latest on page 5

[TomCardin]

Welcome to my sketchbook. I am dumping a lot of recent stuff here to start off with and then I hope to update regularly.

My goal is to improve my 2D digital painting abilities with the help of this fine community of artists.

Please view and enjoy and comment lots!

[TomCardin]

A racehorse I did to familiarize myself with the forms involved. This is a scanned in sketch that I worked up in photoshop.

[Haxxxor]

the last one is good, i like the values on the horese but often you have a lack in anatomy and value... do some studies :)

greez

[TomCardin]

Somehow it got into my head to draw a sexy frog version of my wife's Everquest 2 character. Again I started with a scanned in sketch and took it a long ways further than I originally intended in photoshop...it was about then that I realized how much fun I was having with digital painting...and how much I have to learn still.

[TomCardin]

Thank you Haxxxor. I agree, my reference for the racehorse was a very small image which I sketched up quickly...I slacked off and lost focus on what I wanted to do. I am finding constraints to work under which are helping me maintain focus and dig deeper into subject.

[TomCardin]

I took what I learned from painting my sexy frog and went right to work on a huge piece. But I put a color constraint on myself because I wanted to keep it more serious. I am not sure if I succeeded in doing more than making things washed out. I have trouble with color and its something I wanted to focus on here.

[TomCardin]

This is a piece I haven't finished yet...I began it while working on my spacegirl painting. There are a lot of things that bother me about this amazon and I am still not sure where to take it. I tried to learn more about drawing and painting hair with this piece.

[TomCardin]

This is more of a fantasy anatomical study. All my focus went to the ripper arm and when I looked up I had totally goobered up the figures torso. Colors here are hideous, I hate this piece but I put it here in hopes someone can help tell me where things went wrong. Too much to hope? Bah you guys are good!

[TomCardin]

I love drawing the female figure. I really should force myself to use references more often but this is right outta my head. I only scanned this in, I don't want to develop it further.

I am comfortable with my sketching and drawing abilities, but that doesn't mean I don't want to improve.

[TomCardin]

This is an earlier digital painting piece than what I have shown so far...I throw it in to give some perspective on where I have gone so far.
It's a fantasy landscape from my head, its very flat which I know I didn't intend when I set out. Something went wrong and I lost myself in the details to the detriment of all.

[TomCardin]

Another work in progress. I have to put dragons up there with things I love to draw. This piece is off to a good start with two of my favorite subjects. Here I want to contrast the two figures and draw the viewer into their relationship with each other.

[TomCardin]

Here is a dragon speedpaint I did...about 2 hours
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[TomCardin]

Another nude pin-up out of my head. I had a lot of fun trying out a new drawing technique on this piece, well...new for me.

[TomCardin]

Here's some signatures I did...yeah more of the sexy frog. I did the coloring this time in painter rather than my usual photoshop. Painter is going to take some getting used to but I like the effects that came about with it.
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The other two sigs were done in photoshop, kinda speedpainted.
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[crazyace31]

I like your overall gesture poses, they have good weight and movement. your overlaping on the figure needs some work. try breaking the figure into the basic shapes with a two point perspective on them. it will help out with maintaining volume and porportion as the figure moves from foreground and background.

Thanks for the crit in my sketchbook.

my sketchbook http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1147944&posted=1#post1147944

[TomCardin]

Thank you for the crit, and for visiting my sketchbook.

Thats a good idea, I goobered up my spacegirls right arm where her torso is overlapping it. I can still see all the joints in my earlier versions but I lost something later on in the process.

New sketch I just started: 10 minutes into it and I can already see where I am having perspective trouble with the mech's far leg...I will concentrate on fixing this as I work this piece up.

[AztcFireFlower]

Thanks for the comments in my SB. Good start to your sketchbook. Improvement is a lifelong pursuit for sure. Solidity comes from understanding. Life drawing is always a good basis for that road.
And any book by Loomis; Figure work will strengthen by leaps and bounds.

There is a dragon thread somewhere in here as well, that I think is still going strong. Since the theme is of interest to you, should post some work in there.

[JERI]

What crazyace31 said.

Also, I get the impression that you attempt to have light and shadows diffusing into each other in a uniform gradient most of the time, even with strong light sources (as in the spaceman pic). Light doesn't work that all the time, and I think you may find it useful to try and go with discrete/sharp highlights sometimes. You might also try to use some other colors to portray volume instead of black/grey.

Hope that's relevant.

[TomCardin]

AztcFireFlower: Thank you, I agree wholeheartedly. I am on the hunt for more Loomis books. Also gotta hunt around for that dragon thread.

Jeri: Thats exactly what I am looking for! Yes I really want to develop my coloring and lighting skills. I am learning a lot just browsing through here but any pointing in the right direction is much appreciated.

Here's a quick update of my little red mech, gotta get some more christmas shopping done so this is all I have time for for now.

[AztcFireFlower]

I dug it up for you. Enjoy!
Dragonz Iz Here

[TomCardin]

Woo Hoo! Thank you AztcFireFlower! I am beginning work on a dragon painting right now.

I finished up my Mech painting first...or at least got it much further along. Trying to do a lot with reflected light and colors on this one.

[TomCardin]

just finished my flying dream image from the critique thread. I thought I would post here the steps I went through in creating this piece.

I started with very small thumbnail, establishing colors and composition.
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I then scaled the thumbnail up and added more detail and such.
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Scaled up again to the final size (this is the initial version I put up on the critique thread). This got me a nice paint over and some great direction which I took.
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Finally I came back with a new version which incorporated crits and things I have been working on just by browsing through everyones wonderful sketchbooks
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[TomCardin]

If anyone can tell me why my attachment in my first post won't show up as a thumbnail for my SB thread please help me. I have edited over and over switching out artwork and can't make anything show up. I am so hopeless sometimes.

please help! thanks!

[armando]

I have no idea why your thumbnail isn't showing up. Maybe it's too big? On mine I used a 100X100 thumbnail, so try that. Work on lighting the basic forms, check out Scott Robertsons lighting DVDs here thegnomonworkshop.com

[Kronos]

Thanks a lot for commenting in my sketchbook! and good to see you starting an SB of your own, you certainly have a grasp on pencil drawing, particularly rendering, perhaps some more work on overall form and anatomy will be helpful... loomis is fantastic, however i have to say i prefer bridgeman (well in my limited experience with both:P), he kindof simplifies the figure into basic planes which also helps a LOT when it comes to lighting characters...

"Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life" i can't completely vouch for this book as i only ordered it the other day, but its a compilation of all his books and its cheap as on amazon for 350 pages or so (over 1000 illustrations)

it seems in a lot of your work you don't really have a specific light source. just as a study you should try doing something in pure black and white with solid shadows kinda like sin city stuff.... and keep one specific light source and direction in mind, this can make things a lot more dramatic and will also make you think of the form.

and i know sometimes just drawing from your head can be more fun, but drawing from reference will help you learn MUCH better, particularly from life (ie life drawing) but photos are good too.

one more thing you could work on is your flesh tones, they are very washed out and yellowy at the moment. possibly move more towards orangish tones, experiment! and most of all HAVE FUN!

hope this helps, keep up the cool work, :D

[TomCardin]

Thanks for the advice! I thought it was a good idea to do a figure study from reference...so between playing with some christmas goodies, cleaning house and going out to the movies to see "Night at the Museum" I put my nose to the screen and made this study:

Found a reference I liked - I highly recommend CharacterDesigns.com for photo references, I have seen several other artists here use them.
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I started by drawing the underlying skeleton:
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Finished by painting my lights and darks on top of the skeleton layer

This was good practice for me, felt good. Definitely going to do more.

