Greyskill's Sketchbook!

[greyskill]

HEYYA go to the last page to see new things and stuff....

Hello people of conceptart.org! I'm yet another of those people who have been lurking around the site for quite some time admiring others' work but have never posted.

I am 20 years old (almost 21), and I am a video game designer. I'm sort of an artist, writer, and programmer all rolled into one. I have always loved to create things, and drawing is one of my favorite methods of creation.

I've been trying recently to attempt to draw more regularly and more intensely to raise my skill level. I thought that it might be helpful to me to have a sketchbook to urge me to do more.

All critiques are gladly welcomed!! Thank you all in advance for all of your critiques, comments, and any suggestions you can give.

Newer stuff on last page ==>

[greyskill]

Here are some of my recent sketches!

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Here is a pen and marker drawing I did using a Feng Zhu technique.

It was done with black pens and 30% and 50% prismacolor markers.

I did a quick color over in photoshop before uploading.

Will post more tomorrow, too tired today...

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[greyskill]

More STUFF!!

Some posemaniac sketches and a portrait from a random photo and other stuffs!!

Waiting for a serial port to usb converter so I can use my wacom tablet on my computer. I can use my brothers' computer but I feel kinda bad kicking them off. Plus my monitor is better anyhoo!

I like this smiley, it reminds me of "gotta have blue hair", and "IT'S OVER 9000!!!":anime:

[snootchy]

heya greyskill, thanks for the comment in the SB. I'm liking what's going on in ur sb, lots of cool ideas, keep them healthy sketches coming! I think the posemaniacs is great, also if you can live figure drawing with quick poses will help greatly.

Rad design on the mecha sketch!

[ColorExcursion]

Hey! I really like these sketches. How long did that reaper take? Keep postin' :D

[greyskill]

-snootchy
Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I'll try to find somewhere to do live figure drawing if I can! I really like your paintings.

-ColorExcursion
The reaper took probably 2-2.5 hours I think. It was really fun to paint, I haven't done much of that.
Thanks for taking a look at my sb and thanks for the encouragement!


More posemaniacs....

[rocketcandy]

the marker drawing in #2 is really nice. and good gestural drawings, keep that up! don't be afraid to do some more detailed drawings of muscles/bone structures, too - they're tedious, but getting those forms down adds a lot more to your gestures.

[greyskill]

-rocketcandy
Thanks Mira! I'll try to do more anatomical studies. They're just something I forget to do when I don't have a book right in front of me or something. I can see in my gestures where they don't really have the same structure they could have if I had a better understanding of the forms of the human body. Thanks a bunch for visiting my sketchbook!

Here are some drawings I did copying from a book of master sketches. So there are Raphaels and Reubens and good stuff like that in there!

When I do drawings like this I think a lot more about what I learn from studying the drawing I am copying than I do about how the finished drawing comes out. I don't know if that is good or not, but whatever.

[greyskill]

It's been a few days since my last post.

Couple of reasons for that, one I went away for the weekend, two I am sick, three no one really cares that I'm listing these! WOOHOO!

Here are some Bridgman studies!

[palladium]

Thx for dropping by my sketchbook:) I like what I see here dude, nice pace with the studies and sketches. All I can say is keep it up:D

[Scimok]

Good gestures! You captured the poses and proportions very well for a 30 second drawing.

The only critique I can give is that the perspective/ foreshortening is slightly off with some of the limbs in your master sketch studies.

[greyskill]

-palladium
Thanks, I'll do my best to keep it up! You keep up the good work too, I'm watching your thread!

-Scimok
Thanks for stopping by! Yeah I can see the perspective in the copies now that you point it out. I can especially see it in the top left one.

---
Here are some more Bridgman studies and some posemaniacs.

It is always easy for me to just make myself do 10 mins of posemaniacs, it sort of feels like I have no choice but to finish when I start.

I got the converter for my wacom tablet, but the drivers are being a pain, I hope I fix it soon.

[Inishmore]

Your Bridgman studies are looking good. Keep it up! :)

[Turbosnail]

Good start to your SB man!! Good work on the Bridgman studies. Keep pushing yourself my friend!!

[greyskill]

-Inishmore
Thank you! I will do my best to keep it up!

-Turbosnail
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll keep pushing, you keep pushing too!

---

Aww man, I let almost a week go by without posting. No matter though, I'm back and I'll try not to let it slip that long too often.

Here are some figures from imagination. I was trying to feel out the three dimensionality of the torso.
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A whole bunch of faces from imagination. I like colored pencil.
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This is an evil fireman, he starts fires rather than putting them out, sorta Fahrenheit 451 inspired. Painted him in Photoshop in about 2 hours probably in all.
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[Exon-Ion]

Nices figures and faces, see if you can get some studies of the muscles of the face done, It helps you understand the face a lot more, especially in terms of expressions.

I'm like the armour on that fireman, keep going dude.

[MikeMy]

Fahrenheit 451 is by Ray Bradbury and is about firemen that start fires to burn outlawed books...the novel has a lot of good imagery if you want to develop this character further...just a thought...mike:mod:

[greyskill]

-The Exon
Thanks for the encouragement, advice and sketchbook visit. I'll try to do some facial muscle studies. I've done some Vilppu, but other than that I haven't done too much. I'm going through the Bridgman Constructive Anatomy book and faces are right after the hand, so hopefully I'll be there soon!

-MikeMy
I haven't actually read Fahrenheit 451, I should. My brother just finished reading it and was telling me about it, so I was inspired by the concept, but I didn't have any solid grasp of what it was like in the book. Thanks for the idea and for the post.

---
Here are some more Bridgman studies, I started the hand section today.
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Some ink drawings, I had a pen, so I drew. I'm not too happy with them, but oh well...
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[greyskill]

Jeez, a week since I posted, I'm a loser! well whatever again.

Here are some more Bridgman studies, and the last one has some faces from imagination. I want to start working on crosshatching, I tried to use it some on the faces to define planes and tone.

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[AlexEh]

Nice drawings keep it up. Cool your a game developer? I dream of being an animator/director one day. Some of these animations I find just so cool!

I played video games since I was like 3 but I sort of lost interest in video games last year. Not sure how.

[ColorExcursion]

I like the way the studies are coming along :D keep goin!

[strawhat]

Very nice sketchbook. I read the little note about rendering :) I think it's cool that you trying cross hatching. You should probably try out two or three rendering styles and see what suits you the best.

[greyskill]

-Dy.laneA
Thanks for the encouragement! Nice animations on your SB. I've done some animation and I liked it, but it was soo time consuming.
-ColorExcursion
Thanks man! I'm back in action so I'll be sure to keep goin!
-strawhat
Thanks for the tip, I'll try that. I write those notes because it helps me think, I didn't ever think someone would read them and answer my question. That was a nice surprise! Thanks for the visit, I was in the downward not post spiral, you broke it though!
------------------------------

Here is some work I have been doing it Alchemy. It's kind of a crazy program, but I like how simple it is. I LOVE the mirror option.

This was sort of a mock band logo or something done for a friend
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I did this yesterday, it's a robot...
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I was messing around with transparency and facial structure on this one
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More soon, but I need to do some math homework now... =(

[strawhat]

Glad it helped!

I haven't tried alchemy but these designs look interesting. I love the Icarus Wings. They also seem to depict claws(or hands), atleast to me.:)

[greyskill]

-strawhat
Alchemy is free so you don't lose anything to try it out. It is clumsy because it has no undo or save functions, but that also forces you to be careful about what you add to your drawing. Thanks I'm glad you like the Icarus Wings, that is actually the name of the band. I'm not sure if the band actually exists yet. Now that you mention it, it sorta does look like claws.
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Here is pretty much all of the work I have done in my RL sketchbook since I stopped posting, it took awhile to scan. The only stuff not posted here is the drawings I have done in class notebooks when I get bored...

Some Bridgman
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More Bridgman
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Some hands from life, some from imagination
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More Bridgman, those ones that say not mine are my brother's drawings.
He likes to draw in other peoples' drawing pads if they leave them out.
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A bunch of random stuff from imagination
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Armor concepts I was thinking of modelling as an Oblivion mod
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Imagination drawings
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Faces I drew while waiting for my ride home to arrive at school. I did them in the dark, and as it turned out, my ride was already there, I just couldn't see them...
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Some faces I drew yesterday, I'm pretty happy with how they came out, but that is because they were from imagination.
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[strawhat]

The hands are lovely. I like the fact that you are drawing them from your imagination again later. That really helps retain what you've learnt. I guess you could try varying your line thickness to show more depth.

It appears that a lot of your heads have droopy eyes. I don't know if that was deliberate but you may want to watch out for that.

Keep updating!

[greyskill]

-strawhat
Thanks, I'm glad you like the hands. Yeah I have been trying to learn how to make my lines more interesting, but it is kind of difficult. Thanks for mentioning the eyes, I guess I had noticed before, but I sort of ignored it. I think I'll do some studies just trying to figure out how the eyes connect to the face.

