spectrum and old work expose, all join in!

[foster]

Hey! I posted the info for the spectrum annual over in the lounge area.

This is an oldie but...well it's just old.

Jon

[daarken]

holy shit thats awesome! you continue to amaze me jon. maybe one day i will be able to submit something to spectrum.

[taff]

An unusual style to be seen from you, Jon. Did you work completely 2D or are also 3D-Elements in this picture? The background looks as it is some kind of collage, which I don't like as much. The design of the green character in the middle kicks ass, though!

Ok, I am off to check what you posted about Spectrum in the lounge. ;)

[zeitgeist]

... wow

v v cool.. i really like the pilot's helmet to the right. hell. its all cool

[el coro]

goddamn, jon that shit's gorgeous. how old?

[Batteram]

Damn, that has to be one of the best pictures I have ever seen, seriously!
Please tell me that picture is a combination of 2d and 3d, because if it is only 2d, my jaw will drop off.
I am a big fan of your work Jon, your skill is extra-ordinary. Very very impressive.

[SilverStylus]

I was thinking the same thing - the rendering quality is so exceptional that some areas look CG....:ep:

Just added Progressions to my wish list.

[Aleksi]

I would like to have the same kind of "oldies"...


Terrific !

[foster]

Aleski, i don't think any of you are old enough to have oldies yet.

This piece was a pencil drawing brought into photo shop. No 3d elements but notice that the helmet and background are just manipulated photos. The creatures are lots of hours of fiddling around. I don't' remember how many but i had lots of time for this one.

It is about 4 years old.

Darken, you already have a shit load of work you can send to spectrum! So many of your self-portraits could go in easily. Give it a try.

El Coro, i went to this big social event and tried to draw people (you so inspired me)! You have got some awesome talent! I think i will be tearing out my sketch pages and throwing them away, they were that bad. I hope some day to draw from life even half as well as you.

Thanks for the responses.



Jon

[Aleksi]

I already have oldies but it's certainly not the same kind :D

Few people can show oldies looking like masterpieces


even with a pencil drawing and Photoshop you succeed to render a "fuckin'-don't know-how-it's-made-tasty oil looking" incredible picture...


Talking about true oldies, it reminds me of sketches in the 1st Brom artbook. Drawings he made at 6...Very painful...

On your website, there are others black&white illustrations. They look older and not your actual technic.
Do you sometimes continue to work finished b&W pictures ?
And modelling ? the bust you've made is also excellent...

Tell us more about you M. Foster !!! :D
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease !!!

[amphex]

Holy crap Mr. Foster (yah, I think you deserve the Mr. =P), thats amazing.
Very inspirational =)

[hed|lamb]

- cries -

Thanks for sharing Jon, this is quite killer.

[behemot5]

:'-(......i don't know what i can say..... "wonderfull"???yes...wonderfull ..... i love it

[Lono]

Damn! thats one hell of a BUMP!

bumped right out of 2002 into 2003.

rightious.

-Lono

[davi]

ROAHHHH
that's rad

[mtomczek]

jon owns........ thats it, nothing else to say

[I.was.ink]

That's great! It has sort of a Rick Berry flair! I like it Although I can't tell what that thing in the bg is. What is it? Is it a praying mantis of sorts?

[KayCustomz]

such insane creativeaty

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I have to say I'm not as enthusiastic as the others. Parts of this painting are very good individually, but it seems a bit like a spontainious photo montage with colorised components. The backgrounds appear to be a stretched photo. What's the helmet doing there? It takes a while to figure out that it's the mantis that holds it. It also takes a while to figure out that there is a mantis on the pic, cuz the highlights are bouncing around and there's no clear silhuette of it (the background values collides with it too). Where is its head btw?

The green guy in the foreground appear to be colorised (a bit). The color of the mantis and him doesn't seem to match somehow, like there's no radiosity or ambient light. The silhuette of him (head&shoulders) is hard to read cuz of the values and random details bouncing around on the mantis, plus you highlighted the antennas which adds further to the detail confusion.

Why are there no details on the round 'table' up front? looks a bit barren. Would the light flow over the bevel like it does on the foremost part?

What's the light beam doing in the BG? I think it would be better if it was supported by an actual enviromental effect, it does not look like it is now.

It seems like you used different tools on different part, some parts are sharp, some fuzzy and smooth, some photo realistic, the antennas are outlined etc. Looks a bit inconsistant.

This is my honest opinion. I'm sorry if it sounds harch but I just though I'd give something else than praise. Here's a chicken to lighten the mood up :chicken:

[JoshuaTheJames]

hey,

I received your book about a week back. I leave it out to vibe off. Its just so great to have a contemporary artist have their own book. Speaking of old ;P I can't remember if I ever asked you, but how old are you? If you don't mind me askin...