[oma]

heej > nice to see the process shot's off your work.

i can learn a lot from it.

and that last one did you handled well. but one question do you allway's start with some skeleton's first if you draw a gesture ?

[TomCardin]

Thanks Oma,

No, I don't usually start with a skeleton...Years ago when I had a real life drawing course in college I remember doing it as one of our exercises. Also I was given a paintover in the critique thread with a skeleton to show the anatomy issues on my painting. So I thought I would go back to that. I think it helped me a lot with my proportions and form.

It was also very helpful with this reference pic to understand how her ribs were showing and the contours of her hips as well as the alignment of her head. Even though I had a reference pic that showed me everything I needed to see, drawing a skeleton within the form helped force my hand to stick to what I was seeing.

[TomCardin]

I think I have finished this latest nude study. Here I have added color, not sampling from my reference but just using my own eye. I used several layers, colorizing my greyscale image and using it as a multiply layer then going in underneath and adding cool and warm areas to the shadows.

I am very happy with the results but at the same time uncomfortable because it appears so realistic to me. It's beyond me why that makes me uncomfortable.

[Fishspawn]

Improvement on that last peice is fantastic. Definately go for that style when drawing from your head. Use skeletons/simplified shapes to knock in accurate values and proportions like that in drawings from your imagination and you're set. Keep doing what you're doing if you want photorealism. If you want realism you'll have to draw from life a lot more and figure out how to set a focus, as well as show balance and energy. The stuff i was going to say has already been voiced very well by AztcFireFlower, Jeri, and Kronos, so listen to them well! Keep it up, i can't wait to see your progress.

[TomCardin]

Thank you Fishspawn!

Yup I learned a lot going back to my anatomy studies and less relying on my own mind for pin-up style figures. I am just a bit put off by being a copy machine, but thats my own demon to face. More anatomy to come!

But first I am going back to my dragon painting. I started this after reading the dragon thread...then found out I couldn't post to the dragon thread, I guess its closed. So its going here instead. These are the several stages of progress I have gone through so far, still a long way to go to final.

[TomCardin]

Another update on my dragon painting..."greeting the sun". Next is enlarging it and adding detail to the dragon which is still very plain.

[anubis713]

Hey! I love the last dragon on here!
A couple of the ladies are a bit off proportion wise.
But everything looks great!
Keep it up!
:D
Great imagination too!

[Cold]

Hey Tom, nice reference and studied drawing you did there. My favourite execution of you so far, of the other are good too.

And welcome to 07

[saturniaus]

I really like your frog lady picture. :D

[Kronos]

hey man, incredible improvements! well done indeed! the nude is rendered very well but you say you're feeling uncomfortable? i don't know, but is it perhaps because you want to get a more painterly look? i think working on that would be really cool. its kindof a hard thing to work on, but try and see if you can get lots of information down with few gestural marks rather than the intense rendering you've been doing, not that there is anything wrong at all with what you've been doing, its great, but variety is NICE!

[SEspider]

Well done.
You have a nice style of your own. There's a lot of great art here.Well Done. ^_^

Going through them, I've noticed something. The dedatils seem kinda flat in a way. Don't get me wrong. It's clear that the images have depth, but small suttle details are missing.
Look at them closely and you'll see that some have no wrinkles or creases where there should be. Take yur frong drawing/coloring. There are bends in her pose, but at those joints the skin should have a few small winkles. remember, every creature has fat in it. even skinny ones like frogs. :)
Even your cool thumbnail painting looks a little odd without winkles in her bathing suit or skin.
You don't always have to draw these details in your art. Usurally shading/or coloring can add these little details.

As I said earlier, Very nice job. can't wait to see more. ;)

[TomCardin]

Anubis713 - Thank you! I am really liking where this dragon is going as well, I should have a new update of it soon.

Cold - Thank you! I think I surprised myself with that piece. I was going to stop at the greyscale version in the previous post but I knuckled under and took it the rest of the way.

Saturniaus - Thank you! That was one of my first digital painting pieces and I learned a lot about what not to do on it...hehe.

Kronos - Glad you like it too! I would love to get a more painterly look to my work...what made me uncomfortable about this piece was just feeling like a copy machine. I was very focused throughout the work and happy with being able to maintain that state but the end result feels dry, though it was what I was aiming for. All reasons why I want to improve my digital painting abilities and that study gave me a nice kick in the pants.

SEspider - Thanks! I do need to work on clothing and wrinkles, I believe I will tackle a clothed figure for my next study.

Thanks everyone for checking out my sketchbook! I am thrilled! I just finished work on this week's COW...The final version is posted on the COW #72 thread, here I am posting a couple of the progressions I took:

[SEspider]

Very Beautiful and Unique.

[Orifice]

Seems you have gotten better on makin your stuff into hole pictures instead of fore and background. This last one I like alot. Very good concept, looks believable and cool. Good work.

[geldslaw]

wow, just love the development of your work and the style and mediums you express your ideas in. thankyou for sharing

[Cold]

Good effort on that last one. Seems like you payed attention to the light source a lot, which is good and shows, dunno myself if the colour selection is the right one, since i have no skill with it, i can't give you any good advice. Maybe the stone texture could have done with deeper and darker values, other than that good work overall.

[AztcFireFlower]

Now that's the most unique dragon I've ever seen.http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=73239&stc=1&d=1168076710
Excellent take on the blue mountain glider - great imagination!

[TomCardin]

SEspider - Thanks! I have tried to really define my own look for dragons, yet one that is shared among many representations...I built upon that and tweaked and pulled to arrive at this visualization - very fun to do...I am definitely in on more COW's.

Orifice - Thanks so much! It's a concerted effort of control to keep my vision of the composition from beginning to end...I am striving hard to make whole pictures. This is one area of painting that I am hoping to improve.

Geldslaw - Thank you for the kind words. I am finding so much inspiration here that at CA that I am almost overwhealmed. I try to create a better representation of the vision in my head with each painting I do.

Cold - So many things to figure out in a composition, I too was very happy with my lightsource. Color was tough, I have recieved other crits that I kept the color too limited to blue...but from the start I wanted to show the glider in its ideal hunting environment, a bright high sun...And I didn't see brown dirt mountains...so my palette reflects my imagination of the creature in its environment. I am hoping people will understand this from the description given in the text. I overworked the mountain peak and I am probably the least happy with that portion of the image, deeper shadows and more form are in order.

AztcFireFlower - Thank you. I grew up with fantasy books and fantasy role playing games...my friends when I was a teenager all had favorite fantasy beasts and I chose the dragon hands down as my iconic creature. A dragon painting for me is a labor of love and an effort to share my visualization of these creatures. I am glad you liked the glider...though its a lesser dragon form its still a dragon and its a success story for it has regained something that was lost to other lesser dragons, the sky.

Whew this puppy is almost done...I am going to go one step larger, to 1600x1200 for the final image, but for now here is this:

[TomCardin]

Yikes! Voting has started on COW #72...I am gonna go have some kittens. Hope I have a shot...I think I held to the topic well - Blue Mountain Glider.

Kinda bummed that there are a lot of entrants that are levitators floaters and wing flappers...seems they are going off topic a ways.

