing everything right until right after the ankle. Then the foot turns 2d. You didn't define the form of the foot soundly enough. Some sort of shading to turn the planes of the foot would have helped a lot, and possibly some definition on the big bone connected to the end of the toe. If you watch out for that (which I have plenty of trouble with) then you should be in awesome shape.

Also just wanted to say, please don't take my crits too harshly on yourself. Since we're fellow SSG members, I figured it would be good for me to find something... anything really that I could find to crit you on. I feel like the biggest nitpicker, I hope you don't mind.

[Fitzin]

Your imaginative renderings in photoshop are getting nicer indeed. Your not afraid of the "carpentry".

I've read from Mentler and Hale that doing the front profile, without showing the two sides of the mass, can be quite a crutch since it is read that It flattens the figures. Next time try and tilt it a bit to work that brain!

With the christman carol piece, I suggest more expression in the face to make it stand out. Study facial expressions. Also needs more of a compostion to it to help guide the viewers eye. You can expierement with it with thumbnails. Needs some gesture/action to make it "alive".

[DanielC]

Looking good madame. Keep working on those studies ! You ever tried pen too ?

[Call0ps]

nice studies ! makes me realize how much i need to do myself ^^; that life drawings looks great! keep it up

[DaStreets]

Great works. I love the digital art, it is inspiring and creative. Ur studies is what caught my eye. They are beautifully done and very clean. What are some tips for good studies? I need to so better ones, comment me back, thanks

[Mock]

Seb: Yeah. Feet are something I need to make sure I draw into my images more. I have a tendency to be a lazy ass about them.

Fitzin: Will do! I picked up a book today on expression, so more of that will be popping up in here soon.

Daniel: I haven't tried any yet, but I'll do some tomorrow while I'm doingmy daily round of studies.

Call0ps: Thanks! No such thing as too many studies.

DaStreets: For good studies the only real thing I can say it "again and again." The best way to learn from studies rather than just copying work is to analyze what you are drawing, and draw it so much that it becomes stuck in your brain.

The past couple of days have been insane. I'm busting my ass trying to get a decent portfolio together to show to Carl at the Dallas workshop, so I should have a massive sketch/study/color update by the end of this week. Right now, here's an idea doodle I did for an image involving the same species from post #82.

[a la bapsi]

loving your pencils. :D
your portfolio will look great. <3

[Peetaer]

man, good shit you've got here. good to hear the positive spirit you have about the CA workshop and your future in general. i'm working to get myself out to san fran myself. i'm looking to be out there around july. can't wait to attend all those CA workshops. gonna be awesome!

rock on dude!

[JailHouseRock2]

Relly enjoyed your Ghosts of Christmas CHOW, fantasic Bridgman studies too, wish I could get mine to look that clean!

keep up the good work,
matt

[Mock]

bapsi: Lets hope so, haha. So little time!

Peetaer: Thanks! A positive attitude is a must when you're faced with phenomenal artists every day, haha.

Matt: Thanks. I will probably revisit that CHOW eventually, lots of things that need to be fixed.

I will save all of the anatomy studies and pencils for a massive sketchdump sometime this weekend. In the meantime, here's a speedy image of a friends character. I tried to stick to a slightly anime-ish look to match his own style, even if its not my personal preference for painting.

About 1.5 hours. I know, there's tons of shit wrong with it, but I don't have much time to devote to non-portfolio work until after the Dallas workshop hits.

[Fitzin]

It whould be fantastic that you'd end up in that Dallas workshop, may it solve many of your questions concerning art. I myself, whould love to go, but I'm very far away from it.

It whould be intresting if you tryed tackling a more dynamic pose such as an battle scene like Frank Franzetta can do.

I know Loomis showed somthing in his PDF "Creative illustration" about why he uses symmertrical design with pictoral meaning, So you can explore that also.

Work that arse off!

[sketcheth]

Oh, very sexy sketchbook. The character designs are phenomenal! I especially like the two at the very bottom of hte previous page, the guy with the horns and the girl with sweet pants. Wow...I just want more! I'll be stopping by again!
Have fun at the Dallas Workshop, I would love to be there for that...damn....school. Enjoy that. Are you allowing yourself to post your portfolio work? I'm sure I speak for all when I say we'd all love to see.

[ashess]

I have to wonder the same thing.. if this is the stuff you keep out of your portfolio the pieces in it must be amazing. though, personally, I always found the easiest way to put together a portfolio was just rummage through all my drawings, and make the best ones presentable (like putting 'm in a pass par tout; I'm a little messy). of course, I only really did 2, both for an art academy. so maybe your position is different. year later I did sit in on intakes at the second one, so I do know what the teachers looked for. just remember; usually people want to see a lot of sketches too.

[Mock]

Fitzin: I think I have those Loomis books, actually. I'll dig them out and get to work!

Sketcheth: Thanks! I'll definitely be posting the portfolio stuff once I get it completed. I'll actually be doing a couple of design sheets for the two from the previous page to be included in my portfolio. =)

Ashess: Yeah, I think what I'm going to do is have the sketches and concept doodles for the finished image on the left side of the page, and then on the right have the finished illustration. That way it shows both the design process and the finished piece.

Sketches and doodles and studies from the past few days. Another friends character done just for fun. A page of ideas and doodles for a type of sorcerer that manipulates gravitational fields, and some 90 second posemaniacs studies.

I have several pages (just more boring anatomy/perspective stuff) that I can't get scanned in because my scanner crapped out halfway through. I'll try to get them scanned in later tonight.

Looooots of color work coming up, and lots of character designs. Probably sometime late next week.

[Mock]

Bleh. I have scrapped so many hours of work this week. Trying to loosen up and let things flow a bit more, and trying to get out of my comfort zone in terms of design. Discouraged, discouraged, discouraged. I'm at that "Oh god how am I going to get good enough" stage again. Gonna keep pushing through the blockage.

Doodle of what I'm working on.

[Genome]

Hi, I have a certain few people that I watch in the sketchbook area ( its a lot less creepy then it sounds ahah) and you are one of them. What can I say I'm a sucker for anyone with a star wars Avatar. Anywho on to what I came to say.

I see you don't have a day job (not calling you out, just getting my facts straight) So you have at least two jobs that I can see. Teacher and student, ouch. Both can be the hardest jobs in the world depending on whom you work with. Luckily it seems like you are with your favourite person ( YOU!) So remember that all workplaces have to have a positive work environment(Dont get down on yourself, quality mixed with quantity is what you want right now, theres no rush as long as you dont waste time :) ). What I am getting at is that you seem to be in the middle of these to jobs. Learning and applying in fair amounts (I'm judging this based on what you have posted, hopefully there is more that you haven't) But I think you can do better. Vary the studies more. Make them short and have hundreds of repitions, posemaniacs.com for a while mixed with those life drawing classes.

