Adam Nichols Sketchbook/Speedpaints

[NicHolS]

Hey all, this is the first sketchbook Ive posted so Ill just dump some speedies and such and try and regularly post whatever I have. Im hoping this can be a place I can get out some ideas, doodles or dabbles.

This first batch are just some of the quick speed paints I did at the Wellington Massive Black Workshop in between the presentations. I also want to shoot out a huge thanks to all the guys for making the event happen, as it was awesome to meet all of you in person :) First image is in tribute to Jason Manley! You rock mate!

Note: If the colors all seem a bit off/saturated sorry, my tablet PCs colours are WAY off, I ordered an EyeOne monitor calibrator and its in the post. So for now enjoy the slightly random colour lol

Adam

[PieMonster]

Looks good dude, really liking the zombie with a candle on the head, and the last one. Looking forward to seeing more!

[Vingrey]

Yeah the candle zombie rules them all :D. Love others as well!

And also you caught my eye with the Tablet pc. I´m deciding if I should buy one, but the internet is kinda short on information on Tablet Pcs, artwise. Could you please give me some pointers or recommendations? You know, the pressure level issue and such.

[NicHolS]

Yeah the candle zombie rules them all :D. Love others as well!

And also you caught my eye with the Tablet pc. I´m deciding if I should buy one, but the internet is kinda short on information on Tablet Pcs, artwise. Could you please give me some pointers or recommendations? You know, the pressure level issue and such.

Thanks guys, yeah the Tablet PC tends to be a hard one for most people. My advice for buying one would be if you DO want one, get a fast one otherwise you WILL notice some lay with large/fancy brushes and large files with lots of layers. As for the sensitivity I actually think its preferable to a cintiq (as my brother has one) and is comparable to an intuos3. Id also recommend getting a slate style if its preferably just for sketching on and use either a usb or wireless keyboard for your shortcuts (this is one thing most people dont think of when buying a tablet) as I tend to color pick a lot and undo is mans best friend :)

Heres some more recent art...

[TheGreatAges]

Great coloring work. I like the second piece, the giant stone statue. The Ghost Rider pic is nice too.

[Vingrey]

Those B&W are awesome, and the Shambler looks slick too! In the Chow piece I think her head is a bit large, or the perspective is wierding something out.
I must say I love your colouring though.

Thanks for advice man! In our country is unfortunately nearly impossible to get a slate (well it´s kinda hard to get a tablet pc anyway). So I get to choose between like a three tablets with screen big enough for artistry. I chose Portégé M700, cause it´s in my price range. Sad thing is I can´t get a confirmation if it´s Wacom penabled or not...

[NicHolS]

Some new posts, its been too long! Here is a whole range of images from my steampunk atlas thumbnails to some abandoned works like my ghostbusters and hotrod pieces... most are either wip, unfinished or abandoned images. Let me know what you think...

[NicHolS]

hmm im having some weird issues it seems with old thumbnails not showing... anyone have any ideas why it shows in a list and not as images? weird...

[Pixie Bergman]

Wow really cool stuff adam! Rodimus prime? Hahaha.. Keep sharing please :)

[nurraymjo]

Awesome work, Slimer's looking pretty bad ass in that Ghostbusters piece.

[Quike Garcia]

I love the second lama painting :)

[Rodimus25]

Hey Adam, sweet stuff mate, bout time u got a sketchbook happening too:) Thanks for sharing... rodimus prime looks sweet:)

[adammelo]

Really cool stuff you got there man, i like the thumbnail's of the giant man holding something up, reminds me of Atlas XD Suscribing too go on this journey lol...

Keep up the good work.

[NicHolS]

First off some replies to your kinds words...

adammelo - thanks for subscribing, enjoy the ride... oh and it is atlas, it was for the steampunk challenge but i never had time to finish it but i intend to
Rodimus25 -yeah it is about time haha i finally converted but ill keep my own deviantart gallery too, will be quite a juggle!
Quikenobi - lama painting? haha i presume you mean the monks? lol cheers! more to come soon!
Nurraymjo -yeah slimer is the only finished part but looking at it now even he could use some more style/flair
Pixie Bergman - rodimus was always my fav, its based off a model i own of the same design so i cant take its credit@!
The Great Ages - thanks mate, the stone guys reminds me of the comic character concrete
Vingrey - yeah her heads a bit big but shes prety small (shes half japanese) but i do plan to revise her soon. definately invest in a tablet of any kind, i ordered mine online too as we ccant get them here in shops either (in australia)
Piemonster - yeah the whole zombie design was just a silly idea which came to me after painting the zombie at the wellington marama massive black workshop. hes one of a series of 09, along with the robot chick (08)