Anyhow if you're reading this, go vote for your favorite!

Ahh and COW #73 has just been posted. I am going to go get started on that!

[TomCardin]

Hmm...This weeks COW is strange..I am having a hard time getting away from the female form as representing beauty. I have to run this thru my head a few more times, but its hard when I think of hairy beauty.

A beautiful hairy creature, what is it? Beautiful to whom? Hmm it sure seems that it would have to be beautiful to a human eye to be labled such. I could make something that I could SAY was beautiful to an alien eye but would that meet the criteria of the COW, or better yet, would that get votes?

Here is a scan of some pencil sketches I did today between meetings at work...I think they are dead ends, too human...but I might grab one and go with it anyhow if nothing else comes to mind soon.

[TomCardin]

Ok back on the computer...Couple thumbnails later I might be getting somewhere with this hairy beauty.

Came up with a hairy bug that didn't look too scary...but it more on the "cute" side.
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This is more promising, its a Jovian Light Dancer...living deep within the clouds of Jupiter where darkness is eternal and temperatures are only a few degrees above freezing...this is an early glimpse of one of these elusive hairy beauties.
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no colors available at this distance and resolution, will try to get a better image with the bigger scopes on the next revolution.

[Listing]

good start here. To sharpen your quality (and notion of forms) do more from life. I'd like to see a self-portrait or some social sketches.

[TomCardin]

Image downloaded from Deep scan scope 1:
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...Radiations detected deep within the atmosphere of Jupiter. We're at quite a lot of magnification tracing the wind patterns via the movement of luminous jovian cloud fronds and came across this hairy beauty. It appears to be feeding on the fronds and gaining some of their bioluminescence. Hard to estimate the size of this creature as its entire form is lost in the darkness, but the portion we can see is several kilometers across, based on the established size of the fronds.

We're going to bring one of the bigger scopes on line to grab a better shot of this, expect a larger more detailed image to be uploaded on the next revolution...some of the boys here at the station have already dubbed this creature a Jovian Light Dancer and we're all quite taken with its beauty. It seems to be made up of thousands of tentacle-like hairs and the large round glowing organ is still a mystery. We would also like to put in an early request to get some time on the Piers Macroscope to get a better image of our discovery.

Image downloaded from D.T.I.S. in-line device:
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You boys up there are really on to something special. We just recieved the shot from the Deep Thermal Imaging Scanner and everyone here is going nuts for this "Jovian Light Dancer" of yours. The boys down in the biology annex are figuring that that lovely glowing eye is actually its stomach where it is digesting the heavier luminous elements of the fronds. The best news for you guys though is we have your approval right here to pull the Piers Macroscope off line of its deep sky imaging for several hours during your next shift. We can't wait to see the detail and resolution that will get you.

[TomCardin]

Listing - Thanks so much for visiting! You know... a self portrait sounds like a pretty good idea. I'm gonna go for it, oh man, its been years since I did one, woo back in highschool.

[Kronos]

hey man, your going good! i really like the look or the stuff in post #46. very cool concept, although if she had such a tall back she may need more substantial support from her legs even though i realize you were going for elegant legs. i'd like to see more of you pencil drawing in here too.

that last thing is an interesting interpretation of hairy beauty for sure, if you go with that one, lighting will just about be everything, you'll have to make it really beautiful. i would ditch the colours you currently have for the background and go more with the bottom right corner, and then have the hairy beauty a really vibrant complimentary colour or something....anyway just a suggestion....

keep it up man, just keep on drawing :D

[TomCardin]

Image from the Piers Macroscope:

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We were thinking that the "Dancer" was pulling the fronds into its mouth, but after three planetary revolutions we're not seeing that kind of movement. Now with this latest high res image from the Macroscope we can see that luminescent particles are travelling up the hairs towards its stomache. So somewhere along the hairs themselves are the Jovian Light Dancers mouths. We can only imagine what the central orifice is, perhaps some sort of propulsion vent.

We have a better idea of the extent of this creature now. It does seem to be quick large and a significant portion of it is descending deeper into the clouds of Jupiter. The forces along its length must be enormous as it goes further down the gravity well.

[TomCardin]

Speed painting done for the daily sketch thread...MONSTER HUNTER FOLLOWS GAPING BLDG. TRAIL OF RAMPAGING BEAST
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I kept my brushes big and my strokes loose. Instead of starting with greyscale thumnail I started a bit larger with a warm grey background and painted in just warm and cool. Its no masterpiece by any stretch but I achieved a hint of a loose painterly style I have been aiming for.

[TomCardin]

Another speed painting for the Daily Sketch Group thread

[Orifice]

The hairy beauty looks cool! I like thatone alot!:) The area round the mouth and the eye(?) is the best part. One thing that I notice right away when I look at your paintings is that they could use some good work with values. Its almost hard to get to high value-range. For example in this last one. Shadows should be alot darker. A good way of getting values right when digi-painting is to block in to start with. So that you can get the values right, then starting to refine. It looks like you shadow by doin alot of strokes, which, by my experience atleast, often makes things look more like dirty then shadowed. So your main thing should probably be to look into and practise values. Hope this helps a bit atleast. Keep it up my man!:)

[TomCardin]

Orifice - Thanks! I really like what I achieved with Hairy Beauty. I am not getting any critiques at all in the COW thread so I am worried about how it will do.

You are right about how I did my shading on those speedpaint sketches. On the dragon one in particular I needed to go darker in the shadow values...digital painting is an ongoing learning experience for me and I thank you for your crits! I will continue with those values in mind and a cleaner technique for getting them down. I had been doing my first sketches in greytones then adding the color. This was getting me paintings shaded with black and white that were coming up lacking. Now I am searching for a happy medium, but I am far happier with colors than I was.

Here is a sketch I did while away from my computer...just #2 pencil and a very bad eraser which I quickly decided did more harm than good.

[TomCardin]

Time for old squidhead.
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This is a sketch I did for my friend's project. There's always room for Cthulu.

[Dreamworker]

I Tom, I see very good progress in your digital painting skills in particular I like the girl painting posted in reply #26 #29, very natural effect. I think that in noref images you have some problem with proportion and anatomy, but as you write in the first reply your goal is to accive a results in digital painting and in this case your studies following the right way!
Keep sharing, ciao

[JERI]

Hey TomCardin :)

I think the way you're handling the light gradient is looking more natural than when you first started out. Atm I think most of your colored images can use some stronger contrasts. Adding another layer of shadow should do the trick I reckon, but have a try and see if it actually works.

Cool Cthulu :)

[TomCardin]

Dreamworker - thank you! I like at least feeling I am improving. I will keep up the figure studies.

Jeri - Thanks! Painting with color is so different from just shading a greyscale image or doing texture maps and setting up lights for 3D renderings. I have been doing graphic arts for many years but I am finding a lot of my skills fall short when moving it digital illustration and painting. Its a learning experience and I like this media emmensely. Glad you like Cthulu...I am going to be doing 2 color paintings of Lovecraftian beasties for my friend, going to be fun.

I just worked this up for the EOW thread. Garbage Planet.
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IMPORTANT! Only throw non-recyclables in the red depositories. All waste from the red depositories are immediately hyperspaced to Cygna Beta. Wastes bound for Cygna Beta will NOT be pre-sorted, hyperspace transmission is instantaneous. There is absolutely no return of any items placed in red depositories.

