Oracrest Sketchbook

[oracrest]

OK, decided to start my own sketchbook thread here to try and self motivate myself to draw more. Hope you like! Comments and Critiques and Skull shatteringly honest complete deconstructions welcome!


Did this at the CT sketch group last night.

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Beholder2.jpg

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Would be neat if you wrapped the armour plates around the sphere.
The teeth appears to be a decal on the mouth shape, and conforms to much too it. The teeth should be inside the head.

[charcoalArtist]

I agree with Prometheus, shading the plates would make it more 3d, you might also want to add cast shadows of the tentacles across the body, specially the one next to the eye,

post more

[oracrest]

hey, thanks for the crits guys, I agree on all accounts. Im gonna try and use this as an under reference for a photoshop painting, and see If I can't eliminate those bad spots.

I was going for the style of beholder as seen in the Dungeons and Dragons arcade game, if anyone remembers that. From what I have seen, beholders tend to be done in two styles: big sphere, or head anatomy. Ive always been a fan of the big fat sphere myself, makes more sense to me that all it's internal organs would be packed into that ball, and it wouldn't really resemble a "head" all that much. Heres some examples I found

head beholder (http://www.fictionalworlds.com/forgotrealms/CREATURES/BEHOLDER.jpg)
sphere beholder (http://www.planetdiablo.com/abysmal/images/beholder.gif)


For the plate parts, I was going for something similar to the fantastic fours thing's skin, where there are chunks of calloused flesh that offer protection, and then cracks all around to allow for movement of the skin.

[oracrest]

Metroid vs. Beholder

I tried to make the scaley parts seem to wrap around a bit better. made them thinner on the edges to get more of a sense of volume, hope it works better this time around. I think it does. Aied to render the teeth out a little more realistically, without that decal look, a little more shading on them and whatnot. these are two of my favorite monsters.....

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/metroidvsbeholder.jpg

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Try constructing it like this:

http://web.telia.com/~u48508900/beholdertut.jpg

An outher sphere with a center line, and an inner one to align teeth after. Then use the symetry line to align the eye roots symetrically.


Yeah, I kinda like the sphere beholder too. Not too fond of the beholder design overall, so I've redesigned it. Might post something later.

[oracrest]

Some Worms I did inspired by the dune Thread, and Sammy's dune project. Haven't read the books yet, but am planning on it real soon.

The second one I went for a mating frenzy. I have since been told that worms from Dune don't mate, so I guess this could be just a bunch of em playing around together.

http://www.modelforge.com/portfolio/worm1.jpg http://www.modelforge.com/portfolio/worm2.jpg

[Xaya]

nice stuff,

i totally agree with the replies already given.

Work at the shading!

Look at the giant "dune"-sandworm.
You could imagine that there is a sun at the right side somewhere,
shading the monster with that circumstances and also do a shadow for the ground would make the whole drawing much interesting (IMO).

more please!

-Xaya

[Sorknes]

Yeah, shading and rendering of light as already mentioned. :) Maybe some basic work on spheres and adding things on them would give you more input on the beholders, also mentioned, I think.

Nice ideas and good going though! Looking forward to what you might have next time. :)

[SeraphSword]

Some good things going on here. Let's see some humans.
That Dune worm is definitely nice, you got the twist down very nicely. Keep working.

[oracrest]

ok, some more monsters. I know I should be drawing more people but these are just too damn fun to pass up! And im really bad at people, but thats the point of doing them right! Well, Im gonna try and hit up a life drawing session tonight after work, should be some good practice. Last night I started using a greyscalel set of markers for the first time. I think I went a little too dark. After talking with Sammy a bit, he was telling me how he rarely goes beyond a 50 grey. I think next time Ill take the more conservative approach.

Heres another worm, a Mind Flayer in mid telepathic attack, and a fat, and crustaceous underwater beholder.

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/MarkerWorm.jpg
http://www.modelforge.com/wip/MarkerFlayer.jpg
http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Beholders.jpg

[Sorknes]

Not much to say really, but yeah, you need stronger variations in your shading, right now it looks kinda flat. :)

[SeraphSword]

Yeah, was gonna mention that the shading looked a bit dark. Also that figure seems a bit off balance. Interesting though, as is the beholder. Good work, keep at it.

[oracrest]

just playing around for fun in photoshop last night, with some color stuff and just haivng fun free painting, trying to work on speed and color. Here's a "thing beholder"

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Thing%20Beholder.jpg

[Tenelaus]

You've got some white from the background showing through, which makes it look a bit messy. Try blocking the full shape in, using the eraser to cut out the edges, or set your lines to a multiply layer and paint underneath them.