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Here is some stuff I drew over the past few days.

Here is a painting I did, I did the base (pictured below) in Alchemy then used my custom halftone brush to paint over it. The entire painting was done with a mouse. =D
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Here is the original design from Alchemy.
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I did these sketches using a method and style from a book by Jack Hamm
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These I did yesterday, the female knight is from imagination, and the face is a bad representation of my younger brother, the eyes are messed up.
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[strawhat]

The robot is really well painted.The silhouette looks strong as well. I can't imagine I'd able to paint that well with a mouse! The approach for the heads looks interesting in that you are looking to make them more stylized.Hmm. Yeah, the eyes in the last face needs to be bigger and also deeper. I often make the mistake of not thinking that the eyes are actually in a socket and keeping that in mind will probably help you to turn the form better.

[RickyS]

I can see what you mean by not worrying about what your practice drawings look like. Your sketches have a nice, loose feeling to them. About your lines, if you want to have good line weight then you should use thicker lines as they get closer to the viewer and thinner lines as they go away from the viewer. You should also think about how the forms overlap and draw the overlapping form darker than the form underneath. Don't be afraid to use broken lines or darker lines to suggest lighting. I learned this from looking at drawings by comic book artists, especially Alvin Lee.

[greyskill]

-strawhat
Thanks! With those heads I was trying out an approach in an old book by someone named Jack Hamm. His drawings are stylized like that, only way better. When I am not doing practice drawings my drawings are a lot more stylized than the ones I have been posting here. I have been trying recently though to draw more realistically so that I can learn and apply anatomy better.

-RickyS
Thanks for the tips and feedback RickyS. Yeah my line weights could definitely use some improvement. One thing that has helped me recently is that I switched from a HB to a 4B as my weapon of choice. I can get a lot wider range from it. I know I should use a pencil set, but I hate carrying around and searching through a mess of pencils. But I guess most concept artist just use a couple pencils.

What you said in your reply to my post on your SB was right. It is good to do your best to make your practice look good, that is how we learn to make our drawings good. I really need to work on tightening up my drawings. I always tend towards opposite poles of overly neat or overly sloppy drawings..

Thanks a lot for the critic and suggestions.

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Here is some stuff!

Here are some blue pen gestures from imagination
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These are copies of drawings done by wes9000 or wesley burton
I love his pencil and ink styles. I would love for my own personal style to be somewhat like his. I should do more copies of his work in the near future.
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These next two are more finished than a lot of the drawings that I have posted here. They are both really small in RL, I need to learn to draw a bit bigger. I think it is a confidence thing.
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I really should do some more finished drawings here. I have been posting enough practice ones, it would be good for me to test my potential some.

[Nibras]

Good stuff :D Liking the imagination in here.

Do studies from photo ref that's you like, movie stills, from video stills or even game art. Just whatever you like, find and then study. It'll help you improve. Study bridgeman, hogarth and loomis combined together for anatomy.
Really spend your time on work, put you best effort into it and finish everything.

Biggest advice, finish your work, do one finished drawing a day and you'll improve like crazy :D

Keep it up!
Nebo!

[greyskill]

-lilnebo
Thanks for the advice and encouragement lilnebo, I'll do my best to follow it. I've been doing Bridgman, and I was going to start doing some Loomis, but I am no so big on Hogarth. I do studies from portrait sites from time to time, but I could definitely do more studies. Also, I have been trying to work everyday, but college and lazyness sure does get in the way easily.

Thanks for the SB visit, much appreciated!

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Here is some stuff I did today. It takes a lot longer to really put effort into a drawing than to just crank it out...

Head from imagination...
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Shadow knight who collects the swords of his adversaries..
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Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my SB so far!

[RickyS]

Yeah I find my studies are the same. Most of the time they are actually really sloppy because I get lazy, but I try to catch myself when that happens and work on something with more thought and care put into it. I think it's a good idea to leave the sloppy drawings for quick gesture drawings and put more time into longer studies.

Your drawings from imagination look good! I like the shadow knight. What I think would help your designs is if you continue drawing them from imagination, then get reference and redraw your designs with the mistakes corrected. That way you can be creative, polish things to a higher level and learn from your mistakes. It's also good to do memory drawings where you do a study to the best of your ability and analyze it, then try to draw it a second time without looking at the reference. Afterward you can go in with a red pen and make corrections to see how much information you retained. Just some suggestions, have fun. :)

[greyskill]

-RickyS
Good Idea RickyS, I'll try it out.

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Here is a writeover of my shadowknight and some painting I was doing with newly created brushes. I'm still working on the painting, I need to tighten up the facial features, maybe I'll go back at it with some ref.

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I created two or three brushes that I used in this first. I would like to build myself a vast array of incredible brushes!
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[greyskill]

Here is a page of faces from imagination, I like the guy on the bottom best, then next the woman farthest down on the page, I hate the other two. Small post today, but it is better than nothing. I think I will start doing some work from Bridgman or Loomis today... I want to do more Wesburt studies. I feel like I learned a lot from just the two I did.


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[greyskill]

Eh, its been a week or two since I posted, but I have been working some.

Here is a WIP of a painting I am doing. I did a sketch of him in pencil and then looked at that while I painted to initial digital sketch, but other than that it is all photoshop work. This was with a wacom tablet.

I am pretty happy with how the more finished parts look. like the chest, I think the face needs to be fleshed out more, no pun intended, and the right leg needs to have some perspective problems fixed. obviously the left leg and foot are not finished, but please have at everything!

PLEASE CRITIQUE! I would like this painting to look as nice as I can get it before I put it down.

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[Onisan]

I like your last piece, there is some good progress going on. Remember not to overuse 100% black and white if you render something out. If you use your value range a little more purposeful your darkest dark and lightest light will have a lot more impact on your picture. You have a good mix between studies, rendered pieces and some interesting experiments :)

[jskotte]

Your concepts are great and the anatomy studies also look very good, but you should do more head/face studies as many of them a bit off at the moment. keep up the good work.

[NeonDuck]

good stuff, your drawings from imagination are coming along! I'd like to see some more studies, especially from life if you can find a class! really helps understand 3d shapes

[greyskill]

-Onisan
Thanks for the visit and the tips, I will definitely try to do what you are saying! I haven't worked on that painting much since I posted it here, but I plan to do more to it and repost sometime soon. Thanks for the post!
P.S. Your work rocks!

-jskotte
Yeah, my heads are weak, I have been trying to improve them. I have a hard time sometimes I think because I don't draw the pieces as part of the whole head, so eyes drift off and noses are crooked and such. Here are some head studies from photos just for you in this post!

-NeonDuck
Thanks man! I'll do my best to put up more studies, and after my class finals are over I'll look into classes. In the meanwhile I will just need to do life studies from photos and people around me!

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Alright! Here is what I have been working on lately!

Concepts from my head, I liked the idea of the technological angel barbarian. the mermaid, not so much
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Head from imagination, the sketch I used as a concept for my painting of the cleric, and a giant mudkip creature...
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I'm not super happy with how these came out, but I posted them, I sorta like the style that the girl was done in, but the other ones, eh...
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These next two are more WesBurt studies, he's known as wes9000 here at this forum I believe. I just can't get over how cool his work is.
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I drew these faces from photo reference off the site portraits with soul. I like how they turned out! I shaded the hat on the second girl after I scanned it, but I was too lazy to rescan..
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[Scimok]

You're definitely improving, one problem I can see is the facial features seem a bit lopsided in quite a few places.

Maybe try constructing the face more fully before adding detail?

[greyskill]

-Scimok
Thanks for the critique Scimok. Yeah, my faces are kinda messed up, I'm gonna put more work into them. I'm reading Loomis's book on faces and hands, and I'm gonna try to draw 10 heads a day, for at least the next 10 days!

Here are my first ten from imagination with reference from the Loomis book, plus a bonus female head I did from photo reference a few days ago! Thanks again for the post!
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[greyskill]

Here are the heads I drew today and yesterday! W00t!

Three days down, seven to go!

I think I might keep this up after the ten days if if keeps working out well. I might start a ten a day of something else.

This one is yesterday's. Most of it is from memory/imagination, the skulls on the top are drawn out of the Loomis Heads book!
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All of the ones from today are drawn out of the Loomis Heads book.
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[Exon-Ion]

Faces looking good bro, keep going at them, working from memory and from refs, just how you are doing them, keep rocking dude!

[greyskill]

-Exon-Ion
Thanks for the post man! Thanks for the encouragement, it really means a lot!

I'm behind my goal by a few days, but that's ok. I'm still working hard and I have other stuff that I need to do! Here are 20 heads. Some I like, others not so much. I like the girl that has a body, I thought that that one came out well!

Mostly from imagination, some with ref from Loomis book
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All from my head...
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[greyskill]

I'm going to California for two weeks tomorrow so I won't be posting for a while!

[Exon-Ion]

Nice heads, looks like you learning a tons from loomis, oh and enjoy stay at california, do draw though :D

[greyskill]

-Exon-Ion
Thanks again for all the encouragement!