With the advent of stable zero energy hyperspace transport fields in 2120, Mankind quickly spread through the galaxy...fortunately his garbage did not. Easily installed in designated rubbish bins a series of transport fields immediately gate all materials tossed into the bin to reciever fields orbiting Cygna Beta. Cygna Beta is a massive body orbiting the Cygna Alpha Singularity. With intense tidal forces rubbish is quickly fused into dense rocklike deposits and eventually pulled into the singularity. The reciever station is located on the tidal pole opposite the singularity in a relatively stable orbit and waste is continuously flowing out from its many hyperspace reciever fields.

The use of these hyperspace transport bins for rubbish was nearly outlawed soon after it was put into operation as many saw the bins as a way to immediately and permanently dispose of criminal evidence, suicides, even murders were committed using the initial rubbish bins. It was decided by majority vote by the Network of Forward Thinking Rehabilitationist party that the advantages of the system outweighed the sudden spree of mysterious dissappearances and crime. Its worth noting that within 78 years of use of the rubbish bins and permanent disposeall units the population growth of humanity has stabilized and suicides and murder are almost nonexistant. The department of missing persons maintains a steady growth rate and employment therin is at a premium.

[TomCardin]

here is my work on COW 74 the Golden Guddle Greaper:
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I shrunk these wips down just to view more easily in my sketchbook...unlike a lot of previous work I started at my final resolution of 600x800 and just began detailing. I wanted to create a painted, realistic look to my creature rather than looking illustrative. I began with some custom texture brushes to block in an underlying roughness to everything then built up my final colors and textures on top of that rough sketchy image. I feel I made a good step forward with this piece and I am happy with the look.
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[Envisor]

Great work in your thread. Your pencils and digitals are great. I would love to see some more of your finished pencils. Keep posting the step by step of your pieces as wel. Great way to learn for the rest of us here.

[AztcFireFlower]

Nice piece Tom. Good concept and painting.
Nice to see you're throwing yourself into thje COW challenges.

[Sepulverture]

Hey Tom. This last piece seems to be a huge improvement over previous pieces. One thing that I've noticed as a recurring thing in your digis is the use of small soft edged brushes being used to fill in large areas. Try using large hard edged brushes on a high opacity for filling in those large spaces, and always try to use the largest brush possible that will fit in the given area you're working on. I read somewhere on these boards, and i'm sure it's been said more than once, that to help in developing a sense of brush economy turn off shape dynamics in your brush property dialog. You mentioned in one of your posts about being worried that your colors are too washed out, and I have to agree that some of them do look very washed out. If you feel that your piece is getting a little washed out, try experimenting with your saturation, and hue settings to get a little more saturation in your colors. Although the washed out can be good in creating a feeling if you learn how to use it. Anyhow, good progress so far. Keep at 'er!

sep

[TomCardin]

Thanks all. I really try to improve myself with each painting, even if its just using a little tip I learned somewhere. I appreciate all the support I am getting from this community, you guys are all just a driving force of inspiration! Thank you!

Here is a freshly finished piece for my friend's Lovecraft work. A Deep One.
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I am trying for a classical looking illustration quality to these. At least as a starting point. To fit in with the era in which the mythos exists.

[TomCardin]

This went together quick...just a couple hours. The great race of Yith...another Lovecraftian beauty. My take on the creature from "The shadow out of time" by H.P. Lovecraft.
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Lovecraft describes the skin of the main body of the Great Race of Yith as "rugose" (heavily wrinkled) and "iridescent" but doesn't give it a color...whereas he says the 4 trumpets are red, the 4 flower stalks on the head are grey as well as the rubbery skirt, the head is yellowish and the 8 tentacles suspended from the underside of the head are greenish. This is what it all comes together as in my head.

[cgoz]

nice texturing and creature concepts!

[TomCardin]

cgoz - Thanks! Trying hard.

Here's my entry for COW 75: 75 Tons
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I am really happy with how this came out. I found some satisfying techniques for the ground and sky and I worked out a dynamic pose that was fun.

I would like to evolve my technique more...I still see speedpaintings that are more effective but I am not sure how to get from A to B if that makes any sense.

[JERI]

Not sure if this is the type of advice you're looking for Tom, but the first thing that pops into my head is that your colored images will benefit from stronger contrast and sharper highlights in certain parts (or more discrete shadow masses). For that very last one (your cow entry), maybe you want to reserve the light orange color for the streaky, sharp highlights only, while applying light purple/pink for your diffuse light effects on the body.

Not sure if you know what I mean, I'm only beginning myself so I can't express it very well. Still I hope that's relevant to you.

[DeMoon]

nice stuff! Most pleased me your last sketch...good, unusual dragon! respect! I will look after your updates ...)

[MUNIZ]

Lookin good! Keep em coming!

[cotletan]

Realy cool stuff but I have a sugestion if u dont mind. Your paintings have a lot of atmosfeer but they could use a bit more impact. Try more contrast and sharper edges. I photoshoped your pseudodragon from COW to show you the amount of contrast I thinck looks good, but in the end it could be just a matter of taste so dont go changing if u dont agree with me.
Keep on keepin' on!

[Bendragon]

These COW pieces are sweet! The human in the last one is odd though, his pose could enhance the action more.
Nice nude dragons, now do some clothed and draped ones :P

[archnemesis dbal]

Great contrast! I love the lighting. my only recommendation would be to make the light coming from under the scales and armor glow more, merely by stronger contrast within those cracks.

[TomCardin]

Jeri - thanks for the tip. I was going for a heavy atmosphere in this piece...the dust being thrown up by this creatures travel across the waste...also the sun is partially covered by clouds. I thought if I was too sharp with the lighting and contrast that it would mess up what I was going for. I am really happy with how it came out. Its easily the best digital painting piece I have done yet in terms of the end result meeting my goals. I think the high contrast and close to spectral highlights that you are suggesting are great tips for me moving forward. I do need to sharpen up on lighting details...In this piece I paid a lot of attention to the atmosphere and how it was lightening and fading the contrast as we got further from the viewer. I was using that to show the scale of the creature, it needed to be big.

DeMoon - Thank you! More is coming. I am hard at work on cow 76 but I won't be posting that to the cow until sunday. Not going to put up any more wips...they seemed to hurt me...and they certainly were not getting me the critiques I needed.

MUNIZ - Thanks! yes more coming.

cotletan - I appreciate the paintover. As I told Jeri I got the effect I was looking for with cow 75. I am very happy with it..but it appears that the viewers are not happy with it...its gotten no votes. Thanks for spending the time with the pic. The high contrast doesn't match the atmosphere and hazyness I was going for though.

Bendragon - thanks for the input. I put a lot of thought into the knight in the cow 75 piece...He's not a fool, his sword is out but he had no intention of actually trying to fight a 75 ton demonic magical dragon single handedly. So I didn't want him in a combat pose...what I did want was to show him almost knocked off his feet by the impact with the stone ground just a few yards away. I acted out the pose myself, falling down a few times...It could have been a bit more dynamic with him actually flying backwards, but I wanted to keep more of the focus on the dragon and I feel I achieved that. I also kept the detail down on the knight for the same reasons.

archnemesis dbal - thanks..good direction. I played with that interior glow a lot. I felt I made it bright enough to be a secondary focus of the piece, and if I had gone brighter or stronger with it that it would have overwelmed the primary focus of the sillohette of the dragon.

