With enough patience and duct tape you can stick a cat to anything.

[Zweit]

okay, first of all i've been lurking around this site for nearly two years, and i'm aware that if any of you have heard this once you've heard it a thousand times. that said, HOLY SHIT you guys are awesome. not only because of the sheer amount of raw skill permeating through the boards, but the community’s all around knowledge and love of art in general has been inspiring.

i didn't come here to gush and then expect a bunch of asspats though. i honestly want to know where i am, what's wrong, and how i can get better. yeah, i know, "CRits encUragd!" and all that, but i really mean it. art is my life.

i'm sure this'll all look horribly embarrassing in retrospect, but all the work i have to show is from my own spare time. stuff that's only really interesting to me. (looking back, i'm shocked at how few people i have to put up.:nohope:) my actual drawing classes won't begin for a few months, so i don't have any anatomy studies to show, but i would like to hit the ground running when i do get to those classes.

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/3037/critterssnomonkeymanzard2ts.jpg

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9395/manzardgestures2wg.jpg

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6092/tehshooes6fu.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/4438/atlasnearlycomplete3bb.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4062/mechanicstillunnamed9tq.jpg

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/4055/needsmorefaces5bb.jpg

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/3382/baphospeedylines4eq.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/223/adorable2bt.jpg

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4029/possiblyatoaster7au.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4130/aresreborn2zj.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7375/futurekid23bn.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/835/wanttobebarlowe4nf.jpg

gah, nerves are shattered.:^^;:

[Mr-Joe]

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/223/adorable2bt.jpg

Hahaha this is some funny stuff, I love the lizards expression!

[Zweit]

thanks. :) i wish i could say that i made it up, but it's really just the product of hours and hours of sucking at Halo2.

i also like to animate, though i'm very new to it. i did this one in a little over an hour i think. it was surprisingly fun, i've never animated hands before.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4378/fisto27lj.gif

i've also done some other stuff like this webdesign project (http://studentsites.expression.edu/~jgranzel/)for my graphics class in Flash 8. that was a blast, even though i didn't have much content for it.

i forgot to add some things too, this one's digital. i cheated on the moon with the lasso tool, but it was my first real digipainting... so uh, my bad.:^^;:

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/9047/trickortreatscaled0fm.jpg

and some old sketches.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9348/unnamedatlaspilot4cq.jpg

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4697/icarusnx9tx.jpg

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6995/what2at.gif

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8728/unfunnymtsketch6bn.jpg

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/8558/unfunnymt5as.jpg

\w/

[Zweit]

loosely inspired by an unkempt jungle in my garden.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8530/treesketch6nc.jpg

[Zweit]

i finally got something down on paper... well pixels actually, but it's down anyway. i was attempting some studies from memory when i remembered that i suck at studies from memory, so i drew an elephant from a ref. doesn't really look a lot like the ref, but it looks like an elephant. and elephants are awesome. :tihi:

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3796/011cx.jpg

[aesir]

You've got a great little sketchbook started here. The furry critter in the first post you made is definitely my favorite :) Just keep pluggin away on these drawings and by the 3rd page of this thread, you'll be unbelievable!

(and yes, elephants are awesome)

[Zweit]

thanks, i hope you're right.:D

not as much time for drawing lately, but i managed to get some sketching and stuff done anyway.

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/7668/02wtf0fa.gif

kind of shit lipsyncing, i'm still learning the program (Jasc Animation Shop. yeah, i've never heard of it either), and to be honest, how to animate period.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4663/032em.jpg

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/5640/045hh.jpg

[Zweit]

trying to work through my lifelong color-phobia. slowly.:nohope:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/1239/02wip14tg.jpg

[Zweit]

barely an update. from memory, can you tell?:blah:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4219/054ti1.jpg

[darkchild]

Hey these are some cool designs for characters. Love the Elephant head and the Mecha designs. Keep on posting.

