1105: Weird: BARNACLE-MAN IS COVERED WITH JOINTED BONY PLATES AND PINKISH GILLS

[William b. Hand]

[ He's not actually human, so feel free to keep it only vaguely human in shape. ]

[ Barnacles are rather creepy, so I expect Barnacle-Man will be rather creepy, too. ]

[ By "gills" I don't mean like a fish's gills... ]

[ ...I mean more like blobby tubes in the recesses of the plating, perhaps with feathery extensions... ]

[ Something in that vein. ]

[ If you're happier with Tech stuff, and this sounds too organic, just think of it as a highly-textured, jointed body-armour with weird red-pink tubing and rubber and lacking flashing lights. ]

[ If you can't help yourself, and have to put a bit of a weathered i.d. number on the chest... So be it. ]

[ :) ]

Weird: BARNACLE-MAN IS COVERED WITH JOINTED BONY PLATES AND PINKISH GILLS
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[chaosrocks]

organic/.......I like organic
chaos

[grembloh]

well.. was kind of tired last night when I wrote down the tags.. but these are my versions

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7771/julljullvq7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5893/jullijullijullql5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[machzero]

http://www.medievalfx.com/machzero/graphics/060816e.jpg

[hergo]

Well, here is my take on this topic… I wanted to try some colors, so this is done in… mmm… cake chalk?... Just kidding, I don’t know how this are called in English, in Spanish they are “tizas pastel”. Over this color base I worked with charcoal, just to keep practicing with this material… Took me about an hour and a half.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9547/1105cp0.jpg

[Hamsta]

Ruling with an iron fist, Barnacle man is the mid-boss of the tidal pools, and has to answer only to octopus guy.
painter, 30?
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/112/1105barnaclemangw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Aga]

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b395/Mankha/DSGbarnacle4.jpg

[airrunkle]

Grembloh - I really like your colors on the second one!

Barnacle-man chows down on buttered slug guts;
the food of choice for any upstanding deep sea mongrel
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/airrunkle/DSG1105.jpg
I'm not really happy with how this turned out. Maybe I need to
work on my technique a bit. I dunno, any suggestions? :S

[mrdigs]

grembloh - like the idea of attaching him to the rock...nice touch.

http://www.nturner.co.uk/images/castuff/dsg1105.jpg

[Hazzard]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/Hazzard65/bm.jpg

Well this is as far as I got. Bit late in the day to finish it now, but oh well.

[Crustacean]

PS, approx 3 h.

http://www.j-stengade.dk/1105.jpg

[grembloh]

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9302/combokg6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

airrunkle.. thank you. Got me inspired to do one more. So I tried to combine them. by the way.. whats he doing... why 's he stuck with his hand if he's eating?
machzero: I like the rough structure on the .. things.. head. Seems you have made the focus important, mayby the thing will look even better in sharper focus.
Aga: cool environment! and nice expression, he really looks miserable.

[Chai]

90 minutes of joy :)

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/1601/dsg1105fs1.jpg

[Hideyoshi]

good stuff, people!
Was a bit clueless about this topic...turned out to be one of my generic creatures :P

40 mins.

http://youngmasters.250free.com/Hide/barnacle_man_small.jpg

Ah yes, someone asked for a step-by step. I saved the progress :) :yayca:
here it is:

Walkthrough (http://youngmasters.250free.com/Hide/barnacle_man_walkthrough.jpg)
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[Hideyoshi]

some crits if you don't mind...

grembloh: wow, very productive! Your 1st has a slightly wonky anatomy, I am sure you know it yourself. I am not the guy to crit about anatomy anyway :P
2nd and 3rd are both very nice! Good colours and design!

Machzero: values work well! Colours are fitting. Also the design has it's strength. Good to see you practising with colours! You should definitely use more hard-edged brushes, though and put emphasis on every stroke.
Some texture brushes would be cool also :)

Hamsta (the DSG veteran):
coming along nicely. Good concept! You should really start to put in sharper details though! Get the small brushes now!

Aga: good concept, nice angle. But those scribbly brushes kill the feel of depth. Could use some athmospheric perspective... (assuming he is in the water)

airrunkle: that's a good one! Values work well! You should put more thought into your actual drawing technique. Give the lines some dynamic as I said earlier above. Some well-defined design elements would work wonders I think!

mrdigs: cool concept, I like it!

hazzard and crustacean: creative designs as well!