Thanks everyone for the input.
I am a bit discouraged that I didn't get input this good while the cow was in progress...seems like nobody likes it because its gotten no votes. I am concerned because I feel personally its some of my best work to date in digital painting, also because my previous entries got votes yet they were done more hastily and not finished nearly as well. Whats an artist to do? Well I also bear in mind that some top talent participated in cow 75. It also seems that though flawed other pieces are picking up a lot of votes.

I get feedback about my contrast and highlights and there's pieces getting votes that have shadows going perpendicular to the direction of the lighting...big as life flaws.

So there I am discouraged at what I am getting back from the community in feedback and encouraged because my cow 75 entry was personally very satisfying.

I just have to move forward with my personal goal of gaining more expertise at digital painting.

[spudstudios]

cow entry rocks. great stuff here!!

[Rabid]

Your sketches get the ideas across with decent anatomy but a large ammount of your digital paintings are very general and soft....

[Alice]

Lovely colors and nice composition on the last one!

[Envisor]

this last piece is really good. the lighing and values are great. Cant wait to see the latest inspirational piece.

[Sepulverture]

Hey Tom. On your last one (the 75tons COW entry) it seems like with as bright as the sun is behind the dragons head, that the head should be almost completely blacked out. Other than that, our textures look really good on your creature concepts. I'd love to see some of your pencil work.

[TomCardin]

spudstudios - Thanks!

Rabid Peanut - Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like my style doesn't match something you are looking for...hmmm..could you link me some samples of work that show this harder edged, sharper definition you are thinking I should go for? Would love more specifics please.

Alice - Thank you so much!

Envisor - Thanks! I am thrilled to inspire someone!

Sepulverture - I thought if I had darkened the head too much it would throw off the hazy look. I wanted the atmosphere to look thick. What I did to achieve that was desaturate and drop details and contrast with distance from the viewer. I thought I had achieved my goal but I guess not if people are seeing it as a lightsource conflict...I know in real life on a hazy day or through heavy air that this is what I see when I look towards lightsources.

Just got out of the hospital..went in with a kidneystone on saturday and got out on monday feeling even worse. Fortunately I had posted my cow entry for dungeon cleaner friday night...I had been contemplating holding it till sunday but I just decided to post it soon as I finished. This is what I got.
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I went with a simple creature but I used some viniettes to show it in action...I thought a lot of creatures in this weeks cow ended up quite interesting but really didn't show them in action. I didn't feel to well while working on this so I know I didn't give it the attention I gave the previous couple entries.

[Sepulverture]

Hey Tom. That cow entry looks good, but one problem I see with it is it's difficult to get an idea of their actual size. The only real size comparison you're giving us to work with is the alligator thing, but the alligator makes them look really tiny, then in the last frame where the tentacles are coming under the door it looks huge.

[TomCardin]

Here is my glue maker entry for COW 77

The California Dew Frog...
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I used a different technique on this piece. I detailed out a greyscale image to a finished state then masked the elements of the image apart to different layers to color and add some final lighting effects. I also kept my brushes at full opacity, where I usually have opacity set to pressure sensitive on my stylus. This got me a look I liked...a bit harder edged and more contrasty. Hope everyone likes this look more than what I have been doing so far, its a good technique which I aim to develop further. Right now its a good addition to the skills I am building regardless.

[dtran]

First off, I love the progression in your SB!
Secondly post #68 is my fave of yours
Thirdly the Cow dungeon cleaner entry gives me the heebie jeebies! :)

more!

[life on the sofa]

HEY!, thats false advertisment..i want naked dragons...i dont see no "nude" dragons here?!?.........lol well setting that aside, those latests c.o.w. frogs are sw-heeeeeeett(with an h for emphasis). they are acctuly pretty life like:) only crits are that the wya the tail is wrapped round doesnt make sense, it goes up around and out on the same side instead of going in a twirl around it..:S?, and the "glue ball" in the tail on foreground frog could be more realistic. apart from that v.v.nice.


p.s: the half naked frog doesnt count as naked dragon. and see u in c.o.w polls:D

[Sepulverture]

Hey Tom.

Good work on this latest COW. Some things I see wrong with it (and this may just be me being nitpicky, but oh well) are that the frog in the foreground doesn't seem to be putting any weight on the leaf, and that is taking away from the illusion of it actually making contact with a solid surface. Also the due drops look more like energy balls than water. I'd suggest googling up some images of things like due drops on leaves. water drops in general, etc., etc.. Also, you gotta get some sort of scale in there. Right now I'm getting the impression that the frogs are about the size of my fist, and holding massive globules of water.

Good work otherwise, and thanks for the comment about my recent tower environ (I've got a thing for towers, you might notice that after a while ;) ).

[mattbyng]

Hey there Tom..loving the dew frog!
You mentioned a layer setup for the image.
Would you mind posting a screen shot of this image's layer setup?

[TomCardin]

dtran - thanks a ton! I really like that dragon beastie too...guess the competition was just too tough on that cow though. And that dungeon cleaner gives me the heebie jeebies too...I love that beastie too


Life on the sofa, Sepulerture - thanks for the feedback...I reworked the image, played with some details and my shadows on their feet and the dew drops got a major overhaul. As far as the size goes I think the impression you have is close enough.

Mattbyng - thanks! I took a screenshot of the layers from an earlier stage before I had flattened out too much. I broke out the frogs and the close leaves and the dew drops from the background and made each piece a mask so that I could make global changes to each major element in turn....worked out well but just breaking the pieces apart from the initial greyscale painting was a big job.
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[TomCardin]

Here's my sketch for cow 78, Heart Harvester...I need to get a sketchbook with harder, smoother paper. My lines come out all grainy and textured.
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I used a light soft purple colored pencil, a number 2, and a black colored pencil...I have no idea where the purple pencil came from but its erasable and has a really nice feel against the paper so I like sketching with it. I dropped in the darker shading quickly just to see some lighting options so I am not sure yet how I am going to light the scene...colors are going to make a big difference. First step in the digital process is going to be seperating the creature and the victims from the background.

[TomCardin]

A bit further along now...I have broken it out into layers and quickly painted in the background (2 hours). I am not a speed painter but I don't want to spend too much time on the background because the focus will be the critters. Also I know my time will be limited this week to work on this. I also made the main creature and the foreground figure bigger and overlapped things a bit for perspective. I have issues with the ground and the far tentacles of the main creature...those are next on my list to correct before I really dive in to rendering it out as deliciously as I can.
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[Sepulverture]

Hey dude. That heart harvester sketch is pretty good looking. On the ps paintover watch it with the textures in the foreground monster, it's looking really "applied" rather than "painted" if you understand what I mean by that. Right now the whole thing is looking flat in general, but I'm sure that will start to change as you begin to add more detail in the appropriate spots, and apply the rest of the colors. Keep it up, man.

[TomCardin]

Thanks for the feedback, Sepulverture. I am still working on it. Here's my latest update.
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I changed the grass to fix some perspective issues affecting the whole piece. Main creature got a lot of progress.

[TomCardin]

final for cow 78. I turned things much darker as I progressed to build up a mood of horror and the unnatural. Also wrote up a Lovecraftian description.
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I think it came out quite good...but there is some very good work from people on this cow.

[minjarr]

you stuff is grotesque but pretty to look at the same time. Great job

?)