Whoah.. I didn't realize that that much time had passes since my last post!
The trip was great though, I got to visit Laguna College of Art and Gnomon School of Visual Effects! Both were really cool!

Well anyhoo, here is the stuff that I drew during my trip to California!
Scans came out kinda bad today, not sure why...

Random stuff!
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Fantasy magicians, including Epic Bard Dude!
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Thumbnails, heads, and another magician, this time a buff one who is squashed!
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Pen is weird!
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[Nenad]

Nice stydies and very good image 1...keep on drawing!

[greyskill]

-Nenad
Thanks, you keep drawing too!

Here is a large post of sketches, I have been working on a finished drawing, but it isn't done yet. It has been too hot to concentrate very well for me.

I'm not very excited about how any of this came out, but I did have fun just staying loose and concentrating on flow instead of structure.

Some gestures
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Here are some figure gestures I painted in Photoshop, probably took around 5 mins each
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And for good measure, a lizard man!
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More stuff will come later...

[greyskill]

Hey everybody! Long time no post!

I've been busy doing other stuff, like making a game for a contest, hanging out with people, but I'm posting now...

Here is some work!

This was blocked out it Alchemy and the face was finished in Photoshop.
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This drawing was inspired by OneRepublic's All Fall Down.
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Another Alchemy experiment
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Here are three Photoshop paintings, probably took 8mins each approximately.
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More faces from imagination
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Some faces from real life, brother, cousin, cousin's cousin...
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Some concepts for a sci-fi paper RPG character.
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What happens when I draw with other people while talking about silly things...
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And finally, a robot...
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Long, post...

[greyskill]

The first drawing is a head from imagination, the second two are copied from WesBurt pencil drawings! all done in ps. I'm not sure what I should do, besides just practice, to get better at copying things, from ref/real life... Any suggestions anybody?

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[greyskill]

Here is a painting I'm starting, its a wip...

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[greyskill]

An update on the dark monk. I'm not sure if it is done or not, I kinda don't know what to do next to it if it isn't.

Any suggestions or comments would be helpful!

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[jskotte]

Keep on doing those studies. I think you need to do some more gesture/poses and anatomy studies, since some of your characters are a bit off in these areas. Really work on the basics and your personal work will improve a great deal.

[greyskill]

-jskotte
Thanks, I'm gonna get back to doing more studies again. I was testing my limits for awhile and I think that I have a good idea of what I can do and what needs improvement most. Thanks so much for the post!

Here is a big messy sketchy update!
BACK TO BRIDGEMAN!!!111elevenoneone!1

Bridgeman studies!!
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These were done for my cousin, who loves Starcraft. He would call out a unit and I would try to recreate it from memory. Fun exercise!
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Random sketches...
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Heads...
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Sketches for another pen and paper RPG I was playing..
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Random figures...
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[greyskill]

Drawings and painting...
The drawings were done this morning, the character paintings were done over the last few days.

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[jskotte]

Really nice updates, your heads are improving a lot. Keep up and have fun :)

[Grassy]

Keep doing anatomy studies - more and more, not only faces. Imagine body as a couple of simple shapes - cylinders, cubes etc. Imagines how they gain their volume in space and your chars won't look flat. Cheers!

[snootchy]

heya greyskill, long time glad to hear from ya! great hand studies, proportions looking a lot better in the studies, keep pushing the studies, u've improved quite a bit since i stopped by last, keep up the hard work!!

[greyskill]

-jskotte
Thanks so much! I'll do my best to keep working, and I'll try to have fun too!

-Grassy
Thanks Grassy, I'll work on that. I was doing some of my studies with what you said in mind and I think that it helped me to learn better from them. Thanks again!

-snootchy
Thanks Snootchy, I couldn't believe how much you had improved when I stopped by your SB. Some of your new stuff is ridiculously awesome!

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Bridgman, imagination, Loomis...

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[snootchy]

oh my, i'm liking them bridge studies very much, keep on trucking through those, proportions and forms are looking good!

Keep up the tenacity!!

[greyskill]

All I have today...

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[greyskill]

Hands from head, wanted to paint, didn't want to use a pencil.

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[jskotte]

hand studies are looking great :)

[greyskill]

-Jskotte
Thanks a bunch!

Here is a small update so I can stay alive.. I haven't been working as much on drawing because I need to finish a game for a contest before the end of the month.

Some concepts of creature I'm designing for a friend's movie
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Concepts of a character from my game
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Bridgman
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[odysseuspike]

pretty cool stuff you got going on here.

[greyskill]

-odysseuspike
Thanks! It's kinda cool to get your first post! Welcome to ConceptArt.org! Don't be afraid to start a sketchbook and post some of your work!

Faces, people and Bridgman...

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[greyskill]

Hey people! I haven't posted for awhile, but that is because I have been working hard on a game for a contest. Here is a screenshot...

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If anyone wants to play it, here is a link! You can either download the game, or download the plugin and play it on their site.
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/142785-fairytale---a-story-of-mercy
Any comments or critiques would be welcomed...

Have fun people!

EDIT!!

I'm adding a direct download link for those who don't want a plugin!
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/142785-fairytale---a-story-of-mercy/download

[iven]

I really love #2 in your SB, and your little icon made me curious
about your sketches, I would love to create games. Did you
do sketches for your game, how long did it take you, it looks
nice from the screen shot and I can't wait to play it.

damnit it miss a plug in :wtf:

[jskotte]

Nice studies, hands look great again and so does the little skeleton guys :) The robot on the latest figure page looks good, but some of the other figures looks a bit off balance.
The screenshot from the game looks cool.

[iven]

The screenshot from the game looks cool.

It's even fun to see the animation and the game it self,
the link worked last time when I played it. It reminds me
on one of those C64 games,...

GOOD JOB !!

[greyskill]

Hey people, I'm back from the dead again... I have been doing a lot of other stuff and have unfortunately let practicing drawing slide for the past few months. But now I'm back in action.

I've been learning zbrush and working on game concepts, but I'm gonna post here at least once a week starting today.

I've been working to clean up and finish my drawings better than I have in the past. I think that I have neglected this part of the drawing process in the past out of fear that a complete drawing would reflect that my skill level was not as great as I wished.

Here is some stuff from the last few days.

I've been trying out a more animeish style recently. Mostly because it is fun.
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This is a study of a sketch by Alphonse Mucha
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Some head..
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A design done in Alchemy, I like that program..
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More stuff to come soon..

[greyskill]

Hello fellow wizards! Let's build our dreams!

Anyhooo.. Like things seem to go, I was planning on posting right after my last post but I got sick and couldn't do much more than lie on the couch shivering while watching movies.

The important thing is though that I have still stuck to my goal of posting at least once a week!

Here is some stuff, I'm pretty happy with it for now! The next thing I need to do is to continue to clean up and polish my drawings, because they are getting to the point where they are worth polishing.

This is another anime character, I started drawing her at the same time on the same page as the anime guy, but I only finished her recently.

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Bunch of heads from imagination, It is funny looking back at them, It is so easy to tell how the top right one and the skull were the first ones done on the page.
They look so much like my "I don't know the meaning of the word anatomy" warm up drawings!
I like when I can see mistakes in my process and then not subsequently beat myself up over them for the next 20 minutes..

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Woah, that last picture got a huge block-o-text, I'll try to keep this one short. This is partially from photo reference partially from imagination.
I like how it came out.
I was surprised that I could capture her expression fairly well, because I picked the photo because I liked her expression and when I do that I usually get it wrong and quit.

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Here is a link to the original photo.
http://www.portrait-photos.org/photo/24632.html

If you are looking for faces to draw or paint, that site has a lot of high quality and very emotionally deep photos. I highly recommend sketching from that site!

Good luck humans and I hope to see you again soon!1!one!1!eleven

P.S. The third picture still had a lot of text despite my efforts, sorry...

[greyskill]

Small post for the ether beings of the interweb....

Here I offer it up as a sacrifice to you....

Whatever...

Photo study...
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Study of a WesBurt drawing...
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Talk to you later...

[greyskill]

Here is some recent work.

The first page is mine, from imagination
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This is a bunch of copies of work from WesBurt, Algenpfleger, and Janachi
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Bridgman studies
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[Exon-Ion]

nice pencils! i think you need to work a bit on rendering your midtones, they seem a bit dull, but that'l come with practice so keep going dude :D

[greyskill]

-Exon-Ion
Thanks, I do need practice rendering. I'll keep hammering away at that.
Also, thanks for the encouragement! Even a little goes a long way with both critique and encouragement!



Here is some of my zbrush work. I just took some screenshots of it and I thought I would share.

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[Sean McClain]

wow your pencils are great, nice zbrush as well, you have almost got me wanting to try
zbrush now.

[^_^]

Great progression over just a few pages with your figures, still need to get those 3/4 view eyes down tho. Some life drawing / selfportraits practice should help it along.

