Chris Reilly's Sketchbook

[Scriar]

All of the art after the first post is 2 years old, please skip to the end to see where I am at now :)

Very open to critique etc its the main reason I have a sketchbook, thanks :)

[FourTonMantis]

Good start. Use reference more often; though I must say those enviroments are pretty good for no reference.

[Scriar]

Fourtonmantis: Thank you for your comment and advice, Ill try to use references more in the future.

I have been working all day, so only had 30 minutes to spare for drawing today. Decided to do some Bridgemen hands to add to the sketchbook. Will do some more tomorrow, hoping to work through the Bridgemen constructive anatomy book, as well as the Andrew Loomis books during the summer.

I need to hide my rubber somewhere I have gone and crinkled the sketchbook page again, to much rubbing out ;p

edit: added a cleaner scan

[Scriar]

Another update for today, 3 more Bridgemen hands. Spent about an 45 mins to an hour on these 3. As well as a random girl sketch, no reference as it was something I did whilst defraging my computer :)

[Scriar]

An update for today, a page full of Bridgemen hands, oh and a finger ;p

[Dannelf]

Good start! :) Great to see that you're already tackling anatomy.
Try to take some time everyday (10 minutes is enough) and just sit down draw something. Lifedrawings would be good to get understanding for volume and shape. Hope to see more soon!
Keep your pen sharp!

[AgentAlpha]

I like the Bridgman studies! :) I'm doing them too...:D[not posted though].
btw do you always use 2B pencil to start the sketches?....I'm just wondering wouldn't it be better to use HB, B or F pencil as starting pencil?...It is not a critique though. I just found out for myself that using some of the pencils above is better as begining because they do not smudge that easy.[I discovered personaly that F works best for me as starting pencil ]

Anyway- Good luck with your work! Keep practicing!!!:)

[Scriar]

Danelf: Thank you for your comment, and advice. Ill definably try to do some anatomy studies every day.

AgentAlpha: Thanks as well for the comment and advice. I usually start off with a 2b Pencil, it used to be a B pencil but I have used it so much the pencil is like this big [-----]> lol

Ill probably go and buy some new pencils when I get paid, at the moment I do a light sketch in 2B, then go over the sketch in 4B. I think I have a 9B pencil lying around somewhere to add some darker values.

Here are some more Bridgemen studies for today. Btw sorry for the slow response, I decided to only reply if I have a piece of art to post so I am not bumping my own thread.

[Scriar]

One last update for today, sketch of a cat spent 1 hour on it also used a reference picture from wetcanvas as a guide. edit: Added a drawing exersize I spent half an hour doing.

The idea is to scribble randomly on to the page, then try and pick shapes/make drawings out of the scribbles. Seems like a good way of coming up with quick thumbnails to base final drawings on.

Also tried a few shape building exercises where you put shapes together to make characters.

Both exercises taken from fun with a pencil - Andrew Loomis.

[Scriar]

A small update for this morning, spent 15 minutes doing some Vilppu action poses would spent longer but I am going to college in 20 minutes ;p

[Scriar]

Update for today, finished my sketchbook just a minute ago the last 4 pages are lots of vilppu action poses as well as these conpression type circles, they are a bit boring to look at so I wont post those.

The picture below are 30 second poses off of posemaniacs.com. It was going so quickly I decided to just try to get the gesture in.

Going to start my new sketchbook now its my 20 th one since I started drawing last september :) Think I will fill this one entirely of Bridgemen, Loomis, and Vilppu studies.

[Scriar]

One last update for today, first page of my new sketchbook decided to do some life drawings of my hand/thumb/fingers, and my foot :)

[Scriar]

An update for today, these are character building practices from the Andrew loomis-

Fun with a pencil book. All the drawings in the grid are copied from the book, the ones outside the grid are my own. This is the first time I have used a blue pencil to do sketches in, I think I might try this more often as it seems a good way to do preliminary sketches in.

p.s If you right click and do view picture it seems to be larger and slightly clearer to see.

[Scriar]

Update for today, I now have corel painter X after months of saving. Heres my first attemp at using the program (never used it before) tried to do an apple, took an hour to do the apple, and spent half an hour trying to figure out how to use everything.

Now to save up for a graphics tablet :)

P.s I converted this to a JPEG file then compressed with picture editor, not sure if there is a better way to do it, hopefully it shows correctly.

Edit: After looking through other peoples sketchbooks I think I have not balanced enough drawing from the imagination with the studies so Ill try to add more imaginative/creative art in future updates. Will make my sketchbook more interesting I think ;p

[Scriar]

An update for today before I go to work. This is a W.I.P of a fairy, I have only used the pallet tools as a way of getting used to them, finding out what they can do etc

Hopefully will finish tonight, or tomorrow. Sorry for the lack of updates, I have a lot of college coursework, and work to do at the moment.

[Scriar]

Some head studies for todays update. Also I noticed that I have made that digital fairy to small so it has made putting small details like the face in a bit too hard. edit: btw spent 2 1/2 hours to do all of these, been working at college all day so I am surprised I had it in me I am knackered lol

Was only my second digital picture, so I can keep this in mind for my third ;p

Going to work on my new sketchbook a bit more for now, I have to put a portfolio together for a Art, Media, and design course I applied for today.

Its part time (OCN advance) so if I get on it Ill have to think hard whether I want to drop the second year of my IT course and work full time whilst going to college for the art and design course. (Course timetables clash :\ ) or whether I should just stick with the IT course and carry on working on my art in my spare time.

I found out my IT course even though I do an animation module will not help me to get on to the animation degree I am looking at, and it is more based on a portfolio which is why I have been looking at part time courses to do alongside this one. The time table for my IT course is not flexible at all though next year, which sucks, so it is either one or the other now ;\

[Scriar]

Decided to do a self portrait today, it actually looks like me as well which I am quite proud of. Usually they look like some kind of alien lol Think the bridgemen studies are helping ;p

edit: btw spent around an hour and a half on this.

Scanned in as grey scale, this scanner is kind of crap so hoping scanning it in as greyscale will improve the quality of the scan.

[Scriar]

One last update for today, this is a sketch of an Indian women, reference used. Edit: Make that 2 more updates for today, this is a bunch of random sketches.

[Scriar]

Hi, some Vipuu studies for today ( only the reference picture on the second page next to the notes is actually copied the rest are my own).

The notes on the first action poses are just notes on which pencil to use when sketching, I think B is best, 4 - 6 B seems to smudge to much and is far to dark.

The second set of notes says when one side compresses the other side streches. This is in relation to how forms look in action.

Going to do some more female anatomy studies then combine the two to create some pictures. At the moment I wanted to get the pose and the movement more than anything.

p.s I have a decent set of sketching pencils now, ranges from B, HB, then through 4B to 9B

[Scriar]

Last update for today, hour or so sketch of a fairy. edit: add a retouched version, got rid of all the dust in corel painter X

Edit: I think I will use the digital retouched version as an avatar ;p

[Scriar]

An update for today, decided to do an environment for a change, no reference used. Edit: figured out that the greyscale is picking up all the shadows on the page when I scan in, so going to stick with the basic colour scan from now on, as you can see from the image it is much clearer.

[Scriar]

Last update for today, a digital doodle of a fish.

[Scriar]

okay this really is my last post for today, ;p

I now have some decent colouring pencils, and every grade of pencil. I decided to do a cloth fold, clothes design, colour practice, and some vilpuu all at once lol

edit: btw the notes on the page say for the top right that I should not have used such a dark pencil for the prelimary sketch, and the bottom left one says that this drawing used the same colour for the prelimiary sketch which produced a much better result.