[ChaoticKnight]

dude the progression of your work is great as was said earlier. Its also interesting to see the steps you took to get there, Love your recent C.O.W. work, and this week's is gonna be a tough one! (the last few have been... hmm )

[TomCardin]

Wooo hoo! I am thrilled that my Glue Makers won! I really like some of my other pieces from previous cows more but I ain't gonna complain.

minjarr - Thank you. Yeah things are getting sick and twisted here...I have a personal project with a friend to do illustrations for a Lovecraft book he is making. So I am just building up a style to go with it. Horror is not my normal subject...I like high fantasy most.

ChaoticKnight - Thanks. Not sure what you mean by the "...hmm" But glad you like my stuff...though I am being almost completely ignored so far with my Heart Harvester- really would like it if people would at least say what they don't like about it, then I might have a chance. Yeah I don't use the style of many favorite cow artists but I am working on improving my own style rather than painting just like someone else.

This started as a doodle at work at least two month ago. I dulled many pencils on it as it kind of grew into a strange abstract of monoliths. The door came in out of inspiration and alludes to a strange story behind this unlikely assortment of rocks in space. It also helped me come up with a title for the piece...Hiding.
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There is a horrifying science fiction book called "The Killing Star" by two authors, Charles Pelligrino and one other which I can't remember...by the end of the book mankind is almost no more, having been destroyed by an alien race. The few tiny pockets of humans left alive are those who hid the best and kept their heads down. This picture loosely began to follow one of the narratives of that book. I highly recommend it.

[Sepulverture]

Strange and abstract is right, but strange and abstract things usually make the coolest doodles ;).

[TomCardin]

Sepulverture - Thanks...yup I like to just develop shapes to start with. I just hate finding a better shape once I am 3/4 done with a painting.

Tried a speed paint today from reference...1 hour
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I am keen to learn more speed painting techniques. This is mostly just a development of my own techniques, though I am sure not unique.

[TomCardin]

This is my Lava Swimmer...sketched him up while at GDC between sessions and worked on him quick, not much time left.
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My little Lava Dragon..enjoying a relaxing lava bath.

[ChaoticKnight]

Hey sketchgroup buddy!
like your latest C.O.W. it looks like hes comfy lol.
My only crit is that there doesnt seem to be a lot of depth in the head in comparison to the body.

[TomCardin]

My final version of the Lava Swimmer...Thanks for the feedback!
107076
C.O.W. #79 Lava Swimmer
Lava Dragons are a rare denizen of the plane of fire, though some may be found dwelling in the plane of earth and a very select few can be found in molten volcanic hearts of several other worlds. Left to their own devices, Lava Dragons are perfectly happy just swimming about in molten rock and metals. Though they are not predatory dragons by nature, the few known to live within volcanos will stir things up from time to time to encourage locals to chuck sacrifices of tasty morsels into the caldera.

Shown here is the Lava Dragon King, Magmathrax. On his massive chin he bears many swirling carvings, each made by a different female mate. These are the sigils of the world serpent and signs of dragon royalty among the Lava Dragons.

[ChaoticKnight]

looksmuch better! any plans for the healer? :D

[Sepulverture]

Good work on the lava swimmer.

[TomCardin]

Thanks guys..here's my two takes on the Winged healer:
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COW #80 Winged Healer
The bioluminescent Halo Birds of Reticulus are remarkably beautiful avian creatures. During mating season the female Halo Birds lose thier luminescence and become lethargic and earthbound, in some cases they appear lifeless. In this state the glowing males descend upon them and mate. Almost immediately afterwards the females begin to light up brightly once more and take to the dark skies in an excited state to begin building a nest. This seasonal ritual has dubbed the male Halo Birds with term Winged Healer.

[Sepulverture]

Hey dude. Your environs that you're putting your cows in are looking better and better, not to mention the cows themselves. The healer looks more like some sort of lightning elemental than a healer, although the pure look (all white) was a good choice. Nice contrast and good composition. You might try to add something in there that demonstrates it's ability to "heal". Adding in some of the lifeless looking females getting revived ;).

[ChaoticKnight]

Nice winged healer. I lvoe the designs that are like runes. It makes the piece pop out. Also, I know you were looking for crits on your heart harvester. I think it may be the composition thats a little odd. Theres not enough shown of the bottom right foreground dude to make it worthwhile, so perhaps if you made him coming from the background tunnel it may have made the comp. more aesthetically pleasing. just a thought.
Oh and btw I completely agree with you about finding your own painting style. There is something to be said for learning from people who kick ass though. :)

[TomCardin]

Here is my sketch for the living trap
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and the final image: I changed the creature a great deal. The creature in the sketch was too close to an existing creature in dungeons and dragons...and frankly just not imaginative enough.
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COW #81 Living Trap
The Rugose Cave Worm is a rare denizen of several caves in the Southern Andes. It mimics a stalactite while laying in wait for an unwary victim to pass beneath. Sitting motionless for most of its life it can survive many months between meals. When prey does pass beneath it will emerge from its tube like a shot and quickly yank it up into the air where its struggles are quite futile. Not much is known yet about the mating habits or den building of the Rugose Cave Worms but a film crew is currently documenting a year long study of the mysterious habits of these living traps.

[TomCardin]

Thanks Sepulverture and ChaoticKnight I really appreciate the support and kind words!

Sorry that I haven't had time to post in my sketchbook for a while.

[TomCardin]

My first sketch for arctic undead creature:
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I wasn't happy yet with the creature so I went back to the drawing board and really worked up the "undeadness" of the creature...I was going for something spooky and icky.
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When I brought it into photoshop I went to work on the eyes to make them frightening as I could.
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COW #82 Arctic Undead Creature

Wendigo's howl rose above the blizzard and Nantak new it may be last thing he would ever hear. Soon the snow parted and he beheld the unliving gaze of the spirit of the storm. The eskimo hunter clutched his spear tight and whispered a prayer to his ancestors as Wendigo lurched forward hungrily.

[Sepulverture]

Looking good dude, but something about your work makes it seem grainy... for lack of a better descriptive word to use. Can't really tell what it is though. Hope to see you posting more soon.

[Fishspawn]

Wow, i come back after a few months and you amaze me! Loving all these creatures - you've really improved your ability to show atmosphere and motion. I Think the California Dew Frog is one of my favorite things ever :) (of course i always like watery stuff...) Anyway, only real crit i have to give is that your humanoid hands tend to be lacking in comparison to everything else. They all kind of look the same and not very expressive - hands should show emotion. I think you just have one or two poses your comfortable with - just draw your hand a whole bunch, and when you run out of poses, switch to doing it from a mirror to get a whole other set.

Progress in here is really inspiring, keep rocking :yayca:

[ChaoticKnight]

I like the undead creature, although the background seems a bit too dark to me. If it were a bit lighter and faded everything in the foreground would pop foreward alot more. Im no expert on atmospheric perspective, mind you, but I think it might help it alot. Great creature design!

[Garrett Moffitt]

Great work, as always.
I am going to use "The Rugose Cave Worm" in my game, I hope you don't mind.

[TomCardin]

Sepulverture - do you mean all my work or just the last couple pieces? I have been playing with canvas textures and more textured brushes in the last few which may be causing the graininess you are seeing. Also when I work from a scanned in drawing I have been leaving a lot of pencil work revealed...all attempts to try different things and see what works for me or doesn't. Thanks for the feedback.

Fishspawn - thanks for your praise! I constantly hope to improve. Thanks for the critique about the hands I draw and paint. I don't entirely agree but I will practice in that area.