The following are quick 30-45 min speed paints Ive done after work late at night... Im hoping to also start entering the EOW to improve my speed painting and maybe even start some matte paintings... i really need to change the way i use (or start to use the right) brushes if i do. i also may enter some cow's to try and work on my imagination for creature design too...

[NicHolS]

So things have been pretty busy of late... I finished designing my new website which is soon to be updated, its been a while coming but i can sense its so close that i can almost touch it : ) oh and i also changed the url to www.adamnichols.net but the old site should still be up until the new one goes live.

until then here are some quick speed paint sketches for initial ideas for the weekly chow. the theme is the endless (which are the characters from neil gaimans sandman ie death, dream, destruction, delerium, desire, destiny and despair) ill hopefully have some more ideas tonight to post, and settle on a single character to finish by sunday night. any feedback would be greatly appreciated! be harsh but constuctive... thanks!

(In order of images shown below)
Dream: lives his world in a bubble, small artifacts and dream sequences refract through his sometimes merky and sometimes crystal clear waters

Desire/Despair: half beauty, half beasty they are twins (conjoint) which are so beautiful and yet so shocking you cant look away

Destruction: his mere touch is enough to make ashes of whatever he sees fit

Destiny: an entity of light at the end of a book which holds the past the present and the future, he is seen to be scripting the present as it happens atop of his perch of solitude. only he was there at the beginning, and only he will remain at its end.

Death: her red hair blends into the blood like tears in the rain, she stands muted and unwavering as her decisions are final. she is death.

Potential combo: the endless

adam

[Quike Garcia]

Wow, great interpretations on the concepts.. I specially like the destiny one.. though I'm not quite fond of the death one.. for me is mroe violence than death..

Great work :)

[FAST ART]

jeah, Quikenobi said it. you got great skillz.. my favorites are the impkins :)

[Liam Harvey]

destiny is such a lovely concept there, strongest i think due to being the most fully developed picture.Plus i think the lighting and form is just killer.

[NicHolS]

thanks for the feedback guys, heres the chow update, i went with destiny as everyone suggested... it really was the only half decent idea... purely based on composition really... but for the desc for what i tried to work into the image go check out the chow forum! (which you all should be doing anyways right!?!?!)

adam

[AustenFM]

Some pretty great stuff in here, totally lovin' the Dhalsim piece as well! Some pretty sweet ideas too.

Keep it up!

[NicHolS]

...and heres old candle man himself... the finger feathered fantasy known as destiny!

ChOW #157: The Endless - Destiny

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Great stuff Adam! Love the B+W figure studies :D.

[Teundeboer]

Man, i love that Destiny design. Same goes for your enviro studies.
In post #7, the first picture of the dark skinned monk. I think his left leg is a bit too long.
Overall, cool stuff so far. Keep it up.

[Icecold]

Skills!

Best wishes, Ice

[TheGnoll]

lovely work in here man, loving the variety and studies
have some stars :)

ciao!

[NicHolS]

hey all ive been real sick this past week but being stuck in bed with my tablet pc has given me lots of time to get some painting done. heres this weeks creature and environment of the week,m let me know what you think and if you like remember to vote at the end of the week!

EOW topic : Draculas castle
COW topic : Arctic Juggernaut of death

cheers
adam

[young paddy1]

beautiful werks in here especially like destiny, those little impkin guys and the speed enviros. A little crit on the latest COW however, I'd put some space between the flying guy and the creature to give it more drama. It looks like he's walking on it's face at the moment.

cheerio

keep it coming

[Rodimus25]

hey mate, nice updates and goodluck on eow and cows:) really like your takes on em.

[coldrum]

Arctic Juggernaut of death = Awesome :) Good to see you on here Ads

[arghmisfit]

hey, I really like that destiny piece, good job!

One crit would be.. The type in the dracula piece seems a little jarring and competes with the castle too much. The drop shadow from the type flattens the piece out as well..

however the bats work nice making the type fit into the piece, so good job on that part..

keep it up

[Jesus Food]

great variety man!