Nice start in zbrush too, diggin those boots :D

Keep it up dude, I can see you kickin out some awesome stuff in future.

[greyskill]

-Sean McClain
Thanks Sean! It is really nice to hear when someone likes your work! Zbrush is fun, and it has a relatively quick learning curve at the start. You really can get in there and with just a little bit of knowledge get a lot done. It does help out though to keep learning more.

-^_^
Thank you! You are right, I should do some more drawing from life. I think that that will really help me out. Thanks for the visit!

Here are some attempted self portraits. They all sorta look a little like me and the shading in really rough, but with some practice I can see that I will get better at this. Thanks again ^_^ for the suggestion.


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[darxx]

really like your finger studies man. think i'm gonna have to do a few of those soon, and looking at yours is making me dread it, coz mine are gonna be lame :P

nicely done Zbrush character aswell dude. :)

look forward to seeing more of your work

[greyskill]

-darxx
Thanks! I'm glad you like them and I hope that you do draw some yourself, it is good practice! I tried to visit your sketchbook, but your link is broken. I'll try to find it with threads started by user.

I'm too lazy to scan stuff today, so here are some costume concepts that I painted in photoshop with my mouse. Not all that great, but for the time I spent, and for being done with a mouse, they are ok.

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More stuff tomorrow

[greyskill]

Heyya, here is some new stuff people!

I got a couple spheres I drew from memory, I want to use some stuff like this to build and solidify my rendering skills.
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Then here are some gesture drawings, some are from posmaniacs and then most of them are from an MMA photography website.
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Lastly are some eyes that I drew in a notebook with a pen. I think that I made some steps in understanding the three-dimensional structure of the eye, I still have a long way to go though...
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[Blauringkraken]

Very cool stuff in here! I like your Bridgeman drawings very much (I need to do things from him, after I saw this here). Keep on drawing! Yours, Steffen

[vivi]

wow, great sketches : D so much improvement since the first post!!! love the girl holding the rabbit >w<. Draw on!!!

[Blauringkraken]

Thanks gray! I just watched over a few things more here. I wasn't recognizing it the first time, but your faces - especially the later ones - are really good. I totally love the facial expression of the woman in #75 and the side view of #76. I'll also follow your SB, for sure! Keep on practicing. Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thank you very much sir! I'm glad you enjoy my work! I have been trying really hard to understand the head better, I feel like if I get that, then the rest of the body will be easier. Hopefully with us following each other's sketchbooks we can get some uber support and crit going! Thanks for the visit, and keep working hard, I'll be watching!

-vivi
Thanks vivi! I will draw on, and hopefully with some time I can push the improvement WAY farther! Thanks again for the post, and I look forward to more posts of yours!

OK! now time for the stuff! I Just started doing Riven Phoenix's Structure of Man videos. I like them a LOT. I think that his slow method of building off of the skeleton structure and slowing weaning the student off of some of the measurement crutches, is great.

Without further ado, here is some stuff!

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Thanks for looking! More soon!

[Naidy]

After the really nice comment you gave me I just had to have a look about in your sketchbook and you look like you're making good progress to me. The bridgeman studies are looking great, and I like the faces you're doing. Some interesting concept work too.

Anyways, no crits from me I'm afraid, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your sketchbook. keep up the good work, mate! :D

[krysjez]

those are some nice eyes. Keep it up.

[greyskill]

-Naidy
Thank you so much for the visit! And all the compliments! Hope to see you post here again!

-krysjez
Thank you! I'll keep working, you keep going too!

So here is my post, I have been meaning to make it for a few days now, but my computer is broken.
It overheats just idling and crashes, especially today because it is raining.
I am afraid that I might need to buy a new cpu and motherboard,
and if I do that, I'll probably need a new graphics card.
That all happens to require far more money than I have right now....
So much for wanting a Wacom tablet, now I need a new computer...=P emoemoemoemo...


But anyway! I did this painting last night with a mouse, on my computer(my computer was being kept alive by a big clip on fan blowing directly into the case.)
I'm pretty happy with how it came out, especially because I used a mouse..
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This is just a page of imagined figures, I was trying to get some 3d form and figure out weight and proportions, my pencil was not very sharp though, so they are pretty messy...
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Also I have been trying to get a better grip on the Riven's front of the head formula, so that is why I am drawing so many skulls.
I was getting frustrated, but then my brother helped me by showing how I could measure the proportions better, and now I think I get it..

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Well that is that for now, more soon hopefully!

[Naidy]

Hey again :D

Really interesting way with lines on the digital piece. The pencil studies are looking good, particularly the one of the girl.

I'll keep checking up on you, so keep up the good work!

[Blauringkraken]

Really nice stuff in here, you make a good progress I think. Have you tried to color more of the stuff you draw? I think it's the same problem I have to go from pencil to colored work... :/

[vivi]

heyy : D
love the picture you did with your mouse!
the pencil studies are awesome : ) keep them coming!!
good luck with your computer!

[greyskill]

-Naidy
Heyya! Yeah, the for the outlines I just made a the whole silhouette first using a natural brush and eraser. Then I did the painting of the face and skin over that in greyscale using soft semi opaque brushes.
Thanks for stopping by!

-Blauringkraken
Yeah, I think that you probably are right, I should do more stuff with color.
The problem is, the only coloring method I am very comfortable with at the moment is digital painting, and I am limited with that right now because of computer issues.
Though, I guess I could use this computerless time to try to build up some watercolor skills, I love watercolor.
HEY, you are good with watercolors, and so is Naidy, maybe both of you could give me some pointers if I were to post some of that here! That would be helpful. Thanks a bunch!

-vivi
Bonjour! Thank you very much, I'll keep working! You keep working too!



Alright, I finished the Skull section of Riven's Structure of Man, now I just need to put it into good practice! Here is some work towards that goal. There are also some doodles and some post apocalyptic robot hunters..

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Thanks again everyone! More to come!

[KromNz]

very cool studies man! keep it up ! :D

[greyskill]

-KromNz
Thank you sir! I will keep it up, and thanks for the post!


Today I wanted to make finish stuff day! So I drew a drawing that I finished, and even colored it on photoshop, and I also did a watercolor painting. Here they are.

I would really like any critiques or comments on this one, because I really am not that experienced with watercolors.
I have really only worked with it a couple of times
This is actual size pretty much, at least on my monitor.... It is a pretty small painting..
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This is the original sketch. I used a range of pencils for this because I have been finding that my drawings have been looking too scratchy with just a 2b.
I think that helped...
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Here is a quick color with color layers, I like how it came out I think..
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P.S. Thanks Blauringkraken for the idea to do some stuff with colors! =)

[greyskill]

Here are some more Riven Phoenix studies and a quick mouse painting...
I just realized that the painting is way too dark... I don't care though, because it stinks...

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More stuff later...

[greyskill]

Stuff, stuff,stuff...

Not too happy with this post, but I'll get over it...

I have been reading through Aaron Diaz's blog. Aaron is an artist and web comic writer, who write's the comic Dresden Codak.
I enjoy his comic, but what I really a have really enjoyed is his articles on character design.
He is very intelligent and has put together some very helpful tips and instructions on this. He also is a very talented and skilled artist. I love his style, go check him out already!
--->http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/

Here are some studies of his work, and some stuff that is inspired by it..
I really like this style and I would really like to be able to draw like this, It is always confusing to try to figure out if I should try to narrow myself down to a style.
Should I try to learn to render realistically and go from there?
There are so many different types of styles I really love..
The tough part is I am not really to good at using any of them at this point....
EMO!! :'(

These are the STUDIES!!
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These are the junk things...
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I have been going along with the riven stuff, here is some of that...

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And to finish off this post, here is a really crummy painting I did the other day! =D
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[greyskill]

-greyskill
Thanks for your post, keep up the good work sir!!

Well, my computer has been working for the past few days.
I went downstairs last week and pulled a cpu fan out of the decayed remnants of a computer that had passed on,
and then inserted it Frankenstein style into my computer. It doesn't seem to overheat anymore, and it now glows blue,
two great things for the price of one... Free is apparently the price of one...

ENOUGH RAMBLING!

Here is a page of Aaron Diaz inspired drawings.
I was concentrating on expression though form and design.. All from imagination

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These drawings are more cartoony expression studies..
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Some Riven studies.
I can really feel the anatomical knowledge in the rest of my drawings though, it is kinda cool!
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Be back soon!

[Sean McClain]

great pencil work man,Draw, draw, draw!

[greyskill]

-Sean McClain
Thanks sir! I will DRAW DRAW DRAW!! =) You keep at it too!

Here is a wip of a painting I am doing for CHOW..
This is my first time trying to submit something for CHOW, I am kinda excited..

Mouse painting as usual, far from finished, Tell me what you think if you care to!

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[greyskill]

Another WIP
I like painting in this style, it is fun and it is easy for me to visualize and try things out without ruining the entire painting.
I like working in layers, perhaps too much. This image must have nearly 35 layers.

