Monster on the Move - MonsterKill's Sketchbook 2007

[Turisas]

Hello there, fellow artists and critics!

I've been checking this place for quite a while now, and I had an old account which got mutilated by a hacker of some sort.
Anyways, I'm not very familiar with this place yet, But I did decide to start my own little sketchbook. Propably one of those rare occasions of 15 year olds having one here.
Also, I hope there isn't any restrictions on updates. I'm not good at being precise with times. Maybe I'll update weekly. Or monthly. Or yearly. I don't know, but lets see.

Let's start off with the sketching. Here's a quick practice on some skulls and a few basic heads plus a quick shading practice.

[Dile_]

Welcome to CA man! :) Nice drawings and i really hope you take part in the spirit here on CA and im sure you'll improve cause you'll sure not get any more baby critiques anymore :) Keep updating!

~Dile

[Jasper_]

Hey man, good start, theres not enough yet to give criticism, so just keep posting whenever you can.

[Turisas]

Meh.... Some muscle structure doodles. Out of my head. I'll see my anatomy book for corrections later.

[Chermilla]

Welcome, welcome, welcome!!!

I like the muscle studies, they look cool. Especially the shaded one.

Cx

[Turisas]

Chermilla: Thank you. I'm quite sure there's a huge amount of flaws in them, though. I'll see if I'll check today later, in the evening.


Sooner or later today I'll add in some humanoid and... non-humanoid(?) creature, freak and/or monster concepts, people. See you then.

[Dile_]

Yes there is a huge amount of flaws in them, get a mirror and look at your own arm, if you tense your arm you'll know that some muscles grow.. the muscles that grow is always the same, only more or less exaggerated :) same with the whole arm kinda, it always have the same structure.. so you can learn how to draw huge muscles by drawing a lot from life and studying only yourself you know. however, my advice is to get references, loomis , bridgman and hogarth is the shit to learn anatomy!

keep it up :)

~Dile

[Turisas]

Just a sci-fi dude doodle. Because I'm a lazy bastard.

[Blade-14]

A doodle that shows untold promise if worked on and fleshed out! hope we see a finished version someday.

Good start to the book as always, im watching ya! :)

[Looped_Warrior]

very cool start, cant wait to see more...

[Turisas]

Blade-14: Thanks. Trust me on this one: You wont see it finished. No one will.

Looped_Warrior: Thanks. If you can't wait... eeeh... well, that's too bad. Keep on waiting.


Edit:
Thought of putting in an old sketch of mine just to be a prick. I changed my mind. Also, sorry for not drawing those monsters. It doesn't quite work when listening to Daft Punk. I need a Slipknot/Children of Bodom/other metal day to do so. Lets see if I find my monstrous side of the inspiration that is... well, screw it. Enough with the long message.
Enjoy your stay.

[Turisas]

Sketchy monster did on a paintchat type of a thing. Wont be finishing it. But I might use the same concept some other time.

[Turisas]

Muscle structure practice and a silly head. This time with an anatomy book. I finally got some space to read that book and draw at the same time in.

Edit:
And dont mind that polka dude. I just felt like doing something stupid without the anatomy book.

[Turisas]

A plague marine made in CA's sketcher. Sketchy and badly coloured. Didn't feel like continuing it any longer.

[Turisas]

More Warhammer40,000 stuff. This time I designed a quick Dreadnought.

[Turisas]

More designing for my WH40K army.

[Blade-14]

Dreadnought recreation looks real solid, love that piece. keep pushing yeah?

[Turisas]

Blade-14: I'll try to. Thanks for the comment.

[Turisas]

Felt like designing a simple airship.

[Turisas]

A monster WIP (Will post the finished picture, too) inspired by the art of Ben Olson (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82014)

[Turisas]

Next step. I really screwed up some parts.

[Hampus.]

I can see that you have played and painted a lot of Warhammer ;)
Both on the design on the last one, and the highlights of the last one (looks like typical "warhammer highlights" :P)
Really nice work by the way, keep it up! Like your style!


And yeah, sry for my bad english.

[Turisas]

Hampus: Yeah, well, I don't play WH40K yet, and I have no models, but the art of GW has always inspired me... thank you for the comment. And your English ain't really that bad. Just keep practicing on the long words and language rules and you'll be good =P


Anyways, next part of the monster... Haven't fixed the actual beast yet, I'll do that next time. Decided to do a background of sort for now.

[Turisas]

Hay guyz, guess whut?

[Turisas]

Oh, look, I fucked it all up! Yay me!

[Turisas]

He's pissed, alright. You promised him cookies and you had none. Shame on you.

[amer-nazri]

Welcome, sketchgroup no 42 member! The time of crits is upon you. Your monster at post 21 has really nice colour and tones, but in post 25, it became overly colour-dodged, so much that the nice dirty tones you had is now gone, and replaced by dark silhouettes. I would suggest that before you start sketching digitally, put a neutral background colour such as grey, so that they real whites are only left for the parts which are directly exposed to light. Just keep experimenting all the time. Great imagination!

[Katfayheirti]

Hey, Monsterkill! :3 I love your monster designs! That creature in post #21 is pretty sweet! I definately see some progress since you started posting in here. You are no longer using the airbrush tool and your knowlage of form and value has definately progressed. I think one of the reasons that creature in post #25 is frustrating to work with is that you originaly drew it on a white BG, then put it on a solid black BG. Most of the time backgrounds will never be solid black in real life (even at night) due to atmospheric perspective. Try saving the harsh lights and darks for the focal point in the foreground and using more muted, neutral shades in the BG.

[Turisas]

amer-nazri: Thank you for the critique, tip and comment. I've noticed that my colourworks always have missed something when I started working on them. Never knew what. And now, as I tried out something, I noticed that the neutral background was the thing that was missing.

Katfayheirti: Same reply as above. Thanks.

[Moai]

In addition to the crits by our other sketchgroupies, I'm going to offer you this one: avoid using pure black and pure white in your paintings. Also, for shadows and highlights, change the hue as well as the value. Simply adding black or white to create shadows and highlights gives a dirty, flat feeling. Think about what color your light source is and the color of the surroundings of what you're rendering.
A simplified example: you have a green sphere sitting on a blue carpet, with golden morning sunshine coming in through the window. The lit portions of the sphere will be affected by the color of the light and will be more yellowish. The portion of the sphere facing away from the light would be more bluish, because it would be reflecting the blue of the carpet. The intensity of the hue shift would be determined by how reflective or dull the surface texture of the sphere was, but that's getting more complicated.
I'm no expert, so take that advice with a grain of salt.:wink:
I really like your Olson-inspired creature! I especially like those little grates in its mouth and chest. Keep up with your anatomy studies, keep imagining, and keep updating. See you around.:rendered:

[Yautja892]

Hey fellow SSG member, I really enjoy the creature designs, I'm a big fan of creatures/characters :) I think you should pick out one your designs you are doing and really flesh him, and then start painting him up. Also suggest working on some anatomy studies, or if you can, do some life figure studies. I think if you really get the form/muscle, anatomy down and apply those studies on your own creations they will improve greatly. Keep pushing.

[Turisas]

Moai: Thank you for the critique and tip! Very much apprechiated! Quite useful information. =P
And yeah, I love the concept of monsters having mechanical, metal and scrap stuff on them. For example the grates.

Yautja892: Thank you and yes, I'm currently studying anatomy off of a book I have. The best time I have is the weekends, so, maybe you'll get anatomy studies over here more weekendly. Also, I might use my old designs later for some new ideas and/or works. keep on rockin'.

[Turisas]

Guess who!? :D

[theredshoe]

In addition to the crits by our other sketchgroupies, I'm going to offer you this one: avoid using pure black and pure white in your paintings. Also, for shadows and highlights, change the hue as well as the value. Simply adding black or white to create shadows and highlights gives a dirty, flat feeling. Think about what color your light source is and the color of the surroundings of what you're rendering.


i agree with this. from what i learned, in traditional painting, for shadows, the formula for it is the color of the object + the darkest opposite hue (whats the proper term?)

i.e. : if you have a yellow ball, the shadow part of the ball would be a dark purple.


i also enjoy your monster designs. which actually inspires me to do some as well. another advice that was given to me that i too need to follow is that a background is just as important as a character. so we need to put as much time in our backgrounds as our characters, i suppose?