Beholders and Dune.. awesome! <3

[Dan1989]

Interesting.What I reccommend is for you to do some life drawing or draw from reference. The only way to improve your fantasy drawings is to study objects from real life, also, it will improve your shading abilities. So, good luck :yayca:

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Construct (http://itchstudios.com/psg/other/thing.jpg)

[oracrest]

Hey Prom, thanks for that killer Tut page dude! Definetly a huge help. It's good to see how it all gets broken down.

What sort of things do you usually do in photoshop when doing specific details? I find that when shading, I use a multiply brush, and turn the opacity down and bit, and do the same thing for highlights but with an overlay brush.

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I use the regular brushes (normal mode). Speciality brushes are limited to their behaviour.
Sometimes I use multiply or dodge to tweak things, and I use multiply when adding the base color.

The hips have two parts, or several depending on the angle. From the front, the buttocks won't stick out much. You'll get 2 bumps, the fold under the buttocks and the hip bone near the elbow. You drew the lower bump but not the hip one.

A resting arm with no hand would end at the croth if hanging straight. You're are too long.

Upper body is too wide.


Basically everything will come by itself when you do studies. It's really tough when you start cuz you have to stop and think about every line, as you start learning things by heart you can pretty much just look at a leg then just draw it in one go, and that way concentrate on learning other stuff because the fundamentals are out of the way.

[Sorknes]

Good, do more stuff where you focus on the anatomy, it'll pay off. :)

The girl looks like the most thought through of them, but you're missing some parts on the hip, and bending her knees a little, so drawing her like that with her arms behind her makes her look like she's standing in a rather awkward position. If you sketch up the lines before you put the flesh on her, and pay attention to where the gravity is, and how it would be natural to stand, it will probably be a lot easier after a while. :)

In the last one, I'd looked up some stuff about the upper body. The muscles in the upper arms seems a bit off, and the stomach should've been defined more or in another way. If you don't have any studies for muscular guys, and you want the short road to get the muscles looking a lil more right for a guy like that, find a couple of photo references on bodybuilders. :)

Great to see you're working on it. :)

[oracrest]

ok, heres an underwater dragon that I attempted to fill a whole page full of thumbnails for. But of course, I am bad at thumbnailing, and just kept running with the first design I tried to draw. I tried to make him seem really massive with a bunch of ful grown sharks always swimming around, feeding off the scraps of food he makes when hes rending apart a whale or something. I ultimately would like to paint this guy for the dragons thread.

thanks for the crits guys!

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/dragonlobster.jpg

[Sorknes]

Wow, that's a nice concept you have there. :) Looks really great.

It seems that either his furthest back leg/insert right word here or the front one on the furthest back side, is missing though. I can only see pieces of two on that side? Some more value pushing and shading also do good, he'd be darker on the underside if there's light from above the waterlevel. (If it's day, and not too deep down, and all... ) :)

[Tenelaus]

Like Sorknes says, that's a cool concept.
I'm not really getting an underwater feeling from those sharks, they look a bit like they're tumbling through the air if anything, and I think it comes from their placement rather than their poses, which are fine. Randomise their positions a bit, put one or two in front of the dragon, some just poking out from behind, at the moment they're in a kinda curve over him.

[oracrest]

OK, finally made it a point to get some life drawing done. It was a choice between going to run, or going to a life drawing session, and I opted for the latter. Lemme know what you think. Im gonna try and do the life drawing session every week (and more, female friends willing to pose nude permitting), work on the anatomy as much as possible.

I think next time I may just do markers, concentrate on the basic shapes and shades rather than fouces on details.

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/life_drawing01.jpg

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Try to arrange the lines more orderly so they don't look like 'hay'. I made a blurb about it (http://web.telia.com/~u48508900/thumbs.jpg) for another thread.

[oracrest]

Try to arrange the lines more orderly so they don't look like 'hay'. I made a blurb about it (http://web.telia.com/~u48508900/thumbs.jpg) for another thread.

yeah, I don't really like the way I shade either, just sort of throw some chaos on there till it looks ok to me. I tend to not do just straight lines cause im afraid it will look like comic book shading, but ill try the next one doing just crosshatching, just try and go overboard with it, and see how that comes out.

[Jeff Gran]

What's up Matt? Good to see you're getting back in to drawing. Just in the last week or so I've been trying to make myself draw more too..

Just a random thought: One thing I've been doing lately that really helps me is to use the 10% marker to do a "construction" type drawing like Prometheus demonstrated above, and then go over it with a ball point pen to put the final lines down. That way I can scribble all over and change things if it's not looking right, and once you put the dark pen line all the light stuff basically disappears. It's a good way to get your figure down really fast, look to see what's "broken" about it, and change whatever's needed when you ink it.