Chai: try to break up the soft brushes with carefully places hard-edged design elements, it looks just too soft right now. Add texture, boost up the contrast and have some colour variation. Water definitely needs more depth also.
Welcome to the DSG!
I hope I didn't offend you, just wanted to help!

[MrJackson]

Arrg am I too late? Anyways here's mine. 2 hours, pen on paper toned with watercolor. My second DSG. I feel like there's not enough contrast, but I'm afraid to add shadow for fear of covering up detail.

Please critique. Image now updated. highlights added with white conte.
http://aycu12.webshots.com/image/3331/2000315681165397690_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000315681165397690)

[Crustacean]

I´d probably give the creature a second transparent coating of watercolor in the shadow parts, then add some light with a brighter crayon/pastel/colored pencil, accenting details and so on. If you have the opportunity to work digitally, continue the work in different layers to avoid irreversibly damaging you image. I like your design, btw.

Great to see your process, Hideyoshi.

[MrJackson]

Oh wow another glaze of watercolor...that's really smart. Woo thanks!

[Blue_Tiger]

Hey All, probably will repost later, been spending too much time on this for just B/W... More man than barnacle and still a work in progress...
http://www.bluetigeranimation.com/aaron/DSG/DSG_1105_Barnacle_Man_06.png
30 min concept, I'm not even going to admit to how much time in clean up and inking in Photoshop
Might colorize later on...

Hideyoshi - once again great showing
Grembloh - absolutely awsome color one the blue tinted pieces, the pink doesn't have the same completion as the other ones so hard to critique along side them
Crustacean - Just wanted to mention you too because I like the work
Machzero - reminds me of Swampthing, and i like it

[chaosrocks]

remembering both Goose necked baRNACLES
and that barnacles are crustaceans,,

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/barbacle-amn-1.jpg

[Chai]

Chai: try to break up the soft brushes with carefully places hard-edged design elements, it looks just too soft right now. Add texture, boost up the contrast and have some colour variation. Water definitely needs more depth also.
Welcome to the DSG!
I hope I didn't offend you, just wanted to help!

Hey thanks Hideyoshi man, i gotta say it's nice someone takes the time to critic the work people do here.
Your suggestions are good, especially simulating water depth via color variation and although i'm happy with the body, i haven't visualized the head in 3d space well.

Btw, in your walkthrough between step 1 to 2, what method do you use to color your piece ?

[burrito]

http://www.entervault.net/an8forum/npb_dsg_1105.jpg

[sandworm]

Here's mine. Hideyoshi, thanks a lot for the walkthrough, I painted this one first in black and white and built up detail with color modes afterward. Made a huge difference in speed, this took me about 1 hour!! If anyone wants to see my steps, let me know. Too bad it's after hours at work and my girlfriend's waiting for me at the pub, or I'd add a bit more detail. Perhaps tomorrow.
http://www.ilidesign.com/art/barnacle%20small.jpg

[Aga]

thx for the crit Hydeoshi
and yeap, the upper part doesn't look like wather - I'm trying to avoid too realistic way of drawing/painting and want to figure out sth else, not always work it well ;)
nice to see your step by step - look good, nice colours- for the time being I can't figured out any else crit

thx grembloh like the way you painted the 2nd and 3th. Probably like the 3th more because is closer with the topic

mrdigs- like your concept, how you did head and pink hands

Hamsta - I agree with Hydeoshi - you should start doing ( from time to time) more finished works. Your pictures are a solid base.

Blue Tiger- like the elements from which you build his plating.
I think that the teksture of wather doesn't fit to the pict

cool pictures burrito,Crustcean

sandworm- I like in your works that you try diffrent approach( in the way of drawing/painting), and I think that your works are intresting

[mrdigs]

Cool to see all the feedback on this topic...not sure I've got much advice to give but i'll try !

thanks hideyoshi - good to see your step by step, nice design.

burrito - that's fresh !

sandworm - like the way you find different approaches for your concepts, be good to see your steps.

Blue_Tiger - Like your design, and the moonlight works really well...I agree with aga about the water - think a change of texture would work better there.

Aga - thanks, the hand and hands are holding it together i think - might rework the rest if i get time.

MrJackson - Like the organic feel of yours - I also think some highlights would work well on yours to bring out the form, the shadow seems a bit inconsistent, like where the shadow on the floor is cast versus the barnacle shapes on the left edge ? Having said that light/shadow is one of my weakest things so I could be totally wrong on that !