[Turisas]

theredshoe: thank you for the tips, I'll keep those in mind. :P

Anyways, here's a little anatomy practice out of my head. I'll check the mishaps from the book tomorrow.
He's dancing his victory dance!

PS. Fellow SSG-ers, I'll try to reply your threads tomorrow. Right now my hands are dead and it's late. Cheers!

[bgbleep]

Your art seems like it is very natural to you.

[Moai]

Good portrait of a really bad person! The structure of the face seems pretty sound to me; the only part that stands out as maybe needing some work is the brow/eye region. For drawing heads and faces, a book I'd highly recommend is Burne Hogarth's Drawing the Human Head. Creative title, huh? Anyway, it gives a very solid foundation on the form of the head.
There are definite errors in the anatomy study, but I don't know too much about that and anyway, you have your book to look at. As an aside, Queen's "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" is stuck in my head right now, and your guy's victory dance fits the mood well.:P

[Yautja892]

Hey MonsterKill, the last too are nice, you have the likeness down pretty well in post #33, and the anatomy studies actually isn't to bad for being out of your head, it seems a little off in places, but really it works. I think if you lef out some of the harsher shading the anatomy might read a little better. Keep posting, I want to see some fully finished pieces, give me give me. :)

[Turisas]

bgbleep: Monsters, freaks and machines... hmm... Very natural. Thanks, though.

Moai: Thanks for the tip, I'll check the book out. Maybe I'll find it at a local book shop.
Good luck getting the song out of your head. It seems I wasn't very helpful. :D

Yautja892: Thanks. Oh, and I really have no finished pieces. The last actual finished piece is from.. what, 2002? I'm more of a sketch guy. But I'll promise you'll see some finished works here.


I'm very sorry that I haven't replied your threads and haven't posted on my own either, fellow SSG'ers. I haven't been drawing much in the few days, and CA has been slow for some days. Took me something near 20 minutes to get on my own thread. Oh, and I wasn't on one day. Anyway, I'll reply as soon as CA will let me on your threads, guys.
But for now, meet Stubbs the cultist!

Edit:
Of course when I say about the slowness, it goes high speed. Works just Fii-i-iine now. (As I wrote that, the site slowed down again. Yay. How ironic.)

[theredshoe]

interesting design you got on this one. although, wheres the other hand? i really like the idea but i think to push this pose even further is instead of having his hand in a fist, have it be tense and fingers stretched out. hands can show a lot of emotions as well. also having him holding a staff or some prop might be cool as well.

proportions as always. i feel like theres a good story behind this character as well which is such a hard thing to pull off sometimes. so cool, its a good start but id like to see more.

best,
red

[Turisas]

theredshoe: Thanks for the tips. As for the fist, I have drawn too many open hands lately, and aren't very good at posing hands, so I want to practice that a bit now.
Also, for the question "where's the other hand", didn't you wonder why I call him Stubbs? Check the upper part of that arm, it's (poorly. Can't draw, yay) bandaided(?) and theres a knot in the end. Um... yeah. Maybe I should have drawn that a bit clearer, or made the stubbed arm shorter.
Also, I'll maybe sometimes give a little story on some pics.
Cheers, mate!

[theredshoe]

oh nice. i didnt catch that at all! i do like this chaaracter not having another arm, it makes it more dynamic because its not the norm. but yeah, i didn't catch that right away.

[Moai]

Cool character! Your anatomy is definitely improving. The pectorals seem a little strange; they down to the outside more than you'd expect from a muscular, non-saggy character such as this. The head needs the most work: the face is too big, while the cranium is much too small, and the jaw seems rather strangely shaped. Hogarth's book helps with all of this.
One last crit is that the character's pose is rather off balance. His head and torso are leaning too far back. Think of where the character's center of gravity is. If he's standing with his feet apart, it'll be between the feet, but if he's putting his weight on one foot, it'll be on that same foot. To seem balanced, the character's head should be exactly above that point.
I'm likin' the design, and the improvement in the art.:rendered: See ya next update.

[Turisas]

Moai: Thank you for the useful critique! Much apprechiated!


Anyhow, now something done in ArtGrounds Sketcher, just for fun.
A cyberskeleton cyborg/robot army. Inspired by necrons of Warhammer 40,000.

[JellevdVegt]

looking good keep it up

[Dile_]

Wow, you have one of the best SSG's i have ever seen on CA! kudos to all you people who left critique to monsterkill.

Nice sketches latly , your deviantart profile and gallery won't load for me.. So i don't know if thats your recent updates here or not.
However, the last one is really nice, its not so typical you, so its nice to see variations :) Keep drawing and studying! And don't be so modest man! haha

Although, it must suck in the long run when someone steals your sketchbook ^^

~Dile

[Turisas]

Teh Gosu: Thanks.

Dile: Thanks. And yeah, that small red skelewarrior was the thing I was about to show you.
Also, yes, I'm glad that I got SSG'ers that gives proper critique. Lucky to get in =P
And indeed, it sucks losing a sketchbook. Lucky enought that I didn't have more than 20 pages of sketches on it.

[Yautja892]

Awesome bot MonsterKill, good to see more color stuff from you. When can I see a fully finished piece...... please give me give me. Think you could easily take one of these guys further, maybe you could even do a full body version of that cool robot, I don't know just some suggestions. I forget who said it, I think void, is that you will learn alot more by doing a long polished piece then many sketches. Want to see more please.

[Turisas]

Yautja892: Well you seem... over-excited?... I'll see if I'll make some full character working sometime. Right now I don't have the inspiration for it.

[amer-nazri]

Hey there! I dig your Hitler sketch, you got the likeness there. I think an advice is to add more midtones, not too dark and not too light, and just add lights where necessary. This will make it pop! I'm also trying to add more value to my sketches without going overboard, which I always do. I find that using a rubber pen to rub out highlights is also a good way to create highlights. Cya next update!

[Turisas]

amer-nazri: Thank you for the tip :P Cheers!

Okay, a muscle study I did in ArtGrounds Sketcher. I screwed the arms up. All three of them.

[Moai]

The robot picture is nice. Simple and striking. No real critiques for it, except that the shadows seem very black. I opened it in photoshop, so I know the shadows aren't pure black, but maybe put a bit more of a hint of color in the shadows?
The anatomical sketch is also pretty good. The muscles all seem to be in the right places. The forearm seems very thick, and the head is inaccurate, but those are my only crits. I'd suggest focusing on head and skull studies, to get the proportions and forms down.
One more thing, that last one is digital? I would have sworn it was a pencil sketch. Wow.

[Turisas]

Moai: Thank you for the critiques. I'll make sure I'll use them for advantage on my next works.
Yes, the last on is digital. Sketcher has a great pencil tool. :P
Cheers!

[theredshoe]

hey monster:

nice updates here. as moai said, i think it would make your robot sketch better if you add hints of colors in the shadows; like have the silhouettes of the other soldiers be a slightly different color than the shadow. cool concept though. and the bright eyes in the dark always gives a piece a creepy mood.

as for the anatomical study, good job, just keep doing it. i love looking at my old anatomical studies from say a year back because it really shows that we all improve. might be slow but its noticeable!

[Turisas]

theredshoe: Thanks. And yes, it's intresting to look at old works and maybe give a laugh at them. Usually when I see a work I used to be very proud of some months ago, I laugh hard under my handpalm. :D
Cheers!


Okay, now just something stupid.
Heaven or Hell... Round 1... LET'S ROCK!

PS. I'm getting back to your sketchbooks later, SSG'ers. I'm going to be a bit busy today, but I'll see what I can to. Plus my dog is about to crap all over the house.

[Dile_]

Great stuff! Look up this thread and get those book down! at least those about anatomy!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1280135

~Dile

[theredshoe]

theredshoe:

Okay, now just something stupid.
Heaven or Hell... Round 1... LET'S ROCK!



haha isnt that from guilty gear?

[Turisas]

Dile: thanks, I'll check them out.

theredshoe: Yes... But I guess it goes "Duel 1". But yeah... I pity the little guy :P

[BludHund]

You've got some really good ideas and images here, Monsterkill, Seriously. But you really need to clean up your lines. And on your colored/painted pieces, you need to make things less muddy, bold but smooth.

[Turisas]

BludHund: Thanks for the tips. I'll try to keep that in mind.