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[Blauringkraken]

Sorry for requesting this late, greyskill... :/ I just saw you already did some water color things. I'm really not a pro with this, I ensure you, but if I were you, I would try to focus on the overall mood of the picture, not the single objects in the picture. I saw you painting the lake. And the tree. And the grass. And the background... As you asked me to give you something you can work with, I tried to remember what I was thinking about while I do my stuff.

Fist thing... I would not use a single color for an object. I think you worked out every object for itself... that makes the picture look a little 'trown together' (is there a better word? I am not from America ^^). I would try to match the mood with the color expression by choosing more/less saturation.

Second thing: Reflections/Light. I found myself just painting the main color shapes to define what it looks like. Maybe that is a better way. You should also try to use wet to dry, wet to wet and the other techniques to get a better feeling for the material you are painting. (i.e. I made a very defined color at the glass at my train station, reflecting the sky).

One more thing: If you use Photoshop to color your pencil sketch, try the following (saw that in post #97 i.e.):
1. Open your picture.
2. Picture - Corrections - Gradiations
3. In this you can find a white eyedrop-tool. Use it by clicking on the gray mud in pencil drawings to get rid of the gray blur... (with this you define the color that should be white)
4. Redefine your outline with the burn-tool.

First PIC: The tools.
Second PIC: Random picture from you, by using two clicks. (Hope you don't mind, I just want to show you how it works)

I will make some screenshots for you.
Keep it up, we are all here to learn! :D
Cheers! Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thank you so much! This is really helpful.
So I should think about a watercolor painting more as a whole object than the individual parts?
I'll try to do that! I'll also look up the techniques you talked about before I do another watercolor.

Thanks also for the tip on how to get sketches to look better,
I have been experimenting with that and i just haven't been able to come up with a method that really worked well.

Also, you type English very well, much better than many native English speakers.


Here is another wip of the paladin. I added another character to the painting. She is supposed to be an apprentice or squire or something...

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[Blauringkraken]

Thanks for your post! I really like your wip so far, especially the small one. :D
So I should think about a watercolor painting more as a whole object than the individual parts?
Part yes, part no. The problem is: I recognized by myself, that looking only at single parts lets you loose the view for the overall painting. Many artists use the shape method - as you said - and then put in a gradient beginning at the light source. It helps to keep focus on what you are doing. Here is a link where I can show you what I mean (awesome channel, look at it btw!) LINK (http://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL#p/u/17/4yKxY0KKrak) beginning at about 6:00 min. The problem is by adapting this to watercolor because of the different functions you only have at computer. I wanted to point out, that rendering part by part may result in a picture messed up with many parts that dont fit together (and so just don't create the mood you want).

Also, you type English very well, much better than many native English speakers.
Thanks :D

Ah, and one thing: What kind of books do you use to learn from? Loomis? Vanderpoel? Bridgeman? Hogarth? Bammes?

I'm excited to see more!
Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thanks, that was a really helpful way to show me what you meant. For some reason I separate technique used for digital and traditional art in my mind.
Also, thanks for showing me that that youtube channel exists! I love FengZhu, he is one of the people I learned to use silhouettes from.

Books, I have used are, Bridgman's Constructive Anatomy, Loomis' Drawing the Head and Hands. Those are the ones I have used most. I like them for anatomy reference, but sometimes I have trouble learning technique from books. I guess this is because I am an audio visual learner and I like to see people do things..

I actually learn better from videos, which makes me even more excited about you giving me the link to those videos.
I am currently learning from Riven Phoenix's The Structure of Man video series, and I am really loving it. He really goes through the figure and helps you learn to build it in a way that allows you to reliably reconstruct it from memory.

Thanks again for the help!




I think that my Chow entry is about finished. I am gonna post it here, but I might change it before I submit it tomorrow. Any critique or comment would be helpful, thanks!

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[Blauringkraken]

You are welcome! And that is a bunch of very good books to use and learn from. I myself use Gottfried Bammes (Die Gestalt des Menschen) & ANATOMY (Vol. 1) of Imagine FX-Special. But I ordered some of the other stuff lately, I think it's good to have a wide range of different people you can learn from. But in this point you are right: It's good to see people actually work. It helps to get a better understanding of the way people are going to create/arrange/build everything and how to alter/render to the finish picture.

Ah, one thing more that really helped me to see progress (I recognized this as I watched over your sketches again), is to show yourself how sure you do a stroke. Your first-page sketches were messy with small and much scribbly lines that build the figure. Your later sketches were much more defined and have a much better dynamic with the pencil. Keep that up! And have fun ;) Would be glad to see more anatomy studies from you.

Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thanks, I'm glad that you can see more confidence in my linework. I really do have more confidence about laying down good strokes, and I hope that as I gain even more confidence the strokes get much better. Also thanks for the tip on fixing scans, I think it works much better than messing with the levels..

Here are some more studies, and some other stuff, like costume studies...

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[Naidy]

Oh oh! I saw your CHOW entry, I didn't realise it was yours for some reason. Really awesome work and I admire your courage to join the challenge. :D
As usual you're mixing in some good studies, you got yourself a schedual for them or something? Either way I admire the dedication.
Keep up the good work as usual, mate. that's all I can say really. C:

[greyskill]

-Naidy
Thanks! It turned out to be a lot of fun, and it was cool to be able to see so many different levels of artist working together and just having fun working on a concept..

Heh, my schedule on a normal day is to do anatomy studies until I am sick of it and then force myself to draw something else that is more fun, like characters.
It feels like I'm more likely to do the stuff I don't like as much if I do it first.. =P

I think that I should do more... I feel that I don't do enough, but something is always better than nothing with practicing...


Here are some studies of some Sargent paintings and stuff,
and then some applied costumed character drawings trying to pull stuff from the studies I just drew..
I tried to do the studies to get more of a feel of the character of the painting's subject in a gesture than to copy details...

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These are the ones from imagination..
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More stuff soon hopefully..

[*Rena*]

Really nice character ideas!:)
Keep up the anatomy study your character design will benefit from that.
Since I've studied production design and I'm a little obsessed with historical accuracy, my advice is look at paintings of that period or photographs and after you can interpet them in you personal way.

[Blauringkraken]

Hey greyskill! I'm back here, and your clothing stuff is a good start. One thing: Learn drapery! Start with a towel or something. It sounds stupid, but it is one of the things which are really necessary and give your drawings so much more feeling. (I need to do that too...)

Another thing: Try to draw your poses in balance... it just feels wrong to see someone standing vertical. Keep up practicing! :D

Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Rena
Thanks Rena. That was what I was working at,
but I probably should do them while actually caring more about details.
I kind of felt like doing loose gestury drawings when I did those.
Those were all from Sargent painting by the way..
I'm gonna keep working hard on those anatomy studies, I can sort of feel the effects in my drawings already.
Thanks for the post.

-Blauringkraken
Yeah, I should draw some drapery, good idea.
Maybe I should just draw from a lot of things like pictures of people wearing jeans and t-shirts after I understand the drapery better too.

I'm not sure what you mean about standing vertical, but I do see how the dude on that last drawing is pretty out of balance..


Here are some really quick mouse photoshop faces.

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I did some other drawings today but they were all lame and crappyish... All the eyes on these are purposely obscured..

[Edit, Can't get the picture to show up, will try later...]

[greyskill]

I'm so glad that images are back now!
Also, I am double glad that the reason they dissapeared in the first place is because they are adding a batch uploader!
It will be so nice once that is up and working!

Anyway, I have decided nearly a week late to join the current CHOW.
Today I am still in the character planning phase, so I don't have anything impressive to show.

This is a color test for the characters that will be in my scene.

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I have some sketches and thumbnails and a character sheet for Red, but I am too lazy to scan them atm..
That and my younger brother is playing Fallout 3 on the computer hooked up to the scanner...

The style is heavily Clochette inspired. I really like her work, and I thought,
"Hmm who would do a really awesome illustration of Riding Hood?" and She was the first person to come to mind...

I am going for a more fantastical version of Little Red Riding Hood.
I want the forest to be dark and magical, and the wolf to be some sort of strange anglerfish wolf....
I thought of this because of how deceptive he is...
Blah, blah, blah......

[Malakuko]

nice sketches! explore other ways to sketch down Ideas and to study stuff. Even if its just using a different pencil or turning it on its side. I noticed you like to smudge the graphite to make a flat tone, you might like using willow charcoal.

[greyskill]

-Malakuko
You're right, I should try to mix it up some. That would probably be good.
I'll admit I am a little too much obsessed with flat tone, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
I think that I should really work on rendering more realistic shadows, but it always seems so difficult.
I guess that most things that are worth doing are difficult... Thank you very much for the post Malakuko!


Here is my long overdue SB update..

Here I was trying to work out a face and style for my character. Some of the sketches on this page are from some Clochette drawings.
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This is mostly thumbnails and the wolf's design.
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Character sheet for Red...
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This I believe will be the composition for the final piece..
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A Sargent study and a study of a random punk guy...
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Some bones...
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More stuff later.. Hopefully soonish!