[Mark Tarrisse]

Cool stuff man, definitely subscribed :)

[jeremygordon89]

I really looove the Dhalsim painting, but everything in here is great!

If this is your sketchbook I'm gonna really have to check out your finished works : ]
Can't wait to see more

[Tigermilk]

wow.. awesome stuff going on in here, thanks for sharing!

[NicHolS]

Coldrum -thanks jez, ive been quarentined at home all week with potentially whooping cough... wont know for sure till the blood test is back... gives me pleanty of spare time in bed with my tablet pc :) hope alls well with you and yours!

Rodimus25 - thanks mate, will be an interesting round having partaken in all 3 weekly challenges, feel free to vote and let others know if you like too. i think i could use all the votes i can get lol :P this weeks chow sounds good too

Tigermilk - np happy to share with everyone

jeremyg0rd0n - appreciated mate, some of these are close to finished but most are wip or abandoned too but i should start a finished thread too shouldnt i

Markusthebarbarian - youre welcome, enjoy the ride

Jesus Food - thanks, im glad youthink so :)

arghmisfit - yeah the typography was way off, i went the whole oldscool horror look but tbh i agreed it was arse! definately made the piece flat

young paddy1 - haha thanks for the feedback, sadly the image just went to poll but i see what you mean by the mans tangency issues

thanks everyone! more soon,
adam

[DaStreets]

AWESOME work. I seen ur Dahlsim pic in the UDON street fighter art book. Great stuff. Ur digital painting skills are top notch and look very clean. The ideas you have are interesting and cool. The robots and the portraits of those women really impressed me, keep it up. (comment me if u find time, thanks

[NicHolS]

two small icons for the eow weekly challenge forum... let me know which you prefer. japan is renound for its landscapes so i did 2 japanese themes icons

1 japanese temple
2 mt fuji

[Quike Garcia]

I'd go for the temple :)

[YihyoungLi]

You're the one with the awesome Destiny CHOW!

Amazing stuff. :D

[Pixie Bergman]

excellent CHOWs, COW and EOW Adam! Full on! :) I'd go for the japanese temple there.

[NicHolS]

Hey all, hees my wip and finals for this week gones chow, eow and cow. please if you like them feel free to go vote for them and many other great designs below!

COW: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=1475
CHOW: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158047
EOW: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158184

and the sketch for this weks chow topic the outlaw! feedback appreciated

adam

[Jorge Gecov]

Love your work.
The speedpaintings and enviros are really great!
I didn't know your work but i hope to see new stuff soon.

Cheers,

[JailHouseRock2]

Really dig your stuff mate!

[tokotewhero]

Hey Man! awesome sketchbook coming along here. really digging the Arctic juggernaut! looking forward to some more!

hmm my only crit on it even tho i really like it the way it is, but i feel the beast could be planted a little more. by this i just mean darkening up the feet a little to show its weight. then again maybe not. haha. looking good tho man.

[NicHolS]

heres my chow159 wip, i havnt really worked on it since last post very much but instead thought id post a tute for all the guys struggling with their compositions and layout/focal point analysis. these are the steps i often take, (but not always sigh lol) they help me spot why an image which looks good but doesn't look great, which im sure everyone has experienced. after doing this tute i will focus on these 6 steps to ensure it helps me focus my efforts on important aspects and not kill time with a shoe lace, blade of grass or piece of string you eventually wont even notice in the final composition.

1 get your perspective grid overlay figured out, the most simple way you can spot if a character shot is off is with one of these. takes 2 seconds to whip up and already i can see my feet issues, arm length issues, width of leg issues and this will help me ensure all small details once im zoomed in and detailing are still in perspective with the overall piece. even with my simple seemingly frontal angle you ncan still do some subtle stuff and i will hopefully aim to push this in the final image.

1.1 your palette/swatch. try and nail this down as early as possible, it doesn't always have to be flashy and grand to look good. a good system i sometimes use is picking 2 main colors/hues with a tint (light) and shade/tone (mid/dark) of each and then one major accent color and if really necessary one more slight undertone color or bounce light color and then let the mixing of these do the trick. in this example ive gone as simple as possible and gone sepia color, which is essentially one flat hue in and range of tint/tone/shades. dont forget to add in some slight variance of hue or saturation (and i mean slight people! lol) which will often add a lot of subtle depth to your colors. i often forget this myself like in last weeks chow for instance!