[Moai]

That sketch is pretty cool, but it has many of the anatomical errors that I've also seen in your previous sketches. The heads aren't proportioned correctly; there are errors in the muscles of the upper arm (for example, the deltoid muscle seems to be going all the way down to the elbow); and finally, the pectoral muscles seem to be slanting too much to the outside, giving them more of a saggy and less of a hard, muscular appearance. I think you really ought to start doing studies of these things, if you aren't doing so already. There's a recent thread in the lounge that links to some downloadable PDFs of some excellent Bridgman anatomy books. Bridgman has the best books I've yet found on human anatomy; they're the perfect blend of straight anatomical information (muscles and bones) and more artistic things (proportions, simplified forms, etc.). That'd be an excellent place to start, since it's great information for free.
Despite all my criticisms, that's a very decent sketch. With some more study, your sketches could become truly great.
See you next update!

[Turisas]

Moai: Thanks, I downloaded one of the books. Seems great so far. I do have an actual book, too, though. Classical but nice.
I apprechiate how you use your time on the comments. I honour and bow to that. Thank you

And now, a few simple doodles. After this I might be away for a while, just as a warning to you SSG'ers.
First update with multiple pictures. Yay. I'm real lazy.
Now to sleep.

[Katfayheirti]

Hey nice last couple of sketches. :3 I'm sorry I havn't been able to super-post like Moai. The latest portrait pieces do seem a tad bit static and all of your heads tend to tilt to the left. Are you right-handed? I like your "IT'S SMASHING TIME!" piece better. It's light and fun and has a nice tension between the characters in it. The big guy standing over the little dude adds such a nice narrative quality to the piece that the caption could almost be irrelevant.

Well, have fun on your trip!

P.S. -anatomy books can be very usefull, but it is best to study from the real thing whenever possible. The easiest thing to do is to find a mirror, make stupid poses in it and draw yourself. Go crazy, have fun and don't be afraid to make mistakes. Fear makes things look stilted and both confidence and experience make things flow (I can tell you're gaining those two qualities already.)

[Turisas]

I'm back! Got a full page of sketches on my new sketchbook done. I might scan the pages someday; maybe when I get 10 pages full.

Katfayheirti: Yes, I'm right handed. Thanks for the tips, too.

Now a little something I did as a quickie; A goblin warrior. Might do something bigger soon.

EDIT:
Oops, forgot the pic, lawlzerz.

[Dile_]

I don't think the last one is very nice to be from you, and i do think that is because you challenged yourself to a point where you didn't really know what to do... Which is good! I belive those kind of pieces, where something becomes overworked is very good, and will help you improve your technical skill, and hopefully make you realize what you need to work on.. before you have kinda stayed in your comfort zone... its great to see you study anatomy, but the stuff you draw have still been in your comfort zone ^^
The last one is bad because of the fact that you did a huge step out of your sketchy-line zone, and jumped onto a technical-rendering, which is great !
so basicly, keep doing those and the quality will increase as you get more comfortable with doing them! This is a way to improve and get better / get a bigger variation in art/skill, hehe keep doing this stuff! it will only give you
more experience
!!
-Dile

[Turisas]

Dile: Thanks pal. Yes, I know I've been, metaphorically speaking, hiding in my fortress. When I sketched that, I decided that I'd give it a shot. Screwed it up, but didn't give up, and so on.
Soo... yeah, I'm going to try more of such works, and more actively, study them and practice more, read tutorials, draw from real life and so on. I'll reach out my territory from the fortress from now on. =P
Thank you for the comment!

[Moai]

Nice updates! The sketches at the top of the page (congrats on making it into page two, by the way) are some of your best yet. The first portrait is well proportioned and has some evidence of a good underdrawing. The face doesn't seem to have much structure, though (bones and planes). The second portrait has better structure and also some good proportions, though the head's a bit too narrow to be realistic. And the third portrait is just plain awesome.:D
As for your colored pieces, they need some work. Painting of any kind is damn hard at the beginning, and digital painting presents its own difficulties. The best way to get better is to simply paint often, and submit what you do for constant scrutiny and criticism, which you are doing.:rendered: As you go you'll learn more about how colors and values work with each other, where to use soft and hard brush strokes, and many other aspects of painting. As for some crits, you use too much black in your shadows. Shadows often have a bit of reflected light from the environment in them. So, your guy in post number sixty two would likely have a lot of orange in his shadows, rather than pure black. As another crit, or maybe just an observation, he looks an awful lot like Boba Fett (as well as Vile from Megaman X).:P
See ya next update.

[Turisas]

Moai: Thanks for all the help you've given! I wish I would be that good at critizicing. :) Also, yeah, I tried more of a Star Wars-ish approach on that one guy.
Thanks once more! I wish I could have the ability to choose my words better for such a great comment, but I simply can't.

Anyhow, I'm trying something new. I have observed the little thing called thumbnails, and actually I noticed how much they affect on the designs.
As for this, I like how the design turned out; Small torso and head, huge limbs.
I don't know if I'll finish this properly.
Also as a side note; the actual size I'm working this on is 2000x3000px. So it might take me a while with the details. I love detailing.. so, yeah :]
Also I'm trying a new colouring style, inspired by Niklas Jansson. Lets see how it works out in the end.

[Moai]

Before you go on, take a lookie-look at this.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/metalukesurfer/longwalker-help.jpg

I opened your WIP in photoshop and drew a vertical line down from its head, which represents its center of gravity. I then drew diagonal lines down to its feet, to show what is supporting the robot. Notice how much farther away from the center of gravity one line is than the other. This gives a sense of it precariously leaning to our left. To fix this, you can either move its right leg out further, so that the distance of the two legs from the center of gravity is equal, or you can leave the leg where it is, but straighten it, and then realign its "hips" and torso so that they tilt more up to its right (our left). Stand with your weight centered over one leg and observe what your own hips and shoulders do, and apply that to this robot's pose.
Awesome robot, by the way. I love all of its little mechanical parts, especially those hydrolic things in its torso. Can't wait to see how it comes along!

[Turisas]

Moai: I see your point there, and I know its that way in most humanoid machine/creature cases. But, it can be a tad different. as it is, it's head is not on the middle (I will point that out more in the next step), but a bit forward. Let me demonstrate:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/metalukesurfer/longwalker-help.jpg
This is how you showed it; (Seems like) The head is in the middle and the center gravity is off. The mistake I did in this (which I didn't want to happen) was that the head really seems like it's in the center.

But as it is, the center gravity on my design isn't on the head, but more on the spine and upper torso. Look at this, for example: It's clear that if you look from it's head, it is badly unbalanced, but as the head is further away from the torso, the spine, torso and the wings give counterbalance. (http://www.wargamezone.net/mygallery/daemon_prince/daemon_lateral1_640.jpg) Just like in my design, but as in my design the head is not so far away from the middle, it doesn't require as much weight to the back.
So, here is what I got from it:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/7959/nimetntm6.jpg

Yes, it's still a tad unbalanced, but not as much when you look at it.
I hope I didn't sound too defencive, but as a thought that maybe the center of gravity isn't always the head.
Thanks for taking the time, though. A lot apprechiated, and I'll keep what you said in mind. I dont want an arguement unfold from this little thing. :blahblah: :)

[Moai]

Ah, okay. Now it's clearer to me. Nevermind my previous crit, then!:rendered:

Edit: Do you have any of those thumbnails that you could show us?

[theredshoe]

yes, thumbnailing is awesome. that process has given me the coolest shapes i never wouldve normally thought of in the first place. remember, your first idea is always the most clichéd idea. feng zhu, is one of the top concept artists in the industry and he makes inspiring robots :D!!

[Turisas]

Moai: Nooooo.... But I can make some sometime. Oh and I will never "nevermind" critique. As it is, you gave me a nice technique of cheking the usual humanoids' balance. I didn't know that yet. So, thanks. =)

theredshoe: Yeah, mine is pretty cliché.. Thanks for the name, I'll look him up sometime.


Anyways, non-art update... I went to a cafe today and yesterday to learn sketching more realistic faces. I ordered a cup of (ULTRA-DELICIOUS) cappuccino and took my sketchbook from my backpack. Yesterday I was unlucky, though. I chose a bad spot and there wasn't many costumers.
Today, though, I had great luck. Cappuccino was EVEN BETTER than yesterday, I got to choose a nice spot and the place was full of people. And I got out of school at 10am so I had a lot of time. Anyhow, I had a setback today too. My hand died on me. So I went to buy my grandpa's medicines. When I got back, they kicked me out. "Paying costumers only". Darnit.
Anyhow, I'll do this next Wednesday, too, and I'll show you the sketches I got plus some earlier skeetchbook stuff.
So... yeah...
Cheers!

