maria's sketchbook

[maria riaz]

this is not the first sketch but i want to start my sketchbook with the cutest vehicle i see on road....rikshaw
hope u folks find it cute too...!

[maria riaz]

I am working on a composition of Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan...my favourite singer. these are some observational sketches of him. the final piece is work in progress, put it up in while....here are the gestures and postures sketches

[maria riaz]

these are some smiley structures in different eras...its a world within our world effected by our auras....smile/happiness produce bright auras so the base of each structure is a smile.

[maria riaz]

thumbnails and closeup of the above environments.

[maria riaz]

its the start of the composition and quite messy....i want to show different gestures during singing...left side gestures are almost decided hav to work on the rite side of it.....the green strip will b the glow from ring.....need suggestions regarding composition and fade out values of the gestures.....criticism required!!!

[bill main]

thanks for commenting on my SB. I love that rikshaw painting! the values really help it read well. I like that the interior feels like an actual space and the vehicle feel nicely seated in its environment. Nice whimsical use of color too. keep thinking in terms of simple value to make these images pop. good job, keep it up

[maria riaz]

thank u Bill Main for being the first one commenting on my sketchbook and appreciating.....good to hear ur advice abt color values coz i realy love the way u use ur colors...looking forward for more suggestions


cheers

[maria riaz]

its an hour sketch......comments!!!!

[maria riaz]

its a quick pastel excercise....showing traditional puppets at night after the show

[maria riaz]

this is a landscape study of muzafarabad...its a WIP

[maria riaz]

this is a quick character sketch.....working on its turnarounds....comments!!!

[maria riaz]

hey...commen plz

[Steve Marworthy]

Great lighting/colours on your muzafarabad study. I'd like to see this one completed :P

[maria riaz]

its 75% complete

[miycko]

i love that black sheep speed paint, it really made me laugh :D on your image with the guy in the bear suit his right hand seems a bit long & the girl's hips seem a bit low so it's making her legs seem short. hope that helps :) i like the attitude you give your characters

[maria riaz]

okay now... its not a 100% complete but almost done....i want to blend the sky a bit more...a bit smooth..any ideas????

[Steve Marworthy]

Looking good! If you do decide to blend the sky in, be careful with your paint strokes...be sure they are following a natural flow. For example, looking above the guy on the left. Follow way above his head to the where the clouds are forming a peak. Here you can see the paint flowing up them over and down. This flattens the cloud a bit. If the same space was made of up horizontal strokes or a series of smaller curved strokes it give more depth. Great mood - keep it up.

[Yor]

very nice contrast in the last one, nice colors and all, i only think that the clouds can be worked a bit more. but that's really just fine tuning ;)

good start an keep it up!

[Mayday]

i really like how you try to use a full range of color

[maria riaz]

hmmm....now it is quite done for me....i m not vry happy wid the sky though .....updating it for some feedback

[miycko]

looks good, i think there's a lack of clouds on the upper left & right though, on the left there's plenty clouds right above the house but the space above those is a bit empty, or maybe they just need a bit more rendering :)

[maria riaz]

comments plz....this is the final peice with a bit of variations....any suggestions!!!!

[Aryeh]

wow really nice sunset.

[Morgado]

Personally I like the bluish variation the most

Judging from where the sun is, the characters and the rock they are standing on should have some rim light I think. Something subtle, to not ruin the image, which is already beautiful as it is :)

Also, are the clouds supposed to be something? One of them looks like some kind of animal\monster stretching his arm to touch something :D

[maria riaz]

hey thanx Morgado 4 suggesting the color variation.....actually the clouds arent supposed to b something i used a real reference to draw this peice, but it feels gr8 that u spot a monster in it....i think i shud make another one with more exageration in the clouds.....cheeers!!!!

[originalpink]

Hello hello! I like your study. In your previous works your forms/edges need some more definition I think. Continue to work work work! I'd like to see more studies too!