[Zweit]

thanks.:) [/late]

another lame update from last night. i need to draw more. and faster. :\

http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/5168/066rh.jpg

[Stark]

Your sketches are great. The mechas are awesome! I'll keep your thread under my radar and check back often for updates

[DesperateCuban]

i really like your mechs and those creatures look really good too

[Zweit]

DesperateCuban+Saikin: thanks, i was sort of worried about how i'd come across posting nothing but robots and dorky stuff like that, as opposed to figure drawings and landscapes and all. you know, what i should be doing...

kind of ran out of ideas around the ankles on this one. ran dangerously close to Soul Calibur too... :|

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3927/085sa.jpg
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/5749/073to.jpg

[Zweit]

super lame, super late update. haven't had much time for drawing, and i've been in kind of a "creativity vacuum", so to speak, so i guess i should call this a bump rather than an update. on a side note, Holy Flying Jesus old people are hard to draw.:S

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5854/093db.jpg

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8673/108ab.jpg

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2082/119nc1.jpg

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6682/124yu.jpg

[Zweit]

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6347/133yu.jpg

[Stark]

Good progress. Looking forward to more great sketches

[Zweit]

just killing time until my first drawing class starts on Monday. (wahoo:D ) anime punches are silly.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6522/147cn.jpg

[TheDirtSyndicate]

huh, not many comments....
well, i think your stuff is great man. i'd say work on your human face anatomy more, right now your human faces are looking rather....anime-ish. they just aren't living up to the rest of your work.
love the mechs, great sense of mechanics in that area. i cant do that for shit, my robot/mech designs are terrible.
my favorite so far is the first creature, the furry one, love his hands.
keep it up bro

[Zweit]

yes, i definitely need to practice more facial anatomy. at the moment i'm terribly limited in that area; trying to fight my anime wanabe roots from years ago, it's shocking how much that stuff can hurt you down the road. most of the eyes in the last few were made abnormally large by choice, though. it's a typical and lame excuse, i know, but i assure you that i won't try to pull the same stuff during life drawing 101.;)

thanks for stopping by, by the way.:) i was beginning to worry that i came on too strong or something.

[Zweit]

i've been so busy drawing in school that i literally haven't had any time to scan in my work up until now. seriously, eight hours of life drawing every other day with massive amounts of homework. fuckin awesome, actually.:tihi:

i got a few studies to post now though...

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk01.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk02.jpg

some SP's

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk03.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk04.jpg

and some hand/feet studies

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk05.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk06.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk07.jpg

20 min sketches from a model, sorry but i can't post the figure studies at the moment as they are huge.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk08.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/Zweit/art/sk09.jpg

[Stark]

lovely studies there mate! I am really digging the Atari..brings back so many memories....continue on

[Cigaro]

great stuff man:)
lines seem to be a bit shaky like mine, composed of many small lines:Ptry to draw just one line, as i'm trying

[Darktwin]

really cool sketches man, you have an imagination for drawing, keep up the good work.

[this1]

you got some pretty cool stuff here man, life drawings are pretty good, but your imagination is your strong suit, i really like some of the character designs, especially that fuzzy little guy from your very first post.

[Zweit]

woot-hoo class is over. it was pretty intense but i learned all kinds of stuff. we weren't allowed to use contour lines all semester so my rendering brain got a nice workout.:rendered:

first some studies/SP's.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/5526/sk17ba1.jpg

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/295/sk18yz6.jpg
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/3808/sk19km4.jpg

by this time we were getting to use a little more imagination. for this project we had to draw a lion and cow skeleton in an environment, any environment, using a few xeroxed handouts showing their respective anatomies as reference. the second's just a random character concept.