EDIT:

Okay, maybe I can give you a progress shot of the darn mech.

[Moai]

Cool WIP, man! Nice job on the destruction in the background. I'd up the contrast on the robot to make it stand out a bit more, though, and I'd also make it so that the tip of his gun isn't covered. And at the moment, the little spot of blood is claiming the most attention, because it's the only vivid color. Perhaps add some blood splatters up on the robot's torso, or something.
Anyway, not much else to crit at the moment, as it's obviously a WIP. Can't wait to see how it goes!

[Turisas]

Moai: Thanks for the critique again, man. I'll try my best changing some of it.

Anyhow... Here's a few silly doodles I did in sketcher. Both a tad blurry but... blergh.

PS. Could someone throw me a few links on some water painting tutorials? I couldn't find any myself. Would be much apprechiated.

[theredshoe]

cool wip on the robot; i agree with maoi, it would work more if you work out your values. the robot does tend to get lost in the bg.

as for a water tut. this is pretty small, but yeah...


http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c345/theredshoe/tutorial-big.jpg

let me know if you want the rest of the article =]

[Moai]

Yeah, sketcher has a tendency to blur things up like that. I'd say what the first one needs is a few lighter tones on the beach sand and some whitish lines to show the surf lapping on the beach. The second sketch is nice, but the way the water lines go parallel to the shore is kinda weird and messes with the sense of depth, somewhat. I really don't know what to say about it, though, since I almost never draw water, I just realized.:S Guess I should practice that too, huh?:D For some crits on that, I'd say to "solidify" the reflections in the water a bit, and get rid of those darn blacks in the shadows. Other than that, I really like this piece! It has this simple, charming, video-game like quality. Also, good job including some reflected blues in the cube's shadow.:wink:
See ya later!

[Turisas]

theredshoe: Yeah, I do want that! Seems nice. If you can get it for me, thank you in advance. :D

Moai: Thanks for the critique and tips. Again. Gosh, I've been lazy when it comes to criticizing.

Fellow SSG'ers!
I'm really sorry I havent been replying to your sketchbooks. Again... I feel ashamed...-
-VERY ashamed.
But school is driving me nuts. I'll see if I get to comment later today.
Sorry once again.

Also, thanks everyone who has helped me by critique and links! Special thanks to Moai and Dile, who really spends time on critique and tips and gives links and suggestions.
---Thank you!---

Oh, guess what day it is!
That's right, Wednesday. And guess what else... I went to the cafe and sketched more... But... YOU WILL NEVER GET THEM! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAAHAHRG HBLABRAGHBLAGHRBLARGH!

Okay, just kidding. I'll edit this post when I have the pics scanned, as I promised. Will take a while.


EDIT:

Well, that didn't take as long as expected... Anyways, my scanner kind of screwed up the saturation, Most of them have lighter tones than they really have. Sooo... yeah...
Okay, I also found out I have 10 full pages done and one on the works....
Now, it's time to upload the 10 pages. They're kinda big.

EDIT#2:

I also sketched a plague marine yesterday *adds on the uploads*

[Yautja892]

Wow MonsterKill, crazy improvement you have made since I last visited, sorry about not commenting in awhile, I was sick for awhile and just finished up with my finals for this semester, but I'm back to normal now. Its great to see all the sketches.

Glad to see such a diverse range of subject matter you have in the recent post, the only thing that really stands out are some of the faces seem to be stretched out in their proportions, nothing but more practice won't fix. I'm also really happy you are experimenting with color more. I'm really likeing the loose brush stokes in post #64, and also the third sketch in post #62 awesome expression, made me laugh. Also forgot to comment on the page with all the little thumbs, really great has a lot of action in them. It would be really cool to see what you do with that robot painting, it has a great design to it. :) Overall, you have made some great progress recently,keep up with your sketching, and taking your book out to places constantly and you will improve greatly. Good stuffz.... until next time. :)

[Moai]

Awesome update, man! Just awesome! Fantastic variety in there! There are some real gems in some of these pages. It's great to see that you're tackling a lot of different subjects. It definitely makes drawing more fun.:rendered:
Looking through the images, I have two main crits. First, just work on your pencil technique. Make the lines smoother and less scratchy. And secondly, get a book and study the structure, forms, and proportions of the head. On most of your head sketches, the craniums are too small in relation to the faces, amongst other, smaller proportional issues. The proportions are especially bad on your drawn-from-imagination skulls--no offense.
Not really a "super-crit" from me this time, but I hope it helps.:rendered:

[Turisas]

Yautja892: Thank you for the comment! Very much apprechiated. I know I couldn't really type such a long message about things, so really, I apprechiate what you did there A LOT.

Moai: Thanks for all the crit again, Moai. You don't see me, but I have bowed down to You almost every time You (Yes, capital Y) have given me something important/useful that I haven't thought of myself. I really apprechiate that :]

Now, I stopped doing the robot for a while, and decided to start a project I have thought of doing a long time. (http://monsterkill.deviantart.com/journal/11943942/) I won't show the completed images untill I have finished them all, but I'll show "teasers". I'll practice shading with this project, as the images only has a certain colour.
This first teaser is from the Black Legion wallpaper.


EDIT:

As no one has commented, I believe I can add the next teaser here. This time, World Eaters!
I stopped the Black Legion for a while, because PS crashed and it wasn't very motivative to start doing the background all over again.


EDIT#2:

Again, no comments, so I'll continue this post.
A few arm studies. I accidentally flipped the hand wrong way on the first pic (left side).


EDIT#3:

Aand again. I guess I'll bump this thread next week if nothing happens.
Anyhow, another picture. and I even recorded the making of it. Yay.
Here's the YouTube link. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=A_R0rPknpnM) And added the image to the bottom.

[amer-nazri]

Awesome update! The arm study is really cool, as well as the gunman, good use of colour. Its important to get a harmony with the colours, and i think you managed to capture that. Now, you can take it further by analysing the surface,and differentiating the surfaces. The gunman's armor will probly be reflective and metallic, and have a lot of specularity. Adding the different surface qualities( ths is best done with reference)will really make him pop out of the picture. Later!

[Moai]

Sorry for the lack of comments, man! I'll try to make up for it with a good critique.
Nice rendering and lighting on the Warhammer-ish guy. However, everything seems to be the same value and texture. The metal of his armor would probably be more reflective than the cloth or his hair, for example. Make some objects on his person generally darker and others lighter.
The arm study is lookin' good. The only crit that I have is that the deltoid muscle should be much more prominent. The top of the arm looks kinda naked without it.
In the next image, the hand in the middle looks really good, but the two arms to either side are kinda mixed. The anatomy in the arm to the upper left is pretty good, though the extensor muscles seem rather small compared to the other muscles, and the hand is kinda funky (the thumb is misshapen and up too close to the other fingers). The brushwork in the lower right arm gives it a texture somewhat like crumbly cornbread, so consolidate your brushstrokes to give it a smoother, less grainy appearance.
That last image is your strongest digital piece yet, I think. The color scheme is really nice. You have some nice bright primaries (red, yellow, and blue), while the rest is muted while still sticking to the main scheme. Very good. I also like the reflections of the guy's various lights on his armor, but I have some critiques on that. The side of the guy's left thigh should have a bit of a highlight from the red light on his right thigh. I can't really tell if the red on the top of his chestplate is another light or a reflected highlight from his face light. If it's reflected light, it's too bright. The blue lights from his gun should also cause a few blue reflected lights on the armor. Now, some crits for the background. There should be some darker shadows on the and on the side of the buildings, to show the intensity of the light from the fire (not too dark though, so the shadows don't compete with the guy's shadows). Also, are you using layers? I ask because in this piece's background, as well as in the background of your earlier robot piece, the brushstrokes in the background stop just short of the gunman's silhouette, like you're afraid of accidentally drawing over him. If the guy and the background were in different layers, this wouldn't be a problem.
Your art is getting stronger and stronger, man. Keep it up! And sorry again for waiting so long to comment.:(

[Turisas]

amer-nazri: Thanks. Yeah, I kind of forgot about the reflection thing. It was basically done to test out Camtasia, so... yeah... Excuses, lol.