[sony]

Hey maria, its good to see you here! :)
You need to work on your color contrast to push and pull objects to be in focus. The landscape you are working on is coming out nice, Do lots of more of such sort. I like the defined edges. Do look at forms environmentoring classes in mentoring section. Very helpful info there.
:)

[maria riaz]

its a quickie landscape of kaghan valley with reference
its a WIP

[Seraph Fawkes]

Interesting and a bit crazy ideas ) Liked this vehicle and sundown ) So far all enviro's are good, but i guess you lack skills in character drawings. Good luck in the future )

[Morgado]

The colors and treatment on that last enviro are very nice. The foreground plane is a bit too dull, compared to the other elements though.

[maria riaz]

just worked a bit more on the last environment,
which foreground is better...or i shud work more on it????

[jatherip]

nice stuff goin on here, i think you use the soft round brush too much.....its unnecessary! hard round brush is actually enought! just put the opacitiy down and smooth the transitions afterwards! however, keep goin!!

[Morgado]

When I mentioned the foreground looked dull I meant in terms of shape, not rendering.

The mountains are defined by diagonal lines, the foreground you have is entirely horizontal, and it goes from 1 side of the image to the other. It totally breaks the composition, and gives the impression that the foreground line is the end of the frame.

I hope what I wrote is understandable, and hope it helps :)

[Marria]

Heello Maria from Pakistan, it's Marria from Pakistan :D

Great to see your sketchbook, the landscape/skyscapes are awesome, you have this distinct way of painting clouds that looks so nice. I also like the colors, my two favorites are the Riksha and the angry bakra in the river (what's the concept behind that?) The Nusrat Fateh Ali pic is coming along nicely as well, love all the flowy hand gestures. That character design reminds me of Haroon? haha.

Thanks for dropping by my SB and the flattering comments :D banda apni sketchbook ka link hi de deta hai, google karna para tha mujhay :).
Aur kya ho raha hai, working anywhere? interview call?

[adammelo]

Love the digi of the guys on the mountain, its looking amazing keep it up!



Sketch back if you'd like...

[maria riaz]

hey this is a new work in progress....the concept is a messy girl has an imaginary friend who happens to b a fashion diva, is giving her a makeover....my main character is that imaginary friend, i wl paint it purple loaded wid jewelery, fabric swatches and lots of bling bling....but here is just the very first developmentry sketches....any suggestions????

[maria riaz]

this is the developmentry sketches of imaginary frnd...

[maria riaz]

Love the digi of the guys on the mountain, its looking amazing keep it up!



Sketch back if you'd like...


thanx for th compliment.....still a long way to go
sketch back if you'd like.... wat do u mean by that?????

[Marria]

Hehe, cool idea! Atleast you have an imaginary friend who happens to b a fashion diva... I probably have an imaginary friend who' a fakirni like myself! funky design!

I like how your self portrait turned out... Great resemblance... I know it's a rough sketch, and the Diva's supposed to be stylized and cartoony... but it would help to use some reference. Take a pic of yourself in a similar pose, just to get a better idea about the form and anatomy. Exaggerate accordingly. I hope that made sense?

[maria riaz]

hey thanx marria 4 the advice.....yar my imaginary frnd is a fashion diva thats y i always hav imaginary makeup...leaving me a fakirni like u...hehehe...u r rite i didnt use refernece 4 the diva thats y its weak....wl put up some update soon.


cheeers!!!

[Morgado]

Ahah so that's what's going on inside an artist's head! The "normal" girl could have a more exagerated expression

[B-Man]

Good stuff! May the force be with you! :drinkup:

[miycko]

cool landscape, no real crit ATM, i like the way the clouds & blades of grass look & the imaginary friend sketch is very nice, maybe you could give her a comb/scissors or a hair blower, you know - fashion diva tools :P

[maria riaz]

its again WIP....1 st pic is the change in composition, 2nd and 3rd are WIPs, the 4th one is to show the fig of the character....there is a lot of work needed on faces of both the imaginary frnd and the girl esp her eyes,...updating 4 suggestions, CRIT and comments!!!!

[Morgado]

Eheh I love the mirror detail!

I really think you shouldn't dabble on the idea that much more, it is very funny and solid as it is imo.
Now I believe you should start worrying about the structure in the drawing, proper lightning, graphic treatment etc.

