Wm.B.Hand • EGGMANTIDS! -- (Updated May 9th)

[TheGnoll]

haven't posted here for a bit, but i've been watching all the time!
great, great updates Will!
All the experiments look really interesting.
Updates on this last page are especially impressive, love the lobster thing and the enviroment looks cool too (he he glad to see you really enjoyed Jack Hamm's book!)
Keep it up man, always a pleasure to stop by :)

[h2rra]

Very nice work and I like the new brushes, gave me a few ideas of my own.

[bhanu]

man I love them creatures, Can i have them as pets please?????

[Iridyse]

Thanks for the link! Really like the latest updates too. I think the last one would look interesting in a blue/green combination, maybe try a quick color adjustment? Also some more translucency/back lighting would really sell it.

Saw this and thought you might like it: http://tetheredhawk.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/squidworm.jpg

edit: Also: http://www.whoi.edu/cms/images/jdoucette/2006/6/SeaCucumberJelly_27005.jpg

[Metal Fingers]

very nice little creatuers, awesome sauce!

[William b. Hand]

TheGnoll - Thanks! You like this page? :) Good. You're tip about Hamm's book was brilliant (despite the failings of that b&w).

h2rra - Thanks! Yeah, that combination of a softish part with a crisp part really seems to pay off when thoughtfully used. Maybe I'll try to come up with a variation of that tonight... but one that's got more of an angularity to it.

bhanu - Sure you can! The stuff they eat is pretty smelly, though.

Iridyse - I'm kicking myself for not snapping a screenshot of that thing really early on... It looked really good, but rather different -- much more translucent then. I'll play with your suggestions, but I should prolly jus try to come up some new creature parts. Feel free to mess around with it however you like, though. ;) Thank you x3 for the pic links -- Perfect! I want to come up with my own sea cucumber n jellyfish types soon.

Metal Fingers - Thanks!

Here's a random fantasy-type caterpillar creature I'm making in PS. Figured I'd post at an unfinished stage. Not sure what I'm doing with the head/face -- quite a few directions it could go, which is why I decided to step back from it ftm. I like its crazy arm and hand:

[Carnifex]

whoa man. you could already sell it at this stage. really pops out.

[TheGnoll]

that looks great!
some crazy pattern/texture on his back would look cool, and to me it looks like he's massaging his forehead nervously-would look cool with an only hinted preoccupied face in the darkness under his hands!...sorry, just rambling :D
I really like this one, the brush work in quite amazing!

[Parsakoira]

what eye-candy! your creatures are something to be amazed of!

[William b. Hand]

Carnifex - Thanx! Yeah, I'm really pushing the communication of form from a single light-source as hard as I can... I've just had so many issues in the past with images seeming flat and I wanna change that.

TheGnoll - Thank you! Yah, you prefer it as hands to brow? That's what I had in mind originally, but atm I can see about three or four alternative ways to play it. I reckon I'll follow your advice... he looks how I feel. :P

Parsakoira - Thanx -- Glad you like 'em!

Just a sketch here -- not sure, but something more might come of him...
You'll be seeing a whole lot of Gigeresque biomechanical-type stuff from me in the coming days. I'm dying to work on the ALIEN prequels because seeing the Space Jockey creature was a profoundly life-altering moment for me, but I've gotta tangibly convince myself that I'd be able to actually do it before I bother Ridley Scott with some half-baked dream. So, this is just a sketch as I try to warm up my brain for a mess of the unabashedly ALIENesque.

[Pixelwalker]

Nice experimenting with your brushes dude!
I like your last environment, do more of them! :)
Last painting looks also good.
Nice pose and colors!

Keep it up!

[NeonDuck]

nice! i really like that soft/hard experiment, you really improved right there!

[ryan mcshane]

i like your use of black
keep at it

[William b. Hand]

Silwynar - Thank you for the vote of confidence about more landscapes! I will do more, for sure...

NeonDuck - Thanks!

ryanoir - Danke! My use of black? You mean like when I use it as my bg? I do seem to really like starting with black... It's like shining a flashlight into the darkness and searching for what's lurking. :)

Well now, this... It's so far off-track of what I... I dunno, I just was goofing around and came up with this Heavy Metal-ish looking treatment as I listened to BBC America. Not at all consistent with my vision for these creatures or the mood, but I guess it doesn't have to be. Figured I'd throw up on you. ;)

[ EDIT: Gaaah! What was I thinking?? Why didn't somebody Stop me!? *Cleans up mess* ]

[bhanu]

Oh man... fuck yeah...

http://conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1113872&stc=1&d=1291327146
This is... just.... beautiful.
The latest one is coming off too nice too.
Ok.. I have a friend whos interested in airbrushing, any tips for a noob?
just for starters?
And especially if one wants to work details.

Thanks much for the inspiration sir.

[ryan mcshane]

yeah thats exactly what i meant about the black, using it to start with and having such dramatic shadows and lighting, the forms cool
is that the new Slayer album cover? haha looks dope bro

[snatti]

i've been a long time alien fan, and imagined tons of diffrent stuff about them but an old version of an ailen? lol it was funny and never thought about it before, nice exectuion on it aswell

[FAST ART]

i am watching every week two or three times through your sketchbook to get new inspirations.. and it works everytime :)

i love how you work with your custom-brushes..

[Holland]

Great work dude! Not too sure about the amount of blur you use sometimes, i'd love to see a really sharp image from you. Great work on the jockey though, love the colours :)

[Jason Manley]

Congrats William. Check your mail for some goodies from CA. You fu**ing rock.

You should be able to edit your gallery for your new featured artist spot too. If you have any questions or the like, just drop me a line.

And without further...Thank you tons for all you do.

Click for the good stuff:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2943998#post2943998


Jason Manley

[qlotzan]

William your art the best

keep it up

Qlotzan;)

[Iridyse]

You know, I recently came to a realization that I really don't like Giger's works. I'm not sure why but it doesn't appeal to me anymore.

However, I love your interpretation of his works. I think your vision of Alien would amazing and someone really needs to get Ridley Scott to this sketchbook.

I want to see the offensive materials now! :/ You're such a tease.

[B-Man]

Just droping in to please my eyes with tasty flavors of values and hues combined in a inspiering way. Thanks.

[bhanu]

I recently came to a realization that I really don't like Giger's works. I'm not sure why but it doesn't appeal to me anymore.

hahaha... sorta relate to it.

[HunterKiller_]

Bah, screw removing offensive material. Let it all out, mang!

Crazy good tones on that practice page.
The 'shrimp' creature is beautiful, I'm amazed how you achieved the delicate translucency.

[LORD M]

:eyecandy: God your stuff is ORGASMIC for the eyes! :eyecandy:

Also big thanks for hosting the daily sketch group, it is a really fun way to get about to start drawing.

[Mitze]

I am always amazed by the 3d quality of your artwork. Keep posting. Fantastic stuff.

[William b. Hand]

I'll have to comment back at everybody later, but thanks for all the support guys...

Here're just some doodles, some watercolour pencils and some photoshop (the ones with the be-tusked creature were just black, but i tossed some quick photoshop colour in there cuz, i dunno... it needed something):

[Carnifex]

great update! this may seem strange,but my favourite is the pose of the guy with the spaceship. it's just so very human. :)

[NickyBeats]

WOW!

are those water color pencils easy to pick up on, by that i mean fairly easy to use? because i HAVE to use those. what kind are they? they look fucking awesome!!! that page with the red doodles on it just blew my mind! amazing work man! just keep getting better and better and better and..... keep it going!

[ryan mcshane]

fucking beautiful update dude.
i love all your creatures and water color pencils, aaaand that vehicle looks lovely O_O
keep at it dude, merry christmas

[Vulgar`]

Fascinating updates. You seem to be working on all of the areas that are key for your own growth. When will we be seeing an Iridyse/William B. Hand collaboration?

hm?

[Gthm/death]

nice creatures you've got here =] !!!!! I've seen many of your works in creaturespot.com. they are really inspiring...........=]]

[eekolite]

Just great, inspiring stuff. Keep it up.

[Parsakoira]

who do i have to kill to get that skill?

[qlotzan]

monsters the best idea in the imagination art work

keep it up mate


Qlotzan;)

[bhanu]

When will we be seeing an Iridyse/William B. Hand collaboration?
I second this question.. YES I do

[Medusoid]

love your creatures, did u make them all up yourself cause the biology is amazing, allot of monster artists dont bother with that stuff so it's a nice change.

[MaFeng]

Such great imagination!
The last work is one of you good work which can show your powerful performance ability and imagination.
Post more to let me learn from you,please.

[Jai Kamat]

your work is so inspiring, and it has such integrity

Awesome!!!!!

[(lark]

wow. your organic invention is truly inspiring. really fantastic stuff. keep bein awesome!

[LORD M]

Groovy. Great update! Watercolour pencils eh? I maybe should try that out, looks fun.

The tweezer-tusk creature is fabulous looking. What kind of nische did you have in mind for it? It looks pretty carnivor-ish though. :P

And finaly I gotta say I love the one with the girl drinking hot coco by the tent (I presume it's hot coco). It's really fun to see you got so many varying styles that you can bring forth.

[kischi]

Haha this is so great -http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1126146&stc=1&d=1292906490
"No not again, these fucking chewing gums"

merry christmas dude!

[Malakuko]

I gobble up these posts there so good!