Moai: Thanks you for the great critique. I'm sort of tired, so I'll answer shortly... well, the end part of your message, actually.
I used two layers. But I forgot all about them half way. So, basically there's only one... yeeeah..
And about the waiting... Five days. It's no biggy =)


Now a portrait try-out. Doesn't look like Jenna Jameson (http://images.askmen.com/galleries/model/jenna-jameson/pictures/jenna-jameson-picture-5.jpg) at all. I f'ed up the whole construction of her face. Go me, woo. :|
I need to practice patience and measuring faces.

EDIT:
Removed the shadow and a bit off the neck.

[Yautja892]

Hey MonsterKill nice updates. Good to see your doing some studies, keep doing those. As for the painting, the color scheme is nice. I think maybe the composition of it could use some work. Maybe move the character to the left or right more so he's not dead center in the image. Also just to keep the image more interesting would be to think more about what you want in the foreground, middle ground and background. I think something that might help you is to just spend more time on a piece. Like the robot piece you posted earlier or the current painting wip.

[Turisas]

Yautja892: Thanks for the tips.


Now, I want to learn to shade metal properly... Gonna practice that and portraiture more.

[theredshoe]

someone's been playing gears of war and watching 300... and possibly warhammer? hehe. the value on your last update is great! really you just have to keep on comming back and forth to it, and i assure you 40 HOURS LATER, you will get the look you are looking for.

also, metal pieces have scratches and are never perfectly smooth and shiney. =]

[Moai]

That last value study is great! You're starting to separate the values and textures, which is good. No real crits for that.
The portrait is okay. It has some good points and some bad ones. It doesn't really look like the face in that image (once I managed to pull my eyes up from lower in the image :perv::D), but it still has a good structure and a lot of personality. Her left eye it too small, or her right eye is too big (I think it's the former). I think that the colors and values are what need the most work in this piece. Everything's so pale and high-key. Look at the skin tone in the photo. It has a much more saturated, rosy color. It's important to introduce some color variety with skin tones (not that I paint them much, hehe). Add hints of red in places and little hints of blue or even green in the shadows. Also, the values don't describe the form as well as they could. Her nose, for example, doesn't really seem to rise out of her face, because the side that should be catching the light really isn't.
Kinda rambling. In short, use more color in your skin tones, and use values that describe the form better. Have fun. See ya next update.

[Turisas]

theredshoe: first guess: Wrong.... Second guess: Right.... Third guess = Half-right; Warhammer 40,000. Thanks for the comment.

Moai: Thanks you. As for the eyes, it's both: The left is too small AND the right one is too big. Thanks for the useful critique again, Moai. Much apprechiated.

Now... I got me Warhammer - Mark of Chaos for PC yesterday. Crazy enough, but it made me realize that the simple designs are the best, but the thing that makes the designs intresting is their decoration.
Anyhow, after a long while of posting, I drew. I drew like hell. Didn't save anything, except what I drew a few moments ago on sketcher. On that piece, I practiced texture and value, just like in my last post, but this time I pushed in some colour. I got tired of it. Played too much with the helmet.


EDIT:

Here we go again. did some quick thumbnails, as someone requested some.. months(?)... ago...

[amer-nazri]

Your recent updates show alot of improvement! The Jenna Jameson portrait has really nice colours, but they are a bit muddy. Try to add more red/orange in exposed areas to add warmth, and more blue in the shadows to add coolness. The value study is great, and I think you should do more of em. They look great, and you learn alot from em. The Warhammer clour piece is also nice, but I'm not feeling the pink/blue edge lights. It looks harsh against the orange. But I'm glad to see you've added specularity to the helm, with the sharp light hitting the top left corner of the helm. I also sugest for you to look at pictures of metallic objects, and just stare at em and try to study the surfaces, Anyway, you're improving. Later!

[Turisas]

amer-nazri: Thanks for the critique and tips, much apprechiated! =D

I haven't been posted for a small while because... well, I haven't got a good excuse. Truth: I got carried away by Mark of Chaos, which by the way is one of the best PC games I've ever played. I recommend it to everyone who loves medieval fantasy stuff and RTS games without the 'build-a-base-and-play-a-single-match-for-hours' shit. This games' matches vary from five minutes to many hours, depending on the setting, player/AI skill, map, and army sizes.

Enough bullshit, let's post a little something quick.
Now, here's a little thing I did for a project called the Anargo Sector project.
It's basically a daemon (yes, daemon, not demon) called a plaguebearer, which has a sword, a backpack and a gun going trough its neck and coming out of the mouth.....yeah... I bet he has no trouble aiming, but the neck pains must require a lot of aspirin.

[yodathemusc]

mean drawings man i love warhammer 40k 2 i take it u like chaos marines

[Turisas]

yodathemusc: Thanks. And yes, Chaos is my master. Favourite gods are Khorne and Nurgle.

Anyways. Update again. A certain person. Guess who? Answer this question, please, because I want to know how much I fail.


EDIT:

Adding a little preview on something I'm working on. Gotta love vikings.


EDIT#2:

A gothic handgunner, 17th century style


EDIT#3:

A creature concept. The Cliffhanger, I call it. For obvious reasons.

[Moai]

Hey there, Monsterkill! You've had some nice updates since I was last here (which, unfortunately, was quite a while ago).
I like the first image of the red knight type guy. There are some really good things happening in that picture: the metal is nice and shiny, the furry is nice and furry, and those quills or teeth or whatever look really nice. The subtle backlight really helped define those forms. Nice job on that. The little thumbnails look pretty good as well. The characters have nice balanced stances.
That plague-bearer is a delightful little fellow, isn't he?:P You have some nice brush strokes in there, though the whole thing is pretty messy.
I'm sorry to say that I have no idea who that guy is.:S But don't worry too much about that, since I hardly know who anyone is. The viking picture looks awesome. It's shaping up to be your strongest digital piece yet, I believe. Two crits, though. The vikings in front are lighter than the vikings in back. It would be better if this were the other way around, on account of atmospheric perspective and all that. And a think I've noticed in many of your digital pieces is that when you render the ground, you use diagonal brush strokes on either side of your characters, so all of your characters seem to be standing in some depression. Unless this is your aim, that's something to watch out for.
I like the cliffhanger, but try to resist the temptation to give your creatures every manner of fang, horn, and claw. Less really is more when it comes to that.
Update soon, bud!

[Turisas]

Moai: Thanks again for the great comment! Great points there once again. =P

I got myself some charcoal pencils. They feel great so far. Have done only one test drawing, a chess thing, but I really love those pencils. gotta take them and my NEW, BIGGER sketchbook with me when I go to the camp I am forced to go in for a week. And after that, to Germany. I hope I get some time to draw some buildings, and if lucky, people there.
Now, a punk monster made in sketcher. whee...


EDIT:

Non-art update... Yeah, I'm here to apologize again for my lazyness when it comes to replying your sketchbooks, fellow SSG'ers. I've really been very lazy lately. Even my studying has gone... well, I haven't studied anatomy or portraiture for many weeks now. Anyhow, I have one week of school, which will continue lazily, then I'm going to be off for another week to a certain camp I am forced to go in. After that, I'll be a bit lazy for a few days again. Then I'm off to germany. When I return, I will be lazy for a few more days. THEN I will continue my summer vacation by studying anatomy and all that.
Shortly: This huge pipe of lazyness will continue for a few more weeks. I'll try to reply to your sketchbooks before I go campin', though. I'm really sorry, dudes and dudettes.

[Moai]

Nice work, man. That's one of your strongest pieces yet. I like the way you handled all the bulging musculature and the stretching skin. The painting is rather liney in spots, though. As the excellent artist Meatsworthy told me once, always use the largest brush you can (or even larger!) for the job at hand. Also, increasing the contrast on his 'too would help. Some people call em tats, but I call em 'toos. Anyway, very nice job once again. Now quit being lazy!

[Turisas]

Moai: Thank you, again. anyhow, for the lines... I did use sketcher... And if I used a big brush (That really isn't so big), it would be very, VERY blurry. Thanks for the heads-up, though. Also, yeah, the skin-art could be a bit darker.