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/4690/sk20ib2.jpg

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3276/sk10ij1.jpg

concepts for a storyboard we each had to make in class. i'll put it up later if i can.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3315/sk11nx1.jpg
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/8315/sk12wx1.jpg

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2332/sk13hu8.jpg
http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3553/sk14su5.jpg

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6696/sk15ep7.jpg
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9941/sk16xz2.jpg

i'll try to put up some of the figure studies we did too in a few days. laters:a!:

[Stark]

Nice fuckin characters! The SPs are kick ass also! The only thing I have to say is that they looks fuzzy...but I can look past that this once...THIS IS TOO NICE!!!

[Mr-Joe]

Wow man, This is just freeking great, Some amazing updates since the last time I saw your stuff,

http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/4690/sk20ib2.jpg

This is too funny!,,

I still love that halo lizard, I was looking through threads I posted in, and did not remember this one, So I opened it, scrolled down, saw the lizard again and just laughed, everytime its funny..

Great work!

[Zweit]

bleh, a month since passing that class and i've barely drawn a thing. granted the class was incredibly hard and drained me of most of my creative energy, but still... at least i've found the time to reacquaint myself with my PS2 and PC (oh how i missed Half Life.:D ).

here's the finished storyboard from the class final. i wasn't really able to do it quite how i wanted, but i guess you have to be flexible to please the instructor (/employer). no contour lines, for instance, and high contrast rendering for 'high drama' shots. normally i wouldn't beat the viewer over the head with the drama stuff, but a grade's a grade and you can never be too cautious. :| also, i had to finish all 24 frames in about four days, which for me is a super tight deadline, so needless to say it was a little rushed.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/8337/storyboardcomplpo4.jpg

and unfortunately i didn't have time to learn to render metal.:blah:

also a doodle for an art marker test (which i don't have with me) and some thumbs i did a few weeks ago. around the time i realised i was in a rut.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/2039/sk21az9.jpg

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3020/16mn7.jpg

i'd like to post some of my figure drawings too, but i'm having a lot of trouble getting the hang of photographing them with a camera. they all come out looking pretty awful.

thanks for looking anyhow. :)

[Spats]

Great little sketchbook you have going here mate. I love your mecha designs. Great job on the studies aswell.

Keep it up!

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Damn, those drawing classes hopped your motor up from a v6 to jet...
Keep it up man... What kind of camera are you using?

[Zweit]

What kind of camera are you using?
a Nikon Coolpix S1, apparently. i don't know much about cameras but i'm fairly positive it's garbage. my bigger problem is that i wouldn't know how to take a good picture even if i had the proper tools. :|

anyhow, i made some thumbs since my semester started back up. these are just informal commissions for a friend. some kind of a super hero with a robot body and mask like Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat. oh, these kids today. :P but whatever, not like i need a lot of prodding to draw a robot.

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/5636/17wn0.jpg

*trying to get the hang of this attachment system thing.

kay, these are thumbs for a full-color mock up i have to finish by Monday. after that we make it again out of composited photographs. it all seems overly elaborate for a composite picture to me, but what the fuck that's why i'm the student.:thinking:

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i think i'm leaning toward the Moai head.

because Moai heads are cool./m\

[Stark]

Nice cyborg type thing you got going. I think the Moai is cooler also, so go with that. neat concept though...the cyborg thing...

[Zweit]

thanks. :)

done enough... not really happy with the end result. i've still got a lot to learn about rendering/color theory/all sorts of shit. i really hate that grass and dirt around the bottom, but when it's due it's due. right?:S i'd be more than happy to know how i could do better in the future, though...

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[rmore]

nice job on the studies it's easy to see improvement in your work.

[Zweit]

been busy lately, but i've tried to keep up on my drawing.

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and one speedpaint before bed last night:

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[MrBobMarley]

If I could offer some advice, have a look at your post #26. Your anatomy study shouldn't be just to make your picture look like the one in the book you're drawing from. The study was great, but I don't see a lot of applied knowledge in a few of the later posts. Like at the top of post #36, which really is not bad at all. Try to forget about all the cool armour stuff and get the basic structure down first. Gotta have a solid foundation before you build a house right? Anyways, keep pushing and keep posting.