[Blauringkraken]

Thanks for your post, greyskill! I hope, I can do the flowers half as well as the oilrig ^^ Argh, the figure drawing stuff... no, I was too lazy the past days, but I will keep that up in the future. I'm working at the Bridgman books currently, so anatomy is still a great part of what I do (in fact: human anatomy is the major theme for me in 2011).

I really like your Little Red Riding Hood, this is stuff you can definately do more than it actually is. (I think there is a movie comming soon, but I don't know if it's good... I doubt that XD). Keep up posting and I'd like to see some WIP stuff when it gets to computer!

Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
I'm glad you like it,
I really thought, after looking at all the other CHOW works in progress, that too many people were taking the redesign too far.
They are all like grown women with katanas with buckets of blood.
That is part of the fun of CHOW,
but I thought it would be nice to stay somewhat true to the original story!


Here is where I am with the Red Riding Hood illustration..
I was originally thinking of just using that layout sketch as a guide and then just repainting everything,
but I ended up really liking the look of the sketch mixed with the painting..
When I started painting I thought of Vivi's paintings and sort of mimicked them.
I am liking how it looks, but I am just not sure where to go from here.

Is it finished? Is there something it needs? Is it too messy?
Just thought it might be nice to get some feedback if anyone would give it, while I thought about these things..

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[Blauringkraken]

Thanks for the steps! i think it looks cool to have the pencil strokes in there. Have you tried not just to multily everything?
I would get the glowing and the lights more pop out... made you a (very quick... sorry, not much time) pic...

There is another one who let the strokes in the picture. Link:
http://blauringkraken.deviantart.com/favourites/39725661?offset=48#/d2z786g

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thanks! That was just what I needed!
I was thinking about the painting as flat colors.
Making the light more dynamic has really helped it!
Thanks for the link too! Really awesome stuff! He has some really good Red Riding Hood stuff too!
Look at this! -->http://danillovesfood.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d39iz4x

Here is the update with better light and just some different fixes..
I decided to use another overlay of the pencil work to get darker lines and to add extra texture to the trees and wolf while leaving Red clean...

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[Blauringkraken]

Hey greyskill, you absolutely get what I meant!
And I totally forget about the RRH of him... my brain has large holes. :D

One more thing I'd try is to set the black lines to a dark gray or try to negative multiply a
color-layer with about 15% opacity with the fitting colors over the pencil strokes. But I don't know if that works.

The red colors on her btw look great!
Yours, Steffen

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
I tried both the dark grey lines and the colored lines and the dark grey just worked better.
Thanks again for the great suggestions, it is really helpful to have someone else's eyes look at something.

Other than lightening the lines, I just did some minor fixes on things that were bugging me.
I think that this will most likely be the finished piece, but any critiques or suggestions would still be very helpful!

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[greyskill]

Mini Post!

I was trying out what I have learned about bones by doing some studies!

I'm pretty happy with what I have learned to be able to apply from what I now know!

I am surprised that learning about the shoulderblade has helped my understanding of the upperbody so much..

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I know that there should be more, but I am a lazy bum..

I also know that I am putting off those drapery studies that I promised Blauringkraken...
I will make sure to do those soonish.. soonish......

[Naidy]

Hey, hey! Some more good stuff since I last checked, and your way about going things sounds pretty good to me.

Anyways, no crits I'm afraid, just keep it up. :D

[Blauringkraken]

Hey Greyskill! Two weeks without updates, what's up?
Are you working at a bigger project or just hiding in drapery? :D
Keep it up, I'd love to see more!

[greyskill]

-Naidy
Thanks!

-Blauringkraken
Heyya and thanks for the post, I didn't realize it had been that long..
I have been doing a bit of both...
I realized that while doing anatomy studies I have completely forgotten to keep practicing rendering and pencil use...
Other than that, I have been pretty busy.
It was my birthday last week, and then I went away for the weekend.


Here is some stuff.. Not much, but I don't have anymore. Just got to start making more now!

All from observation, except the sphere. All from life, except the key and the woman with a dress...
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[Blauringkraken]

No problem ^^ Good start for drapery! Two things I want to practice for myself, which I recommend you, too: Try to get clear lines. Don't scribble around in your final versions, it makes the hole picture muddy, try to stay clear with especially the lines which define the form. Second thing: I don't know what pencil you used or if it's the photo, but: I wouldn't use a hard pencil. I myself found out, I work best with 2B or something, it gives you a better range of light/dark. In the ball above you used this very well. So, keep that up, I think you are definately on the right way!

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Yeah, I think that I used a hard pencil.. I have been trying to experiment with different pencils so that I can get a feel for range. Thanks for the tips, I will try them out next time.


Here is the start of a sketch I am doing of a photo of scissors.
I am trying really hard to get the proportions and structure down as accurately as possible.
It takes a long time to draw something accurately, even something this simple...
It isn't as messy as it looks here in real life.
It is actually very clean, this was just a bad scan..

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More soon...

[Saara_]

Nice values on the sphere in the previous post. As a crit for the little red riding hood picture I think her hood is too saturated and too red for the mushroom-lighting and environment. The light source from the mushrooms is a ghostly blue but it doesn't affect her clothes (or the environment) at all. The color change would be a lot more dramatic in lighting like that - the color of the light affects the color of everything it hits - and in this case it seems that the mushrooms are the only obvious light source. Overall also, the lighting seems to come from nowhere. Why is the middle of the path lit? Is there light coming from above?

But yeah, keep going, nice stuff so far. :)

[greyskill]

-Saara_
Thanks for the post! Yeah, I see what you mean about the light.
It is true, there should be a lot more blue light on her, and I really have no clue why the path is lit.
I guess when I was working on it I was just concentrating on making things read well.
I picked the forest's color palette by inversing Red's colors so that she would really pop out..
I really appreciate the critique, I really have very little idea how to show colored light in a painting,
any more tips on that or any other subject would be greatly appreciated!


Here is another scan of the scissors I am working on. I got the structure and proportions to a place that I was happy with,
and now I am attempting to fill it in with smooth and relatively correct tonal values.

Any crits or pointers would be really helpful!


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Would it be good or helpful for me to post the picture I am doing the drawing from?

More stuff soon! Cya...

[Valyavande]

I'm not sure if it is just because of the scan, but I think, you can use much darker values for the scissor. You showed that you are able to use a wide range of values in the drawings of the key and the sphere. Try to repeat that. But it is a good start already!

[Saara_]

I think it's just the scan. The pictures usually look wrong when scanned but adjusting the curves in photoshop works as first-aid. Making it look like the original might require some tinkering, though.

[raminafshari]

i recommend values studies strongly .

[greyskill]

-Valyavande
Yep, it is very light still, but that is because I am trying to slowly work the values darker.
I have a tendency to go really dark really quickly, then it is hard to correct that.
So instead, I decided to get the values to be relatively accurate and then work them darker as I went along! Thanks for the comment and stuff! =)

-raminafshari
Thanks sir! Working on that!


Here is some digital stuff I did as an exercise in brush making yesterday after my post.

The anatomy went to heck on this one.. The arms are all screwed up...
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[Blauringkraken]

Ignore the arm, I really like that girl above. Nice brushes btw, I need to focus on that, too (but first I want to know everything about the defaults :D). And value studies would be good I think (as raminafshari said). Keep it up, sir!

[greyskill]

-Blauringkraken
Thanks sir, I'm glad you like her! I really like making new brushes and trying them out, It is fun.
I would really like to do more digital work like the first one in my last post, but it is so much harder without a tablet..

Ok, what kind of value study do both of you mean?
Should I just study values from life? pictures?
I am just not sure what you guys mean..


Here is another step on the scissors. I did the blades, shadows, and darkened the handles.
The whole thing could still stand some darkening.

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More someday! =D

[strangedawn]

the last one is great just add more values i think or put more dark and light....post 135 has an awesome ideas and by the way i love your red riding hood it is cute just keep up the good work!=)

[greyskill]

-strangedawn
Thank you!


Hey everyone, long time since last post...
I don't have much to show, but I am gonna post a poorly scanned work in progress...

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Still working alot (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) on details and tones and rendering and what not...

[greyskill]

Heyya, Here is a quick update...

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More stuff later

[greyskill]

Heyya, huge post... Makes me wish that the batch uploader was finished and running....
Mostly 30 and 60 second gestures. Some other things like 10 min studies and facial feature studies are mixed in there too..

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It all looks kinda crappy.. It is funny how quickly I get out of practice...
Bleh, I'll try to post again tomorrow..

[greyskill]

I guess I didn't try very hard to post... Anyhoo, here is a post before I go..
I am leaving for a week, should have some stuff when I get back..

Here are some gestures from imagination first, then some from reference,
and then some reffed faces..

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I don't understand how to approach portraits,
I can't seem to find that balance that a drawing needs to have a
semblance with the subject of the drawing...
The drawings end up looking okay for the most part, but they don't look like they should
This gets pretty frustrating...
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I'll post again in about a week..