Keep it up man. Some day soon you'll probably be THE authority on drawing Beholders. :)

Jeff

[Sorknes]

Very nice. :) Would keep a closer eye on the shading when you manage the form as well as you do, though. :)

I'm looking forward to see more life from you. :)

[Wisdom_Cube]

Yeesh i am finally back. No new stuff in my sketch book yet man but I gotta say you have some awesome ideas in that can of yours. The only prob i see (or maybe this is just personal preference) but when you draw make harder/ darker lines. Some of the drawings look gray and flat. Dont be afraid to go dark.

[oracrest]

ok, I got some cephalapod action happening here...

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Cephalapod01.jpg
Prom, tried to make a point of using your advice on the shading on this one, tried to stick to cross hatching rather than chatic scribbles for the value.
http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Cephalapod02.jpg

and you guessed it, another Beholder. This time a ghost one. They're just so damn fun to draw! Im thinking of starting a Beholder thread in the finished section, see what other designs all you crazy art folk can conjure up.....

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/SpookyBeholder01.jpg

[Tenelaus]

The first marker sketch looks like it could use some more definition, maybe some darker shades here and there to pull it together, or covering the background with a bit more of that grey. The hatching on second pic looks like a step in the right direction.

[Sorknes]

The second looks best, but you have some good things going on.

It looks like you do the drawings in a rather small scale though, if you do larger drawings, you can put in more detail, and if you then get your crosshatching even tighter, as in the lines closer together, you'll get a better picture of how you can do it better. :)

[SeraphSword]

Love the spooky beholder, and for some reason that marker render of the octopus really works for me. Maybe a little more of that heavy black to define it. Good work man.

[Wisdom_Cube]

Hahaha :ninja++:

[oracrest]

ok, I was all set to do up a Bee Dragon at the sketch group, but left my printed reference sheet at work, se went from memory, just playing around.


Bee Holder

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/BeeHolder.jpg

Mind flayer attack!

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/MindFlayer01.jpg

Predator Priest

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/PredatorPriest.jpg

[Sorknes]

Great ideas. :)

And you have some rendering in the second one. Good. :)

I'd still like to see you push some values and get some more shadings there so they're not all 2D though. :) One the first and third one it lacks completely, it's lineart, but maybe that was what you were going for? You're getting closer on the fourth, but don't be afraid to make some parts of the drawing a LOT darker to get some more contrasts. :)

[Nadim]

nice creatures
give every sketch more time ( and im saying this to myself too)
draw more from life .

keep drawing

[oracrest]

Thanks for the crits guys. I feel guilty cause I know I got really lazy with those last drawings I posted, so I gave this guy a little more time. Redid the "Bee Holder" that I colored earlier, and tried to go a little more off the deep end with design elements. I originally used mainly hornet/wasp/bee reference, but then started incorporating some arachnid and predator ideas as well. Im planning on painting this guy too....

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Bee_holder.jpg

[hurricane]

great ideas !!

the last creature looks great but how does it move?

the legs dont touch the ground so to speak..

great imagination

cheers!

[bwkeough]

Matt, the shading on that last one is miles ahead of the earlier sketches. one thing to note in Prom's tutorial of the Thing beholder is that he creates the sphere first, with a designated points of full light and full dark early. You don't necessarily need to do so as early when working in pencil, but you need to remember it and allow areas of detail to get lost in the glare and shadow.

Brendan

[Nadim]

interesting creature !
well... since it is your own concept then you may want to study the side view and a perspective view.visualize the whole body and study its motion as hurricane said.
i think it's not a matter of 2d sketching and painting . you designed a creature ,develop your design and go on with further details .

look at your first creature on this page . great progress. keep it up

[Sorknes]

Ah, yer shading is getting on track, arr!

;)

Great, now give us more stuff where you spend just as much time rendering, shading and pushing those values. ;)

Good job.

[oracrest]

k, workin on a paint of the Bee Holder Would love some crits....

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/Bee_holder-paint.jpg

[Fellah.]

That last one is so sweet. Great colors! I dig those legs, they are really well done, only crit is they might be too short - but it really dosnt matter cause its cool anyway :}

[oracrest]

That last one is so sweet. Great colors! I dig those legs, they are really well done, only crit is they might be too short - but it really dosnt matter cause its cool anyway :}

thanks man! its still a wip, so im hoping to polish him up as much as possible.
He actually doesnt walk, but floats, and those tendrils just flail around as he hovers about

here is a traditional DnD Beholder (http://www.diterlizzi.com/art/games/dungeons_dragons/dnd-beholder.html)

Generally, they float around, and each eyestalks ends in a small eyeball, each of which has some sort of magical power.

with this guy, I gave him bee like tendrils that end in little scorpion stingers. Hope it makes more sense now.