Btw I made female clothes since these vilpuu poses that I have been doing keep leaning towards the more elegant/feminine type of pose, going to try and do some more masculine poses using the same technique.

edit: added pic 'lady in a dress' edit 2: damn she looks anorexic need to fix that lol

[Scriar]

A small update for this morning, this is a watercolour (pencil) of the lady in a dress picture. Think I used to much water as its creased the page even managed to stick a hole in the page as well lol

Ahh well its only my first watercolour picture ;p

[shiNIN]

the last picture has several anatomy problems, the most important the too long upper body and the far too small face. the head suffers from wrong proportions, the eye level should be vertically near the center.
the wrist should be at the crotch level in a simple standing pose with straight arms. it's a more complicated pose, but the torso definitely is too long for the arms.
the clothes on the arm has unnatural looking wrinkles and the angle of the collarbones is wrong, some knowledge about the skeleton may help.
drawing human bodies is tough, surely...
keep doing studies and use the knowledge you learn. you make efforts, they will pay off.

[malpanka]

a good solution for excessive eraser use is a good pencil. it needs to be sharp and soft (more than B2). with a good pencil you'll be able to make thin, almost invisible lines (if you still don't feel confident enough to sketch freely) to try various shapes and then make the right lines a little thicker. don't erase all mistakes-a wrong line is also an information for you. also a soft pencil is easier to erase.

to make your lines more confident you may also practice with a pen with no possibility of erasing. try to define edges with stable continuous line and even if it's wrong, leave it. try drawing another sketch nextto the wrong one

[clanlord]

He don't need a sharper and softer pencil... bla blaa blaa... he just need to stop posting this **** and learn some anatomy... Copy the body parts from some anatomy book learn them and memorize the proportions and other basics... then post!

[malpanka]

He don't need a sharper and softer pencil... bla blaa blaa... he just need to stop posting this **** and learn some anatomy... Copy the body parts from some anatomy book learn them and memorize the proportions and other basics... then post!

OKAY
ok?

this is the BIG goal. i'm just giving advice on how to achieve it by smaller steps.
saying "oh, this is crap, learn proper anatomy and draw better" doesn't help much because i think the author already knows that. i thought saying HOW one can practice and what can help during the studies.

[Scriar]

shiNIN: Thank you for your help, Ill do another version of that picture when I get a chance. I suspected the head was to small, could not quite figure out what the other thing was bugging me was, guess it was the torso, thanks again for the detailed description/anaylsis.

malpanka: Thanks as well for the advice. I will try and do more drawings in pen, and Ill lay off the eraser.

Clanlord: I would of never have thought practising anatomy and drawing better would make me a better artist, thanks for enlightening me.

[clanlord]

Hi... I want to apologise for my severe comment early this day! But if you want to develop your drawing skills, the first thing to begin with are the proportions... If you are heading to other direction of art, oh it's completely different! But the main thing is the seriousness of doing your work!

[clanlord]

Here's a link which may help http://www.scribd.com/word/full/961616?access_key=key-9z256sgq15xcl8o761o

[Scriar]

Clanlord: No problem, I take back my sarcastic comment then. Thank you for your advice as well. I am definably serious about improving my art, at the moment I am working through the constructive anatomy book by Bridgemen, and the drawing manual by Vilppu.

Anyway here is a small update. Attempted a fix of that girl in a dress, I think I need to work on the feet, head, and hands still. The cresses on the arms still are a bit strange. I think the pose is correct now, not 100% sure though, will keep working on it till it looks right.

Done some Vilppu action poses to fill the rest of the page. The bottom left one was an attempt at adding 'volume' to the figure, probably need to reread that section of the book quite a few times over lol

edit: thanks for the link, never heard of Hogarth before. Bookmarked the page will have a read a bit later, got to get ready for work tomorrow.

edit 2: Spent only 45 mins on this page. I think I will spend all of monday drawing. A lot of the problems in my art I believe can be fixed by me spending more time on it. btw I have also done about 8 life drawings of hands today also spent 45 mins on, unfortunately I used far to much water on that water painting so its creased the page to the point it wont scan very well ><

Had a brief look through that Hogarth link and its great I will definably be using it along with vilppu and Bridgeman books, thanks again.

[shiNIN]

I'm glad if I was of any help :)
about your new pic about the woman... I think you should avoid such clothes for a while. the human body is tough in itself, this plus folds on a difficult clothes are too much for you now. if you must use clothes, use plain skirts and stuff :) but drawing naked bodies (nudity details aren't necessary) has some advantages, the anatomy problems pop out more, you are forced to draw everything, now we don't see the shape of the legs, for example... and if you see where is the navel, the crotch, the knee, you may have better proportions because the flaws are more visible.

I dunno if it helps or not, but for me it was highly useful when I started to draw muscular men. it's not my preference at all, but there were such DSG topics here in CA... and I found out drawing a muscular man is much more easier and gives better results. one learn something about some very important muscle groups (even with only watching some photos about bodybuilder guys), the body is full with bumps so it's spectacular AND it's really difficult to make very basic proportion/anatomy mistakes, because the muscles come so nicely and evidently. you can't mess up a big bump so easily as a tender, slightly bending line ;)
best wishes :)

[Scriar]

shiNIN: Thanks for the advice and your previous advice was helpful I copied it into my sketchbook next to the picture so I know what to avoid next time.

Ill probably work through this Hogarth book seems to be a lot of muscular Men/Women in the book so I can do as you suggest.

Going to lay off drawing clothes for awhile, think I need to just pick one thing and get the hang of it before jumping onto the next :)

[Scriar]

Hi, sorry for the lack of updates been at work the last 3 days so had no time to draw ;/ (or energy for that matter lol)

Anyway, here's some updates for today, first is 2 life drawings. One is a crisp packet, and the other a sharpener. The notes just mention that I sketched the crisp packet from the side, and the sharpener looking down.

Second is a picture based on a Black and White photo I saw in a readers digest book that was lying around the house.

[ohnojenny]

Really like your anatomy studies throughout this sketchbook! Especially the hands! They look amazing! I've been told that Bridgeman studies are really something... keep them up!
And the very last picture you've posted, lady with the hat, I like the composition of it. Her neck craned over that way, the shape of her hat... even the slight frill of her shirt. Nice stuff! Keep it up! :D

[Scriar]

ohnojenny: thanks glad you like them :) You can download the PDF for constructive anatomy here if you want to try them yourself: edit: the download is the link that says PDF on the left hand side of the page.

http://www.archive.org/details/constructiveanat00briduoft

Heres a last update for today, they are Bridgemen arm studies. done 4 pages worth to make up for my lack of updates over the past 3 days ;p

[Saggy]

Your latest studies are looking really nice, make sure to keep it up. I'd advise looking at the muscles that form the 'blocks' you're practicing if you havn't already done some work on them as well, it'll help with flow and flexibility.

[Scriar]

saggy: thanks, will hopefully get to that part soon, trying to get used to the shapes first, the next bit I plan to work on is the shoulder, and how it connects to the arm, a long with some more general arm, and hand studies.

Here is a small update for today, spent 90 minutes or so doing a hand study (life drawing of my own hand), but to make it interesting I made it a watercolor.

This is my third watercolour I have done quite enjoyed doing it, think I might try to do more watercolours to brighten up my sketchbook and so I learn to use more than just pencils as a medium :)

edit: forgot to rotate the picture after scanning, here is a updated version.

[Scriar]

Last update for today, some Bridgemen arm studies.