But I cannot leave without trying to install the importance of LONGGGG studies. Longer than you think you can bear( hopefully you are doing these already). 4-8 hours studies; they can be w.e the heck you want. Your face, a stick, a cup, a master study. But they build patience and rendering skills. They don't have to be everyday, but try as often as you would quick studies. try to walk away with having learned something from purely just observing what you are painting/drawing.

Also I saw your post in another section of the forum about your schedule... I think you need to give yourself a lot more time to do things. Most concept artists spend days on Illus or just the concept it self, and considering now that everything has gone H.D everything has to be VERY detailed. If you take a look at this right here -- (which i bet like me you have MANY times) http://conceptart.org/school/info.shtml
They do one thing for at least 3 hours. And they build those foundations of art EVERY day. I'm not saying that you aren't ready to be making concepts, i just think that in the long run you will grow much much much faster if you focus mainly on the foundations. Especially anatomy, perspective, and COMPOSTION! (i think this is a bit of a weak spot for you) Sorry if i am being blunt, but I think you're the kind that doesn't need to be pussy footed around.

Now on to a more specific Critic!(Haha I am such a wind bag) The three figure CHOW you did with the dude with the beard.

-Dont cover up what you can't do,(why would you cover the girls face with hair? She should have been the focal point and we need something for our eyes to rest on) fix it until it looks right. Even Wesley Burt had to slowly come off reference too, but learning is the most important thing! Fix it till you make it look right.

- The man with the beard looks a bit feminine because he has a soft brow (if this was on purpose im sorry :S) woman are all soft curves in the face where as men (the more rugged/handsome they get) have more sharp angles and harsh bumps. Check out a cave mans brow compared to yours and youll know what im talking about.

In conclusion, I hope I was of some help and didnt offend you. I think your progress so far is amazing :) and I think youll get exactly where you want to be. Because you have drive, and thats worth its weight in gold.

P.s ,again hope i wasn't too blunt. I really think you are awesome and a much better artist than I am.

[sourgasm]

your pencils are getting real good, real fast. keep it up!

[Mock]

Genome: Not offended at all. In fact, I'm extremely grateful that you took the time to write that out. It was very helpful. I'm reworking the schedule after reviewing the atelier schedule to give myself more time for long projects and foundational work and such. And yeah. On the woman's face I made the mistake of trying to just cover up what was challenging me rather than pushing through it. I promise to work on that. =) Composition is definitely a weak point for me. I picked up a couple of books on the subject today, so hopefully I can improve one that quickly. Never fear being blunt with me. I think that kind of critique is the most informative and helpful! Thank you so much.

Sourgasm: Thanks! I'm doing mostly pencil studies recently, so hopefully improvement will keep coming as I start doing longer poses.

Update on the current project. Trying to learn to do anatomy without chickening out and covering it up with clothes. Also playing with lighting, color, and composition a bit more than I normally do.

[kikindaface]

hey dude, the last project is on the right way ! Keep working on it, and i'm looking forward to see the final piece

[Genome]

Genome: Not offended at all. In fact, I'm extremely grateful that you took the time to write that out. It was very helpful. I'm reworking the schedule after reviewing the atelier schedule to give myself more time for long projects and foundational work and such. And yeah. On the woman's face I made the mistake of trying to just cover up what was challenging me rather than pushing through it. I promise to work on that. =) Composition is definitely a weak point for me. I picked up a couple of books on the subject today, so hopefully I can improve one that quickly. Never fear being blunt with me. I think that kind of critique is the most informative and helpful! Thank you so much.

YES! I love people that actually listen :) I mean, whats this forum for but helping each other out!Also so happy that you grabbed those books!(If you find any of them are good wanna maybe list the name and author? lol)

Anywho since asspat's are for losers only I wanna throw this down bout your character.
Try to think about Who your presenting the composition to when your drawing. Here in the west we read left to right so we should try to start the image that way and lead the eye threw the right and rest on something to keep us in the image. Of course that isnt a rule, just a guidline like everything in art. Also Cause your exploring lighting heres a tip, throw in two light sources to make it more interesting( you were probably gonna do it anyways) with this piece id plop it on this guys front with a nice bright spot on his face. Maybe the light can be a cool white colour so we get a nice warm /cool contrast on the focal point of the piece.
Heres also something else to help you out. ( I realize the picture is gone, but i remember which one it is, and you can find it in this artist gallery in the top bar of the site. Its the ninth one in his gallery BTW)
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22701

great work keep it up :)

[NothingbutZack]

Gorgeous stuff.. I am impressed with the studys on page four as well. ;) Man, I wish I could learn digital, it seems so fun. The reason thats holding me back is I have no money to afford Photoshop and a wacom tablet. Keep it up though, your doing great!

[Fitzin]

I've read more of your posts, especially the ones concerning your thoughts of the conceptart atelier.

I'd love to go there myself when I leave my own college, it whould be a worthy goal for me to reach. I'm concerned however that I may need more skills :S

Now concerning my ideas...

I suggest you play around with the compostion a little more, What is he looking at? Anwser questions concering if this is a story.

With the feet, they look ambiguous, I suggest moveing them, giveing them space, to help give a sense of perspective.

This is what I beleive a excellent example, I got this from the Temple of the seven golden camels. I found this (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n5eKz4l1d18/Rn369t54u7I/AAAAAAAAAjU/ah2S-Tlvd-g/s1600-h/firmplanted1.jpg) a good example of feet placement to make for beleiveabilty in this post. (http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2007/06/space-and-form-2.html) Theres a lot of posts there concerning compostion over that place. I heard DanialC checks there.

Keep exploring possabilties in this works early stage.

[SMILEFACE]

digg the updates good show !

[pepps]

your pencils are great, clean and show lots of form. A pleasure to look at.
also dig the designs and, most important, your attitude!
vai alla grande, continua cosi´! =)

[mentler]

Got a good book
happening here

Look forward to
meeting you at
the Dallas workshop

I gave you
5 BONES

[cdejong]

Hey Mock,

Nice work man, I'm really loving it all. I'm not good enough nor do I have the know how to offer you crits on your work. All I can say is that I'm honored to be in your sketchgroup. Keep this stuff up.

[Mock]

You guys make me happy. I love coming back to find comments in here. I'll respond to them ASAP, as well as posting new work. My computer went kaput over heating issues, so until the tech comes out and fixes it, I'm S.O.L on posting all the stuff on my HD. =/

[Zeus12]

keep up the Bridgeman (great job b.t.w), and don't forget to look up some Loomis (http://www.artcone.com/forum/andrew_loomis_books_downloads-t1772.html) too!