[William b. Hand]

Oh, boy... Got some catch-up to do here...

bhanu - Thanx! Glad you like that insect part. Mebbe I do some more of that sort of thing soonish. About airbrushing tips... hmm... wow, I dunno. Try to find an oil-less compressor that's not too noisy. I've gone through a million ones that use oil, and they've just always seemed to have issues at one stage or another. The oil-less ones are never as quiet, but they're more reliable. And use one that has at least a small holding tank attached, because those little tanks go a long way to keep in-line moisture problems at bay (And drain the tank every once in a while). Oh, I use a Paasche (VLT3, or mid-sized, tip). I don't have a lot of experience with many other brands, but others seem to be more delicate and mechanically convoluted, whilst the Paasche VL is like a little Jeep. Use paints and inks that are specifically for use in the airbrush. Titanium white builds up on the tip fast, so don't trim your pinky nail too close, because you'll wanna use it. Steer clear of Chinese white.

Mmmm... If your friend plans to work on a vertically-oriented canvas, then they may prefer using a gravity-feed cup set-up, but if they're working somewhat horizontal then they may want the bottom-feed jars. I use those all the time, myself.

It's much easier to get into habits of keeping your nozzles and things clean than it is to deal with the crusty aftermaths.

Buy an OSHA approved ventilator mask and make sure to use it unless you're working really small scale, or have really active clean airflow. Acrylic is non-toxic, but you don't want it filling up your lungs either and once it's in there it doesn't leave.

Save your damaged needles -- they're great for keeping the air-intake holes in those little paint bottles clear, and for scraping out the insides of crustified airbrushes, etc.

Practice is important. Oh yah -- take little breaks and stretch those arm and hand tendons out every now and then.

... Probably should've just put that all in a PM, but screw it.

ryanoir - Ha! Yeah, I got embarrassed about that pic and had to balete most of it.

snatti - I wonder if you're referring to the sketches in the beginning of this sb, or if you meant that recent pic that riffed on the Space Jockey. Either way, glad you liked!

FAST ART - Thank you! Happy to be a source of ideas!

Holland - Thanks! Yeah, blurriness has been a problem. Ironically, I almost never have used the blur tool. :P I hope at least some of my posts look crisp to you, though. Here's another blurry photo of a blurry painting.

Jason Manley - What can I say? Thanks so much for the honor, and for all the trappings! Super appreciated!

qlotzan - Thanks!

Iridyse - I still love it. I don't think that this sb would suffice for selling Scott on the idea, but I like your attitude! Those offensive materials were not, you know, naughty... Just unintentionally cheezy.

B-Man - Thnx, Björn! Cheers!

bhanu (again) - Hey, you guys!! Lay off my hero or I'll wipe a booger on your arm.

HunterKiller_ - Thank you! I should really let crazy on the translucencies... It's so much fun to work that way, and I've not really done it to the nines, yet.

LORD M - Thanks! Yr Wlcm for the DSG topics [*feels guilt to post a new one*]

Mitze - Yah? 3D quality? Good. I gotta keep reinforcing that.

Carnifex - I'm glad you like that one! It's another tiny toe into the warm waters of narrative and interaction for me. :)

NickyBeats - Thanks again! You saw my PM and all that, so...

ryanoir (again) - Thanks buddy!

Vulgar' and bhanu - I really am trying in my fits and starts. I'd love to work on something with Iridyse, of course. Duh. Good question.

Gthm/death - Thank you! Glad you remember some of the occasional stuff I've posted over at Creaturespot, cuz I sure don't. I am feel guilt.

eekolite - Thanx!

Parsakoira - Thank you! Hm... Homicide might actually be counterproductive. I'm instead gonna recommend more practice n stuff.

qlotzan (again) - Thanx!

Medusoid - Thank you! Yeah, I make them up myself (well, except for that SpaceJockey)... Glad you like my anatomical efforts!

MaFeng - Thanks! I'll keep posting!

Ixius - Thank you!

(lark - !Graçias!

LORD M (again) - Of course you should try them! Tiny flat-shader! Barely moist brush -- Not wet! Use Watercolour paper! Avoid Prismacolor! Go Go Go! I didn't really get very far in my thoughts on the tweezer-tusky things, but I'm happy you dig 'em. Oh, actually... I guess I did have some carnivorish ideas, with a single rail of lower teeth nesting between the upper sides. I'll get back to you on that -- I think I might actually do a follow-up on that beast. Thanks for liking the girl sipping the cocoa (yes, that's what it is). I have already taken that pic a little further, but am not convinced about it yet. That picture has got my brain wanting more of her and more of her story, though. Thanks for liking the variety -- I sometimes feel a bit artistically schizophrenic, but it seems to keep the soil of imagination tilled over.

kischi - "No not again, these fucking chewing gums" -- :) Ha ha! Merry Christmas!

Malakuko - Thanks!

[ *Phew!* ]

So, this is a painting I did way way back in the 1990's, probably before many of you kids were even born. I always liked it, but it was also all distorted so I just cheated it out in Photoshop and am pondering creation of an updated version. Anyhow... Enough frigging typing.

[bhanu]

Thanks for the long and thoughtful reply dear sir!
I have forwarded it to my friend, I am sure he will more than appreciate the help.
I dont know much what else to say, I dont know jack about airbrushing :P
Ok another buggy question, I know I am pushing it but since you are a knowledge reservoir so why not .

What about application/ process/method of airbrushing?
As in how much stencils one should use, how to do it freehand?
Thanks again.
And please no booger on my arms, I love Giger too. Infact his art folder is one of the biggest I have :)

[Vulgar`]

Nice oldie, reminds me of a dark terrestrial interpretation of Cleopatra or Nefertiti.

[William b. Hand]

bhanu - About detail and stencils and stuff, it's up to the individual artist to find what methods and effects they prefer. I have pretty much never used stencils, not out of some anti-stencil philosophy but rather because I've always found them to be frustrating to utilize effectively and they generally require a foreknowledge of the image that's been in contrast with the explorational approach that I've used. Thing is, my way of working can be technically and physically demanding and is really a bit ridiculous. One of these days, I might use one of those plastic shapey things, though... meh. For detail, the way it works is that you get the brush close to the surface and you let out a very small flow of paint -- that gives you a reasonably fine line. For big fuzzy areas, you move the brush further away from the surface and release more paint flow.

Vulgar` - Thanx! -- Yeah, spot on.

Here's the current DSG, which is a creature sharing traits of both dragon and slug. I recently saw "HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON" and I kept feeling that influence pushing this cutey forward. The design and animation of that main dragon was just beautiful... Wish I'd seen that in 3D, now.

[NickyBeats]

definately getting that slug feeling, has that slimy gooey look to him. nice one!

-also, dude, my hats off to ya. i tried out those watercolor pencils... you make it look so easy. my failed attempt is in my sketchbook if you want to point and laugh at it haha.

[William b. Hand]

NickyBeats - Thanks! Left a note on yr sb.

A coupluv stragglers, here...
Some Avianesque Warrior guy, and a Lovecraftian riff on that cute creature "laptop" I did a number of weeks ago that I neglected to ever post. Might try tossing some colour on there to experiment with that whole approach of adding colour to a b&w... Not really wanting to, except for that mouthy area -- might be fun to see some gummy pinks and toothy yellows on that maw. hmm...

[Jamie Romoser]

Very inspiring sketchbook William artists like you make me wana draw and learn everyday. Keep it up im looking forward to seeing what you have brewing
have a good one
-Jamie

[mrd33ds]

only got to page 8 but ur stuff is amazing man. ill be back.

[(lark]

dude lovin the recent updates! the slug dragon is great, such a strange juxtaposition of those 2 ideas. never would have thought to do that.

It would be really awesome if you came over to cow and schooled all of us on 200.

[William b. Hand]

Thanks guys! I'll comment back next post...

Did a photoshop sketch while looking at my pencil sketch. I'm fascinated by the implications of essentially recreating or reinterpreting elements of my own work, because I never used to feel able or comfortable doing that.

[ EDIT: On a whim, I slapped that Lovecraftian mouf on him, and gave it some colour. Then I made the whole thing blue. ]

THE LUMPY VARIATIONS:

[TheGnoll]

awesome updates as usual Will!
slug dragon looks great, your attention to biological materials/texture is really incredible.Really love the hard/soft edge work is really cool too, got some suggestions for that?
Those watercolor sketches are really really cool, really have to try that!
Hope to chat with you again some times man, and best wishes of a happy new year!

[bhanu]

dammnit man, you are making this look too effortless, while all the rest of us toll....
hate you for that...

but still love you

[Carnifex]

hm,think i prefer the red version. moreso because you can see the textures better, and because the contrast of the blue around the mouth with the rest of the body makes it look like a peach that's been invaded by a gruesome worm creature. maybe emphasize that peach-look even more, and i'd either lose the green ring around his eye or work into some sort of actual piercing. really like the mouth.

[eekolite]

Really exceptional. Great textures in the pencils and silky smooth in the digital. Keep it up.