[Fellah.]

Hehe, it makes sence now - in that weird Ca kinda way ;) Nice link btw.

[Icey]

i see you like beholders a lot!

[oracrest]

Mind flayer action....

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/MindFlayer_spinning.jpg

[Gregory Wohlwend]

Love the beholder as a concept, did you play BG2? anyway i think you've got quite a knack for creature design, and your improvement is obvious over time.

here's a more abstract beholder i did: Click Me (http://maroonedmoon.com/downloads/101beholder.jpg)

EDIT: just looked at your site, really neat stuff, saw you're into TOOL & BG (good man.) hope the new albums rocks.

later,
greg

[oracrest]

Love the beholder as a concept, did you play BG2? anyway i think you've got quite a knack for creature design, and your improvement is obvious over time.

here's a more abstract beholder i did: Click Me (http://maroonedmoon.com/downloads/101beholder.jpg)

EDIT: just looked at your site, really neat stuff, saw you're into TOOL & BG (good man.) hope the new albums rocks.

later,
greg

Hey thanks! Nice Beholder, looks like what it would look like in the Matrix or something.

Yeah, I played a bit of BG2, but was pretty dissapointed in it. The straw that broke the camels back for me was when I was talking with someone in game, and one of my dialogue options was something like "Im looking for adventure." As a DnD player from back in the day, this just made me mad. I can see a bunch of people sitting around, creating stuff on the fly coming up with dialogue that generic and hollow, but not with a scripted game that has been completely pre-determined. I would rather have them completely strip story out of a game than give me a really boring one. I love the old arcade DnD games though, and Planescape: Torment is just awesome.

[dylan]

I like your May 9th and Today's post. Today's pose is more dynamic and has more engery than what I am used to seeing from you. Your sketching has come along way.

dylan

[Gregory Wohlwend]

Hey thanks! Nice Beholder, looks like what it would look like in the Matrix or something.

Yeah, I played a bit of BG2, but was pretty dissapointed in it. The straw that broke the camels back for me was when I was talking with someone in game, and one of my dialogue options was something like "Im looking for adventure." As a DnD player from back in the day, this just made me mad. I can see a bunch of people sitting around, creating stuff on the fly coming up with dialogue that generic and hollow, but not with a scripted game that has been completely pre-determined. I would rather have them completely strip story out of a game than give me a really boring one. I love the old arcade DnD games though, and Planescape: Torment is just awesome.

Interesting you say that, I thought the story and the dialogue were really well done. while some of the lesser NPCs are a bit more simplified, i found the important bits of dialogue to be enthralling, as well as the graphics and concept art of the weapons/armor and etc... oh well to each his own, you're probably more of an expert on DnD than I seeing as i've only played forgotten realms stuff on the PC. maybe i'll check out planescape though, i need something like that for teh summer...

[JokingClown]

The under water crab-dragon and the Dune worms could have more dynamic angles.

With the dragon, maye have the shark in front of the picture with the huge dragon behind it taking up all of the background.

WIth the worms maybe a human or something else so you can tell how big the are. Maybe have some worms really close to the "ca,era" and some in the background, so it isnt so bland.

[Sorknes]

Your shading is getting there. :) Great concepts. :)

[oracrest]

Heres some thumbs, and a longer pose I did at a life drawing session

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/life_drawing02.jpg
http://www.modelforge.com/wip/life_drawing03.jpg

[giles.t]

oracrest,
hello, just realised I'm in your sketchbook group so I'll try and crit more regularly :)

I like your cephalapod posting on May 28th. Did you use pen and ink for that or markers? I think the shading is good and I also like that you started to describe how the figure interacts with the ground.

I like your line quality in the bee dragon too -- looks fluid and bold.

Your life drawing also looks like a good start. The shading seems more controlled and there are some good edges (I'm looking at her right arm and hand and right knee). My crits for the life drawing would be that some of the proportions are off (her left leg is foreshortened which is quite hard to get right) and that the shading on her chest is a bit flat.

Just a thought, but have you tried working in charcoal or starting a drawing by putting down a grey/mid value backround and then erasing for the highlights?

Hope that helps, good luck

[oracrest]

ok, so after a little hiatus, I tried to start drawing a little more again... here goes... sorry about the poor capture, its from a camera, not a scanner.

http://www.modelforge.com/wip/konami-mommy.JPG