Loved your first all digital.

[Mock]

Zeus: Yeah, I think I'll have some loomis studies to post this weekend. Thanks for commenting!

Seb: You're more than qualified to critique, but thank you. <3 I'm glad we did the sketchgroup, its great motivation for me to post more.

Mentler: Thanks! That's an honor coming from you. I just saw in the instructors post that you might be teaching in Dallas! Can't wait to see you there. =)

pepps: Thanks! Pencil work has always been a major weak point for me, so I'm trying to improve on that.

Grandmassa: Thanks, man. There will be more. Always more.

Fitzin: The skill is just a matter of time. You've been working your ass off! You will get there. Just keep pushing man. And thanks! I adjusted his feet a bit accordingly, but I'll probably adjust them more to give him a bit more of a realistic stance.

Nothingbutzack: Learning digital is overrated ;P And look on the bright side, that gives you time to work on the foundational skills that a lot of people ignore. So when you do get around to digital, you'll have the foundations down entirely. =)

Genome: Agreed on the asspats, haha. I'm throwing in some red smoke on the left side of the image to catch and reflect some of the light from the main source, and hopefully make for a more interesting image.

Walid: Thanks, man. Hopefully it'll be done by this weekend and I can move on to the companion image that I have planned.


Got an HD enclosure to snag some stuff til I can get my computer fixed. Update on the current WIP, and another WIP of an old, old character from a game world I had in mind back when I was like 15, haha. I really wanted to paint a face at that angle in detail, so we'll see what comes of it.

Bottom image is the original character sheet WIP done a long while ago, not recent work. But I'm still fond of it for inexplicable reasons.

Will have a big update this weekend, I imagine. About 15 sketch pages and hopefully finished versions of these two pieces.

[DanielC]

Looking good madame mock : )
Keep it coming ! And dont hesitate to go a bit crazier with your line drawings (check out lungbug, just to get some ideas going)

[Mock]

DanielC: His sketchbook images won't load. =( Maybe I just saw an old sketchbook or something, I'll have to look around more.


A long(er) pose that usual. About 3 hours, I guess? I photoshop-darkened the outside a bit more since the scanner picked up all the light parts that were left in the sketch, and I've killed enough 8B pencils trying to make it dark.

[DanielC]

nice new pose !
Something i usually do with these is having the darkest dark the same value as the background value, just to give it more depth and have both the positive and negative space fit together.. but i guess that's more like a final touch :)
Anyway, keep working !

[cdejong]

Hey man, the painting is looking pretty cool, I dig the palette and pose a lot. The face could use a little bit more work, I feel like the forehead is too big... but I dunno, maybe just play around with it a bit. I think the face might just be scrunched up a bit. Not sure.

The figure drawing looks nice, anatomically there is nothing wrong with it, and the pose and everything look really solid. The shading could maybe be a bit more blended, and the direction of the shading on the leg breaks the rhythm in the figure... remember to shade along the planes, not across them. It preserves the motion and direction. It is also much easier to describe shadows that way.

Still looks awesome though, keep up the good work dude. I wish I could say that I'm looking forward to meeting you at the Dallas workshop, but there's no chance I'll be there :P.

Keep on truckin', you get better every update.

[Zeus12]

Excited to see your weekend update ! :D, The only critique I have is your creatures "feet" seem a little too large for the body. The large hands are fine, but when it comes at out as large hands and feet it looks like a clown!


still excited to see it done! :)

[Robert.B]

I would devote a seperate sketch book to drawing nothing but hands and feet. I forget where I first heard this quote maybe it was Ian Mc Craig who mentioned it but " all else can be forgiven if you nail the hands and feet." Also it might help to choose a target praportion type like naturalistic/ idealised/ or heroic and so forth. This will help you target a balanced bodytype and structure with which to house your designs on top of.

[pepps]

hey! nice updates, the life drawing looks very good!
i thought i´d share some ideas on your chow. I like where it is going, but there are some things i find distracting. Mainly the lightest part and contrast is on the dress wich becomes to my eyes the focal point (it´s ok of course, if that´s what you want) The face looks a bit weird at the moment, of course it´s not finished but the proportions are really off. (the distance chin-eyes is like 1/3 of the face =) ). Also the leafs are really a lot!! it may look a bit too crowded, and it´s a bit disapointing the fact that they cover both hands!! =)
hope this helps, keep up the good work =)

[cdejong]

Just posting a friendly booster! I know you're working your ass off to get your portfolio ready, so in case you check this, just wanted to say that I envy your work ethic and hope that all is going well. Don't forget to get the proper sleep ;).

[GaussianRaider]

So you are italian and you spent the last years studying something you didn't really love? It's like I'm your evil twin or something :O I'm 22, graduating in about 2 months in Economics (con qualche mese di ritardo) and I'm going to attend the Angel Academy in Florence...It's a pretty similar story :| !
Regarding your works, I'm amazed by your motivation and dedication, It's kinda intimidating to be honest...you display both talent and discipline :) I'm pretty sure you'll probably succeed, if you keep focusing so hard!
I'd love to hear from you, since you are already living in the USA, we are both interested in the atelier training and well...we speak italian (from what I gather).
Hope not to bother you, keep it up!

[revenebo]

GaussianRaider ...e sembra che sia pure carina. Deve per forza avere qualche difetto nascosto, tipo che è una psicopatica assassina o le piacciono le Winx.

Translation: Mock, I agree with GaussianRaider, your dedication and resolution are admirable. And it looks like you're getting better day after day. Keep up!

[kidult]

Keep at it gal! hope you get some good stuff done for the workshop....wish I could go!....stupid 3rd world currency

[Mock]

Whooo, how time flies! Thanks guys for sticking with me despite my lack of updates. I'm trying to get 80 hours in on a complex cast drawing before the workshop, so almost all of my time has been going to that, which I don't want to scan and post until it's finished. Which will probably be about a week or two before the workshop.

The new schedule is working out great. I get a lot of time to study each subject, but maintain enough diversity to keep myself moving forward. I feel like I'm finally making progress, albeit not as quickly as I would like.

Some other stuff:

Anatomy and drapery studies, Titania sketch that never saw the light of day, a study in texturing armor, first of many 20 minute photo environment speedpaints from a really great book I picked up from Borders, an icy landscape speedpaint (~1.5 hr) inspired by all of the insane Blizzard art form Wrath of the Lich King, and a WIP for my portfolio. You should recognize the characters from the sketch a page or so back. =)

I'll also come back and respond to individual comments tonight. I have to go play racquetball in a few minutes. Whoooo physical activity.