ChaoticKnight - I played with the lighting on my undead creature a whole lot. I didn't quite get the lighting and I wanted on the creature. I have a long way to go with colors to achieve the level I want to be at. Thanks for your critique.

Garrett Moffitt - "as always"? heck I was never this good before! I like to think I get better with each painting or at least try to improve one aspect or another of myself. Your welcome to use my cave worms...please watch for my future creature of the week entries, hopefully you will find my entries worth voting for as well.

Here's a piece I have been working on sporadically for the last couple weeks..haven't had nearly enough time to just relax and paint - missed the last few creature of the weeks even.
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Its another Lovecraftian beastie

[Sepulverture]

I meant all of your digital work. I don't know if "grainy" is the right word to use or not, but it seemed right at the time. It also seems like a lot of stuff is unnecessarily desaturated.

[TomCardin]

Sepulverture thanks for the feedback. Not sure yet what the graininess you are seeing is...I am assuming so far that its from my pencil work that shows through. About my colors I agree with you, I am still new to color work and tend to shy away from high contrast areas and saturated colors. I am conciously trying to drive myself to improve in those areas.

My first wip for Silver Tooth:
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tightened up things a bunch for my next wip: I am working in a much higher resolution about 2500x3300 and using a lot more custom brushes. Also trying to keep my contrast up...still in greyscale, I want to get it really tight before I color it.
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more detailing on the legs and hands of the creature and built up the background more. I think its about ready for color...going to sleep on it and see what else I want to do with the greyscale image before I start coloring. Also still haven't decided on a color scheme.
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[TomCardin]

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C.O.W. #85 Silver Tooth
A Recently discovered occult book dating from the early middle ages in what is now Hungary sheds some dubious truth to the legends of werewolves. In one particularly unwholesome passage it tells of a several hundred year plague of lycanthropy, a highly infectious disease of the blood which transforms humans into vicious murdering beasts under the light of the moon. Further, it tells of the eventual destruction of the werewolves and the eradication of the dreaded disease. The Silver Tooth was a species bred over many decades by the Monks of Aventur to combat the terror of werewolves. From the description it appears Silver Toothes stood 12 to 15 feet tall and had four powerfull apelike arms ending in prehensile paws to grasp their prey. Their namesake was their silver teeth with which they destroyed the vast population of werewolves. The monks kept their breeding methods secret but it is clear to scientists that the Silver Toothes themselves had lycanthropy in their blood and seem to be a mix of ape and wolf themselves. Bred only to attack and eat werewolves, the Silver Toothes eventually died out once their food supply was exhausted. One final passage hints of a hidden tomb where the Monks laid to rest the last of their creations. Scientists hope to discover this tomb and trace the genome of these creatures.

[TomCardin]

I am currently working on this piece I started a long time ago. Employing a lot of the things I have learned here during the course of doing the creature of the week activities.
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Still a lot of work left to do on her but I am very happy with how she is coming along.

[TomCardin]

Sorry I haven't posted in ages. I developed tedonitis in the wrist and thumb of my drawing hand that basically wouldn't let me hold a pencil without sharp pain.

It's getting better. I have to let it heal fully before I can draw and paint again and even then in moderation and with changes to how I hold my hand while I paint.

I can still use a mouse and type which is enough for me to do my job but my creative duties were seriously curtailed.

I hope to be contributing to my sketchbook and COW again regularly within a couple of months. I had hoped to be healed up enough to do the 100th COW but I don't think it will be.

[TomCardin]

This is a little game design and creative writing exercise I did for the game designer thread happening down in the Lounge.

When someone dies their spirit may be returned by a mage to imbue within a powerful weapon or artifact, thus imbuing that device with intelligence. Often the spirit is virtually enslaved to a purpose and given so little free will that the items intelligence is minimal. In some cases the spirit is given full control over the item it imbues.

which brings us to:

The point of being which was the spirit of Levant drifted aimlessly in a void of nothingness, until a light suddenly appeared. The light shimmered with every hue and tendrils of scintillating color reached towards him and wrapped him in their embrace. Levant was drawn forward and the light exploded around him, filling the void with its brilliance.

Sensations began to flood in on Levant, warmth came first starting in his center and extending outwards, defining his chest and legs and arms and head. Then touch tingled along his skin, he felt the stone slab beneath him and a cool breath of air passed over him and seemingly through him. Sound came next, a voice he had never thought to hear again speaking a single word over and over. Father!

He turned his head towards the voice and the all-encompassing light began to break appart and seperate into forms with definition. He looked upon a lovely brunette woman wearing the distinguished robes of a grand mage, no not just a woman, his daughter, Velace. Older now, all grown up, but strangely smaller. He spoke but the booming voice he heard was not his own "Sweatheart"

His body jerked in suprise and his skin rang against the stone slab like metal. He stopped in stunned silence, and felt his daughters' tiny hands laid upon his arm. Looking down he saw her fingers twining into the delicate tracery of metal that formed the shape of a large forearm. Inside the arm, clearly visible through the lacy metal of his skin, was an armature of rods and complex hinges extending down and bifurcating into a five fingered hand. His eyes flew back to his daughters face and saw the look of love and concern written there.

"Father, everything is all right. You needn't fear your new body, it is beautiful and strong. It is crafted from the adamantine metal of your very own armor and at your heart is the Gem of Visoria the brilliant gem of power which was the diadem of your crown. You are alive again, Father."

He looked down the length of his body, easily twice his former height. His skin a finely crafted wire mesh of curls and contours and arcane designs. Inside, his metal armature was like a finely detailed skeleton each "bone" etched and carved with runes and symbols.

"How long?" was all he could manage to say as indescribable feelings washed over him.

"It has taken many years to construct your body," Velace began. "And I could only begin once I had mastered the arts, you have been gone from your kingdom for eighteen years."

"No," he said, once more turning his focus back to his daughter. "How long do I have, how long will this body last?"

"Father, your body is as indesctructable as your armor which never bore a scratch in all your battles." Her eyes twinkled and a smile played on her lips. "You will live forever!"

[TomCardin]

Another contribution to the game design thread.

A glimpse into the life of a dwarven adventurer:

Brakke was a warrior and it galled him to be fleeing almost naked through this labyrinth of water carved passages. Some time ago the Vilespawn had fallen on him in huge numbers, weighing him down and disarming him even as his hands crushed skulls and twisted the necks of as many of them as he could get hold of. Eventually they wrestled the heavy steel helmet off his head and knocked his skull with an iron banded club, sending him into the void of unconsciousness. Later he awoke to the hissing and spitting sounds of several score Vilespawns arguing amongst themselves in their unholy language. It seemed there were some more interested in killing him for the destruction he had laid upon them instead of carting him alive and well back to their foul master. Dazed at first but quickly gaining equilibrium, Brakke looked around and saw he was in a cavern lit by a central fire where they had made their camp. He could see no sign of his armor or his axe, but his life was what was most valuable to him now. Edging away from the firelight and the black forms of the heatedly arguing Vilespawn he silently crawled to one of several dark openings in the cavern wall. He had run just over a hundred paces down the passage before they realized he was missing and began to shout and cry in dismay.