[William b. Hand]

OmertA - Thank you! I'm constantly inspired by stuff I stumble across here, and it's really helped me learn to see differently, so it's always great to hear I can do the same for someone else. :)

mrd33ds - Thanks! Yikes, you're paging through this whole thing? Cool beans. :teeth:

(lark - Thank you -- Glad you like the Slug Dragon! I'll definitely stop by the CoW and see what's what. I don't even participate in the DSG nearly often enough, and I've often been absolutely floored by the stuff I see posted in those weeklies, but maybe I'll join in. Thanks for the invite. :)

TheGnoll - Thnx! Suggestions? For the hard/soft brush? Mmm... Like... what? I've been enjoying experimenting pushing effective usage of soft transition near crisp hard edges to communicate rounded intersecting forms, so maybe you will too? I dunno. It a tool with limited uses, but it's worth playing with. I'd be happy to talk shop if you wanna chat me up, lemme know via PM. :) And yes, you really should maybe give those pencils a spin...

bhanu - Thx buddy! Oh -- I've toiled plenty... Don't worry, I've paid my dues to get to wherever it is that I am. You're doing awesome in your efforts to really understand form, and if you stick with it you will master it, as well as other things like color or environments or whatever grabs your attention strongly enough. Just keep noticing stuff that you dig and keep searching for joy and honesty in your work, give a shit, but cut yourself tons of slack, and you'll find it gets easier and it gets better.

Carnifex - Thank you! Yeah, I agree with you about everything you pointed out there. I messed about with that pic a bit further but then I realized it was never meant to be a "finished" piece, and I hit that wall of diminishing returns where I was really just spinning my wheels. That green circle was just a random mark of colour meant to tease my brain into considering what such could do. Glad you like that toothy mouth -- just pure fun, that sort of thing, and I don't do anywhere near enough of it.

eekolite - Thank you! Here's a combining of the two...

I took one of those watercolour sketches I did a few pages back and wanted to explore how I might add directly on top of it with Photoshop, and this is what happened. It was slow going, but I really like some moments that happened within it and hope to practice this approach much more. See whatchya think (Oh, yeah -- Happy New Year! woot):

HANDWALKER • Watercolour Pencil and Photoshop

[Ricardo Robles]

Hey William amazing work you have here, lots of personality in your drawings.
I do some watercolor too but mostly with normal pigment capsules and tubes ... I left the watercolor pencil cause i thought it wasn´t giving the best ressult, but now seeing your work i reach the conclussion maybe I wasn´t managing it well... the effect is awesome! love the textures.. i have to take it back definitely.
This last hand walker design is very cool, nice way to distribute the body weight! also nice to see the pencil version + the digi addings.
Your creature design is great the most of times, maybe sometimes i feel the shapes need to be a bit more recognizable, sometimes they´re near to the abstract.. which is not bad, we need to see some fresh stuff regarding creatures.
thanks for sharing and keep it up!

[NickyBeats]

yo man, love the watercolor pencils! your awesome with those!!! i think im gonna give them another whirl tonight!

[Iridyse]

Mr William B. Hand, WTF?! Stop being so awesome(no, don't)

I can't think of anything coherant to say so I'll just leave this here : $#%$^%#!!!!!!!!!!W$%$#%#$!!!!!!!!:(!!!!!!!!!!!:D!! !!!!!!#*^%$%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:O. Hopefully that explains how amazed and jealous and generally flabbergasted I am. That hand-walker, turkey-man and slug dragon, wow!

When are we doing that collaboration? :D

[William b. Hand]

Ricardo Robles - Thank you! I recommend Caran D'ache, a teensy tiny flat shader brush, and the minimum of moisture. :) Glad you like the Handwalker pic... Good comment about recognizable forms. I expect you'll see better distinction and greater consideration as time goes by... especially as I explore character/costume design and ref tech pics. Those things might seem unrelated, but I'm guessing that the sort of thought-process that'll go into focus on functionality for those things will spill over into my creature designs.

NickyBeats - Thanks! Have fun in your exploring!

Iridyse - :sungod: PM me, you nut.

So, here're some random fronds of some plant that I just wood-burned designs onto -- not sure what I'm doing with them yet...

[NickyBeats]

those burned in designs are crazy!! they need to be my new pimped out walking cane!!! also sweet airbrush work man! your ridiculously versatile!!!!

[William b. Hand]

NickyBeats - Thanks! It's been a million years since I did any woodburning, but I'm starting to have some real fun with it again.

...F'rinstance...

[NickyBeats]

wow.... those look SICK DUDE!!!!!!!! just awesome!!!

[bhanu]

did I just get a wood looking at that wood?
This is beautiful.

[HunterKiller_]

Wow dude. The burned wood are stunning!
What surprises will you pull out next?!

New creature stuff is sick. The foreskin jaws are ace.

[ranunkel]

Beautiful work!

[insanelight]

Truly stunning sketchbook.
I'm always amazed.

[HON!X]

yaw awesome feel of shapes

[mEgA fLeeCe RaIn]

great works man, i love your attention to detail and the surrealist style. keep it up man, this stuff is definitely different from other stuff on this forum, the quality is superb.

[AustenFM]

those wood burning exercises look great, reminds me of when i was a kid and i would go out at high noon and use a magnifying glass to burn designs into large sticks. You would have blown my little mind if i had seen your work then. I remember the whole wood burning process smelling delightful.

Always a pleasure to crawl through here. thanks for sharing your brain with us!

[William b. Hand]

NickyBeats, bhanu, HunterKiller_, ranunkel, insanelight, HON!X, mEgA fLeeCe RaIn, AustenFM - Thanks everyone! That makes me feel better that all y'all like those woodburned things, cuz the response of the recipients was actually a bit lackluster. I think that they were seen as pieces of an unfinished project, and nobody could really dig 'em as they just are. Oh well, win some lose some. Using the woodburning tool was actually rather taxing on my hand, and doing much more involved projects with it will probably be limited by that, but I'm thinking about buying a blowtorch and attacking larger branches...

I'm gonna start making some watercolour-pencil sketches available for sale, I think. Here's a taste of what that might look like:

"SMALL BIRDLIKE"
"HORNTAPPER"
"A FRIENDLY GESTURE"

and also a sharp-beaked w.i.p. that has some blobbly formless issues around the arm that I'll be focused hard on resolving when I hit it with more colour. It should be a good one to practice using more colours in. Huh. I am suddenly wondering how these things behave on a clayboard surface. Hm...

[NickyBeats]

oh man!! sick dude, as usual!! i cant believe that those people didnt love those wood burnings! i love those! -also i wish i had money, cause i would buy ALL of your watercolor sketches!!! i love the look to those!

[Carnifex]

d'awww, the horntapper's so cute!

[Medusoid]

I love your work man and those people dont know what their sayin if they werent blown away by your wood burning skizlz!
Your newer stuf reminds me of magic cards for some reason, very nice stuff keep it up :D
(just in case I didn't say stuff enough in this post I'll say it again... STUFF)

[Fetsch]

wood designs look realy great, nice to see something like that. The watercolor-pencil stuff is awesome as well.

[Dope Fiend]

That wood you're sportin' there is stunning, one thing that I loved so much of the earlier work you've posted in this thread..the creatures had environments. The creature designs are great, I just think you could push it even further, either way great work, another SB subbed!

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

with what do you woodburn?

[ryan mcshane]

loveee the watercolors man!! dope concepts :D

[William b. Hand]

NickyBeats, Carnifex, Medusoid, Fetsch, ryanoir - Thanks, guys -- Glad you're liking these!

Dope Fiend - Hmm... Have I really laxed on including enviros for my creatures? [ *Ponders* ] That might be because I've been less concerned about making finished pieces and more focused on particular elements. No worries, though... when it all coalesces, I think it'll do so with strength.

theUNKNOWNsketcher - With a standard craft-store-bought woodburning tool. I'll include a photo of it later.

Here's a bit of photo-reffed crazy muscle study. This is as far as the straight pencilling will go, and at some point I'll hit it up with the brush and water to activate that paint and explore/define these forms even more crazily -- but I thought you guys might dig seeing the "before" version. I'm posting this larger scale than the actual sketches, cuz otherwise a lot of detail gets lost.

[bhanu]

ooohsome, so you will going over these with brushes and water? Updates?

[Sean McClain]

wo! those last red pencils are tight!

[Kill byte]

you're always an inspiration. These look really sweet dude. Thx for posting them.

[NickTrip]

Seeing your stuff makes me happy. So awesome.

[NickyBeats]

oh awesome! i was actually hoping youd post some steps for these watercolor pencils! very cool detailing!! cant wait to see the finished product!

[Izi]

walking into the butt-cathedral and exiting out the rear would AMUSE ME greatly

the sketches are amazing, amazing. and your briefcase is so totally awessooome

it's so awesome you got recognized you're still my favorite artist! (when are you going to have a top-of-the-site spot?)

[Medusoid]

Hey WBH, I was just wondering of you had any pointers for imaginary anatomy since your so boss at it.
I have a character who is humanoid and 10ft tall and his hands reach below his knees. How would I go about making that look realistic cause I have a hard time trying to stretch out his muscles and such.

Awesome work and sorry for asking you for another favor like this :D

[William b. Hand]

bhanu - I was a bit distracted when I went back into those muscle sketches with the water, but here they are anyway. :P There'll be more where those came from, of course.

Sean McClain, Kill byte, Nick Trip, & NickyBeats - Thanx guys!

Naomi - Thanks, darlin! Ya know, I haven't looked into the top-of-site thing yet. :nohope: I will. I think I'm partly daunted by the notion of what I would even have grouped together in the first place.