[maria riaz]

hey thanx Morgado for the appreciation i m workin on it ...will upload soon!

[Marria]

Oh, great going! I like all the experimenting!! Crits? apart from what morgado suggested... compositionally, try making including her whole tail in the pic... or make it seeem as if the tail belongs to the diva, right now it looks too disconnected. other than that, keep at it!! :D

[maria riaz]

hey Marria....thanx 4 the crit i was thinking dat 2 but 4 that i hav to increase the length of image vertically .....which ws makin me a bit uncomfortable wid the scene...i wl figure out a way to connect it.....if laziness wont hijack my time today i wl definately show up!!!!!

[maria riaz]

hey...this sketch has been draged 4 so long that i lost my interest in it....anyways this is wat i have tweaked last night.....crit is welcome!!!

[Morgado]

From my experience, unless if it is for work, if you're fed with a piece, dump it and start something else :P

[maria riaz]

From my experience, unless if it is for work, if you're fed with a piece, dump it and start something else :P


i agree 100%, no more tweaking on this one

[Ricardo Robles]

hey Maria!!
Cool sb, full of imagination. I love the fact you´re inspired by the auras of people. work more on it!!
Keep up

[miycko]

nice update maria, i i like all those hands though they're a little small, since you're not on any sort of deadline on this one i would suggest taking a break from it & starting something new, then you can get back to it later & you'll be able to look at it with fresh eyes :)

[maria riaz]

Ricardo Robles...thanx 4 appreciation, yea aura energy is a full time inspiration, i wll get back to it in a while.

miycko....thanx for the crit, the hands are small bt i intend to make them baby hands coz the makeup artist wid babyish hands are ideal by me...yea i m leaving it 4 the moment hav already started a new one....will post tonite.

[maria riaz]

its a new speedy WIP.....

[Morgado]

You have this crazy visual style, which I think is very interesting! Why don't you start trying to be more decisive on your painting (bigger brush, little glazing, etc)? That would only help to sell the cartoony style you have going on :)

[maria riaz]

You have this crazy visual style, which I think is very interesting! Why don't you start trying to be more decisive on your painting (bigger brush, little glazing, etc)? That would only help to sell the cartoony style you have going on :)

thanx for the tip man!!!....i m working on it to have solid colors and definitive edges.....i hav a messy style will try to neat it up....here is the WIP for today, work left on the closest paper and guy's hands
CRIT!!!!!

[miycko]

nice one, has he lit those papers on fire? or is he just dealing with the bills :P the right side of the image is a bit too grey/lifeless, is that intentional? i'm not sure about the pink shirt but he IS a very happy looking guy :teeth:

[maria riaz]

hey i m back again...i ws out of touch for a quite a while...Miycko.....thanx 4 the crit....he is tearing and throwing his ex gf's picture and celebrating his independence...he is a happy guy...
its an update to clear up the idea

[Morgado]

Heya Maria, glad to "see" you back!

There's not much change, except for the papers. You should really use bigger brushes :)

[Pencracker]

keep it up Maria! :)

[LMK]

nice SB, digging the lanscapes, more pls!!!;)

[maria riaz]

hey ya all!!!
adding a quickie WIP.......comments plz!!

[maria riaz]

another WIP....

[maria riaz]

another quickie..

[Morgado]

You are trying bigger brushes which is good!

Practice more more more! :)

[maria riaz]

going back to the previous one....and few tweaking in the last one

[Lateman]

hehehe cool ideas !

[maria riaz]

hey....this is my WIP for environment of the week "CARAVAN". The concept is of color vagabonds who travell from color to color, print to print, live there for sometime, use the elements and colors to make their stuff and move on to the next print carrying the elements of previous ones with themselves....huh enuff of the story here is the image....criticise it and tell me dus it convey the story i m telling.......!!!