That was nearly a full day ago and now sounds of pursuit were growing fainter and fainter. Brakke smiled to himself knowing that his pursuers had just entered a large cavern of loose shale and sinkholes that he had skirted several hundred heartbeats earlier. He took a moment to get his bearings again in the maze of natural tunnels. All was in darkness but he could feel and hear and smell the song of the stone all about him. Brakke stretched out his hand to touch the tunnel wall, feeling the grain of the granite and limestone amalgam. The makeup of the stone was not unlike that found throughout Draevenholm far to the north in the mountains of the Aether Wall. He made a small sound with his lips and tongue, listening to the delicate bounce of echoes. There was a void ahead, a big one. Brakke ripped off a small piece of fabric from the filthy linen shift that was the only possession his captors had left him and dropped it on the ground, leaving spore which would hopefully lead his trackers to their doom. Silently, he retraced his steps backwards, each foot falling exactly into the same step that had brought him forward until he reached a narrow opening in the stone directly overhead that he had passed earlier. He reached up and leaped, slapping a hand to each side of the narrow opening and began wriggling up using his fingers and forearms. His wide shoulders barely cleared the hole but he continued on, trusting to the song of the stone to lead him to freedom.

[TomCardin]

I have a general plot idea that fits within the bounds of traditional fantasy genre to throw out here.

this is just written dry, I am not trying for flavor, just an outline of a plot device.

When a demon is slain on "our world", he is banished to "hell" where he must wait for 1000 years before he may return. One of the most ruthless and powerful demons ever seen was slain nearly 1000 years ago and soon the time will come when he can return through the "black gate". The man who slayed this demon was a brilliant leader who eventually took the throne of the "kingdom". He passed the secret of the means of this demons' destruction to his heir, and it has been passed from heir to heir over the last 1000 years, keeping his line securely on the throne all this time. The heirs have ruled well and justly and the land has prospered. Now, only weeks or days before the 1000 year ban is up the current king and holder of this secret is missing. Now the kingdom is being turned inside out to find the king. The lands bravest heroes are marching to the "black gate", prepared to do what they can to stop this demon as soon as it appears. The players' role would be to follow clues to the kings whereabouts, and ultimately discover the secret and be ready to face the demon when it appears.

There is a lot of room to expand on this concept and give flavor and history to the kingdom, the demons, the line of heirs, etc. The bredth and scope is adjustable as well, this could be a demon that would cause limited destruction personally or it could be one which will unite the current evil creatures of the land into an apocolyptic army. The king could be a coward who fled because even with the secret he was not prepared to face the beast. He could have been kidnapped by forces of a rival kingdom knowing that the demon would do so much destruction that hey could come in and conquer the first kingdom easily. Lots of possibilities.

[TomCardin]

All right...she's not nude and she's not all dragon either.

This is a character sketch I have been working on for a bit for my Dragonborn warlord. The character I am playing in my friends 4th edition D&D game. Her name is Sherakk.

[TomCardin]

quick coloring and fixed a few perspective issues with the sketch

[TomCardin]

I am much further along on my Sherakk portrait. I went back to greyscale and refined shapes and lighting and did some rework of anatomy and pose. Also did a quick sketch of a background.

[TomCardin]

wow, one of my best friends I have went through his garage and found boxes of my old D&D stuff. Things I haven't seen for 20 years or more. I love finding artwork I forgot making. One of them was an inked campaign map which I ran down to kinkos had had scanned in. Here is a quick pass at coloring it in photoshop. I really want to do this up good, with lettered titles, textures and colors...so, lots more to do with it.

[TomCardin]

Here is a character I am drawing for a friend.

[TomCardin]

I came across this doodle I had done last year in a note pad.. Scanned it in and played with it some in photoshop. Made it my new desktop wallpaper.

[TomCardin]

Another doodle from my work note pad that I scanned in. I ran it through several filters in photoshop to give the ink lines a slightly painted look.

[TomCardin]

Some more sketches outta my note book. I did find a nice way to get rid of the blue lines in photoshop! Of course it doesn't work when I use a blue pen hehe.

[jatherip]

nice creatures and stuff in here ;) i anyway would recommend some photostudies für you rendering, that will really help you to improve you art!!!!!
keep goin, man!!!

[Philipp Scherer]

hey dude, thank you very much for your suggestion. i´ll try that out, i promise :)
i can see a good progress, but i think you can improve much much faster, draw more regulary draw draw draw. do more studies, seems like you´re only drawing from head.
use references, taht will help you.
anyway i really like you´re last updates. your lines look solid.
i think you have an amazing potential, so go and draw all day long :D
cheers
hope for an new update soon

[TomCardin]

jatherip Thanks for the recommendation, I agree. I know that some of my best drawings are photo studies and location art and I do need to do more of that.

Herrleerzeichens Thank you! Yes I hope you do. I had a great teacher waaaay back in high school that turned me on to a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". I need to draw more as well. If you go back to post #118 you will see the image I was working on when I got struck with tendonitis in the thumb of my drawing hand...that was two years ago and I am still mending, retraining, from that injury. Unfortunately I still can't draw for more than a few minutes at a time before my hand starts to ache. All that you see on this page 5 of my sketchbook are drawings I have done since that injury and its taking a lot of time to even get back into things. Initially I could not even hold a pen for a month.
My work calls on me to draw and sketch a lot so by the time my day is done my hand is usually shot.

Anyhow I am quite happy to be drawing again even if it is very limited.

Thanks guys for your feedback

[TomCardin]

Yeah I have finally finished something!
My map to the Wilderlands of Lords. This is about 1/4 of the final resolution...its still fairly legible and shouldn't be too big for viewing.

[Lander]

That is one serious pice of map you have there. You have some really naughty critters in here. One I like is the "living trap". I like the concept and the light/atmosphere.
Keep em comming :)

[TomCardin]

Lander - Hey thanks for visiting and sharing some kind words!

Here is a map I recently finished. I posted this up on wizards of the coasts D&D forum for free use.

[mearrin69]

Strange. Don't think my other reply made it. Apologies in advance if I double post.

Followed the link in your sig from Cartographer's Guild. Some nice stuff in here. I've been a fan of your mapping style and it turns out your other artwork is just as impressive. It was great to watch your progress from the beginning of the sketchbook. Nice work.
M

[Sapiento]

Hi! I joined CA yesterday. Just wanted to say hello to fellow mapmaker!

[Garrett Moffitt]

All your dragons always look tough as hell, and the Dragonborn is no exception.

[Garrett Moffitt]

...One of the most ruthless and powerful demons ever seen was slain nearly 1000 years ago and soon the time will come when he can return through the "black gate"...

I now have a outline to my next game.

[torstan]

Pretty map :)

Very nice sketchbook. Your figures are looking great.

[TomCardin]

Hello,
Sorry it has been quite a while since my last update. It looks like my hand has healed as much as it is going to which is not too great, I still get pain if I overdo my drawing. That aside I have still been developing my digital painting skills though not in the directions I was initially going.

Here is a dump of the mapping projects I have been working on:

[TomCardin]

This is a departure from my typical production path. Here I used illustrator a great deal. Photoshop was just for the initial sketch and some final touches.

It was a fun exercise. I use illustrator a lot in my work but this is the first purely figurative piece I have done with it.

[Sapiento]

Hello,
Sorry it has been quite a while since my last update. It looks like my hand has healed as much as it is going to which is not too great, I still get pain if I overdo my drawing. That aside I have still been developing my digital painting skills though not in the directions I was initially going.

Here is a dump of the mapping projects I have been working on:

Interesting style for the maps, Tom.