[JailHouseRock2]

Really wonderful studies, and beautiful colours in the paints.


peace,
matt

[Nettle_Mountain]

Those last digitals poses were quite flat, but usually your sketches aren't
???

[Medieve]

Hair could have seen some more development but I like your rendition of Titania.

I still think you need to keep doing environment studies from photo reference, gotta learn the locale before you paint it. You are basically going off of memories of other people's paintings or the random postcard rack you saw two years ago.

[ashess]

hi mock; well, even if you havent updated so much at least you've been practicing! which is more then I can say. that woman in the 3rd drawing on your last lost looks great; love those hands. I can see what ppl mean with a bit of flatness in you digital work though. looking at the last peice, I think it's got to do with the contrast between light and dark, and the using of softness; right now, there's a lot of softness in the foreground as well; that kind of breaks the suggestion of debth. added to it, your shadows/light areas dont relly contrast that sharply.

[Fitzin]

I agree with the colour, and and the flat poses.

You should work with those shadow edges, It whould help with your modeling. Look at Elwells Tutorial>>>>>.LINK (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913)

The poses need Dynamism, Study poses like Contrapposto, the twist and the head, ribcage and pelvis.

[Helioth]

Progress mock!

Always a pleasure seeing your name as last post by :)

Thumbs up and see you at the workshop.

[humanNature6115]

Love the enviro on page 1.
Keep it up.

=================================
:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop: Sketchbook:mittenbop: :mittenbop: :mittenbop:
[URL="http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=120761"]http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=120761[/URL

[Mock]

I've been getting that hopeless feeling recently, but you guys make me feel like it's possible. =) I have such a long way to go, but watching this SB bounce back and forth between 4 and 5 stars is motivating. Someday I'll earn that 5th one.

Been looking through Bumskee's sketchbook all day. Freaking amazing. I feel totally re-inspired.

RobertB: Consider it done. I went out and bought a new one today for drawing only hands and feet. =)

pepps: Thanks! I feel like I should re-do that image, but I ended up scrapping the entire thing. I just wasn't putting the thought I needed to into it at the early stages, and the result was a jumbled up mess I couldn't sort out.

Sebbonaparte: Sleep is for the weak, man. ;P

Gaussian: Clearly we were separated at birth! Congratulations on making that leap into pursuing what you love rather than what's secure. I know it can be intimidating. =) As for motivation and dedication.. it comes and goes. Someday you think, "I can do this", others you feel hopeless. It's all about pushing through those downtimes.

Revenebo: Thank you! I'm glad that at least some progress seems to be showing.

Kidult: I'll put you in my suitcase and take you with me. =)

Jailhouse: Thanks!

Nettle: Yeah, I think it's a problem with my values. I've noticed that I keep everything in a really close value range lately. I'm trying to fix that. Hopefully it'll show in the next update.

Medieve: Yeah. I picked up more reference books for that today. Gonna unload half a dozen environment paintings from ref this weekend, hopefully.

Ashess: Yeah. I need to work on that. Thank you for pointing it out

Fitzin: Damn, how did I not know about that tutorial! Thanks man. I'll check that out ASAP.

Helioth: Nice to see you in here, man. Can't wait for Dallas. I'm panicking about having people there see my portfolio already, haha.

humannature: Thanks! =)

[Helioth]

I've been getting that hopeless feeling recently, but you guys make me feel like it's possible. =) I have such a long way to go, but watching this SB bounce back and forth between 4 and 5 stars is motivating. Someday I'll earn that 5th one.

Been looking through Bumskee's sketchbook all day. Freaking amazing. I feel totally re-inspired.

Helioth: Nice to see you in here, man. Can't wait for Dallas. I'm panicking about having people there see my portfolio already, haha.



:)

Don't panick! Just be selective... quality over quantity with these things as far as i can tell!
Obviously, within reason, 1 piece is not a portfolio, although it may carry it :p

[Genome]

Hey hey. Nice to see you update. Quick crit ( hate doing these but got alot of stuff to do today)

Colours!( not mispelled I r canadian)
- Paint from life, especially your skin tones.(Sp's are awesome for this)

Im gonna edit this later tonight, but now i gotta go. MOre later i promise.

[Mock]

I think I just had somewhat of a breakthrough when it comes to environment painting, colors, values.. and a lot of things. I make things too opaque and solid, and I think that's partially responsible for things having such a flat look, like the wheat field in the last image. I noticed while looking at a lot of Bumskee's environment work that the contrast between sharp, refined shapes and less detailed areas adds a lot of depth. (Basic, I know. Forgive me for being thick. XD) I'm only writing this down in here so that I keep it in mind in the future.

Still a long way to go, but at least its a step in the right direction. I'm trying to get braver with my values and not shy away from darks so much.

Painted while looking at jungle photographs. Some stuff is from ref, some is made up. Will probably refine the BG in this one a bit more.

[Genome]

Ok, new breakthrough= new post :) Btw I can see the improvement in what you posted above me and I am super impressed.

So heres some crits: Hope they arent too harsh.

- You need to finish everything, from studies to eighty hour drawings. This is the only way to push us and find out where are true weaknesses are.You will also notice that the artists that have tons of WIP's are the ones that don't improve as fast as the completionists. Also it improves patience and concentration cause you wont have the time to mess around ( not saying you are just It's what I do haha) I do understand that time is a concern so focus on what is most important with what you are doing. What are your goals? Do i want this fabric to look right, So i should focus on it rather than the body after i build the structure of what is holding it up. Is this a character development piece? Then i should establish the silhouette and gesture so it is different than the average Joe.

- ALWAYS ALWAYS think of composition, especially in studies. Why you ask? because everyone (should) complete tons of these. And practice makes perfect. Good sense of composition can make a person that can draw stick people better than the medium skilled person on this website. So study it!
With your latest character piece, it was very unbalanced. Also my eyes didn't really know what to look at cause nothing caught and held my eyes.

Heres a link that is focused on what you are doing now Landscapes :)
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/135/120/

-This is where I am afraid I might become harsh :( please don't take it personal.
But what I need to say is that although you have awesome Ideas and execution(rendering etc) all this technical skill isn't worth a lot if you don't do something special with it.
Oh two characters standing beside each other... thats nice.
Make stuff happen! Take that image and make it dance around in my mind! Always ask your self " How can I make this less boring?", from start to finish but that start is SUPER IMPORTANT. So plan things out; this can be very quick, but a plan is like the scaffolding to a building it keeps us in line while we make beautiful arches. Avoid becoming stale, make some action happen, vary stances, make us emotionally involved in something! Concept artists need to convey a message instantly, that is there job. To tell us what this painting, person, or monster does and how we should feel about it.
Like I always tell actors I am directing " We are the audience, you tell us how to feel or we will choose to not care at all."