2 flow of focal points. try and predict where the viewers eye SHOULD be going and analyze where it is actually going. it often helps to loop this flow so the artist can keep the viewers attention from flowing off the page. ive used a simple spittoon to try and help rotate the viewer back to the face/head also aided by the angle of the shadow on the wall. these hotspots are where you should focus your time and attention, and nowhere else!

3 framing your boundaries. every image should keep you inside the frame... you shouldn't (usually) have something bleeding off a page unless intentionally so (in the case of a comic strip or sequential.) im using the shadows with a soft falloff to help frame and control the character, it helps to ensure the angles are visually interesting and not always just vertical or horizontal.

4 lines of focus or flow. this is the usual step most artists try and focus on the most to have a nice dynamic composition, usually these lines are full of action and grace (but can also be simple straight lines if thats your desire.) i stuck with heavy straight lines since hes an old man who is very strong willed, i wouldn't imagine him jumping around like a young man would so his lines are straight and firm and all leading to his head as the main focus. these still be refined as having laid these out i realised how much further i could push these lines... so we will see how much this can come into effect in my final

5 contrast in key lighting (value silhouettes). most people are aware of high mid and low key lighting (if not then high key is high contrast, low key is therefore low contrast) and in this diagram you can see where i will try and emphasize the hard definition of the tonal values. ive elected to ensure the upper torso has the most contrast and this will also ensure the silhouette is also visually interesting and stand out. backlit will often save you here time and time again! almost all chows which win tend to use backlit lighting lol

well thats about all for now, i hope some of the younger guys learnt from each of these, if you want me to explain something better or further just shout and ill see what i can do.... cheers all!
adam

[NicHolS]

this weeks chow update:

[DStraX]

great uppdates :D like that you show the composition things

[Sean McClain]

Great stuff, I luv your contribution to all the competitions, Keep posting!:)

[Rodimus25]

hey ads, really diggin this chow entry man, love the vibe and feel of the piece:) nice one mate, hope u're feeling better.

[Swordhand]

Nice, but his feet are HUGE o.O

[Krato]

nice pictures keep updating

[NicHolS]

this weeks cow and chow wip and finals

[monotony]

oh. god.
that last creature for cow is amazing. love the concept and execution on the illustration. you just want to yell at the surfer to run for his life. very captivating for sure!
and ace work on the outlaw.
thanks for sharing your process!

[Giorge]

the cow look really nice m8 , good luck with both of them ^^

[clockworksnail]

Dude, the outlaw is awesome, seriusly, i praise you for him. i like the COW too, but the outlaw takes the prize for me.

i also really liked that artic juggernaut piece you did, youve got a really good imagination,

i'd subscribe if i knew how to, unfortunatly im really new to this site, i'll try and find out how to tho. i think i know!

i can give you stars!

you've inspired me man.

[Cam Sykes]

thanks alot for the compositional info. was very helpful and informative.

[vardoburrito]

I love the feeling on all of them. Awesome.

[tokotewhero]

nice! the baron is looking alot better! and the latest cow is a killer! sweet idea!

[coldrum]

Nice work Ads .. Cow is really great, cool idea.. I'd move the fin on the surfboard back toward the tail and slot that distant surfer in the barrel more but thats just me being a picky pants. Thats creepy dude.. I'm so glad these things dont exsist :S Good luck with the votes. The Baron is nice too but it might pay to consider thinning out those boots.. they seem a touch wide. Cya soon fella

[Sidharth Chaturvedi]

Hey man, been looking at your stuff in CHOW and figured I'd take a look here. Really like your work a lot! That COW entry in particular is awesome, and I love the colors in http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=659528&stc=1&d=1241094845.

[Dan Valkar]

the baron its really cool, awesome work on that one..also like the picture frame presentation.....

[kinjura]

Everything looks fantastic. I really enjoyed the recent breakdown of the gunslinger image. That said, you had me at Samurai swat team!

[matejkovacic]

Nice COW and great Outlaw CHOW (of course you got my vote)! Keep it up!

