Ranarh's Sketchbook

[Ranarh]

I'm starting this sketchbook thread in the hope to improve myself - faster... ;)
I would very much like to know what the community thinks about my art, and of course, to get any kind of help. I'm currently trying to broaden my spectrum from "mostly portraits" to "suitable for game concept art".
So, here is an overview...

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[joshuaphenicie]

I like these. thanks

[Ranarh]

I like these. thanks
Thank you.

I'm also working on my own world. One of my favourite regions is the country of Yallahan (phonetic translation). It's pretty cold and covered with snow most of the year; I came up with a layered clothing style with Finnish influence. I'm currently working on an illustration to show that in colour, and dynamic, too ;).
I've hundreds of questions, but don't know how to start or if any of them make sense. So, I welcome any comment that assists me in improving myself ;).

[Ranarh]

So I'm trying to get a game portfolio pieced together. This is one of the first sketches - I'm not entirely sure if it's detailed enough. I was thinking concept art and thought it would be good for that, being a first one that will most likely be replaced when I'm more into the whole thing.
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[Ranarh]

These are two works of the last days. I was trying to put not too much detail in these two. Lately I found my paintings too dark, but I'm not really into sugary nice things either...
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I just saw the Outlander movie, awaited nothing exceptional, considering the critiques, but was surprised that the movie actually was pretty good. It came handy for designign viking armour, too.
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[zelda_geek]

Nice sketchbook you have! Some of this stuff is really interesting.
I was going to write something, but then I thought it was much easier to just draw it so I did a paintover. http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/2439/paintover2.jpg
...just some details you might wanna keep in mind. That said, your overall proportions looks ok and maybe the problem just lies in how much time you use on your work. Because the stuff you have used more time on looks pretty good in comparison to the quick ones:)

Your doing a great job so keep it up!:D

[Ranarh]

Hi,

thank you zelda_geek!
I guess it's good advice and I'll try to stress more, even on my sketches - I generally do those without references.

[Melfey]

Ha! Ein bekanntes Gesicht! :D

Ich glaube ja, dass du verdammt viel Potential hast. Aber du solltest an deiner Anatomie arbeiten - das ist deine größte Baustelle.

Lad weiter fleißig deine Konzepte und Studien hier hoch - die Leute sehen gerne, dass man aktiv ist... jeden Tag oder zumindest jede Woche ein Update macht, und dann kommen sie schon - die Tipps :)

Liebe Grüße,
Melanie

[Ranarh]

Surreal WIP
The good thing about surrealism is that I don't have to explain anything. The bad thing about surrealism is that I CAN'T explain anything...
I'm not one of those people who say that an asrtist should always paint with his heart's blood. However, there's still the issue of putting enough into a picture of what I like that I can still be happy with it and not feel like a mere craftsman, adapting my style. This sketch I atually dreamt about, have no idea what it is - I gess I just have to wait and see.
This is just a WIP in sketch stage, mind you. The faces should look like her's later, and I used that slow fractal thing from GIMP for some background interest.

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@Melfey
Danke! Ich komm hier nur hin und wieder mal vorbei. Vor allem - klar - wegen Tipps. Ich werde Deinem Rat aber folgen und öfter mal was reinschreiben/-stellen. Speziell das letzte Bild (die Winkinger) war nur eine ganz schnelle Skizze - wegen der Kleider.