[Scriar]

Hi, here is an update for today, spent around an hour on this. I used a reference of a lady in a goth type dress from artmorgue.com

[Scriar]

Hi, an update for today, another women sketch reference from artmorgue.com

something was bugging me about this picture, and I just realised its the head being out of proportion ie its to wide, think the eyes should be closer together as well, probably too late to fix it now so Ill have to bare in mind for my next drawing. edit: come to think of it the mouth is wonky lol

[Dannelf]

Hi there! :) things seems to getting along well!
Like you've noticed yourself prorpotions are abit of a problem, but I suggest you just to draw random stuff from life from different angles. It will help you to understand form, size and so on.

Just keep going!

[Scriar]

Danelf: thanks for the advice, going to try do some life drawings today, might try another self portrait, and some mirror studies later today as well :)

Was just going to edit my post to add these, but I thought I would reply and say thanks instead :)

These are some silhouettes from this morning (they are kinda crap, but oh well Ill get better :) )

only just found out about how the actual technique for them works, think I might use them more often to get down ideas that pop into my head, I think once you get the hang of them it is probably a great way of brainstorming character ideas.

At the moment my knowledge of art limits what I can draw or what I feel confident about drawing, so the silhouettes should help till my knowledge catches up ;p

[shiNIN]

you're so humble showing your sb pages in this small size. it often works, but for the more detailed or busy pages a bigger size would be better ;)

[Scriar]

shinin: thanks ;p they are small since I compress the images to websize in windows picture viewer, just tried saving that last image in corel painter x as a jpeg seems to have compressed it, no idea what the size is like so Ill post here to see if its better.

p.s sorry for bumping my thread, I guess you can class this as a detail shot lol

edit: seems to have worked, although now you can see how bad they are with greater ease lol

edit 2: Ahhh my computers harddrive has just gone, that confirms my thoughts that it is not meant to make loud whirring noise upon starting up lol

I probably wont be posting now for awhile since my scanners only capatable with my computer. Posting on my sisters one atm >< ahh well when I can post ill have a large update probably ;p

[Scriar]

Hi, sorry about the lack of updates as mentioned in my last post my computer died on me ;p Managed to get it fixed but now I have no means of scanning as the scanner has finally gone (it was old and nackered anyway)

For now Ill be just updating with digital pieces. I brought a wacom bamboo yesterday, arrived today so I have just spent a couple of hours playing around with corel/photoshop/alchemy.

Heres some thumbnails done by first using alchemy to get random shapes then I transfered them to photoshop to try and make them into something recognisable.

[Scriar]

Hi a small update for today, been working all day so only had an hour and a half to spare.

This is a tonal practice for the most part. Used a reference from a marie claire front cover. Used most photoshop and done the blending in corel x.

edit: added a slightly better version

[dazz78]

Scriar, your work has definitely improved and is getting better in regards to your later posts and the early ones, the face and facial features seem more in place and better shaped. Keep it up!

[Scriar]

Dazz78: thank you

Been at work all day, so only had an hour to spare today, decided to do a digital environment for a change. Hopefully Ill have a scanner in a week or so, so I can post the sketches that I have been doing as well.

I done this in photoshop, I did some blending in corel painter x as well, since I haven't quite got the hang of how you do it in photoshop yet ;p

edit: added a slightly better version (imo) added some blending in photoshop to the mountain on the right with some more texture. edit: btw did not use a reference as originally I was just going to play around with the layer and custom brushes for texture settings, decide on the environment after one of my brushes started looking rockish ;p that was the one on the left btw which is why it is probably better defined than the one on the right, Ill try make a custom brush for that one to to get a better result next time.

[shiNIN]

about a face in #48: it's nice, but I dunno why you used lines for the iris+pupilla instead of shapes, that would be more natural and nicer.
except this, the eyes is okay enough to make the whole face work, with the help of the really good and emphatic mouth - despite the really rushed nose ;)

[Scriar]

ShiNiN: Thanks for the advice, did not intentionally use lines, I think it was a combination of being half asleep and being new to the wacom pen ;p

Yeah the nose was a bit rushed. It was really long at first then I cut around it and gave her a nose job to put it back in proportion lol seem to have buggered it up in the process :D

Ill spend a much more time on it next time, probably have another go tomorrow have all day since I am not at work.

Here is a last update for today, it is a sketch done intirely in Alchemy, was hard but fun. ;D I used the scrawl tool with block lines for the whole thing.

[BubbaGump]

I can definitely see the improvement in your stuff. Keep drawing and keep at it!

One thing though, some of your drawings seem stiff and lifeless. Try loosening up and do quick 5-10 second figure sketches. Spending an hour on a little drawing tends to suck the life out of it.

[Scriar]

BubbaGump: Thank you for the advice, Ill try to do that every day then, I dont think I have any excuse not to fit 20 minutes or so in to my day to do that :)

[Scriar]

This wacom tablet is too addictive, went into photoshop to try fix the womans nose next thing I know Im attempting to fix all of the picture lol

Heres the current result, this really is my last update since I am bloody nackered ;p

[iambanana]

Just a few tips for your photoshop landscape:
- Don't use gradient tools for dominant areas of your piece. They look extremely computer-y.
- Try to disguise stock photoshop custom brushes (i.e the grass brush) as best you can. They're very easily recognizable.

[Gail_Blitzy]

I like your studies of hands and feet and the stuff on post 47 is pretty amazing. If you can neaten up this angular style you seem to gravitate towards I think you'll be on a real winner.

[Scriar]

iambanana: Thank you for your advice Ill bare that in mind for my next environment.

Gail_Blitzy: Thank you glad you like them, and thanks for the advice as well.

Heres an update for today, I have been pretty sick today, think something disagreed with me (most likely my little sisters idea of cooking ;p ) so have not got as much done as I would of liked, this is what I have at the moment. It is a figure study of a picture from the marie clair 20th addition catalog, from page 281.

Spent about 30 minutes or so, plan to finish it tomorrow. For now I tried to get the pose, the basic values, and the larger shapes down.

[Scriar]

hi, here is an update for today, its an update on the woman study from yesterday.

edit: added a different version, noticed I forgot to add a shadow under her right arm.

[Scriar]

Another update for today an environment speed paint spent about 45-50 minutes on it.

[Scriar]

Hi heres an update for today, this is based on a picture from http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/ stock photos. Spent just over an hour on this, although that hour was spread over 3 since I had to make dinner, and walk my dog in between drawing ;p

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for today. I have a scanner now so this is all work from my sketchbook from the last couple of days. Left out about 5 pieces since they were covered in notes.

There are 2 pages of bridgemen studies, 1 colour pencil practice drawing animals, a page of sketches using a model from characterdesigns.com, and lastly a sketch of a lady from yesterdays link which I did a day ago.

I also only discovered on my last drawing that I can blow all the excess dust off a sketch to stop it from smudging, can not believe it has taken me this long for that to click lol

[Scriar]

Hi, last update for today, did not want to cheat by posting work I done during the week as my update, so here is a sketch I have just spent an hour or so on. Used the stock link from yesterday again.

edit: Btw as a follow up to the post couple of weeks or so ago, I have decided to carry on with my IT course rather than drop the second year for this part time art course. Instead of throwing away the second year of my course I am going to continue what I have been doing this year where I work on my art during my own time. Also going to try and attend life drawing lessons if I can find a place that does them near by. I should be able to fit that into the evening without disrupting my current course.

[Scriar]

last update for today, was doodaling in Alchemy and decided I wanted to try and turn this shape that looked interesting into a digital drawing, so here is the result.

[Scriar]

Hi heres 2 speed paintings for todays update, both environments. I downloaded some extra texture brushes from here http://elitebydesign.com/75-insane-high-res-photoshop-brushes/

[Scriar]

Heres one last update for today, another environment, 2 hours I think for this one. The last 2 I spent 20 - 30 minutes on btw.