[openanewworld]

thanks for dropping by my sketch book, sorry we have similar ideas on the new chow haha, I am still wondering which one but should be either b or c, nice works here, you are in Brisbane too? Have you worked with Min? I was working in Creative Assembly before. Anyway keep up posting the good works man.

[NicHolS]

thanks for dropping by my sketch book, sorry we have similar ideas on the new chow haha, I am still wondering which one but should be either b or c, nice works here, you are in Brisbane too? Have you worked with Min? I was working in Creative Assembly before. Anyway keep up posting the good works man.

hehe nar its all good about the chow, it was so close to your B idea with the arms and chainsaw just like D too... i wasnt too happy with my idea and how it was feeling so im happy to try something else... will push me to think a little harder then just my first few ideas... :D

yeah min worked on the end of hellboy, but left very soon there after. super talented guy! i unfortunately was moved onto the force unleashed by that point so didnt get to see much of him but the work he does blew my mind. where are you currently? you still with C.A.? honestly your work is brilliant mate, im shocked youre also from brissie, such a small world...

[openanewworld]

really, I wish I can work with him man, he is truly awesome, I am not in ca anymore, just try to give myself some time really focus on learning art, so I quit, I am still in Brisbane through, you can join our sketch group sometimes in city if you want

[NicHolS]

really, I wish I can work with him man, he is truly awesome, I am not in ca anymore, just try to give myself some time really focus on learning art, so I quit, I am still in Brisbane through, you can join our sketch group sometimes in city if you want

yeah definately, sounds like fun! i really need to return to the basics myself. dunno if could quit to do that tho hehe :P

[YihyoungLi]

really amazing! Your composition tutorial is really helpful. :)

[hunchback]

man, dang crazy australians
furk loved the baron pic
nice old fashion look to it not to mention the fact that hes bad ass!!

more please xD

[VogelA]

Love your more recent updates. The arctic Juggernaut, and Absynthe girl are perhaps my favorites. More....Soon...Please

[PeNcIl ReBeLlIoN]

Really nice work here, and from a fellow Brisbane based artist, and with my dream job no less..... What's it like there at Krome? I've been trying to find out more about the Brisbane job scene, any advice I should take on board?

[coldrum]

Hey Ads, I'm pretty sure you met Hermin at the Wellington workshop... He was the one with the insane portfolio which had even the instructors drooling over :) When He showed his work, he got a round of applause from everyone.

[Dished]

really brilliant work dude! i love how your chow turned out

[Jamie Romoser]

Whats up NicHolS your sketchbook is sick man!
You have some awsome ideas love the one on the beach!

Thanks for the inspiration -Omerta

[Tonic]

Wow, I love the way you analysed the Outlaw character. It's very useful to know it, thanks for sharing! The last works are also great, I personally like the COW - refreshing, blocked colours and the idea of creature is very plausible - and I'm shivering from looking at it! :) Keep it with more updates!

[DANKA]

Very nice work.
I like "The Baron" especially the last version with the too much long right harm fixed, and the work on the legs to keep the right weighting. ;-)
Keep up!

[Mag-Neo]

----- I really liked all of your sketches are. Especially the last one,..... :steph:
Keep posting mate, I'm really looking for your next creates......... :yayca:

[wanimal]

nice works

[NicHolS]

wanimal -thanks!

mag-neo -ill try and keep this updated, been a bit busy of late but should be back for good soon...

danka -haha thanks, yeah sometimes my sketches anatomy is way loose, gotta work on that

tonic -thanks ill try and share more tutes very soon. color theory will be next i think.

omerta -thanks, glad you liked! i find cow the most challenging actually

dished -really appreciated

coldrum -wow i do remember that but cant see his face, im sure itll all come back to me

pencil-rebellion -yeah fellow brissie artist here! kromes great, getting a concept job without experiance is the hard part, i suggest getting in then moving into concept, its what i did

vogela - thanks! heres some new chow for ya! more soon

hunchback - thanks alot, yeah theres a fair few good aussie concept artists around now

yihyongli - thanks, glad people liked it, more soon i promise

heres mu new chow for the city stalingrad ussr, i dedicate this to the millions who lost their lives. may you all rest in peace.

[clockworksnail]

Thats brilliant, i love the whole reference to the hammer and sickle. i just really like al of it. how long did it take you???

[Zoio]

Aweeesomme dude!
That artic jugger is perfect!!
Cheers!