-Joshua

[stikler999]

i have to agree with prometheus on this one. it's not as good as your other stuff from what i've seen.... it's really hard for me to tell what's going on? now granted i'm not professional or anything and i'm lacking in skills department.... but it just seems too green and washed out. i don't know.... it's interesting to see the progession from this piece to your more recent stuff (Pig Pile). anyway put up some more of your older stuff.... got any from high school or early college?

[foster]

well thanks for the bump!

prometheus, not only is this thread old but the piece is old as well. not sure you read the accompanying letter with the image. i will never mind you saying what you think as long as it is not something reactionary. what head? it only barrows heavily from insect ref but is not a particular insect. i, for one, liked the the lack of what would seem an identifiable head. but for just about everything else you said i think you are spot on!

joshuathejames, thanks for getting the book. i am flattered that it has any kind of influence. i am 39 by the way.

hm, old stuff, i could change the name of this thread and everyone could post older work. but mind you i will dig around for the cream of the crop older work!

thanks to everyone who gave this a second look.

jon

[foster]

this goes back 7 or 8 years. something i did for myself and the growing portfolio.

oil, acrylics, colored pencil, bleach, you name it i used it.

jon

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Looks like behemot5 is responsible for the bump.

I didn't mean it was a specific mantis insect, just something 'mantis-like'.
In nature things have heads, mostly, thus I think most ppl that look at it will expect it to have a head. If the neck had continued on the other side of the claw I could've understood the point with the missing head, but now it just looks like you forgot to continue drawing it on the other side of the claw...

I'm guessing you did the painting just when you got into digital tools...?


The mixed media one is nice. I can't really crit it without ending up critting natural media instead (washed out colors, fuzzy edges/uncrispness etc.). Looks like his missing eyes tho...

[getata]

ok at first when i looked at the picture i was "WOOOW nice picture". And then when i saw prometheus's comments I was like "DAMN how can he picks out so many things from the pciture and i saw none?" Seeing this board is really interesting, and reminding me how small i am ... :eek:

[R_M]

Thanks behemot5! Didn't see this one the first time around!

Jon, why isn't this pice shown on your site?
If this is 4 years old, I don't think C&C are going to be very helpfull or interesting for you, but the vertical scar on the green guy is so cool, it just begs to be ripped open to see whats inside him..

I like it a lot, but I am a big fan of photomontage/manipulation/painting (Gambino, Seeley...) and most of your images are paintings or b/w drawings. I didn't think you did photo stuff. Can you post more of them?
Don't care if they are old, pleeeeaaase?

the second pice is 7/8 years old...how long have you been a pro?

[davi]

behemot5 is a weirdo.


great work foster, as always. lets hang out and give me stuff.

[foster]

prom, i think that you would find people argue heavily on both sides of what creature design should be. recognizable or something alien. but just for ref, take a look a crab or flea. they have heads but not in the way you are speaking. don't always give the people what they expect. you will end up boring them. i am glad you speak your mind, but it seems a little pointless for work that is much older. i would love to see what people were doing years ago and i know they do not want to get crits for stuff they are beyond now and are only showing for our edification.

so who ever else wants to post something here, please do. prometheus, got any old work?

jon

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Foster> I know it's pointless to give crits on such an old picture. I'm actually doing it more for myself than anyone else, trying to learn from how other people do, what makes a painting work and whatnot. It might be interesting reading for others aswell.

I discovered digital media year 2000, so anything older than that is acrylics. I've always been a pinup fan, focusing more on design than composition. When I do designs I like to use known shapes from nature. Mostly I'm just combining and deforming 'archetyphical' shapes, but I also try to make random blobs and develop the shapes from there. This to make my designs look familiar and yet alien.

I'm more of an monster or robot illustrator/designer than a painter I guess. I hardly ever do any enviroments for my designs even nowdays. I know an enviroment adds character and context to the design, but there's something about isolating a design with a neutral background that appeals to me. I guess I'm too fond of my designs that I'm scared to hide all the nifty details I planned out. I'm fully aware that just teasing the viewer with hints of cool details is more effective, probably because the details will be rendered/filled in with the viewer's preferences rather than mine.

---

This is the kind of stuff I did back in 96-98 when I was 18-20 something. It was before I made any serious studies at all, so the paintings are pretty basic pinups. Not very interesting to someone like you (foster), but I'm posting it anyways.
I used top-left-front lighting (left cuz I'm lefthanded I guess). I still use this light angle because it desribes the shapes well. I couldn't handle isometric perspective though, so the poses are rather flat. Natural media is very charmy though, I need to pick up the brushes again.