The reason I am saying this is that we are only ever remembered for our worst work. You could die in your sleep or get hit by a bus sometime and you need to make sure that on that last day of drawing you not only put your heart and soul into something and made it interesting to you but tried to make it a good piece to look at.

- colour Studies!! try some small canvases on Pshop that focus purely on colour. Try some without any real drawing and some with! they will make you into a colour master faster than you can think! (I love the focus on values first though :))
check these
596328
596329

These were done by Robogabo http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71911&page=68"]

-YESS studying of other pictures is what turned Carlos Duran into not just some next painter but the master teacher of Sargent! Bumskee is also a personal hero of mine he's soo dreamy :asslick:
BUT although he is awesome never forget to check out the masters
Here are some links to some landscape guys i admire
Thomas Moran-http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=733&page=1
Caspar David Friedrich-http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=179&page=3

In conclusion i hope you got what i was saying with the whole "Make stuff happen" section of the crit. I wasnt trying to insult, just saying that i KNOW with all my heart you can make me walk away from this thread saying " damn i get what that woman in tribal makeup is like just from how she is standing." or " what a scene, look how shes crying". You are a great artist, much better than I am, and well on your way to the CA atelier.

P.s I must say again that I love that landscape :)

[spaztastic]

Oh Mock your progression is simply amazing. Especially your enviros. No crits, you are just amazing. Keep it up.

[Mock]

Thanks, spaz! Slowly but surely, haha.

Genome, being offended by that crit would be the most ungrateful response possible. I am extremely appreciative that you took the time and thought to write that out. These are thing I need to get better. And when I can finally someday call myself a professional, I'll have you (and people like you) to thank for it. =)

I know what you mean by needing to finish things. I have piled of WIPs that I never push to completion. I always considered it laziness, but I think it might be more that I get stuck and don't push myself to complete it after I'm at a loss for what direction to go. So I'll start completing everything from now on. I'm also studying composition a lot more now, so hopefully that will show up in future work.

As for making things happen... yeeeah. I need to work on that a lot, huh? Don't worry, I don't take it as an insult at all. It's a fact, and the only way I'm going to improve is to face that fact and overcome it. So pointing it out is a favor to me. I'll start working a lot more on action, pose, and expression.

Color studies look incredibly fun. I'm going to do some of those now to give myself a time out from cast drawing. And I'll check out those masters and the site on composition you linked before I start my next environment set later today. =)

Thanks again. You always give incredibly helpful crits!

[Sublimus]

Good stuff in here. And what a great crit you got from Genome!

[Nadesican]

Muhahaha, I found you! Great work so far, btw. I'm of the belief that the more landscapes you do, the more sophisticated your painting skill gets. (Thats why ive done all of...one. lol) Keep at it!

[paperX]

great stuff! you sure work hard :) I notice you sometimes tend to make the top of the head a bit too long? just an observation...keep it up! :)

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Hey, some real cool colour tests and not to mention the designs you have there, keep those going, I wanna see more!

-E

[Fitzin]

Really profiting off the crits here. I want more! CRIT HER ASS OFF PLEASE.

(also post more.)

[Chris Noeth]

I really like your sketchbook... but... your avatar gives me the creeps! WTF is the Ewok doing!??? :devil:

Best wishes,

Chris

[Zebz]

It's great to see someone working so hard to improve! Great work ethic, man. Keep pushing and you'll get exactly where you want to be in no time at all, I'm sure!

[Dished]

go mock go! awesome sb !

[Mock]

I really like your sketchbook... but... your avatar gives me the creeps! WTF is the Ewok doing!??? :devil:

Best wishes,

Chris

Loving, man. He is loooooving him.

Mischeviouslittleelf: Haha, I wish I could take credit for those. However, they were done by Robogabo. Hopefully I will have a lot of my own to post very soon, inspired by the ones that Genome linked.

I'll hopefully have some more stuff to post coming up soon. Sorry for being so absentee lately, guys. I've been sinking a lot of time into this cast drawing and studying composition (and this weeks ChoW.. trying to take Genomes advice and make some action happen!), so there's not as much actual work to show. I will also respond to comments individually when I have a good update. Thanks for all of the kind words and support. You guys keep me motivated. =)

So fucking excited for Dallas! Hope to see a lot of you guys there.

[sourgasm]

looking good. one suggestion i have is in regards to your figure studies. try to forget about lines and details and think mostly about posture, volume and light. next time you draw a human figure, squint the details away and use a fairly hard leaded pencil to render the gesture and light/shadow only. don't bother with a single detail. then pull out a softer lead and work out the darker shadows and largest areas of detail, repeat with softer leads and darkest shadows (pulling out highlights with an eraser) until you have a full spectrum of value. try this a few times and you'll start to get a real sense for how unimportant 99% of details are.

just an exercise i like to do as a warm up ;P

[DanielC]

more drawings ! arr. and... more.... more :]

[Flaskpost]

fucking love this one: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/face2.jpg
you´re progressing alot, keep up the studies!

[kikindaface]

Damn, you're improvment is really good ! keep all that stuff up ! Peace

[Mock]

I'm back at it with renewed resolve. I've come to the realization that I'm never going to have the "perfect" portfolio, and if I continue to twiddle my thumbs and wait, then any available spots that open up are going to be filled before I even take a chance at applying. It's my dream, and I need to pursue it aggressively. So I'm giving myself 2 weeks to put together my portfolio and send in my application. If I don't get in (I'm not expect to yet), then I will keep slugging away at it.

Wish me luck, guys. =P

Finished version of the first of four enviros that will be included.

[kidult]

Nice work on the enviro - the trees look a little too bright tho, the one on the left seems all highlight and no form!

Be more confident!!! If you say things like you dont expect to get in you wont! Think that you WILL!!! so keep pushing!

[Fitzin]

What a nice delicate treatment on those trees i do say. I'm not an expert.

So I'ma gonna try at envroments myself, I've got a load of dvds from massive black waiting to be delivered all on enviroments. Oh my!

I'd be delighted if you get in.

[Mock]

WIP started this morning. I want to do two separate character sheets in my portfolio, with the image on the let being a close up/portrait, and the right being a full design sheet. There's just.. infinite amounts of work left to do, but I'm having fun with the colors so far.

Her nose need to be fixed, I think. It's pointing a bit too far forward. And the top of the bridge needs to be given some form.