[AlstonInk]

Mr Nichols, just wanted to say great SB, CHOW concepts etc, I really enjoy your work! Also noticed Herman told you about the Brisbane SB that takes place every Saturday morning in the city. If you're interesed check out the details here: Brisbane Sketchgroup (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=148493). Anyway, keep posting that eye-candy.

[SpaXe]

Wow, I really like your colours! They're smooth and spot on! Post more. :D

[chino-rino]

amazing man>>> just amazing

[NicHolS]

chino-rino - thanks for stopping by and commenting : )

spaXe - thanks, yeah i really need to post more regularly but my internets down at the moment at home so its making it hard... darn ISP!

AlstonInk - yeah herman did, im thinking of joining you guys but every time i keep trying to book it in something comes up last minute :( sorry, but soon!

Zoio - thanks, im really missing the cow's. im hoping to do some more once the newborn compertition wraps up.

clockworksnail - thankyou, it took about 8-10 hours at a guess, but its infront of the tv so its off and on work. i usually spread it over a few nights as i work full time too.

UPDATE: just so youre all aware im entering the newborn contest (you can watch my progress here (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2312258#post2312258) so it will keep me pretty busy outside work ours until end of the month. i quite like my initial idea but im really finding a few problems so your feedback would be greatly appreciated! on that note here is a progress shot!

[AlstonInk]

Hey Adam, no drama. With the concept, I like it, but having checked out your progress work I personally prefer the one where the guy's skin is coming off in one piece, (know which one I'm talking about?). Of course it's still early days. Dunno, I just like.

[lincoln.renall]

hi from NZ adam
looking good !
I agree with the last comment from alstonink though....to me the composition seems nicer with your earlier concept where skin is coming off like a sock.
not being picky - as its still pretty darn nice, but to my eye, i liked the early piece better...hope that helps
Cheers

[VogelA]

Stoppin back in, the New ChOW is sweet!!

[NicHolS]

thanks for the feeback guys, ive totally lost the vibe of the piece i was doing for newborn, i instead did this zombie/vampire piece for a new direction... but may just leave it as a speed paint. it all comes down to how much time i get over the next week or so left, which im starting to doubt ill get realyl much. was a bit of a poor effort from me this time, maybe ill have better ideas next time.

[Jamie Romoser]

Always such an inspiration when i come to this thread.
Keep it up -Jamie

[spoonfruit]

Great great stuff!!! :) Your cow 143 entry ROCKS man!!! Keep it up! :)

[M!CK]

The use of colour in your art :^^:

post some more stuff Adam.

[TheGnoll]

beautiful work in here man, esp diggin all the Chows n cows (baron=badass)

looking forward to seeing some more!

ciao!

[smokenmirrors]

fantastic work! love your vivid colors and slick concepts. subscribed and stars fosho. :)

[NicHolS]

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments over the last few weeks. I took a bit of a break from CA to finish off redesigning my website which is still in the works and design my girlfriends site layout too. Works been busy but not as forfilling for me so I will probably get back into regular posting again. Expect more regular posts from me.

Heres last weeks chow, feel free to go vote here as the voting has been rather low this week for some reason:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=168751

And also an older EOW i did a few weeks ago in bits and drabs, wasnt quite finished I dont think so I may revise it, or may just do another better one lol didnt live upto what I was aiming for. Inspired and in homage to Monkey Island.

[clockworksnail]

Are you self taught on the tablet or have u been educated in it?

[Krato]

Are you self taught on the tablet or have u been educated in it?

was unaware there was any other way to use a tablet without teaching yourself.

[Krato]

ALSO, could you explain to me what you did too change the colors of certain clothing on those terraformer/medic/soldier concepts? Did you isolate a layer and then do what?

[llex_paul]

congratulations for your chow! you make a nice space characters;) keep it up man!

[clockworksnail]

was unaware there was any other way to use a tablet without teaching yourself.

You can Get classes on it..... therefore being taught by another!