Okay, this is my last post for at least two weeks here, guys. See you after that, fellow SSG'ers. Here you go, a sketch on a very primitive state of colouring.

[theredshoe]

cool, i've been drawing mechs lately myself. i would recommend this book called 50 robots to draw and paint. see you at the next post!

[Turisas]

theredshoe: Thanks, I'll see if I can get my hands on that book.

Anyway, I'm back in the business. I'll show all the sketches I've done later. Faces I can't show you because... Well, I gave them to the models. Watching those bikini-wearing girls' bodies and drawing their pretty faces was a good enough payment, heheh... Anyhow, here's a little something to test out if I still can draw with my tabby. Made in sketcher.


EDIT:

Sorry about my lazyness. I'll get to your sketchbook later today, perhaps. My summer vacation started, so... Yeah, lazyness has occured.
Anyhow, I have a little something on the works. 2 things, actually. Firstly: A picture. Secondly: A fast, reliable and easy way to work (a.k.a. speedpaint technique)... Here's a pic for you of the technique I've got on the works.


EDIT#2:

Okay, I've been quite inactive for some time... Anyways... I decided I'll try out drawing without any guidelines and try to use the eraser as few times as possible. Tat design basically... Tryout of how much mistakes I do. All done in sketcher. I haven't got anything else right now because of my laziness.
HEY, NOW, fellow SSG'ers, I'm going to post in your sketchbooks after the long inactivity. Also, I need to scan my traditional sketchbook some time... I believe it wont be soon, though.

[Yautja892]

Hey MonsterKill I’m back now, and hope to stay back, comments per post.

Post # 89

It’s good to see your really looking at your lighting on this piece. The part where you started working in the spikes is nice.

Post # 91

I really like this guys design, and pose. Think you should work on this guy more. He stands out to me at least.

Post # 93

Great looseness in that portrait, and the proportions look pretty much spot on. Also like the pirate guy as well.

Post # 95

This is one of my favorite pieces from you. The design is awesome, and the skin folds make it stand out even more, great job on this guy. I noticed on a lot of your digital works you use sketcher for them. Do you have Photoshop or Painter?

Post # 99

I think this is another one of your stronger posts. Good to see you’re changing some of your subject matter. Really like the skull and grim reaper works. They would make a cool sticker or logo design of some sorts.


Overall you are improving from each post. I think the major crit is that you need to spend more time on some of your pieces. A lot of you digital experiments have a great idea/design, etc. you just have to take them further into detail and polishing them up. Keep working at everything. I think maybe you would benefit greatly if you set your self an art schedule of what I want to work on this week and for how long. Set yourself certain goals through out the month. Just as an example say I want to improve on my anatomy, so for a certain amount of time give your self some assignments or projects that relate to a certain subject. Keep updating and work on your stuff as much as you can. :) Until next time.

[angelo cordon]

hey mk -

it seems that you're really starting to develop your style here. im enjoying the monochromatic pallete on your tat designs. i think practicing this would help you with values very much! as for the girl, i believe her breasts are too high even for a sports bra. reference reference reference. keep it up!

cheers!

[Turisas]

Yautja892: Thanks you for the big-ass comment! I'll consider your schedule idea... I just need to get my sleeping rythm right first. Oh, and yes, I have PS CS2, Painter 9 and Essentials 2. I just like scribbling over at Sketcher for some reason.

redSpade: Thanks for the tip and comment. Much apprechiated!

Here we go with more sketcher scribbles. Practicing quick portraiture. Corey Taylor of the metal band Slipknot and a Protoss Zealot from the game Starcraft. I should have worked on the textures more...

[The Curehead]

i love that mech you were doing,and your csm (the slaneesh one right) looked really solid.
you should paint up the mech as it goes hand in hand with your metal studies.

[Moai]

Hey, Monsterkill! I'm sorry it's been so damn long since I've visited this sketchbook. As an apology, I'm no going to go through every image and critique each one for you.
-The Girl: Heh, sounds like a fun life drawing session!:perv: Overall, I feel it's a decent portrait. The anatomy is basically good, except that her eyes are a little to big and too wide apart, and like redSpade said, a bit too high and squished together to be realistic. However, the main thing that's wrong with this piece is the color. Remember, change the hue a bit whenever you change the value. And add some subtle color to things even if they seem to be just black, white, or gray.
-The Thing Next to the Girl: Very messy. Obviously not a serious piece. Moving on.
-Kill the King: These logo/tattoo things look pretty cool, man! I think the biggest flaw in this piece is the skull anatomy. This is something you've had problems with in the past, if I remember, so I think you really need to do some hardcore studies to get the hang of these things. Also, make use of reference when you can.
-Meet the Reaper: Once again, cool. Once again, head is off. The head/hood area is too narrow and pointy.
-Religion- After Pinhead, I think this is the most successful of these pieces. The text in particular looks really good. The skull, once again, is the problem, but this time it's much more minor. The skull should be a smidgen less tall, and just a little bit longer. Otherwise, it looks good.
-Pinhead- Now this...this is awesome! Easily the best of the bunch. The proportions are perfect, and the values are clean and simple. You used reference, didn't you? Well, good job!

I'll crit the other pieces later. I just realized that I haven't drawn at all today, so I gotta go take care of that.:rendered: One more thing, before I go: I think you should start working more with photoshop and less on Sketcher. Sketcher is fun, but as an art tool it's rather inferior. I feel you could do a lot more with Photoshop, and I also feel that Sketcher might teach you some bad habits like using tiny brushtrokes (to avoid Sketcher's innate blurriness). So yeah, that's what I have to say.
Have fun.

[angelo cordon]

good color palette on that last one, man! the warm highlight and the cool rim light totally works!

as a constructive critique... the neck of the zealot is too much of a cylinder. could be worked more to go for a realistic feel. i.e. the muscles that form and skin that wrinkles when someone turns their head that way.

cheers!
spade

[Turisas]

The Curehead: I decided to halt those things... For some reason, not sure why. Thanks for the comment, though.

Moai: Thanks for the massive comment! Yeah, I stopped doing sketcher for now. Except for sketches. Found a better Oekaki, which is a lot like photoshop.

redSpade: Thanks for the comment and critique!


Okay... Here's another update... A sketcher sketch and four Oekaki scribbles. Nothing more to say. Tacos soon. And cake for dessert.

[angelo cordon]

good post man! im really enjoying that character with axes. would be really great to see you add more details on the anatomy of the character. the values on the legs seem too gradient.

[Turisas]

redSpade: Thanks. Yeah, you're right. I'm sort of exploring the "Simplicity is bliss" thought a bit now. I gotta make a schedule for myself on what to study, how much and when.

Anyways... Here's a few more oekaki scribbles. I need to get on Photoshop soon... Well, at least this oekaki leaves pretty much the same trail.

[Moai]

I have come to critique once again.
Beer guy: Hmmm...I think you should study the anatomy for this one a little bit more. You see, the mouth is faaar too big, and...oh wait, you did that on purpose.:P Yeah yeah, what a joker I am. Anyway, nice caricature. You handled the little hollows underneath the brows on this one.
Muscle guy: More contrast. The darks are not nearly dark enough in quite a few areas. The anatomy is pretty much good, except that the collar bones are too angular and meet too far down the chest.
Knight: Good job with this one, man! You handled his foreshortened right arm and sword and his wrinkled, tattered loincloth (or whatever you want to call it) quite well. I have two crits for this piece. One, the spikes on his shield look like they're aiming too far off to the side. They should be aiming more forward and be foreshortened somewhat. Secondly, once again, the value range doesn't go dark enough. The crevices in between the sections of armor especially would be very dark.
Death armor guy with flag: You know, I'm not really a fan of the squat, square, Warhammer-esque design style. But that's just my opinion, so it's not that important. As for the art and technique itself, the sky in the background too messy and chaotic, and it's too similar to the main figure in both color and in value contrast. The perspective on the ground looks strange, too, but that might be because there's no atmospheric perspective to suggest depth. When drawing landscapes, make objects that are farther away lighter, lower in contrast, and more similar in color to the atmosphere that they're in.
Demon dude: His legs are too splayed. To give him a more natural pose, have his thighs and knees point more towards us, rather than pointing way out to the side like that. Also, spend more time cleaning up your digital pieces, erasing stray brushstrokes, smoothing out transitions, etc.
Weird flaming robot guy: It doesn't really read clearly what's happening below his waist. After looking for a bit, I figured out that he must be kneeling. His cloak/loincloth thing is folded wrong. It should be lying slightly crumpled on the ground, not be curling up and over to the side like that.
Bladed guy: There needs to be more contrast between the figure and the background. The values are a little too similar at the moment. Those bright flares of light in the background are also competing with the figure for attention.
Doom robot dude: This has a good value range. However, I'm going to have to smack your wrist, because you're using plain white as a highlight again!:upset: Don't make me! Anyway, aside from that, my other crit would be to, again, try to clean up these pieces a bit.
There ya go. Have fun.