[DanielC]

humm a tad bit more structure and id make the colors variantions not as harsh. Use a bit of airbrush on those to make it more smooth and consistent. Keep working :]

[Mock]

A majority of this is going to be slightly blurred (a bit of it very blurred out for the camera focus effect) but I think I like this color palette more. She's suppose to have that dead look (hence the stare), so I thought this was more fitting. Probably at about 6 hours in so far. I kept repainting her face. =/ The left (viewers left) side is still too straight, I'll fix that when I start up again tomorrow.

Silhouettes for a set of Valkyrie-like characters that might make it into the portfolio. Depends on how they turn out.

[kidult]

Those silhouettes are looking good!

[a la bapsi]

sexy mmmhm finger lickin
you put the firetruck in gnarls barkley ew

[Peter Berkovski]

nice facial expression, like Daniel C said a bit soft edges would looks better on her face,very nice designs, keep at it ;)

[surrealitycheck]

I really like the pose on the second valkyrie - she feels full of movement!

[cdejong]

Awesome silhouettes, full of vitality.

Funny thing I learned today... you're a girl! I thought you were a guy up until now :D. Don't know why, but it never crossed my mind that you might be of the opposite sex. I'm still getting used to the fact that girls do exist on the Internet, but only on CA.

Just keep on going. I once again don't have the knowledge to comment on these pieces, but I'm happy to see you working hard towards your goal. The guys at the CA Atelier would be crazy to not let you in. You're work ethic alone is enough to warrant you a place, let along your kickass art.

Keep it up, and post your portfolio once it is finished, I'd like to see it :)

[Mock]

I'm torn between being pleased with how much I've learned while messing with this and wanting to delete the file so that I never have to stare at it again. About.. 3 hours past the last version? I entirely overhauled the colors again, then decided it sucked and went back to this palette. Cropped out a lot of the right side because I felt it was just a distraction.

More work to do refining the hair and the lower part of her body, but I won't post the final version until I post my entire portfolio upon completion in 12 days. Ohgod12days. Thanks for the continued support, guys. You really do keep me motivated.

[Shantih]

Looking good, but I think some more definition in the cheek/jaw area would really help, it's very flat right now which doesn't fit with how you've rendered the eyes and nose.

Good luck with putting your portfolio together :)!

[Mock]

Update to the valkyrie sheets so far. I'm torn between leaving them at this size or making making them larger and fully rendering them out.

[Peter Berkovski]

niiiceeee, the portrait looks much more better now, have in mind that the nose is that part of the face on which the light is most stronger (no meat - only bone and flesh), well it strongly depend of where your light source is, but in this case I think you should to express that,after looking again at the girl I think you can push the light more.
here is one example of mine:
link (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2148334&postcount=294)
I realize how lively it become when added more light, so your can do that better than me :D
last characters looks great, you should full render them
keep going man!
Cheers

[Fitzin]

That dynamic Pose in the valkyire sheet whould really Beef your portfolio.

Is she moving? Expierement with the edges on a different layer and Blur them, remember Ellwells Edge tut. It whould help make it more realistic.

Remember! *We are forgetfull beings.*

I've repeated it again so please shoot me.


Edge basics 101:
There is a scale of edges, just as there is a scale of values. It goes from hard>firm>soft>lost. Just as with value, you can use the whole scale in one picture or just a piece of it. The careful manipulation of edges is one of the most overlooked, but most important, tools an artist can use to create form, atmosphere, and believability.

In general, edges are:
Harder in the light, softer in the shadow
Harder in bright light, softer in dim light
Harder in focused light, softer in diffused light
Harder in the foreground, softer in the background
Harder on smooth forms, softer on textured forms
Harder on hard forms, softer on soft forms (Duh, but really)
Harder on flat forms, softer on rounded forms
Harder on thin forms, softer on thick forms
Harder on still forms, softer on forms in motion (on moving forms they are harder on the leading edge and softer on the trailing edge)
Harder at the center of interest, softer as you move away

The above are additive. So a kitten, far away, in the dark, would be really soft.

Of course, any of these guidelines can be ignored/modified for pictorial effect.

[ashess]

hey there mock! I was wondering when the portfolio was up for a deadline. so I guess you have about a week left now.
whatever you do dont chicken out at the last moment and not send! you've got great work here. it should be enough. use your last week for presenting you stuff to its best intent; put your favourite piece in front. make sure to collection is a varied representation of what you've done. put the printouts in a nice glossy cover; stuff like that. just get it ready and send it out.
I understand if you want to add the valkyrie; but personally I always find it easier to just add stuff that is at least a month or so old.
again, one week is just a good time to have for picking what you have and presenting. dont spend all that time trying to make more.
one thing about the portrait; I like the skin tones and such, but it feels like some proportions are off. like the shoulder in relation to the face. its too clase/ too flat? you could just go for that though. its fot a very cubist feel to it this piece; and it does set off some shark contrasts to some of you older work.

[Mock]

I feel like I learn more and more every time I paint an environment. Not done yet. Lots of value adjusting and focus blurring to do. And cloud work. Painting rocks and vibrant colors is incredibly fun. XD

[DanielC]

componition madame ! Where do i start ? where should i go ? is there any aborigines that can welcome me with a nice gutted and bloody animal offering ? Or should there be a nice pack of naked hunting amazons wandering around and taking showers... ?

Marrr !

[Mock]

Yes sir! *salutes and goes off to add in a giant showerhead, naked chick,.. and some stairs with a temple*

Dr Sketchys Tuesday, yo~

[a la bapsi]

you and your awesome skies. *o*
keep it up! 8 days gogogogogo

[Mock]

Quick update upon realizing "Hey dumbass. You forgot environmental perspective."

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/Orestae/Enviro2-3.jpg

[Hammed Al-Tamimi]

Ooh, pretty environment! How did you decide on the color scheme?

[Mock]

I was doing color studies with triads and decided "Oh hey, orange, green, and purple kind of look cool around one another..." So I decided to make an image out of it. The blues and pinks just kind of crept in as I went, haha.

[serio]

great skin tones. Nice studies, keep pushing.

[surrealitycheck]

Go mock, don't have any portfolio mercy!

[Φ]

haha, was already going to:ilaekae: about atmospheric perspective but then I scroll down and booom! excellent! now I think it needs a bit work in the down left corner…its basically a dark green mass…define tree tops reflecting some light (?)

anyway, good stuff! good luck with your portfolio!

[sfa]

Hi Mock,

Best of luck with your portfolio. I'm toying around with the idea of attending the ConceptArt.Org Atelier myself but I'll have to see how my finances and situation down here pan out first.