[Ravenseye]

Hello Maria Riaz. Well if I were to make a few crits about your wip I would start with these. Lets see the background is very interesting Most of the time I would question why you did it but when i Look at the turtles and people I can see how its a Tie in to the culture. Which is a good thing. The biggest thing right now to me is the lighting. you have a extremly bright light source but it doesnt really show on the creatures too much. For intance you have the glowing tails and they are reflective on the head of the turtule but the bright white that reflects in the water isnt showing up on the tails or shells. Also another thing that confused me was the people are climbing into the turtle shell when its down so this made me think why do they even expand and enlarge like you have them doing. From my analasys I assume you ment for them to be entering the leveled shells and so I would suggest changing the later to those and having people climbing up into those instead of the shell thats already lowered down. Anyways hope that helps gl thanks for saying hello!

[maria riaz]

thank u so much Ravenseye......i worked on lighting of this piece still has a long way to go anyways time for EOW submission....so here is my final thingy....

[Morgado]

Your ideas are super crazy as usual (in a good way)! Keep them coming :)

[laxon]

Some very unique work here! Keep it up :D

[Sycra]

lol, I LOVE the expression on that turtle creature!!

[Marria]

Wah! wah! Khubsurat updates!!

Very imaginative concepts, and i love the vivid use of colors. I'm also loving the textures and colors on the Diva! so bling!!

i also like the redhead with the hoodie, looks like a cobra.

[maria riaz]

hellloooo....CA buddies....i has been long time since i uploaded....nyways a quickie WIP portrait of a friend......merry Xmas

[raisacombs]

Does anyone know where i can get a small sketchbook that has tissue paper in between the pages to protect them? I've heard of them and was wondering if anyone knows where i can get one, they sound really good as they would protect your work and not get anything on them.

[maria riaz]

@ raisacombs....i know sketchbooks with butter paper btw pages.... tissue papers never heard of.....

[Marria]

waah! The portrait is nicely done!

[maria riaz]

thanx Marria....here is the completed version.....and an ilustration i did earlier....

[maria riaz]

just started a sketch for CHOW,....just worked on the face yet....comments plz

[maria riaz]

a chow that i actually completed :P

[mehran]

that portrait of the boy in green is kick ass!!. Your illustration stuff is also very vibrant. I don't have any comments for the CHOW piece it looks great, accept that she looks like some type of witch.

Keep it up,

[maria riaz]

Mehran hey, thanx for the appreciation man,....yea that chow hacker looks like a witch, u r the second one saying that....i guess the cloak is creating a bit of confusion about the gender...thanx for pointing it out....cya around cheers:)

[maria riaz]

hey guys....here are some studies, trying to study poses and color values better....crits are welcome:)

[maria riaz]

1.just completed the black n white frame from 3 stooges....
2.not happy with my chow again:(....
3.and a bit worked on photograph...
CRITS GUYS

[maria riaz]

just found some old work in my pc...so just shared it
some are straight scans from my sketchbook and some are a bit treated in photoshop....based on the myth of Persian unicorn.....compositions are inspired by Klimt....about to work on them again in a new direction
crits, opinions and ideas are welcome:)

[maria riaz]

and some more....

[maria riaz]

a few more......

[sony]

nice work maria:)

[maria riaz]

hey sony thanx for the appreciation:)
.....some more work....

[maria riaz]

some traditional art work....oil on canvas..

[mehran]

I really dig those illustrations, you should try out that sort of stuff in digital medium too,
That black and white piece of the horse and the guy is kick-ass. I would only comment that you need to work on your line quality.


hope to see more soon. Keep it up

[miycko]

It really has been ages since i was last in here, i'm glad to see so much work in your sketchy :D i love the variety & experimentation in your pieces, i find it particularly hard to do abstract paintings and i must say yours are great. Those oil on canvas painting are Fantastic :teeth: especially the second one, is that from life?

[maria riaz]

hey miycko good to hear from u, thanx for the flattering comments, yea that one is from life.....love ur work and its gr8 to see the improvement very inspiring...cya around cheers:)

[Brahimpag]

have interrested in classic art ? , i can see a lot of improvements

and , like the way how u mix betwen colors , and how u choose the right color

keep it up :)

[maria riaz]

thanx Brahimpag for appreciation, yea i m interested in classical art, but these oil on canvas paintings r my old work, i wll put up some new ones soon. thanx:)

[Abnormally]

Hey Maria, thank you for stopping by my sketchbook and taking the time to comment and give me some crit! I browsed through your work here and have to say you have a great style! I see a lot of originality! I love your use of color and the abstract figurative pieces, I also enjoy your character concepts. (Particularly the hairdresser creature) That is so cool! I will subscribe to your sketchbook and check back. I can't comment on anything u've done digitally, seeing as I know nothing about digital art. All I can say is , keep it up!