I probably wont update over the weekend ill be at work most of saturday and sunday so not sure Ill have time to do any art, although Ill try fit 20 minutes of anatomy studies in Ill post them if I get the chance.

edit: Btw I tried a different method for this one, started off in grayscale, then added some colours using a overlay layer, then some more colours using a multiply layer, and lastly added another normal colour layer on top. I think it works quite well, all though I dont like how the mountain turned out compared to the rest of the image, Ill try to improve it in a new version when I get the chance. I have attached the black and white version as well.

[Scriar]

Hi small update for today, this is a colour version of the last sketchbook drawing I posted. Ill refine it tomorrow hopefully, at the moment I have applied the 3 base layers of colours, the last layer Ill apply the final colour refinements and detail.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for today. This is a digital portrait, I used a reference of a person called Ronald, from wetcanvas. I spent almost 3 hours on this.

Also I have decided to just leave that colour image I started the other day as it is, I would rather move on to a different piece of art rather than mess around with one that was not meant intended to be colored digitally.

[Dannelf]

It's looking good Scriar! It's great that you have some variation in your drawings.
I'm watching you!

[Scriar]

Dannelf: Thanks

Heres one last update for today, spent just over an hour on this sketch. Its from the marie claire magazine again. I made the mistake of not measuring out the size of the model first, so I did not have enough room for the rest of the legs, decided to cut it off at the knee, and add that square as an attemp of drawing focus to the top part of the picture.

edit: damn I hate it when I scan in a picture then notice the mistakes afterwards >< nose is wonky, (our) left hand is out of proportion, and the other hand should be slightley longer since the hands extended. Think the creases on the right leg should be diagonal as well, probably should of put some darker shading on her inner thigh/leg. Ahh well its only a sketch, can keep these things in mind when I do the next drawing, would never learn if I didnt make mistakes ;p

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for today, spent around 2 and a half hours on an environment speed paint. I worked at size 4000 x 4000 for a change and shrunk down to 800 x 800 to post here.

[Scriar]

Last update for today, this is a WiP of another environment speedpaint, trying a different techinique this time where I block in the lights and shapes first, instead of the method I used in the last ones where I create a texture brush enlarge it then see what shapes I can pull from it.

Prefer the method I am using for this one at the moment. Will finish it tomorrow hopefully. Its about 1/4 the way done at the moment spent an hour and a half on it.

[Scriar]

Decided to carry on with that environment, heres the result of 2 hours extra work.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for today, some environment thumbnails and a digital study/figure drawing practice using a reference picture from Mjranum stock. edit: posted a tonal version of the study as well.

[BubbaGump]

There's been some improvement. Good work. Focus more on the traditional stuff first (or more) rather than digital.

[Scriar]

BubbaGump: thanks, at the moment I focus more on sketching, have not been posting them though since I was doing a lot of annotations, doesnt make for fantastic veiwing ;p

Heres an update for today its a bigger update than usual since I stuck my head down and just drawed for 3 hours.

Drawings of my hand (not particualy good ones), then some drawings of various female noses from that marie claire magazine I have been using, some mouth studies again female from the same mag, 2 still life drawings which I then drawed again but with a fantasy object added to it, and lastly a self portrait.

[Scriar]

Hi, here is one last update for today, this is a WiP of an environment I am working on. I am trying to apply everything I have learnt so far to it hence why I have given this one a proper name rather than the ambiquous environment number 9 ;p

p.s That last self portrait I done after looking at it a bit more the head is a bit too wide I think, and the values are not correct which makes it look a bit flat in certain places like the (our) left part of the forehead. Need to improve on that.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for today. some hand studies I spent 30 minutes on this morning. For some reason my scanner decided to scan them in as 2 seperate drawings.

And a progress update on that environment I posted yesterday, so far I have spent around 5 hours on it. Which is the longest I have ever spent on a piece of art, I am learning a lot from doing this.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres a finished version of that environment. 7 hours in total, longest I have spent on a art piece I think I have learned a lot from trying to apply everything I have learned so far to this piece, going to try and do this more often.

[Scriar]

Hi, a small update for today before I go to work, some digital studies of my hand.

[Scriar]

Hi just got back from work an hour ago, decided to do some environment thumbnails and a quick 15 minute sketch developing on one of the thumbnails. It is very rough, I plan to refine it when I have more time (and when I am not falling asleep at my desk ;p).

I have put a tick next to the ones I plan to continue further, also I ajusted the levels of the scanned in evironment sketch since it scanned in as light greys for some reason.

I want to do this next environment as something that starts off as a thumbnail, then gets developed further through sketches, and reference studies (including sketching the references to get a better idea for the subject), then is done digitally, I think it would be a more proffestional approach and hopefully will improve my digital work and traditional work if I continue with this method.

Also decided to draw my hands atleast 20 minutes each day so expect to see lots of hand drawings in this sketchbook ;p (the last ones sucked so I deffinatly need that practice).

[Scriar]

Hi, heres todays update before I go to work, some 20 minute hand studies.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres a 45 minute hand study for todays update. I tried to slow down a lot more and think about the lines I am putting down whilst doing this one, I think it made a noticiable difference in quality, so Ill probably continue working like this.

[Scriar]

Last update for today, spent about 5 hours doing a 'speed' (should probably call it a slow paint ;p) character design.

I used a technique that Levente Peterffy uses to start off a speed paint, Ie manipulating a photo and trying to recognise shapes, the photo is the water lilies sample picture thats on most peoples computers as default.

Created 6 custom brushes for this, and discovered how to get a wave effect when I accidently hit the smudge tool on a few random colours, worked quite well for clouds too ;p

I should probably mention I used 4 - 5 texture overlays from http://www.cgtextures.com/ (it is a great site, worth checking out if you have not heard of it)

edit: will probably finish this tomorrow, I still want to refine it more, and get rid of the obvious parts that are overlays.

[Scriar]

Hi heres a update of that speedpainting I posted yesterday.

[Scriar]

Heres todays hand studies, 45 minutes.

[Scriar]

Last update for today, this is a new environment speedpaint I am doing. Spent an hour on it so far. I noticed that in my other environments I tend to put to much detail into them, with this one I am going to try and put the detail and obvious textures closer to the points of interest. I am using the blocking in light, and colour technique I did with my other environments, I find it more intuitive for me to use.

[Scriar]

Was enjoying doing that environment so much that I finished it, or atleast got to the the point where I dont know what else to do with it ;p

3 and a half hours in total, I didn't use any texture overlays for a change, thought I would learn more if I just painted it myself. Edit: the rock texture to the left is the Nexus brush from Inetgraphix.

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, 3 pages of environment thumbnails, and a WiP which I have spent 25 minutes on so far of one of the thumbnails. Completly forgot about my hand sketches for today, Ill have to make up for it tomorrow ;p

[Scriar]

Last update, finished that environment 1 and half hours total. edit: Think ill refine the edges, and that light on the 2 mountains closest to the light source. Btw I upped the contrast by duplicating the image and overlaying, seems to be a good trick Ill keep in mind for later on :)


edit2: added the refined version

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, spent 30 minutes doing a hand study, but I did it in pen for a change.

And some more refinements on that environment I posted yesterday, tried making the mountains appear further appart by adding blue gradient maps, added a bit of fog as well.

[iheartmyself]

the hands pretty cool
i reckon you should do a few of these daily, perhaps limiting yourself to 2 minutes a piece? without taking the pen off the page
give it a try, itll help with your hand eye coordination
with the mountains, the right idea is there, but perhaps try softening the edges of the ones further away to give it more depth, i dont mean all out blur but just alil soften :D

[Scriar]

iheartmyself: thanks for your advice, I see what you mean I went back and softened the edges at bit as you have suggested.