I had some time tonight, so I went ahead and did a paint-over of your last environment. I'm by no means an expert or even competent at creating these, but I've sat in enough environment design classes and observed nature plenty to have developed some notion of what I'm doing. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and you can ignore my advice. In any case, here are the steps I took:

1.) I first added an Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and threw the Saturation lever all the way to -100 to turn the piece into a black-and-white image. This is done to check the values of the BIG THREE, that is, foreground, middle ground, and background. Typically the darkest areas in an environment are in the foreground, with a gradual lightening of values as the image recedes along the Z-axis. It is very important that you keep the values of these three areas grouped as tightly as possible to reinforce the illusion of depth. There can be overlap in details, of course, but the big read has to remain intact. Anyway, once I added this layer in I noticed that the rocky area in the lower right was way too light to be in the foreground, so I knocked the values there down with a Multiply layer. Once this was done, I turned the Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer off.

2.) I then looked at the clouds and found their edges way too hard for my taste. Whit Brachna has some really good advice on his Snow Mountain download - totally pick that one up if you haven't. Basically, he says you should use a soft brush on soft objects, a hard brush on hard objects, transparent brush on transparent objects, and so on and so forth. In other words, if you could reach out your hand and feel the objects in your image, how would they feel? Clouds are light and fluffy, so correspondingly I grabbed an airbrush-type brush and softened the edges on the clouds. Perhaps I went a tad overboard though.

3.) Third, I looked at the rocky areas indicated in the green forest in the lower left and found them distracting, so I painted more forest on top of it. This area actually would be a really good place to put a focal point like a castle, or a dragon, or a hot dog stand, or a giant robot, because it corresponds to a golden section in your image. Plus, adding an object here would provide a nice balance compositionally to the glaring hot sun in the background (also at a golden section).

4.) Next I thought about the light in this image, and what it would look like if we were actually staring into the sun. Have you ever had the displeasure of driving against the sun? It's pretty annoying, because the light not only blinds you but also lowers the perceived contrast of objects. So to duplicate that effect, I grabbed a very large airbrush-type brush, color-picked a light orange tone, and radiated out in spiral motion starting from the sun to knock the contrast down of the elements in the background, middle ground, and the edges of the foreground.

5.) I also noticed you were adding definition to bits of trees and rock faces being hit by sunlight and I thought, hey, that's pretty cool, but there needs to be more. So I added more, but tried to not to overdo it.

6.) At this point, I then added glazes to darken the background and middle ground in places, because I felt they were a little too light for my taste.

7.) Next, I applied a second Hue/Saturation layer to bump the saturation up ever so slightly because I felt it wasn't saturated enough, and also edged the lightness forward an inch, to push that "oh god, my eyes, I'm staring into the sun" feeling again.

8.) Lastly, I applied an Overlay layer on top of all of this and selected a saturated orange tone and a large airbrush, and coated all areas hit by light to simulate the glow of sunrise/sunset. This also has the added effect of splitting your image into two big unified warm and cool areas, which pushes the depth even more.

Anyway, there it is; take it or leave it. I'll be going to the ConceptArt.Org Workshop at the end of March; maybe I'll see you there. Have fun and good luck with the application.

[Mock]

sfa, you are wonderful! <3 I'm going to go off and heed that advice now. =)

[Blythe]

Nice stuff Mock!

Keep working, i expect to see NO ASS by the end of this.

Deal? Deal.

[Pawl]

awesome awesome awesome awesome

[Mock]

Ever get those days where you just.. lose any sense of hope/inspiration and have to kick yourself in the ass to push through them? That was today. Gottadoitgottadoitgottadoit.

Working on trying some different methods for anatomy sketches. Update on Valkyrie #1 (thank you Call0ps for the paintover on vent) and update on the environment with a lot more to do (another huge thanks to sfa). Also some random doodled shit from Starbucks. Needed a break from portfolio stuff.

I think all of the Atelier spots have been filled, sadly. Still going to submit my portfolio monday, hopefully get some crits from Carl in Dallas, and then next time there's an opening I hope to have a vastly improved portfolio ready to go.

[IanE]

I'm gonna critique your ass off!

Well, maybe not all of your ass, but at least a portion.

In the latest environment, can you see how the left and right side, which are compositionally in two extremely different depth ranges, seem to meld together? This conjoining is even further stressed by the fact that the two have very similar lines and seem to blend in to each other. It also seems that the light would be reaching around that land a little bit more, at least to grace the tops of the trees in the immediate foreground as it does the mountain ridge above them.

Great stuff otherwise! Hope that made sense haha.

[DanielC]

Aziz ! Light !... LIGHT LIGHT ! Show it to me !
http://leipi.com/images/misc/asaro.jpg

[Fitzin]

Yaaay, Make a study of Asaro Danial posted to discover the magical world of planes!

The portfolio needs MOAR BEEF I SAY.

[Nadesican]

I love the landscape, but I cant help but feel the foreground on the right feels a little flat

[Cacodaemonia]

Nice sketches. :) The shoulder/collarbone area of the aquatic sort of creature looks a little stretched out, vertically.

DanielC, do you know who made that sculpture?

[Mock]

Looks like my portfolio is going in with 6 pieces. 6 decent pieces are better than 6 decent pieces and 4 crappy ones, I guess. Regardless, it's going in tomorrow, sink or swim. At least this will give Carl a reference point for progress whenever I submit my second one. Bright side, looking on it.

Couple of sketches done at B&N today. Working on those facial planes from memory. Gonna have to print out that model and put it in the back of my notebook for reference. I'll probably render both of these out later for practice.

[vayne108]

What can I say your work rocks!!!

[ashess]

mock, if there's work you feel isnt quite finished well enough, I suggest you add them as 'thumbnails' at least. I always believe its good to have a lot to look at. as these people wont just valuate your skill, but also your ability to grow. meh, either way, pls just send it already!

[Mock]

Hehe. I promise to send it in tomorrow. I'll add in some of my anatomy sketches and design stuff, maybe. I just have a few finishes to make and I need to get one of my recommendation letters typed up from the written version I was given by the person writing it.

[Dahami]

Please keep posting colorful environments and shapely females. I love this stuff!

[tobbA]

This is really good.. :)

[JailHouseRock2]

Damn this stuff is tasty...

more MORE!

[Mock]

Alright. It has been done.

I threw some rougher stuff in for reference. I want Carl to have a good reference point to look back at when I submit my next portfolio when spots open up. Even without it being "perfect" I wanted to get it in by the deadline I set for myself. At least it's a step forward.

The portfolio is here: http://www.carmencianelli.com/caportfolio/

Already starting on work for the next one. I'm saving my cast drawing for Dallas. I want to put in another 15 hours or so before I call it quits.

Thank you so much for all of the encouragement, guys. I'm not expecting to get in with this portfolio, but I will get in eventually.

[MarkWinters]

You're doing great. Best of luck, yo.

[maldrin]

Good luck Mock!! It's a great looking portfolio!!