Medusoid - Pointers for the imaginary anatomy? Hm. No, not really... I'm still figuring it out myself. :P As Yogi Berra said: "You can see a lot just by observing". Concerning your humanoid, you might examine gorillas to see why their arms can do that... That particular issue sounds like a matter of scale. Just make the bones longer, the muscles longer, etc, in a way that feels right to your eyes. Dwarves have abbreviated limbs in comparison to their torsos, etc... how do they compare to normal human limbs or to basketball players? Always be looking, always be trying to notice stuff... study animal anatomy and you'll find that the structural differences between lions, bats, horses and humans are surprisingly subtle considering how different they seem initially. One finds that mammals share the same basic muscles and bones, and then one finds that all vertebrates have much in common.

So, here're a few things I guess... I added some water to the watercolour-penciled muscley practice, I stumbled across some Pre-Raphaelite studies I did recently (mostly mechanical pencil), and finally I decided to begin learning to paint with oils (like I've hinted at over the past year) and did something. I took an old airbrushed acrylics on foamcore sketch and brushed over it with the oil paints. Basically trying to ease myself into the use of brushes and oils by beginning in familiar territory.

[Velocity Kendall]

huge levels of awesome here

[Velocity Kendall]

You know, I recently came to a realization that I really don't like Giger's works. I'm not sure why but it doesn't appeal to me anymore..


i totally agree. his alien was remarkable and the dune stuff was kind of cool, but the rest.. meh.

i recommend this guy as his replacement; better skills, creepier ideas. i like the ones that look like an average tuesday in Hell.

http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&biw=1372&bih=701&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=beksinski+skull&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

http://zdzislawbeksinski.blogspot.com/

EDIT Hi sorry I only discovered his work (and had my jaw comprehensibvely dropped, recently) but looked back and saw youd done several Z.Beksiñski-vibe pieces. Stunning stuff!!

[Izi]

ok but do it soon, ive been waiting 9 years and the world ends next year!

those legs studies are sexy!

[bhanu]

WTF, these oils are awesome... Man, stop being good with everything. please.
Kidding, please dont. Never stop being awesome.

[Carnifex]

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuthat is good.

[ryan mcshane]

fuck that oil ones cool *_*

[witcrack]

Man. Lots of serious technique going on in your last painting... or at least I think so :teeth: Seriously great work man! :)

[Tipsytoes]

oh wow you are effin amasing. I'm so inspired . *needs to work more*

[NickTrip]

--:)--

[Wilko]

What can I say? This is an inspirational SB. LOVE your work.

[AustenFM]

excellent little updates man, your watercolor pencils are really fun to watch, i may have asked before, but is there a certain brand of pencil you prefer? I just uncovered a few paint pencils the other day that i bought when you first started posting your watercolor creations, i just never broke into them. With all the pointers you post up i should really try them out now.
Oil experiment is looking good as well, and i really dig your fancy script you post every now and again, gorgeous stuff. I wish i could spend a day up there and watch you draw.
Keep it up sir, you're a machine!

[JaneMag]

Wow, that's some really freaky muscle studies. :s

[a la bapsi]

oil paint!

i wonder how well it could hold up on foamcore? though, come to think of it, the acrylic might have helped to 'prime' the surface for you. *_*
looking forward to more of your oil painting experiments and studies!

[Faulks]

Wow, I haven't seen wood burning since my brothers were in the Boyscouts. It's probably one of the last things I would think of someone doing in their free time, yet I really really like it. Just wanted to say that.

[brentos8]

I like oils, I look foreward to seeing more of it on some of your wicked creatures.!:)

Awsome stuff..

[marioucci]

stunning. The last creature has a "hayao miyazaki" vibe that is quite enticing:)

Great stuff man

[Metal Fingers]

This stuff is wicked! I went out and bought watercolor pencil after viewing your thread this morning. thanks. :D

[Aryeh]

ps.

you my nigga

(and im a total gushing fan...)

[surus]

but I thought you guys might dig seeing the "before" version. I'm posting this larger scale than the actual sketches, cuz otherwise a lot of detail gets lost.

I want to see all these presteps in pencils in large / higher resolution ! Thanks for sharing! Have you been drawing one of your great muscle imagination drawings from different angles? I think that would push it again (understanding).

[Texahol]

not really 'diving-in' so much as dipping your toe in, bill :P

[Dope Fiend]

god damn those oils are so rich!! and pictures wouldn't even do it justice!!

i can't critique this, but simply ask for moar please!!:ilaekae:

please dive off the high dive with oils

[William b. Hand]

Everyone - Thank you so much! I stayed up all night working on this thing and have to sleep, but I'll acknowledge your notes next post.

I've done a few things just recently after an otherwise somewhat dry month, but I'm just gonna post this guy. His body shape's a bit silly, and the bg is less-than, but I think I managed to keep him dimensional, don't have any soft edge issues, and I think I pulled off some forms, textures, and colours that ar nice. I was looking at a some Greg Broadmore awesomeness, and tried to do some serious learning from it, so this was basically a (heavy) practice pic. It's purely my own creation, but I had his work off to the side and was analyzing as hard as I could -- took me most of yesterday's hours, I wager. At times I was also remembering a dinosaur painting by John Gurche I saw on a book-cover years ago. I played around with a few variations, but maybe I'll just post the main one right now. I'm so fried right now. :zzz: Hope you like!

[ladyknowles]

My god that last picture is gorgeous! The colours are so good!

[Carnifex]

since it's quite unusual to show bipeds in this stage of the walking motion, he looks abit unstable, but otherwise good. very lifelife textures on him, i can imagine well what he must feel like to the touch.

[Ludic]

Agree with Carnifex, it looks a bit like he's gonna fall over, Great rendering though!

[Texahol]

i think in terms of rending and form, you're missing out a bit with the hue shift.

I just did a quick PO adding a little bit of SSS [sub-surface scattering] in some parts, and added some heavier blue skylight. The hue shift helps show the form.

1167268

[NickyBeats]

wow will, this latest creature is bad ass man!!! love the shape to him, and great job on the details!!

[William b. Hand]

Velocity Kendall - Thank you! Yes, I am already very aware of Beksiñski and I love that he has slowly been getting the recognition he deserves. I'm a mega-fan of his, and If I didn't already know about him I'd've been so grateful for your heads-up, so thank you for that! :)

Naomi - Hmm, you're planting seeds in my mind.

bhanu, Carnifex, ryanoir, witcrack, a la bapsi, and brentos8 - Glad you like the oil dabble, guys -- I've become a bit shy about using the oils again until I can open the windows and vacate the fumes from the drying agent I have. Unless someone else has a less-toxic suggestion as to what drying-hastener I might try. I can just use nothing, and set a piece on the shelf for a while to let it dry, of course, so I'll keep practicing but maybe not lots right atm. bapsi - I doubt that the foamcore will suffer, but that was just for practice -- I'll be sure to use canvas, clayboard, or wood for more serious ventures.

TipsyToes, NickTrip, Wilco, JaneMag, lolbbq, Faulks, and Dope Fiend - Thanks guys! :)

AustenFM - I hope you like those pencils when you finally mess around with them... Your drawing skills are certainly advanced enough that I'll be pretty shocked if you don't. I mostly find myself using Caran D'ache. Keep your distance from buying Prismacolor, though -- they seem to break when you sharpen 'em, so they end up as nubs before their time. My advice amounts to this: Use a tiny tiny flat-shader brush, and use almost no water at all on that brush -- only just enough to activate the paint. Thanks for liking the scriptwork -- I'm really proud of that stuff. :hugsmile:

marioucci - Thx! I love Hayao Miyazaki, so that's a delightful complement!

Metal Fingers - Thank you! I hope you have fun with the pencils (Tiny flat-shader brush + almost no water!).

Texahol - Dipping my toe in?? Shut up, I'll get more into them later, I just... they're just... *_* -- I bet your face smells like a fart. [ *runs away ]

ladyknowles - Thanks! I liked the colours too, until Texahol came and punched my colours in the stomach. Waaaah!

Carnifex, again and Ludic - Thanks! Yeah, you're absolutely right -- that looks pretty bad. Oops, maybe I'll remedy that -- at least in a different version of him.

Texahol, again - Gaah! How'd you do that?? That looks SOOO much better! Explain the hows and the whys immediately, please. :bounce:

NickyBeats - Thx! :)

Wow, I was gonna post another version or two of that creature but now I'm gonna hafta tidy them up a bit first. :P

[Yor]

awesome SB so friggin' diversified and you seem to controll it all. keep posting!

[Texahol]

Bill: I put some blue on it. and some red.

the blue you can think of it as the sky is a big light source that is giving the object a top-down lighting scheme. It's really more than that, but simple is better. It really comes out when the form is rolling towards parallel towards your eye, because the environment light [sky] is just barely touching it and bouncing off directly into your eye, while the sunlight [depending on position] will be bouncing off the top away from the eye.

I probably just used screen with a dark saturated blue at low opacity for that.

The red you can think about the SSS [sub surface scattering] on an object is most prominent when the form is smooth rolling form rolling into the terminator edge of the shadow. That's because you have a nice big chunk of material to go through and catch and reflect light. It'll also happen when two objects of the same color are next to each other that the saturation increases as the two forms reflect and amplify the light between them.