Heres another update, used this photo: http://cydonian.com/photos/img1458.htm and trashed it for a speedpaint ;) 1 hour or so on this one.

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, this is an environment speedpaint. Apart from the nexus brush I made all of the brushes for this one this morning, so I am using my own brush set now. I think you learn more from creating and using your own brushes :)

I had the urge to put a signature on this one, I thought it would make it more complete lol

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, its a WIP of an environment I am working on. Inspired by whit brachnas environments. I have spent about 3 hours on this so far, although about an hour of that was experiment with different brushes and presets.

Like the last one I am using my own brush set for this, also made a couple of snow brushes, a cloud brush and another ground brush. Theres also 2 that are variations of jagged and slightly smoother rocks.

I have learnt a lot so far on this piece, mostly to do with creating appropriate (atleast I think they are appropriate) brushes for the picture. And to start off by adding a rough compostion and perspective grid. Tried adding different variations of cyan as well for the rocks I think it is more interesting/appealing to look at than shades of grey.

Will probably finish this tomorrow. I wanted to get the main shapes, colours, compostion, light and general feel down first before I worried about details and refinement.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres an update for that environment I posted yesterday.

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, 4 life drawings (First 2 are terrible but Ill post them anyway lol). First two I spent 20 minutes on, third 30 minutes and the last 3 hours.

Been trying a different technique for drawing figures, from these videos: http://uk.youtube.com/user/matthew39arch

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, this is a 45 minute speed paint.

[Verehin]

I like your enviros...in last two I see the progress...try paint from refs! after 2-4 sketches your level grow up..I swear)

[Scriar]

Verehin: Thank you, and thanks for the advice. I really need to remember to use reference on all my drawings.

Here is the last update for today, a speed painting I spent 75 minutes on so far.

I started off a bit differently on this one, blocking in shapes, then overlaying a picture by Mathius Verhasselt, manipulating it (trashing it basically lol) and allowing the colours to bleed into the picture, and then forming shapes from a what I could see.

Hopefully Ill finish this tomorrow.

[Scriar]

Hi heres todays update, spent 25 minutes doing 1 minute poses from: http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html/

And an update for that environment I posted yesterday.

edit: added a larger version of the environment. btw I have spent 2 hours in total on the environment

[Scriar]

Heres todays update, 3 hour figure study.

I probably wont update this sketchbook anymore, perhaps Ill continue this sketchbook in the future. I dont plan on quitting art or anything, I just dont think that this sketchbook is really nesscesscerry at the moment since I know I need to study anatomy, study from reference, basically study a lot ;p I originally started this sketchbook because I wanted to get motivated to do art each day. I feel that I have a focus now on what I want to improve and the way in which I should go about it. And to be honest I enjoy art so much I dont really need to be motivated to do it ;p

Also I am starting college again soon so my posts would of been sporadic at best. I would like to thank everyone that has commented in my sketchbook so far, your comments have been helpful, and encouraging. I will more than likely still browse the site btw, perhaps Ill post now and again with updates on where I am at.

Cya all around and thanks again.

[Scriar]

haha, well I was humming and hiring about starting a new sketchbook, and figured nah thats cheating lol

So with all my embarrassing old stuff behind me heres an update for this sketchbook after, god 2 years? Ill try to make my updates more regular ;p

Little update on whats happened since my last post. I got completely fed up with my life, hated I.T so much even though I was getting distinctions I just couldn’t do it anymore. Figured what the hell you only live once, so half way through my second year I dropped out, put a portfolio together and looked at uni.

Somehow I got places in a bunch of unis and now I am studying Illustration full time at the university of Plymouth ive just come to the end of my first year and start my second year in september.

Ive been posting mostly in the speedpainting thread and thought it was about time I started up a sketchbook again as it’s a good motivator, and place to get crits etc

Anyway life story over ;) heres some of my art to bring this thread up to date. Have a ton more, alot of it is on my deviant art account (see sig) if you want to check it out, just would take me forever to upload :)

4 speedpaintings/studies from photos - almost a year old now but gives an idea of progression.
Entry for the gothic girl theme for the monthly gnomon challenge.
A robot design I did to practice starting from linework and bringing to a finish.
Skeleton warrior I did after watching a video by Daarkan
Speedpaintings
Gnomon competition entry for the Rustic Inn theme.
Lastly a Gnomon Competition entry for this months theme kowloon city.

edit might take awhile to load, sorry about that.

[Scriar]

Some of my traditional stuff, I have sort of learnt back to front in that I studied digital first and now I am learning traditional. I have found that doing both helps and keeps things interesting.

Spent most of my time this year doing traditional. Ive discovered I really like watercolours and have been trying to improve in that direction. So far I have reached my goal over the year of being able to make the colours I want, wasnt able to do that before.

Some watercolours and gouache on location for a uni project.

Sketch I did a few months ago.

Tree study - for a location project.

Line drawing/sketch final for a uni project and the digital version I did afterwards. It is trying to show how water can be both good and bad, the example in this drawing is meant to show how the water is destroying the village but the well is there so they are therefore also relying on it for survival. (I dont really like conceptual illustration it was a bit odd lol)

[raminafshari]

nice drawings , keep on the good work

[Scriar]

raminafshari: thanks

edit: forgot to post this one, its a digital I did as a final idea for a uni project on location drawings.

edit2: also posted a photo of a scrap model I made for another uni project, its for my own character called the stoner squirrel, we had to write a short story and then create the main character from the story.

Mines a stoner squirrel because I was completely drunk at the time of writing
;p

[Scriar]

Slow day today, but got a painting done :) reference used as it was originally going to be a quick study just decided to work on it loosely using the reference for about 4 hours, which is long for me lol

Need to work on my patience when it comes to long paintings ;)

[Scriar]

Heres a bunch of sketches for my summer project. We have to choose a theme and then explore it through a visual diary. Ive gone with the theme impact.

[Scriar]

A study of a bear, think it was like 2 hours.

[Scriar]

Some thumbnails and a character 20 min sketch, I’ve been doing at uni. I put down watercolour brush strokes in a abstract fashion then I used a 0.3 pen to draw what I saw.

I decided not to do frames like a traditional thumnail because I noticed some of the shapes were interacting with one another, which I thought could lead to more interesting designs.

My second year started on Monday, the project we are doing is called illus210 and is very freeform in what we are allowed to do. Essentially I’m taking the research I did for my summer project (some drawings shown in previous post was from that) and expanding it in to a project I want to do even if completely unrelated as long as its come from my research.

After doing these thumbnails I started to see a lot of weird creatures, and mice for some reason (there’s one playing golf as well ;) ) so I think I might do a project where I design characters for the different types of impact that I’ve researched.

And put them on sort of collectable cards with descriptions about them on the back.

Pictures taking on my phone so not the best of quality, once scanners are set up in the studio can hopefully upload using them :)

[Scriar]

Some digital character sketches for the above project.

[Scriar]

Hi, sorry for the lack of updates, ive been very busy at uni.

First painting is the final for my illus241 module at uni. I had to do a digital painting from life, this is the Hoe and Barbican area in plymouth. The second painting is for Feburarys gnomon competition.

The rest are for the childrens Macmillan illustration prize that im currently working on an entry for, they are finals but I have reworked some of them and will probably continue experimenting with the style etc once I get my 32 page dummy book out of the way lol.

The brief is for 3 double page spreads, a front and backcover, and a 32 page dummy book.