Crustacean - cool, definitely feels like it's underwater too !

Hamsta - Gotta agree with hideyoshi and aga, you turn out good designs, think some finer detail would really make them pop.

Aga - like the idea, the shrimp/prawn thing on his back works well, think maybe the black outlines are killing it slightly.

[chaosrocks]

Aga-- I love drawn quality of yours especially the line work
Sandworm --it's a great hous-y thing , cool idea and good value range

chaos

[Blue_Tiger]

Aga and MrDigs - I completely agree about the water texture, not only out of place but not very good. I was running on fumes last night and tried to cheat it with a lighting effect. My wife made the same comment about it too. I plan on changing it later. Thanks for the critique.

[Aga]

thx mrdings, I even thought about erasing linework a bit, but forgot about it during work ;)

thx a lot chaosrock
your pict looks a bit sketchy
maybe the BG will give to it more finished look.
maybe just simple(bg), a couple shapes to show the perspective and suggest the type of enviroment, or sth quite abstractive
btw he remind me of carnival in Rio de Janeiro :)

[mrdigs]

had another go at colouring this - tried to use the brushes with the opacity and the flow turned down and built it up that way using white and grey then threw an overlay on it to tint it.

think the character could do with some changes, like moving the legs to give it more of a bulky feel...doubt i'll get round to it tho.

i'm wondering how i could add more realism to this and make it a bit more believable ? the linework's probably part of the problem but any suggestions on the colouring side would be appreciated !

ok...sorry for the big post !

http://www.nturner.co.uk/images/castuff/dsg1105-2.jpg

[Hideyoshi]

mrdigs: the key to realism in a painting lies in correct lighting and values. It's not so much the details even. The ultimate master of realitic digital painting is Craig Mullins you all know his art surely - www.goodbrush.com (http://www.goodbrush.com)
Studying his work in the beginning seems quite difficult and incomprehensible because he is at such a high level.
Also, tutorials on lighting are essential: check this one out: http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/light01.htm
Concening your image specifically i'd suggest placing the character in a setting- that will immediately give an air of realism to it. Also lineart is a killer for realistic portrayal as you pointed out already. But most of all, check for correct lighting and value range!

Blue Tiger: thanks!
your drawing is nice. The only BIG problem is the texture! You need to transform it in perspective and lay it onto the water surface then! Otherwise it kills all the depth and looks wrong. Sky needs value difference!

Chai: glad I could help! :)
For this, I did an adjustment layer with gradient settings (don't know the exact terms as I have a German PS version), I only used this colouring technique twice thus far...
On other times I just throw in some colour with overlay brushes quickly.
But actually I don't start monochromatic always. Just more comfortable and faster most of the time... :P

sandworm: you're welcome, good work!

Aga: thanks!

[brokk]

Really nice entries guys.

Hideyoshi, are you familiar with hipper's (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=72395) work? There's a step by step of his process on page three, just wanted to post it in case anyone was interested and hasn't seen it.

[sandworm]

Question for Hideyoshi, hopefully it'll benefit all of us. What resolution do you usually do your speedies in? Do you lay down color blocks and then change up the res to do details? What gets me is that when I do speedies, they come out blurry from heavy use of the brush set to opacity, how do you counter this and make it sharper?

Here's the STEP BY STEP (http://www.ilidesign.com/art/barnacle%20tut.jpg) if anyone's interested, please let me know if this helped you.

[AdamDillabo]

thanks for the step by steps guys!!.

[Stephan_R]

fantastic Hideyoshi :) I wouldn't have guessed that you start with greytones, it really makes sense with your superb lighting all the time though. I'll have to start doing that more often. Thanks for posting a walkthrough.

[Aga]

What do you think about sth like this?:
we all (no matter less or more experienced) could ,from time to time show how we work - ouer step by step and don't be affraid that the process would includes faults (if so than maybe someone else notice that and advice sth usefull)
just show how we do ouer casual DSG , without stiffen ouerself if it looks cool or not

[Hideyoshi]

OMG, I didn't know that Jeo-Cheol Park (hipper) was posting here! Of course I know his art. It's one of the few artists nowadays that REALLY got me off hook! Jesus, thanks for the link, Broken! O___O'

What I need to say is that his way of applying texture layers etc. is not new to me. I have been doing it JUST the way he does always! :P ONe more thing: I recognize a LOT of mayang.com textures in his work (especially seen in his step-by-step)! Just the ones I also use all the time, yay!