I think I used soft-light and just color-picked whatever color was there. Then painted with a soft brush on the rolling form. something to get some real nice SSS is to make sure that you overlap the SSS and the blue shift so that even the hue under SSS is shifting, but still happening. It's what really sells the SSS look.

[William b. Hand]

Yor - Thank you!

Texahol - Thanks for that explanation. As it turns out, I'd managed to figure out the sky light, but the SSS was eluding me. I haven't put creatures outside under blue skies very much, and the power of that stuff is astounding. I'll be trying to incorporate that much in the future!

surus - Oops, I missed your comment in my last reply. -- Thanks! I have not tried to illustrate almost anything from different angles. I think I remember doing that only once in the past few years, actually. Good idea -- I think I may be ready to do that sort of thing, and I know I'd learn a lot.

Okay, so here're some variations I came up with. One that's purpley and one that's blue-ish. Oh, yeah... and I thought it might be fun to toss some kids on-board. :P Maybe they're too cartoony, but meh. I've spent a bit too much time inside this pic and need to do other things, so I dunno if that'll go any further.

[Medusoid]

Will, when will you learn that you have no tallent at all in any way, and that last picture is definitely not the single most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life. I mean really your just kidding yourself here. (I'm not in complete denial...what are you talking about)

On a more serious note, is the tail supposed to cut off like that or where you planning on adding more to it because it seems a bit awkward to stop so abrupt like that :( hmm then again it's your creature and it's not like I have any reference to say you did it wrong from.

Great job man, cut yourself some slack once in awhile or you'll get depressed and then I wont be able to admire your pretty artwork :P

[ryan mcshane]

about that fumes thing with the oils; are you using turps? if you are, try liquol instead, its more natural and feels better
i personally dont mind the fumes of turps but i know some people do and they try to get a lot of ventilation
i love the blue dinosaur too, really awesome feeling to it! keep at it :D

[William b. Hand]

Medusoid - Yeah, that tail doesn't look like such a good idea to me anymore. :P Huh. Don't u worry bout me. :hugsmile:

ryanoir - Glad you like the Blue dino-type! Yeah, I've got some chemical cocktail in a jar that an oils person gave me. It's not a matter of being "bothered" by the fumes as it is knowing that that stuff is pretty bad for your nervous system. ;) Thanks for the tip about liquol -- I'll try to get me some!

So, this is a bit random -- and I might've actually posted some of this before in this sb or my first sb... Can't remember off the top of my head. No matter, I'm posting them regardless. I've been finding myself flipping through these old pages over the past few weeks for some reason. Maybe something creative is brewing, not sure...

So, these are a few pages out of my 2oo2-2oo4 Moleskine:

[NickTrip]

Really awesome. You've got some pretty inspiring stuff in that book there. :)

[loveandasandwich]

i donno what to say except <3

[ryan mcshane]

i love yer lil bow ;_;
great pages man! soo well set out and stuffs
theyve kinda got an old horror theme thingy to them, i love that!
i want too see more watercolor and oils from you btw <3

[Velocity Kendall]

"i donno what to say except :O"

I was going waaaaaaaaaa!? but yeah, same deal, more eerie, superb work in one place than you can shake a dropped jaw at.

[Dope Fiend]

....damnit, you ruined another pair of pants!! i need my money for pencils, not underwear you dick!

haha, in all seriousness, incredibly inspiring work, a true sketchbook full of random thoughts, changes in perceptions, and progression. truly amazing.

please don't stop posting, this is one of my top favorite threads!

[Vulgar`]

*explodes*

[MaFeng]

Your sketchbook looks like a surprise packet.I looked so many good studies and ideas.
Post more,please.

[Nickillus]

Fabulous, rich, intriguing, amusing, entertaining, thought-provoking, highly imaginative and unmissable - are all words/phrases that immediately spring to mind on discovery of this thread. Outstanding work throughout. Gosh I look forward to returning here as often as I can remember to do so to see what new jewel has appeared.

[Texahol]

seems like you had a bit more zest back then...must be getting old :P

love the really weird shit, i'd love to see any of those pages fleshed out and finalized- esp the mary and child one.

[Carnifex]

quite the trip, really like it!

[HunterKiller_]

Now that's what I call excellent use of a sketchbook! Makes mine look like a waste of paper...
Delicioso.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

That Moleskine's phenomenal!

[Stricken]

i donno what to say except <3

My sentiments exactly. Just...wow :D

[MatejaPetkovic]

Oh this is something i wanted to see while drinking my waking coffee, thanks

M

[Yor]

thanks for showing your moleskine, so experimental and diversem loving it!

[AustenFM]

It took me a few minutes to drain the spit from my mouth, those "old" pages are awesome! I love it all, but my favorites are the pink doodle elephant, those creepy strawberry headed tick men on the page below, the lace man on the stool page is all great, and the mammoth parasite pickers made me laugh. I like your little white paste ins as well(like the bird on the final mammoth panel), i find myself doing that a lot when i keep making mistakes in the same place. do you use sticker paper for it?

Anyway, wonderful stuff, are you going to keep sprinkling more pages on us in the future?

[NickyBeats]

holy crap man!!! these are sooo awesome!! the design of each page is sweeet! the sketches themselves are awesome, but how each page fits together is just cool as hell!!!

[William b. Hand]

Everyone - Wow! Thanks guys. :sungod:

Texahol - "More zest back then"??! "Must be getting old"??! Ooooh, that steams my dumplings -- Just for that, I'm gonna start a new Moleskine to prove you wrong, sir. [ *seething ] I'll post the results in a few years. ;)

Actually, I've just been focused on honing certain aspects of rendering that've always troubled me -- a lot of which is more illustrative and maybe less interesting. That'll change -- I haven't lost any of the creative energies you see represented by this old sb, I hope.

AustenFM - I use whatever adhesive is handy at the time.

My earlier sb's were often disabled or completely derailed by crappy pages that ruined their flow and also my ability to sustain their quality. Many sb's would become thinner and thinner as I used them because of all the pages that got cut or torn out. This sb was the first book where it finally occurred to me that I could be additive to a sketchbook... That it's okay to take something you don't like and simply glue something you DO like right over it. This also had the secondary effect of creating a sanctuary for all those loose doodles that would spring up over time, and that otherwise had no home. It's so much more fun to see a sb physically thickening as you feed it with work... it brings life to it. To anyone who has had similar rough times with their sb's, I cannot recommend more highly shifting to this additive approach!

I think I pretty much hit the high points of the 'o2-'o4 sb in that last post, but -- since you guys seemed so hip to it -- I've scanned in some more from that one.

MORE DUMP From Me Old 2oo2-2oo4 MOLESKINE:

[Carnifex]

holy balls dude.

[monotony]

every page in that moleskin is just pure gold!
every.single.one.
awesome!

[Bourin]

:$

sweet jesus

[LM.]

Your moleskine pages are awesome, relay inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

[Yor]

very differse sketches, a moleskine that would be worth alot!

[Texahol]

nah man...you're getting old

I'm sure of it.


*cough*

[Dope Fiend]

what pen were you using at that time period? those lines look fantastic, incredibly clean, especially the piece with the scarf. i can only imagine you with a magnifying glass situated on your desk-light..you crazy bastard!

haha, inspiring and amazing as always.


and it seems like you're dumping everything into that SB, how are things not showing through behind those pages, it almost seems like everything would get muddy with all of that. sorry for the 20 questions, i'm just fascinated!!

[.empyrean.]

Holy moly, that's insane...such visual power can't be learned, someone has it or not. I don't have it for sure...
Your moleskine pages just let drip all this creative style like a piece of bread with too much honey on it.
Truly inspiring.

[Icey]

you have one absolutely amazing sketchbook!! Went through all your pages... thank you for the burst of inspiration ( and adrenaline rush:) )
i know you already have 5 stars, but here are 5 more :)
cheers!

[Dana_T]

you are just all kinds of inspiring

[William b. Hand]

Huh. For some reason, even though I edited the thread title and "update" date, it's not showing up as changed. Bah, glitchy poot. >:|

Carnifex, monotony, Bourin, LM., and Dana_T - Thank You! :hugsmile:

Texahol - Well, ya know what I think -- I think the struggles you're having with art are due to the fact that your face smells just like a cereal fart. Of course it's true what you say and my pieces are starting to fall off, but thanks for the extra reminders you bad, bad person. ;)

Dope Fiend - I think I was using a Micron for that be-mitten'd girl, but it looks like there's also a bit of PaperMate ballpoint pen in there. I'd say those are the two kinds of pen I used most in that book, plus the brownish ink would be croquill pen & fw ink. As far as images bleeding through the pages goes, that certainly happened here and there, but the Moleskine drawing books have a thicker (and creamier coloured) paper than the blank writing books and it takes a lot more for anything to bleed through. ...Plus, when you're additive to a book, those glued-in bits of paper can cover up all sorts of things you're not happy with, including bleed-thru. Haha -- No magnifying glasses needed as I'm pretty near-sighted. :)

.emyrean. - Wow, what a poetically articulated compliment -- Thank you!

Icey - Danke for the stars -- I'm stunned that you went through this whole sb, that's such a nice thing to hear and I'm glad it helped get your creative juices flowing!