Decided to do this as I like to try other genres/new things etc, even though I dont actually like childrens books and have never had any interest in them etc I thought I would learn more about character design, narrative, stylisation, and my work process by attempting this. I definitely appreciate the work that has to go into them now lol

Critique as always is welcome :)

p.s if anyone is interested this is the story that Ive come up with ive revised it 4 times as it has to be quite short, plus whilst studying childrens books I learnt quite a lot which I tried to apply to the story for instance using repeating phrases seems to be quite common hence the use of the magic word:


1) Mirage the witch looked in the mirror, and then she felt like a zero, so she searched and searched, and there she saw in the magazine on the floor, what she thought was the answer to all her flaws. ‘Yes this is it’ and she began to sit, as she read the ingredient list,
2) ‘The hair of a cat, the ears of a rat, a splat of this and a bit of that, grab a wand and a cat as you know they go with your hat, and now most important of all, and you’ll look like a fool when the moon is full, because of this dance you will do.’
3) And so up she got, she rushed around a lot, she grab this, and that, and then the cat, she tripped on this, crashed into that, she was in a bit of a muddle, and said that was that!
4) She waved her wand in a flurry since she was in a hurry, and there was a BOOM sending poor mirage threw living room, this room, that wall, oh she did look a fool as she swooped dipped and looped, through a chicken coup, up and down, round and round. Then she came to a stop with a loud POP! (illustration showing her crashing into a tree as well as the other things she has done whilst the wand malfunctions)
5) And as she looked down she saw her cat, then realised how lucky was that? With a cackle, and a jig, and a snort like a pig, she said with glee as the cat tried to flee, ZIPPY ZAPPIDY DOO! (illustration can show the cat with a patch of hair missing, perhaps sulking off miserably)
6) And stirred by all the commotion, there was a black motion as she saw in the direction of the floor the most horrible of things, stinky and black, and as big as the cat, it was none other than a rat.
7) She grabbed her wand ZIPPY ZAPIDY DOO! And out popped her broom, she zipped, and zoomed, and span three times too. She grabbed its ears with a tug and pull, oh she did look a fool as she lost her cool, with another ZAP, and the help of her cat she managed to get the ears of that rat. (illustration can possibly show the rats ears turning into a hat so it can be taken by the witch in a less violent way and hopefully be funny as well)
8) ‘So, I have the hair of a cat, the ears of a rat, now for a bit of this and a bit of that.’ She flew some more, and more and more, swooped and dipped, and even flipped, till she had a bit of this and some of that.
9) And after that she lifted her hat to look towards the moon, she knew it would be soon so she zipped and she zoomed, higher and higher, oh what a flyer.
10) And it would have given you a fright, if you saw the sight, as Mirage the witch whipped out her wand, ZIPPY ZAPPIDY DOO! With a SPARKLE and CRACK, and not to mention a groovy cat.
11) Mirage dropped her wand, and oh what a lunge, the cat joined in too but out shot some magic, oh it was tragic, with a ZIPPY ZAPPIDY DOO! They merged into ONE! This could be fun.
12) She had black fur, ears, whiskers, and a tail, oh it was disgraceful, definitely distasteful, but she did look better too. So she picked up her wand, with a FIZZ and a CRACK, it looked something like that as she shouted ZIPPY ZAPPIDY DOO!

[raminafshari]

looks like you are pretty good with nature .

[Scriar]

raminafshari: Thanks, I tend to like environments so paint them more. Trying to get into the habit of doing characters/creatures etc more often.

[Scriar]

Speedpainting that I did this morning before uni, trying to make myself do more characters and also to try and do a painting, drawing etc for myself atleast once a day. Otherwise I spend every day doing uni work lol

Added a brighter version as it was a bit dark.

[Scriar]

This is a painting ive been working on, on and off for a while now, I didnt really know what I wanted to do when I started it. I spent longer than I have before on any painting, and learnt a lot as a result.

Glad I 'finished' it though, Ive gotten sick at looking at the thing lol

The W.I.Ps for the painting are available on my blog.

[Scriar]

My character design for dominance war V. Im making a goddess of the wilds need to add the line weight, details, etc still. Just wanted to give an update to what I am doing ;p

Im tying this competition into my last module which is to do anything to promote yourself. The competition finishes on my hand in date which is convenient lol

edit: this is my W.I.P thread if anyone is interested http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=329&t=973389

and a speedpainting I forgot to post here.

[Scriar]

Modeling sheet wip.

[Scriar]

Hi, heres my final for the modeling sheet. And my linework for the final illustration which is going to have a painting finish so havent cleaned up the lines like on the model sheet.

[Scriar]

These are my finals for the Dominance War V competition.

Basically finished my second year of illustration now we are just putting up the end of year show now, the year has gone incredibly quickly. The Dominance War entry doubled as my end of year module. I learned a lot doing it and it was great fun as well. Its a shame its the last Dominance War but I am glad that I did it.

[Scriar]

Heres a sketch I did, was going to finish it but didnt really see it going anywhere. And an entry for this months gnomon competition, subject is 'Forest Edge'

[Scriar]

Entry for the Creature of the week challenge plus wips. Would like to do more but my wrist has been playing up.

[Scriar]

Realised I havent updated my sketchbook in awhile.

Currently about to start my Dissertation for my final year of illustration at Plymouth university. And im also about to start a module where Ive decided to illustrate the 7 deadly sins as characters, still deciding on a context for them leaning towards game characters, or as possible designs for a series of bookmarks.

Found out today that the penguin book cover competition has started, so I think im going to have a go at the childrens brief of designing a front cover for the grimms fairy tales.

Quite a lot of work to fit in, ive started driving lessons as well. So can probably see why I havent updated lately. Definitely going to be a exercise in time management this year. So much I want to get done before I graduate, the ultimate being to have a job to come out to by the end of this year.

Anyway on to the artwork.

This is an elf warrior illustration I recently finished, had quite a lot of trouble with the bottom half of the image and a problem with the illustration being too dark due to my new monitor being incorrectly calibrated. Hopefully it looks okay now, still dont like the bottom half of the image and I feel the face doesnt have a great expression, anyway could pick apart this image all day lol but time constraints mean Ill have to call it finished.

Ive been making more of an effort to keep my blog up to date, so theres lots of wips of my recent illustrations on there, as well as ones I have started, stopped and have left to rot lol

[Scriar]

Trying out a sketching method I saw on Feng Zhus latest video. Quite liked drawing this way might try it more often.

As for subject matter I just had the loose idea of designing 3 lizard like characters that each represent a different class of character in a game, so theres a warrior, a shaman/mage like character, and a brute.

[Scriar]

Sorry for the lack of updates, drowning in work at the moment (about 16 to 17 hours a day). Almost finished my 7 deadly sins series, can see the progress on my blog. Starting Wrath tomorrow, then hopefully will have some time to go back and improve the others so they are a consistent quality.

Started on my Macmillan entry, will actually submit it this year ;p, will probably start it properly after xmas, im also planning to do the penguin Grimms fairy tale cover. Need to get my dissertation out of the way first though><

Heres some quick head studies that I've done recently, second one I added a wash of colour to see of I had done the values right to start the base colour. (reference http://www.portrait-photos.org/), and the last is a bunch of ship silhouette designs for an imaginary rts game, in a bid to start ticking the boxes of what I need for a concept design portfolio. Starting off with hard surface designs.

Lastly I finally upgraded my graphics tablet, I have an Intuos 4 large now which is really nice although not too fond of the sandpaper like surface, and its really helping with my wrist problems since Im forced to use my whole arm now and not just an isolated area.

[Illeander]

Nice scout ships. Do you always work from silhouettes?

[Scriar]

Illeander: thanks. Yeah, I studied the Skillful huntsman book a lot when I first got it and found this was the technique that worked best for me. It really forces you to get all of the generic ideas out of your head and to start thinking of more unique designs.