Oh, and the rickshaw at the beginning, did you use colored pencils for that , or is that digital? (I find it super cute...the turtles are also really cute) I can't tell what you've used there. What kind of colored pencils do you use? prisma?

[maria riaz]

hey Abnormally thanx 4 appreciating my work:)
the rikshaw is a digital piece, made in corel painter with scratchboard tool, i love the impact of this brush, do try it some time. the turtle one is also digital, actually all of these are digitals except for the last 4 posts, the first three of those are made with spray paints, color pencils(feber castle) and markers, but i retouched some of them digitally.
and for the hair dresser creature she used to be my imaginary friend when i was a kid but i guess i didnt do justice wid her she was faar too interesting than this and thats me whose hair she is combing:)
i will keep peaking in ur sketch book as well coz its fun to watch and will crit if that will help, cya around...
cheers:)

[Abnormally]

That was your imaginary friend as a kid? I want to see inside your head, girl! That's a total trip hahaha! To be honest, digital art intimidates the crap out of me, I wouldn't even know where to start...

Oh and one more thing, don't ever lose that signature style of yours, that's all your own and the most important thing about being an artist, in my humble opinion! ciao for now, peace!

[maria riaz]

hmm....some random crayon doodles....

[Traveler]

The creative juices are flowing in here. :rendered:

[maria riaz]

hey thanx Traveler:)
here some sketches for a story....need crit on the character with the hanging sheep, he belongs to indus valley civilization and its his pet sheep, the sheep is actually a fighter, while the other fat guy is the bad guy, i m going to make tattoos on his tummy....any ideas/crit wud b welcome, actually need help short time and a lot of work, will upload some environments too.......crit guys :)

[Jordi V.]

I love the more abstract designs, especially the unicorn series. They made me think of a Klimt/Chagall mix but with your personal style and touch. Nice!

[maria riaz]

hey ppl here is some more development sketches and color trials on the same concept.......crits ppl.....

[maria riaz]

time to update.....

[maria riaz]

some character and environment quickies for an animated short....

[maria riaz]

expressions of my six year old character.....

[maria riaz]

and some poses.......

[driver-d]

hey !! i really like what i see very much ! i like your style very much specially the guy !! also i like the patterns you created :) keep it up ! am glad i saw your SB

[maria riaz]

a funky friend just graduated....

[strangedawn]

Nice sketchbook!i love post 91 those are incredible concepts!you have a very creative idea and sketches is also looking nice keep it up!take care=)

[Stryke]

Nice sketchbook!i love post 91 those are incredible concepts!you have a very creative idea and sketches is also looking nice keep it up!take care=)

agree, the fourth is incredible.

and yeah, of course you also need to do more studies ;]

[Ricardo Robles]

Hi Maria, cool work you have here, i love the first image in this 4th page, your abstract compositions are quite interesting. I agree you have to practice more anatomy. In my opinion is important to learn draw bodies in a realistic way, then cartoonize them will be easier to you.
Thanks for stop by my book!

[Marria]

Hey Maria, loving the new concept and sketches, looking forward to the finished product :D

[shambok]

These latest digital poses and facial expression studies and outstanding!

[Joe777k7]

Really neat and artistic stuff in here! YOu seem to have alot of fun with your art, really cool :)
Keep posting!!! Lets see more !!!!! :)

[AllyAlbon]

Really interesting style, I like your geometric pics - the one with the horse is my fave.

[maria riaz]

These are some frames from my thesis project "shauoorbeen" (a tool to see your perception)

[sony]

lovely work maria, why don't you upload your thesis? Its amazing to watch the animation.

[maria riaz]

thanx Sony....yea i will upload soon....till then c some more frames :)