Well, I haven't done a whole mess lately and most of it has been study stuff (I'm finally giving Jack Hamm's Landscape & Seascape book proper priority) that doesn't merit posting, but here are a few random pencil sketches you might like, plus several stages of a military Tech suit I did in Photoshop® for the most recent DSG. It's got its wonkiness (room to grow), but I'm happy with how this basic rendering approach is going, I think the colours work pretty well in that final (tried to get that skylighting in there), it's pretty crisp overall, and even though the joints and proportions are rather off for that to (realistically) be a human in a suit, at least it's supposed to be a human and that still feels like a novelty for me. :teeth:

Anyways, see whatchya think:

[NickyBeats]

these suits look awesome man! really slick work. and i love all the traditional sketches. you have a truly unique style man.

[MonkeYoakum]

been a long time since i came around. Some great stuff to catch up on. Thanks for taking the time to dump all that goodness! What kind of pen are you using in those Moleskies?

[Liam Harvey]

those armoured figures are well designed, they have a visual flair thats making each of them seem varied enough, and seem form fittingly funtional (as much as fictional stuff can as evidenced by the Iron Man armour etc.)

I think what really blows me away is the variation of what is on show in this your sketches.

[Texahol]

studies are lookin' good man.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

sick style!

[raminafshari]

strange way of using color its nice and smooth .

[surus]

speechless. grabbing the tongue back from the led-screendisplay (it tried to lick on the sketchbook)

Thank you so much for posting these moleskine pages. My brain got inspired, inspired, inspired, insane inspired!

[witcrack]

Wow. I really wish me to be that messy. With all those ideas and more. Heheh. Liking all the pages, William. You are the man :D

Keep sharing :)

[MaFeng]

Wow,incredible imagination.Your work is so fantasy.
Your pencil work gave me many tips.

[William b. Hand]

Thanks guys! :hugsmile:

Here's some more tech practice, I guess... A 6-Limbed vehicle thing.

[ EDIT: Added second image messing around with that vehicle thing ]

[Bourin]

you may have already answered this, but in post #1153, is the bird done with watercolor pencils? never seen an effect like that.

[Jessibelle]

damn, this sketchbook is pretty damn interesting to flip through. :D so much variety! i'm sure i've said this before, but your pencil work has such a gorgeous, organic feel to it - even the studies. in fact, especially the studies when it comes to those muscless.
I love looking at your old sketchbook pages as well, it's actually really interesting to see the differences/ similarities between your work then and now. :)

gotta always love coming back to your sketchbook, man.

[ThomasM]

you know the feeling when you are obsessed with art yourself and you suddenly stumble across a source, or resource which blows you away? Yeah.. thats this sb for me.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and works with us, I will definitely be doing some studies and looking at your ideation in your moleskine.

Thanks again!

[Parsakoira]

do you ever sleep? :D the amount you sketch each day must be staggering!

[Mitze]

I haven't been around your sketchbook in ages and i am amazed at the amount of work i missed and the improvements. Your rendering is sublime. 5 stars, except i already gave you 5 stars ages ago.

[Big Orange]

Interesting stuff, Hand. What are those potato/fungui type shapes in the lower left corner of your last painting?

[Evergrey]

Wow, man... This is just insane. I mean, increadible!

So amazed... <3

[john-briner-art]

I can't help but notice your ingenuity in Digital painting. The displays in your sketchbook manifest your brilliance as an artist. Good thing you didn't keep your talent for yourself. These works are for everyone else to see. I'm having trouble finding my favorite because all of them are amazing. Keep posting. I'll surely follow all your works from now on. Good Job!

[HunterKiller_]

My mind is getting blown, man!!!

[DANKA]

Absolutely great sb, amazing update!

[TheGnoll]

amazing updates Will!
the old moleskine pages are really some of the most impressive sketchpages i've ever seen, that book must be a really art-gasm to flip thru.
Recent studies are looking great too, its great to see some recent pencil goodness from you.Regarding the latest robots and suit, i really like the 6 legged thing!
hope you're doing fine, sir!

[brodywms]

F'n Epic. No elaboration needed! ;)

[Ikage]

Ahhh I am in loveeeee ♥ Subscribing to your sketchbook so my eyes may be continued to be rocked as hard as they have been tonight.

[Farquad]

Man do I love coming here to get the wits scared out of me. :D

Albertosauri (sp?) playing hockey? Not natural dude.......lol.

[NickyBeats]

Happy birthday dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dan liimatta]

It's always a pleasure to dip one self in your work - wonderful stuff as always and given that I have a weakness for birds the Penguins and the bird in post 1153 just melts my heart and brain - thanks for the inspiration as always.

[dan liimatta]

Also in #1014 - could you link me to the uncensored version? Sounds intriguing :)

[William b. Hand]

Bourin - Yisss... Watercolour pencils. Love 'em.

Jessibelle - Thank you so much! :hugsmile:

ThomasM - Thanks! Good to hear you've been inspired by something in here!

Parsakoira - Ironically, my production has been the opposite of staggering. :(

Mitze - Thank you -- I feel like there's been some progress, but it's very heartening to hear that it's maybe detectable to others.

Big Orange - Those potato fungi were supposed to be some sort of dumpling thing. :)

Evergrey - Thanks!

john-briner-art - Danke! I'm glad you think there's some ingenuity in my digi-paints... I think it comes from me forgetting what I did before, so I often have to re-learn stuff. Maybe it comes from that. :teeth:

HunterKiller_, DANKA, brodywms, NickyBeats - Thank you all!

TheGnoll - Ooh, thanks for liking the 6-legged thing -- I was feeling a bit sheepish about posting that. :P Glad you like those old moleskine pics, too! I'll try to get some recent pencils posted before too long... Not a lot of them, but a few.

Ikage - Thanks for subscribing! I haven't been rocking a whole lot in quite some while, but maybe this post will rock a little...

Farquad - Boo! :D Hey, that hockey-playing Albertosaurus is about five sandwiches worth of natural! Notice he's got a little maple leaf eye adornment, too? Canada FTW woooh!

dan liimatta - Thanks, Dan! That "censored" pic was just in flagrant violation of local quality guidelines, and whatever you might imagine under the blackness is guaranteed to be five sandwiches worth of better than what was actually there. *nom *nom (x5)

k.

So, yeah I haven't been completely inactive over the past few months, but I certainly haven't done a whole heckuva lot. I'll toss some pencils up here soon, but for now here is something of the digi-paint variety (courtesy of Photoshop®). I almost never ever lay textures over anything, not out of some puritan ideal but just because I haven't gotten around to it much... Well anyhow, I was moved to scan in some dried up leaves from my ridiculous looking single plant and it occurred to me that if I lay the leaf pattern over or under a PS sketch I was stuck on that it might be interesting somehow. It was interesting, and I ran with it.

[Waikien]

I made the most ridiculous gawking, oneeyebiggerthantheother, nostril flaring, face when I saw this last post. Made my day, sir. Love it. Coincidentally I was looking at a little beksinski beforehand too. Have you heard of Paul Gerrard? (http://www.gerrardart.com)

[William b. Hand]

Waikien - :) Good. And thank you for such a gushingly articulated response! Obviously Beksiñski's influence is strong here, but as "OLD MAN" moved forward the artist that really kept floating around in my mind was Rembrandt Van Rijn. Now if I can just learn to handle oil painting well enough to produce something like this, then I'll have something.

Below, I threw together a little visual explanation of what happened with this piece. It began as a sketch from within the past few weeks. It was just meant to be a simple messing with form to try and get my digital juices flowing, but the creativity dead-ended really damn quickly that day, and I actually felt so ineffective that it stuck with me like a turd on my shoe... and the smell of it mocked me every time I noticed the file on my desktop. But then... after a coupluv weeks passed by... I decided to layer over the scan of a dried leaf to see what could maybe happen. There was just nowhere to go but up, so it was a good test-bed for incorporating a found texture, and it allowed me to envision something that was a million times more interesting and sophisticated than my starting point.

[yogeshj25]

William, wowwwwwwwww! your work is fanstasticoo! seeing your sketchbook work makes me want to draw non stop! This sketchbook is a source of inspiration for me! Would you please be able to give me some advice that helped your improve along your journey? I also see that you live in NY, and I am planning to go to school @ SVA for illustration. Would you recommend?? Anyways besides that I have fallen in love with ur work : ) and I will keep in tune!

[Izi]

clitoris monster

[William b. Hand]

yogeshj25 - Thank you! It's great to hear when I have inspired someone to draw more! It's unlikely that I can give anyone any helpful advice within a blurb... Find yourself a copy of ART & FEAR (http://painting.about.com/od/productreviews/fr/Art_and_Fear.htm) and read it, maybe. That's good advice. In fact, do that ASAP. Concerning the SVA in NYC... I'm in a very different part of the state, so I can't be of any help there.

Naomi - Good grief, you. PM me a diagram of how you're getting that interpretation out of that image, cuz -- wow -- I am not seeing it. Thanks for the heads-up about the gallery thingy, btw! :hugsmile:

So, I mentioned I might soon post something or other from my current Moleskine, yeah? Well, I'm not actually gonna put much up right away, but these imaginary sharks are pretty neat so I'll share them (Mechanical Pencil in 5"x8" Moleskine):

[kidult]

cool sharks

[Jeff Bartzis]

Damn Hand! Those sharks are so fucking bad ass its not even funny.