[Scriar]

Final 3 recon ship designs. I haven't done any of this type of stuff before so I learnt quite a lot.

One of the main things is definitely to make sure I have my perspective correct in the silhouettes before I move on to the finals as I could of saved a lot of time.

I definitely should of made another pass to refine the silhouettes to I think as a lot the time I spent doing these was redoing the designs as they didn't feel quite right.

[Scriar]

Finally 'finished' my 7 deadly sins series. I was going to go back and improve them but I think I would rather move on to work on other things using what I've learnt from these illustrations.

Larger versions can be found on my blog or my tumblr which Ive started using recently: http://chrisreillyart.tumblr.com/

[Scriar]

Study of the corner of my desk, fairly quick, could of used more sharp edges on the cup and monitor I think. I made the wall pattern by creating the shapes in a different document, and then turning into a brush. The vines are copy/paste after being drawn.

[Scriar]

My assessment is just over a week away since I finished early Im going back and improving my illustrations. If I can I want to completely redo pride so need to get these smaller tweaks out of the way.

For envy I have made the following additions:

- My tutor felt it would help improve the narrative of the illustration if the witch was being enveloped in a green light to help emphasize that the witch is being lost in her envy.

- He also pointed out the shadow under the widow was too long, and the texture of the table was too 'planky' like floor boards. So Ive tried to address those critiques.

- I decided I would improve the narrative of the illustration and create more visual interest by adding letters and a book (if you zoom in its entitled snow white and the 7 dwarves ;p ) floating in the water like substance. This is to add movement, and to emphasis the witches life is flowing away as she is lost in her envy.

Im also currently working on some christmas cards to sell on the 10th at a vintage fair my friend is organising. Im using it as an excuse to finally get around to painting some dragons lol Heres what I have so far.

[Scriar]

Version 2 of my Lust illustration. Mostly aesthetic changes such as the circular wall to add another geometric shape to the composition which helps to frame the points of interest and makes the picture more dynamic I think.

My tutor suggested changing the colour of the bull as it introduces envy into the picture which confuses the meaning. Because I changed it to blue I decide to change the colours of the floor and skin tones so that they relate better to the rest of the image.

Made the female figure larger as she wasn't dominant enough in the picture considering she is the main point of interest next to the bull in the previous image she appeared subservient due to the decreased size in comparison.

I couldn't figure out how to get the tongue that's licking the lips to stand out more without zooming in, so I guess that part has failed.

Realised it looks quite loose when zoomed in this much, finals are viewed half size so I guess its something I should be aware of, not going to worry too much about it.

[Scriar]

Revised versions of Greed and Gluttony.

[Scriar]

Heres is my version of pride. Its meant to be a take on Lucifer falling from heaven, due to his pride. Ive also recorded the process for this one which i haven't done before. It crashed on every save, and deleted 2 of the iterations show it skips some stages unfortunately.

Think ill have to do this more, its quite useful looking back and see how badly i buggered up each part of the image haha

http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr284/Scriar/processanimation.gif

[Scriar]

Speedy, trying out something different with the smudge tool.

Assessment tomorrow, so can finally focus on getting my dissertation out of the way and doing some other stuff for my portfolio :)

[Scriar]

Bug thingy doodle, not doing much art at the moment beyond the usual figure drawing, and daily art grind that I tend not to post since im sure people get sick of seeing it ha. Have to get my dissertation done unfortunately. (Its on Frank Frazetta so at least its an interesting subject, amazingly my tutors have never heard of him >< )

[JailHouseRock2]

Liking the new direction your taking your personal art! Careful with that smudge tool tho, dont over use it. Keep em' studies coming too!!
Great stuff, keep posting!
Matt

[AllyAlbon]

Very nice environments happening here! Really want to see more of them. Really like the " forest edge" pic and would love to know how you did those plants.

[Scriar]

Jailhouserock2: Thanks, I see what you mean about the smudge tool haha
AllyAlbon: Thanks, Ive made a small animation for you to show how I did them. Basically I use the lasso tool first, then apply the base colour with a large soft brush, then I add the shadows, again using a large soft brush as it gives a nice diffused look as leafs tend to spread the light and shadow across their surface so there will be lots of gradients.

Then I start adding details, some highlights, inner glow as leafs refract the light as their translucent therefore the the light will cause them to glow. After that its just refining, adding a bit of photooverlays or texture brushes depending on the look your going for.

Then unlike ive done in the demo you would just keep going refining such as cleaning up edges, defining the texture, adding smaller shadows to suggest leafs above, behind them and so on.

Hope that helps :)


Just a small update, Ive been spending all my time doing my dissertation as mentioned so I dont have a lot of time to do art :(, finished chapter 2 today yay, so end is in sight :D Here's a leaf demo, and a shot design environment that I am working on at the moment - as you can see its just in the sketch stages at the moment. Will be taking this one to finish for my portfolio :)

[Scriar]

Update on my shot design changed the characters around, started adding colour etc

[Scriar]

Asaro bust - planes of the head study.

[Scriar]

Random quick portrait study, and an update on my shot design environment. Just started adding in textures, adding some story elements, improving lighting etc.

[Scriar]

This is my final shot design, and my last painting for 2011 :)

[AllyAlbon]

Thanks for the tutorial, really interesting technique. Love your newest environments too!

[Brahimpag]

Hi ! , i can see that u have a nice scop there ...

maybe , do a few studies ...

and , about ur last artwork, u have added too many color ,so it looks distrupted .. !

keep it up

[Sajok]

Love seeing how far you've come, Scriar. Really inspirational. Your last posts are a real testament to it. Well done, and good luck with your dissertation!

[Scriar]

AllyAlbon: Thanks, hope the tutorial was helpful :)
Brahimpag: Thanks for your critique, I think I see what you mean, ive added another version below that hopefully has a more unified colour scheme.
Sajok: Inspirational? haha you have just made my day :D Thank you. Yeah actually finished the dissertation now, finally..first draft anyway lol

Here's a speedpainting - first painting of 2012 :) and another version of my shot design trying to unify the colours based on Sajoks critique. Currently working on some wow 'fanart' never actually done any before. I thought it would be fun will post some progress when it looks less awful lol

[Scriar]

Some more Asaro head studies, decided to not follow the reference completely as it helps me to remember that you only need to change the shapes and proportions of the different planes to get someone's unique look. Forgot to clean up some of the edges, ahh well, probably lack of sleep, its 2.25 am here ;p

[Scriar]

This is a Corrupted night elf illustration I'm working on at the moment since I wanted to try something different, I thought it would be a good challenge to do a illustration with a specific I.P in mind.

Process was rather messed up on this as originally it was just a character that I was doing a black and white value sketch of next to some reference to have a go at designing in a specific style. I then decided I wanted to do it as a full illustration, so I used one of my other finished speed paintings as a base background, and then integrated the character into the scene, and changing it to make sense.

Trying to go for a Felwood type scene, if I remember WoW right lol, its been 3 years since I played it (Currently playing warcraft 3 and its expansion, better later than never I guess).

Basically thought of those green spire type things that corrupt the land and the creatures surrounding it, I know night elfs in the lore are meant to be close to nature so I thought it would be cool if the corruption extended to the night elf effecting its magic, making it some type of hybrid druid type thingy ;)

Think my sketch is done now, so will just concentrate on rendering.

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Update on the night elf, decided to make the scene darker as I think it makes it moodier, as well as being for practical reasons of making the glowing elements stand out. Some rendering on the armour etc

Forgot to mention Ive now booked to go to the NFTS open days for their new game design course and the production design one. Still not sure about doing an MA (never considered it before seeing that uni), just keeping my options open at the moment, playing around with the idea of perhaps looking into a uk based Atelier as well for an alternative route.