[Mock]

It's always fun to come off of a really stressful couple of weeks and just paint the hell out of something you really enjoy or that means something to you.

WIP. I think I'm going to reeeeally push this one.

[maldrin]

Ooh that's nice. Fitting metaphor, now that you've taken the plunge.

:)

mal

[a la bapsi]

gorgeous wip you got there.
not sure what's going on with her right foot but...god that night sky. *____*
BEST BE FINISHIN THIS HO

[ashess]

^^ does this mean you've sent it in? great!@ now you can relax and work on this ;)

[IanE]

Man, even if CA says no to that portfolio, I bet every other art school would say yes.

Even if you don't GO to the atelier, you'll be busting heads in a year or two regardless. Awesome motivation and inspiration in here, man.

Best wishes no matter what. Cheers to you for actually doing and being and not just trying.

[Mock]

Some fast sketches/costume designs for my Dominance War invoker.

[Max Challie]

I really like that painting!

[ashess]

hah allrigh! I actually missed your portfolio post with all the replys you've gotten.. and your own posts too! thread's on fire again. real nice port; I'm really happy you've added some sketches. hah don't hate me for it; I always just like those best I guess.

[kelly x]

Mock!! I love this work, your doing so good!!!

[Genome]

Some fast sketches/costume designs for my Dominance War invoker.

her head is too big (width wise) ;)

It's always fun to come off of a really stressful couple of weeks and just paint the hell out of something you really enjoy or that means something to you.

WIP. I think I'm going to reeeeally push this one.
Give us some emotional attachment, IE a face or something to look at. Is she scared that shes falling? is she calm? excited? I'm pretty sure this is a W.I.P but if you weren't planning to include something that tells us how to feel aside from color (which isn't that bad if there is no figure) but because there is a person present you need to tell us how to feel. You control us for the few seconds-minutes we look at anything done by you. You are the puppet master and we are the marionettes, so make us dance :cheerleader:

Sorry this was such a small critique but times is short for me. On another point I checked out your portfolio, and i wanna say i know youll make it eventually. I don't know what their standards are now, but your references (especially the first one) are gold. That kind of praise is worth more than gold, I only hope that in Dallas you can kiss some Dobsky ass subtly ;)

EDIT: woah i just realized you're a girl :O, i dont know how that makes you more awesome but it does hahaha. mainly cause your avatar :P

[AsaB]

Nice work in here! You seem really productive and you improve fast, comparing your work on the first page to your latest. And it hasn't even been a year since! Do you ever put the pencil down? :) I'm really impressed! Your pencils are especially nice to look at, lovely shading.
And good luck with the atelier, have you gotten a response yet?

[Mock]

Asa: Putting the pencil down is for wussies. =P

And nope, no response yet. From what I've heard it's pretty standard that if there aren't any spots open, it's unlikely that you'll get a response because they don't go beyond a set number of students. And if they review your portfolio and you don't get accepted, then there's not really a rejection letter or anything. You just know by the several months of silence. Which is cool. Gives me several months to put together a better portfolio.

Genome: Pfffffft. Man, I'm always grateful to see your comments, regardless of length. Thanks so much for all of the support ad critique you give me. It's extremely appreciated. And yeah, haha. Mistaking me for a dude seems to be a pretty common thing.

More individual responses tonight. I'm going to Barnes and Noble all day to work on drawing skeletons. I realize I've pretty much skipped over the human skeleton in my studies, so I'm going to go make up for it by drawing dozens of them.

[DannySketch]

Mocky mock,

The first and most important crit I can give I feel is that your avatar SERIOUSLY disturbs me, we are talking actual nightmares. (i was abused by a muppet as a child)

Your skills are on the verge of becoming awesome! Not sure how many studies you do from life but I think setting up some digi still life would help muchly, your pencils have improved tons since your first post, well done there but aye I would focus on lighting as has already been said, look for core shadows and edges and shizzle.

Good luck with the MB school and I am seriously jealous of your Dallas going ways.

[XanaChama]

Your stuff is beautiful, Mock. Just wanted to put that out there.

[GaussianRaider]

It's your evil twin here.
I noticed quite an improvement on page 8, whatever you're doing keep on pushing in this directions...the study of planes seems to have made your sketches more solid. Nice tones and colors on the falling woman, by the way.
In bocca al lupo!

[Fitzin]

I certainly like the progress! Yes yes!

Planes need to be singed into your mind with branding red hot iron!

Here, another quote from elwell about planes. Working inside the outline.

While plane diagrams can look superficially like cg wireframes, there are differences. For instance, "artistic" planes are often slightly curved, while cg polygons are always flat. Planes are more important as a way to think than as a way to draw. Loomis wouldn't actually construct a head by literally going from diagram 1 to 2 to 3, but it's important to be able to recognize those underlying structures as you're drawing. There is no universal "right" way of conceptualizing planes, especially when you get to the smallest forms, but with experience you will start to recognize common things to look for. Also, how we approach planes differs depending on how you are working. When working from life (or photos), we use the light to draw the planes. When working from imagination, we use the planes to draw the light.

(Yes, I've got a bookmarked folder of usefull posts.)

[Mock]

Well, it's almost here. Leaving in about 7 hours to begin the long roadtrip to Dallas. Hopefully to become one step closer to making the dream come true. And probably one step further from the Atelier after Carl destroys my portfolio on review day. =P

Wish me luck!

I will see you guys when I get back, filled with new motivation, inspiration, and hopefully a shitload of new knowledge and skills to try out. I'm so excited I'm practically pissing anticipation.

Dominance War semi-rendered out costume design for the Clericon.

[rossipoo]

Helllaa Rad! <3

[Mock]

No art since I don't have a scanner here in Dallas, just a bit of advice for anyone who reads this: if you get the chance to go to one of these workshops, do it. And I don't mean "if its easy". Make the effort to save the money and get the time off, because these experiences are priceless. We've only been to the kick off party so far, and I'm already filled with renewed inspiration and passion for art. I'm ten times more determined to succeed.

It's definitely what you make of it. If you sit in a corner and don't talk to anyone, you will only get what you can pick up from whats going on on the stage/screens. If you approach people, talk to them, ask them questions, they can provide you with some of the most amazing advice you'll ever hear.

When I get back, expect things to go to another level. I've been too lazy and too complacent so far.

[Mock]

About to head off to the venue to go sit down and talk portfolio shit with Carl this morning. I think I'll proooobably start a new sketchbook when I get back.

I'll post how it goes later. =P

[surrealitycheck]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OueTGtbUyk

Oh, SHES IN DALLAS

How goes the verbal removal of artistic viscera? Or are you managing to remain giblets intactus...