[NicHolS]

clockworksnail - yeah self taught on the wacom, just grabbed a small graphire 3 in uni and a few years ago moved to the intuos 3, both of which i gave away as i now use a tablet pc. while i do like the tablet it definately has its flaws, which is worth keeping in mind when wanting to buy. mostly you just need to put buckets of hours into it and youll get good. having said that i used to color comics with a mouse so anythings possible regardless of the tools.

krato - i just desaturated the colors then used an overlay layer with the new colors of the next design. i infact started with the marine and removed his armour and then did the lesser detailed models at the end. the colors on these arent technically impressive but read well for modelling. something a lot of artists forget - someone needs to interpret your designs so they need to be obvious.

llex paul - thanks mate! im hoping to get a few new pieces on the go soon for my new site which is a few weeks off.... so stay tuned!

and thanks to all those guys and girls who showed up at the contrast symphony on friday night, it went exceedingly well and we no doubt will be doing another soon by the sounds of it.

[Krato]

krato - i just desaturated the colors then used an overlay layer with the new colors of the next design. i infact started with the marine and removed his armour and then did the lesser detailed models at the end. the colors on these arent technically impressive but read well for modelling. something a lot of artists forget - someone needs to interpret your designs so they need to be obvious.



thanks! i suppose it would have been easier to work with the less complex people then work your way up to more complex structures because at least you would still have the basic form in case you dont like something you did.

[hp]

great variation in design in the chow chars! do you have a process for any of them? thanks! :D

[NicHolS]

thanks! i suppose it would have been easier to work with the less complex people then work your way up to more complex structures because at least you would still have the basic form in case you dont like something you did.

yeah i really should and usually wouldve started with the most simple greyscale design and gone from there but i had the vision for the marine so clear that it was faster for me to do it the reverse method.

oh and yes i do have the wip of these, ill see if ive still got them. it may help see how i went about them.

[NicHolS]

heres a wip for the character of the week.

[NicHolS]

Heres 2 of the sketches I did on friday night for the Contrast Symphony event. Sadly both are poorly fleshed out and under planned but it made me realise just how challenging live painting can be so next time I can be a little better prepared and the results will turn out a bit better.

I still want to develop the initial idea behind this character, it really didnt translate that well on the night but Im glad I got this down before the idea was gone at least.

[Pigeonkill]

Thanks for the composition break down, very nice chow entries.

[zweiDee]

this eow pirate piece are rly nice, love the atmosphere, the perspective and the warm/cold colors...

[kidult]

Awesome concepts!

[clockworksnail]

haha, i love the futuristic nazi zombie thing!

[Krato]

gj just.. gj

[Bendragon]

Nice all round quality in a number of different subjects. Good job!
I particularly like the designs in your characters. Very nice :)

[NicHolS]

As promised my new website went live last night (technically this morning, but you all know how it is!) Special thanks goes to my girlfriend Ania for being so patient with me while I kept changing my mind on the small details hehe without her web development skills it definitely wouldn't have been possible.

http://www.adamnichols.net << adamnichols.net

COMING SOON!

Online store - Prints and Tshirt designs and hopefully much much more!

Tutorials - Online learning, tutorials on Color Theory, perspective, composition and a whole lot more!

Commissions - Those people who have requested personal commissions will soon get their wish as I shall be taking on a small amount each month from the start of the new year on.

Art - Lots more art and much much more of it...

ps. on a side note, anyone still using IE7 (and especially IE6) really needs to update their internet browser NOW. I'm honestly surprised anyone still uses IE6 anymore but apparently 10% still do. I personally suggest goggle Chrome for best possible browsing speeds or Mozilla/Firefox but IE8 isn't as bad as the previous versions. Youll find a dramatic improvement!

[AlstonInk]

Hey Adam, great site congrats! All the best mate.

[NicHolS]

I just want to first of all say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported the new site and dropped by, its already well past its 2000th page view! I'm extremely pleased to see the site having such a massive first week! I really, really appreciate all the love and support from everyone and would love any feedback people are willing to provide to make this place the best it can be.

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season to everyone!

Adam Nichols
http://www.adamnichols.net/

[wilkerson]

kicking ass man. I love the cowboy but could you explain the key contrast thing?
Also did you use reference for the monks?

[seetsy]

hey great stuff here man,
just checked out ur site as well, its cool to see a tute section there...

with the perspective one, i learnt from coros download you can make the those diagonal lines for the vanishing points into a brush so you dont need to redraw it each time, makes things a lot more easier.... but its cool that you show the steps for people new to it.. nice work bud

[NyeAlexandaFrayne]

OMG, seriously man, samurai swat team is epic!! love that *****!!

nye-x