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Update on my corrupted night elf illustration. Changed the layout and some other elements to improve the composition, trying to separate the elements more as the values were merging together so the depth was lost/everything was getting flat, redesigned the weapon, and starting to try and get the focus on the head area.

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Update on my corrupted night elf illustration

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Final version of my corrupted night elf. Its available as a higher rez on my blog. (see sig).

Guess I should start thinking about what to do for my final major project now, start uni again next week. Originally I was going to do the macmillan childrens book competition, I still might, I never thought Id say this but I actually quite enjoyed designing the last one.

Playing around with the idea of perhaps doing a skillful huntsman type book instead, since it would give me the opportunity to basically cover everything I think I need for a portfolio, and ive been wanting to do something like that every since I first got the book. Going to talk to some of my friends and do it as a collaboration if I can.

Still need to get around to teaching myself 3DS max as well (you do 3D/animation and programming on this MA I am looking at), for those that dont know you can go on to their site as a student and download all the software for free (36 month license I believe). So far Ive taught myself the interface and made a 'jerry can' which was a pain and looked more like an alien version of one lol

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Sorry for the lack of updates, in the process on upgrading my computer at the moment.

Here's so character development for the Macmillan children's book competition. Ive decide to adapt the Brother Grimm tale called 'The Queens Bee' since its very open to interpretation. Once I've done the Macmillan book, I'm going to take the same story and convert it in to a game or animation property, in the form of a visual development book. Ala the skillful huntsman.

These are some of the digital sketches I did for the two elder brothers in the story.

Also a painting I did as a style test. The theme is 'I used to be a pirates parrot before I took an arrow to the knee' ;p

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Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of updates Ive been (and I am still) extremely busy.

Just coming up to the last few months of university, its been quite exciting. I did my first professional job as a concept artist/Costume Designer for Warner Brothers via Alexandre Byrne last week which was an amazing experience.

Finishing up my entry for the Macmillan Children's book prize, as well as the Penguin design award. You can see some of my wips for my macmillan book on my blog. Dissertation submitted finally - never want to do that again lol

And now I'm spending most of my time entering competitions, finishing up the last of my modules, and fleshing out my graduation portfolio.

Anyway on to some art :)

This is my entry for this months Gnomon image challenge. The theme this month is Dreamscape, my idea was a King or Emperor of some kind is looking on as his dream palace is created.

I decided to do this as Architecture is my weakest area so best way to improve that is to do something that really challenges you :)

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Working on a new website at the moment which will hopefully be up by the end of the week. Basically just building my portfolio now, promoting myself and trying to get work :) Submitted my design for the penguin book competition see below, my idea was the story was coming alive dont really like my execution of it I wanted it to merge from a simplistic style into a realistic one.

And finished all of my macmillan stuff I just need to go and get the high quality prints done now.

Also here is a wip of a mock book cover im working on at the moment. Im going to do a few of these in order to expand my portfolio and so I can use them as samples when applying for work.

Little joke in the title for anyone who likes Game of Thrones ;p

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Update on my book cover, improving the lighting, making the sky more dramatic, rendering, etc

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Final version of my mock book cover.

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Heres the sketch for my next mock book cover. And I also finished making my new website, going to add a few more tweaks to it when I have the time.

http://chrisreillyillustration.com/

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Finished the under painting its still quite loose but I find if I go too far with the greyscale I have a harder time adding colour to it. Will start adding colour and painting opaquely now :)

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Current progress on my book cover.

Also I updated my website layout hopefully its clearer now: http://chrisreillyillustration.com/

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Warner brothers paid me recently for the work I did for them, so I treated myself to the art departments James Kei figure downloads. This is my current progress on a figure painting after watching both videos. Will finish it once I have some time, need to get on with some of my other work first.

This is the reference I am using http://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/1854077?offset=96#/d1a09dw

Photo by MJ Ranum.

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Heres an update on the second mock book cover, will clean it up tomorrow then call it done I think.

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Evening, last post for today, this is my 'finished' study. Left the hands and feet a bit loose as I feel Ive gotten all I can from the study and it would be better to move on. Learnt a lot from it, definitely recommend the James Kei downloads they are very helpful.

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Hi, heres 2 1 hour figure studies I did this morning, really bad but atleast I learnt what not to do haha. And I finished the second mock book cover, which I was starting to feel like I was polishing a turd, oh well.

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Took a break from studying naked people :)

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Hi,

This is a bellydancer study ive been working on today, using this reference from chamberstock :http://chamberstock.deviantart.com/gallery/6777641?offset=24#/d1o4olq

Saved my steps so far as well mostly for my own 'notes' but I thought it might be helpful for some others so thought Id post them as well.

Need to work on the hands, feet still among other things I left them till last since I didnt want to get caught up getting them right until the overall proportions etc was correct with the rest of the painting.

Will hopefully finish this tomorrow, need to get a move on with my concept art portfolio, just been studying lately :)

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'Finished' my figure painting, haven't done the jewelry or decorative stuff to a realistic level (or at least as realistic as I can get atm) since I should really get a move on making portfolio pieces and have already spent a while on this (learned a ton though)

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Here is some concept art I am working on at the moment, I was hoping to finish it today but lots of work to do and I'm shattered lol This is meant to be a piece to add to my concept art portfolio.

Sort of sticking with the theme of a mock sci fi RTS that I did the recon ship designs for awhile ago, so this is aimed at perhaps being a cinematic screen for it. I'm doing this since I was re-watching the Feng Zhu tutorial videos on youtube and he mentioned doing things in sets. So I will do some character designs for this and then move onto interior work, and more isometric type designs you would expect to see for an RTS.

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Update on the scifi concept, really didnt like the things holding the ship so just painted over them and gave it legs instead. I think it helps open up the composition as well.

I think its just a case of cleaning up edges and the details now.

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Final version, tried to keep it fairly loose was making it too tight which I guess would be bad for concept art since it puts clients off of suggesting changes.

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Enemy General silhouette designs for my mock sci fi rts idea. Not quite sure which one to go with at the moment. Leaning towards 2, 7, or 9. (Planning to clean these up and post them in portfolio later)

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Initial rough sketches for the previous silhouettes, went with number 2 in the end. Leaning towards taking number 7 to finish but with a less busy design on the front.

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Final Concept for my enemy general character, I worked mostly in grayscale, did a quick colour pass for presentation.

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Sorry for the lack of updates, very busy at the moment so havent had too much time to keep all of the places I post updated :)

Heres some environment design work that I did for my portfolio, my rough idea is that they are for a fantasy mmo. First 2 are thumbnail batches, and the second 2 are the finished versions.

I left the swamp scene a bit looser with the intention that it wouldn't be so rendered that it would put a client off of changing something. But it actually tightened up when I printed it, ahh well I tried lol

Edit: oh this is the hero character I did for the sci fi project posted previously.

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Dungeon concepts and Final for the mock fantasy mmo project I am working on for my portfolio. Just 3 portfolio pieces left to do :)

Edit: My creature of the week entry as well so its all in one place :)

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Here Is the last of my portfolio work, the first is the concepts for the orc creatures you would find in the dungeon I posted earlier, the next is a concept for their captain, sort of an elite mob I guess, and lastly its meant to be the boss, but as a promotional illustration.

The last two are done in pencil, fineliner and brush pens, since my Intous 4 tablets usb slot seems to have been disconnected from the motherboard >< so whilst I am waiting on that getting refunded I dont have access to a tablet. This just has to happen a couple of days before my final hand in :/