[Zweit]

thanks, i appreciate that. :)

and you're right about needing to apply more of what i learned in class. my instructor did warn us about falling into old habits once you go back to working from memory/imagination, but i guess i wasn't keeping that in mind enough. i'll try to crank out some more anatomy studies from now on, my imagination still feels kind of drained ever since the class ended. i'm pretty swamped at the moment with work though so i can't really say how soon i'll get on the ball. :|

on another note, i'm finding this thread to be a real pain to load, should i just ditch all the crap in the first few posts or just keep them there? i mean is it normal to be this laggy?

anyway, i got some painting done. much more fun than normal classwork. woo, fruit! :P

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[Zweit]

i know i need to get some anatomy studies done but i'm just enjoying Photoshop so much right now. it's like a whole new entity once you start to use color. i'd forgotten how liberating the program can feel - and i haven't even done anything good with it. :D

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[Zweit]

hey all, school's been keeping me busy - nothing new there - but some of our projects have been fun. postable, even.

these were for an 'environment concept painting' thing we did a week or two ago. i had to ditch the first due to shittyness. that, and an apparent lack of environment and an excess of building. go fig, but i prefer the second version anyhow.



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\/
46101



again, i scrapped the original idea in favor of something else. blah, i wish i'd had more time.

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\/

46104

... and Godzilla. this was purely to entertain myself.:D

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[Goog]

hey, I see some nice stuff in here. Main crit would be to try not to chicken scratch your lines. It'll make everything seem alot cleaner and more proffesional. If your having trouble not chicken scratching, just force your self to make one line, if that one doesn't look right, restate it. Try to touch the pencil to the paper as little as you can. REAllly like that chick on the bike. good work.

[Mitze]

Some nice pics here. Really dig the Mecha stuff. And your last two pics you posted showing big improvemnets. Great Godzilla.

[Zweit]

Goog: thanks, that's two people now that have commented on that. i guess i'll have to watch out for that in the future. though i think a lot of the chicken scratching is due to me working quickly. a big problem of mine is that i take too long on simple crap. no worries, though. one more thing to work on.

taking modeling 101 right now so i haven't had a lot of time for drawing/painting, plus there's the ever present distraction of Virtua Fighter.:D anyway, my first assignment was to 'model a robot', a little odd but i can't complain. i didn't have the time to design one from scratch, and i didn't want to rehash one of older designs, so i chose an old favorite of mine for fun. Gundam fans should recognize it. :p

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so far Maya has only erased my projects twice in a two week period. how on earth it became so popular i'll never know.:\

plus some sketches i did before/during the Thanksgiving holiday. blah, thumbnails and crap.

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[Stark]

Not too bad there on the sketches. I like the Gundam model (is that the red one? Can't remember the name though).

[Zweit]

new shit y'all

just finished modeling, for our second-to-last project we had to model a character out of subdivision surfaces, or Sub-D's. fancy sounding, but it's just like sculpting with marshmallow, or some other squishy food product. kind of fun but you have to trick it into doing what you want.
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this one was my final project. i really, truely, honestly, wanted to do something origional for it, but i couldn't think of one that i'd want to model at my current skill level, plus i was so very tired of drawing orthos for shit, so once it became obvious i wouldn't have anything new done to model i just grabbed one of my old char sheets (http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/8315/sk12wx1.jpg) and used it.

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and some painting practice.

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though i'm not especially proud of it, my friends finally wore me down, after nearly a year of pestering, to commit the following picture to the world. they were pretty floored and i can't quite wrap my brain around why. wrapped up in the subject matter, i guess. :|

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[Zweit]

so i took another whack at trying to get something readable out of the photos of my figure studies, but with only some success. i was taking the picture from a funny angle so the first one's legs look waaay longer than they really are.

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and some brain farts from the last few weeks.