Oh yeah, he definitely is a fan of Mullins... :D

sandworm: quite right, yes! I started with 800x600 (which is quite small- I normally start bigger) on this one and then upresed later on (to 1000 x 1333) when I put in the details.
Don't rely to much on the 'opacity-controlled color mixing' (leave it turned on though!). Rather try to directly paint with the colour or tone that you want. Make straight-forward brush strokes (which actually needs some practice and confidence) and use hard edged brushes for painting only. Also, you can get some real benefit from the sharpen filter (or "usharp mask" for more control) once applied to the final image (many artists use it) :)
I actually don't think your image looks too blurry! Nice step-by step!

Stephen R: thanks! But as I said, I don't aways start monochromatic... :P

Aga: cool idea basically! Provided that everyone is in the mood of saving his steps from time to time... :P
I just often forget about it myself

[Hamsta]

Hideyoshi Got any small brushes for me? I think it might be limiting myself mentally.
It may not have mych behind it idea-wise, but I love the execution of your "generic creature" - the textures, the glow, the focus

Aga I'm not sure what's going on with him, but I like your barnacle man, with all those details, the expression, and the brave color choices. It does however get muddy in the bg, and with the wau thing run over each other.

mrdigs Realism seems to require a much different take on painting, covering the whole surface in blobs, and working down to details.
This needs a better bg, even just an indication of a light source would work

[surfacemonkey]

Hideyoshi,

Just wanted to say thanks for sharing in the DSG!

As another person who's drawn for a while only thinking of lines, your example was just what i needed to "get it".

Do you use blending tools a lot? Which brush is your favorite? I've heard that it's not cool to use airbrushing too much....

thanks again.

[Jska]

Hey everyone - I thought I'd try some DSG goodness. I'm trying to force myself to draw everyday so this forum helps A LOT.

Without further ado, my Barnacle Man! I will be coloring him momentarily...

http://www.jskaconcepts.com/badaboom/DSG1105.jpg

C & C appreciated muchly!

[surfacemonkey]

Barnacleman..

i think 2 hours...


http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/whoami2u/barnacleman.jpg

[mrdigs]

hideyoshi - thanks for the feedback and the links, I really appreciate you taking the time to do that, I'm gonna go read the lighting tutorials and hopefully I'll be able to apply that to future work.

...and Craig Mullins work is incredible !

Lack of background is one of my biggest mistakes, I'm more aware of it recently - it's partly a confidence thing but I also tend to think of the image purely in terms of the focal point and forget that the setting is just as important in making it believable...

sandworm - good to see your step by step, especially the way you colour - I'm gonna have to try that, I usually use an overlay or a colour layer which i change the opacity on but sometimes it ends up looking a bit watered down.

aga - I'm up for posting step by steps, as you say it might be a good two way process. I don't always get time to colour properly but I'll post one when I do !

hamsta - thanks for replying, I'm definitely gonna have to start putting as much effort into the backgrounds as I do into the focus of the image and perhaps thinking about adding some texture/details to things.


I've picked up so much useful stuff in this thread - thanks everyone. :yayca:

[Horsefly]

Forgive me for asking (my first DSG was yesterday (1106)), but I thaught there would be a new "topic" posted each day so I logged on to view todays topic and found nothing. How often are new topics posted? Every other day?

As a result of the above I decided to have a crack at this one. I hope I'm not abusing the spirit of DSG by posting so late.

http://bluntedtaffer.50megs.com/speedpainting/DSG1105.JPG

Sandworm: Man, I love your entry. Old diving equipment makes me go weak at the knees.

Hideyoshi: Wonderful colours and design.

[chaosrocks]

so here s the question....Im just curious. how many people ref-ed a barnacle, any kind. with out making it up? My dad was a Marine biologist....and Barnacles are really really interesting. Not creepy, though a man for m might be and very very cool

chaos

[Aga]

chaosrock after this topic I have nice picture set of barnacles and also the text about its habitat :D

mrdigs - cool, I have just returned from the wedding, now I'm going to sleep and tomorrow try to do and post mine :D

[iwantjelly]

http://up.mezimages.com/up/08/1054523bernard%20lhermite.JPG

I'm more a vector guy, but this was a nice occasion to start using photoshop again.