[greyskill]

Back, and here is a post...

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[_Quasar_]

Whatup budy!
Nice pencils as well! I like those fabric studies...

Thanks for stop by my SB!

[greyskill]

-Quasar Thanks!


Man, Portrait drawing is so friggen difficult...

Second Ballerina is horrendously ugly...

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[FightingSeraph]

Nice studies, and I would like to see more of your sprite work.

[Valyavande]

Your bw CGs have style! The latest one is very cool too. Seems like brushing around is fun.
But I like the drawings with the brown felt tip (?) in post # 143 too. There's something nice about those thick lines. They fit to your sketching style.

for the figure drawings it would be good, if you learn more about constructive anatomy. That would make them better if you can use some 3 dimensional forms to develop them

[vivi]

Hi : D
these studies are looking awesome!
you've improved so much since the last time I checked : O
portraits are driving me nuts too = = they seem okay when done from photographs
but when it gets to a real person...somehow...
yeah : P so I've been staring at ramdom ppl these days
you can try it too!
keep up the good work!

[greyskill]

-FightingSeraph Thanks, Here is some more sprite work!
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-Valyavande Yay, I have style! Thanks, yeah brushing is fun, and it is the easiest way for me to paint with a mouse!
Luckily a wacom is coming in the mail for me, so excited!
Yeah I liked using the felt tip calligraphy pen. I liked being able to push line weight a lot!

About the anatomy, I'll be sure to get right on that! Thanks so much for the post, its very helpful!


-vivi Thanks!
Yeah, I just can't seem to figure out what actually makes a person look like they do..
Am I just not drawing the features accurately enough?
Heh, yeah, I stare at people too and sometimes I feel like people must think I'm a creep.. lol, better to stare at people you know I guess..


Here is my entry into this weeks CHOW, Warrior Alice..
Not as gritty or dark as it should be to match to brief, but whatever, I had fun..

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[Naidy]

Hey, mate! You may not know it but I've been lurking for your last few updates.
I just can't think of what to say since you're working pretty hard.

So, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, just keep up the good work. xD

[danlambert]

Hey man, saw your chow entry and thought I'd pop in for a closer look. I love the style of it and I love her demure pose. Your other work is looking cool as well, I particularly like that you're trying out lots of different techniques and styles, and your pencil work is coming along great! That first ballerina a few posts back is particularly lovely.

Take it easy

[greyskill]

-Naidy Thanks! Glad to have some lurkers!

-danlambert Thank you very much for the post! I'm so glad you liked my Chow entry!


Hey, been about a week since my last post, but I have something new to show.
I've been doing other stuff, but some is too lame to show, and other stuff I can't show...

I FINALLY got a new wacom tablet! I have been loving using it soo much..

It is a 6x8, smaller than my last one but I actually like the size better in some ways. Also, it is a usb intuos 1..

I did this really late for this weeks Chow, Dreamweaver..
Not done yet, but I will get some more work in before submission tomorrow..

This has been a good exercise in wacom sketching!

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[greyskill]

H3yy@ p33ps!

Here is my finished version...

I think I might have overworked it a bit, but overall, I am happy with it...

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1269577&d=1309718934

I'll be sure to post more stuff again soon, but if I don't, and if you live in the USA, Happy Fourth!

[greyskill]

Some really quick stuff I did after my post yesterday.

I hope everyone had a happy Fourth!

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[Naidy]

Loving the costume on the dream weaver entry, some good ideas as usual.

Oh you know what I'm going to say next. The urge is too strong- KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

[greyskill]

-Naidy Thanks a bunch! I was thinking about woven ribbon, and yeah, I'll keep up the good work!! :blah:


H3yy@, I did a bunch of sketching today to try to get comfortable with my wacom.

It is really different than pencil or inks... Hard for me to get a clean line..

Here are today's questionably not horrible results :0

All from ref...

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[greyskill]

Some stuff from the last few days...

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[greyskill]

Jeez... Time flies...

Well anyways, here is some stuff from the last few days...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6013/5961106000_c40d83dfd0_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6124/5961105606_a8730db33c_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6003/5964371843_f90d775f6b_b.jpg

Also, here is my new portfolio site, it is a work in progress,
but the blog has some step by steps of some of the work I just posted..

http://flavors.me/lorinolsen#03c/blogger

[greyskill]

some more stuff to keep this sketchbook semi alive...

I enjoy environments much more than I used to think I did..

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6018/5967831070_57e9aafcc7_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6007/5970717781_cc01bca330_b.jpg

[greyskill]

Heyya CA!

Here are some new pieces...

You can see a step by step for each of them here if you're interested. http://flavors.me/lorinolsen#03c/blogger

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/6006218098_33c987cacf_b.jpg


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6139/6002344655_f2bfe8909f_b.jpg

[greyskill]

Hey everyone! I have a couple new things to post, so I'll post them here quick and stuff!

I did these in the past few days.

Here is a photo study. The credit for the photo goes to Roman Serebranyy at summer-light.de

How I should of done the hat stumps me to no end.
I guess maybe I shouldn't have picked a photo that had a knit hat...
Whatever, I'm pretty happy with it anyway. I definitely learned a lot from doing it.

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Here is a city environment from imagination..

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[greyskill]

Heyya Ca, long time no post!

This is a sketchy post.. not because it is sketchy, but because all the pictures are sketches... whatever, you get it...

I FRIGGEN LOVE BLUE INK!! IT is such a wonderful thing...
I love the deep saturated pure blue, mixed with the purple/red glint of it. I love the way that it pops out around grey.. I love the way it builds over itself..

I really need to get an inking brush and some ink and learn how to use them.. How much does good ink cost? I should buy it!

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More stuff later! Stay tuned, if you are tuned.. Actually, don't stay tuned, an update won't be that soon...

Why is this post so hyper?

[greyskill]

Hey, more stuff!

I got a cheap brush, and I bought some ink. I lost the ink, so now I am using old printer ink. I'm gonna buy more ink though...

I really feel like I'm coming back to stuff that feels like my work.
I feel like a lot of the stuff I have been making recently just doesn't really suit me.. It feels kind of forced.
I really need to get back to some studies, explore my style, and hone my technique..
It is gonna take a while to really get used to using a brush, but I really like it. The line variance is great, and will only get better with practice, and once I get a better brush!

Here is some ink stuff!

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The Halftone on this one was done in PS
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These were done from photos on this site http://hel-looks.com/archive/#20050716_02
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These last two were warm-up/practice sheets
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[Minelo]

Nice studies! Gives me some inspiration.. :)

Your drawings have a nice mood, and the linework is very good! (Haha, no rhyming there intended..)

[Naidy]

Just have to say those digital environments are bloody good. I've been staring at them a bit longer than the other posts, so that's a good sign. Actually, your digital characters are also brilliant, 'specially with all that colour play. Hope to see more soon :D

[greyskill]

-Minelo
Thank you so much! Thank you for stopping by my sketchbook!


-Naidy
Thanks, I'm glad you like my environments. I have a tough time with them and they don't come naturally. I think I should do more.

Soo... over a month since my last post.. so I have some stuff to post! Pencils and watercolors!

The watercolors were greatly inspired by the work of Agnes Cecile. She is really incredible!
Here is a Youtube video by her,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cUv4csQw1o&feature=feedu

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YEp...... ... .. .. ..... ...

[greyskill]

Here is a pencil from a two stock photos, and some stuff I did awhile ago and forgot to post.

Enjoy and stuff...

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[LoudLikeNature]

you are really really talented. O: I have nothing to say, it's all really solid! Only thing i had to say was that your sketches needed abit of more dramatic shading, but you really fixed that up in the last update. I am quivering in awe.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

great SB! i really enjoy your style and pencil drawings alot! :)

[greyskill]

-LoudLikeNature
Wow! Thanks for the massive compliment! Very much appreciated! Thanks for stopping by!

-rumpenstiltzkin
Thank you! I really liked your sketchbook a lot too! Thanks for the visit!


I haven't done a Chow for a while now, none of the topics have caught my interest. I really had to do something for this one though..

Dryads are cool..

I think I spent too much time on the character sheet though.. I don't have a lot of time for the illustration. Maybe I can just submit the character sheet..

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[Ainaredien]

Great sketchbook :D I like the way how you experiment with different media and your use of colors *-*

And I really love the latest character design!

[LoudLikeNature]

i like the idea for the dryad.It's a really smart idea. The minimalistic approach workse well for it Also, the horns are really nice addition imple branches/otherwordlyness. Also, it reminds me of deer horns, which are both animalistic,ritualistic and aphrodisiac-ish.

i think it could use some more variations in the hair color, it lookes abit muddled. Maybe some very pale yellow( often looks close to green) for the lighter parts. And ,umm i guess you could make the tree crack/things abit more deep with some light gray besides/above them. That would make them seem like they go inside the skin abit, like a sense of depth.

[greyskill]

-Ainaredien
Thank you SOo much! I'm glad you like it, and I'm glad you posted! Come back again if you can!