97 (I probably flipped it judging from the light angle)
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/oldacrylics/android.jpg

?
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/oldacrylics/disemb3.jpg

96
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/oldacrylics/bonecyborg_p.jpg

98
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/dgate/centaur.jpg

---

From highschool
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/highschool/spongestring.jpg

---

CyborgWars! As a kid, I did stuff like this all the time. I made series of these and catergorized all the different types of 'cyborgs'.
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/kidstuff/cyborgwars1.jpg

---

RoboTrek project from a couple of years back:

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/robotrek/gargant_ink_web.gif

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/robotrek/sabre_acr_web.jpg

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/robotrek/vector_acr_web.jpg

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/robotrek/zurg.jpg

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/robotrek/goor.jpg

[skarycory]

bump ;)
real nice, foster.

[foster]

well you took the bull by the horns on this one!

those are much better than what i was doing at that age. i think i have trashed all that i have done up and through college. the earliest i would be able to go back to is '89 and i was twenty five at the time.

i think you are right about the charm that these have in natural media. i particularly like the last link with the blue bot. that one just speaks to me.

thanks prom! hope others add to this.

jon

[Boom]

good thread... I'll see if I can ever get my ftp going the way I want again, and then post an oldie too... my! I'm blushin' already.. hihi...

Foster - I think that was the first painting of yours I saw. It was in spectrum 3 or 4, right? (don't have the books here at work to check up on it)... It was awesome then. Still is, as a matter of fact! :)

[stalecracker]

I did this'n about 9 1/2 years ago... There are TOO many things wrong with it to count BUT... It was published and I was paid. I did rough pencils then inked it with a sable brush and black magic ink. Finished it up with a rapidiograph.

Here 'tis-

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/stalecracker/DeathBlow_15_small.jpg

[MindCandyMan]

Hey that's cool stalecracker! Wow 9 1/2 years ago...how old are you? For some reason I thought I remembered you saying you were in your mid 20's in some thread. Hey what was this for?

[foster]

dude! that is wild! it may be a little busy but you probably were inking for coloring. how old would you have been when you did that. i couldn't do that now!

jon

[hawkprey]

Holy crap

Nice Joel!

Good thread. This makes me want to kick myself. I was landscaping up until three years ago. All I have to show is a few well placed boxwoods. I cant believe I dicked around so long. I dont know if I will ever catch up.

[stalecracker]

Thanks- Well, I would have been 26-27 when I did that. I spent WAY too long in the screenprinting biz...

mindcandyman- I might have said I was in my 20's as a goof. BUT alas, I'm 37. But according to my wife I act like a 10 year old.

hawkprey- You only started 3 YEARS AGO?!? *fucker* You are too good for your own good. I'm glad you don't see it because you'd be unbearable. DUde, your work rocks and that's that. You truly keep a fire lit under my ass...

Foster- Thanks. Your work CONSTANTLY inspires me. Yeah, it was inked with coloring in mind. I should have made it a true "stand on it's own" piece but I wimped out.

[Imp Head]

Here's an old pencil image I did a few years back. It's a portrait of another artist friend of mine, Eli 5 Stone.

Eli's most famous for drawing and writing "The Tick" after Ben Eudland stopped, and least widely know as being the guy getting his head tattooed on the opening credits of MTV's "120 Minutes".

http://www.imphead.com/images/jpegs/enigma.jpg

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out but if I had to do it over again I'd definitely do something about that hand.


Brian

[Anthony]

I looked, and the earliest work I have on the comp is from August 2000, and its absolutely hideous. Awesome work guys, we young'uns have a lot to learn :]

[MindCandyMan]

I know I am a rookie and don't have too much history behind me at all but 7 months ago this was the first thing I ever did the first drawing or painting ever really (unless you count drawing with crayons as a kid once in a while)...did it with a mouse and a trial version of painter...yeah I know...the moon is monstrous in size...and ground is reflecting green hues all the way up the tree...what the heck? heheheheh Thought this would give you guys a good laugh hehe.

[thomasaurus]

wow, these are great!

Prom those are stunning, even if they are old

[negativespace]

stalecracker: That's a pretty cool peice for being 9 1/2 years old. Is that Deathblow. Did you work for Image comics?

[stalecracker]

Thanks- Yeah, I did some work for Image back "in the day" pin-ups, cards, etc. 3 years ago I did the cygor mini-series for McFarlane. I enjoyed the work but it cemented in my mind that I NEVER want to do monthly again... my hat's off to those who can keep that schedule!

[Kress]

Wooow nothing like some old stuff to get perspective on things, eh? Thanks for sharing all - as always very inspiring. This is good to see, especially as I'm in school now and always meditating on progress and so on... (maybe a little too much) These definitely help me maintain patience.