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[Stark]

Just looking at your last image posted, I recommend that you sharpen your pencil and take more care on your lines. They look hairy and they should look a ton sharper than they are now. Do a couple of simple line studies and see where that puts you.

[Zweit]

what the hell? i remember wanting to not post that last one up because it looked so messy. damn attachment system. :| thanks for the comment anyhow. i'll be working on my line quality in the comming months.

anyhow, forgot to put up one more.

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this time i'm blaming the messy lines on my clunky and imprecise tablet.:blah:

[Zweit]

a project! outside of school! egads, i think he may just stick with this one!

hah, that's what they said about the last one.

early concepts and sketches and shit:

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i'm scrapping this one. i like the thumbnailed idea better.

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reworking:

87613

and some paints. i, uh, beat Half Life 1 on hard a while ago and felt i had to pay tribute to the Grunt's awesomeness. :dur:

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[Randy Lahey]

Love the Animal skeleton dancing in arcade. Made me smile.

[Zweit]

thanks. lion skulls always look so happy.

yeah i'm taking five on that last thing. i'm gonna try some new ideas and rethink what exactly i wanted to convey with it.

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buying people cards is lame... so i made something myself. happy Valentines everybody, quite boring over here.:rendered:

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seriously though, corniest thing in the history of mankind.

[Zweit]

also, robot.

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[Zweit]

dinosaurs. funny, i spent the better part of my childhood memorizing their structure and drawing them endlessly, but then i come back some seven or eight years later and make this startling discovery--dinosaurs are hard. :S carnotaurus's were always cool though. their stumpy little arms are hilarious paired with that gnarly looking head.

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[Stark]

Awesome stuff here. That robot is pretty cool. Are you using just one pencil for shading and sketching? If so, I suggest using a 2h-3h pencil for sketching, and a F-HB pencil for shading. This will give you better contrast so that you can see the shapes and forms better.

That cupid looks cracked out though, so kudos on that. lol. Nice stuff so far.

Keep at it.

[Zweit]

thanks. :) yeah i was, a .07 mechanical pencil, actually. normally i've been using 2B pencils but for the last few i used my lowsy old mech pencils for reasons i can't explain. possibly lazyness. i'll give those suggestions a shot though, i've been pretty frusterated with my pencil rendering lately.

[Zweit]

been really distracted lately. can't say why but i've suddenly been unable--paralyzed, even--to avoid the temptation to play Team Fortress. little late to the party but goddamn that game is still fun.

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[Zweit]

been trying to draw every day, but i haven't got much done since my animation final was due this week, draining me of much creative energy.

plus, Team Fortress.:S

i still managed to polish off my sketchbook though. that makes one down, and like, four to go.:yayca:

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[Zweit]

few more. just nerdly sketches. nothing important.

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[Zweit]

a little rendered.

geaaawwd skintones are hard.

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i'll try to get some life painting done over the next few weeks but my school schedule may or may not be all over the damn place this term so, who's to say. sometimes i think my school is managed by a team of rhesus monkeys.

[Zweit]

barbarians are cool...

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...but Bomberman is cooler.

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[Zweit]

blah. i have an enlish class that's killing me. normally i like english classes, indeed if anything what i need is a creative writing class just like this, but it just feels like a waste of time (time that i ought to be using for my Texturing & Lighting class) that and there's just a bunch of shit snowballing in my school's registrar.

that's right, a shitball.

anyhow i just have thumbs today, but i haven't got much time for drawing in the last week. i have been texturing in Maya, so at the very least i haven't been that lazy artistically.

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yeah i had Trax (http://www.estarland.com/images/products/30/11130/11446.jpg)on the brain today.

[Zweit]

from texture/lighting class; not sketching but it keeps you busy.

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also i posted this one a few months ago but it isn't until just recently that i learned how to render it properly. looks much better with lighting and crap.

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[SPRAM]

I really like your creature and character designs, keep posting those :)