-LoudLikeNature
Thanks a ton for your last post! It really helped me finish off this illustration right!
The yellow in the hair made all the difference, as did the highlights to make the bark texture pop. Good eye!


Here is the finished illustration for my Chow.

Vote for me here if you want to once the poll is up!! ---->CHOW #267 The Dryad (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=231380)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1359463&d=1320614550

I really should do more chows.. I like them a lot!

I learn a lot from them too!

[Ainaredien]

I love the final picture! The pose is so cute :) It looks a little bit dark though (maybe it's just me with my color obsession xD )

I really hope you are going to paint regularly chows, I think you could make some awesome character designs :) And I want to see more from you!

[LoudLikeNature]

So that's what Chow is!

Oh,thank you : ) people rarely listen to me,or think i have a good eye, so thanks.

I think the painting, looks much better now, well done. Kudos to you.

Also,major props to you for actually having the guts to enter that competition, i'd never dare to!

[iven]

I don't know where to start But the Scissors where really impressing me some how,
as you can see on my sketch book I am just figuring things out like that, I looove that
you do games, I like the Alice Illustration. Hope to see you around my SB, it's kinda dead.

Keep it up love your stuff !

[greyskill]

-Ainaredien
Thanks! I'm happy to hear you like it! I think you are right about it being a bit too dark.
I tend to do that... Not sure why.

-LoudLikeNature
Yep, that is what CHOW is. It is a lot of fun. It is even more fun if you post on the thread with works in progress.
There are a lot of friendly and helpful people, and there are people working with all levels of skill.
It really isn't a scary environment. Try it out sometime when a topic catches your eye!

-iven
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad you like my work. I'll definitely stop by your SB sometime.


Hey, small post for today just too stay alive.. A sketchbook page, and a couple watercolor wash self portraits.
The self portraits were done from my reflection in my computer monitor when it was turned off.

Some of the sketches were ideas when I was thinking of submitting something for the urban samurai chow..

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[Jamie Romoser]

cool work man dig the characters you have going
keep having fun learning and exploring worlds
-Jamie

[Eyecager]

You got some killer concepts going on in here, very nice variety to the subjects you take on too.

[greyskill]

-Jamie Romoser
Thanks, I'll do just that!

-Eyecager
Thank you very much!


Hey! Here is a little update to resurrect my sketchbook from the dead!
It's been like a month.. oops! Oh well!

Here are some sketches and stuff! I'll upload some more stuff tomorrow probably!

The last two sketches are from stock photos on Deviant Art.
Here are links to the original photos.
Don't wanna get in trouble! =P
http://quaddles.deviantart.com/art/Little-Miss-30-quaddles-85095538?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aresources%2Fstoc kart%2Fclassical&qo=269
http://yellow-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=144#/dk1c6o

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[greyskill]

New Page? Sweet!

Here is some stuff to kick off the new page!

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[rumpenstiltzkin]

really love those pencilsketches!

[Koto]

Last portrait is great! Keep it up.

[greyskill]

rumpenstiltzkin
Thanks, glad you stopped by!

Koto
Thanks, I'll be sure to keep it up!

Here is my new digital stuff! I really am getting a way better idea of how to use photoshop now.
I am starting to understand how to create surfaces that make sense and flow together,
I am starting to get an idea of the processes that work for me,
and for different kinds of painting.
Probably more important in some ways though,
than what I have learned about photoshop,
is that I am at a point where I can really start experimenting with composition, flow, and color.

I really didn't understand these things, and didn't care because I was just
trying to get my basic painting skills to a semi-satisfactory level.

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This last one is just another thing I am working on.. It is still in a very early stage.

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[Koto]

Diggin' the colour scheme of that first character, some nice details on him too.

Looking forward to seeing that wip being finished!

[aks9]

very nice sketchbook greyskill!
your portraits are very, very good!
one critique comes to mind: the last knight guy you just posted, it seems to me his pose is a little off. it looks like he is balancing on his right leg. i think this is because if you draw a line down from his neck through the center of his body, it continues down this leg, so its like basically his weight is all shifted to the side, unbalanced almost

but yeh, your sketches and drawings are all really good and a pleasure to look at and you have some really nice imaginative stuff.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

great updates! and im loving the wip so far!

[greyskill]

I Just had to post so that I could have a post marked 29th of February....

I'll make a real post tomorrow!

[greyskill]

-Koto
Thanks a bunch.
I just started playing with color triads and I really like how they look.
They are more dynamic than complementary colors.

-aks9
Woah, yeah, he really is off balance.
I really don't know how I didn't catch that.
I sort played around with his weight for a while and I must have forgotten about it...
Well, live and learn i guess.. Anyway, thanks for the visit! Much appreciated!

-rumpenstiltzkin
Thanks much!

I finished the wip from the last post. I am pretty happy with it!
The only thing that really still bothers me about it is that I realized I need to study more faces.
When I stop, I start to revert to generic faces from my head.

I really need to start learning more about environments, and how to be patient and enjoy painting them....

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Well, time to be off and make more stuff and to apply for more jobs..

[aks9]

last pic is great, maybe the darks are a bit too black?
thanks so much for your paintover too :)

some observations on the last piece if thats okay:
she seems to pop out of the environment a bit, as if she has been lit by a professional photo-shoot set-up as opposed to magic green flame stuff. i think as her robe goes down, the golden parts would get slightly darker too. her foot imho shouldnt be the same value as her body, it would be darker down there


edit: i went and did a paintover for the hell of it

[iven]

WOW you shading skills are very good, but with #177 the watercolor
piece you really impressed me, that's very inspiring. You improved
so much ! THANKS FOR POPPING in !

[B_h_bloomer]

Sick character designs. I like how clean your paintings are getting. Please post more! :)

[greyskill]

-aks9
Thanks a bunch for the tips and the example. I tend to make things too dark,
not sure why that is. I also did really cop out on the lighting,
thanks for pointing that out.
I am starting to work on environment and lighting and shadow, so any more things you see please point them out!

-iven
Thanks sir.

-B_h_bloomer
Glad you like them, visit again sometime!


I got a couple works in progress and a couple sketches..

I think I am throwing into the Chow, late as usual...

Wow... Jpeg compression really screwed up the colors on the first two...
They looked different in photoshop...

I couldn't figure which way should be up on this for the life of me...
not a good sign really...
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Indians versus Ogres..
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WRATH
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Till next time...

[greyskill]

Here is the stuff I submitted to the CHoW..
I like how the character came out, maybe I'll do something more with her..
The final illustration got a little rushed cause I started so late..

I may have gone too dark and saturated again on this one...

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1448427&d=1332693406

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1448430&d=1332693456

[greyskill]

Hey, here is my CHoW for this week, Dragonrider..

The web browser makes things so much darker than photoshop..
I really need to start changing things for web posting so they look more like when I am painting them...

It was pretty fun to put together, and I really like how the characters turned out.

I am really seriously thinking of modelling them. It would be an epic project!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1452838&d=1333292191

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1452839&d=1333292231

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1452840&d=1333292280

P.S I am still working on the monster fighting the indian.. I just haven't finished yet...

[rumpenstiltzkin]

really liking the dragonrider, nice work! also wrath looks badass!

[D'artiste]

i like your good sense of character design keep it up!

[iven]

I really like your character studies, but LOL, I am going back to this speed painting
from Agnes Cecile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cUv4csQw1o&feature=feedu) it was very inspiring to me thanks for the video, and this
picture is my favorite of your studies from her !

[greyskill]

-rumpenstiltzkin Thanks, I'm really angry though,
because I am trying to fix up the rider character sheet for a potential model,
but I need to fix all the anatomy...

-D'artiste Thank you. Post some stuff on your sketchbook for me...

-iven That one is my favorite too.
I friggen love her work. I really have been wanting to do some more watercolor/ink stuff.
I think you have reminded me to, thanks..

Ughghnnnn....

I'm tireed.....

Here is an ogre in future Romasia fighting an indian...

Don't ask...

Fine... You can ask...

The ground is screwed up... I need to fix it..
Any suggestions would be uber useful..

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[greyskill]

Hey,
I got some stuff here to show, and i just added some stuff to thee character paintings section..
First this is a model sheet I have been working on.
I started with the look from the Dragon Rider illustration as my concept, and worked from there.

I would really love to model this if I have the time..
I have sort of abandoned my last few models because I learned so much while doing them, that the problems they had really bugged me..

I split the model sheet into three layers so that it will be way easier to model from. Also, when it is done, I will have a character that could have multiple costume sets.
The body layer is somewhat sloppy, I really should work on anatomy some more.
The body layer is mostly just so that I have something to go by though...

Also, I need to work out the side view for the arm.. I always have trouble with that...

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[aks9]

the one with the super screwed up ground is awesome. i think the reason it looks off is that the monster's torso is the same value as the background. those need to be different for him to stand out. the perspective might be off on those background bulidsings too.
but youre improving tons keep on!