[AustenFM]

Hey William! Great to see an update here again! That scanned leaf texture experiment was really interesting, added some great fissures and roughness, and since its from nature makes it look very organic and not out of place. Your moleskine sharks are fantastic too! their fleshy maws are my favorite parts, and i love love love the goofy shark-face bull terrier lookin' thing, i would gladly feed it everything i have, as well as a few fingers. Do you look at photos while you draw for a baseline inspiration? Also, on a slightly unrelated note, how do you scan your books so they dont fall into shadow in the crease??

Always great to stroll through here, soon I need to make a journey from page 1 to 40 again. My apologies for not being as active as i hoped on the DSG-front, but I'll be there today to allot some activities into the last few pages of my SB.

Keep it up bud!

[p sage]

Great pencil renderings! Yet another SB to set aside an evening for exploration. Thanks man!

[monstertree]

Holy crap, those shark explorations are just too bloody cool for words - can't wait for your next update!

[Vulgar`]

Those sharks will be in my nightmares entangled with giant spiderbunnies, creatures from your moleskins and gooey DSG monsters. Thanks for that.

Versatile dishes!

[dan liimatta]

The sharks are truly wonderful, thanks for posting these.

[Mike L]

A real pleasure to follow your work!
Inspiring!

[america220]

wow those sharks sure are incredible. And scary. Great work you have in here. :)

[Deadlyhazard]

I love the way you exaggerated and changed up the sharks look to make them all feel very different in aspects of evolution. I think my favorite one is the shark with the repitalianish slit eye!

[Carnifex]

eyyy, just returned from holiday and thought i'd pop in. the old man's really good, the textures work really well in their subtle blend...sometimes textures on other artists tend to distract from the form, but not so here.
my favourite shark has to be the third one down on the left. it has the most "shark-ish" feel to it, and might very well be swimming around at the bottom of the ocean irl. the others work nicely too, but for some reason strike me more as a general sort of (deep-sea?) fish, and not so much as shark.
and i like reading your thoughts behind the pictures.

[Velocity Kendall]

Hey you love the space jockey! I love the space jockey!

"seeing the Space Jockey creature was a profoundly life-altering moment for me"

He's part of the ship! How crazy-advanced is that when your a kid and see if for the first time!
The xenomorphs were weapons or money or something right? They so were. Was the space jockey a citizen, or an appliance, or an avatar for the ship, or what?
Were there other classes of being in his race or were they all ships like him? That movie was so packed with amazing things it was a such big imagination space to move around in as a sci-fi loving kid haha. Thats entertainment.
Amazing work as always.

[Parsakoira]

<3 you have always been my fav creature designer of all time, love the sharks, inspiring stuff indeed!

[NickyBeats]

hey Will, would you mind if i painted a few of those shark heads? i love that page, and am envisioning it in color!

[MatejaPetkovic]

I think these sharks need to visit dentist, great work man, love'em

M

[NickyBeats]

not finished yet, but i guess i should post this before i forget. . .

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1309822&stc=1&d=1314423444

[William b. Hand]

Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all the upbeat comments -- I love that you love my shark heads. :bounce: I'm gonna be a bastard and skip the individual acknowledgments right now and just get these posted before getting on with the rest of my evening.

So, as those of you who follow this thread know, I've been enjoying messing about with Watercolour Pencils. That has sortuv continued, and here are some recent messings, along with part of a coffee-table noodle. I actually posted one of these pages before, but then I went back into it and punched it up a bit (Sabre-Crab page). Anyhows, see whatchya think:

( *oop... I'm having difficulty getting all my files to load...)

[AustenFM]

William! Great to have another post to feast upon~ All these fleshy creatures look great rendered out in watercolor. I bought one of them watercolor pencils many moons ago but haven't had to gumption to test it yet, i should change that, and your recent anatomy studies have given your creations some interesting interlocking masses. Also, Squiddy McSquid is a badass.

Thanks for sharing man!

[Sean McMurchy]

Solid unusual and interesting. this whole sketchbook is really cool and diverse.

[William b. Hand]

AustenFM - Thanks buddy! Maybe the watercolour pencils won't ultimately be of real interest to you to use, but if they are... Why wait? *prods

Sean McMurchy - Thank you!

Added a bit of photoshopped colour to this guy.

[AndreySimeonov]

awesome works
keep posting
5 stars for you :)

[MonkeYoakum]

Just updating myself on your work, those shark head variations are wonderful. I love the tiny forms you build around the eyes. And the spiny tongue one, genius. I want to eat a mango with that tongue.

[focus_light]

you are the Master ！plz accept my worship(╯﹏╰）
Wonderful design！

[Carnifex]

man i didn't realize just how much i missed your stuff. the flatheaded crocodile-thingy is probably my favourite, it looks like it could waltz right off the page.

[GEB]

Seriously impressive SB! Blown my mind!

[kischi]

man those sharks are good and the recent watercolor creatures are just amazing!

[William b. Hand]

Thanks guys! GF is coming back from airport in a minute and I gotta clean up quick, so I'll comment back later.

Something a bit more with that same little doodle. Dunno if this'll go any further, but I'll call it a W.I.P. anyways. :P

[NickyBeats]

holy crap man!!! these watercolor sketches are amazing. i hate to even call them sketches, they are too good for that haha. but the one that looks like anatomy studies but distorted, that page is intense. i love it!!

[GoldenSerpent]

Your art is amazing especially the way you render flesh which is absolutely beautiful. I really love how organic and lifelike all your creations are. Very inspirational work!

[Rob Powell]

Great detail and rendering style, loving your creatures, man!

[Daulet-art]

Y, you are good sketches

[Greip]

Mouth watering watercolours!

If I'd comment on one thing I'd say that in some of the pieces a little more contrast wouldn't hurt. However, I'm aware that it can be quite tricky with water-based mediums. A problem I have to solve myself. I think that due to a 1-2 years of a lot watercolour paintings I even transferred watered down colour palettes to other mediums. Not that there is a problem with that in itself. But it's a good thing to master the full range. And now I'm obviously talking more about myself. ;)

[ArtZealot]

Great work. Flipping through this thread makes me want to do some creatures. The stuff in here is truly unique and awesome. I especially love the muscle/anatomy exploration on this page: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1366551&stc=1&d=1321574436

Keep it up! thanks for posting.

cheers

[bupaje]

I like that some of your work starts of reminding me of stuff I've seen - talking color, technique or style, something that feels familiar - but then blasts off in a totally unique direction with the subject matter. Not sure if this describes it right but I guess if you create a familiar setting/color/mood but then put something unexpected in that space it makes the piece more powerful. Seriously brilliant work.

[William b. Hand]

AndreySimeonov - Thank you - glad you like!

MonkeYoakum - Haha -- Yes, mango would be aptly juicy for those teeth... Or some large carcass. Glad you appreciate the little things that happen around the eyes -- subtle stuff like that can really change the look of a creature, I think.

focus_light - Thanks, glad you like!

Carnifex - Sorry I was gone so long, but anyways danke and here're a few more things. :)

GEB - Haha -- Thanx!

kischi - Thx! Wow those shark-type heads are really getting a lot of mileage. Neat. Glad you like some of the recents as well!

NickyBeats - Thank you! I'm glad my watercolour pencil stuff is being so well-received... I hesitate to post some of this stuff cuz I know it's just monochromatic exploratory, but I'm still lovin' these things, myself. :P

GoldenSerpent - Merci! Glad you dig my organic stuff, and I'm always happy to inspire!

Rob Powell and Daulet-art - Thanks, guys!

Greip - Thank you so much! I appreciate your comment. I do agree with you about the contrast, and I know it's made it more difficult for some to really absorb some of my images. Since these have just been studies where my biggest concerns were exploring description of muscular forms and becoming more familiar with using a bristled brush (as opposed to an airbrush) I haven't been too worried about it... However, it's true that I'm pleased with how they're progressing and I do sortuv want to share, so now I'm attempting to find some other colours that have stronger contrast whilst still handling and inspiring similar forms and detail as the lighter colours that I've been using this far. The more-brownish colour in this current posting is DERWENT "Russet", and I think it might do the trick -- see whatchya think...

ArtZealot - Thanks! I'm glad to hear that someone else likes that coffee table page. :teeth:

bupaje - Thanks! I'm glad that that's how you're experiencing some of my stuff, because I'm really always trying to find something different and interesting in my creatures etc., whilst also attempting to add some tangibility to them that can help us connect with them. There're too many great designs in film and game that don't impact us as they could because they rely on clichéd situations or styles that we never experience in real life.

Thanks again everybody, your comments are stellar!

Here're a coupluv watercolour-pencil pages that I did over the past coupluv days, approx. actual size. The first one is basically me pushing forward and trying to practice a bit of landscapery, as well as including a subject or two interacting in that environment. The second pic (of the pot-bellied figure) is basically a "before" drawing... I'll post it again after I've gone back into it with a tiny flat shader brush and a bit of water. I've got some misgivings about its upper torso, so I'll be doing whatever I can to tighten the larger form of that area up. Might not succeed, but I'll give it a shot. It's actually the same colour pencil as the small pics just above it, so you can see how much adding water changes things.

Cheers, guys!

[bogan]

Oh my gosh man, ahhh so inspiring. I'll definitely be watching for your new work.

[Mike L]

Absolutely stunning! The anatomy on your characters is terrific, particularly all the nooks and crannies in post #1207! The transition from water-colour to PS is seamless. I'm going to stop by when I've got a little more time to enjoy all of your wonderful work.
Subscribed!(that's a no brainer:)
Very inspirational, thanks for sharing.