[Yautja892]

Hey monster, a lot of new content since I last visited. :) I won't go through and crit everything and seems that Moai has went over a lot of it. Good to hear your going to make yourself a schedule of what to do and when etc. I like the guy with the axe, and the first guy from post # 108. The main thing many of these pieces need is some more value range and push the contrast more in them. Be nice to see some more anatomy and figure studies in here. :)

[Katfayheirti]

Hey, great new stuff! Your paintings are starting to look a lot more solid and structured, and your figures are starting to look more accurate. If you want to take it further keep doing figure studies and maybe break your figures down into planes. Think about how light hits them at each angle and shade accordingly to give them the illusion of form.

[Turisas]

Moai: I love you more than you could possibly know. Thank you for the massive comment and great critique once again. I'm very, VERY sorry I haven't got that skill.

Yautja892: Thank you. Yeah, I know I'm quite a pussy when it comes to values... I'm afraid it'll ruin the work, when it's the opposite: It ruins my work when I wont use it.

Katfayheirti: Thanks again for the comment and tips. Very much apprechiated.

I hope you guys understand that I'm not an 'enthustiatic writer', therefore my comments, critiques, answers and even updates are quite short.
Anyway... let's go on....


NON ART UPDATE!

I worked out my schedule for the rest of this summer... Which I try my best to stick into. So, here it goes:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
MONDAY:
Speedpaint (At least 1h) --- 17:30
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUESDAY:
Human & Creature Anatomy & Construction Study (At least 1h) --- 19:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEDNESDAY:
Human & Creature Anatomy & Construction Study (At least 1h) --- 15:00
Character, Construction & Creature Design (At least 30min) --- 21:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THURSDAY:
Character, Construction & Creature Design (At least 30min) --- 15:00
Landscapes (At least 1h) --- 19:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
FRIDAY:
Landscapes (At least 1h) --- 17:30
Speedpaint (At least 1h) --- 21:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY:
Human & Creature Anatomy & Construction Study (At least 1h) --- 17:30
Character, Construction & Creature Design (At least 30min) --- 21:00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you have it... I hope I can stick to it the best I can. That's why I set Sunday empty, so I can move left-overs there if other ways I have no time. I'll decide how I work out my updates later. For now, I think I'll update once or twice in two days. IF I can stick to the schedule.
Gotta redo my schedule when my summer vacation ends, though.
Tell me your opinion about the schedule if you may. And of course, suggestions are very welcome.
Off I go. I will have some Designing to do in 1h and 30 minutes. Wait for a possible update today.

[Yautja892]

Hey man just wanted to comment on your schedule. I think overall it looks good. Just be careful not to burn yourself out if you know you can't do something or if something has come up and you don't have the time to don't worry about. Great idea to keep Sunday empty. If you would like specifics on certain things and what to do. I can send you an example of my general schedule just so you can get ideas and what not. The main reason simply for the schedule I see it, is simply to give yourself a certain mind set and goal I want to do, and think of how I need to achieve that goal. For an example one of my main goals in my art schedule was to really study human anatomy to make my own creations more realistic so I simply started doing life figure drawing, and anatomy and figure studies from books and pictures. Later on after I get certain projects I want done, which are in my schedule I will be getting back into 3D more seriously and working on certain things in that. Anyways I hope this will give you some structure into what you want to do, and don't think its something you need to fully stick by, if you want to draw a monster or anything else for the fun of it then so means do it. Have to have fun with your stuff. I wish I did all of this when I was around your age. :) See ya next update.

[Turisas]

Yautja892: Thanks, I'd love to see a piece of your way. Send it via IM or something. I don't really think that 8,5h a week isn't too bad. If I feel lazy, I'll just cut a few hours off the week. Oh, and I decided to change the "At least" part into "Around". And one more thing. This schedule is for the summer vacation. I'll cut off some serious hours when school starts.


Anyhow... Todays practices.
A Personal Hovercraft design and a random speedpaint-ish landscape... That construction wasn't there at first, but... bleh, I have no excuse.

[Moai]

That looks like a good, well-rounded schedule. I think it's good that you set your minimum times at just one hour. Trying to force yourself to do more than that often leads to burnout, as I've experienced. Some suggestions for your schedule:
-Like Yautja said, if you get inspiration for something other than what you have scheduled, then do it. Making creative exercises too rigid and structured, again, lead to burnout. This happened to me a little over a year ago with my guitar playing. I became too obsessed with methodical practice, and the fun drained out of it, and I only play rarely nowadays (though that's because I'm also doing a lot more art).
-For your creature design days, one thing that I do sometimes is expand my visual vocabulary. Get some sort of animal encyclopedia or something with lots of good images, and copy from that. Focus more on getting the shapes and features down, rather than making your drawing look exactly like the pictures in the book (don't spend time trying to match values, for example). The goal here is just put more examples of imagery into your brain that you can draw from when you're designing a creature or whatever.
-Once you get more proficient at the things you have scheduled, cut down on the creature or humanoid studies somewhat and begin studying vehicles and machinery and whatnot.
Have fun! That's what's most important.

[Turisas]

Moai: Thanks again. Yes, you are right on every spot about my schedule. I made it quite loose for a purpose, you know. I mean, the subjects shortly would be Anatomy, Design, Landscapes and Speedpaint. I have quite a lot of to choose from, am I right? Also, thanks for all the tips and points you gave. =)


Okay, I didn't feel like doing by my schedule today. Well, I did, but not separately. I did a speedpaint of an environment. About 1h.
Oh, and I did a clumsy video: Part1 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=tZtVRyfreXI) --- Part2 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=BQGenXh2nKA) --- Part3 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vPyxdOWZ0As)

Anyway... Here's the speedpaint and the ref. I tried to make them just... alike, not identical. Practicing the basics of environments and background.


EDIT:

A few skull and head studies added.


EDIT#2:

Added the design bit I dropped off yesterday. A cenobite design. The other half of my "Fetish Twins"

[angelo cordon]

hey man:

cool post, are you using brush pen now? its great that you're filling up the page. one critque i would say is to vary your line weight more.

see you soon!

[Turisas]

redSpade: Thanks for the tip.

Now, sorry I havent been sticking to the schedle. I've been quite tired lately because my room move. Yes, I have a bigger room now. Anyway, I try to get back to the schedule next monday. Have a quick practice.

[Looped_Warrior]

I cant believe Ive missed out since the first page!!!

Looks like a ton of improvement and all sorts of critiques to go along with it... nothing from me though... keep it up and Ill be back (hopefully sonner than last time!)

[Turisas]

Looped_Warrior: Hey there. Thanks for your comment.

Now a little bit of stupidity. I call him Armstrong, for who knows why.

[Yautja892]

Hey man, nice new stuff. It good that your changing up your subject matter a little. Like the face studies. Interesting women in post #116. She reminds me of one of the demons in the Hellraiser series. :) I think something that would be good for you to do is to do some more traditional stuff. Practice with pencil and or pen. Be good to see some more anatomy studies and some stuff from life too. ( Something I need to do as well :( ) Also don't be afraid to push some of your stuff a little further. See ya next update. :)

[angelo cordon]

good quick update. im really digging the skull with the lightning. i think im really attracted to the huge dark buildings in the back. strong shape.