[Wholewheat_keyboard]

Your sketches and watercolors are hella sexy! Love to look through your pages :)

The shark heads are really nice - scary to look at - and you have so much detail too! I think that they present really well because the sketches are so clean! Wow - that is an accomplishment in itself, I never use graphite pencils anymore because when I do my sketchbook looks like it was dry humped by a fat man inside a chimney shoot (aka dirty dirty) Anyway thanks for sharing these :)

[Tea of Doom]

Dude, some seriously good pieces going on here, especially considering that they aren't digital.

I'm deifnitely going to be watching this thread.

[Howie]

delicious stuff

[Jephyr X]

Hiya,

Really brilliant werk up in here. :) Seriously inspiring.

I was fascinated by yer sketchbook pages in #1142 (http://conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3030113&postcount=1142) and decided to read a bit in that post.

Your "additive" sketchbook is a great idea...and it looks like I've got a lotta company on that too.

Anywho...yer creatures and ideas are really creative. Thanks for posting!

*subscribed*

[Roope Maatta]

*Is in aw* Your rendering skills are just brilliant. Great use of the medium and a clear statement of form. Also The way you keep your lights and darks separated is just great. Keep up the excellent work!!

[Velocity Kendall]

Just incredible.

[Mr. Corlan]

Wow, truly beautiful and excellent work. I love all of it. I agree with the Hon. NickyBeats about that page of "anatomy studies." Especially because I know in the past I have repeatedly tried and failed to draw similar distortions. Very inspiring.

Michelangelo would be jealous.

[Crane]

Stunning work Mr Hand! feels like giger 2.0.

If they ever asked you, would you consider doing an interview for the sidebar nation guys? That is one interview I would love to listen too.

Also please make a book akin to rakuga king, I would buy that 50 times over.

[Abee]

DUDE! I haven't looked at your art in quite a while, now I did. Those friggin sharks dude... THOSE FRIGGIN SHARKS!!!!
Ps. Sometimes I think you exaggerate the highlights, but it might be a personal preference.
Anyways, I guess I HAVE to *sigh* keep track of this sketchbook more often eh?!

Best wishes,
Abee

[William b. Hand]

I'll respond to people shortly, but atm I just wanted to quickly throw up a few studies that I've done over the past few days...

For months I've wanted to study macro photos of bugs and work toward a goal of photo-realistic weirdness inspired by that study, and I'm finally beginning on it.

I chose to start with what I regard as one of the more technically demanding aspects of bugs, their compound eyes. Although I haven't really developed a photo-real style, and know I've got tons to learn yet, I'm less daunted by all the other biological weirdness than I was by the eyes with all their little facets. My goal with these exercises was to create eyes that'd be so believable that they could be laid right on top of actual photos and work.

To be clear, the areas around the compound eyes are photos pulled from wwwherever -- not mine. The bits that are mine are the compound eyes themselves, which I've created entirely out of raw photoshoppery.

I'm pretty pleased with what I've been able to accomplish thus far, so here are the highlights of it -- see whatchya think:

[HunterKiller_]

You nailed it. They're fantastic.

[dan liimatta]

:heart:

Wonderful William.

[LePush]

danggg man! theres some really incredible stuff in here! such a privilage :D

[Yor]

magnificent! those eyes are really interesting!

[AllyAlbon]

Wow, yours is certainly a most unique sketchbook, fantastic stuff, I really like your airbrush work, you have a definitely chthuluesque, creepy style - very disturbing and delightful all at the same time!

[xbert]

damn thats crazy man - looks awesome, really intelligent

[HarbingerofIllRepute]

I can barely tell the difference between your reference photo and your study, that and the rest of your sketchbook is just astounding...
Good god I wish the Highlander movies were true! Anyway, nice work!

[Ricardo Robles]

Wonderful work, I already said it but I really admire how you handle the watercolor pencil and how you bring out those fleshy creatures. The last eye studies are really cool too. I hope to join the DSG soon! :)

[Velocity Kendall]

holy moly, these eyes are a feast for mine. epic

[AustenFM]

Hey William! Was in my record/book room recently admiring the airbrushing of yours i procured a while back and was wanting to see more, lucky me, you've updated again!

Really incredible how you replicated the complexities of the faceted insect eye so well, if they were still making those wonderful 'Golden Nature Guides' you would be illustrating for them no doubt~

Neat stuff my man, hope to see more sketches and such soon!Thanks for feeding our imaginations!

[William b. Hand]

bogan,Tea of Doom,Howie,Velocity Kendall, and Crane - Thank you so much, guys!

Mike L - Thank you! I've really been trying to push my anatomy, and I'm all about the nooks and crannies.

Wholewheat_keyboard - Glad you like the shark heads! Yeah, the graphite in the sketchbook can become a smeary mess. I've taken to spraying the more notable pages with fixative and that helps an awful lot.

Jephyr X - Thanx! I'm glad my comments about using an additive approach to sketchbooking resonated with you -- Once you allow yourself to paste stuff in, it releases a huge weight of anxiety to know you can screw up and still fix the page later, not to mention giving a home to orphan sketches. :)

Roope Maatta - Thank you! I've been working really hard the past coupluv years to find, describe -- and then to keep -- the most-basic forms. I used to slave over a creature, filling it with detail, only to realize later that it was just laying flat. Now I try to remain mindful of that basic form right up until the very end.

Mr. Corlan - Danke! My human anatomical comprehension remains rudimentary, but references to Michelangelo are welcome. :teeth:

Abee - Merci! Boy, I guess I've really hit on something with those shark heads! I think you're right about exaggerating the highlights a bit when I use the watercolourpencils (at least that's what I think you meant), and I've been trying to get a bit more thoughtful about that. I'll begin posting more of that stuff soon, and maybe some improvement'll show up. Good crit.

HunterKiller_, dan liimatta, LePush, Yor, AllyAlbon, xbert, Ricardo Robles, and Velocity Kendall (again!) - Thank you, guys!!

HarbingerofIllrepute - Thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to retain that sense of realism when I'm using my imagination. :^^;: Highlander? What do you mean?

AustenFM - Grazie! Golden Nature Guides? Hm.. I wonder if I ever saw any of those. Well, at any rate, I'm glad you think so! Also, glad to hear that the painting isn't something that you hate now. :)

:lounge:
Wow, thanks again Everone! :hugsmile:

Okay...

So, I spent a million hours on this one yesterday -- the next visible thing in my push to learn how to create macro-photo-realistic critters. It began as what I meant to be a quick & loose sketch that I'd then use to toy around with some custom brushes I made. As it turns out, I spent countless hours fiddling about with straight up digi-painting and by the time I actually got around to utilizing any of my new brushes it was almost an after-thought (but they did work pretty well).

Although I began by using a reference photo of a jumping spider, I quickly departed from anything that resembled it in terms of textures and such... Every now and then I'd look at it for what it could tell me about depth-of-focus, but this is pretty much straight out of my imagination. I worked on it for the better part of the day and then deep into the night, but I anticipate being able to eventually establish a workflow pattern and comprehension of the elements that'll be speedier.

I may go back into it a bit to make the fore-legs less sketchy lookin, but on the whole I'm very pleased with this progress.

The first pic is an earlier version, the second is pretty finished, and the third (red) is when I finally broke out my new custom brushes and really punched it up. See whatchya think...

[Art Minded]

Your work is so detailed and the renderings you're doing here are spot-on. This sketchbook is really an inspiration :)

Keep the good work!

[HarbingerofIllRepute]

Oh William, do you not know? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE! *Raises greatsword aloft, holding a flamboyantly ultra-masculine pose as a lightning bolt strikes the tip*

But seriously though, I don't even need to say it. But I will... You're Billy fuckin' badass.

[dan liimatta]

:heart:

That is wonderful William, I like all 3 versions but the 2nd and the last are so bloody sexy. & As always very inspirational (I have used pieces from you as references esp. for my airbrush-esque studies).

& I'm yeah I'll try to not go AWOL again :)

[AustenFM]

You know how they say the underwater world is more than 95% unexplored, i bet they'll be finding creatures resembling your creations for decades to come. Hell, as far as i know when you create these things some magical force springs from your mind and creates a real living colony of them somewhere out there, you're just that damn good.

As for those golden nature guides, i'm sure you saw 'em growing up, small books that could fit in your back pocket, wide range of subjects from dinosaurs, arachnids, stars, trees, even hallucinogenics! they were full of delightful brightly colored airbrushings and guache paintings in incredible accurate detail. And that retro print color reproduction process just can't be beat!

Anyway, i'm just derailing things, love this cute little crustacean, i'll bet he's delicious...! And as for the painting, i could never hate anything so awesome, i have plans in my mind to commission you to possibly airbrush an antique picture frame because any plain old frame just doesn't do your work justice, i'll zip you a note!

No need to say'keep it up', cause i know you are~

[TheGnoll]

WHOA! those studies look amazing and the last critter is really cool! You caught the macro feel really well and the design itself is really fresh.Your attention to detail, texture and precision in transmitting that "organic" felling is always impressive.But i know you've got more to share!! Hope to see some more soon!

[HunterKiller_]

Really impressive. I like the pallid palette of the second step best, it makes it seem even more alien/mutant.

It looks like you're hand painting the blurred portions. Have you experimented with Lens Blur in Photoshop? It's very effective when used with an opacity mask.