[Moai]

Hey, sketch buddy! Looks like it's time for another c & c from me.
Vehicles- Looks like you posted this just a few minutes before my last post, so I missed it last time. Anyway, for vehicle designs like this, I think it's best to really solidify the concept and the drawing in the sketching phase, before moving on to more detailed rendering. That means setting up vanishing points and perspective lines, reducing the shapes to simple blocks and ellipses, and generally getting everything right before moving on. This is true for pretty much any kind of drawing, but especially true when designing hard-edged things like vehicles. I don't do these things very much, but that's how it seems to me.
Good job with the atmospheric perspective on the speedpaint below the hovercraft. The brushstrokes are in dire need of de-messification, though, and the vehicle/structure definitely needs some perspective. For cleaning up your brush technique, greatly increase your brush size for blocking things in, and increase the opacity (maybe even up to 100%). Most of the messiness I'm seeing comes from the fact that it's hundreds of small, transparent brushstrokes laid over each other. In your next speedpaint, try seeing if you can lay down objects using just a few opaque brushstrokes. It'll be a nice exercise for you, I think.
Post #116- This speedpainting has the same issues as the last one. The brushstrokes are too small and too transparent, and the whole thing has a generally messy, chaotic character. Again, I urge you to use a larger, more opaque brush on the next speedpaint, and be more careful in your placement of brushstrokes. Your skull and head proportions are definitely improving, and those pages of face studies are nice and expressive. Nothing specific to crit there, just keep practicing with those and you'll see even more improvement. And it's cool to see that you're doing a fairly complex character design with the cenobite chick. Good work on that. Some crits: her breasts aren't very realistic. I think the main problem is that their inner outlines curve up too much. Her abs are also too well-defined, methinks. And finally, her eyes and eyebrows are too soft and friendly for such a character.
Logo- No crits. Pretty cool design! You're getting better at these too.
Armstrong- Looks like a fun little guy to draw!:D Good job on the exaggerated anatomy. The only anatomy that jumps out at me as bad is the front of his thighs. And, like the cenobite, resist the temptation to define every little abdominal muscle.
Good work, man. Like Yautja, I'd suggest sketching with pencil and pen on paper, rather than photoshop. Personally, I prefer drawing with a pencil to drawing with photoshop, but preferences aside, switching media around might give you some inspiration. And, once again, I urge you to follow through on those speedpainting crits I gave you. See you next update!

[Turisas]

Yautja892:
"Hey man, nice new stuff. It good that your changing up your subject matter a little. Like the face studies. Interesting women in post #116. She reminds me of one of the demons in the Hellraiser series."
Yeah, I'm trying to vary a bit on the subject. Still sticking to robots and warhammer 40k pretty hard, though. Also, about the hellraiser chick.. Well, that was my intention: It is a cenobite design.

"I think something that would be good for you to do is to do some more traditional stuff. Practice with pencil and or pen. Be good to see some more anatomy studies and some stuff from life too. ( Something I need to do as well ) Also don't be afraid to push some of your stuff a little further. See ya next update."
Yes, I've got a good chance to do so now, for example. I'm off for a week. Thank you for the comment and suggestion!


redSpade:
"good quick update. im really digging the skull with the lightning. i think im really attracted to the huge dark buildings in the back. strong shape."
Thanks. Yeah, I were also quite surprised how the buildings turned out, considering I've never drawn them like that.


Moai:
Holy shit, man... I love your ultra long comments. But hate them too. I can't reply to them properly... well, here goes nothing.

thank you for the great critique on the vehicle design and all the other stuff (See, I fucked up the reply instantly). I'll make sure I'll read this comment of yours multiple times, and study while reading it so I can stick the stuff in my head. ....this is the best I can do, sorry.


Anyways...


NON-ART UPDATE:

Yeah, I have drawn lots, but have saved nothing. And I'm working on something unrelated to art. Plus I got a bigger room (BAH-ZIM!!! I love it!).
Anyhow, the reasons for not getting back to the schedule (I have two quite good reasons) are that one, my sleeping rythm got fucked up when I did a certain bet relating to espresso. And two, I'm leaving to Mallorca tonight with my sister. Time to get my sketchbook with me and draw some hot chicks at the beach. =P
And hopefully I get to draw some of the local architecture there.
So... Yeah, see you next week. I'll see if I'll update this thread with some shitty doodle later today.


EDIT:

Alright, I'm back. Have drawn some images and lots of photos were taken, but I think I'm not gonna scan them anytime soon. Mallorca was amazing and I put 320€ to turn into thin air. Well, not so true, I bought a painting and lots of other decorative objects.

Anyways. Have two digital works from today.

[angelo cordon]

hey man,


im feeling that you;re going into details too early, thus your paintings feel stiff. i want you to work only in atleast 33% zoom or lower, and see what you can come up with. if it works from far away, it works from up close.

[StarbonesCoffin]

Cool, something i'm looking for is here, more aliens would be nice !

[Turisas]

redSpade: Ah, thanks for the tip. Gotta try that.

StarBonesCoffin: What are you actually looking for, then? I'm not really into aliens, but we'll see what the future brings.


I'm going to be off the schedule for at least a month. School starting soon, and I need to plan out a bit.
Anyways, have a brush practice. Inspired by Dile.exe and whiteeeeeee.
The designs are not very important on this one. Just practicing to use different brushes.

[jedininjaman]

Cool deal with the brushes it looks good man

[Turisas]

jedininjaman: Thanks.


NON-ART UPDATE:

Again. This is a message for all my SSG pals there.
I'm sorry, but I think I wont be commenting on or posting much artwork for a nice while. School tearing me apart for now.
I'll try to provide you a few comments and images during this month, but I wont guarantee anything I've concerntrated well on.

[angelo cordon]

update now!!!

[amer-nazri]

Hey there, sorry for the reaaallly late reply, I too am back from ze olidays. I really like your work so far, especially the one of post 124, on the left. The composition is good, and I like the colours that you're using. You really should take that further, its gots potentialz. Hope to see more soon!! Cheers!

[The Curehead]

hi,havent drop in here in a while,i love this sb.
school is a bitch,makes me more lazy than i already am.
sigh.
i like the brush experiments.

[angelo cordon]

hey whats up??

[Turisas]

Damn I hate school.
Well, I'm here to post once. And as I've had no time for actual artwork, I've got you a 'collage' type of a thing of what quicks I've done in a certain paintchat thing.
As for my SSG comrades... I really am sorry about this. You must bare with me for at least three more weeks of VEEERY lazy updating. I've been having a very tight schedule when it comes to school for around 9 weeks now. And I want to concerntrate on school so I can get good enough grades. And if I wont, I won't be able to go to the high school I want to go to.

Anyways, here you go. Let's say around 20% of the quick stuff I've made. Not in a particular order.
Haven't saved much more of them.

[angelo cordon]

awesome post! you're improving really well! i keep noticing you cut off the legs :p

[Turisas]

redSpade: Yeah, it's because.... I have no excuse. *cough*

Fellow SSG comrades, I'll get to your sketchbooks later, either tomorrow or not, depending on how much I feel like reading to my next weeks exams.

Anyways, here's a few sketches again. I need to get myself the habit of using a neutral background colour before working on anything.

First basically a colourful scribble of a Chaos Space Marine Raptor of Chaos from WH40K. Again, I cut off the legs. Lawl.
Second, a demon rider. This I just used to sketch up a skull of a horse and a knight of sort.
Next, a speedpaint. I got bored of it, but I decided to play around with the weapon because I usually don't.
And then, a creature. A humanoid boar barbarian thing. I wanted to do something different, for I have only been drawing people inside blocks of metal for a nice while.

[amer-nazri]

Colours look soooo much better dude! I suggest making your strokes bigger, rather than using lots of small strokes, which make your pieces a bit gritty.Start with big broad strokes, and when you need detailing and blending, use smaller brushes and less opacity. It will give a 'cleaner' look to you painting. Great improvement!

[Turisas]

amer-nazri: Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

But on the next one it doesn't abide. Here we go, another paintchat dump. I'll propably make one more after new years eve before starting a new SB.
I personally like the image at the top and bottom. Both something unusual from me.
That's pretty much it.

[angelo cordon]

i think you're on the right path. i would say that you should study textures. what makes metal look like metal and what makes bones look like bones. right know they all look like they're made from plastic or clay or digital painting!! :)

[jedininjaman]

flying battleship=awesome
wish i would of thought of that but it will never happen now :(
anyways great work and stop by my sb sometime cya

[Turisas]

redSpade: Thanks. Yeah, I know that I have trouble with textures. I'll have to study them

jedininjaman: Thanks for the comment.


Now, this sketchbook has come to an end. A new one is up now.
Follow this link (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=114753) if you're intrested.

[Collin Smiley]

I love the 40k stuff its so cool !!! :)